Ok, I have ammended my timeline of the Empire and carried it down to the present; mention of Stahl and Taveruun are
fat. Is this acceptable for you as an official timeline for our development of Weyrth?
3 Weyr: Mythical founding of Xanarium.
190 – 250 Weyr: In a series of small-scale wars, Xanarium gains control of the entire south of the Fregellan peninsula.
250 Weyr: Rise of a third moon. Xanarians set out for systematical subjugation of the entire penisula.
350 Weyr: Xanarian conquest of the Fregellan penisula complete. Naval voyages and expeditions become more commonplace. Xanarians become aware of the Empire of Tez’Hamun, which begins its own conquest of the region of Dardanet .
380 Weyr: Xanarians conquer the islands close to their peninsula and become a naval power. Xanarian interest in the Helenan islands lead to tensions with Tez’Hamun, which views them as within their own sphere of influence.
390 Weyr: Xanarian expansion into the Helenan insulas leads to war with Tez’Hamun. Both the inhabitants of Helena and the free Dardanians give support to the Xanarium, fearing the Empire of Tez’Hamun. The war becomes a drawn-out affair, involving much of Maraiah.
440 Weyr: Tez’Hamun too exhausted to continue the war, both due to Xanarian victories and numerous rebellions of their subjects, some of them instigated and supported by the Xanarians. (Ahr? Was once subject of Tez’Hamun, and Imperial Warlocks “founded the nation long agoâ€.) In the course of the war, the Xanarians have occupied the entire Helenan islands and coast and gained many footholds along the northwestern coast od Maraiah, mostly on the coasts of
Taveruun and Dardanet.
445 Weyr: Xanarium occupies roughly all of mainland Helena.
455 – 470 Weyr: War flares up anew with Tez’Hamun. Tez’Hamun is now defeated decisively (and Numeria breaks away from it?). In the course of the war, Xanarium occupies roughly all of Dardanet.
485 – 490 Weyr: Xanarium expands its coastal holdings in Fauth to include all of this rich tropical paradise.
495 – 515 Weyr: Expeditions into the interior of Ehld are hindered by the dense subtropical jungle, hostile fauna and even more hostile population. Apart from infrequent forays, Xanarium settles with control of the coast.
515 Weyr: The rise of a pro Tez’Hamunan regime in Yone, a former part of the Empire of Tez’Hamun, leads to Xanarian intervention in the region. Within ten years, Xanarian legions conquer all of Yone.
525 – 528 Weyr: A short but violent civil war shakes the Xanarian Empire. Aulus Galerius Constans rises against his fellow senators and becomes first Imperator for life and reforms the Empire.
530 Weyr: Xanarian citizenship extended to all inhabitants of the Fregellan peninsula.
535 – 545 Weyr: Xanarian prospectors discover rich mineral deposits in the coastal mountains of
Taveruun. The Empire sets out to gain control over the mountain tribes, which at this time have already been exposed to Xanarian culturual influence for well over a century. The east of
Taveruun is subsequently opened completely to Xanarian influence.
550 Weyr: Rise of a fourth moon. Xanarians set their sights on the conquest of the less hospitable north.
550 – 560 Weyr: Xanarian conquest of the south of modern Cyrinthmeir, the area south of the river connecting the Sea of Fallen Gods with the Crescent Sea.
560 – 575 Weyr: Xanarium subjugates its northern neighbour Gelure.
575 – 600 Weyr: Xanarium conquers the entirety of modern Cyrinthmeir.
605 – 615 Weyr: Xanarium pushes into the east of modern
Taveruun, with the explicit purpose securing access to the Saphire Bay, as the latter has become important for the maritime trade with the Far East. Xanarium gains control of this region, and its trade with the East subsequently increases.
620 – 630 Weyr: Xanarium conquers the region that is later to become Oustenreich and Farrenshire.
630 – 645 Weyr: Shrinking back from conquering the inhospitable, barbaric and poor lands north of the Irontooth Mountains, Xanarium tries once again hard for the conquest of the interior of subtropical Ehld. After initial successes, the lack of central organisation and large settlements lead together with the rebellions and guerilla tactics of the natives to the realization that a complete conquest of the interior would be very costly and that the effective control of its forest would require immense manpower. Xanarium once again settles on control of the coast.
650 Weyr: The threat of a full-sized military invasion of its land leads Numeria to offer the Empire tributary vassalage. Shrinking back from desert warfare, Xanarium accepts and turns its attentions subsequently once again to the north, which still holds more attraction to them than impoverished Ixliaph.
655 – 665 Weyr: With great effort the Imperial legions penetrate and occupy the inhospitable Irontooth Mountains and subjugate Angharad. As in Ehld, control of the country is made difficult because of the lack of large settlements and its people’s fractured and rebellious nature.
666/7 Weyr: Fearing to be next on the Empire’s agenda, the hardy proto-
Stahlnish raise a huge primitive army, aiding the people of Angharad and attacking the Xanarians in the Iron Tooth Mountains. Being attacked for the first time in ages, the Empire is caught unawares and swept out of Angharad. Begin of a violent war between the Empire and an Agharad allied closely with
Stahl.
670 Weyr: Making little headway in the ragged Irontooth Mountains, the Empire decides to attack
Stahl directly and sends a fleet carrying a huge invasion army. The fleet founders in a storm in the Sea of Claws and the entire army is lost. It is the biggest military setback ever suffered by the Empire and leads to a temporal cessation of hostilities.
675 Weyr: The Empire reopens the war against
Stahl and Angharad.
680 Weyr: After only minor initial successes in the renewed war, the Empire changes its strategy. A brutal push brings Imperial legions through the Irontooth Mountains into
Stahl. For several years, the Imperial army campaigns relentlessly in
Stahl, devastating the country and causing years of woe and famine. It makes but little headway in gaining control of the country, again due to lack of settlements and the unbending nature of the population.
687 Weyr: After many years of campaigning, the Imperial legions in
Stahl are exhausted. Winters are hard, supply through the Iron Tooth Mountains failing, as is forage due to the devastation wrought on the country. But after many years of constant war and starvation, even the Stahlnish resolve fails, and negotiations are entered upon.
Stahl (and Angharad) are conceded complete domestic independence, but become tributary vassals of the Empire. The Xanarian Empire has reached its greatest extent.
703 Weyrth: At the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the founding of Xanarium, Imperator, Xanarches and Senate declare the full Recreation of the Empire of Xanar Shardbringer. Xanarium is considered to be ruler of the entire world. All regions beyond its borders are declared unworthy of being ruled by Xanarium; those immediately beyond the borders, being some combination of poor, barbaric or inhospitable, certainly are. This year is usually viewed as the beginning of the Golden Age of the Xanarian Empire.
The 8th (and to some extent also the 9th) century sees the height of the Xanarian Empire. It is a time characterized by a lucky succession of peace-loving and able Imperatores who rule in great harmony with the Church; they are known as the “Peace Emperorsâ€.
In these two centuries, the Empire reaches levels of prosperity unknown before. The demilitarization frees funds to be put in public works and this building of acqueducts, thermal baths, arenas, streets, lighthouses and improved harbours all over the Empire stimulate prosperity and commerce. Maritime trade with the Far East reaches levels attained neither before nor after, and for the first and only time in history there is frequent diplomatic contact between East and West.
Imperial missionaries roam far and wide, carrying the Imperial faith and Imperial cultural values deep into Tegaarn and after the turn of the century at least in part to even so unlikely and hostile places as Ehld, Tez’Hamun, Svarastra, Picti and Savaxen.
773 Weyr: The fifth moon rises. This is initially viewed as ushering in even greater heights of prosperity for the Empire. The Imperator takes this as occasion to extend Xanarian citizenship to all inhabitants of the Empire.
approx. 800 Weyr: Intense Xanarian missionary work triggers a countermovement in south-central Tegaarn, leading to either a reform or a a revival of the Seven Vows of the Prophet. The Followers of the Prophet turn with great vitality against Xanarian missionaries and soon also against tribes of the Imperial faith.
approx. 850 Weyr: Tribes adhering to the Imperial faith are increasingly hard pressed by the Followers of the Prophet. The Empire sends troops beyond its borders to protect the faithful from the Followers of the Prophet. Minor clashes between he Followers of the Prophet and Imperial troops become commonplace.
892/3 Weyr: Decades of (mostly failed) missionary effort have made the Savaxen acutely aware of the riches of the Empire. A primitive Savaxen fleet raids the Imperial coastlines of Farrenshire, Ouestenreich and northen Gelure. Swift an brutal Imperial retribution shows the Savaxen the error of their ways and cows them into submission for more than another century. Still, the way is paved for future raids.
The Church interprets the attack by the heathen Savaxen together with the rise of the Followers of the Prophet as a sign of the upcoming return of the Dark Betrayer. They call for action against the presumed servants of the Dark Betrayer. Strange beliefs about the return of either the Dark Betrayer or Xanar Shardfinder or both and about the significance of the year 1000 Weyr spring up. The Followers of the prophet are believed to posses a (and to defile) a Shard. Religious hysteria sweeps the Empire and calls for a Holy War become ever louder.
900 Weyr: The Imperator has to give in to the pressure of the clergy, and a Holy War against the Followers of the Prophet is called. Later historians will cite this incident as the definite end of the Golden Age of the Empire and view the rise of the fifth moon and the subsequent ascendence of the Followers of the Prophet as a foreshadowing of it.
In the first few years, the Holy War makes surprising headway, but then grinds to a halt as resistence against the Empire stiffens; the campaign turns into a positional warfare. Both the Imperial army and its commanders turn out to have lost their old bite. Along the frontier, towns are conquered with great effort, only to be reconquered by the enemy a few years later; the Holy War goes nowhere. A number of highly unsuitable military commanders, either seditious, or corrupt, or foolish, are appointed and deposed by an infirm and decrepit Imperator in rapid succession; each of them has another strategic approach, but a unifying grand strategy is lacking. In the 930s, the antics of the (mercifully short) reign of half-mad Imperator Numerius Tetricus completely drain the Imperial treasury, further weakening the war effort.
934 Weyr: On a whim, Imperator Numerius Tetricus orders a complete retreat. The military commander of the Holy War, Eugenius Rapax, staunchly refuses to relinquish what has been gained by so much blood and toil and in effect seceds from the Empire.
937 - 941 Weyr: Imperator Numerius Tetricus is assassinated in a chaotic coup and his young nephew is declared Imperator. Negotiations about a return of the seditious Eugenius Rapax into the Imperial fold fail and Imperial armies march on each other. Seeing no other possibility to avoid civil war and untold citizen deaths, Eugenius Rapax finally commits suicide.
This is the matter in which the Holy War is waged. All it achieves in the following decades is to drain the Empire’s coffers, but no definite victories are achieved. Even a frantic redoubling of Imperial efforts as the year 1000 Weyr draws close achieves no definite victory. With the turn of the millennium arriving and passing without any epochal religious event, the Empire ceases its offensive efforts almost completely. The Empire and the followers of the Prophet settle into their positions, with armed clashes only once every few years.
1034 Weyr: Imperator Maximius Daia is assassinated and Olybrius Scorpio, the commander of his guard, ursurps the Imperial purple. Several military commanders refuse to acknowledge Olybrius Scorpio and march against him. This marks the beginning of the era of Soldier Emperors.
For over 60 years the Empire sways and reels with ceaseless civil war between rival Imperatores. Over 100 Imperatores hold office during this era, even the most successful for no longer than 4 years. Most of the time there are two or even three Imperatores at the same time, and many of them never actually enter Xanarium.
The area conquered in the Holy War of the previous century is irrevocably lost once again to the Followers of the Prophet. Retributive armies of the latter sweep into the eastern Empire, penetrating as far as the shores of the Sea of Fallen Gods; though they capture several cities and at time hold them for up to a decade, the fractured Empire is still able to prevent the complete loss of these embattled provinces.
The coast of the Imperial provinces of Mainlund are cruelly ravaged by raiders from Savaxen.
1099 Weyrth: Diocletius Aper, a military commander who declared himself Imperator 2 years earlier, defeats the last of his rivals. He establishes a new stable dynasty and terminates the era of the Soldier Emperors. Over the next decade, Diocletius Aper reforms the Empire, establishing most of its modern practices and governmental institutions. Both the Followers of the Prophet and the Savaxen are taught the error of their ways in preying on a weakened Xanarium. The Empire slowly recovers from the terrible ravages of the previous century.
The 12th century is once again a time of strength and relative peace and prosperity for the Empire, but it is the late summer of a changed Empire. The stern soldier Diocletius Aper has turned the Empire into a vast machine with the sole purpose of generating revenue; the mindless perpetuation of itself has become the only reason for the Empire's existence. The tax burden on the Empire’s subjects – for this, and not citizens, is what they are now – becomes enormous, and around the middle of the century brigandage by farmers deserting their land crops up as a problem for the first time, never again to leave the Empire.
1192 Weyr: Political changes in Tegaarn have forced the people of the Erulians out of their ancestral homelands to the east. (Please note: Deliberate vagueness to leave room for future developers of the east.) By this year, the first wave of these people, the Getulians, more than 100.000 men, women and children, arrive on the Empire’s eastern borders (Cyrinthmeir?
Taveruun?) and plead to be accepted into the Empire. This is granted to them, but local officials mistreat the refugees and appropriate themselves of the supplies sent to them, prompting them to armed revolt.
1193 Weyr: The young and energeetic Imperator Diocletius Valens himself deals with the Getulians rampant in his eastern provinces. He falls upon them with a huge army but by some unlucky incident is soundly beaten. The Getulians surround the Imperial army and slaughter it to the last man – including the Imperator. The Empire looses half its army and its head, being left in the hands of Diocletius Valens’ young son.
In the course of the next few years, the Getulian roam the eastern provinces of the Empire largely unchecked, always on the lookout for fertile lands to settle. Other Erulian people follow suit, and many hundreds of thousands of semi-barbarous foreigners try to establish a niche for themselves in the Empire. At first, the Empire acknowledges most of them as vassals, but starts to move against the various peoples as soon as it recovers from the catastrophe of 1193. The Imperator tries to appease some by granting them lands while moving against others. At first, this policy seems to be successful.
1200 Weyr: Rise of the sixth moon, leading to record tidal floodings. Tens of thousands of square miles of arable coastal land are lost, and possibly millions become homeless and impoverished refugees. The economic strain brings the Empire to its knees and forces it to impose tax levels higher than anything before or after.
1202 Weyr: When the Empire demands sharply increased amounts of tribute from [b]Stahl]/b], the Stahlnish revolt and declare their complete independence from Xanarium. The empire tries to bring [b]Stahl]/b] to heel, but due to the catastrophe of 1200, the invasion by the Erulians and revolts springing up in other parts of the Empire as well, it eventually fails.
The 13th century sees the complete collapse of the Xanarian Empire to the triple forces of the catastrophe of the rise of the sixth moon, the acquisition of land by the Erulians and native rebellions against ruinous taxation; in addition, the Savaxen resume their raids. At first, the Empire seems able to hold out, but it eventually prooves unable to stand up to the prolonged strain. One province after the other is lost to Xanarium, and by 1300 Weyr, it has finally lost all of them.
(Please note: Deliberate vagueness to give other developers room to shape their own nations.)
The 14th and 15th centuries finally witnessed a stabilization of the reeling Empire.
This map shows the Empire at its greatest extent from around 700 to 1000 Weyr. The Empire itself is pink, vassals yellow.
