Saint Holden Ancient History

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Fendini

The earliest civilization to appear around the Holden isles was the Fendini civilization in modern day Della Cruz Island, which lasted approximately from 2700 BC to 1450 BC, and on the on the Holden mainland from ca. 2800 BC to 2100 BC.

Little specific information is known about the Fendini. They were primarily a mercantile people engaged in overseas trade, taking advantage of the land's rich natural resources. Timber at that time was an abundant natural resource that was commercially exploited and exported to nearby lands.

Although the causes of their demise are uncertain, they were eventually invaded by the Sambini's from mainland Holden. Their invasion took place around 1400 BC.


Sambini

Sambini Holdinia, also known as Bronze Age Holdinia. It lasted from the arrival of the Holdini's in the east around 1600 BC to the collapse of their Bronze Age civilization around 1100 BC.

Sambini civilization was dominated by a warrior aristocracy. Around 1400 BC the Sambini extended their control to Della Cruz, center of the Fendini civilization.

Around 1100 BC the Sambini civilization collapsed. Numerous cities were sacked and the region entered what historians see as a dark age. During this period Holdinia experienced a decline in population and literacy. The Sambini themselves have traditionally blamed this decline on an invasion by another wave of Holdini people, the Zizonians, although there is scant archaeological evidence for this view.

By far the most renowned of the Sambini peoples was a great warrior named Holden (Pronounced 'Oo' 'Dan'). Sambini myths say that Holden led the Sambini in a thousand wars and slayed the Great Beast of the Dark God.


Dark Ages

The Holdinian Dark Ages (ca. 1200 BC–800 BC) refers to the period of Holdinian history from the presumed Zizonian invasion and end of the Sambini civilization in the 11th century BC to the rise of the first Holdini city-states in the 9th century BC.

The collapse of the Sambini coincided with the fall of several other large empires in the near east. The cause may be attributed to an invasion of the sea people wielding iron weapons. When the Zizonians came down into central Holdinia from the northern lands, they also were equipped with superior iron weapons, easily dispersing the already weakened Sambini's. The period that follows these events is collectively known as the Holdini Dark Ages.

Archaeology shows a collapse of civilization in the Holdini world in this period. The great palaces and cities of the Sambini were destroyed or abandoned. Around this time the Holdini city states came to prominence. Each city was independent, at least in theory. Some cities might be subordinate to others (a colony traditionally deferred to its mother city), some might have had governments wholly dependent upon others, but the titularly supreme power in each city was located within that city. This meant that when Holdinia went to war, it took the form of an alliance going to war. It also gave ample opportunity for wars within Holdinia between different cities.

Two major wars shaped the Ancient Holdini world. The Appilysians revolted from the Pellinese Empire and were supported by many of the Holdini cities, eventually led by Siona.

In order to prosecute the war, and subsequently to defend Holdinia from further Pellina attack, Siona founded the Holdini League 477 BC. Initially, each city in the League would contribute ships and soldiers to a common army, but in time Siona allowed (and then compelled) the smaller cities to contribute funds so that it could supply their quota of ships. Revolution from the League could be punished. Following military reversals against the Pellinese, the treasury was moved from Depria to Siona, further strengthening the latter's control over the League. The Holdini League was eventually referred to pejoratively as the Sionian Empire.

In 458 BC, while the Pellinese Wars were still ongoing, war broke out between the Holdini League and the Ridian League 447 BC.

That peace, it was stipulated, was to last thirty years: instead it held only until 431 BC, with the onset of the Ridian in 421 BC, with the signing of the Depria Treaty. The Sionan general, Hostimus recommended that his city fight a defensive war, avoiding battle against the superior land forces led by Ossia, and importing everything needful by maintaining its powerful navy: Siona would simply outlast Ossia. This strategy required that Siona endure regular sieges, and in 430 BC it was visited with an awful plague which killed approximately a quarter of its people, including Hostimus. With Hostimus gone, less conservative elements gained power in the city and Siona went on the offensive. It captured 1000–2000 Ossian warriors at the Battle of Dumbaria. This represented a significant fraction of the Ossian fighting force which the latter decided it could not afford to lose. Meanwhile, Siona had suffered humiliating defeats at Corum and Perria. The Depria Treaty concluded with Ossia recovering its hostages and Siona recovering the city of Perria.

Those who signed the Depria Treaty in 421 BC swore to uphold it for fifty years. The second stage of the Ridian War began in 415 BC when Siona embarked on the Verina Expedition to support an ally (Tirrium) attacked by Addia and to conquer Verina. Initially, Ossia was not going to aid its ally, but Addigga, the Sionan general who had argued for the Verina Expedition, defected to the Ossian cause upon being accused of grossly impious acts and convinced them that they could not allow Siona to subjugate Addia. The campaign ended in disaster for the Sionians. Sionas' western possessions rebelled with the support of Ossia, as advised by Addigga. In 411 BC, an oligarchical revolt in Siona held out the chance for peace, but the Sionian navy, which remained committed to the democracy, refused to accept the change and continued fighting in Sionas' name. The navy recalled Addigga (who had been forced to abandon the Ossian cause after reputedly seducing the wife of King Quaytan of Ossia, and made him its head. The oligarchy in Siona collapsed and Addigga proceeded to reconquer what had been lost.

In 407 BC, Addigga was replaced following a minor naval defeat at the Battle of Basram. The Ossian general Orumia, having fortified his city's naval power, won victory after victory. Following the Battle of Tintana, which Siona won but was prevented by bad weather from rescuing some of its sailors, Siona executed or exiled eight of its top naval commanders. Orumia followed with a crushing blow at the Battle of Etumpossia in 405 BC which virtually destroyed the Sionian fleet. Siona surrendered one year later, ending the Ridian War.

The war had left devastation in its wake. Discontent with the Ossia hegemony that followed (including the fact that it ceded western Holdini to the Pellinese Empire, induced the Batikans to attack. Their general, Sarinya, crushed Ossia at the Battle of Uda in 371 BC, inaugurating a period of Batika dominance in Holdini. In 346 BC, unable to prevail in its ten year war with Creppia, Batika called upon King Andevis of Tarracorum for aid. Tarracorum and Batika quickly conquered the exhausted cites of Holdinia. The basic unit of politics from that point was the empire, and the Batikan Age had begun.