The Slaver Lords
An account of the ZAAreans rise to power
An account of the ZAAreans rise to power
The Ziirean who had once been known as the Archon was crawling. With his bare hands and his bare feet, scarred and dirty and bloody. It was as if a whole eternity had passed since he had been the Lord Falatir, the silver-tongued ruler of the Vhemmlat Domains. Yet it had only been a year since that rotten snake's coup.
He had known them all, the Golden Ones, those whose names now echoe through Ziirean history : Khaz Az Khar, the merchant prince turned word leader, who blackmailed the Old Clans into unification to avoid starvation. Lord Bemalon, the Butcher, who slaughtered a whole empire in the name of domination. Lord Rhass, the Archon, who submitted the fractious families of the Empire by expending their Holds on a galactic level. Akarnon Il-Valta, the scholar who found the Void Shrines and revealed the truth of the Old Faith.
He had been feared and respected by all their pitiful heirs, the lords of the Thousand Families, the Slavers' Crossroads' cartels, the War Guilds' Panchars. Even the priests of the rehabilitated Four Headed God were living in Falatir's shadow.
But he was no longer the Lord Falatir Silver-Tongue, Archon of the Gilded Domains. No. He was broken.
He thought for a long time that his old rivals were the threat : The science directorate, leaded by Rhass' favorite, Doctor Ghumm Dii, or the representative of the Charters Devolution, Lord Venek. They hated him for returning to military expansion, rather than consolidating the existing holds. Yet the Vhemmlat state needed new blood, new slaves, new conquests, and the Lord Falatir had thought it could be achieved – along with political domination – by promoting the eager youth of old Vhemm'kor. It had proven to be his downfall.
He was pleased, when this Captain Ralpakin brought him the news of the Elithir Nations destruction. Even more pleased, when this Captain Ralpakin dropped the head of their ruler at his feets. Falatir the Victorious, he called him. Lord Ralpakin of Ralpakin Hold, he named him.
But now the Families called him Ralpakin the Black, bringer of death, for he had killed them, hanged them, impaled them. Ralpakin the Seer, the Ziirean lowborns called him, the One Who Is The Gods Reborn.
The Emperor, they called him.
Yet to Falatir he was still that dark-hearted officer, too smart for his own good, too ambitious to be trusted. The once Archon trusted him, and here he was, crawling through the Old City, whipped by the heinous crowd, brutalized by those who once guarded his palace. Even the Gorothi slaves spat upon him.
No, Lord Falatir Silver-tongue had not known the mercy of death like most of the nobility. Death was reserved for traitors, spies and abolitionnists. But Ralpakin wanted to be sure the old Archon would have no legacy, no memory, that only his shame and dishonor would remain in the Empire's records.
And here he was. Enslaved, reduced to the ordinary fate of Vhemm's vanquished ennemies, those who lost the right to be. How ironic, for the greatest slaver of Ziirean history.
The once Lord Falatir Silver-tongue looked up. The Emperor was smiling.
***
Hi folks ! It's my first atempt at an AAR, so be indulgent and please, *please*, tell me if you see any mistake, english isn't my mother tongue
. Don't let this friendly smiley deceive you, this tale will be about the reptilian equivalent of the Draka, and I intent to make good use of these "enslave" and "purge" buttons. In fact I already did. I wondered about the possibility of making this attempt at narration an interactive AAR, but I decided I will be more relaxed if I can just drop the thing out of boredom. I have a big issue, however : This was deemed to be the introduction, but I don't have the graphic stuff to make it esthetically acceptable, and I fear Star Wars, Star Trek and other Star material will be dutifully plundered by the community. So please suggest me to use whatever cool stuff you think compatible with the AAR's atmosphere (Which I hope will taste Noir to your delicate palais). The upcoming Foundation series is mine, fellow paradoxians. Remember I enslaved half the galaxy.
I picked this drawing out of panic on Deviantart, and man I love it. Drawn by PaulineMoss.
