Post by aspenivan on Sept 8, 2014 2:30:18 GMT
Listen well, child, for fewer and fewer of our people remember the days of old. The glory of the Crowned Republic of Lucente on the Southern Shores, whose ports drew flags and sails from every corner of the world laden with jewels and spices and gold! The proud goblins of Edaral, who ruled the Middle Plains from atop their trusty wargs! The Firetooth Clans in the West, orcish seafarers beyond compare! And greatest of all, the far-reaching Empire of Eshara, center of learning and culture!
But it was Eshara's foolhardiness that awoke the Twin Beasts of the Far South, Survaek and Aedak. The False Empire and the False Religion. They were content to leave the North to its own devices until the Esharan Emperor, unsatisfied with his wealth and power, dared challenge them on the high seas. It was a short war: Their ships laid waste to our fleets with strange and terrifying fire, and when they began burning the coasts there was no choice but to surrender. Coin and castles changed hands, as in any war, and it looked as if things would quickly return to normal.
But no. The Emperor of Survaek declared himself Lord of the Seas and collected duties from our commerce. The Vaekir sent their so-called "missionaries," the Order of the Crimson Tome, to poison our minds. And Eshara, realizing what was happening, tried to redeem itself by expelling the invaders, but this was only fuel to their fire of conquest. Of course, the rest of us were fools as well, thinking we could gain from Eshara's fall like vultures upon a dying animal. Little did we know that the Southerners would turn their eyes on us next.
To think it was only twenty-four years ago that the True Emperor sat on his throne! But little remains of that time: They razed our great monuments, robbed our libraries, and looted our treasuries. And worst of all, they divided once-great republics and empires among dozens of squabbling little kings, each a sworn vassal of the False Emperor and a sworn follower of the False Religion. Demons! Animals!
But it was Eshara's foolhardiness that awoke the Twin Beasts of the Far South, Survaek and Aedak. The False Empire and the False Religion. They were content to leave the North to its own devices until the Esharan Emperor, unsatisfied with his wealth and power, dared challenge them on the high seas. It was a short war: Their ships laid waste to our fleets with strange and terrifying fire, and when they began burning the coasts there was no choice but to surrender. Coin and castles changed hands, as in any war, and it looked as if things would quickly return to normal.
But no. The Emperor of Survaek declared himself Lord of the Seas and collected duties from our commerce. The Vaekir sent their so-called "missionaries," the Order of the Crimson Tome, to poison our minds. And Eshara, realizing what was happening, tried to redeem itself by expelling the invaders, but this was only fuel to their fire of conquest. Of course, the rest of us were fools as well, thinking we could gain from Eshara's fall like vultures upon a dying animal. Little did we know that the Southerners would turn their eyes on us next.
To think it was only twenty-four years ago that the True Emperor sat on his throne! But little remains of that time: They razed our great monuments, robbed our libraries, and looted our treasuries. And worst of all, they divided once-great republics and empires among dozens of squabbling little kings, each a sworn vassal of the False Emperor and a sworn follower of the False Religion. Demons! Animals!
Child, do not let them weave tales of courage and noble glory. Listen closely, for few others will tell you of their true nature.
The Survaekom Emperor is no hero. He, like his father before him, hides behind great armies and fleets of trained dogs that breathe fire. But even such an army cannot hope to hold a land so vast as the North for longer than a few years. This is why he rules us not through the hordes of magistrates and bureaucrats employed in his homeland, but through our own kinfolk! With pledges of fealty and tribute, and with scholars teaching our supposed rulers the invaders' tongue, he turns our peoples against themselves.
But it is the Vaekir who is the more insidious of the two. He subjugates our very hearts with his Holy Books, and his tales of a loving god named Aed and a great Prophet-Emperor Raegar who ruled the Far South with justice. He tells us he is the Mouthpiece of Heaven, and even aids the Emperor by calling him Heaven's Sword. The Vaekir's armies are hidden behind shallow platitudes, priests and scholars of the so-called Crimson Tome backed by battalions of battle-mages and legions of fanatics.
We have our own gods, our own heaven! We have our own empires in need of rebirth! Child, lead our people and throw off the shackles of the Twin Beasts! Some will tell you it is brash, others will call you treasonous or heretical, and still others will try to entice you with the "benefits of Aedakom civilization." Renounce them and free our kin, even if you have to drag them!
Now is the time, child. The Emperor and the Vaekir have taken as much as they can together, and now squabble with one another over the limits of each other's authority. The tensions rise higher and higher, but little do they know that they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction.
--
Elven-Esharan chronicler Iris Basila, last words. Spoken to a wall while in the dungeon of New Byrnis, shortly before collapsing from fever.
Recorded with care and honesty by Scribe Kaelei Haan of the Imperial Bureaucracy, humble servant of His Excellency Vokoryn II, Lord of the Khaitis, King of Byrnia and Raethon, Chief of the Southern Tribes, Master of the North, and Emperor of the Grand Survaek Empire.
