Eptor

Eptor is the name of the Elden empire that was the only civilization to survive the Sundering of Acrifor and Rakknorakus that ended the Mythkal Era. It was named after region that the Elden fled to after the Sundering of Acrifor.

## Prehistory: 6000-3100 BC

### The 'Gods'

The Elden revere their ancestors. The only ancestors that remained revered by the Elden were the ancestors of Eptor, as this was considered the price the Elden had to pay in order to be allowed to settle in Eptor during the Sundering.

The first ancestors were En, who was the Elden who discovered Eptor, his father He'e who is said to have lived for one million years his wife Keikor and his best friend Queitor. They created a settlement in Eptor at the mouth of the river Nei, and many Elden settled there. They did not live in the settlement, instead remaining on En's ship, the Bein, anchored in the River, with several floating platforms being built around it over time. His son Azrah Amet was born on the ship, and had little to do with the settlement

Azrah Amet did marry an Elden maiden from the settlement, and had two children. A son, Uhs, and a daughter Tunfet. They left the Bein to visit the settlement and were lost. He went to the settlement to find them, and was aided by the Elden living there. This led to Amet deciding to actively help the Elden in the settlement. It is said that he taught the Elden how to cultivate the land on a massive scale, and herd animals and became regarded as the elder of the Clan

En had four children other than Azrah Amet: A son, Seit and two daughters Si'i and Pthen. Queitor had one son: Osrah who married Si'i.

Azrah Amet named Osrah his heir, and his son Seit became extremely jealous. Seit murdered Osrah and threw him in the river. Si'i was pregnant with Osrah's son, Hos-Ruh, who attempted to free the Clan of Eptor from Seit. It never came to warfare, but Seit was eventually exiled to the south of Eptor, to the region that eventually became known as New Eptor, where he established himself as an Elder of his own Elden Clan. Seit's son, Bisuna was the first Elden to dabble in necromancy.

The Elden of New Eptor claim that Osrah was cloe friends with Seit, and that after Osrah had named Seit as his heir he was murdered by his wife Si'i who did not want to lose her influence. They further claim that she manipulated Hos-Ruh into overthrowing the rightful Elder Seit and continued to influence him, effectively leading Old Eptor astray through him, and preventing Seit from advising Hos-Ruh.

The Council of Chroniclers was a group of literate Elden who recorded the historical events of Eptor. Due to the reverence that the Elden have for their ancestors this Council is not merely a group of historians, they serve as the religious organisation that all Elden turn to for theological guidance. The Patron Ancestor of the Council of Chroniclers is Otth, who is revered as the first Chronicler. He is said to have been a child born in the village founded by En in the time of Azrah Amet.

#### New Eptor (The South of Eptor)

Approximately 30,000 BC (70,000 years after Rakknorakus) four Elden Clans established themselves in the far south of Eptor. Falhir Clan, Daq Clan, Seibor Clan and Seitan Clan. Further to the North the Hyn-Ra'z Clan had already been established at an unknown time. These Clans merge into the Fiyor Clan.

Around 9,000 BC the Dim-Ra clan settles in in South-West Eptor, around 5,000 BC the Min-Dohr Clan settles.

The Clans of New Eptor generally revere Seit, and Clan Seitan claims that they descend from Seit and those that followed him after Seit was exiled by Hos-Ruh.

#### Old Eptor

There were always Elden in Old Eptor, the San-Tar Clan, Rad-Bah Clan and the Qod-Ur Clan. The Qod-Ur Clan was by far the oldest, and as such had split into 'sub-clans' each governed by their own Elder Patriarch Elden the Am Qod-Ur Clan, the Gez Qod-Ur Clan and the Qod-Ur Clan proper. The Am and Gez Qod-Ur Clans cooperated often to defend their interests against the Qod-Ur Clan proper.

All of the Clans in Old Eptor descend from the original Eptor Clan, led by Azrah Amet. The San-Tar and Rad-Bah clans descend from those Elden who sided with Seit, whereas the Qod-Ur Clan descends from those who remained loyal to Hos-Ruh, the rightful Elder.

In both Old and New Eptor, population density was very low, as the rest of Acrifor was considered more desirable, meaning no Elden moved to Eptor.

## Beginnings of the Empire: 4,000-3,200 BC

Around 4,000 BC the Sundering of Acrifor occurred for unknown reasons, wiping out almost all the Elden. The survivors fled to Eptor. The Clans of Eptor called a meeing, where at he suggestion of the Elder of Wod-Ur clan proper (Elder Irhor) suggested they were allowed to settle as long as they destroyed their own Clan Chronicles, and only revered the Eptor Ancestors. There were countless Clans that settled in Eptor, with each keeping to itself for the most part, however all clans had become deferential to the Qod-Ur clan proper due to their role in brokering the peaceful acceptance of the Acrifor Clans into Eptor. During this time the Elden clans began to trade with the Estier Elves

In 3,200 BC Irhor stops the use of the Amulet of Bisuna to prolong his life and dies, being replaced by Axrhos. This leads to the other clans no longer deferring to Qod-Ur Clan proper, as their respect for the clan was almost entirely due to Irhor. A member of Qod-Ur Clan named Scaptor (who is never seen without a mask) challenges Axrhos to a fight to the death for control of Qod-Ur Clan. Scaptor is extremely unpopular because of this, and is forced to abdicate by both his own clan, and the other clans, he happily does so, appointing Rem-Na as his successor.

Unbenkownst the the Elden, Rem-Na had murdered Scaptor and taken his mask, allowing him to kill Axrhos for leadership of the Clan, while also avoiding the stain on his popularity. He began aggressively bending the other clans to his will in 3,100 BC, first uniting Qod-Ur Clan through politics, then using military might to conquer San-Tar and Rad-Bah Clan, uniting Old Eptor for the first time since Azrah Amet. As these clans were far larger and more powerful than any of the clans in New Eptor, or who had settled after the sundering, this effectively made him ruler of all Eptor as the New Eptor Clans were too disparate to unite against Rem-Na, and would all defer to his will. However it was not until his son Azrah Hos-Ruh assumed the role of Elder that all the Clans officially recognized him as their ruler.

Azrah Hos-Ruh adopted the titles 'Elder of Elders' and 'The Living Ancestor', decreeing that the Clans were to revere the Elder of Elders as an Ancestor even during their lifetime. He forged the Ruby Crown of Azrah Amet and the Diamond Crown of Seit into one crown, and also constructed a vast tomb for Rem-Nah, beginning a tradition which would persist among the Elders of Eptor for 3,000 Years.

## The First Empire: 3,200-2,600 BC

The direct descendents of Rem-Na ruled Eptor for approximately 110 years, until Elder Aka died without a child. His uncle, Kafnarkas, laid a claim to the throne, but the New Eptor and Acrifor Clans rallied behind two pretenders, Pestekh-Hotur and Baal Hos-Ruh. Pestekh-Hotur won the war, leading to his Clan, Seitan, becoming the rulers of Eptor, and the second clan to rule Eptor.

Clan Seitans Elder was called Elder of Elders for approximately 220 years, however they did not rule all of Eptor for much of this time. During Elder Bah Teijrs reign Eptor suffered a massive famine, during which the Empire was plunged into civil unrest, and Bah Teijr found that the demands on him were too great for one man to handle. When he realised he was about to die, and the famine was still ravaging Eptor, he decided to divide Eptor, with his twin sons both holding the title Elder of Elders, but with one governing Old Eptor and the other New Eptor. This led to both regions becoming as independent of each other in terms of governance as they had been prior to the Sundering of Acrifor.

While one of Bah Teijrs sons soon removed the other from power and became sole Elder of Elders, the renewed independence of Old Eptor did not disappear, and the Old Clans soon began to rally around Clan Qod-Hur, who argued that Clan Seitan was repeating the actions of their ancestor Seit, usurping power from Qod-Hur, the heirs of Hos-Ruh.

In the reign of the great grandson of Bah Teijr (Seb-Aresin) the tension between Clan Qod-Hur and Clan Seitan reached a boiling point, with Seb-Aresin taking drastic action to stop what he saw as an inevitable outcome: Clan Qod-Hur seizing power and exiling Clan Seitan. He commanded the Council of Chroniclers to remove Hos-Ruhs status as an ancestor, alter the Eptor Chronicle to state that Hos-Ruh was the bastard of an affair, and wrongful usurper of Seits position. This caused the Council to split, as many New Eptorian Chroniclers revered Seit as the father of their Clan, whereas to the Old Eptorian Chroniclers he was the most evil figure in Elden theology. The theological debates on Seit had raged academically for centuries, and Seb-Aresins command strained relations on the Council to breaking point.

The Seit supporting Chroniclers left the Council and formed their own separate Council of Chroniclers, prompting the original Council to revoke Seb-Aresin's title of Living Ancestor (which had been a title of all previous Elder of Elders). The Elder of Clan Qod-Hur at that time, Kana'a, saw this as his oppurtunity (ironicaly, Seb-Aresins paranoia about Clan Qod-Hur led him to take actions which brought about the betrayal he so feard). Kana'a rallied the Old Eptor Clans, and commanded them to cease paying taxes to Seb-Aresin, and to officially address him as Elder of New Eptor. He did this to see how Seb-Aresin would react more than anything.

While infuriated, Seb-Aresin was surprised that Kana'a had only threatened his rule over Old Eptor, as he had expected to be named Usurper. Because of this he decided not to take any action against Kana'a. The horrors of the Interregnum were still spoken about by the oldest Elden, and Seb-Aresin knew that while New Eptor had more manpower, Old Eptor was far more heavily fortified, and he would have to sacrifice thousands of his people to force Kana'a to submit. When Kana'a was confident that Seb-Aresin had effectively yielded Old Eptor he had himself named Elder of Old Eptor. The fact he did not claim the title Elder of Elders ensured that diplomatic relations with Seb-Aresin remained possible, although hostile.

While Clan Seitan was content to have their leader rule New Eptor as Elder of Elders, and Clan Qod-Hur was content with Old Eptor, the two Chronicler Councils had other ideas. They were fanatically opposed to the other faction, and as the Seit Council had become the defacto State religion of New Eptor, and the Old Council remaining the religion of Old Eptor, the two Councils regularly tried to incite a Crusade against the other country, and often incited open violence.

This conflict eventually escalated to the point where riots were an almost daily occurence in the capitols of both Old and New Eptor, and the rulers of Old and New Eptor secretly met to work out a way of stopping the violence which threatend Elden societies very existence. Kaskay of New Eptor offered that he would officially recognise Hos-Ruh as rightful heir of Azrah Amet (an unprecedented proposal, as even when Old and New Eptor were most united during the sundering of Acrifor, there had never been any question that each faction regarded Seit or Hos-Ruh as the rightful heir), and that in return Old Eptor would swear fealty to New Eptor and take their place at the top of a hierarchial caste system that had been developed by Seb-Aresin. Jufha'a, Elder of Old Eptor agreed and the Council of Seit Chroniclers was disbanded, with Eptorin religion and politics being united under Kaskay. In order to firmly place the Seit issue behind Eptor, Kaskay renamed Clan Seitan as Clan Hoturan.

## Empire under Clan Hoturan: 2,600-2,100 BC

Under Clan Hoturan, the structure of Eptorian society changed. Kaskay expanded on Seb-Aresins hierarchial system, and every Clan in Eptor was given a role and position in Eptorian society. This was in stark contrast to the previous system, where each Clan was its own entity entirely subservient to the Elder of Elders. Now the more powerful Clans commanded other Clans on behalf of the Elder of Elders, with less powerful Clans commanding Clans on behalf of their ruling Clan and so on. This allowed the Elder of Elders to manage to now vast Eptorian Empire without having to personally adjudicate on every matter. The uniting of Eptorian religion under Kaskay led to him being worshipped as a 'Living Ancestor' in earnest. While previous Elder of Elders had held the title, they were only worshipped by their own clan, Kaskay was the first to be worshipped by all of Eptor, and this genuine worship of the Elder of Elders by all Elden continued for thousands of years.

At 2691 BC Kaskay died and his son Rejos became Elder of Elders. He constructed the first Majpyros. The Majpyros were large complexes that Elder of Elders after Majpyros constructed and ruled from. Upon the death of an Elder of Elders their body was sealed in the Majpyros, on the assumption that they a future Elder of Elders may wish to consult with an Ancestor who would presumably be raised from the dead when the secrets of necromancy were rediscovered. The Majpryii were usually heavily guarded by traps to protect the body of the Elder of Elders from damage. The first Majpyros was designed by Hotepi'i, who was the first Elden not from the ruling family of a Clan awarded the rank of ancestor. Hotepi'i was Rejos's most trusted advisor, and developed many healing potions used all across Eidenheim for thousands of years.

## Elders of Eptor

See Elders of Eptor