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11 | THE COVENANT AND SOLOMON'S LINE
With the fall of the Mystarchs, the Beasts were faced with a difficult choice: Where to go from there? While the rule of the Mystarchs had been harsh and terrible, the Beasts had suffered together during these times and grown accustomed to thinking of themselves almost as one people, one nation. The idea of splitting themselves back into disparate states was not an attractive proposal, especially with the threat of the Shadow still looming over the known world. And for what purposes had the Dor’kana taken Zahhak? Would they find Zahhak leading an army of vengeance backed with the strange Dor’kana at their doorsteps when the sun rose tomorrow? With so much unknown, it was urgent that the Beasts prepare for the worst.
The Overking
A great council convened to discuss these issues, with the wise and powerful from all the diverse nations that had been subjugated by the Mystarchs attending. The Treekin, now living in the Great Forest, sent a delegation, and even the Anura, pseudo‐Beasts that they were came en masse, for they had nowhere else to go. Finally, a consensus was reached: The Empire must be preserved for the sake of the common defense. It was agreed that Solomon, who had wisely presided over the trial of the Mystarchs and had been universally acclaimed for it, be declared the first Overking of a new Beast Empire which would encompass all of the former Mystarch‐controlled territory. The Treekin would be valuable allies but would, of course, remain independent.
The Covenant
Solomon agreed to take this burden upon himself, and named advisors from each of the regions to aid him in restoring order and justice to the Kingdom. Solomon’s first act as Overking was to gather the High Druids together and declare a holy Covenant prohibiting any Beast from spilling the blood of his fellows. With the High Druids, he prayed for days to the Earthmother, begging her to sanctify the Covenant and grant it power. He had despised the suffering and violence that had been visited on his people by Zahhak the Mad and intended to at least ensure that his people would need fear only those not of the Covenant.
Though we do not know the mind of one such as Gaia, we know that in the instant before she sanctified the Covenant and bound the Beasts to it, two historic events occured. First, the Outcasts – Beasts who did not wish to join the Covenant – were formed. We surmise now that these types of Beasts, which included the Carrionites and the Stone Lions among others, were simply not of a nature to join the Covenant and so were not made part of it. Perhaps Gaia could not change their natures enough. Perhaps she did not wish to. Perhaps they did not wish to be changed. Regardless, the paths of the Outcasts and those of the Beast Empire split in this fateful moment, never to meet as brothers again.
The second momentous event that took place in the moments before the sanctification of the Covenant concerns the Anura. As they were created by Tarchon they were not true Beasts. Yet, few could deny that they walked, talked, and often acted like Beasts, and had they not brought down a Mystarch? Gaia probed their hearts and knew them to be true and worthy but lacking...something. Some final spark of life that even a Mystarch armed with the Mysterium Primordial was not able to imbue was missing.
The Earthmother forever endeared herself to the Anura in this moment for she filled the missing piece in the essence of the Anura, changing them from pseudo‐Beasts to full Beasts, right and true. The Anura rejoiced and eagerly agreed to join the Covenant, enormously proud to be counted among the ranks of Beasts.
With the blessing of Gaia herself, the Covenant was woven into the very blood of the Beasts of the Beast Empire, binding them and their progeny to it. To attempt to harm another Beast of the Covenant would be as to cut off one’s own paw needlessly. It was now against the most fundamental nature of these Beasts to visit injury upon each other willfully.
Solomon’s second act was to outlaw the use or teaching of any arcane magic, punishable by lifelong exile. All Mages in the kingdom were invited to join the ranks of the Druids, and all but a few gladly gave up their use of the arcane arts. Magic was now much feared and it was widely agreed that this decree would prevent another Mystarch‐like reign of magically‐enforced terror. The Mysterium Primordial, the Enigma Primal, and the Index, with their terrible power, were hidden by Solomon himself to prevent any from laying hands or eyes upon it.
The Solomnic Age
With a wise and just King, the Covenant in place, and magic outlawed the Beast Empire was revitalized. Solomon built his great capital city of Oromar on the Plains of Parvia, south of the central Alpine Mountains. After years of oppression and tyranny at Zahhak’s cruel hands, the people were free to live as they wished and to prosper. In time, the old generation gave way to the new.
The Shadow, the uncertainty surrounding the disappearance of Zahhak and the Dor’kana, and the legacy of the Mystarchs slowly faded into history where most were all too happy to leave them. Solomon’s reign was celebrated yearly throughout the land and gave way to a new age of prosperity, widely called the Solomnic Age, though of course it was only a relatively small part of the Age of Legend.
After a long and happy life, Solomon died in his sleep and was succeeded by his son, Lysander. It is known that before his death he revealed the location of the Mysterium Primordial to Lysander, charging him to pass the location only onto his own heir when the time came, that it may remain safe and hidden away from all.
Lysander was a ruler in his father’s image, and greatly respected by the people. He continued the work that Solomon had begun, and worked throughout his life to bring peace and justice to the Beasts. Under his rule, Oromar grew into the grandest city in the Empire, which entered a wonderous age of culture and accomplishment by the Beasts. Great wonders of stone and marble were constructed, and the fine arts flourished. Arcane magic had been virtually forgotten, though Druidic magic was widely practiced and highly honored. Beasts of all races made their home in Oromar and all faiths were welcome.
Temples to Gods and Goddesses ranging from Apollo, the Noctari God of the Sun to Curnon, the Anglorum God of the Hunt to Sif, the Ursine Goddess of Battle were erected, but none were larger than the grand temple to the Earthmother, and all paid her homage.
When Lysander eventually joined his father in the afterlife, he too was succeeded by his son, and Solomon’s line continued through many generations of the glorious Beast Empire. The 23rd ruler of Solomon’s blood was named Tammam, meaning strength and perfection, and his glorious kingdom stretched across all of Europe, Taurania, and even most of the territories we now know as the Anubian Empire. It was a shining testament to the glory of the united Beasts of the Empire but, their eyes blinded by that very glory and the hundreds of years of peace and prosperity that they had enjoyed, the Beasts forgot why Solomon had been made Overking and why Tammam was now Overking: The threat of foreign invasion, whether by the Dor’kana, the Darklords of the Shadow, or more terrestrial enemies.