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through the mountains of Cthol Murgos. It would soon be possible
for a man on a good horse to depart from Tol Honeth, ride north to
Boktor, cross to the Eastern Sea at Yar Marak, then go south to Rak
Goska and cross the mountains to return to Tol Honeth. In his dying
words to his son, Ran Horb ii said, 'Keep the roads. So long as the
roads are kept, Tolnedra rules the world.'
And so it was. The remainder of the HORBITE DYNASTY was
devoted to the completion of the system of highways which was to
make Tolnedra supreme in the west. There was little else to be done.
THE FIRST RANITE DYNASTY 3911-4001
(90 years, 7 Emperors)
The ill-fated FIRST RANITE DYNASTY ascended to power
following the death of the last Horbite Emperor. The verdict of history is
perhaps unkind to these unfortunates. A hereditary ailment in their
line struck them down inevitably in their prime. So it was that no
one Ranite Emperor lived long enough to achieve anything of any
significance. History quite correctly regards the Ranites simply as
caretakers.
THE THIRD VORDUVIAN DYNASTY
4001-4133 (132 years, 3 Emperors)
At the turn of the fifth millennium, the Vorduvians once again
gained control of the Imperial Throne. Since Tol Vordue is a major
sea-port, the Vorduvians have always felt that sea-commerce is
much preferable to overland trade, and during the century and more
of their reign, the roads of Ran Horb II fell into disrepair' and the
power of the Empire declined.
No sooner had the Vorduvians been installed in Tol Honeth than
one of the cataclysmic events in the history of the west occurred. The
Rivan King, Corek the Wise, was assassinated at Riva by a
contingent of Nyissan merchants acting on the orders of Queen Salmissra
of Nyissa. Ran Vordue I stood by helplessly while the world quite
literally collapsed around his ears. The horrid suspicion that had
hovered in the most secret councils in Tol Honeth since the days of
the last of the Borunes became a dreadful reality - the Alorns joined
together to make war. Aloria did, in fact, exist. The campaign of the
Alorns against Nyissa was short and savage. Viewing the ugly
temper of our northern friends, Ran Vordue wisely chose not to
object to the technical violation of Tolnedran territory by the
southward-moving columns of Algars and Drasnians nor the presence in
our territorial waters of huge fleets of Cherek warships.
When the war was over and Nyissa had for all real purposes
ceased to exist, all Tolnedra quite literally held its breath. The
temper of the Alorns was ugly, and they had demonstrated a
capability for a sustained and coordinated military campaign none had
ever suspected. If they had chosen to turn north from ravaged
Nyissa, all the might of the Empire would not have been sufficient to
stop them. The entire fate of the civilized world hung on the whim
'of the barbaric Kings of Aloria.