Year of Fire

The Year of Fire was an ceremonial celebration carried out in 741 NE by a native Caithiaenic priest named Darathios Celdafal, who defied orders from Caithiaen's Noulaenic Duke to hold the feast of the Goddess Steka every day for a year. This was done in defiance of a decree that had forbidden all worship of native Caithiaenic gods. Attempts by imperial soldiers to capture and execute Darathios failed because the priest remained in the Temple of Steka on Mount Thesaci, which was surrounded by toxic gas vents from the volcano below. The provincial government's failure to stop the celebration led to the recall of the Duke and later the repeal of the decree banning local religion.

## Background

Caithiaen (modern Katha) was captured by a Noulaenic fleet in 550 NE and made an imperial provincial capital for the Province of Binacalousa. Noulian maintained a military presence throughout the Pinakloosi archipelago and had a significant civilian and official presence in the capital of Caithiaen. The vast majority of the residents of the islands were Pinakloosi natives, however, who were reluctant to adopt Noulaenic culture. Local languages were banned in favor of Noulaenic, but this did not have the desired effect of giving the locals a sense of Noulaenic national identity. Acts of sabotage and violence against Noulaenic buildings, officials, and soldiers persisted throughout the imperial occupation.

in 738 NE, Ioacothios Farounnial Falerfal, cousin of Emperor Daramthios VI, was appointed Duke of Binacalousa and given a mandate to put a stop to unrest in the province. Duke Iacothios instituted a number of harsh policies including frequent public executions, curfews, and bans on speech insulting to the empire. The harshest policy he attempted to implement was a ban, punishable by death, on all local religious observances, instead mandating that the populous observe the feasts and festivals of Malaenic gods.

## The year of feasts

Darathios Celdafal, the high priest of the Temple of Steka, the lava and fire goddess, objected to this decree and publicly announced, from the altar the mouth of the cave that led to the temple, that he would hold the Festival of Steka, complete with songs, sacrifices, and feasts, every night until the ban was reversed. He proceeded to officiate the first festival there and then, in view of a large crowd gathered at the edge of the city below.

Iacothios immediately ordered Darathios's execution and sent soldiers to arrest him. Unknown to him, however, the Temple of Steka was surrounded by volcanic vents that emitted toxic gas. These vents could only be circumvented along a certain path and only under certain weather conditions. The paths were known to the priests, who remained within the temple, but not to the soldiers. The soldiers succumbed to the fumes and died while attempting to reach the temple. The priests recovered their bodies at night and brought them to the altar. Darathios declared that they had been smitten by the might of Steka and that any infidel who attempted to enter the temple would meet the same fate. The bodlies were burned on the altar day during the second festival.

Iacothios ordered his men to try a number of different techniques to circumvent the poison gas, but none were successful and nearly 70 Noulaenic soldiers died over the first month of the feasts. Iacothios ordered the area around the temple cleared of locals, so that no one would witness the feasts, but the fires were visible throughout Caithiaen and the songs, while not clearly intelligible, were audible in much of the city as well.

A further 60 soldiers died attempting to stop the ceremony during the following two months, which led to a significant amount of unrest among the Noulaenic garrison. The Army Prefect of the province, Faisthios Cionnial Thoulfal, advised the Duke that further attempts to send soldiers to the temple might result in open rebellion among the troops, stating, "if you order me to send any more of my men to that mountain, I fear it will be your and my bodies burned on that altar next."

Iacothios attempted to coerce several locals to assassinate the priest by threatening to execute them and their families if they didn't comply. This also backfired, however, as the locals perished as well. Their families had been smuggled out of the city by the time Iacothios's men arrived to carry out his threat. He attempted this a second time, imprisoning the families in their homes prior to sending the men, but the families were freed by a mob of locals. Iacothios finally abandoned his attempts to stop the ceremonies, but unrest in the city had increased considerably as the people felt emboldened by the Darathios's act of unpunished defiance.

Prefect Faisthios had secretly dispatched a messenger to Noulian after the third month of feasts, and an imperial convoy of five ships arrived in the summer of 741, after six months of feasts, to recall Duke Iacothios to Noulian and replace him with Besthios Siarnial Fulfal. Duke Besthios attempted to save face for the empire by rescinding the prohibition of local religious observance as part of a greater policy of reconciliation from the emperor.

Darathios declared that a great victory had been once against evil and declared that he would celebrate by holding the festival of Steka every night for the following six months, making a full year of feasts.

## Aftermath

The Year of Fire is considered a turning point in Pinakloosi history and is often credited as being the inspiring event for the Rebellion of Fire which occured 19 years later. The festivals significantly diminished the aura of invincibility of the empire and led to an increase in public acts of defiance and in Pinakloosi nationalist sentiment. The festivals are also significant in that they preserved the native religious practices, which continue in the region to the present day.

## In legend

The events of the year of fire have been mythologized in the Pinakloos Archipelago region with most tellings accepting as fact that the goddess was smiting the unfaithful for attempting to desecrate her festival. These versions also exaggerate the Noulaenic death toll, with many versions claiming that ten men were sent each day for three months. Local versions also claim that locals sent under compulsion to the temple survived their trip and joined the feast and that the men sent to execute their families were smitten within the city by the goddess instead.

A further legend relates that Steka visited the temple in person on the final night of the feast and lay with Darathios, and that she returned nine months later to deliver twins to Darathios. The children, Dounthios and Dounthias Celdafal, were historical figures and were born around this time, although their parentage is unknown. Darathios was not married and there were no known female priestesses at the temple around this time, but it was common practice for unwed or impoverished mothers in Caithiaen to surrender their children to temples in the city to be raised as priests.