The Rise and Fall of the Scholars' Empire

*The Rise and Fall of the Scholars' Empire* is the tale of the Scholars' Empire - the first great nation of Weab - from its birth over a hundred years ago, to its sorry state at the present time.

## Humble Beginnings

   Many years ago, the vast lands of the continent we now call Weab were home to nations long since lost: Bawlrum, Ex'hipiton, the Gaym Concordance. The people lived in varying states of poverty and plenty, but there was one commonality among them: they were, almost without exception, illiterate.

The only hub of learning, the only beacon in the night of that vast land, was a mountain-bound peninsula in the far north-east. Vandam was the name of the mountains, and from them the nation of readers took its name. The Vans (for so those enlightened people named themselves) were content in their mountain home, seeking neither the scientific trinkets of nearby Induztrevol, nor the light-hearted fripperies of Gaym.

But the tides of the world would not allow Vandam to stand apart. Their reading and their literacy provoked envy among the neighbouring nations; armies set themselves against the Vandam mountains, seeking to bring down the tiny nation. So, reluctantly but with conviction, the Vans went to war.

They swarmed out of the mountains like nothing the world had ever seen: an army not of glory-seeking warriors, but of professional soldiers who swept everything before them. Neighbouring Trucrym fell before the enemy could react; by the time Induztrevol managed to stem the tide, fully half of its lands had been claimed by Vandam.

Long did the ambassadors of Induztrevol plead in the court of Vandam, but their words were in vain. "We sought only peace," the king of Vandam said, "but you gave us war. Now by the fruits of your war, we shall make peace - and may Kanun and Spelin strike you down if you break it."

Thus were the names of the gods of Vandam first heard in the cities of the east, and many marvelled at their power. The armies of Induztrevol retreated, and Vandam was secure.

## Age of Empire

Yet peace was not at hand. Bandits plagued the new conquests of Vandam, and their distance from the capital was so great that the king could not effectively restrain them. The nobles beseeched him for aid - for a solution - and yet it seemed the capital heard not their pleas. Only silence returned.

Silence - and then a message that changed the world. "Our kingdom is beyond our capacity to rule in person," said the king from his high throne. "Let, therefore, a new order be ordained: an Empire, governed by its scholars, each in their own way."

In a stroke of the pen, the swollen nation of Vandam died, and the Scholars' Empire rose in its place. The mountain stronghold of the readers became Tynee-Vandam, 'Old Vandam' in the ancient tongue. Its first conquest, the former nation Trucrym, was renamed the Sure Lock, Tynee-Vandam's protection against all who might assail it. The Heygee Wells, the Jewel of Verrn - a dozen lands took shape in the former domains of Induztrevol, each ruled by those who knew best for its people.

Peace was declared, but peace rarely lasts. New wars blossomed on the horizon, driven by those who sought to destroy the Empire or to claim it for themselves. The scholars of the Empire studied those who assailed them, drew up plans against them - then crushed them, taking their lands as their own. Faeritaal and Nersere-rheim banded together to defeat the upstart Empire, but were swatted down, dismembered, and raised anew as Morrish, Makdonnel, and many others.

## The First Fracture

   The decades passed, and the Scholars' Empire became the vastest and most powerful nation in the land. Gaym and Bawlrum, the great lands of the south, paid tribute to the emperors in Tynee-Vandam, and it seemed that nothing could break the power of the Empire, or even halt its growth.

Yet in its pride, the empire sowed the seeds of its own downfall. Rule in some of its lands became harsh, and those who spoke against it were punished. The Daughters of the Moon were one such group, native to the land of Staar-Tric. For their words they were exiled to the western reaches of the Empire, the harsh lands of Zeen, there to live out their lives in poverty. But their words of restraint became speeches of rebellion, and in time cries of revolution echoed from the northern mountains. The capital sent its armies, but they came too late: Zeen had fallen, claimed by the new and vigorous nation of Fanvik.

Open war did not last long, and before long an uneasy accord was concluded in the forest of Fixion, on the front line between the two lands. Yet the armies of the Empire lingered on the border, guarding against invasion and probing for weakness, and in their absence a new peril emerged: the Marizu.

Staar-Tric was once again the source of the danger, but the Marizu spread across the remnant Empire. At first they were seen as simple bandits; yet they had strange and powerful magics, and the heartlands of the Empire grew to fear them. Finally, the scholars of Staar-Tric went to war against them in the very place of their birth, and for a time the Ninth Deep Campaign looked set to rout them altogether.

It was not to be. In a great voyage that would be remembered in their dischordant songs ever after, the Marizu gathered from across the Empire and stormed the bastions of Staar-Tric. The regional capital fell; the governors were driven forth; and over the castle of Intirpriz a new banner flew: the flag of the Marizu League.

## The Twilight of the Scholars

The League did not seek peace with the Empire, but war everlasting. Wielding openly the vile powers of pla'tool, their war-queens and sorcerers tore through the very heart of the nation of scholars. Staar-Wos, northern sibling to fallen Staar-Tric, fell swiftly to internal revolt. Medellurth stood against them, but found its northern lands torn from it, rebuilt as the Marizu kingdom of Lotor.

In the west, the Empire struggled to build a defensive line against the oncoming horde. The breakaway nation of Fanvik had crumbled, and the Empire of Fanvik-Neht which rose from its ashes seemed willing to lend aid. A new nation was founded, Air'ihpotre, a realm of magicians who could catch the Marizu hordes between the two Empires and end their threat at last.

   It was not to be. Xing, ruthless leader of Fanvik-Neht, made a secret pact with the Marizu; as the mages of the Empire set themselves against the Marizu, the armies of Fanvik-Neht turned on them, tearing them apart. Battered and demoralised, the forces of the Scholars' Empire retreated, leaving the bulk of Air'ihpotre to be claimed by the Marizu as Roe Lin.

Nowhere was safe. The great Confederation of An-Emay, far to the south of the new-founded Protectorate of Plort, was besieged. The Sure Lock, Tynee-Vandam's ancient defender, was overthrown and became Sureloch, the Marizu knife held to the first nation's throat. The western reaches of Tynee-Vandam itself were invaded, and the Co-Prosperity Hegemony set itself against the imperial capital. Even the remnants of Air'ihpotre fell at the last, betrayed by those they trusted the most.

The Scholars' Empire was broken. In the east, hidden behind the Vandam mountains, the remnants of the Empire huddled in fear. Westward, the Marizu swarmed around the last holdouts in the wide plains: Medellurth, Doktaru, Prashette, and others who stood by them. Far to the west, the core of An-Emay still held out. Beyond those scattered borders, there was only the hideous glow of pla'tool spells - and the valiant knights of the Union of Plort.