The Unholy Consult (Aspect-Emperor #4)

A?rsi—A lost nation of the Ancient North. A?rsi was founded in the 1556 partitioning of Greater K?niüri between the sons of Anas?rimbor Nanor-Ukkerja I at his death. Even contemporaries recognized A?rsi as the most warlike of the ancient Norsirai nations, though her ambitions remained uniquely defensive rather than expansionist. Sparsely populated save for the regions surrounding her capital, Shiarau, A?rsi faced considerable and unrelenting pressure from the Sranc and Bashrag tribes of the Yimaleti Mountains to the north, not to mention the Consult legions of Golgotterath across the River Sursa to the west—a challenge that would spur the construction of Dagliash, the greatest fortress of the age. It is no accident that the word sursa came to mean “front line” across the Ancient North.

A?rsi’s history is one of ingenuity and determination in the face of never-ending crises. Perhaps it is fitting that her destruction in 2136 (see Apocalypse) was due more to the betrayal of her southern K?niüric cousins than to any real failure on the part of Anas?rimbor Nimeric, her final King.

Aparvishi—Fortress protecting the Invittal, the great belt of cultivation feeding Invishi.

Apiary—The highest halls of Ishterebinth, the only enjoying sunlight, though at the price of wasted air and deep chill.

Apocalypse—System Initiation. The protracted wars and atrocities that obliterated the Ancient North. The roots of the Apocalypse are many and deep. Mandate scholars (who, popular opinion to the contrary, are not the recognized authorities on the subject) argue that they are older than recorded history. More sober accounts reach back no further than the so-called Nonman Tutelage, which eventually led the Gnostic School of Mangaecca to the site of the Inc?-Holoinas, the Ark-of-the-Skies, where it lay protected, hidden by Nonmen glamours in the shadow of the western Yimaleti Mountains. Accounts are incomplete, but it seems clear that what were called the Great Sranc Wars were a consequence of the Mangaecca occupation of what would come to be called Golgotterath.

Traditionally, scholars date the beginning of the Apocalypse with Anas?rimbor Celmomas’s call for a holy war against Golgotterath, his Great Ordeal, which is to say, with the beginning of the accounts found in The Sagas, the primary historical source text for this cataclysmic event. Legend has it that Nonmen Siqu informed the Grandmaster of the Sohonc (the pre-eminent Sauglish School) that the Mangaecca, or Consult as they had come to be called, had uncovered lost Inchoroi secrets that would lead to the world’s destruction. Seswatha in turn convinced Celmomas to declare war on Golgotterath in 2123.

There has been much debate regarding the next twenty years, and much criticism of the pride and bickering that would eventually destroy the Ordeal. What most fail to realize is that the threat facing the High Norsirai of K?niüri and A?rsi at this time was entirely hypothetical. In fact, it is surprising that Celmomas was able to hold his coalition, which included Nonmen as well as token contingents of Kyraneans, together for as long as he did.

The first great battle, fought in 2124 on the Plains of Agongorea, was indecisive. Celmomas and his allies wintered in Dagliash and forded the River Sursa the following spring, catching their foe unawares. The Consult withdrew to Golgotterath, and so began what would be called the Great Investiture. For six years the Ordeal attempted to starve the Consult into submission, to no avail. Every assault proved disastrous. Then, in 2131, after a dispute with King Nimeric of A?rsi, Celmomas himself abandoned his own Holy War. The following year disaster struck. Consult legions, apparently utilizing a vast subterranean network of tunnels, appeared in the Ring Mountains to the rear of the Ordeal. The coalition host was all but destroyed. Embittered by the loss of his sons, Nil’giccas, the Nonman King of Ishterebinth, withdrew altogether, leaving the A?rsi to war alone.

The following years witnessed a string of further disasters. In 2133 the A?rsi were defeated at the Passes of Amnerlot, and Dagliash was lost soon after. King Nimeric withdrew to his capital of Shiarau. A year passed before Celmomas acknowledged his folly and mobilized to relieve him. By then it was too late. In 2135, Nimeric was mortally wounded in the Battle of Hamuir, and Shiarau fell to the Consult legions the following spring. The A?rsic House of Anas?rimbor had perished forever.

Now it was K?niüri that stood alone. His credibility destroyed, Celmomas was unable to rally any allies, and for a time the situation seemed bleak. But in 2137 his youngest son, NauCay?ti, managed to rout the Consult at the Battle of Ossirish, where he earned the name Murswagga, or “Dragonslayer,” for killing Tanhafut the Red. His next victory, within sight of Shiarau’s ruins, was more complete still. The Consult’s remaining Sranc and Bashrag fled across the River Sursa. In 2139 the young Prince besieged and recaptured Dagliash, then launched several spectacular raids across the Plains of Agongorea.

Then, in 2140, NauCay?ti’s beloved concubine, Aulisi, was abducted by Sranc marauders and taken to Golgotterath. According to The Sagas, Seswatha was able to convince the Prince (who was once his student) that she could be rescued from the Inc?-Holoinas, and the two of them embarked on an expedition that is almost certainly apocryphal. Mandate commentators dispute the account found in The Sagas, where they successfully return with both Aulisi and the Heron Spear, claiming that Aulisi in fact was never found. Whatever happened, at least two things are certain: the Heron Spear was recovered, and NauCay?ti died shortly after (apparently poisoned by his first wife, I?va).

In 2141, the Consult returned to the offensive, wrongly thinking the K?niüri crippled by the loss of their greatest and most beloved son. But NauCay?ti’s mead-brothers proved themselves able, even brilliant, commanders. At the Battle of Skothera, the Sranc hordes were crushed by General En-Kaujalau, though he died of mysterious causes within weeks of this victory (according to The Sagas, he was another victim of I?va and her poisons, but again this is disputed by Mandate scholars). In 2142, General Sag-Marmau inflicted yet another crushing defeat on Aurang and his Consult legions, and by the fall of that year he had hounded the remnant of their horde to the Gates of Golgotterath itself.

But the Second Great Investiture proved far shorter than the first. As Seswatha had feared, the Consult had been merely playing for time, nothing more. In the spring of 2143 the No-God, summoned by means unknown, first drew breath. Across the world, Sranc, Bashrag, and Wracu—all the obscene progeny of the Inchoroi—hearkened to his call. Sag-Marmau and the greater glory of K?niüri were annihilated.

The effect of His coming cannot be overestimated. As numerous independent accounts attest, all Men could sense his dread presence on the horizon, and all infants were born dead. Anas?rimbor Celmomas II had little difficulty gathering support for his Second Ordeal. Nil’giccas and Celmomas were reconciled. Across E?rwa, hosts of Men began marching toward K?niüri.

But it was too late.

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