Empress of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa)

Part II:

The Commander Listens to the Drums of War

Prelude to Part II:

Excerpt from Wise Man Tellorin’s

The Updated Histories of House Dorsa

Lord Hermant of House Farrimont, father to Empress Crestienne the Fair and grandfather to Empress Natasia, along with his conspirators – Wise Man Norix, Lord Wendell of House Korent, Lord Galen of House Harthing, and a handful of others – are rightly remembered by history as the greatest traitors the Empire of the House of Dorsa has ever faced. It is no accident that even today a person who betrays his or her friends or family is mockingly called a “Hermant.” And a know-it-all Wise Man who presumes to push his Lord or Lady to align with his own opinion is asked if he wishes to be renamed “Norix.”

While reviling these men and women as traitors is entirely fair, a more curious and critical student of history might interrogate the historical record and ask, “Why would men and women who enjoyed good standing and profited from their association with the crown take the extraordinary risk of betraying it?” The simple answer, the answer long-accepted by most historians, is that these men and women followed a fundamental and avaricious human impulse to increase their own status and wealth.

However, given that each conspirator already enjoyed a rather high, comfortable, and secure position, a position which they stood to lose should their scheme be discovered, does the human tendency towards self-serving behavior alone offer sufficient explanation for their actions?

In my own investigation of primary sources – coded letters sent between the conspirators, diaries, and official records from the era – I have concluded that in some cases the answer is a resounding yes, but in other cases, no.

The “lesser figures” within the conspiracy, such as Lord Galen of House Harthing and Ambassador Lorent of the Central Steppes, do indeed seem to have been motivated primarily by the wish to increase their own family’s status.

Lord Hermant’s motivation, however, is somewhat more enigmatic. When he first married his daughter to the Emperor, he enjoyed great influence with the young Emperor Andreth, who turned frequently to his father-in-law for guidance. As Andreth matured and gained confidence as Emperor, though, he began to resent Hermant’s attempts to direct and manipulate him. The Emperor put more and more distance between his own views and those of his father-in-law. Lord Hermant felt understandably discarded and under-appreciated by the man he’d come to see as his own son. Thus, strange though it may sound, I believe Lord Hermant saw his role in the assassination of Andreth, and attempted assassinations of Natasia, both as a necessary course-correction for the Empire and simultaneously as a righteous father bestowing the ultimate correctional discipline to a disobedient son.

Now we come to Wise Man Norix – and here I hope the reader will not accuse me of being prejudicial simply because the traitor Norix and myself both share the moniker of “Wise Man.” Based upon my extensive study of the man who acted as the senior counselor to both Emperor Balus X and his son Emperor Andreth III, I have arrived at the conclusion that Norix was never particularly interested in holding the title of “Regent” and instead genuinely believed that the murders of Andreth and Natasia were necessary evils which had to be undertaken in order to protect the Empire from potential collapse. Norix wrote prolifically in the weeks leading up to his execution, and in his letters he delineated again and again his view that the War in the East was simply not winnable, and that defeat could very well lead to a chain reaction that would destabilize the entire Empire. He was enormously fond of Andreth, but he believed that as the Emperor’s senior counselor, it was his sworn duty to stop the Emperor – at any cost – from making a mistake which would ruin the Empire. In this way, Norix came to see Andreth – and by extension, Andreth’s loyal daughter Natasia – as cancerous sores which he, as senior counsel, had no choice but to excise.

It was in this spirit, I believe, that Wise Man Norix joined the conspiracy to murder Andreth, viewing himself as a kind of reluctant martyr who was doing his best to put the needs of the Empire above his personal feelings of affection for its Emperor.