The Rise and Fall of Tholain

Introduction

[:Emperor Dominus:King Dominus Tholain] was born in 873, the only son of the then King of Tholain, Sevrus Tholain. Growing up in the court of Sevrus meant he'd been exposed to the political organisation and decision-making processes used by his father. Through his childhood he was exposed to stories of how the neighbouring kingdoms made life more and more difficult for those who had chosen to work with Magic. The rumours of his father, the King, being a wizard of some kind were probably true, and this made his opinion of magic different to many of the post-disaster peasants. Magic, he believed, was becoming a dying art.

King Sevrus seemed to have none of the animosity to wizardry that the rulers of other nations displayed. There were often whispering around his court about how dreadful magic use was, and there were significant numbers of Tholain's subjects that shared that view. Yet there were also quieter but more insistent whispers telling the opposite view. Dominus was intrigued by such political games; in his early teens he asked his father if he could begin learning magic use to understand it more fully. Sevrus knew his son would never be a capable wizard, but he arranged some training. Dominus worked hard, but had little natural talent. He gave up his studies into magic in his late teens.

Instead he concentrated on learning and understanding how the political machines across his father's kingdom worked. What he saw and learned would stand him well many years later when he formed the structures that perpetuated his empire. His father's court was ruled by his own edicts, but he was supported by the senior dukes of his realm. They formed an advisory committee, who together oversaw much of the minor detail and day-to-day business of the realm. This committee operated as both organisers of the kingdom and implementers of the law. Unlike other kingdoms of the south, Tholain had developed a system of legal precedents that were established through a common law framework and adapted from time to time by royal edict. The committee helped frame many of the laws, and Sevrus even allowed this committee to discuss and formulate taxation which applied to all from the highest dukes down to lowly artisans and freemen. The only people that seemed to be excluded from the taxation structure were the peasantry, yet even these were subject to taxation in kind, through occasional levies against their food harvest and livestock.

The overall application of the political, legal and taxation structures of Tholain were highly successful. They were not an invention of Sevrus, but had grown out of the expansion of the kingdom. Sevrus made small changes, of course, but these were tweaks to improve the workability of the system. Dominus was instructed in both the way that the system worked and in the ways that had passed before that had been abandoned. He learned what had historically worked and what had not. He came to understand the system deeply.

Persecution of Magic Users

The formal persecution of magic users began in 892 when King Farrath of ["Limia"] issued a decree outlawing the use of magic. This was in response to a rise in its popularity and the formation of several new magic user organisations, and the subsequent outcry from dozens of his barons. The decree started an exodus of wizardry from that state, and began something of a panic in Limia's neighbours. It was followed in 896 with a similar decree from King Lomas of ["Jorlinum"], in 897 by King Dorus of ["Amastia"] and and 902 by King Folcus of ["Cerlain"]. ["Hebria"] took a similar stance to ["Tholain"], and despite pressures from within the country to rid the land of magic, they refused to do so. In 898 King Sevrus boldly stepped in the opposite direction, and made a positive acceptance of magic users. He decreed that his land would give shelter and protection to any wizards that desired it. King Ofarwain of ["Hebria"] could not go as far as his southern neighbour, he was tied by a polarised court. He dared go no further than make a statement to his court about taking a sensible approach to the use of magic. Unlike Sevrus, he could not guarantee the safety of wizards in his lands, and found that his people would often take matters of persecution into their own hands. It was here in Hebria, in the face of these conflicting political drives, that the ["Anti-Magic League"] was formed.

With this division in political support for Wizardry across the southern nations, King Sevrus saw nothing but advantages for his land if it gathered the most powerful wizards to it. To help organise them for the benefit of his kingdom, Sevrus began direct sponsorship of a magic user guild network in 899. Money for this was levied through a small increase of tax upon the freemen and artisans of his land. This was enormously helpful to ["Tholain"] and it gave a clear distinction between the Tholain and her neighbouring Kingdoms. With this step, even those magic users that had been bold enough to stay in ["Hebria"] now found the lure of Tholain irresistible.

The ["Anti-Magic League"] tried to organise activities inside ["Tholain"], but did not achieve much success. Their enemy was well organised and now well funded. In the most notable of defeats in 909, Pastor Baymus Hedgwar, the group's senior clergyman (he was a cleric of ["Anbartae"]) set up a base of operations in Cargius. Magic was used to track him and his small group of outlaws after just two operations which has resulted in the deaths of three senior wizards and eighteen apprentices. When the wizards tracked him, they found his main hideout, and he was trapped inside when they burned the building to the ground. Once the fire started in earnest, Hedgwar surrendered, and he and the survivors from his unit were released from the building and captured.

Hedgwar was an Hebrian, and the incidents had caused some embarrassment to Ofarwain, and his request to Sevrus for a return the outlaw for Hebrian punishment went unheeded. Tholain decided to make an example of the preacher. He was burned at the stake with his assistants. Sevrus thought it fitting to use this punishment which had been widely used in other kingdoms for those who had been found guilty of using magic. The authorities and the magic users continued to hunt down and dispose of opposition like this throughout the kingdom, and such hunts helped the wizards to become powerful as they advanced their craft.

Diplomacy

In 902 King Sevrus began a series of diplomatic discussions with the other Kingdoms. He pulled ["Hebria"] onto his side to try and convince the other kings that their stance over magic users was divisive and was weakening their countries. There were few successes; Sevrus managed to keep the diplomatic process alive, but didn't manage to convince any of the other countries that a change would be beneficial to them. He tried to convince them at first that it was cruel and inhumane that people should be killed for their profession, and went on to try other tactical arguments. He tried to convince them that magic users were powerful yet noble and trustworthy, that they sought to capture and collate knowledge of all kinds, not just of the arcane arts, and that while the individuals were not physically strong, that they brought useful powers that could be used to strengthen and develop their kingdoms. It would seem that the courts of the other four kingdoms did not like the idea that Tholain advocated the acceleration of a magical arms race, or that he was just sending representatives into their courts to argue that what they did in their own lands was wrong.

Sevrus persisted with thi approach until his death in 912. Dominus then acceded to the throne, and his approach was somewhat different to his fathers. He re-engaged the diplomatic efforts more forcefully; he warned that wizards were powerful and that while his kingdom gave them protection as individuals he could not exercise unlimited power over them. While he had a personal liking for wizardry and a new enthusiastic approach, it made no difference. His threats that the wizards could grow into the worst enemy the kingdoms had known grew more and more forceful. Yet he held back direct threats; he refused, quite sensibly, to threaten his neighbours with force of his own.

The futility of this situation was confirmed when ["Hebria"] withdrew from the diplomacy in 914, they'd had enough, and King Ofarwain was now an old man. While the diplomatic process was maintained, King Dominus also began a process of recruiting and training an army. This was initially a conventional force made up of peasants, and it was trained quietly off to the east of ["Tholain"] near the coast, away from ["Nareth"], and out of sight of any of spies of the other kingdoms. This was intended to be a covert muster and training, but it was a professional army. The force was added to by wizards and sorcerers in 915, and from that time it began to look formidable.

Dominus persisted with the diplomatic process for several years, even visiting each of his neighbouring kingdoms in 915 to try and persuade himself, but by 917 the tactics had moved from imploring and cajoling to more of a confrontational and intimidating style. Also by this time wizards had moved into advanced advisory and political positions near to Dominus' throne. He began to rely more and more on their counsel. A new chief adviser appointed in 916 was a senior wizard, Francis Braggus, and his impact was to accelerate further the growth of the country's military strength.

Military Plans

["Tholain"] began using magic to spy upon its neighbours. Towards the end of 917, Dominus had all but lost faith in any diplomatic solution to the problem of this persecution, and began seriously considering Braggus' plans to use their military force to impose their will upon the neighbouring kingdoms. During that winter he and his advisers picked up and refined Braggus' invasion plans.

["Tholain"]'s spies had shown how poorly defended the other nations were. It seemed that the kings were comfortable in their realms, there seemed no outward threats and the nations behaved with respect towards each other. Trade between the kingdoms was good, and they were even convinced that ["Tholain"] was only being intimidating where magic user persecution was discussed. Tholain gathered this information over several months through it's spy network, and Dominus was surprised by the folly of the other Kings.

Invasion

King Dominus decided that no declaration of war was needed; he wanted to act with surprise, and the arrival of his armies would be enough of a declaration of his intentions. During late winter 918 he moved his army up from the the coast to his borders on the west and south. He'd spent the last month of winter buying up food supplies from his neighbours; he'd taken in large shipments of grain, dried meats, cooking oils and dried fruits. The other kingdoms barely noticed; their traders thought their fortunes had changed, until the beginning of Juem when the border was closed and new 'trading posts' established along the borders. This was the planned pre-stage of the invasion - foreigners in the land would have observed the army massing and there was no way that Dominus wanted to warn the other kings of what would be happening.

In a very quick and well planend military operation, the army divided into two and invaded west into ["Cerlain"] and northwest through the mountains into ["Jorlinum"]. Despite delays caused by the systematic burning of the villages they passed through, progress was so swift that within two days his armies were camped outside ["Tamish"] and within four were at ["Malberina"]. They immediately began an assault of these capital cities. Dominus had not expected progress to be so swift, he only just made it to Tamish to see his troops go into the Cerlain capital, and was too late to watch the fall and sack of Malberina. Even if Dominus had chosen to spare the lives of the courtiers and the monarchs of these countries, the wizards in his army had twenty years of pent-up anger to unleash, and the old King Folcus of Cerlain and King Algominus of Jorlinum were dealt with brutally.

Next the armies turned to look at ["Amastia"] and ["Limia"]. Amastia were utterly unprepared, and the King Delmus of Amastia sent messengers to the oncoming army to sue for peace. These messengers began riding hard between the front line of the army and the Amastus palace in ["Mercunum"], and the peace was accepted. The army was re-assigned; the force travelling to the south the conquer Amastia was split in two, half was sent north to reinforce the invasion of ["Limia"] while Dominus and the rest of his army went to Mercunum to negotiate. A week of negotiation saw Delmus of Amastia complete a deal with Dominus, and he was installed as the Prince of Amastia, and swore fealty to his new king.

Meanwhile the army had marched west, and in ["Limia"] the only real fighting of the campaign took place. King Farrath was a wily old king and had managed to muster his peasants to form a defence against the oncoming army. It held out for a while, and then pursued guerilla tactics to try and harry the advancing Tholain army. It had some success, and it took several weeks for the army to reach ["Kenver"]. The tactic of harrying and slowing the advance only delayed the inevitable. By the time midsummer arrived, the city was besieged, and fresh conscripts had arrived to swell the ranks of the Tholain force. These were taken mostly from ["Amastia"], but some were drafted from ["Jorlinum"] and ["Cerlain"]. The siege lasted until the beginning of autumn, and was twice assaulted by Limian forces moving from the north and west. Eventually the magic wielded by the Tholain army proved telling and the city was breached. Once again Dominus struggled to control the anger of his wizards, and the city was sacked. They razed the palace to the ground and King Farrath, his courtiers and his family fell into the hands of the magic users, Dominus could not restrain them.

A temporary government was established for ["Limia"], and Dominus' chief adviser, Braggus, was appointed as interim governor of the kingdom. Dominus kept a military presence in each of his newly conquered territories, and moved the bulk of his army back home. When he returned he found that ["Hebria"] had been preparing for invasion; against his own better judgement, he allowed his wizard advisers to convince him that an invasion here too would be useful. Hebria were prepared to an extent, but with many of the army's main manpower scattered across the south, it was the wizards that bore the brunt of the fighting. Unlike the fighting in Limia, untempered magic carved through the Hebrian ranks. Conquest here was simpler than the invasion of ["Limia"], but the wizards, who had been restrained during the earlier fighting, found this victory the most satisfying.

Government and the New Political Structures

Martial law was maintained for six more months, while the governance of the kingdoms was decided. Originally Dominus had expected to abolish the borders between the six kingdoms and establish himself as king over all, but he ran into political control issues, even supported by Magic there were problems organising policing and taxation. It was clear from post-war events in Limia and Hebria that it would be difficult to keep a lid on uprisings, the control would not be strong enough and, particularly in Hebria, the Anti-Magic League clearly had no intention of rolling over peacefully. The only place that seemed to be working well was Amastia, where the martial law had been relaxed at the end of winter in early 919. Dominus took advice from all the senior feudal lords he could, including from Delmus Amastus.

In the end he opted to leave the kingdoms intact and appoint himself as Emperor above them. This was a logical step and allowed the existing power structures to be maintained in all the nations. He appointed a prince to each kingdom (Amastia already had one) and shuffled many of his most trusted feudal lords into positions of power in each land.

As martial law was relaxed slowly through 919 across all the new Empire, Dominus held the reigns tightly. He wanted no chance of a civil war erupting or any uprisings threatening his authority. He also found he had to pander to the new princes; he'd tried to be fair in division of power - he needed to devolve much out to the princes because without that he couldn't maintain effective control and the burden on himself would become excessive. He established a debating and power-sharing forum in Nareth and the Senate was born; each prince was allowed to appoint a voice to attend this forum, and each of the kingdoms also submitted an elected representative, he was selected by the leading feudal lords in each kingdom.

This worked extremely well. Despite a few teething troubles, Dominus allowed them to take on quite a bit of the day to day running of the Empire. He found that their wisdom was useful as a sounding board for ideas, and it lead to rapid growth of the Empire and a swift improvement in trade and infrastructure across the lands - these were areas he wouldn't have been able to look at himself. Each of the six countries underwent a change from being a Kingdom to a Principality, but by 923 all the Kingdoms had been re-established. This strengthened the Empire, much to Dominus' surprise. The crowns he had taken from each were returned, and the princes of each country became a king.

The senate evolved further. Instead of one appointed representative, some of the kings attended the senate themselves (effectively appointing themselves to the senate). With hands-on experience of ruling their individual lands, they brought even more appetite for change and growth to the Empire.

First Political Decrees

In the early years of his reign, many legal changes were required. ["Emperor Dominus"] backed away from little that was important to his new Empire.

His first decrees involved the level of food production. Despite his military successes the political problems he experienced with his diverse kingdom had shown that conquests further afield would be impossible to control. He was forced to rule out any thoughts of invasions of the northern kingdoms for the time being, but did know these lands were already in the shadow of his new Empire. They were utterly dependent upon his Empire for food, and he needed to maintain this situation. Dominus therefore issued a decree that food production was to be increased by at least one third, and publicised it in the senate and to his people as a generous gesture to aid the people of the north. There was mass buy-in for his plan, which appeared altruistic but was aimed squarely at political control.

With a new-found wealth, and a taxation budget six time as large as it had been for Tholain, Dominus commissioned several spectacular new buildings. The best of them all was a senate debating chamber for Nareth, but it also meant new palaces across the six kingdoms. The senate were involved in these plans, and because of them, the palaces were all to be constructed in a similar style, and from similar stone, but would each be a unique statement of the kingdom they represented.

All and any state-managed persecution of wizardry was outlawed. This had been an unwritten law after the conquest and before the Empire was formed, but Dominus ensured it was formally clarified as soon as he could. State funding for magic-user organisation increased, and was spread out across all the kingdoms. Their remit was also expanded; that they should consider all kinds of knowledge not just those related to the field of magic.

In 919 Dominus commissioned a new crown for the new Empire. He had heard legends of the crowns worn by Dwarfish Kings from before ["The Great Disaster"], and wanted to emulate this in his own realm. He asked his foremost wizards to look into this, make proposals, and build something worthy of this mighty Empire. This they did, and ["The Crown of Tholain"] was completed in 922.