Fallen Heroes - Who and Why?

Wayind or the man that burned the south was the result of a marriage of convenience. His father the leader of the Toyireraak and his mother was part of the Gedraster Royal family. He was vital in legitimising the Toyireraak as a kingdom and not just a tribe of the West.

His father however was wary of him growing weak like the royalty of the coasts and Islands so he raised him in the plains in the same fashion his ancestors had been raised. In the ways of the holy warrior, a man that had a bond with the only true god of men, Aak. He was raised as a man of compassion and simplicity. Only to be introduced to life as a royal by the age of 14, he was by then an expert in horse riding and winning the favour of the people. Governing a large kingdom however, proved much more difficult. It was partially for this reason he secluded himself to the forest for most of the time. Helping the peoples of the steppes, who were largely those banned from the cities. The sick, racial, ethnic and religious minorities were all forever in his debt for sending them whatever gold he'd receive just because of the title in front of his name. He also effectively eradicated banditry through helping the poor and striking those who preyed on them with an iron fist.

Wayind was largely known among his family as a man too simple and too idealistic to rule. His time on the steppes however, made him a capable warrior. Even if he spend more time in the temples than the battlefield.

As the peoples of the Fgehyo started their war of expansion however, he was forced to once again govern his kingdom. This time by leading them into war. A long story short, the war got ugly as wars often do. The minorities he felt responsible for were the first to fall. As they weren't allowed in the cities, and weren't worth the lives of the soldiers that were supposed to protect them. But he and his allies were on the winning side. The Fgehyo were effectively pushed back over the mountains. For Gedraster lords however, this wasn't enough.

Despite heavy casualties and resistance they finally reached where should've been farms. What they found however was that the land had been salted, and every barn had been burnt. Wayind, unwilling to let the lives already lost go to waste, decided they should march to the capital. The Porémisians suggested they head back home and launch a naval assault instead. The Gedrasters were a lot less forgiving and suggested they move to West of the Fgehyo Empire instead, so they can feed off the crops there. This argument got so heated, they decided to all go their own way.

Wayind was unsurprisingly first to reach the capital. His soldiers however were starving and had only thus far survived through cannibalism and the eating of their own horses. Considered one of the ultimate crimes in Toyireraak society. As hunger gnawed away at him he surprised his enemies by immediately throwing his troops at the gates of the capital. Enemy soldiers however, had already stationed themselves there. In a suicidal charge his cavalrymen proved utterly incapable to defeat the men stationed in front of the gates.

He did however, manage to capture one of the prophet's sons. And tortured him to the point he showed them the way into the fortress, through several secret tunnels. Once he got into the city walls, he opened the gates and flooded his starving men into the city. The result is what is to be expected when you unleash hordes of mounted barbarians with a vengeance on one of the largest cities the Gethen continent had ever known.

The city was razed, its people enslaved. Every noble and merchant was robbed of their possessions to fund whatever revenge would come next. And to show what would happen if anyone ever did dare unleash the wraith of the people of the plains. They impaled every person deemed unfit as a slave.

As the scouts of the Gedraster and Porémisian reached the city. Their commanders turned their back to the city. Denying any human was capable of such cruelty.

Wayind however, wouldn't ever again turn his back to the Fgehyo Empire. And scattered his soldiers over its vast lands. Destroying nearly everything until he was met by the army of the Prophets. Where he was crushed, utterly. It wouldn't surprise anyone that he received the same treatment he had given the entirety of the South. He was forced to march alongside his soldiers on a road to nowhere. Where they would all one by one drop dead thanks to starvation.

/r/worldbuilding Thread