The people of Samsara thought it preposterous that anyone, but anyone could relegate their history to parchment. They believed that history was far too important, far too prestigious to relegate to something that can be so easily destroyed. Ergo, the tradition of Shruti and Verbal Historians. Shruti- derived from the Samsaran word meaning "sound" refers to learning by "ear". Master Historians were people who learned history by rote and trained others to memorize it. Most of Samsara's history was orally recorded for generations. and taught the same way. These were often recited in the form of rhyming sentences as it was considered a powerful mnemonic.
About three hundred years ago, the Monastery of Pranshula decided it was time to "get with the times" and invited five hundred Master Historians to recite their tales so that it may be recorded in a tome. So diverse were the accounts of each Historian, that the Monks were forced to transcribe only the common elements of these tales. The grandly titled Tome Of Glorious Past became the Scroll of Glorious Past - just a few paragraphs long.
Commonly held belief is that the people of Samsara descended from immigrants to Samsara from lands "to the west". They only wished to settle in peace but the Nagas- an ancient and hostile race fancied them as slaves. For decades the human settlers tried to evade the Nagas only to be either caught and sold in their markets, or slaughtered because they were too young, too old, or female.
It was in the first year of what eventually came to be called the Usha- or the Decade of the Dawn that a sixteen year old slave boy recieved what many believe was a visit from the Brahman, or the Great Spirit. What the Spirit told him, no one knows but he believed himself to be divinely inspired. Over the next ten years he gathered an army and led the slaves to revolt against their Naga oppressors. At the twilight of the age, he stormed into the Naga capital city of Nidraloka and defeated the King Nidra himself.
His name was Ajeya- the Victorious.
He declared the land to be forever free, and swore that each of his descendants would forever protect this land. Some of his followers, inspired by him also made the same pledge. Their descendants became the Clan of the Sword, but more on Clans later. Incidently, King Druta, the present ruler of the land is a direct descendant of Ajeya.
Next- Recent History of Samsara- including the Smiling Death and the Cleaving of the Way- or how the plague caused the shift in religion in Samsara.
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