HERALDS CAMPAIGN
The Third Gift Cycle
Depictions of the origin site of 'The Declension' vary, but all share one commonality; the complete and utter destruction of the Agarthern Empire, and the scar trailing into the heavens themselves. A monumental epitaph of hubris; Truly, the most vindicated works of the Atheist.
The pride and arrogance of Agartha to prove their mastery over existence was short-lived. The moment profane N-T Energy tools were used in an attempt to tap into the Rubicon, Agartha’s capital city, which shall remain unnamed, ceased to be. It was replaced by a shifting, fractal landscape forevermore referred to as ‘The Declension’; the second gift of the Trinium.
Debate ensues whether the Trinium intended for the Declension to occur, or whether it was some unconscious defensive behaviour from the divine beings. As the world in Central Arath became warped by a spreading scar, so followed the Trinium's divine and monstrous children, the Scions, appearing all throughout Enaeth and Arath. The Scions were monstrous, violent puzzles made flesh; A perfectly spherical orb hovering across the land, killing anyone within ten metres of it; monsters hundreds of metres tall that could only be seen from the side; a perceivable screaming soundwave bulldozing cities into the ground. The Scions destroyed what little was left untouched by the Atheists and turned the entirety of Noth into an active war zone.
What was once a grand empire completely collapsed within a week as Arath sank into chaos, never to truly arise again. In Enaeth, the military officials of TAMES soon found themselves in charge of both the military and civil crises arising from the Declension. The fight to keep civilization from complete collapse, repel the Scions from cities, and the ruthless theocratic indoctrination of its military figures during the Atheist War turned TAMES into a brutalist regime focused solely on survival.
As the crisis subsided, civil hysteria on the hubris of the atheist choked the cities, leading to increased paranoia of anti-theist acts attracting the divine retribution of the gods.
TAMES became swept up in this paranoia itself, and reformed into the Tributionary Body; a government comprised entirely of highly zealous military officials. The Body itself was a ruling council of nine Tributionaries, selected for their adherence to extreme religious practice and thought. Condensing rule of the five nations of Enaeth into one government, the Body began a campaign of internal punitive purges.
The first purge targeted the newly arriving refugees from former religious factions of the Agarthern Empire, seeking refuge from the divine retribution for the Agarthern Empire's hubris and anti-theism. This diaspora received a bitter welcome in Enaeth, as false trials were held to punish the refugees as appeasement for its fearful and fanatical population, and the diaspora were either put to death or forced into defence forces against rebels and Scions. Over the next two decades, this refugee group's suffering would ferment into internalized shame; they had allowed atheism to take hold in Agartha, and let Noth be destroyed because of their docile inaction.
With encouragement from the government, the diaspora then morphed into the Obsolists; a group devoted to Antitheist refutation, technology destruction, scientific denial, and performative cultural flagellation. They became the official enforcers of the Tributionary Body's second purge, the wildly popular political doctrine known as 'Scipt Obsoli'.
Scipt Obsoli was the mandated requirement for citizens to declare and destroy writing materials and technological devices in their possession, and declare any they suspected of storing them. While Voltaionic Devices were still in heavy use in Enaeth, the hysteria of technology and anti-theist action being co-morbid, led to the purge of technology, books and scientists throughout Enaeth. The Arath Diaspora became the 'Obsolist Movment' collecting and destroying thinking machines, personal devices, means of transport and industrial machines.
This complete and utter destruction of scientific practice and technological advancement led to a dark age in Enaeth that persisted the entire two centuries of the Tributionaries rule over Enaeth.
The Tributionaries end came at the turn of the twenty-second century, as increasing corruption, politicking and Morata inspired infighting became the focus of the Body. Unequal and poorly implemented taxation throughout the regions led to an increase in food shortages and an increase in cost for consumer goods led to public disapproval. It was not until 2196 2G.c, when the stars were observed dancing in the sky, that independent unrest began in every city seemingly simultaneously, all led by different factions.
In Torrens, where Tributionary Leadership resided, a group of upper and middle class advocates began holding their own mock senate outside the Cylinder Ring Tower, the primary building of the Tributionary. This group, later to become the Theovocate Senate, supplanted the clumsy chain of command within the Body, and with the support of the populace, passed a resolution in 2197 2G.c calling for the immediate arrest and execution of Body leadership. Torrens fell to riots as the Tributionaries were strung up and publicly executed.
Enaeth fell into bloody civil war; the Theovocates forced into fighting a war against the colonies of Argus and Hedera, led each by their own Tributionary Councils. By 2199 2G.c both Argus and Hedera had collapsed internally, as famine worked its way through Enaeth. In the north, the paltry presence of the Body allowed a government called the 'Monoclasts' to overthrow their limited rule in Rhyne in 2198 2G.c, as the city of Bedlo destroyed its port to prevent Body leadership from fleeing to sea. As the works of the Tributionary Body fell apart, Obsolists began to congregate in what would later be known as the Circiern Region, beginning the first Recall of the Arath Disapora, and deciding to disappear into the forests for one hundred years.
The Body was able to maintain control of the south, and despite the stability brought on by the newly established Theovovates,
fears rose of all known societies collapsing as famine spread to the Central parts of Enaeth. Guided by a dream, Herald Eremit the deepdweller began to explore the relatively unknown areas deep below Torrens, where seemingly endless amounts of water were being drained into. After months of work, Eremit found a miraculous discovery; deep below the surface lay a black cube a mile wide, made of an onyx-like material. Opening the vault like door revealed a collection of seeds, advanced cultivation equipment, herds of animals... and an Aarakocra; Herald Ttsoghal himself. He explained to the incredulous dwarf the purpose of his invention; the No-Boxes.
Designed centuries ago, Ttsoghal sought an answer to the impossibility of preservation. All things eventually erode and fade, but Ttsoghal wanted to preserve tools and knowledge long after he was gone. After witnessing the collapse of governments and communities, even during the golden age of Nothern society, Ttsoghal then saw his work as imperative to the continued survival of all life on Noth,
After many years, he devised a box where time would stop within once 'sealed' until it was opened again. A person within would perceive the door sealing, and then opening immediately after as potentially hundreds of years pass in an instant for them. With Ttsoghal's guidance, Eremit helped re-establish agricultural practice, saving the city-states of Torrens from famine; ushering in the Third Gift Cycle in 2202.
Despite the flourishing of society, Eremit, who became a friend of the god, described him as 'sad, aloof and confused', surmising his isolation from the world for almost two millennia. Ttsoghal disappeared after ten years, leaving a note for Eremit, thanking him for his fellowship, and stating he had gone to find his wife Ttiana and join her in the Rubicon. He was never seen again.
A year later, emissaries from the previously unknown city of Heas began distributing materials, weapons and technology to the independent city-states, ending their self-directed non-interference pact initiated at the beginning of the Declension. This began an uneasy relationship with the unknown nation and the fledgling states, both thankful for the tools to help fight the Tributionaries, but wary of what other advanced weapons they were keeping for themselves...
As the Central Planae and Northern Regions flourished, to the south, the Tributionary Council of Maysuria was overthrown by its own military branch, its highly decorated and respected general becoming the first Ordinant Magnate of Maysuria. In the city of Eridinea, a powerful politician named Hierern Voltaine I overthrew the last bastion of the Body in a bloody coup, thanks to the help of a powerful land-owners association. He became monarch of the city, renamed Voltaine in 2206 3G.c, ending the rule of the Tributionary Body, and beginning the City-States Era
As the crisis softened, each City-State began their own expansion and claim for territory. In the north, the Monoclasts enacted policy echoing the Tributionaries before them, focusing on zealous and easily implemented policies that fumbled to contain the spread of inequality and growing disease in the north.
Rich independent entrepreneurs and polymaths, who had gained influence in the aftermath of the Tributionary Body, began acting outside the purview of the Monoclasts, funding disease prevention, agricultural advancements and increasing the passion for the arts to rebuilt Rhyern identity.
After the accelerated advancements in the Central Planae from the discovery of the No-Box, these individual's influence gained enough popular momentum to overthrow the incompetent government and form the first council of Craftlords; a meritocractic ruling body focused solely on the enhancement of the lives within the newly proclaimed Rhynern Region.
In the Bedlo Strand, the heavily damaged port and poor fishing stocks led to a significant decay, which was partially mitigated by the surprise renewal of trade with the Emperor of Astele. Soon money came flooding back into the port-city, as both traders of Rhyne and Astele filled the pockets of merchants and fish mongers of Bedlo.
In the now abandoned Circiern Region, traders and Misivs would sometimes meet with the mysterious Diaspora, who would kindly, but firmly, advise them of the dangers of a life without shame, before escorting them out of the Circiern region.
In 2286 3G.c, pilgrims from the Diaspora would begin making contact with the major Enaethian societies, proclaiming of a ‘Path of Shame’ that must be walked to keep the rest of Enaeth safe. These outdated luddite messages of atonement were mocked, and the Diaspora developed a new name within Enaethern society; The Pennant Archae.
These odd tribes would later prove their devotion to the protection of Enaeth, when in 2353 TG.c, trade from Astele ceased abruptly in Bedlo, to be replaced by raiding vessels. Astele had undergone its own recent upheaval, as a rebel faction rose with the billowing smoke from Mt. Shi'varo, challenging Emperor Kkresh's divine mandate.
This faction lost, and was forced to flee the isles, taking a chance at conquest of their assumed weakened neighbour. They easily conquered sacked the city of Bedlo, an act which it never fully recovered from. Despite the element of surprise, and daring of the Astele commanders, they were defeated by the surprise alliance of Rhyne the and Pennant Archae, who wiped out the raiding force navigating the Circiern Region, leaving no surivors. In their debt, Rhyne created a pact of non-interference and alliance with the Pennant Archae, allowing free movement for citizens of both regions.
Torrens began expanding outward, occupying the region now known as the Central Planae with the 'Intra-Terrestrial Corp', chasing away the significant increase in bandits and cults that had exploited the wake in the Body's demise. Most infamous of these was the blood cult 'Cruor' led by a Scion-blooded Herald named Ghislain, which would reappear often throughout the Planae.
To the south, territory became split between the states of Maysuria and Voltaine, which made a concordiat of free movement as in the north. This changed when King Hierern II inherited his father's throne, and began a series of incredibly draconian policies and actions to wrestle power away from both his assembly of Barons, and the Ordinant Magnate of Maysuria.
He began his own hunt of suspected athiests within the upper eschelons of Voltaine City. 'Voluntary Pragmatics' would go door to door and beat, arrest and even kill those they suspected of anti-theist behaviour. In reality, this was an anti-intellectual purge.
This began a chain reaction that led to an event called the 'Widowing'; the lack of doctors contributed to an increase in infant mortality and mothers dying from post-partum complications. The death of two notable Baronesses during the Widowing, Letah ne' Benethiehn and Emaveranth ne' Deios II, led their husbands Emerito and Rohktar to begin a sedicious campaign to dethrone the King.
To continue his ambition for complete and utter power, King Voltaine began sending expeditionary troops north to Maysuria, razing townships on refusal of tithe payment from the Ordinant Magnate. Intentionally instigating open conflict, Hierern used this as an excuse to send the Voltaine army to violently occupy the city of Maysuria. He commanded the city sacked, and its ruler, the Ordinant Magnate, killed. Complete control of the south was not enough for Hierern, as he then turned his gaze further northward towards the Planae.
This was to be his undoing; a common law preacher by the name of Eeder, returning home after being on the run, began recruiting the remnants of Maysuria, and a series of skirmishs between Voltaine's armies and these Maysuria rebels occurred. Eeder then found an alliance in Torrens, and together with the Torrens Intra-Terrestrial Corp, dealt blow after blow to Hierern's armies, pushing them further south.
Things were worse for the King in Voltaine; Baron's Deios and Benethiehn had brought his Combine to a standstill, their opposed factions intentionally slowing military response, or giving misinformation to battalions in the field. The populace were on the precipace of revolt, experiencing conditions worse than under the Tributionary Body.
When the Maysurian and Torrens army pushed all the way to Voltaine, Barons Deios and Benethiehn secretly met with Eeder and Torrens leadership, and made an agreement to end the monarchy on Hierern's death. They suggested a course of action Eeder could take, challenging the King to duel, questioning his might and vanity.
This led to one of the more famous events of the Third Gift Cycle; Eeder challenged the King, and as predicted, he accepted. They dueled in a hastily drawn circle on the ground right outside Voltaine's gates, where Hierern knicked an artery in Eeder's leg. As Eeder began to die, the dire circumstances that the mad king had caused gave him a moment of apotheosis, and he ascended. Eeder then used his newly found powers to cripple Voltaine's mind, and made him define the own punishment for his pride and greed. And so, Eeder executed King Voltaine there and then, ending the conflict. Rule was passed as agreed to the former kings court of Barons, and Herald Eeder returned to Maysuria to rebuild.
For a moment, Enaeth experienced a tenative peace, as trade and free movement between city-states increased the prosperity of the continent. This was not to last, as the arrival of a Herald warlord in 2372 3G.c would completely change the face of Enaethern civilization forever.