The Early Empire

The Early Empire begins with the appointment of Arkastos Solaneios to the Crownship in 251 C.E. and ends with the withdrawl of the Empire from Acelinia in 822 C.E. During the Early Empire, Akaeia comes to control the whole of the middle continent, Acheron, as well as portions of the Northern and Southern continents. For much of this time,the Empire is ruled by the Solaneios dynasty, one of the most beloved and successful dynasties in the Empire's history.

The First Crown, Arkastos Solaneios

Crown Arkastos Solaneios the Great is the quintessential Akaeian Crown. Time has blurred, undoubtedly, much of his faults; nevertheless, the qualities of a good Crown are to this day measured against his own. Arkastos Solaneios firmly believed in the Akaeian people. The Akaeian people, unlike all others, had a duty to be caretakers and administrators; to conquer with mercy and be noble in defeat; to be virtuous and upstanding, to be the very light of the world in all ways. It was Arkastos Solaneios who hammered the Six Virtues into the Rock of Justice. It was Arkastos Solaneios who brought about the Intentions and laid the foundations of the Akaeian Empire for the next thousand years. It was Arkastos Solaneios, who by force of his own person alone, thwarted conspiracy among the armed forces. It was Arkastos Solaneios who fought for sixteen years at the front of his men, for the good of the Akaeian people and their allies. It was Arkastos Solaneios who died for Akaeia in the First Battle of the Idendon Brook. This is the man, the myth, the Crown, who is all of these and none of them, shrouded in the fog of time.

The Battle of Aurlex Plains

On the third day of his Crownship, Arkastos Solaneios rode forth from the city of Akaeia at the head of a force of seven thousand men. It was still dark when the gates opened up and the small force came forth. And in the front of the column, in the simple and plain armor of the common man, rode Arkastos Solaneios. He rode straight backed, in silence, with the Daxos now associated with the Crownship across his back. In silence, the men under his command walked behind him, beneath the darkness giving way slowly to light, to the dew of morning. But they were afraid, and looked around them and behind them and shifted themselves anxiously. And Arkastos Solaneios rode onward, without looking behind him, even once, and the men followed.

And so the force came to the small village of Aurlex, and drew up on the plains before it, and the Novitreian army assembled on the far side, a host of 12 thousands. And Arkastos Solaneios deployed his men, so that the cavalry were on the wings, and he himself in the middle, and with him only a handful of men for saftey. And before the Akaeian line he deployed his skirmishers, and the battle began as the sun came to the fourth-point after dawning.

Among the Akaeians there was great fear, and the men moved about and were each thinking of their own saftey, and longing for the walls of the city and the hearths of their houses. But Arkastos Solaneios rode forth from the middle, up and down the line, slowly, looking into the eyes of his men, and they became ashamed with themselves and their fearfulness. And he said to them, "Fedara daes agur dar naus." (Let us be done with this.) And with those words he turned and charged the Novitreians.