On the Fifth Day of Dengar, the Fifth Month, of 964 B.C. Lathos I was crowned before all of Xenoz and a fleet of ships in Royal Harbor. The Regal Dynasty of Lathos was initiated, known as regal because of its beginnings in the regent's decision.
Most of Lathos I's work was directed toward reinstating the validity of the Kingship and its power. In the 41 years of his reign, Lathos disciplined the troublesome and divided Mesaica into efficiency and proper counsel and representation. He toured the whole of Valiant Isle and its outlying domain, excluding Galbrethi, but paying special favor to the Nine Silver Islands and the new province they had turned into, Ixisanda, or the "Land of Silver." These islands were the main producers of metals and raw materials in the Konai Realm, and Lathos I made sure that the Konai mining industry prospered during his time in the throne.
As part of the Age of Power, Lathos I held a certain amount of respect because of the might of his kingly will. He was not a hard man, but expected that the things he decreed would be followed. Under Lathos I, the military no longer fulfilled the police powers that they had been expected to deal with before, but an entirely new civil police force was developed as a semi-militarized order. It greatly increased the order and greatly reduced crime without the excess effect of repression in the masses.
When Lathos I died in 923 B.C., his son, Garandor the Good succeeded him to the throne. About this time, rumors of the illegitimacy of the Lathos line began to spread and the Begai attempted to re-corrupt the Mesaica, but most of the new royal counselors were true to the crown. In reality, Bedencor, the son of Begas III, had begun a traitorous campaign to overthrow the king. But Garandor the Good, so named for his legendary high morals (he reputedly would not lie to anyone, even his enemies), had secured his throne through honesty and integrity and by that method was unshakable by the surrounding nobles.
Bedencor then took the Begai and left the Mesaica in rebellion, burning helpless towns on the way back to Galbrethi, creating the infamous "Road of Fire." Garandor, upon hearing the news, decided to do what many of his forefathers had avoided; the king declared open war upon the Begai and all their allies. In light of this, Garandor increased the power of the military and created the Royal Archers, an elite unit of soldiers that were created to protect the kingship and defeat the hordes of Galbrethi.
Thus in 910 B.C., Garandor arrayed his forces in the southwest of Valiant to bar any attack from Galbrethi, and launched assault upon the rocky fortress year after year for nearly 20 years. With a naval blockade surrounding the rock fortress as well, Galbrethi was under a massive siege. Bedencor had been prepared for this even though, and had been able to hold out for the two decades. In 880 B.C., Bedencor launched a counter assault upon Hathanda with a secret force that had been built up over the years.
With Bedencor leading this surprise attack, his army took the small farming town Theron, in the center of the island, the central source of grain to Xenoz. Garandor marshaled an attack force of Royal Archers to take the town, but not before leaving his young baby son, Lathos II, to a maiden upon the edge of Xenoz, saying, "If my crown shall fail in this task, my son's crown will continue. If this city is taken, make haste to the palace of Xenoz-Ramba and present him to the Keeper of that place. He shall know what to do."
Garandor and the Archers came with force unto Theron and besieged Bedencor and his Black Soldiers into one of the storehouses of grain at the place. But Bedencor, in deceit, left the storehouse and made for the Great Mill of that town.
Garandor drew his sword and pursued the Dark Master to that Mill. Unbeknown to Garandor, a second force had been hidden within that place. When Garandor entered, he was shot by ten arrows into the chest and stabbed by Bedencor's curved blade in his back. Bedencor then spoke to the King with a crafty voice, saying, "And so you die and I shall succeed the Honest One, so honest that he could not see my deceit. And with this host of weapons I shall scar the very last seconds of your pure life."
But Garandor, still conscious, but in great pain replied, "And with a single weapon, I shall scar the rest of the pitiful years in your life." Then Garandor took his drawn sword and stabbed Bedencor in the leg, brought the blade back to him and then cut the rope line holding the upper millstone in its place bringing the grand rock down upon Bedencor's hand, which he had been using to support himself as he nursed his leg. Garandor then brought up his sword for a deathblow, but was shot down. He fell dead.
The Royal Archers had found the dark army too powerful for their skill and fled south to hide in the farmlands of Jaksanda. Later the Archers would move their base to the Cavern Cathedral to join with the Blue Order.
Thus crippled in his leg and hand, Bedencor nevertheless rode into Xenoz with an ill spirit and set upon the throne. Several Mesaica members were killed because of their loyalty to the true crown, while others submitted to Bedencor in fear for their lives. Under these conditions Bedencor I crowned himself as the Dark King over Valiant and proceeded to subjugate the people to the dictatorial rule of his crushed hand, using his Black Army as shock police. For sixteen years the ruler allowed the fearful Mesaica to organize the government while he luxuriated in his stolen palace.
Meanwhile, the loyalist forces of the Royal Archers and the Blue Order organized in the Cavern Cathedral under the leadership of Thedro, Keeper of Xenoz-Ramba who was also acting as the Regent to young Lathos II. When Lathos II was seventeen, he led the Loyalist Alliance to surprise attack Xenoz ending in victory. Lathos II nearly killed Bedencor I, but stayed his hand in mercy toward the wicked king. But Bedencor I, when limping alone from the recaptured capital, he was stabbed in the back by an old woman, the same woman who had taken Lathos II when he was young. With his last breath, Bedencor I pronounced a curse on Lathos II's children, to die a mysterious and senseless death. Then Bedencor's son, Begas IV took his body to the Pyramid Shrine of Galbrethi and drank his ashes spread in wine, a superstitious practice of most of the Begai Lords.
Lathos II reigned for 27 more years in a relatively peaceful time. He established the Ninety-Three Watchtowers that guarded the island for a long time afterwards, in light of the Galbrethi threat that always lurked around the corner. The Konai and the Begai were still technically at war, and would be for nearly eight hundred more years. Lathos II died in 842 B.C. and his son Lathos III took the throne at age twenty.
Lathos III was typically unimportant because of the lack of important events that happened in his period of reign. Everything in the Konai Civilization had been stabilized, including the growth of the now healthy military. Lathos III had little initiative for civil projects due mostly to his bad health. He did not marry due partly to this deficiency and that was the reason for the end of the Lathos line. Lathos did finally exile Begas IV who had been harassing the Mesaica periodically for retribution for his father's death. One evening in 812 B.C., Lathos III had been walking upon the Ro Peninsula, when a lighting storm struck and a bolt of lighting hit him. He died upon that day, and with him, the Regal Lathos Dynasty and the Age of Power.
