| Birth of an Empire
Then came Eurustace.
Eurustace was born to a military commander who had served in the
Kingdom of Sorcery. It is thought his father must have taught him much
of the art of war, because legend says that Eurustace was an adept
soldier and general at an early age.
He set himself up as a prophet and a savior, insinuating even that he
was the long-awaited Herald of God, and men flocked to his banner. He
was charismatic and riveting. It is said that he could turn men’s hearts
with a word.
He gathered an army and took his first nation, renaming the capital
Durelius.
From there, his army moved outward, conquering all that stood before
him. Slowly, over the next fourteen years, he took more and more
countries, uniting them under his yoke.
The dragons of the Dragon Peaks tried to stop him. For years they
succeeded, destroying any troops that tried to cross a mountain range
into Belkanâth,
and it looked like he would have to settle for half the world.
Then he discovered the secret of using the Almian Great Roads. He
renamed them the Emperor’s Roads, and the Dragons were no longer an
obstacle. This brought Belkanâth
and the other corners of the known world into his reach.
With the aid of the Emperor’s Roads, Eurustace was unbeatable. He
captured every Human, Gnomish, and Halfling nation within a five years.
Next came the Elves. It took seven years to conquer the Elves. When
it was done, he turned his eye on his only foe, the Dwarves.
With the aid of the Emperor’s Roads, he entered the Dwarven kingdoms
behind their defenses. For millennia, the Emperor’s Roads had been
disused. Few in the Dwarven kingdoms even believed they still existed.
The Dwarven kingdoms fell in a single day.
With the lands conquered, Eurustace looked on his Empire in sorrow.
With regret, he set about ruling what he had taken.
His Empire in hand, Eurustace settled down in Durelius and made it
the capital of the first Empire. He named the Empire Vurtus and began
gathering his power.
He declared this the first year of rule, Ano Imperii. He declared all
years previous before the Emperor, Pre Imperetor.
The first job of any ruler is to produce an heir, and so Eurustace
took a wife from the daughters of one of the kings he’d conquered. In
the year 2, she gave birth to his first son, Stanterius.
The known world languished under the rule of Eurustace for twenty-one
years, until he was assassinated by unknown parties. His son, Stanterius,
took control of the Empire.
Stanterius was a good man. He honored his mother’s moral code and
took the responsibility of ruling the known world very seriously. He
even considered dissolving the Empire, but knew that this would only
result in chaos.
In the year 23, Stanterius implemented a comprehensive legal system.
He felt that his father’s method of judging by whim was unfair to his
people. Once he’d written the legal code, he had them taken to each
corner of the world and carried out by the judges there.
In the year 50, he created a Senate of elected officials to represent
the will of the people. He gave them ability to legislate laws for the
Empire, subject to Imperial veto. They were even granted the ability to
remove the Emperor with a unanimous vote of no confidence.
In the year 53, Stanterius died of a heart attack. He left his son
Gavinus to rule in his place.
Stanterius’ rule was considered a golden age for the Empire, full of
joy and promise. It showed that even the most horrible beginnings could
be redeemed through compassion and honor.
Gavinus decided there needed to be a series of mundane roads
throughout the Empire. Something for the citizens to use. And so he
began construction in the year 60.
Gavinus wanted these roads built and well maintained, but he knew
that if that was left solely in the hands of the government, this would
not be the case. So he implemented a series of tax breaks to any
landowner who maintained a section of road. This ensured the roads were
well maintained for centuries to come.
In 152 the roads project was finished. The Empire was now joined by a
network of roads.
In 161 the Emperor commissioned the Imperial University. The Imperial
University was to be the greatest institute of learning in the world. It
was finished in 170 and quickly gained renown.
To continue this atmosphere of learning and intellectual pursuit, the
Emperor commissioned the Academy of Warfare in 197. It was finished 14
years later. All officers in the Imperial Army began moving through the
Academy. The Academy strove for a level of excellence unmatched by any
other school of learning.
In 268 the Emperor commissioned the building of the Center of
Mysteries. This was designed to be the foremost school of magical study
in the world. Not long after it was completed 21 years later, it
succeeded.
In 385 the guilds of the Empire, uncertain about their power among
the entrenched might of the Emperor, held the first gathering of the
guilds. This was a conclave designed to discuss and protect the
interests of merchants and craftsmen throughout the Empire.
They practiced fixing prices and controlling trade
throughout the Empire. They found they could exert much power when they
acted together, even more than the guilds did on their own.
A year later, they met again. This time, the Emperor sent troops to
seize them. The troops surrounded their compound and refused to let
anyone enter or leave.
The Emperor entered the compound to meet with the merchants. He
expressed his displeasure at their attempts to take power away from his
throne and announced that he was going to fire the compound.
The merchants were desperate, but being the finest negotiators in the
world, they kept their heads. They brokered a deal with the Emperor, a
deal which granted the Emperor himself a percentage of all profits, a
deal that circumvented the normal channels of tax revenues and directly
profited the Emperor.
As time went on, the Emperor’s taxes became more and more excessive.
The people began to despise the Emperor and sought an end to taxation.
A man named Kanil organized the disenfranchised people of the Empire
and attempted to rise up. He marched against the Emperor, wearing a
crown of thorns to match the Emperor’s crown of gold.
For five years, Kanil took cities on the way to the capital. He
managed to raise more troops than the Emperor, and Kanil rampaged for
five years while the Imperial legions used the Emperor’s Roads to
outmaneuver him.
At the end of the five years, Kanil marched on Durelius. The
harassment of the Imperial legions had greatly reduced the number of
Kanil’s troops, and he was defeated. His head was placed over the gate
of Durelius and his limbs sent to the four corners of the world.
The Thorn Rebellion had ended.
But the sentiments had not. Emperor Trelius was slain by an assassin
the next year.
His son, Aulius, took the throne and began a holy war against
assassins. Every assassin in the Empire ran scared as the towns and
cities were scoured. Those suspected of being hired killers had their
flesh slowly carved away by torturers until they died.
In 472, the remaining assassins gathered together for survival. They
formed a secret guild of their own, the Assassins’ Guild. From there,
they worked as a single man, protecting each other from the Emperor’s
legions.
In 480, having solidified their holdings, the Assassins’ Guild
decided that it was time to announce their presence to the world.
On the last day of the year, an hour before midnight, they struck. In
every city throughout the Empire, they slew the lord. They then carved
the symbol of the Guild, a coiled garotte, on the forehead of every
victim.
The next morning, war was declared on the Assassins’ Guild.
For almost five years, the Emperor’s troops sought the Assassins’
Guild. Those assassins’ they found were tortured and killed.
Finally, they discovered the location of the headquarters of the
Assassins’ Guild. Troops were gathered and the headquarters razed.
The guild was thrown into chaos. Members scattered to the four winds.
It took a year for them to reunite.
In 486, the Assassins’ Guild struck back. Over the next five years
they began a reign of terror. Dozens of Emperors were slain. Some of
them sat of the throne less than an hour.
The Assassins’ Guild had infiltrated every level of the Imperial
Palace. By the end of five years, the Emperors were terrified to rule.
They could do nothing but cower and wait.
In 491, the assassins finally called an end to the war. It had been
years since the Emperor had called off the war on his end, and they
finally decided that enough was enough.
In 502, after the smoke had time to clear, the Assassins’ Guild sent
an agent to Emperor’s bedchamber in the middle of the night. Several
other meetings followed.
Later that year, the Emperor and the Assassins’ Guild signed a secret
pact. Known as the Killing Accord, this pact gave the Assassins’ Guild
legitimacy within the Empire.
In 565, the Thieves’ Guild approached the Emperor, emboldened by
rumors of the Killing Accord. After several meetings, the Stealing
Accord was signed, legitimizing the existence of the Guild.
This trend was continued in 581, when the Church of Bamon and various
Demon cults presented themselves to the Emperor. They swayed the Emperor
to their will, and that same year, the Emperor announced that all people
were free to follow any religion in the Empire. The evil religions were
now able to flourish.
This opening of religions led to an increased corruption of the other
churches, as traitors who secretly followed Bamon were protected by law
when revealed.
In 590, this trend continued to worsen. The Emperor declared the
worship of the now Archdemon Eurustace was publicly approved, not merely
allowed.
A day of holiday was declared and celebrations held throughout the
Empire. Statues were unveiled in the capital, all depicting Eurustace,
the Butcher.
In 605, the trend played out as the Emperor declared the worship of
Eurustace the official religion of the Empire. People could still
worship whom they wished in their free time, but services to Eurustace
were compulsory.
In the ensuing century, things became worse. The followers of
Eurustace grew in power. The freedoms of those who followed other
religions dwindled. The priesthood knew incredible prestige and power.
The common man knew despair.
In 747, the Emperor declared that in the footsteps of the Confessors,
Inquisitors of the Emperor had the right to delve into the minds of the
accused to discover the true natures of their crimes. These Abolishment
of Privacy Acts sang the death knell for the freedom on the people.
There was only one step further to fall.
In 771, the Emperor instituted the Crime of Thought Laws. This meant
that now, even the wish to commit a crime was considered illegal.
The only source of light in the dim final days of the Empire was the
fall of the Assassins’ Guild. In 803, the Thieves’ Guild and Assassins’
Guild went to war. Unfortunately for the Assassins’ Guild, they were not
told ahead of time.
In the dark of the night, the Assassins’ Guild was assaulted by the
Thieves’ Guild. Thieves outnumbered the assassins one-hundred to one,
and the assassins never stood a chance.
It is rumored the war had something to do with a woman. |
