The History of Atalanxia Part III

After the coup in Vairlain it took the Emperor of New Atalanxia some time to time to organize and train his newly acquired militia fearing, rightfully so, that the other six kingdoms wouldn't fold so easily. In the meantime he sent many diplomats, some left over from the previous regime in Vairlain to the remaining six kingdoms. His message of peace through unity was largely ignored. Clearly no king warmed to the idea of swearing fealty to a supreme emperor. Especially one as young as the twenty year old who had inexplicably stolen the throne away from an either incompetent or indigent sovereign such as the venerable King Averus II simply must've become. King Averus was an affable King who was beloved by most but respected by none.

During this time Ent'Ara staid aggression, expecting no compromise from the six proud kings while vigorously training his army under the tutelage of his Warlord Champion, Ocara. After years of negotiation stalemate, Ent'Ara abruptly pulls his diplomats out of each country, waiting until the last possible moment to recall his foreign delegates from the adjacent Kingdom of Rafa Ben'Efre. On the last day the diplomats were stationed and once they were free from the borders of the capital, he struck. With war-machines the world had never before seen they laid siege, overrunning the city within the month. The Kings castle was raided by Ent'Ara's personal guard, as the Emperor himself had overseen this victory personally, the Rafa Ben'Efrean King's family and council were slaughtered. The king himself was disemboweled and hung from the castle walls by his entrails. Word of this gory display spread like wildfire throughout the remaining free kingdoms. The heads of the Rafa Ben'Efrean heirs and her king's closest advisors were sent to the five remaining kings as a warning. Ent'Ara used Rafa Be'Efre as an example of what consequences lay beyond the limits of his patients. The effect was exactly what Ent'Ara had intended.

To the other Kings, the boy playing Emperor had suddenly become a despot playing as a god among sheep. They realized after the easy sacking of two of the largest and most powerful kingdoms among them in less than a decade something must be done about this "New Atalanxia". In secret they convened, three councils over two years time. They came together but could not agree on how best to ally against the threat. The kings express a desire to preserve their lines, but know that alliance with the elves and dwarves seems like an inevitable certainty for Atalanxia. They believe staying to fight would take years and expend countless lives. All five sovereigns knew their time was short and that from Rafa Ben'Efre's geographical location, any of them could be the next domino to fall. Centuries of petty squabbling between former enemies could not be overcome in the short two years however. When scouts return to Elsinhor with word of eastward marching soldiers bearing Ent'Ara's crest, the Elsinhor King sends dispatches to Emberlynne, whose King sends dispatches to Shanericha and so forth. Enacting the plan they expected could be the only successful one given the amount of time they had.

They fled. All five remaining kings met at a secret and as yet, still unknown location. From there they headed northward with their heirs, families, closest council, personal guard and what artifacts and heirlooms they could suffer for the journey. Though it is looked upon historically as a cowardly act. Many, more reputable historians believe that they spared hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives to Ent'Aran slaughter and they still would've lost their crowns, and their lives.

Because of this self imposed exile, Ent'Ara was able to take the remaining kingdoms with little resistance. Some of the militia, as well as many common people still loyal to the kings who abandoned them fought various, unorganized skirmishes against the Ent'Aran military. They were quickly stamped out.

The Regal Pilgrimage as its is now known, took two years to complete and eventually settled in what is now The Dodanna Freelands, a marshy, swampy wasteland north of what is now Arcadia, just outside of Ent'Ara's reach. It is there that they officially form a union, calling themselves the "Sons of Sovereignty". They create a temporary republic, with the remaining kings acting as equal heads of state. From this region, they start their new government, its sole purpose to usurp Ent'Ara's power and restore each sovereign to his rightful place. Their dream required convincing the elves and dwarves of Ent'Ara's cruelty and true intention of ruling the entire continent as a despot, and uniting forming a joint force to invade. The hope being success in dividing and conquering his thinly spread army.

To thwart any attempt at redemption, Ent'Ara sends assassins from the many guilds of thieves residing across the southern part of the continent that he now controls. He expects the assassins familiarity with their former kings will allow them to find them more efficiently. They don't need much help, but Ent'Ara's gamble pays off. One by one, the kings' contingents are murdered during pilgrimage. Some of the assassins turn against Ent'Ara however, taking the gold he offers as well as the that of the remaining five kings (in exchange for not killing them and their families) and disappear. Many of those turncoat assassins are assassinated themselves.

Despite the assassination attempts all five monarchs reach their new temporary home. The kings individual guards unite in order to organize a counter to Ent'Ara's assassins. Without the permission of their lieges the warriors form the "Swords of Sovereignty" a contingent of nearly twenty-five elite soldiers. In a short time they become a powerful and respected mobile force through their intelligence and ability to rapidly adapt to a constantly changing environment. Something their Monarchs had great difficulty with. Over the two years they remained in their temporary home, which had gone officially unnamed as the kings didn't want any permanent attachment being made to the place, (but many had begun calling Nadalia, after an heiress of Emberlynne who had died of dysentery during the journey) only five more members of the new society fell to Ent'Ara's assassins. The Swords of Sovereignty became so successful in fact, that each of them were knighted by their respective monarchs and all transgressions pertaining to forming the group without permission were forgiven.

Assassins eventually began refusing Ent'Ara's gold and a new solution, a final solution, needed to be enacted. Ent'Ara, knowing the location of the Sons of Sovereignty fully the two years since their self-exile sent a strike force. The pompous King of Shanericha, tired of living in what he believed to be squalor, had been meeting with an Ent'Aran spy for nearly three months prior. He told the spy when and where the strike force should attack after making a proxy arrangement with Ent'Ara to be reinstated to his own throne. Believing his land, like Kemmermere, would remain sovereign once he returned to power. His betrayal cost the Sons of Sovereignty fully half of Nadalia's population and the life of the King of Emberlynne. The Swords of Sovereignty defeated the strike force eventually, but Nadalia was lost, routed by the Ent'Aran soldiers. Much of their transported riches, some artifacts and heirlooms were lost in the underground fortress they'd hastily created, some of it never recovered. Knowing they were compromised, and no longer safe in the marshes, the Sons of Sovereignty fled further north. Less than a thousand men, women and children made their second pilgrimage. Eventually landing far enough away that Ent'Ara felt they were no longer a threat. They emigrated to the flatlands between the frozen wastes of what is now Eldridge and the mountainous wasteland of what is now Manchrist.

King William Wright IV (known to his subjects as "Curly Bill" for his renown vanity) of Shanericka was spared by Ent'Ara's strike force, he and his court were allowed passage back to Atalanxia. When they returned to Shanericka's Castle Wright, Emperor Ent'Ara had them hung publicly. King William was not not given the luxury of a gallows separate from his common subjects although he was hung last. Ent'Ara's warning that a traitor, even one that worked for the benefit of Atalanxia, could never be trusted anywhere and therefore must die. The underlying message of all people other than the Emperor being treated as commoners was not lost on his subjects.

The three remaining Sons of Sovereignty and their subjects remained there, the first generation holding on to the dream to one day return to their homeland. The first city they created they called Sevenations, named for the "Seven Nations" that were usurped by the tyrant Attin Ent'Ara. A second city was formed nearly ten years after the original settlement, called Fivekings. Trade between the two cities made both flourish, soon other hamlets and small settlements began sprouting in the comparatively milder climated central region. After The First Dragonwar more common folk emigrated from the south to escape the war and Ent'Ara's influence, helping to populate all towns and villages of the new homeland. The dream of returning to Elsinhor, Emberlynne, Shanericka, Fehring'Ram and Ivalisse was sadly never realized by the first generation of kings. They were aged or nearing old age at the time of their usurping. One died, still angry at the hand dealt him by fate. The others however, were content in the knowledge that they had been able to save their families, their culture, some artwork and heirlooms and thereby securing the future of their legacy. The dream that their sons and daughters could someday return to their homelands out shined the darkness of the indignity of losing the throne.

Crowns were passed down from the first generation in symbolic coronations. The dying kings of Ivalisse, Fehring'Ram and Elsinhor bequeathed crowns which bore only symbols of a past dream that would never be realized. The new Kings understood very clearly that they were Kings Without Kingdoms, and from this knowledge comes the name of the Kingdom that would be formed, a literal translation of the phrase from an elven dialect, the word Ulygng'Uard. From this second generation the kingdom of Kings Without Kingdoms was born, The Kingdom of Ulygnguard.