Minister Yeongi
Minister Yeongi was the head of the Ministry of Purity in Cantha during and after the Zhaitan Disaster. Ambitious and cunning, he desired power even above the authority of the Imperial Family and installed himself as regent in the aftermath of Emperor Bitgaram's illness. Yeongi effectively ruled Cantha until Bitgaram's daughter, Empress Haebaragi, rose to power and defeated the Ministry of Purity at Zen Daijun Temple.
History[edit]
Rise to power[edit]
Yeongi joined the Ministry of Purity and rose in the ranks until he became their leader, the Minister of Purity. He was mentored by Minister Zal of the Ministry of Flame.[1] Following the Zhaitan Disaster which wiped out most of Old Kaineng City in 1729 CC (1219 AE), Cantha had lost Emperor Kyobok and most of the Imperial Family along with countless other lives. Kyobok's successor, Emperor Bitgaram, came to power during the crisis and gave various proclamations to restore order and face the threat which the invading Risen posed to the Empire of the Dragon. Directing funds to the military and the navy to save his nation, the emperor called for the soldiers in the Ministry of Purity to root out any sign of corruption in Cantha while he bestowed new authority upon Yeongi to speak on his behalf in matters of security.[2]
Bitgaram eventually grew ill and became unfit to govern while his daughter, Princess Haebaragi, was still too young to succeed him, so the Imperial Court voted on a regent in the interim years starting in 1738 CC (1228 AE). Yeongi argued that the powers invested in his office to combat the Risen gave him the authority to overrule the regent candidate brought by the Imperial Court, which led to a heated dispute decided along razor-thin margins in favor of the minister. After Yeongi's rise to power, members of the Ministry of Justice's review panel who had argued against his position were charged with "sedition and impure practices."[3]
Support for the Ministry of Purity began to crumble as their corruption became evident in the following years. As efforts to rebuild the nation furthered, so did Yeongi's adamance that Cantha remain secluded, another view that was falling out of fashion.[1]
Fall from grace[edit]
Haebaragi was crowned empress in 1743 CC (1233 AE) and clashed with both the Celestial Ministry and the Ministry of Purity a few years into her reign in an effort to weed out bureaucratic corruption from her empire.[4] Realizing that the empress was gaining support with her actions, Minister Yeongi and his affiliates decided to preemptively move away to regroup in a safer location while rallying their supporters to stage a coup against the empress whom they painted as tyrant wishing to eliminate her opposition.[5] During this time, Yeongi decided to lend one of his affiliates sanctuary in the Ministry of Purity's temporary headquarters.[6] After a series of violent outbreaks following her disbanding the corrupt Celestial Ministry, Haebaragi officially disbanded the Ministry of Purity as well.[1] In response, Yeongi issued orders for the ministry's supporters to face Haebaragi's forces at Zen Daijun Temple during the civil war although the final battle ended in the empress's victory in 1747 CC (1237 AE) thanks to the tengu holdouts coming to the empress's aid.[7][8][9] Yeongi's mentor Zal, who had escaped from prison with the Ministry of Purity's help, seemed to have perished in the aftermath of the battle.[6]
Despite the Ministry of Purity's defeat, however, their cause lived on, and their supporters and followers would form various separate cells that would come to be known as the Purists in the following decades.[8] Surviving Purist forces gradually moved off to the main peninsula to scout for new locations for their bases of operations, some ending up in the mountains of western Shing Jea Island and others hiding in the ruins of Old Kaineng.[6] Some Canthans suspected that secret Purist affiliates lingered on in the government to oppose the empress from within, but their theories and findings were neither confirmed nor acted upon.[10]
Related achievements[edit]
Arborstone: Pure Enmity — Retrieve Purist documents in Old Kaineng. (1
)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c History of the Ministry of Fire
- ^ Proclamations on the Risen Threat, 1730 CC
- ^ Ministry of Justice Rulings, 1738–1741 CC
- ^ New Kaineng Zoning Record 0072
- ^ New Kaineng Zoning Record 0132
- ^ a b c Purist Document Fragment
- ^ Collected Ministry Edicts, 1747 CC
- ^ a b Dissolution of the Ministry of Purity, 1747 CC
- ^ Old Friends
- <Character name>: I'm a little rusty on my Canthan history, but things seem...different from what I would've expected.
- Lady Kasmeer Meade: Well, there was a tsunami when Zhaitan arose; lot of Kaineng was destroyed, uninhabitable.
- Lady Kasmeer Meade: Maybe worse than Lion's Arch.
- Marjory Delaqua: Apparently filthy with Risen—Zhaitan, of course—
- Lady Kasmeer Meade: —Which led to a rebellion against the Ministry of Purity—pretty bloody one, too—
- Marjory Delaqua: —Massive civil war, who knows how long—sounds like things were pretty bad, until some tengu holdouts joined up—
- Lady Kasmeer Meade: —Turned the tide, maybe. Still trying to piece it all together. But yeah, not exactly what we expected.
- ^ A Last Request, 1775 CC
