Lenan

From Almeopedia

Lenan [lɛ ˈnan] is a large, deep lake in eastern Ereláe, nearly 500 km wide east to west, though less than 100 km wide north to south. Nestled in high, dry plateaus— the Lenani steppe— it provides fresh water for a large area and has long supported a dense population round its coasts.

The area around the lake (as well as the eastern fringe of Xengiman) is the homeland of the Lenani-Littoral peoples, and as successive divisions of these group invaded Skouras, it has remained that of the Lenani subgroup. Agriculture, largely based on rye, spread to the Lenani-Littoral by -2000, and when the horse-based nomadic lifestyle was developed about a milennium later, some Lenani-Littoral groups adopted it and spread to the nearby steppes.

Other groups have conquered their way to the vicinity of the lake: the Čia-Ša, of which a subgroup, the Tei, still live on the southern shore; the Carhinnoi; and the Sainor.

Today almost the entire shore of the lake is occupied by the kingdom of Lenan, with the Tei enclave a part of Belšai, adjacent to a remnant of the Sainor who are organized as the kingdom of Lo.

Etymology: Lenani, name of a goddess; Old Skourene Regn.

States of Lenan

The kingdom of Lenan

The lake has given its name to several states, all of Lenani ethnic heritage.

The first kingdom of Lenan was organized around 200, and destroyed around 400 by the Čia-Ša when they were pushed out of the upper Puro by the Ezičimi. The Lenani reestablished their kingdom about a hundred years later.

In the 900s the Enev clan took over Lenan and extended its power to the south (pressuring the Tžuro, and then into Tyellakh to the north. The incursion forced the Tžuro to overcome their usual disunity and establish an army under a single commander (around 1050). They slowly pushed the Lenani out of their territory.

The revelation of Jippirasti gave the Tžuro new drive, and one of their first conquests was the southern shore of Lake Lenan (by 1515). The zealous Jippirasti Kurund completed the conquest of the Lenani by 1600.

Jippirasti Lenan

The Lenani accepted Jippirasti (as well as the Jippirasti alphabet, needed to read the scriptures); but they grew increasingly disenchanted with the Kurundasti Tej, which seemed dangerously urban and tolerant; when the more nomadic portions of the realm created their own Buručandi tej, the Lenani soon imitated them, breaking off as the Lenani Tej (1895).

Most of their tej was conquered by the Carhinnoi around 2050, leaving only a few isolated lineages free. The scion of one of these, Tokruj, united the free Lenani around 2150, and his descendents created an empire which over the next centuries grew to encompass all of the mountain and steppe zone of eastern Ereláe, especially under the atej Žigral (2265-2304). Indeed, Žigral hoped to wrest Skouras from the contemptibly lax Kurundasti, but was unable to conquer the populous heart of the country.

The explosion of the Gelyet pushed the Sainor to the edge of Lake Lenan, and broke the power of the Tokruji; the tej of Lenan, occupying the north shore of the lake and the northern steppe, revolted around 2500. This kingdom struggled for centuries against the Sainor, who tended to have the upper hand till their strength was sapped by the Skourenes and Cuolese. In 3250 the Lenani under the atej Jižlit finally pushed the Sainor out of the northern steppe, and his son Kurubaj conquered the southern shore of the lake.

In recent years the tej has attracted the attention of Dhekhnam, which induced its northern marches to declare independence as Sejnihal (3433). Realizing its isolation, it has struggled to make new friends, forming alliances with Xurno and even the Sainor nation of Qey.