History

Summary
(from the Game I World Index)

Nearly four centuries ago, the philosophers and alchemists of the small dominion of Karagon perfected the art of Theurgy. Before the Theurgic Revolution, there had always been magi who shed their own blood to accomplish impossible feats—usually at the cost of their lives. But the Karagonds were the first to discover how to refine other people's blood into a fuel for magic. From that point, Theurges were no longer limited by how much of their own lifeblood they could lose.

Wielding previously unimaginable power, the Theurges of Karagon began demanding tribute and territory from their neighbors. Their leader, Hera the Immortal, eventually declared herself Thaumatarch and promised to unite the whole world as one Hegemony. Over the next eighty years, her forces conquered the four realms surrounding Karagon and laid waste to another.

Following the shock of Hera's assassination, however, the Karagond Hegemony turned inward. To shut out external enemies, the second Thaumatarch created the Great Wards: invisible walls through which no weapon nor magic can pass. These now surround the entire Hegemony as well as each of its five principal cities.

Keeping these Wards up requires a huge supply of refined blood. The Theurges travel throughout the Hegemony's four provinces with extraction machines called Harrowers, harvesting blood from the lower classes in the name of protecting civilization from the chaos outside the Wards. This has sparked many revolts over the years, but all of them have been crushed promptly, forcefully, and (so far) successfully. The third Thaumatarch, Kleitos, has reigned for nearly a century now without any serious prospect of losing power.

Timeline
The current Hegemonic calendar began with the establishment of the Thaumatarchy under Hera, dividing time into the Xaotic Era (XE) and the Hegemonic Era (HE).

ca. 500-400 XE: Halassurq pastoralists cross the isthmus of Erezza and populate the lands of Nyryal and Braurach.

ca. 300 XE: King Oster establishes a state along the river Eddern, with its capital in the coastal city of Shayard.

ca. 200 XE: Queen Samena of Shayard conquers Corlune, Rheges, and Veldrin. By the time of her death, Shayard is the largest nation on the continent. It continues to grow in fits and starts for two more centuries.

ca. 70 XE: Various prophets of the Shayard Reach begin to receive revelations from the Angels of Compassion. These are eventually written down and compiled into a Codex.

13 XE: The Theurgic Revolution begins. Hera of Aekos discovers how to use other people's blood to fuel Theurgy.

12 XE: Hera claims the title of Eclect, Chosen of the Angels. She kills the Oracle of Aekos and begins the forceful integration of the Karagond city-states into a single Hegemony.

1 HE: Karagon is formally unified under Hera the Thaumatarch.

3 HE: The Karagond Hegemony declares war on Erezza.

4 HE: In response to threats from the de Syrnon monarchy, the Hegemony also launches an unexpected invasion of Shayard, devastating its much larger army through Theurgic strikes.

18 HE: The isthmus of Erezza is fully subjugated by Karagon. Shayard's eastern region of Aveche is conquered; the twin cities of the great strait, Aegre and Sescia, are reduced to cleruchies.

28 HE: The last Great Gathering in the Nyrnakan Republic forges an alliance between Nyryal and the Halassurq Empire. By the end of the year, both are formally at war with the Hegemony.

30 HE: Shayard is fully subjugated. The last known prince of the royal bloodline, Coram de Syrnon, vanishes into the Forest of Laconne in the Southriding. The Karagonds annex the Veldrine hills, attach Aveche to the new Hegemony Archonty of Erezza, and give Steswick to a lowland Wiendish ally.

44 HE: The glorious city of Nyrnakan is crushed beneath one of Hera's floating mountains, ending its republic and its religion.

46 HE: Nyryal is fully subjugated. Hera annexes lowland Wiendrj and invades the highlands.

49 HE: The last sacred writings are revealed by the Angels; the Codex of Liturgy takes on its final canonical form.

76 HE: Highland Wiendrj is fully subjugated. The Hegemony drives an Imperial army out of Erezza and marches into Halassurq territory.

90 HE: The land of Braurach on the Hegemony's southwestern frontier is destroyed by Xaos-storms.

91 HE: Thaumatarch Hera is killed by an unknown assassin. Her daughter and successor, Eosphora, rapidly establishes the Great Border Wards along the frontiers of the Hegemony. War with Halassur diminishes for several decades as the Thaumatarchy looks inwards, consolidating its system of rule.

150 HE: The Great Halassur War resumes. It continues for the next 250 years, punctuated by brief and uneasy periods of peace, as the Hegemony very slowly pushes its Wards deeper into the Halassurq Empire.

289 HE: A Shayardene Pretender appears, claiming to be an heir to the royal de Syrnon line. He is assassinated by a Kryptast.

295 HE: Thaumatarch Eosphora dies, reportedly of natural causes. Her son Kleitos becomes the third Thaumatarch.

297 HE: Another Shayardene Pretender declares herself, this time attracting enough support to require military intervention.

336 HE: Ester Cabel leads a yeoman revolt, ending in the Great Scouring of the Westriding by Theurgy.

348: A third Shayardene Pretender appears in Rheges, the main city of the Shayard Coast. Kryptasts kill him and as many of the Laconnier faction as they can unearth.

361 HE: The Ennearch Sarcifer turns renegade and vanishes. Halassur and the Hegemony negotiate one of the more lasting truces in their long war.

362 HE: Thaumatarch Kleitos adopts a young child to be his heir.

375 HE: The truce between Empire and Hegemony is broken following a Halassurq atrocity in a coastal town in Erezza.

381 HE: A small helot rebellion starts in the town of Rim Square.

382 HE: Archon Phrygia Leilatou sends an army into the Whendward wilderness to crush the revolt.

(The protagonist of Choice of Rebels was born in 362 HE; the prologue is set in 373, Chapters 1-2 in 381, and Chapters 3-4 in 382.)

History Pages
History of the Halassurq Peoples

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