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by Kouketsu on Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:03 pm
The Five Years Tribal War
Authored by: Kouketsu
[align=center]Tarlan's Preface[/align]
Dating from the 498th Year of Ezekial, the Five Years Tribal War remains the most calamitous blemish upon the legend of Ghalerion’s stable existence. Its occurrence is something looked upon by the modern historians today as an event unworthy of mention, one to be omitted in detail from the history books. The Five Years Tribal War, under the reign of Gaius has been forcibly stripped down in its retelling to a mere skeleton of what flesh it truly was. Perhaps the events it retells are something to be forgotten and forged from. But some scholars would argue that such a significant incident should be taught in full to our young and enthusiastic next generation, so that they may learn from such errors. Ah, but to continue along such a route in my recitation would be to digress and concurrently risk my own livelihood as an established historian. I will do as all good historians should, and supply only the facts to which I am known and allowed, and let my audience formulate their own decision on the matter.
[align=center]The Text[/align]
Riotous incitement. No alternative diction could supply such force and such reality as that. With the arrival of the 498th Year of Ezekial, Ghalerion as a whole sat teetering in fragility between violent conflict and peaceful coexistence. During the inaugural months of that 498th term in which Ezekial sat the Great Deity, a certain degree of control appeared to have been scattered among our powerful lords. Seen within the Deities and Eden was a certain dispersion. The divinities each began appropriating regions of control upon Ghalerion, taking fancy in the offerings and sacrifices towards their name. The mortals inhabiting the world, seeing that devotion to a single deity would bring them vivacity and prosperity, erected temples and other tangible forms of idolatry. Ultimately, the Deities would be driven to jealously and envy of one another, entering into what appeared competition for the loyal pledge of faith given by the mortals and the Kelians. This initial conflict would generate a conflict which would bring ruin upon Ghalerion. It began with Agros.
Agros, whom many mortals had attracted to for her immaculate beauty, developed a firm love for her followers. Upon a single day in the 497th year of Ezekial, a visibly weak mortal in danger of having his family slaughtered for refusing to toil under a Kelian fled to Agros and made call to her for help and protection. This mortal would be consecrated by the deity and given enhanced strength and awareness so that he may protect his family. Seeing that Agros had answered the prayer of one mortal, more began building her shrines and laboring in her name so that they also may receive blessings and aid. By the time of the 498th Year of Ezekial, thousands had been blessed by Agros upon visiting her shrine in what is modern-day Calismus. Soon after, Calin became jealous of Agros holding onto such powerful followers and began calling out to the Kelians, a naturally formidable race, to call them on as his disciples. Soon after, Detsen and Lain also engaged in the activities, blessing their followers with new abilities, added longevity, or greater strength. The mortals being the largest race in number, many of them began consolidating into groups and establishing communities which would attempt to conquer regions. In combination with what the divinities had given to them, the mortals soon began challenging one another, and eventually, a single clan from the mainland would issue challenge to the Kelians. Leading this solitary tribe in what is modern-day Ghale went a man known by a single name, Cassus. This warrior, a follower of the deity Calin, amassed considerable numbers within his tribe, establishing their base on the Ghalerion mainland in a well-fortified stronghold. On a day unspoken of during that 498th Year of Ezekial, Cassus called forth his people to gather within the square of his stronghold, where he would deliver unto them a single proviso.
“My people, we have felt the sting of oppression, the sorrows of toil, and the pain of living our lives without meaning long enough! On this very day, of the 498th Year of Ezekial, before the processions of the eager, before the cries of the impoverished children, before the war calls of the willing revolutionaries, I, Cassus of the Patun Tribe, declare war upon the entire Kelian race! Give me a blade and I’ll give you deliverance!�
According to what has been passed down of the specific incident, the people let forth a unanimous call to arms across the Patun lands, charging outwards with a fervor and passion never seen before on Ghalerion. Armed with blades and spears, slings and arrows, hearts and minds, the Patun tribe drove outwards in every direction across the mainland, slaying Kelian as they went. That infamous Patun zeal soon drew the aid of other mortal tribes across the mainland country, who also engaged in the Kelian slaughtering. At the beginning of the 499th Year of Ezekial, enthusiastic Kelian leaders began emerging, urging their people to fight back, denying their typical pacific values in favor of preserving their race and their livelihood. Many declared the mortals a pathetic lineage of creatures, unfit to remain upon Ghalerion. Many mortals responded in kind by calling out all Kelians as an oppressive breed, determined from the beginning to rid the planet of all mortal beings. The two aggressive sides developed their plea for conflict as if it had been foreordained in the annals of creation. On that 499th Year, all-out war was unleashed upon the fragile terra known as Ghalerion.
The Kelians, naturally gifted in strength and speed, tore across the mainland country, rending out the very hearts of virtually any mortal unfortunate enough to cross their path, whether innocent or full of destructive passion. The mortals would meet the Kelian assaults with nothing but sheer numbers on their side, sending wave after wave of warrior sacrifices to meet the slaughtering of an angry Kelian people, the casualties not seeming to put a single dent in the tribal forces. The mainland country of Ghalerion would be stained with the blood of millions, the death toll from either side reaching unheard of heights. Cassus refused to give in, and the Kelian forces refused to be beaten by such brash leaders.
Around the 502nd Year of Ezekial, the mortals began achieving a veritable psychological victory over their Kelian enemies, in that during the four years since entering into the bloody struggle, their population actually increased in number. Achieving an exponential growth rate during such a time of chaos would ultimately give the mortals the edge in this tribal war. Whereas the Kelian race could do little to repopulate themselves, let alone train up the youth in that time, the mortal population continued sending wave after wave out to the slaughter without remorse for their losses. The tribes were fierce, their tactics unorthodox and unpredictable, and their numbers virtually insurmountable. Within the next year of Ezekial’s reign, the Kelians began being pushed back towards the lower east region of Ghalerion’s mainland continent, their forces having taken considerable damage. And with the warfare leaving their country already in ruins at that juncture, many of the Kelian leaders and generals began losing their will to continue for something they believed worthless. A few ardent extremists would remain on their side, throwing themselves at the other side for the sake of glory, many of their tales still kept alive through the whispers of eager Kelian youth, but the majority of the remaining race determined escape to be their only option. Being isolated to the southeastern corner of the mainland landmass, they would begin construction of a sailing fleet to reach the closest uninhabited continent, a large isolated island. There, the Kelian peoples would construct themselves a peaceful dream-world, determined to flourish under a banner of harmony and goodwill. The name they would bestow upon this landmass was “Tensoku.� The country, coastline shielded with mountains, would serve them incredible fortification should any extremist mortals desire to attempt an attack on their newfound homeland.
By the 403rd Year of Ezekial, the Last Year, all remaining Kelians had been scattered across the Ghalerion mainland, and the Deities called a council to discuss the matter of the Tribal Wars, the state of the planet, and the ruling deity, Ezekial. On the day that such a council was held, the only deity lacking any involvement in the conflict was declared the new Great Deity, Gaius. Ezekial would be exiled from Eden and given eternal punishment for his deeds. Following the Five Years Tribal War, the tribes on the mainland continent began diverging to form their own provinces, sovereignties, and communities. With Gaius in command, the Deities also began taking more involvement in the betterment of Ghalerion and her resources, and less involvement in mortal affairs, something which would lend to the rapid expansion following the destruction. Gaius instituted a much more balanced system, and allowed each deity to bestow a blessing every hundred years. On the 1st year of Gaius, he also brought together both Kelian and mortal leaders to conference on what had happened during the war, and to smooth out remaining conflicts and differences. Both parties came to diplomatic conclusion on the matter, declaring that three of Ghalerion’s seven major countries be occupied by Kelian establishment and the other four by mortal government. To this day, only three of the seven available countries have come under sovereign control during the rule of Gaius, but they have been maintained in a much more stable state than during the reign of Ezekial.
[align=center]Tarlan's Epilogue[/align]
For the sake of balancing out the affairs of Ghalerion, Gaius also developed and gave life to various other new species on the planet, each endowed with their own special talents or abilities for the sake of keeping his planet safe and secure for generations to come. The Five Years Tribal war was the most catastrophic conflict that Ghalerion to this very day has witnessed. Only serving as one of many humble scribes etching my own portion into the tapestry that is history retold, I can only supply to all the meager facts which I feel privileged to have received on the matter. The only certainty of such incidents from our past is that we, as scholars and as citizens, are given two choices with them. We may take from such mistakes and lend the knowledge they have provided to improve ourselves and our society, or we may simply ignore them, leaving chance to find ourselves repeating the disastrous errors of antiquity once more. As only a simple scribe, I can do naught but implore that you take my offering, scholars of the future, and build upon it. Glory be to Gaius. Glory be to Ghalerion.
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