Gnorrid the Warrioress - Background Fantasy - Long - 4 of 4
STRAIGHT, PENECTOMY, TESTICLES, NULLIFICATION, MINOR
Continued from Part 3Conclusion
` Gnorrid the Warrioress - Background Fantasy - Long - 4 of 4 `

The Broken World

For over two centuries after the defeat of the desert invaders the Regency
enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity. There were few conflicts
with tribes of primitives on the borders except for the usual slave raids.
Although there were many intrigues and conspiracies against the Emperor (as
the Supreme Regent was now called), Such conflicts were generally beyond the
notice of the general populace. Order and stability seemed to flow downward
from the high throne of the Regency.

Supported by the Emperor, the priests of Dhradumus continued to eliminate all
vestiges of Goddess worship from the Regency. They replaced the razed temple
complexes of the Sisterhood with great temples, monasteries, and compounds of
their own. Everywhere there were elaborate works of architecture dedicated to
Dhradumus. The Hierophant of Dhradumus (the highest priest and head of their
order) had an elite guard, chosen from the best imperial troops to enforce his
edicts and Dhradumian law. The Empire and the Priesthood of Dhradumus were
entwined and operated as one.

The internal struggle for power and ascension to the imperial throne continued
to escalate, however. There were assassinations and attempted assassinations,
and during some periods the high office of Emperor would change hands often.
It started being said that the most dangerous job in the Regency was that of
sitting on the high throne. Nonetheless, men continued to vie for ascendancy
to that high office.

Finally, open conflict broke out among factions and various cities began
fortifying themselves against their rivals. Accustomed to prosperity fueled by
unrestricted flow of goods and commerce across the Empire, few provinces were
self sufficient. The internal wars between rival factions and provinces (who
took to calling themselves kingdoms once more) disrupted the communication and
transportation network of the Regency. The prosperity and affluence collapsed
almost overnight.

At first there were riots and conflagrations, then there was mass starvation
and plagues. It is said that during these dark years of the collapse over half
the population of the Regency perished. Leaders of various provinces
reorganized themselves once again into small kingdoms and warfare was almost
continuous. Amidst it all, however, the order of the priests of Dhradumus
remained intact. Furthermore, they enjoyed immunity from military action, just
as had the Sisterhood in the past age. Pillaging soldiers would not lay a hand
upon a priest or a temple of Dhradumus.

The Hierophant was chosen by a council of elders and he enjoyed considerably
more stability than did the former Emperor of the Regency. By maintaining the
appearance of neutrality in secular affairs, the Hierophant remained generally
aloof from conflicts. However, the elite Dhradumian Guard was still very much
intact. While not the largest force in the former Regency, it was certainly
the most well-trained and effective - and the most feared. The Dhradumian
Order was more concerned with maintaining universal adherence to Dhradumian
codes of dress and behavior than to capricious conflicts of ambitious nobles.

Although several larger consolidated kingdoms remained within the old Regency,
kingdoms were constantly breaking up into small autonomous units. Vanquished
armies driven from their traditional lands by more powerful foes roamed among
the weaker kingdoms pillaging and raping. Alliances were made and broken
whimsically and the fortunes of war were constantly shifting. The land was
awash in uncertainty, instability turmoil.

Many defeated nobles took their armies beyond the traditional boundaries of
the old empire and attempted to reestablish their small kingdoms. These lands
were less productive, but the inhabitants were generally poorly organized and
easily defeated by the better-equipped and better-trained armies of the
nobles. (They tended to leave the desert tribes alone, however.) After
conquering a new territory the nobles attempted to impose their culture,
superficially, upon the conquered primitives so as to create a peasant class
and workforce. This they accomplished with varying degrees of success.

No matter how far the nobles and their armies went into the hitherto unknown
lands they were always accompanied by priests of Dhradumus. The priests, aided
by the soldiers, imposed the worship of Dhradumus upon the primitives. Any
native who adamantly resisted conversion was summarily executed by the
soldiers. In this way Dhradumian civilization spread throughout an area that
was almost twice the size of the previously known world. Scowling statues of
Dhradumus, still clothed in the garb of a desert patriarch, now looked upon
dark forests, distant seas, high mountains, and shimmering glaciers.

Much to the chagrin of visiting high priests, however, many local customs of
the primitives found their way into Dhradumian worship. Native traditions
colored the music and the dress of almost all the Dhradumian holy days. The
tone was almost always lighter and more festive, and often the very meaning of
the holy day was so distorted as to be unrecognizable as Dhradumian. The local
nobles, who were certainly traditional Dhradumians, did after all depend on
the labor of their converted peasants for their own prosperity. They didn’t
seem overly concerned. As long as the local economy worked smoothly, the
nobles were inclined to permit the natives some degree of latitude.

The small new kingdoms were also too far from the center of the old Regency
and the Hierophant and his council. A military campaign to enforce the minute
particulars of Dhradumian code in these distant lands would have been
prohibitively expensive. As long as the natives paid homage to Dhradumus,
tribute flowed in, and a reasonable effort was being made to expunge their
culture of pre-Dhradumian practices the Patriarch and the High Council left
well-enough alone. The exception was several unfruitful expeditions made in
response to rumors that enclaves of goddess worshipers existed in the
hinterlands. To indulge a few lingering superstitions of the primitives was
one thing, but vestiges of the old Sisterhood could not be tolerated. The
expeditions found nothing.

There was no longer a clear line of demarcation between a known world of
civilized kingdoms and the land of the primitives. At the edge of the old
Regency, tiny kingdoms were scattered haphazardly into the previously unknown
wilderness. Castles were generally crude and the architecture far less
sophisticated than in the old central kingdoms. Many towns in the new kingdoms
looked like a blend of primitive and civilized construction. Nevertheless,
with almost constant warfare occurring in the central kingdoms, life in the
unsophisticated wilderness kingdoms was often much more serene and
predictable.

Despite the encroachment of the tiny kingdoms into the wilderness and the near
doubling of the size of the known world, the unknown still lay beyond. There
was always the unknown. In any direction, beyond the farthest kingdom; beyond
the farthest village any traveler or adventurer had ever spoken of, there was
the unknown. The all-pervading unknown still loomed in the psyche of men and
women. It fueled their fears; their fantasies; their hopes; their dreams and
nightmares; and their sense of wonder. This was the state of the world for
many centuries after the fall of the Regency.

It is on the fringes of this world that we find the lost remnants of the old
Sisterhood. It is here that we find the warrioress clans with their loyal
eunuch pages.

The Conclusion

Farrell Squire

  

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