Yenine

From Almeopedia

Yenine
-1550 - -250
Native:	Yenine
Verdurian:	Yenine
Characteristics
Capital:	Yenine, Bi:dau
Government:	Monarchy
Ruler’s title	paźiwa
Language:	Wede:i
Religions:	Wede:i Mešaism

Yenine [ˈjɛ ni ne] was a city in the Xengi delta. It was the dominant city of the first human state in Xengiman and indeed in all of Ereláe.

History

According to legend the state was founded c. -1550 by the king of Tewor, Akba:un, but leadership soon passed to Yenine.

In -650 the paźiwa (king) Begoŋitera conquered Saiśi, aned his son Nanuŋitera conquered Na:nyanok in -625, uniting the entire Xengi valley for the first time. The capital was now Bi:dau, a bit downriver from Yaiśi— the continent’s first metropolis, bloated by bureaucrats, priests, and the engineers who constructed the canal systems which made the valley populous and rich.

Nanuŋitera is also known for promulgating the first legal code (-610), the Canons of Respect. Nanuŋitera also instructed his scholars to unify the divergent scripts of the three kingdoms, forming the Old Syllabary; for more on this see the Wede:i grammar.

The bulk of the kingdom, excluding the delta, was conquered in -325 by an Eastern people, the Inbamumakei or Ezičimi. The delta was not absorbed till -250.

Aftermath

The refugee nobility of Yenine found new estates along the Ideis around 6 ZE, and became known by the Wede:i name of the river, the Jei. Early on, they established trading relations with the Wede:i peoples of the Chiqay.

The city was no larger than a town in Axunemi times, overshadowed by the nearby Weinex. It didn't survive the Age of Petty Kings, and is no more than ruins today.

Etymology: Wede:i ‘river hill’.