Sheng Seleris challenged Godunya the Dragon Emperor for a second time in 1363. His Great Horde wreaked terrible havok on Puchai Province, greatly depopulating it, but all assaults upon the Bridges failed. The horde moved north into Jaubon Provinces and Hsiang Wan was besieged. Sheng Seleris pitted his conquests against the Right to Rule, but Godunya the Dragon won.
Sheng Seleris left and returned all the captured or surrendered territories to Godunya. Sheng Seleris conquered many other lands searching for effective surprises against the Dragon Emperor.
In 1442, Sheng Seleris returned to challenge the Dragon Emperor again. This time, with the aid of Pelorian priests and magicians, Sheng Seleris conquered all of Kralorela after an epic battle, which is now called in Kralorela, “All Widows After a Week.” After this anyone who had an authority surrendered to Sheng Seleris. Two years later the New Star rose, a sign of Sheng Seleris’ divinity.
For 18 years, Sheng Seleris ruled Kralorela. In 1452, his army attempted to conquer Vormain but failed. During all this time, Godunya meditated in his hidden temple, until 1460, when Godunya invoked the Potential Curse he had taken in 1363. Struck at a key moment, Sheng Seleris was defeated in barbarian lands and his empire torn apart.
For more than a century, Kralorela enjoyed peace and was not troubled by barbarians. The appearance of foreign ships from Kethaela in 1587 was a shock and fright for the Kralorelans. But the Dragon Emperor destroyed the fleet when it entered the Suam Chow and now foreign ships must land at the city of Lur Nop.
A couple of take-away points:
- Sheng Seleris dominated Peloria from 1375 to 1460, while he ruled Kralorela from on 1442 to 1460. Nonetheless, his rule for that 18 year period was absolute.
- There was significant depopulation in those areas that resisted the nomads – and such areas were allowed to return to grassland to pasture the horses of the nomads.
- Sheng Seleris used Pelorian priests and magicians to conquer Kralorela. Yelm cultists might have played a key part in this – and he may have even had Lunar priestesses aid him.
- Godunya may have been able to magically weaken Sheng Seleris at a critical point in the Battle of Kitor. It is possible that the Red Emperor could not have been victorious without the Potential Curse being released.
- Even without Sheng Seleris, the nomad confederations were very powerful – Hon-eel’s contests with the Most Reverend Mother of Horses should be seen as a magical contest between agriculturalists and pastoralists over who is favored by Yelm. Hon-eel won, and gained time for the Pelorians to settle Oraya. However, in 1503, a nomad confederation overran the Lunar outposts, one Lunar Army destroyed in 1505, and it took the Nights of Horror to break the Pentans once and for all.
Is there a reason why the Pelorian priests and magicians and even Lunar priestesses would aid Sheng Seleris in conquering Kralorela, the same man who conquered their own homelands or tried to? They surrendered and submitted to Sheng Seleris. Why do Carmanians and Pentans fight for the Red Emperor?