Duke Hakim studied the holomap of the Known Worlds, as his mind began to wander back to the words of his father, Duke Jabir al-Malik the Golden.
Jabir would say, “My son remember this, our Empire is a moon’s reflection on a still lake. Only in disciplined silence will it be seen and felt by all hearts. You must help build the Empire on the foundations of the beloved, uniting all endeavors in the great Endlessness, and as such you will rule eternally. Build it on the foundations of fear and power, and the wind will scatter the moon into a thousand ripples on the dark waves, an illusion soon forgotten by the midnight watchers on the lake’s shore.”
Forty years after Jabir’s death and Hakim’s ascension to the al-Malik throne the domain that Jabir had dreamed about was being realized through his son.
Without firing a shot the Al-Malik and Li Halan had united their domains into one through the royal marriage of Duke Hakim al-Malik and Lady Yuki Li Halan. In return for protection from a possible incursion by Hazat and Decados forces , Duke Hakim pledged House al-Malik’s military to protect all of the Li Halan worlds, and in return Lady Yuki was made the head of the Li Halan National Church that had risen the replace the Urth Orthodoxy after the Patriarch’s fall to House Hazat. The union resulted in the formation of the new Royal House of Malik-Halan.
But fortune continued to favor Duke Hakim, for twenty years the Hawkwood/Hazat War had raged across the Known Worlds. The al-Malik had profited well selling arms to both factions, but it had become obvious that the scales were now tipping in favor of House Hawkwood. Again, Hakim seized upon another opportunity, sending an envoy to the ArchDuke of the Hazat, whom he offered a choice. The Hazat could continue upon their path and be crushed under the heel of their Hawkwood foes, or join the Malik-Halan and help unite the Empire in peace once and fall all. Begrudgingly, the proud Hazat submitted to the Malik-Halan.
Now, Hakim is tasked with keeping together his vast and fragile domain, balancing the agendas of his pious but ambitious Li Halan wife, and his vengeance seeking and hot blooded Hazat vassals. Who knows what the future will hold.
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Topic: EOTFS: Emperor Wars - The Submission of the Hazat (Turn 49) (Read 2132 times)