Excerpt from "Sons of Indraditya(1): A History of the Ayutthayan Empire"
In the year 1767, things were looking bleak for the great Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya. Many of the nation's governors had rebelled against the crown and formed their own, weak warlord states, while the Burmese army raged across the countryside and besieged the city of Ayutthaya itself. However, the Ayutthayan monarch,
Somdet Phra Chao Ekkathat, still stood strong within the city. In an event that has passed into legend, the one-eyed leper king(2) made an appearance on the walls of the city on the 24th day of the siege and spoke to his people, even as the arrows, spears, and other projectiles of the Burmese flew around him. He reminded them of the ancient and indestructible nature of Ayutthaya, and its divine origin (3). He then encouraged them to arm themselves and follow him out of the city, to destroy the Burmese. It is said that then, the people of Ayutthaya rejoiced and armed themselves with whatever was at hand: then, their physically weak, but mentally strong king led them from the city, straight towards the Burmese. With the odds stacked terribly against them, the people of Ayutthaya fought.
And they won. (4)
A painting of Ayutthaya by a Dutch merchant, late 1700's.
. . .
The screams of the wounded and dying filled the air as I crossed the burned-out fields surrounding my beautiful city, watching the few remaining Burmese fall to their knees and surrender to our glorious king. As the smoke from the battle gradually began to clear and I saw Ayutthaya glittering a mile away, I fell on my knees as well, and praised Vishnu for sending his great avatar down to lead us. We had won, and that was all that mattered.
Notes
(1) In Ayutthayan legend, Indiraditya was the first king of Sukhotai, Ayutthaya's predecessor.
(2) Ekkathat means "one-eye" in Thai: the king is believed to have been born with one eye. He was also known as "the mangy king", possibly indicating leprosy.
(3) Ayutthaya was thought to have been founded by an avatar of Vishnu, from which all Ayutthayan kings were descended (making them avatars of Vishnu as well).
(4) And our POD! In OTL, Ekkathat was forced to surrender, and Ayutthaya was torn apart stone from stone by the Burmese.
. . .
Okay, so this TL is going to have a specific setup: first, I'll have an excerpt from the fictional history book mentioned above, then at least one piece of art associated with it, then a small "slice-of-life" section from an everyman-type Ayutthayan citizen. Hope you guys enjoy!
