Valley Kingdoms: Sifekgae, General Information

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Light brown: Hills, Yellow-brown: regions of heavy cultivation

SIFEKGAE

Kingdom of the Throne
King Izeid II, b. 1168, r. 1189
Geography and General Information

Sifekgae is divided into a number of small lordships, most no larger than 10 miles by 10 miles or so. These lordships are the descendants of the territories controlled by the former warbands of shipfolk that settled the coastline. The kingdom is also mentally divisible into several major regions; the first is Shalpirith, the royal demesne, ruled from Vabaten by the aging King Izeid the Second. Other regions include the Cirran Peninsula, Valley Country, the Pirian Plains, the Tamadar Bay, the Western Highland, the Great Araden Wood, the Vale of Piris, the Cheset Fen, the Ruban Highlands, the Northern Marches, and the Nithis March, also called the Nithis Narrows. Each of these areas will be addressed in turn.

Ethnically, Sifekgae has pockets of wandering folk, particularly among the hilly regions. These are former natives of the area who were never fully settled by the Sifik empire and, like the wandering folk of the other kingdoms of the valley, share a unique but interconnected ethnic identity. They call themselves the Rarun, which in their tongue means "they who walk." They are to be contrasted with the seafolk who live on boats and rivers -- there are few of these in Sifekgae, as the new lords from the ships drove most of them out after their invasions.

Fethas, who take their name from the mythical sea-monster forebearer of Izeid I, comprise the bulk of people in Sifekgae, no matter their ancestral heritage. The only other recognizable kingroup from before the landing of the Fethas are the Great Sifiks, who retain power in some of the marchlands. These are nobles who trace their heritage back to Sifhem itself, and prefer to retain old Sifik customs. The Great Sifiks stand in sharp contrast to the Fethas, posturing themselves as heritors of an older, more mighty, and more noble tradition. However, in recent generations, Great Sifiks have been dying out -- not that they have been having less children, but those heritors of the Great Sifiks have more and more been identifying as Fethain and attending the king's royal court.

Fethain Culture.

The Fethas are essentially a warrior culture, like most of the Valley. They have inherited a healthy respect for wizards, and as such permit the sages who claim descent from the High Wizards of Sifhem to have prominent places at court. Fethas nobles dress in bright colors, made from expensive dyes, and wear knee-length tunics with tight hosen. Breeches are considered barbaric (though they themselves wore breeches when they first game to ruined Sifhem), and longer dress is considered effete.

Unlike the other Valley cultures, the Fethas have no long-standing history of ruling queens. As such, though women can hold property and title, they are much more constrained in Sifekgae than in other realms of the Valley.

Fethas culture focuses on martial prowess and loyalty, both in inter-personal relationships and political ones.

Great Sifik Culture.

Those who still call themselves Great Sifiks can be immediately singled out by their dress. Great Sifik nobles tend to wear long ankle-length tunics; they are often mocked for their "retiring" style, and they are generally taught to read, a rarity in Fethas culture. They preserve an ancient respect for the Empresses of Othan, and thus are unlike the Fethas in that women have full rights in Sifik law. Generally, Sifik written law only prevails in the Northern Marches.

Wanderer Culture.

Wanderers are not quite as mobile as they sound. They live in small, decentralized communities, with elders acting as their leaders, rather than lords. The kings of Sifekgae have been forced to recognize this way of life as legitimate, much to their cost. Wanderer townships are mostly concentrated in the Valley Country. They have very little social hierarchy, although most Wanderers are fanatically devoted Sivans and will follow the word of a Sivan priest before they will listen to the word of a king.

Wanderers are also a storytelling culture. While most of the Valley Kingdoms have a strong tradition of oral storytelling, the Wanderers in particular host storytelling competitions at their village centers in the summer, and their high poets are revered above all other members of their society. Indeed, Wanderers are far less martial than Fethas or even Great Sifiks.

THE KINGDOM

Sifekgae is a feudal kingdom, strongly reliant on the individual loyalty of its lords to their king. Izeid is well-loved by most of his people, and is considered a fair and upright overlord. The laws of the kingdom are primarily inherited from old Sifhem, and King Izeid maintains a whole chancery of notaries to digest and distribute it. Literacy has increased to be somewhat more common under King Izeid, as he often requires written replies to his own letters and commands.

Court is held at Vabaten. No longer do the kings of Sifekgae maintain their courts at the various coastal strongholds, but rather every lord is required to attend the General Thivatin which is held twice a year. The General Thivatin is a gathering also of the mightiest interests in Vabaten, and serves as a ratifying body for the king's decrees.

Justice is done according to Sifik law, and King Izeid has trained a whole corpus of magistrates. These magistrates are also his personal retainers, and are dispatched to each lord in turn to do the king's justice. There are usually twenty such knights at any given time, known as the Knights-Justice. While the transgression of certain crimes are left to the local thivatin assemblies, the most grievous may only be presented to a Knight-Justice and the court he convenes in the locality.  This courts have come to be known as Kingscourts.

However, Sifekgae is riven with conflicts of the law, as the conqueror Fethas never had a written law, and several generations have gone by with the locals adhering to the old Law of the Chiefs. Thus, while a strong promulgation of Sifik law does exist, judgments are also made pursuant to local common law as gleaned by the Knights-Justice from elders of the community, or from a vote by the local thivatin assembly.

Generally, the geography of the kingdom is divided into low population inland areas and the remains of the great old Sifik cities on the coasts. Sifekgae is much less well-populated than Sifhem was, and most of the old imperial roads have fallen into very bad repair. The only cities that remain even shadows of their former selves are Vabaten and Medolin.

THE HIGH WIZARDS

Like their more powerful rivals at Medenleb, the High Wizards still stage a yearly pilgrimage to the Black Stone for their apprentices. However, they are much reduced since the days of Sifhem. In the modern era, the High Wizards are a secretive, withdrawn, and much-maligned sect. Other kingdoms see them as serpents, coiled to strike at the heart of Ya, while King Izeid has made good use of them. Many lords of Sifekgae, indeed, pay the Wizardry Tax to the throne for permission to keep their own pet wizards near.

None now know the power that remains in the High Wizards, but it does not do to test them. They drink strange concoctions and are always brewing madness out of herbs in their bubbling retorts. They rarely work magic, and indeed seem to do anything they can to avoid it, but rumors say that they still have some quite powerful spellcraft, and where they ever moved to, they could change the tides of a battle, a war, or of fate itself.

The Isle of Shalpirith

Shalpirith is a royal demesne, administrated entirely by the royal household of King Izeid and his knights. Royal wardens control the land, much of which is given over to farming to support the court. The island is hilly, filled with winding valleys and ravines, and those are occupied by a great many shepherds and drovers.

Though the court is fed by Shalpirith, the Royal City of Vabaten must import food from the continent. The only remaining road on Shalpirith is the grain highway that crosses the Darish Straits, over the monumental ancient Sifik bridge that spans the water.

The last High Wizards also have their home and central meeting place on Shalpirith, hidden somewhere in the royal hunting grounds, which have become known as the Wood of the High Wizards for that very reason. These are an old and hoary preserve, dominated by massive trees that were old when Sifhem was young. The forest has always been protected by emperors, kings, and potentates, and remains so to this day.

The Cirran Peninsula

On the far side of the Darish Strait stands the old city of Cirr. Like most of the coastal Sifik cities, it was raided nearly continuously in the period leading up to the founding of Sifekgae. The Lord of Cirr is a powerful person in the peninsula, but only one of four lords in the region. The peninsula is one of the few regions that, like Medolin, remains under heavy cultivation by farmers.

Cirr has a thriving market, but little else. It is a collection of about 8,000 people in the old city center. Stone ruins surround the city proper, and are often used by the locals as quarries. The peninsula proper is divided more or less into a cultivated region on the eastern side and a forested region on the west. It's most powerful lord, Crioch, is only slightly more influential than Lord Malgos of Etriel, who commands the loyalty of all the farmlands north of the Cirran Wood.

Because of its position near the Valley Country, there are a fair number of raids down into Cirr by bandits and rogue Wanderers. For this reason, most Cirrans have a strong dislike for the Wandering Folk, and they suffer a fair amount of discrimination in the townships of Cirr.

Lords

Crioch, Lord of Cirr

Dasmas, Lord of Dariesh

Tirovin, Lord of Calmost

Malgos, Lord of Etriel

Valley Country

Valley Country is an extremely difficult to pass region; it has no roads or clear trails, and is shot through with deep gullies and high hilltops. These range from lightly wooded to very heavily so, mostly with pine, juniper, and and northern hardy oak. Bronze- and Ironwood is also found in great quantities in the Valley Country.

The region is ruled by five Great Sifik lords and two Fethain lords. There are long stretches belonging to the Wandering Folk and their decentralized towns. These communities are mostly appointed Royal Wardens to administer them and ensure that their lord treats them well. There are no major cities in the Valley Country, and it is haunted by bandits and outlaws.

Lords

Deniot, Lord of Malmis (Great Sifik)

Coros, Lord of Temm (Great Sifik)

Lemogar, Lord of Filith (Great Sifik)

Tuvor, Lord of Sem (Fethain)

Maldohere, Lord of Prothas (Great Sifik)

Eldogar, Lord of Maas (Great Sifik)

Thudein, Lord of Jorat (Fethain)

Pirian Plains

The Pirian Plains provide food for much of the rest of the realm. This is the site of Medolin, the largest city outside Vabaten, and the location of the yearly Medolin Fair. Two great lowlands are interrupted only by the Middling Hills between them, and the thirteen lords of Pirian gather every year for the Fair at Medolin, each contributing to the draw of the great fair.

The Pirian townships have mostly preserved their shapes from the Sifik period. These small villages and towns are grouped together in manors of 3-5 villages under the authority of a local knight (also, confusingly, called a Lord's Warden). Each lord, ruling over a demesne some 250-400 square miles, controls many of these manors, and owes service of his knights to the crown (the so-called knight's fee, 40 days of unpaid military service).

Medolin is a large walled city, well-known for its linen and cotton industry. Medolin cloth is shipped all over the Valley. It also plays host to the Merchant's Courts, where fair business and inter-kingdom laws are decided during the celebration of the fair.

Lords

Savalis, Lord of Medolin

Tria, Lady of Alcai

Venir, Lord of Morred

Thonis, Lord of Aldir

Mavos, Lord of Tiriot

Thirik, Lord of Malan

Thraya, Lady of Timort

Amirath, Lord of Arolin

Korath, Lord of Avisus

Mira, Lady of Toravin

Fora, Lady of Stavin

Nonir, Lord of Ariot

Valin, Lord of Halled

Tamadar Bay

A region that focuses around the old city of Tamadar, which is now little more than a glorified fishing village on the shores of the bay, this region also encompasses the old cities of Erano and Avomel. Of the three (known as the Three Cities in Sifekgae), Avomel retains the most of its old glories. Ancient Sifik monuments still stand there, and the city actually retains its ruling thivatin, one of the few Sifekgae cities to be ruled by an elderfolk council instead of by a lord.

This region has poor soil and its people tend to be fishers or herdsmen. Numerous small sandy islands off the coast provide for good oyster hunting ground. Of course, there are many coastal and even inland farming villages, clinging to the earth. Scratch-ploughs predominate here.

Western Highland

The Western Highland is another wild region, taken over with grazing and Wanderers. It is nearly uncontrolled, with only a handful of fortified manors and a few castles amongst its wild uplands. It is well-known for its herbs and lavender.

Great Araden Wood
This heavily wooded area is culturally focused around the Royal City of Araden, which is ruled by its own thivatin, much like Avomel. The city itself holds a franchise to a huge territory, the size of a lord's demesne, and commands taxes like a lord. It is the only city in all of Sifekgae that trades with the inhumans of the lands beyond the sea, and one of the few seaports in the Valley open to folk from beyond the mountains.

The wood itself is a peaceful place, having been well-groomed and well-settled in the Sifik times. Portions of it are reserved for royal hunting, and Araden keeps the rest clear of bandits and outlaws with their legendary Araden Guard, who are drawn from the wealthy children of the city and trained as soldiers.

Vale of Piris

Another forested region, this one wild and uncontrolled. Like the Marches, the Vale of Piris lies at the very frontier of Sifekgae. It is a deep wood, hard to travel, and rumored to be filled with spirits. They say the gods are strong in the Pirinvale, and that they still scrutinize the world there and act within it. It is also rumored to be wrapped in sorcery, and to hide renegade wizards who seek refuge from the High Order.

The Lords of Piris are a strange lot, but brave. They hunt bear and boar recreationally, and for that reason often think of themselves as the natural enemies of Nithisgae, whose heraldic sign is a bear. They are eager warriors, and excel in the tournaments when they are held throughout the kingdom.

Cheset Fen

A religious refuge, where Yasivan priests hid during the sea invasions, Cheset Fen is known for its Sivan temples. On a lonesome mound in the center of the swamps there stands Isma's Hideaway, a temple renowned for its beauty, stained glass, tapestries, and vast library. Though outlaws also lurk in the fens, the fen lords do their best to root them out.

In the northern fenland, the ruins of an old Othan city can be seen, slowly sinking into the swamp, some miles downstream from an ancient and cracked Othan dam.

Ruban Highlands and Northern Marches

Marcher lords rule these lands. Both regions are rough hill country. The Northern Marches play host to many Wanderers, while the Ruban highlands see almost none. Both are heavily militarized, although the castles in the Highlands are much larger and tend to be self-sufficient.

The demesnes in these realms are both parceled out to the most loyal knights and lords of the realm, as they border the inhuman lands of the Outside and protect not only Sifekgae, but the entire Valley. The Unified Temple sends money and aid to the marches as well, and pilgrim-mercenaries known as Flails, who serve in the castles and fortresses at the borders and help fight inhuman incursions into the Valley.

Nithis March and Nithis Narrows

Both these regions focus around the Lithas Castle, the linchpin of Sifekgae's defenses against Nithisgae. These regions are caught between the hills, the mountains, and the sea, making them narrow but important. Bones litter the fields of the Narrows and are still tilled up at the Field of Sighing where the great armies of King Azar's were finally halted.

Valley Kingdoms: Successor States -- Sifekgae, History

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SIFEKGAE

Kingdom of the Throne
History

Royal Shield of Sifekgae

The Sifik Empire ended more or less officially in 971 F.V. with the Time of the False Emperors and the death of Empress Calia in the Battle of Arsenn. In the years thereafter, Sifhem spun apart and devolved between the control of powerful nobles or mighty wizards. A powerful religious backlash, however, prevented too many wizards from taking control; wizardry was seen, in most of the provinces, as being the mark of the renegade emperors. The election of Archpriest Arwas in 967 F.V. coincided with the issuance of a decretal marked Anathema of the Emperors. This decree set official Sivan doctrine on sorcery for a century: wizards were marked as the foes of Ya, and to have congress with one was to risk one's own humanity. Though the harsh effects of this decretal were to mellow over the following centuries, it set the stage to deprive mages across the Valley from their power (save, of course, in Medenleb). There were a handful of sorcerer-kings in the early period, but as the Temple of Yasivan gained more and more power with the crumbling of the states wizards found themselves unable or unwant to rule.

In 1015, a new wave of shipfolk swept into the Valley, and with them a series of attacks on old Daredin. By 1035-7, Daredin was abandoned by the nobility and the wizards who remained there. The Litha Palace stood empty, and the throne of Sifhem was transported to the much older city of Vabaten. This ancient Othan-founded city had a functioning council as it had under the Sifik Empire. The conquerors of Daredin and the shores of Sifhem, the new raiding-shipfolk, made their way to Vabaten for legitimacy.

This union of Vaben history and the might of the ship-folk gave the first King of Sifekgae, Izeid, a power-base on which to work. By promising to elevate the old families of Vabaten above Dariden and the other coastal cities (many of which were partly destroyed or looted by this time), King Izeid won over the preening aristocracy of Vabaten. He moved his vast treasure-hoard to Shalpirith and established his dynasty upon that isle. Izeid was crowned King of Vabaten, Shalpirith, and the Coasts in 1090. By the end of 1113 his son, King Nayash, had made inroads into most of the old Throne Provinces of Sifhem.

The leaders of Sifekgae began with King Izeid, though in his dead it was merely called the Kingdom of Shalpirith.

King Izeid, r. 1083–1109. Built the Kingdom of Shalpirith and extended it to the old coastal cities. Concentrated plunder in Vabaten and made it his capital. Married Uran of Medolin to secure the allegiance of the inland nobility.

King Nayash, r. 1109–1162. Second son of King Izeid. Disinherited his elder brother by plying his father with constant attention. Known as the Scourge of Sifekgae, united the kingdom and destroyed all the rebel lords in the countryside who thought of themselves as Imperial Sifik.

King Azar, r. 1162–1189. The Conqueror; brought new territories into Sifekgae and had his court minstrels and writers compose fifty ballads honoring his father and grandfather. Died childless, passing the throne to his sister-son, Izeid II.

King Izeid II, r. 1189-current. The current King of Sifekgae. 42 years old, having been born in 1168. Nearing the end of his days, but known as a scholar-king who has increased the influence of his court, summoned back a number of lackey-wizards to his side to serve as his courtiers, and made peace with the Archpriest of Yasivan, publicly doing penance for the misdeeds of his fathers.

Modern Sifekgae, the Throne Kingdom, is highly reliant on the settled descendants of those reavers, shipfolk, and raiders who came with Izeid and his grandfather Armaud to plunder the fallen reaches of Sifhem. These men and women have been installed as lordly families, overseeing estates of their own. Most of the great cities of old Sifhem have been completely depopulated or destroyed. The wealth of their vaults has been transferred to flourishing Vabaten, where the old Sifik nobility claim ancestry from Othan itself.

Sifekgae is the most powerful and warlike of the Kingdoms of the Valley, and though its satellite cities are still recovering from the plunder of three generations past, it is a kingdom growing in wealth and trade as well. The crowned basilisk has been adopted by the royal house, symbolizing the might of Izeid I and II, as well as the link to the Sifik past. Now that the old raiding nobility are firmly ensconced and those Imperial Sifik lords of old have come to identify themselves as Sifekgae instead of Sifhemish, King Izeid II has felt it useful to recall the glories of Sifhem as a culture -- indeed, it gives him a monopoly on wizardry and hegemonic rhetoric all over the Valley.

Valley Kingdoms: Empire of the Throne, the Fall

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SIFHEM

The Empire of the Throne
The Fall

Eastern tadunum armies at the Gates of Hrum

The Sifik Emperors expanded the influence of Sifhem beyond the mountains, colonizing the edge of the Eastern Steppe with roads, garrisons, etc. Imperial soldiery and civil servants stationed in what became known as the Hrumgae (the Lands Beyond the Hrum) were never required to serve for more than five years outside the Valley, lest they lose their connection to Yasivan. Sivanic temples were founded on the steppe, but the status of these extra-territorial temples was constantly under dispute at Medenva. This would eventually lead to the War of the Fire, which would encompass most of the empire in its bloodshed.

Archpriest Ruwan objected to the construction of temples for the Hrumgae soldiery under Emperor Varungath. He promulgated an edict stating that any priests assigned to those temples were themselves acting against the will of Ya. When the temples stood empty, and the fires unlit, there were riots in the Hrumgae. The soldiers demanded priests be sent to them to absolve them of their inhumanity.

Ruwan refused. The Emperor summoned him to Daredin and held him hostage in the Litha Palace, and contemplated bringing charges against him for treason. Instead, he forced Ruwan to capitulate and write instructions to assign priests to the Hrumgae temples, as well as appointing a High Divine to the Outremar. Immediately upon being released from the Litha Palace, Ruwan recanted the so-called Palace Writings. He issued countermanding orders, but by then the High Divine Ulcas was already appointed and residing in the Hrumgae.

Between the High Divine and the Archpriest, a fully-blown praxic dispute was underway. The Emperor obviously backed the High Divine of the Hrumgae. However, the nobility found in Archpriest a way to strike at the power of the Wizards, and the Great Thivatin. Outside of this purely pragmatic consideration, there was also deep religious belief motivating the resistance to the High Divine. Although the dispute did not become violent during Ruwan's lifetime, his successor was a much younger man -- the Archpriest Thibru.

Thibru immediately pronounced a declaration of anathema on Emperor Varungath. The Sifik Emperor replied predictably: he sent for Thibru to join him at the Litha Palace for a temple synod. Thibru went, but he did not go alone. He came with fifty chosen temple-knights and a retinue of thousands of faithful. When he met with the Emperor, the palace was surrounded by chanting, singing, bell-ringing penitents in white. Thibru sat before the Sifik Throne and smirked at the emperor, informing him that he was more than willing to go to his death for the Faith of the Fire.

The emperor obliged. He arrested Thibru and all his knights and had them executed moments later on the steps of the palace. The crowd erupted, predictably attacking the palace. The Sifik Emperor unleashed a wave of destructive magic against his own people, and open war was upon the empire. The War of the Fire lasted for three generations, on and off, and was only finally extinguished with the arrival of the Uvarun -- the people of the East.

Pressure on the Hrumgae settlements grew. Battles and engagements outside the Valley grew in number. The Archpriest Krulef ended the War of the Fire with a theological compromise and temple synod. The settlement was too late. The Empress Avatha died at the Gates of Hrum defending the empire from the Easterners. This began the Time of the False Emperors... which ended with the collapse of the empire.

Valley Kingdoms: The Empire of the Throne, Middle Period

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SIFHEM

The Empire of the Throne
The Middle Period

The reign of Emperor Katha the Scholar ended in the year 97 F.V. This traditionally begins what was known as the Middle Period of the Sifik Empire. The central imperial period was typified by a stable succession of power from emperor to emperor. The Sifik Emperors generally groomed their own replacements and presented them before the Thivatin assembly in Daredin. Each of the major cities of Sifhem was granted its own self-governing council. These small thivatin were regional centers of administration, each with its own code of laws that applied to its hinterlands. This was known as the Administration of Two Lords, meaning the Sifik Emperor (usually as embodied by his agents, the High Wizards of Shalpirith) and the local thivatin.

Local nobility were also semi-independent, although they were knit together to the general imperial culture by means of a growing corpus of Sifik literature and learning. Of course, as the middle period went on, the nobles began to dominate the regional thivatin. Strict laws issued from the Litha Palace, however, prevented them from ever obtaining too much influence in the Great Thivatin.

The Middle Period saw a number of wars in the west and south of the Sea of Yer, as Sifhem had yet to integrate the small states in those regions. The descendants of Othan were particularly fierce in their bids for independence, to the point where, though Dumyana had long ago been abandoned, the great city of Argot claimed to be host to a series of new Othan Queens, who formed the core of a Southern Alliance against Sifhem.

While the Southern Alliance resisted Sifik occupation for centuries, it was nowhere near as great an existential threat as the Medenleb. In the time since Medenleb's dominance of the Seas of Yer and Feb, the Great Library had become the primary political organ of the city. Ruled by academic wizards, it presented a directly challenge to Sifhem's type of authority—the Sifik Emperor claimed to be the premier wizard in the Valley, with his lieutenants the High Wizards as the only legitimate form of magical organization. Indeed, in each territory Sifhem conquered, wizards were taken in tribute and, under several of the more warlike emperors, were even tied to powerful standing stones where their magic was nullified by the presence of Yasivan and subsequently executed as a blood-tax from conquered nations.

Middle Period Sifhem also established a much more comprehensive road system in the interior regions. The so-called Throne Provinces became highly developed, with an extensive trade network overseen by imperial civil servants. The crowning achievement of this time was undoubtedly the construction of the Darish Bridge, across the strait separating Shalpirith from the Throne Provinces. This massive undertaking was a bridge of native Shalpirith stone with soaring arches high enough to permit the massive barges and roundbellied ships that plied the waters there. Towering several hundred feet high and crossing nearly ten miles of deep water, the architect of the bridge, the wizard Sawe, was so adored that she was made Empress later in her life.

Of course, one of the important things to note about Middle Sifhem was its extensive use of slaves. Several conquests and expeditions were conducted beyond the Valley. These extra-valley people, as part of the Cult of Ya's theology, were then and have ever since been seen as something other than human. To have the quality of being human (dunum in Middle Sifik) is to be connected to Yasivan. Both the Sifik Emperor at the very top of the hierarchy and Sifik slaves captured in war, at the very bottom, were thought to lack this essential trait or quality -- slaves might develop dunum through living in the Valley and slowly becoming connected to Ya, but the Sifik Emperor was something else altogether: as a wizard, he had purposefully severed the link to Ya that bestows dunum on the Valley-folk.

As the Middle Period came to a close, Sifhem conquered the holdout kingdoms in the south and west, save for the vassal-states of Medenleb and the Wizard's City herself. These autonomous regions would never be conquered by any Sifik Emperor.

Unlike most of the states of the Valley, Sifhem suffered only a handful of major civil conflicts during its heyday. These came in the form both of a few civil wars between imperial claimants, but also revolts from below -- both entire cities, provincial governors, and even in some cases, castes of nobles in some district of the Empire revolted during this period. Notably, however, none of these revolts ever seriously threatened the unity of the Empire, mostly because of the lack of external threats large enough to seriously challenge Sifhem.

All this would change in the Late Period, when the tadunum or Inhumans beyond the Valley began to make inroads against the power of empire and, eventually, through pressure on its borders, caused it to collapse.

Valley Kingdoms: The Empire of the Throne, Founding

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SIFHEM

The Empire of the Throne
The Founding

Pictured: Major roads and cities of Sifhem

Sifhem, the Empire of the Throne, was a great Valley-spanning empire that lasted for nearly one thousand years. The core of the empire was founded on the Isle of Shalpirith between the former Othan city of Vabaten and the newer, more northern city of Dariden.

In its early period, the Kingdom of Shalpirith conquered the neighboring island of Engen. King Tuvis the Magician led the conquest, overthrowing Engen's native armies and wizards and ending the independent Kingdom of Engen under Medenva. In what would become known as the First Year of the Faith (Fi Vosye, F.V.), King Tuvis made the archpriest of Medenva ruler over all the temples in Shalpirith and Engen both, beginning the War of the Cults, also called the Unification.

Under Archpriest Usar, brother to King Tuvis who was acclaimed after the conquest, Shalpirith began a war that spread through the northern kingdoms under the banner of Unification. Soon, the great leaders of the cults met Archpriest Usar and King Tuvis on the field in Pirian. This battle, known as the Field of the Faithless, decided the future of the Valley Kingdoms forever: the Lucklord of Vihu, the Twin Priests of Ram, and the Hammer of Iva were all slain there. The Sea Folk of Febass turned on their own allies, and submitted themselves to Usar at the climactic moment of the fight, when all seemed lost for Tuvis, who was alone with his honor-guard and surrounded on a hilltop.

The Febassan treachery, however, reversed the tide: the cults were swept into the sea. King Tuvis perished from an infected spear-wound several days later. On his deathbed, he bade his closest friends and allies, the High Wizards of Shalpirith, to choose a new leader. They did: the young sorcerer Ethas was elected king.

Thus, in the same battle that established the supremacy of Dariden over the north, so also was the Unification nearly completed, and the first Emperor of Sifhem elected. Ethas enlarged the Dariden army and provided for it to be purged of slaves and freedmen, to be a standing force supported by slave farms on Shalpirith, and to occupy the north. The remainder of his reign was plagued with rebellions and wars as a result of the Unification.

Ethas also began the Litha Palace, which to this day houses the Sorcerer's Throne upon which the emperors of Sifhem sat. The seat was the very first construction to be completed: a huge throne carved from solid purple Shalpiran stone, gilt and plated with gold and silver, set with jewels, and cut to resemble a massive tongue of flame supported by crouching basilisks. The throne became the icon of the Empire's conquest, and from every conquered land there were new gemstones and new tribute added to it.

The High Wizards became the great imperial electors at Ethas' decree. They served as a state council, generals, and masters of every aspect of the empire. Gainsaying them was impossible and even the old nobility struggled to keep them in check.

Ethas' successor, Katha the Studious, was elected on the belief he would make the High Wizards even more powerful. However, once he was reigning in the Throne of Sifhem, he undermined the authority of the High Wizards in favor of the nobility, attempting to balance the two forces in the empire before they tore each other apart. Thus, the High Wizards under Katha lost their immunity to the laws and their right to sit as judges and the nobility began to staff the high positions of the empire again as functionaries.

Selection of the Emperor devolved neither to a committee of imperial notables nor to the High Wizards, but to the people of Dariden themselves; while Katha provided that the Sifik Emperor had to be a sorcerer (and thus was very likely to be selected from the ranks of the High Wizards themselves), the sorcerer who would rule them was given to the legislative assembly of Dariden, which was known as the Tribe.

Thus, Katha established the three pillars of the Empire: the wizards, the nobles, and the common folk. This was a tripartite division that would inform imperial politics for centuries, even as the Tribe became the Thivatin, that is literally Those Who Are Called, a governing body that assisted in the administration of the entire empire, and thus was drawn from each of the Empire's major cities.

Valley Kingdoms: The Summer and Autumn Period

Wondering what the hell is going on with these blog posts? Well, head on over to this here post to get a general feeling for the Valley Kingdoms. If you'd like to read the other Valley Kingdoms pages, you can click the button up top or just follow this link to the index.

We have examined the First Great Kingdom of Othan already, but the period that followed the collapse of that southern empire in or around 687 F.A. when the Last Empress destroyed portions of Old Dumyana and killed her chief advisors and generals, along with herself. Thus, Valley scholars have usually begun the "Summer and Autumn Period" in the winter of the year 687.

The Summer and Autumn period ended with the Unification of the Faiths by The Emperor of Sifum, in what is commonly referred to as the year 1 F.V. (Fi Vosye, Year of the Faith), which was also the year 2041 F.A.

Obviously, during the Summer and Autumn period, power shifted multiples times throughout the valley. The most important kingdoms and states are known by Valley scholars, but many of the more obscure intermediary kingdoms have long since been forgotten, save by those who live in the geographic region where the kingdom was found.

The Ascendency of Medenleb, 745—908 F.A.
Immediately after the fall of Othan, its smaller city-colonies grew into their own. By 745, the mightiest of these mercantile centers was Medenleb, who deified Empress Leb I as their protrectrix. The people of Medenleb served an oligarchic plutocracy that nevertheless managed to conquer most of the northern Sea of Yer and subject even far-flung regions of the valley to its economic control.

The golden medem became the standard currency in the Valley for generations, supplemented by the silver lebem and the electrum vivem. These coins can still be found today, in old hoards or ancient crypts of the Medenlebam people. They are extremely valuable, and sometimes worn as good luck charms from the ancient days of the Valley.

Another feature of Medenleb was its famed library of sorcery. It was founded by the sorceress Lilatha (which means mother in the Medenleb dialect) who brought her collection of books out of Dumyana after the Fall. It became a major political institution, operating as a priesthood of Leb, a sort of academy, and a legislative body all at once.

For all its influence, Medenleb was a sea-faring power, and never penetrated deeply into the landlocked regions. It encouraged the building of local ports, but not of road networks or development of hinterlands.

Medenleb finally fell as a result of the Sorcerer's Wars, waged in the late 9th century between competing interests at the Library. The modern Library in Medenleb remembers those wars to this day, and thus remains secretive, withdrawn, and apart from politics in all its forms. Meddling with the world at large is strictly prohibit by the Wizards of Medenleb.

The Library of Medenleb, Central Building

The Second Great Kingdom of Yer, 1021—1215 F.A.
The Second Great Kingdom was also formed along the southern shores, and contested with the Third (from the north) throughout its entire life. Many old colonies of Othan recognized Yer as the heritor to Othan glories but several of Empress Leb's key trading cities never would, as they had by now their own culture and independence.

The Third Great Kingdom of Vilus, 1071—1709 F.A.
Vilus was founded in the north of the Sea of Yer and represents the first non-Othan successor state to have real power in the Valley. It developed a system of internal roads and major cities, was almost constantly at war with its neighbors (including Yer, the City of War, the Ship Folk, Medenva, etc.) and strove for power in all things.

Its symbol was a spear, and its people were known as the Spearlords.

The City of War, 1323—1391 F.A.
For a brief time, the City of War dominated the eastern shores of the Sea of Yer. It is remembered as a brutal, awful period, when slave exact was high. Its defeat by Vilus was followed by the utter destruction of its site, the murder of all its inhabitants, and the burning of all its gods, as well as its proper name being stricken from all records so that it might be as though it never was.

The Time of the Ships, 1402—1488 F.A.
From 1402-1488 the Ship Folk raided the shores of all the Valley Kingdoms ruthlessly. They took slaves and retreated to the inner isles, working together in large piratical bands, until ultimately being hunted down and destroyed by the League of Cities, whose trade was constantly under threat.

The Ascendency of Medenva, 1929—2020 F.A.
Medenva, the Holy City, came to power first because of its command of the sea. It was ruled by a single thearch, who was eventually awarded the high priesthood of all the Unified Faiths under the Emperor of Sifhem. Before that time, however, Medenva commanded the loyalty of most coastal lands, whether directly or by cliency, for over a hundred years.

The Fourth Great Kingdom of Sifhem, 1—971 F.V.
The Current Year, 1210 F.V.

Valley Kingdoms: A History of the First Great Kingdom

In order to understand the history of the Valley, it is important to understand the method of timekeeping currently in use. For many generations, time was recorded with reference to the rule of the local king. That is, when King Amolun was reigning the First Great Kingdom, the year would be the 8th or 9th year of the Reign of Amolun. This confusing system was abandoned after the Great Unification was undertaken by the Empire of the Throne (Sifhum); the year of the Unification became the first Year of the Faith (Fi Vosye). Time before that is known by the period of the first Great Kingdom, and runs forward until 1 FV -- those years are known as Fi Vashir, years of the Shadow (FA).

Ancient Othan Fortress Reconstruction

1 F.A. — 687 F.A. The First Great Kingdom (Othan). Founded in the south of the Valley, in the city of Dumyana, on the plain known as the Ogoss, the First Great Kingdom of Othan was as near to a universal kingdom the Valley had ever seen. Othan was formed out of the subjugation of ethnic Viraes tribes living in the central Ogoss.

Othos was the first King of the Great Kingdom, who elevated himself from a chief among chiefs of the Viraes to become the High Chief of all the Ogoss peoples. His settlement on the Fetham River, which was originally a simple collection of rude huts on the sluggish waters, but after his wars of conquest (lasting from what scholars imagine was the early part of Othos' life, perhaps age 17, until he was nearly 39), it became a permanent lodging.

Though Othos traveled between several major royal installations, the town at Dumyana was his primary residence. The first year of the Shadow is recorded from the day the foundation was laid for the High Temple in Dumyana, beside Othos' magnificent gilt-wood palace.

High Chief Othos died in 13 F.A. Dumyana had reached a population of somewhere close to 10,000 people. It drew trade from the entire Ogoss plain, and from many places farther north. Indeed, he was recognized as a petty king by the Thingatha Emperor, far in the south, and was given gold and silver to keep the peoples of Ogoss from moving into that ancient Empire.

Reign of Queen Athana 13 F.A. — 36 F.A.
After the death of Othos in 13 F.A., Othan continued to exist as an independent client state of Thingatha. Othos was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Athana, who defied the authority of the Thingatha Empire late in her reign and raised a hall in Dumyana to be the permanent residence of Othan royalty.

By ejecting the Thingathim embassy from Dumyana and seizing Thingathim quarries on the Ogoss plain, Athana broke her father's treaties. The Thingatha were not quick to chastise her or her progeny, however, as in those days the old Empire was collapsing: ecological change in Slithis led to a series of southern civil wars, and the Thingatha Emperors would never be able, from that point on, to launch an expedition into the Valley to enforce their rule.

Reign of King Floreyth (The Mason-King) 36 F.A. — 69 F.A.
Floreyth was a newcomer to Dumyana, from one of the outlying regions of the kingdom. Scholars have placed the locale of his birth somewhere near the southern shores of the Sea of Yer. He was a renowned carpenter, mason, and swordsman, and eventually won the acclaim of Queen Athana's court.

It was widely believed that he had an affair with the Queen near the end of her life, and that his whispers were responsible for the expulsion of the Thingathim. After the death of Athana, Floreyth moved quickly to disinherit her three sons and claim the throne for his own. A bloody civil war followed from 36-38 F.A. during which the old household of Othos and Athana was mostly exterminated. Those who supported Floreyth were spared, but greatly reduced in power and influence.

Under Floreyth's reign, most of Dumyana was rebuilt in stone. It was walled, and the Five Great Temples were constructed on the hill overlooking the palace. Dumyana became the largest city in the Valley under Floreyth, and certainly served as the heart of Valley culture. He raised the great Stone Lords that now dot the Ogoss Plain, as well as the Thousand Altars along the southern shores of the Sea of Yer.

King Floreyth also kept a number of women as his official wives; he sired children on these while he was the lover of Queen Athana. The eldest of his daughters, Leb, outmaneuvered the king in his old age; in the Garden of Roses outside the great Dumyana palace, Leb humiliated her younger brother, Rilu, in a game of wits and swords before the assembled chiefs of Othan. Unable to elevate the humiliated and emasculated Rilu to official heir as he had planned to do, Leb became heir and inherited her father's empire.

Reign of Empress Leb 69 F.A. — 105 F.A.
The first recognized "Empress" (rather than "High Chief" or "King") was Leb Floreythin, daughter of the Mason-King. During Leb's rule, the Sea People entered the Valley on their floating homes. The Empress was quick to realize that she could use the same strategies employed against the old Viraes tribes of Ogoss by the Thingatha: she paid the Sea People tribute, and soon established a network of far-flung colonies around the Sea of Yer.

Trade under Empress Leb flourished. She was renowned as a skilled tactician and diplomat, and as a fighter on the field. She planted the cities of Medenleb, Rubaden, Vabatden, and Medengez which would later grow into massive trade entrepôts. She also promulgated the Border Laws, declaring trade with outsiders to be suspect, and privileging the people of the Valley.

Empress Leb had a tumultuous personal life. She kept a clave of husbands, the chief of whom, Tha, grew jealous of the fact that they could not wield political power. Tha fomented rebellion against her, and several years were spent fighting Tha and the lords who betrayed her. When she was victorious, she executed her prisoners at the feet of the Stone Lords of the Plain, giving a sacrifice of some important personage in the enemy army to each of the great statues raised by her father.

In the years before her death, she passed a law permitting imperial power only to flow to her female-born children, and elevated her daughter Amem to be her official heir.

Reign of Empress Amem 105 F.A. — 121 F.A.
Like the rulers before her, Amem was forced to consolidate power within years of taking the throne. She had five brothers, each of whom sought to undo the dictate of their mother Leb, and each with a power base of their own through their fathers (all five brothers were born of different men from five of the powerful families of Othan).

This so-called "Six-Sided War" lasted for eight years, only finally ending with the razing of the colony of Medengez.

Reign of Empress Leb II 123 F.A. — 177 F.A.
There was a two-year interregnum after Amem's death as the imperial nobility forwarded possible heirs. One of Amem's younger daughters, named for her grandmother Leb, finally won out. Her reign was an unprecedented period of peace and trade. Sorcery first came into the Valley from the fallen ruins of Thingatha in this period.

The period of Leb II's reign until the death of her great-granddaughter Leb III was known as the Rule of the Good Empresses. Those four -- Leb II, Eles, Arath, and Leb III, are commonly known as the "Good Empresses" and are held up as models of beneficial rule, particularly in the southern reaches of the Valley. During the reign of Empress Arath, a scholar named Thubidis composed a political treatise still cited in the Valley to this day: The Book of Rulership.

Other Important Periods.
Rule of the Good Empresses 123 F.A. — 280 F.A.

The Sorcerers' War 297 F.A. – 302 F.A.
A brutal conflict between Empress Leb III's three chief wizards, Othi, Dishath, and Thul, broke out upon Leb's death. They each had their own puppet-empress. In the end, Thul was victorious with the Child-Empress Gedae as his candidate. She was installed, and Thul ruled through her and her successive three daughters for nearly 70 years.

The Slithan Invasions 409 F.A. — 520 F.A.
The shattered remains of Thingatha produced a series of invasions in this period as people attempted to escape the ecological disaster of the central desert. This put a great deal of pressure on Othan in the south, while the Spear-People threatened her northern border.

Reign of Amolun the Scholar 581–603 F.A.
A fluke in the long history of feminine rule in Othan, Amolun the Scholar took the throne when his elder sister, Ashbet, abdicated the throne in his favor. He was widely proclaimed a good king, and invented the writing system from which all Valley scripts are descended.

The Dameth Plague 592 F.A.
In the year 592, the Dameth Plague arrived from beyond the mountains. It destroyed the great cities of Othan, leaving many of them empty. Empress Nara took her own life by filling her chambers in Dumyana with suffocating smokes.

The Mountain Invasions 638 F.A. — 687 F.A.
An influx of outsiders to the Valley that eventually destabilized and destroyed Othan. The Last Empress, whose name is no longer known, was said to be a sorcerer as well, and when she discovered she had been betrayed by her most trusted generals, she took them into the great central processional and sacral square of Dumyana and destroyed them with a conflagration that left its mark on the stone today.

---

In modern times, the ruined City of Dumyana is known as the City of Tombstones. The Stone Lords stand silent and watchful vigil over the empty Ogoss Plain.

The Aedeion, a history of Kholos

Long ago, the reign of Moros Aklaustros, the Unmourned, inaugurated the use of necromancy in Arunia. His kingdom, located in the region we now call the Dragonback Range, was a strange and occulted one. It is said that Moros the Giant-King crafted the first necromantic magics, and that much of modern necromancy stems from his ancient and occulted court. In truth, it was the nearness to this awful place that helped foster the Twin Empires, as well as the Art studied by none other than Tharos the Necromancer, who rumor says spent time in Moros' court.

But there is another figure of import here, one who entered the broken ruins of Moros' kingdom some in the 6th Age and only emerged in the 7th; that is, Lakryss of Essadurea, a powerful magician who sought enlightenment through dark and unwholesome channels. Rumors persisted that he was a sorcerous general of Rho'anir, or that he had served Galos in the War of the Chains; whether they are true, we cannot say. He left the regions recently conquered by Haxrim the Conqueror, and fled west, away from the conquests of his Essadi kin. Lakryss emerged from the realm of Moros Aklaustros, ruined though it was, with the gift of vampirism—he had transformed into a vampiric spirit of the north.

Thus did Lakryss set about building his kingdom in the Aedeion. In this time, the cult of Tharos the Necromancer was first gaining strength. The seeds of that cult which would later sprout in Teral, in the 10th Age, were planted when Lakryss invited a quarter of Poison-Tongues to the shores of the Red Lake and made them his servants. Shortly after arriving at the Red Lake, Lakryss proclaimed himself king of the misty forest in that region of the world. He slaughtered the skin-changer hideaways and the peaceable giants of the region, collecting men from the wild regions of Vithania and the Dragonbacks, his ranks swelling with those fleeing Haxrim the Conqueror and his successor Tarkus the Indomitable.

This new kingdom grew up around a city bearing Lakryss' name: Lakra, on the Red Lake. Lakryss himself, having undergone a vile transformation in the hidden halls of Moros Aklaustros, grew to be known as the Weeping King; his eyes ran with thick phlegmy tears, streak with blood, which he never bothered to wipe away. This fearsome visage buckled the warring men and three nations of wood elves together under one banner—his. They resisted the onslaught of Soloth and later Caruel, remaining independent under the Weeping King's sign. This new kingdom was called Kholos.

To help him rule it, the Weeping King ennobled a number of men. He further drafted some into his service as vampiric children, heirs of his vile curse, making a brood of some fifty powerful vampires. He fought off others from the north, and was known as the mightiest king in west of the Twin Empires. But Soloth and Caruel fell, and Kholos did not.

Not until the coming of Roland of Sunhome, who's story is best told in other places. Suffice to say, this paladin who founded the Order of the Forge Divine slew Lakryss the Weeping King, and he slew many members of his vampiric children. In the aftermath of that violent conflict of the 8th Age, the kingdom of Kholos fell into five duchies, each ruled by one of the strongest of Lakryss' children. Lakra herself remained a free city, governed by a council of Poison-Tongues in the service of the Necromancer.

Wars and the advent of the Bleeding Plague reduced the rulership of these lands, and their people. The vampires fought one another until most of Lakryss' line was extinguished and only lesser beasts roamed the land. Amongst the remaining Heirs of Lakryss was the Duke of Dakrya, a region west of the river Dakesis. This vampire, Glev Redcloak, also called Glev Lakryos, was hunted for many years by mendicant members of the Order of the Forge Divine, dispatched by their Grandmaster to finish the work that Roland had begun.

Eventually, the Duke of Dakrya went into hiding, leaving the governance of his province to men. The Cult of Tharos spread, and after the fall of Teral, it found its seat in the ancient and now-abandoned city of Lakra. With great aplomb, they drove out the Forge Divine and re-established order through the eastern portions of Kholos, calling their newly forged land the Duchy of Aklaustria. In the west, beyond the River Dakesis, the Stewards of Dakrya continued to resist them. It was only with the emergence of Duke Glev and the foundation of the Order of the Black Hand that the power of the necromancers was checked.

Now, Duke Glev and the Poisontongues stand at each other's throats, neither side willing to commit to war, but neither willing to back down. The lands of Aklaustria lie blasted and ruined by necromantic magic. Towns have vanished back into the wild, and cities have been drained of their people. For two generations, Aklaustria has suffered under its necromantic masters. As the necromancers have no need of living subjects, they callously kill those who break even the most minor of laws. Their corpses are used to farm the meager lands required to sustain the cult at Lakra.

A brief history of the Reach

A History of Craftsman’s Reach and the Thessalians

Alonaris of Stock

            We may begin with the Night Age and the shadows that fell long over Aruniä in that dark and remote period. Here, in Craftsman’s Reach, there ruled a tense peace between the ancient Lignoi of the West and the Trollish darkness that roiled in the sea. Wyrmish outposts were not uncommon in the northern regions of the Reach, for the empire of Alaxaa reached even that far; it was written by the great scholar of the Night Age, Orvius Kavalson, that the Wyrms were born from the blood of the earth, steaming hot, and the Trolls from the cold basins of the Girdling Sea. Their conflict was inevitable. Trolls mounted the Reach and builded a great city on the Mount of Ys. Their war ravaged the north, but the Reach was the rearmost of their strongholds, and thus there is little remaining of their once mighty kingdom of shadows. Giants did settle many regions of the Reach in the Night Age, and I believe a Stone Giant kingdom was situated around what is now Ambar.

            In the Third Age Mero, the chief wizard of Zesh, came to Tailimisiä, which had been turned over to the Elves. The Lignoi began their long descent into the Rootwood, and left the Greatwood for Elvish dominance. After the War of the Chains, in which the Lord of Magic was imprisoned in the North, the Elves of Greatwood were taught how to build towers and work spells by the Southmen. The very first stones of the eldest city in Atva-Aruniä were laid in this Age: Aita Valmindene, capital of the Greatwood, rival to Miles in age.

            In the late Third Age, Craftsman’s Reach was settled by the sorcerers of Yer’is, and bordered the old imperial province of Kelinum in the south. That half-elvish kingdom had been founded on sorcery and foretold the rebellion of the Silver Elves yet to come. In the Fifth Age, after the Fall of Ys, which was swallowed by the sea, the so-called Five Mage-Lords took residence in the region during the reigns of Emperor Sylimus the Elf-Friend and Julior II; many great battles of the War of the Mages took place in the Reach, though its inhabitants are prompt to forget this horrific magical conflict. Mount Sirune, in particular, was the site of an awful battle between Imperial phalanxes and the armies of Gothea and The Babbler. It was only after the defeat of the Mage-Lords that dwarves were invited by the Emperor Julior to settle in the mountain.

            During the brutal and self-destructive conflicts that ripped the Second Empire apart at the close of the Fifth Age, there rose a man of the Reach named Thesus the Spear-bearer to generalship of the armies of Kelinum. He was declared Emperor in the West, and since that time the people of Kjellos and the Reach have called themselves “Thessalian” in his honor, and many claim the right to rekindle the long-doused flame of empire from his election.

            The Sixth Age saw the coming of the Second Elf and Dragon War, which ravaged the West. There are few sights of battle in Craftsman’s Reach, as the war was primarily fought between Vesimiä, Tailimisiä, and Synd. However, there are places where Wyrmish armies fell upon Elvish camps, and in some westerly corners of the Reach can be found the relics of that ancient conflict.

             From the period of the Seventh to the modern age, a series of kingdoms have grown up and failed in the shadow of the Greatwood. Alth’is ruled the north throughout the Seventh Age, and came into conflict with the dwarf-backed kingdom of Teraspis. Calantheas, which was founded in the Eighth Age and lasted through the last dark days of the Bleeding Plague, encompassed the entire Reach and much of the peninsula of Kjellos.

The Reach in the Tenth Age

            The birth of Kjellos changed the Reach forever. The southern stretches were part of Agnar, an Elvish puppet-kingdom in the early days of the Tenth Age. The Tholharts, tribal chiefs raised in the ruins of the Reach, conquered Agnar and established a new dynasty in the south—Tholnia—in X.158. Tailimisiä, under the guidance of its former Gwydereon, Laulemireneon, went to war with Tholnia in X.280 and by X.282 had annihilated the Tholnian armies in several pitched battles. This left the Reach, the peninsula, and all the lands around the Bay of Ahrain broken and leaderless.

            In X.285, the Karharts of the Reach, who ruled a small domain from Tyreth Castle in the north, claimed the Kjella peninsula and part of the northern shore of the Bay of Ahrain. The Karharts established a lasting peace with the elves, and in the two hundred and twenty years since Regus Karhart was crowned at Elborg Castle, the Reach has become a backwater to the more well-settled and imperially appointed peninsula.

A Timeline of Reach History

The Night Age. The Reach is settled partially by the western trolls, partially by the Lignoi. A powerful Petroboloi kingdom is established in its heart, with its capital in the belly of Mount Sirune. Modern scholars refer to this Stone Giant kingdom as “Latómon,” a gigantine word found carved on the paths of Mount Sirune repeatedly.

The Kingdom of Latómon went to war, on and off, with the Trolls of Ushar and Guldush. The Wyrmish Empire of Alaaxa, too, did battle amongst the northern edges of Latómon, particularly on and about the Mount of Ys where the Ushar Troll-lords builded up a great city.

The Dawn Age. Little is known of this time, save that Latómon controlled most of the Reach.

The Pillar Age. With the wakening of the Elves and the coming of the Southmen, the Dawn Age belonged to Latómon and Yer’is. Yssan emissaries settled at the Mount of Ys with gigantine aid. The Giants welcomed the coming of Yssan sorcerers into Latómon as their own power faded and their borders were pierced again and again by the Trolls.

So it remained until the end of Yer’is and the Sinking, which drowned the Mount of Ys and all its people beneath the sea for the pride of their king. There were many wars with Moros Aklaustros, the Undying, who’s realm bordered that of Ys.

The Sword Age. During the Sword Age, the power of Miles reached out its long fingers and gathered up the Reach into the great western province of Kelinum. Bastions were erected along the Tempest River, and a watch was set against the powers of Ushar and Guldush in the north.

In IV.729 the imperial crown came to Tallëor the Twice-Born, last of the descendants of Furon, who had slain the emperor Mindalus in IV.336. Emperor Tallëor concentrated a great army along the Tempest, and with him came Feanwé, Gwydereon of the elves, and Arnr, Prince of the Dwarves. Primarily staging at the Storm’s Crossing, Tallëor persecuted a long war with the trolls of Ushar, and finally wiped them from the North.

At the end of the Sword Age, the Empire dissolved into civil war.

The Dust Age. During the long darkness after the civil war, the Tempest line was abandoned and most of the Reach was lost to its natives. Pale giant-descended men mingled with gnomes and halflings, ever fighting to stem the tide of refugees from Ushar: goblins, orcs, kobolds, and other felnumen.

Northways, in what is now Thalassa, Rho’anir the Shapeless came to power. The Mage-Lords of the North crept down from their fortresses, and the giantess Gothea claimed great stretches of the Reach. In the time of Sylimus the Elf-Friend, war finally broke out—the War of the Mages, which was fought along the Black River and in the Reach.

A great battle was concluded at Mount Sirune, after which Emperor Julior II gave a patent of settlement to his dwarven allies and the colony was founded there. At the conclusion of the War of the Mages, the Reach was once again lawless, but the dwarves at the Mount exerted a powerful influence.

As the Empire tore itself apart, the barbarian-captain of the Storm Ford, a man from the Reach called Thesus, was elected Emperor by the generals of Kelinum. This election was acclaimed in Miles and the Lawkeeper supposedly gave Thesus the Spear-bearer his blessing. This has, of course, led to the Kjellans calling themselves Thessalians, and to persist in the belief that the right of rebuilding the Empire resides not in the East, but in Kjellos.

The Sun Age. This was the age of the Second Elf-Dragon War. The Reach was ground up by the Syndic armies that issued from the south and the Karonic armies from the north. Sylvasil was eventually destroyed by the twin dragons who brought it low, but not before the Loremaster produced, in alliance with the Gwydereon of Tailimisiä, the fabled blade Wyrmsbane. Though the elves would eventually prevail, the presence of Syndic armies in the Reach oppressed and burned settlements, and inhibited the growth of its people for generations.

The Moon Age. The most important event of the Moon Age is undoubtedly the War of the Moon, the elvish civil war that wracked the North for a generation of men’s lives. The war saw Tailimisiä drawn away from the Reach, withdrawing most of their settlements that were fortified during the Second Elf-Dragon War.

The Reach was divided between Al’this and Teraspis—Al’this in the north, ruled by sorcerers, Teraspis in the south, backed by Mount Sirune.

The Red Age. In the Red Age, Teraspis and Al’this were locked in a deadly struggle, and were finally destroyed when Tailimisiä once again exercised its power in the region. The whole Reach was unified under Calantheas, a mannish city founded on the coast. Calantheas ruled the Reach until the Bleeding Plague.

The Age of Blood. The Reach was once again stripped of law and governance, this time by the ravages of the Bleeding Plague.

The Shield Age. Kjellos established rulership in the Reach in X.377 by naming the first Lord Protector. Since X.285, the Karharts have ruled both the peninsula of Kjella and the Reach itself. The Lord Protector has generally been the heir-apparent of the Kjellan throne.

Yer’is and the Reach

The Kingdom of Yer’is was founded on the infamous (and now lost) Mount of Ys, many many rods north of Craftsman’s Reach. Its influence waxed in the Third, Pillar, Age and though the elves of Aita Valmindene were flexing their control in the region, it was the Yssan sorcereress Caleight Silvermane and her soldiers who took command of the northern Reach; their might extended from Ys to the Tyrnen Wood, then a great girdling belt across the Reach from the Silverlode Mountains to the Sea.

            Caleight Silvermane was appointed to be Aimarch of the South, a position much sought-after in Yer’is. Her uncle, King Aubrein, encouraged the expansion of Yssan control ever southward, eventually coming into contact with the failing kingdom of Latómon at Mount Sirune. Caleight, acting in the stead of the king, attended many meetings of state with the giant Titan. In return for shielding Latómon from the depravities of Moros Aklaustros’ deathless reign north of Tailimisiä, the giants agreed to turn over the governance of much of their territories to the half-elves, and to permit the settlement of Yssans throughout Latómon.

            The Southern Aimarchy persisted even after Aubrein’s heir, Leovel, was drowned. The Aimarchs, however, grew less and less interested in the territory they governed. Eventually, they rarely left Yer’is proper to see their territories, preferring to rule it by seconds and agents and collect the benefits of its tax from the capital at Bryndune.

            The Yssans made a new pact with Latómon, essentially absorbing it, in return for ridding the Southern Aimarchy of the lingering pockets of trollish darkness. Aimarch Haiden Highstaff returned to the Aimarchy at the behest of Queen Talovandra and waged a long and brutal war, known to the Yssan chroniclers as the War of Dead Names, eventually winning victory against the trolls.

            That victory was short-lived, however; when Queen Talovandra died, her brother Tyros the Wise took the crown of Yer’is. Aimarch Highstaff hurried back to secure his own interests, but Tyros was ready for him—he was executed on charges of treason, and Tyros secured the Aimarchy for himself, making him the first king who commanded a regional province directly. Of course, Tyros was also the very last king: he traded the future of Yer’is with Dinismayl for eternal life, and the Mount of Ys as well as all the lowlands was swallowed by the sea.