|
Since he came up a few sessions ago, I thought I'd typed up a brief overview of Xenophon's father. For the sake of brevity, I glossed over the atrocities he had a hand in.
Even then this feels a bit too long...
The reign of Lord Demetrios of Praxis
Lord Demetrios is often considered the symbol of the Age of Warring Houses, the period of time after the Ionian revolt where Lemuria lacked a true monarch, and each of the great houses stood on equal footing. While born prior to the revolt, he ruled over a large portion of this period prior to him starting the great war.
Demetrios was one of the most aggressive in reclaiming human lands formerly under Lemurian control prior to the revolt, and constantly in vicious competition with Lord Antigonos of Mycenae. While the treaty ending the previous war placed the houses on equal footing land wise, and left infrastructure in ruin all over, Mycenae still held considerably more influence in government positions, especially the newly independent Church of Karellen
High priest appointment was traditionally held by the reigning monarch, and the war did little change the previous makeup. Those priests, while hungry for their own power, still had ties to Mycenae, and found it easier to make arrangements. Demetrios was well aware of this fact, but was initially unable to make any overt action against them. Instead, he made it his plan to marginalize them, by using their own quest for power against them, as seen most famously in the Sicilian purge, and the Decelean revolt, where he provoked the church into causing havoc in Mycenae conquered lands.
But it didn't just stop there, he used his spies and assassins to stir up political, social, and ethnic turmoil in every territory of non allied houses he could.
Despite his efforts, the rate of progress was slow. Simply having more then Myceane was never the goal, he wanted the throne, and he wanted a legacy that no one would forget. He knew that if he couldn't take the throne in his lifetime, it would be up to his children to keep his legacy going. Over his reign, he fathered many children, he took the most talented mages and artificers he could find as wives, hoping to produce the best. Each child, from the moment they could stand, were forced to learn, were forced train, were forced to succeed at everything, and most of all, were forced to compete with each other.
Demetrios looked to Praxis history, the house known for their artificers, and discovery of complex magic devices that changed the world. It was through this, that he felt his children could prove themselves to him. But in the end, none of them lived up to his expectations. And as they grew older, without truly making a mark on the world, he disowned them. Inheritance lost, wealth of the house lost, they were on their own.
As time went on, Demetrios grew older, but had no heirs left to carry on his legacy. But by a quirk of fate, he took notice of a servant girl, to a visiting mage. The girl was caught by his guards sneaking into the Praxis private library. To his surprise, she wasn't merely messing around, but attempting to read through an advanced book on arcane theory. Feeling impressed that a girl with no formal education had a drive to study such subjects, he decided to take her in, and gave her everything he felt could help her succeed. This teenage girl was named Debian, orphaned at a young age, now adopted into House Praxis.
Within a few years, Debian exceeded all of his expectations. She made breakthroughs in arcane theory, pivotal in the processing and manipulation of external magic sources, and under the direction of Dementrios, she began applying them to ship engines.
Over those years, she met one of the discarded children, Mandriva. The two became close friends, and with Debians growing influence over her foster father, she was able to get Mandriva back into the house.
On the other side of things, Dementrios became more aggressive in his quest for the throne. His actions escalated into all out war between the great Houses, and despite his initial advantages, realized he needed something special, if he was to win. And for that, he looked to Debian. He saw that her discoveries could be applied to engines, lifting ships into the air, above enemy lands and fleets, and able to assault the capital, or able to sail without beacon towers, operation a navy through the devastated sea beacon network. Through his guidance, the Lambda engine was born.
To Dementrios, the Lambda engine was the key to his victory, old ships could be retrofitted and made into airships, and with a sudden strike, the war would be over with him the victor. But merely a week before it was ready, Demetrios was assassinated. The invasion plans temporarily put on hold, the lesser lords hoped Debian could still lead it. Two days later, she too was killed, by an unknown culprit. The last hope, Mandriva, fled the next night, and Praxis was left paralyzed.
The invasion was never performed, the war was brought to a close by the combined efforts of the new Lord High Priest Zephyr, and the diplomatic arrangments of House Cassander.
Leaderless House Praxis fell into its own civil war, the rest of the disowned heirs began making claims, with no official heirs left to dispute. After a vicious battle, Xenophon reigned supreme.
_________________
It's a secret to everybody
7c610ad22d7089548d885c2cfc352d1a
|
