Historica Rosarkina

[VoxApocrypha]

HISTORICA ROSARKINA

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Section 1. Origin Mythos of Razina - Roskanan Inclusivity explained in a 'In-Character' Format
AKA, Origins - Section 1. Tragedy of Razina + Section 2. Razina's Family

1. In a time before the Auranites built their great city and set on a path to unify Roskana, with the world in their crosshairs, there was a civilization that was far more ancient than them. Their ruins still stood half-buried in dirt and rock rubble, built into eroding cliff-faces and standing on hills for longer than the Auranites had even been a people. It's unknown what could have destroyed a civilization who's boundary reportedly stretched even to Maiz in the south, and to Triece in the north, but whatever it was it had reduced their people to a dust-bound memory, skeletons and ashy soil all that remained, so it seemed.

As they built their city, the people of Auran would gradually stumble upon their brothers and sisters, different in form and attributes to them but brothers and sisters none of the less, all of them speaking a tongue so remarkably similar it was by no means, coincidence. They began to intermingle, and before too long, a common figure became apparent in their religions. Despite the people, a single figure would be firmly rooted at the center of each's religion. The Auranites called them Razina, and in the langauges of their kin, the same name stuck. Festria, Kithium, Karrashi, and others all together.

Razina would slowly become center of an overarching religion, as a conglomeration became inevitable, a cultural intermingling that was so strong by its nature that it simply couldn't be avoided, nor stopped. There was no war, for war would be pointless - some force was drawing them together under a collective worship of a single diety and their tenets, into a larger cohesive 'family' to which encompassed not only different groups of humans but indeed stretched to incorporate the 'Anthro' races to which resided in Roskana.

Razina herself, is said to exist, indeed by then there was one to whom they referred to as 'Razina', and she was said to be very real.

She took the form of a Kithium, with golden and white fur, and starry eyes and long hair, a pristine body and a warming smile, infectious and quelling.

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2. Razina was born of the ancients, the Rombardans as they were called. She was once asked by a young archaelogist, exploring the sight of a half-buried temple with her as a guiding hand, why they disappeared.

She answered: "A cataclysm struck the land. The sky turned grey, ash fell from heaven and the gods we worshipped were struck down, their holy cities to which they ruled an ancient pantheon burned down as punishment for their hubris by the God of War.. and in his folley, the ashes of the world he laid waste to, laid waste to that of which he was seeking to save and grow. The crops died, choked by the product of his conquest. The very air, was tainted. The Rombardans died, all but one. But me."

The Archaelogist asked her more questions, fascinated, trying to pry whatever answered from the past he could in the present from this seemingly immortal woman of whom stood before him, patiently answering his queries.

But one question drew a longer answer from her. Why her, why was she still here, to be there before him? What of the others, what became of them? What happened after the Cataclysm? She replied to him with offer of a story and more besides, to ease further digging by the young man.

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(Origins Begins)

3. "If you so wish, I will recount the story. I was saved by the god, Mars, when his regret and remorse compelled him to help me in the wake of his folley. But I did not escape unscathed." She told him, as her head turned up to the sky. "When a Rombardan died, their soul joined the stars, brighter the more wellknown and accomplished they were. As the ash fell, we could see none.. I could see none. But as the sky cleared in the many moon-turns after, I watched the sky grow crowded with a beautiful collection of stars.. and I could only weep - knowing among them, were my two sons."

"Their souls were among their kin in the stars, in heaven, building on the dirt of a empty realm now, made for them by Mars. The soul of the god himself was gone, for he had taken to a death for his own honor's sake, driving his own blade into himself to spare himself a eternity of shame and regret. In doing so, I inherited his power.. and his immortality."

"In the era after I roamed a desolate land. Scattered pockets of your ancestors, the Humans, the Ferre, the Lithrepts, and the Vulpa, they persisted through the land and I worked to help them where I could.. performing miracles with the powers I understood and growing my understanding as I did. But there is only so much a single woman can do, and as I worked slowly things grew better.. but all the achievements of the ancients were eventually lost to time. This temple is one of the very very few that remain from a time before your people even had the iron forge."

"I found love, again and again. But each union bore no children.. only stillborns, who's souls joined the great beyond as mere specks of light in a sky bright with stars. But I found that while I may not be able to have the sons I wished for.. I could still have a family. And so, I remain. I stay here, to guide your people and all the others of my once great civilization. You and all your kin, are my kin. Auranites, are my Kin, Kithium are my Kin, Festria, Karrashi, Karilians, all are my kin. My now great family."

"My family is those who speak my tongue, and all who speak Rosark, may be brought into my embrace - and welcome to my warmth and hospitality, so long as they do as I do, and embrace others of this tongue as their kin."

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4. Razina in her wisdom, and from the times of pain and darkness she faced even before the cataclysm, sought to impart on her new family, her newly adopted 'children' having in turn taken her as a goddess and motherly figure with a guiding hand, a system of values to which would she hoped and prayed would make them stronger, united, and righteous - virtues that she had hoped for before, and now wanted these children to embody.

She told them of brotherhood, and that together their bonds would be stronger than even the greatest iron chains - and they'd be inseparable. She taught them of generosity, and of helping others in their time of need much like she had wished others would have for her and her family, wishing never to see such suffering imparted again on her people.

She taught them to honor their agreements, to be honest and truthful, and as well, she taught them loyalty. She taught them to be work together and to work hard, and to build towards a happier and more properous world and future for their children. But as well, she would give them a final lesson. Liberty.

She told them plainly that she did not control them, but she cared for them. Saw them as great and their potential greater, but that she could not guide that potential to its greatest outcome herself. Nor did she want to.

She told them that they had the innate choice - granted to them by birth, to pursue their path as a person, and as a collective together, to better themselves and to better their peoples, community and ultimately, their societies.

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5. Razina would linger, offering her guidance.. but as the passage of time went by, she became less and less prevelant in the affairs of her kin, simply becoming a figure to whom would go on to eventually, found a small private society, worshipping a religion built on her image and her adopted name. The Cult of Mars. 

[VoxApocrypha]

Section 2. Roskanan-Grinvel Rivalry and Animosity - Early History

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 1. The animosity between the people of Roskana and Grinvel is ancient, spanning back more than a milennia. It had at first been a more localized conflict between the ancient tribes that made up Grinvel and the proto-kingdoms of Festria that had barely managed to master basic metallurgy almost 1300 BCE years into the past. This conflict was a long one, with many phases. But for most of its duration, before 1200 BCE years ago, the conflict had been between Ald, and the tribes of Grav. This conflict continued in back and forth raiding, with the Aldenites becoming masters of defense-by-offensive and the Grav becoming familiar with metal-working and gradually growing stronger themselves, forming confederations of tribes that made them into stronger foes for the Festria. 

However this conflict would enter a new phase when an Auranite scout would arrive in the region, and after a time, bring back news of this kingdom and Grav. As part of a diplomatic endeavor to bring the new Kingdom of Ald into the fold as part of a newer, greater state simply known as the Empire of Rosark. Ald joined this union and intertwined its trade with it, in exchange for the military assistance of the stronger Auranite army in pushing the Grinvelians out of their territory entirely, and as well, in carving out a new border, forcing the Grinvelian confederacies out from part of the region, and then making a new border, strong from both Ald and Auranite armies guarding that border. 

 Even when the Empire of Rosark became a political vassal of Verak in 1000 BCE to avoid conflict with them, under the reign of 'Maran The Dishonorable', the Empire of Rosark and the Aldenites, as well as allied tribes and groups that slowly were integrated, continued to fight against raiders and increasingly organized and well armed armies from Grinvel. But as the centuries dragged on, the conflict slowly became less intense, but in its place a lingering and slowly growing animosity would continue to grow, as a confederacy of Grinvelian kingdoms built an army, and likewise the Empire of Rosark similarly used Verakian iron-working techniques that it had brought back from its massive knowledge seeking expeditions to the south and west to strengthen itself, quickly starting to try to expand on its gathered knowledge to form the basis of a stronger army. 

 Bows and arrows grew in size as the kinds of bows needed by Festria became more prevelant among them, and humans and Kithium took up heavy iron spears and large shields, with swordsmen and horse-mounted sword-singers becoming prevalent. A clash was inevitable, and this would be the first true war between the two rival cultures, a conflict immense in scale and deadlier than any other in either's history. The death toll was in the millions after almsot a decade of constant fighting and sieges, eventually ending in a brutal bloodbath at the battle of the city of Castor, inside of what would become modern Grinvel. 

2. After the brutal war came to a close, the Grinvelian kingdoms broke apart, with a Rosarkian puppet government sparking a civil war within Grinvel that lasted several years, as the Auranites rebuilt Ald and further strengthened their cultural hold on the Festria, of whom were culturally integrated into the greater whole of the nation before too long. In the year 600 AD, the war came to a end, and the Grinvelians would be reunited under one state, leading to a period of relative peace in the region despite the animosity between both sides. Attempts at reconcilliation were made before the fall of Verak later, but ultimately as a lineage of 'Dishonorables' was brought to an end, so to was any chance of peace. Knowing that the Grinvelians would attempt to destroy them once things took a full turn for the worse, the Empire of Rosark fortified itself and then started to strategically lash out with an army. 

 In the year 620 AD the Rosarkian forces would clash with Grinvel repeatedly, to a overall greater war that quickly escalated into an all-out war between Grinvel and what would become soon, Roskana. When the conflict came to an end, many were dead, and much of Auran's forces were gone, with vast damage done to both sides. It was at best, a phyrric Grinvelian victory, and one that in the end, did not last. The Roskanans would reform the Empire of Rosark in 622 AD into the first Auranite Roskana. The Auranite Tsar would rebuild his nation whilst engaging in a fierce war with Grinvel, resulting in a tenative peace that ultimatley came to an end with a war for revenge that followed not long after, and ultimatley led to a minor victory for Roskana. 

 A period of rebuilding settles on both states and a sort of formal border is solidified, with Auranite Roskana reintegrating territories lost before. It expanded to the south, and integrate the Dominion of Marrelak peacefully, sending military aid to help them subdue their hostile neighbors. When this had subsided, as well hostilities with Grinvel for a time would as well, leading to Marrelak to be partially integrated into Roskanan Auran, though this was only partial, with the Marrelak remaining a distinct culture.