Rise Of Tarosian Kingdom

850AC - 1756AC
The epoch that began with the formal establishment of the Tarosian Kingdom under Kayros and continued through its transformation into the Tarosian Empire following the First Outskirter War.

Foundation and Consolidation

850AC - 941AC

The Establishment of the Kingdom

At 850AC Kayros proposed creation of Tarosian Kingdom with capital at the Arch's predecessor where the Varros clan had direct ownership over the land and with himself as a high order leader. His argument was the same as the reason for the Arial Tribal Unification: Arial needs unity to flourish.

The closest tribes agreed pledging their loyalty without questioning, already seeing Kayros as the leader Arial needs. The conquered tribes, exhausted of war and not able to resist the appealing offer of free lands could not reject.

Free Lands Distribution

The most rebellious tribes left during the Arial Outskirts Repopulation leaving many lands unowned and unmanaged. The conquered tribal leaders still were not happy about Kayros. To smooth up relationships Kayros decided to split part of the lands between them, of course not forgetting about the most loyal ones, giving them the biggest pieces.

Formation of the Royal Guard

At 889AC Kayros formed security forces loyal directly to the crown - Tarosian Royal Guard, that consisted only of shakor following the Rightful Path.

Standardization of Currency and Economy

The formation of the kingdom brought up new issues including the supply the Crown needed so much to hold control. As the main currency were chosen relatively rare metals that were widely mined around the Arch: copper, silver, gold, platinum and started to produce coins (weight 5g for any type, so 200 coins make a 1kg). The relation between them respectively would be 1:100:1000:10000 where the "1" is a copper coin.

Through time and stamped on the coins images and other connotations commoners started using names for the coins:

At 917AC the Tarosian Central Bank was formed at first only for purpose of producing the currency.

At 921AC Kayros set up a basic tax system that went directly to the royal treasury from its subjects including the citizens of his lands and vassals and accepted only the coins at first. Obviously, not paying tax would be punished very harshly, so people had to get it somehow and the easiest way was to sell their wares for the coins just to pay the taxes with them. That leaded to circulation of the currency and making it more and more valuable and used.

In the same time he promoted intertribal trade by building better roads, making the kingdom more centralized, uniting it even more.

Death of Kayros and Succession

At 941AC Kayros dies, leaving the throne to his older son - Auriel.

The Age of Auriel

941AC - 1052AC

Artifact Collection Program

At 942AC right after he took the throne Auriel started the artifact collection program, buying all the Deus related things at high price. In the same time for hiding those artifacts he pushed the laws that do not allow common people to have them and banned trading, exchanging and any other ways the artifacts could leave the grasp of the Crown.

This highly centralized ownership of Catalysts and other artifacts. Still many head families of the tribes stored the artifacts, some were catalogued by the government, the other just have not told about them keeping it in a secrecy.

Formalization of the Kayros Title

At 959AC the word "kayros" was written in the law as name of current ruler of the Tarosian Kingdom by Auriel, honoring all what his father did.

Formation of the Secret Chancery

At 1045AC after assasination attempt formed the Tarosian Secret Chancery from the most loyal and capable members of the Tarosian Royal Guard and his court mages. No one except the closest to the kayros and himself knew about existence of the formation.

Death of Auriel

At 1052AC Auriel dies by natural causes. His older son Darius was crowned as the next kayros.

The Age of Darius

1052AC - 1231AC

Foundation of the Royal Magic Academy

Darius was known as one of the most capable mages in the Tarosian Kingdom. No wonder he continued researching Catalysts, Deus artifacts and magic in general.

To enhance the knowledge and find more ways to use them at 1060AC he founds the Tarosian Royal Magic Academy, after this only supervising it since the kingdom politics require too much time.

Therefore starts a rough program of student recruiting.

Death of Darius

At 1231AC Darius passes away from natural causes, the next ruler is his older son.

The Era of Entrenchment and Stagnation

1231AC - 1685AC
Following the death of Darius, the Tarosian Kingdom transitioned from a period of active consolidation into a prolonged era of internal stabilization and bureaucratic codification. Driven by the escalating pressures of the Metal Crisis and the logistical demands of the Sun-Spire, the state shifted its focus from territorial expansion to the absolute enforcement of the Rightful Path and the maintenance of domestic order.

Political and Social Codification

During this period, the theological principles of the Arialian Conservatism were formally integrated into the civil and legal frameworks of the Kingdom, transforming religious dogma into rigid administrative law.

The Bureaucracy of Spiritual Property

The management of the sord population was transitioned from localized subjugation to a highly centralized, state-run apparatus. The Crown established the Ministry of the Unclean, an Ikor-led administrative body tasked with tracking sord lineage, assigning labor quotas, and enforcing the strict segregation mandated by the Verse of the Spilled Clay. Family units were systematically dissolved upon adulthood, and sord were legally reclassified as transferable state assets. This ensured a steady, compliant supply of labor for the deepening mines of Central Arial while completely eradicating communal solidarity.

Oligarchic Consolidation

The political power of the Varros Clan and the high Ikor magistrates became absolute. The Council of the Three, originally intended to balance the Pillars, was gradually reduced to a ceremonial advisory body. Real administrative power was concentrated within the Tarosian Secret Chancery and the high courts of Arch. This created an entrenched oligarchy where social mobility for the kor races was strictly limited to service within the state bureaucracy or the Tarosian Royal Magic Academy.

The Sun-Spire and the Academy's Shift

As the Sun-Spire's Resonance Choir required continuous replacement due to the severe cognitive toll of Neurological Overload and Ego Bleed, the Tarosian Royal Magic Academy underwent a fundamental shift in its operational mandate.

Originally founded by Darius for the research of Deus artifacts, the Academy was repurposed by the mid-13th century into a state apparatus for the systematic identification and harvesting of Ikor candidates capable of serving as Anchors. The rigorous selection process and the high mortality rate of the attunement process created a deeply stratified society within the Ikor caste, dividing them into the administrative elite and the expendable cognitive labor required to maintain the continent's climate.

The Metal Crisis

tarosian_metal_crisis

By the late 14th century AC (during the reign of Darius and the early years of his successor), the Tarosian Kingdom faced a catastrophic, yet unspoken, economic threat: the depletion of Central Arial's accessible copper, silver, and gold deposits.

The Deep Mine Pacifications

1375AC - 1420AC
As the Crown demanded unprecedented yields to combat the Metal Crisis, horrific conditions in the Garont-worked mines sparked decentralized labor uprisings. The Shakor were repeatedly deployed to suppress these revolts. These campaigns trained the legions in close-quarters riot control, shield-wall formations, and the overwhelming of unorganized mobs in confined spaces. This reinforced the doctrinal belief that any internal threat could be shattered through a single, overwhelming display of brute force and persistence.

Military Doctrinal Stagnation

The geopolitical stabilization of Central Arial and the shift toward internal policing fundamentally altered the operational doctrine of the Shakor legions. Deprived of large-scale expeditionary campaigns, the military adapted to a series of localized, asymmetric conflicts that reinforced rigid tactical paradigms.

The Radial River Border Wars

1450AC - 1580AC
Probing raids from Deseria and the Vespar Marches into the fertile foothills prompted a strictly defensive Tarosian response. The Shakor were tasked with constructing and manning static fortifications, toll-houses, and checkpoints along the Radial River Network. These conflicts were wars of attrition fought at heavily fortified chokepoints. The legions perfected static defense and relied entirely on the secure, short supply lines of the river network, conditioning them to expect the enemy to attack on their own terms.

The Shadow Wars and Proxy Doctrine

1590AC - 1680AC
As the Tarosian Secret Chancery expanded its illicit metal trade with Deseria, open warfare with the Outskirts became strategically undesirable. The Chancery deliberately kept the Shakor legions garrisoned in Central Arial to maintain domestic stability and project an image of religious purity. Instead of deploying the legions, the Chancery utilized mercenaries, deniable assets, and proxy forces to secure trade routes. Consequently, for nearly a century, the Shakor trained exclusively for large-scale, conventional pitched battles. Their tactical manuals and officer promotions were based entirely on obsolete, large-formation maneuvers, resulting in a catastrophic lack of experience in asymmetric or expeditionary warfare.

Ashen Sovereign Incident

ashen_sovereign_incident

~1385AC - 1684AC

The Ashen Sovereign Incident refers to the systematic identification, containment, and neutralization of a pure Dragon within Deserian territory by the Tarosian Secret Chancery. The operation, designated internally as "Project Cinder," represents the most resource-intensive covert military action in the history of the Tarosian Kingdom and established the doctrinal framework for all subsequent Outskirter containment operations.

Background and Detection

The Anomaly

Between 1380AC and 1390AC, the Sun-Spire's Resonance Choir began detecting irregular, high-amplitude Therme and Eidos signatures originating from the eastern Wild Desert. The signatures exhibited characteristics inconsistent with natural geothermal activity or known Planar Catalysis applications.

The Tarosian Secret Chancery classified the anomaly as a potential Mega Catalyst malfunction until 1420AC, when field operatives intercepted Deserian oral traditions referencing a "winged guardian" residing near deep geothermal vents. Cross-referencing these accounts with pre-Cataclysmic archives, the Chancery's senior Ikor geometers identified the signature as consistent with a juvenile pure Dragon, estimated to be approximately 300 years old and in the late Drake phase of its lifecycle.

Strategic Assessment

The Chancery's analysis concluded that the dragon posed an existential long-term threat to Tarosian hegemony. Pre-Cataclysmic records indicated that dragons reaching the Dragon phase (500+ years) possessed sufficient biological Planar Catalyst capacity to dismantle continental-scale infrastructure.

The Chancery recommended immediate neutralization. However, conventional military deployment was deemed strategically unviable due to:

The logistical impossibility of sustaining a Shakor legion in the deep desert for the duration required.
The risk of uniting the Arial Outskirts against a common enemy.
The potential for the dragon to be relocated or hidden by Deserian forces.

Instead, the Chancery authorized a deniable, long-term containment operation designed to appear as a routine border security action while systematically eliminating the threat.

The Containment Operation

1650AC - 1684AC

Phase 1: Observation and Mapping

1650AC - 1660AC
The Chancery deployed rotating teams of elite Shakor trackers and Ikor field geometers to the eastern Wild Desert under the cover of routine border patrol operations. Over a decade, these teams mapped the dragon's behavioral patterns, thermal dependencies, and migration routes.

The observation teams operated under strict non-interference protocols. Their objective was to accumulate sufficient data to design a single, decisive neutralization operation. The teams suffered a 15% casualty rate due to desert exposure, Deserian patrols, and the dragon's instinctual defensive responses when inadvertently approached.

Phase 2: Infrastructure Development

1660AC - 1678AC
Based on the accumulated data, the Chancery initiated the construction of specialized containment infrastructure at the Foothill Transshipment Hubs. This included:

Twelve high-capacity Planar Tension Catalysts, requisitioned from the Tarosian Royal Magic Academy under false pretenses of "border defense research."
Portable Mega Planar Tension Catalyst components, disassembled and transported in disguised cargo shipments.
A dedicated strike force of 300 elite Shakor, rotated through the desert in small units to avoid detection.

The infrastructure was designed to project a massive, sustained Therme Absorb geometry capable of inducing fatal torpor in a cold-blooded draconic entity. The operation required the coordinated effort of twelve elite Ikor geometers operating a Distributed Planar Tension Catalysis array.

Phase 3: The Cinder Basin Operation

1678AC - 1684AC
The operation was executed at the Cinder Basin, a shallow geothermal depression selected for its isolation and proximity to the dragon's primary thermal anchor. The Chancery employed a six-year deception campaign, fabricating Deserian supply caravans and staged skirmishes to condition the dragon to the area and lure it into the kill zone.

Tactical Breakthrough

The tactical breakthrough enabling the final engagement was derived from field-level observations rather than high-command doctrine. A mid-level Shakor sergeant and a junior Ikor geometer deduced the creature's strict biological dependency on external geothermal heat. Their unauthorized field report, which identified the dragon's cold-blooded physiology and its predictable retreat patterns to specific thermal vents, formed the basis for the Cinder Basin trap.

Execution

The operation commenced at dawn during a period of unseasonal atmospheric cooling. The twelve geometers activated the Distributed Catalysis array, projecting a Therme Absorb geometry across the basin. The ambient temperature dropped 40 degrees within minutes. The dragon, caught mid-flight and deprived of its geothermal anchor, experienced immediate metabolic shock and crashed to the basin floor.

The Shakor strike force advanced in coordinated volleys, deploying poison-tipped ballista bolts reinforced with Kinet deflectors to systematically disable the dragon's biological flight catalysts (wings). The dragon attempted a final Therme Rift breath attack, but a precisely timed Kinet shockwave from the geometers disrupted the thermal buildup, causing the breath to backfire.

The neutralization was completed when the strike force commander drove a consecrated iron spear through the dragon's parietal third eye, severing its connection to the Eidos plane.

Casualties and Costs

The operation succeeded, but at a cost that exceeded the Chancery's original 5-year projection by nearly 700%:

Geomancer losses: Three of the twelve geometers suffered immediate Cascade Fractures from the cognitive load of maintaining the field against the dragon's instinctual planar resistance. A fourth died of Neurological Overload when the dragon's parietal eye locked onto his Eidos Interface. The remaining eight operated in a state of extreme cognitive strain, with six requiring months of recovery. These losses represented centuries of accumulated expertise.
Military losses: The dragon's final, uncontrolled Therme Rift incinerated 400 Shakor before the geometers could disrupt it. An additional 1,200 Shakor were wounded in the ensuing Deserian counter-attack.
Tenax depletion: The operation consumed the entire Tenax reserves of all twelve Catalysts, rendering them completely inert. The physical artifacts were recovered intact, as Deusit casings are indestructible, but recharging their internal lattices required decades of exposure to ambient planar drift.
Temporal and Opportunity cost: The operation took 34 years from initial detection to final execution. The twelve high-capacity Catalysts and their operators were unavailable for Sun-Spire maintenance, border defense, or other critical operations during this entire period, straining the royal treasury and logistical networks.

The dragon nearly escaped twice during the final phase, forcing the strike force to abandon the original timeline and improvise tactical responses that violated standard doctrine. The Chancery's official after-action report acknowledged that the operation's success was contingent on "unprecedented coordination, favorable environmental conditions, and acceptable levels of fortune."

Biological Harvest

The dragon's biological catalysts (wings, throat-sac, and parietal eye) were extracted by Ikor artificers for study. Unlike Deus-forged Planar Tension Catalysts, these organic structures were not indestructible. Initial analysis suggested the biological catalysts operated on fundamentally different principles than Deus artifacts, though the Academy was unable to replicate or reverse-engineer the mechanisms. The organic tissues eventually degraded and were discarded.

The Architecture of the Facade

Official Narrative

The Chancery's public account of the operation, disseminated through the Ikor magistrates and the Tarosian Royal Magic Academy, omitted all reference to casualties, costs, and near-failures. The official history described a "flawless, surgical operation" that demonstrated the absolute supremacy of the Rightful Path and the Crown's capacity to neutralize any threat, regardless of scale.

The dragon's unbreakable skull was cleaned, treated, and mounted above the Academy's main gates, serving as a permanent monument to Tarosian competence.

Classified Reality

The true after-action report, classified at the highest level and accessible only to the Varros Clan and the Chancery's inner circle, documented the operation's actual costs and near-failures. The report concluded that while the threat had been neutralized, the operation had exposed critical vulnerabilities in Tarosian military doctrine:

The rigid reliance on elite geometers created a single point of failure.
The logistical demands of desert operations exceeded the Kingdom's sustainable capacity.
The Shakor's tactical inflexibility resulted in unnecessary casualties when faced with asymmetric threats.

The Chancery recommended doctrinal reforms, but these were suppressed by the Varros Clan to maintain the public narrative of invincibility. The report noted that "the perception of absolute competence is itself a strategic asset, and must be preserved regardless of operational reality."

Strategic Legacy

The Mythology of Invincibility

The Ashen Sovereign Incident became the cornerstone of Tarosian psychological warfare. For the following centuries, the mere rumor of a Tarosian legion mobilizing was sufficient to suppress Outskirter rebellions. The Crown had demonstrated that it could identify, track, and neutralize even the most formidable threats with absolute, methodical precision.

The incident reinforced the Tarosian elite's belief in their own infallibility and the superiority of the Rightful Path. This overconfidence would prove catastrophic during the First Outskirter War, when the same rigid doctrine and tactical inflexibility that had nearly failed against a single dragon resulted in the systematic bleeding of three Shakor legions in the desert.

The Deserian Perspective

The Deserians, while publicly accepting the Tarosian narrative, possessed intimate knowledge of the operation's true costs. The dragon's death was not a demonstration of Tarosian invincibility, but a testament to Deserian resilience. The fact that the Tarosians had been forced to commit 34 years of resources, sacrifice 1,600 soldiers, and risk the lives of their most elite geometers to kill a single creature became a source of quiet, enduring pride.

The incident established the foundational myth of Deserian resistance: the Tarosians were not invincible. They were merely willing to pay any price to maintain the illusion. This knowledge would fuel the Deserian guerrilla campaign during the First Outskirter War and sustain the Outskirts through centuries of subjugation.