Arcél 3050

From Almeopedia

Arcél 2900

Arcél 3200

1 An invasion from God
2 Itsičiʔli
3 Uytai rising
4 Wars in the Bé
5 Characteristic figure

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An invasion from God

For a time in the 2800s and 2900s, with the Sainor conquest of Šura, the most important Tžuro state was the tej of Jaešim, in Feináe (or Fanal). It took over much of Šura’s littoral trade (though often it was Šureni refugees who built and operated the ships). By the mid 2900s the Jaešimi had sturdy oceangoing ships, and in 2961 the captain Araž made the crossing to the Togwaš peninsula.

He reported that the land was hilly with fertile valleys, much like Feináe, and barely populated; further expeditions suggested that there were richer lands to the east. (The Jaešimi knew nothing about the Skourene expeditions 1500 years before, though they were tantalized by stories of strange female sailors who had visited Feináe some centuries before). This awakened both avarice and faith: these lands should be settled, their resources exploited, and their population brought to the knowledge of the only god, Jippir.

The colony— Fananak or New Feináe— was founded in 2988 with two shiploads of colonists— who immediately quarreled over which of two valleys to settle, and started separate colonies. This was a mistake; the Jaešimi had no experience building new settlements far from home, and the settlements only survived their first winter by combining. Even so more than half of them were dead by the time the first relief ship arrived.

Relations with the local Dnetic tribes, the Žiwdonag, were at first friendly. The Jaešimi purchased the land they occupied with steel weapons and other manufactures— at least, that’s how they understood the transactions. They taught Jaešeni to interested locals and talked to them earnestly about Jippir; they learned the local crops, animals, and fish. For their part, the Žiwdonag alternated between curiosity, wariness, and compassion.

Both sides exchanged diseases. The Ereláean ones known in Verdurian as tucet (pox) and malionile (a venereal disease) spread quickly among the Žiwdonag. The most potent Arcélian disease was ipeja si Fananak ‘Fananak disease’, which was brought back to the Tžuro lands and killed many. Over the next centuries these diseases reduced in virulence, but at this time they were devastating— reducing Žiwdonag population in advance of Jaešimi settlement, but also decimating the ranks of the immigrants.

By the date of this map the colony occupied about a third of the peninsula. The Jaešimi acquired land by purchase or treaty when it was easy to do so, but they had already fought a few wars, and also incorporated several Žiwdonag settlements that converted to Jippirasti, or claimed to.

Though their weapons and tactics were superior to the natives’, their most devastating possession was the horse. Žiwdonag warfare was largely a matter of raids by bowmen; they were entirely unprepared for a cavalry charge. The Žiwdonag were quick to acquire their own horses, or try to. Horses were extremely valuable, but sometime the price was right: an old trove of gold might be unearthed; the price of a peace treaty almost always included a few horses.

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Itsičiʔli

Not far to the east, Itsičiʔli had created the first empire in the southwest, taking over the Itseʔ and Kleʔmet’ valleys; this was largely the work of the dakwenyan Egačinyijin and his son Mniʔgenyin in the 2900s.

The structure of the Itsenic confederacies was retained, but the chiefs had managed to increase their powers and decrease their responsibility to seek consensus. Egačinyijin rearranged tribes like game pieces, moving Itsenic settlers into Dnetic and Kleʔmet’ territory to dilute resistance. He also built a palace complex at Mnenyinečiʔ, in the center of the country, of unprecedented scale; even visiting Uytainese marvelled at its extent, though they perhaps smiled at the fact that it was entirely constructed of wood, every surface carved into intricate symbolic patterns. The complex housed his personal array of wives, warriors, and shamans, a sort of despotic parody of a traditional Itsenic village.

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Uytai rising

The Uytainese finally had a handle on defeating the Gleŋ: a professional army, well trained in the quick movement and raiding that were nomadic specialties. They reconquered the northern highlands in the 2900s, then heavily fortified them. Denser settlement centering on the production of tea, cotton, and meigrass had returned much of this region to the agricultural zone.

The Uytainese now controlled the tea market, and naturally enough raised prices for everyone else. This caused a crash in Nyandai, which in turn made Nyanese banks fail or reduce their lending; and that distressed the Uytainese, who were much better at spending money than generating it. They convinced themselves that the banks’ insolvency constituted a hostile act, and since military force had solved their nomad problem, they figured it would sort out Nyandai as well.

Emperor Murħrel invaded in 3010 and fairly easily conquered most of the country; the Nyanese then largely finished the job for them: the Tsemeʔ islands and the western region (Tloyne) split off and declared themselves neutral. Nyandai was reduced to little more than its capital; it sued for peace, which required a debilitating payment.

For the Uytainese, the spoils were unsatisfactory. Murħrel and his advisors had no understanding of credit, let alone fractional reserve lending, and did not understand that much of the Nyanese gold they had been spending was virtual, and had simply disappeared in the crash. They expected to find vast piles of gold, and found only small ones. They duly appropriated them, but it was barely enough to pay the army. They were convinced that the Nyanese had hidden vast fortunes, and continued harrassing them to little avail.

The crash and the war were, of course, a huge setback for Nyandai, which had been perhaps the most advanced state in the south. Traders and manufacturers attempted to pick up the pieces, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

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Wars in the Bé

The Mau pirates, unabashed by the loss of Pahni and freed of the moderation of their first empress Ŋíntàe, attempted to take the southern silk island in 2963. They were soundly defeated in a combined attack by Belesao and Hàɔráŋ in the 2960s. This allowed Hàɔráŋ to occupy both islands and advance along the northern coast; it also prepared the ground for a resurgence of Mauraŋ in the 2980s. The pirates retained control of the Łei coast.

In the 3020s Belesao collapsed into civil war. The main conflict wasn’t between the Ŋê and Lɛn rivers or between ethnic groups, but between the coastal and upriver towns— essentially between the urban / mercantile / littoral zone and the agricultural / military zone. The landowners had multiple grievances against the cities: they charged too much, they didn’t pull their weight militarily, and above all, they were getting too powerful.

Jansɛ̀ declared itself neutral in the conflict, and managed to retain control over its traditional dependencies along the coast.

The Hàɔ capitalized on the troubles in Belesao by moving their border southward and reoccupying Pahni. Or Pahsau, we had might as well say, as the region had developed a few towns and a pastoral hinterland, both by settlement and by co-opting the local Linaic tribes.

In the east, a new Minče state has been organized— Rimasača, along the Sunča river. Though the Minče were fairly egalitarian in sex roles, their royal family imitated Beic models and thus was led by a queen. Its merchant class was Bé, and indeed one of the motivations for establishing a state was to keep the Bé from dominating the country.

The Qapa of the lower Nikrit valley have also organized a state, Qapalya. Indeed, they gave the Ȟšanda such a drubbing, in the 3010s, that the Ȟšanda chieftaincy collapsed.

In Ȟaibalai, a native dynasty, Pwen, has arisen to keep the Ȟamsanese from taking over the whole island.

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