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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ry" data-source="post: 3593721" data-attributes="member: 8314">This is going to create more questions than it answers, but rather than continue with the deluge I think I'll let you read this and illuminate more with your questions:The Days are actually a series of civil wars, with the object being not only dominance, but the completion of the Thrice Coronation as well (the Thrice Coronation is a kind of imperial pilgrimmage that must be completed before the emperor is crowned).  Zeium Dalat is, as was said, a vast and multi-ethnic empire, normally stitched together by a common acceptance of a cross-cultural caste system (Zalai) that determines a hierarchy of respect and politesse in all corners of the empire.  This hierarchy commanded courtesy in different degrees, even between such stranger as Oji shamans, Pon Warlocks, Nubal merchant-princes, and Kittsan freemen.  Moreover, Zalai placed rights and obligations on the many castes, from slave to Emperor - these rights, enshrined in Dalati law, had preserved the Empire through sixty generations.But rivalries between the groups, and within the imperial cities, had gone unchecked by generations of inept and careless Emperors.  Zalai itself was eroded by their decrees, and factions began to plot both near and far from the Emperor's throne at Padalat. Thus, it was inevitable that a struggle for imperial succession would flare outward.  The death of Emperor Iparn IV Dalat left behind eleven sons, the eldest Iparn V.  But most of the sons had been raised apart, exchanged with distant province-kings and raised among far-off people.  Meanwhile, Abish, a bastard heir disowned by Iparn IV, had secured the allegiance of the Jemesh (warlock) and Maiic (warrior) Imperial Guards.  Before long, both the Heart-city (Dalat) and capital (Padalat) were in flames, and two Aspirant emperors became four, then eight, then five, then two, then seven, as armies from every corner of the empire were recalled only to lay siege to the capitals.  By this point, the entire Empire was in chaos, with some provinces marshalling their forces to dominate the Empire, others withdrawing in an attempt to avoid the conflict by establishing some autonomy, and the best-off simply not having any Empire to answer to.  Sensing weakness, barbarians of the Wastes struck from the empires edges, sometimes even carving out fiefdems of their own from Imperial soil.  In the furthest provinces, forced conscription made a mockery of once-disciplined armies, and in the absence of leadership, trade, and prosperity, they often turned on the people they were created to protect.Thus, the first three decades of the Days of Madness were filled with senseless violence, and short-lived victories.By the 51st year of the Days, Aspirant Yushia Dalat-Ma, the "Witch-Empress", secured Padalat (the modern capital) while Dalat Yur (the traditional capital) dissolved into anarchy.  Over the next twenty-five years the Empire was again, largely subjugated or bribed back into coherent form.  The land of Kitts in the east remained intractable, denying that they need answer to any Aspirant, and Aspirant Prince Wesh of Nubal tenaciously held to his lands on the southern continent.  Aspirant Yushia, becoming more and more secure in her political power, and possessing the allegiance of formidable spirits, began the Thrice Coronation to become Empress.  In the 79th year of the Days, having completed two of the three Coronations, Yushia was planning her ascent to petition the Dragon of Te Zeium, Yusal, for that final coronation.  She was slain by an unknown assailant within yards of taking her first step upon the Path of the Dragon.</blockquote>

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