and the Sfondrati-Pic
and the Sfondrati-Piccolominis.”
Here Zulkeh stroked his beard vigorously, as he was wont to do when deep in scholarly exposition. “For millennia, the account of this monarch presented in the classic annals of the ancient Herodotus Laebmauntsforscynneweëld were considered to be, in the main, accurate. Herodotus depicted the Emperor of the Grinding Hegemony as a mighty despot whose power held sway over all of Grotum and other lands bordering on Joe’s Sea. So august was this ancient ruler, so near divine in his aspect, that it was considered sacrilege for either himself, his entourage, or even his means of transport, to touch anything but human flesh in his travels about the realm.”
Shelyid’s eyes widened. Seeing the expression of shock and surprise in his ward’s face, the wizard nodded sagely. “Indeed so, dwarf. A most superstitious and barbarous lot, our ancestors. ’Twas even the custom for the Emperor’s chariot to be drawn over the prostrate bodies of his subjects, the which laid themselves upon every inch of every road whence his frequent journeys took him.”
Zulkeh’s brows lowered as he weighed the various aspects of the question in his mind. “From a mathematic viewpoint, of course, the policy was ill-advised. As the Emperor’s chariot was an immense vehicle carved from a single block of jade, resting upon two great iron wheels inlaid with gold and gems, and drawn by four buffalo, the practice weighed heavily upon the populace. Hence, according to Herodotus, the derivation of the Emperor’s cognomen.
Here Zulkeh stroked his beard vigorously, as he was wont to do when deep in scholarly exposition. “For millennia, the account of this monarch presented in the classic annals of the ancient Herodotus Laebmauntsforscynneweëld were considered to be, in the main, accurate. Herodotus depicted the Emperor of the Grinding Hegemony as a mighty despot whose power held sway over all of Grotum and other lands bordering on Joe’s Sea. So august was this ancient ruler, so near divine in his aspect, that it was considered sacrilege for either himself, his entourage, or even his means of transport, to touch anything but human flesh in his travels about the realm.”
Shelyid’s eyes widened. Seeing the expression of shock and surprise in his ward’s face, the wizard nodded sagely. “Indeed so, dwarf. A most superstitious and barbarous lot, our ancestors. ’Twas even the custom for the Emperor’s chariot to be drawn over the prostrate bodies of his subjects, the which laid themselves upon every inch of every road whence his frequent journeys took him.”
Zulkeh’s brows lowered as he weighed the various aspects of the question in his mind. “From a mathematic viewpoint, of course, the policy was ill-advised. As the Emperor’s chariot was an immense vehicle carved from a single block of jade, resting upon two great iron wheels inlaid with gold and gems, and drawn by four buffalo, the practice weighed heavily upon the populace. Hence, according to Herodotus, the derivation of the Emperor’s cognomen.