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Authors: S.K. Evren
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surely as grain fed their bellies.
This was the Empire into which
the old man had been born. This was the memory, the life he had sworn to
protect and resurrect. This was the system that had educated him, taught him
the skill, science, and art of magic. This was the world that had taught him
the potential of life in the world. This was the Empire he watched crumble and
fall before Jealousy, Greed, and Ignorance.
Although the Empire had spread
over a great deal of the continent, its borders did not include all the peoples
of the land. Those who were in the Empire were happy to let those outside
continue in their barbaric ways, and would even trade with them for exotic
goods not found in the Empire itself. As the centuries passed, the barbaric
cultures outside the Empire began to form simple governments of their own,
above and beyond the clan systems of family which had once sustained them. They
began to enter into treaties with the Empire, formalizing systems of trade and
hopes for peace. Children of these external cultures were taken in to the
educational system of the Empire to share in its vast culture and knowledge.
Thus it was that education had been the first step of downfall for the Empire.
The barbaric children educated in
the Empire eventually returned to their own cultures with fantastic tales of riches
pulled from deep under the ground, water redirected from rivers to crops, and
unimaginably, water, hot water, flowing into the very buildings in which
people lived! Some in these external cultures thought the children to be
telling tall tales or mistaken. Others thought they had, perhaps, become so
enamored of Imperial culture that they wanted to give up the freedoms of their
own society to become Imperial subjects, taking the entire culture along with
them. Still others thought the returning children, no longer children, were
trying to build up bases of power with which to take over this or that tribe.
The uneducated and unwashed barbarians, for whatever reason, decided to attack
that which they did not understand.
At first, the Empire repulsed
these attacks easily. They continued to take in children of the barbarians,
hoping to forge some sort of lasting peace and understanding. In effect, the
old man realized later, they had contaminated the external cultures with ideas
of hope, science and art when they were not developed enough to appreciate
them. The more the Empire shared with the externals, the wider the gulf between
them appeared.
In this period of border
skirmishes and barbarian unrest, some of the children of the tribes were
invited to witness the might of the Empire. They were allowed, for the first
time, to attend schools where centuries had been dedicated to the theories and
practicalities of war. Sons and daughters of some tribes were allowed to take
the field with Imperial troops against the disorganized mobs of other tribes.
It was believed that this would secure ties with the Empire while encouraging
distrust among the externals. It had been hoped that, faced with the
overwhelming might of Empire, having watched the application of martial theory
and practice, these children of barbarians would return home as unwitting
agents of the Empire, cowed into convincing their peoples that the Empire was
Eternal, Immortal, Unassailable.
The children did return home, and
they did recount tales of the power and might of the Empire. In their
recounting, however, the children came to realize that, if they did not
challenge the power of the Empire themselves, they would be cast down and
slaughtered by rivals in their own clans. Those same rivals would lead their
peoples against the Empire to the point of extinction.
One son in particular had
achieved this realization with a great clarity. Adopting and adapting what he
had learned in the Empire, Mushel Thun forged his own tribal warriors into a
contemporary army under the banner of their war god, Nekatethesis. Negotiating
with acquaintances in the Empire,
This was the Empire into which
the old man had been born. This was the memory, the life he had sworn to
protect and resurrect. This was the system that had educated him, taught him
the skill, science, and art of magic. This was the world that had taught him
the potential of life in the world. This was the Empire he watched crumble and
fall before Jealousy, Greed, and Ignorance.
Although the Empire had spread
over a great deal of the continent, its borders did not include all the peoples
of the land. Those who were in the Empire were happy to let those outside
continue in their barbaric ways, and would even trade with them for exotic
goods not found in the Empire itself. As the centuries passed, the barbaric
cultures outside the Empire began to form simple governments of their own,
above and beyond the clan systems of family which had once sustained them. They
began to enter into treaties with the Empire, formalizing systems of trade and
hopes for peace. Children of these external cultures were taken in to the
educational system of the Empire to share in its vast culture and knowledge.
Thus it was that education had been the first step of downfall for the Empire.
The barbaric children educated in
the Empire eventually returned to their own cultures with fantastic tales of riches
pulled from deep under the ground, water redirected from rivers to crops, and
unimaginably, water, hot water, flowing into the very buildings in which
people lived! Some in these external cultures thought the children to be
telling tall tales or mistaken. Others thought they had, perhaps, become so
enamored of Imperial culture that they wanted to give up the freedoms of their
own society to become Imperial subjects, taking the entire culture along with
them. Still others thought the returning children, no longer children, were
trying to build up bases of power with which to take over this or that tribe.
The uneducated and unwashed barbarians, for whatever reason, decided to attack
that which they did not understand.
At first, the Empire repulsed
these attacks easily. They continued to take in children of the barbarians,
hoping to forge some sort of lasting peace and understanding. In effect, the
old man realized later, they had contaminated the external cultures with ideas
of hope, science and art when they were not developed enough to appreciate
them. The more the Empire shared with the externals, the wider the gulf between
them appeared.
In this period of border
skirmishes and barbarian unrest, some of the children of the tribes were
invited to witness the might of the Empire. They were allowed, for the first
time, to attend schools where centuries had been dedicated to the theories and
practicalities of war. Sons and daughters of some tribes were allowed to take
the field with Imperial troops against the disorganized mobs of other tribes.
It was believed that this would secure ties with the Empire while encouraging
distrust among the externals. It had been hoped that, faced with the
overwhelming might of Empire, having watched the application of martial theory
and practice, these children of barbarians would return home as unwitting
agents of the Empire, cowed into convincing their peoples that the Empire was
Eternal, Immortal, Unassailable.
The children did return home, and
they did recount tales of the power and might of the Empire. In their
recounting, however, the children came to realize that, if they did not
challenge the power of the Empire themselves, they would be cast down and
slaughtered by rivals in their own clans. Those same rivals would lead their
peoples against the Empire to the point of extinction.
One son in particular had
achieved this realization with a great clarity. Adopting and adapting what he
had learned in the Empire, Mushel Thun forged his own tribal warriors into a
contemporary army under the banner of their war god, Nekatethesis. Negotiating
with acquaintances in the Empire,
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