All of these creatures changed the Themblise society one way or another – some for the better, some for the worse. Inventors, doctors, politicians, entertainers, businessmen, and more – modern day Themble has these creatures to thank for its current society and culture.
Each famous person is listed as such: Name – Specie -Occupation – (Year Born-Died)
Temevair – Lambrose Dragon – First Queen – (???-4)
Temevair was the first queen of Themble. Her queendom was tiny – existing on the southern coastal border of Themble and about five miles inland. The queendom was founded two years after the Feylands were created. Unfortunately, the queendom itself only lasted for two years until Temevair was murdered by her consort – in bed, no less. Her consort, Ozen, was king for three days before he was murdered. Despite Temevair’s short reign, she had the first notable organization of the Themblise after the fall of the Fey.
Charn – Unicorn – Cartographer – (~29-124)
Charn was an adventurer and cartographer who notably created the first recognized Themblise map. He charted the coastal region, the mountain ranges, and and half of Darid. The original map consisted of three individual tanned hides with various inks depending what was available to him. It was designed to be used for creating efficient trade routes. Unicorns are impervious to poisons, venoms, and toxins, which proved to be in Charn’s favor after he was bit by a mundane rattlesnake in the 70’s. The three maps were destroyed in the Clarion Fire of 556, but many replicas still exist.
Quem – Rat – Priest and Artist – (103-193)
Quem was a Raviekan priest, a sculptor, and a painter. The religion itself had been around since before the Feylands. However, it was Quem that begun the sculptures of Ravieka with the closed eyes that would become a household item by the current year of 774. This style of Raviekan sculptures first started appearing in the 160’s, although an exact date isn’t know. They began taking off in the last twenty years of Quem’s life. He donated all of his bountiful earnings to the needy and poor, including a certain human named Fraer. Quem passed away surrounded by his large, loving family at a ripe old age.
Fraer – Human – Doctor – (170-218)
Fraer was born into extreme poverty, and sickness and death was a part of life for him from the beginning. When he was eleven, an old rat priest by the name of Quem came through his village. Quem gave each family money, food, and kindness. Quem, despite his success as a sculptor, had kept his frugal, humble ways. His donations improved the lives of the entire village, but Fraer would remember the rat’s kindness and willingness to help the sick for the rest of his life.
“The priest was most wondrous and unusual. Despite his humble size, the rodent used his acquired knowledge to help our unwell and ailing. It was this event that inspired me to pursue the career of medicine.”
~ Fraer, 216, from his memoir (translated into modern Themblise 719)
Quem inspired Fraer to learn how to help and heal the sick. As a young teenager, Fraer apprenticed to the local healer. However, when he learned all he could, he moved away at the age of sixteen. Fraer would travel the province, learning what he could, until he ended up in Borrel (a bustling city of 10,000). There he would begin to study and learn more from more experienced peers.
In 210, Fraer began to create the hypothesis that sickness was exacerbated by unsanitary conditions, with a focus on sewage. In the early 200’s, it was custom to urinate and defecate in the streets freely, with no collection system outside of rain or evaporation. He studied it obsessively for six years, writing books full of data from dozens of towns and villages of various socio-economic statuses. Fraer showed his findings to his peers, and while many agreed, there was not enough power in the incredibly small medical community to have influence on the sanitary conditions even in Borrel.
In 216 he wrote his memoir detailing his theory and his life, which included all the six years of previous data collection, completely organized. Fraer wrote in his memoir’s introduction that his reasoning behind writing this was to save his findings for a future medical community. His hope was someone would rediscover his work and have the power to change the management of sewage in the future. Fraer’s work was not forgotten, and would be used as support to the creation of early sewers a hundred years later.
Unfortunately, Fraer himself died two years after the creation of his memoir from food poisoning. He had been in a small, rural community studying their ineffective sewage management. Unknown to him, his last meal had become deadly from the very conditions he had been studying for eight years.
Wekel the Civilized – Donkey – King – (333-353)
Wekel was the king of Gelon, a small kingdom in the north of Themble. He was a passionate follower of Ravieka, although he took a twisted belief to the teachings. Rather than believing the all mundane, civilized, or Fey creatures were equal, Wekel was a fervent believer that the Fey were Ravieka’s mistakes, and that all trace of them should be eradicated. He purchased and stole hundreds of thousands of pre-Feylands remnants, from pots to charms to records, and destroyed them.
Wekel’s passion was unpopular among his advisers and citizens for, while they believed that the Fey were monsters, also liked it when federal money went to infrastructure, and not towards the expensive destruction of artifacts.
His council of advisers recommended that Wekel take the next step – destroying the Fey himself. Wekel took this as a genius idea, and took his army to the Feylands, where the generals mutinied at the border. Furious, Wekel loudly proclaimed that all civilized creatures had unmatched intelligence compared to the Fey. He reportedly called his soldiers, “A bunch of cowardly mundies,” and stormed into the Feylands in full battle armor.
According to the records of the generals and soldiers, about 100 yards into the Feylands, a strange creature with the body of a cougar and the head of a woman stepped out of the mountains. This assumed Fey announced in broken Themblise, “Step no further,” before brutally murdering the shocked Wekel. Many accounts state that bizarre, restless forms could be seen in the shadows behind the Fey.
The generals and soldiers wisely retreated, and a resulting civil war nearly destroyed the monarchy of Gelon. A wide variety of strange Fey-era items were sold to pay for the monarchy’s debts, including a notable crystal roughly four feet in length and a foot in diameter, covered in unknown charms.
Luca – Cupidine – King – (390-478)
Luca was a humble farmer in a territory that had went through so many rulers that no one could agree on what it was called. He was well-known across the territory for his advice, wisdom, and leadership. When they were invaded from the north in 451, Luca was unanimously voted temporary leader. He declined, but was pressured into it.
With Luca’s leadership, and willingness to listen and work with others, the northern invaders were pushed back and dissuaded from returning. When it was over, Luca wanted to return to his fields. However, he agreed to train a successor before retiring, as no one wanted to return to the old days. He did just this, which led to Queen Antel in 459.
Queen Antel, in his honor, wanted to name the new queendom Lucem. However, Luca, although flattered, and refused. He said that if the queendom was to be named after anyone, it would be his wife, Pemen. Antel honored his wishes, and Pemembras was born. The standard, the mundane swallow, was chosen after Luca’s favorite bird. Queen Antel was a fair and generous ruler, and was incredibly popular during her time. Luca happily returned to his fields and family, and farmed in peace for the rest of his years.
Olina – Orin Dragon – Singer/Songwriter – (515-588)
Olina revolutionized Themblise music. Before Olina, music was beautiful, but highly complex. It was patterned after the genre left behind from the Fey – choral, designed to be sung in a formal setting.
Olina was a choir singer for decades. She traveled extensively as a part of her group. When visiting the Sparrow Islands, she overheard a couple of locals singing a chanting song while working. Inspired, she began to write simple songs with catchy, easy-to-remember tunes. They were repetitive and designed to be sung while working. Most of her published songs had a walking beat tempo, so that they were easy to sing while going to market.
Olina’s songs took off due to their ability for the common creature to join in. Songs began to progress from only being sung in formal settings, to festivals, and finally to the fields Olina intended.
Over the past two hundred years, Olina’s songs have becomes old classics. Themblise music has evolved to include rounds, different tempos, instruments (especially percussion instruments), and relatable topics. However, much of the basis of Themblise music lies in Olina.
Inchen Corian – Minotaur – Queen – (533-598)
Inchen was a warrior queen, hell-bent on turning her small, powerless queendom of Croon into something respectable. During her reign, Inchen conquered the monarchy Ferot and cut Helimo in half. Under her care, Croon was given the seeds that would one day let it grow into the powerhouse it is today. Inchen cared little for the lands she conquered, however, and was known for her xenophobic and unjust laws. There are many who are concerned that the Black King will repeat history, and be much like Inchen.
Jejon – Slender-billed Gull – Trader – (616-676)
An astute businessman from Darid, Jejon spent ten years attempting to reopen trade relations with the six monarchies of the time: Pemembras, Bevenkras, the dying Helimo, Tairel, and the growing Croon. He focused on Pemembras and Croon first, since they were easily accessible by ship. When they both refused, he turned to the queendom of Tairel, to trade through the Clovenhoof Pass. Jejon was successful, finally, and modern trade routes through the Barrier were created.
The Famior Family – Unicorns – Royal Family – (600’s-661)
The Famior family were the three generational ruling family of Helimo in the 600’s. In 659, Tairel began a trading treaty with Darid through the Barrier. This trade turned to be very prolific, and the queendom flourished. However, King Tesemor Famior of Helimo did not receive any of this bounty. The abundant, less expensive trade from Darid reduced the need or desire for trade between Tairel and Helimo. Tairel dramatically cut trade between the two monarchies. Helimo had already been struggling economically for decades from steep debt and poor trade treaties, and this proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The kingdom sunk into a recession, which worsened as the other monarchies refused to supply aid. Within the year, Helimo had begun to suffer from a serious depression as businesses flew from kingdom, treaties died, debts were called in, and soaring unemployment caused a mass emigration.
On the 7th of Strawmoon, 661, all three generations of the Famior family were violently murdered in a three day revolution. For the next eight years (an unlucky number in Themble), Helimo bounced through temporary monarchs and groups.
Mor “Rel” Maith – Mule Deer – King – (647-712)
Mor Maith was a young king of Tairel who saw promise in conquering the struggling Helimo. It was incredibly easy to overthrow the straw government in 669. Mindful of the failing patriotism and dwindling economy in Tairel, the prideful Maith renamed the united monarchies after himself, dubbing the new kingdom “Maithas”. He pushed a serious patriotic campaign, promoting a new symbol – the shooting star wildflowers.
The young king’s ideas were accepted slowly but without much fuss. The trade between Darid and Tairel had slowed as Darid had opened trade agreements with Pemembras and Croon. The depression from the neighboring Helimo had further discouraged trade, and hurt Tairel businesses as fleeing Helimo artisans and workers flooded the market. Tariel, as much as Helimo, was looking for a new start, and Maith offered it with his unprecedented optimism and hope.
However, Maith was unfortunately incredibly inexperienced, and did not listen to his advisers. He placed the already poor united kingdom under further strain through ill-planned government welfare programs, agricultural subsidies, and his expensive national re-branding. Maith was forced to sell vast quantities of both Tairel and Helimo land in order to pay off debts.
Maith went from incredibly popular to being threatened with assassination daily within five years. Perhaps wiser than former Themblise rulers, Mor Maith stepped down before he lost his life. He left his old life, his dwindling wealth, and took the name Rel, and disappeared south through the Sparrow Islands.
The new queen, an osprey by the name of Teleay Gornish, was a former adviser who admired the newly renamed “Rel”, despite the fact that he had often ignored her warnings. Three decades older than Mor “Rel” Maith, Gornish admired his optimism, which seemed as rare as a blue moon in Themblise politics. While she reversed or ended many of his policies, she agreed with the people to keep the name and the symbol of the new Maithas.