The Eruption of Mount Ipios

Mount Ipios was considered by the Imperial Lymians to be an entryway to the Cloudlands of Taranis. Overlooking Exekos, the Lymian Empire's capital, the mountain was a symbol of the gods' favour. When the quakes began, the initial explanations were of the mystic sort typical of that time -- the gods were sending an army of giants to bring order once more to the Empire; the gods of the earth demanded placation; the earth waking up from a long sleep. When smoke began billowing from Ipios, the people feared the worst. The thick fumes darkened the sky and choked the lungs. When the eruption occurred, Exekos was destroyed; an ill omen for the beleaguered empire.

The twilight years of the Lymian Empire saw the Empire over extended. Its territories were numerous and rife with division. The rigid framework which had allowed the Lymian army to conquer no longer fit the society into which the Empire had evolved. Progress and tradition were at odds, and the stagnant empire erupted in small-scale rebellions that required constant attention. Any concession of territory was viewed as Imperial weakness and inspired further rebellion without fail. The senate in Exekos was factionalised between those who thought the gods desired a new form of Imperial society and those who thought the gods demanded a return to old ways. The eruption of Ipios occurred when Emperor Kinispatha of Exekos was absent from the capital, and heralded a quickening of fate for the Lymian Empire.

The Importance of Ipios

Ipios played an important part in the mythology of the Empire. The mountain was a doorway to the land of the Lymian gods, to the throne of the Sky King himself. Lymian sofoi had temples dotting the mountainside, and at Ipios' crown was the theopolis -- a sacred building only those initiated into the mysteries of the gods could enter. Through the theopolis, the gods watched over the Lymian Empire. Ipios sat twenty miles north of the Imperial capital. Throughout the Empire's history, Ipios's presence was calming to the citizens of Exekos. Its presence was particularly important during the unrest that characterised the Empire's end.

Premonitions and Earthquakes

For a week before the first quakes, the Emperor and several of his generals had been absent from Exekos. This was not unheard of -- the Jade Throne and Lymia were constantly renegotiating borders and treaties. It was the political climate that made the Emperor's absence for the quakes significant. This significance grew when the Emperor did not return from his journey eastward, despite communication with senators. The quakes grew in ferocity over a period of three weeks. Entire quarters of Exekos collapsed, and on Ipios' sacred slopes, sages and initiates were killed by falling edifices and displaced earth.
Oracles consulted the gods and found their deities silent. Sages proclaimed this was the anger of the gods, an uprising of punishing demons from beneath the earth. Senators, law-keepers and klirikoi encouraged the citizens to remain in Exekos. If this truly was the act of the gods, it could be a test. Whether it was an act of the divine or of nature, the senate determined the best course of action was to wait until the Emperor returned before responding to the threat. When Ipios' peak exploded, it was too late. Exekos was buried in stone and ash. The plumes of smoke bellowing from the mountain caused a volcanic winter, and the Empire went staggering toward its death.

Cultural Impact

The eruption of Ipios has inspired countless creatives in the centuries since its occurrence. The most famous works produced are the Aragonian tragedy In the Shadow of Ipios and the Rumain epic A Wreath of Flame. In the Shadow of Ipios describes the life of an ill-fated shepherd maiden who captures the eye of the Sky King and draws his ire upon Lymia by refusing his advances. A Wreath of Flame is a creative retelling of the death of the Lymian Empire and consequential birth of the Rumain Empire. Some historians believe that the Karthani attack on Ruma was inspired by the eruption of Ipios.