Comments on the Ending of the 2nd Empire

Inspiration: Artist - Max Richter, Grace Davidson; Album - From Sleep; Track - Path 5 (delta)

They came from the north, these gray-faced wanderers in Lunar 422 Moth’s Dusk. Born of ice and stone, some legends said. Valkhu’ur were not of this world, but of one lost to the glacial maw of antiquity. They came south to Wrathguard, the capital of the Chaldic empire.  The guards at the Gate of Transcendence did not see the savages until a scout hailed the watch captain in a thin, harsh tongue. It was rumored they’d arrived to pledge fealty and express gratitude to the god-emperor Melatakish, a child of nine. The Chaldic empire had recently granted back to the Valkhu’ur their ancient hunting grounds which had been taken during the War of Spices. The party was small and un-aggressive, and soon their white kal’sha[1] mounts were seen riding through the ramparts towards the palace. It wasn’t until the Valkhu’ur elders were given private audience to see the child that the Chaldi realized their error. The Charred Brethren, guardians of the imperial family, were recounted as hearing nothing untoward as they stood outside the sealed throne room.  Yet even their comrades stationed inside did not survive the icy Valkhu’ur blades and whispered spells which further proceeded to cleanse the throne room of divine imperial rule and a large number of perfumed nobility. All of the assassins escaped except for one old hag who remained, tendrils of a portal summon trailing from her fingertips, as the doors were broken down. She laughed as the enraged Brethren hacked her to pieces in front of the emperor’s corpse.

Long after the assassination and following the ascendancy of the new emperor Catecharo I, the Chaldic populace were forever divided as to whether the coming of the Valkhu’ur was a blessing or a curse. The new emperor later came to be known as Catecharo the Burden for his heavy retribution on the northmen and his heavier taxes on his people. The surviving remnants of the Valkhu’ur and their kal’sha fled far north, deep into Nostoc mountains, forever to harbor their cold hate.

 

-Kath Renos
Imperial Historian, Solar 946 Agantis Burden

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[1] Kal’sha are bear-like beasts with thick white fur, long necks, yet small heads. Some were said to have grown as large as the elephants of the East. The Valkhu’ur used them for long travel and many times as vanguard mounts on the battlefield.