Ak'teshi Empire
Spoken of by historians with awe, respect, and fear, and described by many as the largest, most powerful, and longest-lasting empire to have ever existed, the Ak'teshi Empire, sometimes simply called 'The Empire', was an ancient kingdom of Giant-kin, founded by the ancient and powerful giant shaman warrior, Ak'tuin. Many erudite scholars of dwarven, halfling, and human ancestry debate the exact date when it was founded; that much has been lost to the eons of time, but archeological records support the hypothesis that it was founded approximately C. -25,000 , and fell after the War of Broken Chains.
Tales of the origins of Giant-kin are shrouded in mystery, but most archeological findings point to their common ancestry with the storied nephilim; great titans of flesh and blood crafted to subsume the rule of the elemental titans long ago. All discoveries point to giant-kin as their diminutive descendants. These nephilim were worshipped as gods by the giant-kin they spawned: Surtr, the nephilim of fire and forger of all fire giants, Skoraeus, the nephilim of earth and sculptor of all stone giants, Thrym, the nephilim of frost and the god of the frost giants, Stronmaus, the nephilim of storms and the sage-god of storm giants, and Grolgor, nephilim of strength and the warrior-god of hill giants.
was he a hill or fire giant. Neither was he even a storm giant. Historians say that AK'tuin may have been a mixture of all five or none of them at all.
He had powers no other giant had seen before. He was able to summon storms, break open rivers of fire, move mountains, and even flood valleys. He, a mortal being, had discovered how to use Magic and had become the most powerful sorcerer at the time. This form of primal magic came from the heart of the world itself; from the elemental spirits which had bonded with it many hundreds of thousands of years ago. Living alone and isolated in the lush jungle swampland, Ak'tuin communed with what he thought were the spirits of the dead in the fire, Ak’tuin opened up a vast font of power, and indirectly connected with the ancient elemental titans' spirits. He was imbued with a mere fraction of their power.
He wandered the land, demonstrating his power to those he conquered, and teaching of his new awakening to those who listened. He thought of himself as a messiah, given the powers of the great nephilim themselves to rule as he saw fit. Giants called him a ‘shaman’, or ‘spirit-man’ in giant-tongue. To his kin that followed in his wake, Ak'tuin possessed the fiery craftsmanship of Surtr, the icy cunning of Thrym, the thunderous presence of Stronmaus, the stony patience of Skoraeus, and the warrior instincts of Grolgor. Confident in his newfound power, he gifted his most elite and loyal warriors the knowledge of shamanism, but they would only harness one element so that none would surpass him. Ak'tuin was named for his powers: Ak'tuin the Primal.
With a sizable following of the first warrior-shamans, he took his fight first to the Ironclub clan to the west. With great tornadoes of fire, he shattered Nottok’s towering fortresses of wood, rock, and stone, and charring his armies alive. Nottok surrendered to him after seeing his clear demonstration of power. To Nottok, it was clear that the gods had chosen him to lead their people.
Yorgun Talonscream was waiting for them in the mountain peaks. Warhorns sounded and Yorgun began the assault from above. The white dragons of Talonscream's warbands tore at Ak’tuin’s shaman warriors, plucking them up and flinging them from great heights. It was a slaughter. However, little did Yorgun know, that as he commanded his dragon riders from the skies above atop Garganth, Ak’tuin had ascended the mountain. Gathering his strength, he summoned a tremendous storm over Yorgun. Garganth and his master were struck by powerful bolts of lightning, killing both dragon and rider simultaneously. The battle turned in Ak’tuin’s favor as Yorgun’s demise sent his forces in full retreat. Their dragons, now without their alpha male to fear, became disorganized as they fought each other for dominance.
What remained of Yorgun’s clan soon surrendered to Ak’tuin and willingly joined him. The Talonscream clan shared with them their knowledge of dragon-riding and beast mastery.
With a wealth of resources pouring from the mines, an abundance of food, and the greatest military force in the history of the world, the empire experienced a golden age of expansion and discovery. The Ak’teshi created a unified language, system of measurements, weights, navigation, and a unique system to map the date and time utilizing advanced sundials.
Elsewhere, within their ancient, lost city of Orichalos, dragon-kin was divided. Those who chose to align themselves with Ak'teshi interests for their own selfish ends became the chromatic dragon-flight. Those who refused, appalled by the injustice of the Ak'teshi's cruel and open enslavement of the smaller races became the prismatic dragon-flight. These were dragons of gemstone-like, iridescent scales: the diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, and topaz dragons.
Over time, the prismatic dragon-flight sought opportunities to free the enslaved races of the Ak’teshi wherever possible, while the chromatic dragon-flight would help to train dozens of destructive Ak'teshi sorcerers.
However, the growing arrogance of the Ak'teshi empire pushed the chromatic dragon-flight under further subjugation, and many were eventually enslaved themselves. Other chromatic dragons broke away and turned on their former allies of convenience, ransacking the giant’s cities for treasure and slaves. They also turned their ire towards their prismatic kin; interlopers trespassing on the treasure they deserved by right.
Through a long series of bloody battles, all three factions were eventually dragged into a catastrophic conflict that lasted thousands of years and saw the razing of citadels, homes, families, and even entire clans. The Brood War became the most destructive war in ancient history and saw a tremendous loss of life between both dragon-kin and giant-kin.
By the time the war had ended, the territory held by the Ak’teshi empire had been vastly reduced to a shadow of its former self, and though the empire still persisted beyond the Brood War, the event had all but crippled the empire.
The followers of Kusatta retreated to the swamp, and under his leadership, these 'Dark Shamans' ambushed wandering patrols of Ak’teshi hill giant soldiers, draining their life essence and raising their bodies as undead to turn on their former allies. The battles that took place against the undead masses gathering in the swamp yielded catastrophic losses for the empire, and the more the Dark Shamans practiced their magic, the further the swamp deteriorated under the stress of excessive use of the necromantic magic. The swamp would later become known as the cursed Morbog.
Kusatta's followers named themselves the 'orcs', after reveling in the last noises their victims made before death.
With the combined assaults of Kusatta's Dark Shamans and their tides of undead warriors, and Cairn's valiant rebellion, the Ak'teshi empire was eventually reduced to ashes, and the remaining giants were forced to flee their homeland, resulting in the complete collapse of the empire not in a blaze of glory, but a pitiful whimper.
Many remnants of the empire still exist today in small, sparse, clans that often fight amongst each other to reclaim the rightful heir to the Ak'teshi empire, often longing for the day that they may one day reclaim an empire that has long since been lost. Most of these sparse clans now gather in hidden or far away places, or in the case of the hill giants, have degenerated completely into dull shadows of their former glory from tribal infighting.
When Giants Clashed
During ancient times, giants strode the plains of Tansia and Meyland, and climbed the peaks of Vaskyr. They herded titanic beasts such as mammoths, forged legendary artifacts, and crafted great fortresses, many of which now lay in ruin. Clans of fire giants called the depths of the southern volcanic mountains of Meyland home. Eventually, they would grow cold over the eons, becoming the Garand's Ridge Mountains. They forged wonders of ancient steel and iron, crafting weapons with which they would bear towards the frost giants who wandered the tundras of the ancient Jorthrost and the lowlands of Vaskyr. The frost giants tamed vicious and primal white dragons to hunt with them as companions and ripped each day from life's teeth as fierce warriors. They looked upon the crude throngs of hill giant that roamed Meyland's highlands and hills and scoffed at them as lesser giants due to their comparatively diminutive size. The hill giants gathered in brutal, marauding tribes that raided, pillaged, and devoured as they pleased, calling home what would eventually become Cairn Alm and the Dagmurn Highlands. To the west, in Tansia, the advanced cultures of the stone giants (sometimes called Earth Giant) clans recorded history and etched great artworks into stone. They crafted great edifices etched into the faces of cliffs, tall, immaculate ziggurat and temples deep within the jungles, and wrought grand halls of stone into mountains. The Stone Giants created impenetrable fortresses against the hordes of giant clans from the east, of which many of which are now mere echoes of their former glory, worn and eroded by the passage of time. The Stone Giants found a tense kinship with the Storm Giants of Vaskyr, isolated as they were. The Storm Giants were an erudite and powerful few, content to contemplate philosophy, meaning, and prophecy. They warred against the Frost Giants who harried their mountain fortress-temples high above the clouds, mounted atop the wings of their white dragons. The innumerable tribes of the saurask, an ancient, savage, saurian species of humanoids native to realms of Tansia, clashed with the giants they saw as invaders to their lands. Like the frost giants, they too tamed great beasts of tooth and scale called dinosaurs to battle their foes. Countless giant and saurask clans warred for domination for millennia, and many rose to prominence and fell within the span of a generation. The battles were savage and bloodthirsty, particularly those wrought by the frost giant and hill giant clans. Frost giants used their beasts to raze villages, while hill giant clans are even said to have resorted to cannibalism, even against other hill giant clans. The fire giants waged a fierce war against all other giants. Their unified front and organized army, supplemented by crudely-forged machines of war, gave them an unrivaled advantage, and over time, two dominant clans rose to power under two powerful lineages.The Talonscream Clan
The first clan, lead by Yorgun Talonscream, engulfed the storm giant clans after eons of war, and dominated the northern reaches of Vaskyr, riding their powerful white dragons overseas and terrorizing settlements to the south. The Talonscream lineage proudly held the long-held tradition of white dragon taming and spread this practice to the rest of the clan; a giant’s bond with a white dragon was only as effective as a giant's skill in battle, and an accomplished dragon rider was looked upon with reverence as a hero of the Talonscream clan. Yorgun’s white dragon, Garganth, was the largest and the most vicious of his clan, and when the omen of Garganth’s distinct, ominous shadow loomed over unsuspecting villages, it served as a portent of the death and barbarism soon to follow.The Ironclub Clan
The second clan, lead by warlord Nottok Ironclub, was the most powerful clan across the lands that would one day become Meyland. The reach of his tribal empire was vast, and his hill giant armies numerous. Nottok himself was a proud strategist and intellectual; a fire giant warlord like no other before him; and his cleverness proved invaluable in devising crude, but devastating siege engines that could reduce any giant fortress to rubble. If it could decimate the enemies of the Ironclub clan quickly and effectively, then it was used with reckless abandon. quickly engulfing numerous stone giant clans, the Ironclub Clan erected great fortifications of immaculate stonework into mountain-sides.Ak'tuin, the Primal
The two clans battled fiercely against one another and catastrophic loss of life was seen on both sides. It wasn’t until a new clan emerged from the lush swamps, that would later become thee Morbog, that the tides of war turned in a different direction. This clan, whose name was lost to bloodshed and war, gave rise to Ak’tuin, the clan's sole survivor. He had no lineage in any clan before his. He was not a stone giant, nor a frost giant. NorThe Battle of Skorvyr
With a greater army than ever before, Ak’tuin marched them into the mountains, and into the frozen heartlands of Clan Talonscream in the north to secure his final victory.The Ak'teshi Empire & The Ordning
Coalescing the former territories of all the clans he had conquered and absorbed, Ak’tuin was given the title of God-Emperor over a newly formed giant empire. He was Ak’tuin the Primal, Herald of the Spirits, and herald of the Gods. Ak'tuin dashed aside the saurask tribes with his vast power, and forced them to flee across the Ak'tuin's Back Mountains into the dense jungles of Iotia, where they have remained ever since. With his new status as God-Emperor, Ak'tuin established a caste-based system of order that would forever govern the empire. This was the Ordning; a social structure to which all giants adhered. It was similar to a class-based society, but was much more specific, assigning a social rank to each individual. Therefore, each individual giant knew which other giants were inferior and superior to himself, and no giants were equal to other giants. Each type of giant used a different combination of skills or qualities to determine the ordning. Giants believed excelling in these skills to be the purpose of their lives. In all cases, advancement was made by challenging a superior, but different types of giants used different systems and restrictions upon advancement. It was considered an evil act to show disrespect to a superior giant, be it mockery, betrayal, or disobedience. The hill giants became the empire military's fodder and common folk. Their dim-witted nature, but renowned strength earned them a place in the lowest castes. Above the hill giants were the stone giants; masons, builders, and historians who recorded history and built great wonders worthy of the empire's status. Above the stone giants were the frost giants. Their invaluable insight into white dragons and the methods to tame them had spared them from the lower castes. They were the empire's proud warriors. Above the frost giants were the fire giants, who worked tirelessly within the forges of the empire's heartlands of Tansia. Their legendary craftsmanship and unrivaled military prowess saw the rapid expansion of the empire's territory. At the peak of the Ordning, above all other castes, were the storm giants, who formed the empire's noble caste. Second only to Ak'tuin himself and the leaders of each respective caste, they oversaw the day-to-day functions of the empire. The highest-ranking storm giants could summon hurricanes, billowing winds, and even foretell the future.An Empire of Slavery
For the next two thousand years, the Ak’teshi Empire spread over the world's western hemisphere, uniting all giants with the single purpose of expansion. However, Ak'tuin needed a substantial force of labor to build his vision of a glorious empire. He summoned a council of representatives for each caste among his inner circle and it was decided that the Ak’teshi empire would value the superiority of giants above all others; that no giant would be forced into labor, even if it was for the greater benefit of the Ak’teshi Empire. Ak’tuin sent Huegath, a hill giant and his most trusted warrior, to carry out the menial task of finding a species sentient and lowly enough to conquer and enslave for the glory of the empire.The Soul Curse
Huegath scoured the empire and beyond with his band of slavers, and soon discovered the small, diminutive descendants of dragons: kobolds. If dragons could be made to serve the empire, then so too could their progeny. Huegath and his raiding party lay siege to their labyrinthian villages of primitive wood and stone with means to capture them. Before they could be captured or slaughtered, the kobold sorcerers and shamans among the tribes united against the giants and whispered ancient spells into the wind. These kobold spellcasters invoked not the primal rage of the elements, but a more sinister form of primordial magic: communication with the dead. Soul magic. The shamans called upon the spirits of their ancestors to avenge them in their hour of need, and they answered, afflicting the souls of Huegath and his slavers with a lingering, undetectable, and contagious curse that would affect them for generations. The curse spread from Huegath and his slavers to the rest of the empire, and Huegath was publicly executed for it by Ak'tuin himself. Giants gave birth, to malformed, diminutive offspring no larger than six feet. The Ak’teshi mystics implored Ak’tuin to purge abnormal offspring to prevent further spread. However, Ak'tuin was not convinced, as the curse waned with time. He added this lower caste of giants to the slave labor force, as, despite their size, they appeared fit and capable; perfect recruits for a slave army to supplement the dwindling numbers of hill giants. In mockery of their original creator, this new caste of slave ‘giants’ was given the name ‘Hue-men’, or ‘Humans’. The curse began to spread amongst the new human slave populace. Like their giant masters before them, they too gave birth to diminutive and stunted children who grew up to be no more than 4 to 5 feet tall. A therapeutic sense of sadistic joy came over the giants seeing their slaves suffer the same fate as them. These new creatures were dwarfed by their human counterparts, so they became known as 'Durrwak', or 'Dwarves ' in Giant tongue. Due to their size, these 'dwarves' were put to work within the mines and were quick to adapt to the gloomy environment. They worked with the keenly-sensed Kobolds to seek out gemstones and other precious metals. The giants discovered the dwarves' aptitude for crafting and were enslaved by the Ak'teshi fire giants, forced to forge armaments for the empire's slave armies. The curse moved once more. This time from the humans to the dwarves. Half the size of humans and slightly shorter than dwarves, these new arrivals to the Ak’teshi slave population would be mocked as ‘half-humans’. To the giants, they were neither as strong as dwarves. Nor as proficient in combat as humans. These new ‘Halflings’ were not seen as useful by the slave masters until their aptitude for cultivation and farming was discovered when escaped halfling slaves were found living among sprawling fields of farmland in otherwise inhospitable, isolated corners of the empire. Ak'tuin sent them to work the farms and fields of the empire. From now on, all future halflings born to dwarven slaves were to be turned into farmers under supervision from their masters.The Ak'teshi Golden Age
For one thousand years, the new and diverse slave populace worked and toiled at the immaculate palaces, temples, and ziggurats of the Ak’teshi empire. The slave population boomed; though their lifespans were minuscule compared to their thousand-year-old masters, made shorter on average due to dangerous labor and mistreatment, these kobolds, humans, and halflings reproduced at an astonishing rate, and despite being outnumbered by their slaves tenfold, Ak’tuin reasoned that an increased labor force meant that his empire could enter a new golden age of wondrous monuments.Garheim, the Walled City
Among the Ak'teshi's first wonders was the grand city of; Garheim, a city said to have been reached the heavens and hand-carved by countless stone giants and dwarven slaves. According to historians from the Tahosian Dynasty, which would later subsume the Ak'teshi as the dominant power in the region, the tallest monoliths, and spires of Garheim pierced the clouds, and elite dragon-riders would patrol the skies. The citadel was said to have been surrounded by gargantuan walls five hundred feet tall, carved by legendary stone giant masons with immaculate and intricate murals that portray the glories and victories of the empire. These walls were inlaid with obsidian mined from the depths of the Ak'tuin Gulf using the labor of a thousand slaves, many of which drowned or were devoured by the gulf's monstrous denizens.The Brood War
The Ak'teshi empire, through their frost giant diaspora, had tamed white dragons as beasts of war for generations. Compared to the rest of their kin, white dragons were primal beasts and were treated as such. However, other more intelligent dragons saw an opportunity in the empire. The covetous red dragons saw their wealth of treasure and to acquire it, they allied with the manipulative green dragons to weave their ways into Ak'teshi civilization. The arrogant blue dragons saw the empire as a well-ordered society worthy of even a modicum of their respect, while the sadistic black dragons reveled in the empire's cruelty. Together, these dragons made a pact with the Ak'teshi. Though they would become allies, they would not serve as the white dragons did; these dragons weren't foolish. Ultimately, they sought only the vast treasures of the burgeoning empire. In exchange for this treasure, they taught giants the ways of elemental sorcery, granting them insight into their innate, draconic magic.
The War of Broken Chains
The Ak’teshi empire reeled from the Brood War in the decades following its conclusion, and its populace of slaves now vastly outnumbered their masters. From their perspective, they would have a better chance of liberating themselves if they struck while the empire was maimed and bleeding. Among the human, dwarven, and halfling slaves arose a small collective of influential, spiritual leaders and warriors. These became the Mortal Heroes: Cairn, Elenwin, Arator, Duun, and Kusatta. Kusatta discovered the first techniques of Dark Shamanism; the earliest forms of necromancy; which became a vital tool against the empire, but Arator forbade these techniques. Regardless, Kusatta continued to practice in secret and demonstrated his power to his followers by killing and raising his former storm giant master, a High Mystic close to Ak'teshi leadership, but this foul act was discovered by the Ak'teshi, and the giants initiated a mass purge of slaves. This was the rebellion’s time to strike back. The slaves fled empire-occupied territory under the leadership of Cairn. Former slave shamans and warriors fought off the assault of the Ak’teshi forces, retreating to the Jorthrost, as Duun and his dwarves used their knowledge learned from the stone giants and carved strongholds into the mountains across the regions of future Meyland. The most impenetrable of these strongholds was Duunhollow, built by Duun and his allies over the span of ten years. Duunhollow became a bastion sanctuary for all humans, dwarves, and halflings
End of an Age
With the combined assaults of Kusatta's Dark Shamans and their tides of undead warriors, and Cairn's valiant rebellion, the Ak'teshi empire was eventually reduced to ashes, and the remaining giants were forced to flee their homeland, resulting in the complete collapse of the empire not in a blaze of glory, but a pitiful whimper.
Many remnants of the empire still exist today in small, sparse, clans that often fight amongst each other to reclaim the rightful heir to the Ak'teshi empire, often longing for the day that they may one day reclaim an empire that has long since been lost. Most of these sparse clans now gather in hidden or far away places, or in the case of the hill giants, have degenerated completely into dull shadows of their former glory from tribal infighting.
Maps
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Map of the Ak'teshi Empire
Estimated size of the AK'teshi empire at its height of power, at around C. -20,000
C. -25,000 - C. -9,950 (Estimated)
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Capital
Alternative Names
The Giant Empire, The Ancient Empire
Successor Organization
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Decorated/Honored
Leader
Leader Title
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Command/Planned economy
Official State Religion
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Comments