Arcél 3314

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Arcél 3200

Arcél 3400

1 The horse empires
2 The Patriots of Uytai
3 The height of Fananak
4 Trade wars in the north
5 Characteristic figure

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The horse empires

Global changes affect the periphery first. Arcél’s major nations were still not greatly affected by Ereláean technological ascendancy, but it had already transformed the rest of the continent, in the form of the horse.

After nearly three centuries, a new horse culture had developed, as proficient with riding— and more to the point, fighting from horseback— as the nomads of Ereláe. The Ōkmisan in particular could not be bottled up in the northwest of Uytai; in the 3200s they exploded onto the grassy highlands, bypassing the densely settled river valleys except for raids or, if the towns were well defended, for barter. Within a half century, the nomads could come and go as they pleased, while the Uytainese had to travel their own territory in large, careful convoys.

The mšīnebig (emperor) Gdōšnīmag saw that there would be few barriers to actual conquest. He started in the 3270s with the upper Ħomtso, which was less defended than the tea highlands; but these succumbed in the next decade with little more trouble.

Resistance increased as he approached the Uytainese heartland. Gdōšnīmag took Twot (3284) by a mixture of surprise and strategic insight— he attacked from the south, cutting the city off from Uytainese reinforcements— but he had no experience with siege warfare, and by this time the Uytainese had learned effective anti-cavalry measures, such as a firm line of pikemen; they also had cavalry of their own, and hired barbarian auxiliaries. The war entered a period of equilibrium.

Like many nomad warlords, Gdōšnīmag had a refined appreciation of urban pleasures. He built a large palace in Twot, and when he was there he wore Uyseʔ robes, spoke Uyseʔ, and patronized artists and philosophers.

The Ōkmisan incorporated other nomads into their empire, but whoever did not submit to them they pushed out. The Ȟlum moved south, taking over the highlands of Ťrim. The power of the Ȟšanda was destroyed, and another tribe, the Ȟatiŋga, took their place in the Nikrit steppe. They promptly beat up on traditional enemies, humbling the Qapa to the north and conquering half of Ȟamsan (which caused the Ȟamsanese to abandon Ȟaibalai).

The Ȟatiŋga made only limited use of horses; much of their territory—and all of their enemies’— was forested, equally unsuited for riding and feeding horses.

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The Patriots of Uytai

Many in Uytai blamed their disasters on internal enemies, or fantasies of such— people who had been too soft on enemies, too open to foreign influence, too tolerant of division, too intellectual, too lax and modern in their religion. Their ħwentai ‘patriot’ movement appealed to a minority, but it was highly organized and radicalized by what it saw as ongoing decline. In 3277 half of the Yonram arrested the other half, then deposed emperor Loytai and replaced him with Syenyer, a ħwentai supporter within the imperial family. He was given a new title, hyauphuʔ ‘top leader’.

The disasters continued to happen; the movement continued to find scapegoats. Once the actual opposition was gone, it turned on those who had merely gone along with ħwentai without affiliating with it, and then attacked Patriots who were not zealous enough. Uytai became a totalitarian state, every institution under the control of the Patriots, all watched by no less than four separate secret police organizations.

Syenyer himself came off as amiable, even a bit simple; he was personally popular, and the elite could not quite figure if he was a figurehead or an exceedingly canny manipulator. His son Tsuyut was hard to like, but saying so was dangerous; he even dismissed the rest of the Yonram, which had begun to question the eternal ongoing war with the Ōkmisan. The war, intrenal and external, must be continued until victory.

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The height of Fananak

Itsičiʔli conquered, what was next for Fananak? Obviously, to win the rich nations to the east. The first, easy mouthful was Tloyne, conquered in 3260 under the alešp Manmuluz. Čwam proved tougher, but it succumbed in 3274-79. Krantet, capital of Nyandai, was besieged in 3286, and was still resisting five years later. The city was almost impregnable by land, and it was much stronger by sea than Fananak, especially since a good part of the Čwamese fleet had escaped and allied with Nyandai. Manmuluz finally gave up— Nyandai could be dealt with later.

The richer fruit was Uytai itself, already weakened by the Ōkmisan. Manmuluz’s son Ampaji— predictively named the ‘all-conqueror’, a name consciously modelled on Attafei— assembled an enormous if motley army, which spent a week in cleansing and expiation to ensure the favor of Jippir, then swept down on Tueʔ from the west (3298). Further progress, however, was glacial. The Fananaki had better weapons and stronger cavalry, but the Uytainese were skilled at fortification, more numerous, and closer to their lines of supply. It took till 3314 to advance to the sea.

What did Fananak amount to? At this moment, it looked like a glorious juggernaut. Manmuluz’s father Anastu had razed the site of Mnenyinečiʔ and built a new city, Alešpim, built of stone for permanence. The most striking building was the Jippirgreja, the House of Jippir, with its enormous dome, still the largest single structure in Arcél. The viceroy’s palace was smaller but even more handsomely appointed.

To Alešpim came— for viceroys did not travel— subject peoples, merchants of a bewildering variety of languages, clerics, ambassadors, artists, urgent messengers from the front. It was a grand spectacle that diverted attention from the fundamental weakness of the empire: it was a shallow assemblage with no organic cohesion, based on a fleeting technological advantage. The very glory of Alešpim only underlined the fact that it was the only large city west of Nyan.

Perhaps Jippirasti had the potential to glue the realm together— though the religion resisted organization, lacking a centralized hierarchy of clerics. The central religious figure was the alešp himself, not only the viceroy of the forgotten atej in Jaešim, but that of Jippir himself, and very willing to speak for him.

The double disaster suffered by Uytai led to a third, the loss of Siad βo. This was more a divorce than a war; the Siadese wanted independence and Uytai was in no position to devote resources to fight them. The new Siadese king was ɸodwor.

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Trade wars in the north

The north was little affected by horses, which were nearly useless in the rain forest, but it was increasingly influenced by trade. Merchants, pirates, and queens struggled to increase their share of it.

In 3271 Mauraŋ succeeded in conquering the southern silk island... just as cheaper silk from Eretald was flooding the market. The Łei took the opportunity to push the Mau back along the coast, and contested their control of Pahsau. This led to a stalemate in which Pahsau was effectively independent— though this was in part because the Kebreni took an interest in keeping it neutral.

Belesao was the middleman for tea being transported to the north, and tea was quickly becoming the most valuable crop on the planet. Gdōšnīmag of the Ōkmisan was aware of this, and contemptous of the Beic female armies. In the 3290s he marched north, expecting an easy march to the sea. He easily occupied the small highland zone, but he could make no headway in the jungle: his horses were useless, and the Lé refused to meet him in formations like the Uytainese, but attacked from all over like insects. He gave up in disgust.

From around 3270, after their second war with Kebri, Verdurian ships began reaching Arcél. At first they followed the Kebreni to the north, but the Kebreni presence was stifling, and they preferred the southern route to Uytai. Nonetheless the Bé, for their part, felt more at home with the Verdurians, not only because they were more curious about the lands they visited and more willing to share their technological expertise, but because at this point they were ruled by queens.

The Verdurians talked of many things: telescopes and gunpowder, printing and gravity, Eleď and the scientific method. Much of this was simply opaque, especially in the absence of practical examples. However, both Belesao and Mauraŋ set up academies to study Ereláean languages, science, and technology. The Bé were soon able to make their own lenses and watches (objects easily transported from Ereláe, useful in navigation, and compatible with the Bé’s own interest in mechanical devices).

In the west, the Linaic kingdom of Yusawu absorbed Čumú.

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