FrivYeti/EnliHis4
The Second Age of Man
The Rise Of Theocracy
At first, the effects of the Draconic Dynasty were confined to the Blessed Isle itself. The Blessed Isle itself was still suffering greatly; though it had been shielded from the worst effects of the fae, it was there that the war against the Deliberative had been the most fierce. Entire regions had been destroyed, and armies were stripped down to almost nothing as the people simply tried to survive. Remnants of the Deliberative, along with ambitious warlords, fled to the corners of the islands and beyond, setting up their own nations. For the first year after the war end, the Dynasty could only lay claim to just under a quarter of the island, though Immaculate influence radiated far beyond that.
This soon changed. Early in D.Y. 794, the recently crowned Empress Remisi met with influential leaders of the Immaculate Order, and laid out the future of the world as she saw it. Without a firm hand, she explained, the Immaculate faith, newly established and with only the most tentative control over the populace, would fade into obscurity. Given the choice between luxury and virtue, most people would be tempted by luxury, fall into cults to gods that would abuse this trust, and begin practicing forbidden arts once again. Instead, the Empress suggested, there was another path. Remisi herself was a devout follower of the Immaculate Faith, and was willing to name it the state faith - the only religion that could be practiced by the people of her burgeoning empire. The various monks and savants of the Empire would ensure that a proper schedule of worship was devised for the gods, treated each equally according to their station and co-operation with the Faith. In exchange, the Faith would preach the rightness and Virtue of dynastic rule, enthroning the Empire as the only proper government. Remisi saw clearly enough to know that this would help sway gods and mortals alike to her banner, hopefully creating a successor to the Deliberative, founded on virtue rather than might.
Her suggestion was one that was at first greeted with suspicion. After all, it was a unified political bloc that had caused problems in the first place, and many Immaculates did not believe that replacing one dictator with another would be effective. Ultimately, however, the leadership of the Order decided to grant Remisi's request, and the merger of the Immaculate Order and the Draconic Dynasty was made.
