OPHIR
OPHIR (Medium Kingdom)
-- A Kingdom of great beauty with gilded knights and
high
towered cities, Ophir is protected by natural boundaries of mountain
and river on all sides but to the south which the Ophirians have well
fortified. The Ophirian army is provided for with all that wealth can
purchase including the finest training, weapons, and arms as well as
being additionally strengthened by mercenary archers from Shem.
Unassuming Ophir is powerful enough to begin the red road to empire
but small enough to avoid threatening the larger Kingdoms.
NATIONAL HISTORY
Know, my Lord, of the history and glory of thy kingdom, jewel strewn
Ophir, Pearl of the Hyborian Age! Ophir was founded long, long ago,
before even the hated Stygians swept into this part of the world from
out of the mist-shrouded east.
Ophir was built upon the ruins of the great and noble Valusian Empire,
destroyed almost seven thousand years ago in the Great Cataclysm which
shook the earth and changed the very face of the land. The few
surviving Valusians of that day were the forefathers of thy people.
After the Cataclysm, they scattered into wandering tribes and roamed
the meadowlands for over two thousand years before uniting once more to
build the city of Ianthe and establish the young kingdom of Ophir.
It was at this time that the Stygians came unto the western world with
their sophisticated armies and great magics, overwhelming our
forefathers before they could defend themselves. Our ancestors became
slaves of the northern portion of the Stygian empire which in time came
to be known as Acheron (cursed be the name!) and lived out an age of
over two thousand five hundred years in grim bondage to these stern
masters.
The other half of our Ophirian heritage may be found in the Hybori
tribes which began their great migrations from the northlands into the
south during this epoch. Falling upon the northeastern part of the evil
Acheron empire, these first Hyborians warred for two thousand of the
years of our bondage unti at last, in a series of major victories,
the might of Acheron was smashed and the purple towers of Python the
Great were torn down into dust. Our Ophirian forefathers chose this
time to revolt, and in a great battle fighting side by side with
the sister states of Koth and Corinthia, our people regained the
independence that they had lost eons before.
In time, the migrations of the Hyborian tribes continued ever southward
to swell as a tide into Ophir, as with all the other kingdoms of the
day. Ophir became a Hyborian state; however, within a few generations
the most ancient of Valusian blood had mixed with the bloodlines of the
Hybori to give bloom to us, a new generation of Ophireans. Thy people
are proud and strong among the nations of the earth. Heed well now my
words, Great One, as I report to thee of the length and breadth of thy
new kingdom.