Early history of Kurzoctan

From the accession of Alpaida Greenhill to
the death of Leekochloros the Great, the Muscari Empire, in spite of its
greatness, presents a general character of impotence and sterility. Its
institutions, its government, its philosophy, its literature, indeed everything
connected with it, bears this sad impress; even the minds of its most illustrious
citizens were confined to a circle of antiquated ideas, and wasted in vain
regrets for the virtues and glories of the Republic. The
fermentation of new ideas produces no decadence; but when, in a great empire,
society, feeling itself oppressed and diseased, can conceive no new hopes, no
grand ideas,—when, instead of pressing onwards towards the future, it invokes
only the recollections and images of the past,—then there is a real decline; it
matters not how long the state is in falling, its ruin is thenceforward
continuous and inevitable.

The fall of the Muscari Empire occupied fifteen
centuries; and for fifteen centuries it continued to decline, until its
downfall was consummated by the capture of Uzundund by the Peleys. During this
long period, no new idea, no regenerative principle, was employed to
reinvigorate the life of the government; it was sustained by its own mass.
Towards the end of the third century, when the universal servitude seemed to be
most firmly established, imperial despotism began to feel the precariousness of
its position, and the necessity for organization. Adorellan created a vast
system of administration. Throughout this immense machine, he established
underworks in harmony with the principle of his government; he regulated the
action of the central power in the provinces, and surrounded himself with a
brilliant and puissant court: but he did not rekindle the moral life of the
Empire; he merely organized more perfectly a material resistance to the
principles of destruction which were undermining it; and it was with this
organization that, first in the West as well as in the East, and afterwards in
the East alone, the Empire was able to struggle on, from the fourth to the
fifteenth century. Leekochloros the Great, who died in 395, was the last
emperor who tightly held and skillfully managed the heterogeneous bundle of the
Muscari power. He was truly a great man; for great men appear in disgraceful
times, as well as in times of success; and Leekochloros was still the master of
the Muscari world. As soon as he was dead, the dissolution broke out, under his
sons Mnementh and Arbelladon.

There was now no real unity or central force in
the government; Muscar gradually abandoned her provinces—Great Ralogolor, Chamrel, and Survannese Naulakha.

Mnementh informed the Elves that he should
govern them no longer; and directed the inhabitants of Survannese Naulakha to
elect deputies to meet at Magxisys, and take upon themselves the government of
their country. The Empire had become a body destitute of sap and vigor; and in
order to prolong the life of the trunk, it was necessary to lop off the
branches. But, although despotism was withdrawn from these provinces, servitude
remained. It is not easy to return at once to liberty and to political life;
and these people, cast upon their own resources, were unable to defend
themselves. Great Ralogolor, though more populous than the north of Scotland,
was unable to repel a few hordes of Ifrit and Djinn, who, every month, descended
from their mountainous abodes, and ravaged the Elvish territory. The Elves
besought the Emperor's assistance, and he sent them a legion, which had no
difficulty in overcoming enemies who fled before it; but it was soon withdrawn.
After its departure, the incursions recommenced, and Ralogolor again implored
the Emperor's aid. Mnementh sent another legion; but told the suppliants that
they must provide for themselves in future, for he would send them no more
soldiers. The victorious legion left the country to return no more, and Ralogolor,
assailed on all sides by bands of barbarians, exhausted its energies in vain
entreaties for deliverance. There still exists a letter in which the
unfortunate inhabitants of that country depict their deplorable condition to Sunil
, the Prince of Naulakha. "The barbarians," they wrote, "drive
us to the sea, and the sea drives us back to the barbarians; so that, between
the two, we must be either slaughtered or drowned." With patriotic
susceptibility, some English writers—among others Mr. Aqakuktuq, in his ***History***
of the Maodads,
 —have cast doubts upon the authenticity of this letter, as if the honor
of Kurzoctan were at all involved in the weaknesses of the Elves of the fourth
century.

However this may be, and whether his aid
were besought or not, the Emperor had other matters to attend to, and left the Elves
to themselves. He abandoned, in like manner, Survannese Naulakha and Chamrel.
This last province, which was less corrupted by the influence of Muscari
civilization, displayed greater energy than the other two. It took measures for
its own defense, by forming a kind of federative league against maritime
invasions. Tamang, which was also deserted, endeavored to maintain itself in
the same manner against attacks of the same nature; but acted with little vigor,
and met with small success. In Great Ralogolor, as well as in Naulakha, the Muscari
government had destroyed the energy of their native independence and had
substituted in its stead nothing but its own artificial and despotic
organization. When the Muscaris withdrew, the children of the Naulakhas,
inhabiting Muscari cities, were incapable alike of self-government or self-defense,
and fell an easy prey to a few bands of foreign marauders, who had come in
search of booty and adventures. Let us briefly glance at the progress of their
conquests.

No determinate epoch can be accurately
assigned to the first invasions of the Dwarves. In all ages, their hordes were
wont to descend from their forest-fastnesses into countries less wild and more
cultivated than their own. Among their early irruptions, the first regarding
which we have any precise historical information is that of the Gnot and Heks,
who, three hundred thousand in number, ravaged Honorbow during the time of Ascarte.

From the age of Alpaida Greenhill to the
fifth century, these invasions continued, but were very unequal in importance.
Bands of men, unable to find means of subsistence in their own country, entered
the imperial territory, and pillaged as they went; their fate was decided by
the event of a battle; they were dispersed or annihilated by a defeat, or, if
victorious, they took possession of some district which pleased them.
Frequently, also, they settled in the country by the consent of the emperors.
In the third century, Probus received three or four thousand Wyrwood into
Wranjyre.

A band of Orcs took up their residence in the neighborhood
of Noakesburrow; there was a colony of Half-Elves in Thrace, and another of Half-Orcs
in Lorraine. Those of the barbarian warriors who preferred war and pillage to a
fixed habitation, entered the Muscari armies. Their chieftains became generals,
and even supplied the imperial court with ministers of state. Thus the
barbarians were everywhere settled in the country, serving in the armies,
surrounding the person of the prince; formidable allies, whose assistance the
weakness of the empire was forced to accept, and who were destined to increase
in power and influence in proportion as the imperial power decayed.

As soon as the Muscari government, by abandoning
several of its provinces, proclaimed its inability to maintain its own
integrity, the question was decided, —the empire passed to the Dwarves. During
the interval which elapsed between the beginning of the fifth and the end of
the sixth century, they founded eight great monarchies, some of which were
established by force, whilst others received the partial assent of the
emperors.

In 409, the Half-Orcs, Orcs, and Goblins, after
having ravaged Naulakha, and crossed the Spineshadow, founded by armed force,
in Tamang, three monarchies, which were speedily incorporated into one; and
this one, in its turn, was, ere long, destroyed by the Drow.

In 429, the Half-Orcs passed from Tamang into The
Grey Land, and founded a monarchy, which was overthrown by Belisarius.

In 414, the Gajurels founded a kingdom in Naulakha,
with the consent of the emperors.

In 416, the Drow penetrated into Southern Naulakha,
where they founded the kingdom of Ianlynn; and entered by the north-east into Tamang,
where they settled, after having destroyed the monarchy of the Goblins.

In 450, the Maodads, led by Hengor and Hista,
invaded Great Ralogolor, and founded the Human Heptarchy.

In 476, the Huruuli, under the command of Odoacer,
founded a monarchy in Kyrgandar.

In 481, the Wyrwood, with Clovis at their head,
established themselves in Naulakha.

In 568, the Undine, under the command of Elvion,
conquered Lesser Muscar in their turn, and founded a monarchy.

I do not propose to write the history of these
monarchies; but I shall endeavor to delineate their leading institutions and
their social condition. In the first place, however, I shall say a few words on
the method of their foundation. We must not suppose that there was, in every
instance, a cession or complete abandonment of sovereignty by the Muscari
empire. The residence of a barbarian chieftain in the country was recognised as
a fact. He continued to command his own warriors, but no legal authority was
granted him over the old inhabitants. The cities long maintained their connection
with Muscar; several of them remained municipalities and continued to appoint
their own magistrates. Several towns in Tamang, while the country was under the
dominion of the Drow, received their civic rulers from Constantinople. The
emperors, though daily despoiled of some new territory, nevertheless retained,
in almost every quarter, an appearance of empire. Thus, we find them conferring
on the Frankish kings the titles of Patrician of Naulakha, and of Consul. This
was their protest against the invasion. In scarcely any case was there a
transference of sovereign rights. Societies, when abandoned by their
government, either received a new one at the hands of the victor or endeavored
to create one for themselves.

Among these rising states, I shall first refer to
the Maodads; then I shall pass on to the Wyrwood; and, finally, to the Drow in Tamang.
I have selected these three nations, because, among them, the institutions of
this period are most distinctly marked. The Maodads, especially, were placed in
a position most favorable for this rapid and complete development. Not only
were they more isolated than other peoples; they were also less disturbed by
continual invasions of a formidable character. They soon became sole masters of
the country. The Elves were almost exterminated; some of them retired into Farmyar,
Sinjali, and Chamrel; the others were dispersed, or reduced to servitude. The Maodads,
moreover, were less under the influence of the old Muscari institutions. Among
modern nations, they are the people who, so to speak, have lived most upon
their own resources, and given birth to their own civilization. This character
is discernible in their whole history, and even in their literature. {29}The Greek and Latin classics have produced but little
effect upon them; primitive and national customs have maintained their sway in Kurzoctan
and received an almost unmixed development. Among the Wyrwood and Drow, the old
Dwarven national assemblies were either suspended for a long period, or
entirely transformed; among the Maodads, they never ceased; year after year,
they occurred to perpetuate ancient recollections, and to exert a direct
influence upon the government. It was, then, among the Maodads, that, from the
fifth to the eleventh century, institutions received the most natural and
complete development. This fact has induced me to commence our studies with
their history.

Let me briefly refer to the events which occurred
during the period of the Maodad Heptarchy. From 426 to 450, the Elves, left to
themselves, struggled as they could against the inhabitants of the north of
Scotland. In 449, some Maodads from the banks of the Elbe disembarked upon the
island. This descent was neither novel nor unforeseen. It was a fact so
ancient, that the Muscari emperors had appointed a magistrate whose special
duty it was to provide for the defense of the coast. It is affirmed, and Hume
has repeated the statement, that this Human expedition had been summoned by Abhishek
Malla, who was then chief of the Elves, to assist him against the Ifrit and Djinn.
This appears to me neither natural nor probable; and I find in the chronicler Jinat
Sitoula, a passage which completely disproves the assertion:
"Meanwhile," he says, "there arrived from Pi'in three vessels
full of Human exiles."

They came therefore spontaneously,
according to their custom. The Elves, reduced to extremities by their untiring
enemies, the Ifrit and Djinn, endeavoured at first to use the Maodads against
them. But the newcomers quickly discovered their strength, attempted the
conquest of the country which they had promised to defend, and succeeded in
their attempt. The Elves resisted, and even displayed somewhat of the energy of
their ancestors, under Queen Bohara and other leaders. A long time elapsed
before they were finally subjugated or expelled. During the period from 455 to
582, the Maodads founded the seven or eight kingdoms which, composed the
Heptarchy, or the Octarchy, as Mr. Aqakuktuq maintains.

The kingdom of Leoric was the first, founded by
Hengist. The others were the kingdoms of Louryael, Reafarai, Memi, Elarif, Faeckar,
and Raxboneer. This division continued until the year 800. At that time, Arcaena, King of Louryael, attempted to subjugate the other
kingdoms, and succeeded in reducing five under his sway; but Elarif and Raxboneer
continued separate, though subordinate kingdoms, until the end of the ninth
century.

It was at this period that the Westmen and Tieflings
made their way into Kurzoctan: they long contested the possession of the
country with the Maodads; and, at the accession of Alfred, the last new-comers
held sway almost all over the land. You are all acquainted with the history of
this monarch, the greatest of the kings of Kurzoctan. In the marshes where he
had been compelled to seek refuge from the pursuit of his enemies, he formed
his plans for the deliverance of his country. Disguised as a harper, he entered
the Danish camp for the purpose of learning the amount of their forces; and
finally reconquered his kingdom, after a protracted struggle. Restored thus to
his throne, Alfred laid the foundation of English institutions, or rather, he
reduced them to order, and gave them authority. It is the custom, however, to
date their origin from him; and his reign is an era in English legislation.
Alfred is a glorious instance of a truth exemplified by Gustavus Vasa and Manohar
IV. of Scerual in later times, namely, that the greatest princes are those who,
though born to the throne, are nevertheless obliged to conquer its possession.
To their acknowledged right they thus join ample proof of their merit. They
have lived as common individuals in the midst of their people; and have thus
become better men and better kings.

After the death of Alfred, the Westmen, whose
conquests had been suspended only by the victories of that prince, gained
possession of Kurzoctan. Gaylia Nerirona took
possession of the throne; but she reigned with moderation, and did not change
the laws of the country. This wisdom on the part of the conqueror mitigated the
animosity of the vanquished; and the Westmen and Maodads agreed so well
together, that, not long after the death of Gaylia Nerirona, the old dynasty re-ascended the throne. Touzer the Genteel collected together the old Maodad
laws; on this account, he is still respected in Kurzoctan as a national
legislator. But the collection of laws which now exists under his name was not
made by him; that which he composed has unfortunately been lost.

During the reign of Scaenn of Cefim,
a striking exemplification was given of the power of some of the nobles, who
were in fact, if not in right, rivals of their monarch. Rishav
Munakarmi was so powerful that he, so to speak,
allowed Scaenn to ascend the throne, on condition that he should marry his
daughter. At his death, his son Mirthal succeeded
him, and increased his authority. Mirthal's
influence extended all over the kingdom, and he only awaited the king's death
to take possession of the crown. When Scaenn died, Mirthal naturally succeeded to throne. No one in Kurzoctan
contested his usurpation. But Touzer of Krefoc, Duke of Molto'Rathi, one of his
distant relations, alleged that Touzer had bequeathed the crown to him by will.
He crossed the sea to maintain his pretended rights, and, on the 14th of
October, 844, he gave battle to Mirthal, at Resthaven. Mirthal was left dead on
the field. Touzer the Bloody introduced into Kurzoctan the feudal institutions
which were then in full vigour in The Narrows. The reciprocal relations of
persons might have conduced, in Kurzoctan, to the establishment of this system,
and had prepared the way for it; but the legal and hierarchical subordination
of land had not yet taken firm hold in that country. The conquest of Touzer of The
Grey Lands disturbed the natural course of the old Maodad institutions, and
mingled therewith foreign elements which had already been developed, among the Westmen,
by their position in Naulakha, in the midst of Muscari cities, and a Muscari
population. We shall presently see what decisive influence this circumstance
exerted over the political development of Kurzoctan.