Rant time: Rivalries

       Noble knights fight for their kingdoms to the death.  Each peasant, each nobleman, each king is a guard to kingdom and country.  However, for each guard, there is an enemy.  Whether it be orc, uruk-hai, or merely a rival man, there lurks a demon ready to destroy at each turn.  Sometimes, it is man who is the most cruel.
      You ready your weaponry and all your scrolls: today you shall return to the inner city--the castle.  You have become a patron of the castle, a loyal guardian.  You spend each weekday there and save the weekends for adventuring.  You saddle up, your Bard in tow, and ride your noble companion into the inner sanctum.  You lie far away from the kingdom, so far some say your land is that of another country.  But nay, you are loyal to your own!  You travel farther than any other knight to the inner city, all for sake of loyalty.  Your bard is even a member of the royal court!
       After passing through the smaller village and into the surrounding city, you pass the great bridge.  Alas, you are unawares of the tragedy that has shaken the royalty.  As you approach the stables, you notice a mark upon the walls.  "Odd," you think, "that was not there last morn!"  As you enter further, you see it: massive damage to the entrance!  You bard seems most distraught but you, brave adventurer, know exactly what this each.  Each year, your nation and your nearest rival, the Athenians, have an annual battle on a field far away.  You know this was all in mockery and nothing more than a petty rivalry.  You have traveled to their land and made many a good friend (including a falconer you once flirted with upon occasion.)
     You quickly enter the castle to discover with relief that the inside remains unharmed.  You ask around and all is well.  An architect gathers her crew and begins to try to combat the damage.  What's this?  You see a clue in the damage.  A small sign you know to mean it was in retaliation.  You discover a few rouges of your castle laid segue to the Athenian palace, where inside lay a statue of their holy deity.  The rogues had defaced the statue but caused no harm to the rest of the land and the kingdom cleaned their statue with ease.  Your kingdom however, must labor with the rebuilding of the walls and windows.
    As an adventurer, loyal more to the land than to the king, you are simply disappointed in both parties.  You wish to set off, far away yet again for an adventure far from a petty war.  You hear it is to reach a point tonight and rather than supporting your so called kingdom, you set off to serve land an all men rather than a false army filled with hubris and lies.

***

For those of you who didn't catch that, my school was tagged by our rival school with a ton of really vulgar graffiti with spray paint in retaliation for some kids from our school splashing their mascots statue with washible paint of our school colors.  One of the teachers rallied some students to paint over it but now our walls look like this.  I hate the rivalry and find it petty and dangerous as a lot of cars get keyed, people get beat up, and it's just in general dumb.