Swords are not permitted to guests within ten feet of the monarchs. Guests armed in any fashion, even those with eating daggers, are not allowed in the nursery or magistrate’s wing. Should they be found with other, more serious and hidden weaponry, they will be held and questioned.
No weapons of any kind are acceptable within temple grounds and in holy spaces, with the exception of those held by temple guards.
All duels must be fought before witnesses, in a prepared space, with a priest of Mithros as referee, a healer, and any priests the combatants care to have present.
During a period of war, it is forbidden to issue any challenges. Those who receive them may refuse without loss of honor. During war, a noble’s arms, blood, and resources belong to the Crown, not to himself.
Feast, Festival, and Holiday Dates
Awakening: First of February
The door of the year opens. The Crone steps through, but the Spring Maiden only stirs in her sleep. Shepherds bring the pregnant ewes to the Goddess’s temple for the Mother to bless them with an easy birthing and healthy young ones. As sheep go in the bitterness of winter’s end, so will the other flocks in the kinder spring and summer.
Spring Equinox: Twentieth of March
The door between winter and spring opens. The Spring Maiden steps through as the Crone withers away. Fresh reeds are placed on the altars of Mithros and the Great Mother in thanks for the return of warmth and the rebirth of the land. Female creatures heavy with young are blessed by the Mother.
Beltane: First of May
Fertility. Herds are driven to grazing lands in fields and hills. People dance around the maypole for the good of the land and their families. When the bonfires burn low, couples join hands and jump over them for their own fertility. Couples also join in the shadows around the bonfires and beyond. February children are often called “Beltane babes.”
Solstice: Twenty-third of June
The longest day. The door to summer opens. The Spring Maiden walks away, and Mithros reigns. Chiefly, a day to worship Mithros and his gifts. Once a time of sacrifice of the firstborn calf, lamb, or goat, but this practice has declined recently in Tortall. Figures of these animals are offered in their place. Mithros gives no sign that he objects.
Coronation Day: July’s full moon
In celebration of the coronation of Their Royal Majesties, King Jonathan IV and Queen Thayet. (In truth, only King Jonathan was crowned on this day; Her Majesty was crowned when they wed in November of that year, in a quiet ceremony, due to famine at the time.)
Harvest: First of August
A celebration before the greatest work of the harvest is held. The first fruits of the harvest are placed on the altars of Mithros and the Goddess, and feasts are held in their name.
Fall Equinox: Twenty-third of September
The door between summer and winter opens. Mithros steps through, and the Hunt Gods enter. Trappers and hunters go to their temples to have their weapons blessed. Hoofs and claws from earlier hunts are left as offerings. Cooks offer the first jellies to the Goddess.
All Hallow: Thirty-first of October
The first of two days dedicated to the Black God. On All Hallow the dead who are missed are honored with offerings of dried flowers and sweets. Children go from house to house at sunset collecting the offerings and carrying them to the god’s temples. They must be indoors by dark, when the spirits of the dead may escape the god and return to visit those who have wronged them. This is also a time when those whose consciences are clear may choose to wear disguises and celebrate with singing, dancing, and feasting.
Heroes’ Day: First of November
The Black God’s second day, beginning at dawn, when the escaped dead are recaptured by his servants. At dawn, the great rulers and heroes of the past are honored with songs, parades, and cakes given to the poor as offerings and as thank-yous to the children who collected sweets on the previous day. Many have the children identify the symbol of the monarch or hero on the cake before they may take it.
Midwinter: The week of December twenty-third
The Hunt Gods open the door and step through; the Crone of Winter enters. Gifts are exchanged and festivities held all week long in honor of the year gone by. Candles, lamps, and torches are burned throughout the fourth night, the longest night of the year, to tell Mithros he is welcome to return.
Timeline of the Realm of Tortall
by the hand of Thom of Pirate’s Swoop, aged 10 February 22, 453 H.E.
I have to do this timeline because my tutor thinks I am an “ignorant little ape” just because I hid from him all day yesterday and read what I wanted to instead of listening to him natter.
Before Human Era (B.H.E.), the era of the Northern Empire (N.E.), the realm that held the Eastern Empire, the Southern Empire, and the Floating Empire
Who cares about the Northern Empire? It was going to pieces—that’s why there was a Southern Empire, an Eastern Empire, and a Floating Empire in the west! It says in the Book of the Northern Empire that Asaron I’s stupid father “loved his sons too dearly to put one over another, and so it was that Romnan of the Many Heirs divided his kingdom between them.” I’m almost eleven, and I know that’s folly! All the Rethawards fought with their cousins, and in the end, their nobles cried a pox on them and there was no empire at all. Only a lot of people who spoke the same language when they declared war on each other. Catch King Jonathan ever making a decision as stupid as Romnan’s.
609 Asaron I of Rethaward, Emperor of the Eastern Empire, which held all of what became Tortall, Barzun, Maren, Tusaine, Tyra, and Galla
He had the calendars done up to say “A.E.,” Asaron’s Era, which must have been confusing for the people in the Southern Empire and the Floating Empire. Now everyone just calls it B.H.E., Before the Human Era, anyway.
Asaron spent most of his time riding around the Eastern Lands and listening to people complain about the changes in the law, the books say. I bet they complained about the new calendar, too.
644 Asaron II, “the Hopeful”
His da ruled a very long time, even with all of the riding and complaining.
653 Asaron III, “the Warrior”
He fought with his neighbors every summer and taxed his nobles to pay for it so they were too poor to give him any trouble. He also married his children to his favorites so they would protect him from any noble enemies. He wasn’t stupid, for a warrior.
688 Asaron IV, “the Gracious”
Who cares if an emperor is nice to everybody?
703 Asaron V
I bet he was so mean that his people were too afraid of him to give him a nickname.
707 Strassic I, “the Unlucky”
He was a Rethaward second cousin and a baby when they killed Asaron V and crowned Strassic. When he was grown, he had three wives. They all died.
738 Strassic II, “the Great”
He was a splendid warrior. Nobody else could lift his big sword. He was killed in battle and the ladies cried and made him a shroud all of flowers.
752 Strassic III, “the Small”
If I say why I really think he was named the Small, my tutor will cane me.
At this point, Thom, I suggest that you write with less wit and more learning.
766 Strassic IV
This one was too boring for a nickname. He made up more laws I have to learn.
771 Strassic V, “the Fertile”
The ancients already made the jest for me. He had many children, all girls.
780 to 795 Civil war. The fall of the Eternal Dominion. Civil war. The parting of the Eastern and Southern Empires.
788 Strassic VI, “the Weak”
This is true, because he couldn’t make his nobles mind him. Mayhap if he had been a strong emperor, we might still be part of the Northern Empire at least. Mama could be the Imperial Champion, and Da could travel more.
788 The Choking of the Drell
A huge earthquake destroyed the Eastern Empire’s capital on
the river. It raised the land and made a waterfall and a lake. Ships couldn’t sail north of the middle of Tortall and Maren. Everyone believed it was because the gods turned away from the Rethaward Emperors.
795 Newlin I Conte´, founder of Tortall, creates The Book of Gold, founds the College of Heralds
832 Newlin II (grandson of Newlin I)
I hope he wasn’t in a hurry to inherit. I hope his da wasn’t in a hurry, because he got old and died and never was king.
836 Official date of the expulsion of immortals from the Mortal Realm to the Realms of the Gods
845 Roald I of Tortall, co-regnant with Annable of Tortall
Co-rulers, like Their Majesties! Roald and Annable adopted her nephew Ennalt, renamed Newlin, when seers said no children would be born to them.
887 Newlin III, who was born Ennalt
He was old when he inherited—41.
899 Roald II, “the Virtuous”
He must have been even more boring than Strassic IV.
900 A.E. (Asaron’s Era)/01 H.E. (Human Era) The era was named by the united Schools of Heraldry in celebration of the casting out of the immortals in the former Three Empires.
- the Eastern Empire, now the Eastern Lands: Galla, Tusaine, Tortall, Maren, Barzun
- the Southern Empire, now the Carthaki Empire (formerly Carthak): Amar, Apal, Ekallatum, Shusin, Yamut, Zallara
- the Floating Empire, now the Kyprin (Copper) Isles and the Yamani Islands, and Scanra
01 Human Era in the modern calendar
Actual date of expulsion of immortals from the Mortal Realms by a great conference of mages assembled in Carthak
Uncle Numair says he isn’t sure all of the immortals were banished from all of the Mortal Realms, only ones from lands that were part of the original empire. He thinks there may be immortals on the far side of the world who were never touched by the ban—they just couldn’t come here. He got the idea from books he has been collecting.
01 Creation of The Book of Silver
19 Gareth I Conte´, co-regnant with Doras of Great Minch
33 Gareth I Conte´, co-regnant with Merice of Queenscove
57 Gareth I Conte´, co-regnant with Andrette of Tameran
He was very long-lived. He had five daughters, four sons, eighteen grandchildren, and twenty-four great-grandchildren.
Baird II was his third great-grandson by Doras. I wonder how many heralds it took to keep track of his descendants?
74 Baird II, “the Lucky”
I guess because out of all those descendants, he’s the one who got to be king.
75 Giamo of Galla is first seen wearing the Dominion Jewel
I wish I could see it, but Their Majesties keep it hidden.
76 to 77 Giamo of Galla conquers much of eastern Scanra
82 to 125 The Tyrant Wars
Giamo of Galla takes parts of northeast Tortall, northern Maren
Mama says it’s because of all the time spent fighting the Gallans and Scanrans that our northerners are so fierce.
86 Roger I, “the Unlucky”
He tripped on his way to be crowned.
89 Roger I killed in battle with Drell River hill tribes Jonathan II, “the Lion”
He had to fight Scanrans, Yamanis, and Gallans.
90 Giamo of Galla dies
(of steel poisoning by one of his own bodyguards stabbing him, Grandda says)
91 Parrac the Quiet inherits the throne of the Gallan Empire
Miache Waterborn steals the Dominion Jewel
The Gallan Empire falls apart as rivals to Parrac the Quiet fight to grab what Giamo built
The Tyran Council of Seven is founded with the aid of Miache Waterborn and Zefrem the Bear, a mercenary.
The Council of Seven offers what Grandda says was rumored to be an unheard-of bargain. The Council offered to let certain nations place money in Tyran banks. The money was guaranteed by Tyran jewels against theft, which a nation’s representative could inspect. Grandda said that not only could a country keep some money safely out of any problems that might come up at home, but their money could earn extra if it was loaned out by the Tyran bank. Within 20 years, Tyra became the keeper of funds for Carthak, Siraj, Ekallatum, Amar, Apal, Maren, Galla, and Barzun, as well as for individual nobles and merchants in those countries. Later on it will also serve Tusaine, Maren, and Tortall. The best part, Grandda says, is that no one ever attacks Tyra now because they fear that they will endanger the emergency money of entire nations, who will then come after them.
Sometime over the next ten years, the Dominion Jewel vanishes from Tyra. Miache and Zefrem, who were still advising the Council, left the government and went on a journey of several years. They returned to Tyra at last, but they lived as ordinary people. Zefrem died in 162, and Miache died two weeks after him. I want to be the Bear when I am older and find a woman like her.
101 Founding of Sarain
119 Jonathan II, “the Lion of Tortall,” is assassinated
Grandda says his people got tired of all of the fighting. Da says more like they tired of paying taxes for it. Someone put so much dreamrose in the Lion’s supper wine that he died.
119 Baird III, “the Adamant”
He forgot to find out who poisoned his father. Da says that’s a matter of knowing when not to wake a snoring lion.
To my lord baron and his honorable father-in-law, I would be grateful if you would refrain from adding to my instruction to the children with regard to history. To learn so many conflicting, cynical views of the facts confuses the children and makes it harder for them.
125 Treaty of the Falls
The end of the last Gallan war. The treaty was signed by the kings of Maren, Tortall, and Galla on a big field full of flowers beside the lake in the Drell. There were priests and priestesses from the City of the Gods to bless it. The City was being built then.
Baird III dies
Regency of Roger II
He was five. A council of lords ruled until he came of age.
174 Landless white nobles attack the Copper Isles
177 Roger II ends his regency
He is called the Wall Builder in all of the books, but most of the walls he built have since fallen down. He should have watched the builders.
181 Jasson I, co-regnant with Sidea of Naxen
Here’s another one! A man trading in our village said there’s never been a king and a queen governing at the same time, but in my books, it happens often in the Eastern Lands, except for Sarain! Gareth I had three queens co-regnant!
Queen Dilsubai of the Copper Isles is betrayed to white invaders and slain. Oronden Rittevon, the first Rittevon king, is crowned ruler of the Copper Isles. Isn’t this stealing? Why didn’t any of the rulers of the Eastern Lands do something?
200 Gareth II, “the Stern”
(He was born Henrim and adopted by Jasson I from his Queenscove cousin’s family, since Jasson never married and had no heirs otherwise. He changed his name to be a proper Conté.)
204 The Book of Copper
208 Norren III of Maren seen wearing Dominion Jewel
210 Noren III marries Anj’la from Manai in Apal, the Southern Lands
He crowns her co-regnant with him.
(Apal is in what is now Carthak.)
222 Prince Roger of Tortall marries Alyzy of Galla
224 Roger III, “the Liberator,” marries Jessamine of Barzun
246 Birth of Prince Gareth
251 to 280 The Era of the Civil Wars in Tortall
They were also called the Slave Wars. A great many of the rebels didn’t want to free their slaves despite the king’s vow after his son was kidnapped and made to serve as a slave. The rebels didn’t want to pay former slaves for labor. Grandda says this is when House haMinch rose to power because of their loyalty to the crown, along with Legann, Naxen, and Queenscove. My parents are great friends with the present lords of Legann, Queenscove, and Naxen, and some of the people of haMinch, but not all of them, because many of thei
r lords think it is wrong for Mama to be a knight.
278 Gareth III, “the Builder”
He repaired city walls and fortresses all during his reign and lent his nobles money at a good rate of interest so they could repair theirs. He also arranged for many former slaves to work on his building projects so they could learn trades. He ended the Civil Wars with executions of the heads of noble houses who were still in rebellion. Then he brought the families of the new heads of the noble houses to live at court during half of the year, and sent them to live at home during the other half, when their lord came to live at court. This practice was continued until 323. He did this so that some part of each noble family would be in his control all of the time. Mama says this is very wrong, but Da says it’s just the way he would have done it in the king’s shoes.
280 The Era of the Civil Wars ends
299 to 308 The Nine Years’ Famine in Maren
Actually this was a time of many wars and famines because armies fought on the fields and killed the crops, or when they weren’t fighting on them, they were marching across them. The Marenite king Qual the Foolish got into a border war with Sarain and a sea war with Siraj (now part of Carthak). To pay for it, he ordered the treasury to give out coins that were short weight in metal, so he could use the extra metal to make more coins. The merchants and bankers found out and raised their prices. The nobles found out just as the king raised taxes on the nobles he didn’t like, and they waged war against him and each other. It all sounds very stupid and messy.
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