A History by Flavian Duchas

Greetings, esteemed readers. My name is Flavian Duchas, Chief Scribe of the house of Tibling, Master of vellum, and Head of the Imperial Historical Society. It is by the command of my wise and gracious lord, Benethor Tilbing, that I endeavor to document completely the entire history of our world from the very beginning until our present day. To show that my credentials are well earned I shall give a brief introduction of myself and the subject of this grand undertaking.

I was born Flavian Minais Filigramin te Duchas in the city of Duchas, located in the hinter region of Bellefromme. My father was Ais Zinam te Duchas, a printer by trade and my mother was Flavia Simoa te Testuda, an esteemed poet. As a boy I learned my father’s trade and quickly rose amongst my peers as a learned young man. Utilizing my father’s printing shop, I published my first treatise on the origin of the Black Tipped Summer Rabbit in the region of Bellefromme at the age of fourteen. At fifteen I had published several more works but soon earned the ire of the local pamphleteers who were responsible for disseminating the materials the printers published. They did not like that I was so young and not of the proper class to have published works as I was the son of a tradesman, but I continued regardless of their interference for I was a voracious consumer of knowledge and I longed to be a producer as well.

My career stayed very much nonexistent thanks to the pamphleteers and would have stayed that way had not a wise and wealthy scholar happened across my work in the back bin of a bookstore. He was Mayor Orion of the neighboring town of Sidesh. He sought me out and wanted to hire me on the spot as his personal historian. I graciously accepted and my proud father and mother sent me off to Sidesh where I studied and recorded for five years under the tutelage of Mayor Orion, compiling the story of his life and of his family’s history which can be read at any esteemed seller of books.

After the mayor’s death, I found myself with a surplus of funds and no employer. Thus I decided to yield to my young man’s heart and ventured forth throughout the civilized world much as my hero and icon Elisaac did centuries before. I came across many stories and accounts of the past that I have attempted to bring together but such a task had stayed beyond the reach of possibility until I found myself in the Empire of Micea. There I met with my future lord and master, Benethor Tibling who recognized my handiwork and brought me straight to the city of Kano where the Tibling clan ruled on behalf of the Emperor.

Some have expressed the view that this was a forced hiring through an altogether untoward method but let me assure all that Benethor is a good friend and a gracious host whose support I prize and whose friendship I cherish. And now I present the culmination of my life’s work thus far, a history world until the present day. May the Emperor shine his blessing upon you, dear reader, and may Lord Tibling and his progeny find my work beneficial and entertaining.

As with any history, it is important to note that much of what we call history comes from written and recorded sources, but even the furthest back we can trace these records does not take us to the very beginnings of mankind’s or even intelligent life’s stay on Deseray. Thus a great deal of the most ancient of our explorations must be borrowed from even older sources, the myths and legends passed down to us by our ancestors.

Among the nations of man, there is very little commonality between stories told about the origin of days, but even from such a diverse selection, a few strands can of similarity can be extracted. What we will not be discussing is the beginning of life on Deseray as it is a hotly contested subject among scholars of many disciplines. The ultimate origin of the universe and all things is even more disputed as it is even more unknown. Some believe there has always been a universe while others such as the adherents of the Church of Science claim that a great being of unlimited power created the universe in a massive conflagration of flame and dust and spread the universe out on the tapestry of heaven, which some say continues to spread to this very day. The Seekers of Truth believe the universe was vomited up by the Archon of Perfect Knowledge after a bad hangover. Indeed, the ultimate origin of all things produces some of the most interesting stories!

The Skirminoans have their own account of the beginning, the start of the so called Deep Age, and their while their records support their long winded claims that they are the oldest of sapient species, it does not mean that they are any more accurate about the universe that came before that time. We will leave it to other scholars to discuss the veracity of such claims and instead focus on the commonalities of the time directly after the beginning of sapient life, the murky waters of prehistory when mankind first spread across the face of Deseray. Many myths and legends recount this time and those that survive today were passed down by word of mouth so that they remained living traditions which reflected the time in which they were told.

There are many accounts of the origin of human customs and culture I will recount one such tale, which is shared by many in the regions of Micea and its closest cultural cousins. This is the story of Stormpeak. Long ago, when the line between man and beast was not so distinct, when gods walked the earth and demons terrorized mortal kind and monsters hunted with wild abandon, when the world bled and mortals and immortals alike feasted on the sweetmeats of Creation, when dreams were solid and real as flesh, when the universe was a cacophonous song that every living thing danced to, chaotic and ever changing, there lived a boy. This boy was born on a mountain top during a storm that wracked the heavens, and so his parents named him Stormpeak or he who climbs the mountain and bites the winds of the sky.

The beasts of the jungle knew that this boy was marked by fate, destined to slay and conquer them, and so they convened, arguing what course of action could and should be taken. This did not last long, as jungle beasts were simple and not meant for discourse. The strongest of them; king of the jungle gods, Beast Like a LionWolf, decreed that the boy would be eaten and his remains spread to the far corners of the world.

On a bright and peaceful day, Stormpeak and his mother rested by a cave while the rest of the family did their daily work. Beast Like a LionWolf charged from the jungle and attacked Stormpeak’s cousins and aunts by the river as they fished. The wailing of her family reached the ear of Stormpeak’s mother like a crashing waterfall and she knew that something terrible had come for her son and so she fled deep into the cave where she could not be found. Beast Like a LionWolf and his close friend Serpent That Flies Like Eagle, ate their fill of Stormpeak’s family and searched for the infant himself.

The two searched for days but could not find the infant nor his mother. Enraged, they sought the help of He Who Tracks Mice. He Who Tracks Mice led them to the cave where Stormpeak and his mother hid. The cave was deep and went into the heart of the mountain where Stormpeak had been born and light did not shine there. The gods of the jungle searched for days until finally they found a warm fleshy body in darkness. They fell upon the body in an instant, tearing it to pieces. They scattered the pieces to the corners of the world. Their work done, the gods of the jungle returned to their homes.

They did not realize that they had slain the wrong person. Stormpeak still lived, his mother had hidden him well and when Beast Like a LionWolf approached she flung herself in his way, for a mother’s love knows no bounds. Stormpeak lived alone in the heart of the mountain for years, surviving on ceiling dew and the sightless rats that roamed the lonely caverns. One day he met wise old Pilosa or She Who Feeds on Ants. Pilosa did not need eyes and so could not see, but she knew that Stormpeak approached.

“From where do you come?” Pilosa asked, and Stormpeak did not reply for he did not know the gift of language. “This place is not your home. You do not belong here,” said Pilosa, but still Stormpeak did not reply.

Pilosa felt pity for the poor boy, so she taught him how to speak and how to walk and how to count, though it was tricky in the darkness and Stormpeak had not the keen senses of She Who Feeds on Ants. The boy continued to grow and soon he was ready to venture out of the cave. Pilosa bid him farewell and gave him a warning, telling him of the fate that befell his family and that he would be next if he strayed too close to the jungle.

Stormpeak was filled with grief and he knew at last why he’d been alone in darkness for so long. He wandered for a year before finally finding the entrance to the cave. The sun was bright and almost burned his eyes away but he shielded them and saw the world for the first time in many years. The boy journeyed down the mountain and followed the river south. He came upon a small village. Their tents were made from the skin and bones of a harvested snake god, whose body rotted away in the jungle past the river bank. They eyed him warily, as strangers were few in this dangerous land. Some thought him a demon wearing human flesh, for how could a boy live alone in the jungle without a tribe, without a family? He spoke and told them of his life, that he’d been born on a mountaintop and left alone after the beasts of the jungle had slain his family.

The villagers did not believe his story and told him to go away and leave them be. Suddenly, the village was attacked by ravaging demons. The villagers tried to fight back, but their weapons were only bone and stone, incapable of harming the demons.

“Give us your wives and daughters!” the demons howled and the villagers did so, for they had not the tools to be rid of them. Stormpeak was not afraid. Pilosa had taught him the secret ways known only to beasts and winds and the seasons. He spoke words of purity and the demons fled in terror.

The villagers rejoiced and thanked the boy for his help. They offered him everything they had as thanks but Stormpeak politely refused, saying he did not need their things, only food and water. Stormpeak lived among the villagers and soon grew tall and muscular thanks to the meat the villagers offered him. One day Willowleaf, daughter of the village medicine woman, was walking among the fangs of the snake god, harvesting venom for her mother to use when a monster burst from one of the snake’s glands. Stormpeak heard her scream and raced to see what was the matter. He came upon a frightening scene.

A monstrous creature, with the body of a spider, the head of a crocodile, the wings of a bat and the tail of a monkey had Willowleaf pinned to the ground.

“Let her go, foul beast!” Stormpeak bellowed, but the monster was young and wild and had no mind for words. Stormpeak charged with a sharpened snake rib in hand and speared the monster in the side. The monster howled and climbed the insides of the snake god to escape Stormpeak’s grasp, but Stormpeak had learned the art of throwing and even though the monster was as far away from him as the tree canopy, Stormpeak still hit him with the thrown rib. The monster shrieked and fell dead to the ground.

Willowleaf thanked Stormpeak and the two fell deeply in love with each other. Stormpeak asked the medicine woman if she would allow him to marry her daughter but she said no, saying that the beasts of the jungle would soon know of Stormpeak if he took a bride. When they did, they would take Stormpeak and Willowleaf, for to stray from the rules of man meant to be lost to the rules of the jungle, and the rules of the jungle were not kind to youth. This saddened Stormpeak and Willowleaf, but their love was too strong and they decided to wed without the mother’s blessing.

That night, dressed in naught but ceremonial jungle vines, Stormpeak and his new wife consummated their love in the light of the moon. The sounds of their passion echoed through the trees, carried on the wind and the beasts of the jungle knew then that Stormpeak still lived. As the sun rose, the beasts of the jungle found the couple lying in the shrubs beneath a mighty tree, the sweat of their bodies mingling with the morning dew.

“How is it that the boy still lives? Did not Beast Like a LionWolf and Serpent That Flies Like Eagle eat of him and spread his remains to the corners of the world?” the beasts asked. Beast Like a LionWolf stepped forward and saw with his own eyes that indeed he had failed.

“The boy does live, but he has turned away from the rules of man and so we will judge him. If he is found wanting then his death will be ours by right to enact and the mistake of years past will be righted. He sleeps now, but he is strong and will be angered if he is troubled before he has his bride again. Therefore I will send Armored Rat with Tusks to test him when he is weakened by his bride’s morning love. Men are of flesh like us, but their hearts are bound by honor like the gods and spirits of the dreaming world, and so Stormpeak will accept the challenge and so be felled by his own pride,” said Beast Like a LionWolf.

And so Stormpeak and Willowleaf awoke and once more drank deeply of each other’s love in the light of dawn. Armored Rat with Tusks approached them once they had finished and Stormpeak was weakened in mind and body.

“You there, you who have taken a bride and drawn us here by the smell and the sound of your passion, hear me,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

Willowleaf covered her nakedness from Armored Rat with Tusks but Stormpeak did not for he had no notion of nudity and shame.

“Speak then, what do you want?” asked Stormpeak.

“I wish to test you, Stormpeak. I can smell the shame upon your bride. What you have done was not meant to be. Therefore you must restore your honor with a test,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

“I will do whatever I must, for Pilosa taught me the importance of honor and for my bride I would do anything,” said Stormpeak.

“Then I challenge you, Stormpeak. Fell one hundred trees in ten days or I will crack your heads open with my tusks and feed on your guilty consciences,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

And so Stormpeak set about his task. It was hard work and even with his prodigious strength, he could not fell even a single tree by the third day. He lost hope, lamenting to Willowleaf that his desire had doomed them both. As Willowleaf calmed her husband by the river, Stormpeak saw River Horse of the Deep eating the roots of a hanging tree and was struck with an idea. Binding a sharpened stone to a firm piece of wood with tough vines, Stormpeak fashioned an axe and fell the trees of the jungle as easily as River Horse of the Deep chews on their roots.

Armored Rat with Tusks was dumbfounded for he had never seen a mortal man do what Stormpeak had done. The task was complete and Armored Rat with Tusks congratulated Stormpeak on his accomplishment.

“Very good and very clever, boy, but the test is not yet over. Next you must change the course of the river, but you cannot use the tool you fashioned. If you cannot change the river’s course in ten days then I will crack your heads open with my tusks and feed on your guilty consciences,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

Stormpeak lamented once more, for the river was large and mighty and he could not possibly change its course in ten days. Willowleaf calmed her husband by having him lay his head on her lap beneath the shade of a tree. As his eyes began to grow heavy with sleep, Stormpeak saw She Who Dwells in the Dark burrowing up from the ground. Stormpeak was struck once again with an idea and went to make another tool. He stuck a sturdy piece of wood into a flat piece of rock and began to dig a channel for the river. Armored Rat with Tusks could not believe his eyes when Stormpeak dug the last barrier and let the river flow away from its course and through the jungle.

“That is impressive, but the test is still not over,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

“What more must I do? I have proven myself. Leave me before you anger me,” said Stormpeak.

“But there is one last test. It is a simple one that you should have no trouble with and for which there is no time limit. Take as long as you wish, boy, and if you succeed then I will not crack your heads open with my tusks and feed on your guilty consciences,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

“Fine. One last test and then the honor of my bride and I will have been restored,” said Stormpeak.

“All you must do is feed the people of your village with nothing more than these seeds,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

Once more Stormpeak lamented, for a tiny bag of inedible seeds could not possibly feed the village. Willowleaf tried to calm her husband, but his anger was too great. He felt like he’d been tricked but there was nothing he could do. In a rage he buried the seeds and forgot about them. A season passed, and Armored Rat with Tusks came to see the progress of Stormpeak’s latest task. He was delighted to find that Stormpeak had given up and prepared to enact the will of his king, Beast Like a LionWolf.

“Stay your tusks, Stormpeak was succeeded,” said Willowleaf.

“Do not try and trick me, girl, for I am the cleverest of beasts who walk the earth,” said Armored Rat with Tusks.

“But look, with your own eyes. The bag of seeds that my husband buried in the ground where giant trees once stood have grown thanks to the water of the river he shifted. My village feasts on plentiful crops thanks to Stormpeak,” said Willowleaf.

And Armored Rat with Tusks knew he had failed and ran to Beast Like a LionWolf to tell of his disgrace. Beast Like a LionWolf roar/howled in rage and ate Armored Rat with Tusks on the spot.

By then, Stormpeak had grown into a young man and he lived in peace and solitude with his wife and new daughter, Stormleaf. He had gone back to the rules of man and so could not be rightfully slain, but Beast Like a LionWolf was furious and his pride blinded him. And so he sent the beasts of the jungle to attack Stormpeak’s new home. The villagers defended their home with new weapons which Stormpeak had helped develop and with Stormpeak’s help, banished the beasts back to the jungle. Beast Like a LionWolf could take it no more and called upon the gods of the jungle to stand with him as he went to finish the work of so long ago.

Stormpeak waited for him at the edge of the jungle where the trees met the irrigated soil of his farm. Beast Like a LionWolf screamed as he approached.

“The boy is now a man and thinks that because he can stand so tall that he is greater than the king of jungle gods. But I stand taller than any man even as I lay down to sleep. I am the ruler of the wild places. I have eaten of the very heart of all things and laughed as blood leaked down my face and throat. It was I who decreed that strength and cunning would decide who lives and who dies in the jungle. My teeth snap trees in half and my claws rip stone from the earth. I have eaten everyone that has ever challenged me. I have sired countless sons and daughters that roam where no foot has ever stepped and no eye has ever seen. I will not be slain by a mortal man!” Beast Like a LionWolf shouted.

And so Stormpeak and Beast Like a LionWolf fought. Stormpeak was armed with naught but a fang of the mighty serpent god and a shield made from its scales. Beast Like a LionWolf was amused, because it had been he who had killed the serpent god many ages ago when the lands of the earth were as one. The canopy shook, causing so many birds to flee in terror that the sun was blocked by the beating of their wings. Night fell and still they fought, savagely with tooth and nail. Beast Like a LionWolf saw weakness in Stormpeak, and lunged to claim his kill, but Stormpeak had only feinted and plunged his serpent fang deep into Beast Like a LionWolf’s heart.

“I am struck down by that which I had struck down! The cycle of life and death has closed and now I am no longer the strongest,” Beast Like a LionWolf wailed. The beasts of the jungle smelled the blood of their god king and they fell upon him like a swarm of locusts upon a field of crops. The sound of their feasting lasted long into the night and no one in the village slept while Beast Like a LionWolf screamed as he was eaten alive. All except Stormpeak, who was exhausted from the great battle.

In the morning the beasts had fled, sated by their god’s meat. Stormpeak harvested what little was left of the carcass and fashioned it into a fine cloak and grand headdress with which to proclaim his victory. But when he looked upon the body of Beasty Like a LionWolf, he felt sorrow that such a magnificent creature would never again stalk the jungles and so Stormpeak created lions from the remains, and it is from these primal lions that modern lions and the near extinct lion-folk descend. Stormpeak also made wolves and it is from these monstrous wolves that modern wolves and hounds are descended. But Stormpeak also realized the danger these new creatures posed to human life and so he proclaimed his will.

“Henceforth I shall be the god of the jungle and the beasts shall cleave to my will. For evermore, lions and wolves shall be two creatures and never again shall they mix. Their descendants will bicker and quarrel wherever they meet and so Beast Like a LionWolf shall remain a dead god. For trying to test me to my ruin, the children of Armored Rat with Tusks shall live without tusks and cleave to man, ever dependent on their waste, but always will they be reviled as tricky creatures,” Stormpeak decreed.

And it was so according to his will for he wore the skin of a god of the jungle and from then on man would wear the skins of animals to clothe themselves following his example.

The story of Stormpeak survives today in almost every region of the empire, though he is known by different names such as Mountainsquall in the southern marches and Tempesttop in the West. It recounts how man conquered nature and why we continue to exploit Deseray’s less sapient children. There is also the tale of Stormleaf and how she rescued her infant brother from unseen demons and Venombite, Stormpeak’s grandniece who slew a mighty Tandosaur as part of her eighty trials to win the hand of her future husband as well as many others which make up the epic Stormpeak cycle.

The age of gods and monsters and beastmen continues for an unknown length of time in the human tradition, but the Skirminoan tradition offers up another angle and so it is from them that we learn about the world before mankind’s dominance. In the time the Skirminoan people call the Shallow Age, Skirminoans have propagated the shallow seas and inlets of the world and are exploring the largest rivers to see where they originate. The Skirminoan explorers encounter many wild things, including our human forebears. The near mythical river explorer, Forsico the Intrepid, describes humanity as “rugged, muscular, and savage, wearing the skins of other living things and wielding deadly stone weapons to match our coral swords.” He was estimated to have lived, if indeed he ever did live, about twenty thousand years before the present day.

My more adventurous peers who dig beneath the earth have concluded almost universally that no permanent human settlement had been constructed during this phase of human prehistory, or least have not been discovered so far. The best estimates we have are that the earliest surviving written records date back to four thousand years before our time, and so a sixteen thousand year gap remains when mankind walked the earth before cities, before language, before civilization. As such they were easy prey for expansionist Skirminoan societies and were made to be pawns to be used against other Skirminoan cities. Human warriors of unparalleled might and merit arise during the crucible of serving the Skirminoan’s interests. One such figure is mentioned briefly in the records of the Skirminoans but who is one of the more popular figures of human mythology, especially in the Albasian speaking regions of Deseray. I am of course talking about Mendelaus, the warrior king of Dorene.

The Albasian peoples speak thus, “Remember brave Mendelaus, who gave us hope, who gave us food, who gave us liberty from the sword and the spear of Skirminoan might.” This mythical king is said to have been responsible for the downfall of the greatest Skirminoan Empire in history, the empire of Skibaldamon the Great. Skibaldamon was a hot tempered fellow, according to the myth, and swift to anger when displeased, and many things displeased him. Early in his reign, it is said that he came across a sizeable tribe of human warriors, bred and born to fight. He quickly subjugated the tribe and forced the tribe’s leader, Warchief Gregormemnon to fight for his empire. Gregormemnon readily agreed and fought for twenty years under the service of Skibaldamon.

          Gregormemnon was instrumental in conquering the human tribes of what is now called the Ferminon, as well as defeating coastal pirates who made their home in the mountains high above the reach of the Skirminoan armies. He was finally killed in battle fighting pirates along the sea cliffs of Leem and his son, Mendelaus became the new warchief, which the Skirminoan generals in charge of the human mercenaries did not object to. Mendelaus was not as pliant as his father and vowed to take revenge on the sea creatures who had forced his tribe to fight for them. There are many tales ascribed to him, but the one which is most pertinent to us is the tale of his rebellion when, years after becoming warchief, he can take it no more and issues a statement against High Emperor Skibaldamon.

Here is the tale of Mendelaus’ rebellion. And so it came to pass in the year of the second sun of winter that King Mendelaus of Dorene had fought seven battles for the mighty Skibaldamon and each time had emerged the victor. The other subjugants see the human king and feel hope in their hearts where before the Skirminoans had crushed them. Mendelaus was no slave, but he is not truly king, for no sooner had summer begun in the second sun of winter, a dichotomous time on the calendar and thus a time of ill fortune for the Dorenes, Skibaldamon commanded that Mendelaus take up the axe again and head for the South where another rebellion is fomenting. Mendelaus spoke thus.

“Great leaders of the Skirminoan host, tell your master we shall not fight this season for to do so would be to defy the gods. Mendelaus is a fierce warrior but he will not disrespect the gods. He is peerless among peers, but he will not disrespect the gods. He is loyal to his people and an enemy of those who wish harm on the emperor, but he will not disrespect the gods.”

The Skirminoan generals are furious and try to put this upstart warchief in his place. They have his wife and daughter strung up to a tree for wild dogs to eat slowly over hours while Mendelaus watched but he did not relent. They took his son to the sacred river of Hilos and tying him to a stone, threw him into the deepest part. Still Mendelaus would not fight. Finally, they dug up the remains of his father and burned them on the sacred oak table of the Feast. At this, Mendelaus exploded in rage.

“Fools! You have taken what is most precious to me and thought I would fight but it is not for me that I fight but the honor of people and the honor of the gods, both of which you have thoroughly defiled. If you want me to fight then I will fight against those who have insulted the gods! I will shower my fury upon you like a thunderstorm!”

And with that, Mendelaus took up the axe and led his men against the three Skirminoan generals who had sought to punish his disobedience. The gods favored Mendelaus righteousness that day, for they sent a mighty rain to flood the Hilos which denied most of the Skirminoan army safe passage unto land to support their encamped brothers. The auxiliary armies of humans, raezilians and the Ratite clan of the gnathae flocked to Mendelaus’ banner and beat back the Skirminoan fleet until they reach the river delta. The rebels which Mendelaus was supposed to have quelled are less successful and the ragtag remnants of their army join up with Mendelaus. The fighting is so ferocious that word travels across the empire that a human king has defied the emperor’s word. This sparks rebellions across the empire as Skirminoan vassal states and human tribes alike no longer want to work under the yoke of the cruel Skirminoan emperor.