Chapter Seventeen

Rysia

            The regnum (kingdom) of Rysia can be likened to a wild fire. It was wild fire that erupted in a vast forest filled with rain thirsty trees and trunks and branches that have dried and have sunken. The land of Tartharac was a barren land inhabited by small regnorum (kingdoms). These regnorum coexisted perfectly and thrived upon the resources of lands they occupied until a great plague devastated the land. Drought and famine starved the many regnorum whose lands were not very fertile. Three years of constant drought and famine led people to become hostile and out of this chaos the small regnum of Fire emerged and conquered the lands around it. Land after land it conquered just as tree after tree was burned by the fire. By the end of the 2nd century of Archaneaux Rysia had become an empire so large that it occupied half of Tartharac. It is said that with wealth and power comes numerous enemies especially if these things are ill gotten just as the case of Rysia who treacherously attacked their neighbors while they slept in their beds at night. The regnorum that Rysia has conquered harbored so much hatred for their tyrant oppressor that by the beginning of the 3rd century a rebellion broke out from the north led by the small regnum of Shou. With Shou’s rebellion the first elemental war broke out an elemental war that lasted until the end of the Rysian Reign. Shou was never defeated in fact it even became a fortified regnum that expanded its territory right under Rysia’a nose. Rysia expanded its lands whilst it battled with the ever rebellious Shou up at north. It conquered lands as far as the western island of Onaris. Total control seemed to be in the grasp of Rysia until women came into the picture. Upon the continent of the east stood a mighty empire whose name was Celaria (the continent got its name from this super empire). The empire was ruled by one great empress who never married but had numerous adopted children. Celaria retaliated after rysian ships attacked their city near the present day regnum of Oberis. The result of this clash was the first Archanian War which lasted for 7 decades. This war had weakened the empire of Rysia tremendously, its cities were plunged into state of chaos, the mere size alone of the empire made it extremely hard to control the vast lands under its throne. The 1st Archanian war enabled the small unconquered regnum of Wyndox to fight back against the mighty Rysia. Rysia lost the 1st Archanian war with heavy casualties; their chaotic empire could never match up to the extremely organized empire of Celaria. The casualties they had acquired only added to their numerous problems which included the regnorum of Shou and Wyndox. Just mere decades after the end of the 1st Archanian war another one broke out this time led by the regnum of Onaris whose lands had freed itself after its 12 decade long struggle with Rysia. Rysia lost its western provinces as a result of the 2nd Archanian war after surrendering to Onaris when the regnum of plants forbade crops from growing in Rysian soil. Rysia though weakened was still strong its empire was still vast but as the sages had said the fire will kill itself on its own. Betrayal from within its own walls had shattered the monumental empire of Rysia by the middle of the 5th century their own royals killed each other for the throne. The emperor’s third son by a drone native of the conquered regnum of Sylverixe(ancestors of Aone) killed his siblings and destroyed the empire then afterwards founded his own regnum in the west and named it Aone. The powerful empire fell after a 357 year reign but a small and proud regnum took its place a regnum founded by the only son of the emperor that the third son was not able to kill. The hatred of Rysia and Aone was deeply rooted upon the people Rysian this immense hatred was the cause of the 3rd and 4th Archanian wars but their wish to destroy the regnum of Aone would never be fulfilled for Aone unlike Rysia had the support of the other regnorum of Tartharac who harbored intense hatred towards their tyrannical oppressors. Just as Rysia hated Aone so did the other regnorum hated Rysia with the same intensity. At the beginning of the 8th century Aone had clashed head on with the regnum of Winaris this ignited the 5th Archanian war. Rysia in an act of proving itself joined the war along with the other regnorum. Rysia’s selfish nature helped Winaris and the rest of Celaria to defeat Aone and the other regnorum of Tartharac, Rysia included of course. Rysian forces would attack the enemy unaided and during the head on combat of both continents Rysia would never cooperate with Aone or with other regnum troops. At the treaty of Sirens Rysia paid the ultimate price for its selfishness, Tartharac and Celaria came upon the agreement of peace on Celarian terms of course, Rysia was forced to hand over the Island of Sirens to Spruxia the very land they considered as their greatest treasure, it is the land where they received the gift of fire. This act had forever shamed the once proud and boastful nation but beyond the charred honor and broken pride raised a phoenix that had learned a deep and valuable lesson from the remnants of the war.

            The regnum of Rysia was located at the eastern most part of the Tartharac continent. It is surrounded by numerous volcanoes and mountain ranges and bordered by three regnorum namely Heirus, Erraius and Enri. The land is mostly arid because of the extreme climate of the country and only the southern most part contained farmable land. Crops are scarce in Rysia and as a result they relied heavily upon the imported of crops from Onaris for their staples. Though they lacked in agricultural lands they made up for their loss with massive industrial areas whose furnace had kept their pork barrels filled with gold and silver. Lava Rivers flowed from the numerous super active volcanoes of the regnum. These rivers of flame turned up the heat of the already tropical country contributing to the peoples copper skinned appearance. The cities of the regnum are located near the volcanoes or in the case of the major cities at the foot of the fire mounts. Trees rarely grew in the regnum and cold water was scarce.  This was mainly due to exceedingly hot like weather of the regnum. Hot springs could be found all over the regnum this served as the water source of the people. The drinking water of the regnum is always lukewarm or boiling hot and these are brought to the city via the stone pipes connected to the hot water springs. Heat resistant materials made up the regnum’s infrastructures. Making it easier to build towering mega structures that in itself showed Rysia’s grandeur. The houses of the people were built around huge furnaces at the middle of their lands like a box around a pit. Rysian houses were open towards the inner orchard and closed off in the outside. Beautiful crimson columns decorated the facade of the houses while balconies decked the inner court. Beautifully carved stone balusters made up the inner buildings balconies. These balconies were open and let air flow freely within the homes. Huge floor to ceili