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| - The Tragedy at the Temple of Tears, also known as the Massacre at Mak Nu'Grad, was an attack orchestrated by the Blue Empire of Sayerthenn against the Ane Polki at their temple of Mak Nu'Grad (long-form Malkai Ngusaiar Grodh Grayargs, literally "Mother Blue Holy Temple's," more figuratively "Temple of the Blue Mother"). After the disaster that was Al Kalar (a frozen-hurricane which swept up as far north as the Blue City of Sayerthenn, and ended the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly peasants), a popular revolt occurred, quickly turning into a gigantic riot at the Blue City, which ended in the death of the Blue King. He was drowned with rain water, earning him the moniker Wet Blue King (all Blue Kings lose their names upon ascension). A new Blue King was installed, later known as the Handsome Blue King, as all he did was sit back and look pretty. The Handsome Blue King quickly came to rely on his eunuch general, Jeg Hohn. Jeg Hohn payed him back by organizing a coup, seizing power and practically becoming the Blue King. The eunuch began an expansionist period, first setting his sights on the southerners of the Crescent Blue Mountains, the Ane Polki. The Ane Polki live in the eastern and southern reaches of the Yentenner Swamplands, the western and southern reaches of the Blue Forest, and all over the monstrously huge Cresent Blue Mountains. Their capital city was Gra'Polk Sse (long-form Grodh Dbadh Polki Sshelgs, literally "Holy High People City's"). At its heart was Mak Nu'Grad, which would later be known as the Temple of Tears. Gra'Polk Sse was the highest city on this Earth at the time. It sat atop the high plateau of Mount Hohn (Ane Polki: Sshayalkgragargs, literally "Master-Temples'," more figuratively "Master of Mountains"), the summit of which is the Paladin's Peak. Although the element of surprise was quite impossible, Jeg Hohn hoped to take Gra'Polk Sse quickly. He knew the Ane Polki were peace-loving pacifists, and predicted a max exodus from the city upon the arrival of his Imperial Blue Army. He was right, tens of thousands were displaced simply by the arrival of the Sayerthenners. However, the nuns of Mak Nu'Grad would never leave their temple. Under oath to their Blue Lady, their Mountain Mother, they could not leave, would be danned to leave. On top of that, they would never acknowledge the Blue Empire as anything but an affront to their Mother. Their leader was a short, forty-two-year-old, bald, skinny, blind woman. Her name was Yugra, and she spoke brazenly to the Imperial Paladin Faarok Kaalororsi (Jeg Hohn could not have Royal Guards, so instead he surrounded himself with Imperial Paladins), saying: "We Malkai do not balk at such threats, Saikai scum, nor do we recognize the supposed sovereignty of your brutish country. The Blue Lady put us on this Earth to serve, and serve we must, until the Death Lord Himself steals us from service. So unless you are here to kill us, I suggest you take your leave, foreigner." Jeg Hohn could not allow such an insult to go unpunished, and so ordered the deaths of every nun within the temple. He meant to make an example of them. His exact order was: "Make the mongrel mothers suffer, and make sure the other nunneries know, so that they might not rebel so openly again." Jeg Hohn watched from the nearby Paladin's Peak as Mak Nu'Grad was taken by storm. Hundreds of Gra'Polk Sse's citizens had taken refuge within the temple's walls. The Sayerthenners viewed the Ane Polki as an inferior peoples; the Sayerthenners were tall, muscular, and dark, with bright blue eyes, and long black hair, while the Ane Polki were short, stocky, and tan, with narrow green eyes, and short black hair. The Sayerthenners barely saw the Ane Polki as human, and so they unflinchingly massacred them. Men and women were tortured and beaten, while little boys and little girls were raped. The Sayerthenners would corner Ane Polki against the edges of the plateau, skewering them with spears, or forcing them to jump off. Old women were forced to strip naked while their husbands and sons watched. Men were beaten with rocks, and some were even burned alive. This was especially tragic, as death by fire is seen as a most unholy way to die, practically guaranteeing an 'afterlife beneath the mountains' for the Ane Polki. Dogs, which are most holy to the Ane Polki, were beaten, and starved, forced to fight their humans, or other dogs, fed to their humans, or even fed their humans. However, the nuns had it worse than anyone. They would be starved, to make them suffer, and then force fed to prolong that suffering. The ultimate goal of the Sayerthenners was to get the nuns to self-immolate, danning their souls, and breaking every oath they had made to their Blue Lady. They were placed beneath a Rape Room, where little nuns, little girls, and little boys would be raped around the clock. Strapped to their heads were buckets to collect their tears, and occasionally the semen of their rapists. The nuns were subject to psychological torture in this way, and would be given these buckets to drink from after their force fed meals. Their leader, Yugra, devised a plan, however. It would be quite impossible to drown one's self with these buckets, they were just too small. Not to mention that human self-preservation would force them to come up for air. She and her fellow nuns drowned one another, one after the other, until only a very young woman, and Yugra remained. Yugra was able to drown the young woman, but afterwards, there were no tears to drown in, not even her own. Jeg Hohn summoned her to his chambers after the Paladins found her surrounded by corpses several days later. She was not broken. She would never self immolate, like five of her fellow nuns had. Jeg Hohn was pragmatic, he realized imprisoning her did him no good. This woman had prestige, and respect among the Ane Polki. Even more so after she saved the souls of so many nuns, sacrificing herself in the process. Jeg Hohn made her his Governor of the Ane Polki. He knew that she would never dare to endanger her people like that again. Not even forty years later, as a much older Jeg Hohn made to crush the influence of a different kingdom beyond the Crescent Blue Mountains, the Kingdom of Sous, his own mages accidentally caused a powerful dragonstir by bringing down the Termite Tunnel, a tunnel where the last remnants of Sous were hiding. This caused an avalanche at Gra'Polk Sse from the Paladin's Peak. At this point, the city was more a Sayerthenner colony than the Ane Polki capital, and the Ane Polki mostly served as servants. The then-ancient Yugra survived the dragonstir, although few others did. Sayerthenn never made to retake the city, and Yugra was able to operate a small nunnery in the ruins of Mak Nu'Grad for about four years before dying in a fire caused by a lightning strike. Mak Nu'Grad and Gra'Polk Sse both lie in ruin now, overrun by icy blue vines, and covered in layers of snow.
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