DMs Only: Aisildur
The following was once common knowledge for players in the Wold. It still could be, but it is now out of date. However, it is important reading for any DM setting an adventure there. I hope someone (me or someone else someday) will make an up-to-date version and put it in the Woldipedia.
Antique Aisildur Scrolls (background info on the area - link now dead, not sure what was there originally. Try this antique stuff though for some good info. Maps of Aisildur are here.)
The preceding was written, I think, before the Aisildur game was started, the game that later was called the Swords of Redemption. In that game, set in Aisildur, player characters escaped heartseeding and went on to fight the theocracy. One later theme of that game was that of driving a wedge between the Emperor and royal family on one side and the priesthood on the other. Here is a link to the entire archives of that game.
Also, the Gold and Storm Dragons, two groups who later merged to make the Platinum Dragons, also became involved in the politics surrounding the royal family and the Emperor. Here are the archives for the first part of the Gold Dragon adventures and the archives for The Three, who became the Storm Dragons, who merged with the Golds to make the Platinum Dragons, is all here.
However, these games ran over the better part of 1995-2008, so that's a lot to read through. See below for some highlights.
July 19th, 1999 - A good introduction started the Swords of Redemption game.
November 29th, 2001 - The Gold Dragons first encounter heartseeds.
December 23rd, 2004 - The Swords of Redemption meet the Emperor of Aisildur, who has been cured of his heartseed.
August 31st, 2007 - The Emperor had been free of his heartseed for several months, and several factions, in and out of Aisildur, are conspiring to fight the power of the priesthood.
February 7th, 2008 - The Swords of Redemption destroy the Heart of Ga'al, that is, the motherplant of all heartseeds, and following this event, all heartseeds Wold-wide wither and die.
After that, the clerics of Ga'al sprouted a new Mother Heartseed, but they are forbidden to force a Heartseed on the unwilling. They are required by new law to convert the willing. The Emperor and his family remain unheartseeded, for now. Some nobles, in exchange for support from the Church, have accepted heartseeds.
