Vingkot's Holy Country

Part 3 of the Realist Papers
Vingkot's Holy Country

As readers of my previous works may recall, I promised a manuscript on the true nature of the Vingkotling Empire of the Antediluvian Era. Of its organization, rather than just its history.

Having recently recovered from an unjust period of imprisonment, I am now able to once again put pen to papyrus to explain.

First Age Fresco of Nochet

My educated interpretation is that Vingkot's Empire was far from that, being a form of "amphictyony", an alliance of states around a single permanent location, in this case the city of Nochet.
While I have been unable to travel to that city, I have received detailed descriptions of it, and together with the histories and mythologies of the area allowing me to note the following fact:

One important aspect of Ernalda is called Esrola the Earth Queen (much in the same way as our own farmers worship Oria as queen of the land.) In this aspect she has had many kings, although keeping them for only a year and cycling between them. Husbands I have found have prominently been Orlanth, Heler, Lodril, and Deshlotralas.

It is clear to me that these marriages refer not to individual deities, but to alliances between rulers. I have already discussed the marriage of alliance between Vingkot and his "summer wife," who is obviously the ruler of Nochet. Equally the reference to Heler refers to that tribe who had joined the Vingkotlings and the Durevings.

This leads to the remaining identities of Lodril and Deshlotralas' tribes. The first are the most simple. It is well documented that near to Esrolia lies a great forest known as the Western Jungle filled with primitive lodrilite barbarians. From what I have been able to find out, they are so primitive they do not even use the plough or hitch up oxen, instead living more like the primitive lodrili of Arir. This may seem a strange group to be allies with the civilized people of Esrolia, but it seems they possessed great martial power, and lived around a great mountain filled with dwarves, well known as followers of Lodril. It may even be that the lodrili acted as go betweens between the dwarves and the other races, and this provided their right to rulership, as flimsy as it was.

The other tribe, those followers of Deshlotralas are most peculiar. While there is the Desert of Fear well attested to on our maps (also known as the Haunted Lands), and a great city of the dead, most of my queries about the nature of these death worshippers did not come to a fruitive end.

Esrolian plinth to Deshlotralas

 

But further investigation did lead me to find a large colony of digijelm is located on a small plateau just outside of Nochet.
I believe this may be the Deshlotralas spoken of in their histories, certainly I have found records of other names for Deshlotralas there, including Arganum, Nontrayum, Kitor (although I have found no connection between this and the great city of Carmania), and simply the First Elder. It is possible that this may in fact be a title for the greatest of the digijelm. Certainly some traders spoke of the First Elder as if he were a recent figure, although they claim he has been gone ever since the king of the Holy Country emerged.

Further we must consider this: the digijelm are not nearly so foolish as tales would have you believe. I have encountered the digijelm myself in the city of Vaskoli, where they walk alongside men as if everything were normal, and even the men have abandoned gods of light in return for worshipping the trolls' strange ancestors. And as monstrous as they are, they could speak New Pelorian, and even make scratchings in tradetalk. It would not be impossible for them to conceive of the benefits of marriage and alliances.

Before my readers scoff in the name of good taste or other such morality. I remind you that not all peoples described as Orlanthi are as civilized as those in our great Empire. And of course the great destroyer Gbaji was said to have walked in the form of both man and digijelm when he destroyed Nysalor.


Now, as mentioned before, the Earth Queen takes a husband for just a year before replacing them. While many lesser queens and kings do this amongst the Orlanthi hill tribes, they all claim it was started by their goddess.

In fact this seems to be the basis for the kingship of all Orlanthi hill clans, who elect a king, chosen from their households. And yet despite this apparent position, much of the clan's history is instead held by the Earth Queen, the high priestess of the earth. Given the importance of farming amongst these hill clans, there are few kings who can rule without the blessing of the Earth Queen. Likewise, the ceremony of the king's enthronement may even be said to be a form of ritual marriage with the queen.

This indicates to myself (and I'm sure those wise among you will agree) that the queen of Nochet was the true power in the Vingkotling empire. Most likely Vingkot's rulership was a temporary position, with his people taking the dominant role only through his reign.

At the end of each year, the leaders of each tribe, now remembered as deities, would meet in Nochet for the Earth Queen to choose a new king. This would be a great period of feasting, of celebratory games and contests, much as weddings are today amongst the hill tribes. This is likely what the Sacred Time contests were, before the great darkness changed so much.

Many will ask why the Vingkotling's dominance lasted for so long, especially given the rulership is supposed to only last for a year. Firstly I must point out that the year used here is most likely one just in metaphor, for the hill folk often say there was no time before the darkness ended, and scoff at the Plentonic dating system used by scholars. The actual period of rulership may have lasted for a decade or more.

Still this would not explain their dominance, and given the description of Orlanth's House, I have concluded that although their position was intended to be temporary, Vingkot likely seized control as a despot, attempting to unify the amphictyony into a true empire, likely inspired by realms such as the Dara Happans to the north.

Reassessing the Ovosto Dynasty

Part 2 of the Realist Papers
Reassessing the Ovosto Dynasty
As I discussed previously, the murder of Muharzarm was an actual period of warfare, involving the assassination of Emperor Murharzarm. I described it as involving a siege, which some of my fellows took umbrage at, claiming there would be evidence of such a thing.
To this I reply to merely look at the evidence again. In this case we must look to his immediate successor, Emperor Khorventos.
During his reign it is mentioned that the land of Dara Happa was besieged by the followers of the Rebel Gods, invading the cities and plundering what they could. Given my earlier discussion on the role of these Rebel Gods as representations of their peoples, we can conclude that this is a continuation of the same invasion which led to the death of Murharzarm.
Khorventos' reign would have thus been over a empire of one city, barricaded within Yuthubars while the great Empire started to fragment.
It is during this time that the Ovostans rise.
Khorventos and his successor Dendeneus are both recorded in legends as trading away the Imperial Treasures for food, specifically with Ovosto. Because of the foreign armies, this would have had to have taken place in Yuthubars.

The purported Death Mask of Ovosto

Ovosto is described as a child of Gerendetho, and as coming from the Jord Mountains. His government of the mythical city of Senthoros was described as misrule and he himself a Lodrilite, and thus not of noble birth. As such, his original occupation was likely that of dry farmer.
Here we have a peasant, given some measure of political power (his description of having governed Senthoros is likely a myth, given no trace of that city has ever been found) found within Yuthubars when there was no food. He was able to get some, and even provided for the Emperor in exchange for Imperial Treasures.
His seizure of power occurs after Khorventos' death, when his heir seeks the Imperial Treasures. Instead Ovosto uses them to become Emperor.
When Emperor he performs several actions described by Plentonius: he opens up the cities, letting his friends loot the nobles goods; he forced the nobility to mingle with the commoners; he made deals with those who came to invade Dara Happa and shared dinner with them.

I hold that Ovosto was a smuggler, bringing food into the city despite the besieging armies. He profited from this, and provided food to both the rich and poor. When the Emperor died, he seizes power, likely through a popular uprising by the hungry masses. (Their hue and cry are the origin of the howling found in the Ovosto Rites)
After this, he creates peace with the invaders, breaking the siege but giving up much of the riches of the nobility.
Without their riches, the nobility are reduced to living as commoners, working for a living. In this way, he created a new peace for Dara Happa, although one which was undesirable for the nobility.

Ovosto's death has been blamed on choking by a fish from Karasal. This was also where he had banished his rival, Dendeneus, making this an early form of assassination, like the dart wars which are conducted amongst our great Empire to this day.

Karasa and Orogoros, in the Navarian style of the Storm Age

Ovosto's successor, Orogoros was said to have been the son of Ovosto and the goddess of Karasal. He is also said to have come from near Mount Jernotius which lies relatively nearby. This origin points to the infamous lands of Darsen and Naveria, ancient lands of Karasal. He is commonly associated with a snake, also said to have been his father's spirit. This points to a connection with the hills' chthonic serpent cults, such as BernEel Arashagern or Ursturburn. These are ecstatic cults of life, in the form of a serpent (which also bears a connection to the progenitive organ of males. Something despaired at by more prudish Dara Happans)

Orogoros is famed for his iniquity. The Glorious Reascent of Yelm includes a tale of how he makes the people of Dara Happa bare their head and feet -- an obvious Dara Happan euphemism for the progenitive parts. He is similarly recorded as banning incest, prohibiting the Dara Happan tradition of ensuring that divine blood is not diluted by inter-family marriages.
The claim that Orogoros is the child of Ovosto is a spurious one. He has little in common with his supposed father, and dwelled in a separate realm. The claim of kinship is a way of covering up the truth.

During the reign of Orogoros, Dara Happa was ruled by foreign powers, the realms of Karasal, Naveria, and Darsen were the heartland of this kingdom, ruled by the serpent-worshipping King Orogoros. The iniquities and sins appointed to Orogoros are in fact the Lodrilli rites and traditions, vilified by later Dara Happans who seek to ignore this foreignness.

Orogoros' death is given in several different ways. His reign is said to end in the great Deluge of Anaxial, and sometimes he is said to have drowned in the flood itself. But the most important account of his death is in the Glorious Reascent of Yelm. Here he is described as being slain by Avivorus using the Sunspear.
The Sunspear is the divine weapon used later to slay another evil Emperor. And is almost certainly a justification for an uprising, for if Antirius blesses the action, how can it be wrong?

After Orogoros, came the reign of Oravinos.
This Emperor is only found in the Unity and Yelmgatha's Lists. He is described as an orchard god, and as the enemy of the bear. This bear is likely a reference to Arakang, the bear god of western Peloria. His feud with Oravinos is likely the same story as that which is told on the Gods Wall, the fight over the Yarm Tree. This figure is commonly said to be Orypsus, god of pleasure.
Because of this, Oravinos is likely the original figure behind the mythology of Orypsus. A former Emperor who is remembered only as a god of wine and plenty.

But this speaks of an even greater revelation. Arakang is likely a stand in for Western Peloria, the Kingdom of Orogoros. Oravinos, far from being his successor, is his usurper. This is the point where Dara Happa reclaims its independence from its occupiers, and becomes its own nation once again.

This Dynasty ends with the Deluge of Anaxial, the legendary flood which is said to have wiped away all that was unclean, and the return to righteous Emperors. But its legacy remains in several ways:

• First, there are the Ovosto Rites, used over the centuries to become Emperor through popular approval, rather than by imperial descent.
• Second, we see the great truism of the Dara Happans, that they would prefer to remember an unjust Emperor, than a foreign tyrant.
• Finally, that even commoners can become Emperor. And that if necessary, Imperial Descent can be found.

But make no mistake, I do not write this to condemn the Ovostans, but instead to show what they can teach us about the truth behind the myths. That when we ignore the mortal origins, we miss out on the great history of our Empire.

The Rise and Fall of the Vingkotlings

Part 1 of the Realist Papers

The Realist Papers are a blasphemous text kept in the Mirin's Cross knowledge temple. Other copies are said to lurk across the Lunar Empire.
The texts are the work of an Occluded sorcerer named Ormaliol the Denier, a former Sylilan scholar who became part of the perverse Dara Happan sect known as the Mundanists. These sorcerers claim that the gods were nothing more than humans, and that their miracles have a simple, and usually mundane origin. As such, they are not welcome in any land, and must hide their existence.
The Realist Papers would ordinarily be destroyed, but by the grace of the Red Goddess, the works of Illuminates are granted dispensation, and even heretical and blasphemous works are worthy of record -- even if simply to learn from their errors.

The Rise and Fall of the Vingkotlings - A reassessment on the Antediluvian Era

Conventional lore holds the opinion that Orlanth was a divine being, born from the winds and mountains themselves, and that Vingkot was his half-mortal son, who led Orlanth's people during the later Storm Age period of myth.
It is this scholar's assessment that they are in fact the same being, with Orlanth being a deification of Vingkot.

Many of my readers will ask how this can be so, when Vingkot only ruled after the flood? I would argue this fact, for maps from Second Age Heroquesters of the Early Storm Age show the Vingkotlings as a rising power when the sky was orange, before the rise of the waters. As well as this; Plentonius' great work, the Glorious Reascent of Yelm, describes Vinakotal the Barbarian as one of the rebel gods who united to bring down the sun. Other myths speak of Vingkot leading his people during the great Downward Migration from the Spike.

Vingkot was likely already an established ruler during this period.

Using this assumption, we can then take the established details of Vingkot's history, and determine the likely events of his reign.

Sylilan Bear vessel, showing Pelandan influence

Vingkot's first great deed as king was to defeat the Sky Bear, who interrupted his kingship rites. The Sky Bear is the title of Odayla, the Orlanthi god of bears and hunting, making this an obvious reference to the god; or more likely his people, the Sylilans.

Of note, in northern Aggar there is a peak known as Bear Mountain as part of the Autumn Mountain chain. This is sacred to the Sylilan bear god, and the Heortlings know of it as part of the gods' wall.

This is presumably the story of an invasion by the Odaylans to the north, who try to claim Vingkot's lands for their own. They are pushed back, and the invasion halted, proving the Vingkotling's right to existence. The Autumn Mountains become the border between the Sylilans to the north, and the Vingkotlings to the south.


After his northern border was secure, we then come to the matter of the south.

The Vingkotlings are said to have been one of three great tribes, one of the others being the Durevings. These were a peaceful agrarian people who worshipped a great earth goddess. They dwelled to the south of the Vingkotlings in a land named Envorela.

They would make useful allies for Vingkot.

Sources imported from Esrolia have described Orlanth's conquest of their mythic ancestors, who would be the Durevings (Although they call them Oraneo. The mythologies I have acquired also refer to Durev and Orane as husband and wife.)

These texts describe Kodig, who is elsewhere recorded as a son of Vingkot, attempting to invade Envorela's great city of Nochet, and when turned back calling upon his god Orlanth to do it. After destroying the defenders, Orlanth marries Ernalda, and a house is built to the god within Nochet. In comparison, the Heortling texts instead describe this as far more peaceable, but with them ruling Nochet.

While I have never visited that city, I have talked to traders who have. Their descriptions of Orlanth's house (called Storm Hill) fit with those Vingkotling hill forts I have seen. It is not too great a leap to imagine that Storm Hill is in fact a citadel, likely built there after the Durevings and Vingkotlings were united.

The Marriage of Vingkot and the Queen of Envorela (or his Summer Wife, or Ernalda) is a marriage of political convenience. It provides the right for Vingkot to take control of the Durevings, bringing them into his empire, and to build his hill fort as a citadel. It provides the Durevings with safety and protectors.


Astute readers may recall I mentioned three great tribes, but have only described two.

The third were known as the Helerings, and their history is one of great interest, even to the Pelorians.

At first, this tribe seems to have been an enemy of the Vingkotlings and Durevings, raiding their southern shores. They were a littoral people, ranging up and down the coasts on their great boats, and worshipping all number of sea entities. These include a great sea dragon known as Heler or Aroka.

Jrusteli depiction of Orlanth slaying Aroka and freeing Heler

The Helerings fought many battles against the Vingkotlings, but eventually peace was created. The circumstances of this varies by story. Some tell of a great battle known as Trembling Shore, where Vingkot slew their god. Others tell of the same battle, but instead Orlanth and Heler sat down to talk and negotiate peace. The most common tell of Orlanth slaying the great dragon Aroka and freeing Heler.

In either case, peace came between the two peoples, and the Helerings became part of Vingkot's empire.

But the stories do not end there. It is mentioned that after slaying Aroka, Orlanth sent part of it north to attack his enemies. We know of this serpent as Oslira.

What does this mean? It is this scholar's opinion that in the creation of peace, many the Helerings were assigned land which was not Vingkot's to give. He gave them the lands of his enemies and sent them north.

This matches up with Oslira' invasion of Dara Happa. She was tamed by the Emperor and  made to serve the Empire. In other words, the Helerings invade the Dara Happans, but are defeated.

The Helerings are therefore the ancestors of the Weeders and Feathered Boat people, who have long been slaves or servants to the Dara Happans.


This brings us back to the Dara Happan myth of the rebel gods, and what was one of the most influential periods of Vingkotling and Dara Happan histories.

Dara Happan Depiction of a Vingkotling

At this point, the Dara Happan and Vingkotling Empires (actually the latter was more of an amphictyony, see my forthcoming manuscript on the subject) were the predominant states of the age. With the Helering invasion having taken place, the two states were uneasy and needed little other reason for war.

What is seen as a conspiracy of various deities is in fact a series of wars. The inclusion of Sedenya the Changer indicates that Mernita rebelled against the rule of the Emperor, and likewise Kargzant's presence suggests that Nivorah had also broken away. Combined with the Naverian myth of the First Bad King (a concealed reference to Yelm) we can see the peaceful myth of the Golden Age as the fiction that it is.

With Dara Happa torn apart from within, it would be relatively easy for a barbarian army to invade, and further fragment the Empire.

Vingkot and his forces would lay siege to the Emperor's great city (recorded as Yuthubars) and eventually an attack would slay the Emperor, setting in motion the rise of the Ovosto Dynasty.

Glutted with the treasures of the Empire, Vingkot returned home. But this victory had given rise to his personal fall. His realm had become too great.

After Vingkot's death at the hands of the Devil, the Vingkotling Empire started to crumble into several smaller kingdoms. One in the south, and one in the north.

The sothern kingdom, the Kodigvarings, consisted of a Vingkotling nobility ruling over an increasingly turbulent Dureving subclass. As their kings became increasingly tyrannical, many smaller realms broke off. In Esrolia, for example, Kodig Vingkotson is remembered as the paragon of unjust rulers.

In the northern kingdom absorbed many of its former enemies; most notably the Nivorahns, fleeing from the collapsing Dara Happans. The Sylilans also joined this kingdom, which is most often called the Berenethteli, after the most important tribe within it. The Berenethteli became a stronghold of foreign gods, such as Elmalus, Odayla, and Oria.

In the end, neither kingdom lasted long, being brought down by their own hubris. They fractured still further, with new kingdoms and tribes forming. Thus did Vingkot's empire rise on his greatness, and fall by it too.