Cribdahl (Kingdom)

General Summary and Pronunciation
Cribdahl (pronounced like "crib doll") is a massive kingdom that serves as the setting of Book 1 in the Perjure series. It exists on an Unregistered Planet in an Unregistered Universe.

Summary of Recent History
All of Cribdahlian history for the past six centuries has been the result of a century-long genocide. In their own history books, the Cribdahlians call this genocide a war, but the Watchers have conducted a cursory investigation and come to a different conclusion.

The roughly 90-year presence of the gods called Father, Mother and The Impure, is recognized not only as a factual occurrence, but a pivotal era in the history of the planet. Though the Watchers are convinced these "gods" were Detached who simply abused their powers to manipulate the people of the region, there isn't even conclusive evidence that Father, Mother or The Impure ever existed. Erven Daw and Pemmer Ayal are the only two Watchers who have ever visited Cribdahl, but because their mission was highly classified, most of their report is censored.

What follows is a summary of what was deemed acceptable for the public:

The Purification (~600 Years Ago)
Father and Mother first appeared 600 years ago in the kingdom of Cribdahl. Their dark skin let them fit in well with the local population. It's unclear how, but the couple infiltrated the palace in Cribdahl's capital city and murdered the royal family using what was described to Erv and Mer (the Watchers who wrote the report) as "godly magic". With the kingdom swiftly taken under their control, the couple declared war on a neighboring nation, which had also very recently had its royalty usurped by a single man who claimed to be a god.

The Purification, as Cribdahlians now call it, was a long, bloody confrontation between the couple and the other man. The couple described themselves as Father and Mother, and their adversary as The Impure. Everyone outside of Cridbahl, they claimed, had not been chosen by them, and therefore were inferior.

The war continued well after Cribdahl's army wiped out the last of the enemy forces. When only a few small villages on the outskirts of what had once been the enemy's kingdom remained, the war was still technically not over. Father sought utter annihilation of the enemy forces, to such a degree that modern history books by law do not bare the name of this enemy nation and its people, and so we're only left to describe them as "the enemy" or "the foreigners".

When finally the last of the people had been killed, only the Impure remained. The leader of the destroyed people. Father and Mother showed uncharacteristic mercy and let him leave with his life. He returned to The Outside. And then the Great Festival began. For six months straight Father and Mother traveled around to the kingdom's major cities to see the new spectacular displays of wealth--the spoils of their war. Exotic animals were paraded through the streets, poked and prodded in the sides with dulled spears. Entire caravans with overflowing wagons of fine clothing snaked through the city's roads, around the market, into the residential area and back downtown where the people ran wild with joy, even the poorest of the poor dressed to look aristocratic.

On the final day of the sixth month of the festival, Father and Mother announced that they would be leaving. The sudden bad news put a halt to all festivities. The people begged their gods not to leave them. But there was no stopping the couple, who seemed bored once the bloodshed had ended. They promised the people that they would return, and established a "temporary" government until then, composed of three pillars of power: Feeling that there was little else for them to do, Father and Mother left. No one like that would come to Cribdahl for another 500 years.
 * The Patriarch, who would represent Father's interest in strengthening the nation and weakening neighboring kingdoms
 * The Matriarch, who would represent Mother's interest in maintaining harmony among the people and a peaceable relationship with nature.
 * And the King, who would be the official ruler of the people.