The Diaspa Empire was a united entity that existed for close to a century. It was one of the 10 autonomous empires and kingdoms that constituted the Caprico Region. Its prosperity, salubrious weather, fecund land swarming with livestock, and water resources made it the envy of other neighbouring empires and kingdoms. It also had the largest concentration of horses in the region.
The empire had a system where two powerful ruling houses, namely the Gulasi Ruling House and the Sanpiyo Ruling House, produced successors in turns. According to the decree establishing the empire, once a reigning emperor passed on through natural causes, the mantle of leadership would be passed to the other ruling house seamlessly.
The arrangement had continued for several years without any hitches or acrimony until Emperor Gulasi came to power. He reigned for just three years and died a natural death. But his ruling house became greedy and dishonest, ostensibly because the emperor's reign was short-lived compared to the tenure of his predecessors from the same ruling house. The Gulasis felt shortchanged by death! They could not come to terms with the late emperor's short reign. They had thought that they had the monopoly of longevity of reign in the empire.
Thus, rather than follow the tradition, they connived with the royal physician to declare that the late emperor's death was not natural and as such, his eldest son would succeed him to continue with his reign until he died through a natural cause.
The physician announced that the emperor was poisoned but where and how it happened could not be established as he had just returned from a trip. And to avoid being found out, the emperor was hurriedly interred at the Royal Cemetery in Wislow, the capital city of Diaspa, without the usual state burial rites.
The Sanpiyo Ruling House demanded an autopsy to be carried out by another physician outside the royal circle because it suspected a conspiracy. The demand was turned down on the grounds that according to their tradition, once an emperor was buried, exhuming the corpse for whatever reasons would bring a curse on the empire.
Since Emperor Gulasi's corpse was not available for the autopsy, the Sanpiyo Ruling House decided to go spiritual. It summoned Sasulo, a renowned seer in the hinterland, to help verify the claim of the Gulasi Ruling House. The seer had to come under the cover of darkness to protect his identity. At the end of his consultations, Sasulo declared that Emperor Gulasi, who was in his late 60s, answered his final summons through a natural cause.
The Sanpiyo Ruling House then insisted that since an autopsy could not be conducted to confirm the unnatural cause of Emperor Gulasi's death as his people claimed, the empire had to be divided.
There were two major tribes that peopled the empire with a population of over 40 million spread across 13 territories that constituted the Diaspa Empire. The Gulasi tribe boasted of about 45 per cent of the population, occupying six territories. The Sanpiyo tribe accounted for about 40 per cent, occupying five territories, while the minority tribes made up the remaining five per cent and occupied two territories. That seeming advantage must have encouraged the Gulasi Ruling House to want to perpetuate its dominance over the other tribes.
Despite opposition by the Sanpiyos, the Gulasi Ruling House went ahead to crown the first son of the late emperor, Crown Prince Jeliani, as the new ruler of the empire. Expectedly, the Sanpiyos refused to recognise the new ruler. Consequently, there was a revolt in the military with the troops loyal to the Sanpiyo tribe, joined by the minority tribes, demanding justice. Their anger was fueled by the rush to bury the late emperor without according him the usual elaborate burial rites, an indication that something was fishy.
Rulers of neighbouring empires and kingdoms stepped in because of the stabilising role that the Diaspa Empire played in the region. Crown Prince Selasto of the Sanpiyo Ruling House, whose turn it was to rule, and his people stuck to their guns. They insisted that power must change hands. The opposing ruling house argued that since it was against the tradition to exhume the body of the immediate past emperor for an autopsy to confirm the real cause of his death, the neighbouring emperors and kings should go spiritual independent of one another to establish the truth.
The Gulasi Ruling House chose to listen to science, which they faked, and nothing else. It was obvious that the battle line had been drawn and an inter-tribal war had become inevitable. The Sanpiyo tribe commanded the largest size of the troops in the empire despite the fact that its population was a bit less than that of the Gulasi tribe. The minority tribes pledged their loyalty to the aggrieved ruling house and teamed up with justice to fight on the side of the Sanpiyo Ruling House.
The neighbouring empires and kingdoms did all they could to avoid the conflict but the recalcitrant fraudsters stood their ground. Several meetings were held to resolve the imbroglio. The divided empire would gift the Gulasi Ruling House with less than 40 per cent of the Diaspa landmass despite its larger population. The Sanpiyo Ruling House had ordered all soldiers of the Sanpiyo tribe in the Diaspa Central Defence Forces to pull out and return to the territories under its control to fight the inevitable civil war. The Gulasi Ruling House that was used to controlling the entire empire would not settle for fewer territories.
The breakup war lasted for a long period and was fought bitterly, leading to loss of innocent troops and inhabitants from both sides of the divide. The surrounding empires and kingdoms were shocked to witness their once peaceful and prosperous neighbours tearing at themselves with so much ruthlessness you would think they had sworn to an oath of self-annihilation. The economy of the region suffered serious setbacks as the confrontation was gradually slipping into a war of attrition.
Reconciliatory meetings were intensified between the two warring factions but the two sides refused to shift their positions. Crown Prince Selasto, who was more aggrieved, insisted on taking his people away from the monumental fraud that the Diaspa Empire had become. He lamented that since the empire was founded, the Gulasis had ruled for a total of 65 years, whereas the Sanpiyos had savoured the reign for less than half the period.
The territories held by the two major tribes were separated by a stretch of land occupied by the minority tribes. It formed a kind of buffer but the warring parties turned it to their battleground. However, the support of the minority tribes helped the Sanpiyo troops to gain the upper hand and force the Gulasis to let go of the rebellious Sanpiyo tribe.
The minority tribes aligned with the Sanpiyo tribe and a new domain was created, named Rambasi Empire. With the participation of the neighbouring emperors and kings, a high-powered committee was set up to facilitate the sharing of the common and movable assets of the old Diaspa Empire.
The deep-seated bad blood that existed between Crown Prince Selasto and his sworn enemy was passed down to the next generation.