The Tiberian Ecumene

For two thousand years Tiberium was the greatest power in the world, a continental empire whose boundaries stretched from the forests of Land's End to the savage shores of Ys. Although the Ecumene's prosperity hinged on relentless expansion it's long reign brought an era of peace and stability that has not been felt since.

Unfortunately it was this same success that ultimately doomed the Ecumene. Although there were few rivals who ever came close to challenging it there were wars that proved too terrible for the empire to ever truly recover from. Pyyrhic victories won against the elvish Courts and the Centauri nearly brought the Tiberians to their knees. Eventually the empire collapsed under its own weight, ending the Age of Men.

Finding of Numitor
The first Tiberians were simple herdsmen who discovered the bare foundations of a nameless city by the sea. It was old beyond reckoning, having been laid down by the Pan eons ago. They regarded the work of the "horned gods" with awe (themselves worshiping a "brazen bull") and settled there, naming it "Numitor".

In time Numitor became an established city-state. Its people were regarded as great road builders and drove vast herds of cattle, kindling trade throughout Ur. Wealth flowed back to the city and each Patron left it grander than he had found it, beautifying it beyond description. Even in the distant corners of the world Numitor was known as a city of artists and philosophers that might one day rival Iskander of old or even Amaranth itself.

Sadly the Tiberians prosperity also made their city a target for the barbarian tribes and kingdoms all around them.

The First Citizen
This crisis saw the Patron deposed by the people in a class revolt. A leader emerged among them whose name is lost to history, a retired soldier who had bled for the city before. The Patrician families named him as Numitor's "First Citizen", entrusted with the defense of the city. Many believed the Patricians had engineered the crisis to begin with in attempt to seize power.

The FC recruited every able-bodied citizen - men and women, the old, and even children were put to work. Those who could hold a spear were put on the walls; those who could not put out fires, moved rubble, tended the wounded, etc. Eventually the walls fell ( "shouted down" by the enemy) and, realizing he could not hold the breach, the FC pulled back into the heart of the city, making a desperate last stand on the steps of the Great Triumph (an ancient monument). There the enemy was eventually broken and thrown back.

Afterwards a pact was sealed between the enemy, honoring the original marriage proposal of the city's Patron. The First Citizen stepped down after laying down what would become the basis of Tiberian law - the establishment of the Quorum, the awarding of citizenship to any man who bled for the city. He refused power, returning to his farm, and set the example for the future Consulate.

First Consuls
A "Consulate" was established by the Patricians who sat the Quorum, bestowing emergency powers on an appointed war leader named the "First Consul". This man was elected by the Quorum, however, during war time effectively ruled as a dictator. To stay in power Consuls provoked war; Tiberium quickly outgrew its capitol, establishing itself as a young empire. Eventually the Quorum tried to assert its own power, leading to a civil war between it and the Consulate. The First Consul fled to Pallas-Ides, a powerful sister-city, while the Quorum remained in Numitor. Much of the fighting was over Loslantine, a third city. The Quorum would have lost this war had the Amaranthines not intervened, smashing the Pallasian fleet and sailing into the heart of the city. Pallas-Ides was torn down, depopulated, and sown with salt.

Afterwards the Quorum reduced Consuls to figureheads, restricting declarations of war to the Quorum, and appointed a Second Consul to check the power of the First.

Ecumene
Over the centuries Tiberium continued to grow dramatically, outgrowing its capitol Numitor and conquering most of Ur. It raised professional armies called "Legions" made up of free men. Men who served in the Legions eventually earned their Citizenship; only citizens could own land, vote, or hold office, and it could only be earned through soldiering.

claiming to "liberate" men from the tyranny of kings. When its Legions reached the Shield Marches they were confident they could conquer the whole continent. Pursuing what was left of the Prydein into the Oldgrowth forest they found themselves overreached, lost, and surrounded. Only one man left the forest. Since that day the Tiberians called the region "Land's End", as it marked the furthest extent of their western territories.

The First War of Accession
Midway (1000 years) into its reign Tiberium set its sights on conquering Yavanna, a rich and exotic continent to the south. The Ecumene needed relentless war and trade just to sustain itself and, after its defeat in Land's End, confidence in the empire had begun to falter. This fruitless invasion lasted 20 years and was presided over by the Consul-in-exile Ferax Princeps, a man of singular brilliance and determination. When he seemed about to triumph in Yavanna the Elves' Summer Court attacked Numitor itself.

Every single Legion was mobilized to defend the city and in one battle, the Battle of Red Tides, they were slaughtered almost to a man. Barely enough men were left alive to man the city's walls, resigning themselves to a long, foregone siege. The whole population was put out and while the Elves did not trouble them nor did they offer aid of any kind, letting them starve in no-mans-land. They were content to wait out the siege for however long it would take.

Princeps abandoned his war in Yavanna and rallied what allies the Ecumene had left, brokering deals mostly on good faith. Even bolstered by the Centauri and Kindred elves, backed by the Dwarves financing, and aided by the awe-inspiring Winter Court it was still a pitched battle and a bloody, desperate fight. In the end Balor Argetlam, the elves' Alder-Ri (Elder King) surrendered, having lost an arm and all his heirs. Negotiations were meant to be finished in Vaalbara, however, Princeps fleet sailed too close to the Rift and was presumed lost.

Decline
Although the Tiberians defeated the Elves it was only a pyyrhic victory; millions had perished, including all but one of the Legions. From then on the Tiberians chose to consolidate their remaining strength; their surviving Legion became their sole army, guarding their innermost provinces. Many of the deals that had been made with Tiberium's allies during the war fell flat, souring relations and discrediting it in the hearts of many.

Eventually the empire became a patchwork of disparate kingdoms, tribes, and species, and over the next thousand years it shouldered a long, slow decline. Uprisings came and went, as did plagues, famines, and invasions. Despite sinking under its own weight the Ecumene endured them all. In time it had become irrelevant to most of its own subjects, who resented the burden of its crumbling infrastructure and bloated Legions. It seemed as if Numitor's foundations were turning to sand, its Legionnaires stretched too thin to keep every province in line, and having long ago turned from conquerors into garrisons. Prolonged warfare (fighting century long wars on multiple fronts) ushered in a secular "death cult". The Ecumene finally brought to its knees when dragons woke out of hibernation, and ever since petty warlords have fought over its ashes.

Legacy
Today Tiberium is only a dim memory, an old story of when the world was brighter and nobler and men made their own fate. However, its impact on the modern world is indisputable. Most human languages have broken off from Tiberium's common tongue and the ruins of the empire can still be seen two hundred years later. Giant aqueducts still carry fresh water to distant cities; roads as straight as arrows cut across the land; and proud monuments like the Crucible have withstood the test of time.

Proud Numitor is a crumbling ruin, burned down to its foundations by dragon's fire, its people reduced to shadows on walls and streets. The people who remain in the city hide in its catacombs, living underground among the dead, and their undercity is but a shadow's shadow of what it once was. Gone are the days when each new Consul left the city grander than he had found it. Now it is just another battle ground.

Nations like Porte and Amaranth have claimed to succeed Tiberium, but so far all have fallen far short of what it managed to accomplish. Ferax Princeps and his lost Legion have returned from Rift, intent on restoring the Ecumene to its old glory.

Territory & Population
At its peak the Ecumene encompassed 3/4 of the human race (a population in the hundreds of millions) and ruled most of Ur, the largest continent on Tara. It possessed innumerable colonies throughout Ur and even treated whole nations (Amaranth, the Shield Marches, etc.) like mere vassals. Although its Legions conquered most of the continent the Tiberians did not force their culture on their subjects, allowing them to keep their old ways so long as they provided the two things needed to sustain the empire; blood and treasure. In time it was the Tiberians themselves who changed, adopting words, customs, and even gods from the people they conquered.

Many nonhumans also lived within the Ecumene's boundaries and as its borders grew it needed more manpower than its provinces could realistically supply. Fragile inroads were made with these other races; one by one they bent the knee, having neither the strength nor will to challenge man's appetite for power. Even those who submitted peacefully found themselves displaced and marginalized, confined to urban ghettos or pockets of wilderness and corrals. Some races (elves, orcs) could breed with men but this offered them no advantage; instead their populations were diluted and brutalized through slavery and outbreeding. Still, despite being a segregated underclass within the Ecumene many nonhumans served with distinction, and those who won their citizenship were treated no differently from their human peers.

Legions
One cannot speak of the Ecumene without mentioning its Legions, for the two were so closely bound that usually the arm was indistinguishable from the state. Famous for their legendarily harsh discipline Legionnaires fought with efficient brutality and could endure horrifying attrition. These men were all free volunteers and, when needed, the Ecumene would pardon criminals and buy the freedom of slaves. During its long decline the Legions accepted all able-bodied recruits, though its perhaps telling that they accepted nonhumans into their ranks before women.

On land Legionnaires fought in a rigid phalanx, a relentless, impenetrable shieldwall that measured victory in yards gained. But the Tiberians were also skilled mariners equally at home fighting on swaying decks or wading up through the surf. Tribal mercenaries and mighty siegecraft came into play when these tactics failed and other races provided invaluable support. Centauri lancers were so effective that they became their own Legion, called the "Century", which was open to only the finest horsemen. Elvish pathfinders gathered intelligence, ambushed, and waylaid their enemies; Orc shocktroops swept aside even the stoutest resistance; and Dwarf smiths and engineers worked technological marvels.

Citizenship
The real secret to the Legions' success wasn't training, or engineering, or even good steel (though it had all of these). It was citizenship. Every Legionnaire was a professional career soldier and every Legion was a permanent standing army. At the end of their 20 year tours these men became citizens, rewarded not just with land and pay but also a real stake in society. Only a citizen could own land, vote, hold office, and demand a fair trial by tribunal. Citizenship could only be earned after years of service, not inherited, and it helped level the playing field between common men and the Patricians who were born into power. These rights were inalienable and given to every veteran regardless of their background, so long as they had served honorably.

Obviously the Legion had close ties to Tiberium's bureaucracy; all men of rank, from the Quorum and the Consulate to every Magister, Tribune, and Provost was a veteran.

Slavery
The slave trade was introduced by Amaranthine traders. The Tiberians were slow to embrace it, however, after the Wars of Accession many Orc prisoners were enslaved and put to work on projects building roads and monuments or fighting in the Crucible. Hoping to tame the Orcs Tiberian slavers bred them with human slaves, confident that they could produce more obedient stock. While they had some success (these half-Orcs did not carry the same cultural baggage as their fathers when bred in captivity) they could not completely break them in. Unsurprisingly this lead to frequent slave rebellions until slavery was formally abolished in the Ecumene.

This in turn lead to a brief, decisive war with the Amaranthines. When the slave trade dried up they were practically ruined overnight, so they declared war on the Ecumene.

Hence forth the Ecumene did not tolerate slavery anywhere in the world.

Religion
The Tiberians once had simple gods, but as the Ecumene absorbed new cultures new deities came and went. Gradually these gods fell out of favor during the empire's decline, forgotten as the people felt their prayers went unanswered. After spending centuries at war sheer attrition had hardened the Tiberians into a morbid, fatalistic people. On the frontlines soldiers prayed to Death, and the Death's Head became the new symbol of the Ecumene, now a secular, godless cult.

Culture

 * Soldier's merit; boys who intended to go into the Legion trained from a young age, competing to be selected as worthy for the war schools (many were fast tracked into being officers, centauri, or executor guards); they were mentored by family who were also in the Legion; veterans who showed promise became officers; swords were passed down as heirlooms from father to son, and no citizen ever went unarmed; never left a man behind as a matter of principle - even if it meant they lost MORE men, they would always reclaim their dead and wounded
 * Despised kings, who were born to their thrones, and the men who knelt to them; a common Tiberian boast was that they would "only ever die on their feet, not live on their knees"
 * Families paid their tithes in either blood (able sons, sent to the Legion) or treasure (gold, grain, livestock); tax collectors were also recruiters; even debtors could pay their taxes
 * Adopted the hygiene standards of other cultures (Amaranth, Yavanna); even the lowest classes bathed with soap and oil daily, and hands were washed before eating, gargled/rinsed out their mouths with wine
 * Were very suspicious of magic and organized religion (which often blended together), but revered and enshrined oracles (The Blind Fates of Death)
 * Thought blood sport was barbaric; mock-battles were insulting to the soldiers who bled for the empire, and trivialized war into a game. Pit fighting, introduced by the Amaranthines, was only tolerated on the fringes of the empire or remained underground.