Julous Dominion

In the Marrow Valley, the numerous decades following the Divergence left the landscape blackened and inhospitable. The remaining people struggled for food and shelter as they wandered the rocky hills for centuries, avoiding the colder weather of the north. Nomadic sects of humans and halflings defended themselves against the hungry beasts and lingering evils threatening their homesteads, and fought with each other over fertile land.
Small civilizations began to form amid the chaos, but it wasn’t until the central township of Zadash was established as a safe outpost that the unification of the Marrow Valley began. Helmed by the Julous family, supposedly of noble blood from before the Calamity, a guarded community with an organized military force was built in the center of the valley around four hundred years ago. It became both a haven for the struggling masses and a center for agricultural expansion.
Increasing their strength with each generation, this movement guided by the Julous family became known as the Julous Dominion, stretching across the south end of Western Wynandir. Not all agreed to join the Julous Dominion, however. Some outliers rejected the Julous interests, founding their own village of Kamordah on the boiling earth of the hills in the southwest Marrow Valley. In time, the people of Kamordah came to worship a being of primordial fire that lives beneath the mountains and speaks to them in dreams and visions.

Founding of the Dwendalian Empire

In the frigid fields north of the Marrow Valley, the survivors of the Arcanum city of Zemniaz scraped by in the snow for centuries, clutching their surviving scrolls and fragments of cultural history. They established the dour outposts of Icehaven and Yrrosa, but it wasn’t until the Zemnian people wandered east to the Pearlbow Wilderness that they found fields that were fertile enough to nurture a new society.
Founded atop the ruins of an ancient temple to the Dawn Father, the city of Rexxentrum rose to become the hub of Zemnian culture. Now that the Zemnian people no longer had to struggle for survival amid the harsh elements, their leaders argued over how to establish a centralized government. Some wished for a republic, while others sought a theocracy under the priests that shepherded the people into this new age. Eckhardt Dwendal, a well-respected merchant and tremendous force behind the development of Rexxentrum, wished to institute a monarchy and place his son Manfried on the throne. Debate spun wildly for over three years, while Eckhardt privately made deals with the heads of the emerging guilds, using promises or blackmail to secure their cooperation. With the resounding support of the flourishing guild heads, the throne was established. In the year 539 of the post-Divergence era, Manfried became the first emperor of the Dwendalian Empire.

The Marrow War

It wasn’t long before the expanding borders of the Dwendalian Empire began to push up against the growing Julous Dominion. An agreement was brokered to avoid conflict as long as favorable trade could be established and maintained. Even so, the resource-rich center of Western Wynandir was split between the two states, with both factions eager to discover the other’s weaknesses. Rumors of the discovery of a massive platinum mine within the Julous Dominion further increased the empire’s desire to conquer their neighbor.
At this time, religious leaders throughout the Dwendalian Empire rebelled against the emperor’s religious restrictions. After his coronation, Emperor Manfried Dwendal enacted laws limiting worship and prayer to subjects concerning the power, profit, and expansion of the empire. In the year 544 PD, internal strife and insurgent action turned bloody when the zealous leaders of varying faiths attempted, and failed, to usurp the throne for their council. An angered Emperor Manfried Dwendal had the rebellious priests executed—an event that came to be known as the Admonition.
The emperor spoke of abolishing all worship within his boundaries. This caused further uproar among the populace, but then Emperor Manfried’s spies discovered that the seeds of the uprising had been sown by Julous interests. Publicly exposing the plot, the emperor outlawed only select faiths that he felt threatened civilized life. He redirected much of the people’s fury by also proclaiming the Julous Dominion an enemy of the empire later that year and declaring war on the neighboring nation.
Meanwhile, the Julous Dominion was dealing with the refusal of the outlying villages near Kamordah to accept their rule in this time of brewing hostility. They eventually drove the independent villagers back into the Cyrios Mountains, just in time to hear the horns of war blaring from the empire to the north. The violent conflict known as the Marrow War lasted over sixteen months and cost the lives of many soldiers and innocents on both sides of the Marrow Valley.
The Julous Dominion lacked the unified military force of the empire. When a major military push left the capital city of Zadash occupied by the empire, Baron Inock Julous and Baroness Tessandra Julous met with Emperor Manfried to negotiate a peace. During this meeting, the baron and baroness were unceremoniously executed. Their bodies were displayed publicly along with the narrative that they had attempted an assassination on the emperor during the peace talks. Disheartened and bereft of leadership, the Julous Dominion immediately came to an end, as did the war.
To prove his benevolence to the people of the newly conquered Julous Dominion, and to help avoid future uprisings, Emperor Manfried declared that all citizens of the dominion would keep their lands and homesteads. No soldiers would stand trial or be punished for their previous allegiance. Life would continue as it had, except for the implementation of imperial taxes, laws, and oversight across the valley under the new emperor. Outlawed religious iconography was destroyed, crops and goods were redistributed according to the needs of the empire, and life slowly returned to normal for the Zemnian people.

A King Is Crowned

With citizens of the former Julous Dominion tense beneath their new rule and a growing sentiment of frustration with imperial leadership building, Emperor Manfried sought a way to reform the nation under his banner. The propagandist minds who fought the social war with the Julous Dominion recommended a shift in public image and title, one that could command more respect within Western Wynandir while casting aside the oppressive connotations of the title of emperor. Still riding high on the victory against the Dominion, Emperor Manfried harkened back to the halcyon lore of the Age of Arcanum, recalling the beloved kings and queens of old. It was decided that the people would no longer have an emperor, but a king. Crowning himself the first of the line of Dwendalian kings, King Manfried insisted on maintaining the now-ominous national title of the Dwendalian Empire, famously proclaiming, “I am the Dwendalian king to my people, beloved and open to their wishes. To our enemies, we remain resolute and unstoppable. We are the Dwendalian Empire.”

Dissolution Date

546 P.D.

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Successor Organization

• Dwendalian Empire

Subsidiary Organizations

• Claret Orders

Location

Marrow Valley