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.
Geography
At the height of its power and influence, the Tretalleri Dominion's hold extended over much of the known world, so it is almost impossible to define the extents of Tretalleri habitation the world over. Instead, it might be more useful to take a look back at the history of the Dominion and examine its earliest extents.
We know from the first historical texts of the Dominion, the bulk of which are from the work of one Qerodë a'Morra, that the Dominion saw its humble beginnings in the Kingship of the Bone Trees, a relatively small but economically prosperous city-states. The name of the capital of this city-state had already passed from living memory by the time that Qerodë wrote his De'Altyurrë Liannë, Stories of the Past, and as such was named Di'Fieldë Cselvë, the Old City.
The Old City was allegedly built upon the banks of Di'Rodë Reýlinë, near the place where its tributary D'Rodë Di'Elmirtë joins it. Qerodë also noted in his Stories that the Old City had been built just bordering the Forest of Bones, De'Naborra Tâllë and the lands of Di'Garrotë, a largely agrarian city-state that features rather heavily in the early parts of Qerodë's Stories. Numerous archaeological digs have been proposed and attempted in the area, but have thus far failed to uncover any settlements of the kind that Qerodë claims to have been built there.
Another location worth examining is that of the Ivory City, which, after its construction a few centuries prior to the establishment of the Dominion, became the capital of the Kingship of the Bone Trees and the Dominion that came after it. The northmost part of the city, which includes the Imperial Citadel and the harbour district, are built alongside the rodë Reýlinë.
Legend states that the original city was built on top of three hills, and although the slight slope of the land upward in the direction the Citadel supports this, attempts at finding the three hills have been for naught. The entire city is elevated relative to the land around it, facilitating drainage of water out of the city after heavy rains. Despite the elevation, however, the swelling of the river is a perennial problem for the riverbank districts.
The elevation evens out further from the city centre. Only the presence of the thick woods around the city serve to deter large enemy armies, forcing them to take the main thoroughfares that are much more easily defensible. The lack of natural defensive geography contributed to the multiple sieges that the Ivory City suffered early on in its history, both from other Tretalleri city-states and from the Elledŷnnë.
One feature of note about the Ivory City is that it is one of the first locations where intelligent creatures undertook environmental modification on a geographic scale. As the influence and wealth of the Dominion grew, the biggest civil engineering project ever attempted was put into action. In the year Y.D. 271, it was completed. Known to the modern day as Di'Maidnë Vidë, the Grand Shield, the Dominion built a gigantic ring of iron deep under the ground that ensured that arcane magic would not work within the city limits.
