Wanderings
A Concise History of the Kuzri People

 

 

One of the Library of Iyudah's functions has long been the dissemination of knowledge throughout Kuzri society.  No Iyudean education is complete that does not include detailed instruction in the rich and vibrant history of the Kuzri people and their state, the Kingdom of Iyudah.  The following is a short summary of this history for the casual student.

Chapters include:

 

 

The Birth of the Kuzrim
Five thousand years ago, the galaxy knew war on a scale that it had never before seen. The forces of God himself waged battle against the legions of the serpent, the fallen prophet who directed his own campaign against the righteous and the holy. War pitted saint against demon as the vile servants of the serpent, the Sith, sought to corrupt and damn the peoples of the galaxy.

It was at this time that God summoned before him the leaders of the ten tribes of the planet Iyudah. The people, known as the Kuzrim after their leader Kuzar, a prophet of God and leader of one of the ten tribes, were told by God that they had been chosen to uphold the virtues of the Light. With Godly insight, the Prophet Kuzar gathered the tribes together in a valley he named Meggido, where they would live together as a single community and tribe. Kuzar himself founded the city of Avivash, although it would be destroyed, along with the Kuzri state, some two thousand years in the future.

In Avivash, the ground on which a great temple would be erected and dedicated to God was purified and blessed by Kuzar himself (although the people did not yet have the means to provide a real temple, they worshipped there in the open air). The people dutifully learned their role in galactic society and embraced it with open arms. Unfortunately, it would later be discovered that the galaxy would not be as accepting of the Kuzrim as they were of it.

For two thousand years, the Kuzrim grew in strength, covering the fertile Meggidan alluvial plain--the only significant stretch of arable land on an otherwise rocky desert world. Avivash grew to a rather respectable size, and the world boasted an impressive library used by the occasional Jedi visitor (although the library was completely destroyed at the beginning of the Exile). The people flourished, and works of justice and righteousness were the rule rather than the exception.

Under the rule of King Jeohab II, the First Temple of the Kuzrim was completed. Jeohab II ruled approximately three hundred years after Kuzar himself, and the First Temple was a truly magnificent structure. Designed by the prophet Ezuakhah, the temple would serve the Kuzrim as a place of unified communal worship. However, the temple held a deeper symbolic significance, and it was a return to the temple for which the people longed after the Exile. Like the Sigil of Daefed (see below), the concept of the Temple would serve as a rallying point for the Kuzrim far in the future.

 

The Millenia of Exile
Although the Republic was strong, there were always problems cropping up here and there. The galaxy was in a time of peace, but no time of peace is without its own venues of struggle. Iyudah was destined to become one of those few centers of war 3,000 years ago, shortly after the great prophet Isianach recorded his conversations with God.

Iyudah, a member world of the Republic, was taken by surprise when Edaum, another member world, attacked the Saalhom System in response to criticism of Edaum's repressive local government. The act of aggression was aimed against a world which had put little stock in the necessity of defensive emplacements; the Kuzri message was one of love and hope in the Light. Before the Republic could react, what was viewed as a minor border war had already resulted in the first great enslavement of the Kuzri people. Stolen from their homeland, the Kuzrim were taken into capitivity. To prevent a return of Kuzri power, the world of Iyudah was bombarded, its cities destroyed. Only the ruins of Avivash commemorated the destruction of the Kuzri state, and the city's impressive library was obliterated. Only a single wall of the great First Temple survived the bombardment.

When the Republic finally did react, it did so too little, too late. Rather than allow the Kuzrim to remain on their homeworld and accept defeat, the anti-Iyudeans dispersed the Kuzrim throughout the galaxy, believing that without their home and community, they would eventually die out.

The enemies of the Kuzrim were almost successful; they had plotted well. But God has always been the best of plotters. And although the Kuzrim became a people of refugees, scorned by galactic society in the few places they were tolerated, they retained the hope that had united them as a people and given their lives direction. Despite the light-years between their communities and their ancient homeland, the fire of their faith remained undimmed. The people of God carried on as best they could under harsh conditions, striving to survive in the face of hardship.

The Republic did little to aid the Kuzrim in their plight. Already, corruption was beginning to enter that body, and even the Jedi seemed otherwise concerned--although certain few Jedi did indeed justify the Kuzri belief in their sainthood as those few did what they could to alleviate the suffering of the homeless Kuzrim.

Traveling from world to world in search of succor, the Kuzrim were almost destroyed by the simple passage of time. It was then that another great Kuzri prophet arose, Daefed the Restorer. Summoning his people to his side, he set out for Iyudah to rebuild the Kuzri society on their ancient home.

 

Return to Iyudah
Slowly, the Kuzrim began to return. Avivash was slowly rebuilt, and Daefed was granted the honor of serving as the King of the Kuzri people in the tradition of their 5,000-year-old society. Today, the Sigil of Daefed, the mark of his family, is the royal crest of the Kuzri people and a symbol of hope in times of hardship.

The Sigil of Daefed
The Sigil of Daefed

Daefed's first task after gathering his people from their exile across the galaxy was to rebuild the First Temple. The Temple of Daefed, also referred to as the Second Temple, drew on ancient sources in an attempt to build a structure befitting the name of the Temple of the Kuzrim. The result was nothing short of magnificent, and the temple stood as a rallying point for the rebuilding of the society of the Kuzrim.

Daefed did not live to see the completion of his temple or the rebuilding of his society, however; death claimed him some four years after he led his people back to Iyudah. He had read the prophesies that stated that Iyudah would blossom when freedom had finally been achieved, and he desperately wanted to see it do so now. But as he lay on his deathbed, his last words were of content--although he had not truly seen his world blossom, he had returned hope to the Kuzrim, and for that, he would never be forgotten.

Five generations of the line of Daefed ruled Iyudah in peace before disaster again struck the Kuzrim. War broke out across the galaxy as a frightening new faction entered the scene: the Clonemasters. The faith of the Kuzrim was again to be tested, as their system became the unwitting battleground between a Clonemaster and a Republican fleet. Assisted by what little the Kuzrim could offer, the Republican fleet was proving the more capable of the combatants when the commander of the Clonemaster armada decided that the Kuzrim would pay a stiff price, indeed, for their resistance. Before their vessels could be destroyed, the Clonemasters bombarded Iyudah from high orbit, damaging a large number of settlements and even the Second Temple.

Although the temple was not actually destroyed (and, in fact, had been restored to its original condition within a year), the bombardment proved to be an ill omen for the Kuzrim. King Binhamen had been slain in the assault, and his son Jehoiakim, the sixth descendent of Daefed, assumed the throne of the Kuzrim. His rule, however, was to last only twelve years before the Kuzrim would again be threatened with annihilation for their beliefs.

 

The Tyrant Haman
Thirty-one years ago, Senator Palpatine declared himself Emperor, and the Republic ceased to exist. With its fall came the most cruel torture the Kuzrim would ever endure.

As the Empire rose from the ashes of the Republic, Palpatine decreed that the Jedi were to be exterminated. During this Purge of the Jedi, Palpatine saw it fit to remove from the galaxy any threats to his rule, and he determined the Kuzri people to be one such threat. However, the Empire was not yet completely stable, and Palpatine still sought to consolidate his rule on Coruscant. Therefore, he decided that, rather than obliterate the Kuzrim completely, he would enslave them and either take them from their homeworld to labor for the greater glory of the Empire, or allow them to remain behind in bondage to help fill the growing demand for support for the Imperial military.

So it was that Governor Haman arrived to nationalize Iyudah for the Empire. But the Empire's tactical planners knew that the Kuzrim might resist, so they sent with him a considerable battlegroup centered around the Victory-class Star Destroyer Shoah. The Empire's show of force was more than enough to cow the Kuzrim, who had not yet implemented any form of defensive infrastructure in the Saalhom System. Units of the Imperial Army quickly landed on Iyudah, and the Emperor's elite new corps of rabidly loyal Stormtroopers immediately seized the royal family's home and the Second Temple. Although records were suppressed by the Empire, it is now known that the entire royal family, save King Jehoaikim's son, the Crown Prince Joshesh (the seventh son of Daefed, the seventh son of Saalhemmin - a fulfillment of prophesy), were assassinated by these same Stormtroopers.

Martial law was immediately instituted, and at the first sign of discontent, large groups of Kuzrim were rounded up and massacred in a mass grave they had been forced to dig with their own hands. The galaxy had boasted some 32 million Kuzrim before Palpatine's rise; at the time of the Battle of Endor, it is estimated that only 10 million had survived. In addition, Imperial forces demolished the Second Temple of the Kuzrim in an effort to break their will. And at the sight of their beloved temple in ruins, the people were indeed disheartened.

The Kuzri people were enslaved and scattered throughout the galaxy as slaves, toiling away to fuel the Imperial war machine as it suppressed all dissent. Those few Kuzrim permitted to remain on Iyudah were used as manual labor for foodstuff production for the Imperial Navy, and they were mistreated horribly at the personal orders of Governor Haman.

The Empire had come very close to doing what nobody in the past had managed to accomplish: the complete destruction of the Kuzri people. But so long as one Kuzri remained, the spirit of the Kuzrim lived on. And so they did remain, and so the spirit did as well, carrying its people through the most trying times of their long history.

It was under these hellish conditions, as the Kuzrim teetered on the brink of destruction, that a beacon of light arose far away. It was rumored that, not only had Prince Joshesh escaped, but that he was a new prophet of the Lord. Those priests still in hiding continued the interpretations begun by Mardikhay, priest and advisor to King Jehoaikim, personal tutor to Joshesh. Mardikhay contended that passages in the Sifayr pointed to the rise of dark times, and if Joshesh truly were a prophet, then he would become the Lion of Iyudah, the Seventh Son of the Seventh Son, the abolisher of tyranny and the realization of freedom for the Kuzrim. It is known that Mardikhay gave his life insuring the escape of Joshesh, and the remaining priests vowed that his discovery would not go unnoticed.

 

The Lion of Iyudah
Mardikhay, High Priest of Kuzriyya, was rarely incorrect in matters theological--and his beliefs of the role of Joshesh in the history of the Kuzrim would be proven many years after his death. Prince Joshesh was indeed a prophet, and it was his destiny that he liberate the Kuzrim from oppression and bring them into a new age of bounty, much as his ancestor Daefed himself had done.

The Empire's reach was long, however, and Joshesh and his retainers were forced to live a solitary existence in the Outer Rim for many years. All the while, the prince sought out and--when possible--freed Kuzri slaves and brought them to the secret community of Refuge, on the edge of the Rim. Joshesh proved that the reach of God was far longer than the reach of the Empire; although his community began with a scant 1,000 Kuzrim, he was soon providing refuge for over one hundred thousand of his people--and making preparations for the liberation of the Saalhom System. It seemed nobody could stand alone against the Empire, but the Rebel Alliance seemed to be making a try at it. Joshesh bided his time and watched as the Alliance grew in strength and momentum.

The results of the Battle of Yavin inspired Joshesh, and he began to send out operatives to the far corners of the galaxy. Many of these returned to a state of slavery on Iyudah, posing as Kuzri slaves of the Empire. These agents, however, were secretly feeding information back to Joshesh further along the Rim, and he saw his opportunity approaching even as the Kuzrim of Iyudah began to whisper of rebellion.

Joshesh turned to the task of building a strike force capable of neutralizing the Shoah, still assigned to protect the world for the Empire. Although locating vessels that could stand against a Star Destroyer was incredibly difficult, the Kuzri prophet managed to bring together a ragtag assemblage of starfighters, converted freighters, and even a few small- and medium-sized capital ships. He knew the time to strike was nearing--it was simply a question of when.

The question was answered for him by the Battle of Endor. As news of Palpatine's death reached the Kuzrim, they rejoiced, for the end of the Emperor could well mean the end of the Empire. Joshesh immediately ordered his agents on Iyudah to begin preparations for an uprising against the Imperial garrison, and he sought out what few other ships he could find to help free his world. Six months later, he decided the time had come. Activating his agents, he boarded his armada's largest vessel, a bulk cruiser, to personally command the battle.

The timing was perfect. The Kuzri fleet arrived just as a general uprising of the Kuzri people erupted in the streets of Avivash. And a group of Kuzri slaves doing maintenance work on the Shoah, led by one of Joshesh's agents, seized a supply of explosives and fought their way to the mighty vessel's power core. There, they caused an explosion that crippled the vessel, giving their own lives as martyrs to do their part to free their people.

Although the Kuzri fleet was still vastly outnumbered and outclassed, the Imperial fleet was demoralized at the sight of their flagship in its death throes. And God was truly with the Kuzrim, as the battle turned to an unexpected rout of the Imperial forces. Thirty minutes later, the entire Imperial naval force had been destroyed, with surprisingly few Kuzri casualties.

Faced with a general uprising that he could not control in the face of orbital bombardment, Haman quickly prepared to surrender his garrison to the attacking Kuzri rebels. But before he could do so, his garrison was obliterated from orbit, the casualty of the same turbolasers with which the Empire had cowed the Kuzrim so many years before.

Thirty minutes later, Haman was in custody, and Joshesh arrived on his homeworld for the first time since the arrival of the Empire. He dropped to his knees and kissed its hallowed ground before walking through the city of Avivash to the site of the Second Temple. There, he mourned its loss and the loss of so many Kuzri lives in their war for freedom. He poured ashes on his head, then turned to face his people, who were quickly gathering before him. Before he could say a word to them, the entire crowd, almost in unison, declared him the Lion of Iyudah, Prophet of God. He fell to his knees, said a blessing, and humbly accepted the faith in him his people had shown.

For his role in the subjugation, oppression, torture, and genocide of the Kuzri people, Imperial Governor Haman was sentenced to death. Two months after the Battle of Saalhom, Haman was publicly executed in Avivash.

The task of rebuilding the Kuzri society daunted Joshesh, but his faith in God and his own abilities gave him comfort. His first task was to wipe away the last vestiges of Imperial rule, which effectively meant rebuilding Avivash. With his strong connection with the land through the power of God, Joshesh guided his people as they rebuilt. The period of reconstruction would go on to last eight years.

As Iyudah was again proclaimed a free state for the Kuzri people, Joshesh also began to search out other Kuzrim throughout the galaxy. All that were found were offered land, protection, and freedom on Iyudah, and virtually all accepted after centuries--or in some cases, millenia--of exile. Iyudah is now home to just over eight million Kuzrim, and another three to five million are believed to be alive elsewhere in the galaxy--but whether they are currently enslaved by the Empire, lost to time, or actually beyond the veil of death is not known.

Joshesh proved to be an able ruler, and soon, the whole of the Meggido Valley was cultivated and producing a surplus of foodstuffs. True to the prophecy, the arrival of the Lion saw the desert blossom, as the people began to build the foreseen paradise with hard work and faith. And the Iyudean Defense Force was soon established to safeguard the world from those who would see it destroyed.

To date, Joshesh's crowning achievement has been the recent completion of the Temple of Joshesh, the Third Temple of the Kuzrim. Built as closely to the original plans of the First Temple as possible, in the same location, the Third Temple proves to be every bit as magnificent as its two predecessors. And with the building of the Third Temple, the Kuzrim believe they are to enter a period of prosperity and bounty. Perhaps the road of trials is finally ended for the people of God.

The name Wanderings is taken from a book of the same name by Chaim Potok, of blessed memory.