Lore Book Tarnished Histories

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Drackos

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Founded by the first humans that settled on Tobusekai following the Great War, the Golden Empire was the first polity ruled by the Immortal Humans of Marduk. The Empire would come to span all of Tobusekai and the western half of the Mainland into the frigid North. These histories were transcribed by Solomon; a record of humanity before our world's Cataclysm.


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The Golden Empire of the First Humans

Among the first humans were two groups: those who lived in the storm lands of Kamiyasumi, later becoming the Monks of the Human Order, and those who settled eastward in the war-scarred lands of Tobusekai. The Monks of Kamiyasumi lived in obscurity and would eventually be cut off from the rest of the world in the village of Sanctuary. They would survive for thousands of years as stagnant immortals. But the ageless humans of Tobusekai would go on to found an empire.

The first humans and their emperors did not style their state as the “Golden Empire.” It was a term that came much later, approximately 1,700 years after its founding. The term originated with its mortal descendants, those that ruled the Bronze Empire hundreds of years after its tarnished into its Silver period. Their histories remember its first five emperors as the Golden Emperors. Solomon describes the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Empires not as three distinct states but a single entity, having undergone three two key transformative periods that weakened and ultimately caused the empire’s collapse in the wake of the Great Civil War. The first was its Silver Tarnishing, when Gold transitioned to Silver; it was here when the first mortal emperors took control of the grand polity. The second was the Anarchy of the Eighteenth Century, which saw the demise of the Silver Emperors, descendants of the Golden Lotus Empress, and the rusting which saw the Bronze Empire emerge.

The Golden Empire was legendary even to the patricians of the Hangurian Freehold. Its capital was centered on the Port of Innovus, a splendid city founded by the Allium Emperor and the bustling heart of trade throughout the nascent world. But before this glorious empire came to be, the first immortal humans lived simple lives under the Sage Emperor. Numbered only in the thousands, they were mostly farmers. The lesser deities taught them to tend to the land and grow crops. But their ageless lifespans let them reproduce quickly and for prolonged periods of time. In truth, all that limited their spread were the horizons in the sky. Their offspring were the first mortal humans; descendants that would eventually cross the Scars and settle the Mainland. What scant records remain of the Golden Empire describe, at its apex during the reign of the Lotus Empress, a realm that stretched from the Gaikotsu Bay’s northern reaches to the edge of the known world in the far west, what is now known as the Sanctuaries of the Sun and Moon.

The Golden Empire was first ruled by the Sage Emperor, true name lost to the annals of time. The Sage Emperor was the first human created by Marduk and imbued with a human soul by Nergal. He was blessed by Inanna and given strength by Enlil. The Sage Emperor ruled for 1,000 years; he was a wise monarch that oversaw humanity’s transition from a post war society into an agrarian utopia. It is said that the Sage Emperor ruled over successive generations of mortal humans, guiding them into lives as farmers while the immortals moved into positions of governance. It was a society that wanted for not and enjoyed one thousand years of prosperity, peace, and growth. During the Sage Emperor’s reign literacy took root due to their prosperity, occurring organically and without the gods’ aid. It was also where currencies were developed, eventually supplanting crude bartering systems that fringe polities still relied on.

After the Sage Emperor, the Allium Emperor came to power, followed by the Thistlian Empress, then the Wisterian Emperor, and finally the Lotus Empress. Each immortal’s reign was shorter and more troubled than the last until history comes upon the Silver Tarnishing, which the Golden Empire would eventually become Silver.

In its earliest days the Golden Empire had no rivals, bordering kingdoms, or barbaric tribes at its far reaches. This freedom let its people spread ever outward, not as conquerors but as settlers. Their first villages were formed around what would eventually become the Port of Innovus. Some traveled north, forming towns that would congeal into Camelot, followed by Avalon. Others continued further eastward, forming kingdoms and their successor states descendants that would one day be remembered as exotic. As the years passed their mortal progeny continued that legacy, forming settlements on the outer reaches of the empire. Because the majority of the reign of the Sage Emperor had no rigid political system it was often a fragmentary structure; peoples at the fringes of its territory would form their own autonomous realms, often splitting off entirely.

To remedy this, with the counsel of the man who would become the Allium Emperor, the Sage Emperor took steps to unify the realm under a single political system. What were disparate villages and towns before, operating largely autonomously, were bound together. The Sage Emperor built a complex system of above ground and subterranean roads throughout the eastern continent, spanning hundreds of miles. He established a tributary system that would eventually become the empire’s official taxation system a century later. Initially these tributes would be in the form of food and resources, moving goods around parts of the empire and its roads more easily. This system also allowed for the successive generations of mortal humans to specialize, taking on more unique roles and jobs.

The Sage Emperor’s reign came to an end when he passed away peacefully, ascending to the stars to join the Prime Divinities. The emperor’s decision set the tone for the remainder of the Immortal Humans that ruled over the Golden Empire; eventually each of them would come to relinquish their amortality, with only one exception.

The Sage Emperor was succeeded by the Allium Emperor. History remembers his true name as Tar Qu Lo. The Allium Emperor ruled for 300 years after the Sage Emperor passed away. His most important contribution to the realm was its transition from an agrarian society and economy to one based on supreme wealth, splendor, and glory. The Allium Emperor is credited for the construction of the Port of Innovus, the capital of the Golden Empire and its successors. Innovus became the heart of trade for the nascent human world and gave the generations of mortal humans a means to pass to the Mainland, leading to their first settlements in the Land of Fire across the Kaizoku Sea. It was under the Allium Emperor that the borders of the Golden Empire dramatically expanded, spanning two continents and over five oceans.

While the Allium Emperor and his people enjoyed centuries of continued peace and prosperity, the seeds of conflict would be inadvertently sowed during his reign. Storm clouds thundered in the distance. After 1,000 years under the Sage Emperor mortal humans had come to greatly outnumber their immortal counterparts. Tradition had dominated those generations; positions of governance were reserved for immortal humans, seen as wise stewards. While mortal humans were relegated to insignificant positions, tending the fields, and as laborers in the grand cities of the Golden Empire. This growing disconnect would eventually boil over into the first conflict exclusively fought among humans.

The Allium Emperor ascended to the stars after a peaceful three century long reign. He was succeeded by the Thistlian Empress, true name unknown. The Thistlian Empress is said to have ruled for one hundred and fifty years of peace and prosperity after the Allium Emperor. Of the Golden Emperors she was the first monarch to have mortal children; while her children are not remembered in these histories, it is said that it broke away from tradition set by the Sage and Allium Emperors.

The Wisterian Emperor ruled for only eighty years. It is said he had a great love for the sea, making numerous voyages to the Mainland to establish colonies and satellite outposts to extend the reach and influence of the realm. He is remembered as having spent most of his time overseas, leaving the administration of the empire to a council of aristocrats. The Wisterian Emperor’s greatest contribution was establishing an eastern maritime route to the distant island of Kamiyasumi. What is remarkable about this route was its eastern nature; rather than going west and navigating past the Mainland, the Wisterian Emperor explored to the east beyond the future Shrines of Sun and Moon. Thus, it could be said that the Wisterian Emperor and his navy were the first to have circumnavigated the world. Among his naval officers was Marzan, a young fleet admiral soon to become a legendary blacksmith. He remained behind after his journey to the island to learn the secrets of Atavistic Flame, secrets that would one day become instrumental in forging his God-Slayers.

The maritime route that the Wisterian Emperor and his navy developed would be lost in the upheaval during the Great Civil War. Much of the map east of Tobusekai would be destroyed, knowledge permanently lost by civilization that would never be recovered. Thus, the storms wrought by Enlil’s disembodied heart would shroud the island and separate it from the world for thousands of years.

Unlike his predecessors, the Wisterian Emperor did not willingly ascend to the stars. He died overseas in the distant north to discover what existed beyond the shores of Tobusekai. A terrible storm capsized the Emperor’s vessel off the coast of a now lost island in the distant northeastern reaches of Tobusekai’s Hokubu Sea. Numerous voyages were made to recover the bodies lost at sea. But they, along with the Emperor’s ship itself, were never found.

The Wisterian Emperor’s death raised concerns about the mortality of Marduk’s immortal humans; they were ageless but could still be killed in tragic accidents or even murdered. It raised the question of succession. To date, emperors were designated as successors by their predecessor. These choices were made based on centuries of counsel from immortal humans. They were not made based on familial ties. But the council of wealthy nobles left behind by the Wisterian Emperor was mostly formed of mortal humans who oversaw the day to day activities of Innovus and the surrounding population centers. Many of them believed, like their ancestors from the days of the Allium Emperor two centuries prior, that they did not have a proportional role in the long term governance of the realm. Yet the position of emperor had always been filled by an immortal. Thus a great council was assembled in the year 1530 AW. Their position would be legally established as the Guardian Council, filled by mortal and immortal humans with proportional representation. The Guardian Council’s responsibility was mostly to serve as advisors to the emperor and select a successor in times when one could not be designated. The ratio of mortal to immortal was based on the population ratio of the empire, maintained by their census. Even now, the first Guardian Council was said to have been formed from a ratio of 99 mortals to 1 immortal.

The dawn of the year 1531 AW saw the Guardian Council select the Lotus Empress to ascend the throne. The Lotus Empress is regarded as the last immortal monarch of the Golden Empire. The end of her reign is traditionally seen as the Golden Empire’s transition into its Silver Tarnishing. Her reign lasted for 135 years, ending in 1,666 AW. She was a benevolent ruler who maintained continued contact with the island of Kamiyasumi to the far west. Because of the Wisterian Emperor’s death at sea, however, the Lotus Empress outlawed any voyage that saw to expand the map or go further north, including attempts at recovering the dead. The decision to constraint maritime exploration angered some of the aristocracy who wanted to explore more remote or exotic regions of the world for resources.

By the year 1,600 the vast majority of Marduk’s immortals had passed peacefully into Irkalla. The Lotus Empress was faced with a difficult task throughout her entire reign: transitioning the Golden Empire into one that would be ruled over by mortals. At the time of her ascension few speculated that she would have been the final immortal to reign. But midway through her rule it was clear there was no suitable immortal successor left. It is said that the Guardian Council advised her on the transition for nearly a decade but no course of action could be decided upon. Some believed another immortal monarch should be selected while others argued that the Lotus Empress should simply never give up her immortality. But these positions were untenable. Governance of the Golden Empire was already largely transitioning to mortal humans in roles under the imperial throne, having begun seven decades ago under the first Guardian Council. And while the Empress could never pass on and ascend to the stars, something might eventually kill her - be it accident or otherwise. It would be irresponsible not to prepare a line of succession and plan for the future.

Like the Thistlian Empress, the Lotus Empress also bore children. During her reign she married a mortal imperial magistrate known as Gaius. Together they had two children: Agrippa and Claudius. In spite of the debates and infighting, the Lotus Empress decreed her successor to be her son Agrippa, the eldest of the siblings. The decision came as a shock to the Guardian Council but was accepted due to its perceived inevitability. The Lotus Empress ascended to the stars in the year 1666 AW, 135 years after her ascension to the throne from the first Guardian Council’s decision. Her decision broke centuries of tradition and would forever change the empire.
 
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