Aruna the Conqueror

Early Life
"'My mother gave me two gifts: The first was my life to give me all I could ask for in the world, the second was my brother to show me I didn't need it.' - Aruna when she was asked to her relationship with her brother."Aruna çe-Lukka was born the fist child and daughter of King Mervo IV of Old Kingdom of Talawa and Queen Yunda I. Due to her parents advanced age, it was assumed that Aruna would inherit her father's throne and Kingdom after his death. As such she received a great education, her parents inviting great minds and thinkers from all over the Kingdom the teach the young heir.

She quickly showed an affinity for language, diplomacy and most especially: War.

Political Life in Lukka
"...even the dogs of Lukka learn to not steal from the same butcher over and over again."

- Aruna speaking to the royal council arguing that the old laws and traditions should be abandonned. Once she reached her second decade of life in the year 2169 BFE, her father introduced Aruna to the royal court as an observer. It was here she got her first real taste of the political happenings. Not allowed to talk during council or court, she would discuss the matters of the day with her parents. During these debates her commendable affinity for politics would become known to her father and mother.

In the summer of 2167 BFE Aruna was appointed a official advisor within the royal court of Old Talawa. Now able to talk more freely, she would often speak against the old traditions that allowed the Ardatian Caliphate to slowly creep across Ummarnu, conquering many of the Talawan lands. In many heated debates, Aruna made herself the enemy of many of the ministers and advisors her father counted on but her status as heir kept open animosity in check and guaranteed her position as advisor.

A miracle happened in the year 2164 BFE. The royal couple, Aruna's parents, despite their considerable age have been blessed by yet another pregnancy and just half a year later her mother gave birth to their second child and first son Mahaik. Queen Yunda I died during the childbirth but Aruna's brother survived. Due to the primogenitor laws of talawan inheritance Aruna lost her status as heir. Normally daughters would continue their life as normal, keeping their positions and waiting to be married off, but Aruna's many enemies on the royal council pounced on this opportunity. Opposition and disgruntlement about her position on the council became more vocal and soon the nobles pressured King Mervo IV to dismiss his daughter from the council.

Preparations for War
"'A useful enemy may be a tool first and an enemey second' -Aruna talking to a group of nobles concerned with her buying lumber from the Ardatian Caliphate."Feeling confirmed in her believe that the old laws and traditions of Talawa are stuck in the past and allowing the decay of Talawa at the hands of their rivals in the Ardatian Caliphate. To prove to her father and the council what she couldn't convince them off in a thousand debates, Aruna turned her attention to the city of Hapatmitas on the Hatanimitas peninsula.

The city has long been the object of envy and embarrassment to the kings of Old Talawa. Many young talawan kings would send their armies to the peninsula to lay siege to the city, being beaten back every single time. With each failure to capture the city, the prestige and glory of finally conquering it only grew and now Aruna is planning to succeed where 23 kings before her failed.

To invade, she needed two things: an army and a navy.

First she worked to assemble an army, for that she turned to the many minor nobles in Lukka. Her position as heir and council member got her in contact many of them. Some of them disgruntled with the current government as she was, others looking for glory and adventures and many of them seeing a potential wife in Aruna. Through many dinners and some smooth talking she managed to convince over a hundred petty nobles to join her, granting her control over a small army.

Next she turned to the creation of a fleet. She moved her noble retinue and her army eastwards, leaving Lukka with no further goodbyes to her family. She arrived at a small costal port city where she, using a combination of threats and and compliments, she wrestled effective control of the city from its mayor. Now she sent word to the merchants in the Ardatian Caliphate. While she was no friend of the Caliphate, none could provide the materials needed at a lower price. Soon the tradeships would arrive and Aruna put her soldiers to work.

In the year 2163 BFE the fleet was finished and the army gathered. So, with a final goodbye to the mayor and the citizens, Aruna's host set sail eastwards towards Hapatmitas.

Invasion of Hapatmitas
"'Now we shall sail to battle. The fiery dusk behind us will soon engulf the city infront of us!' - Aruna speaking to her men immediatly before the battle of the Red River began."Aruna's host arrived late in the day, with the fiery dusk sun in their backs. Aruna turned her ship southwards, emulating the strategy of the talawan kings which would land south of Hapatmitas and attack the city walls in a traditional assault. She kept her sails closed and only rowed her boats slowly. Soon the bells of Hapatmitas rang out, calling the guards to rally. As soon as the guards have mounted the walls of the city in the south, Aruna gave the command to drop the sails and bank hard northwards.

Steering her ships into the Red River, running through the heart of the city. Before the guards could run down the walls and through the city, most of Aruna's fleet has already reached the city centre. Using sulfur-bombs the blockades that usually block easy entrance to the city were destroyed as well as destroying buildings, roads and the river banks. Hiding behind shields mounted on the sides of the ships, Aruna's soldiers would unleash a thick volley of arrows upon the defenders and citizens of Hapatmitas.

Before the sun has fully set, the battle was over. Aruna's soldiers dismounted and tore through the city, slaughtering the stragglers and throwing the corpses into the river. Aruna herself went to the palace of Hapatmitas. The exact events that transpired here are unknown but it is believed that Aruna killed the king and family of Hapatmitas with her blade.

By the end of the day the city was in flames, its inhabitants slaughtered and their corpses thrown into the red river where their blood tinted the water red, giving it its name.

Establishment of the Red Kingdom
"'There is a time for the sword and there is a time for the pen. With one you may cut down a man, with the other you may not need to.' - Aruna talking to a disgruntled noble wishing for more war."Following her conquest, news of Aruna's achievement sent out seismic shocks across the old kingdom of Talawa. Hailed as "Aruna the Conqueror" by her army, even her rivals in Lukka couldn't help but admit the scale of her achievement. Soon diplomats from Lukka would arrive in Hapatmitas, sent by her father. Aruna accepted her position as a vassal of her father but knowing the weakness of his armies and her own relative strength, she would take any chance she could to embarrass the royal council. Refusing their calls to assemble in Lukka, paying taxes in old small value copper coins and finally crowining herself Queen Aruna the Conquerer of the Red Kingdom, framing herself as equal to her father and more importantly; his council.

Aruna would settle her army, now more loyal to her than the nobles they followed here, within the devastated city and repairs quickly began. The hundert nobles that followed her were given minor plots of land outside the city, minor bureaucratic positions in government or a small fortune.

Soon after her conquest, Aruna led many smaller expeditions to the immediately west and east of the peninsula. Here she found quick and often bloodless success, creating a area of tributaries and vassals around her lands.

Disappearance
"'Fear not, for before the sun will rise in the east, the desert infrot of us will be as red as the river behind us!' - Aruna rallying her soldiers to the defense of Hapatmitas against the roaming warband."In the year 2089 BFE Aruna's reign over the red kingdom would come to an abrupt end. A enormous host of trolls, orcs and goblins arrived at the gates of Hapatmitas. From the few records that exist, it can be gathered that this host was not stemming from Haven. They appear to have been a nomadic warband, traveling through the world and plundering and pillaging any villages and cities they came across.

Aruna mounted to the defense as did her loyal soldiers. The fight was long and bloody, with the trolls flinging heavy rocks to breach the walls which were quickly filled by the shields and spears of Aruna's soldiers. When the Troll Warlord was spotted in the thick of of the battle, Aruna, together with her closest retinue, charged out into the enemy lines.

When the sun rose over the bloody battlefield and the defenders of Hapatmitas stood victorious over the sea of vanquished foes. Soon a search was mounted to find Aruna. Yet all they could find was the corpses of her retinueand the corpse of the Troll Warlord, his heart pierced by Aruna's blade. No corpse or piece of armour was ever found.

Ascension
Immediately after her disappearance the possibility of her having ascended into godhood was raised. Her skill in warfare together with her seemingly endless youth and mysterious disappearance was used by some as proof of her godhood.

Old Believes
"The cult of Aruna" or "The cult of the conqueror" was a small-scale religious group in Hapatmitas. They believed in the ascension of Aruna as a godess of war. The Cult stayed relatively minor but kept the idea of her divinity alive throughout the ages.

Imaye Asharôt
When the Asharu Religion was refounded as the Imaye Asharôt after the creation of the Imperial Federation of Uldarash, the cult of Aruna was subsumed into it. Aruna the Conquerer was then recognized as one of the major spirits of the religion.

Paragonhood
Followers of Aruna are constantly pulled into two opposing directions. This scale is called Paragonhood. The perfect follower of Aruna is balanced, they go to war when needed, refuse to become stagnant but are loyal and brave and respectful to those who follow and surrender to them. As such they balance the combat and strategy aspects of war. They use the sword and the pen where they are needed to achieve the goal at hand.

A person who leans too much into the sword aspect of Aruna are called Korhashnu. They are highly aggressive and brutal they see combat and war as the first and easiest solution to most battles. In battle they are almost unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat. During battles they may fall into a trance. Followers of Aruna believe that in this trance they become possessed by a tiny piece of Aruna. These entranced warriors are called "Fury of Aruna". They fall short of Aruna's ideal by being the very fury and destruction she defeated in Hapatmitas before she vanished.

A person who leans too much into the pen aspect of Aruna are called Roshanu. They are extremely careful, strategizing and planning everything to its fullest before acting. While they excel in matters of diplomacy and statehood, they often fail to act when a situation calls for it even with incomplete information. They fall short of Aruna's ideal by being the complacency she despised in Lukka.

Aruna's Blade
"'This blade has served me well and I will serve it well' - Aruna refusing a golden ceremonial weapon offered by a noble of Lukka seeking her hand in marriage."Aruna's Blade, also known as the Blade of the Conquerer, is a dark metal sword. Having wielded this blade for most of her live she used it to vanquish her greatest enemies such as the old ruler of Hapatmitas and the Troll Warlord that threatened her city.

It is the only known physical object she took into battle before her dissaperance that was retrieved and as such is considered most holy to the followers of Aruna.