Toluca (to-LU-ca)
The city of Toluca is not supposed to exist. It was never supposed to exist, in the eyes of the Federal government, and it especially wasn't supposed to have kept on existing after the Federal Army razed the city to the ground in Nightwinter of 322 YC. But Toluca, much like the people that call it home, has shown itself to have an uncanny ability to stick around.
Today's Toluca is not what it used to be. But the story of Toluca is one of rebirth, not decline, and it is a story that is far from over, and unlike many of its kind, it is a continuous and well-documented story. Most cities whose histories were shaped by the Ceth Tseket have neither written records nor anyone around to tell their stories anymore. But Toluca, simply in virtue of its continuous inhabitance, stands against that pattern: its people know what happened to their homeland. Now, the city is finally getting its day in the sun, as under the patient ambition of its queen, Toluca has become the capital of an unrecognized state, fighting for and finding a place outside of the grip of the Circle of Nine.
As the discovery of arcane magic changed the course of the empire, Toluca's path began to diverge. An old and much-beloved queen, Ixtli III, the Seer Queen of Toluca, spent the last ten years of her reign plagued by visions of an apocalypse brought about by the empire's arcane magic. Out of fear of what she saw and hope for a better future, the Seer Queen told her people of her visions and had them documented on megaliths in a temple to the Serpent of the Night. When, in mid-3300 YW, most of the major cities of the Ceth Tseket began programs to explore and study the Myth and the Otherworld, Toluca was not among them. Though plenty were disgruntled by their queen's demand that the people of the city abstain from the empire's new enterprise, there were enough citizens that trusted their monarch to keep Toluca on the Seer Queen's chosen course. Arcanists still lived and dwelt in Toluca. But the city, overall, kept far from the cutting edge. And though, over the next millennium, the rulers to come would waver in their stance, the city held on for long enough to see the fruits of the Seer Queen's judgment.
When the Ceth Tseket fell to the Other in 2250 YW, Toluca did not fall with it. After having witnessed the degradation and decadence of the people around them over centuries, Toluca had turned insular and cloistered. Ultimately, that was their salvation, for the people of Toluca kept on living.
For the next couple millennia, occasional regional skirmishes brought Toluca into conflict with the people that moved into the void left by the Ceth Tseket, but the Tolucan people largely remained in isolation. Superstitions about Tseketon territory kept others from the fertile lands on which Toluca stood. When the Circle of Nine rose to global power, the Tolucan people hardly noticed. By that point, they were a people entirely unique: the inheritors of the Xalotl Tseketon legacy, a culture frozen in time.
From 33 YW to 322 YC, a few attempts were made to engage with the new national power that had subsumed the area around Toluca: the Federation of Vay. The first ended in intimidation, the second in the death of a king—Tlohui VII, the Martyred King of Toluca—and the third in devastation. In that final incident, the attempt of Valissia, the Witch-Queen of Toluca, to meet diplomatically with the rulers of Cethandir was met first with interest but then with war. When the Federal Military came rolling into the city on the 25th of Nightwinter, 322 YC, the long-idle Tolucan military held them off, but only at the greatest of costs. The Federal army left, and many Tolucans survived, but Toluca was completely and utterly destroyed.
To this day, the ruins of Old Toluca stand, sacred and cursed, on the land between the rivers. The rivers have narrowed, and the land has dried out, and the architectural marvels of Old Toluca have crumbled.
Rebuilding Toluca was difficult, and to attempt to rebuild the thousands of years of history running through the old city's veins would be impossible. But New Toluca was built, and the people of Toluca found peace again in isolation, far from the site where so many of their community members had been slaughtered as recompense for the crime of proving that the remaining Tseketon people still considered themselves part of a sovereign nation. Once again, Toluca turned inward. Over the next four hundred years, Toluca found peace, if not normalcy. The Tolucan people moved on from what the Federation did to them, but by no means have they forgotten.
After the Federal Army left, Valissia made a bold move. She marched her army to Caelus and offered to use that army to do what the Federal government failed even to meaningfully attempt in the last three years: rebuilding Severing-shattered Caelus. The government of Caelus deliberated for a day, then swore fealty to her in exchange for her aid. Caelus officially seceded from the Federation and joined what Valissia would come to call New Xalotl on the 20th of Dawning, 717. In the past month, Valissia's army has arranged for decontamination and rebuilding of nearly 30% of the urban center of Caelus. Now, as New Xalotl grows into something of a sister state to the Federation, a member of the Tolucan royal court sits on the the New Federal Committee as a representative of New Xalotl.
So it was that Toluca became more than a forgotten city that had long outlived its empire: as the capital of New Xalotl, it has become the heart of a thriving separatist state.
Today's Toluca is not what it used to be. But the story of Toluca is one of rebirth, not decline, and it is a story that is far from over, and unlike many of its kind, it is a continuous and well-documented story. Most cities whose histories were shaped by the Ceth Tseket have neither written records nor anyone around to tell their stories anymore. But Toluca, simply in virtue of its continuous inhabitance, stands against that pattern: its people know what happened to their homeland. Now, the city is finally getting its day in the sun, as under the patient ambition of its queen, Toluca has become the capital of an unrecognized state, fighting for and finding a place outside of the grip of the Circle of Nine.
The Old City
Toluca has deep roots: it was a time-worn city even when the the Ceth Tseket rose to power in the early years of the 4th millennium YW. It may well have been one of Aotra's first major cities. In those early days, it was a flourishing trade city, reaping the rewards of its place among the fertile lands between the Erom and Ssansa rivers. When a crisis of succession struck the Tolucan ruling family in 3913 YW, the Ceth Tseket swooped in. The addition of Toluca to the empire was peaceable: Toluca received a coveted and powerful role as a trading hub for the empire, and the emperor handpicked an up-and-coming diplomat descended from a Tolucan ruling family to install on the city's throne. This man was Izuma Xalotl, the First Serpent King of Toluca, and he would go on to become the founder of the Xalotl dynasty, a family that would reign Toluca for the next four and a half millennia. The lands around Toluca came to be known as the Xalotl province of the Ceth Tseket, and Toluca's wealth and power grew as it served as the provincial capitol. The city's people prospered.As the discovery of arcane magic changed the course of the empire, Toluca's path began to diverge. An old and much-beloved queen, Ixtli III, the Seer Queen of Toluca, spent the last ten years of her reign plagued by visions of an apocalypse brought about by the empire's arcane magic. Out of fear of what she saw and hope for a better future, the Seer Queen told her people of her visions and had them documented on megaliths in a temple to the Serpent of the Night. When, in mid-3300 YW, most of the major cities of the Ceth Tseket began programs to explore and study the Myth and the Otherworld, Toluca was not among them. Though plenty were disgruntled by their queen's demand that the people of the city abstain from the empire's new enterprise, there were enough citizens that trusted their monarch to keep Toluca on the Seer Queen's chosen course. Arcanists still lived and dwelt in Toluca. But the city, overall, kept far from the cutting edge. And though, over the next millennium, the rulers to come would waver in their stance, the city held on for long enough to see the fruits of the Seer Queen's judgment.
When the Ceth Tseket fell to the Other in 2250 YW, Toluca did not fall with it. After having witnessed the degradation and decadence of the people around them over centuries, Toluca had turned insular and cloistered. Ultimately, that was their salvation, for the people of Toluca kept on living.
For the next couple millennia, occasional regional skirmishes brought Toluca into conflict with the people that moved into the void left by the Ceth Tseket, but the Tolucan people largely remained in isolation. Superstitions about Tseketon territory kept others from the fertile lands on which Toluca stood. When the Circle of Nine rose to global power, the Tolucan people hardly noticed. By that point, they were a people entirely unique: the inheritors of the Xalotl Tseketon legacy, a culture frozen in time.
From 33 YW to 322 YC, a few attempts were made to engage with the new national power that had subsumed the area around Toluca: the Federation of Vay. The first ended in intimidation, the second in the death of a king—Tlohui VII, the Martyred King of Toluca—and the third in devastation. In that final incident, the attempt of Valissia, the Witch-Queen of Toluca, to meet diplomatically with the rulers of Cethandir was met first with interest but then with war. When the Federal Military came rolling into the city on the 25th of Nightwinter, 322 YC, the long-idle Tolucan military held them off, but only at the greatest of costs. The Federal army left, and many Tolucans survived, but Toluca was completely and utterly destroyed.
To this day, the ruins of Old Toluca stand, sacred and cursed, on the land between the rivers. The rivers have narrowed, and the land has dried out, and the architectural marvels of Old Toluca have crumbled.
The New City
In the aftermath of the battle, the Witch-Queen prayed for her people's salvation for days. Finally, she received a vision of a place where her people would settle, rebuild, and thrive. She saw New Toluca rising amidst the narrow isthmus of land between two of the lakes of the Northern Basin, a few hundred miles outside of the Vayan metropolis of Caelus. Over the course of months, the people of Toluca made a mass exodus to the place Valissia saw. While the aftermath of the war could easily have turned the Tolucan people against their monarch, it had an entirely opposite effect: seeing their sovereign try to build bridges with the outsider folk, only to be met with violent betrayal, galvanized the Tolucan people in support of their queen and in antipathy to the outside world.Rebuilding Toluca was difficult, and to attempt to rebuild the thousands of years of history running through the old city's veins would be impossible. But New Toluca was built, and the people of Toluca found peace again in isolation, far from the site where so many of their community members had been slaughtered as recompense for the crime of proving that the remaining Tseketon people still considered themselves part of a sovereign nation. Once again, Toluca turned inward. Over the next four hundred years, Toluca found peace, if not normalcy. The Tolucan people moved on from what the Federation did to them, but by no means have they forgotten.
Toluca Rises
In Nightwinter of 717, the people of Toluca made contact with the Federal Army once again when Azoxia "Seven" Ilhui, a sacred Thunderbird warrior and a champion of the Witch-Queen, led the Tolucan army to victory against a Federal legion at the Wildwood Site, an abandoned Federal laboratory near Caelus that has been commandeered by the Ghost Corps with the help of the site's rogue mythallar matrix. That battle, which led to the Federal Army retreating from the area around Caelus, was instrumental in uniting the cause of the people of Toluca and the revolutionaries affiliated with the Wildwood Site.After the Federal Army left, Valissia made a bold move. She marched her army to Caelus and offered to use that army to do what the Federal government failed even to meaningfully attempt in the last three years: rebuilding Severing-shattered Caelus. The government of Caelus deliberated for a day, then swore fealty to her in exchange for her aid. Caelus officially seceded from the Federation and joined what Valissia would come to call New Xalotl on the 20th of Dawning, 717. In the past month, Valissia's army has arranged for decontamination and rebuilding of nearly 30% of the urban center of Caelus. Now, as New Xalotl grows into something of a sister state to the Federation, a member of the Tolucan royal court sits on the the New Federal Committee as a representative of New Xalotl.
So it was that Toluca became more than a forgotten city that had long outlived its empire: as the capital of New Xalotl, it has become the heart of a thriving separatist state.
Founding Date
3913 YW
Type
City
Population
450,000
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Tolucans
Location under
Owner/Ruler
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