Tavibo Tagötöka

As Thetan cycles of ambition and power consume the Celestial Empire, we are bound to look inwards and concern ourselves with the transgressions of our neighbors, while ignoring the transgressions and crimes of the barbarian wastes outside of the realm. I worry for our Celestial Empire, which draws closer and closer to demise, and like vultures, they watch on the outskirts, awaiting a chance to take the remains for themselves. They have many names - the Gaian, the Mormon, the Atomite, the 'Alawi - no matter their prayer or the tongue they may say it in, they all share a loathing and jealousy for our wealth and land. None, however, have dared an attempt so outrageous as Tavibo the Mad.

Tavibo Tagötöka first enters our records as a minor Paiute tribal warrior in the lands of the Northern Protectorate, then under the control of the General Kirk Gable. Unlike most of the northern barbarians, Tavibo took great interest in the teachings of the Emperor. He was once sent by the chief of his tribe, Wovoka, to the eastern Imperial Capital, Sacramento, where he supposedly made acquaintance with the scholars of the realm. Later, he would become the chief of his tribe. He and his tribe would eventually cast away their old beliefs and embrace Enlightenment, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the Emperor. Tavibo proved to be quite passionate about Cetic thought, and began his earnest adoration regarding the legends of The First Emperor The Lawgiver. While his tribe was relatively minor amongst the many barbarians of the north, Tavibo's zeal earned him close connections with the northern Prefects. These ties allowed him to wield much more influence than his paltry tribe could have mustered militarily. Over time Tavibo would consolidate his power and expand his tribe to control much of the Northern Basin. Given his loyalty to the Empire, he was largely allowed to expand uncontested, quelling other more defiant barbarians. This decentralization of authority allowed Tavibo to gain his strength as chaos began to emerge in the land and traitors to the realm rebelled against the Imperial Court and its institutions. With the death of the General Kirk Gable and the collapse of Imperial Order, our fair Governatus, the Queen Susan Ann Steely, began to restore order across the Central lands, subjugating criminals and wrongdoers in the name of the Emperor. Here, an interesting anecdote arises - Tavibo, now lord of a large domain, which he called "The Great Northern Basin", offered a proposal of marriage to the then-unmarried Governatus. How arrogant of him to assume she would marry a barbarian, no matter how vast his realm? She's a Californian girl, unforgettable and undeniable, and she ignored his proposal completely. For his credit, Tavibo humbled his ambition in this regard and married one of his own, siring three children with her. As order restored and the Empire consolidated control over the Valley, the traitorous Prefects who had taken the mantle of Kingship lay at all corners of the realm, and the self-proclaimed King of the Valley of Death, who in fact was a Paiute lord, was approached by Tavibo for an offered alliance - Tavibo supposedly spoke about the Empire and protecting the Emperor, but the rebel-Prefect refused this offer, seemingly content with his lands, replying back about the threat to his south, ruled by the rebel-Carmine house. Tavibo disappears from records here for a period of time, despite the best efforts of our Governatus, who had been interested in monitoring this barbarian ever since this attempted contact.

He reappears a few years later, proclaiming himself "The High Chief" and claiming to be the loyal vassal of the Emperor. He began preaching a philosophy that contained radical and rebellious sentiments. In truth it is difficult to fully ascertain Tavibo's intentions, there are many tales of how he wished to emulate The Lawgiver and unite the faiths of the Pacific. Some say he intended to go even farther and pervert the teachings of the Emperor to justify some new faith of his own creation, a grave accusation that borders on the unthinkable. Others call him a misguided barbarian who wished to create a new way under his Guruship. It is only the second of these theories which makes any sort of sense, for how could one hope to build a more perfect philosophy than what has already been laid out by the Gurus and protected by our Empire! The truest question is whether this attempt was born of some misguided zeal or a more cynical desire. After the collapse of the Imperial Authority, Tavibo's connections with the Prefects he had met meant very little, and he found himself surrounded by barbarians who wanted nothing more than to further the death of the Empire. His tribe was undoubtedly in a poor position, and he needed some way to unite them in order to survive. Did he attempt to inspire his people with zeal or was it an attempt to establish himself as a spiritual leader in order to further his ambitions? For all of Tavibo's writings, he left no indication of why he embarked on the path he did. It, however, is safe to assume that Tavibo thought of himself as some sort of successor to House Yudkow, despite his claims otherwise. In one of his speeches, overheard by an agent dispatched by our Governatus, he all declares himself as such. "Elton's empire has fallen, and chaotic traitors tear Heaven asunder. It will soon be time for one more worthy to reclaim the Empire in the name of The Lawgiver." Tavibo made overtures to the rebels around him to join him on his Holy Quest - for he viewed it as nothing else - and to "rid the Empire of Falsehood." Brave and true Californians, no matter how treacherous, all ignored his proposals - but many barbarian lords rallied to Tavibo and joined him in his ambitions. A fatal mistake occurs here - rather than take him for the threat he was, the various lords and ladies of the Empire ignored the Mad Paiute, who was climbing his way through the intrigues of the Cowl. A clenched Fist should have been the immediate response, or maybe that of the Shrewd Cowl, but certainly not that of the Dove, which was extended to him until his ambition knew no boundaries.

With his position at home reinforced by his new teachings, Tavibo launched a campaign southwards in what he called "A war of liberation against the warlords who hold the Emperor captive" (though it is much more likely Tavibo wanted the Emperor under his control to acknowledge his new teachings and to solidify his rule.) This act caught the rebel-Kingdom of Jefferson off guard. As the Northernmost warlord state, they were the first line of defense against the northern barbarians, but Tavibo had been long considered an ally and so when his army marched into Black Rock not even the shrewd rebel-Queen Marilyn Thielsen was prepared. Despite their inferior training and equipment, Tavibo's men fought with unnatural zeal and overran the sparse garrisons of Nevada. Queen Marilyn raised an army in Reno to personally crush Tavibo. While she was successful in pushing Tavibo back from Black Rock, his barbarians continued to strike at the Jeffersonian army, bleeding it slowly while the barbarians seemingly only grew in numbers. King Quentin grew tired of the stalemate and sent overtures to Tavibo, inviting him to join Quentin in a host southwards to spread their rebellion and capture the Emperor, but the rebel Quentin suddenly perished before an envoy could be sent, leaving his son Stanford king. Marilyn once again assumed regency, and sent a letter to the Governatus, Susan Ann Steely, acknowledging her rule as Governatus and asking for her assistance in crushing Tavibo as he was a threat to not only Jefferson but the Valley as well.

That month, seven thousand Valleyan soldiers marched across the Sierra Nevadas to reinforce the Jeffersonian army, and together they beat Tavibo's hoard back, striking his camp in the dead of the night. In the Battle of the Shattered Elk, the barbarians were cut down and slaughtered. No mercy was given for their transgression was so great. The Mad Tagötöka himself was captured and executed by the rebel-Queen Marilyn. With their Prophet slain, the Governatus, may she reign for five thousand years, split his nascent state into three, giving each portion to one of his children. She ensured that the Tagötöka clan would never rise again, and that the Mad Barbarian's heretic faith would die with him. Very few continued to follow Tavibo's teachings, instead returning whatever faith they held before. His own children could not agree on any one central doctrine and so schismed as well. Tavibo's dream died with him and the victorious Californians returned home knowing that they had not only won a great victory over barbarians but also protected the Emperor and the entire Cetic philosophy from the whims of a mad radical.