Updated on 26th August 2008 to include more Alscoria and the origins of the Holorian people.

Prior to Domie 279 the denominations of the Alscoria followed some logic, though there were
no hard and definite rules other than the malleable rules of the Imperium or the Consulati
depending upon who held the right to govern militarily. Generally they were numbered in date
order, the Ist being raised prior to the IInd and so forth, however there were, as is the case
with most things, exceptions. Following the civil war of 279 a drastic change was forced upon
the Alscoria as many had faced each other across the battlefield and some, mainly those of
Aldaran and Faranor, were completely removed from the lists. I have placed the Alscoria
then in numerical order, so far as is possible, with the dates of their founding and the official
date of their removal from the lists where appropriate. The list refers to the Emperors decree
of service to the state of the citizens Alscoria. The title is made, generally, in the following
order:

The Alscoria developed over centuries from their birth in the east to what can be called their pinnacle in the West circa Domie 279. The civil war devastated the Alscoria, not for the first time, but now they were weakened to such a state that huge swathes of Imperial land were ceded to barbarian care taker Kings, notably Faranor and Aldaran where tens of thousands of Holorian citizens were delivered into slavery - the Empire could be spiteful in the extreme when goaded and the mood took it. The state of the Alscoria in D317 was much the same as it was in D279, though less numerous. The high water mark having been reached it would be wrong to claim that in D317 the Alscoria were now in decline. They were still powerful enough and numerous enough to hold the now much leaner Empire in check, to protect its borders and to police its interiors, and it was not the Alscoria’s lack of stomach for the fight that led to their defeat in D317 but an amalgamation of causes - none less than the delivering of the Northern Field Army (Credates Eboreas) to destruction on the Hartsdale. The makeup of the Holorian military changed numerous times, and there are geographical differences to take into account. The Eastern Empire and the Western were based upon the same systems but need eclipsed tradition time and time again. The lists below indicate every Alscoria of the West from their birth to demise (if they had been destroyed or abolished by D317 which is the limit of this register). However a detailed study of the basic makeup of the Alscoria of the West is necessary beforehand.

At Domie 0, the time of the founding of the Western Empire calculated from the arrival of the First Western Emperor, Hectabian I, the Western Alscoria did not exist. The invasion force was Eastern, bolstered by the Alscoria of the East that had been stationed in the coastal settlements of Iricia. Their makeup is what could be best described as traditional, in that the Alscoria of the day had for nearly two hundred and seventy years maintained their formation. This then was the basis of the Western Alscoria and they changed much less than their Eastern counterparts over the following centuries. Initially they numbered approximately 3,000 to 4,000 men with the attachment of an Arbae or cavalry force that could be anywhere from a hundred to five hundred men. The Arba never obtained autonomy and remained a firm part of the Alscoria, as they were to do so throughout the history of the East and West. By D24 the Alscoria of the West, the Alscoris Iricias had begun to be designated, not as borrowed troops from the East but in their own right. The first Alscoria to be created thus was Alscoria Covanicus, Alscoria of Covanicians, the remnants of the Ixth Eastern which was recalled in D18. Its origin can be described as nominal, as the remnants alone would hardly have provided sufficient to make up a viable force. We may assume that conscription alone would not have bolstered the numbers enough, so it is doubtless the case that troops from other Alscoria returning to the East, or remaining in the West would have transferred there. There was no prohibition on transfer within Alscoria so long as both Alscoriates were in agreement, the matter being a simple (in principle) case of applying through the ranks. There was no such thing as appeal, so should the soldiers Senec refuse the application, it ended there.
In short a number of Eastern Alscoria were adopted by the west, gradually being designated and renumbered on a Western Model until all traces of their Eastern birth faded beyond memory of the troops serving in them. The Alscoria were fiercely proud of their histories though this does not - at least so far as written records are concerned - stretch back to their years in the East.

Domie 38

Number; Region of founding, descriptive - honour


Ist Alscoria Demetanicus Tectia
Maintained and always retained at Turum outside the walls of Illusium the 1st Alscoria was formed of the remnants of the XXXth Alscoria of the Eastern Empire and four others who during the Sundering Years returned across the Middle Sea. Following the amalgamation of these units the over populated Ist was gradually eroded to replace losses in active units operating in the provinces until it matched the strength of its contemporaries. From then the 1st Alscoria Illusiamus Tectia was renamed the Ist Alscoria of Demetanicians in which province it recruited. Entry to the Ist was however not the sole right of the Demetanician and any man of Holorian blood could transfer in following sufficient proof of his loyalty and professionalism in his home unit. The Ist was never considered an elite formation, being of more ceremonial use than the kind readily deployed for combat. It was unique in two other respects in that it was the only Alscoria allowed to parade or enter the confines of any city bearing arms other than at times of civil strife or war and the office of Alscoriate commander was strictly reserved to those of Consulorial rank. From their number Valisarius drew the Fimiterie, the loyals. The Fimiterie were guards upon the Capranecurum 15-30 being stationed at any time at Talath Spirna and the great temple to Deonna on mount Minalo.
IInd Alscoria Covanicus
Replacing the IXth Alscoria of the East which was recalled in Domie 18 IIIrd Era. Initially raised from volunteers and skimmed from the other Alscoria it began as a depleted force used solely for garrison and post duties. In Domie 60 it achieved full strength and was moved to the frontier with Sarachia. For much of its life it remained a defensive force however in Domie 78 it was moved for a two year posting to Torvanicia and undertook successful advances into the savage lands in response to raids. In Domie 100 it was permanently moved to Torvanicia and billeted at the garrison town of Caleda Dumnara. The Alscoria remained here with brief movements to Karithia and rotating the watch on the River Efris. In 184 the VIIth is again recorded as being a successful force in mid and southern Karithia and returns to Caleth Dumnara for a short period before moving to Covanicia for replenishment after the raising of the XIIIth Alscoria Torvanicus Acurae. Notably there is no specific home detailed in the CLM for the VIIth whilst in Covanicia, though it is recorded as taking part in numerous actions in Arnath that are too far from Covanicia for any sane commander to force such a long march of many days, battle and then return again. It can be accepted that the families of the VIIth were scattered throughout Covanicia and that the Alscoria made use of one of the many temporary and unnamed forts that were relics of the Hectabian landings, with its men gathering there for training and like purposes but returning to their families regularly. In 278 the VIIth was under the direct command of Emperor Adrius during the civil war with the northern provinces of Farianor and Aldoran. However its standard does not record any victories and it may be assumed to have remained a garrison force, most probably for the protection of road builders and trade. In 317 and 318 it defended Galisurum.


IIIrd Alscoria Coritanicus Arcus Calpitus
Raised solely in Coritanicia and having a majority strength of Coritanicians this Alscoria was one of those rotated through Arnath along with the IVth, XIth, IXth and XXIInd. It took part in the capture of Yovek citadel and is known to have been destroyed in 248 IIIrd Era after its garrison at Effirium was overrun by Agalien forces on their way north to join with the Lichelords Army.
IVth Alscoria Coritanicus Midius Calcus Secta Bacchus (4th Alscoria of Torvanicians the new acolytes of Midius, Bacchus own.)
Maintained of the XXXVth Alscoria of the East and becoming the IVth in Domie 38. In 131 part of the Millus Vallisarium founding Setanta and the ports of Astara Notiorum and Baranusium. In 177 this Alscoria appears in the ((H) Great Account of the Military) Comenta Litara Manidarum as being responsible for the policing of the border between Arnath and Scatha. They are recorded as garrisoning Talath Arnath Secuna from 164 to 180 when they were replaced by XIIth Alscoria. It is probable that owing to little need they were disbanded or reverted to a notiary status with a headquarters staff between 180 and 214. This is agreed by a note in the CLM that they were raised in Coritanicia in 215 IIIrd Era, presenting two dates for their creation some hundred years apart. No record exists of their destruction or surrender and that they are recorded in 215 as an Alscoria bearing Bacchus title that their prestige and pride was maintained during their disbandment, being reborn with the reinstatement. The eventual destruction of the IVth was at the battle of the Hartsdale with a lesser part being played by three of its Mellin retained at Byrgo Castle and remaining there until the fortress’s destruction only days later. With the loss of Byrgo Castle there are no more records of the IVth Alscoria. Nor was it raised again though a side tale remains of the heroic exploits of a Senevate and 20 men who defended the Emperors person during his flight to Illusidum.
Vth Alscoria Covanicus Vallisarus Acurae (4th Alscoria of Covanicians, Bacchus own and pure blooded)
Maintained of the XVIIth Alscoria of the Eastern Empire becoming the Vth in Domie 38 IIIrd Era of Holorian settlers from the Eastern Empire and in Petara. From 22 to 60 it had principal responsibility for the defence of Covanicia though during 61 to 74 being part of the conquest of Torvanicia. Along with the IVth Alscoria formed part of the Millus Bacchusara and was later stationed on the River Effris returning to Covanicia though continuing to rotate through Arnath and Karith with a brief overseas posting from 111 to 117 during the founding of Kolmia. The Vth formed part of Emperor Scollis attempted subjugation of Karithia but in 318 IIIrd Era were decimated during the siege of Hithorium where it was so depleted that it was disbanded and raised again in 262.
VIth Alscoria Covanicus Vallisarus Acurae
Maintained from the remnants of the XVth Alscoria of the East following its disbandment after depletion during the invasion of Torvanicia. The VIth appears in the CLM as being the garrison of Talath Vidris from 222 to 227 and again from 240 to 252. This is the last Acurae Alscoria to be stationed in Sarachia though for a brief time it formed the defences against the Lichelord in 317 retreating to Stathgard where it took part in the cities defence. Three Mellin of the VIth formed the defence of Talath Petallum on the fords of Hoathing. The VIth Alscoria retained sufficient numbers to garrison Talath Vidris in 251 and continued a dignified history until records cease, last being noted as replacing the Ist Alscoria at Illusium in Domie 380.
VIIth Alscoria Coritanicus
Raised from the original settlers of Coritanicia and having their garrison at Corrus Duborium they were employed throughout their existence as a ship borne force to police the Coritanician and Covanician coasts as far south as Kavarn and on numerous occasions within the Great Bight. Recruited from the coastal ports and villages they disappear from Imperial records in Domie 317 IIIrd Era when they were besieged at Corrus Duborium and slaughtered by a combined force of Karithian raiders and Skaya from Andeburg.
VIIIth Alscoria Branonicum
Raised in Domie 114 and displaced immediately to the frontier of Sarachia where it founded Talath Ruteni Branonicum, later to become Rutenara Coritanicus. The Branonicians were notably excellent soldiers, no doubt considering the proximity of Branonica to Arnath and the frequency of the threats brought against it by the savages of that land. Its most notable actions are at the battles of Septa (Domie 131) and Aduna (Domie 158). Further renown was gained throughout the suppression of the Glannau Islands and in the civil war of 277 to 279. The Alscoria further exemplified itself during the invasion of 317 to 318 where at the time it formed the Southern Field Army that continued to hold Talath Selavarum until the siege was broken when the armies of Karithia and Agalien were beaten in Torvanicia.
IXth Alscoria Sarachius Vissiana
Ironically famed by its own massacre at the Hartsdale, North Riding of Sarachia in 317 IIIrd Era. Originally this Alscoria was recruited from the Sarach provinces somewhere around Domie 177 to replace IXth Alscoria Acurae, when so many veterans retired that the strength of the Alscoria neccsitated mass recruitment and quickly. The Acurae was of course lost, however during the rule of Emperor Scollis the Sarach contingent were reduced and scattered throughout three other Alscoria all serving outside of Arnaheim. This leads to a good example of rumour exceeding fact in that it was considered by the Sarach of the North Riding that this had been to reduce the opportunity for corruption and to strengthen it against sympathy during the rebellion. Scollis records the reason as being quite different and his version may be considered fact in that the first considerations of rebellion were not heard until three years after Scollis actions. Scollis states: “It was with great reticence that I denuded the IXth of a full two thirds of its native stock for there was at that time no better source of bowmen in all the Western Empire and the southern provinces did not make armour that was sufficient to hold out against a well aimed and presented assault by such a weapon in the hands of those magnificent archers, the Sarach.”
Scollis thoughts give lie to the feelings amongst the Sarach that they were not at all valued. Emperor Vissiana utilised their

Xth Alscoria Vissiana Ceneri Regada (Alscoria of the Emperor Vissiana revered and gallant)
Raised around Domie 79 and adopted by the Emperor Vissiana in
XIth Alscoria Vissiana Quosus Rensis (Alscoria of the Emperor Vissiana indomitable and valiant
Raised in the same year as the Xth Alscoria and equally applauded
XII Alscoria Dematanicus Vissiana Acurae
Twelfth Alscoria of Demetanicians, founded under the reign of Nicasus. During the reign of Bacchus in 133 founded Covvus Astarotorum and Baranora, splitting their numbers more or less evenly between. The Alscoria remained at the ports and developed a skill at nautical raiding, having a fleet of almost sixty sea garrisons to patrol the Ithakain islands to the west. Successful at defeating numerous incursions of the Karithians and eventually combined with XVI and XX Alscoria would form a large part of Valisarius expansions into Faranor.
















XVII Alscoria Duna Scaptia
XVII Alscoria
XXth Alscoria Setanus Acurae
Formed in Domie 211 III Era. During the one hundred and seventy years of the life of the province of Setanta four Alscoria were recruited from the families of the settlers. The Alscoria were retained until their numbers depleted sufficiently to allow them to amalgamate with other units throughout the Empire. The XXth and the XXIst were however struck from Imperial records. The XXth of the two suffered only a slightly less inglorious end when it surrendered after its marching fort was overrun in Agalien by an army of savages. Many of the captives were returned when sufficient ransom was raised but over two thirds continued into slavery and of them very few indeed were ever found. The legacy of the XXth remained and was often used by officers to convince the rank and file soldiery that surrender to an enemy of savages was far more terrible than being slaughtered by them.
XXIst Alscoria Setanus
Formed in Domie 213, one hundred and thirty four years after the founding of Corrus Baranusium the XXIst was initially created to mirror the successful IInd Alscoria and to protect the ports of Astarotium and Baranusium. However at that time the Karith were no great threat to the western coast and the XXIst was found to be surplus to needs. For a number of years it served in the Dow am Blennua ((K)fields of the Bleniu people) until that region was so pacified that the Alscoria moved south through Karithia and into Scartha. Following the destruction of the XXth Alscoria the XXIst marched north with Emperor Solens army and put down the rebellion there. They remained in occupation for seven more years until the second rebellion when they were destroyed completely at the battle of Grahi when their flank broke and they retreated only to be pursued and overrun.
XXIInd Alscoria Setanus Risuna
Raised in Domie 214 IIIrd Era they were stationed on the River Efail and later in the Dow am Blennau. Following the subjugation of Scatha they garrisoned Talath Missunum until the XIIIrd Alscoria replaced them in Domie 275. It is in Scatha that Emperor Risunus awarded them his title. They returned to Setana and garrisoned both Baranusium and Astara Notium until Domie 281 when Astara Notiarum was abandoned owing to the loss of Farianor and the plummeting trade. Baranusium remained for a further 29 years an active port but gradually reduced until it too was abandoned. The province of Setanta had very little worth to the Empire and was more of a deficiency than a boost to the economy. The XXIInd was removed to Nathelium and was there downgraded to a reserve unit, then finally being scattered throughout the other Alscoria when it had outlived its need.
XXIIIrd Alscoria Setanus
Raised in Domie 217 IIIrd Era in expectation of the conquest of Scatha and intended as a garrison force for Talath Missunum. They spent the first two years in training at Talath Scollis in Dow am Blennau before replacing the XXIInd Alscoria at Missunum. This Alscoria remained there but was amalgamated into the XIIth Alscoria in Domie 230.



Location, location, location:

It was no small step from rabble of barbarian villages to state, no mere gathering of elders with a cause common to all, indeed as a transition, there was barely an episode in Mesogean history less cataclysmic than the creation of the Holorian state. Perhaps the demise of the Karithian Empire and its fragmentation to individual tribes might be a worthy rival, certainly the impact on its immediate neighbours was devastating, and yet the collapse of Karith was a mere flash in the pan of a hundred years, whereas the Holorians could boast of five hundred years of bloody in fighting and indulging their favourite past time of relieving their neighbours of their lands and treasures. Fiercely independent and loyal to his tribe, the Holorian citizen was bred from youth for a lifetime of faction fighting, conquest and the imposition of Holorian rule over all other nations, and yet they had not always been so ethnocentric. The early Holorians, nomadic hunters who shared the Doraean plains with several other tribes, had no choice other than to adopt a conciliatory attitude to their fellow nomads. Any tribe that adopted a better than thou attitude would have to fight daily to keep the highest roost it had picked for itself, not against immediate neighbours but again and again whenever the hunting was poor and a shift of location was forced upon them. The hardships posed by mere existence made the concept of warfare for the sake of tribal superiority a fools journey. Organised warfare was hardly something to indulge in when the majority of a tribes time was spent scratching an existence out of a difficult soil or chasing beasts about the forests for their meat and fur. Where there was a temperate climate, neither blasted by icy winds or scoured by the suns relentless heat, where clean, cool and slow waters bathed a fertile soil and where there was stone and timber in plenty from which to build, there hand in hand with comfort, a time to sit and to think, to develop culture, there too came the practice and study of the military arts. Tossing his ash spear and deer gut bow aside along with the leather and fur padding that had until that hour served a hunter well enough, the Holorian learned quickly enough that bronze used for agriculture and hunting could just so easily be turned to the cause of aggression. In parallel to this increase in martial ability and the concept of being able to march into the lands of ones neighbours and to take what one wanted; women, cattle and treasures - or indeed have the whole lot and the land with it - there was the chance to show off, to not only keep up with the Joneses but to put them to shame, to so awe them that they would rather flee than fight. Lucky perhaps the Holorians had been by pushing the boundaries of their nomadic wanderings further than those of their peer tribes and happening upon the paradise that would allow them to grow from tent dwelling deer stalkers to citizens of temple adorned cities, or perhaps there had been something in their makeup from the start. Certainly they were not content to exchange their smoke filled tents for all the mod cons of a coal heated villa and take the occasional pot shot at their neighbours when the mood rather than the need took them. Their own history records that the Holorian tribe, now "settled within several towns and numerous villages made war upon the coastal tribes taking from them both land, women and six hundred cull of silver." Why this assault was instigated, whether it was in retaliation or through simple greed we are not privy to, only that the lands controlled by the Holorian tribe more than tripled in size within two years. Were there defeats along the way? We do not know. The final result however was the same; the annihilation of an unnamed and forgotten people. Rarely a people to let a ruin stand for the sake of antiquity, the Holorians then set to work not only settling the towns of the conquered but erasing any sign of their having been there. Let the stories and tales of the Holorian victories be scratched into the local stone, so long as the stone carried no mark of any foreign craftsman. To suffer so much as a single well crafted archway of a conquered people to remain standing was to accept that the conquered had been more than a mob of howling savages. The Holorian by this time prided himself not so much on where he had come from but how much he and his culture had advanced. Snobbery was the fashion of the day, be it the bronze sword hanging from a fine leather belt or the woven tunic and cloak, so far removed from the stinking wolf pelt that had once kept out the merciless Doraean wind. Women for the first time had a life that extended beyond the immediacy of the campfire, the Holorian man revelling in the vociferousness of his partner who could talk politics with the men and even, to the horror of those barbarians who retained trade contacts with the Holorians, indulging in the hunt for a suitable husband, spurred on by a father eager to rid himself of the burden of feeding and clothing his daughters beyond their infertile years. A Holorian girl was considered a woman at the age of fourteen, though there was no bar to marriage even as young as twelve.
Religion, beyond prayer, however remained a male concern. The Priesthood was no place for the frivolities of women, though either sex were permitted to become acolytes, an austere position of unstinting devotion to the chosen god or gods and little to commend itself. The Priest might preside over every ceremony and receive gifts and libations, to reside within the temple confines and to benefit from the lavish extravagances purchased from donations - the power of a prayer to a specific god was proportionate to the gift offered, yet an acolyte might consider him or herself little better off than a house slave. The best that could be hoped for was to be sponsored to the priesthood, initially costly but paying dividends in the long run. And who was there to deny that the Holorian Gods were not complicit in this grubbing for favours? Certainly not Deonna who had transformed herself into a serpent in order to slither into the boudoir of Theme after she and Deonnas husband Midius had consorted together, and relieved Theme of a golden diadem and a necklace of stars. Rarely ones to miss a trick, especially one presented upon such a lofty platter, the Holorians had wrapped their predilection for making a fortune in their theologies, declaring that it was the mark of a Holorian citizen to not only amass wealth but to display it. There was no depth of gaudiness that fashion could not plumb, be it the wearing of lavish jewellery, the wearing of an expensive cloak or a pair of fine sandals. The villages of the early Holorian state were still to be found, but the haunt of farmers, hunters, stone masons and other lowly types. One had only to stroll through the streets of the new towns, with their walls and fortifications, to amble past the stores of shoemakers, weavers, jewellers, open fronted taverns with their walls stacked high with amphorae of sweet wines to know that for the Holorians had well and truly arrived. And yet to scratch beyond the facade was to uncover the barbarian still within. Where the nomad tribes of the Doraean plains had pitched camp within spitting distance of one another yet never so much as raised a spear as an angry eye, so the same tribes had no such qualms about slipping out the daggers and indulging in the petty politics of making and breaking their leaders. War might have been a word not within their vocabulary, but regicide was one easy to trip off the tongue. A tribe leader, not merely the strongest man but one who brought more than a small degree of luck to the equation, whose luck or strength had run out, who through misguidance in bringing his people to a forest where the deer had been over hunted, where the water was stagnant and rotten or who had through no fault of his own happened to be in rule when some disease or hardship befell the cattle herd, would not have the best tent for long. During the night perhaps a mishap, a drunken slip and fortuitously to fall upon a sharp deer antler, or maybe an open challenge and a spear in the chest, either way his time was deemed up. Several centuries later, no longer the strongman of the tribe, but sporting the grander title of Hecteon, or King, the position was no more secure than it ever had been. Drought, fire, the failure of a crop, any such incident could see the daggers fingered or even drawn and mark a change of leadership. Wealth was no guarantor of power, where wealth was directly linked to the well being of the town as a whole. A man who risked his own wealth and property in the hope of betterment so long as he was not reckless or simply stupid was a man after the Holorians own heart, more so if his gambles as often as not paid off, but a man who gambled with the fortunes of others, a man whose luck had run out and yet who clung obstinately to the reins of power was a man who ought look not only to his back but to his front. Not unlike the priesthood, the rank of Hecteon was as fraught with risk as with benefit. Please the people and the sweet wine flowed, invoke their displeasure or indeed mistrust and the blood would spill.

Having arrived at and grabbed the land of plenty the Holorians set about making it difficult for anyone else to snatch it from them. They had learned from its previous tenants that to sow the seeds and smell the flowers was not enough. A village might be the haunt of dust smothered stone cutters and their like with hardly a fine made sandal to be seen, but so long as the peasants were Holorian then the village had a palisade and would be as furiously defended by the nearest town levee as the town itself. The Pedekeia - the dust sack - the villages might be considered and all but dust swept beneath the carpet so far as the Mokokeia - town dwellers - were concerned on a day to day basis, but not a single wooden shack could be ceded to an enemy than it be considered a towns utter shame. The same attitude unsurprisingly was adopted by the towns themselves. If a town was worth building then so were the walls to protect it and as a small number of these towns developed into cities, so the walls became higher, the gates stronger and the towers more imposing. What had spurred the Holorians to adopt such works at this early age is for conjecture, though it is no great leap of the imagination to conclude that the Holorians were well travelled enough to appreciate the portent behind the sight of a ruined town or city as they passed through or beside it. Maybe there were tales enough of earlier civilisations, and perhaps the Holorians as they were now had once been a part of such a civilisation before it had fragmented into nomadic tribes. The fact remains that they fortified as a matter of course rather than in response to assault. The inevitability of this practice was that as a city developed it gradually severed itself from its neighbours. The instinct of tribe for the Holorians remained as strong as ever. The history of the development of these cities and the final coalescence of them all into a single state is beyond the scope of this work, yet amalgamate they did, and under the leadership of a single man, the Amagus. Yet government even for a strong Amagus was no stroll through the park. For a people as proud, martial and independent as the Holorians government had to be both cunning and firm, and yet flexible enough not to be oppressive. Citizenship was only as good as its perceived worth. Competition, the mark of the city states and what contrasted the Holorian from his barbarian neighbours who in many cases could build their temples just as tall and imposing, was as much a liability as a defining factor. Once the state had been accepted as intrinsic to Holorian life, so its laws were not merely accepted but became crucial. The paradox of the Holorian people was to demand freedom, to feel able to speak ones mind, to come and go as one pleased and to do as one liked, and yet of one another, raising its military from its own citizenry, electing its governing Legators and passing laws to retain the most favourable trade position amongst their neighbours. The law had not become so complex over time by mere accident and the layering of neccesities. Oration was prized as a skill, but so much more so was knowledge of the web of tangled threads that made up the constitution of the Holorian people. The law differentiated the citizen from the barbarian, its application could ruin a man or raise him from the gutter to an ivory engraved throne. A man wronged could ask for compensation to equate to the size of the insult or deprivation brought to him, and only a Legator and the Amagus were above the law for the term of their office. Any military venture was beholden to the law. A commander who took his troops across a border or into the lands of his enemies beyond legality was a commander open to prosecution. In this way expansion of any city state could be curtailed by the Amagus representatives in the courts, and yet that alone was not sufficient, for real power lay not in refusing to unleash the might of a citystate but in combining several under one banner, an illegal act unless the nation were under threat. ir lands with the strong evicting the weak, with overseas colonies the highest prize. As the Empire broadened and complete control was not easy to maintain nor funds to raise, it became apparent to Amagus Valasis that where Legators bickered and vied to put one another in the shadethe citizenry were the key to bringing the cities together where the citizenry provided the body of the Alscoria, food, workforce and every other necessity by which the city prospered and grew strong. Leaders could be easily bought and just so easily disposed off, indeed it was common place for the Alscoria to appoint their own overlord (A good overlord would ensure regular raids and campaigns as the Alscoria were paid entirely from the booty they obtained). For the Amagus to hold the citizenry in allegiance than under oppression (though the latter was still used regularly when the citizenry were obstinate) was thereby required to submit a Legator to represent their concerns to the Amagus, to have their wants heard and for the Amagus to spread any gains through conquest equally amongst the cities. On the face of it the Emperor was taking a very deep interest in the requirements of his citizens, providing more than a sympathetic ear than the earlier policy of dictatorship. The effects were immediately felt throughout the Empire in that incidents of civil insurrection plummeted to almost nil and the Alscoria were paid a wage from which was taken reparation for acts of aggression against neighbours and to which was added a not inconsiderable bounty of any loot gained during campaign against non Holorian states. However the Legator was no different to the Amagus in that he was appointed by the Amagus and the citizenry were in effect ruled more directly by the Amagus than by their own hand. However as the system became familiar so the opportunities for it to be corrupted increased. It eventually placed one powerful citizen against another in their efforts to rise in the Amagus favour and become Legator, with assassinations occurring quite regularly to create a space for an ambitious man to step into. The richer the Legator and the more important his city or region the more the Amagus favoured them. The Empire rather than uniting further began to fragment and the cities divided once more. As disorgnanised insurrection indeed became a rarity so Civil war loomed ever closer. It is a subject of conjecture now that civil war would inevitably have occurred somewhere around 338 First Era, or possibly as late as the mid 340’s but this will never be known for certain for in 336 war did happen as the Empire hungry King Fallad of the Cessinians, himself pressured by internal strife, gathered his forces openly on the northern border and crossed into Decoma capturing numerous towns and a great swathe of land to the River Dis. The Alscoria of that province were overwhelmed and defeated at Manava and a second force under Calsus Carrius, a member of the Amagus own family surrendered three weeks later after two days protracted manouvering, skirmish and finally pitched battle. Calsus himself was captured and returned to the Amagus who in a rage had him stoned until he was crippled and thrown into the Dis where he drowned. A third army finally met Fallad at Derda leaving both sides battered and with no clear victor. Comida Peresus of the city of Manar Terpa agreed a treaty of peace with both sides agreeing to the return of captives and allowing the Cessinians to retain Decoma province in return for a moderate payment. The Holorians record that this arrangement was amicable but there is no doubt that the payment was made out of Holorian wealth captured during the occupation of Decoma. The Amagus was incensed when he heard of Peresus treaty, immediately refused to ratify it and began to amass the Alscoria to retake Decoma. Peresus was exiled to the island of Leida and within a year the regrouped and re-provisioned Holorian forces entered Decoma. The Amagus was defeated, his army being routed and chased back into Brytunam where it retreated behind the walls of the four cities of that province and licked its wounds whilst awaiting the expected siege. The Cessinians were however, and unknown to the Holorians, incapable of mounting further incursions. They neither had the numbers nor the philosophical capability for it in the true tradition of such eastern peoples considering a decisive victory and the loss of an enemy leader as a full and complete end to their enemies ability to fight. The Holorians however were of another kind and defeat was not a word that came easily to their minds. Within one month the Amagus procrastinating son was assassinated and his only daughter married to a cousin of the family making Calpitus Fariodus Amagus of the Holorian people. Fariodus had prior to this fortunate occasion commanded the small navy and had turned it from a rabble of ill equipped ships and ill disciplined merchant-soldiers into a very effective force many times more powerful than its size should have otherwise allowed. Two years passed during which period the Cessinians mounted minor raids from Decoma and fortified the new frontier along the Dis. Making great use of his naval experience Fariodus crossed the Dis at nightfall using hundreds of small and easily portable row boats that he had managed to bring to the frontier in one days march and so surprising the Cessinian defenders. Six thousand men crossed in the one night, followed by a further eight thousand during the following day and night. Even with this army the numbers favoured the Cessinians who could field nearly thirty thousand but Fariodus had no other option than to engage in battle as soon as his forces were gathered together. The suddenness of the assault and the brilliant leadership of Fariodus utterly routed the left and right flanks of the Cessinians whose use of servants, mercenaries and even prisoners in the first ranks to absorb the ragged charge of their more common enemies became their downfall. As the Cessinian regulars collapsed against in the east assumed that the reconquered Decoma defeating Fallad at Derda. Fallad was captured and presented to the people of Illiricum in chains. He is reported to have died at the Amagus own hand and there is no evidence or report to the contrary. The resultant fear of the Empire of invasion, not by the subdued Cessinians but by other forces, especially Farsia and Asudarra who were close enough and powerful enough to pose a significant threat brought the disparate and corrupt cities to ally themselves to the Amagus through their Legatus. Decoma provided five Legata to the Amagus newly created forum and with three of the original five now dead and their families and wealth utterly ruined the populace chose five Legata themselves not with an eye to wealth and power but to trust, oratory skill and wisdom. The manouver proved contagious, not only to neighbouring provinces but to the Amagus himself who weary of pressure from his richest citizens whose sole interest was in furthering their own strength even at the expense of the Empire saw an opportunity to in one popular sweep remove his closest rivals. Within three years every city provided a Legatus voted for by the citizenry and the forum swelled to thirty eight men each with an equal opportunity to have the Amagus ear. Doubtless the Amagus had his favourites and favoured the larger, wealthier, nearest and most loyal cities over those less so but an era of peace began which would be looked back upon throughout the Empires history as an ideal age. Indeed the Eastern Empire would know little in the way of defeat for the next seven hundred years.



Leontius servant, never one to miss an opportunity to goad his master into warfare, beseeched him saying
"Now is the time king of kings to enter their lands and to seize them and what is theirs. They are over ripe for conquering, can you not smell the fester of their decaying rule."
Leontius was not a man easily persuaded but the arrival of Scutucamus to his household seems to have been a turning point. With five Alscoria he stormed into the lands of the Arnath, seizing town after town until his forces were at the gates of Kuzzu. The capital of the Abulian dynasty was indeed in turmoil even without the spear thrust of the Holorian forces into the heart of the realm. Of the several hundred family, friends, supporters and servants of Bukumazada only a handful remained alive and loyal. The opposing factions had neither taken power nor done anything to create order, their entire efforts having more than spoilt the foundations of the nation but mined so deep into them as to render them all but ruined. The army, depleted by in-fighting and desertion on a massive scale put up only token resistance as the Holorian rams were rolled up to the four city gates and although the entry to the city and the battle through its streets was hard fought, it was in the end a futile gesture of defiance. A flail from the paw of a dying lion. With Kuzzu in Leontius hands the remainder of the nations army capitulated, with many of the officer class choosing to cast themselves from towers or cliff tops rather than surrender. The heart was ripped from the Arnath, Bukumazada's dynasty however far from being wiped out by the vengeful Holorians, was propped up, much to the disfavour of Leontius advisors, officers and men. When news of the mercy shown to the butcher of Bakad reached Illusidum there was disorder on such a scale that the Alscoriate of the Ist Alscoria withdrew his men to outside the city walls. Only a few dozen citizens died but there was damage to property and the Middenstal doors were left buckled by the efforts of the populace to tear them down. Leontius however was shrewd indeed. His returning Bukumazada to the throne without power appeased the Arnath enough for them to accept loyalty to the Holorians and to enable the scattered army to return to its billets and homes rather than to scatter into the hills and become a threat to the Holorian occupiers. Within five years the Holorians needed only to garrison two Alscoria in the country to keep the peace and to remind both nation and ruler that they were vassals of Holoria though they were not under direct rule from the Emperor. Leontius second layer of peace making was that whilst Bukumazada's dynasty remained in power the people would accept it as being there by the right of the Gods, though would distrust Bukumazada enough not to rally behind him if he called the army forth. The army in any case was limited in size and organisation. Smithies were outlawed from making any form of weapon or armour and the possession of a shield by any man was punishable by public flogging, from which the usual outcome was death. The unsettled peace of Leontius was to continue for a further sixteen years until a new power arose in the south and the borders were again challenged.