Difference between revisions of "Aftermath of the Fall of the Yophenthean Empire"

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The likeliest definitive moment when began the modern history of the eastern hemisphere of Asdar was the fall of the Yophenthean Empire—a tyranny marvelously successful and horribly despotic, rigid, patriarchal, and reactionary.  Though spasms of internal conflict for centuries had shocked the ever-expanding, priest-dominated despotism and external invasions drew forth the machinery of the empire’s legions and military engineers, the empire of the priest-nobles, humans who could claim the god Arathrax as their lineal ancestor, succumbed at length to the coalition of sky nations whose spectacular invasion of the mighty imperial capital, Yophénthë, in 986 AI is recounted by the legendary, [[Woes of Yophenthea|Woes of Yophenthea (Epic)]] compiled in the 12th century AI.
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;Reworked
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Various Skytribes and Medibgosk settle in the former empire: Flisbards, Asbards, Hermunds, etc.
  
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=Introduction=
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The likeliest definitive moment when began the modern history of the eastern hemisphere of Asdar was the fall of the Yophenthean Empire—a tyranny marvelously successful and horribly despotic, rigid, patriarchal, and reactionary.  Though spasms of internal conflict for centuries had shocked the ever-expanding, priest-dominated despotism and external invasions drew forth the machinery of the empire’s legions and military engineers, the empire of the priest-nobles, humans who could claim the god Arathrax as their lineal ancestor, succumbed at length to the coalition of sky nations whose spectacular invasion of the mighty imperial capital, Yophénthë, in 986 AI is recounted by the legendary, [[Woes of Yophenthea]] compiled in the 12th century AI.
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=Structure of Yophenthean Imperial Government=
 
Regarding themselves not only as superior to all other humans but also as the natural rulers of the world, the Yophentheans established an imperial order which involved aristocratic provincials in the regular administration of the empire, but excluded them from the central government.  The Yophentheans preferred to employ existing forms, particularly on the lowest levels, rather than create an entirely new infrastructure.  The several transformations which the Yophenthean state underwent all shared the common features of a strong and centralized despotic government, a well-trained and well-equipped military consisting of Erechórebese commoners and provincial auxiliaries under priest-noble and priest-knight command, and the hieratic abilities of the most powerful priest-nobles themselves.  At times the Sun Emperor was more figure-head than Supreme Patriarch governing the Senate of Sunlords.  The Sun Emperor office developed out of the system of dual kingship, whereby the senior king, of the Arathracid Line, held supreme ecclesiastical power, while the junior king, held supreme military power.  This arrangement developed out of a single monarchy of the Arathracid priest-kings.  Although the Arathracid branch lost its military power, it never lost its priestly prerogatives which were deemed natural rights inherited from the god Arathrax.  Corithor Arathracides, conqueror of Zephasia, prolonged his branch of the Arathracid line.  The Sardáiadir branch of the Arathracides persisted in Corundy, even after the Empire fell.  
 
Regarding themselves not only as superior to all other humans but also as the natural rulers of the world, the Yophentheans established an imperial order which involved aristocratic provincials in the regular administration of the empire, but excluded them from the central government.  The Yophentheans preferred to employ existing forms, particularly on the lowest levels, rather than create an entirely new infrastructure.  The several transformations which the Yophenthean state underwent all shared the common features of a strong and centralized despotic government, a well-trained and well-equipped military consisting of Erechórebese commoners and provincial auxiliaries under priest-noble and priest-knight command, and the hieratic abilities of the most powerful priest-nobles themselves.  At times the Sun Emperor was more figure-head than Supreme Patriarch governing the Senate of Sunlords.  The Sun Emperor office developed out of the system of dual kingship, whereby the senior king, of the Arathracid Line, held supreme ecclesiastical power, while the junior king, held supreme military power.  This arrangement developed out of a single monarchy of the Arathracid priest-kings.  Although the Arathracid branch lost its military power, it never lost its priestly prerogatives which were deemed natural rights inherited from the god Arathrax.  Corithor Arathracides, conqueror of Zephasia, prolonged his branch of the Arathracid line.  The Sardáiadir branch of the Arathracides persisted in Corundy, even after the Empire fell.  
  
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In the course of their expansion, the might of Yophenthea variously commanded the services of the magical, elven Siordi of Erechóreb, subject Shachábdin whose giant fathers they had subdued, Parkyon sky mercenaries, Osfandi mercenary cavalry, Moigthe regulars, Dagaithi irregulars, Glaikish lancers, Jerushablan psychics, Xsyte transports, among others.  Combining strong organization and superior hieratic powers able to command the elements and draw forth bursts of sunfire against intransigent foes, the Yophentheans ruled much of the world through wit and wonder.  Yophenthean engineers led the construction of an extensive road and courier system.  Sea lanes were kept free of piracy and ports were regularly visited by the ever-present Yophenthean navy of windships generally superior to those of their provincial subjects.  The language of the Yophentheans themselves become entrenched as the imperial lingua franca and through the passage of later generations ramified into a dozen daughter languages spoken throughout the former empire.  The religion of the Yophentheans created the model for a uniform worship of the Isxinthion gods of the ‘Old Religion.’  While the subjects of the Empire gladly threw off the Goldenlings’ yoke, they could not fully free themselves from their love of the Yophenthean Sun Worship, albeit with considerable regional adaptations.
 
In the course of their expansion, the might of Yophenthea variously commanded the services of the magical, elven Siordi of Erechóreb, subject Shachábdin whose giant fathers they had subdued, Parkyon sky mercenaries, Osfandi mercenary cavalry, Moigthe regulars, Dagaithi irregulars, Glaikish lancers, Jerushablan psychics, Xsyte transports, among others.  Combining strong organization and superior hieratic powers able to command the elements and draw forth bursts of sunfire against intransigent foes, the Yophentheans ruled much of the world through wit and wonder.  Yophenthean engineers led the construction of an extensive road and courier system.  Sea lanes were kept free of piracy and ports were regularly visited by the ever-present Yophenthean navy of windships generally superior to those of their provincial subjects.  The language of the Yophentheans themselves become entrenched as the imperial lingua franca and through the passage of later generations ramified into a dozen daughter languages spoken throughout the former empire.  The religion of the Yophentheans created the model for a uniform worship of the Isxinthion gods of the ‘Old Religion.’  While the subjects of the Empire gladly threw off the Goldenlings’ yoke, they could not fully free themselves from their love of the Yophenthean Sun Worship, albeit with considerable regional adaptations.
  
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=Conflict between Yophenthean Empire and Sky Tribes=
 
The coalition of Sky Nations which ultimately laid waste to the imperial citadels of Erechóreb drew its unity from the common hatreds that the sky peoples held for the haughty and dominating Lords of Yophénthë.  The unequal alliance of Yophenthean and Mipnor had lost its original devotion, soured, and brought the Parkyons into mutual league with their own ancestral enemy, the Kalikán, against the common tyranny.  The Sun Empire regarded all peripheral, foreign states as the ‘Dawning Lands’—benighted nations who had not yet come into the glorious circuit of the Yophenthean day.  The substance gold itself by Yophenthean law was the sacred product of the Sun Gods, subject to the custodianship of the priest-nobles which meant legally that the onerous tribute money which provinces annually sent to Yophénthë was never theirs to begin with.  Apart from one period of time, only Yophentheans with few exceptions could set foot on the isle—a rule based as much in security as in religious sacrosanctity.  Trade was promoted as long as it ultimately enriched the Yophentheans and empowered their enormous military infrastructure.  The Yophentheans’ state control of xylopter [gnake tree] plantations and of Siulian fleeglesilk was particularly despicable to the sky nations, most of which lived outside the empire.  The nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the sky depended intrinsically upon the crops of skywood and skysilk used to contruct their aerial craft for pasturing their animals and housing their families.  The settled, agricultural, centrally-controlled empire of the Sun contrasted with the roving, pastoral, tribal peoples of the Sky whom the Yophentheans regarded as savage, ill-mannered, ill-bred, illiterate, and even unholy.  The Sky peoples saw Yophentheans as cruel and tyrannous lords whose rapacious decadence was an affront to their way of life.  Sun Emperor Samric Spelúntomil’s brutal repression of the Brundarish nation, once loyal subjects of Kalikán hegemony, enraged northmen and skymen alike.  The war-cry, ‘Avenge Brundar,’ was commonplace years after the Sun Empire’s fall.  The practice of magecraft, though widely misunderstood by most peoples, was particularly anathema to the Yophentheans who considered it a false kind of priesthood.  Practitioners of magic were routinely persecuted and executed.  The fact that skycraft themselves were necessarily manufactured with magic only exacerbated the Yophentheans’ perception of the skyfaring industry.
 
The coalition of Sky Nations which ultimately laid waste to the imperial citadels of Erechóreb drew its unity from the common hatreds that the sky peoples held for the haughty and dominating Lords of Yophénthë.  The unequal alliance of Yophenthean and Mipnor had lost its original devotion, soured, and brought the Parkyons into mutual league with their own ancestral enemy, the Kalikán, against the common tyranny.  The Sun Empire regarded all peripheral, foreign states as the ‘Dawning Lands’—benighted nations who had not yet come into the glorious circuit of the Yophenthean day.  The substance gold itself by Yophenthean law was the sacred product of the Sun Gods, subject to the custodianship of the priest-nobles which meant legally that the onerous tribute money which provinces annually sent to Yophénthë was never theirs to begin with.  Apart from one period of time, only Yophentheans with few exceptions could set foot on the isle—a rule based as much in security as in religious sacrosanctity.  Trade was promoted as long as it ultimately enriched the Yophentheans and empowered their enormous military infrastructure.  The Yophentheans’ state control of xylopter [gnake tree] plantations and of Siulian fleeglesilk was particularly despicable to the sky nations, most of which lived outside the empire.  The nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the sky depended intrinsically upon the crops of skywood and skysilk used to contruct their aerial craft for pasturing their animals and housing their families.  The settled, agricultural, centrally-controlled empire of the Sun contrasted with the roving, pastoral, tribal peoples of the Sky whom the Yophentheans regarded as savage, ill-mannered, ill-bred, illiterate, and even unholy.  The Sky peoples saw Yophentheans as cruel and tyrannous lords whose rapacious decadence was an affront to their way of life.  Sun Emperor Samric Spelúntomil’s brutal repression of the Brundarish nation, once loyal subjects of Kalikán hegemony, enraged northmen and skymen alike.  The war-cry, ‘Avenge Brundar,’ was commonplace years after the Sun Empire’s fall.  The practice of magecraft, though widely misunderstood by most peoples, was particularly anathema to the Yophentheans who considered it a false kind of priesthood.  Practitioners of magic were routinely persecuted and executed.  The fact that skycraft themselves were necessarily manufactured with magic only exacerbated the Yophentheans’ perception of the skyfaring industry.
  
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=Sky Coalition of Thrace=
 
The sky coalition consisted of nearly every skyfaring nation.  The Yophentheans, considering skyborne transit as both irreverent to the sun and subversive to their government, generally did not promote the development of internal skyshipping.  Rather they enjoyed the enormous profits of the sale of materials essential for skycraft to foreign nations, giving preferential treatment to their Mipnor allies.  The militant Kalikán and other warlike skytribes of the Jalima Mountains disrupted this near monopoly with their own production of gnakewood and glambuck woollens used for local skycraft and international trade.  In largely ignoring the tremendous potential of skycraft to control their vast empire, the Yophentheans left themselves vulnerable to sky nations.  Indeed the fire-bombing of Yophénthë in 986 AI was the 3rd sack of the historic capital, led by the vengeful Kalikán.  In the previous decade, the sky nations had developed a swift system of messengers which could dispatch intelligence from one side of the Sunlords’ realm to the other with impunity in a matter of days.  The technology to do such had been around for hundreds of years, but the sky peoples lacked sufficient cohesion and organization to bring it about.  In answer to the previous centuries of sunburst assaults against provincial uprisings and foreign invaders, the sky coalition inundated the fabulously wealthy imperial capital with whetcoal, an unstable incendiary that became available in the 19th century IR and which the Yophentheans left unexploited.
 
The sky coalition consisted of nearly every skyfaring nation.  The Yophentheans, considering skyborne transit as both irreverent to the sun and subversive to their government, generally did not promote the development of internal skyshipping.  Rather they enjoyed the enormous profits of the sale of materials essential for skycraft to foreign nations, giving preferential treatment to their Mipnor allies.  The militant Kalikán and other warlike skytribes of the Jalima Mountains disrupted this near monopoly with their own production of gnakewood and glambuck woollens used for local skycraft and international trade.  In largely ignoring the tremendous potential of skycraft to control their vast empire, the Yophentheans left themselves vulnerable to sky nations.  Indeed the fire-bombing of Yophénthë in 986 AI was the 3rd sack of the historic capital, led by the vengeful Kalikán.  In the previous decade, the sky nations had developed a swift system of messengers which could dispatch intelligence from one side of the Sunlords’ realm to the other with impunity in a matter of days.  The technology to do such had been around for hundreds of years, but the sky peoples lacked sufficient cohesion and organization to bring it about.  In answer to the previous centuries of sunburst assaults against provincial uprisings and foreign invaders, the sky coalition inundated the fabulously wealthy imperial capital with whetcoal, an unstable incendiary that became available in the 19th century IR and which the Yophentheans left unexploited.
  
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With the fiery destruction of their mutually perceived oppressors, the solidarity of the coaltion quickly diffused as the various fractious sky tribes plundered the riches of their former rulers and returned to their ancient squabbles, petty tribal wars, and internecine vendettas, the greatest of which was the ancestral rift between Shonder and Mipnor.  Brack Tumager, Lord of the Kalikán, swiftly changed the theme from vengeance against Erechóreb to Kalikán expansion, styling himself as Viceroy of the Cosmos.  The Great Sky King of the Mipnors and his Wind-Dukes lost no time carving up the neighboring provinces of the former island.  The sky coalition had achieved its aim—to break asunder the empire by devastating its head and the accomplishment of their purpose unraveled the fabric of the alliance.
 
With the fiery destruction of their mutually perceived oppressors, the solidarity of the coaltion quickly diffused as the various fractious sky tribes plundered the riches of their former rulers and returned to their ancient squabbles, petty tribal wars, and internecine vendettas, the greatest of which was the ancestral rift between Shonder and Mipnor.  Brack Tumager, Lord of the Kalikán, swiftly changed the theme from vengeance against Erechóreb to Kalikán expansion, styling himself as Viceroy of the Cosmos.  The Great Sky King of the Mipnors and his Wind-Dukes lost no time carving up the neighboring provinces of the former island.  The sky coalition had achieved its aim—to break asunder the empire by devastating its head and the accomplishment of their purpose unraveled the fabric of the alliance.
  
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=Yophenthean Provincial Rulers=
 
Yophenthean nobles governing subject provinces found themselves deprived of the central authority on Erechóreb and took little time to take advantage of the circumstances and establish themselves as the new sovereign rulers.  The two prior sacks of Yophénthë saw this same response, but when the Diocesan Lords and Military Princes realized that the central authority was unlikely to endure this latest attack, they foresaw a general anarchy and put into motion plans for direct military control of their borders and suspension of freedoms in provinces deemed unstable. The Golden Empire of Pytharnia, the ~Priest-Kingdom of Corundy, the Golden Empire of Zephasia, the Holy Kingdom of Nymentho, and the ~Priest-Kingdom of Glaye, along with the Holy Kingdom of Sky and Earth [Erechóreb] are the traditionally recognized successor-states of the Yophenthean mega-empire.  In Pytharnia, the Bathalean War [986 AI to 992 AI] was merely a continuation of the inter-house conflict of the Yophentheans without the moderating effects of the Sun Emperor or his Holy Senate.  At length, the House of Lusthánguvil achieved lordship over the subcontinent of Pytharnia, establishing the former Diocesan Capital of Bryndyd as their supreme political capital, though it was not to outlive the century.
 
Yophenthean nobles governing subject provinces found themselves deprived of the central authority on Erechóreb and took little time to take advantage of the circumstances and establish themselves as the new sovereign rulers.  The two prior sacks of Yophénthë saw this same response, but when the Diocesan Lords and Military Princes realized that the central authority was unlikely to endure this latest attack, they foresaw a general anarchy and put into motion plans for direct military control of their borders and suspension of freedoms in provinces deemed unstable. The Golden Empire of Pytharnia, the ~Priest-Kingdom of Corundy, the Golden Empire of Zephasia, the Holy Kingdom of Nymentho, and the ~Priest-Kingdom of Glaye, along with the Holy Kingdom of Sky and Earth [Erechóreb] are the traditionally recognized successor-states of the Yophenthean mega-empire.  In Pytharnia, the Bathalean War [986 AI to 992 AI] was merely a continuation of the inter-house conflict of the Yophentheans without the moderating effects of the Sun Emperor or his Holy Senate.  At length, the House of Lusthánguvil achieved lordship over the subcontinent of Pytharnia, establishing the former Diocesan Capital of Bryndyd as their supreme political capital, though it was not to outlive the century.
  
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News of the fall of Yophénthë certainly reached outlying frontiers as soon as it did Diocesan Lords and Provincial Governors, in some cases swifter, as sky warriors returned to their homelands with booty, tales of valor, and news of the Capital’s demise.  The outlander tribesmen on the periphery of the former empire seized opportunities for invasion and plunder.  Thryth tribesmen of northwest Barathorn set forth in drakkar ships, pillaging the western coastland of Barathorn as they migrated southwards, traversing the Mathareusan Ocean to Amerzcelindo in 991-993 AI where they continued their marauding.  An organization of Amerzcelindots, seeking new lands free of upheavals led by Trimack, set forth down the Orrhymbyne coast, 995 to 1,013 AI, and settled in the far southern interior of Orrhymby, becoming lost to legend.  This colony of Trimack consisted of various humans, dwarves, halflings, and even giants, it is rumored.  Other Thryth tribes embarked for Nymentho with the promise of rich treasures and rulership over the peaceable inhabitants in 1005-1009 AI.  The Karakish also made a rampage, down the east coast of Barathorn, crossing the Pallathantic, and invading the fertile lands of Nymentho in 996-999 AI.  Giant tribes both from northern Asdauria (997-1,002 AI) into Findolia and from northern Midrardia into Barathorn and southern Midrardia (992-996 AI) began to take up new settlements—seizing human slaves and destroying Yophenthean outposts without regard.
 
News of the fall of Yophénthë certainly reached outlying frontiers as soon as it did Diocesan Lords and Provincial Governors, in some cases swifter, as sky warriors returned to their homelands with booty, tales of valor, and news of the Capital’s demise.  The outlander tribesmen on the periphery of the former empire seized opportunities for invasion and plunder.  Thryth tribesmen of northwest Barathorn set forth in drakkar ships, pillaging the western coastland of Barathorn as they migrated southwards, traversing the Mathareusan Ocean to Amerzcelindo in 991-993 AI where they continued their marauding.  An organization of Amerzcelindots, seeking new lands free of upheavals led by Trimack, set forth down the Orrhymbyne coast, 995 to 1,013 AI, and settled in the far southern interior of Orrhymby, becoming lost to legend.  This colony of Trimack consisted of various humans, dwarves, halflings, and even giants, it is rumored.  Other Thryth tribes embarked for Nymentho with the promise of rich treasures and rulership over the peaceable inhabitants in 1005-1009 AI.  The Karakish also made a rampage, down the east coast of Barathorn, crossing the Pallathantic, and invading the fertile lands of Nymentho in 996-999 AI.  Giant tribes both from northern Asdauria (997-1,002 AI) into Findolia and from northern Midrardia into Barathorn and southern Midrardia (992-996 AI) began to take up new settlements—seizing human slaves and destroying Yophenthean outposts without regard.
  
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=Goblin Invasion=
 
The Uglyami army of the Sorcerer-King, Graish’rjaa, led a campaign of goblins, orcs, and ignoble giants from the Savage Plateau over the Amandal Plateau and down the Chaos-Flow river into the Shadevan Delta, seizing dwarven and human slaves, looting, pillaging, and seeking subterranean outposts (1,899-1,903 IR).  Another noble Uglyami—exiled by the Sorcerer-King, took other outcasts, including Umyami, and trekked northwards through the Vale of Shadew and ravaged human settlements along the way (995-999 AI).
 
The Uglyami army of the Sorcerer-King, Graish’rjaa, led a campaign of goblins, orcs, and ignoble giants from the Savage Plateau over the Amandal Plateau and down the Chaos-Flow river into the Shadevan Delta, seizing dwarven and human slaves, looting, pillaging, and seeking subterranean outposts (1,899-1,903 IR).  Another noble Uglyami—exiled by the Sorcerer-King, took other outcasts, including Umyami, and trekked northwards through the Vale of Shadew and ravaged human settlements along the way (995-999 AI).
  
The Golden Emperor of Pytharnia gave the bisontaur-pressed centaurs of Erserce an offer they couldn’t refuse—in return for serving as paid mercenaries to eliminate the Uglyami, the centaurs would be permitted to settle in Ambrulia.  Several contingents of centaur mercenaries came, (1,002-1,011 AI).
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=Golden Empire of Pytharnia=
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The Golden Emperor of Pytharnia gave the uhlak-pressed centaurs of Erserce an offer they couldn’t refuse—in return for serving as paid mercenaries to eliminate the Uglyami, the centaurs would be permitted to settle in Ambrulia.  Several contingents of centaur mercenaries came, (1,002-1,011 AI).
  
Xsyte princes, stricken with internal conflicts, would not dominate the island until a later century.  Perhaps most vindictive of all was the Brundarish invasion of Erechóreb 1,888-9 IR—clearly an act of retribution as the memory of Samric Spelúntomil’s crushing punitive expedition only years earlier must have been quite fresh.  North Osfands, pushed southwards by expansionist giant tribes, invaded northern Disdrire Forests, carving out a new empire in northern Pytharnia 1,903-8 IR.  Rhovanite invasions of Eloaria persisted on and off from 986 to 1,006 AI, reducing the realm of the Sardáiadir to historic Corundy.  The Rhovanite invasion also precipitated the Centaur invasion of the Memnosian Coast, (988 AI). High Osfands, traditionally at home on the steppes and forests of northern Asdauria, enlisted the aid of Pytharnian bargemen, probably as much by force as by the promise of riches, and were ferried from their eastern grasslands through the Pallathantic ultimately to Erechóreb 1,901-7 IR.  The expansion of bisontaur tribes out of the plains of Ardobha Quinn had forced the Osfands and the Rhovanites to seek new lands.  The Ebernian Bisontaurs pillaged coastal Erserce, (986-991 AI). The Amboyar Bisontaurs drove down from their interior grazing lands, propelling the Turg Centaurs as well (1,887-93 IR). Eager tribes of the skyfaring Solmagál Nation that domiciled themselves in jaibus over the Memnosian Sea, broke forth in 989-991 AI and made a settlement in the mountains of Kulgashan which is today known as the city-state of Strundol.  The Solmagáli Tribes that had broken off met up with the Zarajoveni on the high plateaus of the Weshif Desert—it is thought this propelled the Zarajoveni further west.  The Jykki, demi-human savages of the Jhaadi Zhumzhure Wastes, worked wholesale plunder and rampage among the northern coasts of Danona, with expeditions that reached as far as Sanoman, south of the Ephysgaee Mountains of Ebinóë 988-1,004 AI.  The Merfolk of Siul seized the opportunities for new coastal settlements and sent colonies to the northern coast of Danona and even to Erechóreb 986-988 AI.
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Xsyte princes, stricken with internal conflicts, would not dominate the island until a later century.  Perhaps most vindictive of all was the Brundarish invasion of Erechóreb 1,888-9 IR—clearly an act of retribution as the memory of Samric Spelúntomil’s crushing punitive expedition only years earlier must have been quite fresh.  North Osfands, pushed southwards by expansionist giant tribes, invaded northern Disdrire Forests, carving out a new empire in northern Pytharnia 1,903-8 IR.  Rhovanite invasions of Eloaria persisted on and off from 986 to 1,006 AI, reducing the realm of the Sardáiadir to historic Corundy.  The Rhovanite invasion also precipitated the Centaur invasion of the Memnosian Coast, (988 AI). High Osfands, traditionally at home on the steppes and forests of northern Asdauria, enlisted the aid of Pytharnian bargemen, probably as much by force as by the promise of riches, and were ferried from their eastern grasslands through the Pallathantic ultimately to Erechóreb 1,901-7 IR.  The expansion of bisontaur tribes out of the plains of Ardobha Quinn had forced the Osfands and the Rhovanites to seek new lands.  The Ebernian Bisontaurs pillaged coastal Erserce, (986-991 AI). The Amboyar Bisontaurs drove down from their interior grazing lands, propelling the Turg Centaurs as well (1,887-93 IR). Eager tribes of the skyfaring Solmagál Nation that domiciled themselves in jaibus over the Memnosian Sea, broke forth in 989-991 AI and made a settlement in the mountains of Kulgashan which is today known as the city-state of Strundol.  The Solmagáli Tribes that had broken off met up with the Zarajoveni on the high plateaus of the Weshif Desert—it is thought this propelled the Zarajoveni further west.  The Jykki, demi-human savages of the Jhaadi Zhumzhur Wastes, worked wholesale plunder and rampage among the northern coasts of Danona, with expeditions that reached as far as Sanoman, south of the Ephysgaee Mountains of Ebinóë 988-1,004 AI.  The Merfolk of Siul seized the opportunities for new coastal settlements and sent colonies to the northern coast of Danona and even to Erechóreb 986-988 AI.
  
 
South of the Pallathantic Region, the Zarajoveni, a newly skyfaring tribes from the desert peoples whom scholars designate ‘Neo-Thammazic,’ took to their craft of air and voyaged 1,888 to 1,889 IR to the setting sun into westernmost Danona, hazarding Jykki sky warriors and establishing the country of their namesake, Zarajove.  The rest of the turbulent desert tribes of the Neo-Thammazic peoples came under the leadership of the demi-mortal Dagaithi, swarmed out of northern Sahimb, and descended upon the Golden Empire of Zephasia over the years 998-1012 AI.  The newly established Dagaithi kingdoms and principalities of southern Sahimb, eastern Kulgashan, and the Hassir-Thard River would later expand and develop into the Caliphate of Shanjahar.  At this time, the Dagaithi had not yet adopted their dualistic religion of cosmic opposites enshrined in their two Chief Gods of light and dark.  They worshipped Zulmani, an alternate form of Arathrax, and other various desert gods who were allomorphs of the Isxinthion gods of the north.  The Dagaithi and their subject earth tribesmen added a new infusion of culture to the already richly pluralistic civilization of greater Zephasia that consisted of primeval Hmœss (the earliest human civilization of the region), Ithrabbi (ichthyoid humanoids), Quirth (“rat-kin”), Zephasian (an ‘indigenous’ human culture), Paleo-Thammazic peoples, Yophenthean, and Strundolish.  Its politics were also diverse.  Myriad Dagaithi lords ruled in the north, the shrinking dominion of the Yophenthean Sun Emperor held sway in the middle, and to the south, dozens of priestly, Zephasian city-states ruled in the northern jungles of Bahuna which is commonly called Old Zephasia.  The mountainous Khumrasite tribes descended upon an older civilization of what became known as Khumras 989-991 AI driven in part by fears of renewed invasion from the Zephrite fire peoples.  Other Zephasia migrations and invasions included the Jamagut (1,009-1,011 AI), the Ithrabbi (987-1,016 AI), and the Dracknaughts (1,032-1,025 AI).
 
South of the Pallathantic Region, the Zarajoveni, a newly skyfaring tribes from the desert peoples whom scholars designate ‘Neo-Thammazic,’ took to their craft of air and voyaged 1,888 to 1,889 IR to the setting sun into westernmost Danona, hazarding Jykki sky warriors and establishing the country of their namesake, Zarajove.  The rest of the turbulent desert tribes of the Neo-Thammazic peoples came under the leadership of the demi-mortal Dagaithi, swarmed out of northern Sahimb, and descended upon the Golden Empire of Zephasia over the years 998-1012 AI.  The newly established Dagaithi kingdoms and principalities of southern Sahimb, eastern Kulgashan, and the Hassir-Thard River would later expand and develop into the Caliphate of Shanjahar.  At this time, the Dagaithi had not yet adopted their dualistic religion of cosmic opposites enshrined in their two Chief Gods of light and dark.  They worshipped Zulmani, an alternate form of Arathrax, and other various desert gods who were allomorphs of the Isxinthion gods of the north.  The Dagaithi and their subject earth tribesmen added a new infusion of culture to the already richly pluralistic civilization of greater Zephasia that consisted of primeval Hmœss (the earliest human civilization of the region), Ithrabbi (ichthyoid humanoids), Quirth (“rat-kin”), Zephasian (an ‘indigenous’ human culture), Paleo-Thammazic peoples, Yophenthean, and Strundolish.  Its politics were also diverse.  Myriad Dagaithi lords ruled in the north, the shrinking dominion of the Yophenthean Sun Emperor held sway in the middle, and to the south, dozens of priestly, Zephasian city-states ruled in the northern jungles of Bahuna which is commonly called Old Zephasia.  The mountainous Khumrasite tribes descended upon an older civilization of what became known as Khumras 989-991 AI driven in part by fears of renewed invasion from the Zephrite fire peoples.  Other Zephasia migrations and invasions included the Jamagut (1,009-1,011 AI), the Ithrabbi (987-1,016 AI), and the Dracknaughts (1,032-1,025 AI).
  
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=Foreshadowing Transition to Sky Rule=
 
As much as the Fall of Yophénthë signalled the end of what is often regarded as the greatest empire of all time, it equally marked the commencement of the Sky Age.  This period saw the mobile power of skycraft eclipse the stable, sedentary centers of civilization.  The sky peoples in general underwent a transformation from nomadic pastoralism to rule as the new aristocrats of the peasant farmers of land and the skyfaring nations relied upon the swiftness and sovereignty of the skycraft.  The rule of sky people over land-based serfs was a model that began in the Jalimas and spread through the dominions of their control, often called ‘skylaws.’  In time the sky races would lose their wanderlust and settle down to the riches of the earth.  This in turn would contribute to the seeds of the new land industries that produced skycraft and restored sovereignty to the land-based nations whose economic and political potential was ultimately greater than that of skyborne, nomadic pastoralists.  Governance and exploitation by airborne, mobile rulers inevitably required an aristocratic class and a peasant class.  All but the simplest skycraft are costly and highly technical to construct and require extensive training to operate which demanded all the time of the rulers to master and operate and all the time of their subjects to sustain.
 
As much as the Fall of Yophénthë signalled the end of what is often regarded as the greatest empire of all time, it equally marked the commencement of the Sky Age.  This period saw the mobile power of skycraft eclipse the stable, sedentary centers of civilization.  The sky peoples in general underwent a transformation from nomadic pastoralism to rule as the new aristocrats of the peasant farmers of land and the skyfaring nations relied upon the swiftness and sovereignty of the skycraft.  The rule of sky people over land-based serfs was a model that began in the Jalimas and spread through the dominions of their control, often called ‘skylaws.’  In time the sky races would lose their wanderlust and settle down to the riches of the earth.  This in turn would contribute to the seeds of the new land industries that produced skycraft and restored sovereignty to the land-based nations whose economic and political potential was ultimately greater than that of skyborne, nomadic pastoralists.  Governance and exploitation by airborne, mobile rulers inevitably required an aristocratic class and a peasant class.  All but the simplest skycraft are costly and highly technical to construct and require extensive training to operate which demanded all the time of the rulers to master and operate and all the time of their subjects to sustain.
  
 +
=Arathracian Religion survives=
 
Despite the splintering of the Yophenthean Empire, some unifying elements remained.  The Yophenthean Sun Religion stubbornly persisted throughout the core of the former empire, especially among peasant farmers who saw in the local sun priest a stable alternative to the piratical ravagers of the air.  Additionally, the Solar Bull of 741 {Yophenthean Reckoning, needs recalculation} re-enthroned Amrulon as the chief patron deity of the Yophenthean Sun Religion, bringing it in closer contact with its ‘Old Religion’ roots.  Many conservatives, while fanaticly anti-Yophenthean, supported the Yophenthean Sun Cult as a social and moral force against beliefs they considered subversive, especially Incarnandism.  A common principle of these new sun cults taught that since the Yophentheans were unworthy of rulership they fell and the new rulers inherited their religious leadership and traditions.
 
Despite the splintering of the Yophenthean Empire, some unifying elements remained.  The Yophenthean Sun Religion stubbornly persisted throughout the core of the former empire, especially among peasant farmers who saw in the local sun priest a stable alternative to the piratical ravagers of the air.  Additionally, the Solar Bull of 741 {Yophenthean Reckoning, needs recalculation} re-enthroned Amrulon as the chief patron deity of the Yophenthean Sun Religion, bringing it in closer contact with its ‘Old Religion’ roots.  Many conservatives, while fanaticly anti-Yophenthean, supported the Yophenthean Sun Cult as a social and moral force against beliefs they considered subversive, especially Incarnandism.  A common principle of these new sun cults taught that since the Yophentheans were unworthy of rulership they fell and the new rulers inherited their religious leadership and traditions.
  
 +
=Fate of the Isle of Erechóreb=
 
The Isle of Erechóreb became a prize to be fought for between the never-ending struggle of Kalikán against Parkyon.  The Mipnors established a puppet king, Tribanth of-Prasthorre, on the throne of the newly-created Holy Kingdom of Heaven and Earth—a name designed to placate the Pharsha who considered themselves kinsmen of the Mipnors and to avoid the wrath of the Kalikán by excluding the memory of the name, Yophenthea.  Typically illegitimate, the Pharsha were the offspring of Yophenthean and Parkyon parentage.  They were an embarassment to the Yophentheans and potential allies to the Mipnors.  In former years, the Pharsha had sought refuge from their snooty cousins on the slopes of the Prasthorre and Thriant Mountains of central Erechóreb, adopting a way of life similar to early sky tribes.
 
The Isle of Erechóreb became a prize to be fought for between the never-ending struggle of Kalikán against Parkyon.  The Mipnors established a puppet king, Tribanth of-Prasthorre, on the throne of the newly-created Holy Kingdom of Heaven and Earth—a name designed to placate the Pharsha who considered themselves kinsmen of the Mipnors and to avoid the wrath of the Kalikán by excluding the memory of the name, Yophenthea.  Typically illegitimate, the Pharsha were the offspring of Yophenthean and Parkyon parentage.  They were an embarassment to the Yophentheans and potential allies to the Mipnors.  In former years, the Pharsha had sought refuge from their snooty cousins on the slopes of the Prasthorre and Thriant Mountains of central Erechóreb, adopting a way of life similar to early sky tribes.
  
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Fear that the Mipnors would depose him and dispense with the office of Sunfather altogether or that his coronation would provoke a large-scale attack of sky tribes under Kalikán leadership gave Galbry Alitharean, a man of Yophenthean priest-noble descent, sufficient cause to hold his coronation as Sunfather in Pytharnia secretly in 1,891 IR.  The drawn-out Sunfather Investiture War [988 to 1,095 AI] was more of a skirmish in High Pytharnia—the result of a conflict among Yophenthean Houses over who would be crowned Sunfather of Pytharnia.  At this time, Yophentheans were eager to re-establish the High Sun Priest at least in principle, but feared provoking the wrath of the Kalikán who had exterminated the sun priesthood of Yophénthë and vowed to slay all the Yophenthean sun priests. The Erechórebese Sunfather privately claimed hegemony in name, a principle later named Fólmagaline after the second Sunfather of Erechóreb, but had little power to enforce his pretentions.    Thus, the ecclesiastical structure of the Yophenthean Sun Cult changed from the central authority on Erechóreb to a many-headed structure throughout the former empire. Galbry Alitharean was officially the Holy Sunfather of the Erechórebese See—a religious overseership with a politically innocuous title.  Most scholars acknowledge the rise of regional Sees as the inchoate beginning of the separation of ‘Castle and Temple’ in Pallathantic history.
 
Fear that the Mipnors would depose him and dispense with the office of Sunfather altogether or that his coronation would provoke a large-scale attack of sky tribes under Kalikán leadership gave Galbry Alitharean, a man of Yophenthean priest-noble descent, sufficient cause to hold his coronation as Sunfather in Pytharnia secretly in 1,891 IR.  The drawn-out Sunfather Investiture War [988 to 1,095 AI] was more of a skirmish in High Pytharnia—the result of a conflict among Yophenthean Houses over who would be crowned Sunfather of Pytharnia.  At this time, Yophentheans were eager to re-establish the High Sun Priest at least in principle, but feared provoking the wrath of the Kalikán who had exterminated the sun priesthood of Yophénthë and vowed to slay all the Yophenthean sun priests. The Erechórebese Sunfather privately claimed hegemony in name, a principle later named Fólmagaline after the second Sunfather of Erechóreb, but had little power to enforce his pretentions.    Thus, the ecclesiastical structure of the Yophenthean Sun Cult changed from the central authority on Erechóreb to a many-headed structure throughout the former empire. Galbry Alitharean was officially the Holy Sunfather of the Erechórebese See—a religious overseership with a politically innocuous title.  Most scholars acknowledge the rise of regional Sees as the inchoate beginning of the separation of ‘Castle and Temple’ in Pallathantic history.
  
 +
=Arathracian Church=
 
In 1,003 AI, Bambdringot the Pure was elected Sunfather of Pytharnia with the tacit blessing of House Lusthánguvil, the Yophenthean Rulers of Pytharnia.  The breakup of central authority and the continual threat of barbarian invasions from air, sea, and land, forced Yophenthean aristocrats to concern themselves with local rule and local survival, rather than re-unification.  Bambdringot the Pure [961 to 1,038 AI] sought diligently to establish the policy of coequality among the Sunfathers, later known as the Bambdringotine principle.
 
In 1,003 AI, Bambdringot the Pure was elected Sunfather of Pytharnia with the tacit blessing of House Lusthánguvil, the Yophenthean Rulers of Pytharnia.  The breakup of central authority and the continual threat of barbarian invasions from air, sea, and land, forced Yophenthean aristocrats to concern themselves with local rule and local survival, rather than re-unification.  Bambdringot the Pure [961 to 1,038 AI] sought diligently to establish the policy of coequality among the Sunfathers, later known as the Bambdringotine principle.
  
 +
=Holy Kingdom of Erechóreb=
 
In that same year, 1,003 AI, the Mipnors’ pawn, Tribanth I, died of illness and Galbry seized the opportunity to sail to Erechóreb and convene the Council of Yophénthë to decide who would be the new king.  In 1,008 AI, Sunfather Alitharean issued the Solar Bull of 741 which acknowledged Amrulon as the chief god of the Yophenthean Religion.  Though Amrulon in principle had always been the chief god of the Old Religion, the Yophentheans had given preferential honor to his son, Arathrax, whom they claimed as their lineal forefather.  The Edict of Amrulon Eternal—a priestly dogma promulgated from 986 AI onwards, stated that Amrulon, Lord of the Isxinthion Gods, had forbidden the gods to interact directly in the affairs of mortals as a result of the disastrous Fall of Yophénthë and the insouciance of the Yophentheans.  The gods were widely believed to have played a direct role in the very fall of Yophénthë.  Threy was attributed with seeding the sky coalition.  Thwar actively led the Shonder onwards.  Rhio and Parkyos were believed to have appeared before the other sky nations’ warcraft during the invasion.  By openly acknowledging Amrulon as their chief god, the Yophentheans distanced themselves from the arrogance of their former rule, placed themselves on a more equal standing with non-Yophentheans, and blunted the religious hostility of the Kalikáns who in principal also acknowledged Amrulon as the chief god.
 
In that same year, 1,003 AI, the Mipnors’ pawn, Tribanth I, died of illness and Galbry seized the opportunity to sail to Erechóreb and convene the Council of Yophénthë to decide who would be the new king.  In 1,008 AI, Sunfather Alitharean issued the Solar Bull of 741 which acknowledged Amrulon as the chief god of the Yophenthean Religion.  Though Amrulon in principle had always been the chief god of the Old Religion, the Yophentheans had given preferential honor to his son, Arathrax, whom they claimed as their lineal forefather.  The Edict of Amrulon Eternal—a priestly dogma promulgated from 986 AI onwards, stated that Amrulon, Lord of the Isxinthion Gods, had forbidden the gods to interact directly in the affairs of mortals as a result of the disastrous Fall of Yophénthë and the insouciance of the Yophentheans.  The gods were widely believed to have played a direct role in the very fall of Yophénthë.  Threy was attributed with seeding the sky coalition.  Thwar actively led the Shonder onwards.  Rhio and Parkyos were believed to have appeared before the other sky nations’ warcraft during the invasion.  By openly acknowledging Amrulon as their chief god, the Yophentheans distanced themselves from the arrogance of their former rule, placed themselves on a more equal standing with non-Yophentheans, and blunted the religious hostility of the Kalikáns who in principal also acknowledged Amrulon as the chief god.
  
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=See Also=
 
=See Also=
 
*[[Erechóreb]]
 
*[[Erechóreb]]
*[[Fall of Yophenthean Empire]]
+
*[[Fall of the Yophenthean Empire]]
 
*[[Holy See of Yophénthë]]
 
*[[Holy See of Yophénthë]]
 
*[[Third Sack of Yophénthë]]
 
*[[Third Sack of Yophénthë]]

Latest revision as of 15:14, 24 July 2022

Requires Complete Revision

Reworked

Various Skytribes and Medibgosk settle in the former empire: Flisbards, Asbards, Hermunds, etc.

Introduction

The likeliest definitive moment when began the modern history of the eastern hemisphere of Asdar was the fall of the Yophenthean Empire—a tyranny marvelously successful and horribly despotic, rigid, patriarchal, and reactionary. Though spasms of internal conflict for centuries had shocked the ever-expanding, priest-dominated despotism and external invasions drew forth the machinery of the empire’s legions and military engineers, the empire of the priest-nobles, humans who could claim the god Arathrax as their lineal ancestor, succumbed at length to the coalition of sky nations whose spectacular invasion of the mighty imperial capital, Yophénthë, in 986 AI is recounted by the legendary, Woes of Yophenthea compiled in the 12th century AI.

Structure of Yophenthean Imperial Government

Regarding themselves not only as superior to all other humans but also as the natural rulers of the world, the Yophentheans established an imperial order which involved aristocratic provincials in the regular administration of the empire, but excluded them from the central government. The Yophentheans preferred to employ existing forms, particularly on the lowest levels, rather than create an entirely new infrastructure. The several transformations which the Yophenthean state underwent all shared the common features of a strong and centralized despotic government, a well-trained and well-equipped military consisting of Erechórebese commoners and provincial auxiliaries under priest-noble and priest-knight command, and the hieratic abilities of the most powerful priest-nobles themselves. At times the Sun Emperor was more figure-head than Supreme Patriarch governing the Senate of Sunlords. The Sun Emperor office developed out of the system of dual kingship, whereby the senior king, of the Arathracid Line, held supreme ecclesiastical power, while the junior king, held supreme military power. This arrangement developed out of a single monarchy of the Arathracid priest-kings. Although the Arathracid branch lost its military power, it never lost its priestly prerogatives which were deemed natural rights inherited from the god Arathrax. Corithor Arathracides, conqueror of Zephasia, prolonged his branch of the Arathracid line. The Sardáiadir branch of the Arathracides persisted in Corundy, even after the Empire fell.

The hierocentric nature of the Yophenthean monarchy persisted throughout the history of the Empire. The entire authority of the empire derived from the the lineal descent of Yophenthean priest-nobles from the god Arathrax and all such nobles held the exclusive prerogative of Yophenthean priesthood. The hereditary primacy of Arathrax as the firstborn of Amrulon ever informed the dogma of Yophenthean rule. Amrulon’s portfolio featured the sun and kingship. Naturally, his firstborn son, Arathrax, demonstrated the principle of inherited monarchy. The racism of the Yophentheans advanced themselves as the rightful rulers of the human race. Their conception of superiority consisted of their believed right to rule and their priestly endowments from the gods, chiefly Arathrax. Theirs was the divine right of a kingly race whose domain embraced all the subject races of the world.

The Empire was enormously vast. A Diocesan Lord himself commanded what would have constituted in earlier times the bounds of a mighty empire in itself and the Arathracid Lords of conquered Zephasia made only nominal obeisance to the distant northern capital, ruling in effect with nearly total sovereignty a domain comparable in extent and antiquity to the modern Caliphate of Shanjahar.

In the course of their expansion, the might of Yophenthea variously commanded the services of the magical, elven Siordi of Erechóreb, subject Shachábdin whose giant fathers they had subdued, Parkyon sky mercenaries, Osfandi mercenary cavalry, Moigthe regulars, Dagaithi irregulars, Glaikish lancers, Jerushablan psychics, Xsyte transports, among others. Combining strong organization and superior hieratic powers able to command the elements and draw forth bursts of sunfire against intransigent foes, the Yophentheans ruled much of the world through wit and wonder. Yophenthean engineers led the construction of an extensive road and courier system. Sea lanes were kept free of piracy and ports were regularly visited by the ever-present Yophenthean navy of windships generally superior to those of their provincial subjects. The language of the Yophentheans themselves become entrenched as the imperial lingua franca and through the passage of later generations ramified into a dozen daughter languages spoken throughout the former empire. The religion of the Yophentheans created the model for a uniform worship of the Isxinthion gods of the ‘Old Religion.’ While the subjects of the Empire gladly threw off the Goldenlings’ yoke, they could not fully free themselves from their love of the Yophenthean Sun Worship, albeit with considerable regional adaptations.

Conflict between Yophenthean Empire and Sky Tribes

The coalition of Sky Nations which ultimately laid waste to the imperial citadels of Erechóreb drew its unity from the common hatreds that the sky peoples held for the haughty and dominating Lords of Yophénthë. The unequal alliance of Yophenthean and Mipnor had lost its original devotion, soured, and brought the Parkyons into mutual league with their own ancestral enemy, the Kalikán, against the common tyranny. The Sun Empire regarded all peripheral, foreign states as the ‘Dawning Lands’—benighted nations who had not yet come into the glorious circuit of the Yophenthean day. The substance gold itself by Yophenthean law was the sacred product of the Sun Gods, subject to the custodianship of the priest-nobles which meant legally that the onerous tribute money which provinces annually sent to Yophénthë was never theirs to begin with. Apart from one period of time, only Yophentheans with few exceptions could set foot on the isle—a rule based as much in security as in religious sacrosanctity. Trade was promoted as long as it ultimately enriched the Yophentheans and empowered their enormous military infrastructure. The Yophentheans’ state control of xylopter [gnake tree] plantations and of Siulian fleeglesilk was particularly despicable to the sky nations, most of which lived outside the empire. The nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the sky depended intrinsically upon the crops of skywood and skysilk used to contruct their aerial craft for pasturing their animals and housing their families. The settled, agricultural, centrally-controlled empire of the Sun contrasted with the roving, pastoral, tribal peoples of the Sky whom the Yophentheans regarded as savage, ill-mannered, ill-bred, illiterate, and even unholy. The Sky peoples saw Yophentheans as cruel and tyrannous lords whose rapacious decadence was an affront to their way of life. Sun Emperor Samric Spelúntomil’s brutal repression of the Brundarish nation, once loyal subjects of Kalikán hegemony, enraged northmen and skymen alike. The war-cry, ‘Avenge Brundar,’ was commonplace years after the Sun Empire’s fall. The practice of magecraft, though widely misunderstood by most peoples, was particularly anathema to the Yophentheans who considered it a false kind of priesthood. Practitioners of magic were routinely persecuted and executed. The fact that skycraft themselves were necessarily manufactured with magic only exacerbated the Yophentheans’ perception of the skyfaring industry.

Sky Coalition of Thrace

The sky coalition consisted of nearly every skyfaring nation. The Yophentheans, considering skyborne transit as both irreverent to the sun and subversive to their government, generally did not promote the development of internal skyshipping. Rather they enjoyed the enormous profits of the sale of materials essential for skycraft to foreign nations, giving preferential treatment to their Mipnor allies. The militant Kalikán and other warlike skytribes of the Jalima Mountains disrupted this near monopoly with their own production of gnakewood and glambuck woollens used for local skycraft and international trade. In largely ignoring the tremendous potential of skycraft to control their vast empire, the Yophentheans left themselves vulnerable to sky nations. Indeed the fire-bombing of Yophénthë in 986 AI was the 3rd sack of the historic capital, led by the vengeful Kalikán. In the previous decade, the sky nations had developed a swift system of messengers which could dispatch intelligence from one side of the Sunlords’ realm to the other with impunity in a matter of days. The technology to do such had been around for hundreds of years, but the sky peoples lacked sufficient cohesion and organization to bring it about. In answer to the previous centuries of sunburst assaults against provincial uprisings and foreign invaders, the sky coalition inundated the fabulously wealthy imperial capital with whetcoal, an unstable incendiary that became available in the 19th century IR and which the Yophentheans left unexploited.

The sky coalition arose almost over night and indeed this enabled them to surprise the unwary Yophenthean capital. The aim of the sky nations was to burst asunder a vast, multi-continental empire that hedged them in the frozen north and deprived them of resources they considered their natural right. The leaders of the coalition with uncharacteristic cooperation knew that by eliminating the central authority, the empire would be splintered. The fire-bombing of Yophénthë, 1886 IR, differed from the previous two sacks. The invaders numbered many times more, systematically plundered and destroyed the Palace of the Sun Emperor, the Temple of the Sun, the Senate of the Sun Patriarchs, the administrative offices, and in effect executed a plan of local genocide against the Yophenthean race. The sky coalition employed whetcoal against the Yophentheans for the first time in this battle. The black, coal-like incendiary, otherwise similar to Greek fire, thoroughly burned the historic center of the capital. Follow-up assaults of the coalition destroyed the naval shipyards throughout the coastline of Erechóreb.

With the fiery destruction of their mutually perceived oppressors, the solidarity of the coaltion quickly diffused as the various fractious sky tribes plundered the riches of their former rulers and returned to their ancient squabbles, petty tribal wars, and internecine vendettas, the greatest of which was the ancestral rift between Shonder and Mipnor. Brack Tumager, Lord of the Kalikán, swiftly changed the theme from vengeance against Erechóreb to Kalikán expansion, styling himself as Viceroy of the Cosmos. The Great Sky King of the Mipnors and his Wind-Dukes lost no time carving up the neighboring provinces of the former island. The sky coalition had achieved its aim—to break asunder the empire by devastating its head and the accomplishment of their purpose unraveled the fabric of the alliance.

Yophenthean Provincial Rulers

Yophenthean nobles governing subject provinces found themselves deprived of the central authority on Erechóreb and took little time to take advantage of the circumstances and establish themselves as the new sovereign rulers. The two prior sacks of Yophénthë saw this same response, but when the Diocesan Lords and Military Princes realized that the central authority was unlikely to endure this latest attack, they foresaw a general anarchy and put into motion plans for direct military control of their borders and suspension of freedoms in provinces deemed unstable. The Golden Empire of Pytharnia, the ~Priest-Kingdom of Corundy, the Golden Empire of Zephasia, the Holy Kingdom of Nymentho, and the ~Priest-Kingdom of Glaye, along with the Holy Kingdom of Sky and Earth [Erechóreb] are the traditionally recognized successor-states of the Yophenthean mega-empire. In Pytharnia, the Bathalean War [986 AI to 992 AI] was merely a continuation of the inter-house conflict of the Yophentheans without the moderating effects of the Sun Emperor or his Holy Senate. At length, the House of Lusthánguvil achieved lordship over the subcontinent of Pytharnia, establishing the former Diocesan Capital of Bryndyd as their supreme political capital, though it was not to outlive the century.

To the east, the House of Rhaurth embattled the Sardáiadir, the eastern branch of the Arathracids. The victorious Astrálleb Sardáiadir became the new priest-king of Corundy—a region whose name derives from the Yophenthean word for priest-king, ‘córonde.’ The rulers of the new state established City of Johaulia as the capital whose primacy continued intermittently through the centuries until the Aurician Noble Republic.

News of the fall of Yophénthë certainly reached outlying frontiers as soon as it did Diocesan Lords and Provincial Governors, in some cases swifter, as sky warriors returned to their homelands with booty, tales of valor, and news of the Capital’s demise. The outlander tribesmen on the periphery of the former empire seized opportunities for invasion and plunder. Thryth tribesmen of northwest Barathorn set forth in drakkar ships, pillaging the western coastland of Barathorn as they migrated southwards, traversing the Mathareusan Ocean to Amerzcelindo in 991-993 AI where they continued their marauding. An organization of Amerzcelindots, seeking new lands free of upheavals led by Trimack, set forth down the Orrhymbyne coast, 995 to 1,013 AI, and settled in the far southern interior of Orrhymby, becoming lost to legend. This colony of Trimack consisted of various humans, dwarves, halflings, and even giants, it is rumored. Other Thryth tribes embarked for Nymentho with the promise of rich treasures and rulership over the peaceable inhabitants in 1005-1009 AI. The Karakish also made a rampage, down the east coast of Barathorn, crossing the Pallathantic, and invading the fertile lands of Nymentho in 996-999 AI. Giant tribes both from northern Asdauria (997-1,002 AI) into Findolia and from northern Midrardia into Barathorn and southern Midrardia (992-996 AI) began to take up new settlements—seizing human slaves and destroying Yophenthean outposts without regard.

Goblin Invasion

The Uglyami army of the Sorcerer-King, Graish’rjaa, led a campaign of goblins, orcs, and ignoble giants from the Savage Plateau over the Amandal Plateau and down the Chaos-Flow river into the Shadevan Delta, seizing dwarven and human slaves, looting, pillaging, and seeking subterranean outposts (1,899-1,903 IR). Another noble Uglyami—exiled by the Sorcerer-King, took other outcasts, including Umyami, and trekked northwards through the Vale of Shadew and ravaged human settlements along the way (995-999 AI).

Golden Empire of Pytharnia

The Golden Emperor of Pytharnia gave the uhlak-pressed centaurs of Erserce an offer they couldn’t refuse—in return for serving as paid mercenaries to eliminate the Uglyami, the centaurs would be permitted to settle in Ambrulia. Several contingents of centaur mercenaries came, (1,002-1,011 AI).

Xsyte princes, stricken with internal conflicts, would not dominate the island until a later century. Perhaps most vindictive of all was the Brundarish invasion of Erechóreb 1,888-9 IR—clearly an act of retribution as the memory of Samric Spelúntomil’s crushing punitive expedition only years earlier must have been quite fresh. North Osfands, pushed southwards by expansionist giant tribes, invaded northern Disdrire Forests, carving out a new empire in northern Pytharnia 1,903-8 IR. Rhovanite invasions of Eloaria persisted on and off from 986 to 1,006 AI, reducing the realm of the Sardáiadir to historic Corundy. The Rhovanite invasion also precipitated the Centaur invasion of the Memnosian Coast, (988 AI). High Osfands, traditionally at home on the steppes and forests of northern Asdauria, enlisted the aid of Pytharnian bargemen, probably as much by force as by the promise of riches, and were ferried from their eastern grasslands through the Pallathantic ultimately to Erechóreb 1,901-7 IR. The expansion of bisontaur tribes out of the plains of Ardobha Quinn had forced the Osfands and the Rhovanites to seek new lands. The Ebernian Bisontaurs pillaged coastal Erserce, (986-991 AI). The Amboyar Bisontaurs drove down from their interior grazing lands, propelling the Turg Centaurs as well (1,887-93 IR). Eager tribes of the skyfaring Solmagál Nation that domiciled themselves in jaibus over the Memnosian Sea, broke forth in 989-991 AI and made a settlement in the mountains of Kulgashan which is today known as the city-state of Strundol. The Solmagáli Tribes that had broken off met up with the Zarajoveni on the high plateaus of the Weshif Desert—it is thought this propelled the Zarajoveni further west. The Jykki, demi-human savages of the Jhaadi Zhumzhur Wastes, worked wholesale plunder and rampage among the northern coasts of Danona, with expeditions that reached as far as Sanoman, south of the Ephysgaee Mountains of Ebinóë 988-1,004 AI. The Merfolk of Siul seized the opportunities for new coastal settlements and sent colonies to the northern coast of Danona and even to Erechóreb 986-988 AI.

South of the Pallathantic Region, the Zarajoveni, a newly skyfaring tribes from the desert peoples whom scholars designate ‘Neo-Thammazic,’ took to their craft of air and voyaged 1,888 to 1,889 IR to the setting sun into westernmost Danona, hazarding Jykki sky warriors and establishing the country of their namesake, Zarajove. The rest of the turbulent desert tribes of the Neo-Thammazic peoples came under the leadership of the demi-mortal Dagaithi, swarmed out of northern Sahimb, and descended upon the Golden Empire of Zephasia over the years 998-1012 AI. The newly established Dagaithi kingdoms and principalities of southern Sahimb, eastern Kulgashan, and the Hassir-Thard River would later expand and develop into the Caliphate of Shanjahar. At this time, the Dagaithi had not yet adopted their dualistic religion of cosmic opposites enshrined in their two Chief Gods of light and dark. They worshipped Zulmani, an alternate form of Arathrax, and other various desert gods who were allomorphs of the Isxinthion gods of the north. The Dagaithi and their subject earth tribesmen added a new infusion of culture to the already richly pluralistic civilization of greater Zephasia that consisted of primeval Hmœss (the earliest human civilization of the region), Ithrabbi (ichthyoid humanoids), Quirth (“rat-kin”), Zephasian (an ‘indigenous’ human culture), Paleo-Thammazic peoples, Yophenthean, and Strundolish. Its politics were also diverse. Myriad Dagaithi lords ruled in the north, the shrinking dominion of the Yophenthean Sun Emperor held sway in the middle, and to the south, dozens of priestly, Zephasian city-states ruled in the northern jungles of Bahuna which is commonly called Old Zephasia. The mountainous Khumrasite tribes descended upon an older civilization of what became known as Khumras 989-991 AI driven in part by fears of renewed invasion from the Zephrite fire peoples. Other Zephasia migrations and invasions included the Jamagut (1,009-1,011 AI), the Ithrabbi (987-1,016 AI), and the Dracknaughts (1,032-1,025 AI).

Foreshadowing Transition to Sky Rule

As much as the Fall of Yophénthë signalled the end of what is often regarded as the greatest empire of all time, it equally marked the commencement of the Sky Age. This period saw the mobile power of skycraft eclipse the stable, sedentary centers of civilization. The sky peoples in general underwent a transformation from nomadic pastoralism to rule as the new aristocrats of the peasant farmers of land and the skyfaring nations relied upon the swiftness and sovereignty of the skycraft. The rule of sky people over land-based serfs was a model that began in the Jalimas and spread through the dominions of their control, often called ‘skylaws.’ In time the sky races would lose their wanderlust and settle down to the riches of the earth. This in turn would contribute to the seeds of the new land industries that produced skycraft and restored sovereignty to the land-based nations whose economic and political potential was ultimately greater than that of skyborne, nomadic pastoralists. Governance and exploitation by airborne, mobile rulers inevitably required an aristocratic class and a peasant class. All but the simplest skycraft are costly and highly technical to construct and require extensive training to operate which demanded all the time of the rulers to master and operate and all the time of their subjects to sustain.

Arathracian Religion survives

Despite the splintering of the Yophenthean Empire, some unifying elements remained. The Yophenthean Sun Religion stubbornly persisted throughout the core of the former empire, especially among peasant farmers who saw in the local sun priest a stable alternative to the piratical ravagers of the air. Additionally, the Solar Bull of 741 {Yophenthean Reckoning, needs recalculation} re-enthroned Amrulon as the chief patron deity of the Yophenthean Sun Religion, bringing it in closer contact with its ‘Old Religion’ roots. Many conservatives, while fanaticly anti-Yophenthean, supported the Yophenthean Sun Cult as a social and moral force against beliefs they considered subversive, especially Incarnandism. A common principle of these new sun cults taught that since the Yophentheans were unworthy of rulership they fell and the new rulers inherited their religious leadership and traditions.

Fate of the Isle of Erechóreb

The Isle of Erechóreb became a prize to be fought for between the never-ending struggle of Kalikán against Parkyon. The Mipnors established a puppet king, Tribanth of-Prasthorre, on the throne of the newly-created Holy Kingdom of Heaven and Earth—a name designed to placate the Pharsha who considered themselves kinsmen of the Mipnors and to avoid the wrath of the Kalikán by excluding the memory of the name, Yophenthea. Typically illegitimate, the Pharsha were the offspring of Yophenthean and Parkyon parentage. They were an embarassment to the Yophentheans and potential allies to the Mipnors. In former years, the Pharsha had sought refuge from their snooty cousins on the slopes of the Prasthorre and Thriant Mountains of central Erechóreb, adopting a way of life similar to early sky tribes.

The Shonder, the demi-mortal rulers of the Kalikán, rejected the formation of a new kingdom on Erechóreb as merely a dangerous vestige of the old. They regularly sought to conquer Erechóreb thereafter, against the protection of the Mipnors. Territorial ambitions and their ethnic hatred of the Mipnors must have also motivated the Shonder concerning control of Erechóreb. Fear that the Mipnors would depose him and dispense with the office of Sunfather altogether or that his coronation would provoke a large-scale attack of sky tribes under Kalikán leadership gave Galbry Alitharean, a man of Yophenthean priest-noble descent, sufficient cause to hold his coronation as Sunfather in Pytharnia secretly in 1,891 IR. The drawn-out Sunfather Investiture War [988 to 1,095 AI] was more of a skirmish in High Pytharnia—the result of a conflict among Yophenthean Houses over who would be crowned Sunfather of Pytharnia. At this time, Yophentheans were eager to re-establish the High Sun Priest at least in principle, but feared provoking the wrath of the Kalikán who had exterminated the sun priesthood of Yophénthë and vowed to slay all the Yophenthean sun priests. The Erechórebese Sunfather privately claimed hegemony in name, a principle later named Fólmagaline after the second Sunfather of Erechóreb, but had little power to enforce his pretentions. Thus, the ecclesiastical structure of the Yophenthean Sun Cult changed from the central authority on Erechóreb to a many-headed structure throughout the former empire. Galbry Alitharean was officially the Holy Sunfather of the Erechórebese See—a religious overseership with a politically innocuous title. Most scholars acknowledge the rise of regional Sees as the inchoate beginning of the separation of ‘Castle and Temple’ in Pallathantic history.

Arathracian Church

In 1,003 AI, Bambdringot the Pure was elected Sunfather of Pytharnia with the tacit blessing of House Lusthánguvil, the Yophenthean Rulers of Pytharnia. The breakup of central authority and the continual threat of barbarian invasions from air, sea, and land, forced Yophenthean aristocrats to concern themselves with local rule and local survival, rather than re-unification. Bambdringot the Pure [961 to 1,038 AI] sought diligently to establish the policy of coequality among the Sunfathers, later known as the Bambdringotine principle.

Holy Kingdom of Erechóreb

In that same year, 1,003 AI, the Mipnors’ pawn, Tribanth I, died of illness and Galbry seized the opportunity to sail to Erechóreb and convene the Council of Yophénthë to decide who would be the new king. In 1,008 AI, Sunfather Alitharean issued the Solar Bull of 741 which acknowledged Amrulon as the chief god of the Yophenthean Religion. Though Amrulon in principle had always been the chief god of the Old Religion, the Yophentheans had given preferential honor to his son, Arathrax, whom they claimed as their lineal forefather. The Edict of Amrulon Eternal—a priestly dogma promulgated from 986 AI onwards, stated that Amrulon, Lord of the Isxinthion Gods, had forbidden the gods to interact directly in the affairs of mortals as a result of the disastrous Fall of Yophénthë and the insouciance of the Yophentheans. The gods were widely believed to have played a direct role in the very fall of Yophénthë. Threy was attributed with seeding the sky coalition. Thwar actively led the Shonder onwards. Rhio and Parkyos were believed to have appeared before the other sky nations’ warcraft during the invasion. By openly acknowledging Amrulon as their chief god, the Yophentheans distanced themselves from the arrogance of their former rule, placed themselves on a more equal standing with non-Yophentheans, and blunted the religious hostility of the Kalikáns who in principal also acknowledged Amrulon as the chief god.

The Mipnors did not loathe the Yophentheans as the Kalikáns did and at first accepted the Council of Yophénthë, expecting that whomever the Yophentheans chose would naturally become a pawn of their skylaw. The Council of Yophénthë did not want a ruler subject to the Mipnors and put off the question of selecting a new king. In 1,012 AI, Galbry was sollevated [died and ‘interred’ in the traditional manner of Yophenthean priest-nobles, by being raised on a tower so that golden eagles could eat his exposed flesh and carry his soul to heaven] and the Council of Yophenthe found themselves irretractably divided over the issue of a new Sunfather. The patience of the Mipnors grew thin and in 1,916 IR, they intervened, demanding that Tribanth II be installed as king. The Erechórebese War, 1,016 to 1,021 AI, involved a Mipnor detachment against the machinations of the Council of Yophénthë. Tribanth II’s death in battle did not promote a quick settlement. In 1,021, the Treaty of Rhafyx established Bardinth Glindenstar as king, subject to the Mipnors, dissolved the Council of Yophénthë, and created the Holy Senate of Yophénthë, a body of Yophenthean aristocrats largely drawn from the Council of Yophénthë with the power to elect the new Sunfather. The hereditary principle for Sunfather succession was rejected as a dangerous relic of the Yophenthean empire by both the Mipnors and the Holy Senators. In 1,022 AI, Bardinth Glindenstar was crowned King of Erechóreb, a nation subject to the Mipnors and Fólmagal Arathracid was elected Sunfather of the Erechórebese See.

This arrangement continued with minor glitches until 1,061 AI. In 1,043 AI, King Bardinth Glindenstar passed on and his son Drédor was crowned as the new king without much objection from either Mipnors or the Holy Senate. In 1,057 AI, the Holy Senate of Yophénthë decreed the primacy of the Erechórebese Sunfather, a move which the Mipnors considered ill-advised and largely worthless as the Holy Senate had no power beyond Erechóreb. It also aggravated ecclesiastical relations with the Pytharnian See who neither wished to be beholden to the Erechórebese Sunfather nor wished to provoke the ire of the Lusthanguvese Dynasty or the Kalikáns. The last straw broke when in 1,061, the Holy Senate of Yophénthë, overly optimistic from their past successes as a subordinate body, crowned Drédor Glindenstar ‘King of the Yophentheans.’ This title, suggesting that the Yophenthean nation was once more revived, incited the ‘Yophenthean War,’ 1,062 to 1,075 AI, an international conflict involving the intrigue and politics of the Pallathantic region as much as its soldiery. In particular, the Pharsha ambiguously loyal to Mipnors and Yophentheans alike, provided a much-needed skyforce for the Holy Senate and this drew out the war longer. Additionally, in 1,079 AI, the Kalikán allied with the burgeoning skyfaring nation of the Jykki, in a strategic attempt to surround Erechóreb with hostile forces.


CHRONOLOGY {Requires re-working} 986 Sky Coalition invades Yophenthea. End of Yophenthean Empire 987 Edict of Amrulon Eternal 987 to1961 Holy Kingdom of Heaven and Earth 1062 to 1975 Yophenthean War in Jaggudorns (?) 1069 to 1978 Kalikán-Jykki Alliance 1100 to 1135 Kalikán Rule ? 2033 to 2035 Kalikán Civil War 2036 to 2044 Skymark Alliance 2037 to 2171 Golden Age of Sky 2045 to 2174 Client-State of the Mipnors 2175 to 2208 Skymark Alliance 2208 Alliance breaks up 2209 to 2216 Rule of the Pharsha 2206 to 2217 Shachábdin War 2217 to 2247 Joint Pharsha-Shachábdin Rule 2248 to 2267 Siulian-Shachábdin Rule 2268 Internal War? 2268 to 2284 Internal War? 1985 Invasion of Chaos Fleet 1985 to 2332 Chaos Rule 2333 to 2442 Rule of Titney the Magnificent Pest 2425 First Psychic Crusade 2464 to 2466 Ninth Psychic Crusade 2459 Holy See of Yophénthë Re-established


See Also