The East had changed considerably throughout Empyrean History, and Provisional Prefect Ellanor Etatè knew this all too well.
First, it had been a self-governing territory called the Dominium Orientale under an ancient and powerful pan-regional empire known as the Coelestis Imperii; that had lasted for centuries before its foundations began to rot and it crumbled away. This eventually gave rise to the Estrin Dominion of the Northwest in 698 YBP, who, under the leadership of an unknown Khagan, conquered the East in 557 YBP and committed the Sevitan Genocide. The East transformed again after Archibald Primrose led a bloody armed revolution against the Dominion with the assistance of Narciss. The Pheasantine Republic reared its noble head from the ashes of the Dominion. Unfortunately the Golden Age of Democracy was not to last forever: the Red Death – also called Eastern Haemorrhagic Fever – caused panic on such a scale that the fascist Eastern Absolute Socialist Party (EASP) won the 5 YAP election in a landslide after it promised to end the Outbreak, which it did.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtCKzIG8Js
The Pheasantine Republic was converted into the authoritarian Executorship of the East by Reinhart Resiak in 7 YAP. It lasted until 76 YAP.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDgJxbDOxS
And then the Æbyss came knocking, supported by the remains of the Estrin Dominion. The Executorship stood no chance against the combined fury of Khagan Xantè with his Armies and the Covenant of the Void. The Executorship of the East was obliterated, and anyone associated with EASP who would not bend to the will of the Great Khagan was tortured to death. The East had reached its fourth incarnation: The Estrin Dominion of the Northwest and East.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ589v5C9TtI
Ellanor Etatè had chosen to grovel for her life. She was demoted from Adjunant to Prefect, but she lived.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7n0aRBZ0fj
A horrible existence, that is. She had become a favourite target of both the Warden of Skála and Emir of Oroine for seemingly no reason apart from being a female steward and former EASP administrator. And they had given her the worst punishment they could conceive: appointing her the servant of Khatun Xarai, the wife of Khagan Xantè. She was utterly oblivious to the horrific atrocities perpetrated by her region.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBI3Ll1YsF
A naive woman born on Estrin Island, sheltered from the negatives, and raised to reverie the Æbyssal Triumvirate. She could read and speak the tongue of the Void fluently and played the Macrophonium.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IQZ1f35Ak
Ellanor tried to keep her opinions to herself to save her own skin while she ran a bath for the Khatun of the Dominion while she practised the instrument.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsum8sJ88XH
Little did Xarai know that the Macrophonium was an instrument of war. A large bronze thing with four valves pitched in E♭ and was typically the bass instrument in ensembles.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgBQaXBJID
Khatun Xarai of the Estrin Dominion of the Northwest and East was barely twenty. “Thank you, Prefect!” she called through as she got into the bath.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8u3UUJNfOE
Ellanor knew that she would want someone to talk to. She stepped into the bathroom to do so.
“Have you heard about the Coalition Against the Æbyss revealing itself? Shocking, I know! How could they refuse to accept the embrace of the Void?”
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zn7AGehE4
Ellanor Etatè chose to give the answer she was supposed to. “The unenlightened people in the North of Empyrea fear what they can not hope to comprehend, my lady. The warring factions of Umbracrest have been left unite with one another so that one day, they may exalt in the glory of the Void. Cerulea is too stuck in the past to let go of the Faith of the Star.”
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rLJnNEITk
Khatun Xarai seemed confused by the notion of other religious beliefs. Indoctrination is a powerful force that should never be underestimated.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCSyKgFYd3
“They do not know of the three?” she said with a giggle, her voice was a smooth mezzo-soprano that seemed older than its owner.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGH6wKaJGV
“Sixty-five years ago, the Faith of the Æbyss was not known to most of Empyrea. I believe you are well versed in some aspects of Empyrean history but not others. My lady, shall I teach you?” Prefect Etatè asked with a hint of hope.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvusA9w1On
“Yes, go on.” She tittered at the older and wiser woman.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXZwUa9mJ4
“Just over a millennia ago Empyrea was in a period of time dubbed by historians as the Lost Age – which lasted until 900 YBP – during which a powerful empire called the Coelestis Imperii ruled over all of Empyrea. The Imperii did not keep any religions. They were totally atheistic, similar to Techno-Spiritualism. Do you follow so far?”
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdI5e8H3pj
Khatun Xarai cocked her head to the side curiously before she nodded, eager to learn more.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqLH8jHAbG
“The empire crumbled and gave rise to the Dominion in the Northwest, this you will know of. Here is something that you will not: in 500 YBP, the Celestial Accord occurs, stars aligned to form a compass with eight points. The subregions in the Southwest came together to form the Theocratic Confederacy of Cerulea with the Faith of the Star as its guide.”
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXHeQHCIBD
“Very interesting Prefect, what actually is the Faith of the Star?”
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslntsjvhSb
Provisional Prefect Ellanor Etatè had never been a religious woman, but she knew a bit about Empyrean religions, and to Khatun Xarai, she might have as well been the Adeptus of Theology. “Celestialism believes that Austerium the Star created Empyrea and is responsible for the Temporal Anomaly at the centre of it – which was discovered by the Trainee Adeptus Thuamaturgical in 140 YBP – they also believe that the eight stars are deities, they are called: Septentrionalis the North, Orientem the Northeast, Oriens the East, Meridiem the Southeast, Auster the South, Africum the Southwest, Occidens the West, and Septentrionalem the Northwest.”
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvzpSC8dWu
The Khatun had red eyes like Estrin, first of the Khagans. They were the colour of fresh blood. Ellanor's brown eyes met the red.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtxKZnkZYl
“While for much of Empyrea history, Celestialism was the dominant faith. It was not the only one. In 164 YBP, Techno-Spiritualism became the dominant faith in Narciss and Vorantis. It teaches that deities are sentient concepts given names. They create, learn, and discover to honour Creation and to scorn its opposite Destruction – sometimes called anti-creation.” Finished Ellanor. She was proud of herself for remembering so much.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fB54BYBfV
“I think I understand now! But why is everyone so unhappy here in the East? My husband has saved them from that foul lair Executor Aligore?” Xarai went from cheerful to melancholy dashed with confusion in the space of a sentence.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXgue4oYOa
Ellanor was grasping at straws as she tried to think of an answer that would satisfy the wife of Khagan Xantè that was not traitorous.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQcRSG5mys
“Er...the Executorship of the East existed long enough to have three separate people hold the position of Executor: Resiak, Erzatz, and Aligore. Perhaps they brainwashed the East?” spluttered out the Prefect turned servant in a desperate bid to shut down the topic that would cause her hatred for Xantè to seep through and saturate the conversation.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5JmGRsTRJ
The answer seemed to satisfy the Khatun. Who Ellanor helped dry before she left.
rovisional Prefect Etatè thought to herself about the death of the Heir to the Dominion. Gur Khan Temji's death had unexpected. Ellanor had swallowed an Æther Foci Capsule to prevent herself from putting her glee on display. While the effects of the stimulant were manifesting, she had found the death of the Heir suspicious.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO569G2vHcS
But who would want to kill him? Not the Narcissians anyway, Celeste Alaina Ego was Temji's Gur Khani. The House of Ego was likely reeling from the blow to its pride after the second child of the previous rulers was reduced to Concubine-Khani – or second wife – as Gur Khan Jiro was already married to Baroness Jennifer Astrai Estrin-Romanakov, the great-grandaughter of a well known Grand Vizier.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7f5rlJsS4x
It occurred to Ellanor that the Khatun would be unable to change anything even if she wanted to. She wielded very little power. She decided that she would have to get herself assigned as the handmaiden of Baroness Jennifer to have easier access to the Heir to free the East.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFzm0WONFB
Now, all she has to do was figure out how to do that.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjryYMmnVx
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnMUm15XpY
