The Rise of the Triarchy
| This is an article on the History of Feyworld | |
| Years: 120 NC to 283 NC | |
| Age: The Third Age of Man | |
| Continent: Aurea | |
| Main Article | |
| History of the Great Empire | |
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| The Foundation of Zeth | The Ganeic War |
The Septira built halls over the seven hills, and each hill took the name of the Great House which they established. Zetar was the first, family of Zepharoklos the Wise. The second was Livius, family of Livio the Wanderer. Valerius was the third, family of Valeran the Warrior. The fourth was Manilius, family of Manilone the Crafty. The fifth was Gabinius, sired by Gabiniolis the Dark. The sixth was Servilis, the children of Servileon the Young. The seventh was only called Sanctus, after the seventh of the Septiad, known only as the Holy. It is said that he took no wife, instead dedicating himself to Lord Ptharos. Only his great temple lay on the Hill of Sanctus.
The Septira and their children were prosperous in their first century. They had decided to mimic the government style of their Aebasi forefathers, and create a representative government composed of a council of one member from each Great House, with all being equal. They created laws, built on old traditions, and wrote down everything they could. Then, dark-skinned warriors from the west, carrying weapons and angry gods, swept down upon the children of the Septira. They would come to be known as the Ganesians, they who looked upon the seven towns with envy and hate in their hearts. They killed the Fathers of each of the Great Houses, and established their own rulership over the city. The children of the Septira cried to the gods for help, but their cries were ignored. Only the chosen descendant of the Holy escaped punishment, to exile in the lands across the Aurean Sea.
Galagora, the Tyrant of the Ganesians, treated his new conquest harshly, exacting taxes in blood and sweat. He ignored the pleas of his people, and ruled without justice. The rulers he sired had the same blood-lust in their eyes, but the children of the Septira tried their best to maintain their morality and ethics in the face of such oppression. Then, one amongst them fell from grace. A man named Tiros of House Gabinius became leader of a radical group that sought the overthrow of the Ganesians. The Tirosa, as this group was called, were generally unsuccessful in their attacks against the Ganesians, and many were executed by the tyrant’s men. It seemed as if the Tirosa had only served to bring unwanted attention to the city as the tyrant began to march his army toward Zeth, some say with the intention of destroying it once and for all. This set the city to panic as the people began to riot in the streets and flee into the countryside.
Mysteriously, the tyrant’s army turned less than three day’s travel from the walls of Zeth, and headed north. Unbeknownst to the Zetians, a greater threat had reared its head in the north, in the form of the Camarians. The city, however, was almost deserted, with only three hundred of the most fanatic members of the Tirosa to hold the walls. When they realized that the Ganesians had fled, they began pillaging the empty city before finally converging on the Triatheon, the central Temple to the Triad in Zeth. There, the armies stopped their pillaging and paid homage to the Triad before raising the three leaders of the Tirosa, Gavenus of House Furius, Alcor of House Valerius, and Tiros himself, upon a shield. They thus proclaimed the three men Kings, the first leaders of Zeth to be selected by a military force. The newly formed trio of Kings called themselves the Triarchy and sent their soldiers to hold the gates of the city against all who would seek entrance. Only three gates were opened and at each stood one of these Kings. No man was permitted to enter the city unless he swore his life and all his property to the service of the Triarchy, kissing the robes of the Kings as they passed.
Thus began nearly three decades of rulership by the Triarchy. Though they did not realize it then, the Zetian people had traded one foreign tyrant for three native ones, and their rule was just as oppressive as that of their Ganesian predecessors. They abolished the Council of Houses and prohibited the assembly of men who, like them during Ganesian rule, would assemble to discuss matters of government. The people, still weak of heart from years of domination by the Ganesians, accepted their new tyrants with ease. Some few carried the spark of liberty, however, and prayed for intervention from the gods.
It was then, in 468 BI, that Hieronymous of House Sanctus returned from exile.
