Kolatimand

From Almeopedia

Kolatimand
534 - 1646
Native:	ancient Kolatimand, modern Kulapman
Verdurian:	Culapman
Characteristics
Capital:	Kolatimand
Government:	elected senate (utampas)
Ruler’s title	asemop
Language:	Old Skourene
Religions:	Skourene paganism

Kolatimand ['ko la ti mand] was a Skourene city-state located at the southern tip of the Gelimai peninsula. Though its climate is forbidding, its location is strategic, overlooking the main sea route to Komand and the east, and it has always been an important trading city. With a few exceptions, it did its best to avoid the endless fighting and empire-mongering of the Skourene cities.

Contents 1 Early years 2 The Mudric Confederacy 3 The Tžuro threat 4 See also

Early years

It was founded around 190 as a colony of Iṭili; its growth did not take off till animals and crops had been bred to adapt to the cold and wind of Gelimṭar, the southern half of the peninsula. Once this was done, Gelimṭar itself settled regions of similar climate, such as Şiḍḍi and Barmund.

The increasing population in the littoral and its convenient location to Jei trade and to sources of iron, coupled with a plague that decimated the delta population, led to a movement of power southward. Kolatimand was allowed to set up its own senate (smapali) in 534, which made it effectively independent, but produced a good deal of civil strife, as there was no consensus over which bsopa deserved seats. After a revolution in 576, the senate was elected by all propertied households-- the first known democracy (utampas). Most Skourenes considered it little better than anarchy, though the prosperity of the city was a convincing argument; several cities adopted utampas over the next decades.

The Mudric Confederacy

When Axunai began to threaten Skourene trade, in the late 870s, Kolatimand agreed to join the confederation (the Muḍureg) started by Kuḷiŋibor. For a time it seemed that the Muḍureg would produce Skourene unity; but at heart it remained an unruly alliance of city-states, which resented Kuḷiŋibor's preeminence and (despite several actual Axunemi incursions) suspected that the Axunemi threat was a pretext for Kuḷiŋiborik tyranny.

Kolatimand resented Ḍeleli, which had taken some of its hinterland in the 740s; it pressed for confederate action to regain this territory. When Kuḷiŋibor refused, the remaining cities expelled it-- effectively restricting the Muḍureg to Gelimṭar-- and happily proceeded to conquer Ḍeleli. They then wasted their energies in a seven-year war against Ḍeleli which ended in stalemate (982).

Ḍeleli rebelled in 1035; Teralam, nominally the capital of the confederacy, was eager to reconquer it, but Kolatimand had tired of war and refused. The confederacy-- whose only major city was now Teralam-- declared war, but was unable to retake either city.

For centuries Skouras endured a dark age; then, in the late 1300s, vitality and innovation returned, in part due to the opportunities offered by trade with Čeiy. Kolatimand became known for its sailing ships and its extensive trade routes, reaching Luduyn, Jeor, and the Qaraus. Around 1400 they crossed 3000 km of ocean to reach Arcél. For some centuries Skourene ships made this long journey, bringing spices, iron weapons, and manufactured goods; what they chiefly sought in return was gold, though the hardy, erosion-resistant Arcélian grain millet proved to be a useful addition to agriculture in the southern littoral.

The Tžuro threat

The Tžuro invasion demanded a unified Skourene response, but too many contenders decided that the route to unity was inter-Skourene warfare. Kolatimand was persuaded to ally with Peligi, in the early 1600s; this accomplished little but the establishment of a Peligir garrison and a failed expeditionary force. In the 1630s far-off Gurdago entered the fray, beginning a long war with Peligi. The war was mostly fought in the north, but in the eventual truce (1646) Kolatimand found itself under Gurdagor rule.

Gurdago was never known for light rule; in 1670 Kolatimand invited the Peligir to return, provoking a new ten-year war, whose only significant result was that Kolatimand passed to the Peligir sphere. After the Tžuro conquest of Peligi (1714), Gurdago again occupied Kolatimand. The Tžuro thrust seemed to have spent itself, however, and by 1792 it seemed safe to push out the Gurdagor garrison.

From the fall of Guṭḷeli (1784) and well into the rise of Čisra (independent in 2204), Kulapman was the largest free Skourene (Uṭandal) city.

Etymology: Old Skourene ‘(people) of the Great Sleeper', a god, Uṭandal Kulapman, Tžuro Kulatiman.

See also

• See Kulapman for the further history of the city.
• For a comprehensive history of the Old Skourenes, refer to the Historical Atlas of Skouras.