The Five Sovereigns
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History of the
Dhakaani Empire
The Six Kingdoms
The Five Sovereigns
The First Dynastic Period
Vaal'ool Dynasty
Takec Dynasty
Kukaar Dynasties
Daan-Kukaar
Dagec-Kukaar
Shuulec Dekaar Period
Time of Warlords
The Early Dynastic Period
Har'daach Dynasty
Shuul'aagen Dynasty
First Shuul'aagen Dynasty
Rule of Vec'daar
Second Shuul'aagen Dynasty
The Incursion War
The Late Dynastic Period
Khar Dynasties The Red Kingdoms
Haal'khar Dynasty The Eastern Kingdoms
Dagec-Khar Dynasty The Green Kingdoms
The Western Wars
Oroch'dhech Dynasty
Taaluun Dynasty
The Raven States
Western Rhaguul Dynasty Kingdom of Lhekaan
Eastern Rhaguul Dynasty Zuul'dar Dynasty
The Daelkyr Wars
The First Daelkyr War
Ocral'dur Dynasty
The Second Daelkur War
Khragec Dynasty
The Third Daelkyr War
The Final Dynastic Period
Daac'or Dynasty
Makhaal Dynasty
Lahaas Uprising

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The founding of Dhakaan and the first sovereigns of the goblins are topics shrouded in so many legends that it is difficult to discern fact from fiction. The legendary Five Sovereigns who established the kingdom were said to live for centuries and all achieved immortality by divine rites at the end of their lives. While this seems like primitive fantasy, some modern scholars are inclined to believe at least part of the truth and accept like the goblins that this is simply a technique lost to the Dhakaani of later generations. Those who believe it may search their whole lives for clues to regain this lost knowledge and achieve immortality themselves.
Probably the most powerful affect that the legends of the Five Sovereigns had on Dhakaani society was their association with the five formal castes of hobgoblins in Dhakaani society. Dal'tuul is associated with the Rhan'duun caste, Okaaluur with the Muul'dogac caste, Vokuun with the Ghukaan'rhac caste, Nuultaal with the Shaakhec caste, and Tokuul with the Kac'dhogen caste. The relative order of the Sovereigns' reigns was not usually used as a stratification tool by the Dhakaani, but different castes were expected to be better at different skills based on the heritage of their ancestor. This held true for goblin clans and bugbear lines as well, but it was the lineage of the Five Sovereigns of legend to the hobgoblins that entitled them to rule in Dhakaani society.

Dal'tuul

The first of the legendary founders of Dhakaan is Dal'tuul, the leader of the hobgoblin tribes living near the Dagger River, or Drarlaar River as it was known to the Dhakaani. He is known as an inventor who improved the livelihood of the nomadic hunter lifestyle which dominated early goblin tribes. He taught people how to build shelters, tame wild animals and grow crops reliably. At Dal'tuul's request, his court historian created the first Dhakaani writing system, which led to all of the historical scripts of the Dhakaani and of modern Goblin, and Dal'tuul's wife taught people how to weave silk and dye clothes.

It was Dal'tuul who forged the Dhakaani into an empire across southern Khorvaire, though this happened somewhat by accident. When Dal'tuul was still a young man, only recently come to the throne, the neighboring kingdoms of Uthroul and Targaask became sudden enemies and declared war. According to legend, the Targaaski king was an unnatural creature with dark blessings from the gods of the Merlaac Taer whom he claimed held him in the highest esteem of any mortal. He is said to be unbelievably fierce with a body of strong metal, and he supposedly possessed eighty-one brothers each having four eyes and six arms that wielded terrible sharp weapons in every hand. Modern scholars suspect that this may be a conflation of two ancient societies, one zealously devoted to the Merlaac Taer and one which was something more like the Cults of the Dragon Below today.

When the two nations clashed, the Uthroul king stood no chance and lost the fight. He escaped and later ended up begging for help from Dal'tuul, who rallied an army of Dhakaani goblins along with the six types of special beasts that he had tamed. Legend claims that Chi You summoned a thick fog and obscured the sunlight. The battle dragged on for days while Dal'tuul's side was in danger and could not find their way out of the battlefield. Eventually, Dal'tuul discovered how to use his own magic to blow the battlefield clear, after which the Targaaski army could not stand up to the Dhakaani. When the battle was over and the Dhakaani were exhausted the Uthrouli turned on them, although some sources say this was because of a dying curse by the Targaaski emperor who drove them insane. Dal'tuul fought off half the army single-handedly until his troops were rested enough to finish the battle. By the end, Dal'tuul's forces had defeated the other two and he was king of all three goblin kingdoms.

Okaaluur

The queen Okaaluur accepted the throne from Dal'tuul when he became immortal and left Eberron for the divine realms. She is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medical value, and is credited with identifying hundreds of medical (and poisonous) herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucial to the development of medicine. Indeed, in one day even consuming seventy poisons. While the goblins were already farming and raising animals thanks to the inventions of Dal'tuul, but they were still sickly and wanting much of the year. Okaaluur, however, taught them advanced agricultural techniques which she discovered herself by eating hundreds of plants and seeing which ones made her strongest. She also invented the plow, the hoe, and irrigation channels.
An obscure legend found in some ancient texts say that Okaaluur learned much of her natural expertise after traveling in a rich land of green growing things which some scholars believe is a reference to Thelanis. Even those goblins familiar with this legend, though, deny this interpretation because of the legendary animosity between goblins and elves. If the immortal Okaalduur had found her way to the Feywild, they claim, none would be alive today.

Vokuun

Often extolled as the morally perfect sage-king, Vokuun's benevolence and diligence served as a model to future Dhakaani monarchs and emperors. According to legend, Vokuun became the ruler when Queen Okaalduur achieved immortality and he ruled for two centuries before passing the throne to his adopted son Nuultaal. Of his many contributions, Vokuun is said to have invented the game of dur'vaal, reportedly to favorably influence his vicious son Makuun. When he knew that it was time for him to become immortal, Vokuun named Makuun as the ruler but the son said, weeping, that he knew there were other men who could do better. Pleased that his son had learned his lessons of wisdom and humility, Vokuun named Nuultaal his heir instead and disappeared into the divine realms.

This is the most popular version of the story, but the Rhalkuun Annals offer a different one. In this version, Makuun rebels and against his father and chains Vokuun on a mountaintop where he is left to die. The sage-king suffers the ordeal with calm certainty and later, when Makuun is exiled and later defeated by Nuultaal, there is no trace of Vokuun as he became immortal through his strength in adversity.

Nuultaal

Legend has it that Nuultaal's birth-mother died when Shun was very young. His father was blind and re-married soon after Nuultaal's mother's death, providing Nuultaal with a stepbrother and a stepsister. Nuultaal's stepmother and stepbrother treated Nuultaal terribly, often forcing him to do all the hard work in the family and only give him the worst food and clothing. Nuultaal's father, being blind and elderly, was often ignorant of Nuultaal's circumstances and always believed his new wife when she blamed Nuultaal for everything. Yet, despite these conditions, Nuultaal never complained and always treated his father, his stepmother, and his stepbrother with kindness and respect.

When he was barely an adult, Nuultaal was forced to live on his own. Yet, because of his compassionate nature and his natural leadership skills, everywhere he went, people followed him, and he was able to organize the people to be kind to each other and do the best they can. When Nuultaal first went to a village that produced pottery, after less than one year, the potteries became more beautiful than they had ever been. When Nuultaal went to a fishing village, the people there were at first fighting amongst themselves over the fishing grounds, and many people were injured or killed in the fights. Nuultaal taught them how to share the fishing grounds and fish more efficiently, and soon the village was prospering and all hostilities ceased.

When the sage-king Vokuun became old, he distressed over the fact that his nine sons were all useless, and only knew how to spend their days enjoying themselves with wines and songs. As he pondered what to do with the kingdom as when he became immortal, he heard of Nuultaal's deeds and the impressive technologies he had pioneered. Wise Vokuun was intrigued and decided to test Nuultaal by giving him a section of the kingdom to manage. When he moved to the area under his command, Nuultaal still lived humbly. He continued to work in the fields every day convinced his court officials who were used to good living to live humbly and work alongside the people.

Vokuun was very impressed by all of Nuultaal's achievements, and thus chose Nuultaal as his successor and put him on the throne. As king, Nuultaal continued to improved pottery and fishing and is also renowned as the originator of most modern techniques of goblin music. After ruling many years, Nuultaal went on a tour of Dhakaan and visited every village in the land. Having finished this, Nuultaal knew that it was time to retire to the divine realms, though like his mentor Vokuun he decided that his son was not a suitable heir. Instead, he picked the warrior-princess Tokuul as his successor.

Tokuul

Tokuul is a fierce hobgoblin woman, usually depicted as a proud warrior clad in armor, wielding a spiked chain, and riding on a large tiger. She established the governmental system of lhesh and lhevket used throughout Dhakaani history. Tokuul is most famous for battling her own brother Huukuuc, who was a traitor conspiring to bring down the kingdom for his demon patrons. When Tokuul heard that her brother was raising an army to seize the Dhakaani throne, she grabbed her weapons and went to stop him personally. The two of them battled for days, meeting each other in duel after duel as their armies clashed around them. Finally, Tokuul was victorious and struck her brother dead even as she wept at the loss. While the queen was mourning and distracted, a group of Huukuuc's followers broke free from the melee and rushed her with weapons swinging. Tokuul did not move but a cloud of dust rose and swirled around her. When the winds died down, the assailants lay dead and Tokuul had disappeared into the divine realms as an immortal.

This event is known as the Great Betrayal (the Haar Rhakhach) among the Dhakaani since Tokuul did not have time to select an heir and so took the secrets of immortality with her since she . It is because of this that goblins today no longer live for centuries at a time and that they must crudely follow the examples of their ancestors in a quest for apotheosis since the divine formulae are a mystery to all.

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