Tretallë
This page discusses a part of the lore of the Dominion Era Tretallë. If you are interested in seeing the Tabletop RPG stats associated with this race, visit: Tretallë (Stats).
| Dominion Era Tretallë | |
|---|---|
| Bone Elves | |
| Istfet, The Strangers, Invaders, Deathriders | |
 Imperial Standard of the Tretalleri Dominion | |
| Land of Origin | |
 | |
| Continent of Origin | Termalttë |
| Homeland | Teýrivellë |
| Capital | Ifatallë Cselvë |
| Racial Lore | |
| Language | Tretalleri |
| Characteristics | Tretallë (Characteristics) |
| Culture | Tretallë (Culture) |
| History | Dominion Era |
| Government | Tretallë (Government) |
| Military | Tretallë (Military) |
| Stats | Tretallë (Stats) |
| Racial Relations | |
| Allies | None |
| Enemies | Elledynnë |
| Neutrals | None |
They are the architects, engineers, builders, and heirs to the greatest and most successful empire that the history of the world of Sekhar remembers. To the IktOrryk of the Races of Man, they are IstFet, from the word fetir meaning death. To the A'Drekh, they are Kumārë, the bringers of freedom or liberators. To the Arventiri of the Pāll-tanír, they are Q'ulvyari, the bringers of chains, the oppressors.
They are known by many names to many people all throughout the years of the long and storied histories of the world of Sekhar. To some, they are jailers, to others liberators, and to many more, their arrival is believed to herald a wave of death and destruction that washes over the land, leaving nothing but those who capitulate in its wake. What hasn't changed over the years is how they view themselves—as the protectors of the world from the corrupt ways of their wayward sister-race the Elledynnë.
Although history remembers them as consummate warmongers, the Tretâllë are anything but. Modern scholarship has come to the conclusion that as accurate as the Tretalleri histories might be, they tend to gloss over the empire's more peaceful conquests which far outnumber their military ones. In truth, for the most part, the Imperators and the Twin Courts avoid war as much as possible as the instability that they cause make integration all the more difficult.
The Tretâllë are also known for their martial lifestyle, their acceptance of individual choice and liberty, but perhaps, most of all, their impeccable ability to control their emotions. The former two are certainly pillars of Tretalleri culture and society, but the latter is entirely the result of a misapprehension of the extreme care with which Tretâllë treat their interactions with individuals of other races. The government's tacit approval of the stereotype certainly did not help the matter.
Names
The earliest known name for the Tretâllë is Syd'Taedë Aedyla, one given them by the Prophetess Llyrileýwa in the ancient tongue of Aenevelyndë. The phrase is believed to mean 'The Pale Ones,' although knowledge of Aenevelyndë was at best fragmentary, even when the Dominion first started keeping meticulous historical records.
Although the name was passed down through oral tradition, the first known genuine written record of the name comes from a clay tablet discovered at an archeological dig by the Rodë Reýlinë, some hundred miles east of Di'Ifatallë Cselvë. It is believed to be a memorial marking for those that passed during the war for the liberation of the ancestors of the Tretâllë, as it recounts the story of the days of the Pale Ones' slavery under the Aenevë.
This finding was corroborated by Elloreni Qor'Zavë, Elloreni the Elder, who was the last of the immortal elves to live among the mortals. Initially he confirmed the findings in a missive to the Grand Rookery, but later on, he expanded upon the lore of the name in his seminal work Di'Bremiernë, which was published a few short decades before he eventually succumbed to Di'Wirenë. It is from this that we know that the name was bequeathed to the ancestors of the Tretâllë by the Prophetess.
Another name that saw widespread use among the early Tretâllë was Di'Terredŷnë. It was believed to have been adopted in opposition to the use of the remnants of the Aeneveri empire's use of Di'Elledŷnnë. The earliest known work to have used the term is a short essay written on a badly-preserved scroll found soon after the founding of the Dominion. The work was entitled "Against the Deceivers," and contained the phrase, translated into modern Tretalleri, Sendë qrivë têýna De'nakhë Elledŷnnë te têýna`na Ganë vîttë qrivë îdë De'nakhë Terredynë kirannë vittë enkonë îdë nara s'khatha têýna, which means "If they give the name of Children of the Stars to themselves, then we will give ourselves the name of Children of the Earth so that we will learn that they are enemies."
The name Tretâllë did not come about until much later in the history of the Tretalleri people. It at first referred to the group of people who were able to learn how to use the indigenous population of horses for advantage in armed conflict. It is widely believed now, from recent archaeological findings, that the name Tretâllë was originally borne by a group of notorious bandits who wore the bones of their dead on their bodies so that their arrival would always be heard and feared.
The early history of the name is rather unclear. What evidence survives to the modern age comes not from historians themselves, but from the accounts of men and women who had been alive during the Consolidation. However, what is readily apparent is that the Kingship of Bone Trees, in seeking to bolster its military might, offered pardons and gold to the Bone Riders in exchange for their services, making them, for a short time, the largest mercenary group on the continent.
No one knows how or why the transition happened, but soon after being hired, the Bone Riders officially became part of the Kingship of Bone Trees' military, and a significant one at that. As time went on, the name became associated with the Kingship of the Bone Trees, and when the first Imperator, Cilritanë a'Detvida established the Dominion, he allowed the name to remain and adopted it officially as the name of his people, thinking it an honour to the Bone Riders who had won for him a great many battles and without whom his dreams of a unified empire for the Tretâllë would have never come to pass.
