In Slothjemia there has been a longstanding tradition of the prospective rulers of the realm taking up a quest or two before ascending the throne. Not every monarch has done this, of course, but most of them have. With the latest generation of the royal family there has been introduced a new choice for the princesses and princes; do ten years of military service or head out on a quest. Queen Reichsha adventured with a small retinue of followers (one of whom was the man that would end up marrying her) and she fully expected all of her children to do something similar.

The heir to the throne, Crown Princess Katherina, did in fact head out on a quest. However she was already married and in addition to her husband she took along five members of the Phantom Legion to back her up. This is something akin to going down to the corner market to buy a cabbage with SEAL Team Six as an escort. It would have been a surprise had she failed to do what she set out to do. So successful was she that nobody even really knows what the hell she managed to accomplish. Her husband jokes that for their honeymoon “we went camping.”

The next eldest child is Prince Kolder. He is a formidable warrior in his own right, but due to being mostly swamp orc in appearance becoming a paladin wasn’t an option. Instead he joined the army and became a chaplain. Fusing his clerical skills with his fierce fighting ability he made quite the name for himself. Kolder served for ten years in the 7th Army and worked his way up to the rank of Major before his time was up. He finds his older sister’s attempt at questing utterly laughable and will insist his own children either tackle a worthy cause at long odds or else join the military and get some experience bashing skulls about like a proper goon.

Archibald III and his twin sister Lersha are the third and fourth children of Queen Reichsha. To say they have differing approaches to life is the world’s greatest understatement. Archibald hit the ground running and has spent most of his life adventuring. Not with a small army backing him up, either. Due to his almost completely human appearance Archibald was able to become a true paladin and it has been in this profession that he has travelled far and near combatting evil whenever it raises it’s nasty head. He has fought vampires beneath the city of Slothenburg, fended off barbaric savages in the windswept plains to the northeast of Romillia, and battled evil djinn and werewolves in the wilds of Brendelasia. He takes along with him only his squire and a good friend who is a cleric, a throwback to how the first king of Slothjemia did his questing.

Princess Lersha, however, hasn’t ever seen the point in questing. Her twin brother sees this as somewhat ironic since Lersha chose instead to join the navy and serve aboard the Imperial Spelljammers in the far flung reaches of wildspace. “Which of us has travelled further?” He likes to ask her. Lersha has significant magical ability and as a result found herself tasked with being the helmsman on a number of vessels before reaching rank high enough to be awarded her own ship to command. Lersha managed to earn the rank of Commander before her ten years were up and now she serves as one of her father’s most influential naval advisors. She won a number of awards for heroism in action and even helped cement the alliance between Slothjemia and the Imperial Elven Navy that serves as a counterbalance to the more sinister forces that roam the heavens.

The youngest child of Queen Reichsha and the Herzgraf is Prince Bortimer, handily the biggest disappointment in terms of questing or military service. His idea of an adventure is going an entire day drinking only beer and having no whiskey on hand. His notion of military service is to know most of the words to the national anthem and loudly hum the rest. He did attempt to do his part. He joined the army and served for just over two years as a scout in three different armies before he was released from further obligations. Some people claim his father managed to arrange his dismissal, other suggest his mother herself ordered him released. A more likely explanation is that his commanding officers had all asked for Bortimer to be booted out and the Herzgraf and Queen found this agreeable.