Zalto Lore

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Within the spoiler is a family tree of the Llewellyn family, though the King's line. All Red lighted names are Kings (Or Queens, respectively) that have ruled Zalto. The picture is very big so be warned.

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Kings in order
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx1. William and Henry (Co-Kings) xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 6. Gavin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 11. Vanlith II
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx2. Victor xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 7. Sellux xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 12. Elisabetha
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx3. Vanlith I xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 8. Igerna xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 13. Uther
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx4. Olwen xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 9. Jason xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 14. Arthur
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx5. Percival xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 10. Isabella xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 15. Aldon

Loyalty: To House Lionis (Former) To the Empire and House Drosselmeyer
Religion: Polytheistic, Patron god being Mnerolth, Mnerolth is centered more in the capital and in larger cities and towns, while the elder gods tend to have a higher standing in smaller villages
Fashion: The clothing of Zalto tends to be more revealing then the other Kingdoms, it is not uncommon to see young women go about in dresses without sleeves and on when the sun becomes to hot and the weather is very troublesome the lower classes have no problem going topless, while men may do the same. Gold and Gem's are all the rage as many men and women have piercings and people of all ages can be seen running though the streets with arms and legs painted gold. However the higher classes of Zalto tend to keep up appearance of beauty and prestige. Zalto Fashion is based off of the Italian Renaissance.
Language: Zalto speaks the Common tongue, however At one point Zalto had its own tongue but ever since it pledged its loyalty to Lionis it's birth tongue has faded until it is rare for even the royalty of the Kingdom to have a full vocabulary (characters wishing to speak Zalton please PM the Captain) Those whom speak in Zalton please code your speaking text when speaking in Zalton in some type of yellow that is legible.
Main Product: Gold, Spices, and Silks.
Main Economical Struggle: High Unemployment rate (3 to 5)
Crime Rate: 1 in every 500 people have something on their criminal record.

The Kingdom of Zalto
Noun: Zalton (ex. I am a proud Zalton)
Adjective: Zalton (ex. I am proud to be Zalton
Plural: Zaltons (ex. Here come the Zaltons!)

 

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The Founding of Zalto

Long ago two brothers lived in the west, one was named William while the other was named Henry, together they carried the name Llewellyn. As they grew older and the wars showed no chance of stopping any time soon they enlisted in the largest draconic military force available at the time, The Draconian Legions. The Draconian legions had two purposes in its formation; to protect all the land were dragon kind settled and to uphold the honor and value of the dragon.

Both William and Henry were notorious fighters, both holding a powerful dragon form; one of black and one of white; however who held which is debated. Between the two they could take out legions of men, the talent they held served them well. William was the better soldier; a general that could lead scores of men into battle, change the plans when something peculiar happened, and return with the most survivors out of any commander in the Legions. Henry was better at planning, though his sword skills were on par with the General Mnelroth's, Henry's true weapon was his mind. His battle tactics left nothing to be desired and many full of pride or envy or spite; his plans where like a grasping hand that reached out invisible onto the battlefield, pulling strings of steel and crushing those who would stand against the security they were fighting for. All the planning however could not have stopped what happened to William however, as one fateful day he vanished. Henry would feel horrified at the loss of his brother, and when the time came he would abandon his post to go look for him.

Six years of looking would bring him to a small hut deep in the northern part of Epsilon, where the border of Bellris and Zalto now rest. Here he would find William settled down with a wife and young son, and amongst finding each other once more a plan would form. William had been out in the North with a dozen other deserters who were tired of fighting, tired of defending something that did not exist; and that's when William showed Henry the hoard. Thirty Seven barns stocked with golden nuggets that were hidden in the walls and floor. The deserters wanted to form a realm of peace; they wanted to fight for a kingdom and king for the honor of Dragons and for everlasting peace of mind; they were ready to fight...and all they needed was a tactician.

Henry would join his brother once more as they formed an alliance that would spread from the small makeshift mining town they had haphazardly formed, troops would fall behind them, Elders of wisdom, Men of battle talent, and women tired of watching sons and husbands come back with death in their eyes. William and Henry formed an army that rivaled the Draconian legions, and when the Draconian Legions saw the following that marched toward them they saw the light of the sun touch their backs and a ten of thousands of wings sprout from behind them; rays of gold touched the heads of everyone that followed William and Henry. Honor followed the brothers, what was believed to be the true path of a dragon stood on the side of the brothers as the Draconian Legions joined with them.

They pulled back, now united, as far west as they could and bound themselves together under the oldest dragon their History named; Zaltomiir the Golden Eyed Dragon; a Dragon known to have been so honorable that all meaning of the word Honor could be summed up by his name.

From the West they named their fledgling Kingdom Zalto in the honor of honor. They would protect the small amount of land they claimed as their own; and as the numbers grew they would expand eastward, only taking what they needed, and when Henry fell in love and had a daughter; to save themselves from civil war William and Henry married their children to eachother, and from the union of Victor and Flora; the Kingdom would flourish and grow to become the richest that settled the land of Epsilon; and the first to accept foregin rule when Victor chose the safety of his people and survival over destriction when the Kingdom of Lionis began to forge its Empire.  

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe Rule of Sellux "The Executioner" Abdaxor

The rule of Sellux Abdaxor was a brief but horrifying and humiliating time for Zalto and the Empire, as he is living proof that evil can come from anywhere; not just the low or the high class.

Sellux Abdaxor was born a poor boy in the slums of Lionis and his parents died young, leaving him to take care of his younger sister at a young age and when he was merely ten years old, in an attempt to feed his younger sister he stole food by the stall full- and when he was eleven he was caught, a hand was taken from him as retribution. This did not deter him however as he went back to his theft to feed his sister and he would lose an ear and several fingers on his remaining hand in penance. It was when he was 15 that he packed what little he had and moved to the golden city with his sister were he continued to steal from merchants, however he would not be treated as harshly as he had been when he was in the capital.

One perilous day he would steal from the wrong merchant, whos guards gave chase. He would lead them down a dark path and he would pick up a sword with his remaining hand and three fingers, laying waste to the merchant guards who had come after him. The merchant saw this and was...impressed to say the least, by the one handed boy, and offered to pay his way though the military.

Sellux would make a name for himself as being brutal, kind and stupid. On many occasions he would be seen on his knees about to have his tongue ripped out for speaking back to a nobleman only to be in the streets of the poorest parts of Zalto, buying food for the unlucky the next time you saw his face.

In Sellux's journal it was found by scribes that his descent into inhumanity started when he first came to Zalto; seeing the gold that painted the walls of the streets that a beggar boy leaned up against and he wondered why the boy didn't scrape the gold off the walls to pay for food; and that when Sellux asked the boy this question he was given the simple life changing answer "gold is useless when everyone has it"

When Sellux was only 18 he simply walked into the castle and to the throne King Gavin sat upon, unsheathing his sword Sellux would take King Gavin's head with one strike- the king didn't even have a chance to defend himself. The Kingdom didn't even know what was coming as everything was over in an instant as the crown prince, Robert, fled Zalto with his wife and daughter, and Sellux Abdaxor kept the only Zalton princess, Isolde, as a hostage and wife.

During his reign two thousand nobles, two hundred priests, and seven legions would be executed for corruption, treason, and any other acts King Sellux could pin on them.

However his reign of terror would not end in Zalto, his power would stretch even into the empire- a power that would leave two generation uneasy and cause an age of weakness to spiral within the Imperial royal family, for when the army of the Empire marched upon Zalto to take the throne back for Robert, the empire's forces would fall, and with the fall of the imperial army Sellux Abdaxor executed the Emperor Ivirth III and forced his younger brother Ivirth IV into marriage with his sister, Melaia Abdaxor, as well as taking the imperial princesses Alayna, Maybella, Louisa, Tamsin, Rayne, Sorelle, and Diademia as wives.

All things must come to an end eventually, and when it comes to kingdoms, taking one by force will hardly leave the majority happy. The only heir to the Kingdom of Zalto, a young woman who would become known as Igerna the Gallant, would lead a small army against Sellux in war, and it would be the bloodiest skirmish in the history of Zalto, that by the end of it Igerna would be the victor and sit upon the throne of Zalto as the Kingdom's first stand alone, Queen of Light.  

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The Three Golden Ages of Zalto
Igerna ~ Isabella ~ Elisabetha

Zalto has always had a better standing then the rest of the Kingdoms, most of the gold exhumed from the ground comes from Zalto, and they have enough to spare that they coat the buildings in gold, it could be something of a power symbol or it could just be that they have enough of the stuff to go around. Even now they have enough gold to last for generations, for the Zalto name to last across all time and all ages; and even if they had all this wealth they could not have become one of the greatest Kingdoms upon Epsilon without the three Queens; Igerna, Isabella and Elisabetha.

The first of the three queens would come into power after Sellux the Executioner. A warrior queen with the prowess and the wit to outmaneuver the man her murdered her grandfather and took her birthright. Queen Igerna the Gallant rode at the head of the saving army, cleaving her way though the forces of Sellux and walked into the throne room as the true and rightful queen of Zalto. Zalto had never had a queen before, no precedent was set before for a woman to rule the Kingdom; but she would make it happen, and she would do it with an iron glove; never wavering for her ministers and nobility; she refused to let her husband, Uther, have any power over her and what was rightfully hers; she was not just a figure head- but a true queen. Her power and viciousness would even grip the Empire in an iron grip as she would use their failure to stop Sellux against them, in order to arrange marriages for her three children and place a Llewellyn on the Queens throne in Lionis, making sure that her blood would reign though the Empire as penance for their failure.

Isabella Llewellyn was the granddaughter of Igerna, and like her mother she ruled absolutely, She was not meant to rule and that perhaps made it so she became a good queen. She was the niece to the current ruler, Jason Llewellyn, who refused to consummate or even meet with his queen, Selene Lionis- because he thought that because she held the blood of an Abdaxor that any children they had would be tainted, so upon his death Isabella inherited the throne. She was known as Isabella the Shy, however it was during her rule that a majority of the mines that would fuel the precious metal supply of Zalto were found. The wealth of the Kingdom would be brought to new heights as she became the patron of twenty seven gold mines, sixty silver, and four hundred bronze mines along with two gemstone mines that were for the sole use for the royal family.

Elizabetha Llewellyn, the grandmother of the current King, was known as Elizabetha the Khan. She was a headstrong and nearly vile woman who was known for her wicked temper and devious doings. She would advance her boarders to were they currently stand and increase the gold production of Zalto ten fold, she was not a nice woman, however she ushered in an era of peace that would last for two generations.