“Our downfall will be rooted in the Cougar People, a house divided between the self-righteous and the humble. The First’s Tenants are heeded and honored by most, but not the Cougars. They will decide to go their own way…”
* * *
“We have no cities in Uskinas. The People live in villages and gather in their Central Towns, sacred places in each region meant for worship, learning, and commerce. But some of the Cougars will believe themselves blessed and that they deserve to live among the glorious mountains of their region, where their Central Town is perched.
The One Voice will know what is happening but centuries of good fortune will make them complacent. The Time Guild will seed whispers to stop this migration, but their whispers will not be heeded, and One Voice will turn its back on Cougar House as punishment for blasphemy. Separate, then, from the People, they will struggle to support themselves. They will raid their own brothers and sisters—those who keep the Tenants—for resources and they will fail, and in their failure and desperation, the Cougars will turn to their neighbors, the Idish.
In the Golden Age, Idish is a fledgling nation. All of our neighbors pale in comparison to our glory, and they always suspect that we have some secret gift to explain our success. For a long time, these are rumors only. The Uskinasian people know only that they are stewards of All-Time but no one, save the Time Guild itself, knows where it is located, and this is by design. As the Cougars and the Idish grow closer and closer, the Idish will learn our secret—that time travel explains our progress and abundance. And as these two peoples grow closer and closer, each learn they share something with the other. For the Cougars always want access to All-Time. Once the Idish learn of it, they will, too.
Eventually, the Cougars will migrate to Idish and the two peoples will become one. By this time, One Voice knows what is happening and that the Idish have their eye on All-Time. They grow stronger and spy on Uskinas, and Uskinas on Idish. We will create a military and a spy network, even though we are founded on principles peace and pacifism. As Idish grows wealthier and more powerful, it will only seek more, and the key to this progress will be All-Time.
As tensions grow, the Idish will begin to invade, first in a region called Rocklands. This area, and its houses and families, are all that stands between the Idish invaders and the People. The invaders will attack villages and gain ground bit by bit until, eventually, the Rock People are pushed to the mountains, where they will protect a narrow pass that leads to the rest of the nation.
For years, the Rock People will protect this pass with their lives, but ultimately, it won’t be enough. The Idish will pour into Uskinas, subjugating, enslaving, and killing the People, occupying our sacred Central City, and desecrating its places of worship and learning. The Idish will search the entirety of our lands for All-Time, and will never find it.
The Uskinasians, as a rule, are tough and stubborn, and we will fight our Idish occupiers ruthlessly. We eventually abandon the pacifist ways that govern our nation since the First’s founding. We, the Time Guild, will seed whispers to encourage diplomacy and non-violence, but these will go unheeded.
For many terrible decades, war, occupation, famine, and disease will destroy our once vibrant People and our once Utopian nation. By the time the crazed Idish leader’s grandson—who inherited his ambition—is killed by his own, Uskinas is no longer a nation, the People who survive are scattered to the winds, and there is nothing left to save. Our culture, stories, and language will live on in those who are left and still proud to be one of the People.
Uskinas, like so many great civilizations, will fade into nothingness. But this is the way of time and we are beholden to its sacred forces.”
* * *
“As it must be, so it will,” Ardith concluded in a misty voice with a bow that involved only her shoulders. The mist retreated and she barked, “Does that answer all your questions?”
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