The pre-AFSNES I.

[jeps]

As the Northern European, I am dependent on southern nations for my economy. so if any empires down there fall and lith-hostile ones take their place, there we go. As well, with snow an all, until paved roads or railroads, roads in snow-covered baltic areas is unthinkable at this day and age. Road generally means cleared path, until you get further south.

 

[das]

BT Update VI - Years 400-700 AD

New World:

Over the centuries that passed since the beginning of the Zapotec naval revival, much has changed in this hemisphere, and many things were achieved. For much of the 5th century AD, Danipaguache was indeed in its very zenith. The colonial empire was developed and expanded further, academies and libraries were founded and unprecedented economical prosperity was achieved. Under King Stone-Jaguar (r. 447-479 AD), the abudance of money and manpower was used to formally reclaim Zapotec hegemony in a series of military campaigns. The Olmec city-states were overran with ease, their Sakbean allies intercepted and defeated at Comalcalco. After that, the Zapotecs marched on Teotihuacan, defeating the brittled army of that city’s once-powerful rulers in a great battle just outside of the capital. Soon after the fall of Teotihuacan, Apatzingan and Xacalla pledged allegiance to Stone-Jaguar as well. The Nahuans of Chalchihuitis, far to the northwest, defied him and attempted to invade Apatzingan, but were decisively defeated both there and in their very homeland, and so had to submit as well. After that, Stone-Jaguar marched into the Mayan lands, where Sakbe was struggling with rebellious cities and envious nearby states in the wake of Comalcalco. Although the Sakbean military fortunes briefly revived during the brief reign of King B'alam Nehn (r. 470-476 AD), in the end all of his efforts were not enough; the vast Zapotec armies overran the war-torn Mayan heartlands, routed army after army raised by B’alam, and razed Sakbe itself, causing the defeated ruler to commit suicide. The other Mayan states promptly swore allegiance to Danipaguache, and Stone-Jaguar died sovereign over the entire Mesoamerica.

Soon after his death, things began to take a turn for the worse. In 480 AD, a new devastating eruption in Lake Ilopango resulted in general anarchy in both southern and central Maya lands and the Zapotec colonies; this and a civil war resulted in the semi-collapse of the Zapotec rule in the eastern part of their empire. Chalchihuitis rebelled again, and other Nahuan peoples nibbled away at the Zapotec Empire’s fringes. The trade network collapsed again, as the Moche Empire too entered a period of chaos; a bitter succession war raged while floods and earthquakes devastated the land. Even as some semblance of order and unity was restored in Danipaguache just before the century’s end, the Moche Empire simply disintegrated further.

While King Smoke Shell managed to reunite Danipaguache and restore contact with the colonies, his attempts to reconquer the Mayan lands were largely unsuccessful. Though he and his immediate heirs protected the northern frontier with some success, the demographical and economical damage caused by the catastrophe had rendered Danipaguache’s hegemony quite untenable and its situation in general very much fragile. When in 535 AD another volcano eruption – much more distant, occurring on the island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Ascendancy, but also much, much more powerful – triggered a world-wide volcanic winter, as well as additional floods and widespread droughts, Danipaguache’s coffin was nailed pretty firmly. General economical failings resulted in a period of even more bitter civil strife, as chaos reigned in both the cities and countryside. And in the meantime, hordes of Nahuans migrated southwards, driven by both greed and necessity. Out of these, one group gained particular prominence – the Tepehuani.

It were the Tepehuani that had previously devastated Chalchihuitis, forcing its survivors to launch a northwestwards exodus; likewise, the Tepehuani were the ones who captured Teotihuacan, eventually rebuilding it as their capital and forcing the other nearby Nahuan tribes to acknowledge their supreme rule. As agriculture steadily recovered in the later 6th century AD and civilisation began to reclaim lands previously lost to anarchy, it were the Tepehuani that truly embraced this process, and reconquered much of the former Zapotec Empire. In 588 AD, a Tepehuani general named Quetzalcoatl oversaw the sacking of the city-state of Danipaguache – by then indeed nothing more than a city-state, but still a very arrogant one. At the same time, he made sure to preserve the scrolls from the Great Library of Danipaguache, taking them with him when after a failed bid for power he and his retainers were forced into exile. He was eventually accepted as king by the war-weary Zapotec colonies, where a partial revival of culture and trade commenced afterwards, although even in 700 AD the area was still in the process of recovering from the ravages of the preceding Dark Age.

Still, by that moment most regions already saw the beginning of new civilisations and revivals of old ones. In the furthest northwest, Nahuan refugees from Chalchihuitis merged with local cultures and became the nucleus of a new tribal confederation. Chalchihuitis itself was gone by now, as were the nearby Zapotec trade outposts, but the rest of Mexico Valley – roughly within the borders of the old Teotihuacani empire – was ruled by the Tepehuani, who had established a new capital at Acatlan and evolved advanced institutions of government under the Zapotec and Mayan influences. Superior agricultural and metallurgic techniques of the Zapotecs were not all lost neither, though the Zapotec ports remained in decline until the last few decades when trade began to pick once more. While both the central and southern Mayan cities were very weakened by previous chaos and never quite regained their former prominence, the north of the Yucatan saw a major renaissance under the hegemony of Coba. The Cobans and the Zapotecs competed over the status of preeminent naval powers, as both founded ports on the Taino Sea [1] shores, bringing the Zapotec naval technique there. Trade and cultural exchange with the Taino natives of the eastern islands commenced in due time, as new trade centres followed. The Zapotec state – a hybrid of an empire and a very loose league of city-states – saw some political strife and lost some lands to rebels or natives, but generally remained prosperous, in trading contact with the Mayans, the Taino, the Comanchi (who once more sunk into barbarism after the Dark Age, but still remained useful trade partners) and the northernmost post-Moche empire of Pacatnamu. Pacatnamu, Pachacamac and Ocucaje – all led by kings tracing their ancestry to the last Moche emperor – ruled the coasts, while Moche-influenced natives built their own kingdoms around Huarpa and Tiahuanaco in the inlands. Still, a fair amount of cultural contact and cohesion was retained between the states.

Mediterranean, Europe and West Africa:

The upheavals of the 4th century AD were but the tip of the iceberg; the great Germanic migrations and the emergence of the Tartar Empire had merely set up the stage for greater chaos in the coming centuries, as had other events that were not yet given due attention by chroniclers in Arganthinopolis and Kratopolis. Many unforeseen tendencies were already in place, though not always in open sight.

That said, the opening conflicts of the early 5th century AD were of the predictable – indeed, long-anticipated – kind, even though the developments that accompanied these conflicts were not. As Germanics struggled with Arganthines and Arecomicians, and the Tartars of Khan Mugula threatened to strike at both, a new Dumnorix – named Tureno - rose to the forefront of history in Camuloth. A classical prophet-king, he claimed himself to the descendant of Suessus I and indeed Tigranus himself; after overcoming the initial awkwardness those claims caused, he and like-minded nobles embraced a cultural renaissance and worked to enforce the ideals of naerbomajus (monotheism), natuetomajus (nationalism), gala (divine power) and serna (justice). Due to the general disparity, low literacy and other problems this religious reform proved to be largely superficial, but still succeeded in stirring up dissent from the traditionalists; perhaps realising this, Tureno turned to foreign affairs. Although his religious claims had greatly antagonised the Dominos of Tartessos (seeing as the Dominos was supposed to be the spiritual leader of Tigranism), the old alliance was renewed to wipe out the Germanics in 410 AD. By then the Arganthines had more or less subdued the invading Germanics, though the northern provinces remained disorderly and barbarian-ridden; deciding that the only way to truly pacify the provinces was to eradicate the Germanic tribes in Gaul (from where they kept migrating southwards), Dominos Korbis now marched into Gaul, as had Dumnorix Tureno at the head of his feudal levies. Despite heavy resistance, vast areas were conquered comparatively quickly and much of Gaul was partitioned between the allies. At the same time, actually eradicating all the Germanic tribes proved no easier in Gaul than it was in Iberia; there was simply way too much territory for the largest armies the Arganthines and the Arecomicians could raise to control, and the Germanic tribes had learned to avoid open combat. The campaign thus bogged down in spite of all the victories. As armies spread out to hunt down Germanic tribes, discipline – not particularily existent amongst the Arecomicians in the first place – deteriorated. Restless Arecomician nobles often launched their own raids into the Frisii territory, frustrated at the confusing diplomacy between the Dumnorix and the Frisii Konig Reginhard.

Meanwhile, in 416 AD, Mugula the Tartar died. His eldest son Aladar, who had just returned with a diminished, but hardened and dedicated horde of loyal warriors from a particularily successful raid into central Italy, then proceeded to cold-bloodedly butcher everybody else who had any chances of seizing power. He then raised a huge army of trusted tribesmen and vassals, and marched west, abandoning his father’s empire to regionalistic and ethnic infighting. The Frisii, who had over time grown very prosperous indeed from both raiding and trading, were his first targets; their capital, along with many other key cities, towns and villages, was completely ransacked after their courageous but poorly-organised armies were routed, the remnants fleeing west with their konig. There they fought with the Arecomician feudals, while Tureno’s diminished army was being routed on the shores of the Roto [2], and the Tartars wrecked havoc on the Arecomician colonies and allied Gaelic settlements alike. They also beat up some Tartessian detachments. All this prompted Tureno to form an unlikely alliance with the Frisii, while the Arganthines reconciled with the Ligurians in the south. The latter coalition successfully checked the Tartar advance at Arausio, but not before taking major casualties and becoming distracted by both infighting and further Germanic rebellions; the former, meanwhile, had to fight for their lives. Tureno had somehow managed to rally his unruly army and force it to follow orders; he also mobilised the Gaelic vassals and combined his main army with those of his Frisii and Laigin allies. A separate Tartar horde was defeated at the town of Vern, and Aladar’s main force was confronted in the 421 AD Battle of the Liga [3] Valley. In the end, the allied army successfully stood its ground and greatly harmed the Tartars, though Aladar remained at large in eastern Gaul, often raiding into the west and the south as well. Fortunately, he died during one of those raids in 424 AD, and his micro-empire fell apart as well, the hordes falling into infighting.

This and the prior collapse of the Tartar Empire wasn’t quite as much of a relief for civilisation as many might have expected it to be; the intense and bloody ethnic strife that now tore central Europe made things worse, as the Germanic tribes, free from Tartar rule, now found themselves in a poor economic situation and pushed by the expansionistic, warlike eastern peoples – the Slavs and Liths. Under the reign of King Gintaras II (r. 414-445 AD), the latter built for themselves a vast empire along the Amber Route, often displacing various disobedient Germanics and forcing them to flee further west, even though the Liths usually had to focus on fighting off ambitious Slavic warlords. And while Gintaras II assembled a truly huge empire for his rather small people, stretching from Danapris [4] to the Rhine and from the Baltic Sea to the Danube, the Armoricians and the Arganthines had to deal with yet another flood of invaders.

By then all alliances were long-gone, ofcourse; the new Dominos, Konstanthios IV, declared war on the heretical (and land-grabbing; the true cause was probably the border tensions worsened by the Armorician feudals shamelessly attacking Arganthine colonies) Dumnorix, who had in the meantime half-intimidated and half-beaten the Frisii into submission. Meanwhile, the Ligurians used the weakness of all their neighbours to expand in all directions, though largely refusing to take part in the wars that raged all over Gaul. The newly-arrived and well-entrenched Germanic tribes alike fought their own, separate wars with one another and with the hated invaders at the same time. Arganthines and Armoricians launched seaborne raids and invasions against each other’s heartlands, with very limited success, while huge armies slugged it out in Gaul, especially in the Liga Valley. For the most part, fighting was sporadic and indecisive, in part because of the increasingly feudal nature of both armies and the economical difficulties that made mounting any significant offensive (that naturally had limited chances of success) more hard than usual. In the end, the Armoricians budged first; Turano had, through a combination of religious charisma and sheer coercion, managed to barely control his unruly (and increasingly grudging) vassals, but immediately after his death, Armoricia imploded into succession wars and feudal revolts. Disgusted, many of the frontier lords and colonial cities alike (both no longer feeling a particular connection with Arecomicia) simply defected to the Arganthine side in exchange for assorted privileges. This allowed the Dominos to conquer Gaul and even invade Arecomicia itself, though he was ultimately forced to withdraw by logistical difficulties and mounting casualties. Konstanthios IV also persuaded the Frisii and others in their confederacy to swear allegiance to him as “allied tribes”, retaining factual autonomy. Feeling that Tigranus’ blessing was with him, Konstanthios IV raised higher taxes and established new military colonies in Gaul, seeking to properly secure it for the Dominate. At the same time he marched into Italy, where the Athanoi ruling class was far outnumbered by the discontent Italic, Etruscan and Latin masses, increasingly rallied by Ashaist religious leaders. It was ripe for the picking, and the Athanoi were a menace in any case, having briefly conquered the Mediterranean Arecome while the Arganthines were campaigning in Gaul. A grand overland invasion assisted by seaborne raids and diversions allowed the Arganthines to reconquer Italy. Konstanthios IV died in 462 AD confident that he had truly revived his empire’s faltering fortunes, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, ranging from the decaying court and the widespread disillusionment in the Cult of Tigranus to the sheer imperial overstretch, crippling taxes and virtually-unabated Germanic migrations.

Still, it took some time for the Dominate to collapse; for now it continued to stagnate and decay, occasionally erupting into religious riots, civil wars or particularily intense court intrigue. Elsewhere, Arecomicia – as well as Laigin – virtually ceased to exist amidst the feudal strife, and the Pictish tribes as well as Germanic raiders took advantage of the situation, striking at targets of opportunity and generally pillaging things. Many of the Frisii – disenchanted with both their king and the rather strict Arganthine rule, but above all things else simply restless – migrated to the North Sea shores of New Arecome and Scandinavia. With Gintaras II’s death, the Lithuanian Empire promptly and loudly collapsed, Germanic, Slavic and Dacian tribes reclaiming their independence and resuming their inter-tribal feuds. Latgallians, allies of the weakened Liths, now asserted power in the Baltic region, creating a much smaller and hence more manageable empire. The southernmost lands of the former Hunnish Empire had seen a Thracian revival and intrigues between the Pulpudevan Thracians and the Hessonians to win over the emerging semi-Thracian principalities. And there were, ofcourse, rumblings in the steppes, though for now the Bulgars had apparently emerged as predominant in the Pontic Steppe, assimilating or destroying most newly-arrived tribes and incorporating the Sabirians. Both the Thracians and the Bulgars were forced to forge some closer ties by the incessant Hessonian attacks on both (admittedly provoked by the raids of the former and the piracy of the latter), which ended up claiming for Hessonia some additional ports cities. At their very zenith, the Hessonians expanded fairly aggressively (though not with as much ambition as one might have expected), even though domestic troubles were beginning to mount; most notably, the three-sided conflict between the followers of the old Greek polytheism, the Agade Dag which despite all efforts taken to minimise its spread secured a strong position amongst both the poor masses and the wealthy merchants and the somewhat encouraged Nubian faith of Ashaism, which too made considerable headway in the cities and the countryside alike. As the foreign faiths spread, they conflicted with both each other and a reactionary revival of the old Greek religion, and these conflicts often turned into religious riots and even rebellions, despite all of the king’s cries for unity and religious tolerance.

And to complete our tour of the middle 5th century AD Mediterranean we must look at Nubia, or rather, what became of it after yet another collapse. The Nubian Empire that emerged after Harsiotef’s wars of conquest and subsequent civil wars in the 3rd century AD was simply structurally unsound; it was stretched from Cyrene to the Horn of Africa, and so covered lots of diverse regions, and though Ashaism and Nubian culture provided some sort of an unifying influence, they could not stop the growing regionalism. Furthermore, the empire was simply too expensive to govern; the new dynasty’s founder, Nashta, hoped to secure his realm’s unity by setting up an extensive bureaucracy and funding it with very high tariffs on the Red Sea trade routes, but that was both a temporary reprieve only and a main cause for conflict with Nyayana and its allies. The middle of the 4th century AD and the beginning of the 5th saw two new Nyarnan-Nubian Wars, and in both the Nubians were severely defeated, losing their naval might and their claims on Nyarnan colonies. This combined with the Libyan and Fur raids, the Cushite rebellions and the occasional Akkadian invasions that were only defeated with the help of Hessonia, and ofcourse the hugely expensive and overambitious public works had all led up to a spectacular collapse in 433 AD, as the provinces erupted in rebellion and the last king was slain by overtaxed and desperate peasants while trying to put down a major uprising outside of the capital itself. In the end, one Cushite and two Nubian states arose in the south, largely thanks to Nyarnan meddling, while the north saw a loyal general, Amonsazar, triumph over rebels with Hessonian assistance. He established his own dynasty and a new capital, Watchur [5]. Watchuria, as his new realm was often called, had immediately and fully turned its attention to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern affairs, lowering tariffs and taxes as a much more wieldy bureaucracy was organised for the more manageable empire. Amonsazar also helped the Hessonians pushed the Akkadians out of the Levant, and rebuilt a great Mediterranean fleet.

It was under Amonsazar’s son, Shebitku (r. 442-482 AD), that Watchuria truly came into its own, reasserting the Eastern Mediterranean hegemony once held by Karung and taking it further. Ashaist missionaries had strenghthened the strongholds of Nubian religious influence already existent in Italy and North Africa, and gained much ground in Hessonia and Iberia as well, in spite of the efforts of local reactionaries and foreign competitors (both Agade Dag and Essentialist Vehicle Paramatmanism) alike. Meanwhile, the Watchurian military was built up immensely; it was just in time, too, as the Hessonian fortunes had finally ran out and assorted social tensions combined with the myriad border conflicts finally caught up with them. The new phase of the Thracian Wars that started under King Hector in 453 AD began quite auspiciously; Pulpudeva, the capital of the southern Thracians weakened by growing internal strife, was sacked and the coastal principality of Odrysa allied with the Hessonians. However, things soon turned for the worse; the southern Thracians stubbornly refused to surrender and fought a vigorous hit-and-run campaign in the hills, grinding away at the Hessonian army and forcing new forces to be commited. Meanwhile, Prince Gaidreskolm of Singidun had emerged as the most powerful post-Tartar ruler in the northern Balkans, forging a mighty Thraco-Dacian kingdom and receiving the allegiance of the western Bulgar tribes; he built a powerful and surprisingly well-disciplinned army, and crushed Odrysa, then moving to rally the southern Thracians and leading them to a decisive victory over King Hector in the 462 AD Battle on the Evros River [6], capturing and killing the king himself and routing a large Hessonian army. While intrigue, uncomfortably frequent coups d’etat and riots organised by pretenders reigned supreme in Kratopolis, Gaidreskolm pushed the Hessonians out of Thrace and advanced far into Greece itself, allying with local pro-Agade Dag nobles who launched a rebellion and, after a fashion, agreed to crown Gaidreskolm as Avtokrator of the Hellenes, reviving the old title as long as they received the actual rule over the Greek lands.

While Queen Helen – the ultimate victor of the succession struggles that lasted well into 464 AD - eliminated her opponents and drew back on her empire’s Anatolian resources, her efforts were already determined to be futile by certain interested powers. The Akkadians, having recruited vast hordes of Agade Dag nomadic tribes, now marched to exploit the instability in Hessonia, advancing into the heart of Anatolia and raising new rebellions as they went; they also reclaimed northern Levant. All of these developments prompted Shebitku to intervene as well, formally on the behalf of Queen Helen; Watchurian forces already in Greece formed the backbone of the remaining Hessonian resistance there, while a swift naval campaign thwarted Gaidreskolm’s attempt to build an Aegean fleet. A large army under Shebitku himself was deployed in Ashaist-dominated western Anatolia, and the Akkadian advance was thwarted in the Battle of Iconia, while another Watchurian force conquered the northern Levant with the help of Ashaist Arabs. War in Anatolia and Greece continued for some time, but the former was decided with a grand Watchurian offensive into Mesopotamia which was barely repulsed and forced the Akkadians to pull back, and the latter was abated by Gaidreskolm’s death and the beginning of Slavic invasions from the northeast, which distracted his successors. Eventually, the Watchurians reconquered Greece and Macedonia, though the Thracians held out further north. By then, the Hessonian Empire was in shambles, and the Watchurians, along with their aristocratic Ashaist allies, were for all the purposes in control; Queen Helen was partially persuaded and partially coerced by her Ashaist advisors to convert to Ashaism and to marry Shebitku, so as to create an Ashaist super-state.

Deciding that the inland empires of Thrace and Akkad were more trouble than they were worth, Shebitku then elected to go west, where Ashaist masses grew discontent with the decadent, weakening Tigranist Dominate. The combined Hessonian and Watchurian fleets had thoroughly defeated the Arganthine one in the 477 AD Battle of Ulasis, and with the help of Ashaist converts – both from the urban populaces and from the warlike inland tribes – invaded and swiftly overran Italy and North Africa, also forcing Garamantes and the Illyrian city-states to pledge allegiance to Watchuria and to allow Ashaist missionary activities (Garamantes converted; the Illyrians, meanwhile, were greatly annoyed by attempts at forced conversion and instead embraced a Hellenised form of Agade Dag). After the Mediterranean was properly conquered and the Arganthines were once more defeated at Maiorica despite their last-moment utilization of such innovations as the Tartessian Fire, the Watchurians invaded Iberia. Though Arganthines resisted fiercely and inflicted many casualties, indeed repulsing the first invasion, by 482 AD the Watchurians had established a strong hold on southern and central sections of the Mediterranean shores, and used the Ashaist Berbers to overrun much of central Iberia. Shebitku’s death came too late to change anything. His son Kayin assumed command vigorously enough. The Arganthine Empire had by then already largely collapsed; as forces from all over the provinces were gathered for a last stand, the Germanic tribes easily rose up and carved out their own kingdoms in a wide area from Frisia to northern Iberia. The Arganthines – weakened by infighting and plagued by desertion and low morale - were defeated at Turba and at Ilerda, and so herded into Arganthinopolis, which was besieged for over a year before surrendering after a breakout of the plague, a final disintegration of the army and an Ashaist coup d’etat. Leaving loyal Ashaist Iberian and Berber governors and warlords to consolidate the gains, Kayin then hurried to reassert the empire; much as he had feared, he ended up fighting a civil war with his mother Helen and with an assortment of Greek, Levantine and Arabian separatists, but in the end he prevailed and set about organising his empire. The capital was moved to the central position of Arecomos [7], a new bureaucracy and taxation system was set up, and a system of military districts was established. At the same time, Ashaism underwent reform after the 493 AD Council of Arecomos, which created a new Ashaist ecclesiastical organisation headed by the Skri (the Eminent One, or His Eminence) in Arecomos itself, as well as sorted out issues of canon, assembled the Ashaist holy texts, organised early monastic orders and sent out missionaries in all directions.

 

[das]

The Watchurian Empire survived for surprisingly long, as Kayin was very determined to keep it alive at all cost; even as actual central control gradually deteriorated, the local military commanders remained commited enough; Arabs defended the Levant from Akkadians and the Berbers protected Iberia from the Germanics, while the main Watchurian army ruthlessly crushed all Agade Dag rebellions in Greece and Anatolia, rooting out the local temple organisations and crushing many traditional local institutions as well. While Kayin was the last in the line of capable Watchurian rulers, his heirs after 506 AD being more concerned with harems, poetry and philosophy than with matters of state, regional generals such as the Berber Tarek and the Greek Euandrios nonetheless rose to prominence and managed to not only defend but even expand the empire in the early 6th century AD. Tarek conquered northern Iberia and even parts of southern Gaul, temporarily ceasing the Germanic raids, while Euandrios’ achievements, other than the conquest of southern Thrace, are best described elsewhere. Nonetheless, the fact of imperial decay remained, and was sped up by new events in the 520s and 530s AD. Firstly, European peace was once again disrupted by new arrivals from the steppe, the Mongolic Khasars, who settled on the Pannonian Plain like the Tartars before them, and from there raided into Germany and the Balkans; though never quite as numerous or as powerful as the Tartars, they still caused a fair amount of trouble. The northern, Scandinavian Germanics – namely, the Nord-Frisians, the Vikings and the Danes – increasingly took up raiding again, attacking both the Celtic polities of the British Isles and the Germanic ones in Gaul, and sometimes reaching even into Iberia. The failure of the overstretched Watchurians to successfully counter most Khasar or Scandic raids revealed the growing military weakness of the empire, as well as worsened the social tensions. Meanwhile, the Krakatoa eruption and the following volcanic winter overstrained the economy, leading to widespread famines and rebellions; combined with the disturbances caused by raiders, this both prompted and allowed further popular migrations, in particular those of the Slavs, the Bulgars and the Magyars (the latter being a migratory Ugric people with Turkic influences that recently arrived into the Pontic Steppe). In the Middle East, population pressures combined with other factors caused a grand burst of violent Arabic migrations, hurting both Watchur and its enemies. Former vassals reasserted their independence, and Agade Dag cults emerged from the underground in the Balkans. In spite of last-moment efforts to save the Watchurian Empire, rebellions, governor defections and barbarian invasions had torn apart the empire by 560 AD. It would be nigh-impossible to describe in any reasonable detail all of the chaos that raged all over the Mediterranean during the collapse and after it, but it would probably suffice to say that this was, indeed, a dark age. Many great cities (such as Watchur, Kratopolis and Arganthinopolis) were utterly ravaged, and with the destruction of their great libraries much was lost. Still, the Ashaist monastic organisations helped save a fair amount of classical culture and knowledge, as had Agade Dag temple organisations which often became scientific centres as well as spiritual ones.

The surviving “islands of civilisation” (sometimes figurative, and sometimes literal), combined with other religious developments and the gradual revival of Mediterranean commerce, and ofcourse with simple good warlording allowed for a comparatively quick revival of civilisation. Towards 700 AD, a new map of Europe and the Mediterranean took shape.

In the British Isles, Hibernia was a patchwork of feudal states, though gradually the institution of high kingship combined with Tigranist religious influence allowed a somewhat greater degree of unity in the face of Nord-Frisian and Viking raids. The Picts – driven from their eastern and northern coastlands and islands by the Nord-Frisians – had developed similarily, reconciling with the Caerixians, the successors of the Arecomicians. In the face of Germanic invasions which had only been repulsed with great difficulty and over a long period of time, Tureno’s neo-Tigranist ideas had been picked up again by other regional leaders claiming discent from Suessus, and eventually King Belimar of Caerix had managed to reestablish the Arecomician monarchy along neo-Tigranist lines, after defeating both the particularily unruly vassals and the Frisian invaders. To avoid the feudal strife of old, Belimar’s heirs worked to centralise the realm, creating a proto-bureaucracy and a proper standing army, and also working to strengthen the coastal trading cities in order to both restore the trade with the continent and counterbalance the remaining strong feudals. Diplomatically and culturally, hegemony over the British Isles was asserted, and counter-raids were launched into Frisia and Scandinavia, though with limited success only.

Raiding and commerce – and the following accumulation of wealth – was combined with the export of the Frisian political traditions to allow the rise of early Scandinavian states. The Nord-Frisians ruled much of the North Sea shore of the Scandinavian Peninsula itself, with a grand capital in the city of Bjorgvin; this state was probably the most civilised, with an established code of laws and a literary tradition. Along the northern shores of the Vik [8], the feudal realm of Vikland arose, sometimes coming under Nord-Frisian or Danish reign, but eventually reasserting its independence. In the Baltic Sea, in Uppland, the Vendel Kingdom emerged; it was quite extensive, though not particularily centralised, and prospered from trade with Slavs and Latgallians. The peninsula of Jutland and nearby islands saw the realm of Danelaw arise; it was likewise quite wealthy from trade with the continent, and though its North Sea ambitions had been thwarted by defeats at the hands of Caerixians and Nord-Frisians, the Danes found consolation in conquering assorted Baltic coastlands, establishing forward trade outposts/forts. In the meantime, a general cultural renaissance was spearheaded by the Nord-Frisians, as the old Germanic religion took upon more organised forms.

The mainland Germanics remained in control of northern Iberia, most of Gaul (apart from a southeastern slice), Frisia and western Germania. Under diverse local and neighbouring cultural influences, increasingly different Germanic cultures and states emerged. Much of northern Iberia was dominated by a fairly Tartessianised, neo-Tigranist Teutonic Empire, which had strong trading relations with Caerix and developed an early absolute monarchy (at least in theory; in practice, feudals remained prominent and often strove to take over); to its east, the smaller and much more barbaric pagan feudal kingdom of Brukterland successfully defended its independence from various attackers, successfully using its mountainous terrain. In the Garumna and Rhodanus valleys and nearby regions, the highly decentralised and tribal Burgundsrich was formed under King Gundobad; its general barbaricity was counterbalanced by the eventual revival of urban civilisation thanks to trade and by the Ashaist and Agade Dag presences. In northwestern Gaul, a peculiar syncretic Germano-Celtic culture emerged and eventually allowed the rise of Ligania, another neo-Tigranist state (less similar to Caerix and Teutonica, and closer in social and political organisation to Hibernia and Pictavia). Lastly, in the northeast of Gaul and the west of Germania, Scandic influences prevailed and allowed the rise of feudal, gradually urbanising kingdoms of the Sund-Frisians and the Thuringians in the west and the Goths, the Saxons and the Langobards in the east. Germanic tribes naturally advanced further as well, but usually were either repulsed or heavily assimilated by other groups.

Somewhat miraculously, Ligurians actually survived the Dark Age, and furthermore did so in a very good shape, all things considered. Even though Genova was sacked by Germanic raiders and many other gains were lost, the Ligurians had successfully retreated into the Alps and were rallied by Priest-King Cycnus to counter-attack the weakened Germanic, Athanoi and other tribes, establishing hegemony over northern Italy. Even though Liguria was weakened by subsequent feudal strife and ethnic rebellions, eventually devolving into a feudal confederacy under the often nominal reign of the Priest-King in Belesova [9], the survival of the Ligurian culture and Belenism was for now assured.

Much of the non-Germanic parts of Spain were ruled by an Ashaist Berber kingdom, the Tarekid Amsurate, based in Malaka. The Amsurate was a strongly theocratic but at the same time feudal state, under major Watchurian influences as well as Tartessian ones. A strong ally of the Eminence, the Amsurate saw an Ashaist cultural and religious flowering, and also acted as the vanguard of Mediterranean civilisation, halting Germanic expansion southwards. Outside of Iberia it also controlled several Mediterranean islands and Mauretania, although Numidia was ruled by a different Ashaist Berber dynasty based in Ulasis. The Numidians were generally less fanatical and more civilised, with greater freedoms possessed by the trading cities and even a tolerated, though limited, Agade Dag presence. Back in Iberia, the northeastern areas, hemmed in between warlike Germanic and Berber kingdoms, saw a rather weak Arganthine revival, around the recovering city of Arganthinopolis. To the Eminence’s dismay, this Arganthine Demarchy (in truth, more of an enlightened oligarchy) was a well-fortified bastion of the Tartessian variation of Agade Dag. Arganthinopolis once more emerged as a major scientific and cultural centre, and parts of southeastern Gaul were reclaimed for the Demarchy, though its survival thus far was only allowed by extremely adroit diplomacy and manipulation.

Western, central and southern Italy was firmly in Ashaist hands, as was Arecome, which became a theocratic state led by the Eminence. The Ashaist Greek and Iberian cities of southernmost Italy swore allegiance to the Eminence as well. The Latins – reinvigorated by Ashaism and joined by the culturally-related Etruscans – established the comparatively centralised Kingdom of Capua in the south and a series of disunited, but prosperous city-states in the north. Italy flourished now, as the ravages of the Dark Age (comparatively light in the peninsula at any rate thanks to the remnants of the Watchuran fleet) receded, and the trade routes picked up again. Eastern Italy, however, fell under thrall of Agade Dag, as had the Hellenistic city-states on the opposite shores of the Adriatic Sea; the influence of the temple organisations combined with the fear of Ashaist ankhades caused the more southerly of those city-states to form a league under the clear hegemony of the island-city-state of Corcyra, which by 700 AD became a notable power in its own right, securing cities in Cyrene, Crete, Rhodos, Cyprus, southern Anatolia and the Levantine coast.

Eastern Europe was greatly changed by the migrations, as new states began to arise there as well. The tribal kingdom of Latgallia generally retreated northwards somewhat, where it had to fight off constant Scandic raids, often making common cause with local Finno-Ugrian tribes, now also increasingly driven to the north by the flourishing Slavic peoples. Said Slavs now dominated a vast stretch from the Elbe to the edges of the Pontic Steppe and from the Baltic Sea to the Danube and the Southern Carpathians. The Slavs were bound together by a fairly loose and ill-defined, but still well-developed religion, Slavutianism, which arose under the influence of Essentialist Vessel Paramatmanistic missionaries.While little actual state-formation occured, riverine trade flourished and lots of cities appeared, preparing the ground for eventual proto-states. The Slavic tribes of the north and the east also busied themselves with repulsing Germanic and Turkic raids respectively; in the steppe, the various new Turkish tribes now predominated after chasing out the Bulgars.

South of the Carpathians, Odrysa emerged as an important centre yet again. The Dark Age migrations ended up turning the northern Balkans into a mess of Thracian, Bulgar and Magyar tribes and principalities; gradually these intermixed somewhat, like occurred previously, and as trade picked up between the tribes so did the cities, Odrysa first among them. Under the Magyar prince Jeno of Odrysa, a curious syncretic culture emerged, combining Agade Dag with Thracian and other traditions; as elsewhere, the temple network of Agade Dag and the trade network of pro-Agade Dag merchants served as a primary centralising force, and Jeno used it to create the Kingdom of Odrysa, coming to unite the northeastern Balkans. In the west, weaker and religiously-conflicted Thracian principalities emerged around Daesita, Singidun and Skupi. Beyond that, several Ashaist feudal post-Hessonian kingdoms lied, each claiming descent from the Hessonian Empire. Greece Proper and most Aegean islands was ruled with a strong hand from Delphi; its rulers had a credible claim of descent from the Hessonian bloodline, but the Delphian Empire’s military might was somewhat discredited after a major naval defeat at Corcyran hands and the subsequent loss of Crete. Western Anatolia was ruled from Miletos; the Miletean Theocracy was now on the ascendant, having conquered Racadonia and Macedonia as well as several Aegean islands from the weakened Delphians; it was fairly decentralised, but nonetheless quite stable and capable of major military efforts. Descendants of General Euandrios ruled in Paphlagonia (by now greatly Hessonified); actual Ashaist influences there were somewhat limited, though the rulers remained formally Ashaist for diplomatic reasons. Paphlagonia had a fair amount of military might, but most of it went into an ongoing life-or-death struggle with the Agade Dag states elsewhere in Anatolia. Lastly, an oligarchic mercantile Hessonian city-state coalition existed in the former Bulgary Coast of the Black Sea, though it was for obvious reasons not much of a contender, being more interested in commerce.

Lastly, southern Anatolia, Karung and the Levant were for the most part overran by Arabs, though that is obviously a different story.

Speaking of different stories, the rise of the Saharan trade routes and the occasional migrations of particularily insane and desperate Mediterranean groups through the entire Sahara had caused the emergence of West African civilisations. Towards 700 AD, two particularily prominent civilisations emerged: the Mande Empire based on the great trade centre of Jenne-jeno and the syncretistic tribal confederacy of Jalion, which combined the monotheistic (and supposedly Mediterranean-inspired) worship of Heke with animism. The Jalio River [10] saw great flourishing of riverine commerce, while trans-Saharan trade routes too remained very profitable throughout it all.

Middle East and Central Asia:

The Middle East, too, saw great wars and migrations in these days, though as the 5th century AD began things looked somewhat more hopeful, at least for the Akkadians. While the hated Nashtid Nubia floundered on the brink of collapse, the heirs of Dag’Uru Ibruum ruled over a reinvigorated realm in its renaissance. The wounds of the land were healed, and agriculture was revived, while a new wave of missionary efforts in Europe and Central Asia commenced. A major obstacle to both military and religious expansion arose in the shape of the Nubian-Hessonian alliance, which thwarted a 425 AD invasion of Nubian Karung, but apart from that Dag’Uru Mesanepada (r. 413-434 AD) was very successful in his military undertakings, reconquering parts of southeastern Anatolia, crushing the uppity Ashaist Arab kingdom of Hejaz and crippling the militaristic Saganu kingdom. Meanwhile, as Agade Dag grew in strength in Central Asia, a mighty ally for Akkad arose in Central Asia; seeing the utility of the Agade Dag temple organisation for binding the trading cities closer together, a powerful Toba warlord named Liveda accepted the Agade Dag faith and so received the support of the temples and the merchants in unifying Central Asia; this, combined with his armies, ensured his victory. The Hunnish tribes between the Akkadian and Toban Empires were either conquered or converted as well, over time, though some of them gave very fierce resistance.

However, while the Akkadians warred in the east, the geopolitical situation changed significantly in the west. The Watchurian Empire arose in northern Nubia, introduced military reforms and reasserted the alliance with Hessonia. Soon, the might of two great armies fell upon the Akkadian possessions in the Levant, initiating the First Levantine War in 434 AD. While the Akkadians – reinforced by Hunnish tribes and a Toban expeditionary corps – did fare well enough at the start, launching a major counteroffensive into Karung itself and reversing most early gains of the invaders, by 438 AD the tables were turned back; the naval supremacy of the allies and the mobilisation of Ashaist Arabic and Libyan tribes doomed the Agade Dag forces in Karung, crushing them utterly in the Battle of Avaris, while Hessonians overran Syria and incited a Phoenicean rebellion. In the end, the Levant was partitioned between the allies, and the war died down, the Akkadians brooding and preparing their revenge.

The Second Levantine War – also known as the Hessonian Civil War – came soon enough and unfolded as already described in the previous section. While the Agade Dag rebellions and the initial Akkadian advance put the Hessonians on the brink of collapse, the Watchurian power was gravely underestimated and Shebitku used that to conquer the northern Levant and halt the Akkadian advance. The reinforcements from their Central Asian allies proved insufficient, and in the end the Akkadians had to retreat to Mesopotamia once again.

The continued defeats caused social and religious tensions to once more pick up in the increasingly stagnant Akkadian Empire, and so the later 5th century AD saw it plagued by a new series of civil wars, combined with an abortive social and religious revolution led by the heretical, egalitarian preacher Magan. The Maganite Wars (473-480 AD) saw him and his followers briefly take power in some regions and attempt to establish a state-less society. In the end, ofcourse, the rebels were crushed, and a very heavy reaction set in as the empire tried to heal its wounds. That proved to be very difficult, as the state was too weak to prevent major Arabic migrations and at the same time was menaced by the Watchurian Empire, which had by then ascended to a position unprecedented greatness and power. When later in the 480s AD a new civil war (this time over the more mundane matters of succession) began, the Ek’Annu and many of the more patriotically-minded nobles had had enough. A coup d’etat was launched in 488 AD and the Toban Emperor Kohamdug (r. 477-504 AD), already the more powerful of the Agade Dag monarchs, was granted the title of Dag’Uru, creating an Agade Dag super-state to counterbalance the Ashaist one. What resistance to Kohamdug’s takeover could be mounted was swept aside easily enough, and the energetic ruler set about organizing the Pure Akkadian Empire. Power was consolidated in Nippur, but the bureaucracy was reorganised along the Toban lines, and the empire was divided into larger provinces rather than smaller regions tied to local cities. Arabic migrations were countered with Toban colonisation of the depopulated parts of Mesopotamia, and agricultural revival was stimulated. Also, the military was reorganised and modernised, allowing the conquest of the rebellion-ridden Saganu region and a new invasion of the Levant; the latter was eventually repulsed by local Arabic generals, but barely, and Kohamdug’s son Birsdag had launched a more succesful second invasion in 512 AD, using the rapidly-detiriorating cohesion and military coordination of the Watchurian state to conquer the Levant and from there advance deep into Karung, and even Nubia itself. Great damage was done to the Watchurian cities and the Ashaist holy sites, though the old capital itself was well-fortified and held out long enough.

While the Watchurian central government was unable to deal with the Akkadian incursions, the empire still did manage to turn its deterioration into warlordism into a temporary advantage. Just as Tarek combated Germanics in Iberia and Gaul while preparing the ground for his personal empire that bore only nominal allegiance to Arecomos, another such great general was granted command over the Watchurian forces in Anatolia. Fresh from his triumph over the Thracians, General Euandrios asserted power over all of Anatolia, raising new levies and constructing a powerful fleet. In 515 AD he struck; while his subordinates advanced int the northern Levant and Mesopotamia, Euandrios himself led a large force to relieve Watchur, and after succeeding in that cut off the Akkadian supply and retreat routes, forcing Birsdag to try and fight his way out. The Dag’Uru lost of much of his army along the way, but managed to escape into the Levant and beyond, evading pursuit. Euandrios then swiftly took over the Levant, and appointed provisional military governors loyal only to himself in Karung and the Levant, while also influencing the rise of puppet monarchies in the post-Saganu Caucasian kingdoms of Colchis and Arran. From there he went to Mesopotamia; the Akkadians managed to fight him to a bloody standstill in the 518 AD Battle of Ashur, but he subsequently regrouped and invaded again, sweeping his weakened foes aside and causing immense damage to the Toban colonies. In the end, the Ek’Annu had to pay a huge ransom for Nippur to be spared from retribution and for Euandrios to retreat. Dag’Uru Birsdag had to put down major rebellions after this Third Levantine War, just as the Central Asian part of his empire came under the attack of the Kara-Khasars (distant relatives of those Khasars that were about to invade Europe). The Kara-Khasars were defeated near Samarkand in 524 AD, but not before northern Central Asia was lost to them. Meanwhile, Euandrios asserted his informal empire; he seemed to have been planning a bid for ultimate power in the Watchuran Empire, but was assassinated by political opponents before it happened; still, Euandrids retained effective power over Anatolia for quite a while, indeed surviving in Paphlagonia to 700 AD. They would have probably remained much more powerful if not for the Krakatoa eruption in 535 AD which, as already detailed, caused a volcanic winter and so pushed the already-overstrained civilisations of the Mediterranean and the Middle East into chaos and the Dark Age.

536 AD saw both Watchurian and Akkadian Empires plagued by peasant revolts, warlordism and barbarian invasions. While in Europe it were for most part the Germanics, in the Middle East barbarians attacked from numerous traditional directions. Libyans once more invaded Karung, a new outburst of Arabic migrations flooded all of the Fertile Crescent, Turks attacked from over the Caucasus and Kara-Khasars, by now intermixed with newly-arrived tribes, advanced further into Central Asia and India. Still, while Kara-Khasars, Turks and Libyans launched devastating long-range raids, it were the Arabs that in their sheer numbers had the most significant impact. Numbers were not the only reason; Arabs also were strongly connected to the previous Nubian-Akkadian religious power-games, being quite bitterly divided between Ashaists and the followers of Agade Dag as of the 6th century AD. Indeed, the immediate cause of the Arabic Flood was religious strife; the volcanic winter had not merely intensified the inter-tribal struggles over resources, but was also taken as an important portent in an already-troubled time. Bitter religious wars ensued, but in the end, under the leadership of Rais Khalid of Mecca, the traditional Ashaists prevailed over both heretical, millenialist Ashaist strains and the followers of Agade Dag, expelling them all from Arabia. Rais Khalid then worked to assert his own supreme power over most of Arabia, expelling many of previously-allied tribes as well after another civil war and leaving only the allies. The Khalidid Raisdom of Mecca likewise rode out the storms of the Dark Age, holding out to 700 AD, though by then the central authority had greatly weakened and all that remained was a loose tribal confederacy, though a one with clear monarchic leadership and partial urbanisation in appropriate regions. Meanwhile, the other Arabs rampaged all over the Fertile Crescent, attacking or upholding local religions, sweeping aside the military governorates in Karung, the Levant and southern Anatolia and the ramshackle Akkadian Empire, carving out short-lived empires and launching brutal, drawn-out campaigns of religious warfare with both local factions and other Arabs.

While traditional Ashaism triumphed in Arabia itself, elsewhere in the Fertile Crescent it was eventually crushed. While Ashaist Arabic states did exist in Anatolia and the Levant as of the early 7th century AD, they did not survive the next phase of religious wars. By 670 AD, the heretical Harbic Ashaists (presumed by some to have been influenced by Annihilation Tendency Paramatmanism) had carved out a heavily theocratic empire in northern Nubia, Karung and the Levant, under the brutal and somewhat decadent leadership of King Murr. Even as all that occurred, the Agade Dag Arabs had already triumphed in Mesopotamia and the Iranic regions, and in 667 AD the title of Dag’Uru was taken by an Arabic warlord named Abdalat. Abadalat rebuilt the Akkadian Empire with the support of the Agade Dag temples, though he did partially antagonise these by establishing his capital at the more secure location of Ecbatana rather than in the religious centre of Nippur. Nonetheless, he quite successfully reasserted power in the traditional Akkadian regions and southern Central Asia, and subsequently took advantage of the Harbic civil wars that followed Murr’s death in 679 AD. Agade Dag Arabic vassal states were established in south-eastern Anatolia (Najjaria) and the Levant (Ghatafania), and the Ashaist kingdom of Arran was conquered directly. Arabia itself was successfully protected from incursions by the Khalidids, however, and the Ashaist kingdom of Colchis in the western Caucasus held out, as did some Ashaist Hessonian states. A somewhat more reasonable (but still largely insane) Harbic kingdom was reestablished in Karung anyway. The yet-unconquered parts of Central Asia had remained a battlefield as well; as the rise of the Turks to predominance in the western steppe that occurred over the 7th century AD displaced the northern Kara-Khasars, they were forced to focus on former Sogdiana, eventually creating a Tengrist empire based in Samarkand (the Kara-Khasari Empire). It was opposed by a pro-Akkadian Toba state in the west, the Kingdom of Nisa. The situation remained very much unstable, especially as the beginnings of a Turkish urban civilisation began to emerge in the north.

 

[das]

Indian Ocean:

Though the Dark Age wasn’t nearly as dark for the Indian Ocean civilisation, it still did suffer noticeably in the 6th century AD, and indeed, many great Avyaktaragan centres never did reclaim their former glory after that. But before the so-called “Black Age” (called so both synonimically to Dark Age and because of the association of the colour black with the north – seeing as certain northern groups had played a significant role in that time as well), there was the 5th century AD – one of the Avyaktaragan and greater Indic golden ages. During that time, more organised religious movements (most notably Yahweism, the Coalescent Vehicle and the Essentialist Vehicle) took on a more well-defined shape and generally rose to greater prominence, often under patronage of local rulers, most notably Irin Ananyanubhava (r. 407-473 AD) of Nyayana, who helped organise great missionary voyages into Central Asia and Europe (their main fruit being Slavutianism). Further advances in mathematics, mechanics and naval technology were made, and printing technology was widely adapted and used by philosophers and theologicians amongst others. The Indian inlands saw the coalescing and reordering of political power. Petty Huna damaries and Irinates emerged out of the chaotic principalities of northern India, while High King Morari II (r. 412-456 AD) managed to bind the High Kingdom of Girnar under his rule, building a network of roads and bridges and waging triumphant campaigns against rebellious Damaras and the southern breakaway feudatories. The Morarids had succeeded in transforming the High Kingdom into a hereditary monarchy, though in 491 AD it was factually split between Morari II’s two grandsons – the northern feudal realms (Kramayata) as well as the High Kingship went to Skandri, while his younger brother Bhagu was given a smaller, but more centralised kingdom (formally within the High Kingdom) of Purvayamya in the south. They and their successors jockeyed for power withing the High Kingdom itself while also expanding at the expense of other nations (the Purvayamya in particular had managed to land a major defeat on the Banghans in the Battle of Sambalpur during the reconquest of eastern Kaitarpur). In the meantime, great commercial prosperity was achieved by both Ksaryarnan and Sunda, though both Ascendancies also had to face growing troubles with malcontent cities (both those under their rule and the Bahulatvan ones), especially as rulers in both strove to centralise power.

But undeniably the greatest of Ascendancies (even though it was an Irinate) was still Nyayana, which reached its zenith under Ananyanubhava and his immediate successors. Apart from patronising the Essentialist Vessel and assisting the missionary efforts, Nyayana focused on increasing its naval power even further. In 413 AD, ill-considered Nubian attacks on Nyarnan colonies were easily repulsed, and the Fourt Nubian War began, the Nyarnans holding all Nubian and Hejazi overland attacks at bay while the barely-rebuilt Nubian Red Sea fleet was once again destroyed. A humiliating 418 AD treaty eliminated Nubia as a sea power and forced it to lower the tolls again; though they were raised once more over time, the Nyarnans weren’t stirred into action by this quickly enough, and just as the Bahulatvan Negotiator and Nyarnan advisors finally persuaded Ananyanubhava to prepare an expedition in 433 AD Nubia imploded as already described. While a very strong post-Nubian state emerged in the north around Watchur, it was wholly uninterested in conflicts with Nyayana, instead focusing on Mediterranean matters. In the meantime, the south-centric states that emerged south of the Fourth Cataract were weak and disunited; thanks in part to Nyarnan meddling, a Cushitic kingdom, Sumal, was created in the southeast, while the southern Nubians too separated into two kingdoms – the western, landlocked Soba and the eastern, mercantile, semi-Axumite Kohaito. The biggest threat to Nyarnan supremacy in the Arabian Sea thus disappeared. While Ananyanubhava was pretty much content with his state’s loose predominance and indeed worked hard to retain good relations with Bahulatva and the Ksaryarnan Ascendancy, his successors proved much more brash and arrogant, actively asserting Nyayana’s hegemony and so eventually pushing Ksaryarnan into war, now that there was no common foe to preserve the Nyarnan-Ksaryarnan alliance against. The Ksayarnans, arrogant and assertive in their own right, built up a large fleet since Ananyanubhava’s death and now (in 487 AD) launched a preemptive offensive against the Nyarnan colonies, taking them one after another and defeating a large Nyarnan fleet in a sneak-attack at Kachchhapapuri [11]. These early victories had only infuriated the Irin, who assembled a far greater fleet in 492 AD and attacked Ksayarnan itself. This, ofcourse, was not unexpected, but the sheer numbers of the Nyarnans, combined with the superior quality of their ships, allowed for a curshing victory over the Ksayarnan fleet and a successful subsequent assault which ended with the sack of the city. After that, the Nyarnans asserted authority over the West Bahulatva Coast and the Adanan cities with a combination of force and threat. This and the previous centralising efforts of other Ascendancies prompted the development of closer Bahulatvan solidarity and cooperation; though Nyarnan power was not yet challenged outright, attempts to “divide and conquer” were largely foiled. While a war of intrigue and diplomacy “raged”, Nyayana largely busied itself with consolidating its gains and generally stagnated.

In the meantime, other, initially-insignificant developments occurred in northern India. The Huna damaries and Irinates had developed under the influence of two major tendencies – one was that of constant frontier wars and feuds, further militarising the society, and the other was that of Avyaktaragan cultural influence, which eventually resulted in some of the young noblemen being sent to study in the coastal cities, where they picked up advanced political, religious and military ideas, and generally learned about the workings of Indic geopolitics. One such nobleman, Attlit, became the Damara of Lavokla after the tragic death of his father in an early Kara-Khasar raid into India in 511 AD. Attlit used his diplomatic talent to assemble a coalition of Huna states and repulse the Kara-Khasars, and then also pushed Tibetans out of Kashmir. Having now gained great popularity as well as real power, Attlit converted the coalition into a personal empire, allying with stay-behind Nyarnan engineer-farmers and the numerous loyal Huna lords to crush his political opponents. By 516 AD he had asserted power over all of the Upper Indus Valley, introduced a new code of laws combined with an elective monarchic system (largely inspired by that of Girnar), declared himself King of the Hunas and took the name Konavrttaijt (Conqueror of the North); rather than rest on his laurels, he also conquered/assimilated the partially Girnarified Huna principalities of Thar and the Gangetic Plain, routing the huge, but poorly-organised (due to feudal divisions and squabbling) and clumsily-commanded Kramayatan army at Uldapur [12] after a masterful desert war of maneuver. While Kramayata dealt with the aftermath of the huge defeat and the loss of its High King, Konavrttaijt turned towards Nyayana. Once more his diplomatic talents shone; as soon as the Nyarnan fleet was distracted by a Kohaitan invasion and a West Bahulatvan rebellion in 524-527 AD, the city-states of Old Bahulatva were persuaded to take this opportunity to eliminate the Nyarnan threat once and for all. Just as the Hunas – using Nyayana’s own siege techniques – broke through the border fortifications and besieged the city itself on the land, a grand Bahulatvan fleet blockaded it in the sea. The Nyarnans resisted stubbornly; with their immense fortifications and abundant supplies, they held out for nearly two years, hoping for their fleet to break the blockade. The climatic naval battle came in 529 AD, and the relieving Nyarnan armada was scattered in a close-ran struggle. Disenheartened, the Nyarnans accepted Konavrttaijt’s terms and declared him Irin; in return they were allowed to retain their traditional laws and institutions, which meant de facto autonomy as Konavrttaijt once more turned southwards, though Nyayana was now bound to his realm in perpetuity and also forced to contribute lots of troops for his later campaigns.

In the meantime, Purvayamya, under King Durnetra, took advantage of Kramayata’s weakness and promptly conquered its remnants, Durnetra claiming the High Kingship before Konavrttaijt could do that himself. Having previously defeated the Banghans in the south and forced them to return their capital to Tamralipti, Durnetra now persuaded the new Banghan king (who rose to power with his help after the defeat) to ally with him against the frighteningly successful Huna, promising them the Gangetic Plain. Vast armies attacked Konavrttaijt’s realm. The Conqueror of the North reacted quickly enough; in 530 AD he defeated Durnetra in the particularily bloody and somewhat indecisive Battle of Bairat, and in 531 AD the Banghans were routed near Varanasi. While Banghans had superior steel and outstanding archery, it was insufficient to match the Huna-Nyarnan discipline, organisation and numbers, and the massive (but somewhat uneven in quality) armies raised by Durnetra weren’t quite enough neither; furthermore, Konavrttaijt had powerful cavalry and a well-organised logistical system, which granted him a great strategic advantage and allowed him to trash the Banghan and Purvayamyan armies in detail in the triumphant 532-533 AD campaign that culminated in the conquest of Bangha. However, a coup de grace to the Purvayamyans was prevented by a new, much more powerful Kara-Khasar invasion in 533-535 AD. The 535 AD volcanic winter caused further disturbances, but Konavrttaijt took measures to minimise damage, while fighting off another invasion in 536 AD. At this point, Durnetra’s realm collapsed into revolt and civil war, allowing Konavrttaijt to intervene and claim High Kingship, securing his hold on the lands north of the Tapti. Continued Kara-Khasar raids forced him to shift away from his Indian focus; after finishing another series of grand political reforms, establishing the Sitivasas High Kingdom and integrating the conquered territories, Konavtrttaijt concentrated solely on the Central Asian problem, leading a series of grand campaigns into the heart of Central Asia. He inflicted a great deal of damage on several Kara-Khasar would-be empires, but died in the middle of his most ambitious campaign, soon after taking Samarkand in 548 AD. Leaving behind a sizeable garrison that became the nucleus of an extensive but quite short-lived Third Samarkandi Empire (which was overran by Kara-Khasars in circa 580 AD), his armies retrated to protect the Sitivasas realm from rebels.

The combination of social disturbances, anti-Sitivasas uprisings in eastern and southern provinces, and the general chaos that once again disrupted the trade network painfully, had resulted in a mild, but still severe Indic version of the aforementioned Dark Age. Both Sunda and the West Bahulatva were in chaos, Yahweist pirates in the west and Annihilation Tendency pirates in the east further contributing to the havoc and occasionally carving out violent short-lived empires. In Africa, the Kohaitan Empire succeeded beyond all expectations as the Nyarnan colonial empire fell apart and Konavrttaijt did not bother to pick it up; integrating Sumal, the Kohaitans conquered the Gate of Tears and the Horn of Africa, and even established a foothold in Arabia, though a Yahweist rebellion eventually threw them out of most of Saba. Established order in the Bahulatvan cities was threatened by numerous social manifestations and indeed occasional revolutions (somewhat ironically, this largely contributed to the cause of “common strength” while also turning it into a more reactionary one, as Negotiator Aashcharyamaya rallied the expelled political elites and the cities where order held and organised ultimately-succesful campaigns to restore order in the revolutionary cities). Purvayamya was plagued by feudal strife and peasant rebellions. Sitivasas held on to most of its territory, but only barely, and scarcely a year passed in the late 6th century AD without at least one counter-insurgency campaign.

Prasanna, which was comparatively unharmed thanks to its highly stable nature, expanded northwards in India while also expanding vigorously in Southeast Asia, taking advantage of the chaos in Sunda Ascendancy to seize lands in Dwipa, organise a Malay vassal state in Borneo and take over the Luoyangese and Banghan colonies in Malaya itself. The southern coastal regions of the Thipadei Empire were also captured as the polities of Southeast Asia succumbed to a particularily vicious Dark Age thanks to the ascendant Emperor Aashina Phaninh (r. 576-593 AD) of Pralayadesha. Overthrowing his nephew and beating all the barons into submission, Aashina Phaninh proved to be a true zealot of the Annihilation Tendency, remaining true to the noble cause of spreading chaos and destruction. Mobilising a vast and extremely ragtag horde, he unleashed it on the other Southeast Asian states, and augmented it with a small, but fanatical and elite force under his own command. Already on the brink of social collapse and shaken by numerous natural disasters, the native kingdoms and empires were unable to stand in his path, and city after city was razed, their ruins decorated with pyramids of skulls. When halted by the Prasannans in the south, Aashina Phaninh turned eastwards, causing great havoc in post-Luoyangese Vietnam and even threatening Haijing at some point, though it was in the outskirts of this city that Aashina Phaninh and his much-shrunken horde was slaughtered by a vigorous Namite counterattack. Meanwhile, Sunda Ascendancy was struggling to get back on its feet, after being severely hurt by the eruption of the Krakatoa. Piracy – first simply chaotic and later Prasannan-funded – added to its problems, as had the constant rebellions by the resurgent Annihilation Tendency cults and by the simple desperate peasants. As central authority largely disintegrated at some point, several governors carved out their own kingdoms in Dwipa and western Yawa. A fairly large group of refugees also moved to Ayutamradvipa, helping revitalise it. Still, towards 590 AD most of the core regions of the Ascendancy were reunited by King Vyapari, who worked to reestablish the trade routes and the diplomatic ties with Luoyang and Ayutamradvipa.

The 7th century AD saw a new era begin in the Avyaktaragan history, as the chaotic wars and revolts of the Dark Age gave way to more orderly forms of political reorganisation and border rearrangement. Once more, new polities were coalescing, while old ones reformed and reassessed their situation; a new world order was in the making. In the aftermath of the social rebellions and out of frustration at the Yahweist pirates and Kohaitan tariffs hindering commercial expansion, the Bahulatvan city-states formed a confederation in 645 AD, the First Bahulatvan Coalescence, with a rotated capital and very strong city rights, but also with a unified military structure and foreign policy. The combined fleets of the Coalescence, led by Admiral Shuuro, fought a vigorous campaign in the Arabian and Red Seas in the early 650s AD, crushing several pirate lords, destroying the Kohaitan fleet and firmly taking over the Gate of Tears; subsequently, several other former Nyarnan colonies in Arabia and the Horn of Africa joined the Coalescence (rebelling against the weakened Kohaitans in the latter case), though the Yahwaist kingdom of Saba and the Agade Dag Arabic-ruled kingdom of Magan (formed just after the Arabic Flood) retained political independence, though remaining connected to the Bahulatvan-dominated reviving maritime trade network. A new era of prosperity was ushered in, although Harbic Karung made any attempts to reestablish a commercial presence in the Mediterranean complicated. To the south, Northern Andana and several city-states of West Bahulatva had been unified in the Yahweist Mahapura Ascendancy (which started out as the most successful of the aforementioned “pirate empires”, but later reformed into a mercantile oligarchy); it too traded with the Bahulatvans, while also developing new oceanic naval technology to trade directly with Sunda later in the century.

In India itself, the 7th century AD saw the Sitivasas gradually retreat, due to sheer military exhaustion and growing internal troubles, as well as the resurgence of Kara-Khasar and Tibetan threats. Purvayamya was reunited revived in 637 AD by High King Shalabhah, who conquered the Narmada valley. In 653 AD, a rump Banghan state regained independence; despite its shrunken size, it did quite well afterwards, with major advances in engineering, glassblowing and mechanics, and the expansion in Southeast Asia. It also saw a Buddhist renaissance. And in 678 AD Gujarat was lost to the Girnari Irinate, though unlike the dissolved High Kingdom this state had mercantile and naval leanings. Even after all that, however, the High Kingdom of Sitivasas remained large, powerful and fairly prosperous, especially in the golden reign of High King Bhagktr (r. 658-678 AD). Without having to waste resources on controlling the troublesome regions, Sitivasas was able to properly restore the agriculture and the overland commerce, and to repulse any additional northerner invasions. Nyayana, too, prospered, though naturally it wasn’t anywhere near its pre-conquest levels. In southern India, another empire consolidated its gains; the Prasannans lost some of their northern conquests to Purvayamya, but for the most part the state continued to thrive, despite some disagreements between the emperor and the assembly.

A new phase of Indic imperialism had commenced in Southeast Asia in the wake of the Pralayadeshan Dark Age. The Banghans had expanded into Burma, taking over many coastal territories of former Pralayadesha, but it was Prasanna that indisputably dominated this phase, having established several strong bases in the Dark Age and expanded from there now. Nevertheless, the Sunda Ascendancy had largely recovered and indeed entered a renaissance after 650 AD, particularily thanks to King Rghadra II (r. 657-682 AD), who established new oceanic trade routes with Andana that threatened to seriously decrease Prasanna’s significance to maritime commerce and who also propped up the Paramatmanistic Sharmathai Empire, which, along with Ayutamradvipa, became a valuable ally, in this case helping check further Prasannan expansion. Lastly, in his reign the previous government reforms reached their logical conclusion, as a parliamentary monarchy on the Prasannan model was established. Over time, numerous naval wars with Prasanna were fought as well, though none of them were particularily decisive; still, Prasannan hold on Dwipa was somewhat weakened.

Lastly, mention must be made of the ongoing Buddhist Tibetan quest to conquer the world. Though Tibet fell into something of disrepair and tribal strife after the death of the great conqueror-king Gar Detsen, subsequent migrations (several warlike Turkic tribes that were assimilated over time) and an eventual Buddhist renaissance allowed it to go on a second conquering spree in the 7th century AD. Under such strong kings as Lde Brtsan (r. 613-642 AD) and Rgyal Pho (r. 657-691 AD), the Tibetans rebuilt a centralised, rigidly-ordered empire and a fanatical, disciplined army. While the Sitivasans made any expansion into India (beyond the earlier conquest of Assam) impossible, other directions provided wonderful opportunities. With the help of Buddhist Tiele tribes, a healthy chunk of the chaotic post-confederacy steppe was made to swear allegiance to Lhasa, and though many of those gains proved to be very temporary, a fair amount of ground was retained. The Buddhist-dominated northwestern Southeast Asian inlands were likewise conquered by Tibet and, ofcourse, there were wars with the Sardar and Chinese civilisations (see East Asia).

 

[das]

East Asia:

East Asia wasn’t entirely left alone by the Dark Age either.

Like a fair amount of other imperial nations around the world, the 5th century AD was a golden age for Luoyang. Trade with Sunda and Ayutamradvipa brought great prosperity, as well as further Avyaktaragan cultural influences, which, combined with the national pride in the wake of the fairly successful Wars of Reconquest, triggered a grand renaissance. The Three Great Schools (Nan School of Trade and Skill, Dong School of Warfare and Strategy and the Xi School of Philosophy) were established in order to reinvigorate, maintain and propagate the Luoyangese culture. The Emperor Cult once more gained great prominence thanks to glorious victories achieved, and eastwards voyages of exploration (not particularily successful, it must be admitted) occurred as well. Ayutamradvipa – increasingly colonised by Indics – also saw a cultural flowering, and established closer ties with Luoyang. Elsewhere, however, little in the way of cultural advancement occurred, as even Zhongshan stagnated under an increasingly paranoid and reactionary household. Further north, in Xiongnu, Khitan and Tiele lands, dynastic and tribal civil wars raged. Korea entered isolation, while Jomon continued to fight a relentless naval war with Zhongshan.

It was not until about 440 AD that the truly important wars of the era started or escalated to a serious degree. The main conflict – as far as the Luoyangese were concerned – was ofcourse the one taking place in the Chinese Mesopotamia, an area that was bitterly contested between Luoyangese, Zhongshanese and Xiongnu forces ever since Aotiao’s creation of the Xiongnu Empire. Now, after the ambitious Emperor Ruigang’s victory in the latest Xiongnu civil war, the Xiongnu attacked the weak Ji Empire, by now an effective client state of Luoyang. That was in 442 AD. The Luoyangese response was delayed by border tensions and growing bilateral paranoia with Zhongshan; what forces were sent to help the Ji were routed at Chengdu as Ruigang completed his swift conflict and invaded the Luoyang Empire itself. His advance was, however, blunted by the powerful Luoyangese fortifications and the well-positioned riverine flotilla; though the Xiongnu forces did eventually cross the Yangtze, they were greatly weakened, and by then a larger army was mobilised by the Luoyangese. The tables were turned in the decisive Battle of Duyun Diabiao, where the Xiongnu were thoroughly routed and Ruigang himself slain. Sensing a wonderful opportunity to eliminate the Xiongnu threat and fully establish the Luoyangese hegemony, the Luoyangese Emperor Jiaping ordered the amassed armies to march further north and to invade the Huang He valley itself. The Ji Empire was occupied and integrated into the Luoyangese Empire, while the Xiongnu capital Wei was sacked. Alarmed by their practical encirclement by the Luoyangese, the Zhongshanese attacked Luoyang in the Yangtze Valley in 452 AD. The great Zhongshanese general Pan Yua had successfully eliminated the vaunted Luoyangese river flotilla early in the campaign with skillful use of fireboats, putting Jiaping’s plans in jeopardy. Even as the Zhongshanese advance in the Yangtze Valley was stopped, an unholy alliance of Xiongnu warlords and Zhongshan pushed the Luoyangese out of the Huang He Valley.

Nonetheless, the Luoyangese still had vast manpower and wealth at their disposal. Despite the Zhongshanese military skill, the Luoyangese kept deploying new armies in the Yangtze Valley, gradually retaking most lost cities and forts. The situation deteriorated into attrition-based siege warfare, and the Luoyangese were clearly gaining ground, especially as the Zhongshanese were also attacked by other factions in their moment of weakness. Xiongnu and Tiele tribes raided across the northern Zhongshanese border, while the Jomonese, freshly reorganised under Priestess-Queen Satomi, successfully conquered Taiwan, turning it into a forward base for piracy and raiding that crippled Zhongshan’s maritime commerce. Ultimately, it was this economic collapse more than anything else that broke Zhongshan’s back. As rebellions tied down more and more troops, the Luoyangese were able to overrun first the vassal kingdom of Nanyang, then attack, besiege and (with the help of a treacherous Mohist court faction) capture Guangling in 476 AD, overthrowing the Na Dynasty. Some family members and loyal generals continued to fight against all odds in the countryside and in the intact southern provinces, but the shock of the capital’s loss was too great and coordination between the loyal forces was too little. The Luoyangese crushed the loyalists one after another, and by 490 AD Jiaping’s son Shending ruled over an unified China. Further expeditions even briefly brought the Huang He Valley under the Luoyangese rule.

However, already in the very early 6th century AD it became clear that the empire brought with itself a wide host of difficulties. The Luoyangese now controlled a very wide and disparate area, with differing languages, ethnicities and ideologies. To properly control and defend it, an extensive bureaucracy and a wide-spread system of army garrisons had to be set up and then maintained. Fortunately, the Luoyangese did, as already said, have lots of manpower and lots of money, and were assisted by the Sundanese who wanted to keep the Luoyangese focused on controlling their northern lands, as well as to spread their commercial and cultural influence further north. However, the Luoyangese situation was also aggravated by the poor economic conditions in many regions, which contributed to further social and political tensions, while the traditions of previous rebellions and conspiracies allowed advanced rebel organisations to arise in Zhongshan and the Yangtze Valley, while the Huang He Valley saw rebelling Xiongnu tribes carry out hit-and-run campaigns. And then there were the external threats as well; the Jomonese now used the empire’s growing difficulties to launch reckless seaborne raids as well as to conduct general piracy along the entire Chinese coast. Meanwhile, the situation in the Steppe changed as well; the Tiele Confederacy, in the process of imploding since the middle of the 5th century AD, was given a coup d’grace by the reformed Khitan state. Thwarted in his territorial ambitions towards Korea by the latter’s powerful defenses, the Khitan Emperor Hwelu Rongon (r. 587-605 AD) now attacked and utterly shattered the Tiele Confederacy. Turkic and Tiele tribes fled west and south as per a long-established steppe tradition, while the Khitans replaced them as the primary menace hanging over China, also moving to assert power all over the eastern steppes. In the meantime, the defeated Tiele tribes caused additional mayhem in the Huang He valley.

The Luoyangese defended valorously. Their fleet hunted the Jomonese one relentlessly, and indeed, in 514-519 AD a major campaign of Luoyangese, Sundanese and Ayutamradvipan fleets expelled the Jomonese from the islands they conquered in East China Sea to use as bases. Meanwhile, their armies defeated revolt after revolt, raid after raid. But as more and more rebellions sprung up, the fight against them became increasingly drawn-out. Gradually, even the trade income became insufficient for the campaigns, and taxes had to be raised in the south, causing new revolts there as well. As elsewhere, the volcanic winter of 535-536 AD had merely taken a bad situation and made it even worse by intensifying the various existent tensions. However, it would not be unreasonable to say that Luoyang was hit particularly hard by this event, as both its external commerce – wholly reliant on the Sunda Ascendancy – and its highly important agriculture (considering the large population levels) collapsed almost entirely. In any case, the situation was now truly dire and after it became impossible to pay the soldiers the whole empire collapsed amidst revolts, mass desertions and warlordism. For approximately three decades it truly was a Dark Age in China, although fortunately enough the Luoyangese Great Schools and the records kept there mostly survived under the protection of a particularily cultured warlord, as often enough happened in other urban regions as well.

Elsewhere in East Asia, the volcanic winter had somewhat limited (though still pretty severe; just not anarchy-inducing) effects on Tibet and Korea, though it probably helped Jomon fall into another series of bitter civil wars. Ayutamradvipa also survived in a comparatively good shape; although central authority took a hit, it was deteriorating anyway, and after 539 AD the insular kingdom recovered quickly enough, becoming a sanctuary for Sundanese and Chinese refugees alike. In the steppe, the Khitan Empire fell into infighting, allowing for nearby Turkic and Tiele tribes to return to some degree of prominence. A fair amount of Khitans, Turkics and Tiele also migrated into the Huang He Valley, defeating the Luoyangese warlords there.

As in other regions, it would be both too time-consuming and too redundant to describe the various campaigns that saw a new order carved out of chaos. As usual, warlords in more civilised areas and tribes in more barbaric ones fought each other, allied with each other, tricked each other and gradually some rose – often with the support of the war-weary mercantile urban populations – to unify their regions and establish a new system of governance, often also embracing some religion or ideology. Not all of those states lasted long; some were partitioned or consumed wholesale by neighbours, others fell apart, often after their creators’ deaths. At any rate, towards 700 AD a new map had more or less firmly taken shape.

In the far north, numerous Turkic and Tiele tribes retained their independence and disunity, but the “Khitans” – who hadn’t all that much to do with the original Khitans other than in culture, where the prototype was partially imitated – still did hold on to several key steppeland regions around the Mongolian Steppe. This Khitan Empire combined traits of a tribal confederacy and a feudal monarchy, with political and military organisation frequently overlapping.

Korea remained a stagnant, isolated theocratic monarchy for much of this time period, though in the late 7th century AD a more pragmatic dynasty came to power, opening the state up to Ayutamradvipan trade. Meanwhile, Jomon devolved into a somewhat unstable feudal state, the Queen-Priestess still retaining supreme spiritual and (some say only nominally so) political power but local warlords/feudals basically ruling supreme. The coastal feudals also often partook in piracy and raiding, which Ayutamradvipans hadn’t been quite able to stop. Cheju and Tsushima had also been reclaimed by the Jomonese.

A unique Turkic semi-sedentary culture developed along the Huang He, or, as the Turks called it, the Sardar. Though distinctly Turkic, it was noticeably influenced by Chinese and, to a lesser extent, Indic culture. As commerce and the cities recovered, the eastern Sardar saw the rise of an urban, bureaucratic monarchy with a mercantilistic focus and growing Paramatmanistic influence, the Dinghisic Xanate, while in the west, a monarchic tribal federation of the Atatork Xanate formed, though its military reputation and prestige alike suffered after the loss of significant southwestern territories to the Tibetans.

Tibet, especially under King Rgyal Pho, expanded heavily in the 7th century AD, defeating numerous Turkic tribes and Chinese warlords amongst others. Though after Rgyal Pho’s death in 691 AD the royal line ran out and power was seized by a somewhat less bloodthirsty theocratic council, Tibet remained a very significant power in 700 AD.

China’s revival was a fairly complicated process, but in the end much of it could be narrowed down to the same old three post-Xiongnu Chinese cultures; the eastern Zhongshanese, the southern Luoyangese and the central Jian. The latter is the biggest oversimplification of all, seeing as much of the Chinese inland – especially during the Dark Age – was culturally ambiguous and confusing, with heavy regionalism and a diversity of clashing ideologies. No clear centre existed, especially after the fall of Chengdu to Tibetans, and it took well until 683 AD for a single – and even then quite ramshackle and ideologically-uncertain – empire to arise. The Ba Empire was nonetheless quite large and militarily strong, though sliding into feudalism with the associated troubles. It was one of those states that were either doomed to obscurity or destruction, or destined to ascend to unprecedented heights.

By contrast, things went much simpler – and therefore faster – in the coastal regions. In the south, Haijing was the obvious centre and a syncretic mix of Paramatmanism and neo-Mohism an obvious ideology. A problem was created by the apparent extinction of the main imperial bloodline during the Dark Age; while loyalists in control over Haijing attempted to install some pretender or organise a lengthy regency, other factions rose to regional prominence. In 587 AD, Shi Nupan, a warlord who had already conquered the province of Vietnam, captured Haijing, deposed the loyalists and declared the city as capital of his Kingdom of Nam. Embracing a militaristic, legalist version of neo-Mohism, Shi Nupan proved himself to be a very successful warlord indeed, putting an end to the Pralayadeshan rampage in Vietnam and carving out a lasting realm, with an efficient bureaucracy and an elite army. With time, neglect and incompetent rulers, Nam deteriorated somewhat, but survived despite all, and later in the 7th century AD underwent a limited renaissance under King Shi Longxing, who loosened various restrictions and worked to reestablish trade ties.

In the meantime, Zhongshan revived more gradually and generally differently, though a warlord was inevitably involved. In 592 AD, “general” Kong Anlun established a protectorate over Guangling and a fairly wide surrounding area – the Zhongshanese core territory, in other words. He restored order and variously encouraged commerce and enterprise, while ruling with an iron fist. After his somewhat suspicious death in 611 AD, the old republican traditions prevailed and the Republic of Guangling was established; this time it was a genuine republic, though naturally with strong mercantile influences. A Sunfucianist revival combined with the rise of new threatening warlords led to political reforms in 637 AD, establishing the office of “first citizen”, fairly similar to an Irin in Indic political tradition, though with noticeably less power (or rather, with a much stronger council). Su Zhiling, a nearby warlord, was then persuaded to become the first first citizen and to lead his and Guanglingese forces against other attacking warlords, which he did quite well. Though all subsequent first citizens were Guanglingese, this precedent was clearly worth noting. At any rate, after ensuring the survival of the Republic, reconquering some of the inland territories and introducing various land reforms, the state focused on commerce and technological development, excelling in both.

Ayutamradvipa had emerged as a surprisingly prominent power out of the East Asian Dark Age, though perhaps it wasn’t really all that surprising, considering its strategic position and the Indic immigration. It was also blessed with a capable ruler in a crucial time; King Yaaji (r. 567-592 AD) restored a strong central authority, introduced a new code of laws, took for himself the title of Emperor, moved the capital to a more central location and used a combination of diplomacy and naval might to take over the Luoyangese colony on Borneo and to conquer Okinawa and Taiwan. It was up to his heirs to meddle in China and secure a mainland colony. While Ayutamradvipa’s imperial drive began to run out after a while, its forces fairly overstretched, it still did not show significant signs of decline just yet.

OOC:

[1] Taino Sea=OTL Carribean Sea.

[2] Roto=OTL Seine River.

[3] Liga=OTL Loire River.

[4] Danapris=OTL Dnieper River.

[5] Watchur=OTL Alexandria, from the old Egyptian/Nubian name for the Mediterranean Sea (Uatch-ur=Great Green).

[6] In OTL also called Maritsa River.

[7] Arecomos=OTL Syracuse.

[8] Which in OTL was renamed into Skaggerak.

[9] Belesova=OTL Lausanne.

[10] Jalio River=OTL Niger River.

[11] Kachchhapuri=OTL Hafun or Opone.

[12] Uldapur=OTL Jodhpur.

Once again, sorry about the horrendous delay, and about the somewhat uneven coverage (still, hopefully I didn’t miss any important details). East Asia was a bit rushed, though I also blame the rather limited nature of orders I got there. Seriously. Anyway, I kind of bogged down in detail and have noone but myself to blame this time. Hopefully it was worth it.

I am presently leaning towards making this one the last BT update; the situation now is fairly balanced (when compared to what was and what probably will be), and there should generally be a lot of stuff for people to do, as well as a lot of conflicts and suchlike that would probably be best decided in greater detail. Likewise, this would be a good moment for me to summarise various technological, religious and ethnic developments, and I was going to do that anyway when the IT begins, for obvious reasons.

So yes, I’ll probably be doing that unless convinced otherwise. In any case, I’m going away for roughly a week soon enough; that will probably give me time to think on the various details.

 

[das]

For the record, I do realise that I kind of derailed some of your plans, but these things happen in a BT update dealing with such disasters. And even though I did bog down in detail, I feel like I could've added some more. Anyway, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions that might arise as long as you ask them while I'm still in Ekaterinburg.

 

[Birdjaguar]

... as long as you ask them while I'm still in Ekaterinburg.

You are leaving Ekaterinburg? Short trip somewhere or something more substantail?

 

[Niklas]

For the record, I do realise that I kind of derailed some of your plans, but these things happen in a BT update dealing with such disasters.

Did I send orders for this?

Not that I really mind the outcome, but I'll tell you if find anything I recognize from the orders I sent.

 

[Thlayli]

Wonderful update das. Things have become exciting in Europe. It looks like you're going to thoroughly explain the religious situation, but a named map would also be nice.

 

[JosefStalinator]

Interesting... though I am a tad confused as to what each state in Gaul is. Which are Germanic, Celtic, Tartessian, Neo-Tigranic?

And did my religious reforms just die, or did their legacy and influence (all that really matters at this time) continue after Turano's death?

And damn it, stop denying me Normandy! I started in Sicily, worked my way to Britain, and now I want to complete the backwards migration back to Normandy for irony

 

[North King]

Aha, the plan went beautifully. Nice update, however... I have to admit, I didn't read anything other than my own section. The writing is good, but the paragraphs are so horrendously long; they're blocks of text that my eyes just go out of focus on. Try breaking it up more.

 

[Azale]

Well, my internet destroyed my internet sending capability, but thats ok! I can just pick up something somewhere

 

[Disenfrancised]

Awe-inspiring update das!

 

[alex994]

Awe-inspiring update das!

Yes, it was indeed awe-inspiring; though I must say if given the choice I would nuke all of Eastern Asia into oblivion. THE SARDAR?!?!?! I swear that in the next nes I'm China in the era after the 17th Century, I will genocide the steppe peoples for the atrocity their different dimension cousin committed!

Don't worry niklas, at least you're not passionately attached to your nation's people, culture and sense of heritage You have no idea how much it hurts

 

[Niklas]

Don't worry niklas, at least you're not passionately attached to your nation's people, culture and sense of heritage You have no idea how much it hurts

I didn't say it hurts. I don't mind the outcome of the update one bit. But I'm a bit bemused that das changed my orders so radically, 'tis all.

 

[alex994]

I didn't say it hurts. I don't mind the outcome of the update one bit. But I'm a bit bemused that das changed my orders so radically, 'tis all.

Oh no, I'm saying you have no idea how much pain I'm in. Why would I care whether or not you're in pain? I'm joking fyi.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Yes, it was indeed awe-inspiring; though I must say if given the choice I would nuke all of Eastern Asia into oblivion. THE SARDAR?!?!?! I swear that in the next nes I'm China in the era after the 17th Century, I will genocide the steppe peoples for the atrocity their different dimension cousin committed!

Well don't worry, we'll get it being called the Haridrcampila if you like

 

[Thlayli]

AFSNES: No Christianity, but Latin masses.

 

[jeps]

great update! sure, I fell back down far, but the fact I made it that big...

the danish nation is PC or NPC?

 

[Insane_Panda]

Awesome update. I suppose this is a good a time as any for me to quit, though. Time is becoming an issue again. I hope I will be able to join at a later date, though I'm not certain.

The world certaintly looks interesting.