A History of Ostar and the Empire
The Reign of King Taylan Talat
88-124 SI (11490-11526 CE)
Taylan was declared the King of the newly-formed Kingdom of Ostar at the age of 37, only a few years after his family, amongst many others, had moved from the fairly new Kingdom of Delryn to the neighboring continent to start a new life. A noble's child who had been educated in the arts of war and diplomacy alongside the children of Delrynian royalty, Taylan was well-suited to leading and only further proved himself and cemented his reign by defeating the resistance of the natives in the 13 Years War.
Taylan believed, like his parents, that the throne should pass to the most qualified individual rather than to the oldest direct descendant of the ruler, and that he had a responsibility to train and select the most competent ruler to take his place. He fathered three children of his own, sons Asil Talat and Roshan Talat, as well as daughter Sibel Talat, with two different wives. Additionally, he started the Ostarian and later Eschien tradition of fostering or adopting the children of others who would be raised alongside his own with a chance at the throne by raising his sister's son Beyhan Talat as his own. This practice would later expand from just siblings or high-ranking nobles to any child the soveriegn thought promising, a way of rewarding vassals by raising the status of tehir family, and even keeping children as hostages against the good behavior of their families.
Before his death at the age of 73, Taylan started the Peninsular War, both to claim more ground for Ostar and also as retaliation for the continued uprisings of the native Folk against the Ostarian people.
The Reign of Queen Sibel Talat
124-169 SI (11526-11571 CE)
Following the death of their father, Sibel inherited both the crown of Ostar and the Peninsular War, at the incredibly tender age of just 15. For many of the Ostarians, who had followed Taylan because he insisted that the best person would rule, not just the next eldest royal, it was a tense time to see the King pass up all three of his sons in favor of his youngest child, an apparent daughter; however, all of Sibel's brothers steadfastly refused to become embroiled in attempts to circumvent their father's wishes, and the line of succession held as Taylan had decreed it, their brothers serving as advisors only as Sibel matured and came into their own.
Sibel finished their father's second war and did not choose to start another, focusing instead on building infrastructure and strength within the Kingdom. They married, and had two daughters of their own, Necla Sial and Sone Sial. They broke tradition in both giving their children their partner's surname, and in choosing their brother Roshan's son Vadim as heir despite not adopting or fostering their nephew.
The Reign of King Vadim Talat
169-268 SI (11571-11670 CE)
Appointed by his Aunt, King Vadim Talat reigned as King of Ostar for 99 years. He inherited a KIngdom that was prospering, but unfortunately quickly became embroiled in the War of Conquest as the Austran natives became more and more aggressive. He would have two sons of his own, Princes Ethem Talat and Emrah Talat; he would also take his cousin Hasan's child Prince Evren Talat at a young age and raise him as his own. Though they got along fairly well when they were young, as vadim aged he made no secret of the fact that his three sons were competing for the throne; and their every action was being judged. The fierce competition led to tragedy - Ethem murdered Emrah, and attempted to murder Evren. Vadim did not condemn the act, claiming it was a reasonable way to try to prove oneself the best for the throne, but ultimately named Evren his heir.
Ostar was embroiled in the War of Conquest for Vadim's entire reign.
The Reign of King Evren Talat
268-288 SI (11670-11690 CE)
Evren's first act as King was to imprison his foster-brother Ethem for Emrah's murder, and he would eventually have him executed. He was also embroiled in the War of Conquest for his entire reign. Evren did not ever marry, but acknowledged five children after Ethem was imprisoned: Princess Arda Talat, Princess Azmi Talat, Prince Berak Talat, Princess Doshi Talat, and Princess Naime Talat. The women who bore his children and several other children whom he did not ever claim but who were educated and raised alongside the Princes and Princesses were always well cared for by the Prince and later King, and given titles or lands of their own.
The Reign of Queen Arda Talat
288-369 SI (11690-11771 CE)
Evren's heir was his daughter Arda, whose reign was fairly uneventful except for the ongoing War of Conquest. Arda found a bright spot in the drudge of a war that was dragging on and on, marrying for love; she and her husband had a single son, Prince Berak Talat the Younger after her brother who had already died in the war.
The Reign of King Berak Talat the Younger
369-377 SI (11771-11779 CE)
Unusually for Ostar, there was never any question who Arda's heir would be; she was very open about it being her son from his birth. Berak married his cousin Sema Talat, daughter of his Aunt Azmi. They had two children of their own, Prince Gaire Talat and Princess Taheri Talat the Younger. He also brought two foster-children into his household as his own, Prince Tahir Talat (his first cousin once removed, the son of his cousin Eri Lindroth, daughter of his Aunt Doshi) and Princess Aysel Talat (a child taken from the Dahlquist family). He succeeded his mother at the age of 61, when Arda was 121. Unfortunately he would rule only 8 short years before he was assasinated.
The Reign of King Tahir Talat
377-481 SI (11779-11883 CE)
Not a single living soul knew whose name would be on the inheritance documents when they were unsealed after Berak's death, but Tahir stepped into his foster-father's shoes and into the War of Conquest without faltering. He had four children in his household - Princes Haldun Talat and Tayyar Talat, supposedly children of his wives though anyone would be hard-pressed to identify a single night he actually spent in any of his wives' beds; Prince Melker Talat (son of his foster-brother Gaire), and Prince Tarren Talat (son of his foster-sister Aysel). He was the last of the Ostarian sovereigns whose entire rule was marked by the War of Conquest. He abdicated in favor of Melker when he was nearly 150 years old; at the time, Melker had already taken over the leadership of the Kingdom's armies almost entirely; Tahir was recorded musing that if the war was to ever end, it would be Melker who would accomplish it.
The Reign of Emphir Melker Talat
481 SI-5 AE (11883-11945 CE)
Melker would end the War of Conquest and declare himself Emphir of the Brilliant Empire, rather than King of Ostar. His methods were known for being brutal and unforgiving. He was largely too busy with the military to worry about anything else, and had only a single child, Princess Hesna Talat, whom he did not father until he was 92 years old at the desperate demands of his family and council that he find or make an heir. His methods and attitude cemented the rest of the world's negative opinion of what was Ostar and would become the Empire.
The Reign of Emphir Hesna Talat
5-117 AE (11945-12047 CE)
Partly because she was born so late into her father's life, Emphir Hesna took the throne relatively young, at only 30 years old. She was the first peacetime ruler of what had been Ostar and was now the Empire in generations; and while she expanded the Empire during her reign, mostly it was bloodless. She took control of the contininent to their North through the Occupation of Oskksul, and send two of her children across the oceans to the South to found the Principality of Heirin and the Principality of Staton.
Hesna claimed four children in her household. Princess Arda Talat the Younger and Prince Ihsan Talat, children of her own body; Princess Illay Talat, granddaughter of her Uncle Tarren; and Prince Julian Arion, the younger son of Clarissa Arion, the ruler of the Principality of Arion.
The Reign of Emphir Arda Talat the Younger
117-195 AE (12047-12125 CE)
While Emphir Hesna Talat claimed four children officially in her household, Arda Talat the Younger was quite a bit younger than her brother and foster-sister, and from her birth it was clear that she was her mother's favorite in a way that Ihsan Talat and Illay Talat had not been; in fact it was almost as if Hesna raised two different broods of children in the royal household, because she sent the first two away to found Heirin and Staton before Arda was even born. The fourth child, Julian Arion, had always been merely a pawn of his Mothers, a guarantee that Hesna would not turn the Empire's hungry eyes towards the Principality of Arion; but fate has other ideas, and Arda chose him over every other suitor her mother desperately paraded in front of her, insisting that their childhood crush was and would be enduring, and Julian became Arda's consort and father of her children, including heir Emrah Talat the Younger - and regent, when Arda died unexpectedly early and Emrah ascended the Brilliant Throne at only 14. While Arda and Julian were young, Hesna also fostered her grandchildren Cihan Foxrun and Hediye Talat, children of Illay and Ihsan respectively.
The Reign of Emphir Emrah Talat the Younger
195 AE-Present (12125 CE-Present)
Emrah is the current Emphir of the Brilliant Empire, ruling with his father Julian Arion as his regent. Across the ocean, his cousin Taylan Foxrun rules the Principality of Heirin and his cousin Eri Kayani rules the Principality of Staton, after the abdication of their respective ruling parents in 157 AE.Table of Contents
The Brilliant Empire
Founding of Ostar
Founding of the Brilliant Empire
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