History of the Monralai Empire: 3457-3768 Hist 455 - 001

Prof. Lecunda Shuel

Oct 2- Oct 8 5769 CE:

Primary Documents

The mystery of Mariek Antreen’s death thickens as we examine the next two letters I have provided. Stevens himself seems to enjoy the company of the Queen Mother, Mariek Julee Katreen Da Kubek a little too much. Makes one wonder, doesn’t it. Then again, Stevens seems just tickled orange just to be in Ottawa. Notice how the letter makes note of Marg. This is the amazing things about these letters, two men, not only writing about the same circumstances, but about each other too. Truly amazing. Also notice, the use of the term ‘Cunning’ to describe various hucksters. Unlike our own country of Lanersheal, who drove out the so called Wickleird Nobility during the Secular Revolution, which occurred 150 years after these letters, the Empire and Clans remained lost in their superstitions. Indeed, Priests and Witches where maintained in the Clans up until the Destruction of the Clans.

Dear Wallace,

I am very pleased to hear you and yours are doing so well. Give my love to your family. And tell your wife that I very much enjoyed her biscuits she sent along. As for Mr. Allen’s problem, I suggest you look into Kelsers Ointment, apply it to the rash gently and it should clear up.

All is well here. I often take walks with the Queen Mother in the Gardens around the city. She is pleasant, sweet and a joy to be around. We talk on all things under the sun. I pity the poor woman; it is obvious she is neglected by her husband. I know I should not say such things, but I trust you enough not to report me to the authorities. One should not speak of the Emperor in such terms. However, it is God Jesus’ own truth, that woman is alone.

Certainly her step-daughter is no help. The Princess will hardly even say a word sidewise to her step-mother. But that doesn’t keep the young girl from going about town, saying what she may to whom she will. Her Highness his the newest social gem of the city. Theirs is hardly a party where she isn’t found expounding her views on all sorts of things.

No, do not mean me to say I think badly of her Imperial Highness. She is young and spirited, and youth leads to callousness, like the moon leads to the tide. But she cannot be blamed for this; she too has lived a lonely life, and to her, the Queen is just an interloper, a replacement for her dead mother. She is actually rather friendly to me; I actually thought, dear Wallace, that I would be the but of her jokes with her entourage, me being a small fellow who has never been burden by too beautiful a face. But she actually gives me kind words when she sees me.

I went out to cards with Craigson, and God Jesus, what a night. The Ambassador of the Clans and the Prime Minister, no less, where at this event. Who would have thought that paper we wrought would have carried me to the card table of such important men. We played Run Wild for a while, and his Excellency thought us a game he called ‘hawk’, which reminds me of Thieves’ Gambit. The Ambassador seems a little rude, he refers to men by the first name, even myself. And he gave me strange looks when I called him ‘Mr. OfAkusthan’, and asked me not to. When I asked why, he said his name wasn’t ‘OfAkusthan’, that his name was ‘Marg’ and that ‘OfAkusthan’ was the name of his clan. I said that in the East men where proud to be called by the names of their families[1], but he refused to hear of it. When prodded for details of the Clan Enclave just outside of the city market, he said that the local Catholic Priest and a Cunning Woman where fighting, causing much disturbances amongst the merchants of one clan which was noted for being very religious, and another, which was noted for being very devoted to the Cunning folk.

He may be rude, but at least he interesting.

Sincerely,

Roland Stevens

Marg seems to be quite offended with Stevens, although he does not mention Stevens by name. Notice how he complains loudly about misuse of his name. Notice too, the beginnings of the Enclave Riots. Violent Riots would sweep through the Clan Enclave as the members of Clan Akusthan and Clan Arthamas began to brawl. It would lead to serious restrictions placed on the Enclave, encouraged by Mariek Antreen, giving the Akusthan Merchants a powerful reason to want her dead.

To Valak OfArthamas, Head of the Council of Outlander Affairs, From Marg OfAkusthan, Ambassador to the Monralai Empire: Greetings.

There was a large conflict between Father Jon OfAkusthan and the witch Kera OfArthamas. The merchants are becoming agitated. Father Jon believes Kera is attempting to raise evil spirits in the Enclave. Kera claims Father Jon is conspiring with the East to wipe out the Arthamas[2]. Its all a bunch of rot, but Kera was selling poisons again, so she’s on shaky ground. [I ask you to] Send another priestess in Kera’s place, use some of your pull. Your message said you would be sending a gift along with another representative from the External Council. I do not need assistance. I certainly don’t need replacement. You know this! Sesa has sent a letter along with this one, testifying to my constant diligence. I know that you would not have sent a replacement voluntarily, so please use Sesa’s letter to influence the other Members of the External Council, and talk to your contacts on the High Councils.

This country is insane. Half of them seem to not know how to behave in public. The other half is too stupid to use the correct name. I have spent many hours in the presence of the Queen. She seems accommodating, but the emperor shows no interest in her, so I can see no way to influence her. And something is not right about her; She seems sweet, but there’s a oiliness to her. She asks many odd questions. She mentioned some things about purchasing mercenaries on behalf of the Empire. I told her that generally the clans do not make it a habit of selling themselves off to external powers. But still, it could be nothing. She talks about a great many strange things. She is friendly, that helps make the days pass less excruciatingly. I await your letter eagerly.

Keep Well

Marg

It is obvious that Marg does not trust Mariek Julee Katreen. But then again, Marg is not an agreeable person. It will become clear though, that Mariek Julee Katreen is not as innocent as Stevens would hope.

The Shael Connection:

Lanershael at this time was not the beacon of world peace and secular society that it is today. Rather then being ruled over by the Democratic Shaelraed, it was ruled by a council of powerful Wickleirds, who manipulated the masses with superstition and religious mumbo jumbo. Now with the advent of high technology, we can see how foolish we where. But still, we must recognize that our ancestors, as silly as they where, had a incredible effect on the history of the region, and the Empire is no different. While other peoples might look down upon the Shael, we know better.

Scaelin Win, Ambassador to the Monralai Empires, Monral,

I send you many greetings to you and your family. My the Gods smile upon you.

I came, to the city, and spoke, to the emperor, in his golden palace, in his splendor. He said he would consider to send to Lanershael two Legions, to defend us from the horrors of our enemies. I told him that the arrows of the Hannoshun to the northwest and the swords of the Nerk to the southeast, sting us daily. He said he would talk to the Hannoshun’s Liason to the empire, to speak of these grievous acts committed against Lanershael.

Shael merchants grow happy and fat on coins of the empire. Many say they fear the coming of her Imperial Highness Mariek Antreen to the throne. The Emperor grows very old. Soon her time shall come. She hates all who live outside of the Empire. All to her are barbarians. She will no longer welcome the Merchants of Lanershael. I shall seek out the Princess in Ottawa, and find her, speak to her, convince her that she is wrong.

to Pander Main, Wicklierd of Lanershael, Shaelam

Questions From Students:

How is it possible that all technology was lost from Post-Destruction Civilization? Didn’t the American Empire write books? Wasn’t the famed ‘internet’ designed to survive world wide disasters? How could everything disappeared?

-Kaisela Thane

Interesting Question. The truth of the matter is that the American Empire and all of the other nations where defeated by their own technological prowess. During the Reigns of Emperor Clinton, Bush II, Smith, Clinton II, and Kennedy II technology had expanded to such a degree that every single technological device was not only connected to the ‘internet’ but needed to be connected to the ‘internet’ to function. In this environment, a virus developed, which historians believe may have been created through a damaged military grade Hunter-Seeker AI program, which aggressively attacked all systems connected to the ‘internet’. Although we are in many ways technologically superior to the American Empire, we still do not understand how some elements of the ‘internet’ function, nor have we equaled the American Empire in data management or Artificial Intelligence, so we cannot be sure as to what exactly happened. The Virus attacked vital military, infrastructure and medical facilities. Nuclear missile silos and nuclear plants self destructed. Disease Control Centers lost their safety protocols and released several deadly plagues on earth. Planes fell from the sky. Guns, cars, computers, toasters, all of them stopped working. Entire libraries of information, which had long been switched from paper to electronic storage, disappeared. Untold billions died because of radioactive poisoning and disease, and when the dust settled, nobody had the knowledge to rebuild the advance technology of the old era. Without their toys, many more people died of exposure. Much of that history has been lost to lore, but estimates seem to indicate that between 70-90% of the earths several billion people died. Now we are protected by multiple stand alone systems and bio-reactive firewalls, but during Pax Americana nobody could conceive that such destruction could have ever happened.

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[1] Stevens mistakes the term ‘clan’ for meaning ‘family’. In Marg’s culture, a clan is a family in the roughest sense of the word; many generations separate him and his clanmates from their ancestor, Augustine Of James Fraser.

[2] Members of Clan Arthamas. Note each clansmen carries a clan name; “OfAkusthan” shows membership in Clan Akusthan.