The Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom, also known as the Empire of Keys was a nation that once existed in The Third History. Located in the Americas and controlled by the Keys and their agents, it was their center of power and worship they hoped would one day allow them to return to power by drawing on the faith of mortals. The Doors eventually foiled their plans by sending the conquistadors to wipe their worshipers out, eventually leading to the rise of The Golden Empire and its master the Golden King, more commonly known as Old Tarnished.

History

The Third History was always one of the more brutal Histories. But for a time it was also called one of the most mundane. The occult and rarely even something that resembled organized sorcery were widely acknowledged by mortals as real, but even so the Hours were forbidden from acting there. For The Great Serpent itself had claimed it for its personal use, using it to observe and experiment with mankind, gleaning knowledge of its nature from how it struggled and dealt with adversity.

Following the death of the Serpent, Hours began to seed their influences into human society. The Hours who would later come to form The Doors looked favorably upon the more advanced people of Europe and the East for their culture and stability. The neutral and more ancient Hours, whose influence had since come to wane in the House were less involved, teaching their worship to the more primitive people of the Americas, in the hope they would be able to influence their development further than the Doors or at least keep their faiths alive hidden in seclusion.

Not much came of these efforts until the end of The War of the Doors, which saw the rise and fall of several Hours and the emergence of the two main Hour factions.

Following the War the chaotic, wild power of The Keys were ascendant. Controlling the Upper Mansus and united in their mutual quest to open all, saw opportunity to expand their influence and usurp the Doors within their own bastion of power. Slowly at first, the Keys began to whisper to the scattered tribes and upstart civilizations that had been long written off as irrelevant.

Barely familiar with the occult from ages of isolation and with barely an understanding of religion, they were all but powerless to resist the veritable deities that made themselves known to them. What few religions and deities they had managed to develop on their own, real or imagined, were either discarded outright or consumed and incorporated into the worship of the gods ascendant.

Soon these people were drawn together and consolidated under a single nation, so that they might revere their gods as a whole as well as allowing the Keys to better control them. The power of the Keys allowed the natives to rise to new heights of power, marking the birth of the Old Kingdom, whom worshiped their gods with brutal gusto, in both prayer and in lurid ritual for several hundred years.

The Old Kingdom was not to last, however. The Doors eventually sensed the growing threat to their power and sent the people of Europe westward to conquer the heathen empire. Powerful as their wizards were, they were no match for the conquerors' advanced technology and experience with combating the occult honed from countless years of living beside and fighting against it.

Following their conquest, the priests of the Keys experienced a brief resurgence in power when Hernan Cortez led his follow explorers in succession from their homelands. In need of new allies, the King soon fell under the sway of the seductive whispers of the priests of the Kingdom's gods. But after the Golden King rose to Hourhood and was convinced he'd been cursed by his so-called "patrons", he had all worship except of himself suppressed, leading to the birth of The Golden Empire.

Society

Life in the Old Kingdom was surprisingly well-organized and structured for an invention of the most chaotic Hours of the Mansus. Citizens were organized into castes, each serving a role in the function of society. Normal citizens were divided into trades that served the nation. Slaves performed manual labor and served as fodder in sacrificial rites to appease the gods. The Priests were the ruling class, interpreting the will of the gods as well as directing the rest of the population in worship.

The Priest-Kings

The Church of each god had their own High Priest, who were revered in the highest esteem. Viewed as living avatars of their gods and conduits of their divine will, the Priest Kings' will was absolute within their borders, and to even hesitate in the execution of their will was to ask for death.

Gods and Churches

The Keys were meticulous in their construction of their empire and the subsuming of the indigenous culture into their creation. Their churches were tailored not only to serve as a source of worship but fill a specific function in the function of society.

• FNORD- Their god was "the Great Feathered Wyrm", who oversaw holy days, public festivals, and ensuring each caste took pride and joy in their work. The Wyrm was also a patron of midwives, and protector of children.

A Kingdom Forgotten

Ever vengeful and brutal in the enforcement of his will, the Golden King has gone to great lengths to erase the traces of what came before his "eternal empire". Most citizens of the Empire will live their lives never questioning their god and government, or ever wonder what possibly could have come before His Glory? The Golden Empire always was, and always would be. The King's power is not entirely absolute however, no matter how badly he wishes it were.

In the savage wilds and untamed corners of the continent, ruins and even sects of the original Kingdom are whispered to still exist in seclusion. Although widely destroyed, relics and accounts of inhabitants still exist preserved by radical historians and scholars, who fight to keep history hidden and protected from those who would destroy it utterly. And there is no stopping the whispers of the Dead and seditious Long who care nothing for Old Tarnised's will.

And the deaths of the Priest-Kings were not all confirmed in the fall of their empire. Some briefly returned to instruct Cortez in their arts, while others simply vanished. Did they manage to flee to parts (or even Histories) unknown, or were they merely slain by their gods for their failure? Some things are known only by the Hours, for there is only so much a mortal can learn of their secrets and live.