“You thought you could force them to change? All you did, was give them reason... to become the very monsters you claimed they were all along."
- Anonymous Citizen upon seeing the city of Breylon in flames.
Before the eight nations came into being...
The nomadic tribes that roamed the lands in ancient times looked nothing like the nations’ citizens of the present age. They would wander the landscapes foraging for food and shelter. And fighting other tribes for possession of them. Many battles were believed to have been fought over the most trivial of grievances. A cycle said to have existed for many millennia, with the only changes being the number of lives lost in tribal battles. Historians have often said that, left to their own devices, the ancestors of the common citizenry would have one day slaughtered one another to extinction. Or rather, they would have, if not for the ancestors of the ruling Nobility. It was the ancestors of the Nobility who saved the tribes from their own base instincts and desires by bringing forth change. By bringing forth order.
A vision for change
It was said that the Nobility’s imposition of a class structure was what contributed most to the peace that would eventually come. The class structure brought about order and a sense of common purpose to the tribes whose descendants would one day comprise the citizenry of the eight nations. Some tribes, weary of the constant fear of tribal wars and death, saw the wisdom in the Nobility’s vision. But there were other tribes who could not see what was being offered. They fought against the system that promised to save so many from the chaotic lives they had been living. For them, they feared any loss to their freedom, despite the misery and misfortune it had brought to them and their ancestors. Compelled by fear of change, they would wage war against the very people who offered them an escape from the anarchy they had lived under.
Bringing an end to the tribal wars
It was said they fought the Nobility’s ancestors harder than they had any other tribes in that era. The battles were brutal, even for those ancient times. But the Nobility’s ancestors, driven by their quest to eradicate anarchy and chaos from the lands, would ultimately prevail. Afterwards, those who accepted their defeat would be integrated into the nascent class system brought forth. Those who still refused to see the wisdom of the Nobility’s vision would, regrettably, be culled from the populace. The culling claimed many lives, but historians argue that attempting to co-exist with those tribes would have been too dangerous. The potential for those tribes to contaminate the other tribes with their dissenting beliefs was too great, and would have resulted in more wars, and more loss of life.The culling of those tribes, historians argued, saved more lives than it took.
Peace begins to emerge
As order began to take root, people saw their lives improve. They were no longer losing their lives, or seeing the ones they loved, lose their lives to the ravages of tribal battles. They were living longer, and saw their living standards improve. The lands were no longer battlefields soaked with the blood of their kin. And the lands were also no longer being set ablaze or poisoned by rival tribes. The land was healing. And as it did, there was no longer widespread famine and starvation. Tribes were no longer fighting one another for food, as there was no longer the same scarcity of it. Hostile tribes would no longer be able to take and hoard more than they needed, as the Nobility would control the distribution of food to ensure no one went hungry.
Civilization takes its first steps
The land, and the people, were healing. Even the survivors of the wars who resented the loss of freedoms they once had, could no longer dispute that truth. They were safe. Their people were safe. They and their ancestors would begin to know a peace and order that their ancestors never did. And all they had to do, was give up their freedom. A freedom they no longer needed, for now they had peace. Their sparse settlements would grow to villages, and then townships. And in time, cities. A reality which would have been impossible to imagine during the tribal wars. New trades would come from the development and industrialization of society.
Time marches on
As the years turned to decades, the spectre of tribal wars became a distant memory to the people. And when the decades turned to centuries, they were remembered more as myths.
Fear of an uncertain future
But as time progressed, a new feeling began to emerge among the descendants of the tribes. Manifesting among a few people at first, but then spreading to others with each passing year. And each passing generation. Fear. But not a fear of rival tribes preying upon them as they had done so to their ancestors so long ago. No, the class structure of the ruling Nobility had seen to that. No, this fear was different. It was a fear of inequality. A fear of having less than their ancestors did. When the last of the tribal wars ended, the survivors spoke fondly of how grateful they were to the Nobility who saved them. They had given up many of their freedoms, but they were safe, and so were their families. They would tell these stories to their children, who would tell it to their children.
A realization of what was lost
The world around them was changing. Cities continued to grow as trade with the other nations continued to increase. But many of the citizens could no longer afford to live in those cities. The cities many of them helped labour to build. They would have to move out to the more rural areas, which did not possess the amenities their own ancestors had grown so accustomed to. Some would journey farther to work for the same coin, or sometimes even less. And in doing so, they would not be able to live as their parents had before them. With the more arduous journey, they had less time to spend with them. There was a sense of anxiety that accompanied that fear. A fear that they were being left behind. Left behind by their own nation as it continued to grow all around them and prosper.
A desire to reclaim what was once theirs
For them, the fear was a breeding ground for other feelings to enter into their hearts and minds. Feelings that would lead some to question the very class system which had brought their ancestors peace and safety for so long. There was no dispute that the ancestors of the Nobility had saved their ancestors from a life of chaos and death so long ago. In those barbaric times, the people’s ancestors were in desperate need of it. They could not be trusted to govern themselves without the guidance of the ruling Nobility. And the rule of law that only the Nobility could dispense.
An argument for change
But that was centuries ago. And while the nations had evolved, so too had they. And many of the laws in place, were made in those ancient times to curtail the base instincts of their ancestors. But they, the people, were not their barbaric ancestors. They were smiths, builders, writers, artists, merchants, healers and so many other things that contributed to their nations. They were civilized. And loyal. They had always been so loyal to their ruling Nobility. Why should laws from centuries ago continue to be applied to them and their families? So they reasoned that the laws needed to be changed to reflect the times they lived in. Changed to allow them more freedom to make their own choices as to how best to live their lives in service to their nation.
Calls for restraint and temperance
But many in the Nobility were reluctant to push forward any reforms. While recent times were trying, the difficulties would pass, they argued. The people needed only to continue trusting in the rule of the Nobility. And trust in the class system which had brought them to where they were. The people wanted change, but how many of the people truly knew what change would bring? Change, as one of the ruling Nobles argued, had to be carefully considered. For too much change too soon, they counselled, could tear the nation apart. And see them return to the ancient ages, when tribes governed themselves through their base desires, rather than any adherence to order.
A promise to listen
The expansion of freedoms to Commoners was a complex issue, the Noble reasoned, one that they promised would be explored, but would require comprehensive study, and time. Some of the people would acquiesce, believing that perhaps they Nobility were correct, and that they were simply reacting to a difficult point of time, which would pass. But others were adamant that they were deserving of more freedom than those that came before them, and felt their voices were being ignored.
The words of that Noble would become prophetic, as one night, one of the oldest cities in a powerful nation would be ravaged by a small but violent group of its own citizens. That night would be a catalyst for what was to come.