Slave-Girl Lyria
Lyria was a slave captured by the Marcon Alliance shortly before the fall and the begining of the Second Chaotic Period. The diary covers a span of about 5 years, from 306 B.G.A. to 300 B.G.A.
The diary was copied many times and became quite popular during the Golden Age, where it was probably extensively modified and rewritten to suit the tastes of the time.
Lyria's Diary
The Diary of the Slave-Girl Lyria is considered an important work of clasical literature, and continued to be read well into the Sixth Age. It contains much of the information of Marconian life and speaks of many of their customs.
According to the text, Lyria was born on one of the last worlds to be conquered before the Marcon Alliance fell. Having been born into a free life, her diary begins shortly after her initial capture and enslavement at the age of 12. It is likely the early events of the diary were recorded later, thought they are told as if being recorded as the events happen. This is theorized because the young girl seems entirely to mature for the early chapters.
The diary chronchles how she was captured and processed, the Marcons had an effiecient system for dealing with new slaves and distributing them throughout the empire. Lyria's journey lasts nearly a year as she is sold through various processing centers.
She eventually comes into the hands of a wealthy Marconian land-owner in the heart of the empire, who in turn gives her to his son. Bear in mind the Marcons regard women as property, with few uses, but Lyria's final buyer has only one specific "use" in mind for his son's birthday present.
However, the landowner's son, who is not named in the tale, is a curious young man who does not hold with traditional Marcon beliefs. He keeps Lyria as a friend and companion, treating her with a great deal of respect and dignity, and obviously allowing her to keep the diary.
The tale follows Lyria and the landowner's son through the Gudersnipe Army invasion, and the complete destruction of the Marcon Alliance. The story provides a unique look at the fall of the Marcon Alliance from the perspective of the Marcons, Lyria writes repeatedly about the anger and frustration of the people around her.
Lyria and the son eventually escape. The son, despite being a full-blooded Marconian citizen, escapes death because he is mistaken for an escaped slave. He and Lyria leave the Marcon Alliance for one of the newly-freed slave worlds. Though now free to leave him, Lyria stays with the son who has showed her so much kindness through the years. He asks her to marry him, and she concents, this is the end of the diary.
Questions about Authenticity
The diary was originally written on hand-made paper, and copied down through the ages to be eventually included in the Accepted Histories in the Fourth Age. The oldest known copy dated only to the mid Third Age, leading some to doubt it's authenticity. Since each revision of the story often updated it's language or made small mistakes in the transcription, it is difficult to reconstruct the original.
Herbet Patric Galactis, author of the Accepted Histories, maintains that authenticity is unimportant with regaurds to the tail of Lyria. It presents an idea, an impression of time, who's actual facts are inconsequential when viewed through the lens of the human condition. Galactis did extensive research into the story, and while it was impossible to verify as fact, he did find it to be "consistant without understanding of the time."
Critics of the diary often point out how uncharacteristic it would have been for the land owner's son(believed to have been 16 when he recieved ownership of Lyria), to hold such enlightened views. Having been raised in the tradition of the Marcon Alliance, his beliefs would have been regarded as herietical.
The story, they say, probably stels from the Golden Age, probably around the era of the Earth Sphere Unified Nations, when it was popular for writers to present a romanticized view of what was then fairly recent history. The story of the Marconian boy who befriended the slave girl and saved her from a lifetime of cruelty would have been viewed as "redeeming" of the Marcon Alliance. By that point in history, the borders of the Marcon Alliance were lost, and anything presenting them as something other than an evil horde would probably have sparked a great deal of curiosity.
Galactis responded to the critics with an alternate theory. Based on his interpretation of certain passages in the text, he presents that it may have been heavily edited during the Golden Age. He believes the son probably partook in his slave, but that he still kept her with kindness and dignity. In her diary, Lyria seems to hint at this notion, but never directly says it. This, combined with her early contempt for the son, is what Galactis presents as support for his theory.
This revised viewpoint presents a much more honest look at the story, that brings it back in line with understood Marconian social norms. The son may have used his slave for pleasure, but did not mistreat her, and did eventually fall in love with her. The diary even talks about him dressing her as a boy in public so he could take her away from his father's estate unshackled, and treat her with dignity in front of others. Only after the Marcon Alliance fell, was he able to trully express his love for Lyria.
