The Makhoren

The Makhoren trace their lineage to Maikho, the god of Fire, Ambition, and Creation, whose death during the Godstorm marked the end of the divine age. According to legend, his mortal-born children carried fragments of his essence, flame that neither time nor death could extinguish. Led by their matriarch Asha-Maikho, they gathered the scattered survivors of the storm and crossed the seas to the eastern isles that would become Maikhohoto. There, they built shrines in Maikho’s name and codified the first rites of worship and renewal. In this early age, they were not rulers but guides: seers, priests, and mediators who sought to preserve the last remnants of divine order in a broken world.   During the centuries of rebuilding that followed The Fall of Parretoa, the Makhoren emerged as the spiritual heart of the new civilization. They oversaw rituals of birth, death, and harvest, and through their divine heritage, they alone could grant the Temple Seals that legitimized the use of magic. This control over the sacred arts made them indispensable to both peasants and nobles, yet also isolated them from everyday life. When the long darkness lifted and the Rokuzan clan rose to prominence, the Makhoren bound themselves to mortal power through marriage and ritual alliance. From this union came Hizo the First, priest and monarch, whose coronation marked the dawn of the Maikhotic Empire.   In the centuries that followed, the Makhoren became both guardians of faith and arbiters of legitimacy. They anointed emperors, recorded the divine calendars, and presided over the grand rites that affirmed the empire’s unity. Though they claimed no armies, their blessing determined who could rule, and their silence could unmake a dynasty. Yet power bred division: during the Shōen and Shikken periods, the Makhoren split into two branches. The Court Makhoren remained in Maikhosato, overseeing imperial archives and coronations, while the Provincial Makhoren served as advisors and spiritual overseers to the great clans. Over time, these branches grew estranged, one consumed by ceremony, the other by politics.   By the time of the Seven Clans Period, the Makhoren had become symbols of an age long past. Their temples still crowned kings and sanctified laws, but their words carried less weight in the councils of war. Even so, they endure at the center of Maikhohoto’s identity, keepers of its myths, interpreters of its fate, and the living reminder that the divine once walked among mortals. Whether seen as prophets or relics, the Makhoren remain the bridge between heaven and earth, their bloodline the last ember of a god who once forged the world in flame.