Changing of the Guard

'I need something big, but cheap... Another war would be too destructive and could lead to people comparing me more to my cousin. The marriages were a good first step, but now I need the people to love me!'

As the Hauhkuno pondered this issue, he kept looking towards the piece of jewellery his new tributary had given him. It was beautiful, familiar, yet foreign... The idea struck him like a ton of bricks.

'I must bring the colonies to the Raikh!'

His mind started swimming... He could use taxes to levy his unemployed and have them build vast monuments to his greatness, the Raikh, and his ancestors. A pyramid larger than any found thus far in Tanysira, with... Botanical gardens and greenhouses on its steps and glass covering it that only let heat and light in but not out... Surely his scientists could find or make something like that... And deep within the base of this pyramid, would be his tomb. He can have some lights placed at the apex so that once he dies and is enshrined, it will beam like a beacon into the night forever attracking people to his grandness.



'Yes! This will be good... Ah, but I need to avoid being seen as too self-serving...'

Temples? Temples are always popular, but they are also too often seen as places to go to trade, gossip, and worship alone... A temple complex that is open to the public throughout the year could work. Stone walls with columns and statues, with large pools of water in symmetrical shapes and gardens in between and lining the paths... Oh, that would do nicely. Though... That would make any old temple seem like a let down, even a large one... No, the temple needs to have statues of all the gods, from every realm! It must be to its core a piece of religious art, with me standing by the door dressed as an ancient warrior-king, standing guard over the gods themselves... Yes, that would do. It should also have lights integrated into its stonework so as to make it as beautiful in the darkest nights as it is in the brightest days.



'Hmm... What else though? I have something for myself, something for the gods... Something for our heroes?'

As he thought on this, his eyes came to rest on an image from Hweituzdas of a local Hellene temple.



'Oh, that will do nicely.'

He spent the rest of the evening coming up with other ideas and designs, writing up orders, and bringing together as many things as he could. By the time he was done, he had designed five great monumental structures, six more of a lesser quality, and some twenty-eight memorials and monuments that would stand on their own. He would be remembered as a great builder and his people would love him for it.