curious man, but perhaps I can take at least a step forward into the fog surrounding us, so that others might follow. You have some of your mother in you, Cal, enough to delight in the knowledge of how things work. Hopefully these copies of my studies are of some interest to you. Hopefully you’ll join me in clearing the fog.
—Uncle Julian
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I’m aware you’re well versed in the history of your house, having taught you some of it myself. But I thought you’d like to keep these for your own, instead of relying on the survival of the Nortan libraries, as well as your own flawed memory. Yes, I said flawed. I apologize that the record of my own house and your mother’s family is not so extensive, but I was regrettably uninterested in my heritage in my youth. And my bloodline is not so well documented as a line of kings for some reason. So strange. —Uncle Julian
Jacos Family Tree
Monarchs of House Calore
* * *
The history books haven’t quite caught up to you, though I doubt you mind.
—JJ
* * *
CAESAR I
JANUARY 1, 0–OCTOBER 3, 37 NE
So dedicated to his new dynasty, nation, and image was Alexandrus Caesar Calore that he waited a full two months after conquering Norta to coronate himself at the stroke of midnight on the turn of the year. He declared a new age with the beginning of his reign. Therefore, the Nortan calendar starts at the exact moment the crown touched a Calore’s head. Though a warrior first, King Caesar was a skilled diplomat. He married his daughter Juliana to the High Prince of Piedmont, cementing a long-standing alliance to protect Norta’s southern border. King Caesar also created the rite of Queenstrial. Except under extraordinary circumstances or when marrying outside the kingdom, any Calore heir to the throne would wed the strongest suitor who presented him- or herself. King Caesar also founded the new capital at Archeon, building Whitefire Palace and the Nortan seat of government. The king died in a dueling “accident,” struck through the heart. The blunted training sword of his opponent had been replaced with a sharpened blade. Legend says the last word King Caesar ever spoke was “Fyrias,” the name of his youngest son, who had died in a skirmish along the border of the Disputed Lands. Following an investigation, his dueling partner was executed, but historians postulate that Caesar’s own son arranged his father’s murder.
CAESARION
OCTOBER 3, 37–JULY 20, 44 NE
Filling the footsteps of a great father proved difficult for Caesarion, who grew up with little knowledge of war and less military skill than his father. He was more preoccupied with the luxuries of the monarchy, and began building the summer palace: the Hall of the Sun. Before its completion, he died at sea when his pleasure yacht sank off the Bahrn Islands. Witnesses say the king drowned due to the weight of his jewels and crown, though there are reports of sharks feeding on him as well. It’s possible the sinking of his ship was orchestrated by those loyal to his father, the murdered king.
JULIAS I
JULY 20, 44–AUGUST 1, 60 NE
In stark contrast to his father, Julias was a warrior to the bone, and sometimes to a fault. He regularly fought with the lords to the north in the Kingdom of the Lakelands. His firstborn son and heir, Julias, died in one such skirmish at the age of seventeen. His death plunged his father into deep mourning, and he died quietly, after refusing skinhealer treatment for illness.
TIBERIAS THE GREAT
AUGUST 1, 60–NOVEMBER 10, 105 NE
The great-grandson of Caesar Calore is considered his true successor, and remains the longest-reigning monarch of the Calore dynasty. Over the course of his forty-five-year reign, Tiberias I finished the Hall of the Sun, bolstered relations with the Lakelands to the north, and extended Nortan borders to include the entirety of the Rift. Pieces of the Samos lands still resisted Calore rule, and Tiberias himself led an army himself into the Rift hills. The remaining Samos rebels were brought to heel, and, against the urging of his council, Tiberias did not eradicate the Samos dynasty, instead granting them clemency in exchange for their loyalty and lands. The governance of the Rift was given to House Laris, though House Samos remained one of the strongest families in the kingdom. King Tiberias also pioneered the use of Red tech towns, establishing several throughout Norta. The Silver kingdom would reap the benefits of his rule for many centuries,