Darokin history
by Geoff GanderAaron wrote:
>My version of the Kingdom of Darokin was divided into Six Duchies -
>Darokin (the title of Duke of Darokin for most of the Kingdom being like
>the Prince of Wales in the UK - going to whoever the heir to the throne
>was), Malpheggi (Athenos and Tenobar, basically), Selenica, Amsorak
>(Akesoli and Akorros), Corunglain, and Cruth (the area between Alfheim
>and Karameikos).
This is very similar to my own ideas. Following the fall of Corunglain in AC 523, the king lost a great deal of credibility among the northern houses (after all, the Gaz states that it was a Corun who founded Corun's Glen way back when, and it was a Corun who led the fight to reclaim and rebuild it). No real mention of the king - I decided to have that signify that the king's aid was either too late, or ineffectual. In either case, the northerners began to turn away from their southern brethren at that time. Corun House began to rule Corunglain as a realm unto itself - first as a city-state, later as a full-fledged duchy.
By AC 650 (which, following the Gaz, was the time by which the king was largely ceremonial), almost all of the lands north of Ansimont paid little more than lip service to Darokin City, and some (such as Corunglain and Ardelphia) openly behaved as independent states. In this region, a number of realms arose:
| The Duchy of Corunglain | (proclaimed AC 628) |
| The Duchy of Ardelphia | (proclaimed AC 647, destroyed by humanoids AC 846) |
| The Duchy of Callair | (proclaimed AC 672, laid waste by humanoids AC 702, territory claimed by Corunglain AC 704) |
| The Kingdom of Daelbar | (proclaimed AC 669, nearly destroyed by orcs following Fall of Ardelphia, faded away by AC 875, territory claimed by Corunglain AC 891) |
A little further south, in the rich heartland of the Streel Valley, numerous would-be kings set up shop, eager to control the lucrative river trade and lumber industry, which still ran strong even during the most chaotic years. Due to its closer proximity to Darokin City, the king's writ (such as it was in the later days of the monarchy) did extend here, and so this region remained "loyal" for a longer period. However, by AC 650, it was clear to those in Darokin City that this region, too, would soon go the way of the northern lands. In this region the following realms arose:
| The Duchy of Favaro | (proclaimed AC 662, collapses in civil war AC 690, considered part of Streel Marches by AC 700) |
| Principality of Dirnath | (proclaimed AC 678, collapses AC 686, part of Streel Marches AC 690) |
| The Duchy of Rondeth | (proclaimed AC 685, despoiled by Red Duke of Irum AC 785, absorbed by Duchy of Amsorak AC 791) |
| Kingdom of Almarand | (proclaimed AC 699, conquered by Darokin AC 914) |
| Barony of Sashenta | (proclaimed AC 682, conquered by Duchy of Amsorak AC 756) |
| Duchy of Irum | (proclaimed AC 690, obliterated by Darokin-Almarand alliance AC 807) |
| Barony of Eraeda | (proclaimed AC 700, collapses AC 738, part of Streel Marches AC 740) |
| Barony of Nethlinn | (proclaimed AC 693, despoiled by Red Duke of Irum AC 791) |
...and of course, Amsorak and Darokin played important roles here, too.
Another lost element of Darokinian history is the following. I don't know when it would be placed, but logically it belongs to the time of the kingdom, preferably when it was ascendant:
In the east, I had the city-state of Salonikos persist as an enclave of Doulakki culture for several centuries, until it was conquered by an army of Ylari, who had been exiled from their homeland (this is before the time of Al-Kalim). Renaming the city "al-Zalenikah", the Ylari chief ruled it as a caliphate, creating a dynasty that lasted a couple of generations before one of the Daro kings (preferably a nastier one, as it would fit the storyline), in a fit of self-aggrandisement, attacked the caliphate, conquered it after a brutal siege, and proceeded to give his army free reign for a week. After humiliating the caliph publicly, the king had him beheaded, and had all of the resident Ylari enslaved. Some of them managed to flee to the hilly country to the north, and to this day, the country folk north of Selenica are noted for their slightly Ylari features, and for their dialect, which incorporates a number of Ylari words.
Tragically, the destruction of the caliphate brought to an end an enlightened realm, where astronomy, philosophy, and physics were pursued. Al-Zalenikah also boasted a library of considerable repute; scholars from Thyatis were known to have visited it on several occasions in order to consult the many ancient tomes and scrolls contained therein. It is said that some of those tomes dated from an ancient realm that none remember (Nithia, and some from Taymor), but few believe that any of those fabled books survived the conquest, for the king, in his fury and hatred, ordered the library to be burned. After the conquest, the king forbade the people of Selenica (as he named the city) to speak Ylari, upon penalty of death. Within three generations, the language was no longer heard on the streets, even in the darkest alleys.
Few Darokinians today are even aware that Selenica's history has such a dark chapter as this; nor are they aware that there was an Ylari presence that predated the arrival of House Al-Azrad. Some Ylari, however, do know, for some refugees from Al-Zalenikah made it back to what is now Ylaruam, and shared their tales of woe. Even to this day, some Ylari will spit, or utter the phrase, "a thousand curses upon his name" upon hearing the king's name uttered, to cleanse their spirits, and many of those same people will refuse to speak to Darokinians, or even acknowledge their presence, calling them "Defilers of Al-Zalenikah".