Difference between revisions of "History of Bettia"

Revision as of 06:16, 4 August 2007

Early Settlements

It is thought that compared with many other nations, Bettia was colonised by humans fairly recently. The earliest evidence of human settlement dates from around 15000 years ago - although there are no written records from this time (the first evidence of writing found in Bettia dates from around 2500 years ago), this is the earliest date supported by archeological evidence.

During archeological excavations, a large number of pottery fragments, flint arrowheads and what appear to be chewed animal bones were found in a relatively small area in Gwlad Teg province, along with what appear to be fragments of cut timbers. This shows that fairly large communities were formed at a early stage - it is speculated that these communities were formed by large numbers of people crossing eastwards, possibly due to the desertification of the area now in northern Nedalia.

9000 year old cave paintings found near Mynydd Fawr show hunters with their tamed aroras surrounding a family of wild aurochs, which were known to roam the area up until around 1500 years ago. This is interesting as it shows that the domestication of what is normally a fierce animal has been occuring for a long period of time. As well as hunting, it is also known they aroras were also bred for fighting. The large number of weapons discovered along with human skeletons showing multiple fractures indicates that skirmishes and conflicts between neighbouring tribes were frequent at times, with a number of iron-age hillforts still intact today throughout the nation.

Around the same time, evidence shows that humans were also settling in the Banastran rainforest. This is likely to be the ancestors of the Banast, the ancient tribe after whom the forest and the province are named. Stories passed down through the generations state that they actually part of a wandering seafaring tribe crossing over from what is now Morgrugyn who somehow found their way into the forest and subsequently became hopelessly lost due to their legendarily bad sense of direction, a trait which still shows itself in some locals today.

Kings and Sultans

As the centuries went by, distinct societies developed from these differing tribes and small kingdoms were formed. One of the earliest and most powerful of these was one ruled by a King Lorha (b. c347CE, d. 401CE). His domain was centred around a strategically placed castle situated atop a peak which came to be known as Lorha's Hill, after which the modern-day city of Lorshill is named. Thanks to this strategic position, strong forces and the king's keen tactical awareness (which some historians state was a thousand years ahead of his time), he became a powerful ruler and was able to quickly expand his kingdom until it covered most of the western half of what is now Clodien province, along with parts of Banastra and the southeasternmost corner of Nedalia (although this portion was quickly ceded). Much of this kingdom now forms part of the county of Lorhashire, the largest of all of Bettia's counties.

During this time, christianity had spread to most of the nation, and was embraced perticularly quickly within King Lorha's kingdom.

The first mention of Islam being practiced was in 984CE / 374AH, when Arab merchants set up a trading post named after their chieftain Abdul-Aziz ibn Tamrida on the road between Gabalfa and Kafra. This trading post quickly grew both commercially and in power, and soon became the capital of the Sultanate of Tamrida. Tamrida became a hugely influential figure in the area, and the religion of Islam quickly spread throughout the western regions of Bettia.

As this new faith spread, another sultanate was established soon afterwards in Gabalfa, which by this time was already growing in size and wealth - this was largly thanks to its central location which lay it in good stead for trading not just with the east and west, but also the north thanks to the navigable waterways of the River Balfa. Despite the religion and values shared between these two fledgling powers, disputes often arose between Gabalfa and Tamrida over territory. It was one such border dispute, with Gabalfa claiming that the city of Sukatra fell within its borders, which led to a brief but bloody war in 1055CE / 447AH which is reputed to have claimed over 10000 lives (unfortunately, accurate sources regarding casualities were destroyed in a fire which destroyed much of Tamrida's library fourteen years later). In the end, it was the forces of the Sultanate of Tamrida who triumphed, and their borders expanded to include most of the present day province of Al Maghrib. On the other hand, Gabalfa was forced to simply consolidate its position and sign a forever-binding peace treaty acknowledging the newly-formed borders.

Despite their crushing defeat, Gabalfa became more and more prosperous in the centuries that followed, and the population exploded as thousands of people from all walks of life flooded to the city in search of a better standard of living. Furthermore, instead of the bitter territorial rivalry between their neighbours in Tamrida, relations between them and the city-state were better than they had ever been, with the result that the western trade route was open and commerce had been made a whole lot easier.

At the same time, Gabalfa was developing friendly relations with the northern tribes, which were slowly but surely embracing Islam as a replacement to their paganistic beliefs. The foremost of these animist religions was the worship of the 'Great Arora', a mythical creature which was said to carry the mountains of Bettia on its back. Little detail is known about this religion, but according to historical records, its followers believed that the Great Arora would rise again on a specific date at Bettia's highest point to bring about the Day of Judgment. As a consequence, the town of Pen-y-Bydd (which, although offically translated as 'Top of the World', it can also be translated as 'End of the World') was founded as a religious centre where they would pray and gather up gifts in order to appease the Great Arora. As the day grew nearer, more and more people flocked to the fast-growing town to bear witness to its coming. The day came and went, and with no Day of Judgment in sight, the followers became disillusioned. Many simply left, with the more devout followers committing ritual suicide.

Soon, the highlands region became the first sultanate in Gwlad Teg, with many more smaller kingdoms following. One sultanate of note was that of Porthbalfa, whose peoples' expertise in woodworking, shipbuilding and other crafts made them valuable allies, both militarily and commercially.

The Birth of Bettia

In the south, and particularly in Kingdom of Lorha, christianity held sway. Since the death of King Lorha some eight centuries before, many kings had come and gone - some were good, such as King Egbert the Kindly, and some were bad. The last of these kings, John III, was known for his dislike of the western sultanates, and in particular their favourable position on trading routes. Although relations between the people of these two realms was generally friendly, their different faiths made the royal council deeply suspicious and in the year 1227 CE / 676 AH, the King used this as a pretext to start a call for a Holy War to 'cleanse this land of the infidels'.

His call to arms saw thousands of his devoted followers enlist in his forces. Knowing that Gabalfa's elevated location would make a direct assault from the south nigh-on impossible, the King massed an enormous army to march on the road from Lorshill to Sukatra in the hope of seizing this city as the first act in his crusade, his intention being to establish himself in this city before marching on Tamrida then circling round to take Gabalfa from the north. This manouvre caught the city guard by surprise and, although they put up a brave resistance, the city soon fell. The victorious invading forces put many of the male residents of fighting age to the sword regardless of whether they actually participated in the battle or not - unfortunately women and children were also not spared from this slaughter, although fewer numbers were killed.

Although John III had the elements of surprise and great numbers to his advantage, he did not share the tactical awareness of his famed predecessor. Shortly before the fall of Sukatra, the city's sheikh was able to send messengers to the cities of Gabalfa and Tamrida to inform them of what had occurred. An emergency council was held between the two powers in the town of Betws-y-Triw, where the fatal flaw in King John's plan was quickly spotted. Although Sukatra was a powerful city in its own right, its location in a shallow basin meant that it was vulnerable, not to mention the fact that it was directly in between the two kingdom's against whom it had declared war.

With the majority of John's army now massing on the west side of Sukatra ready to launch a strike on Tamrida itself it left the way clear for the Gabalfan forces to circle around from the south and east, a feat that was acheived with surprisingly little resistance. With Gabalfa's forces now in place, and with Tamrida's army moving in, the Lorhan army with King John himself at the helm immediately found themselves hopelessly surrounded without hope of reinforcement, a victim of a major tactical blunder on the part of their leader.

As the Battle of Sukatra Plain began, the tactical advantage of the muslim forces saw them make many early gains, and with the position that the christian army found themselves in, many of its conscripts surrendered without putting up a fight and they were taken to Tamrida where they were questioned about their deeds during the taking of Sukatra - those found guilty of playing an instrumental part of any major atrocities were put to death, whilst the others (mainly those of lower ranks who were simply following orders) were held in prison. Those who chose to stay in Sukatra and fight were soon routed, not only by the surrounding forces but also by the city's hardy residents who staged an internal rebellion against their captors.

Victory was swift and the commanding officer of the Kingdom's army was captured and executed for the massacre of innocent civilians. With Sukatra secured and the Kingdom of Lorha's armies weakened, the combined forces of Gabalfa and Tamrida marched on Lorshill and laid seige to the city for a total of six days. The native forces holed up inside the city were initially defiant and their leaders vowed to fight to the death to protect the King. Thankfully, conflict during these early stages was mainly restricted to exchanges of arrows between the city walls and the muslim forces below.

As the siege progressed, the humanitarian situation inside the city worsened thanks to the dwindling food supply. Unrest grew within the soldiers and citizens of Lorshill but their desire to surrender and find a peaceful solution was met with violent consequences, with anyone expressed dissatisfaction immediately executed for treason. This only served to heighten tensions, and a brief rebellion ensued in which many of the higher-ranking officers were killed and the King himself captured.

Michael Bledisloe, a senior-ranking soldier in King John's army, was known to have questioned his leaders' authority and judgment on more than one occasion. It was he who surrendered, ending the seige by handing over the keys to the city, and so he was entrusted as the christian respresentative as they negotiated a treaty with the victorious muslim leaders. Along with pledges that no more 'religious' wars will be fought by either side, a proposal was made to form a single nation in order to ensure peace.

In the end, this proposal was accepted and a new nation was born consisting of Lorhashire, Gabalfa and Tamrida. Sultan Umar of Gabalfa was chosen as its first leader and his first act of power was choosing to name his country after his beloved wife Betty, who had bore him his first son just a few days beforehand.

And so, the nation of Bettia was born.

Oppression & Tyranny

In the centuries that followed, Bettia initially flourished is a single Sultanate. Although many of the non-muslim population struggled to adapt to the Islamic law that now governed the country, the civilian society was on the whole happy with life. A rudimentary welfare system was set up to help support those most in need within the major towns and cities. Despite the odd miscarriage, justice was generally enforced fairly, and crimes such as banditry and smuggling dwindled.

During this time the present-day province of Bahagia was incorporated as part of Tamrida. The southernmost parts of Gwlad Teg surrounding the towns of Trecefn (now officially known as Ceffinton), Huwbridge and Betws-y-Triw soon became part of Bettia. Porthbalfa and Pen-yr-Heol remained outside the Bettian sphere of influence for the time being, as did the northernmost highlands. New trade routes were opened with the outside world, with the port of Akani Sands (then known as Endunn) rapidly increasing in size, wealth and importance. The River Balfa also came into increased use, providing a handy link to Porthbalfa and the seas to the north. A large canal was built between Tamrida and Gabalfa, providing a link between the far west of the country and the sea.

Unfortunately, with this increased wealth and prosperity came increased corruption. Although a welfare fund had been set up to help the needy, many of its funds were siphoned off by those in charge for their own personal gain. Successive sultans turned a blind eye as their pockets were lined by both this and their stealthily-increased taxes. Many of the nation's imams, who should have been the moral bastions of Bettian society, also turned a blind eye.

As the rich became richer, the poor inevitably became poorer. Poverty and food shortages were rife for many years at a time - at first the nation's leaders would only pay the occasional lip service to their plight in order to placate them. However as time wore on (and especially towards the latter stages of the Sultanate), the ruling elite had grown so powerful that they became more brazen in silencing any opposition. Taxes were raised regularly to fund their obscenely lavish lifestyle, resulting in more and more innocent people being burdened with debt and poverty. People who weren't able to pay their taxes were carted off to workhouses in order to pay off their debt through unpaid labour. Many people who found themselves in workhouses were confronted with a filthy environment riddled with disease. Rats and vermin ran rampant in the living and eating quarters, and some female workers were subjected to sexual abuse by the workhouse owners.

Towards the end of the 19th century CE, the general populace had grown more and more dissatisfied. Seeing the ordinary working man suffering at the hands of the ruling elite and the religious leaders who should have spoken out against this injustice resulting in a great deal of public anger bubbling below the surface. At first, many people refused to pay their taxes as well as occasionally breaking inmates out form local workhouses. This resulted in them being arrested, and often conscripted into the army to carry out the long campaigns of conquest which saw the whole of Gwlad Teg, Banastra and eastern Clodien become part of Bettia, forming today's borders.

Things came to a head in 1899 CE when a number of citizens were executed without trial in Downton for supposedly hatching a trecherous plot against the Sultan, when in fact all they were doing was planning a peaceful protest against hte excessive taxes. Riots broke out as news spread, first in Downton and a number of smaller rural centres in the area such as Emcorn and Thymeford, then into the poorer suburbs of Gabalfa, then eventually into the centre of the capital itself. For many days, the army was used to brutally crush this insurrection, with many scuffles resulting in scores of people being shot on sight. Disquiet grew within the ranks, and the tipping point came when lower-ranked elements of the army turned against their superior officers and the monarch himself, resulting in the toppling of the old Islamic Sultanate.

The Ahlil-Kitab Revolution

A new secular democratic state was set up, emphasising the seperation of masjid and state. At first things seemed to be going smoothly enough, but history has later shown that a slow and discreet campaign was running in a bid to quash all religious entities within the country, mainly through the placing of religious buildings and insitutions under strict state control. As the years wore on, the anti-religious campaign gradually became more and more brazen. Religious leaders, and the religions themselves, were vilified as the causes for so such suffering endured by the Bettian people. Riding on the back of this anti-religious paranoia, political freedoms were quickly eroded so that anyone with affiliations to any of the recognised religions were effectively unable to vote freely. Mosques and synagogues were shut down on the premise that attendances were too low or that they contained 'disruptive elements'. The more vocal of these 'disruptive elements' - such as Rabbi Yaniv Kamdi, leader of the largest synagogue in Butetown - were arrested and never to be seen again. Eventually, the leadership attempted to pass through legislation banning the promotion of all religion, the Way Forward Act of 1955, effectively making Bettia an athiest dictatorship.

This was the cue for the main Muslim and Jewish communities in Gabalfa to organise an official opposition movement named the Bettian Religious Freedom Party, aimed at establishing a true democracy with the freedom to worship as its central doctrine. The ruling establishment responded by sending armed troops out onto the street en masse, starting a series of attacks on mosques, synagogues, churches, temples, and the homes of anyone associated with them. This led to an outpouring of public anger and resulted in weeks of bitter armed struggle throughout the country as the police and army tried to contain the resistance. However, overwhelming public support for the resistance meant that for the second time in just over half a century, the nation's government was overthrown in a bloody revolution, an act which became known as the Ahlil-Kitab (People of the Book) Revolution in honour of the union between Jew and Muslim in overthrowing the regime.

The Blessed Age Begins

Under the stewardship of Amir Brooks, a young charismatic son of an Imam who rose to become president at the tender age of 31, Bettia was reborn as an Islamic democracy. The old system of government was discarded in favour of a 'Shura' or council, a group of senior figures who would make all decisions jointly, instead of a single leader accompanied by a collection of underlings. Islamic shariah law was re-imposed, with some elements being followed to the letter - for example, women were given full voting, inheritance and divorce rights, rights which were denied to them up until then. The Jizya - a tax imposed on non-muslim citizen amounting to 2.5% of a person's total savings - was re-introduced, along with legislation restricting its use to providing welfare for non-muslim citizens and maintaining their places of worship.

Many resources were poured into making Bettia a safe nation to live. The police were given extensive powers to monitor and track criminals. This along with mandatory national service for muslim men upon reaching the age of 20 and educational policies emphasising the need for discipline, playing a positive role in the community and adherance to the law, meant that crime levels plummeted.

After years of international isolation, the first of the Shura's major decisions was to apply to join Atlantian Oceania and they were readily accepted into the fold. Diplomatic relations were quickly established with nations such as Starblaydia, Nedalia and Hypocria. The friendship between Bettia and their two neighbours fluorished so well that at one point, a proposal was made to form a joint international football team - however, this idea was shelved due international opposition.

Invasion of the Giant Ants

Peace and harmony reigned for the next few decades, thanks mainly to the people's massive focus on sports. However, an element of discontent still remained, thanks to remnants of the old secular dictatorship who wished for Bettia to return to its old ways.

During the qualifying campaign for World Cup 31, strange sightings were reported all around Bettia. Stranger still were the large holes which were appearing in many of Bettia's football pitches, rendering many of them unusable and causing an administrative nightmare for the Football Association of Bettia. However, the real reason for this wasn't revealed until Bettia's home game against Nikea when the game was interrupted by an army of giant ants which suddenly emerged from underneath the pitch and attacked players and spectators, causing 14 deaths and hundreds of injuries (the most notable of which was that of Bettia's goalkeeper Ricardo DiTorino, who was unfortunate enough to have his hand bitten off). Despite the many casualties, the ants were bravely fought off by a group of aroras specially trained by the team manager Stuart Abdul-Rahim.

Soon after this high-profile attack, a pirate transmission was made by the leader of the group responsible, calling themselves the Paramilitary Instigators of Secular Society (PISS). Their leader (who called himself Mr E, the butt of many jokes in Bettian society nowadays) claimed that the giant ants were genetically modified mutations bred specifically to follow his command, and that the attacks would continue until Bettia revoked its Islamic Law and the presidency of Bettia was given over to him.

Needless to say, the Bettian government refused to even contemplate these demands, and so the attack continued on football stadia throughout the country. One such attack occured during Bettia's home match against Spindomia, during which Bettia's then star striker Gwrlais Devanallt attempted to communicate with a trio of the ants using knowledge he had gained from a course in Dumb Animal Communications he had taken at Grappenhall University. After a brief 'conversation', he was taken underground, much to the concern of everyone associated with the Bettian football team.

Nothing was heard in the public domain for many months. However, the attacks had stopped and life slowly returned to normality, until one day when the nation's press where called to a hastily arranged press conference at a military base just outside of the newly-built town of Caeranyuna. The assembled journalists were taken slightly aback when they wrer escorted to a large concrete tunnel, and totally shocked when Gwrlais Devanallt - previsouly presumed dead and now sporting the uniform of a Bettian general - emerged from the tunnel flanked by a platoon of giant ants.

He explained that after his abduction, he was taken through a long tunnel for many days until he reached what turned out to be a large ants nest, where he was immediately given an audiance with their Queen. However, their initial meeting did not go smoothly due to his rudimentary knowledge of their language (which he dubbed 'Antsy'), he was taken away to learn the language properly. When his linguistic skills were sufficient, he was once again taken to the Queen, who explained the situation.

As was previously stated, the ants were experimental creatures developed by PISS in order to overthrow Bettia's shariah system of government. They were bred to be their slaves and attack dogs with no will of their own, but they were quite unable to suppress the ants' main natural instinct - the instinct to form their own society, with each individual taking its own role within their order, whether it be soldier, worker, tending their young or protecting the queen.

At the time, they were still under the overall control of PISS and a very harsh control it was too. However, a subversive undercurrent was stirring, and thanks to his newfound proficiency in Antsy, he was able to persuade the Queen to turn against their masters and join the Bettians instead, as long as they treated them as equals and gave them plenty of their favourite food. Devanallt was allowed to return to Bettia where he presented these terms to the Grand Shura - they readily accepted, and so they secretly sent a detachment of their finest soldiers into the nest. After informing the Queen that Bettia was on board, she informed them that PISS had been operating on two fronts - the first front was the long-abandoned area north of Bettia formerly known as Cockbill Street, which PISS were using as a staging post for the majority of the attacks on Bettia. There was relatively few PISSers on the ground here, and with the help of their new allies, what bases and facilities they had were quickly taken. For their own security, Bettia colonisied this nation which was named Morgrugyn (a Welsh word translated as Ant, in honour of their new allies).

However, Morgrugyn was used only as a staging post for those terrorist attacks. The main ant breeding took place on an island in another region to the north of Atlantian Oceania. Here, PISS had forced the native population to do their dirty work for them - producing new batches and new breeds of giant ants, destroying any that weren't genetically perfect, and more or less forcing them to wait on them hand and foot.

Obviously an all-guns-blazing, gung-ho attack was out of the question - after all, the Bettian army are bound by Islamic law to avoid harming civilians at all costs. Luckily for them, the ants had previously been forced to construct a network of tunnels linking their primary centres of operation to the heart of Bettia - therefore a targetted attack was easily executed. A number of carefully-synchronised similtaneous strikes were undertaken and victory was swift. The PISS forces were caught off guard and were soon routed, and the good people - and ants - of that nation were liberated at last. Unfortunately, much of the nation's infrastructure had been shattered and much environmental damage was caused. The people of that nation asked them to remain there as their protectors - in fact, so keen were they for the Bettian forces to stay, they renamed their nation Northern Bettia.

The Jinn Evacuation

In the years that followed, life returned to some semblance of normality for the Bettian people - however, things were slightly amiss. Strange sightings were reported in the rural areas of Gwlad Teg of 'children floating across the heather'. Similar reports were also reported in the Banastran rainforest of strange spirits flitting from tree to tree, and in Gabalfa, stories were told of teenage children with strange supernatural powers.

At first, these reports were dimissed as fanciful nonsense told by bored people, but any notion that these sightings were just a figments of someone's overactive imagination were well and truly dashed during an international friendly between Bettia and Az-cz, which was being broadcast live to billions of people throughout the world. At half-time things were normal enough, with Bettia taking a narrow lead into the interval.

However, as the pundits of Sonastra Sports were discussing the action in the studio, they were suddenly interrupted by a pair of young girls who had seemingly appeared live on camera out of thin air. The elder of the two sisters explained that they were in fact Ifrits who had been evacuated from their home realm due to a civil war which had broken out between two factions. She then requested that the cameras return to the stadium, which the director agreed to. From out of nowhere, a very large number of young and elderly Jinn and Ifrit appeared above the terrace, filling the entire stadium with what eyewitnesses described as "an eerie ethereal pale glow" - the exact number of Jinn who appeared at this point are impossible to gauge, but estimates of over a million are generally deemed reasonable.

As the cameras panned around the stadium, the elder girl used some sort of telepathy to tell the alarmed spectators and TV viewers not to be alarmed - in her own words, "this is not an invasion, this is an evacuation". The leaders of her realm had chosen Bettia as the location to evacuate their elderly and young because, as Bettia was a mainly muslim country, most people already believed in their existance and would therefore would not be too scared. The vast majority of these Ifrit and Jinn would make their homes in the most remote regions of Bettia, such as the Gwlad Teg highlands and the Banastra rainforest, so as to avoid excessively interfering with human life.

The only exception it seems were the two girls themselves - the youngest called Fatarani, who seemed to take great pride in the fact she was now aged 237 years, and the eldest girl called Junilun, whose age is unknown. It soon emerged that they had taken up residence at the Pie & Pixie, a sports café located in Pifton, Gabalfa.