Part 2 of ???, another omake for ya
@Questor
Excerpt from "Comparisons of Mythology and History," by Ferdinand Ironclaw and Dusty Scripts, notes and highlights by an unnamed student, Part 2
Chapter 6-1:
Beginnings of a ruler, The Unification war and Kingslayer Hardbeak
Section A:
Before the beginning (Aw, I wanted to hear about hardbeak...)
In the previous section, it was noted that The Emperor, before taking the throne, was, in fact, a merchant.
This, surprisingly, is all we really know about that period in history.
Unlike his reign as Emperor, which was documented by
a variety of sources including the Yak clans of the age and the Neighponese (please tell me I don't have to track them down...), the era before his ascent to the throne is shrouded in mystery.
Mostly, this can be attributed the the reign of Discord (See: Chapter 3). With tales of words rearranging themselves, pages turning to yogurt, books becoming strange, worm-like creatures, and libraries transforming into large, city destroying berry based abominations, it is no wonder
most would consider burning what they could rather than keep them in hopes the Draconequus would eventually be defeated.
However,
Emperor Garrick I did indeed keep a journal, even during Discord's reign. And, as mentioned in the prologue to this chapter, it did survive, even in its current divided state.
So, why is it that his early life is mostly unknown if his journal still exists?
The answer to that question lies in the contents of the pages themselves.
In comparison to what he began writing when he took the position of ruler of Griffonia,
his writing before then were... impersonal, to say the least. Rather than write about his day, as he would soon do, he instead
used his journal as a transaction log, written in
messy, shorthand script organized in a peculiar, yet streamlined and efficient, manner. Peculiar to the point that, upon rediscovery of some of the first few pages of his journal, a small
group of code breakers were brought in to decipher it (paranoid much?). Rather than use words, Emperor Garrick instead
replaced common terms he would come across, such as city names or travel routes, with symbols, and
any time he would use words, they were written in shorthand, with most of the letters missing. Numbers themselves were also replaced with substitutes, such as '0' being replaced by an hourglass shape with an open top.
There are many theories among scholars as to the purpose of this.
The simplest and easiest conclusion that many have come to is, again, due to the era of discord. Words, the written word especially, was a dangerous thing, and not in the way the modern philosopher would describe it. Writing the word 'dog' on a piece of paper, for example, could cause any number of effects, such as the paper folding itself into a dog, sudden barking, the word 'dog' leaping off the page and acting as a dog would, a portal to the dog dimension opening and spilling dogs everywhere, and so on and so forth
(Yeah discord bad, harmony good, yadda yadda...). Thus, by keeping to his unique form of shorthand, he attempted to mitigate this effect. Also for this reason, it is theorized why he refrained from any mentions of himself and his day to day life.
The second theory in regards to his journal is simply
a method to keep the information from reaching the wrong claws. In the era of discord, keeping one's route to transport goods secret was all too common, with those able to find the quickest way between cities in a chaotic land making the most profit. By writing his routes down in code, he could keep the competition from making off with his journal and taking his future earnings for themselves.
And the final theory worth noting in terms of why he wrote this way is simply that this was
his preferred way of writing things down. While later entries in his journal are perfectly legible as he seemed to convert to using griffonian script seamlessly after becoming king, on certain pages that scholars have access to, he'd occasionally write little notes to himself in the corner in such a script, or wholesale fall back to using his detached, clinical way of coded writing in times of great stress, such as during
the first winter war (See figure 5A and 5B). Whether this was due to habit or if he preferred to do so is a question we cannot answer.
So, in spite of having firsthand accounts from the Emperor himself, scholars have found themselves at a metaphorical brick wall in terms of his early life.
But, in spite of it all, the brick wall is not as impenetrable as it seems.
One particular event,
the death and revenge of the first Emperor's parents, has been spoken about and romanticized at length.
Historically,
there is not much to note about the event. Two line from the Emperor's journal,
a transaction between him and another party and a change in route, is all there is to confirm that such a thing had occurred in terms of first party sources. Yet, in all three mentioned tales,
"Garrick & Gabriella," "In Darkness and Discord," and "Griffonia," the act of Garrick slaying his parent's killers is at the very least mentioned, and in "Garrick & Gabriella," a pivotal plot point. (Assigned reading for these. Reminder: get maxy and Sparky notes for help)
Thus, the question must be asked. Did it actually occur?
To the modern historian, the answer to that question is,
"probably, yes."
In the ancient era, especially in the chaotic squalor of Discord's reign,
codifying and keeping to one's code was immensely important to most societies, to bring structure and order to one's self where there was none. Neighpon took this to it's natural extreme in the form of Bushido.
Gryphons, meanwhile, simply took to a personal code of honor adapted from the warriors and laws of the past. For example, a rather
common law, adapted from the ancient gryphon law of 'an eye for an eye,' was 'Exchange in equivalency,' to give and take in equal measure in accordance to one's needs. Thus, in the case of the death of one's parents,
it would have been natural, and even accepted at the time, to seek retribution as equivalence. Doubly so as Gryphon society, as fractured as it was,
held in great disdain those who revelled in the chaos Discord sowed, such as brigands.
As for if the event happened at all, it is a subject of much debate.
Some speculate that it was added in "Griffonia" as a metaphorical example of King Garrick defeating the chaos the kingdom was under at the time in a way that readers could empathize with. Many lost loved ones in those times, and hearing of their Emperor standing against it and taking action upon his own wings would have resonated with the populace.
As both "In Darkness and Discord" and "Garrick & Gabriella" came after, it could have happened that they both looked toward the epic as source material for their interpretation.
While this theory cannot be proven, if taken as fact, then one can point to the factual nature of "Griffonia" for more evidence. "Griffonia," While a fairly long tale with certain parts embellished here and there, maintains a fairly factual basis. For example, in Act 3, the
act detailing the Winter War, it describes the Emperor ordering his Diamond Dog troops to write a memorial on one of the rock walls of Redstone pass. Archaeologists cleared out where they assume the battle had taken place according to the geographic markers spoken of in "Griffonia" and found that, while incredibly faded, said memorial did indeed exist.
Thus, many scholars assume
Milo to have personally known the Emperor, had taken part in the battle, or interviewed the Emperor himself for his epic; or perhaps some combination of the three.
Whether it be true that Beakspear and Talon-Sea had learned of it from Milo or not, the fact remains that, historically, it seems that such a situation did occur.
The final question remains then, what did happen?
As there is no historical documentation to be had on the subject, it is here we turn toward mythology for a hint at what may have occurred.
Talon-Sea, in his grand design, had written of an assassination plot devised by the then king of Griffonia, adamant on retaining his power and reveling in his greed. He had disguised his best soldiers as brigands and ordered them to behave as actual raiders would, with the explicit instructions on
killing anyone related to the Emperors of old in order to retain power. The leader of this unit would do so dutifully, but soon came to be disgusted by both his king and the actions he was forced to perform, until finally, he came across the last remaining remnants of the old blood, two adults and a child traveling the roads as merchants.
He did as he was told, Slaughtering both, but out of guilt left their young son alive, without telling the rest of his group. Later on, this survivor would continue business as a merchant, for the sole purpose of gathering enough funds to hire a mercenary group strong enough to take on his tormentors. (Oh thank god a summary! Wooo!)
Once old enough,
he would hire a mercenary group lead by a female gryphon on full armor, who
he would ask to train him in the act of swordsmanship for the purpose of personally slaying the one who had left him alive. This gryphon would, after much prodding, teach him the basics, and gradually come to admire his tenacity, despite his physical weakness. At this point in time,
the king's men had continued their outlaw ways, running amok in the countryside with
the leader gradually spiraling into depression. When Garrick and his hired men face off, the leader is at the point of joining the afterlife, but does as
his duty commands him and fights Garrick, albeit with minimal strength.
Garrick, in a hard fought battle, defeats him, but spares the life of the leader, seeing that he is a broken griffon, and living as he was was a better punishment than dying to his blade. The leader asks how can he live with what he has done, and Garrick responds by saying there is nothing he can do to make amends, but if he continues to live, he can at least find a way to make the life of someone else better.
The leader, taking his words to heart, returns to the king and enacts a plan with some of the other nobles to dispose of him.
In this particular rendition, while the names are never revealed,
it is heavily implied in later dialogue and asides that the female gryphon is his future wife, Gabriella, while the Brigand leader is more of an unknown.
Some passages hint at the leader to be Hardbeak, the legendary war hero. Others have speculated
the leader to be Gustav Kingfeather, the king's royal aid at the time.
Beakspear's rendition is not quite so coincidental, although much more important to the overall story, as
it is a tale of the Emperor and Empress. Similar to Talon-Sea's, he marks
the mercenaries Garrick hires as the one his future wife belonged to, although, unlike Talon-Sea,
she is merely a member of the troupe that grew somewhat curious at the gryphon that paid for their service, rather than the leader. On their journey to find who he desires to kill, they converse, talk, exchange dreams, trade stories, all while
Garrick never learns her name nor her face. By the time the bandits are found, they have established a proper rapport with each other, leading to Gabriella gaining a new respect for Garrick upon
taking a blade himself a running it through one of the bandits in order to protect Gabriella. While it is mentioned that
the future queen had known of the hidden member and was hoping to catch him off guard with a suprise manuever, it is here where she begins to understand Garrick in the context of the story, one who will protect those he cares about while unafraid to get his claws dirty.
Milo's version of events is comparably shorter than Beakspear's or Talon-Sea's. In his version,
there is no coincidental plot to murder the last of the old line, nor did he hire his wife's group. It simply tells of Garrick's skill in numbers and a tell at his future battlefield prowess,
tracking the brigands based on merchant reports he'd obtained through information dealers in the cities and creating a map of their movements through the major roads, before finding their area of operations. There, he tightened the net smaller and smaller until he found their hideout and came up with a shrewd plan to quickly and efficiently remove the Gryphons inside; By
studying the terrain and locating the 'back door' to the cave they were using, he piled lumber on one end of the cave and lit it on fire, filling the inside with smoke. Then, when the brigands attempted to run through the back,
they would find themselves on the receiving end of his hired blades. A ruthless revenge.
As for where the truth lies in these renditions, again, it cannot be said which of these holds the truest interpretation.
The common denominators between the three, the hiring of a mercenary band to avenge his parents, is plain to see, but whether any of the extra information is true can be argued.
In terms of probabilities,
it is unlikely he hired his wife's mercenary group for his scheme (aww, I kinda like that bit...). While historically, the timing may match up, documents indicate
his wife was among a band of monster slayers hired by city-states, rather than a mercenary band who would take such a job for coin. It could be done, yes, but the likeliness is very small, and it was only after his reign that the idea of his wife being among the group he hired was brought to light. So, while not impossible, it is improbable.
On the even more unlikely side is the identity of the brigands in Talon-Sea's tale.
While the previous kings reign is not well documented, sources suggest he was an 'adequate' king, playing the roll of one who desired stability over advancement or personal gain (why are all the cool bits the fake parts?!). Such was his desire for stability that it is noted he allowed the nobles to do as they wished, up to a point, resulting in nobles keeping some of their collected taxes rather than sending it to the king.
Thus, attempting to use tactics such as sending his own army out and having them pose as brigands is not only highly unlikely, but against his style of rule, unwilling to rock the boat in any way.
As for the plan used by Garrick in "Griffonia,"
it is much more likely than the other two, especially in
the act of tracking down the bandits corroborating in merchant records kept by the city states at the time, but the plan he implemented to take them out is more questionable as to whether it did occur or not. But, if he did so or not we will never know, unless future evidence comes to light.
And thus there ends the current speculation on the early life of the king. Perhaps one day scholars will manage to obtain more concrete information, such as more pages of his journal, but as of now, that is all that can be discerned.
Thankfully, his days as a king, and eventually Emperor, are much easier to get a proper grasp on.
Section B:
Watch the Throne
And to be continued for another time. Hopefully everything here is alright...
