Culture Name: Kaksi [Shadowbound]
Abbreviated History: A young and powerful tribe of proto-Lashic migrants that follows a similar spiritualist/shamanic faith to the Gwonsaum, but is differentiated by a more powerful military aristocracy. Have urbanized and are currently the largest military power in their region, threatening Chufriel and the Gwonsaum.
Sub-States:
Guwwun's Krakdom
Military Power: High
Cultural Influence: Influential
Info: Guwwun is the oldest son of the old Megkrak currently fighting to replace him. He holds the royal city in the north and most of the men.
Ardgis' Krakdom
Military Power: Medium
Cultural Influence: Influential
Info: Ardgis is the younger son of the old Megkrak currently fighting a civil war against his brother. He is seen as skilled but outnumbered.
Detailed History
Guwwun and Ardgis’s civil war for control of the Kaksi continues for several years. Guwwun’s is unable to bring Ardgis to battle, and in his frustration is eventually lured into a trap at the Battle of Terigagas. The battle tips the military balance decisively in Ardgis’s favor, and Ardgis will later raise a notable, well-preserved monument in the hills where the battle took place boasting of his victory, but the war will continue for another year until Guwwum is assassinated in the royal palace at Takkur by nobility seeking to gain the soon-to-be Megkrak’s favor.
However, the length of the civil war will leave notable impressions in Kaksi society. Guwwum’s surviving sons will flee west with a number of their troops, establishing a Kaksi state on the coast. Ardgis’s will spend the remainder of his reign strengthening the Krakdom’s power, as its military strength is not at 100%, codifying the selection of the next ruler through an appointed heir from among the Megkrak’s sons.
His son, Zalpha, will rise to the throne relatively peacefully (though, just to make sure, he’ll have his brothers imprisoned for the rest of his life). Zalpha will possess a previously unknown degree of military strength, with the Kaksi having not fought a major civil war for the succession, which he will use by launching a campaign of conquest against Tusendakru. The unified Kaksi megkrakdom will greatly outweigh the Gwonsaum’s ability to resist, and Zalpha will compel tribute and submission from the remaining cities, using the defeat of Tusendakru as an example. If defeated, he will return to Takkur, lick his wounds, and take out his frustrations on Chufriel.
Further west, Guwwum’s son, Inatta, will conquer the city of Ilusa, establishing a Kaksi military aristocracy in place over the local population. He’ll establish his own Krakdom, and his son will later begin paying tribute to the revived Kaksi state under Zalpha, as its influence expands westwards and the Ilusans seek to establish their security by reaching an accord with their cousins, allowing them to rule their own Krakdom in return for tokens of submission.
Zalpha’s succession will be disputed due to the untimely death of his favored son in a skirmish against [dudes]. One son will proclaim himself Megkrak in Takkur, while Kizzu, a son commanding a military force, marches on Takkur, throws out the self-proclaimed king, and brings forth a posthumous edict where Zalpha establishes Kizzu as the next Megkrak after his death, which is enforced with the support of the military aristocracy.
Kizzu will lack the same degree of administrative ability as Zalpha and Ardgis, and will share power with a female co-ruler, who depending on the translator could be a sister or wife. Nenku, the co-ruler, will establish other males of the royal house in prominent positions of government, reducing the pressure to dispute the succession by establishing alternatives to being Megkrak. First among these will be the Chief of the Royal Palace.
Kizzu will spend most of his reign conquering, or attempting to conquer, new southern territories in Chufriel or Gwonsaum. He’ll be a bit of a braggart, as it were: there were far more monuments raised to his conquests than there were cities to conquer. He’ll die, of course, and Nenku will continue on as co-ruler, with Kizzu’s successor as Megkrak being the former Chief of the Royal Palace (who, notably, was not one of his sons, but a brother: there is no evidence he had sons in the records.) The new Megkrak will lack the same military strength as Kizzu, and won’t see any notable campaigns, as he (and Nenku) are concerned about their control.
As Nenku should be afraid, as once the Megkrak dies she’ll be accused of some nasty crime by the military nobility, who will toss her off a suitably high tower and raise her son to be a proper military Megkrak.
After this, Kaksi rulers will continue to launch wars of conquest against their neighbors at the appearance of weakness so long as they are capable of doing so, but will be increasingly hobbled by the demands of governing the Kaksi megrakdom and dealing with the military aristocracy.
There will be a civil war within the military aristocracy towards the end of the update. Ironically, both sides will profess loyalty to the Megkrak, who will indirectly add fuel to the fire in hopes that he can weaken his rivals.
Cultural Changes: A bureaucracy evolves around Takkur, originally to legitimate Nenku’s rule by giving her proxies, later governing in its own right. While headed by scions of the royal house it will be a non-military avenue for the aristocracy to advance, though not yet strong enough to compete with the military for influence over the state.
The western Kaksi state, Ilaza, will absorb the local gods into its own. It won’t have the bureaucracy of the main Kaksi megkrakdom, however.
As the Kaksi bring more and more tributary states under their control, they’ll establish a formal codification of what they expect from vassal krakdoms. Contributions of military strength, annual tributes, and religious obeisance will be determined. The Kaksi will demand that their gods be worshipped in foreign temples alongside local deities, which many states will get do by equating Kaksi gods with local divinities.
While the bureaucracy is forming, the military will also organize itself to a greater extent. 14 “banners”, or pattar, will develop, each drawing from different villages for recruits, but sharing military developments and exchanging veterans in order to maintain common ties. The ties between some of the pattar will become strained later in the update over disputes about military successes and the share of the wealth from conquests, as they become less military formations and more state institutions in their own right.
Takkur, meanwhile, will be turned into a fabulous palace-city by the combined wealth of the Kaksi conquests (or, impoverishing their empire to make it fabulous anyway, if there are no conquests). Gorgeous mosaics of precious metals will line the walls of the state palaces, though sadly these will be lost to archaeologists when they’re inevitably melted down. The most lasting works of art will actually come from the city walls, which will be much more durable, and feature many bulls and nymphs and scenes of divinities having sex with said bulls and nymphs.
Unlike in the south, no unified priesthood will form with a central religious figure. The chief priest of the Kaksi could be said to be that of the Megkrak, but he derived his authority solely from the Megkrak. Each pattar of the warrior nobility or the bureaucratic offices have their own mini-priesthood, venerating divinities in slightly different flavors and customs than the other, though retaining common trends. This also allows a great deal of syncretism, as Kaksi gods absorb characteristics of conquered peoples, and the worship of Mohal, the Winged Bull, of the Jerabites taking place in some of the minor pattar.
Dogs will be incorporated into Kaksi life, to a greater degree. Dog-based guardian deities will enter the public religion, as dogs are increasingly used to hunt, protect livestock, and in warfare. The most common native Kaksi breed, the Kuwa, is heavy-boned with loose skin and a long muzzle, with broad chests and large muscles, being originally developed to hunt bears. It is nothing at all like the Pirgwon, being large and aggressive.
Military Efforts: The Kaksi Civil War will continue for six years, draining the state’s resources. The final victory of Ardgis’s faction will see his brother’s sons fleeing westwards with some of their soldiers, establishing new Kaksi states on the less-developed western coast.
About forty years into the update the Megkrak Zalpha will launch a campaign of conquest against Tusendakru. If he wins, he’ll bully the other Gwonsaum states into submission. If he loses… he’ll do the same thing, because he’s a bully.
Zalpha’s (eventual) successor, Kizzu, will seek to wave his military dick around in Chufriel or Gwonsaum, whichever seems weaker. He’ll raise numerous monuments to his victories, some of them genuine.
The military aristocracy of the Kaksi will fight a low-key civil war late in the update, chiefly over the share of tribute from vassal-states, weakening them militarily for the next update.