and a horde of merchant vessels hovered in the bay, awaiting the
opening of the gates. There is, it may be observed at this point,
something decidedly unhealthy in the Tolnedran character. While he is
normally a solid, sensible man, the average Tolnedran grows positively
frantic when his impulse to trade is frustrated. There have been
occasions when Imperial forces have been used to open relations with
stubborn people, and it has been observed that some merchants, driven
beyond sanity by their eagerness to be first, have actually dashed ahead
of the forefront of the legions waving their wares and importuning the
startled opposing warriors. This impulse ‘ this greed, if you will – is what
raised the disaster at Riva to such colossal proportions.
At the first assault of the legions upon the gates of the city, the
Rivans emerged and systematically destroyed not only the five legions,
but every vessel in the harbor as well. The loss of life and goods was
incalculable.
When the news was brought to Ran Borune XXIV in Tol Honeth, the
last Borune Emperor, in a fury prepared to launch the full might of the
Empire against the Rivans. He was, however, brought abruptly to his
senses by a curtly-worded note from the Cherek ambassador.
‘Majesty” it read.
‘Know that Aloria will permit no attack upon Riva. The fleets of
Cherek, whose masts rise as thick as the trees of the forest, will fall
upon your flotilla, and the legions of Tolnedra will feed the fish from the
hook of Arendia to the furthest reaches of the Sea of the Winds. The
battalions of Drasnia will march south, crushing all in their paths and lay
siege to your cities. The horsemen of Algaria shall sweep across the
mountains and shall lay waste your Empire from end to end with fire
and sword.
‘Know that in the day that you attack Riva, in that day will the Alorns
make war upon you, and you shall surely perish, and your Empire also.’
Shaken by the awful finality of the note, Ran Borune reconsidered. A
hasty reading of the document which had laid down the stipulations of
the Accords of Val Alorn revealed a clause which had previously
seemed mere ritualistic gibberish, but the import of which now became
horrifyingly clear. The clause, ‘but Aloria shall maintain Riva and keep it
whole’, revealed the fact that the Alorn Kingdoms were bound into a
kind of confederation or Over-nation. Thus, a treaty with Cherek was
not a treaty with Aloria; and while Cherek had agreed not to make war
on Tolnedra, Aloria had made no such promise. With difficulty the
legions might successfully pursue war against any one of the Alorn
Kingdoms, but if those kingdoms joined together, they would be
invincible.
Thus it was that the project of a punitive expedition against the
Rivans was quickly dropped.
In time the Rivans relented and permitted the construction of a
commercial enclave outside the walls of their city, and, though they
grumbled about it, the merchants of the west were forced to be
content with that single concession.
Thus the FIRST BORUNE DYNASTY drew to a close. Its
accomPlishments were literally staggering, and, though it ended on a
somewhat humiliating note, it is nonetheless one of the most towering
Dynasties in the entire history of the Empire.
THE THIRD HONETHITE DYNASTY
3155-3497 (342 years, 17 Emperors)
The scramble for the Throne at the end of the FIRST BORUNE
DYNASTY marked the nadir of Tolnedran politics. Simple bribery
was no longer sufficient, and the contending candidates openly
purchased the votes of the Council. Further, it is widely suspected
(and generally held to be true) that they even stooped to
assassination as a means of achieving their goal. The votes in the Council
swung back and forth as members whose votes had been purchased
by one or the other of the candidates sickened quite suddenly and
died for no apparent reason and their replacements were
shamelessly bought as soon as they reached Tol Honeth. The introduction
of Nyissan poisons into Tolnedran politics was gruesomely evident.
In the end, the Honethites prevailed – not through any particular
virtue, but rather because they were the wealthiest family and could
afford to buy more votes.
Perhaps the most telling indication of how incompetent the
Honethites had become is revealed in the fact that during the entire
period of the THIRD HONETHITE DYNASTY there was not one
single treaty or agreement with a foreign power to improve the
position of the Empire. Indeed, in view of the Northern Accords
between Drasnia and Gar og Nadrak which established the North
Caravan Route with a virtual Drasnian monopoly at its western
terminus, it might be convincingly argued that the position of the
Empire actually deteriorated during the reign of the Dynasty.
Instead of devoting themselves to foreign affairs and the
improvement of domestic conditions in Tolnedra as had the Borune Emperors,
the Honethites instead turned to shamelessly looting the Imperial
Treasury and to selling positions of power to the highest bidder.
Abroad, the Arendish Civil War ground on interminably, and
negotiations with Drasnia and Algaria proceeded at a snail’s pace,
due in large measure to the unbridled greed of a long succession of
Honethite Emperors who inevitably sought personal advantage in
any treaty proposal.
THE SECOND BORUNE DYNASTY 3497-3761
(264 years, 12 Emperors)
Thus, when Ran Honeth XVii died childless in 3497, the people of
Tolnedra turned almost universally to the Borunes. When certain
Council members, recalling the vast fortunes which had been made
during the unseemly struggle that had accompanied the previous
Dynastic turnover, advertised that their votes were for sale, they
were promptly mobbed by the citizenry of Tol Honeth itself.
A vast rabble gathered outside the Council chamber and took up
a thunderous chant, ‘Bor-une, Bor-une, Bor-une,’ which gave the
Council a grim hint as to what would be its fate if any other name
were carried to the Temple of Nedra. It was the first time in history
that the common people had ever taken an active part in the
selection of an Emperor.
True to their reputations, the Borunes immediately set about
repairing the damage which had been done by the Honethites. Once again
the legions were put to work on roads and walls and upon
long overdue repairs to wharves, jetties and dikes. The usual grumbling
came to an abrupt halt when seven legion commanders were
summarily executed for refusing to obey direct Imperial orders to
move out of their garrisons to the construction camps.
Abroad, the Borunes brought the negotiations with the Drasnians
to a speedy conclusion, and the Agreement of Boktor was signed in
3527. Though it did not provide the advantage many had wished, it
nonetheless gave Tolnedran Merchants access to the thriving
northern trade.
In a move unheard of previously, the Borunes dispatched twenty
legions to Sendaria to construct ‘as a gesture of goodwill’ the
network of highways which linked Sendar and Camaar with Darine
on the northeast coast which faces on the Gulf of Cherek. This action
produced glum faces in Val Alorn, but the King of Cherek (which
country nominally held Sendaria at that time) quickly perceived that
the improvements in Sendaria would enormously increase the
taxbase in that district at no cost to the Cherek treasury. The legion-built
highways effectively broke the Cherek monopoly in the transport of
goods from Boktor to Camaar. The fact that Cherek vessels were the
only ships in the world at that time able to negotiate the savage and
treacherous currents of the Cherek Bore was no longer the
dominating reality of the northern trade. It was now possible for Sendarian
merchantmen to ply the coastal route from Kotu to Darine and then
to transship overland to Camaar on the new highway. The increase
in trade and the lowering of prices resulting from the development
of healthy competition gave an enormous boost to.the economies of
all nations involved.
THE FIRST HORBITE DYNASTY 3761-3911
(150 years, 6 Emperors)
It is a tribute to the wisdom of the aged Ran Borune XII, the childless
last Emperor of the SECOND BORUNE DYNASTY, that the
transition of power to the Horbites at the end of his reign was so smooth.
Always innovators, the Borunes for the first time took a direct hand
in the choosing of their successors. The name of Ran Horb I was
carried to the Temple before the old Emperor died. Although once
again certain members of the Council bewailed the loss of an
opportunity to sell their votes, Ran Borune XII was so beloved by the
people that none dared oppose him. Thus, in no small measure,
we have the Borunes to thank for perhaps the greatest Emperor
Tolnedra has ever had.
While Ran Horb I was surely a competent and vigorous Emperor
in the manner of the Borunes, it was his son, Ran Horb II, whose
accomplishments stagger the imagination. Because Ran Horb I
married late in life, Ran Horb II was a mere seventeen when he