After the Rite of Union in 105,560, the combined person of Ayalro, Prince of the Haesonai, and Redelthar, Imperial Prince of the Zefari, was the heir apparent to both empires. When his Zefari father, the Emperor Salathon, passed away five years later, the Emperor Ayalthar assumed both thrones. The two nations, north and south of the Ephacce River, were united as one, led by a single individual that had a unique understanding of both.
One of his first actions as Emperor was to re-open the homeland to the Abbadar in exile. The Abbadar had fled — or been expelled — from the region of the Ephacce Delta since their people had been conquered, two thousand years before. Since that diaspora they had wandered in the wild, maintaining their memories of the Delta region only in their myths and stories encoded into the Gospels of In-Pella, also called the Tales of Our Exile. As an act of generosity, to unify the people of Zefar and Haesonai as he himself had been unified, Emperor Ayalthar reinstated their ancient lands to them. The Abbadar would be permitted under his imperial grace to become reunited with the Boda, their long-distant kin who had remained behind.
This clemency was not universally appreciated among both empires. Many who had settled the Delta during the intervening centuries were unwilling to be relocated. They argued, not without justification, that the Abbadar had fled the Delta voluntarily, giving up their lands and homes in response to visions of the future. Why should those lands be returned to them?
However, nobody objected too strenuously, nor too loudly, to the Emperor’s plan. Most Abbadar had unexplained psychokinetic and psychic powers, to possibly include mild forms of telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance; they were adept at telling truth from lies — a particular obsession among the Zefari, for one — and at evading upcoming dangers. The Abbadar could be for the united Empires a sort of canary in a coal mine. If any danger were apt to strike the Delta, a flood or a monsoon or an invasion, the Abbadar would be the first to know. Some said, “Does not the return of the psychics indicate that our homeland is safe? Would they return to these lands if danger were imminent?”
Such acceptance of the Abbadar’s talents lasted approximately two centuries. Many of the Abbadar who returned from lands to the west brought with them the Gospels of In-Pella, in which was predicted the rise of a great chaos of warfare directed by a Conqueror yet to come. The proclamations of doom were unnerving to the Zefari in particular, who had severe social injunctions against mortals impersonating deities, or speaking on behalf of the divine. Among the Zefari were many who accused the Abbadar of fomenting unrest for their own purposes, or of being unnecessarily pessimistic. It was bad for business.
That all changed in 105,742. At the furthest western edges of the Zefari Empire, occupied mostly by Haesonai fishing villages and trading towns amid the jungle, the armies of Celestrones the Conqueror hove into view. The prophecies of the Abbadar were coming true. I outlined the difficulties faced by the Zefari Empire by giving the Players an excerpt from End of Empire, written by a neutral Haesonai historian named Yeshi the Observer.
The Haesonai were long associated with the people of Celestrones, having conducted robust trade with them for hundreds of years. Their armies of light, mobile, bronze-armed Amazons made difficult targets for the Conqueror, who more often found himself chasing shadows than doing battle, yet the armies of the Celestrian Empire could not be matched by any strategy the Amazons knew. His armies were able to advance largely unopposed through the jungle, pacifying the towns it encountered through a combination of diplomacy, infrastructure, and trade. In carving swaths through the thick jungle, the Conqueror’s vast supply of troops and manpower did what the lightly populated groups of Haesonai were unable to do themselves: to build a series of connecting roads linking their towns in a network of profitable trade.
Under the protection of the Conqueror, border raids of the Haesonai towns ceased. The skirmishes between displaced Sathad warlords, Inoren riders, and Haesonai frontierswomen were quashed. The Conqueror brought peace and culture, at a small price.
As the Haesonai disappeared into the jungle, fighting a mobile guerilla war against a virtually impregnable enemy, the armies of Zefar came out in large columns. The Zefari had mixed-unit tactics, guentar cavalry, and archers. What they did not have was iron.
Bronze they could make in any quanitity: their Earth-mages conjured pure copper, and pure tin, and the two pure metals were alloyed together. Steel was impure. The Zefari Earth-mages could conjure a wall made of weak iron, but they could not conjure even a thimble full of carbon steel. As a result, the Zefari’s bold offensive strategy to meet the Conqueror head-on in battle quickly turned into a defensive evasion, then a rout. All the Zefari stone mages could do was erect diversionary walls in a vain attempt to keep out the Celestrians.
The Zefari Empire had been constructed with the Zefari firmly at the top, the source of all magic and crafting and security. From them came the best bronze, the best stonework, and the best tools, and so from them had come leadership and command. Now their strongest asset was useless to resist the advance of the Conqueror. The other races of the Empire finally felt fear, and anger at the Zefari for their failure.
As quickly as the Zefari had tumbled from their lofty place atop their society, the prestige of the lesser races of Zefari rose. The guentars had been masters of the forge. It was they who alloyed pure metals into bronze. They bent all their skill to the replication of iron, as quickly as it might be learned. To fight the Conqueror they would need to divine his secrets. The Avadi northerners possessed magic of their own, not sufficient to withstand the Conqueror’s armies, but enough to slow him down. The Boda used their latent precognitive power to predict when and where the Conqueror would advance next. Even the Abbadar stood to resist — possibly because they knew there was almost nowhere to run. With their telepathy, they attempted to steer the armies of Celestrones against one another, to some success.
But when a civilization’s back is to the wall, it turns upon itself. The last-ditch efforts of the Abbadar to save their ancestral homeland was not enough to convince the people of the Delta that the telepaths were good neighbors. Had the Abbadar not lived in the west? Hadn’t they returned to the Delta just before the Conqueror? Weren’t these the people who flee at the first sign of trouble? Why do they remain here? What is their purpose?
Emperor Rhees III (M, 16) is a young emperor, barely sixteen, but the best pick of a lean family line. He is eight generations removed from Emperor Ayalthar the Combined, and was the only apparent choice for the throne. Preserving the line of Ayalthar was essential to maintaining harmony in the Delta between the rebellious, independent Haesonai and the structured, practical Zefari. Rhees was raised as well as could be expected, and is bearing up well, but nothing has prepared him for the end of his empire. In these dark times, he borders tears of despair, and he listens to his advisers in shock. There seems to be little anyone can suggest.
General Athosis (M, 41) is a battle-hardened guentar, tough and scarred, who has seen the Conqueror’s men in the field. “We are making steel,” he tells the Emperor, “but not quickly enough. We need tons of the stuff to put a decent army in the field. We haven’t got tons. We haven’t got a single iron mine from Reyash to Skeltern. Your Zefari can only conjure so much iron a day, and after that it’s got to be smelted and forged. That takes time, and it takes guentars out of the battlefield. If you want steel for the rest of your army, I’ve got to give my quartermasters every spare set of hands I can get. You might as well assign the cavalry to me, for all the good they’re doing on the battlefield.”
Pagligarana (M, 56) is a Zefari mage, during one of his rare spare moments. He and the other Zefari, any with even the slightest skill in Earth magic, have been conjuring supplies day and night for the army. It is difficult for the Zefari to come to grips with the new reality, that the Empire which they built with raw magical talent would be defeated by something so mundane as a blacksmith. Blacksmiths were commoners, not magic at all. “I cannot escape the feeling that the Abbadar are aiding the cause of the Conqueror,” he explains to the Emperor. He’s exhausted and short-tempered from many successive twenty-hour work days. “These are people who can see danger coming. Why don’t they run? Surely they can see as clearly as we that the end of the empire is near.”
“Shut your mouth,” says Thaun (M, 59), the Avadi High Priest. “The gods would never permit the Zefari Empire to fall to the likes of Celestrones. He’s little better than a soldier, they say; son of an aristocrat. His armies win by sorcery and base deception.”
“His armies win,” says General Athosis pointedly, “with tactics. And with steel. Which,” he adds, “we haven’t got.”
“Always you have an excuse for your incompetence, General,” declares the High Priest. “Steel is an impure metal, a corruption of its natural state. Such a blasphemous creation could only defeat the armies of Zefari if their hearts are not pure. It is a moral failing of your soldiers, general.”
“A moral failing?” asks General Athosis. “Have you seen what a steel sword does to a bronze shield?”
“Your men are being led astray by the wiles of the Abbadar Oracles,” says the High Priest. “They’re whispering words of deceit and betrayal in their ears. It weakens their resolve. We must take steps to crush the Abbadar before they assist the Celestrians to overthrow His Imperial Majesty’s entire empire.”
“Destroying the Abbadar is pointless,” says the Zefari mage Pagligarana wearily. “What we need to do is surrender now, and quickly, before Celestrones swallows up the entire Delta. Soon we will have to retreat north behind the Grand Palisade, and the gods only know if even those will stop him.”
What The Players Decided
"Is that their question?" Joe asked. "If the Palisade will stop the Conqueror? Because we can answer that right now: no."
They're looking for ways to respond to the Conqueror's invasion, I reminded them.
Almost immediately the players dived for the list of magic spells and began combing through them for something, anything, designed to stop an invasion. There wasn't much, but as the Zefari was made of two races with more-than-average magical talent — the Avadi and the Zefari — it was the best resource they had.
"We built this Empire," Dave said, referring to the Conqueror, and feeling a little guilt for what they had unleashed.
"We built all of these empires," Joe the Leader pointed out. "We're not going to be able to keep all of them alive and happy."
It was true, I conceded. They had allowed a culture to expand to enormous dimensions based on the conjuration of metal resources. Zefar didn't have an iron mine to its name. Naturally it would be threatened by another culture with a more flexible, less dogmatic view of technology.
Connor pointed out the spell Penetrating Weapon. Could that be used by the Zefari to turn back the Conqueror?
Dave took up the stance that the Zefari empire must be given every advantage; Joe took the position that having their asses kicked would be good for Zefar. Jack was studying the map very quietly.
"We can't just let the Conqueror take these guys over," Dave complained. "Then we'll have just one culture across the entire continent."
"He's spreading roads, trade, technology, and writing," Joe said. "And philosophy, law, self-government. Why are we against this again?"
Dave made a face. "I don't really like his system of laws," he joked.
"What? You just helped install them," Joe said, laughing.
Other spells were available to the Zefari that with their advanced Earth magic, the Conqueror would not be able to defend against: Summon Earth Elemental, for one. The spell Steelwraith would protect one from even being touched by metal. Turnblade could cause a blade to strike with the flat instead of with the edge, but was useless on arrows and spears.
"I agree with Joe, we should let the Conqueror fight them," Connor said.
"There, it's three to one," Joe said.
"Hey, Connor used to be on my side," Dave protested, "and now he's on your side. And you say I'm the weaselly middle ground?"
Joe made a very cogent statement on the nature of warfare. "If we want these guys to survive, we have to let them fight. They're going to have to come up with a technology to defeat the Conqueror. Warfare is the best way to advance that technology. I say bring it on, let the Conqueror attack."
"Then we're arguing the same thing," Dave said, relieved. "Just from different sides."
And Connor keeps switching anyway, I observed.
The Players came to their final conclusion. They warned the Zefari not to harass the Abbadar. The reason they have not run from the Conqueror is that they smell success! You must not retreat. Oh, and here's a list of spells you might try...
Results
I won't know the results of this round until I prep for next round.
They're looking for ways to respond to the Conqueror's invasion, I reminded them.
Almost immediately the players dived for the list of magic spells and began combing through them for something, anything, designed to stop an invasion. There wasn't much, but as the Zefari was made of two races with more-than-average magical talent — the Avadi and the Zefari — it was the best resource they had.
"We built this Empire," Dave said, referring to the Conqueror, and feeling a little guilt for what they had unleashed.
"We built all of these empires," Joe the Leader pointed out. "We're not going to be able to keep all of them alive and happy."
It was true, I conceded. They had allowed a culture to expand to enormous dimensions based on the conjuration of metal resources. Zefar didn't have an iron mine to its name. Naturally it would be threatened by another culture with a more flexible, less dogmatic view of technology.
Connor pointed out the spell Penetrating Weapon. Could that be used by the Zefari to turn back the Conqueror?
Dave took up the stance that the Zefari empire must be given every advantage; Joe took the position that having their asses kicked would be good for Zefar. Jack was studying the map very quietly.
"We can't just let the Conqueror take these guys over," Dave complained. "Then we'll have just one culture across the entire continent."
"He's spreading roads, trade, technology, and writing," Joe said. "And philosophy, law, self-government. Why are we against this again?"
Dave made a face. "I don't really like his system of laws," he joked.
"What? You just helped install them," Joe said, laughing.
Other spells were available to the Zefari that with their advanced Earth magic, the Conqueror would not be able to defend against: Summon Earth Elemental, for one. The spell Steelwraith would protect one from even being touched by metal. Turnblade could cause a blade to strike with the flat instead of with the edge, but was useless on arrows and spears.
"I agree with Joe, we should let the Conqueror fight them," Connor said.
"There, it's three to one," Joe said.
"Hey, Connor used to be on my side," Dave protested, "and now he's on your side. And you say I'm the weaselly middle ground?"
Joe made a very cogent statement on the nature of warfare. "If we want these guys to survive, we have to let them fight. They're going to have to come up with a technology to defeat the Conqueror. Warfare is the best way to advance that technology. I say bring it on, let the Conqueror attack."
"Then we're arguing the same thing," Dave said, relieved. "Just from different sides."
And Connor keeps switching anyway, I observed.
The Players came to their final conclusion. They warned the Zefari not to harass the Abbadar. The reason they have not run from the Conqueror is that they smell success! You must not retreat. Oh, and here's a list of spells you might try...
Results
I won't know the results of this round until I prep for next round.
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