Imperium – Darren Joy Dark Epic Fantasy Author

The Imperium

Matrod Ral – founder of the imperium and a Spectral Mage

Years mentioned here are in YI (Year of the Imperium) and BI (Before the Imperium)

The First Imperator

The Icarthian imperium was founded by a man named Matrod Ral in the year 1YI when he was just twenty-two years old. Imperial scholars reported that four years earlier in 4BI he came as if from nowhere, dressed in rags, with nothing to his name. He quicky inserted himself into local politics in the city state of Icarthya. He rose to power within months, causing a seismic shift in city politics. Some saw him as an outsider, others as plain dangerous, and yet others suggested he was Plagueborn, one of the undead. (By this time three major plagues had ravaged Adalalcas resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths).

Several attempts were made on his life, but each time the assassins failed and mysteriously disappeared. He even began to make a name for himself among the other city states, who at that time were at war with Icarthya, and had the temerity to insert himself into their political arenas as well. It can be said, that by this time, he was already infamous and not well liked, at least by the patrician class.

Through sheer will and character, Matrod forged the imperium from the fractious city states that dotted Adalalcas. For centuries as those city states had grown in number, territory and resources dwindling, wars had wracked Adalalcas. Not since the infamous conflicts with the Nephilim, the first of which occurred in 6452BI, had so much war been visited upon the early Icarthians. Despite the odds against him, Matrod Ral had landed into the midst of these ongoing conflicts at the tender age of eighteen, and instead of conquering, swayed them to his cause. A united imperium took hold. It took him four years until the final treaty was signed in 10BI, but he had achieved the impossible.

Magical Abilities

It wasn’t until years later, during his rule as the first imperator, that his magical abilities became widely known when several times he was forced to use his powers to defend his fledgling imperium. By now he had in his retinue several viral mages, which put fear in his enemies. However, they soon learned it was Matrod himself they needed to fear most.

While it was reported that he always tried to choose the path of peace, there were always some who wanted war. In 5BI, Matrod Ral was forced to defend his people from attack, one of many that would come to devastate the young imperium. Negotiations had failed with the southern kingdom of Paldan. The rogue kingdom rose up against its prospective imperial master, and Matrod marched his legions to war. It was the moment he became a conqueror in truth, and it was said that in the days following, he cried several times in private. Many scholars dismiss these reports as propaganda by his enemies.

The Paldanars had proved deadly and the final battle was almost lost by the imperium when the young imperator revealed his secret. Matrod Ral was a spectral mage. Leaving his viral mages behind, he marched out alone to face the Paldanar force. He would send a message to all who would bring war to Icarthya. Lightning decimated the desert warriors and whirlwinds tossed ranks of bow and spear men into the air, as Matrod strode ahead of his wounded forces. A greenish actinic light was said to have covered him from head to toe as he let free his wrath. The Paldanars surrendered eventually, and ancient scholars reported that Matrod forgave them, exacting no punishment. The imperium marched on, but many more wars would follow, and several rebellions, though these eventually waned.

Who was he?

Matrod’s true identity, which he later revealed to imperial historians, was Ralan Nalrost, son of the infamous Rasnal Nalrost and Astra Dar. Ralan had died alongside his mother in 79BI, but due to the spell wrought by his father, he was reborn in the year 22BI. There was something mentioned in historical reports about another side to him. A darker side, which it was said he rarely revealed, but had been glimpsed by those closest to him. It was said he was tormented, and that something foul inhabited his soul. Despite his efforts to convince the scholars of the time of who he was, his claims were considered insanity, and were never recorded officially in the imperial histories.

However, one historian named Gazboh Warnot, from the southern deserts of the imperium, possibly Ancyra, did believe him and recorded his words. This historical document was unearthed from the lost archives by Aiyana Todralan centuries later, although it would be several decades before it became common knowledge. His time as Matrod Ral was his first rebirth, his second not to occur for another 717 years, when he would be reborn as Taver Wyn. It would be decades later again that he would reclaim the name of Ralan.

Determined to restore the Icarthian people and undo the damage his father had done, Ralan – though of course then better known as Matrod Ral – had formed the first Icarthian empire, which would become known as the Imperium.

Black Palace

Formerly known as the White Palace, the new seat of the first imperator was renamed the Black Palace due to the terrible death and destruction that occurred during Ralan’s first life. He set about reconstructing both people and empire, rebuilding relationships damaged throughout the world, for Nalrost’s spell had spared no one.

During those early years of the imperium, the plagues were constant, the undead born in great numbers. This of course led to conflict with the living, and Matrod had to fight to hold the imperium together. The first imperial mages served under Matrod, the most notable of these being Beezer and Lyrin, whose names would resound through history.

Though within the imperium trust slowly developed between the undead and the living, there were always those who sought to undermine it. One such was a man named, Rogan Felps, a Zalanthian renegade from the north who had settled in the new imperium. The Zalanthians had largely vanished two centuries earlier, instead becoming the inhabitants of the infamous island of Atlantis. However, some few remained loyal to their old customs and homeland. One custom of Zalanthya, although calling it a custom was likely a bit much, was hatred for Icarthians. They had attacked northern Adalalcas in the distant past, killing and enslaving hundreds of thousands. Twice the Icarthians had invaded north in the previous two hundred years. Some few Zalanthian holdouts refused to relinquish old hatreds, and Felps was one of them. He was also a zorast, an acolyte of the unholy Grim.

Assassination

In the year 17YC, during an attempt to take control of the Black Palace in the mistaken belief he could then use the imperium and its mages to restore the Grim to the world, Rogan Felps killed Matrod Ral. Where others had failed, Felps had succeed by becoming a trusted member of the imperial guard along with six others. However, Felps failed in his bid to take the throne due to the efforts of Beezer, and he later fled Icarthya. Years later, the imperator’s son, Todral Ral, hunted down and killed Felps in retribution. Of course, by this time Todral was the second imperator and he ruled well into his old age. It was Todral who also founded the conclave in honour of what his father had wanted the imperium to become, and also began the long tradition of appointing Darkens after the manner of his father’s death.

The Purges

It wouldn’t be until the year 702YC, roughly seven hundred years later that the purges would begin and the imperium would wage war against the viral undead. This then began a false history perpetrated by the fanatical Exemplars as Icarthians forgot their past. Matrod Ral, the first imperator, was remembered but his true name, his true identity, would remain forgotten until his return.

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