A Brief History of the Theocratic Holy Land of Thangia
Thangia has existed since the great cataclysm that nearly destroyed the known world, but it was not always the land of the Burned God’s faithful. Thangia was once inhabited by a reptilian race of creatures, the original Thangians, who shared their land with humans who fled there for safety.
One of the reptilian Thangians
The reptilian Thangians once formed the majority of the populace of Thangia, inhabiting the coastlines and hugging the river known as God’s Tears. The humans who arrived shared the same lands as the reptilian Thangians, but also expanded into the Great Desert, adopting a nomadic existence there. None of the humans were united beyond their tribal societies, save for the Thangians of the desert, whilst the reptiles were nominally united under a single God-King. The reptilian Thangians, despite their single government, lived in a very decentralized society. The writ of the God-King carried little weight outside of the walls of his castle, and it was up to the regional lords and ladies of the numerous provinces to decide whether they wished to institute whatever their God-King decreed. This lack of cooperation and unity would prove to be the downfall of the reptilian Thangians.
Flag of the Theocracy of Thangia, with the holy symbol of the Golden Bull used on a field of green, which is reference to the oasis Al’Muntazir found.
In the Great Desert the nomadic human tribes had long been united through a shared culture, language and series of High Chiefs. This changed in the year 811 PC (Post-Cataclysm) when a wise man of the Desert tribes emerged from the most inhospitable depths of the Great Desert. The man, who became known to history as the first Archon, was Al’Muntazir and he brought a vision from God.
Al’Muntazir spoke of a god wreathed in flames, his skin burnt and smoking, who emerged from the sands of the depths of the Great Desert when Al’Muntazir had lost his way. This God had taken Al’Muntazir to a hitherto unknown fork of the God’s Tears which ended in an oasis unlike anything Al’Muntazir had previously seen. The beauty of the scene caused Al’Muntazir to fall to his knees and weep with joy, pleasing the Burned God. The words Al’Muntazir uttered next would shape the future of the Desert tribes.
The Burned God, pleased with the actions of Al’Muntazir, gave him a command.
“GO FORTH AND SPREAD THESE WORDS. IT IS TIME FOR THE TRIBES OF MAN TO CONVERGE AT THIS PLACE, THIS LAND I BLESS AND GIVE TO YOU AND YOURS, AND TO RECEIVE THE TRUE WAY OF LIFE.”Al’Muntazir, a man of extreme charisma as all histories agree, managed to convince all save one of the tribes to follow him to this land, which was dubbed Teccan, where they abandoned their nomadic ways and embraced the teachings of Al’Muntazir. Three decades passed and Teccan flourished unlike any other city in the entirety of Thangia. Trade had been established with the other cities of Thangia, and goods flowed back and forth bring plenty to the Holy City. Al’Muntazir had become old and grey, but his teachings were still adhered to devoutly by the people, even if the Chiefs, who had become decadent and greedy from the great wealth that flowed into Teccan, did not.
It was 832 PC when Teccan would suddenly change the landscape of Thangia forever. The reptilian Thangians, increasingly concerned and outraged by this faith of the Burned God, managed to convince the Chiefs of Teccan to murder the aged Archon and enforce the worship of the reptilian God-King in the city in return for great wealth. Al’Muntazir, however, received a vision from the Burned God of this treachery. When the time came for the Chiefs to murder the Holy Man a bull that shone like gold burst into the temple where Al’Muntazir resided and where the Chiefs had converged, and trampled and gored the traitors of the Burned God. Al’Muntazir, now confined to his bed, gave his most trusted and faithful Imams one last commandment. The Burned God had spoken to Al’Muntazir and had instructed him to ensure that his successor would begin the great Holy War for Thangia, a war that would see the reptilian devils exterminated and the worship of the Burned God spread to all corners of Thangia.
As we know, his successors did just that, although it took them two centuries of brutal warfare to accomplish this. In the end the reptilian Thangians were all-but eradicated, the few survivors fleeing from Thangia altogether, whilst the Theocracy of Thangia entrenched itself.
Archon Al'Mastiff IX
Archon Al’Mastiff IX is a bitter old man, angry at the lack of progress of his predecessors in spreading the faith of the Burned God outside of Thangia. One would be wise not to underestimate the Old Man of Teccan, as he is commonly known, for his wits remain sharp and his tongue sharper. Under the current Archon Thangia has prospered and the faith has begun to spread beyond its borders on a level not seen in centuries. Whether the Archon can maintain this current trend remains to be see.
