Timai

From Almeopedia

Timai [ti ˈma i] was the first emperor of Axunai, who definitively established that the dominant culture of Xengiman would be Axunemi and not Jeori.

Etymology: Ax. Timai, of unknown meaning, X. Cimai, Caď. Timais, Ver. Timay.

Early life

He was born as Tima in 825, at a time when a resurgent Jeor dominated Xengiman; Jeor even controlled most of the Xengi valley, and the western portion of the delta (Šiyku) itself. The great Jeori general We:sela:i had reestablished the unity of the Jeori empire and as late as 826 was besieging Lirau on the delta.

However, We:sela:i was assassinated in his own tent, and his empire collapsed into warring factions. Tima's father Tazipivu, king of Axuna, pursued a careful policy of intervention on the side of one Jeori prince or another, taking as his reward slices of territory along the river. By his death Tazipivu had regained control of the entire delta as well as the river valley as far as Lozauš, and had conquered the Axunemi city-state of Tannaza upstream.

Tima served as his father's adjutant, and developed a reputation for bravery to the point of recklessness. He continually pressed his father to advance farther and take on the Jeori directly, but Tazipivu (who had fought We:sela:i) remained cautious.

King

In 855 Tima became nive (king), and had a chance to test his strategy. He immediately committed his army to an assault on Nogali, the chief city of the middle Xengi. He soundly defeated the Jeori army sent to stop him, and settled in for a siege— fortunately abbreviated when the Axunemi citizens revolted and opened the gates of the city. He spent the next few years mopping up Jeori holdings in the middle river (Šuzep) before intimidating the Axunemi kingdom of Van into accepting his overlordship.

In the 870s he turned to the purely Jeori states, starting with Jinayzu, the capital of the Jeori empire, and Nioruni upstream on the Idéis. (Jeor, the region, is farther west; as Axunai arose out of Axuna on the delta, the Jeori empire had arisen from Jeor to the west.) In the 880s he moved north to Rajjay and then Bozan.

In 885 Tima sent an expeditionary force to Mnau, conquering the cities of Arṭali and Korileŋ. The normally fractious Skourene cities were galvanized by the Axunemi threat into a rare unity, forming the Muḍureg or Mudric Confederacy under the leadership of Kuliŋibor. Campaigns at this distance from the homeland were however only a diversion for Tima; when resistance was fiercer than expected he withdrew. This left Kuliŋibor feeling vindicated and the other Skourenes believing that the Axunemi menace was overrated, which boded ill for Muḍureg as a Skourene counter to the power of Axunai.

Tima had now conquered most of the Axunašin-speaking areas and a good deal of Jeori territory, making his empire the largest in Ereláe outside Munkhâsh.

Empire

In 890 Tima added the augmentative -i to his name and those of his title and realm, becoming Timai, niveï of Axunai. For good measure, he changed the reckoning of years and the beginning of the year to the date of his proclamation (shortly before the summer equinox).

Timai was well aware that an empire could be easily established and as easily lost, as the Jeori example proved. He spent much effort building a strong central bureaucracy and army, and impressing on his nobles and generals that he was no longer merely a particularly strong noble (as was the Axunemi tradition), but a godlike power far above their own. He divided the former royalty of Tannaza and Van into multiple estates, limited nobles' personal armies, and redistributed estates, all to reduce regionalism and alternative power centers; he was also careful to allow no generals much military glory— except for his son Uliromez. He pressed temples to incorporate devotion to the empire into rituals and teachings.

In personality he was stern and demanding— a military man through and through. An Axunemi ruler was expected to live and dress luxuriously and to create monumental public works, but he gave no sense of enjoying these things, and had little time for artists, merchants, or women.

Preceded by: Tazipivu

Timai 855-898

Succeeded by: Uliromez