Papliopagimi

From Almeopedia

Papliopagimi
200 - 1692
Native:	Papliopagimi
Verdurian:	Padžimi
Characteristics
Capital:	Papliopagimi
Government:	Republic
Ruler’s title	ageşor
Language:	Old Skourene
Religions:	Skourene paganism

Papliopagimi [ˈpa pli o pa gi mi], present-day Pajimi, was the northernmost city of ancient Skouras, located on the Šinour approximately 200 km upriver from the sea. The river is not navigable much past the city, so it has always been the northern limit of the littoral zone. The river valley broadens out at this point, so the city is also a transition point between the narrow but fertile valleys of lower Skouras and the wide-open spaces of upper Skouras. As a result Papliopagimi was the only ancient Skourene city which raised horses and regularly made use of cavalry.

Etymology: Old Skourene Papliopagimi, assimilated form of patlim-pagimi ‘we believed (in those things), you conquered them’, part of a prayer; Tžuro Pajimi

Contents 1 Early years 2 Attempts at empire 3 The later Skourene era 4 The Tžuro conquest

Early years

Papliopagimi was founded around 200 as a colony of Gasibur, some 50 km downstream. Gasibur followed the ugaşras or 'strong governor' system; the governor (ageşor) was chosen by the senate, but served for life, calling the senate only occasionally for consultations. In its early years Papliopagimi was ruled by a poşmim or trustee appointed from Gasibur.

Gasibur pioneered organized trade with the nomadic Tžuro to the north, trading manufactured goods for wool, milk, cheese, hides, and horses; these goods could then be traded to the rest of Skouras. Papliopagimi was the natural focal point for this commerce, and over the centuries it grew larger than its parent city. In 449 it successfully demanded its own Senate, with the right to elect the poşmim; in 510 it won the right for this offical to be styled ageşor instead. And by the middle of the century it had largely usurped Gasibur's dominant position within the ṭreta (city-state). (Nonetheless Gasibur retained its own senate and local autonomy.)

In 575 the ageşor Sinatşugla conquered Sokandeli, halfway down the Šinour, from Engidori; he then besieged Engidori for a year to discourage thoughts of reconquest.

Attempts at empire

Many attempts were made to turn the ṭretar into empires. For the most part Papliopagimi was content to sit out these wars; but for a period in the 700s it was a player.

It allied with the rising star of Guṭḷeli in 734 against Ṭisuram and Ṭisuraku. The war was won, and Papliopagimi was rewarded with Ṭisuraku and Nibureli. It now had a little empire on the coast of the Skourene Sea. It built a navy, distributed its products widely, and fully participated in the intrigues and headily shifting alliances of Skourene politics.

The only problem was that it had no land route to its new acquisitions; it therefore had to rely on the good graces of the city states that lined the lower river. When Guṭḷeli attacked Iṭili Papliopagimi changed sides and supported the delta city; when Iṭili was conquered (773) it lost Nibureli. This however only provoked a larger war, and Papliopagimi joined in the alliance, led by Meŋeland's Eŋŋuḷoşum which finally defeated and conquered Guṭḷeli (786). Papliopagimi received Nibureli back, and was awarded the strategic island of Ḍarroḍ as well.

It was now Eŋŋuḷoşum's turn to build an empire-- this time allied with Guṭḷeli and Iṭili (which he induced to rebel against Engidori). In 801 he moved against Papliopagimi, which could only find Engidori as an ally. It was a rout; Papliopagimi lost its coastal empire completely. It never attempted to regain it; conventional wisdom in the city was now that entangements with the treacherous southern states were profitless.

The later Skourene era

The Skourenes, largely in reponse to the rise of Axunai, attempted various large-scale leagues and confederacies. Papliopagimi, happy with its monopoly on Tžuro trade, refused to join any of them. In 1109 Ḍolbunodu, the commander of the Engidorid League, attempted to take the city. He was roundly defeated, largely by the Papliopagimir use of cavalry, their own and hired Tžuro.

The war dragged on, however; Ḍolbunodu had greater resources, and indeed captured both Sokandeli and Gasibur for a time. But then he faced revolts in key cities, and the senate kicked him out. When the war finally wound to a stop, in 1121, Papliopagimi had occupied a large part of the hinterlands of Engidori and Ṭisuram.

The Tžuro princes, pressed by the Lenani to their north, had learned to fight as a unifed force. In the 1250s a Tžuro lord, convinced that he had been cheated, induced his peers to turn their bows against Papliopagimi. They didn't really know how to conquer a walled city, but they did take over some of its pastoral hinterland to the north. For now, however, the city was still able to control them with gold, titles, and marriage alliances.

In the 1330s Papliopagimi conquered Miligendi. On a map, its territory was as large as any other Skourene state; this was somewhat misleading as it controlled only four major cities (compare six in the Iṭilik League).

The Tžuro conquest

The Tžuro were invigorated in the 1500s by their new religion Jippirasti. At first their military actions were largely directed at the Mei and the Lenani, but they pressed as well into Papliopagimi's rural hinterland. This was not, however, very serious, was it? Despite their announced intention to conquer the world, the Tžuro still came as they always had to Papliopagimi to trade.

In 1626 the Tžuro atej Burudusi came with his army instead, and besieged the city. They had little knowledge of siege warfare, but they had the zeal and time to learn. In the first year they simply camped round the city, made threats, and showered arrows into the city. In the fourth year they were building sophisticated siege towers, catapults, battering rams, and tunnels.

The city fell in 1630, and to make an example of it, Burudusi executed its senators, razed its walls and every one of its temples, and killed most of its remaining soldiers.

Burudusi died in 1644; Skouras received a reprieve as his cousin Attafei rode north to destroy Munkhâsh. In 1647 Papliopagimi was recaptured by Nuppoma of Gurdago-- aided by the fact that the conquerors had not allowed the walls to be rebuilt. The Skourenes did not make the same mistake.

Nonetheless this availed the city little when the Tžuro returned their attention to Skouras. Attafei's nephew Kutaj reconquered the city in 1692; it was now part of the Kurundasti Tej, and became known as Pajimi (which see for its history as a Tžuro city).