A History of the Grand Tortle Empire

By Vondalago

Along the southern coast of Worrel was a great empire ruled for a time under the timeless wisdom of the Greatshells, a clan of warrior tortles which used their strength to subdue threats to their lands and their people. Over many centuries the Greatshells expanded their lands not through conquest or warfare, but through aid requested from the troubled fringe lands. The warrior tortles came to their neighbors' need and push maleficent forces beyond their realm. The fringe nations then became incorporated through cultural assimilation and de facto annexation as the Greatshells guarded the now peaceful realm.

It is said that many ages ago there was a hermit god named Takai Usha who dwelled peacefully upon the summit of a mountain near to a great sea, dispensing wisdom to those who made the long journey to see him. Takai Usha saw from his high home the suffering of folk both near and far for his wisdom pierced through the wispy clouds and saw the lands below, and in each direction he looked there was famine, war, and death. Takai Usha tried to live simply, ignoring the troubles of the lowlands and helping at times the pilgrims who came to him, but the anguish was too preeminent to ignore, and after an age of inaction Takai Usha descended from his mountain in a wrath.

With each successive step toward the winding rivers of the lowlands Takai Usha grew in size and strength until he was as large as a dragon when at last he stood even with the blue sea before him. He swept through the lands, burning them with the fire of his eyes and salting the earth with seawater dried from the heat of his anger. All fled from him. Takai Usha did not discriminate in his destruction between those who suffered and those who imparted suffering.

Burning through the lands Takai Usha came at last to a glade where a grand battle was transpiring. A clan of turtlekin fought valiantly surrounded on all sides by a more numerous foe. The strongest of the tortles held their ground on the outer perimeter, insulating the weaker from the fight. Takai Usha beheld their stand against inevitable defeat, witnessing their defiance and the battle cries of those who died to defend their kin, and his heart was softened. He joined the fight when the tortles could hold no longer, and Takai Usha prevented their lines from breaking. The enemy fled as the battle turned, but the tortles did not, holding their ground even against a burning god. Takai Usha turned and chased the enemy into the sea where dark shapes feasted until the water was crimson.

He returned to the tortles as a wizened figure stooped and frail, and the tortles knew him no longer as the harbinger of wrath seen descending from the mountain nor the savior of their clan, and yet they treated him with reverence, fed him, clothed him in the sudden cold that Takai Usha felt, and guarded him as he slumbered for many days from the exhaustion of his transformation. The hermit-god awoke to a happy village, and while the tortles still mourned the death of many of their people, they also celebrated the lives they had saved with laughter, food, and family. Takai Usha then grew in size again, and the tortles surrounded him, but Takai Usha told them to be at peace, for he would make them a bargain. Protect the people of these lands from those that would do them harm, he said, and I will bestow you with power and privilege. You will rule these lands as kings.

The tortles refused his gift saying that they had no desire to rule over others, but they would protect the lands as he commanded if he would grant them the strength to do so. Realizing that he still had much to learn as a sage and oracle, Takai Usha agreed to their humility, and he dispersed his power among the tortles. They became known as the Greatshells. Over many centuries the tortles did as commanded, protecting the lands and its people from darkness and suffering, and those from other lands fled to them for safety. The Greatshells welcomed all who would live peacefully, and for a time amid the cataclysms of Worrel there was serenity along the coast. But it was not built to last.

All grand empires inevitably fail within Worrel, and there came at last a great darkness which assaulted the kingdom. The Greatshells could not hold back the darkness, and in their despair they called to Takai Usha. It is said that Takai Usha also despaired for even his might could not stave off the black armies which swept through the once blissful lands, and he ordered the tortles to flee. The survivors sailed from the coast to the Endolian Archipelago. But Takai Usha was not idle. A bargain was struck between another god, and Takai Usha gave the Greatshells another choice to protect the peaceful realms, though it would come at a high cost. The tortles accepted without hesitation.

Their nation vanished thereafter, and while the surviving races would go on to found the Empire of Akiokuwe, only a small number of tortles were ever seen thereafter. They dwelled along the western edge of the archipelago, and none are certain to know the sacrifice which was made for the peace to be attained.