There's no doubt that Helios has earned its reputation as the undying empire. Its people, the Westman, present a proud and old heritage that many a man have sought to study. Indeed it can be said that most books written in those days wrote of the grandeur of Helios, for its span was the lion's share of a continent called Jania, and it held each four different breeds of a sort from its own kin. The Mahadrum, known as the people of the south, took to the Sumelo and Apollicos duchies primarily, though some of their descendants also settled to the duchies of Amar-Thul and Akkad.
No one can question the Mahadrum's dedication to the empire. Though somewhat darker than the average Westman per the mixing with Karreshi clans from the south, all praise the Mahadrum for their vigil and oath to guard the Dark Mists and defy the ambitions of southward Kar'kasha beyond the Great South Sea. The Fortress City of Anor is ancient, undying as the empire itself and preserved until the end of the third age by Saint Ramnicus' great magic. There could be no greater sign of imperial eternity than a city that stands for nearly three thousand years unconquered and having thwarted no less than twelve invasions of grand proportions.
With regards to the Lay-Veneshae, they took east after being displaced by the Aurians in the first age and have never since known the Samsinuri-Matu of Helios. Though offspring of the Veneshae uprising, their intimacy with later Westmen conquerors eventually bred them into a species no less native to the empire of the sun than the Central Westmen, who call themselves the Amar-Sòl to honor their god. While it is the subject of debate as to the extent of inter-relations between Westmen and Veneshae, their once reputation of discord settled in the second age with imperial eastward expansion, and the Veneshae faded and were replaced by the Lay-Veneshae, who took more solace in their imperial heritage than of their disgraced descendants.
Of course, do not let the checkered history of the Lay-Veneshae brand them as less patriotic in their imperial land than others. Perhaps spitefully some may find it weak of will, but the Lay-Veneshae have completely forsaken their old ways and took to the shared glory of an empire over tribal and ethnic divisions. Many recounts from the scholars of yore say that Lay-Veneshae are the most fervent subjects of imperial culture.
The artworks from the eastern duchies such as Alto and Sylvus have spanned the continent along Metaphor's Road, crossing the Anathion from the city of Lithopolis upstream to Thern where the Belissarian people make their home; churning through the Forest of Bethel and the Heartland Valley and into the Heartland Valley Minor beyond the Spine of Providence, where on the Old Helm River nestled between ends of the valley minor, there lies the City of Colors, An'tia. A tragedy what befell it. Then on to the Rea Bluffs where lies Cal'dir at the Cleaved Plateau and once there the great Ocaton mountain had stood before the War God Asur cut it clean and tossed it into the sea along with the city of Ocaton which had laid on its peak.
Not only in artwork are the Lay-Veneshae idols abroad, but their staunch vigil to the eastern border is well recorded. The Heathcliff dynasty even fancied them so much that emperor Magnus Cornelius Heathcliff, first of his name, took a Lay-Veneshae woman as his empress. Their duchy at the eastern edge of the empire was home of the fortress city of Heathcliff. It was once the empire's capital in the second age and served as the symbol of the Heathcliff dynasty's expansionist ambitions then. Although these ambitions did not manifest in the end and it bankrupted their dynasty to the point of deposition. Heathcliff still survives as the oldest family in Helios and rules over the duchy realm that was their ancestral home.
The Inbali occupy the north of the empire and the free cities of the Inbal peninsula. Though perhaps the most rambunctious and stubborn of imperial subjects, they remain staunchly loyal to the principles of old chivalry, thus endearing them to the maidens of high society. Not all Inbali reside within the borders of the empire though. Most are in the Inbal peninsula. But many also reside in the duchies of Persekkadia, Az-Barbaria, and Enli, serving as the empire's northern border and separated from Inbal by the Stonewall Mountains and the Forest of Iohams.
The Inbali have the most diverse cultural background tied to their free cities and the numerous wars of discord shared between them. For their part, many swear themselves to the Duke of Drakkennide, owing to admiration for the imperial dukedom's long tradition of knighthood and heroism. They also, if exceptional, may join the Solarian Guard and become the elite ward of the imperial family in Helios. Such was the outskirts of the empire's ethnic lands, but forget not the Amar-Sòl who make bold claims to the descendancy of Aurians and bear little in the way of material evidence to prove it.
Yet they will insist upon this, for they occupy the ancestral territories where Aurum first ruled back in yore as the gods stumbled clumsily through the physical world with mortals. The Samsinuri'Matu, called the Sunlight Plains in common tongue, is home to Sòl-Matu, the crown duchy that ties together the Helios Kingdom and the Helios Empire as landed titles bound. Another duchy which the emperors and kings of Helios have held for generations is the center-south duchy of Calia, a land of many vineyards and fields of golden wheat.
Pashum is among the duchies historically offered by the crown to the emperor's children, as is Belphor, and the holders of these duchies are elevated above the common dukes to be known as Archdukes. Other lands of old Aurum that the Amar-Sòl lay claim to are the duchies of Metapholos, Ishdal-Kaz, Alassochi, and Lapte'Matu.
Although some may not be yet convinced of their ancestry merely because of shared endemic lands, still further they'll insist their legitimacy by virtue of the Book of Gods, one most holy across the continent of Jania. There in the Volumes of Sòl 12:3-9 it states
"Lay you here, son of Raath, and be consummate to the maiden Fay to restore what little is left of your line.
But be warned, you shall pay a cost for the preservation of your blood. For has too much been spilled on account of your father's hubris.
Though unjust, yet shall the father's sins fall onto the shoulders of the son.
Thus you are to preserve their legacy and bear a penance for their collective sins.
You shall be stripped of strength and made mortal, as will your descendants endure such until the days when gods shall walk the Terra once more.
I leave you this for when I am gone. Then shall you be king and take up your father's throne.
Thus has the Pantheon spoken, so shall it be."
This quote written in their holy text serves as divine consent according to the scholars of Helios. For Raath was the last king of Aurum, and the last month of the Ancient Calendar system from which the empire's traditions and sacraments derive. If truly emperor Leonis Aurius, the first of his name and founder of the Aurius dynasty, had lay with Fay, the eternal lady of the Lake of Providence, then consummate of their union derived the first Westmans as claims the Amar-Sòl of Helios.
But still cannot be derived any physical trait shared between Westmans and Aurians. For the Aurians were each demigods born from the specks of Aether and Ego that mingled with the dawn of time. Their strength is bragged to rend mountains and a golden-brown tan marked their skin which was embellished with golden eyes and tongues. While these features describe the Aurians known in the Book of Gods, there lacks a resemblance to the pale and brown-haired Westmans, many of which have eyes of dull or drab colors like brown or grey. Though sharing in a tendency towards confidence in heritage and their beauty, these spiritual qualities are harder to explain in its resemblance and may not be beyond mutual exclusion.
The Anor Mountains and Blackwood Forest decorate the southern lands up to the end of the Apollicos Duchy where the southern grain flows both ways. The Altus Quarry at the edge of the east border lies a day's journey from Lithopolis, the City of Stone, and it provides the granite from which derive the grandeur of an empire spanning three ages.
The dark and grey granite of the Altus hills travels countless leagues to venture into the Samsinuri-Matu and make the manors of Helion, capital city of the empire. Then the Westmen make quite an art of their homes, crafting romanesque manors and exuberant temples on giant raised bases.
Westmans favor to build upwards and live tightly, though the wealthier lords and ladies will enjoy opulent atriums, impluviums and compluviums. Their inner yards complete with colonnades and mosaics spanning their gardens of daffodils, roses, and vanilla clinging to the black marble walls. Brass, copper, and gold are painted into the edges and finish of their walls and roofs, bronze statues and facades of black marble. Each span of a Westman noble's manor is a battle between light and shadow, dark and bright, black and gold.
There are eighteen roads in Helios, including Metaphor's Road from Helion to Lithopolis and beyond. Six more roads follow the six aqueducts of the empire, each of which feed water to the capital. The oldest is Providence Aqueduct, made by artisans of the first age in the days of Aurum and hewn from pure black marble into a marvel which has stood thus far past the better half of three thousand years. It drew the waters of clear Providence Lake and brought it down to the city for ages. The Road to Providence is a pilgrimage often undertaken by lords to prove their piety and receive portends of good favor.
Then there was the Aurius Aqueduct, which was sculpted in the beginning of the second age. From the Stonewall Mountains, the Aurius Aqueduct draws water and leads a wandering man to the three-pronged border between Helios, Inbal, and Ram when followed upstream.
The Akkaan-Sòl Aqueduct guides directly to the Altus Hills, separating the empire from Bethel and Ram via the Anathion River. Unlike the others, this aqueduct ran water both ways to ensure the travel of clean water to the eastern border. It was this aqueduct which king Akkaan-Sòl of Aurum had constructed to transport fresh water and create a road for the eastward colonization of the Heartlands.
The Justinian Aqueduct drew water from Lake Sòl and marked the period when imperial faith was at its height. Justinian's Road brought more infrastructure to the land before the Altus Hills and led to the construction of a settlement called Judikos, which would go on to become a sprawling metropolis that rivaled Lithopolis if not in scale, then still in wealth. Built on Justinian's hill along the Lake Sòl and across the lake from the Silver Forest, it would become a place famous for its artisan jewelry and a variety of quartz or ruby mines.
The Constantine Aqueduct was then built from the lake of Aregashi in the Anor Mountains to the capital. With it came Constantine's road that connected the city of Anor to the capital and enabled the movement of troops in a speedy fashion to the southern border. A necessary addition to defend against the Dark Mists.
The Solomon Aqueduct drew water from the Lake of Aun in the Appollicos duchy and would go on to create infrastructure in the south. It fortified the long stretch of open shore that is the Kar'oriel beach where Kar'kasha staged many invasions into Helios. It is the last of the aqueducts to be made and also the one regarded as the least impressive, though Titanus will never acknowledge it as their descendent Emperor Solomon Titanus, first of his name, was the one who had it built and ultimately failed to make it rival the aqueducts of old. Some say the empire of the third age struggles just to maintain their ancient city, let alone replicate it.
But this is merely the legacy of the rich, the poor are no less god-fearing, but humbler in their offerings and prayers. Chapels made of wood or cobblestone; offerings of daily toil; a mass each afternoon at the sun's peak to remember their heritage and sense of communal identity. They are fond of meat, a luxury for the lower class and would bond a long friendship over a good bottle of wine. Bread, vegetables, porridge, and the occasional meatloaf is a staple diet for a common man of Helios.
Commoners hear stories of empire heroes from across the land, such as Jacob Cornelius Drakkennide II, called the Dragon of the West across the known world. Or Saint Ramnicus the Wise, whose guardianship of well over two thousand years has made him the oldest mortal mage in history. These stories reinforce the greatness of their kingdom and inspire the youth with tales of dragonslayers and demon hordes felled.
Drakkennide in particular is a well known name. Positioned between the Yuvonoth and Artesia Duchies which separate it from the duchy of Pashum, the duchy of Drakkennide is known as the heart of old chivalry and the birthplace of the first knight, Yuvon the Gold. A hundred Drake Knights serve as the personal guards and comrades of the Duke of Drakkennide, each of whom they claim can kill a drake.
But such drakes and dragons are seldom seen as dragonslaying is an icon of chivalrous valor and thus often sought to the brink of extinction by the knights of Drakkennide. Now such creatures hide in the deep with what remains of ancient demons and darker things.
The Westmans of Helios are fond of money, especially "the city folk" as those countryside Westmans will say. Among the greatest passion of city Westmans is the collection of old coins recalling the dynasties of empires passed. It became somewhat of a trend in high society following the rise of the Titanus dynasty to collect such antiques of the old empire. Coins were small, numerous, and spanned thousands of years of history, making them a suitable collectible for noble families that sought to legitimize the long lineage of their patriarchy or assert their connection to ancient spiritual providence. Other common collectibles were ancient paintings, sculptures, or jewelry. But most prevalent was always the collection of coins.
Aurius dynasty coins were rarest, beginning with the reign of Leonis Aurius VI, who created the Royal Mint in Helion. He began the practice of forging metal coins after being inspired by what observed from far off Sahava beyond the Rea Bluffs and further still on the other end of the Great Azuna Desert. While the Sahavites were far from Helios at this opposite side of Jania, their Fahls and Dirhams spread across the artery called Metaphor's Road and eventually arrived in Helion. It fascinated the emperor through its long travelled distance and inspired him to create his own coin so that the face of Leonis Aurius VI could also be seen and known across the continent.
These early imperial coins often came in denominations of copper, bronze, or lead, and later included silver and gold denominations as well. But the Aurius coins quickly faded in popularity despite the maker's intent. Their rounded edges were ideal to allow coin clipping, where sly thieves would take a knife or similar item to the edges and scrape away the surface metal. The Heathcliff dynasty of the late second age would later implement the ten-cornered coin system to better stave off coin clipping, but it was not until the reign of Agam Solomon Titanus III that the ridged coins put an effective end to the practice.
And so like this, for three ages and three thousand years past, Helios stood through the fall of Aurum, Effinitia, Izal'arconia, Aegytos, and Iseer, all empires of similar legend, all fallen before the Empire of the Eternal Sun. But this now on account of the story that ended the third age, there are many records, innumerable first-hand accounts written by the survivors and all agree that the empire's decline began with the war in Inbal. At first it was an occasion by which the emperor swore to permanently end the history of infighting among the city-states. But the war lasted a good four years and cleaved a portion of the morale from Westmans.
They were not overly fond to slay their own kin, however stubborn and uncouth the northerners may have been. But this crack was merely the widening of little gaps that had long been brewing in the empire already. The number of dukes had surpassed twenty by the time of emperor Jaeden Titanus V, and though prestige had named him once 'the Kind,' in his youth… later years would remember him as 'the Fool.'
Titanus was quite a break from the other dynasties. Aurius was dedicated to restoration and when they had reassumed their ancient territories in the Samsinuri'Matu, their ambitions moved inward to infrastructure and the erecting of many temples. So many in fact that Helion became known as the City of a Hundred Temples, where one could scarcely turn the corner on a brick-layed street without finding another monument of marble and gold scraping the skies.
The Heathcliff dynasty inherited Aurius' Great Golden War which brought about the restoration of Aurum's old borders and renamed it Helios. But Heathcliff sought to expand beyond the eastern border, leading to the eventual conquest and colonization of the regions now known as Bethel, Ram and Dire, collectively referred to as the Heartland Kingdoms Alliance. In those days however, they could scarcely be called kingdoms. The Belissarians of Bethel were descendants of an ancient river tribe along the Anathion and had been settled there since before recorded history. Their people lived primarily in the city of Thern, which peddled the goods from Lithopolis along Metaphors Road leading further east.
To be precise, Bethel and Dire are not wholly considered kingdoms on their own. Each one owes tributes to Helios annually, and while they retain their own levies and government, they each are sworn in fealty to Helios and are officially recognized by the empire as grand duchies.
Though in truth the Heartlanders feel no particular patriotism towards Helios, their oaths are honored but they feel no friendship. Rarely do the Heartlanders involve themselves in empire affairs and they ask likewise for no intervention in turn. Bethel does claim to have supported Anor with two contingents of their Belissarian archers during the third invasion of Kar'kasha, but there are no imperial records to corroborate the claim.
After the successful conquest of Bethel during the second age, the popularity of the Heathcliff abroad plummeted while their rise within Helios was meteoric. Perhaps feeling the passions of their many subjects, the emperors of Heathcliff sought to continue their expansion yet further east, brushing the borders of Izal'arconia and pushing into the Heartland Valley. Thus were the people of Dire conquered too.
It is said that during the conquest of the city-state of An'tia, a siege of ten months took place. For the city once called Old Helm was fortified by dwarven walls and brick foundations. The city roads are cut to perfection and each house stood on a raised foundation made of limestone. The dwarves were long gone now, dropped into the earth to hide following the fall of the original city in the first age. Then were the dwarves taken by the Aurians into the spoils of war and made the labors of ancient Aurum's splendors. But by the second age the men of An'tia were solely maintaining the walls and roads of the dwarves.
These dwarven walls were built into the Spine of Providence and the hills leading to the Rea Bluffs. The baileys had two fortresses built on its north and west sides that protected the fertile Heartland Valley Minor, where An'tia fed itself on grain and wheat fields as well as the fresh fish from the Old Helm River.
The inner walls of An'tia protected the city itself, where rose the mud-baked walls and oak pillars of their homes, blue slate roofs and lacquered bridges designed to last a year and wash away with the flood season. Said season would even cover the streets, which is why the foundations of buildings were put higher by about mid-torso to a man. The only exception to this rule were the manors of the rich, which were in fact built into the hills itself and rose above the lower city.
At the south end of the valley minor was the port-city of Argentum, attached at the maw of the Old Helm and flowing out into the Great South Sea. Here is where An'tia would import silver and pearls. It is also where their dye factories strained the violet-reddish blood of sea snails into fabrics. This and their flower dyes that were pleasant in both color and smell became widespread from east to west of the upper half of Jania.
The patron of An'tia is Philia, the mysterious God of Love, and the city would host many festivals in its yore and vale by which to offer the chance of young lovers crossing. Their weddings were exceedingly popular and communal events. They would be hosted on the estates of the noble lords for even the commonest of men to attend. This collective would come together to gather gifts for the bride and groom. Gift givers were expected to not be stingy, nor would excessive money be expected of them either. Although their status often mattered when measuring the quality of their gift, it was also important not to demand too much lest the bride and groom be considered greedy.
Eastern and western philosophies blended together along Metaphor's Road and met at An'tia, creating a system of governance which they referred to as a 'Republican Monarchy' whereby policy is enacted by the senate and the judiciary is chiefly commanded via the king. Crime was low until the massacre of the third age.
Antia and the Heartland Valley is the main food supplier for the Heartland Kingdoms Alliance, and after the conquest at the hands of Helios a portion of the grain there was included in a tax to the conqueror. An'tia shares the closest roots to Helios' Westman culture, as their king, Duke Johnathan Pyron Dire was first a lord under the Titanus dynasty before he was granted independence. Though in the time of Heathcliff following the successful conquest of An'tia they were instead ruled by the imperial military. These successful campaigns expanded Helios to the point that by the vale years of the second age they occupied nearly a third of the continent.
For another eighty years the Golden Sun waited as imperial authority passed from the aged emperor Mathias 'the bronze' Heathcliff, first of his name, to Colton 'the Poor' of the same dynasty, last of his name. He would then bankrupt his forebearer's prosperity and reduce the legacy of Heathcliff as a result of the disastrous invasion of the north.
It is easy to guess by his name that emperor Colton Heathcliff was a man of reckless finances. For he, much like king Raath of ancient Aurum, struggled to assert the same dominance of his forebearers and thus overreached his ambition to Izal'arconia.
At first, the young Heathcliff emperor expected to be greeted as liberator by the old and disunified tribes of Ram. But Colton was ignorant to the physical scars of Ram, and knew not what pains they had already endured.
Their lands lay next to Helios divided by the Stonewall Mountains, beneath the Great Izalae Mountain Range, and above the Bethel Forest and Heartland Valley. The Ash-Kissed Plains are where their farms are tilled and they make residence in the lands at the edge of the Rea bluffs. Having been subjected to the Arcticonian's harsh philosophy of suffering, and known the colonial removal of their wealth to Aegytos before, the hearts of the Ramians were rather bitter to foreign leaders, and they grew to crave their own prosperity above all else.
When the imperial army marched north to Arcticus, dismantling the empire of Izal'Arconia along the way, they were not treated as liberators. Merely another band of colonizers come to replace their former tyrants. The Ramians raided the supplies of Helios, they defied and blocked armies and support. Tremendous funds were pushed to penetrate the Iron Curtain of Arcticus built in the mountain pass of great Izalae. Taxes were raised in Helios and the colonies. Gigantic imperial armies were pulled from the southern border, straining internal politics, all to make a vain push north that began and ended with the breaking of the Iron Curtain.
After penetrating the giant wall made before recorded history, the armies did not even cross the Tundra Valleys of Vespi before their deaths, and all was vain and lost. Heathcliff was deposed and so rose the dynasty of Titanus, which moved itself away from the conquests of the Aurius and Heathcliff dynasties.
Emperor Solomon Titanus, first of his name, was called 'the Wise' and shifted imperial policy from war to diplomacy. He granted freedoms to Duke Dire and Duke Asher, a Belissarian who was granted the title and dominion as a consequence of the liberation of the Helios colonies. Then three generations later emperor Joseph Titanus granted them the titles of Grand Duchy each to cement their freedoms from foreign rule.
Emperor Solomon also spoke to the people of Sahava and arranged negotiations for the secession of the Ramian territories from old Aegytos (which by then had already collapsed but the physical distinction between the Ankhalils of Sahava and the Awanets were not well observed by the Ramians that led them to assume the two interchangeable). Sahava promised no part of the territories of Ram that exist beyond the Rea Bluffs. This eventually led to the formation of the Confederate Merchant Republic of Ram, a nation known for its bankers and free markets.
The turn by Solomon from war to diplomacy was a pivotal choice and one which is credited by many to have been what spared Helios from political and economic collapse following the overreach of the Heathcliff dynasty into the east and north. For another eighteen generations Titanus would remain a dynasty of relative peace. Yet near the last years of Emperor Jaeden Titanus V's rule, there came an unexpected change to the ordinary activities of the emperor that none expected.
It began in year 43 of Titanus V's reign. The astrologers forbade death to many gods that year as they spied the First Star, golden of light and embroidered into the imperial coat of arms, falling from the Firmament to the Terra. The First Star for its namesake was first to be spied when night fell over Jania, it was an idol of light in dark places– unlike the two moons that blotted the skies as pale and obsidian orbs.
Its significance to the cosmological view of astrology was central and constant, but its absence left them devastated the world around. Many court wizards and priests augured the fates in search of wisdom and guidance. They desired portends to the fallen star's meaning. Each counted birds, cast stones, and read the entrails of numerous sheep. The story peddled the streets and panicked the lords and ladies of high society and priesthood.
By unlucky chance, a baby was born the same evening. The first son was born when Jaeden Titanus V was still in his thirties. In accordance with imperial tradition, emperor Jaeden V named his firstborn son, Jaeden, the sixth of his name. But on the fateful day when a star fell from the sky Idan Titanus was born. The second prince of Helios.
Sickly from birth, even the doctor who delivered him to term initially thought him dead on arrival. But Idan persisted against all natural causes, ill though he was. Empress Esther Titanus however was left scarred in flesh and spirit following the birth. She suffered traumatic episodes randomly and had to retreat from high society following her decline. The child's illness became a burden on the mother and she was subject to slow and cruel dreams. For three years the empress persisted in her failing mind, she feared both rationally and irrationally for her child's life.
It was the birth of the third prince which tore out what remained of her will and summoned the shadow of Az to take her. In the year 46 of emperor Jaeden Titanus V's reign, empress Esther Titanus, Daughter or Frenric Morray, passed away. The royal family grew to love their third and second princes, despite illness and omen bequeathed to them by their mother's passing.
For over four hundred years of unbroken imperial rule, there was a tenuous peace in upper Jania. But the emperor's countenance began to change after the empress' death. His majesty the emperor grew taciturn and detached. The royal palace shut its doors and withdrew.
And from within, the emperor schemed in the dark and silence.