Conspiracy Theory Op-Ed 3: On The HUMAN Condition

Whether Ogre or Skar, down to the smallest gnome, each Collision of a new race upon Terminus has brought about change and a weaving of otherworldly things into this new geographical mosaic.  But none have been so disruptive and blatantly controlling about their impact on the world as the humans of Vas Demith.  And it all comes directly from their second king, the powerful and propagandizing Avendyr, son of Amensol.

We can start as close to their home as we can.  The original city that was founded by men after the first brutal winter on Terminus was named Havensong. Havensong had meaning to men, as it should have meaning to them and to tell a story to the nations around them.

After Amensol was killed during the Deicide War, his son, Avendyr, built a new city.  Havensong was destroyed during the war and, instead of building on the foundations of the city, he transplanted the survivors to a more defensible position.  Now that Avendyr was the new king, he left his own mark on the world at large by not giving the new city a name that speaks to all men, but that speaks directly to himself and his family; he named the city Thronefast, speaking to the lasting nature of his dynasty.

The suns of Terminus first dispelled a fallen god in the presence of men and elves at their Silent Sanctum. The elves and men went on to claim a leadership role in later battles ultimately leading to Ka’Druhorr and the killing of the Ravaging Lord.  In order to remind all visitors who enter Thronefast of the dominance of men during the Deicide War, Avendyr installed pillars that were the original stone gate frames from Havensong   All who pass through are to reflect on the death of men during the war and their ultimate victory.  The irony is the Suns of Terminus as the ones who were ultimately victorious over the Ravaging Lord’s army.  Rok’Nhilthamos, the dragon king, is who defeated the Ravaging Lord himself.  Whatever part men played in the victory was no more than any other of the Sacred Six races.  In fact, their losses were not nearly as dire as other races, though you would not think this after reading the Keeper's history of the great war.  More on that later.

Moving out from their home city, we arrive at the valley through the Roan Mountains to the east.  This fertile valley was the home of the North Tusk Orcs, called away to war on behalf of their brother clans far off during the Deicide Wars.  The city and surrounding area in the valley had been resettled by men upon the orcs return, forcing them to retreat to one of their small villages, Hanggore.  The valley, the orc’s ancestral homeland, was renamed Avendyr’s Pass after the king who stole the lands from the natives.  To make matters worse, the ancestral name for the valley has been lost to this generation.

Zooming out further still, the entire continent upon which Thronefast rests is home to many races including the formidable elves, Elvonnen giants, Ratkin, and Orcs.  The world at large knows the continent today as Kingsreach, with Men as the only race to have a king.  The continent was not named to the glorification of all races upon the land, not even to all men, just to the glorification of Avendyr and his family, for the continent en masse is all within the King's reach and under his control.

This pattern of extreme hubris on the part of the dynasty of Avendyr is capped by the thought of how much effort, whether strongarming or illicit payments, would be necessary for all other races to accept the renaming of entire continents for the sake of the humans.  It has been so viral, in fact, that these efforts extended even to the Keepers themselves, having a dominant human perspective to every history told.  No other history is so perfectly white-washed in their history as humans, having kept absolutely no record of any decision or story that is not to the advantage of the Throne of Men.  For instance, this is the self-proclaimed humble first Keeper's thoughts on the arches leading into the city as discussed above, "...I must reveal I have an entire volume of accounts from those who say they have felt the very sting of death and the pain of a "birth" as they passed unsuspecting through this homage to the Human travail."  And another quote about Avendyr from the same, "For there is no figure who so altered the future of his own race or Terminus at large than the Human leader. Even before he set foot on Vesu, his frontline leadership in the many battles leading up to Ka’Druhorr had more than won the respect of his contemporaries." This travesty of history will be to the ultimate shame of later generations if the true and complete history of Men is lost by the butterfingered hands of tainted Keepers.