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purchased the votes of the Council. Further, it is widely suspected
(and generally held to be true) that they even stooped to
assassination as a means of achieving their goal. The votes in the Council
swung back and forth as members whose votes had been purchased
by one or the other of the candidates sickened quite suddenly and
died for no apparent reason and their replacements were
shamelessly bought as soon as they reached Tol Honeth. The introduction
of Nyissan poisons into Tolnedran politics was gruesomely evident.
In the end, the Honethites prevailed - not through any particular
virtue, but rather because they were the wealthiest family and could
afford to buy more votes.
Perhaps the most telling indication of how incompetent the
Honethites had become is revealed in the fact that during the entire
period of the THIRD HONETHITE DYNASTY there was not one
single treaty or agreement with a foreign power to improve the
position of the Empire. Indeed, in view of the Northern Accords
between Drasnia and Gar og Nadrak which established the North
Caravan Route with a virtual Drasnian monopoly at its western
terminus, it might be convincingly argued that the position of the
Empire actually deteriorated during the reign of the Dynasty.
Instead of devoting themselves to foreign affairs and the
improvement of domestic conditions in Tolnedra as had the Borune Emperors,
the Honethites instead turned to shamelessly looting the Imperial
Treasury and to selling positions of power to the highest bidder.
Abroad, the Arendish Civil War ground on interminably, and
negotiations with Drasnia and Algaria proceeded at a snail's pace,
due in large measure to the unbridled greed of a long succession of
Honethite Emperors who inevitably sought personal advantage in
any treaty proposal.
THE SECOND BORUNE DYNASTY 3497-3761
(264 years, 12 Emperors)
Thus, when Ran Honeth XVii died childless in 3497, the people of
Tolnedra turned almost universally to the Borunes. When certain
Council members, recalling the vast fortunes which had been made
during the unseemly struggle that had accompanied the previous
Dynastic turnover, advertised that their votes were for sale, they
were promptly mobbed by the citizenry of Tol Honeth itself.
A vast rabble gathered outside the Council chamber and took up
a thunderous chant, 'Bor-une, Bor-une, Bor-une,' which gave the
Council a grim hint as to what would be its fate if any other name
were carried to the Temple of Nedra. It was the first time in history
that the common people had ever taken an active part in the
selection of an Emperor.
True to their reputations, the Borunes immediately set about
repairing the damage which had been done by the Honethites. Once again
the legions were put to work on roads and walls and upon
long overdue repairs to wharves, jetties and dikes. The usual grumbling
came to an abrupt halt when seven legion commanders were
summarily executed for refusing to obey direct Imperial orders to
move out of their garrisons to the construction camps.
Abroad, the Borunes brought the negotiations with the Drasnians
to a speedy conclusion, and the Agreement of Boktor was signed in
3527. Though it did not provide the advantage many had wished, it
nonetheless gave Tolnedran Merchants access to the thriving
northern trade.
In a move unheard of previously, the Borunes dispatched twenty
legions to Sendaria to construct 'as a gesture of goodwill' the