Lorsythe¶
"Blasphemy is a cardinal sin punishable by death in Lorsythe." — from the history of a Lorsythian lieutenant (S004)
Lorsythe was a human kingdom of the Divine Alliance south of Proturas, founded by the refugees of the Unholy Flight from fallen Sanctorum, and for most of two centuries the Grotto's nearest and most zealous enemy. It fell to the Araxians in the Second Araxian War, "the entire kingdom fell within two years", and its lands were left cursed and blighted by the Proturan counter-attack (S107). Its people survive as the Aegis of Lorsythe in the South Bank slums of Proturas and as the poorest, most numerous and least represented of the city's factions (S078).
Contested
This page is named in the Open Question Date of the fall of Lorsythe: S016 dates the "Fall of the Northern Kingdoms: Lorsythe, ?, ?" to the year 1210 of its Fifth Age table, while S107 places the fall in the Second Araxian War in the 740s AL.
History¶
Founding¶
In the last days of the Sancturi Empire, "when the empress had been slain and the great city of Sanctorum overrun", two High Precepts of the Houses of Sidcarnon and Barahd and the Principate of the Sages led an exodus north with the sacred text Sanctoric Cartus, fighting other Sancturi "who saw them as deserters who should ascend to Elysium with the Empress", and "founded the kingdoms of the Divine Alliance. The three kingdoms, Lorsythe, ?? and ??" (S078). "After purchasing their refuge with all their belongings and in some cases their own freedom, they were a broken and destitute people", and the two High Precepts were executed for blasphemy and desertion (S078). The Divine Alliance page tells the rest.
The Lorsythian War¶
Around the 650s AL of the Fifth Age Proturan metalwork, pottery and ale were undercutting "Lorsythian ironworks", while "Lorsythe was becoming increasingly orthodox in its worship of The Divine. Kalari and Spellcasters were declared pagans and Uk'Zerai as heretics. All were hunted and many of these fled to Proturas" (S107). "The war was triggered by a Lorsythian raid on Proturas's southern trade outpost", nearly two hundred miles south of the city, and "primarily consisted of Lorsythe destroying Proturan outposts and Proturan counterattacks on Lorsythian forces. Lorsythe was unable to mount an attack on Proturas itself" (S107). It ended only when the Great Guhvil War forced "a truce between the northern kingdoms, Proturas and the Boreal Elves" (S107).
The fall¶
In the Second Araxian War the Araxian advance "was halted for nearly 20 years at Lorsythe, which benefited from strong natural borders and the consolidated alliance army. Relations between Lorsythe and Proturas were normalized" (S107). Then "the Lorsythe lines broke unexpectedly and the entire kingdom fell within two years. Droburg held on for an additional two. Refugees from the two kingdoms were absorbed by Proturas", and the Proturan brigades' scorched-earth counter-attack left "many former territories of the northern kingdoms of Lorsythe and Drobur cursed and blighted" (S107). A High Elf who had spent a hundred and fifty years in a Lorsythian prison under a stayed sentence of "death by fire" was abandoned there when "during the fall of Lorsythe, the prison was abandoned and the current warden felt it was too dangerous to release you", and walked north with "a group of Lorsythian refugees making their way north into Proturan territory" (S074). Lorsythian captains were sold as slaves afterwards (S073).
Lorsythe in Proturas¶
"Originally enemies of Proturas, they were absorbed when their homeland was overrun." The Aegis of Lorsythe, under a Duke, "rule much of the South Bank Slums area of Proturas" with irregular forces, hold minor-member status but no council seat, and "although not as zealous as members of the Divine Alliance, they share worship of the same pantheon" (S078). Lorsythe is "the poorest faction, but quite numerous" (S078). The Divine Order of Lorsythe survives too, in its monastery in the Rift.
Baegor¶
The sources place Baegor in two guises. In the Rift, the Baegor Chain is "a chain of numerous mid-sized islands", one of the more dangerous, whose "ruins here seem primarily from Lorsythe, Dalmar, Droburg and Athagilion", and whose chief settlement is the Baegor Monastery, "a monastery of the Divine Order of Lorsythe … constructed during the early development of the Kingdom of Lorsythe and flourished up until Lorsythe's destruction. It remains in use by the Divine Order, although it's population of monks is much diminished" (S066). On Terrun, the Knights of the Steel Cross are "a Baegor quick-reaction force under the command of Proturan Military and part of the Iron Lion Brigade" (S068), who set up quarantine stations around plague-struck Banbridge in the High Vale (S060), and who keep a chapter and the Steel Cross Armory on the Stairs (S104). The Rift settlements are described on the Rift page.
Gap
Nothing says where Baegor stands on Terrun, whether it is a Lorsythian town, a fortress or a Proturan county, or how its knights came under Proturan command. It is placed here, with the Lorsythian monastery that bears its name, only tentatively.
Earlier accounts¶
The Into the Rift documents describe Lorsythe as a living kingdom. It is "part of the Divine Alliance, a group of nations devoted to the worship of the Divine and the eradication of evil in all its forms (most notably the Riven and Sancturi Gods, Magic-Users, Dragons, Demons, Fae and Rift-folk)"; its army fights "Bandits, Grotto-folk, Boreal Elves and creatures of the Rift", posts lieutenants to the frontier with the Boreal Elves, and hunts "small thieving parties from the Grotto" (S004). Lorsythian soldiers and miners return "nearly every season" to an old collapsed passage to Proturus to try to reopen it (S002), and "your people and the Kingdom of Lorsythe have had on and off conflicts … for the last 20 or more years" (S009). Sixty years before, Lorsythe "expanded and laid claim to vast areas" of Boreal Elf hunting grounds; fifteen years before, after an elven raid "crippled one of their encroaching settlements, the Kingdom launched a full scale war that lasted 3 years", ending with the kingdom "forced to retreat across the Greenfell River" (S005). A Lorsythian captain served as intelligence officer to the fire cult of the Illuri Fold, and Lorsythian intelligence on the Grotto "has been underwhelming" (S010). The short note on the Grotto counts "refugees from the northern kingdoms including Lorsythe" among the Conclave's factions (S026), and the Fifth Age timeline table records the "Fall of the Northern Kingdoms: Lorsythe, ?, ?" in the year 1210 of its own reckoning, during the Guhvil Wars (S016).
In Play¶
A lieutenant of the Lorsythian Army, secretly a Kalari cultist of the Moonlight Order, was among the delegates to the peace talks of Into the Rift (S004). Lorsythe's fall and its refugees shape the backstory of the Proturan Campaign (S074).