Editing HC History

''Empire of the Sun and Mooon. Hatha. Pashnaar. Empire of the Twin Stars. Empire of All the World’s People. Land of the Sun. Empire of a Thousand Years. Empire of the Blessed Womb. Empire of the Giants’ Seed. The Brothers’ Kingdom.''

Huth travelled down, out of his father’s mountainous Sirdehaar, to wamer lands where the Sun might more easily be found. He took with him a tribe of giants, some of the younger and more venturous of his father’s subjects. He had heard tell of a place called the Land of the Sun, so it was to this place that he led his band.  

Huth’s wanderings are the stuff of legend. many were the travails he had and many were the contests won. But eventually he found himself in a beautiful land, a warm place of flowing wine, where the people had made instruments which sang even more beautifully than the sighings of the winds, and told great tales which matched even Huth’s own epic journey. Here, he saw that the Sun could indeed be seen lingering, and Huth thought he could understand why. Huth concluded that he had arrived in the Land of the Sun, so he asked to meet the lord of this land, the god Pasin.  

Huth had made no secret of the purpose of his quest, so Pasin knew that had to be very clever. If this strange northern god took the Sun out of the sky and carried it north, the grapes would wither and Pasin’s people would have to go about in furs. Pasin spoke to Huth and learned that his resolve was great; he would not easily be dissuaded from his task. So Pasin vowed to help Huth, to be his boon companion and to do his all to help capture the Sun. Huth was greatly pleased, most especially when Pasin told him of the Sun’s habits.  

The Sun was, as ever, proud and vain. Every day, as it travelled overhead, admiring things of beauty in the lands below, it would pause at the edge of Pasin’s realm, above the Placid Sea. Here it gazed upon the most beautiful thing in the world: its own reflection. Huth begged his new friend to take him to this Placid Sea and Pasin, of course, did so.  

But there was one thing that Pasin had neglected to tell Huth. His sister, the Goddess Newelaar, resided at the Placid Sea and was perhaps the most beautiful of the Goddesses. With Huth’s first look, his heart was taken. He vowed to himself that he would make this goddess his, and he was moved to swear to her all kinds of oaths, make all kinds of promises. When he finally asked her what in the world he could give her to make her his, she replied that only one prize would make her his. The Sun.

Blinded by love, Huth swore that he would do exactly this. He would build a great tower into the sky and there would capture the sun for his goddess. So began the construction of the first of the Star Mountains, on the shores of the Placid Sea. This was the first time such an undertaking had been taken on since the First Giants had roamed the world. But Huth had with him his twelve companions, themselves sons of the world builders, so befrore too long, his mountain was up among the clouds.

During this time, his twelve companions had themselves met twelve of Newelaar`s handmaidens, Hathari nymphs. Just as their lord had done, each had fallen deeply in love with his respective nymph and they had, emulating their mistress, bid each of their suitors to gift them a star. So, while Huth built his own tower, his companions each built their own, each one a demonstration of love. Each of these towers, built on the shores of the Placid Sea, was of such dimensions that they each became a mountain, the Star Mountains. Each of these giants, each of his brides, and each of the stars, is a story in its own right.  

When Huth finally finished his mountain, he reached for the Sun and siezed hold of it. Despite the agony of holding the ball of flame, he brought it down to Newelaar and proferred it to her as his wedding gift. With perhaps the most beautiful smile which ever adorned a face, the goddess told her suitor that he had shown the depth of his devotion and he must now place the Sun back in its place. This he did and the two were wed.  

Although the nymphs bore many children to Huth’s companions, his own marriage to Newelaar was barren. Eventually, he learned from the goblin seer Herak that his mother, Queen Calla, had laid a curse on the union and that the fruitless union was but the first consequence of the curse. Huth had always been one for appeasement so he sought out old Hatha for advice. His uncle and grandfather, knowing his daughter better than any, told Huth that only a gift from Newelaar, one of equal beauty to the Sun, would appease his mother. Newelaar agreed to this.

To craft her gift, the goddess inspired herself on the Sun. She herself had seen the Sun gazing upon its reflection day after day so she constructed an image of the Sun, one of the same size and the same form, but crafted out of her own silvery substance. This was the Moon and Huth took it north to his mother. Although partly consoled by the gift, Queen Calla was by nature vengeful. She took the gift and gave it a place in the sky, but demanded one more gift of her son, that she, his mother, carry the seed of Huth’s firstborn rather than his bride.  

Thus, although Huth and Newelaar had many children, Huth’s firstborn was the Bastard God, Umer.

'''City States in Conflict. Enslavement by the Divine Majetrix. The Curse of the Witches of the North. Hugaar and Pasin Unite.'''  

What followed was a dark time for Mankind. Although Huth had founded his city, Hugaar, in the Mountains of the Stars, and Pasin’s home, Pashnaar, too was growing, there was no unity. These and other cities formed their own governments and fought over lands and trade routes. The lands between were wilderness, the territory of predatory goblins. The Tribes of Sirdehaar too were disunited, wading through century-long blood feuds.

Hugaar, Pashnaar, and the other states at the centre of the world were ripe for picking. Saurian merchants were increasingly to be seen, accompanied by hired guards. But they were just preparing the ground for what was to come. A great army of lizards came from the south and, in a bloodless war never quite understood to this day, enslaved mankind, halting only at the foothills of of Sirdehaar.

While the Saurians had lived in the cold (for them) centre of the world, they had entertained dreams of conquering the cold north. As they require heat to live, however, they had sought to change themselves to carry their own heat with them. They conducted great magics in which volunteers ingested fire. Although many died in this ritual, some survived and became dragons.

Although centuries of subjugation to the Divine Majetrix followed, there are no records or memories of this time. The dominance of he Saurians was such that they were able even to control the memories of their subjects. What we do know of this time is that many many people were taken south as slaves or as food. Eventually the Witches of the North, taking pity on their southern cousins, united and created a great curse on the Divine Majetrix. The disunity which had always characterized the human tribes now became a feature of the Saurians. Their hold over humankind, bit by bit, crumbled.

It was if mankind awoke from a dream. Much of our culture took years to be reconstructed from fragmented memories, but Hugaar was now stronger than ever before. Although the Saurians had gone, they had left behind some of their most valuable inventions: script, arithmetic and geometry, and an administrative hierarchy which they had taught to their slaves and had left in their hands.  

One of the first acts of mankind was to join Hugaar and Pasin. United, they set to reconquer the wilderness from the oblins, driving them into the mountains and deserts, and to expel the wild predatory dragons, driving them west. This efforts at expansion were abortive, however, for a great army came from the north.

'''The Dominance of Sirdehaar and Devotion to the Bastard God. The First Invasions of the Visters. Transfer of Power. First Year of Pasin. The Wars of Descent. The Spring Assassinations. Pogroms and Decay.'''

northern tribes united, conquer the centre of the world.  

incl. devotion to the Bastard God.

==Invasions from the West==

not well administered and constantly under attack from the west

to Pasin, calendar begins, “1st Year of Pasin”

Poor administration continues,  

softened by life in Pasin

Huth as the main religion predominates again, the Bastard God loses power.

fights over bloodline, ends with all of the prominent nobles killed in a series of assassinations one spring – coins the saying, “When the spring snow melts, Death knocks at the gate.”

Institution of Senate and of the first Vice-Emperor

==YP 122-148 Pogroms and Decay==

The empire is collapsing.  

Scapegoats are identified, whether religious or racial, and the population engages in enthusiastic and bloody murder.

'''Pasin Opens its Gates to Huth’s Blood. Conquest and Expansion. Silver and Gold. Marriage to the East. The Twin Star Empire. Prophecies and the End of the World.'''

Spring snows melt and a northerner arrives riding a drake and escorted by a bodyguard of Visters.

He claims direct descent from Huth but many call him death.

He kills half of the administrators in Pasin but uses the remainder to reinstate the old administrative structure of the Saurians.

His left hand man is a priest and theologian – later sanctified

Religious freedom is declared across the empire

He and his descendants begin a period of expansion and conquest

==YP 313-322 Silver and Gold==

Potamanchu, Sird crafting

marries an eastern princess and founds the Empire of the Twinned Stars.  

==YP 367-498 Twin Star Empire==

Religion shuts down some, schisms and cults.

Milenar cults.

=YP 498 Prophecies and the End of the World=

''It is the 498th Year of Pasin. The attentions of the empire are in the east, with tales of wars against the Saurians and of new lands to conquer. At home, preists and scholars engage in interpretaitons of ancient texts, while the last two years have seen barbarian incursions from the west. An ancient prophecy is remembered: “Huth will rise and fall thrice, then the Worm and the Devil will fight for the World. The Pale Man will show the future in Silver and Gold.”''

'''Interpretations abound.'''

* Sird, God of Resolve and of Warfare (some could call it brittle obstinacy)

* Hatha, God of the Oceans and of Wisdom.

* Huth, Binder of the Sun, great lover

* Calla, Witch queen and wielder of magics. Jealous wife and mother.

* Pasin, Huth’s boon companion, god of plenty, of wine, of music, of poetry.

* Newelaar, Goddess of Beauty and of the Placid Ocean

* Umer, The Bastard God

* Herak the goblin seer