History of the Weegies

The history of the nation, The Weegies.

Weegia Divided, Weegia United: approx. 750 B.C.E. to 376 C.E.

Before the unification of the archipelago, thousands of years ago, the twelve islands were divided into the domains of various chieftains, who ruled vast extended "families" known as clans, which swore loyalty to the chieftain, and large amounts of death to anyone else. On Weegia, the largest island, tensions between the wilder and more maurauding jungle clans and the more settled agricultural-based and fishing-based clans caused these clans to group more closely together for mutual support and defence, and so townships were to protect these rooted communities. As these grew and became more and more complex in their defences, the jungle clans withdrew back into the jungles, noting it cost them far more to attack the townships than just leaving them alone, and the attacks eventually ceased altogether. Not having to defend themselves against attack, the townships flourished, and forged communication and trading links between themselves, as well as developing education and technology. Eventually, they decided to bring themselves together in a loose confederation, what was known as the Confederation of Townships around 750 B.C.E., and the townships lived together in relative harmony.

This lasted until 122 B.C.E, when squabbles amongst who should become the new Overseer, the head of the Confederation. Jealousies amongst the location of the loose governance of the townships, which had fostered for centuries, also played a part, with the township of Ialiagh claiming that it was now the most powerful of the townships, and the old political centre of Mlaian should step aside. Other smaller townships stated it would be better if the political centre rotated every now and then. Entrenched in argument and contradiction, all of the townships simultaneously withdrew from the Confederation, although each claimed others did beforehand, causing the collapse of the Confederation, and the townships sank into deep mistrust of each other, especially of Ialiagh. Committed armies, rather than the loose bands of militia and watchmen that were formed beforehand, began to be formed. A protracted war began to be fought between the various townships, who were mostly too balanced in power and too mistrustful of the others to make any sort of difference in their relative powers. However, it did leave them far too exhausted in terms of resources to last what occured next.

Around 300 B.C.E, whilst the Townships were going through their endless strife, the clans had decided to end their various internecine warfares in the Lesser Isles. The Clannate was formed by Reighald Maighandrain, Chief of the Maighandran clan, after much bullying, bribing, cajoling, debating, and occassional slaughterings, although other Chiefs had a hand, and thus Reighald became the first Overchief of the Clannate. It was not long before the Clannate turned their eye to the green pastures of Weegia.

At first, it was mostly about settling, but the prejudices of the Townships had developed into extreme xenophobia and obsessive protection of their lands. It is unclear who struck first, but the Townships came off the worst. The Townships were destroyed, some turned into fiefdoms of some of the more powerful and influential clans, others razed to the ground and annihilated. At this point, the Clannate seems to become rather insular, and thus not much happens in the Weegies (apart from the continual striving for position of the various Chiefs) until the arrival of Adrian Lyle, the Celdonia explorer, in the 16th century.

The Islander's Clannate: 377 to 1710

From Clannate to Colony: 1711 to 1856

The Native Revolts: 1857 to 1898

War, Uprisings, and the Rise of Socialism: 1898 to 1920

From Federation to Fragmentation: 1920 to 1973

The Struggle for Weegie Equality: 1974 to 1993

Far From The End of History: 1994 to now.