Dominion Era/Tretallë (Government)
This page discusses a part of the lore of the Tretallë {{{2}}}. If you are interested in seeing the Tabletop RPG stats associated with this race, visit: [[RPG:Races/Tretallë/{{{2}}} (Stats)|{{{2}}} (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 |
It is without dispute even between the most critical of historians that the Dominion of the Tretallë was the greatest and most expansive empire of the ancient world. In fact, very few would even contest that it did not remain so until the modern-day, though understandably, its influence had faded by then. However, it is also widely agreed that in order to rule an empire as large as the Dominion, the Tretallë required a more powerful, authoritative, and effective government than most other empires of its time just to cope. If the success of the Bone Elves through the eras is any indication, they had just that and more.
Contents
The Pale Imperator
"Metyperrë Di'Adeýla Cilanannë! Csânkîdë fitë anvë Teýna kirannë D'Khagirri Teýna s'maidnë un s'tantë!"
"The Pale Imperator approaches! Tremble before Him for great and terrible is His Might!"
—D'Cilanannë Di'Tretallë(The Emperor of the Dominion)
by Nevantë a'Vatagan, Historian.
Cilanannë Ornimë, Cilanannë avvë Di'Tretallë, D'Vidmerrë Di'Tretallë, Di Cilveti, un Di'Mafettë Tatyrë—Di'Adeýla CilanannëThe closest approximation of this title in the Common Tongue, then, is this:
Ruler Absolute, Lord over the Dominion, the Protector of the Realm, the Divine, and the Ever-victorious—The Pale Imperator;
After all, what is an empire without its emperor? When the Ivory Throne is filled, there is only one man who wields absolute power in the Dominion, and that man is the Pale Imperator. His word can be overridden, but if and only if the Court of Ravens and the House of Crows decide unanimously to veto his will. This is quite a rare occurrence as the Pale Imperator is raised from one of the Nine Houses of the Azure Blood and Houses are unlikely to vote against themselves. Even then, this power of veto is reserved solely for wartime efforts. In all other matters, the Imperator's word is literally law.
He is the sole possessor of the Cileda—the Divine Right—bestowed upon him by the will of the Stranger and the Stranger's hand in the world—The Ivory Throne.
The Trial of Blood
D'Kallennë Lartë, as it is known in the native tongue, is not what it seems to be. The Trial is not a singular event after which the claim of an individual to the Throne is affirmed. Instead, the Trial of Blood is the period of time that follows the death of an Imperator up until the time that a new one takes his place. The Trial is instead a set of requirements that the Heirs Presumptive for the Throne must fulfill in order to accede to it.
Lineality
Foremost among these requirements is that of lineage. For the first three thousand years of the Dominion, when the Twin Courts had yet to be conceived, the Throne was passed down from uncle to nephew, a quirk of the fact that lineality is traced through the females of a clan, and not the males. However, at the end of these three thousand years, when the Imperator died unexpectedly without an heir, the vacuum of power left behind sparked the Wars of Ascension that threatened to tear the Dominion apart.
Fortunately, a rather wise man, Zovynnë a'Devytorë won the war and instated the both the laws of lineality, and the twin Courts to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. The text of his declaration remains preserved in the archives of the Palace and proceeds thus:
The Law of Lineality
1 From this day forth, the Divine Right to Lay Claim to the Throne
2 shall be bequeathed only upon the daughters
3 of the woman that sits upon the Throne,
4 but should, instead, a man be sat upon the Throne,
5 he shan't bequeath the divine right to his children,
6 for the Stranger has decreed that
7 should a man be the Imperator of our vast realm,
8 the Divine Right to Lay Claim to the Throne
9 shall be bequeathed only upon the children of a first daughter
10 of a third daughter of a ninth daughter
11 of the blood of the High Houses of the Realm,
12 and that King or Queen among them
13 shall be named by trial to test
14 their strength of heart and of will.
15 They and only they
16 shall be known as the heirs presumptive—
17 no other without regard of Blood or creed.
Further conflict forced the hand of the Twin Courts to change the terms of the Law of Lineality. They ejected women from eligibility for the Throne in exchange for giving them permanent seats in the Court of Crows, and removed the provision for allowing the Throne to pass from mother to daughter.
The Claim
Upon reaching the age of 27, immensely young for the Bone Elves, infantile by many regards, a viable Blood-candidate by the Law of Lineality must lay claim to the throne if and only if this candidate wishes to accede the throne. Should a child refuse to lay Claim to the Throne at this age, but expresses the desire to do so, he will be given an opportunity every nine years hence for as long as he is younger than the age of majority at 81.
Though it would seem at first glance that it should not be so, the laying of the Claim has been considered a part of the Trial of Blood since the year 43,097 D'Irrenë Di'Tretallë(lit. Year of the Dominion). It was in the Fall of this year, after an heir presumptive to the Throne committed suicide, the Twin Courts, with the Court of Crows at the head, introduced the Law of Knowing Claim. By this law, it was forbidden for any member of an eligible House, under penalty of imprisonment, to coerce an eligible child to make the Claim in any way. A child may be groomed for the possibility of making a Claim at the proper age, but it is forbidden to make any assertion, be it implicitly, by way of flattery for example, or explicitly, that the child must make a Claim.
The Claim is considered to be a part of the Trial because House and clan is of utmost importance to the Bone Elves and when a child lays Claim to the Throne, he severs all ties with his House, family, and clan. If, however, a child fails the Trial of Blood, these ties are restored and again, by the Law of Knowing Claim, the child cannot under any circumstances be abused or ostracised by his House as a result of his inability to accede to the Throne.
The Rite of the Tome
When the Claim is legitimized by the Twin Courts and the eligible child named an heir presumptive to the Ivory Throne, he is instructed to immediately begin residence at the Grand Rookery. The Grand Rookery is a smaller palace situated directly to the west of the Imperial Palace which is home to the Prince of Ravens whenever the Ivory Throne is occupied. It is also the greatest house of learning in all the Dominion heartland prestigious not only by its name, but by the calibre of scholars, artisans, and generals that it has produced for the Dominion.
Following the laying of the Claim, the next 36 years are what comprise the Rite of the Tome, when the heirs presumptive are trained not only in the ways of the nobility and in propriety as the Pale Imperator, but also in the necessary skills to be great leaders, governors, generals, and scholars. It is at the end of these 36 years, that an heir presumptive becomes eligible to take the next and final step on the road to attempting to accede to the Throne. The 36-year limit is flexible, however, as an heir presumptive may petition, with recommendation from instructors due to good performance, to attempt the Cloister earlier. At the same time, an heir judged as having had poor performance by the Twin Courts, may be delayed from eligibility to attempt the Cloister. When an heir presumptive has been granted eligibility to face the Cloister, he must first declare that he wishes to face the Cloister. He may do so at any time after eligibility, but if he declares the desire to face the Cloister after someone else, he must either enter the Cloister with the other heir presumptive or wait until the other heir presumptive has failed, or be denied the chance if the other heir presumptive succeeds.
Due to the fact that more often than not an heir presumptive is not alone, when an heir presumptive declares his desire to face the Cloister, any further new Claims to the Throne are turned away. The heir presumptive that wishes to face the Cloister is then given time to prepare as he will have to wait for each and every other heir presumptive undergoing the Rite of the Tome to reach eligibility. When this is done, the heir presumptive will face the Cloister, along with every other heir presumptive that expresses the wish to do so at the same time.
The Cloister of Trials
The Ivory Throne
Di'Ifatallë Cilthë in the native tongue, there is no more important artifact to all the Dominion than the Ivory Throne. It is not only the seat of power of the Imperator, but it is also the reason that the Dominion can hold sway over as many lands as it could. The Ivory Throne is single-handedly responsible for the vast reach of the Dominion's territory, and for good reason. It is an artifact that is unimaginably older than the Dominion itself, something rather impressive as the Dominion has existed for 160 millennia. For all its power, it is shrouded in mystery as well.
What little is known for certain by the Dominion about the Throne is hidden away in the sealed vaults underneath the Palace. Meticulous copies of these documents are also kept in sealed vaults at the heart of the Temple in the Shrouded Peaks. Both of these vaults are accessible only to the Imperator and the record-keepers. Each is guarded by powerful blood magic that can overcome any unwanted intruders.
The Throne itself was unearthed by a then-tiny population of the Bone Elves thirty thousand years before the Dominion was ever founded. The Throne was found deep in the darkest reaches of the Forest of Bones, sitting buried in silt, surrounded by the ruins of what seemed to be a grand temple that a river had carved through. Despite the fact that everything else around it seemed to have succumbed to the ravages of time, the Throne itself was pristine—undamaged—and would remain so for the many thousands of years that the Dominion stood.
The Ivory Throne is a truly impressive object, commanding both awe and terror by its visage alone. The early Bone Elves that found the Throne quickly discovered that the it was made of what seemed to be ivory but was in fact something much, much stronger. Unable to describe what they had found, they simply named it Ivory, and left it at that.
The Throne stretches dozens of feet into the air, its ivory spires just barely touching the top of the dome of the throne room that had been built around it. The Throne sits upon a dais of marble ten feet high, adding to its already-mighty size. Behind it sprawls the Imperial Bone Tree, immense in its own right at many times taller than the average bone elf, though still dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of the Throne before it.
Bone Elfin artisans have, over the millennia, attempted to carve the scenes of the Dominion's conquests on the Throne, but no tools seem to work against it. All the decoration that is on the Throne has been there since the day that it was found. As far as historians and scholars are concerned, the decoration has been on the Throne perhaps since the day that it was wrought by a long-gone empire.
The throne is gilded in certain places, and decorated with inlaid silver in others. It glitters in the light of the throne room, though its light is neither beautiful nor enchanting. The radiance of the Throne is unsettling and imposing. All about the base of the Throne parade carvings of brambles and roses, rising high up above the heads of any who would sit upon it. Yet, higher up, the carvings of these thorny plants give way to raven feathers and etchings of the wind so life-like that many who have marvelled at the intimidating grandeur of the Throne speak of them. In the words of the historian Nevantë a'Vatagan:
"Linnë vissenë ankë ni'vissettë lesseni geýrida, taterë vinsinë anma lesseni geýrida"
"It seemed as though an invisible wind stirred the carvings, giving them the very semblance of life."
—D'Cilanannë Di'Tretallë(The Emperor of the Dominion)
In addition, despite the relative comfort, as Imperators over the years have described, of sitting upon the Throne, many of them in fact find doing so rather disconcerting. Imperators time and again have claimed that even getting too close to the Throne fills them with utter dread about misusing its powers. There is only one Imperator known to have sat on the Throne for all the days of his Court, he is also perhaps the most often associated with the bloodiest time in Bone Elfin history. This man is Ifanarien a'Callen the Ruthless, the Imperator responsible for expanding the Dominion far beyond what anyone anticipated, and far beyond what anyone that came after him could ever dream of accomplishing.
There is, however, more to the Throne than meets the eye. It is imbued with powerful blood magics, and is, in fact, believed to be the source of the discipline. The Throne is at its most powerful when its partner, the Ivory Crown, is also being used. Alone, the Throne can ensure the obedience of individuals through the oaths that are sworn upon it. With its partner resting upon the brow of one that would call himself the Pale Imperator, however, the Throne can unleash its full, terrible power to bend the will of individuals to the whim of the Imperator.
Both the Crown and the Throne possess receptacles for crystalline vessels that can be filled with blood. For so long as these vessels remain filled, and it is the role of the Pale Imperator to make sure that they are, the Ivory Throne shall refuse to allow any others to sit upon it and wield its terrible power. This also serves as the Throne's safeguard, for it will not allow even the Imperator upon its seat if the Imperator has gone mad with power.
The Beginnings of the Dominion
The Forest of Bones and the tradition of the Bone Tree are both believed to have originated from the massive excavation project that followed the discovery of the Throne. It took many hundreds of years for the Throne to be unearthed, and in that same time, many hundreds of lives were also lost. It is believed that the families of these excavators shattered their bones and marked the trees at the site of their death with the bones, thus initiating one of the most long-standing and most important traditions of the Dominion, as well as giving the forest its name.
For a handful of millennia after the excavation was finished, the Bone Elves of the city that had found the Throne established the Kingship of the Bone Trees, a minor kingdom that absorbed nearby Bone Elfin city-states and towns in its domain. It was not until the first Imperator of the Dominion, Cilritanë a'Detvida, who had grander ambitions than any of his predecessors, that the armies of the Kingship swept across the land, subjugating and annexing all the lands of the then-disparate Bone Elfin peoples.
