Understanding Oroylus

The city of Coyn, Capitol of Orolyus

There are a few things you'll need to understand in order to comprehend the Empire of Oroylus. The first is its history. Founded by King Oroy during the Dark Ages when the Nightmare-King Böenthal ruled the entire East, it began as one of the hundreds of tiny kingdoms in the West, hemmed in by valleys. The ancient pagan ritual-site of Coyn was where Oroy was born, under a panoply of signs and monstrances indicating that he was destined for greatness. Astrologers from the Aragol spewed warnings which Böenthal the Eternal, having ruled his realm for longer than human memory, ignored.

Oroy was a capricious boy, and was crowned King of Coyn when he was but fourteen. Already, he had mastered certain arcane arts that he promised would lead his people to wealth undreamed of. When the Nightmare-King flexed his arm and swept the ancient cult-city of Ruyael under his dominion, King Oroy was given the chance he needed: the Endarch of Deyas settled his exile in Coyn. With the blessing of Deyas, father of the Old Gods, Oroy launched on a series of pacification wars, folding ever-greater swathes of territory into Coyn.

By the time he reached his thirtieth year, Böenthal the Nightmare-King had taken note of the prophesied child and begun to lay plans of war against him. When King Oroy turned thirty-one, the war began. The Endarch blessed his armies and with him marched a number of powerful sorcerers and wizards, all recruited to serve against Böenthal—some from within the Nightmare-King's own ranks.

After the Fall of the Nightmare-King and the sealing of Böenthal's Tomb, King Oroy went on to conquer all of the neighboring tribes and kingdoms, lifting the shadow of Aragol from the East and establishing the Empire of Oroylus.

High nobility of Oroylas

The Marchlands

The Endarch of Deyas

After the end of the Nightmare Wars and the Fall, the Endarch of Deyas, then Collac the Fourth, returned to Ruyael. A special relationship sprang up between the Endarchs and the Emperors, and Oroy was crowned Emperor of All Aragol and Coyn by Collac the Fourth shortly after the defeat of the Nightmare-King. This continued for two centuries before the creation of the Autocephalon.

The Autocephalon of Oroylus

Emperor Hyval, after a long and drawn-out power struggle with Endarch Mithis, appointed a new head of the Deyan temple who he declared free of the taint of politics in Ruyael. This position has become known as the Autocephalon, a sort of anti-Endarch dwelling within Oroylus.

The Sacred Order of the Golden Swan

This order of knights serves the emperor as his right hand. All its ranking members are, in fact, paladins who have sworn a special oath to the Autocephalon and the Emperor. Paladins of the Sacred Order may be any lawful alignment. Though they are very few in number, they serve as the empire's most powerful magistrates and enforcers.

The Imperial Collegeon

The Imperial Collegeon is a collection of magic users and war-wizards that serve the emperor directly. Much as the Sacred Order's knights enforce the emperor's will, the Collegeon disciplines rogue wizards for transgressing the law and serve in the emperor's armies against the empire's foes.

The Sycophanti

Rumored to exist as an official assassins arm of the empire, it is said that the sycophanti are the imperial spy network. Their existence has never been publicly confirmed or denied.

The Great Temples

Worship in Oroylus and the West is consolidated in a single unified but multi-threaded pagan worship; Deyas sits as the master of the pantheon, and every temple in which an idol to Deyas is housed may house any number of other, smaller cult idols. Saphis, the Goddess of Knowledge, has her cult-site in Coyn.