The year was 200 A.E, the Prometheans had been driven from the Dwarven homelands for a few years now, and yet, ruins of the old kingdom still scattered the snowy peaks of the mountains it once inhabited. The Scalethein Empire was in its infancy; its run in with the Prometheans had placed great strain on its fledgling infrastructure, and on its people.
Tens of thousands of Dwarves had died during the fall of Uthein, and its once thriving industry had been put to the torch. Roads too had been torn asunder, making it difficult for Rokdar's attempts at rebuilding his shattered homeland. Kobold labour was plentiful however, and no doubt, for this he was entirely grateful.
It took a year to clear the rubble of Uthein, for the King had proclaimed that 'We shall not settle in the graves of our loves ones!', and it would take a further five years to build the city anew.
The Dwarves plied their trade here, as they errected giant stone structures into the mountain sides. Walls were constructed to house these structures, and into the mountains, Rokdar's folk dug - not for ore, but for living space. Indeed, Rokdar envisioned the future of his peoples protected by the skin of the mountains, not the walls of surface settlements.
With Kobold assistance, the Dwarves were able to reopen several zinc, copper and tin mines that had been obliterated by the Prometheans. By 227 A.E, Uthein had been born anew into a giant subteranean city, with a population of some hundred thousand Dwarves, and ten thousand or so Kobolds.
By then of course, the King had retired his crown for the title of First Minister of the Empire, which entitled him to the same rights when it came to the ruling of state. The Kobolds indeed, kept their Queen, and thus the Empire was then headed by the First Minister of Uthein and the Queen of Scale Home.
Fearing that the common folk would eventually grow envious of their betters, Rokdar created the Senate - a body of elected officials, whose purpose was to draft legislation, administer the Empire's day-to-day needs, and to advise both he and the Queen on all matters. They were all for their bluster, an impotent body, that existed solely at the whim of Rokdar and the Kobold Queen. Within months of its founding, the Senate's roster was doubled, to include Kobolds - and thus, the Empire found its representative government body.
And then, with some deliberation, the Senate, the First Minister and the Kobold Queen drafted the Imperial Testament - a crude form of unniversal laws and rights that would govern the subjects of the Empire, and it unfolded as follows:
- All citizens are equal in the eyes of the Senate, the First Minister and the Queen of Scale Home. Therefore, they are afforded the same rights in matters of business, electoral affairs and property ownership regardless of their gender.
- Should a Citizen slay another, regardless of their race or prejudice, then they too shall be slain in accordance with Natural Law.
- All local laws specific to certain Imperial Provinces will be respected.
- A Citizen is free to follow the religion of their choosing, provided their beliefs do not contradict the Imperial Testament or stand contrary to the established rule of law.
- Thievery shall be punished by a debt equal to the goods stolen; where the debt cannot be paid, then internment or hard labour will be implemented.
- A Citizen cannot own a Citizen.
In 227 A.E, it was well known throughout the Senate and the First Minister's residence, that the Kobold Queen had designs for Promethea. Both races had suffered dreadfully at the hands of their former ape-masters, and now for the first time in their collective history, they stood in a position of relative strength.
It was with this in mind, that Rokdar ordered his finest smiths to begin experimenting with weapon designs. The pike and the spear were the Imperial Army's backbone, but the First Minister felt that the future would hold more imaginative weapons.
As a result, the First Minister was presented with a contraption termed "the 'pult". It was a large machine, made from timber and burnished with bronze-crafted mechanisms that winched back a "throwing arm". Once loaded with a rock of generous weight, the pult could throw the projectile a hundred yards - and to devastating affect against soft-skinned targets.
The First Minister shared this information with the Senate, and no doubt the Kobolds took the design and improved upon it.
In further preparation for the coming conflict, Rokdar oversaw a large rise in bronze production. He promised the Senate "Fifty thousand spear heads, fifty thousand helms, and fifty thousand cuirass's", and though he failed to achieve half this target in the time he allotted, it was a testament to Uthein's remarkable recovery and to its significance as the Empire's industrial heart.
By now, the Priestdom of the Mountain God had started to find its roots - after losing most of its literature to the fall of Uthein. Once again, documents were dreamed up - though this time to replace what was lost, not to mutilate that which did not fit. Many previous cultural requirements that entitled a believer certain benefits, had been removed, and the religion became a rather "casual" affair, which suited the First Minister (himself an agnostic) down to the ground.
There were a few incidents, where Mountain God firebrands would defame the Empire with accusations of heresy, and some Kobolds met a terrible end in the form of lynchings or assassinations in Uthein. However, most of these crimes were quickly dealt with - often severely - though mistrust in the Uthein Kobold community would exist for some decades after.
By the time of the Scalethein-Promethean War, Uthein had taken on a much different form to its previous self. However, only time would tell whether it would see a third rebuilding.
