Sunday, January 30, 2011

Year 105,710: The Conqueror Is Born

In 105,673, the tutor and scholar Dytoclanes was serving as navigator on a trireme of the Bronze Navy under the temporary command of aristocratic first officer Elza Narades.  The young Elza Narades was son of Elza Vidacee, a widely suspected traitor and confirmed opportunist.  In defying his orders, Elza Narades accidentally led his vessel to discover a small clutch of ships in the colors of the Pharaoh of Sathad, and in his incompetence in defying the navigator, he managed to get his ship run aground.  Dytoclanes commanded him to run to the nearest town and alert the navy, and Elza Narades was widely praised as a hero for his actions.

For the next two years, until 105,675, Dytoclanes attempted to tell his side of the story, allowing that Elza Narades did indeed save the island from invasion, but also admitting that the opportunity only arose by pure chance.  The good, said Dytoclanes, must be taken with the bad.

At first, Dytoclanes had some success at promoting this philosophy, which not only credited Elza Narades with some measure of heroism, but in redefining the often-reviled career of his father.  Elza Vidacee may have forged military orders, may have attempted to coerce the Haesonai into battle against his own country, and he may have attempted to betray the Empire, but he also opened up vital trade routes to the east, and served to secure the Gulf of Tenore.  His good deeds were taken with his bad deeds.

As Dytoclanes the scholar passed this philosophy down to his students, who were mostly sons of wealthy scions of Bazik and Joranne, he found himself less and less welcome in the public square.  Elza Narades was turning his heroic run into a bona fide political career, following in the footsteps of his newly exalted father.  The criticisms of Dytoclanes, seeing the bad as well as the good, rang with uncomfortable truth, and far too often.

In the year 105,704, Dytoclanes was put on trial for pointing out the shortcomings of Elza Narades once too often.  His teachings were traitorous and undermined the security of the state, said the judgment of the High Priestess of Temu.  The Dreamers concurred.  Dytoclanes was put to death.

One of his brighter students was Attades, a student from a wealthy family in Bazik with mining interests.  Attades was 33 when Dytoclanes was killed by a corrupt court of the state.  Like most Bazik, Attades was raised with a practical turn of mind, and refined the wisdom of Dytoclanes into a more practical and everyday use.  Since he was safe on the island of Bazik, far from the long arm of the tyrant Elza Narades, his philosophy was not as easily suppressed.

“Goodness is relative, as my master wrote,” wrote Attades, “insomuch as a single action may be either good or bad, both good and bad, or neither good nor bad.  Inevitably, all actions shall be considered bad to some, but good to others.  It is inconceivable, therefore, for a man to do anything at all for fear that he is doing wrong.  Let us therefore concede that it is necessary to do things which some may call bad, but do them in the name of the greater good.  It is the ideal of the wise man to do the least bad for the fewest people, in the name of the most good for the most people.  To discover the true balance of this equation we must distinguish a fine line between that which is in our best interest, and that which we merely desire, and weigh these against the degree and magnitude of offense we commit, by drawing a fine line between that which is in our worst interest, and that of which we merely disapprove.”

It is this philosophy which earns Attades wide respect in the Bronze Empire for his wisdom, judgment, and sagacity.  It is also the philosophy that inspired the Conqueror.

The initial history of Celestrones and his early battles against the warlords of Sathad is told in Phantor's Celestrones the Conqueror.

What The Players Decided
There was no event here.  I simply wanted to catch the Players up with some important history before launching into the conquest of Celestrones.

Dave the Artisan did comment, "I thought it was all going so well.  Right up until the very end."

No comments:

Post a Comment