Spirian History

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First Age

For a period of approximately 1000 years, the peoples of Spirius: the Malts, the Alerians, the Lithians, the Lohks, and the Vendians lived in unlawful anarchy and barbarism. The five main tribes of peoples colonized the land separately and often fought amongst each other. The Malts inhabited the southern region around the Malkin Sea, founding the cities of Malthor and Shietfore. The Alerians settled in the northern most Aleric region and built the cities of Eliana and Aissur. The Lithians remained largely uncivilized and settled along the western forests, Voral Mountains, and the Lithian Highlands. The Lohks settled in the northeastern region and build the cities of Mendon, Meilar, and Naisur. The Vendians originally settled on Ven Island but began invading and settling in the area east of the Lohks, founding the cities of Danalloh, Dalniff, and Dendolf. The more advanced Vendians, using longboats found Lohk cities along the coastal islands to be easy targets for raids and piracy. After a few centuries, the Vendians managed to conquer most of the Lohk cities and assimilate them into their culture. Little advancement of knowledge was done at all during this period. Towards the middle of this Dark Age, the Vendians who were primarily a warrior culture fractured by rival clans, began to unite. The unlikely Acares clan, who had never been a strong house, began to grow in numbers and strength, under the leadership of Fendomir the Elder. Within several generations, the Acares clan had come to dominate the Vendian tribe through war and well-arranged marriage alliances. Fendomir the Younger began the process of conquering and uniting the nearby Alerians. A series of wars between the Lohk-Vendians and the Alerians that lasted for half a century finally resulted in the adding of the Aleric kingdoms to the Lohk-Vendian kingdom.

Rise of the Dasseric Kingdom

The Lohk-Vendian kingdom known as the Dasseric Kingdom, after Lord Dasseri, was proclaimed and the earliest formations of the Spirian culture and nation began to emerge. Dasseri is regarded as the first king of Spirius, although this is not historically accurate. The Dasseric Kingdom saw the origins of the modern Spirian system of government and land distributions develop. The warrior culture of the Vendians called for each village or town to have councils of elders, almost always former warriors, who had distinguished themselves in battle. Such councils were known in the Vendian tongue as a "Udaltorts". It used to be believed by leading anthropologists that the Vendians had largely developed the thetar system of land organization, but this has now been disputed by archeological evidence found at the Mendon dig. It appears as though the Lohks utilized this method centuries before the Vendian invasions. Under the Vendians the main fortress-castles of the local warriors would be centrally located in the largest city or town and other smaller towns and villages along with communal farmland and common pastures would surround it. This system allowed for the maximum protection of the lord’s peasantry by closing the distance between the unarmed peasants and the lord’s soldiers, as well as reducing overcrowding into small areas of land near the fortress. By the time of the conquering of the Alerians there were nine thetars each controlled by lords of other clans but subservient to Calidan II and his Acares clan centered in Danalloh.

The Clan Wars

The death of Calidan II and the inability of his son Calidan III to reign in the growing challenges of the other clans, led to the end of the Acares clan dominance. The other clans began to fight the Acares for control of the kingdom. Over the next century, the thetars of the Dasseric Kingdom would plunge into bloody clan wars, known as the Wars of the Green Crown (the Green Crown was so named for the emeralds built into it and has since been a color of Spirian royalty). The end of the war resulted in the rise of the Heldon clan under Waslid, but it was a short-lived victory. Just weeks after Waslid proclaimed himself king, the clans united against him. The leaders of each clan vie for control of the kingdom allying and re-allying with each other over time. During this period, the Dasseric Kingdom has no recognized head of state and each thetar is regarded as independent entities. The capital city of Danalloh is destroyed by rival clans along with Linmark and others. After years of violence, Durvan, chief of the Heldons, finally conquers the last of the thetars and reunifies the Dasseric Kingdom. The Heldon clan became the prominent one but no clan ever again held the absolute power that the Acares did. The new capital became the Heldon home city of Alerica.

Golden Age of Alerica

The Heldons centered in Alerica began unifying the kingdom by looking for conflicts outside the kingdom’s borders. They began to construct a series of defensive forts along the open border with the Aerany plains to prevent barbaric invasions and encouraged further exploration of the forests. Within a few centuries the Dasseric kingdom had been revived and was beginning to colonize deep into the Lithian highlands. There, colonists met some resistance from Lithian peoples, which prevented heavy settlement until well into the 3rd age. The Lohtvan kingdom lasted only another hundred or so years until it collapsed under the pressure of invasions from the east. Aerany tribes descended on Danalloh and swarmed across the country. It took seventy years for the Dasseric clans to revolt and regain their country from the Aerans.

The Second Age

The second age was marked by a period of darkness in which the thetars of Spirius were controlled by local lords with only a cultural connection to each other. They had thrown off the bonds of tyranny but anarchy and lawlessness prevailed. The forests of Spirius were filled with robbers and thieves who evaded capture in the towns and major cities. It was a dangerous time, when diseases were at large and war between thetars was common. Thetar sizes increased mainly due to conquering and annexation. Spirians further refine the sail and the development of new shipbuilding techniques allows for greater navigation and trade. Coastal cities like Danalloh, Grentor, Venfore, Malachin, Alerica, and even Minsar on the Jasa become larger and more commercial, which kept them strong and independent of any federation. The mystic religion of Ayorian began to form from remnants of other primitive pagan beliefs and continued to grow and evolve as each new tribe was added to the race of Spirians. Religious conflicts were also not uncommon and at times different Orders engaging in dark practises fighting amongst each other. Priests and priestesses were often advisors to the kings of the thetars and attempted to predict the outcomes of battles and wars.

Meindar the Dainth

The thetars remained divided and weak for close to 200 years. Raids and attacks by nearby Aerany tribes made the time more bleak and the weakened thetars barely able to defend themselves. Throughout this time prophecies began predicting that a savior would arise to lead the Spirians to greatness. This man would be the rightful king of the Spirians and all of the people would flock to his banner. Legends claimed that the Nihmur would make him immortal until his task had been completed. This man came in the form of Meindar the Dainth, the son of Gredriden. The priest Agorius supposedly told Meindar that he was indeed the one blessed by the Nihmur and from that day Meindar became fearless, convinced that he could not be killed. He led his father’s army against invading Aeran tribes and with an alliance of thetars, drove them from the eastern Namrin forest. Soon after his father died and he succeeded him. Meindar rallied the other thetars to him. Some followed and some did not. The ones that did not were conquered so that by the time that Meindar was an old man, he had united the Spirians from the Lithian Highlands in the west to the Namrin forest in the east. In every battle, Meindar was there to command and was never once injured while leading a charge. He was seen as the fiercest warrior because of the chances he took. Meindar died at the Battle of Yaoftik, when he was trying to invade the Aeran city and gain more territory for Spirius. That invasion was believed by most of his advisors to be unnecessary and many attribute this to his death, claiming that the Nihmur believed he had completed his task and lifted his immortality.

Fall of the Dainth Clan

Meindar the Dainth’s son Draden was an equally able warrior and administrator who continued to oversee the strengthening and expansion of the Spirian kingdom. Draden was the first king to consult a Udaltort before engaging in a war with the Malts. Over the next few generations the Dainth clan’s power continued to be strong until Dayrious the Wise, who had no sons or daughters, named Fiefgod of Isonia, his heir. This started a war of succession between the clans of Isonia and Dainth for the kingship. It ended with the Isonians winning and reducing the Dainths to a mere fraction of their original size.

Kingdom Expands

As time passed on, the territory of the Spirian kingdom gradually increased in size subduing the Malts and the various Ekin peoples and integrating them into Spirian culture. Although the Spirians attempted to assimilate other tribes, they often found that the conquered tribes had as much to offer their culture and the two wound up blending rather than eliminating the lesser ones. By the mid to late second age, the Spirian kingdom had expanded considerably from its early start as a loose confederation of thetar kingdoms to a powerful and highly bureaucratic federation. Spirians, although plagued with internal problems, were beginning to look beyond their borders and see themselves as a nation. They were also considered to be expert sailors and seamen and Spirian ships were viewed at this time as some of the best constructed for war or peace.

Rise of Lyrel

During this period, the Lyrelian Empire had been on a steady rise from obscurity. Its sailors and merchants had become masters of seafaring and in the increasing competition for ports and markets with their Spirian neighbours, the two were drawn into conflict. Lyrel had made the jump from an alliance of kingdoms (both conquered and united) to a powerful centrally governed state sooner than the Spirians. The Lyrelian emperor had created a standing army and was using this new powerful tool of warfare to consolidate his power over the regional kings and threaten other neighboring powers. To add to this precarious situation, diplomatic relations between Lyrel and Spirius had been badly injured when Lyrel had supported an invasion of Aerian tribes across the eastern Namrin forest in an attempt to weaken the Aerany tribes and colonize the plains. The plan resulted in heavy losses on both Spirian and Aerian armies and the repulsing of the invasion. It also provided an opportunity for Spirian soldiers, who were still an unregulated band of peasants and warrior chiefs, to gain battle experience that proved helpful in the ensuing war with Lyrel.

First Lyrelian War

The First Lyrelian War was the inevitable clash of opposing empires each desiring to rid the other from the sea. The conflict began when merchant ships between Spirian and Lyrelian attacked each other in the Bay of Duihuin. Not long after, merchant ships from each nation were attacking the others. King Harmond the Valarian, ordered a fleet of ships to be gathered and readied to make war on Lyrel. Lord Jashim the Blue (so named for his expert seamanship) lead the armada, which consisted of nearly 1200 ships, mainly merchant ships refitted for battle with a few warships. The fleet set sail for the Lyrelian coast from Minsar. The fleet sailed down the Jasa Loke and into the Bay of Duihuin, then attacked and raided Lyrelian cities on the mainland. The fleet was met by a lesser Lyrelian fleet of 500, however due to poor weather conditions and a lack of knowledge about the coast, half the Spirian fleet was lost to shipwreck and the rest was defeated by the Lyrelians. The campaign was a disaster, but it did not leave Jashim totally humiliated. Jashim retreated from the battle with 287 ships and remained abroad to continue his raiding campaign, which proved much more successful. His massive fleet patrolled the waters around the Southern Acary Ocean severally crippling Lyrels ability to trade by sea.

This opened the second theater of the war, which came when the Lyrelian professional army began marching toward the southern boarders of Spirius. The massive army was nearly ten times the size of every available Spirian force united together. However Jashim’s pirate force had intercepted orders that revealed the plan. He sailed his navy into the Bay of Duihuin and landed his sailors along the coast. The men used guerilla tactics to delay and slow down the forces. By then, the Spirians had mounted the best defense that they could. The forces of King Harmond manned a series of forts that spanned the Torvalka Loke, but the forts fell to the superior numbers of the Lyrelians. The retreat was made into the forests of the Kattery where battle lines would be drawn that would remain the rest of the war. More battles between Jashim’s navy and the Lyrelians occurred throughout the course of the war and it was at the famed Battle of the Rhoaltar, where the two navy’s slugged it out in what has been recorded as the most savage battle ever. Jashim defeated the Lyrelian commander Otan and gained unparalleled glory. His song, the Song of Jashim (or “Jashimmuir” in the Spirian tongue) has been enshrined as the unofficial national anthem.

The war ended in stalemate with both sides admitting they could not win. On the coastal-front Jashim had kept Lyrelian merchants poor but failed to make any substantial territorial gains. On the border-front the Lyrelians had been tied down in dense forest and “scorched-earth” policies that left them unable to hold on to their territorial gains. Some land did change hands. The Spirians gained control of several islands of the coast of Lyrel, which they outfitted with fortresses and naval harbors, while Lyrel gained control of the Delmoin and Torvalka Lokes expanding their territory dangerously close to Spirian cities.

Second Lyrelian War

The Second Lyrelian War broke out twelve years later, mainly due to infractions of the original treaty but also due to the aggressive nature of their leaders. King Harmond died and was succeeded by his son Denthar, called “the Fat”, who had commanded the defense force during the first war and sought to expand Spirius’ power. He had seen the advantage of a professional army and attempted to create one for Spirius, but was checked by the Udal. The nobles and landowners of the thetars were not interested in relinquishing their power over the king, who needed their support for any war, and would not tolerate the conscription of their peasants. Instead in true Udal fashion, a compromise was arranged. A semi-standing army was created instead. The army would be allowed to be commanded by the king as long as it remained the size of a usual thetar army and require Udal approval for any military action. This force would be enough to man and protect the fortresses and castles and would be drawn from the urban poor, as well, the nobles and thetar councils would be in charge of appointments for commissions. During times of war the King would ask for a summons from the Udal, which would then grant him the remaining soldiers which could be conscripted from his peasants and trained by the standing soldiers.

The Second Lyrelian War was much more continental in scale. It involved nearly all neighboring dukedoms, princedoms and fiefdoms. By its end, the Spirians had established a nearly permanent defensive boarder along the Torvalka as well as expanded control of the Grey Mountains and its resource rich territory. The Lyrelians on the other hand had added Laerus, Sidon, and portions of upper Creetoria and two of the Fenian states to their empire. The war ended with the Peace of Sprigvie.

Third Lyrelian War

Three years later the Peace of Sprigvie had been violated by roving bands from the Creetorian kingdoms (Creetoria was a member of the Lyrelian Empire). It was a surprise and unprovoked attack by Lyrelians on the boarder towns of Andor and Numinen. The two towns had seen their share of disaster during the first two wars, but had not expected such dangers during peace.