Out of character: Back when Shyriath decanonized my old fictional history and replaced it with his Raynor-centric one, I gave the traditional Shirerithian response of "I shall revenge!" I'm only just now getting around to it. Although it makes a great story, I always thought of Shy's version as flawed, in that it made no sense in the context of real micronational happenings or the histories of other countries, and in that it compresses absolutely everything interesting about Shireroth into one generation, leaving us three thousand years of complete stasis until the historical age (Kaiser Gaelen I and afterwards). Here Yymani is trying to preserve Shy's excellent storytelling as the founding myth of Shireroth (in the same way King Arthur is the founding myth of Britain), while still arguing it doesn't make much sense as history.Ladies, gentlemen, commoners, Dean Oroigawa. In the name of Truth, whose pure and total service is all that can ever justify academia's many sins, thank you from the bottom of my inner warmth for the great privilege of delivering the 2115th Aurefiction Auraumbre Memorial Lecture.
People of Shireroth, there is something wrong with your history.
The first book of Shirerithian history was written during the reign of Kaiser Los I, according to legend by the Kaiser himself. It was well-written, impeccably researched, and eminently reasonable in its conclusions. It also completely contradicts all later works.
The Los Codex says that the Shirerithian Empire grew gradually and naturally over thousands of years from a small chiefdom in central Brookshire to the great extent it occupies today. All subsequent works have condemned this as a lie, and said that Shireroth sprung fully formed from the head of Kaiser Raynor I.
According to this school, whose best-known representative was Bukolos of Benacia, court historian to Kaiser Mors IV, Raynor's father, Neglai Me'Jiliad, fled the dying Khas Modan Empire in the third millennium before the ASC era. Raynor was born in Brookshire, already a united kingdom, and during his long lifetime conquered Goldshire, Musica, and parts of Yardistan - supposedly subduing three whole civilizations, holding back the Elw, founding the capital city, and still having enough time left over to fight the occasional demon.
Then...nothing. For two and a half thousand years, from the time of Raynor I to the time of Gaelen I, Bukolos records only two events: an adoption that leads to Shireroth's current bloodline system, and a conspiracy surrounding the Line of Alexander. Twenty five hundred years. Two relatively minor events. And at the end of those twenty five hundred years, the Shireroth of Kaiser Gaelen I looks suspiciously similar to the Shireroth of Kaiser Raynor I. The borders are the same, the Kaisership subject to the same traditions; even the great cities are the same as those as in Raynor's day.
It looks suspiciously as if twenty-five hundred years of Shireroth's history never happened.
Accounts from foreign countries corroborate this wild hypothesis. The records from the Apolyton Kingdoms and Old Audentior do not even mention Shireroth, despite evidence that Audente colonists reached as far away as Tapfer and Hyperborea and had trade relations with Cyberia and Attera way off in the eastern hemisphere. Yet during all this time, there is not a single envoy sent to Shireroth, a country which we are asked to believe controlled the entirety of Eastern Benacia at this time and was already over two thousand years old!
Later Apollonian accounts are even more mysterious. The first description of our nation names it "ye Republik of Shyreroth" and describes it as "a free constitutional republik far to ye West". There is no mention of a Kaiser, a Landsraad, or Duchies. Later still, tax records list "Shyrerot Province" as a tributary of Middle Audentior and later Jasonia.
The two thousand year old sprawling empire of Kaiser Raynor hardly seems like the sort of state to pay tribute to anyone, let alone be described as a constitutional republic. But the evidence in favor of the foreign records is overwhelming. The Hyperboreans' oldest maps, the ones that led us to Hyperborea during the collapse of Old Audentior, do not show a "Shireroth". Archaeological digs on Amity suggest that the island was Jasonian-occupied for much of the modern era. And then there are the Treesians. Everyone agrees that Ju'Uliave Mercaja's empire evolved out of early Treesian colonies in Goldshire, but not even the most patriotic Treesian would claim that that island barony existed in two thousand four hundred BASC, let alone the centuries earlier it would have taken for their foreign colonies to revolt and form a great power by that date.
My hypothesis is simple. All places, eras, and people that show no evidence of having existed did not, in fact, exist. Kaiser Los' modest claims of a Shireroth that built itself up from humble beginnings are in essence correct, and the later stories were propaganda, created to provide Shireroth with a glorious pedigree and gain it the title of Micras' oldest nation. Kaiser Raynor I is a legend created as an inspiration to the Shirerithian people and a successful attempt to provide an unshakeable legitimacy for the Golden Mango Throne in having it descend from heroes and gods.
What is the real history of Shireroth? Perhaps Kaiser Los I could have provided some clues, but he is gone, his book survives only in fragments, and we are under no obligation to trust him anyway. But some points should be remarked upon.
First, that Shireroth certainly existed as a nation by 250 ASC, when it was mentioned in Jasonian records, but was not very large or important. Second, that the institution of the Kaisership certainly existed by the time of Kaiser Gaelen I in the sixth century ASC. More plausibly, there was an established monarchy with several bloodlines by this point. Third, that mountains of linguistic and historical evidence point to Brookshire as the origin of Shireroth.
I believe that until about 600 BASC, Brookshire was a collection of small tribes, in much the same way the Elw were before their conquest. I believe that one of these tribes, possibly called Raynor, was the ancestor of the modern Kaisers. They gradually conquered their neighbors and were in control of most of Brookshire by the time they are mentioned by Jasonian geographers in 250 ASC. Although the line of Kaisers probably stretches back to uttermost antiquity, the Kaiser was originally a very limited monarch or chieftain, and at some points Shireroth was probably closer to a republic with a constitutional monarchy than to anything else.
I believe that around the time of Middle Audentior, Shireroth formed close ties with Apollonia, at that time the center of civilization. They became a vassal state of Middle Audentior and later Jasonia, in exchange for which they learned technology and culture from these countries. Perhaps it was the introduction of eastern technology into Shireroth, and the glory it must have brought, that inspired the legends of the Technomagi. During this time, Shireroth defeated its main rival for control of southern Benacia, Musica, and made significant inroads into Goldshire. This may be the period that spawned the legends of the Mercaja Wars.
Just before the time of Gaelen I, turmoil and civil war in Apollonia led to the virtual collapse of civilization on that continent. Refugees fled to Shireroth, bringing with them all the knowledge and wealth of the east. Gaelen used this to consolidate control over Goldshire and to sweep away whatever was left of the old republican traditions, declaring himself an absolute monarch. In a diplomatic coup, he also annexed all of civilized Apollonia as the Duchy of Kildare, though doubtless it was many more centuries before the claim was fully backed up by effective control of the continent.
Bukolos of Benacia dismissed Los' early works as ancient ramblings of disaffected Technomagi. He claimed that the historical record during his time was more complete, with several rediscovered works adding to his knowledge of the past. But the general direction of historical scholarship is not up but down: Los, being several centuries closer to the events he describes, probably had more information to work with, just as any source from the time of the Mercaja Wars themselves would be more trustworthy still. As for the Technomagi, it seems strange to "dismiss" a work merely because it was based on the records of the most ancient, intelligent and knowledge-obsessed cult in Shirerithian history. Yes, it is possible that they exaggerated their own role - you will note that I do not fully credit their claim to be the ancestors of the Kaisers (except possibly the Ly'Technomaezj bloodline) and consider it more likely that they are the product of the first foreign technology to enter Shireroth during the pre-Mercaja War period. However, I find it even more likely that Bukolos, as a court historian, has altered the records to make the line of Kaisers especially glorious and valiant, and remove all evidence that they might be descended from anyone besides emperors and gods. If I am correct, the Technomagi may have been the first fully literate and scientific Shirerithians, which would put them in a unique place to record the nation's early history, and privilege Los' work as one of the few to have accurate records.
Faculty of the University, this august institution could do much to fund the researches that might confirm or disconfirm my theory. I want archaeological digs done in Shirekeep, which I believe to postdate the ASC era. I want the Gryphon Avocatio Institute to investigate for how long Shireroth has spoken a common tongue, and for the Genetics Institute to investigate how long people of Brookshirerithian background have spent in Goldshire. I want the leather scabbard of the Sword of Vengeance carbon dated. All of these experiments could serve to revolutionize our conception of Shireroth's past.
I know well that this is not the history many of you want to hear. Kaiser Raynor I forms a spectacular hero; descendant of emperors, pursued by his foes, hidden by his parents, then coming of age and pursuing a meteoric career of glory and conquest that would put even a Babkhan Shah or a Ri of Blackrock to shame. A complicated history of gradual expansion does not provide nearly so compelling a narrative. And indeed, I would not dare to take the myth of Raynor away from this country. Let us continue to revere him, but let us revere him as an ideal to live up to, and not as a historical personage.
Thank you for letting me give the 2115th Aurefiction Auraumbre Memorial Lecture. The floor is now open for questions.
Can I really get away with de-canonizing Raynor? I don't know, but I'm willing to find out. I'd like to hold sort of a debate or discussion on Shireroth fictional history, in the context of the questions the university professors ask Yymani. If you disagree with Yymani's narrative, or want something clarified, or have a different idea, ask him a question (in character) and he'll answer (in character). Even if I don't get my wish of reworking Shireroth's origins, I hope it will still provide a basis for filling in the complete lack of fictional history outside Raynor's life.
