Knights of Tezoth

Essay of Rezara Sanjore

Part I: The Seven Ages of Tezoth

The Age of Fire and Steel

We, the people of Tezoth, have always stood on the brink of disaster. Even if during the Age of Fire and Steel the monsters of regret had not yet tormented our land, now we can say with certainty that there is an extreme need to unite all states and cities into a single structure capable of withstanding the threats from the north. Like a colossal war hammer, united humanity will defeat any enemy. And it was the great Eidos the Iron who, with resolve and the blood of dissenters, laid the fertile ground for the creation of the kingdom! Division into clans, cities separate from the state, cults, and other structural units will lead the human race only to ruin, for our enemies are united in their desire to destroy us. A monster of regret will not tear out the throat of another monster of regret, and the Sithians always act in the interests of their mistress. Therefore, Eidos the Iron is truly the greatest of all men who ever lived! He managed to unite the warring cities of southern Tezoth! He made them strong! He made us strong and set an example! We, the people of Tezoth, are brothers and sisters! We must cast aside disputes and devote ourselves to the only true goal: cleansing Tezoth of the monsters of regret and those enemies of humanity that are endowed with reason similar to our own!

The Age of Sorcery

Magic is a powerful tool in the hands of humanity. Alas, it is not available to everyone. Although the philosophy of Silia the Kindhearted does contain a grain of common sense, one cannot deny: right now we could greatly use battle mages. The restrictions imposed by the first Deus did not anticipate the emergence of future threats, for no one could have foreseen them then, but nevertheless they can be criticized. Silia the Kindhearted annexed Cortina to Tezoth, thereby laying the last brick in the foundation of the kingdom. Her contribution to strengthening Tezoth's position is undeniable. But she is not Eidos the Iron. In modern realities, her benevolence is lost in the light of the great unifier's achievements. Severity and strength suit humanity. Love for all living things wins only in peaceful times. Times of peace. And times of peace ended long ago.

The Age of Luxury

This period can be characterized as a transitional one in the history of Tezoth. Achievements dwindled, but no losses occurred either. The journey of Ceres the Mysterious contributed considerably to the Deus's understanding of the northern states from within. Not everyone can afford to visit Sithia and return from there alive. Ceres could have become the greatest diplomat in the history of Tezoth. And perhaps he did. But do we really know that much about Silia the Kindhearted's successor? No. That is the problem. He is surrounded by more legends than reliable facts. But there has always been something particularly romantic about the very idea of a journey and a feat.

The Age of Darkness

Great grief befell the human race and all of Tezoth when the monsters of regret poured out of the crater, sweeping away everything in their path. The greatest enemy. The true enemy. The one against whom we must direct all our strength. Otherwise, it will consume us. Regret knows no fatigue, no pity, and no compassion. It is like a natural disaster that will never let us breathe easy. Satanid the Malevolent was an eccentric. Perhaps a tyrant. But he was a worthy Deus, striving for the good of his subjects. The food was mediocre, but everyone was fed. The clothing was not aesthetic, but again, everyone was clothed. The weak were helped to their feet, the strong were prepared for coming troubles, and the hopeless were disposed of, preserving resources for the rest. And we endured. We got off with little blood, which cannot be said of Tisia. Satanid the Malevolent is hard to love, but one cannot deny his adherence to principles and his reliability. He sacrificed himself for Tezoth. For all of us! For the future of humanity! Now all that remains for us is to maintain an eternal defense and hope that someday we will return to the greatness we possessed during the reign of the first Deus.

The Age of Blue Blood

One could simply say that under Velkhmethra the Brilliant we lost everything and returned, if not to city-states, then to something fragmented and far removed from the achievements of Eidos the Iron, but that is not entirely true. The Age of Darkness brought Tezoth only horror and death. The easing of tensions and the transition to something more beautiful and vibrant could have served as a panacea for the people. And it did serve, except that the complete reformation of the kingdom was clearly carried out with different goals in mind. Unity was replaced by disunity, common interests were replaced by personal ones, and here we are, still living this way to this day. And the threat has not disappeared anywhere. And yet, every great state is a combination of achievements in various directions. The military craft, science, culture, morals. If we become gray, faceless machines of war, we will differ little from the monsters. We should take an example from Tisia — its culture is unmatched. Therefore, Velkhmethra the Brilliant left her mark on history. As a herald of the arts, a herald of beauty. It behooves us humans to take more care of our appearance and not yield to the northerners in beauty. Strength, aesthetics, knowledge... why be good at just one thing when you can be good at everything? Everyone does what they are particularly good at. Everyone in their place. Velkhmethra's ideals do not contradict the stern principles of past Deuses, but rather harmoniously complement them.

The Age of Discoveries

Any self-respecting follower of Akonia will call it the best age in the history of Tezoth, for it was she who brought us a new faith, and with it the secret of processing rare ore and the mystery of the origin of the monsters of regret. However, nothing else remarkable happened under Renavan the Pious. Answers — that is all he managed to obtain. Only answers. Not even the secret of how to defeat the spawn of the crater. Truly a transitional period in the history of Tezoth. In times of great calamity, such indecisiveness is criminal. A Deus ought to move forward and seek a solution, not mark time in pursuit of a naive dream.

The Age of Ambitions

Koymadzhi the Majestic? A great man. A great Deus. I would swear allegiance to him and bow down before him directly. And even though he is the Emperor of Humanity, Koymadzhi could have surpassed Eidos the Iron himself, but fate decided otherwise. The monsters of regret tore to pieces our last hope of once again gathering into a single force capable of conquering the entire continent. And who else can afford to underestimate the threat? Or pretend that there is no threat at all, and that all the monsters are somewhere out there — in the north, among the ruins of Tisia. They are not in the north. They are here! Right at our borders. And Koymadzhi the Majestic understood this like no other. His early death is the greatest loss of Tezoth. Will we ever recover from it and receive another Deus whose resolve and ambitions are like a guiding flame for the human race? Hardly within the next couple of hundred years. And we need such a Deus! It does not matter who he is or where he comes from. Even if from the underworld. If he rids Tezoth of the threat of the monsters of regret, he will rightfully be able to become the lord of all living people.

On the prospects of the eighth age...

Our future is foggy. All that remains is to hope for the prudence of the esteemed lords and the absence of significant conflicts in the coming years. Any conflict will wound the kingdom before the true enemies from the north.

...to be continued...