Dark Years

From Almeopedia

The Dark Years began in Eretald in 2107 Z.E. with the ascension to power of the Claetura Rugites, the Red Cabal in Caďinas.

This clique of nobles and generals was ostensibly formed to prevent the constant descent into civil war after the death of each Emperor; instead, the rule of the Cabal saw oppression, intrigue and a weakening of central authority.

After much strife, the Cabal's rule disappeared by 2220. Irun of Banda ascended to the imperial sash.

At the same time, the growing military threat of the šualsannoi, the horse-mounted barbarians of the steppe, pressed on all the agricultural states. Firstly the Coruo, then the Naviu invaded. The imperial capital Ctesifon fell to them in 2345.

This period saw the codification of the Aďivro, the holy book of Caďinorian paganism, completed in 2350. Even as the secular apparatus of the Caďinorian state began to crumble, the priesthood helped to maintain cultural cohesion. The priestly hierarchy however also became decentralised. A growth of mysticism, monasticism, pilgrimages, cults and holiness movements followed.

Meanwhile, the pressure of invasion and military upkeep caused the Caďinorian economy to collapse. Trade across Eretald declined; cities dwindled as people escaped the ravages of barbarians and taxation by sheltering in the fortifications of local nobles. Provincial governors became independent rulers with self-sufficient economies.

The rulers of Verduria were an example of these; the Mayor of the City, Velto Cänen, became a Lord in 2472, the date of the recapture of Ctesifon.

The next influx of troublesome barbarians were the Gelyet, who almost succeded in capturing Ctesifon once again in 2525, further indebting the Emperor to the growing power of Verduria.

Caďinas itself disappeared in 2792 with the capture of Ctesifon once again by Meugi, king of Curiya.

The Makši invasion of 2850 was devastating but eventually repelled; Verduria doubled its own size by uniting with Zeir in 2850 meanwhile the religion came under challenge from the arrival of the Elenicoi in 2780 and the spread of Eleďat.

In Verduria, the Dark Years are taken to end with the ascension of Caleon (2939); in Ctésifon, the successor state to Caďinas, the key event is instead Bura's expulsion of the Curiyans (2917); Érenat maintains that it was the emergence of their own state (2840-2950). A more nuanced view would be that the Dark Years faded due to technological progress, the re-emergence of Eretald-wide states and trade, and a new military superiority over the barbarians.

Author: So Haleza Grise