When Comes The Dawn | The Agonia
When Kaelstansa the Great felt the gaze of the Lantern Bearer turn to him, he looked upon his children and wondered which of them would have the means to continue his legacy.
That night, when he laid his weary head to rest, the Fortune Weaver appeared in his dreams in the guise of a golden bird. “Set before them three challenges, beloved-of-mine,” commanded the goddess. “One for strength, one for guile, and the last to test their character. The one who passes all three will have my blessing, and your kingdom shall reign forever in glory.”
— The Aetieriana
The Agonia: a colloquial term in the Aetierian Empire, referencing the endless battle between imperial heirs for the right to ascend to the imperial throne. Though having evolved from the King’s Game, this term is neither used nor referenced in any codified works of law.
THE KING'S GAME
Unlike the majority of kingdoms in Raia, the Empire of Aetier had no official rules that dictated the succession of the crown. Its founding ruler, King Kaelstansa the Great, set the precedent of the monarch choosing their heir regardless of birth order, forgoing the standards of male primogeniture and decreeing that only the most capable of his children would succeed him on the throne. He determined this by devising a game: a set of three challenges designed to test his children’s mettle, known by historians today as The King’s Game. While the exact nature of these challenges have been lost to history, the concept of testing each vi Aetier scion carried throughout the generations until—
