Cattle die and kinsmen die, and every man must die in turn. But from the wisdom of Odin to the doom of the Norn, the name of a good man will live eternal. The name of one comes calling on the cold winter wind with words of wisdom, warrior wayfinder, Jarl Bjorn Fellhand. All speak of him as one who knows that wealth is swift as a winking eye, the falsest of friends; but true service and loyalty are valuable as Sif’s hair and twice as rare.

As the flame fuels forge, so service seeds the Empire of Rivermoor, and sets alight the soul of the subduing general Shimazu. Son of the servants of honor, he seeks those who see deep into the fire to bear it for all time. Calls now for the counsel of the called, the keepers of the knighthood of the Flame. Hearing their wisdom, he harkens to heed it, calling his Jarl to the Order they guard.

The brave and the generous have the best lives, and Jarl Bjorn is seldom sorry. Let gold adorn his brow, the belt of a knight his waist, ever honor to his holdings and his host. Set the raven and the phoenix, burning ever brighter, among his banners and shields. And so that these words may be sealed until the serpent comes and the tide of Valhalla arrive, has Shimazu sworn them true before the people on the __ day of ________________, at Known World War.

Shimazu

(Text is based primarily on the Havamal. The lines about ‘cattle die and kinsmen die’ and the name of a good man, as well as ‘the brave and the generous have the best lives’ come directly from this text. The references to Shimazu being ‘subduing general’ is a reference to the translation of Shogun as ‘barbarian subduing generalissimo’; ‘son of the servants of honor’ references the meaning of Samurai as ‘one who serves’.)