By 3000ey the mighty Vyrum Empire had come to end. It’s last ruler, Io the Great, went into exile. The remaining Princes were pried out from behind their impregnable walls of stone and were led way in chains. The great alds were left abandoned and ripe for the taking.
The vassal rulers among the five races were left in uneasy
peace. For 150 years they had known only war – first against the rise of the
Old Ones and then, beginning even at the Battle of the Dry Rift, against each
other. The eventual end of their conflicts is fixed as 2991ey. They did not end
by treaty, but instead from a general unwillingness to fight any longer.
Constant struggle had depleted the treasuries and armies of the Besnir. Their
mighty Cavaliers -- guardians of peace and justice for seven centuries, were no more. Into this whimpering peace the human race came to the fore.
The rise of man was noted first by the Hierophants of the
Continuum. They sent emissaries to each of the remaining Ranes reporting that
the wild primitives who had long been in the shadows were now coalescing into
bonafide tribes and putting down roots in permanent settlements. The humans
were observed having ceremonies for their dead and though they had an unknown tongue, it was nonetheless language. At the Peace of Dovaris in 3024ey, the Grand Hierophant
declared to all the assembled Besnir that the 7th Age had begun.
This was not a popular finding among them, and least of all the Urok – for they
had long anticipated their own return to power.
In the Four Lands of Northrun, Southrun, Eastrun and Westrun the tribes of man slowly ascended.
Of all the tribes of the humans across all of Erenth, those who would come to be called Daizu were the least likely to prosper. Nothing in their earliest existence would lead anyone to believe they could establish the most feared military presence in Eastrun, nor rule over the greatest geographical footprint in the world.
Primitive even by Nandi standards, the Daizu were once culturally impoverished and militarily weak. They had no songs, nor legends; no artwork, nor ceremony. Their women did not weave baskets, nor make pottery. Their men did not raise monuments, nor memorialize heroes.
They did not dig graves, paint caves, nor have anything approaching a permanent habitation. For this reason, when the Vyrum looked for Nandi to use as servants, they avoided the Daizu as too bestial. The tribe might have disappeared quietly were it not for an accident of fate.
In the Sixth Age, the mounted cavalier of the Vyrum bred horses. But those that did not take to the rider and saddle; and those which would not tilt with lance; and those who had any defect of appearance were turned loose from the Alds.
In Eastrun, the horses ran free and without natural predators, they prospered. By the dissolution of the empire, there were vast herds breeding in the steppes of Eastrun.
It is true that many of the Nandi tribes domesticated these horses, but most saw them as livestock. Those that didn't used them as transportation, or as beasts of burden. It was the Daizu alone who had the distinction of riding the beasts into battle.
The rejected mounts of the Vyrum found their original purpose with the Daizu. Though it was not with lance or sword, but with javelins. From horseback the Daizu learned to raid and retreat, attack and flee. With such tactics, they were a match for more advanced tribes who boasted foot soldiers and archery.
Because the Daizu could stretch their campaigns over hours, they never allowed their enemy to rest. Eventually, battlefield successes would win the tribe those tools which they could not make.
The Shen (elves) of Eastrun were the first to surrender before the Daizu. They became a vassal tribe which paid tribute by providing their masters with horn short bows. This proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle for the mounted warriors. When the Daizu broke out upon the plains as archer cavalry, they could not be seriously challenged.
From one or two flung javelins at relatively close range; they graduated to delivering a withering hail of arrows at distance. When the horse and bow were combined with solid tactics, no tribe could withstand them and no others could lead them.
At the dawn of the 7th Age, in many parts of Erenth, the humans who had once been captives of the Vyrum were accounted as nobility. These Meni were well-trained in administration and governance. They had weapons and language and books that their less civilized Nandi cousins lacked. But in Eastrun the Meni did not prosper for long. Like the Shen and the Korobokuru the civilized tribes of men fell to the Daizu.
There are cities in Eastrun. They only survive because the tribute they pay the Daizu. Not one bolt of silk goes West and not one pound of iron goes East without the say so of the Daizu.
1. Law is to be valued, and avoiding chaos is to be honored.
All men are influenced by feelings of envy between classes. The vassal envies
the lord. The lord envies the warrior. The warrior envies the priest. The
priest envies the learned man. The learned man envies the thief. The wise are
not envious, but content. They do not disobey their lords and fathers. They do
not feud with their neighbors.
2. Sincerely reverence the three treasures. The three
treasures are Jen Shu, Lawful Behavior and the Priesthood. They are the refuge
of the wise and the good. Few men are utterly bad and those who would be made
better should take to themselves the three treasures, it is the only way that their
crookedness can be made straight.
3. When commands from the emperor are received. The wise
scrupulously obey them. See the example of the world around you. They sky is
the superior while the land is inferior. The sky stretches overhead. The land
supports it. When this is so, the four seasons pass properly. But if the land attempted
to stretch overhead, the sky would fall in ruin. Therefore, follow the example
given. The superior speaks and the inferior listens. The superior should act
and the inferior should comply. Those who fail to follow this directive will
find that ruin is the natural consequence.
4. The superiors should make Lawful Behavior their leading
principle, for if the superiors do not behave lawfully, then their inferiors become
instruments of chaos. When superiors behave lawfully, the inferiors behave with
propriety and proper Governance is achieved.
5. Those who sit in judgment must deal impartially with those
who come before him. If the superior who is to decide suits decides by favor or
profit or bribe, then the inferior will take themselves elsewhere to hear judgment
and a knife will flash in the knight.
6. Do not malign the lawful behavior of anyone, nor hide the
chaos of another. Remember that flatterers and deceivers will hasten death. The
inferior who lauds his superior face to face, may also cry out faults to his
own inferiors. From such people great civil disturbances arise.
7. Let every man have his own responsibility and let not his
responsibility be mixed with others. When there is a problem the fault will be
plain. Finding the right man for the right job is the most important task. Seek
the man to fill the office, and not the office for the sake of the man.
8. Let the superiors attend the Court early in the morning
and retire late. The business of governance cannot be neglected. If attendance
at Court is late, and if officials retire soon, the work cannot be completed.
9. Good faith is the foundation of right. If the superior
and the inferior observe good faith one with another, what is there which
cannot be accomplished? If the superior and the inferior do not observe good
faith towards one another, everything ends in failure.
10. Forget anger and irritation with the character of others.
Forget also resentment. All men have hearts, and each heart knows its own good
and evil. One’s good is another’s evil. How can anyone lay down a rule by which
to distinguish good from evil? So let each man follow his heart; and if it be
done lawfully, it is enough.
11. Do not neglect reward and punishment. Give to each what
they are surely due. Let that be your paramount task.
12. Each inferior must pay taxes to their superior. In this
way, all will have but one levy to pay. Let no one presume to collect twice
from the same person.
13. To rise in superiority, let each man turn away from what
is private and set their face toward what is public. If a man is influenced by
private motives, he will breed resentment. When resentment arises, it
interferes with order, and is subversive of law.
14. The people must be employed in forced labor when it is
proper. This is an ancient and excellent rule. Let them be employed thus only
in the winter months, when they are at leisure. But from Spring to Autumn, when
they are engaged in agriculture, the people should not be so employed. For if
they do not attend to agriculture, what will they have to eat? How will the
superior realize taxes.
15. Decisions on important matters should not be made by one
person alone. They should be discussed with many. But small matters are of less
consequence. It is unnecessary to consult a number of people. It is only in the
case of the discussion of weighty affairs, when there is a suspicion that they
may miscarry, that one should arrange matters in concert with others, so as to
arrive at the right conclusion.
