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Hyrkania
Ruler: Emperor Anton Patraeus; Queen
not taken yet
Population: It is estimated that the
empire is roughly 12 million strong
Territory: spread out over the vast
expanse of the Hyrkanian territory, which stretches from the southern coast of
the Iron Gulf to the northern cost of the Baldaric Sea, and westward to the
Nyarlith Delta to the eastern edge of the Amech Jungles. There is a lengthy
colonial polity that runs along the length of the Great Old Road into the
Amechian kingdoms which hold fealty to the Empire as well. Northward the empire
encompasses the client states of Eorn’in, Drai’in and Yllmar as well.
Current Events: Hyrkania has just recovered from a major civil war called
the War of Strife, which was instigated by the Cult of the Divinate and the
errant King Makhorven of Hyrendan in the south, as well as the dissidents out
of Blackholm. Imperial forces now occupy the reclaimed cities, but the tension
is still strong, and the corruption runs deep. Hyrkanian imperial forces in
this era spend more time putting out fires and quelling dissent than they do
actually guarding territory from attacks, monsters, or expanding into new lands.
Hyrkania’s History
Hyrkanian
history is a roller-coaster of conflict, civil war, political dissent and
occasional glorious moments when a true leader rises to the occasion and brings
stability for a generation. In the current era, that last true leader was
Anander Usyllyses III, who led the charge against the rise of the Champion of
Chaos in his incarnation as the Dark Pharaoh of Galonia a little over a century
ago. Since them, the empire has been stable or in steady decline. The uprising
which led to a civil war was part of this decline, and though the empire
rallied against the attempted coup led by King Makhorven and House Strallikus, the
civil war itself has been seen as a sign of trouble by many others who would
plot against the Emperor or seek to carve out their niche of power.
In the grand
mythology of the empire it is said that Hyrkania was called the Fertile
Kingdom, a cluster of small kingdoms and city states which surrounded the lush
and hospitable region that was shadowed by the ancient and enigmatic city of
Corti’Zahn, a magical polity of floating towers and temples from which the ancient
priests communed directly with the gods, who would visit the city in physical
form.
The concept
of Order and Chaos as physical manifestations of the universe pervade the very
thoughts and mataphysics of Hyrkanian belief, and in the ancient era it was
believed that the gods of Corti’Zahn were agents of Order. The Fertile Kingdom
existed for centuries, faithfully worshipping the gods of order and
exstinguishing the cults of chaos where they could. Prior to the fateful day
when Chaos and Order boiled into war on the physical plane of man it was
believed that the kings of that time had become complacent in their beliefs,
and that the cults of chaos were given free rein to worship side by side with
the cults of order. It was this grave mistake in tolerance that led to the War
of the Gods.
The Ancient History of Hyrkania
Hyrkania’s
northlands have been occupied continuously by humans and other races for close
to ten thousand years, but the first written records of actual civilization
don’t appear until about 7,400 years ago. The first noble dynasty of kings,
called the Elevasos in the middle tongue, shows up in old records dating to
4,900 BW (6,990 years ago). More
important than the appearance of the first kings was the appearance of the
first known copies of the sacred Idean Codices, the ancient tomes which defined
the land’s understanding of the gods and man’s place in the world. The first
recorded copies of the Idean Codices date back to 4,500 BW (6,590 BW).
The first
notable records of war and conflict in the Hyrkanian lands appear around 4,400
BW and grow in volume and detail from there. At this time most records still
intact from this time were saved on stone tablets, many of which were baked
into sturdier ceramics. The city of Hyrkan’ien is first identified in a tablet
dating to 4,138 BW during this time, indicating that the settlement had grown
by this point to a notable city of the region, and was where the Elevasos of
the north ruled during what was known as the Usyllian Dynasty. This Dynasty
lasted until 13 BW, a little over a decade before the War of the Gods. During
the Usyllian Dynasty the name Hyrania, taken from the largest city of the time,
was adopted as the title of the unified kingdoms, though exactly when this
occurred is uncertain.
The empire
of Hyrkania was firmly established in the last five centuries leading up to the
war. Notable achievements in this period included records showing the construction
of the Great Road, a route of travel which was carefully maintained and
protected by frontier outposts and which stretched from the western border of
the Hyrkanian Empire to the eastern shores of Old Zued. A distinct record which
holds great historical value in the Grand Librarium proclaims the road started
in 215 BW with the assistance of “the Ivory Kingdom of Amech” and completed by
156 BW, meaning it took the Imperial engineers 59 years to forge the
continent-spanning road.
The year 13
BW was of great significance. A new dynasty took power, and Shakytis I rose to
power after a brief civil war. His reign would end thirteen years later when
the War of the Gods erupts, devastating the kingdoms of man and god alike. Many
believe that it was Shakytis I who was responsible, for he resolved the
religious wars of the era by allowing the cults of chaos the freedom to worship
publically.
The stories
of this period and the war are many and often contradictory, but here is what
is known: in this early era it was known that there were sacred artifacts of
the gods which embodied the divine qualities of the gods of each pantheon, that
of chaos and that of order. The Orb of Order, manifested in the form of the
sacred Ankh of the Cult of Naril, was believed to exist and was protectively
kept in the temple of the Grant Sacrimori in Corti’Zahn. Though the myths of
Hyrkania dictated that there was an Orb of Chaos, it’s location in the world
was unknown.
Xauraun, a
young aristocrat of Hyrkania at the time, found the Orb of Chaos on an
expedition to the dark corners of the world. The story of exactly how this
seemingly ordinary person found the orb, was corrupted by it, and eventually
became the immortal Champion of Chaos is poorly documented, but it is known
that at some point after finding the Orb Xauraun was seduced into the service
of Chaos by the whisperings of the god Dalroth, and that Dalroth granted
Xauraun immortality in exchange for the power to use the orb.
When Xauraun
unleashed the orb’s power per the directive of the lords of Chaos, it formed a
permanent gate to the Abyssal realms, a dark realm of vile chaos from which
Dalroth had forged an entire demiplane in which to create an army to do his
bidding. The demons of the Abyss erupted into the mortal world, right in the
heart of the Fertile Lands of Hyrkania, near Corti’Zahn.
The war
lasted one year, and it left the fertile lands a desolate waste, most of the
local kingdoms and cities destroyed in the conflict. The city of the gods,
Corti’Zahn, was sacked and pillaged, and it was said that the corporeal forms
of many gods had fallen in battle. Forces outside of Hyrkania’s central region,
what is now know as the Hyrkanian Desert, united under the banner of chosen of
the gods (avatars), including a young wizard named Warenis who was given the
power to serve as the Champion of chaos. The forces of order would strike back
to eventually destroy the marauding demons and close the portal, but not before
the damage had been done.
Burial of a
god’s corporeal body is a devastating blow to the worshippers of those gods who
had fallen in battle. Gods, being immortal, could transcend their corporeal
flesh and continue to exist as spiritual beings, so many of the physical forms
slain had not meant the termination of that god’s influence in the mortal
plane, but the mere thought that their deity was fallible in the form of flesh
was enough to send great concern through the cults of the gods. Some cults fell
apart, and it was the loss of belief, of followers, which ultimately destroyed
the spiritual incarnations of those gods. Hyrkania went into a state of
spiritual decline and Emperor Catythytas, the imperial successor to Shakytis,
who had been slain during the war, forged the imperial calendar on year 1 to mark
the date of the great fall.
Catythytas
provided a great deal of much-needed spiritual direction, coaching the end of
the war as a great victory for Order and the pantheon of the gods that Hyrkania
so revered. The cults of chaos were once more forced into hiding lest they be
destroyed, for a dozen years Caythytas helped rebuild as well as relocate those
who had survived the war but were now displaced from their homes.
Around 12 AW
and not ending until 142 AW the empire declined into a series of internal civil
wars and more than two dozen men would lay claim to the title of Elevasos or
Dei’Elevasos (supreme emperor). The spiritual health of the empire was in
decline once more, perhaps fatally so.
During this
period there was some hope. Emperor Kravostys came into power in 65 AW and
ruled for 23 years, during which time he began construction of the Emerald
Palace, a grand dome of pure emerald constructed from the ancient Temple of
Monuments in Corti’Zahn. It tooka century to dismantle the damaged temple in Corti’Zahn,
which like many of the towers of the floating city after the war had crashed to
earth, and reassemble them in the center of Hyrkan’ien. The dome itself
survived three great rulers, and was completed in 140 SW during the rule of
empress Tythiis. Within the dome the new seat of power and the house of law was
founded for the empire. This proved to be a compelling symbol of rule for
Hyrkania, and helped with the long term stability of the empire in centuries to
come.
The peaceful
period of Hyrkania would be upset three centuries later when Emperor Vestillios
rises to power, following a bloody coup in which Abernan Usyllysys II is
deposed. Vestillios began a 23 year long rein of terror in which he engaged in
extreme religious persecution of all current cults and faiths, though in time
it became clear that the hidden cults of the chaos gods were somehow exempt
from the emperor’s wrath. His rein ends when the reincarnation of the Champion
of Order, Warenis, reappears and reveals that Vestillios is actually Xauraun,
the Immortal Champion of Chaos. This period was noteworthy because it was the
first clear proof that the champions of order and chaos were immortal
reincarnates; they would live many lives over many generations, eventually
reaching their peak of power and causing the age old conflict between their
divine pantheons to erupt once more. It was also noteworthy for the penal colony
of Noenday to the west, which would eventually lead to the emancipation and
founding of the Kingdom of Octzel, Hyrkania’s largest contemporary political
rival.
Religious
wars would erupt often in Hyrkania, with the Second Faith Wars striking between
615 and 625 AW, and the Third Faith Wars embroiling the empire for three
decades from 670 to 699 AW. In 700 AW the Empress Syrradalis I came into power.
She was noteworthy for being a high priestess of Naril, a sacrimori who stepped
down from her position as chief priestess of the god of light to assume control
of the empire. This act created an unpredented level of unity in the Empire as
the cult of Naril was formally adopted as the civic religion of the empire.
For several
hundred years Hyrkania went into a period of peace and introspection, with a
focus on trade and commerce over expansionism. That all came to a halt around
1,400 AW when a series of events provoked a change in policy: first, the old
Kadantanian Empire in Amech fell with the death of its last sorcerer king.
Second, the southern Hyrkanians began to encroach on unclaimed territory in
Sendral and Eastonia, as the southern kings grew impatient with the Emperor and
decided to take their own approach to expansion. Finally, the threat of Octzel
expanding into old barbarian territory was growing too great to ignore.
The western
expanse of the Middle Kingdoms, often characterized as an uninhabited no-man’s
land in most imperial histories, was actually bustling with barbarian tribes
and locals who saw the imperials as a dangerous threat in the east. With
Hyrkania’s first major western colony seceding from the Empire and successfully
remaining independent long enough to grow strong, Hyrkania now had a real rival
to its western borders to worry about, and with the faith wars in the distant
past Hyrkanian emperors of this period pushed to claim territory which had been
held too long by the uncivilized barbarians of the wilderness. In the coming
years Jhakn would be founded, as would Ocentash, Eastonia, Sendral and
Galvonar. Border wars with Old Galonia, which itself had fallen into decline,
marked the southern-most incursion of Hyrkanian expansionism during this
period, and interestingly left its long-term mark in the form of the imperial
province of Persedonia, which eventually gained independence and would one day
become Hyrkania’s greatest contemporary foe.
The Age of Strife
The Age of
Strife is the most recent period of Hyrkanian history, and scholars argue that
this period of time began in 1,927 AW when Anander Usyllyses III is coronated
Emperor (Dei’Elevasos) of Greater Hyrkania. Anander was a noteworthy ruler, and
quickly formed an alliance with Sylvias to the south, the forest kingdom of the
ancient Silver Elves. Anander and his wife, who could not conceive, receive the
gift of one of the elven king’s daughters, Phyxillus, who becomes the adopted
daughter of the emperor.
The first and greatest test of Anander’s rule
was during the rise to power of the so-called Dark pharaoh, Xauraun, the
Champion of Chaos. Reincarnated into Old Galonian royalty Xauraun set about
attempting to unify the forces of the dark corners of the earth into a powerful
army to extinguish Hyrkania and forge a new empire of his own. The war lasted
from 1,960-1,962 AW when a new force of chosen, avatars of the gods brought
together by the Champion of Order Warenis, thwarted Xauraun before he could
recover his full power. Xauraun was banished or slain (stories vary) and the
realm was saved early on from another age of chaos, as had come on those prior
occasions Xauraun reappeared in a new reincarnation.
From 1,962
to 1,994 Anander rules, and in his ancient years under advisement of his
adopted daughter and her husband, the northman Gilrad he passed on the mantle
of emperor to Tyberius Usyllyses IV. Tyberius rules with the wisdom of his
predecessors and sees the kingdom through the lengthy Border Wars between
Octzel, Jnril, Dorasha, Ocentash and Eastonia that last from 2,003 to 2021 AW.
In 2,028 Tyberius passes away unexpectedly leaving no heir, for his two sons
had both died in battle during the wars. The empire is without a ruler for
nearly a week when a general council of regents under the direction of the High
Sacrimori elect to appoint Damon Kargonin, the general of the Solarian Knights
as the Dei-Elevasos. This is the first military appointment to the position
since the era of the old Faith Wars.
Kargonin’s
appointment marks the end of the Usyllyses Dynasty, and the beginning of a new
era which to date reflect political appointments based on dedication to the
empire over bloodright heritage. Kargonin ruled until 2,050 AW during the first
civil revolts against his strongly militaristic rule. A massive increase in the
empire’s military focus under Kargornin leads to a tripling of the empire’s
military might and forces are sent to sieze more territory in the north in a bloody
war against the Hettanar, even as Covarte is taken in a brief two-year military
engagement. Kargornin’s drive isn’t just expansionisn; he seeks to spread the
word of Naril to the rest of the world.
Kargonin is
assassinated in 2,050 while visiting the city of Hyrendan in the south. Unknown
to most, the assassin is the aspiring young Makhorven, who would seize the
throne and declare a cessation from the empire twenty years later, an event
which preludes the War of Strife.
When
Kargonin was assassinated, the Council of Regents met at the Emerald Palace and
appointed a new Dei’Elevasos, this time chosen from among the rikes of nobility
who had served as officers in Kargonin’s armies. They chose the young but tactically
brilliant Armigos Patraeus, a gonn of some repute who’s family ruled Hyrmyskos.
Patraeus at age 20 was the youngest likely candidate for the job.
Armigos
Patraeus tightened up the military focus of the empire, pulling back from
expansionist efforts everywhere except for Covarte, which was now firmly locked
down as a client state. He turned instead to focusing on the civil unrest
within the empire, and used brutal force to destroy opposition.
The
brutality of Armigos was shocking to many, and led to an increase of civil
disobedience and outright rebellion. By the time Armigos passed away of natural
causes, he had however already established that he intended his son, Anton
Patraeus, to be his successor. This caused a great deal of concern among the regents,
who were reluctant to allow a return to succession by heritage. Nonetheless,
Anton was coronated emperor and began his rule in 2,083 AW, in the middle of
the budding era of the War of Strife.
The War of Strife
From
Hyrkania’s perspective the War of Strife was an inevitable build-up on two
sides of the empire’s lines of power. Old houses such as Strallikus which
secretly supported the chaos cults were suddenly interested in aligning with
the secessionist states of Hyrendan, Blackholm and even Malas, which had been
dragged into the matter reluctantly. The focus of old imperial houses backing
the secessionists led to a formidable rise in power and made the civil strife
an all out war.
Behind the
scenes and unknown to most ordinary men and women the Champion of Chaos,
Xauraun had returned, as has his counterpart Champion of Order, Warenis. In
this era, the two champions now required sacred ancient artifacts to awaken
their dormant memories and powers, and a rush to acquire the old artifacts was
underway amidst a backdrop of civil war.
The full war
erupted in 2,085 and did not end until 2,089, a year prior to the current date,
with the march of the full army of the empire, the fabled avatars of old
leading the charge. Hyrendan and Blackholm both fell, and King Makhorven was
placed in chains beneath his own perilously deep dungeons. The free city of
Malas immediately capitulated its relations and proclaimed its loyalty to the
empire. Malas would pay in stiff penalties and poor treatment thereafter, the emperor
proclaimed.
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