Arcél 1850

From Almeopedia

Arcél 1690

Arcél 1997

1 The ktuvok invasion
2 Uytai picks up the pieces
3 Hyemsur
4 Other developments
5 Characteristic figure

[edit]

The ktuvok invasion

The invasion started off well— from the ktuvoks’ point of view. They had secured the wetlands and occupied one of the chief Lé cities, which they immediately mobilized for war. They improved metallurgical techniques, introduced crossbows, trained the army, and built city walls of stone. They took over human institutions, though they made no effort to change Beic female dominance. The Jansenes, with ktuvok officers, conquered Kêkè and Ŋêsɛ̀, the large city at the mouth of the Ŋê, and besieged Sîpó.

But now a flaw in the ktuvok strategy appeared: the Lé counterattacked, using the same military innovations, as well as a catapult of their own invention. The conquered Lé had simply shared the secrets they were taught. The ktuvoks were not used to betrayal from their human subjects— back in Munkhâsh they were adept at playing one ethnic group against another, but there had been no time for that here. They executed the leakers when they could find them, but the damage was done. The Lé reconquered Kêkè and drove to the sea, dividing the two ktuvok-run enclaves (for human armies, of course, not for the ktuvoks).

Further progress was not easy; it soon became clear that the war wasn’t going to be won in months or even years. The Lé were motivated, but their society was not organized for large-scale war. Only the nobles could be full-time soldiers; the peasants had crops to grow. Sources of metal ran out. The Lé sent expeditions to the eastern mountains, the Mâslù, to mine newly valuable iron, but it would take time for this effort to mature.

Arrows sufficient to kill a Lé woman weren’t enough to drop a ktuvok, and there simply weren’t enough crossbows. This increased the importance of sword and spear, and these were often wielded by men because of their greater strength. The men’s battalions chafed at what they considered hard treatment and incompetent officering, and in 1705 they rebelled, thus beginning the adventure known as the Men’s Empire (Tɛbétlìn).

The revolution was internal to the army, which meant that there was little resistance— who was going to fight the men when there were ktuvoks to fight?— but also that there was little wider social impact. They also had the queen, Tlarŋáe, in their custody— though they claimed to be acting in her name.

The men’s chief grievance was that leadership had been too cautious; a war of attrition generated high casualties and favored the ktuvoks. Their boldness seemed to be rewarded when they succeeded in recapturing Ŋêsɛ̀. But they had not increased the size of the army nor solved its supply problems. An assault on Jansɛ̀ was a bloody failure, and the ktuvoks mounted a successful counter-attack and reook Ŋêsɛ̀.

It was time to look for allies. Envoys were sent to Hàɔráŋ and Mɔłɔsɔu, both of which sent armies— though the latter sent only a token force, a slight which would not be forgotten. More importantly, the Lé received the assistance of the Kròŋâ elcari and the iliu, who didn’t want to see a new ktuvok empire created. The elcari had strong steel weapons and ingenious steam-powered siege engines, and the iliu had even more mysterious technology or magic, though the price seemed to be interminable talk about gods and Powers. The Lé gathered that they were supposed to worship the three iliu gods, which they were happy to do. This didn’t seem to entirely satisfy the iliu, but it was impossible to understand why. Did they disapprove of the Lé goddesses? Not exactly. Did the iliu gods want more sacrifices or priestesses? That wasn’t it either. The Lé shrugged.

In 1715 Jansɛ̀ was recaptured. After that it was a matter of chasing the ktuvoks down in the swamps—not as much an adjustment for the Lé, who lived in a rain forest, as it was for the Caďinorians and Tžuro. By 1719 the Lé could declare victory, though the occasional ktuvok was discovered and hunted down for several more years, and persisted ever after in stories.

The war greatly increased the scope of Lé government (which controlled the mines and forges, and had mobilized to build roads, walls, and boats), and created a large standing army, distinct from the jɔ though modelled on them. Numerically the army was still largely female, but it was dominated by the swordsmen and spearmen. Even the male soldiers did not have patriarchal jɔ; it was felt that a soldier couldn’t be distracted by child-rearing. However, the men took concubines.

What to do with this increased military capacity now that the ktuvoks were gone? Clearly, expand the empire. The easiest direction was northeast, where the Nér peoples were brought under Lé control.

(The country wasn’t called Tɛbétlìn at the time, of course; this is a historians’ label. It was generally called Lésàɔ, understood as referring to the Lé dynasty, or (increasingly) Bésàɔ, referring to the overall linguistic-cultural group— the purple area on the map).

[edit]

Uytai picks up the pieces

In the south we can now see the long-term consequences of the ecological collapse: the former forest zone is now largely grassland, and the nomadic zone of Arcél is accordingly larger, something which would soon have consequences.

The river valleys still support agriculture, though the soil is especially poor in the areas of former high density— around the old Krwŋese cities.

The Krwŋese successor states collapsed in the north, except for Pirthunswiʔ in the Smë rift valley. The others, along the upper Tsyeʔ and Yurdzo, were absorbed by Uytai. The remoter states were still hardly worth conquering, but they were expected to properly defer to the Uytainese pauram as their elder brother; when Čwam failed in this, Uytai occupied half its territory (1815).

One of Uytai’s advantages was the trade link with Ereláe, the sole source of iron weapons. This slowed to a trickle and then dried up following the Tžuro conquest. Some weapons were available from the elcari and, now, the Lé; but the pauram were anxious.

[edit]

Hyemsur

The ghost town of Pursut had one notable resident in the 1820s— an old man who called himself Syalenar, ‘not-having’. By his own account, what he didn’t have was a large estate in the highlands, his inheritance. It was worth nothing now; he had abandoned it and settled in the abandoned city in order to think. After ten years he was done thinking and started explaining his conclusions.

His preoccupations were hyem, inner peace in the face of adversity, and sur, social harmony. That is, how does one live in a time of social destruction? And why did that destruction occur?

His answer to both questions was similar: syalen, ‘not having’ or ‘rejection’. Our normal instincts are destructive and selfish and must be resisted with self-discipline, meditation, simplicity, and— once one’s own spiritual health is in order— compassionate assistance. The same applied at level of empires, both Krwŋ and Uytai.

With a big enough disaster, everything is subject to question, but especially all authority: kings and emperors, priests, soldiers, engineers, the Swolan fundamentalists, even the powers of parents and husbands.

He refused to leave Pursut, but more and more people came to listen; some wrote down his words and published them, beginning the movement known as Hyemsur. He was condemned as an anarchist or a lunatic; at the same time the authorities realized that they would only look foolish venturing into a ruined city to arrest a garrulous old man. His words resonated with many, either because they sought to understand the crisis, or because, thrillingly, he created an avenue of dissent in an absolutist society.

[edit]

Other developments

The Mɔłɔ and the Hake fought a series of wars; in 1825 the Mɔłɔ captured the Hake capital, Łata. The Hake, though their culture and technology were similar to those of their conquerors, were considered barbarians; their main settlements, along the river, were simply taken over, the residents becoming serfs or slaves, though free Hake remained in the hinterland. The Mɔłɔ made no effort to impose their social system on the Hake— though they devastated the structure of Hake society anyway, by attaching individual families to Mɔłɔ estates and moving them around at will.

Kereminthic agriculture (or actual settlers, or both) have spread to the eastern coast, to the same region Kereminthic peoples had colonized 1500 years ago.

The Sumë have taken over the upper Nikrit plateau.

The Kleʔmet’ people have destroyed the Itsenic confederacy of Bečgo, creating one of their own. Perhaps due to this, or to Uytainese harrassment, Nlatak and Itsulwit are seeing hard times as well. The western portion of Nlatak has set up a seperate confederacy called Fkišnak.

[edit]