The First Empire, while not the oldest known civilization, is certainly the world's most pivotal. The name originates as being the "First Empire" of the Duran. Since the dawn of time, the Duran - then known as the "Iron Men" - were a collection of warlike tribes known as "klans," related only by race and otherwise constantly warring for dominance. Around 4000 BC, a figure known as Moran "the Eternal" united the klans behind his will and vision and forged an empire across the lands that are now known as The Heartlands and The Oldlands, founding the Valterran Dynasty. The Valterran Primarchs ruled for thousands of years, constantly expanding at the expense of various barbarian tribes. The relentless Duranic legions gave these tribes an ultimatum: Join Or Die. Those who joined were ultimately assimilated into the Empire, many of their traditions and customs actually blending into the Duranic culture as a whole; those who defied the legions were utterly exterminated. The Valterran Dynasty ended when the last of a series of incompetent Primarchs was overthrown in 1600 BC. By that time, the Empire had expanded into the Varannian Penninsula to the south (and to the isle of Katan in the Avalon Sea), to the River Thane in the north, the River Ander in the east, and the River Reik in the west.
The Amorus Dynasty succeeded to the throne after a brief civil war between the
Hause Superior
, ruling from approximately 1600-1300 BC. The Amorus Dynasty conquered many lands to the east, but ultimately found their undoing in the west, embroiled in a hundred-year conflict with the Juke (pronounced
yew-keh
) tribes. With House Amorus completely wiped out, the Moranus Dynasty rose to prominence. Instead of moving further west or east, the Moranus Primarchs look across the Avalon Sea to the continent of Troplica. Its northern reaches covered by the vast Sand Seas, Duranic settlers inhabited the fertile river valleys amongst the ruins of ancient, lost civilizations, ultimately reaching the Antethian Penninsula far to the west. After settling northern Troplica, the Moranus Dynasty focused on building the infrastructure of the now-vast Empire, beginning the construction of the famous greystone roads and works of architecture. Nevertheless, conquest is instilled into Duranic blood, and the last Moranus Primarchs plunged the legions into the wild western frontier once more. Around 700 BC, the last Moranus Primarch was assassinated in the infamous "Revolt of the Generals," and House Moranus was brutally exterminated by a treacherous conspiracy of generals and nobles.
The Empire's most brutal civil war followed. "General-Emperors" were crowned every day as they fought with each other and the nobles for control of the Empire. For six years the civil war was fought, until a brilliant and charmismatic young general named Kaesarian was crowned, and put the Empire on the road to recovery. Yet after only three years of rule the beloved new ruler was assassinated by an unknown faction, and the Empire plunged back into three more years of civil war until Belisarius Sarrius, known as "The Honorable," brokered peace between the warring factions and was declared Primarch by the Conclave. His successor, Valerian "the Ruthless," embarked on a brutal and merciless final subjugations of the Juke, showing no quarter and scorching the earth, kick-starting the millenia-long emnity that the two races would share for each other. In 476 BC, the Empire reached its height - spanning from the River Kolgar in the east to the Arkanian Outback and Etremian Ocean in the west; from the Black Sea in the north and the Troplican Sand Seas in the south. Why is the First Empire so important? Because, so early in the history of the world, the Duran had united the vast majority of the known world under one culture and one government. All other settled civilizations of the time - the Rez city-states, the Bennerian kingdoms, and the far eastern empires - were geographically isolated and even more internally divided.
Some of the greatest works of the Duran were contructed and/or founded during the Sarrius Dynasty. In the Year 0 the Belisarian Calendar that is still used today was instituted. Nevertheless by 18 CE the Sarrius Dynasty fell, victim to the "protection" of the Imperial Guards and the purse strings of disgruntled nobles. Primarchs lived and died on the whims of the Imperial Guard or Imperial Senate. The Vorbakan Dynasty was the last of the First Empire, lasting until its fall in 467 CE. What caused the fall of the First Empire? Decay in society led to decadence and the development of a caste system, dividing "Pureblood" Duran and conquered or assimilated barbarians into different classes of citizen. A caste system is a concept most despised by ancient and modern Duran alike. Reliance of barbarian mercenaries to guard the limitless frontiers ultimately led to various internal revolts among improperly assimilated barbarian cultures - in the 4th century CE, the Juke rebelled in the Great Rising, a wave of religious zealotry that disconnected more than a third of the Empire's territory. The economy was spiralling into ruin as more and more citizens sold themselves as debt-slaves to pay their mountain debts of decadence; slavery being another concept abhorred by the Duran. The fall of the First Empire is seen as tragic by romantics, but it was inevitable and necessary. In its waning years the First Empire had not pride, but hubris. Its richest citizens had not earned their many conforts and thus never felt the need to defend them.
