Shomat (256 - 555) was the third King of D'ni.
Biography[]
Born in 256, he was the third son of King Ailesh, the youngest of two rebellious brothers, and his chosen successor. He was a member of the Guild of Writers until, at the age of 44, he took the throne. His reign was not stable, mainly due to the tension between him and his brothers, who did everything in their power to derail his reign. He continued his education in the Art for several years under private tutelage, though this lack of proper Guild instruction may have caused many of the distorted and perverse views he would later develop concerning the Art. Shomat preached that the Ages should serve the D'ni, a blatant contradiction to what the Guilds taught, that the D'ni should serve the Ages.
One of the first actions that Shomat took was to order the construction of a royal palace, which was completed in 347. The palace caused controversy as the people viewed it as too extravagant. There were many gardens inside the grounds, along with Books that linked to garden Ages which he wrote. There were rumors that many of these garden Ages were used for Shomat's vacations after having being rid of their inhabitants. He moved his family to the palace, and invited his brothers, but they chose to stay to their own homes. This only widened the gap between them. Eventually the tension of the reign pushed Shomat over the breaking point. Some began to speculate that he had gone insane. Even his own children were out of control.
According to a story, the Palace was unlike anything else in the Cavern, and was expanded every year. Despite this, Shomat was bored of it and asked Grand Master Kenri to write the most beautiful Garden Age. He built a palace there but his men alerted them for humanoid creatures. They discovered a city of those creatures who were amassing an army. Shomat imprisoned these men and planned to exterminate these creatures, despite the counsels of his officer Lemash. He asked the help of his brothers, who were bitter with him (according to that story he never invited them to the Palace), and secretly conspired with the creatures to destroy him. They returned saying that Shomat was free to link there again; but he proved more cunning and killed his brothers luring them into a Death Book which he then burned, and then ordered Kenri to make alterations to the Garden Age, making it uninhabitable for the creatures.[1]
What is known is that his two brothers disappeared in 387, and were never heard from again. The common presumption that Shomat killed them by a means of a Death Book was never corrobated by any evidence.
The people reacted strongly to this, and supplied a Prophetess to Shomat in an attempt to give him proper religious instruction in the way of Yahvo, thus beginning the tradition of the King choosing a prophet or prophetess for guidance. She became an excellent teacher for Shomat, who afterwards became a better king. Following her suggestions, Shomat did not choose one of his children as a heir, but the son of a close friend. This child was Ja'kreen.
Shomat died of natural causes at the age of 299 in the year 555.