Broken Sceptre
"They say that whoever finds the sceptre of Na-ochiixid will be its rightful king, and restore the country to how it was before the revolution."The Sceptre Of Na-ochiixid was a unique item in the possession of the old Na-ochii Kings, and its mysterious disappearance around the time of The Collision has captured the minds of many. A number of stories have been told about its whereabouts - this is the most popular.
"Is that a good thing?"
"Those who want the sceptre certainly think so."
Backstory
By tradition, the Sceptre was crafted during the reign of the fist Na-ochii King, Öxivis, from the bone of a rampaging dragon he slew. For 700 years after it was made it was kept safely in royal hands, and conferred upon the Kings the right to rule Na-ochiixid. This did not last, as the sceptre disappeared from the royal vaults during The Collision, which laid waste to that section of the royal palace. When the Na-ochii Kings were overthrown in the infamous Kostra Massacre of 21 Collision, the people began to murmur that their inability to ward off this latest revolution was due to lacking the sceptre, and many began to search for the artefact. This search continued until the Na-ochii Restoration, when Bogako IV became King 164 years after the Massacre. Bogako's son, Öxivis VII, ruled after him without incident. It was only after the removal of his nephew Skrängen II, in favour of Öxivis's daughter Xau-ai, that questions began to be raised about the sceptre once again.The Story
As Xau-ai's reign continued and she grew older, her mind turned to the matter of succession. Her only child had died not long ago, and her closest relative was her cousin Naiko - the brother of the man she had deposed for the throne. Discussions with him bore little agreement, but Xau-ai knew she had few choices. On a quiet autumn night, she travelled in disguise to her private lakeside estate, a holiday home passed down through her family. Once there, she made her way to the mausoleum at the back of the property and retrieved a treasured relic - the Sceptre of Na-ochiixid, which her ancestors had stolen during the Collision. As she struggled to carry it to a waiting boat, Naiko appeared, having had the same idea as her. After arguing for a moment, Naiko drew a sword and raised it high. Before he could lunge, Xau-ai hoisted the sceptre and swung it, slamming into Naiko's side and sending him crashing into the mausoleum wall. The sceptre's head hit the wall after him, splintering and snapping in half. Xau-ai hastily gathered the segments and fled, leaving a dazed Naiko behind. Xau-ai then took the boat out onto Lake Strelish, rowing out just far enough to not be identifiable from shore. There she took the largest segments of the sceptre and dropped them into the water, disappearing immediately into the dark. However, she kept a small splinter of the bone that had come off during the fight, and tucked it safely into her jacket pocket. After her death less than a year later, Naiko's son Bogako became king. But now that the sceptre was at the bottom of the lake, and only a splinter of it in Xau-ai's tomb, it no longer worked. Four short years later, Bogako V was deposed, and the sceptre's ability to change the history of Na-ochiixid ended with his reign.
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Fictionality
The story of the Broken Sceptre is highly embellished, but some of its parts have a basis in truth. Despite being Xau-ai's heir, Naiko abdicated upon her death in favour of his son, citing health issues. These health issues, which saw him die before Bogako was deposed, seemed to have accelerated following a mysterious illness the year before. Many "bad omens" had been seen around that time, including strange lights in the sky and sounds from the lake, neither of which had their source identified. The likelihood of the sceptre having been in Xau-ai's possession is low, however. The common historical consensus is that the sceptre left Tiyu Amara during the Collision, which had caused a chunk of the royal palace to disappear completely. Given the arrival of displaced elves and elven landmarks at that time, it is easy to assume that the sceptre went the opposite direction, appearing in the elven world and thus being lost. The restoration of the Na-ochii Kings was not divinely ordained.
Gold Crown by Hans
I enjoy that the sceptre probably disappeared around the time of the Collision, but there are other ideas about what happened to it. :D It does make a much more interesting story than it just disappearing.