The History of Neptaris
Zarakos of Taranio (-38 to 1 NC)
The history of the Freecity of Neptaris begins in the city-state of Taranio in old Aebasa. In that city, known more for its adventurers than its philosophers, Zarakos, future founder of Neptaris, was born to a moderately wealthy merchant family. At a young age, he left his family home to become an adventurer. Unfortunately, ill luck constantly dogged the young adventurer and he found himself to be the only surviving member of two consecutive groups. After being kicked out of his third group for theft, he joined one of the many mercenary companies of the region and finally met with some success. During the Battle of the Gareon Dales, he was promoted to the rank of captain at the age of twenty-six and charged with the plunder of Cheros, a city-state that had supported the defeated city of Myra. Unfortunately, Zarakos' legion was caught unawares by an army from the neighboring state of Zamarda, which had come to reinforce the Myran defense, and the mercenary captain found himself besieged in a foreign city. After nearly a month under siege, Zarakos was able to sneak past the Zamardan army with a small group of loyal men. When the rest of his army realized that their captain had deserted them, they surrendered, but the Zamardan army refused their surrender and chose instead to sack the city themselves, killing most of the mercenaries in the process.
Zarakos, claiming that his men had deserted him and attempted to surrender without his permission, founded a mercenary company of his own called the White Gryphon Company after his chosen insignia. The White Gryphon fought in several major battles, eventually coming under the patronage of the Tyrant of Thene (whom he had fought for in the Battle of the Gareon Dales a few years earlier). He met with much success defending Thene from foreign invasion and was rewarded heavily by the Tyrant. Eventually, Cheros and her allies were quelled (though not defeated, the wars between Thene and Cheros would continue for centuries) and the Tyrant found himself with a mercenary company on his permanent payroll and no enemies to fight. Zarakos, realizing that his life might be at risk, made a rather rash suggestion to his sponsor. He would go into retirement and found a colony in the name of Thene on the shores of present-day Feldosha. The Tyrant quickly agreed and supplied him with a fleet of five vessels. Unfortunately, the Tyrant did not supply Zarakos with able navigators or captains for these vessels, and the adventurer turned mercenary turned explorer quickly became lost in the turbulent Gygarean Sea. After roaming for a month on the open sea, he and his soldiers finally came ashore near the ancient city of Kamartha in present-day Eeridia.
Zarakos ordered his men ashore and began to plunder the nearby townships for food and supplies. The armies of Kamartha quickly responded to what was believed to be an invasion and captured Zarakos. The explorer turned raider was brought to the Queen of Kamartha, Aemara, with the dignity and pomp of a captured foreign king. Believing him to be a powerful ruler, Aemara quickly became enraptured of her prisoner and soon Zarakos had the run of the royal palace. Through the magical assistance of the Royal Scribe, Anesthos the Younger (the two lovers did not speak the same language), Zarakos and Aemara began a brief but torrid affair that shocked the citizens of Kamartha. After Aemara gave birth to a son, named Zamari, the priesthood of Kamartha fomented a rebellion against the monarchy. The Queen was given an ultimatum: exile Zarakos or be removed from her blood-right. Zarakos volunteered to depart, despite her pleas to retire into obscurity. He gathered his remaining soldiers as well as Anesthos the Younger and again set sail on the open sea. As his ships departed, Kamartha took her son to the Temple of Aridnus, whose priests had led the rebellion against her crown, and set fire to herself and her child, killing both. It is said that Zarakos commented upon looking back to the city on how great a fire they had built to honor him.
For the next four months, Zarakos and his men roamed the Eridian Sea, searching for a home. Each time they found land, Zarakos found some reason to continue, most often suggesting that the place simply didn't "feel" right. Then, one night, as his men planned a mutiny in the hold below his quarters, he suddenly woke and began screaming orders to head northward. He told Anesthos that he had dreamed of a great gryphon sleeping on a hillock and that this was the sign he had been waiting for. The ships did, indeed, find a coast to the north heretofore unknown by his navigator. After following the coast for a week, they came upon a bay near the mouth of a great river. Zarakos set ashore and led a group of his men inland toward six hills. Upon the highest hill, the men found a sleeping gryphon, just as Zarakos had seen in his dream. The gryphon woke and departed his roost, but Zarakos ordered his men to begin the construction of a hall and homes; their journey was over. Many of the men resisted Zarakos' claim, but he burned his ships in the harbor to prevent any hope of returning to their homes. Zarakos named his settlement Neptag, after the Kamarthan word for "freedom." Zarakos was thirty-nine when the settlement was founded.
Foundation (1 to 45 NC)
The first year at Neptag was hard on Zarakos and his men. Not being farmers by trade, at least one hundred and twelve of the original four hundred men with him died that first winter of starvation and disease. The following spring, Zarakos and a few of his men set about exploring the region around their settlement. They eventually met with a primitive tribe of elves who called themselves the Aris. These dark-skinned people were exiles from their own race and, through the magical translations of Anesthos the Younger, the two peoples established an alliance against the elements and dangerous creatures that prowled the nearby wood. To seal the alliance, Zarakos agreed not to cut down trees on the eastern side of the river they called Balinars (now called the Krios) in exchange for over one-thousand human slaves that the Aris had captured after a war with local savages. Fortunately, the slaves included women, and Zarakos and his men quickly set about expanding the population of their city. At Zarakos' order, marriage was prohibited, the women being kept as communal property of the men of the town. Despite his own order, Zarakos himself married a teenaged mute he named "Aspruas," the Aebaran word for "silence." He was quoted as saying that she combined the best aspects of a good wife: beautiful, young, and mute. Zarakos begat sixteen children upon her before his death at age seventy-two (in the thirty-third year of the Neptaran Calendar).
Upon the death of Zarakos, the people of Neptag began arguing over who should succeed him. Two of his sons by Aspruas claimed rulership as well as several of his lieutenants and illegitimate children. Eventually, Anesthos the Younger settled the matter: he asked each contender to answer a series of questions. Only one, Ikthios of Zoandar and one of Zarakos' lieutenants, succeeded in answering all one hundred questions. Anesthos the Younger proclaimed Ikthios the regnant of Neptag and the people obeyed the proclamation.
The next year, in 34 NC, Anesthos founded the House of the Quill, a place where he could pass on his knowledge of writing and magic to young hopefuls. It was as Dean of the House of the Quill that Anesthos penned the Zarakeon, an epic poem that detailed the history of the city's founder. Most scholars today accept the Zarakeon as truth, mostly because of the caustic nature in which it described its protagonist. Anesthos continued to live and teach for the next decade before finally dying of extreme old age in 45 NC. Though there is no contemporary evidence to support the claim, it is said that Anesthos summoned King Ikthios to his deathbed to tell the regent of how he had falsified the test that had made him King…the questions he had asked did not have answers.
The Lineage of Ikthios (45 to 126 NC)
King Ikthios continued to rule another ten years after the death of Anesthos the Younger before his own death in 55 NC. Though the Dean of the House of the Quill claimed the right to select a new ruler from Ikthios' lieutenants, the dead king's own son, Aerolon, became the third ruler by popular acclaim. King Aerolon issued the Edict of Primogeniture, which insured an unbroken bond of inheritance from King Ikthios, eventually giving rise to the first royal house of Neptaris, House Ikthian. Aerolon ruled with a steady but firm hand as the city began to expand during his rule and the alliance with the Arisian elves strengthened. When he died in 81 NC, few could say that the city was worse for his reign.
Aerolon's son, Kregimar, assumed the throne in 82 NC, after the House of the Quill again attempted to assert its right to select a ruler. Despite his initial popularity with the people, Kregimar's reign became harsher in the face of plague and starvation that marked the early years of Neptag's second century. The alliance with the Arisian elves began eroding as Kregimar demanded more and more of their forests to clear for agriculture. It was he who first established the name House Ikthian. In his later years, as insanity began to plague his mind and his body became weak with age, he began constructing a sizeable army. It is said that, upon his death in 112 NC, he was only months away from using that army to take the rest of the forest possessed by the Arisian elves.
Over the next decade, Neptag saw five Kings crowned. King Ikthiorn was crowned in 112 NC, but was poisoned within three months of assuming his crown. His own son, Agramen, was crowned at the age of twelve in the first days of 112 but died two years later when he fell into a well while playing in the castle gardens. Agramen's uncle, Gremoran, assumed the throne in 114 and ruled for five years before being crippled by a fall from his horse. Unfortunately, Gremoran had no male heirs when he was crippled thus, and the only remaining male descendant of Kregimar was in exile. Fifteen years previously, Kregimar had exiled his own brother, Pheremar, for taking an Arisian wife (interracial marriage was strictly against Kregimar's laws). Pheremar had since died, but his half-elven son, Orris, still survived, living in hiding with his mother in the Arisian forest. Adventurers, mercenaries and diplomats entered the Arisian wood, searching for Orris. They finally discovered him in 120 NC and brought him back to Neptag to be crowned king, despite the fact that he had neither visited the city before nor spoke the language. As Orris was still very immature, the city's priests called the First Ecumenical Council to determine who should serve as Regent. Joandar, Dean of the House of the Quill and himself half-elven (though raised by his human family), was chosen.
The War of the Dark Rider (126 to 140 NC)
In 124 NC, a contingent of dwarven refugees from the Kingdom of Derlos arrived at the Arisian forest requesting asylum. Unbeknownst to most, they had been fighting a war in their mountains against the orcs of Karad-ul, which lay in the eastern hills of what is now known as the Cambrecian Mountains. In a surprise attack, the orcs had tunneled into the halls of the King of Derlos, Sverni VII, and massacred his entire court. Without their King, some of the dwarves decided finally to request outside assistance. The Arisian Elves were at first resistant to the idea, but when a large army of orcs, led by a dark-armored figure upon a black, demonic horse began to stream into the Arisian valley, they agreed to an alliance with the dwarves. The dwarves and elves fought valiantly against the orcish hordes, but the fighting quickly reached a standstill. Regnant Joandar seemed at first reluctant to help the Arisian elves in their war, but it is said that King Orris, still very much a minor, convinced him to lend aid to their beleaguered allies. In 126 NC, the army of Neptag, which had not been seriously depleted since their build-up under King Kregimar, marched onto the battlefield for the first time. At the Battle of Five Hills in 127, they helped turn the tide of the war and broke the stalemate between the allied armies and the orcish horde. For over a decade the war raged across both sides of the Kingdom of Derlos. The Arisian elves were most affected by the constant warfare, and their population began to sharply diminish. In the Battle of Three Blades in 140, the orcish horde was finally defeated and their dark-clad champion disappeared from the battlefield. Over the next decade, the allied forces continued to exterminate any remaining orcs they could find, but the War of the Dark Rider was over. The dwarves returned to their mountains to rebuild their Kingdom, the elves returned to their forests to mourn their losses and the Neptags returned to their city, feeling invincible.
The Rise of Kamaros (140 to 210 NC)
One of the local human tribes who fought in the War of the Dark Rider was the Kamaros, who were unified under the violent war-general Meargagh. After the conclusion of the war, most expected the Kamaros to fall back into barbarity, but Meargagh was able to maintain his control over his people and founded the city of Lar Durak to the north of Neptag on the shores of the Maroshian Sea. At first, Kamaros and Neptag remained on good terms, but Meargagh eventually became jealous of Neptag's wealth and civilization. In 152 NC and again in 155, he led his armies against the city and was defeated before he was even able to breach the walls. At the Treaty of Tawn in 157 NC, Meargagh agreed to hand over his eldest son, Irgalach, to Neptag as a hostage. Joandar took Irgalach into his house and began to treat the boy as if he were his own son. Irgalach received the best training money could afford and was raised as a Neptagian noble. When Meargagh died in 167 NC, Joandar released Irgalach to return to his people as their ruler.
Upon his return, Irgalach immediately began consolidating his power and preparing for war. Joandar was taken completely by surprise when Irgalach showed up at his gates in 170 NC with an army trained in the advance tactics of Neptag. The city fell within a month, and Neptag was annexed into Kamaros. Joandar was taken back to Lar Durak to serve as Irgalach's advisor and tutor and the young King Orris, now 65 years old and still very much a minor, to rule as a dependant monarch. Thinking the Neptagians were pacified, Irgalach began expanding his empire northward.
Orris was not so easily pacified, despite his young age. In a secret meeting with the remnants of the Arisian elves, he gained their alliance and assistance in planning a rebellion. In 180 NC, Orris himself, barely a man at the age of 75, captured Fort Tintagar north of Neptag. Fort Tintagar was the center of weapon production for the budding Kamarian Empire as well as the central training facility for the armies. Through five years of war, Orris held the Fort against continuous attacks by Irgalach. Finally, in the Last Battle of Kamaros, Irgalach was slain by a stray arrow. His son, tutored by Joandar as the dead King had been, immediately agreed to end all hostilities with Neptag should it leave Fort Tintagar intact. King Orris agreed and returned to Neptag a hero, with the released Joandar by his side.
The Arisian elves had again taken many losses in defending Fort Tintagar and gaining the independence of Neptag, and many of them chose to remain in the city instead of returning to the harsh but simple life they had lived in the forests. Friendship between the two peoples increased such that, by the start of Neptag's third century there were more Arisians in Neptag than were living in the forest. A drought in 206 brought the last of the Arisian elves to Neptag, requesting permanent settlement. King Orris agreed and commemorated the event by renaming the city Neptaris to signify that it was to be a city of both men and elves. This caused some grumbling in the human nobility, but few seemed willing to challenge the young King's decision.
One young noble, Politos of House Rimman, was not so willing. He directly challenged the King's decision as well as his ability to rule in open Court. King Orris, disregarding the advice of his closest advisors, forgave Politos for his quick temper but asked him not to return to Court until he had decided to apologize. This temperance only served to enrage Politos further and suggested to the other nobles of the city that Orris, despite his success in war, was a weak peacetime ruler. Politos' followers began rioting in the streets, disrupting trade with foreign nations and attacking those who supported Orris. Finally the King was roused to defend himself, but it was already too late. Those who hadn't flocked to Politos' banner turned their backs to their King for allowing the uprising to begin in the first place. In 210 NC, Orris, the last ruler of House Ikthios, resigned as King of Neptaris. He decided to become a monk dedicated to Clementia and began life as a hermit. His last edict before he gave up his crown was that his mentor, Joandar, would select the next ruler.
The Neptarchs (210 to 301 NC)
Almost as soon as Joandar began the process of selecting the next King, the Second Ecumenical Council was held by the priests of the city to revoke the trust Orris had placed in Joandar. Led by Theodoros II, Archbishop of Betshaba in Neptaris, the Council issued an edict stating that it was the only body who could resolve the issue. Many of the people agreed and Joandar was stoned to death by a mob while he spoke against their decision from the steps of the Temple of Clementia.
After a great deal of deliberation and intrigue, the Second Ecumenical Council decided upon young Tivan Laes of House Kraegar to become the new ruler. Furthermore, they issued the Rule of Neptaris, which renamed the royal ruler "Neptarch" and established the Church of Betshaba as necessary to confirm the right of all nobles to rule. Some, particularly Politos of House Rimman, viewed this as a betrayal by the Council and tried to start yet another rebellion. The people, however, tired of the fighting, threw their support behind the Neptarch, Tivan Laes. Over the next several years, Politos continued to try and build support for his coup, but his cries fell on deaf ears. He was finally silenced in 214 NC, when his body was found in a ditch behind a less-than-reputable tavern. Few mourned his passing.
Tivan Laes proved to be a capable ruler, despite the fact that he tended to favor the Church of Betshaba in most decisions. His son, Iolomar, was recognized as Neptarch upon his father's death in 230 NC. Iolomar was a conservative ruler who seemed more interested in maintaining the status quo than advancing the city's interests within or abroad. When he died in 265 NC, the Church of Betshaba crowned his son, Tivan Grael. Tivan Grael was known for his diplomatic skills and secured strong trade and military alliances with the few foreign powers in the region, including the Kingdoms of Kamaros and Derlos. Unfortunately, his domestic abilities left much to be desired as taxes rose in response to a famine, forcing even more people to starve in the streets. During his reign, Tivan Grael had five sons. The eldest, Theron, proved to be a strong young man, bold of thought and courageous. Many citizens waited patiently for Tivan Grael to die, hoping that Theron would correct the faults of his father. Unfortunately, Theron died during an accident at a jousting tournament and his father, who was present at the tourney, immediately had a heart attack and he himself passed. The Church of Betshaba recognized Tivan Grael's second son, Beran, as the new Neptarch in 301 NC.
The Sorrows of Neptarch Feldan (301 to 560)
Neptarch Beran did not have the impressive physique of his brother or the diplomatic skills of his father. He quickly broke most of the treaties his father had established and turned his attention to the city itself. Some of the nobles of the city, led by Agripo of House Perrenor, planned to assassinate the Neptarch and succeeded in entering the ruler's quarters at night and poisoning him in 315 NC. Beran did not die as a result of the poison, however, though he was incapacitated by it. The Archbishop of Betshaba, a cousin to Agripo, appointed the latter to the position of Regnant for the duration of the Neptarch's illness. One of the priests of the city, Bishop Darius of Aridnus, suspected Agripo's treachery and the Archbishop's compliance in that treachery. Darius started an investigation that would last for twelve years before he was finally able to prove that Agripo had not only poisoned the Neptarch, but also had been feeding him doses of that poison to keep him from regaining his seat. When Darius went to the Archbishop of Betshaba with this information (as he was required by the laws of the city at the time), he was declared a heretic and chased from the Church. Darius went into hiding for a brief time before again appearing on the steps of the Temple to Betshaba. In the early morning hours before service, he nailed his thirty-two-page doctrine, the Evidences of Deceit, on the temple doors. When the people read the Evidences, they began to riot in the streets. The Temple of Betshaba was burned to the ground and Castle Zepharos was overcome. Agripo was found cowering in his quarters, dragged into the street and torn limb from limb by the mob. Somehow, during the month of riots that followed, Neptarch Beran was murdered by unknown hands.
Darius of Aridnus, however, quickly took control of the mob upon news of the Neptarch's murder and was appointed Archbishop of Neptaris by popular acclaim in 328 NC. As Beran had no male heirs, Archbishop Darius appointed Feldan Foxglove of House Arisan to the position of Neptarch. Feldan Foxglove was a half-elf and one of the descendants of the Arisian elves who had migrated to the city a century before. The early years of Feldan's reign were troubled, with periodic uprisings amongst the nobles of the city who sought to place a purebred human on the throne. Most prominent of these Rebel Knights, as they came to be called, were Tivan Yan of House Kraegar and Largan of House Rimman. These two luminaries joined forces in 340 with the intention of removing Feldan from office. It is notable that the Archbishop Darius had died the previous year, and Odaneb of Betshaba, a supporter of the human majority, was chosen as his successor.
Tivan Yan and Largan found much support for their claims of rulership in the Churches of Neptaris (with the exception of the Church of Aridnus, of course) and riots again began plaguing the office of Neptarch. Feldan, at first, attempted to negotiate with the Rebel Knights, but Tivan Yan and Largan refused any bargain that did not put one of them on the throne. Entering through the same secret entrance used by Agripo decades before and captured the Neptarch and his supporters in 348 NC. Feldan himself was exiled, while his supporters were staked and hung from the walls of Castle Zepharos for all to see.
The Rebel Knights immediately began fighting amongst themselves as to who should take the throne. The Church of Aridnus decried them all as heretics, but the Archbishop of Betshaba rescinded that edict as quickly as it had been issued. The Fourth Ecumenical Council was called to settle the matter. On the third day of deliberation, however, Tivan Yan and Largan met in a field near Skulldug Rock, just south of the city, their armies ready for battle. The Battle of Dry Tears lasted for almost a week as the combatants fought in the fields surrounding the city, within the city itself, and even in Castle Zepharos itself. Splinter groups constantly broke off from the Rebel Knights and reformed as alliances were broken and sealed and broken again, often in the same day. After six days of fighting, the combatants had to join forces to fight a great fire that was threatening to destroy the entire city. The Fourth Ecumenical Council reconvened, but the Archbishop of Betshaba died after a week of intense deliberation. The Council was again halted while the priests voted on a new Archbishop and the Rebel Knights returned to open warfare in what was left of the city. The priests, torn between electing a new Archbishop and assisting the beleaguered populace (or their favored pretender to the throne), took six months to deliberate their choice. Finally Ardan of Betshaba, a member of House Perrenos, was raised as Archbishop of Neptaris. In a surprise move, Ardan chose Largan of House Kraegar as Neptarch in 349. Tivan Yan, feeling betrayed by the choice, threw himself on his own sword during a worship service in the Temple of Betshaba.
The Rebel Knights, however, did not dissolve; neither did the ambitions of House Rimman. Paenoth of House Rimman, Tivan Yan's successor, quickly took the reigns of control within the Rebel Knights and renamed them the Knights of the Purple Sash. The Purple Sash worked secretly for years to undermine the power of Neptarch Largan, who quickly discovered that his activities during the Battle of Dry Tears had left him few allies in the city. Eventually, Largan was found dead in his chambers, strangled to death by a common prostitute. As Largan's only heir had died a year earlier from a childhood illness, Archbishop Ardan called the Fifth Ecumenical Council to determine who should rule. The Knights of the Purple Sash, however, surrounded the Pantheon, where the Council was being held, and burned it to the ground with most of the priests of the city inside. Archbishop Ardan, badly burned by his experience, escaped the mass theocide and fled aboard a ship into the Maroshian Sea. He was never seen again.
Paenoth of House Rimman crowned himself Neptarch in 362, the first to assume the title without the direct permission of the Church. He quickly removed Largan's supporters from any position of authority (often through assassination and trumped-up charges of treason) and replaced them with his own Knights of the Purple Sash. He then began systematically removing many of the basic rights of the citizens that they had enjoyed since the city's foundation. Among his most hated edicts included the institution of slavery as a means of criminal punishment, the right of the Neptarch to lie with any woman on her wedding night and the required service of each citizen in the army. The Knights of the Purple Sash, which had become Paenoth's personal secret police force, betrayed those who disobeyed his edicts or attempted to foment rebellion. Fear began to grip the citizens of Neptaris, who were helpless for over twenty years under his tyrannical rule.
During the Summer Festival of 385 NC, however, a combatant known only as the Green Knight appeared to fight in the tournaments. After besting all of his opponents, including a number of Paenoth's most experienced Knights, the Green Knight approached the Neptarch to receive his reward. The Neptarch demanded that the Green Knight remove his helm to honor him and the Green Knight initially refused the request. Paenoth had his guards drag the Green Knight before him to remove the helmet himself and, strangely, the Knight did not resist this rough treatment. When the helm was removed, it was revealed that the Green Knight was actually Feldan Foxglove, the exiled Neptarch. In a moment of shock, the guards released their grip on Feldan and he lunged at the Neptarch Paenoth. Feldan ran Paenoth through with his unarmored shield hand, pulling his still-beating heart from the tyrant's body. The Guard was so shocked by this display of brutality, as well as the cheers of the people in attendance, that they quickly fled back into hiding with their fellow Knights of the Purple Sash.
Feldan returned to Castle Zepharos and was recrowned by a young priest of Betshaba (there had not been an Archbishop during Paenoth's rule). The newly reestablished Neptarch called for a new election from the priests of the city and they elected Mandrake of Cthos, the only living priest to have survived the Great Fire that had sent his predecessor into flight. This selection shocked and outraged many of the people of the city, as Mandrake was not only a member of House Arisan, but also a full-blooded elf, old enough to remember the migration from the Arisian forest.
Archbishop Mandrake quickly became a thorn in the side of Neptarch Feldan, who he considered weak because of his "thin", half-human blood. Feldan had become a very different man since his exile. Though he revoked many of Paenoth's more tyrannical laws, he established a new secret police force to root out dissention in the city. Naming them the Warders of Neptaris, this secret society quickly found willing participants in the city's merchant class, who remembered well the activities of the Knights of the Purple Sash. Neptarch Feldan gave the Warders the right to execute any citizen found to be plotting against the city or the crown, something traditionally reserved for the Church of Cthos and then only after a trial by members of the Church of Aridnus. The priests of Neptaris felt betrayed, and the Archbishop Mandrake was the voice for their concerns. Mandrake spoke vehemently on the pulpit about the evils of the Warders, but stopped short of directly attacking the Neptarch himself.
After nearly a decade of political hostilities between the civil and ecclesiastical leaders of Neptaris, the political war seemed about to turn martial when five Warders attempted to assassinate the Archbishop Mandrake in his quarters in 394 NC. They were defeated by the powerful Archbishop, despite his guards having all been slain. When the Neptarch found out about the attack, he recalled all of his troops and Warders to the castle and prepared for a siege. The next morning, however, the Archbishop Mandrake preached his typical sermon and performed his duties as if nothing had happened. It is said that Feldan went mad with suspicion, trying to figure out the Archbishop's plan and kept his castle on defense status for the rest of the week. The Archbishop, of course, was only presenting a calm façade to his enemy…he had a plan that would end the rule of the Neptarchs forever.
The Archbishop Mandrake sent letters to his brothers in every Temple of Cthos in the north and as far away as The Zetian Republic. He requested of his fellow ecclesiasts loyal but discrete members of the Makatielites, a sect of grim guardians dedicated to Cthos, to come to his aid. After some number had flocked to his banner, he formed the Guardians of the Scythe in 402 NC, his own secret society that would counteract the Neptarch's Warders and report only to him. The Guardians of the Scythe began to slowly infiltrate Neptaran society at its very base…the slaves and poor of the city. Over the next half-century, the Archbishop and the Neptarch fought a shadow war where each side attempted to discretely remove agents of the other side, while gaining trusted converts of their own.
By 460 NC, the Neptarch Feldan had had enough of this shadow war. In a move intended to solidify his power over the priesthoods of the city, he called for the impeachment of the Archbishop. There was no precedent for this sort of edict, but the Bishop of Betshaba, Elizabet II, an ally of the Neptarch, agreed and called the Ninth Ecumenical Council to try the Archbishop Mandrake for dereliction of his duty. For two years the Council tried Mandrake, who insisted on speaking in his native tongue. The Council finally decided only that it did not have the power to impeach an Archbishop and concluded without a verdict. The Neptarch was incensed. He immediately issued a declaration that the Archbishop Mandrake was guilty of the charges brought against him and appointed Elizabet II Archbishop of Neptaris. Furthermore, he exiled Mandrake from the city forever.
Mandrake departed for Marosh, which was an island of pirates and brigands even then. He established a church-in-exile there and began converting the pirates from the worship of Taltos to the worship of Betshaba. As Feldan's laws became more and more hostile towards the priests of the city, more and more of the city's priests fled to join Mandrake. Without their spiritual leaders, the people of Neptaris became restless and riots again began to erupt in the streets, partially due to the influence of the Guardians of the Scythe who remained in the city to act as Mandrake's eyes and ears while he was away.
In 482 NC, Mandrake finally decided that he had strong enough support to depose Feldan once and for all. He sailed a fleet of one hundred vessels into Krios Bay and landed on the shores beneath Neptaris. The Army of the Sea-Queen, as his troops became known, besieged Neptaris, though they did not have the land-based experience they needed to take the city itself. Neptaris held out for six months before the people revolted against Feldan and opened the gates to the Army. As Mandrake marched his troops towards Castle Zepharos, Feldan and Archbishop Elizabet II fled the city by way of the sewers. Believing his enemy defeated, the Archbishop Mandrake declared an end to the Neptarchy and established himself as ruler of the city.
Mandrake's rule was one of oppressive reform intended to empower the Church and remove secular rulership altogether. Many of the city's Mayors and secular bureaucrats were executed for not revolting against Feldan and were replaced with ecclesiasts, many of whom were followers of Cthos. The city's complex bureaucracy began to break down under the unskilled hands of these priests and crime rose dramatically. Even so, Mandrake's reforms kept him in power for twenty-seven years.
By 509 NC, the people were at their breaking point. Thomas of House Kraegar assembled his fellow nobles and founded the Brotherhood of the Blood, an organization that supported the return of secular rulership to the city. Each of nobles houses joined the Brotherhood, including Mandrake's own House Arisan. They drew up the Petition of Natural Law and presented it to the Archbishop. Mandrake declared them all heretics and had the heads of each noble house put on a stake and hung from the walls of the city to die. The body of the head of House Arisan was given a special place beneath the privy of the Archbishop.
Almost immediately, open revolt started to rage through the streets of Neptaris. Unfortunately, few could agree as to which noble house to flock to for protection and each wanted to have its say in who should rule the city. The Archbishop tried to use his Guardians to encourage the division in the Brotherhood's ranks. He was successful in keeping them fighting amongst themselves (though some suggest that his job was pretty easy) until 516 NC, when the people of Neptaris marched on Castle Zepharos and demanded the surrender of the Archbishop. Confused as to what was going on, the Archbishop agreed to speak with a single representative of the Brotherhood in the hopes of discovering just which noble had succeeded in suddenly uniting the people against him. A cloaked figure entered his throne room with a small contingent of advisors and two guards. When he removed his cloak, he revealed the green-tinted armor beneath and attacked the Archbishop. Feldan Foxglove had returned, and he wanted the blood of Mandrake. Feldan and his men fought valiantly against the powerful Archbishop and eventually Mandrake escaped, but not after the Archbishop had lost his left arm to Feldan's sword. The Archbishop again took to the seas, swearing never again to return to Neptaris.
Feldan, the Twice-Shamed, again assumed his throne as Neptarch of the city and the people briefly rejoiced his return. The Archbishop Elizabet II, now quite aged, was reinstated in her old post and replaced Mandrake's many supporters in the clergy with priests who supported the Neptarchy. Feldan contacted his Warders and reestablished their rights, this time with the full support of the clergy. The city became peaceful, even prosperous, over the next half century. Even Feldan's legendary paranoia began to calm with age, and he disbanded his Warders in 552 NC. Suddenly, in 560 NC, Feldan died at his dinner table. A piece of mandrake root was found in his wine.
The Fall of the Neptarchs (560 to 645 NC)
With Feldan dead leaving no heir, it fell to the priests of the city to determine a new Neptarch. The Eleventh Ecumenical Council was called to determine the new ruler. They quickly chose Marius of House Arisan, a half-elf and cousin of Feldan, but he was assassinated by one of his own archers within a year. In 561, the Twelfth Ecumenical Council was called to determine yet another ruler and they chose a merchant by the name of Delanro Marn, who had no prior claim to noble blood. The nobles of the city were of course very opposed to the Council raising a member of the middle class to the position of Neptarch, but the decision stood and in 562 NC Delanro Marn was coronated.
Delanro began reforming many of the city's trade laws, but heavily taxed the upper and lower classes of the city. Furthermore, he established the Order of the Golden Coin in 568 NC, which was intended to be an extension of the Guard that would seek out and capture those thieves who preyed on the merchants of the city. The Order had many of the same rights as Feldan's Warders, though they were not allowed to execute a criminal who surrendered to them. Delanro died of old age in 582 NC, and his throne passed to his eldest son, Anatole Delane. Anatole's coronation was confirmation of the legacy of Delanro, and House Delane was officially recognized as a noble house. Anatole's reign was long and fairly unremarkable, though he did repeal many of his father's more restrictive laws against those classes not of the merchant sector. His most notable act was constructing a Temple to Minos, god of commerce, in his last decade of office, establishing that Church as a power in the city. When he died in 622 NC, his son, Bartas, was recognized as the new Neptarch by the Archbishop. Bartas proved to be a weak-willed and ineffectual ruler of the city. House Rimman coerced him into marrying Diaman, daughter to the head of House Rimman. Two days after the birth of their first son, Xaphargus, Bartas died in his sleep in 631. Some suggest that Diaman strangled him.
Competition began almost immediately for the position of Regnant. Some of the noble houses even took to the streets, fighting with hired men and fomenting riots. Eventually, the Archbishop of Betshaba named Xaphar of House Rimman, Diaman's father, Regent until Xaphargus reached the age of majority. Xaphar quickly showed himself to be a tyrannical and unjust ruler. He issued new laws during the trials of his allies and his enemies meant to assist or hinder the efforts of the individuals on trial. He also reestablished the Warders of Neptaris and wrote laws to support them that gave them more power than even Feldan had. Xaphar executed people easily, which gained him the support of some of the more sadistic members of the clergy of Cthos, but alienated most of the other clergymen (particularly the clergy of Clementia). Xaphar also started a war of conquest with Kamaria in 642 NC in which Xaphar proved to be a much more capable military leader than a civil ruler. His success against the Kamarians led to an increase in the man's already over-inflated ego and he began to invite members of his court to watch the battles with him. His pride would result in an end to the rulership of House Rimman and plunge the city into decades of civil war.
The Great Civil War (645 to 670 NC)
In the fall of 645 NC, Xaphar invited his daughter, grandson and a number of clergymen from Neptaris, including the Archbishop of Betshaba, to join him at what would come to be known as the Battle of Stones. As Xaphar and his company watched the battle (which the Neptarans were winning), huge boulders suddenly began falling from the sky. The boulders killed every member of the party except the young Xaphargus. When he crawled from beneath the bloody rubble he rose to face Mandrake, the former Archbishop of Neptaris. The Mandrake pulled his sword and ran the boy through. Though Mandrake didn't realize it at the time, the last true Neptarch died by his hand.
When Mandrake returned to Neptaris after more than a century of exile in Kamaria, he expected a hero's welcome. Instead, the nobles of the city immediately began bickering amongst themselves over the now empty throne. Mandrake, finally disgusted with the whole affair, left the city to live out his years in the Arisian forest, now known as Darkwood. Without an Archbishop to call an Ecumenical Council, even the priests of the city began arguing over what should be done. The few who were not killed in the Battle of Stones either did not desire the position of Archbishop or refused to vote for anyone but themselves. By the spring of 646 NC, neither an Archbishop nor a Neptarch had been chosen. Each of the noble houses gathered their troops and prepared for war. Deimos of House Rimman was the first to take Castle Zepharos, so he had a clear advantage early on, but the other noble houses cut him off from the rest of the city, critically hampering his attempts at re-establishing the regency of House Rimman. Fighting raged through the streets as each House attempted to put its head on the throne. Soon, the fighting spilled into the countryside as mercenaries began flocking to the city to fill the ranks of the various noble Houses. In 652, the fighting was briefly interrupted when a new Archbishop was finally chosen, but even he was ineffectual at calming the nerves of the embattled Houses and too afraid of repercussions to name a Neptarch himself until there was a clear victor.
In 664 NC, after almost twenty years of nearly endless warfare, House Arisan finally declared that it was tired of the fighting and was going into voluntary exile in the Arisian forest. Caridius of House Rimman, believing the House to be fleeing only so it could prepare its forces, departed the city in pursuit of the migrating House Arisan. He eventually found them and his men attacked, killing each member of the House in what would become known as the Massacre of the Wintering Hill. The Wintering Hill, located some ten miles east of the city, became muddy with the blood of the innocents who died that day; even still the hill is devoid of life and many suggest that it is haunted by those who were slaughtered. Caridius returned to Neptaris, expecting the others to bow before his obvious might, but he was killed by an arrow shot before he even reached the city gates.
The fighting continued after the Massacre of the Wintering Hill and House Delane made a simple decision that would shape the future of the city. House Delane was suffering great losses, as many of the Houses were, and hiring mercenary companies to fight their battles had become standard procedure. So none thought anything when they hired the Great Gryphon Mercenary Company, led by the son of a merchant, Valerius Marcosi.
Valerius Marcosi proved to be a brilliant military commander who won victory after victory for House Delane. In the Battle of Krios Forge, he overcame the combined forces of House Perrenos and House Rimman even though he was outnumbered five to one. He also used fishing ships as transport vessels to get his men to and from the city as quickly as possible. By the time his contract with House Delane was up in 668 NC, he had effectively destroyed the ability of most of the major Houses to wage war. When House Delane offered him double his previous salary, Valerius unexpectedly refused the offer. A week later, the army of Kamaria arrived at Neptaris, with Valerius Marcosi's Great Gryphons leading the charge. The Noble Houses fought a losing battle for the next two years as Valerius and his Kamarian allies scored victory after victory against the Neptarans. Most believed that Valerius had been hired by the Kamarians to assist in again annexing Neptaris in its time of weakness. When the last noble House surrendered to him in 670, they discovered that they were very wrong.
