Engidori
From Almeopedia
| ENGIDORI • |
| Engidori | |
| -50 - 1716 | |
| Native: | Engidori |
| Verdurian: | Ďípirim |
| Characteristics | |
| Capital: | Engidori |
| Government: | Republic |
| Ruler’s title | asemop |
| Language: | Old Skourene |
| Religions: | Skourene paganism |
Engidori [ˈɛn gi do ɽi], present-day Jippirim, was one of the chief cities of ancient Skouras. It’s located just north of the Šinour delta, within 30 km of the other delta cities, Iṭili and Imuṭeli. The Engidorids saw themselves as sensible, devout, and powerful; the other two delta cities stereotyped them as plodding, naive, and overbearing. According to one Skourene proverb, "Find a courtesan in Iṭili; have an affair in Imuṭeli; marry a woman from Engidori." Their greatest arts were sculpture, painting, and architecture. Engidori was considered the grandest of Skourene cities, and famed for its gardens.
Etymology: Old Skourene 'city of honors', Uṭandal Ingidur; Tžuro Jippirim.
Contents |
Early years
Like the two other delta cities, Engidori developed as a trading entrepôt when the Jei started trading with Skouras, from around -50 Z.E. Storage depots turned into settlements, then permanent towns; at first they simply accumulated raw materials to trade to the Jei for manufactures, but they soon learned to craft some of the imported goods themselves, and traded them to Skourenes in the interior.
The city was ruled by a senate (smapali), itself composed of the leaders of the major families; this body elected one of its own members as asemop (president). Every three years a Greparam or Trucial Council was held, with delegates from all three delta cities; this was the only international institution in the Skourene lands, and formed the basis for Skourene year-reckoning.
As the Littoral was explored, the cities founded colonies; Engidori settled the southern Gelihur peninsula, and founded Ḍeleli as its administrative center, around 180.
The classical wars
Engidori avoided the first major Skourene wars; but when the asemop of Imuṭeli, Epuneka, attacked the colonies of both Miligenḍi and Iṭili, it joined the alliance against him (295). The major result of the war was to free Guṭḷeli and Pitrat, which Imuṭeli had previously conquered. Engidori did not acquire any new territory, though it became one of the overseers of Pitrat.
In 382 the Quadrilateral War began; though it was ostensibly about Pitrat rejecting the protectorship of Engidori, the Engidorids viewed it as a power struggle between Imuṭeli and Guṭḷeli and the upstart cities of Miligenḍi and Ṭisuram— which it largely was— and stayed out of it. When the latter two were clearly losing, Engidori occupied some of Imuṭeli’s hinterland, largely to keep the victors from grabbing it. The cost of its overall neutrality, however, was the loss of its position in Pitrat, which was absorbed by Miligenḍi.
The war left Miligenḍi as the major power in Skouras. Only Engidori was strong enough to dream of opposing it; and this was felt to be impossible so long as Miligenḍi was supported by Ṭisuram. The Engidorid asemop Minnukitum finally drove the allies apart by bribery, offering Ṭisuram the island of Ḍarroḍ as well as an array of trade goods if it would stay out of the coming war. He found allies in Gasibur, Guṭḷeli, and Iṭili, and began the war in 465. The attacks were successful: the power of Miligenḍi was broken, and Engidori ended up with Meŋeland and its hinterland, as well as the Šinourene city of Sokandeli. Minnukitum himself was somewhat disgruntled when the senate chose a new asemop, in 471— presidents were not supposed to stay in office for long— but he became asemop of Meŋeland, which seemed like a win for everyone.
In 495, however, Minnukitum declared Meŋeland independent. Engidori was caught by surprise; worse yet, the armies it and Iṭili sent south were defeated. Other littoral colonies were becoming independent as well; it was as if the gods had decided on a shift of power southward. As if in confirmation, a plague, the ḍaukiurli, struck Engidori and the Šinour delta starting in 530, killing as much as a quarter of the population, while largely sparing the colder and less populated littoral.
In 575 the northern city of Papliopagimi, which was rich from its monopoly on trade with the Tžuro, invaded Engidori, conquering Sokandeli and besieging Engidori. As a result Ḍeleli was able to assert its independence; ever since, a sokandeli was a term used for a reversal of fortune that hides or leads to a greater catastrophe.
The would-be empires
Engidori was little affected by the rise of Guṭḷeli as an imperial power; but it was alarmed by the fall of Iṭili, in 773. To meet the threat, Engidori allied with Papliopagimi and Meŋeland. (Both were once its enemies; but dramatic switches in alliances were the norm in Skourene politics.) The war was brutal, taking more than twelve years, but successful. Engidori was given Iṭili and Ageşoram as its share of the spoils.
Just 22 years later, its former ally Meŋeland, under the general/dictator Eŋŋuḷoşum, engineered a revolt in Iṭili. He anticipated the Engidorid counter-attack, hiding his troops along the Gerredtar, the road south from Engidori, and cutting the Engidorid army to bits. Engidori was defeated again five years later, though it was now allied with Papliopagimi. Eŋŋuḷoşum now planned to take over Engidori itself, but was assassinated before he could try.
The proclamation of Axunai by the emperor Timai in 890 focussed Skourene attention on external threats. The southern city of Kuḷiŋibor preached united resistance, going so far as to send delegates to plead their case to the Trucial Councils. Timai actually invaded in 885, which gave Kuḷiŋibor the legitimacy to build the Muḍureg or Mudric Confederacy to oppose it; when Meŋeland joined it, it became the predominant power in Skouras. None of this directly affected Engidori, but the city-state now found itself next to a Confederacy that embraced almost all of Skouras, with the old central city-states organized into a new Skourene League. Somewhat offensively, this new creation even took over the greparam; while it lasted, the council was attended by all the cities of the Skourene League and not by Engidori. (Engidori refused to acknowledge these as groparam, which introduced discrepancies in year-reckoning in different parts of Skouras.)
The Engidorid League
The Confederacy collapsed into war and acrimony in little more than a century. This left the Skourene League independent, though it lost Ageşoram and Guṭḷeli. The remaining cities thought to strengthen the League by inviting in Engidori (980). Engidori, seeing an opportunity, accepted. It soon had control of the league’s treasury and effective control of its combined army. For the first time, the three delta cities were part of the same realm.
In the 1000s, Engidori, using the resources and army of the League, conquered Ageşoram and Ṭisuraku, and took territory in the Namal and near Guṭḷeli as well. It was now the most powerful Skourene state; only Ṭisuram and Papliopagimi were still independent in the Skourene heartland, while in the south only the confederacies of Kuḷiŋibor and Teralam could rival it.
In 1106 it seemed poised for further greatness. The asemop Ḍolbunodu conquered Nemiṭali in the Namal, and then turned against Papliopagimi. But the latter had unexpected resources— and effective cavalry, a rarity in Skourene warfare. It so decisively defeated Engidori that Ageşoram and Iṭili were emboldened to revolt. The war dragged on for years, and more cities revolted; finally the senate kicked Ḍolbunodu out. When the war finally ended, in 1121, Engidori was reduced to little more than its traditional hinterland. It retained Imuṭeli for more than a century, but lost it to a revolt in 1260.
Several times Engidori attempted to recapture Imuṭeli. In 1475 they succeeded, when a bombardment of oil-filled bottles set fire to an entire neighborhood as well as scaffolding being used to repair the city wall, which collapsed. The Engidorids captured the city, left a garrison, and headed home. Along the way they were ambushed by an army from Iṭili, which cut them to pieces. Without an army, Engidori soon had to surrender to the besieging Iṭiliki; the Imuṭeliki surrendered without a fight. For the first time, one of the delta cities had conquered the other two.
Iṭilik rule was not that onerous; Engidori retained its senate and asemop. Iṭili did not occupy all of Engidori’s hinterland— perhaps as a calculated move to deny the city a resource base it could rebel with.
The Tžuro invasion
It was clearly, however, a time for stronger Skourene states. In the 1600s the threat was from the north, from the Tžuro who had recently embraced the prophet Babur and his call to spread Jippirasti, the worship of Jippir, to the whole world, by force if necessary. In the 1620s the Tžuro conquered Papliopagimi. Some Tžuro, mostly the pagans, wanted to go on to conquer the rich Skourene cities; others wanted to fight Munkhâsh. The Jippirasti won the argument, which gave the Skourenes a brief reprieve. The cities of Papliopagimi were reconquered, largely by Gurdago.
Munkhâsh was defeated, however, and the Tžuro returned to Skouras. They poured into the country, first occupying the rural hinterlands and bypassing the cities. These could be supplied from unconquered territories further south, but not indefinitely. The Tžuro concentrated first on Gurdago’s rival Peligi, finally defeating it in 1714. They then turned their attention to the delta.
Engidori was conquered just two years later, in 1716. The Tžuro renamed it Jippirim and made it the capital of their Skourene province. The long Skourene history of Engidori was over.
Categories: Cities | Skouras | Ṭrota
