Emperors of Ivory

Emperors of Ivory is a book recovered from the Rail Raider camp in Halterslate Islet.

## Description

Emperors of Ivory is a genealogy book of sorts relating to the rulers of one of the greatest Realms of Ahlus, the Empire of Raq. Having served as a central superpower of the continent for over eight hundred years, they were cast into chaos by diminishment of their borders and an uprising of the commonfolk.

## Research

### Completed by Alwin tlo Hambert

It is said that the Empire of Raq was the first of the nations of Ahlus to be created, the first lands gifted nobility by the True to guide and rule them into a future bright and bold. While commonly reported as truth in most historical tomes and texts, it is disputed heavily by both the tales of Atralran and the stories of the Duchies of Tynd, both of which would come to find themselves the major competing powers with the Empire of Raq for the place of greatest superpower in the continent. Nonetheless, unified efforts would be shared between the Empire of Raq, Atralran and the Duchies on a number of matters, particularly those of trade and scholarly pursuits facilitated by the Ten Guilds of Ahlus. Arguably most infamous of these collaborations occurred in 103AG, during the so-called Cleansing of the Glare, in which worshippers of il-Yannah were driven out of their places of worship en masse, and the faith crushed as heresy to the Ahlusian Pantheon.

Dubbed the Ivory Emperors for the colour and composition of their ceremonial crown, sceptre, rings and filigreed lances that constituted the crown jewels of the station, the laws of succession are notable in that they stand apart from that of similar stations elsewhere in the continent. Although familial lines of succession were not unheard of, such links only occurred when said family member fulfilled the requirements of succession, namely being the most competent and capable servant of the Emperor should find themselves ascended to the position. Considering the Empire and the Emperor one and the same, it was said that those that had served the latter well would surely do the same for the former, and thus proved to be part of the secret to the Empire's success, with little fear of incompetent or otherwise ill-suited individuals donning the crown due to the death of a parent or sibling. It was custom that upon their ascension, and each yearly anniversary subsequently a selection would be made and documented by means of the official seal - should something happen to the current Emperor in the year to come.

#### Ariistuun, the Prime (0AG - 102AG)

Chosen by Tohmos shortly after Aita's Second Gift, Ariistuun was described as a man-touched by divinity, and thus assumed by most scholars to have been an aasimar of sorts, as appears common for those originally chosen by the Master of the Hammer. Guiding the Empire of Raq through a golden age for just over one hundred years, Ariistuun chose his treasured dwarven servant Utultar to succeed him following his demise in 102AG.

Ariistuun was the first of the Ivory Emperors to enjoy the conversational companionship of brass dragon Havaelirro, known henceforth as Emperor's Counsel.

#### Utultar, the Sunderer (102AG - 378AG)

Ascending to the position of Emperor after the death of Ariistuun, Utultar's first acts were to strengthen ties with the Realm of Atralran and the Duchies of Tynd through the deliberate purge of worshippers of il-Yannah, a growing populace that he was keen to prevent oppressing his truth of the Ahlusian Pantheon. The actions, while decried by some since, were largely considered as justified, following growing troubles with other religious sects turning violent elsewhere in the continent. Utultar later waged war on the dragons and giants of the Ironfangs alike later during his rule, while maintaining cordial relationships with the Grand Empire's more conventional neighbours.

Utultar was found unresponsive in his daily perfumed bath on a particularly hot day in 378AG, Jarrast-Highreign, and succeeded by his servant of choice, Kissara.

#### Kissara, the Fervor (378AG - 444AG)

Kissara, a brass dragonborn and third of the Ivory Emperors was famed for her eagerness to travel beyond the borders of the Empire of Raq, spending several decades visiting each and every court across the continent, accompanied as her predecessors had by the Emperor's Counsel on many of these journeys. It proved to the surprise of none therefore that her successor was chosen to be Orchamus, a human that had maintained her place in the Alabaster Palace repeated during her ongoing travels later in life.

#### Orchamus, the Cultivar (444AG - 489AG)

Named the Cultivar for his bolstering of Qalraq agricultural throughout both his reign and the later decades of reign of his predecessor. Primal Trees with a particular affinity to fire-producing spells were found to flourish in the mountain groves on the edge of the Shifting Dunes were named Sultan Ash in reverence to his efforts, and secured a number of exclusive trades with the Realm of Atralran for its use as spellcasting focuses by their Spellslinger Knights.

Orchamus was amongst those affected by the Lyndim Flare of 488AG, from which he never truly recovered - dying but a few months later.

#### Hassimir, the Son (489AG - 522AG)

Hassimir was the secondborn son of Orchamus the Cultivar, and the fifth Ivory Emperor of the Grand Empire. Chosen by his father to serve as his successor, Hassimir, who subsequently claimed that both he and his father were descendants of the First Emperor Ariistuun garnered infamy when he attempted to enact rules that would keep his family in power in defiance of Qalraq conventions. Such declarations only came when Hassimir was already aged, and matters of succession heavily discussed in court, and would ultimately result in Hassimir being assassinated in his bed - and an advisor for which he had previously expressed appreciation chosen to succeed him.

#### Ishtar, the Enrapt (522AG-699AG)

Having served as a dignitary to the dwarven kingdom of Mol Boramm for Hassimir, Ishtar sought to further forge alliances with his kin during the extent of his lengthy reign. Such efforts would prompt of much of Ishtar's focus to be downwards instead out of outward to his most immediate terrestrial neighbours. During the Atral coup of 552AG, Ishtar was petitioned to support the deposed Goldlor family, but was elsewise busy with a campaign against an alliance of the Kenarnvar and Helvlani Dens of the Underdark.

Ishtar would fail to return from one such campaigns later in his rule, making the request that the brass dragon Havaelirro succeed him directly.

#### Havaelirro, the Raconteur (699AG - 703AG)

Short-lived, much to the chagrin of the labourers responsible for re-shaping and enlarging the royal crown and other effects to fit the scale of a brass dragon, Havaelirro was famed for their ever-stretching council sessions. The longest of these, said to last in excess of eight weeks without rest resulted in a continuous cycling of advisors in and out of the Alabaster Palace to sate Havaelirro's conversationalist whims and ultimately proved to the dragon that mortal races were insufficient to sate their interests - prompting their immediate abdication and departure to find more apt individuals to discuss matters with.

#### Numunia, the Maul (703AG - 766AG)

A half-orc commander of the Qalraq army was chosen to succeed Havaelirro by order of a vote in response to growing conflicts surrounding the borders of the Empire. Codorne and Kingbourne continued to war over control of their cities to the far west, the walls of dust that surrounded the Realm of Anorcor had been stirred into a new fury for a series of years and to the south and east Gawylthlan and the Duchies of Tynd squabbled over control of the minor Realm of Astedia. When the Rose Throne of the Slate-Stone Kingdom moved to siege Esterving, Numunia sought to harry Gawylthlan's northern border, only to be slain in the combat, and the genasi diplomat Assardin chosen to succeed her.

#### Assardin, the Immured (766AG - 850AG)

Assardin is considered by many to be the last true Ivory Emperor, for it was during their reign that the Empire of Raq would be invaded by King Aubin IV Allaire and the Tulisian army with assistance from the Realm of Lachlen - thus facilitating the conquest of the Empire from both west and east simultaneously. Assardin took his own life in response to the failure, leaving the Empire without leadership as Assardin instead simply called upon the spirit of Ariistuun to guide them from the coming conquest. No such intervention occurred, and a few short months later the Tulisian-administered Empire of Raq came to be, before its eventual collapse in 874AG, some quarter of a century later.