@part(realm_history, root = "/mit/abstract/Characters/sheet.format")

@section(A brief overview of the history of the Realm.)

@subsection(The Church of the Trinity and the Holy Wars)

Realm history begins with the establishment of the Church of the
Trinity, which was begun 940 years ago through the cooperation of
priests of the Three Gods.  Before that time the land was filled with
individual tribes, each with their own leaders and shamen, constantly
fighting and competing.  The priests, together with their loyal
followers, converted a great many of the chieftains and shaman of the
tribes to their united cause, forging a single theocratic political
force that became known as the United Realm.  (This turning point in
history has been chosen as the point from which years are numbered.)

The reign of the theocracy came to an end in the year 440 UR, the Year
of Light.  It was then that the balance between the Great Opposites
shifted, and the White Priests of Tualoha gained great power, as did
their corps of Paladine, their holy warriors.  But the servants of the
Destroyer and the Sustainer feared this power, and struggled against
the Creator's forces.  Thus began the Holy Wars, between the Gods and
also between their mortal servants.

The Holy Wars ended in an unexpected manner.  The servants of Chthon
and Gaea, brought together by a common enemy, were evenly matched with
the servants of Tualoha; none could defeat the other.  But forgotten
in these battles were the uninitiated, the peasants, who grew
disenchanted with the Church as it drained more and more from them to
fight its own battles.  Dissent grew into revolt, and in that cauldron
was born the Godstalker, first of the mages of the Realm.  In the
embers of the Church of the Trinity was forged the Wizard's Conclave,
the keepers of the Orb of Nairaphi from which they draw their powers;
from the mass of the fighting men was raised Rashid the First, crowned
King of the Realm.  The fighting men themselves became the core of the
Knights of the Crown(now defunct), and the leaders of the Conclave
pledged their fealty to the king -- but they kept their secrets as
well.  To this day, the Wizard's Conclave remains an exclusive
organizations of wizards, serving the Realm but remaining independant.

@subsection(The Eastern Lands)

Rashid proved to be a capable ruler, and his descendants brought the
Realm into an age of expansion and growth that lasted over four
centuries. Thirty-five years ago, in the year 905, this growth was
responsible for the discovery of the Eastern lands, and a tribe of
near-humans who had been completely separated from the Realm by a
chain of almost- impassable mountains.

The Easterners (or the Clansmen, as they refer to themselves),
isolated from Realm civilization, had established a society of their
own.  They had no magic, and their eyes were strange and metallic, but
otherwise they appeared very much like humans, and the Realm would
have been happy to greet them and share with them our knowledge.
Instead, due to the treachery of a Knight of the Crown named Lord
Soeth our first encounter with them led to an unnecessary war: Soeth
accused the Easterners of having ambushed his party when it was he
himself who had slaughtered them.  (This duplicity was discovered
approximately a year later by the heroic band of adventurers known as
the Horsemen).  Although King Rashid XIII tried to make amends when he
declared the war over, the Clansmen refused to listen or to accept
reparations -- they remained on their own lands and refused entry to
Realm Citizens, preventing all trade and relations for nearly three
decades.

@subsection(The Chaos Years and the Peers of the Realm)

The Wizard's Conclave consists of three Orders: the Spear, which
studies the uses of magic as a weapon; the Shield, which studies magic
for defense; and the Scales, which studies magic for acquiring
information.  Approximately 20 years ago a fourth Order developed, a
secret Order of the Sceptre, dedicated to the study of magic for
conquest and rulership.  The Sceptre infiltrated the Conclave and the
Palace of Rashid, and through treachery and magic initiated a war
between Rashid's Knights of the Crown and the mages of the Conclave.
This is officially known as the War of the Sceptre, but those who
remember it know it as the Chaos Years.

The Chaos Years nearly disintegrated the Realm, and succeeded in
destroying the monarchy that had lasted 400 years; the war was ended
when the Heirophant of the Conclave and his Council of Magi severed
links between the members of the Sceptre and the Orb of Nairaphi, but
not before King Rashid had been slain by the Knights of the Crown
themselves!  

In the aftermath of the regicide, confusion abounded.  Some said the
King had been ensorcelled by the Sceptre, others that the Knights had
been infiltrated, yet others insinuated that the Sceptre itself was in
the employ of rival factions within the Royal Family.  Suspicion and
distrust between brothers and neighbors threatened to do what two
civil wars had failed to do, topple the government of the Realm.

In the wake of the Chaos Years, the monarchy was disbanded and a Table
of Peers was established as equal co-rulers of the Realm.  The Peers
were chosen from those of Rashid's cabinet who had distinguished
themselves during the war: Mahalael Micah, Arpachshad Seth and Malianu
Kiera (a controversial move; Kiera had been married to Zannanim
Benjamin, a warrior who had been accused of treason during the wars
against the East and had mysteriously vanished) were chosen as
political appointees.  A fourth seat at the Table was filled by
Joachim Hess, a representative of the House of Guilds.  The Knights of
the Crown were disbanded and replaced by the Guard of the Realm, a
police/military force whose magical Badges would darken if ever they
broke the laws they were sworn to maintain, and the Justiciar of the
Guard, Jannis Eliahu, was given the fifth seat at the Table.

@subsection(The Reconstruction and Eastern War)

Although at first the Table and the Guard were emergency measures,
they have proved to be a functional government and law enforcement
system.  Even without the help of the Wizard's Conclave (whose
connections to the government have become rather more tenuous since
the Sceptre incident), they successfully maintained law and order in
the Realm during the following decade -- those who remember the Chaos
Years remember the torturous climb back to a functioning civilization.

During these years the Eastern race was, if not forgotten, at least
ignored in favor of more important concerns, so it came as a surprise
when in the year 933 UR an ambassador from the East requested a
meeting between King Rashid and their Senator Prime, Lance Bluemist.
After a good deal of suspicion and some explanations, the Eastern
messenger returned to his own lands, and approximately seven years ago
the Easterners opened their borders.

At first, there was little traffic between the two nations, as
tensions arose over numerous factors.  One of the major areas of
friction turned out to be magic; the Easterners had some kind of
superstitious fear of it and were highly disturbed by the use of it in
the Realm.  Conversely, humans who went into the Eastern lands found
much of it rather primitive -- communication and transport were
accomplished by use of trained animals, who were also used for various
kinds of heavy lifting, and the Easterners were ill-disposed to
human attempts to improve their lot.   Still, some basis for trade and
commerce was established, and the two nations began to exchange goods
and services.

All of this ended in the year 935, when two years of peaceful
relations were shattered by a sneak attack on the Realm's easternmost
villages by Eastern troops, and a team of miners working in the East
were slaughtered.  Thus began the Eastern War.  At first the
Easterners were quickly repelled; without magic of their own they were
unable to stand up against the military applications of the Wizard's
Conclave.  After a few months, however, they began to take and hold
towns along the border, and the war turned bloody.

Over the last five years, the assassinations of several important
Realm officials, including the previous Justiciar, indicating that the
Easterners have had operatives within the Realm as well as access to
magic.  For this reason, the Internal Security Act was recently
passed, giving Guards of the Realm the authority to arrest Easterners
and halfbreeds living in the Realm on suspicion of illegal activity,
thus preventing them from any further treasonous acts.

Perhaps this week, an ending can be written to this bloody chapter in
Realm history.  The Committee on East-Realm Cooperative Endeavors, a
group of political activists numbering both Citizens and Easterners
among its members, has arranged not only for a cease-fire, but a peace
summit on neutral territory -- the legendary Castle in the Sky.