The Brass Coast history
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Initially the tribes were suspicious of the Empress and hostile to the interests of the powerful Highborn priests who backed her. After a long negotiation between the Empress and prominent tribal leaders, they agreed to join the nascent Empire. The Freeborn negotiators were instrumental in slavery being outlawed and it was at their insistence that each Nation would set the means to select their own Senators. Their most significant contribution was the creation of the [[Egregores]], ensuring that every nation was able to preserve its traditions. They were unable to convince the priests of Highguard to acknowledge the central role of honesty in a virtuous life, but they are enormously proud that their influence ensured that their ideas of individual freedom and responsibility became a central part of the Empire's identity. | Initially the tribes were suspicious of the Empress and hostile to the interests of the powerful Highborn priests who backed her. After a long negotiation between the Empress and prominent tribal leaders, they agreed to join the nascent Empire. The Freeborn negotiators were instrumental in slavery being outlawed and it was at their insistence that each Nation would set the means to select their own Senators. Their most significant contribution was the creation of the [[Egregores]], ensuring that every nation was able to preserve its traditions. They were unable to convince the priests of Highguard to acknowledge the central role of honesty in a virtuous life, but they are enormously proud that their influence ensured that their ideas of individual freedom and responsibility became a central part of the Empire's identity. | ||
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Revision as of 07:31, 8 August 2012
Before the formation of the Empire, three sisters lived in Pharos. Members of the patrician families of the Highguard, each was a powerful magician in her own right. Dissatisfied with life in the city, and sickened by the chaos of the time of turmoil, they took their extended families - their extensive households - and left. They travelled to a new home on the opposite side of the Bay of Catazar, said to have been revealed to them by the divinatory magics of the three sisters. Freeborn storytellers still recount the epic tale of the exodus of the three tribes.
By the time the Empress began her crusade to unite humanity beneath her banner, the Freeborn were much as they are today – a disparate people of sprawling, extended families spread over three tribes, with each tribe tracing an unbroken matrilineal line back to one of the founders. While each family and each tribe treasured their individual freedoms, they were bound together into a loose nation by a shared heritage and by carefully negotiated contracts and treaties.
Initially the tribes were suspicious of the Empress and hostile to the interests of the powerful Highborn priests who backed her. After a long negotiation between the Empress and prominent tribal leaders, they agreed to join the nascent Empire. The Freeborn negotiators were instrumental in slavery being outlawed and it was at their insistence that each Nation would set the means to select their own Senators. Their most significant contribution was the creation of the Egregores, ensuring that every nation was able to preserve its traditions. They were unable to convince the priests of Highguard to acknowledge the central role of honesty in a virtuous life, but they are enormously proud that their influence ensured that their ideas of individual freedom and responsibility became a central part of the Empire's identity.
Since that day, the Freeborn have been able to present themselves as traders backed by the full weight of the Empire. It is something they use, sometimes shamelessly, to their advantage when dealing with foreign powers. The stability provided by the Empire has allowed the Freeborn to sail far beyond their territories, bringing in great wealth to all the nations.
There has only ever been one Freeborn Emperor, Ahraz i Contero i Guerra, who freed the orc slaves and was instrumental in bringing them into the Empire. The Freeborn believe that it is in the Senate that true power lies, and that the best Emperors have accepted this and served as figureheads and administrators rather than policy makers. Popular prejudice paints the Freeborn as poor politicians – a slur that several of them embrace. Their blunt frankness combined with a tendency to want to get to the point of any argument does not endear them to their political opponents, but they make up for this directness with a tendency to produce powerful and impassioned orators.