Arcaea/Library/History/The Complete History of the Far East

Prologue

When I put quill to parchment to begin this work, I do so in the expectation and hope that this is a work which shall be continued long after I am gone.

I am Martin of House Octavius, Viscount of Mraulaxon and Archbishop of Niel, first among equals of Sartan's representatives in the Far East. But I do not write as a Sartanian or an Arcaean but as a historian. It is my hope to compile, for the first time, a complete history of the Far East from the very beginning of recorded history to the present day.

I also hope that, when I am no longer to work on this history, it will be taken up by others who will write new volumes as required so that this might continue to be an accurate account of the events which have taken place upon this continent.

There have been many histories of the Far East in the past but all have been limited in scope, focusing either on particular wars, particular realms or particular eras. I am under no illusions as to the scope of the task which lies before me to compile all of these into one work and to fill in the gaps. Nevertheless, I am optimistic, for my cousin, Selene Octavius, High Priest of Sartan before me, lived through the years where the least was written about the history of the Far East and knows many others who witnessed events before her time. Therefore, it is my sincere hope that, by tapping into this firsthand knowledge, it will be possible to produce a complete history of the Far East.

May Sartan bless my endeavour and may it endure long after my passing.

Volume I - The First Age

Background

Much like a play, this history cannot be properly be appreciated without an understanding of the background scenery to the story. In this case the background comes in the form of the conventions for dates which I have used and the geography of the Far East continent itself. While the latter may already be familiar to natives of the Far East, I have included a comprehensive overview of its geography, both ancient and new, for the benefit of those who do not.

Dates

For this history I have adopted a dating convention based on the ages of the Far East. At present we are living at the dawn of the Third Age which follows on from the First Age when the original twin empires of the Far East formed and the Second Age where those empires collapsed and their successor states struggled with each other up until the coming of the ice which marks the end of the age.

While there are no precise dates available for the First Age, the years of the other two ages are much more easily known. Therefore, I have dated notable events, where possible, by their season, year and age. Thus an event in the autumn of the twentieth year of the Second Age is rendered Autumn, 20 A2 and an event in the spring of the first year of the Third Age is rendered Spring, 1 A3. Hopefully this convention will be easily understood by the reader.

An alternative method of dating would be to take the formation of the first Arcaean Empire as a starting date for a calendar given that we now live in the time of the second empire of Arcaea. Since records indicate that the Arcaean Empire formed 42 years before the Second Age and it is now 35 years by my calculations since the start of the Second Age, the current date would therefore be the seventy seventh imperial year, or 77 IY in shorthand.

But as this history is intended to be a general history of the Far East rather than an Arcaean one, I will use the method I have already outlined rather than any 'imperial calendar' in order to ensure that this work is as free as possible from 'Arcaea-centrism'. However, any date used for events in the Second Age can be converted to the imperial calendar by the addition of 42 years and any date used for events in the Third Age can be converted to the imperial calendar by the addition of 75 years.

Introduction

Only fragments of history from the centuries long First Age of the Far East survive to this day and almost all the fragments concern the history of particular regions rather than giving a picture of the whole. The most notable exception to this are documents in the archives of the city of Ossaet which record on paper the oral history of a long extinct order of monks which gives a tantalising glimpse at the overall history of the north.

In the south, the most notable records are those which survive from the libraries of the Antozan Commonwealth. Though focused mainly on the provinces of the western coast and the events which led to their absorption into the Svunnetland Empire, they offer an insight into events in the south before the historical trail goes cold once again.

The end of the First Age was marked by a period known as The Splintering where extended unrest led to the disintegration of the two empires which by then ruled the entire Far East between them. The individual triggers of the collapse are small and quantifiable but it also seems highly likely that there were much deeper and more profound causes in the background which may well be linked with the Far East first coming into contact with the other continents and a small but notable influx of nobles from across the seas.

However, speculation is no substitute for facts. And the facts known about the First Age begin with a small community of monks living in the middle of a marsh.

The North

The history as recorded by the monks (although they divide it into two ages while modern historians treat it as one) begins with a small group of travelling monks settling among the marshes of the Osaido peninsula and founding the Monastery of Ossaet which would later become the city which stands today.

At some point after Ossaet grew into a city, it came under the rule of a realm named Brevnea centred on Topenah and ruled by it's first monarch, King Julius I (implying at least one successor of the same name).

Around five hundred years (according to the monks) after this event, a twenty one year old warlord from the stronghold of Nocaneb united the city states of Remtom, Akanos, Niel and Lasop under his rule, marking the beginning of Arcaea and causing him to earn the only name which history remembers him by - that of the Patriarch of Arcaea.

Over the course of twelve years the Patriarch expanded his empire eastwards to the ocean, absorbing the lands in his path and then, four years later, ending a conflict named the War of the Woods of Ruikai by annexing the city of Nahad.

Around the same time, the city of Ossaet was conquered by a people called the Hadet who appear to have emerged from the plains of the Far East resulting in the scattering of the monks of Ossai. The Hadet in turn were defeated by an unknown army, possibly Arcaean, which took their city of Sasrhas and forced the remaining Hadet to retreat to the Osai peninsula from whence they conducted border raids on the city state of Ozrat which owed allegiance to Brevnea but joined Arcaea in exchange for the Patriarch's protection.

The Dark Isle, known to the monks as Ridania, was the next area added to the Arcaean Empire twenty five years after its founding, with the native islanders fleeing into hiding. Two years later, Brevnea was peacefully absorbed into Arcaea in exchange for protection against the Hadet still living in the Osai peninsula. The Patriarch then immediately began a war to conquer the peninsular but suffered an unspecified betrayal which prompted the islanders of the Dark Isle to emerge from hiding calling themselves the Drow and starting what the monks called the Second Drow War against Arcaea. It was this war which would lead to the collapse of the Patriarch's empire thanks to the intervention of House Relak whose family archives I was able to access after many trials and tribulations.

Just prior to the Second Drow War the two brothers named Serko and Gregor Relak arrived in Arcaea, the pair of them skilled in politics, intrigue and assassination and sent to the Far East by their family on the East Continent shortly after contact was first made between the Far East and the lands to the west.

Serko and Gregor took the opportunity of the war with the Drow to join the army led by the Patriarch to the Dark Isle and there, in the middle of a battle, killed him before taking the advantage of the confusion to reach the Patriarch's only son and heir, a young boy, who they also murdered, allowing the younger brother, Serko, to disguise himself (including, by some unknown means, altering his face) as the murdered boy.

Gregor then returned home while Serko then took the throne of the Arcaean Empire and, for unknown reasons, deliberately allowed it to implode, with the result that the realm would collapse a mere forty two years after the Patriarch founded it, beginning with the secession of the Duke of Colasan to form the realm of Lasanar. It is this event which, more than any other, can be taken to mark the end of the First Age of the Far East as it was followed by the secession of other realms, bringing Arcaea to its knees.

The South

While the Arcaean Empire experienced its rapid rise and fall, another empire ruled over the south of the Far East. Just as Arcaea was centred on the shining city of Remtom in the heart of the north, the Svunnetland Empire was centred on the mighty city of Masahakon in the heart of the south. Frustratingly, there are no surviving records whatsoever which provide an account of the origins of the Svunnetland Empire but there are some historians writing after the time who claim that Svunnetland was even younger than Arcaea.

What is known of its early history comes from the early Antozan people of the western coast whose records tell of a time when the area was composed of the three city-states of Anacan, Taop and Azros of which the former was ruled by an unknown king with the latter two being ruled by independent aristocratic oligarchies. The city states reputedly had various wars with each other and faced bandit raids but a steady overall equilibrium of peace had allegedly lasted for around 200 years when Anacan was attacked from the sea by black sailed pirates who destroyed the great harbour, raped women, slaughtered men and carried many of the cities inhabitants off as slaves. While the city itself survived it had suffered a grievous blow.

As a result, the king led the survivors in rebuilding, constructing a palisade and both hiring mercenaries and recruiting a popular militia led by the aristocrats called the Blue Guard. Hence a second raid by pirates resulted in the slaughter of the raiders and the king of Anacan seizing the pirate ships to lead a punitive expedition to the pirates' home port of Batesaor which resulted in the sack of the city and the butchery of its population.

The expedition had been very expensive for Anacan however and so, on his return, the king used his now battle-hardened forces to annex the city states of Taop and Azros to form the first unified state on the western coast.

Having developed a taste for war, the king then struck east to attack the fledgling polity of Svunnetland which had formed around the city of Palnasos and thereby started a bloody war which cost both the Antozans and the Svunnetlanders dearly until the king died leaving his new realm racked by revolt and suffering from famine. The ruler of Svunnetland then proposed a treaty to the now leaderless Antozans which saw the western coast absorbed into what now emerged as the Svunnetland empire.

Who this ruler of Svunnetland was, how Svunnetland itself was formed, who his or her successors were, how it came to expand its dominion over the entire south or what relations it had with Arcaea to the north are unknown to us as no records from a Svunnetland perspective between this period and the breakup of their empire exist. Records only start again with the reign of King Einar where multiple sources confirm that the empire disintegrated at the same time as the Arcaean Empire to the north. It seems likely, however, that the sheer size of the empire after the incorporation of the western coast gave it the strength which made the subjugation of its smaller neighbours inevitable.

What is known for certain, however, is that the trigger for end of the Svunnetland Empire came from the decision of King Einar to move the imperial capital from its then location of Masahakon to the mountain fortress of Iposez in the north of the realm.

This disruption of the state bureaucracy not only caused significant unrest amongst the peasants of Svunnetland but also placed the royal court so far away from the south of the realm that the king's control over his realm waned rapidly. This in turn was exacerbated by bitter infighting amongst the nobles of Svunnetland's senate - an institution of the imperial state of which little is known other than its existence.

The situation prompted the Duke of Zonasa to break away from the empire and crown himself a prince. Around Duke of Masahakon, Himo Musou, and the Duke of Hatdhes, Senoske Himoura, to agree between themselves to secede from Svunnetland in frustration with the failure of the king to help them quell unrest among discontented peasants. They seceded their two cities to form the realm of Nighthelm and triggered the same collapse in Svunnetland as happened in Arcaea at the same time.

Volume II - The Second Age: Part One

Introduction

The Second Age of the Far East began with the splintering of the twin empires of Far East and was marked by repeated conflicts between their successor states as a time of instability saw the rise and fall of several realms, including the destruction of Old Sartania which started a volatile chain of events leading to the Great Crusade which in turn defined the course of the continent from then until the coming of the glacier and the dawning of the Third Age in which we now live.

The timeline of the Second Age is relatively short. It spans a mere 33 years from the break up of the twin empires to the glaciers. Yet these 33 years of chaos and strife have produced enough history to fill a small library. Very different from the Age which proceeded it and very different from current times, the Second Age is best defined as what it is not rather than as what it is. It is not the era of the twin empires. It is not the land radically reshaped by the coming of the ice and the formation of the Second Arcaean Empire. This must serve as my explanation for the somewhat muddled nature of this volume for many of the events recorded in it are disconnected from each other and joined only by the setting in which they took place.

One interesting aspect of the beginning of the Second Age was that all the successor states were initially ruled by men and women who had, until recently, been peers within one of the two great empires. This goes some way to explaining the degree of strong international spirit and action at the beginning of the Second Age and its almost complete disappearance in the middle before it has begun to re-emerge in contemporary times.

The Splintering

The Successor States

Amidst the unrest in Svunnetland, the Duke of Masahakon, Himo Musou, and the Duke of Hatdhes, Senoske Himoura, to agree between themselves to secede from Svunnetland in frustration with the failure of the king to help them quell unrest among discontented peasants. They seceded their two cities to form the realm of Nighthelm and, at the same time or possibly sooner, the Duke of Zonasa seceded and crowned himself a prince, forming the Principality of Zonasa. These two events triggered a similar collapse in Svunnetland as to that which happened in Arcaea at the same time.

In the south, Nighthelm was joined by the lands surrounding the fortress of Haul and by the mountainous region of Razrpot and established its capital in Masahakon under Himo Musou who was crowned the king of the new realm. To the west Duke Westley of Anacan seceded and was joined by Baron Lu'an of Pates and the lords of the provinces of Zarimel and Ansopen. This new monarchy named itself the Antozan Commonwealth and bought the city of Taop from the crumbling empire for a sum recorded as 2000 gold as well as annexing the province of Leod after it was overrun by bandits. To the east, the duchy and corsairs of Batesaor declared its independence with its hinterland as a city-state republic and everything on the peninsula to the south of Batesaor coalesced into a republic with the name of Soliferum.

In the northernmost reaches of the empire Duchess Arella Morningstar of Idapur (a small duchy consisting of the city of the same name and the province of Erahol) claimed descent from an angel (the historical name for what people in modern times call "aenil") and felt divinely inspired to create the realm of Taith Aenil and this new realm was joined in independence by the more secular realm of Toril which was based on the neighbouring duchy of Nahad.

Other, short lived successor states came into being, one of which was called Narmotur and about which, despite being founded by a royal of Svunnetland and lingering for some time, almost nothing is known, not even its location.

As a result of this upheaval Svunnetland was left as a rump centred on Iposez and the city of Palnasos and underwent a cultural shift which effectively extirpated all links with its imperial past.

In the north, a similar process was seen with the Arcaean King's decision to turn away from government of the realm and become, to quote contemporaries, "lost in himelf". This malaise at the centre allowed many of the Arcaean Empire's dukes to gradually gain independence from central control until they broke away completely.

In Arcaea itself, Lord Yarah Arya, the king's most trusted counsellor, overthrew his ruler and seized the reigns of government in order to hold what was left of the empire together and recognised the independence of the break away duchies in exchange for peace. Much like their contemporaries in Svunnetland, the new rulers of Arcaea abandoned any claim to imperial might and consolidated the little territory they had left, becoming yet another minor successor state of the Arcaean Empire. In the far north the nobles of the Dark Isle who had adopted the Adgharin religion and culture of their subjects formed the theocracy of Arcachon, declaring war against the empire, and to the north east of Arcaea the nobility of the lands centred on the city of Niel embraced the faith of the Church of Sartan and founded the theocracy of Sartania in the name of their god. To the west of the Sartanians and the remaining Arcaeans the city of Akanos formed the base for a realm which named itself the Highland Empire and to their west the city of Sasrhas fell into anarchy.

In the south east of the empire the duchy of Talex formed the founding city of a kingdom named Ethiala and in the south west the peaceful republic of Lasanar was established by a group of dukes led by Daran Hawk of Colasan, encompassing a vast tract of territory which immediately established it as the most powerful successor state to the Arcaean Empire despite its ethos being a complete rejection of everything the monarchical empire had stood for.

These realms between them formed the successor states of the two great empires. All had found their independence in similar circumstances. And all of them would find themselves propelled swiftly into a series of turbulent conflicts which would define the dynamism of the Second Age before the geopolitical settlement of the Far East would arrive at the incarnation which defines our Third Age.

The First Nighthelmian War

Following the breakup of the Svunnetland Empire, the first conflict to occur in the south was caused by the powerful realm of Nighthelm which, due to its large urban population and limited agricultural land, was faced with a severe threat of starvation. As a result, King Himo of Nighthelm assembled a large army and marched it into the rural region of Idaol which was part of the hinterland of Batesaor.

The size of the Nighthelmian army was such that, despite vocal protests, Batesaor was forced to accept the annexation of Idaol by King Himo without a fight. However, even the fields of that province were not enough to meet the needs of the cities of Nighthelm and, emboldened by his success, King Himo invaded the province of Hutael.

At this point, a confederation of surrounding realms condemned the aggressive expansion of Nighthelm and demanded its withdrawal from Hutael, even going so far as to offer the trade of food in order to eliminate Nighthelm's need for war. These efforts were spurned by King Himo who was then faced with an ultimatum: withdraw from Hutael or face war.

After ignoring the ultimatum, Nighthelm was attacked from all sides. To the west, the Antozan Commonwealth laid siege to and conquered the fortress of Haul, using it as a springboard to gain control of the provinces of Edairn, Azros and Arrmol, reuniting the western coast in a feat with King Westley, who died of an illness during the war, would not live to see. To the north, the forces of the Prince of Zonasa overran Razrpot, plundering its rich mines, and Nighthelm's southern border was threatened by Soliferum. In response, the forces of Nighthelm were rallied by their High Marshal Valius Hendrix who led a tenacious defence of the kingdom's northern provinces before being forced out of Hutael by a combined force of Batesaorians and Svunnetlanders.

The realms whose armies were advancing into Nighthelm all demanded the abdication of King Himo in exchange for peace but were met by refusal as Himo ordered preparations for a desperate defence of the Mashakon which now found itself threatened by multiple enemy armies. Then, in a strange stroke of fate, King Himo vanished from the palace and was never found despite extensive searches. Theories abound as to why and how he vanished but the main consequence of his disappearance was reprieve for Nighthelm.

The Duke of Hatdhes, Senoske Himoura, was proclaimed King of Nighthelm by its nobles and was able to negotiate ceasefires with Batesaor, Zonasa, Svunnetland and the Antozan Commonwealth as a prelude to a peace treaty which confirmed Batesaorian rule over Hutael and ceded Haul to the Commonwealth in exchange for a free hand in the conquest of the rogue province of Apelen. The war was reduced from a conflict encompassing the entire south to one solely between Nighthelm the republic of Soliferum.

With Batesaor acting as a buffer between the territories of the two realms, the only avenue of attack for either side was across the sea where the defences on either side discouraged a landing. A period of war without battle therefore prevailed until Soliferum secured passage through the lands of Batesaor and launched a raid aimed the province of Razrpot.

Acting pre-emptively, King Senoske led his forces into the province of Hutael to attack the Soliferites before they could reach their target. This was treated as an act of war by Batesaor which rejoined the conflict on the side of Soliferum, beating back the already weakened Nighthelmian army and motivating Zonasa to again occupy and loot the mines of Razrpot. With few options remaining, King Senoske signed a peace which ceded the province of Idaol to Batesaor in exchange for an end to hostilities with Batesaor and Zonasa.

Soliferum, however, refused to sign a ceasefire due to demands by King Senoske (kept secret from his nobles) that it give up a province to enable Nighthelm to feed itself and instead began preparations for a naval attack on the city of Hatdhes. Upon their landing a bloody battle for the city ensued against the hastily rallied Nighthelmian defenders before the Soliferumites were driven back leading to a stalemate which ultimately resulted in a ceasefire with no concessions by either side but which had left Nighthelm severely weakened.

The end of this first conflict was notable for two reasons. In the first instance it left the powerful realm at the heart of the south weakened with bad relations with its neighbours and, in the second instance, it set the stage for the series of small wars which would occur again and again in the south for most of the Second Age. As such, it has received a level of attention which will not be given to many of the conflicts which came after it.

Religion

During the time immediately after the Splintering, several major religions were established which would have a lasting influence throughout the continent and which would act as triggers for many conflicts over the years.

The twin empires themselves seem to have been pagan and tolerant of all religious beliefs but in the period directly following contact being made with the other continents several more organised and coherent religions formed within various parts of the empires, doubtless drawing some inspiration from the beliefs of the influx of new nobles and of the inhabitants of other continents.

In the furthest north the native beliefs of the peasant and low noble clans of the Dark Isle were adopted by the imperial Arcaeans sent to rule over them and were codified into the Adgharin Way which initially recognised multiple gods, including household ones, but gradually became more focused on its chief god Adaghar to the exclusion of its other gods. This formed the core identity of the theocratic and clan based society of the new realm of Arcachon.

On the north eastern coast in the duchy of Niel, the nobility had come to worship Sartan, the god of war of the pantheon of the Church of Ibladesh on the East Continent. The worship of Sartan, and Sartan Himself, had strong ties to the Far East as, according to our religious teachings, Sartan spent a lifetime living as a mortal on the Far East leaving behind teachings which were preserved by his disciples who formed the origins of the aristocracy of the duchy of Niel. Nonetheless, much of what defined the Church of Sartan, and the theocratic state of Sartania founded in its name, was clearly drawn from the longer established, and more formalised, Church of Ibladesh around this time.

In the new realm of Taith Aenil, as already described, Duchess Arella Morningstar had claimed descent from an aenil, or angel, prior to independence and her beliefs formed the basis of the hybrid democratic and theocratic nature of the realm. Believing in an uncountable multitude of semi-divine spirits named aenil and that some were good and took an interest in humanity, the religion was at first generally inward looking but did inspire a brief war at the very outset of Taith Aenil's history which saw it ally itself with Ethiala to annex the imploding realm of Toril.

Later, in 5 A2, Aenilism would schism following the death of Arella Morningstar and a prophet named Orphen Vincent would start a civil war which would see Taith Aenil destroyed and replaced by Greater Aenilia with Orphen as its Emperor who then formally reorganised the Aenlisit faith into the evangelist organisation of Magna Aenilia Ecclesia which would sweep north and south to become the dominant faith on the continent at its zenith.

And in Nighthelm, King Thraymn who had overthrown King Senoske (see below) was to found the Order of the Elders which worshipped the gods of Odin, Thor, Hildr, Loki and Hel, a faith which spread throughout much of the south and which was inextricably linked with the peak of Nighthelm's might and culture.

There are many other religions which have come and gone in the Far East but these Big Four all drew their origins from the Splintering and were to prove the most pivotal in the history of the continent. Aenilism would explode out of its homeland to spread across the north and reach the pinnacle of its influence under King Jenred the Great of Arcaea whose patronage ensured the faith's dominant position. Sartanism and Adgharinism would spend years locked in a bloody conflict whose consequences would see the destruction of both their respective theocracies and act as the trigger for the Great Crusade. And the Order of the Elders would wield influence in the south and north throughout the Second and Third Ages, becoming deeply entwined in many a conflict.

Northern Consolidation

The Highland Wars

The first major war to break out in the north would be that between Lasanar, which until then had grown peacefully through persuading lords to join it, and the Highland Empire. The causes of the war are unknown but Lasanarian accounts present the Highlanders as the aggressors. Shortly after the war began, Daran Hawk, the Prime Minister and founder of Lasanar, announced his weariness at the burdens of ruling and resigned at the beginning of 1 A2, being succeeded by a young, recently arrived noble whom Daran had appointed Minister of Defence and duke of the city of Ossaet.

Before becoming Prime Minister, Sarag had made a name for himself as a patron of the arts and culture in Ossaet, overseeing a period of economic development, and as a tourney champion. Unfortunately, one of his first acts as Prime Minister was to welcome into Lasanar the former governing nobles of the Highland Empire who had been overthrown in a rebellion. These new nobles were settled in and around the city of Sasrhas which had recently been conquered by Lasanar from bandits.

Within a season, however, the former Higlanders seceded Sasrhas from Lasanar and allied their new realm (whose name is lost to history) with the Highland Empire in an act of betrayal which severely damaged the authority of Sarag.

With the war still being waged, Sarag went to a tournament in the Antozan Commonwealth where, reputedly, he was overpowered by unknown assailants, put in a sack and shipped overseas to the Colonies. In his absence, Lasanar's general, Milan Von Krondor was elected Prime Minister and continued the war but governed for only a short time before Sarag returned from the Colonies and launched a rebellion to regain the premiership. In order to avoid bloodshed, Milan resigned and was reappointed to the office of general.

The response of the ordinary nobility to this coup, however, was one of outrage. The strength of their protests forced Sarag to resign as Prime Minister with Daran Hawk returning from retirement to take up the rulership, leading to the banishment of Sarag from his own realm and a peace treaty with the Highland Empire which, unsurprisingly, had taken advantage of the internal strife of its enemy to gain the military advantage.

During the peace, Lasanar reformed its government to a "feudal republic" where the dukes of the three cities of Colasan, Ossaet and Ozrat held most of the power and responsibilities of government with the Prime Minister reduced, at his own wishes, to a weak figurehead. During the peace the duchy of Sasrhas was somehow recovered by Lasanar but cross border raids and assassination attempts by the Highlanders soon led to the end of the peace and the resumption of hostilities.

The stated goal of Lasanar to destroy the Highland Empire provoked Svunnetland and Taith Aenil to launch a surprise attack against the Lasanarian capital of Colasan in order to support the Highlanders. While this attack was repulsed with Ethialan aid and the southerners forced to end their involvement in the war, its legacy was to weaken Lasanarian authority in the province of Lenamaziel to the extent that it would later break away to join the League of Anacan (see below).

The Highland Wars ended with the capture of the Highlander capital of Akanos by the Lasanarians and the subsequent annexation of the Highland Empire's lands by its neighbours with the bulk of the lands going to Lasanar, consolidating its position as the most powerful of the northern realms.

Arcaea's Survival

Though greatly reduced in both nobles and territory, Arcaea was to prove durable and would survive in a way which its counterpart, the rump realm of Svunnetland would not (see below).

Arcaea's survival can be credited predominantly to the efforts of King Yarah to consolidate the remnants of the empire into a lasting kingdom and to survive in the face of wars with the other successor states whose independence was collectively defended by the might of Lasanar. However, eventually even he despaired of the situation and, believing the kingdom to be doomed, abandoned it along with the realm council and his closest advisers.

Although the surviving junior nobles found a successor to Yarah in Queen Trinity, Sartania sensing weakness attacked Arcaea with Lasanarian support. It was only when Sartanian troops, in a heinous breach of their religious beliefs, began an orgy of rape and murder in a series of atrocities known as the Rape of Saex which left the province almost entirely depopulated, that Lasanar withdrew its protection for Sartania, allowing Arcaea to halt the Sartanian advance under High Marshal Shun and establish the first of many unstable borders in what became known as the Sartanian march.

Trinity was able to establish peace with the other successor states but found the nobles of the realm mired in apathy at the sorry state their kingdom had been reduced to and the lack of opportunities for glory in war. As a result, Trinity led Arcaea in support of Lasanar in its titanic war with the Antozan Commonwealth, taking part in the siege of Anacan which was to finally destroy the Commonwealth.

At this point, Queen Trinity adopted proposals by High Marshal Shun for Arcaea to become a mercenary realm, hiring its military out to fight in foreign wars. While this role for Arcaea would not last, it was to mark the end of Arcaea's initial struggle for survival and draw it into the long Sartanian Wars.

The Sartanian Wars

The title of the many conflicts involving Sartania are something of a misnomer as several of the wars, such as the Arcaean campaign against Ethiala, did not directly involve Sartanian troops. Nonetheless, the constant amongst the changing sides of these wars was that Sartania was always one of the major participants.

The wars began with an inevitable conflict between the neighbouring militant theocracies of Arcachon and Sartania. At first the two realms, along with Lasanar and Arcaea had been joined in a federation for mutual defence but Arcaea left the federation to become a mercenary realm and Arcachon left to wage war against Sartania. For each theocracy promoted the supremacy of their state religion and viewed the other as evil. Therefore the territorial contest between them for the mainland provinces lying between Niel and the Dark Isle would be long and bitter. Sartania was to score first blood with an invasion of the Dark Isle which was only narrowly repulsed but after that the main battles of the wars between them would take place almost exclusively on the mainland.

During this period the Sartanian state ossified under Pontifex Edward who filled the offices of state with his friends regardless of their (lack) of ability. Ultimately this resulted in a rebellion orchestrated by a military leader Ascanius who, through the support of the young nobles he had mentored, secured his victory in periodic elections for the position of the treasurer of the realm despite of the insistence of the Pontifex that his lazy appointee retain the position. From this position, Ascanius became embroiled in a conflict with the Pontifex and ultimately lead a rebellion with the general which drove Edward from the realm to death in exile. While a counter-reaction by older nobles led by Azgath Cyrith ensued, a settlement was reached which saw a general amnesty for the loyalists with Ascanius becoming the new Pontifex.

Around this time, Arcachon to hired Arcaea as mercenaries in exchange for grain shipments to fill severe food shortages in that realm, bringing them into the war against Sartania.

The war expanded further when, for the second time, the Ethialan city of Lasop rebelled and proclaimed allegiance to Arcaea. While previously the city had been returned to Ethiala in deference to the alliance between the two realms, on this occasion Queen Trinity decided to keep it. Ethiala declared war in response, joining the Sartanian alliance and forcing Arcaea to move its armies south to successfully fight off an Ethialan invasion. This was followed by the Ethialan lord of Larmbesi, Baron Rhathar Frostbane, changing sides to join Arcaea.

However, Cathay then joined the war on the side of Ethiala and, with Arcachon failing to help, Larmbesi was retaken by the Ethialans, killing Baron Rhathar in battle, and the Arcaean fortress of Nocaneb was threatened by the Sartanians. Another blow for Arcaea came when Pontifex Ascanius was able to gain an alliance with Lasanar, leaving the Arcaeans on the verge of defeat when an Arcachonian army invaded Sartania, reliving some of the pressure on their ally.

Nonetheless, Arcaea was outmatched, Arcachon was broken and a great defeat came when Queen Trinity was captured in battle by the Sartanians and severely wounded in an assassination attempt after her release. A partial peace treaty was signed which saw Arcaea lose almost all of its lands and left barely clinging to survival. Though skirmishes continued between Sartanians and Arcaeans, what was called the Great Northern War had ended.

Arcaea's new King Riar Windsoul proposed a peace with Sartania which would have seen the Arcaean region of Saex given to Sartania in exchange for the return of the fortress of Nocaneb. This proposal was so opposed by Arcaean nobles, however, that King Riar abdicated and left the kingdom entirely. Thus the war with Sartania flared up again with the insistence by Pontifex Ascanius that the war would not end until Arcaea had been completely destroyed.

Queen Dentara was next to ascend the Arcaean throne and set herself the task of regaining the kingdom's historic territories. In this she was successful thanks to a health dose of luck, starting with no fewer than three lords joining Arcaea with their provinces and Ethiala changing sides in the war.

Then the feudal republic of Lasanar, which had dominated the north, suddenly collapsed as the grand council of dukes tired of working together and struck out on their own as independent realms which then fought amongst each other for supremacy. Ultimately, this would produce the realm of Papania in the Ossai peninsula and the republic Ohnar West which, through conquest, came to encompass the bulk of its predecessor's lands. But the process of internecine conflict was Arcaea's gain as its most powerful enemy was eliminated and the kingdom found itself able to advance against Sartania, regaining Nocaneb and threatening Sartania with destruction in turn.

At this point Cathay intervened to preserve their Sartanian ally from destruction and secured a reduction in the participants in the war to allow Sartania to fight on against Arcachon without external interference. Queen Dentara and Arcaea then enjoyed a period of peace which saw the kingdom consolidate its territory and emerge as a major power in the north while Sartania's war with Arcachon continued. During this period Arcachon adopted a new tactic of burning, raping and killing everything they found in any Sartanian province they entered in order to destroy the ability of the Sartanians to wage war.

Then, in Summer, 13 A2, Queen Dentara of Arcaea abdicated in favour of her chosen successor. He was a former Imperial Magistrate and Imperial Chancellor with military experience and a pious Aenelist who would earn the epithet 'the Great' and would reshape the politics of the Far East during his reign. His name was Jenred Bedwyr.

King Jenred cut his teeth as ruler during a war against Ethiala (see below) which resulted in its destruction and partitioning between its neighbours, significantly expanding Arcaea just before it was, decisively, drawn back into the Sartanian wars.

The cause of this was a declaration by the Divine Soul of Sartania (the title which had replaced that of Pontifex) that as soon as he had the forces he intended to destroy Arcaea. Records are unclear as to who was the Divine Soul at the time but it may have been Hyrus Kartak whom had been elected to the position the same year as Jenred Bedwyr was crowned and who is recorded as having been struck twice by lightning bolts in the first year of his rule in evidence of divine displeasure over some crime which has gone unrecorded.

What is certain, however, is that this threat by the Divine Soul was to cause the destruction of Sartania. King Jenred pre-emptively renewed the Arcaean alliance with Arcachon and together they invaded Sartania, with the Arcaean armies overwhelming it and sacking Niel. In return for the past promise by Pontifex Ascanius to destroy Arcaea, King Jenred refused pleas by Sartanians (including by Selene Octavius) for their realm to be spared saying that he would only withdraw if Arcachon agreed to spare Sartania - something which was obviously an impossibility.

Thus, Sartania, known to us in the present day as Old Sartania, was destroyed and its lands split between Arcachon and Arcaea. Most of its territory would go to the Arcachonians, including Niel, but only on the proviso by King Jenred that he would be given the lands if Arcachon failed to hold them.

The Sartanians, both as a people and as a religion, would scatter following the destruction of their home, with the bulk of them forming a nation in exile whose quest for a home would spark the Great Crusade which would reshape the face of the entire continent (see Volume III).

The Fall of Ethiala

Ethiala was in some ways an early twin of Arcaea. About the same size it was also a monarchy (although it later became a grand duchy), would also adopt the Aenilist faith and would be involved in the same events which affected Arcaea. It had also fought a brief border war with its former ally Taith Aenil before its involvement in the Great Northern War against Arcaea forced it to withdraw. Yet of the two twins it was Arcaea which prospered and Ethiala which would be destroyed.

Ethiala's history had been relatively conventional up until the Ethialan War. Known as the 'flower of Far Eastern chivalry' for its large tournaments and sophisticated courtly culture and manners, it had enjoyed long periods of peace under rulers (starting with King Osric Windsoul) who had generally preferred to avert, rather than seek, war. The premier alliance it had belonged to was the Northern Federation of itself, Lasanar and Sartania.

Its government consisted of a powerful monarchy constrained and held to account by a senate of all landed nobles who could overrule the monarch with a two thirds majority vote provided that the entire realm council or all the dukes of the realm did not unanimously agree with the king. The most notable internal strife in its history revolved around one person, Serko Relak (the same ruler of Arcaean Empire who had overseen its splintering), who first bribed city officials into granting him the temporarily title of duke of Topenah, usurping it from a Lady Evlyn, and then was later elected king of Ethiala in an election where most nobles were unable to vote before being immediately protested out of office by the nobles of the realm in Spring, 4 A2. After Serko's brief reign came more rulers, including Septimus Scarlett (brother of the much more famous Galiard Scarlett) who oversaw the transition to a grand duchy and the change of title from king to archduke.

It is interesting, therefore, to speculate what might have happened had events gone but slightly differently - if their fates had been reversed Ethiala might have become the dominant power in the north leading to a very different outcome of the Sartanian Wars and thus there may have been no Great Crusade with all the attendant alterations in history. Certainly its very different, and generally more pacifist, style of monarchy would have meant a huge shift in the dynamics of the continent if it had gained supremacy. But this did not happen. An Ethialan Empire must remain a counterfactual and an Arcaean one must remain fact, both the inevitable consequences of the Ethialan War.

The causes of Ethialan War originate with individuals. The first was King Riar of Arcaea who, following the rejection of his peace proposal and his abdication, reputedly passed through Ethiala on his way to death in exile and denounced Arcaea as a realm which hated peace and loved war. The second and third were King Jenred and his Ethialan counterpart, Archduke Keffer Leonidas who nursed a strong personal enmity for unknown reasons.

Therefore, when the contentious issue of their mutual claims to the city of Lasop flared up once again with the city rebelling and joining Arcaea, neither realm or ruler was willing to avoid war, despite their former alliance.

During the Sartanian Wars (see above) Ethiala had first fought against Arcaea before changing sides and attacking Lasanar without much success until Lasanar collapsed into multiple successor states. While these successor states sought peaceful relations with Arcaea, Ethiala continued its war against the Lasanarian successor realm of Papania over an agricultural province which Ethiala needed to feed its cities. The reason for this was a severe famine being suffered by Ethiala due to a combination of drought, administrative incompetence which failed to seek alternative food supplies until too late and the temporary breakdown of trade routes which could have been used to purchase grain.

The response by Ohnar West, the largest Lasanarian successor realm, was to attack Ethiala to defend Papania and, when Lasop once again became an issue, Arcaea joined the war on the Papanian side, turning a small border war into a major conflagration which saw Cathay and Greater Aenilia join the war on Ethiala's side.

Initially Ethiala enjoyed some success but internal strife and the famine soon put them on the defensive. Crucially, Archduke Keffer and his military commander, Lord General Primus Baraedor, were both fanatical Ethialan nationalists whose mutual power struggle divided the realm into two rival factions. Prior to this, Keffer's quarrels with his predecessor, former Archduke Dieter, had seen the latter declare city's independence from Ethiala as the short lived Kingdom of Kamador before being crushed. In response to this infighting another faction led by Nihilus Orgauth, the Duke of Ozrat, successfully called on both Keffer and Primus to resign, only to see the Imperial Treasurer, Bastian Ruiri Woods, who had failed to seek food to assuage the famine, elected Archduke with Nihilus receiving a consolation prize of the position of Lord General.

Bastian's incompetence had already been made obvious and Nihilus Orgauth, as is clear from his own writings, was a man prone to insulting anyone who disagreed with him, resulting in his attempts to broker peace with the brilliant Arcaean general Aerywyn Haerthorne ending in mutual insults.

The combination of this internal strife and famine, combined with the might of Arcaean armies, guaranteed defeat for Ethiala. Nonetheless, its survival might still have been possible if not for two crucial errors on the part of Ethiala. First, they refused offers from Arcaea of food in exchange for peace (an offer made due to the appalled shock experienced by Arcaean nobles who had seen the desolation caused by famine in Ethiala) and then, secondly and fatally, during an Arcaean siege of the Ethialan capital, the Ethialan noble Riar Windsoul, former King of Arcaea, called King Jenred's wife, Edara Kindon, "a wet blanket".

There is a sizeable body of evidence that King Jenred, while generally a rational and reasonable man, was capable of insane rage when anything happened to insult or threaten his wife. While this would be most obvious in the Great Crusade (Volume III), this insult to the woman whom he loved and considered the source of his kingdom's good luck, would be sufficient for him to refuse any other outcome of the war than the destruction of Ethiala.

Thus Ethiala was wiped from the face of the map, largely by Arcaean arms, with its lands being split between Papania, Arcaea and Ohnar West, and its former allies of Cathay and Aenilia were fought to a standstill and forced to make peace, with the latter also being obliged to cede some border territory to Arcaea.

The Fall of Ethiala allowed Arcaea to establish its position as the mightiest realm of the north and the Lasanarian successors of Ohnar West and Papania to establish their independence and borders. Already three of the realms which had emerged from the collapse of the Arcaean Empire had been destroyed and the north had seen the setting of many of the borders which would remain in place until well into the Great Crusade.

The Legacy of Lasanar

Lasanar was once the most powerful realm in the north and, as such, left a strong legacy both in its system of government, its successor realms and the impact it had on its neighbours. Therefore, despite its absence, an understanding of Lasanar and what it left behind is crucial to understanding how the modern map of the Far East came to be.