Development Sneak Peek: Crowns of Old, Part III

Hey all, hope your week is going well so far!! Sorry for the late upload, it honestly completely slipped my mind haha.

We're back to more lore about past Crowns, ones that won't feature heavily in the story but might still be cool to know about to understand Arsur's history better. These are always fun to write up!! If you haven't read the past few posts linked below, I would definitely recommend doing that as well.

Part I / Part II

The next two Crowns here are... hmm. Let's just say Clown instead of Crown might be more accurate.

The Fourth Crown: Medya the Would-Be Priest
When Medya was chosen as the successor, he was recruited from a family of priests, as his epithet eventually came to reflect. He was a Crown that let religious principles guide him in all matters, often spending days at a time in seclusion for meditation and prayer.

His family was part of a sect of worshipers devoted to Apas, the Major Spirit of the Waters. Crown Medya, following its teachings, was a ruler known for long periods of reflection before making decisions. It made him prone to indecisiveness, and overly dependent on the advice of priests.

In fact, during his rule, he instated a special Office of Rituals and appointed a favored high priest, Lady Avjin, at its head. Usually spiritual advice is given by the Wisdom of the Crown who will deliberate with both spiritual and secular experts in order to give many possible perspectives on an issue, but Crown Medya changed this dynamic. It was a controversial decision. Many praised him for prioritizing spiritual traditions, but just as many criticized him for elevating only certain traditions over others and forcing them upon the whole of the population. Some considered it to be in direct conflict with Ashadūna's aspirations to create a unified, but multicultural, empire.

Conflict continued to grow between various factions. Even the nobility, who first sought to take advantage of Medya's strict adherence to religious rituals, became aggravated at the Crown's insistence on involving his spiritual beliefs in every facet of his governance. Being chosen as the Crown likely had turned his previous, relatively normal devotion, into an almost feverish obsession for the spirits. This only became worse as time went on.

Soon, he named the high priest that he had previously appointed as Minister to the position of the Crown's Sorcerer. This was unprecedented. While a high priest could technically qualify, since priests are required to be trained as magi first, it was understood that the Sorcerer should prioritize magic, not spiritual guidance. Medya soon started to leave all matters of governance to his Sorcerer, preferring instead to pray and partake in religious ceremony.

Ironically, Lady Avjin was much more inclined towards governance than the Crown. While the public was still greatly dissatisfied with the situation, she managed to assuage the nobility merely by her willingness to bargain with them, whereas Medya had drawn a hard line in the sand before. While Lady Avjin essentially ruled, Crown Medya was rarely seen up until his death.

Long after Medya's rule, Crown Keybanû would abolish the Office of Rituals.

The Fifth Crown: Koban the Impotent Sword
Crown Koban was an ardent admirer of Crown Humati, who was seen as an exemplary ruler where her military victories were concerned. Koban, on their part, was rather brash in comparison. While an effective military leader, they lacked in other areas of governance: their first solution typically tended to be to use the Imperial Army, where other avenues would have sufficed.

While their aggressive temperament proved useful in warding off the invasion attempts from the Saca in the north, it made them terrible at diplomacy. Much of the conflicts with Thallos can, at least partly, be traced back to Crown Koban's reign. They would demean and insult other monarchs, boasting about Arsur's military power as often as they could. While the public and some of the nobility were fond of their theatrics, perhaps even encouraging of it, the merchant faction were their greatest critics. Especially in the province of Avdin, which is the main point of trade from and to Thalloi city-states, their rhetoric was less than appreciated.

While Thallos was not much of a threat during this period, things began to change when Koban started poking at Qathesh.

Even those who supported Koban's arrogance before quickly began to turn on them. It was clear to everyone that Arsur could not compare to Qathesh when the empire was still in its infancy, and furthermore, Qathesh was a much more vital trading partner as well as a direct neighbor compared to Thallos. Inciting a war with them was nothing less than foolishness--Koban likely knew this as well, but had grown so conceited they thought they could taunt them without repercussion.

Thankfully, the Pharaoh of Qathesh at the time, Masaharta, knew Crown Koban was all bark and no bite. Still, he could not let any insult stand. When Crown Koban celebrated their bonding to their promised one, the gift sent by the Pharaoh was a single sapling of a fig tree. It was widely understood as a reminder of Arsur's youth as well as its small size compared to Qathesh. Crown Koban was stated to have been humiliated and seething with anger at the condescension, not that they could do anything about it.

The double entendre of their epithet was given intentionally.

The Seventh Crown: Lorîcan the Bullheaded
Crown Lorîcan, as you can likely tell from her epithet, was known to be a very stubborn Crown. Many times unreasonably stubborn, with disastrous consequences as a result.

Once Lorîcan had made her mind up about something, it was impossible to tell her otherwise. She would argue experts who studied the subject matter for their entire lives, based solely on the fact that her authority was absolute, and being chosen as the Crown meant she would know what was best. Lorîcan's relationship with her Imperial Court, however, was not necessarily antagonistic. While the nobles were greatly annoyed by her at the start of her reign, they quickly learned that as long as they were the first to talk ideas into her head, it would be impossible for others to change her mind, and she would always end up in agreement with them.

If anything, this lead to great friction between her and her Sorcerer. Noble Zinar was immensely frustrated as the nobility got a hold of Lorîcan and began talking in her ear before her Sorcerer could advise her on anything. Soon, this began to lead to arguments between Lorîcan and Zinar. 

The boiling point came when a plague was spreading through the cities of Zerat. The advice from experts to burn dead bodies en mass was protested by the magi who did not want to risk themselves in the plague, and through the Imperial Court, they argued that burning the bodies would be in violation of many people's spiritual beliefs. In Arsur, dead bodies are most typically fed to carrion birds. While some groups do use funeral pyres, many believe burning or burying corpses would defile the sacred elements of earth and fire.

When Lorîcan accepted his judgment, neither Zinar or any of the others in court could tell her otherwise. Zinar finally lost their patience, and their argument with Lorîcan became so out of hand that at the end of it, the Crown ordered for her Sorcerer to be stripped of their position and imprisoned.

It is the great irony of Lorîcan's story that she, of course, eventually succumbed to the plague herself.

That was it for this week!! Suffice it to say not all Crowns in history made for good rulers. Some mismanaged Arsur out of malice, and others... out of outright incompetence lol. 

Let's hope the MC can do better than these predecessors 🤪