Mathosian Empire (Rift)
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For the king!
On the last day of his reign, King Jostir Mathos walked to his throne, leaning on the arms of his sons. The king and the princes wore their plates of war, and though Jostir's eyes could barely see, his hand did not shake around the hilt of his sword. From the seat of power, he spoke his people's history, thus:
The Eth made their Empire in the lowlands, but all men know they never went into the mountains. For there roamed the Northmen, the war-making sons of Mathos, who banished more dragons than any race of Telara. While they lounged on silken cushions, we battled in the dells and valleys, and on the crags, against each other or the Dwarves or Elves. At last, even these ancient peoples sought peace with us. Then the Dwarves taught us to do wondrous work, and the Elves mighty magic.
All the while, the Eth built tall towers to mock our mountains. Of course they toppled, and the sand swallowed their Empire. Then up from the dunes rose hungering horrors, and out of their boltholes the cultists scurried, and wicked men sought to yoke the leaderless masses like oxen to a grinding wheel.
So these folk sent their runners into the highlands, to beg on bended knee for deliverance. And we raised them up onto their feet, where men belong, and in Thedeor's name we formed an army, and girded ourselves with Dwarven steel and righteous magic. Down we marched into the flatlands. We cracked the jaws of beasts, and burned the flesh of dragon-slaves, and hung the heads of the tyrants on their castle walls.
For Thedeor!
We could have gone back home, but they begged us, “Stay! Rule us with courage and justice, and teach us never again to kneel.†So we remained to rule the flat places. Those who did not invite us, we came into their lands anyway, for we would let no spot in Telara fall prey to the dragons' wiles. Then the sun never shone on any part of Telara that was not Mathosia.
Then stood King Jostir, supported by his two sons, and though his knees shook, his voice rang clear.
Thedeor thus served, it fell to us to honor every god of the Vigil. For Tavril, we left the forest sovereign, taking only what we needed, even from the great granitewood groves. For Bahralt, we built cities without forbidden magic, cities of honest stone and white wood. The greatest of these is Port Scion, and no city before or since has been its equal. For all the gods!
In Thontic's name we sent merchants out from Port Scion, to ply the storming seas and trade with the strange folk of distant lands. And then, to honor gentle Mariel-Taun, we covered our realm in peace and plenty. Music and light are in our cities, good hunting is in our fields, and the wicked shrink from our eyes.
So we have conquered, by banner and drum!
So we have ruled, by scepter and sword!
I am Jostir, of unbroken lineage, and let no man cast spite upon my rule! I leave you my son Aedraxis, of unbroken lineage, who stands at my right hand.
I go from you, the King of Mathosia, to the halls of my fathers, and my fathers' fathers, where Mathos himself stands at Thedeor's side! His sons rule from sea to the east and sea to the west, and also in the north and the south.
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