Historical Perspectives on Arelis, the First Empire of Bayetzian Civilization
In my setting, called the 'Kantriverse' after the Kingdom of Kantrias (which sort of serves as the Protagonist nation of the setting, or at least the one I focus on the most), there was a great city that had a master of magic still unequaled that rose on the lip of the Canyon of Ghosts, above the shores of Lake Orman, and that city was called Arelis. It built a mighty empire, and fell after more than a thousand years, once dominating from one end of the continent of Bayetz to the other in networks of trade, tribute and daughter-cities, but withdrawing overtime. Many of it's ruins have been swallowed up by the Glass Desert, the surviving daughter cities diverged and merging with the desert nomads that the original Arelans disdained.
But study of Arelis continues now, even more than a 1500 years after the city was emptied. Attempts to study or even reclaim the city of Arelis itself have failed time and again, earning it the grim moniker 'Kingdom of the Empty Throne', and yet, even now, people still pick over the ruins left behind all over the continent. Some for magic, some for knowledge, some for wealth. It may be the start of an age of Steam and Industry, but the stones and bronze of Arelis still hold mysteries unknown.
But everyone has a different opinion on Arelis - the people below are meant to be generally representative of common threads of opinion, though by no means do they represent the only opinions, or the only opinions in their respective nations, though in many cases they do represent a dominant trend at least within a significant segment of their country/culture.
One thing I do like to do with my setting is think about the history as perceived in-universe. As the 'omniscient narrator' of the setting, I do spend more time thinking what is the actual truth of it all, establishing the factual clear timelines and known historical causes and effects, but in-universe, of course, that's not how the study of history or archeology would go.
There is also a map of Bayetz to provide a bit of a frame of reference for locations mentioned above. https://i.ibb.co/ys4JjCb/Bayetz-Map-With-Borders-and-Disputed-Territory.png
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"My tribe was here, in the desert, before Arelis was built on the lip of that howling Canyon. My tribe was here, in the desert, when Arelis rose and straddled the continent. My tribe was here, in the desert, when the Empire forged by Arelis crumbled and fell. My tribe is here, in the desert, now that Arelis is an empty city of ghosts and dust, a corpse your people pick upon like flies. My tribe will be here, in the desert, when your Kingdoms crumble to ash and dust and are picked over by those who come after you."
-Alzarhus, son of Morhmaan, elder shaman of a Marlion tribe in the Glass Desert
"Arelis was once the very pinnacle of civilization, unequaled in the sophistication of its bureaucracy and administrative apparatus for centuries, until the modern era, really. Their constructions dwarf almost anything else, even what we build today with the aid of steam-powered devices and constructs. Their magic outstripped even the greatest of our mages and witches. It was a glorious Empire... built on the back of slavery, conquest, exactatory tribute and a top-heavy administration that shattered when circumstances turned against it. I can admire Arelis for its glories and successes, but Kantrias stands today as an Empire that may not rival Arelis's in size, but certainly does so in greatness."
-Doctor Rabius Khaine, Professor of History at the Royal Kantrian Academy of the Arts and Sciences, Capital City Campus
"Arelis? Arelis was merely another conqueror. They destroyed the Vampire-Kings of the Barrier Peaks, and set to rule us on the banks of the River. First they divided tribe from tribe, then city from city, then King from King. When that failed, they set out to claim us directly. But Arelis, for all it's magical glory and greatness, did not adapt, so slaved to how they built their Empire in the first place. It took centuries, but our forebears in the Old Thovartans wore them down, just as we did to eventually drive out Voluz. Their magics are worthy of study, of mimickry, when they do not cross into vile practices. The history of the Empire is of useful and admittedly interesting study. But I do not research Arelis, I do not plunder its ruins for magic and for art to honor it, the way some of you southerners do. But to profit from it, in mind, spirit and gold."
-Tarondo Vazagand, Explorer, Adventurer and member in good standing of the Arelis Research Society, Angron Chapter, in the Mazandian Union
"Arelis was both our first, and perhaps greatest enemy, and our first, and perhaps greatest teacher. The cities that arose on the shores of the Sea of Storms were copied from the daughter-cities Arelis built in our midst. We paid them their tribute, studied their ways, and in time, under the greatest of Fathers and Kings, Patroyvi Vanivora, we destroyed them. The forebear of the Despots of the North commanded the winter against those desert peoples, and destroyed them at Lake Gradstal. And yet, even after Arelis exacted tribute but did not punish, we continued to study, to learn, and to exceed them. Arelis fell, and Voluz endures. It is by the grace of the Triumvirate Gods and their Vice-Regents in the Emperors and Empresses of Voluz that Voluz has survived for so long, existing for longer than even Arelis. And yet, Arelis still teaches, by example of its fall and the sins thereof."
-Uruslavi Theondoptava, Patriarch of Kargengate for the Volutian Triumvirate Church
"Arelis? There is little to say of Arelis. They did not bother with us here, in the Vale. I do not know if they feared our elementalists or feared the great distance and cost to reach us or if they did not find value in our lands. Save for that one fortress that studied the nature of our Vale, ignoring and ignored by my forebears, Arelis had no impact on us. And yet, that fortress, with their tablets, gave Kolyat the information he needed to Know Truth, and to give rise to the Elemental Mysteries, that Truth that binds our people together. But Kolyat was a singular mind, and with his long life, he would have Known Truth eventually. Arelis merely sped up the process."
-Archmage Blean-Trai, Archon of the Fire Tower in Kolyat-Var.
"There's an art to faking an Arelan artifact. You don't want to fake anything anyone's going to test, of course. No blades or anything bronze really. And you have to be careful about not making it look too perfect. In my experience, Third Dynasty is the way to go. It's easy to copy the blue glaze, and it's all the rage in Kantrias. Hah! Nothing makes me happier than to know I'm feeding my family by selling trash to some ignorant merchant in that pestilent kingdom of busybodies!"
-Guradam Ylessien, Forger in Al-Maliya
"Arelis never subjugated the Baleric peoples. The Free Cities have always been free. But it would be wrong to say Arelis played no role in us. To be Baleric was to not be Arelan. It has always taken a strong enemy to bind our peoples together, for we love our homes and cities far more than our kin in distant lands. To be Baleric was to be everything Arelis was not, to succeed at everything Arelis failed in. Or at least, to aspire to both. I sometimes wonder how some of my kin justify enslaving the Lizardmen, when Arelis built itself on Slavery."
-Arkturan thel'Kaeris, patrician and polymath in Iranserra, in the League of Free Cities
"Arelis? That's some city in the endless sands to the south? I have better concerns than to study such a place. Disdain us all you want, but our story, our history here in the Moors is of far more interest and value to me. What care I what some Empire gloried to far from here? The stories and battles and deaths of my forebears, the study of our towns and castles, the lords and councils here, in the Moors, is of better value - and aye, better interest. It's the stories of people, of the foibles of Moorish men and women, not the stories of cities and monuments and Priest-Kings. Arelis! Bah! Come to me when you can speak with authority on the battles fought by Hanzor against the mountain tribes!"
-Ottoron of Vaelstal, well-regarded historian in the High Moors
"Why do I buy so many Arelan artifacts to display in my mansion? Why else, but to prove I can afford to? My vineyards and my fishing fleets keep me rich, but there's no value in money kept in a vault. One must keep score, and the best way to do that is to impress your friends and enemies with what you spend your money on. My grandmother had an extensive collection of Porcelain from Guayas, but fifteen years ago even fatherless merchants with but a few ships to their name could have some of that now. And so now I buy Arelan artifacts. Only the best, only the most expensive, of course. Come, let me show you my latest acquisition: a bronze ceremonial sword from the First Dynasty. Cost me a fortune at auction, but well worth it, given everyone who saw me buy it."
-Count Velazkych Grodno, prominent nobleman in Vorstock, in the Dominion of Korvall
"There is no 'Aurelian Consensus on Arelis' anymore than there's an Aurelian consensus on anything but staying independent and united. Ask the Noreshi, and the general opinion you'll get is that the Arelans were monsters and brutes, too uncreative to think of ways to build empires but on the backs of slaves. Ask the Batharites, and Arelis was the Great ur-Mother of modern civilizations. Ask ten Vrisi and you'll get twenty answers, but then that's why you don't ask a Vrisi. I think that Arelis was the most powerful state to rise on this continent, yes, and I think they left a legacy that still guides many kingdoms and states today. I also think it was guilty of every sin of Empire. I know the Kantrians and Volutians like to think they've avoided the sins of Arelis, and aye, they don't trade in slaves, don't trade in the vile magics Arelis was said to by the end, but they commit all the same sins of Empire beside. And yet - Arelis's name is burned onto the pages of history. My father once said 'Might doesn't make right. But it does make people notice you.' And unfortunately, he may just be correct."
-Doctor Breldne Cessawiry, Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Grand Collegium in Rindoc in the Commonwealth of Auralia











