The Dai Empire and the Dominion: The Transition to the Revolution

The Dai Empire was an old nation found in the region of Liresku before the Epoch of Flame. Ruled by the hagoi-blood Dai dynasty, it conquered the other cultures of the islands. The first emperor, Lon Dai, was declared a new god by the local religion and that the hagoi were the chosen to ascend to supremacy over all others. Under his rule, the nation was split by culture and great gates were erected between them all. These gates exist by the time of the epoch of flame and cultural groups are still divided by its literal lines. Bridges, roads, fortresses, and watchtowers were built across Liresku in order to facilitate his armies movements and have standing forces ready to strike down any dissenters. The hagoi's culture was placed supreme against all others and the local religions, traditions, and festivals were suppressed. Any rebellion was met with swift pogroms, clearing out villages and townships and leaving ghost towns with great piles of dead bodies buried in mass graves. The other provinces were taxed heavily and much like the Wakamotojin samurai or knights of Mekkhor, commoners could be killed on a whim for not showing enough respect to their betters. This tyrannical empire lived for three centuries based on momentum and taking advantage of divisions. The tribes of Liresku did not cooperate in defeating this threat, and often the Dai would pay off or agitate them against each other to weaken them before moving in to conquer them all.

The Dai's power lay within their ancient mystical history and their large amounts of magic users. Along with this, the land of the hagoi is one of the most fertile places in the world to plant crops and raise animals. They also have a good source of iron. Their coasts and rivers brim with fish. Much of Liresku is resource rich but the hagoi's magic allowed them to quickly optimize yields and take from the land what was necessary to become conquerors.

The Dai Empire continued their control by acts of pure force and this continued divide and conquer strategy even against their own non-hagoi subjects. The downtrodden saw their numbers lower and their harsh conditions continue. Some despaired at the loss of their old gods and looked toward the rest of the world, accepting the Pentaphany. With the Pentaphany came the power of the largest organized religion in the world and more materially, paladins and clerics that could help in their fight.

One sect of the temple of Prythe, the god of laws, took special interest in the nation. This sect was known as the Brothers and Sisters of Law's Dominion, or the Dominion for short. They were one of the oldest sects that decried regimes like the Scale Princes of Skalovia and the Dai, and wanted to save those under the boot of tyrants in the name of their righteous god. Inspired by the Skalovian revolution and taking the lessons of the infamous Firmament crusader state, the Dominion joined the new revolution against the Empire around twenty years before the Epoch of Flame. They were the largest force of the rebellion, able to bolster their armies with the faithful and making large propagandistic campaigns to have people join them. In that grueling war, their miracles and their forces were able to destroy the old regime with the help of the other Lireskite peoples. A new beginning shined upon the nation.

However, the Dominion believed it was not enough to simply shatter the old empire. They had struck deep divisions within the peoples of Liresku to the point that there were clashes amongst the rebels wishing for independence and for long vendettas that were ancient. With their powerful force, they quickly established the Holy Dominion of Liresku, and fought their recent allies. They created a theocratic police state that functioned under the holy eye of Prythe and his agents. The provinces became parishes and they were established along the same cultural lines and using the old great walls and gates of the Dai empire. Those fortresses had their old loyalists of the Empire replaced with devout paladins and clerics of Prythe along with their followers. 

The pogroms of race were eliminated. However, the Dominion suppressed a rebellion in near equally appalling ways. Mass crucifixions with the mercy of leaving the crucified alive but with their limbs chopped off and the stumps healed so would-be rescuers would not take them down and heal them to fighting strength. The old religions which found a new awakening were stomped down and replaced with worship of Prythe and the Five. Equitianists and harmonists, seen as agitators and anarchists, were put to the sword. Food was rationed and those seen as not upholding the virtues of Prythe did not receive full shares. Public executions were common place. All of this was done to establish lasting and stable peace in Liresku.

Those that helped the regime convinced themselves that the dirty work had to be done to keep the nation clean. That these harsh methods would be stopped once it was pragmatic to do so. That they were better than the old regime.

Their ultimate goal was to pacify a region wrought with strife and create a new fortress of righteousness that the faithful could flock to and from it fight tyrannnies using the resources and training of a nation united under the god of law. This pacification never came and they caused strife themselves.

Many disagreed vehemently with the dominion, including their main sect upon Velas. However, the work of the Dai and now the Dominion took so much out of the Lireskites' manpower and ability to resist and the Diarchy of Kesst, a buffer of Liresku to the rest of the land, did not want to anger the powerful nation and spread its wrath upon its people. For twenty years, the Dominion ruled and barely let up their acts of terror. In 3 PR, a new revolution began.

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