Despots' Reign

Political event

In the shadow of burgeoning cults, despots seize control of Vontia, wielding fear as a weapon and deepening the chasm between the privileged few and the forsaken many.

The power vacuum left by the collapse of centralized faiths did not remain unfilled for long. Into this breach stepped a cadre of ruthless despots, who recognized in the cults' ascendancy an opportunity to cement their own dominion. These tyrants, a mix of cunning opportunists and cold-hearted zealots, ensconced themselves upon thrones built on the backs of a populace paralyzed by fear and uncertainty.

Their rule was a tapestry of terror, woven with threads of dogma and dread. They co-opted the cults' influence, sometimes allying with the most powerful among them, other times establishing state-sanctioned religions that demanded absolute fealty. The cults, for their part, found the patronage of these rulers expedient, a means to legitimize and spread their own beliefs. Yet, the result was a society held captive not by chains, but by the pervasive and pernicious control of ideology.

As these despotic regimes solidified their grip on power, they systematically stripped away the vestiges of communal and shared wealth. Knowledge—once the collective inheritance of Vontia's people—became a closely guarded secret, locked away in the vaults of the elite. Resources, too, were hoarded, and the once bountiful lands of the ancient times were parceled out among the despot's cronies and confidants. The majority were left to scratch out a meager existence in a world that grew increasingly barren under the weight of exploitation and neglect.

This era was one of a 'Great Divide,' a term that encapsulated not just the economic and social gap between the rulers and the ruled, but also the ideological rift that rendered unity and resistance all but impossible. It was a divide that ran deeper than mere wealth or status; it was a chasm that separated the very notion of what it meant to be a person of the lands. On one side were those who commanded power through fear and control; on the other, the multitudes who had become mere pawns in the games of the powerful.

The Despots' Reign, stretching over a century, marked some of the darkest days in Vontia's history. It was a period where the light of hope was dimmed to the faintest of glows, and the people of Vontia faced an existence that was as oppressive as any divine retribution they had once feared.