History of the Tidal Dynasty
This book can be found in a chest in the Firteid Library, and tells an abridged history of the Tidal Dynasty.
Coordinates¶
| X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|
| 3990 | 94 | 3438 |
Transcription¶
The Black Jungle; a lawless land, plunged into chaos because of the fall of the Empire of Vir, sought a ruler strong enough to bind together the region. The Tide Queen, whose real name is unknown, seized this opportunity to create the Tidal Dynasty and conquer all of the Jungle. It was soon discovered that she held unlimited potentia. She would use this ability to make herself effectively immortal, regenerating all of her wounds and eradicating any diseases.
Though she ruled well for many years, eventually the Tide Queen began to grow paranoid about subversives within her realm. Along with this shift in mentality came a policy shift in favor of isolationism and defense. With an increasingly large military and the Queen's considerable tactical skill, the Dynasty began to grow its territory into that of the Gozaki Union and other east Heartwood kingdoms.
It was around this time that Drehn Mal'Sohm visited Firteid and Vulteid. Rumor has it that both leaders had a look at the other's forces and mutually came to an agreement that neither desired a pitched war. An accord was quietly signed, and the Tidal Dynasty became one of the very few places in Drehmal to never fall under the ruling thumb of Avsohm.
Though still popular with the people, the Tide Queen continued to slowly withdraw her state from the rest of the world. This culminated in Av2 1859, when foreigners were banned from Tidal lands altogether except when making pilgrimages to the Kiln of Virtuo or trading in a single designated port. When Avsohm fell and the Virtuo faith became even more central to Drehmari life, the Dynasty even began to tax the foreigners who traveled through its waterways. Never popular outside of her insular state, these policies and continued aggressive posturing at her borders made the Tide Queen an ever more intolerable leader for Eastern powers.
The final straw for Hovadchear Myrik and the trade coalition he had assembled, however, was the Dynasty's Guardian Program, wherein the Tidal Fleet occupied a massive swathe of the ocean south of the Black Jungle, ostensibly to protect passing ships, but really to extort them. This was simultaneously the reason for Insohm's major investment in airships and the beginning of the end for the Tide Queen.
For nearly fifteen years, a secret organization within Insohm waged an espionage campaign within the Tidal capital of Firteid. During this time, the Tide Queen began to visibly unravel, as she lashed out at anyone who she perceived to be a spy. Finally, as planned, some factions within the Tidal Dynasty began to turn against their monarch.
Then, suddenly, and brutally, it was over. A group of trained mercenaries broke into the Tidal Palace and somehow managed to kill the Tide Queen in her sleep. For nearly a week, chaos reigned. Though Insohm tried to quell the public's anger, the powder keg that was Firteid soon erupted.
The Tidal War wound up being the largest conflict that the realm had seen since the Dune Wars. A proxy war fought between an Insohmic-backed coalition calling for rule by the Grand Parish of Virtuo and the Tide Queen's top military officials claiming that they had the legitimate right to rule, it ended when Maelihs took advantage of the chaos to invade the Kiln of Virtuo and badly injure the Goddess herself. Riding a wave of sympathy for Virtuo, the Grand Parish were able to claim victory and establish the Parochial Enclave of Firteid, which is where history meets present.
Life in the Black Jungle has never been easy. In a land where both nature and society are often cruel, it is difficult to imagine that the Enclave will be able to maintain the peace for long. We shall see.
Extras¶
This book refers to an event as taking place in Av2 1859, which is 39 years after the date when almost all other sources claim that the second Avihm ended, with the Fall of Avsohm. It is possible that this reflects a cultural difference between the Tidal Dynasty and the rest of the realm, as they were not part of Avsohm and may not have accepted the empire's fall as the end of the era.