So I am going to start with the OoC stuff up top since the actual introduction is perhaps a bit long and overly detailed. To be fair, I am not even sure if this is the right venue to look for a partner for this but DPP is a big community. I figure at least one of you might want to engage in an epic world building, fantasy, adventure inspired by a re-watch of the Princess Bride.

Anyway, what I am looking for is a partner that enjoys writing in the third person, who enjoys fantasy settings, who enjoy romance, who enjoys adventure, who enjoys word building, and who can write three to four paragraphs per post on average. Which seems like a lot to ask.

But if that sounds like you then the basic idea of the story is that a Princess befriends a Stable Boy when they are both children, they grow up, fall in love, but know they can't be together. At least until the boy hatches a crazy scheme that could potentially get him killed so he can be with her. I want whoever picks up this prompt to DM the Stable Boy's adventures as he goes from moon eyed teenager to a hero.

Meanwhile I want to tell concurrently the story of the Princess. Who on realizing that her love is probably gone and gotten himself killed and that she has no desire to be married off, runs away from home to begin her own series of adventures. I want them to both grow and develop as we build up a world and explore it through these two similar stories until they finally meet up.

Now I know what you are thinking, boy it doesn't sound like there is any smut at all in this. Well, you'd be wrong. It would just be something in the back seat unless we want to sprinkle it in, in small ways for both characters. I'd rather they stay in love and mostly true to each, that any kind of dalliance is of the kind that can either be ignored or cause the type of drama that can be worked through.

Anyway, with all that said I wrote this detail prologue and introductory chapter to show that I am not some work shy cheater that expects you to do all the world building for me. Everything in it is totally open to change if there are any tweaks you'd like to make to the characters, set up, or anything else. Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope to hear from at least one brave soul!

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To understand this story, as with any other, one must begin with the bones of it. The impetus that was sown in the past by the fickle hand of fate, landing in ways that seemed innocuous at the time but bore fruit of the great and terrible things to come. In this case the seed was a simple command uttered at the right or wrong time to the right or wrong person, depending on how you view the outcome of the events.That command was of all things this.

“Teach me how to saddle a horse, boy!”

Spoken in the petulant, high pitched, soprano voice that only a spoiled little girl can manage. This girl had reason to be spoiled as she was the Princess Arianne, third daughter of The Good King Rodric The Second. She was barely more than seven summers old at the time, pale of complexion save a smattering of freckles upon her nose and cheeks, with wild untamed curls spilling down her back near to her waist. Her hair was the color of flame as it rest in a hearth making a room cozy and warm on a harsh winters night.

The reply that she received was as equally unimpressive when viewed with the benefit of hindsight. Spoken with that unique gravely, yet somehow high pitched, voice that boys have before it begins to crack as it develops into the deep commanding tones they may one day reach. The accent in the words betraying a certain lack of culture and class by comparison though not as extreme as one might think as the boy had been raised adjacent to nobility if not with them.

“Uhhhh…”

The ineloquent reply did little to appease the haughty young princess who was not afraid of the stable boy. This was despite him being nearly a year her senior with a good hand-span or more of height on her. She was the princess after all and used to being obeyed by all but her older siblings, her father, and some of the more important nobility.

Caden the stable boy was used to doing as he was told. Son of Stable Master Jakob and he had been working alongside his father tending to the royal horses with the other hands since he was old enough to walk. He knew exactly who the princess was and knew that he should do as he was told. Despite this, he still hesitated since teaching a young woman to saddle a horse was not, as his father said, proper. Tending to horseflesh was man’s work, a woman may be gentle in nature but they were delicate in constitution and one had to be able to take a kick when dealing with powerful beasts like horses. The hesitancy was broken when she snapped at him again.

“Well!?!?”

That single word spoken with the imperious implication that she would have him flogged or worse should he disobey was enough to get him moving. As he quickly demonstrated the basics of attaching saddle and bridle to a horse to The Princess on her own mare, a gentle beast by the name of Snowflower that was as pure white as the name suggests. Few words were exchanged between the two as they worked together and one might wonder how no one took an interest in this. After all, one did not usually see a Princess working alongside a Stableboy.

The answer was simple, at present all of the hands were at the grand tournament in the fair grounds helping to tend the horses of the knights that had arrived for the event. Caden had been forced to stay behind due to an ill timed prank that had resulted in the chamberlain getting the contents of a chamber pot upended upon his head. While he was sore to miss the fair, Caden actually counted himself lucky since the Chamberlain had wanted to tan his hide bloody and only the intervention of his father, who despised the man, had saved him the Chamberlain’s worth. Meanwhile Princess Arianne had stayed behind for the same reason that she wished to know how to saddle a horse, she was planning to run away.

In the grand tradition of many young children who found themselves dissatisfied with the way their parents behaved, Arianne had made the decision to try and make it on her own. A decision that had been spurred when she’d overheard her mother and father discussing in private plans to arrange a marriage for her. The young girl had voracious appetite for stories both the ones she heard through the jongleurs, bards, and actors that visited the castle and surrounding town. As well as the ones she read in the varios books in her father’s library. At present she had a fascination with stories of adventure and romance, of handsome young knights rescuing beautiful young princess from curses, monsters, or other assorted dangers then falling in love and getting married. She’d decided that this was the course her life would take and an arranged marriage did not suit her at all.

The next portent of the events to come was when Princess Arianne realized that she may be slightly over her head. That was because Caden had decided to start babbling since he was so nervous and had shared random bits of information. Recent bandit attacks on the road to the nearest settlement from the castle, the dangers one could face in improperly saddling a horse, and other random bits of trivia that entered his head as they worked. So it was that the Princess decided to take some measures to protect herself.

“Saddle another horse, I’ll be back in a moment.”

So it was that Caden found himself secreting out of the castle with Princess Arianne. Well, secreting was a strong word The Princess merely informed the guards that she was going to the fair and was taking the stable boy to tend to her horse. The sergeant on duty was inclined to send an escort but the impetuous seven year old quite haughtily insisted she did not require an escort to head down to the fairgrounds, which could be easily seen from the castle. One does not typically argue with royalty so they were soon on the road, away not just from the castle but from the town itself.

“I think it is going to rain.”

This was muttered by Caden after they’d been riding for a few hours. The castle had long since vanished behind the horizon and they were traveling through a strand of fir trees. Conversation between the two had been sparse, The Princess staring resolutely forward as they went. Caden had made a few attempts to convince her to turn back but these had all been met with a potent glare and eventually he’d lapsed into sullen silence. This was broken as the sky opened up on top of the two.

Arianne was quickly soaked and seemed to not know what to do but Caden, who had traveled with his father a few times in the past, took action. He took Snowflower’s reigns and hauling the mare and the princess under the treeline. He soon has the two horses sheltered underneath the boughs of a large fir that did a passable job of keeping out the rain.

It wasn’t long before Arianne was shivering and so to was Caden. Fortunately, the princess had packed a travel bag while he’d been saddling his own horse. However, she didn’t know how to use the flint and tinder but Caden did. Soon the two are huddled around a small fire the princess wrapped in a wool blanket the cold slowly abating.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this… Caden.”

For a young stable boy having a princess, a member of the royal family, apologize to him was utterly unexpected. His acceptance of the apology, soon lead to an outpouring of pent up emotions from the young princess who had few confidents her own age. She told him of her fear of being married off to some older man. How she wanted to go on adventures, see exotic locations, and make true friends. The few other girls near her own age she suspected had been ordered to be nice to her.

“I’ll be your friend.”

Came Caden’s reply and she found that she believed the young stable boy was sincere in his offer. The two fell asleep on the side of the road draped under a wool blanket huddled close for warmth. The next day they returned to the castle Arianne having found a new resolution to put up with the future, mostly to save Caden’s life. She’d realized that if they’d been caught by the guards then he’d have been executed, however, since they manage to return while skirting the searching patrols calling for her she managed to frame the misadventure as being entirely her own idea with Caden being the one to convince her to return home.

The king was at first furious but once he calmed down he thanked Caden and even gave the boy the horse he’d supposedly used to go chasing down the princess. Over the years Arianne and Caden managed to maintain a friendship, albeit, mostly in secret. Primarily by her insisting he accompany her on rides outside of the castle. The two grew closer as Caden taught her about the various things he learned from the palace staff. Hunting and trapping from the game’s master, tending to the horses, working in the forge. Caden was young, strong, and surprisingly bright and his father often lent him out to assist in other parts of the castle. In exchange Arianne taught him how to read, how to do sums, and the basics of courtly manners.

Of course, as these things go the two began to develop a mutual attraction. Caden, when he wasn’t spending time with Arianne was kept doing the hard labour of the peasantry. As a castle servant he never had to deal with a shortage of food, which meant he grew tall and broad the work giving him a powerful body. Combined with his square jaw, straight nose, twinkling blue eyes, charmingly boyish features, and thick chestnut hair made him the object of attention for many of the maids and serving girls.

Arianne raised with the finery of nobility but with a wild streak that saw her riding riding horses, pulling pranks, and even doing a bit archery when she could get away with it had developed into a fine young woman. She had a bit of muscle that gave her full womanly curves a tightness that no man could resist observing. She’d developed more in the chest than she’d have liked, her full breasts often getting in the way if she did not wear a tight corset. Her features had always been dainty and with her porcelain freckled skin she almost looked like a doll if no for the fire in her wild green eyes that matched her unruly curled locks. Even with her being the third daughter she’d acquired more than her fair share of suitors as she reached womanhood.

Of course, love between a princess and a stable boy was utterly impossible. The two aware of their mutual feelings, in a surprising display of self awareness for teenagers, yet also too aware of their respective stations to act on them. Both wanting, yearning, and stealing as much time as they could with the other yet unable to do more than share small intimate moments. Then things came to a head when King Rodric announced that she was to be betrothed to the Duke of Varsil, an older man whose last wife had passed away. He was a good thirty years her senior and by all reports while he was a kindly man, he’d also… let himself go in his rapidly approaching dotage.

Arianne was, naturally, most distressed by this news. A level of distress that grew when she found that Caden had learned of it and fled the castle shortly after. This broke her heart until she checked a spot near the castle well where they occasionally left letters for each other, there she found a hastily scrawled note from Caden. On reading it’s contents the Princess was left with a powerful feeling of dread and worry on top of her broken heart.

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Now that we understand the bones of this tale we can begin it in earnest, the chapter one to our prologue so to speak. King Rodric ruled the Kingdom of Adalayus, nestled south of the Grey Sky Mountains, west of the Plains of Sun Fall, and stretching to the coasts of the Sleepless Sea which dominated the borders on both sides. It is the oldest and grandest of the kingdoms of men on the continent of Esyrium and the city that shares the countries name is also the spot where the first men landed on its shores. However, men were not the first sapient people to dwell on Esyrium. There is, of course, the dwarves who dwell under the Grey Sky’s in a kingdom of their own and the Elves in the great Green Sprawl Wilds, that dominate the Uzatin peninsula to the south. But even older still are the great spirits of nature who claim no singular abode and instead dwell within secret places hidden across the land.

Magic is quite the rarity in Adalayus, perhaps one in every ten thousand men are born with the gift. Of that number most barely have enough of a spark to do more than light a candle or banish a wart, good for being a simple village healer or wiseman but not much else. A bare handful though possess true power and can do far more, these men become Magi and regardless of their station at birth they are considered to be high nobility. Partly because their power is vital to maintaining various spells of convenience throughout the kingdom, such as running water in some of the more populated cities, as well as mage lights, and wards to repel vermin from food stores. They also added considerable military might when they took to the battlefield, an army with a squad of battle mages could crush a force thrice its size if the opposition had none.

There were a scant few ways for a commoner to gain noble status. Being born a mage was the easiest, of course, but if you weren’t born one then that left only a few options. The first was distinguishing oneself on the battlefield to such a degree that the crown would deign to knight you on merit. Unfortunately, this was extremely hard and only possible when the kingdom was at war and the last war against the neighboring kingdom of Girdin had ended when Caden had barely been old enough to walk. The third in final option was similar to the first.

If one has magic they were made nobility of a kind and while the easiest way to get magic was by being born with it, there was another way. It was just incredibly dangerous. But for a young man in love, the thought of living without the woman of his heart's desire was unbearable. It was worth risking everything he was mind, body, and soul if it meant that he could be with Arianne. Never mind that she’d likely prefer him alive an well even if they could not be together. So it was that Caden traveled from the castle for many miles, heading to a secret place that they’d read about in one of Arianne’s books. The home of one of the most powerful nature spirits, the original inhabitants of the land.

Throughout history a handful of men had stumbled upon, sought out, or encountered the spirits of nature. Their appearance was never consistent in the stories. Sometimes they were described as great serpents made of living water, other times as mighty stags wrought from living oak, still at other times they could be insect like figures the size of a man’s arm who flited to and throw, they even occasionally appeared in the shape of a humanoid of surpassing beauty. It seemed each spirit was unique or that they could freely change their shape.

Mortals encountering such beings often went a few different ways, typically the spirit would ignore the mortal if the meeting was by chance. Occasionally they might play a prank, impart some wisdom, or demand tribute. The spirits could command magic in a way that even the mightiest of the magi could only dream of so it was always best to go along with them in whatever they wanted. It was also possible that you would never be seen again, if you encountered one by accident though that was unconfirmed as other things in the woods could make a mortal vanish. What was confirmed was that never being seen again was a common fate for those who actively sought out the nature spirits to beg, barter, or demand a boon. Such as King Felsin of Valoria who had marched an entire army with a squad of battle mags into a canyon that was known to house the great spirit Vistrenyu. He’d wanted the spirit to end a draught that was driving his lands to starvation and he’d not been willing to take no for an answer. He got his wish, but neither he nor his army was ever seen again.

The rarest outcome that one could experience when encountering a nature spirit was the partnership. The Nature Spirits were known to be capricious and for some unknown reason these god like beings would occasionally chose a mortal champion. These champions were imbued with incredible magical power through a familiar that was a piece of the spirits itself that would travel with them and aid them in their destiny. Every mortal who had ever become a champion had gone down in history as either a legendary hero… or villain. While they weren’t quite as powerful as the nature spirits themselves they were still possessed of enough magical might to bring low a staggering number of mortal men and the spirits seemed to edge their champions on to pursue some agenda. Either of the spirit’s own design or the mortal’s.

The cave that Caden stood before was known to be the home of Cela’Nyx Mother of Starlight, one of the most renowned spirits. Known to take the form of a young woman in a dress made of the night sky as she traveled through the countryside, villages, towns, and even cities scattering seed of night blooming flowers that grew in moments. No one knew why, just that when she did so wherever she did experienced unrivaled prosperity for years. Other times though she would come in the form of an old crown in a shawl of darkness leaving rot in her wake, communities were known to vanish after that.

So far as anyone was aware she’d not once chosen a champion from the races of mortal men. Though it was possible she’d once deigned to bless and elf, dwarf, of other sapient race that had been on Esyrium before men walked her shores. If she had they did not share the story with humans. However, she was the only nature spirit that Caden knew the location of so this was where he’d gone. His goal was simple, if he wished to be with Arianne he had to be nobility and there was only one way he could make that happen before she was married off.

Caden considered himself a brave man, yet as he stared into the mouth of the cave he felt a shiver. It was nestled in the heart of an old growth forest, the meadow the cave rested in was filled with wildflowers. The great stone entryway almost seemed unnatural, like a doorway, and he might have thought it had been built by mortal hands if it was not all obviously made of unbroken stone. The darkness beyond the mouth of the cave was absolute, even with the sun shining nothing could be seen past the threshold where grass met stone.

Every instinct in his body screamed at him to run but an image of Arianne, married to a fat old man she didn’t love filled his mind. He imagined never seeing her smile, her beautiful face, being on the receiving end of her quick wit, hearing her laugh, hearing her whisper quietly in the darkness, and so many other little things, ever again. He found his resolve and the Stableboy, summons every scrap of his will power and steps into the dark.