Muḍureg
From Almeopedia
| Muḍureg | |
| 885-1581 | |
| Native: | Muḍureg |
| Verdurian: | Mura |
| Characteristics | |
| Capital: | Kuḷiŋibor |
| Government: | confederation (mḍera) |
| Ruler’s title | -- |
| Language: | Old Skourene |
| Religions: | Skourene paganism |
The Muḍureg ['mu ḍu reg], or Mudric Confederacy, was a league organized by the city-state of Kuḷiŋibor— an attempt to create Skourene structures strong enough to resist the new imperial era exemplified by the Jeori and Axunemi. It began with a major victory— defeating Timai the emperor of Axuna— but lasted as a major power for less than a hundred years. For nearly half a milennium it was little more than the extended hinterland of a single city, Teralam.
Etymology: Old Skourene ‘we will be undivided', from meḍr- 'be whole'.
Contents |
Origins of the Confederacy
Kuḷiŋibor, on the coast of the Mnau peninsula, was alarmed at the precipitous rise of Axuna, and warned early on that the new empire had designs on the rich Skourene cities. It even took the unusual step of sending a delegation fouor times in a row to the Greparam, the triennial council of the delta states and the closest the Skourenes had to an international institution. Kuḷiŋibor preached the necessity of a strong confederacy (mḍera)), which would not (unlike an empire) govern its component cities, but would unite their armed forces and eliminate trade barriers. The northern states made sympathetic speeches but found the threat too remote to justify action.
In 885 Timai invaded Mnau, capturing the cities of Arṭali and Korileŋ. This convinced Meŋeland to join the confederacy. This was a significant addition, inasmuch as Meŋeland at this time controlled Iṭili and Imuṭeli, two of the three prestigious delta cities. The Confederacy now encompassed over half of the Skourenes' total territory.
Timai was defeated within two years-- a minor setback for the founder of Axunai, but a major victory for the Confederacy. His son Uliromez conquered the Šabukei delta, adding to the sense of danger.
Its dizzying height
After this, however, the Axunemi made no more threatening moves. The Skourenes grew restless; the inevitable solution was to refocus its energy on other Skourene states-- particularly Guṭḷeli, the largest and richest Skourene city, and an exasperatingly stubborn critic of the Confederacy. (It didn't help that Kuḷiŋibor was its former colony.)
No one really resisted the descent into war (930). Guṭḷeli was a formidable opponent, allied with Miligenḍi, and succeeded in sacking and burning Meŋeland, but both allies were defeated (938)— with the crucial use of Axunemi trebuchets— and forcibly enrolled in the Confederacy. The Muḍureg now included three quarters of Skourene territories; besides some marginal territories, only Engidori and Papliopagimi were excluded. The conquest of Guṭḷeli left Gurdago, far away on the Luduyn peninsula, to develop on its own.
Concerned about the centrifugal tendencies of the littoral cities, Kuḷiŋibor created the Skourene League (Dreşa Skourand) as a component of the Confederacy. It appropriated the Greparam as the ruling body, excluding Engidori and adding Miligenḍi, Guṭḷeli, Meŋeland, and Ageşoram.
The rise of the Confederacy coincided with a decline in prosperity. The rise of Axunai, a command economy, depressed trade; beyond this there was a decline in Skourene innovation. The cities were dominated by elites who distrusted any change; many had moved from senatorial to despotic governments; even literature was now dominated by metaphysical eccentricity. And over the next centuries all of Skouras, but especially the southern littoral, suffered an ecological collapse, as the hills of the littoral were systematically deforested. The lack of wood crippled Skourene industry, and deforested hills lost their topsoil.
Schism
The Confederacy increasingly distrusted Kuḷiŋibor, which was constantly suspected of overplaying the Axunemi threat in order to build an empire. In 958 the other members forced the move of the official capital (including the military headquarters and the treasury) to Teralam, across the Skourene Sea. (The commander remained Kuḷiŋiborik, and Kuḷiŋibor retained the surplus from previous Confederacy taxes.) Kuḷiŋibor went along with this in hopes of defusing tension; but the other members then insisted on halving Confederacy taxes and restraining soldiers' tours of duty, both severe blows to the Confederacy's military effectiveness.
Kolatimand now wanted to invade Ḍeleli, a minor state on the eastern shore of the Gelihur peninsula, east of Teralam. Kuḷiŋibor vehemently objected, and ultimately it was simply expelled by the other members (975). The Skourene League declared itself neutral, which effectively removed it from the Confederacy. Ḍeleli was quickly conquered; the rump Confederacy then spent seven years fighting against Kuḷiŋibor. The war ended as it began, with Kuḷiŋibor controlling the western coast of the Skourene Sea, the rump Muḍureg the east.
Descent into obscurity
In 1035 Ḍeleli rebelled. Teralam declared that it must be reconquered; but Kolatimand had been nearly bankrupted by the last war, and refused to participate. This left the 'Confederacy' as not much more than Teralam itself, and it was unable to prevent either defection.
Teralam did retain a rural hinterland that looked respectably large. The southern portion of this was lost in the late 1300s, in the wake of an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate the Eastern League of Komand. Iṭili took the island of Ḍarroḍ in 1496, which led to further shrinkage in Teralam's area of control.
In 1581 Teralam voluntarily joined the rising power of Peligi-- ironically, perhaps, another southern Skourene state preaching unity against a foreign invader, in this case the Tžuro.
See also
- For a comprehensive history of the Old Skourenes, see the Historical Atlas of Skouras.
