Arcél 600

From Almeopedia

Our chief sources on the early Uyram, since they had no writing, are highly mythologized legends of wars and epic kings. These are invariably described as occupying all of Uytai, and favored emperors even conquered all of ʔarkhel ‘the world’; but it’s telling that when place names are mentioned, they are always the southern river towns. The epic wars of mighty kingdoms were in reality the skirmishes of tiny city-states.

Different city-states rose and fell in a dizzying succession; but around 575 the king of Srethun, Purtyai, whose city was the oldest and always one of the strongest of the delta cities, made a strong bid to conquer the upriver cities and unite the entire Ħomtso valley. The epics say that “a mad ancestor ruled him”, and he became greedy and oppressive, despoiling his subjects “as one would a conquered people”. A rebellion broke out, led by the city of Swiʔkyau in the delta. When Purtyai’s initial assault on Swiʔkyau failed, other cities lost their fear of him and joined the rebellion. By 600 he was utterly defeated and Srethun was burned to the ground. Swiʔkyau became the predominant power in the delta, but did not attempt to exert its authority upstream.

The chief weapons used in these wars were spears and axes made of copper, as well as bows and arrows. By this time cities had appeared in the forest zone, the largest being Twot and Pursut. (Tueʔ on the Tsyeʔ is cognate to Twot; both mean ‘river fork’.)

The Dnetic peoples of the upper Tsyeʔ have adopted agriculture, adopting Uyram crops and techniques. Their chiefs apparently styled themselves kings after the style of the Uyram, but their settlements were still barely villages.

The Kereminthic peoples have colonized much of the eastern coast. They were apparently able to displace the Kemic tribes because they were much better at exploiting the resources of the sea; but for the same reason they did not penetrate far inland.

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