Khirecso Permid syus’si - The July Revolution of 1927.
Tensions had been growing between the lower and upper classes of Erinoran society for some time, with minor uprisings against quasi-feudal lords breaking out with increasing regularity, but, despite increasingly harsh reprisals from the Marcorar, the Warrior class, there was no serious response, either to eliminating the problem with force, or to solving it with diplomacy.
Then, in 1927, the smouldering embers of discontent were finally fanned into the fierce flames of rebellion by one key event. In June of that year, the Khasa Marcoral Arutyarcad (the House of the Warriors of the Kingdom) passed a law which effectively stripped all labourers of any rights when they lived and worked on the land of a Marcoro. The Warriors took advantage of this immediately to enact cruel punishments on anyone showing a hint of disrespect or rebelliousness towards their masters.
The response was almost instantaneous and as the various uprisings across the plantations of Erinor became aware of one another, a formal rebellion began. The first local uprising took place on the evening of 28th June, 1927, but it has been known ever since as the July Revolution ( Khirecso Permid syus’si).
Many Marcorar were forced to flee their estates, taking refuge in their mansions in the cities. The revolution was spreading, however, and by 7th July King Durro adareo XIII officially declared war on the populace, sending the army into the cities and forcing the labourers back out into the country estates and villages where they could be routed. For a couple of weeks, the campaign seemed to be brutally effective. Thousands of labourers were killed and they were pushed further and further away from the cities, with many forced to take refuge in the rainforest or the mountains.
The turning point came on 25th July, when a large group of about two hundred Erinoran labourers who had fled to Ramica (then known as Cata Lamid, the city of the moon) for safety, took control of Marcoro te'si Yeno nwikheo’s estate on the slopes of Khardo vrasseo, freeing the Serevans he had kept as slaves. Word spread quickly and by the end of the day, several more estates on Sereva had been liberated and more still the next day. With the army unable to cross to Sereva in large numbers straight away, it was not long before all the Serevan slaves had been freed and, as agents made their way back to the mainland, it wasn’t long before the pattern was repeated in the coastal estates which had, up to that point, remained untouched. For the first time in history Erinorans and Serevans fought against a common enemy and the boost in numbers, as well as some notable changes in strategy, began to bring victory after victory for the revolution.
By 9th August 1927 two of Erinor’s three largest cities, Cata Lamid and Akhorn, were in the hands of the people and the capital, Ciria, was under siege.
Fearing that the city might be sacked completely, Durro adareo XIII called for peace talks and two days later, after considerable debate and disagreement amongst the rebels, the King, and three of his closest advisors, his brother Prince Durro asa’si, and two Marcorar ura’si, Cujero verreo and Turco areo, met with the leaders of the Rebels, principally Ratyano Avera-Remiro of the Erinorans and Qendoda Jino of the Serevans. They remained in the tent, with food brought to them, almost no sleep and only brief breaks to relieve themselves, for three days.
On the 14th August, a deal was finally made, written out and read before the people at the gates of Ciria that evening. It would change Erinor forever.
What had been agreed was nothing short of astonishing. King Durro adareo XIII would step down after a period of universal elections was held to agree on a democratic replacement, who could then choose a transitional government until full elections could take place later in the year. A new parliamentary lower house would be created, Khasa Massirs, the House of the People, which would only contain elected officials and would hold the majority of the legislative power in the land. The Marcorar (and the royal family), however, would be allowed to keep their lands and titles and positions in the Khasa Marcoral Arutyarcad (the name of which has never been changed), but would renounce all rights over labourer and Serevan slaves, as well as any political or military rights given to them outside of that granted by the upper house, which could only be passed if agreed upon by the Khasa Massirs. A new bill of rights would be decided upon by the fully elected government in November.
It was called a great betrayal by the Marcorar and a great compromise by the labourers. However you might view it, it marked the complete constitutional end of the ancient Kingdom of Erinor and the beginning of a new Republic.
(This post was last modified: 05-13-2016, 06:35 PM by Seraph.)
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The Prehistory of Erinor.
Genetic and linguistic evidence has made it very clear that both the Serevan and Erinoran peoples are descended from a single migrant population. This Paleo-Serevo-Erinoran people are believed to have arrived in the relatively isolated Erinoran basin around 15,000 BCE. Archaeological and genetic evidence is strongly in favour of a migration from the North Eastern Continent via the Rainbow Islands, which in turn suggests a culture already used to travelling via the sea, something which would continue to be of great importance to the Serevan people groups.
Whilst there is evidence of genetic relations to the PSE peoples in more northerly lands, and even some suggestion that they may have reached further south into the basin currently occupied by the Frost Empire, it seems that, either through the impacts of colonisation, disease, natural disasters, or competition with earlier and later migrant populations, they were not very successful in any of these regions. Consequently, the surviving Serevo-Erinorans are to be found almost exclusively in the Erinoran basin.
Diversification of the Serevo-Erinoran peoples seems to have happened relatively early on, with archaeological evidence supporting the theory that the island of Sereva had begun to be settled as early as 14,000 BCE and the fossil record suggests that there may have been major periods of conflict between those living on the coast and those who had settled in the rainforest.
Evidence of agriculture and even silviculture appears in the rainforest, particularly near the source of the Qassar Syiranad, at around 7,000 to 6,000 BCE, with the first evidence of what could be termed conventional civilisation, with large settlements, complex structures and religious practises, appearing at around 3,500 BCE. It is theorised that the extensive Erinoran rainforest was, in fact heavily managed by the human population for thousands of years by this point, rather than being the pristine wilderness it is often supposed to be.
The coastal populations were rather slower at developing the trappings of civilisation, most probably due to the somewhat easier coastal life, with abundant fish stocks and access to agricultural land nearby. Whilst it is clear the early Serevans were skilled mariners, there is little evidence of anything more than extremely primitive settlements and a semi-nomadic lifestyle until nearly 1,000 BCE, which may explain why they have always been the underdogs of Erinoran history.
Civilisation was also stirring in the mountains and, although it lagged a little behind the rainforest civilisation, it was to be the spark of inspiration that would create the first truly great Erinoran culture.
Kheri Artid ir Terakhod - The First Erinoran Civilisations.
The earliest known civilisation to flourish in the Erinoran basin was born in the rainforest around 3,500 BCE, starting near the tributaries of the the Qassar Syiranad and spreading, first along its banks and then deeper into the forest. By around 3,000 BCE, this civilisation, known as Khera (or Massim) Artid, the Age (or people) of Wood, after its principal building material, covered much of the South-Eastern Erinoran basin. Evidence of roads, bridges and plazas have been uncovered in deforested areas and soil samples across this region have shown that the Massim Artid heavily altered the composition of the topsoil, spreading the more nutrient rich volcanic soil from closer to the mountains, to better enable them to manage the forest and grow food.
A deforested area reveals ancient secrets.
Theirs was a diverse culture, made up of discrete Erinoran tribes, each with their own distinct, yet related language, bound together throughout the rainforest by an efficient infrastructure and a simple, yet effective administration. They produced no ceramics, but carved pots and idols out of wood.
It is believed that the Khera Artid lasted in one form or another from around 3,500 BCE until about 2,000 BCE, when the influence of their mountain-dwelling neighbours gradually brought their distinctive way of life to an end.
Khera (or Massim) Terakhod, or the Age (or people) of the Stone, is the Erinoran name for the civilisation, or civilisations, which developed in Erinor’s Southern mountain range, known in Erinoran as Khardar Nwikear, the Black Mountains. Evidence of their existence first appears in strata dated to around 2,800 BCE.
This was a civilisation well adapted to high altitude living, with the remains of Massim Terakhod in this region showing signs of micro-evolution towards larger lung capacity and a heavier frame capable of carrying more muscle weight for warmth and the strenuous activity of climbing. It is also supposed that they could have had up to four pints more blood than most modern humans.
An ancient stone gateway of the Massim Terakhod, found on an arid plateau in the Khardar Nwikear.
The Massim Terakhod, were the first people to build complex structures out of stone in the Erinoran basin region and their architecture became increasingly sophisticated from about 2,500BCE, with evidence of elaborate temple and government compounds built on the mountain terraces. Their agriculture was also very sophisticated, with many terraces cut out of the mountain slips and the rich volcanic soil made as productive as possible with irrigation channels and artificial pools. Their art consisted mostly of carved stone images and artefacts of bronze and may also have included elaborate textiles.
Sometime around 2,000 BCE, the Massim Terakhod began to expand out of the mountains, utilising wood in their architecture to a much greater extent and invading territory long controlled by the Massim Artid. Historians believe this may be the result of a spike in population growth as a result of new agricultural techniques, and a corresponding need for greater territory.
This began an unprecedented period of sporadic conflict between the Massim Terakhod and the Massim Artid, lasting approximately 100-200 years, but this is not the most significant detail historically. Despite the obvious tension between the two civilisations, this period of clashes is actually characterised most obviously by a merging of cultures. In all areas, from architecture to agriculture, religion to warfare, the Massim Artid and Massim Terakhod began to resemble one another until, by around 1,700 BCE, there was only one culture left in the Southern Erinoran basin, neither wholly one, nor the other, but with the strongest aspects of both and ready to take control of the entire basin.
Khera Varsad - the Greatest Erinoran Civilisation
The civilisation which emerged from the confluence of the Massim Artid and the Massim Terakhod around 1,700BCE developed its own distinct identity very quickly. Stone settlements and religious sites spread through the rainforest along the banks of the Qassar Syiranad and lesser sites in the forest interior were connected to these by a simple, but effective network of stone roads. Artworks in stone, ceramics and bronze were common and symbols reminiscent of the iconography of the later Revara religion have been found across the ruins of this period.
There is evidence of many changes during this period, of possible civil wars, as well as conflict with the nomadic Serevan people of the coast and the impact of new technologies. All of this means that the era may not have consisted of a single dynasty or type of government, but there is no evidence of discontinuity and so historians and archaeologists tend to class this as a single, if diverse civilisation. It was not until nearly 1,000 BCE, however, that the feature which has given this era its name enters the scene, for it appears to be that around this time the ancient Erinorans began mining the foothills of the Khardar Nwikhear and the Khardar Tyavod and discovered vast seams of gold.
At first, the precious metal work is limited to crude objects and coinage, but the Massim Varsad seemed to develop skill with gold and also silver very rapidly and some particularly fine gold jugs and religious icons have been dated back to as early as 900 BCE. From this point onwards the amount of gold used by this society increases dramatically, such that it was even used to cover masonry in the administrative and religious capital we know today as Cata Varsea, the Golden City, built high on a series of plateaus in the Khardar Tyavod, overlooking modern-day Ciria.
From what we understand of late Khera Varsad culture, they had a rich and complex mythology, including deities resembling some of the more prominent Revanim from Revara scripture. A particularly striking fresco preserved in the ruins of Cata Varsea shows a figure resembling the leader of the Revanim, Ratyano, fending off demonic creatures with a large bladed weapon. Whilst it certainly wasn’t a sword at this stage in Erinoran history, the similarity with the legend of Anturin Sicaren is pronounced.
Evidence has also been uncovered to support the theory that the ethnic Erinoran Massim Varsad subdued the mainland Serevan population for a considerable period of time, as long as a century and a half before their decline in the fourth century CE. During this period, it seems that Serevans may have been used as slaves to build monumental structures, as well as suffering as part of entertainments and religious festivals. The island Serevans managed to hold off an Erinoran invasion owing to their considerable maritime skill and the Erinorans’ appear to have been lacking in this area. Indeed, there is no evidence from any of the remains of neighbouring civilisations that the Erinorans explored beyond the Erinoran basin, or across the sea. Only the Serevans appeared to look beyond this admittedly rich region, although how far their influence expanded has never been definitively proven. What is known is that Serevan ships raided Erinoran acquisitions on the coast regularly and, indeed, during the decline of Khera Varsad began to reclaim their lost territory.
Astonishingly, Khera Varsad lasted from 1,700 BCE until its decline and disintegration in the late fourth century CE, and would most likely have lasted much longer were it not for the catastrophic event which took place in the year 346: the explosive eruption of Erinor’s most powerful volcano, Khardo Nyaveo, the Ashen Mountain.
(This post was last modified: 05-21-2016, 03:23 AM by Seraph.)
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Asa Henim Syarkhem - The Two Year Dictatorship of Syarkho cadeo - 1968 - 1970.
By the mid-60s relations between the Erinorans and minority Serevans had begun to decay again. Erinor had struggled through the late 50s with the economic fallout of the Great War of 1949-54, despite having not been directly involved. Citizens wanted someone to blame and extremist groups became common. Principal amongst them was a right-wing extremist group called Marcorar pulear, the New Warriors, led by a man who called himself Syarkho cadeo, meaning Demonic Dragon in the traditional form of the defunct noble classes. The name he was born with remains a mystery to this day.
Syarkho cadeo blamed the country’s economic woes on the Serevan minority and their help in bringing down Erinor’s ancient monarchy and aristocratic system. He gained support rapidly and by the general election of April 1968 the Mp looked set to gain a substantial number of seats.
Incumbent Ura’sio, Feoldo Revanirs Ara-Durro, rushed a bill through the Khasa Massirs to prevent the Mp from being permitted to run in the election and, whilst the bill received substantial opposition in the Khasa Marcoral Arutyarcad, it was ultimately passed just two days before the election and it seemed that the rise of Fascism had been halted.
On Thursday 25th April, the day of the election, all appeared quiet. Citizens went about their daily business as usual and did their civic duty at the polling stations. By noon, however, it became clear that all was not as peaceful as it seemed. Groups of young men clad in black were seen congregating outside looking stations, hassling anyone who went inside. There were scuffles and the Polisar were called to a number of stations where a large number of arrests were made, but still the number of supporters of Marcorar puleo at each station grew.
By two in the afternoon the outbursts of violence were becoming too much for the Polisar to deal with and so the government responded to the pleas of several influential generals, including Marcoro and cousin of the former King, Durro qendeo that the army be mobilised on the streets of Ciria, Akhorn and Ramica, where the violence was at its worst. The military machine moved swiftly, surrounding polling stations and breaking up the fights, but it soon became apparent that they were also preventing ordinary citizens from exercising their right to vote. The government issued the military a warning and when that was ignored, sent in the Polisar to arrest those generals who had commanded the day's action. Shots were fired outside the Mena Marcod and ten constables were killed, whilst a further four were badly wounded.
The army then surrounded the Mena Parlid and demanded the arrest of the Ura’sio and the government, who managed to barricade themselves into a side chamber and hold out there for forty-five minutes before soldiers forced their way in with gunfire. The Ura’sio and Asa’sio Terakho Syona-Yano were killed, possibly intentionally, and the remaining members of the government were taking into military custody.
As word spread to the general populace there was mass unrest and civilians began rioting in the streets of Ciria and Ramica and were only stopped when the military stepped in with violent, even murderous force. By seven in the evening, all three major cities were under martial law and Syarkho cadeo was sworn in as Marcoro Ura’si, First Warrior.
Syarkho cadeo’s dictatorship was characterised by several key elements. Firstly there was the so-called purification of the military, the Polisar and Parliament, which saw daily trials accusing those who were opposed to the new regime of fabricated crimes, the sentence for which was often death.
Secondly there was the growing reverence towards the old ways of the Kingdom of Erinor, with the nobility given increased status once more and kings of the past adopted as quasi-religious figures who were expected to be respected in place of the Revanim, or the gods of other religious.
Finally, but most importantly for the future of Erinor, there was the extreme racism towards Serevans. Anyone of Serevan birth lost all civil rights within the first few weeks of the new regime and, by August, were forced to live in ghettos in the poorest parts of the cities. Those living in Ciria and Akhorn were rounded up over the next few months and transported to Ramica which, more than any of rest of Erinor, felt the full brutality of military rule. Serevan sympathisers faced similar fates, being held in the cells beneath the Mena Marcod and tortured until they confessed their respective crimes before being branded and sent to Ramica. Many important figures of the progressive movement were punished in this way, including the future founder of Erinor’s progressive party, Roalwim Tavalad, Arkhando Sirea-Arkhando who was arrested after leading several student protests at the University of Erinor in Akhorn. All of this led seemingly inevitably towards the single greatest atrocity of Syarkho cadeo’s rule, the brief, genocidal war with the Sheva Isles.
The Marcoro ura’si was convinced that these islands, several hundred miles to the West of the Western Continent and outside of the South Pacific region, were populated by the descendents of Serevans who sailed there in antiquity. Any connection between the ancient Serevans and the Sheva Isles had been disputed for decades, but Syarkho cadeo was not convinced and the idea of Serevans not kept under lock and key in Ramica outraged him to the point that he became increasingly obsessed with the islands throughout 1968 and 69, until, finally, he declared war in February 1970. The military leaders saw this as an opportunity to increase Erinoran territory and so were more than happy to launch their now well-oiled machine across the ocean to lay claim to the almost completely defenceless Sheva isles.
What followed was an appalling loss of life. The populations of the three largest islands, Sheva Suprema, Hessina and Yuminia, were almost completely wiped out, with the capital city of Maroa laid waste by the artillery of the Erinoran Navy. Many of the hundreds of smaller islands suffered even greater devastation. At least one and a half million Shevans are believed to have died.
In the end, it was the sheer butchery of the war which led to Syarkho cadeo’s downfall. A handful of military leaders, part of a group of secret dissenters that had been growing for two years, were so disgusted by the senseless loss of life in the Sheva isles that they finally conspired to overthrow the Marcoro ura’si and return the government to the people. Over a period of just a few weeks, they managed to assemble a force strong enough to rush the Mena Parlid, the defence of which had admittedly been diminished by the war effort, and take control of the building. Syarkho cadeo himself hid in a basement cupboard for several hours whilst they searched for him, eventually killing a member of the Polisar with an antique revolution-era pistol, before killing himself when it became clear that he would not be able to leave the building undetected.
A brief civil war followed the announcement of Syarkho cadeo’s death, during which it seemed the rebel conspirators would not be able to hold out against the remainder of the Erinoran military. The rebels called for international aid to restore control to the country and, on 23rd May 1970 the Democratic Republic of Erinor was officially restored with an interim government put in place by the international community until full elections could be held.
When the full scale of the atrocities committed in the Sheva Isles was uncovered, Erinor was severely reprimanded, war crime trials were held and the generals who had first lead the coup were executed. These were some of the last executions committed in Erinor. Another consequences of the brief dictatorship and war were the dismantling of Erinor’s military system, to be replaced with a much smaller Self Defense Force with the restrictions to remain in place for twenty-five year, although Erinor has not re-established its military since those restrictions were first put in place.
The treatment of Serevans during this period and the fierce hatred the Syarkho cadeo regime had incited in the Erinoran population led to the so-called Serevan Troubles of the 70s and 80s, with a number of Serevan nationalist groups forming and committing terrorist attacks against the government and civilian population, all with the aim of establishing a separate Serevan nation.
There is still very little known about who Syarkho cadeo actually was. It is pretty certain that he was not born with that name, although it is quite possible that he did have a Marcoro name as his birthright. Most historians believe that he must have been the son of one of the Marcoro killed during the July Revolution of 1927, quite possibly the owner of a Serevan estate judging by his particular prejudices against that minority. It has been theorised that he had been reported dead along with the rest of his family and had lived as an orphan under an assumed identity before emerging as Syarkho cadeo in the 60s and taking advantage of the country's economic decline. It is likely we’ll never know the full truth about this enigmatic and terrifying figure, but it is unlikely that Erinor will ever forget him.
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2016, 11:28 AM by Seraph.)
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Cata varsea - The Fall and Rise of the City of Gold.
For over a millennium and a half all that was known of Cata varsea and its destruction came from vague second or third-hand accounts written by Serevan chroniclers who appeared reluctant to speak of the event, it's location or its cause. With no supporting evidence to back up these accounts, the famous lost city of the Massim Varsad was treated as a legend by most serious historians. There were still many who tried to work out what might have happened, however, and the various explanations proposed rapidly became part of Erinoran folklore.
Consequently, a whole ecosystem of myths and legends has grown up around the city and, for over a thousand years, heroes, warriors, adventurers and even kings piled untold time, effort and gold into the endless quest to find it.
An artist's impression of what Cata varsea may have looked like before it was destroyed, painted before its eventual discovery.
The legend has even become part of the mythology of Revara, with the City of Gold identified as the home of the Revanim and the gateway to Syirana, heaven, the realm from which the Dreamers mount their eternal war against the Nightmares which brought evil into the world. Indeed, the Qassar Syiranad was so named because it was believed its source was inside the fabled city itself, with the water somehow sent by the Dreamers to quench the thirst of Erinor. One of the major hurdles which arose in trying to find the city, however, was that the number of tributaries which feed the Qassar Syiranad is considerable and there was no consensus as to which one was the main channel of the river. Many expeditions sought the city by following one or other of these tributaries deep into the rainforest and mountains.
The most famous of these is almost certainly the expedition led by the 12th Century king, Syarkho Qenarid, who believed that the city must be in foothills of the Khardar Tyavod, near one proposed source of the Qassar Syiranad. Whilst ultimately unsuccessful, this expedition eventually led to the foundation of Syarkho Qenarid’s new capital, Cata cirea or the White City, known today as Ciria. Most of what we know about this attempt, however, is from the epic poem, Jera atekh Cataca varsea, The Quest for the Golden City, and is not considered very reliable, not least because it wasn't actually written down until the 14th Century.
This association with Revara has lent a religious significance to many of the attempts made to find the city, with a number of sects formed by men claiming to have found it, often leading their followers off into the wilderness and never being seen again.
It wasn't until the 19th Century that more serious and methodical efforts were made to find the city. There was a huge surge of interest around the turn of the century after a copy of an ancient account written by a Serevan trader turned up in a collection of old documents in Cata Lamid (modern day Ramica). The trader claimed to have witnessed the destruction of the ancient capital and his description of events made those interested in the city realise that they may have been looking in the wrong places for nearly fifteen hundred years. The key part of the account said this (translated from the ancient Serevan):
The mountain had been growling for days, showing its displeasure at the Golden Ones and their brutal rituals. Many in the city said that it was just the music of the gods, that this had happened before and it was nothing to worry about, but I knew better. I took my leave at once, made my way down the mountain to my boat and sailed down the river as fast as I could. I was woken before dawn the next morning by a terrible roar and the sky to the south had opened upon a vision of Hell. The mountain was on fire, the forest was on fire and the lights of the Golden City were lost amidst the inferno.
The account even included some details which helped explain the lack of information about the eruption from Serevan sources:
By the time I reached Acoruna (probably near modern-day Akhorn), news of the disaster was on everybody’s lips, but the Priests said it was the just punishment of the Shonu (the ancient Serevan spirit-deities) and commanded silence. No one dared to disobey, but surely what is written down need never be spoken?
After the details of the account became public the number of expeditions mounted annually rose to unprecedented heights, mostly focused on the southern tributaries and mountains. These attempts were still greeted with a considerable degree of scepticism in the academic community, but many were actually well-grounded in the best science and historical research of the day.
The earliest expeditions met with no success, but their research paved the way for one archaeologist and explorer to make the final breakthrough, albeit quite by accident.
Arkhando Jera-Tyaniro was an orphan raised by the Amlassar Revarad in the enormous Mena Tacirid who, thanks to the support of the priesthood was able to buy his way into a good education and make his career as a sort of adventurer for hire by the Marcorar. It was during a weekend hike in the Khardar Tyavod in the summer of 1821, however, that he made his most famous discovery.
Khardar Tyavod is the name given to the range of low mountains which descend northwards out of the Khardar nwikhear and out of which flows one of the main tributaries of the Qassar Syiranad. These mountains form a sort of curving shield to the South of Ciria, the home to many an ancient watchtower or castle and, more recently, a popular place for hikers. Arkhando was climbing to one of the higher, unnamed plateaus a few kilometres from the peak of Khardo Nyaveo, which was not readily accessible to any but the most experienced of climbers, when he stumbled into a ditch and nearly fell into a stream fed by a dangerously hot spring. He scrambled up the bank, and sat on the edge for a while to recover from the shock. From that unlikely vantage point he was able to see flecks of gold in the bed of the stream.
Gold was, of course, known to be common in the Khardo Nwikhear and ancient Khera Varsad mines had been discovered in the past, but none had been found previously in the Khardar Tyavod. To find gold in alluvial deposits in a hot spring meant either previously undiscovered gold reserves or evidence of something else.
Arkhando made a brief survey of the heavily forested area, but could find no clear signs as to what he might have found and so he made his way back to Ciria as quickly as he could and wrote letters to his most frequent patrons asking that they fund an excavation. He was already beginning to think that he might have found evidence of the lost city, but even if he had not, the gold would be enough to entice someone to pay for further investigation.
Within a few weeks, Arkhando was able to return and mount a preliminary excavation. The geothermal nature of the site made the dig extremely dangerous, so initial trenches were begun well away from the hot spring area. It took several days to dig through the compressed layers of ash, with nothing significant discovered until about twenty feet down. This discouraged some of those involved, but Arkhando implored them to press on and dig deeper in the initial trenches, for, if it truly was the lost city, something would be found eventually. What they eventually uncovered was truly astonishing.
The first ‘eureka’ moment for the dig was when a junior excavator cleared away a handful of ash to reveal a patch of stonework partially covered with worn gold plate. Arkhando was called at once and, as he and several other members of the excavation began working more of the gold-plated structure was revealed. It seemed almost impossible that this could be anything other than the fabled city of gold, but it would be months before the full extent of the site could be determined, years before it was fully excavated and the death toll because of hot springs and other geothermal activity would reach thirty-seven before the dig was completed.
Much of the famed gold plating was actually heavily damaged or destroyed by the eruption of 346 CE, although it is highly possible that some was deliberately damaged and removed by those involved in the excavation. That which was left was carefully removed and preserved on plaster moulds of the original wall carvings. Some of these belong to private collections, but most are kept in the National Museum of Erinor in Ciria, which holds a permanent Cata varsea exhibition.
The excavations have taught archaeologists much about the city’s fate in the last two centuries. It is now understood that the city was blanketed by twenty to twenty-five feet of ash from the pyroclastic flow caused by the eruption of Khardo nyaveo, killing its citizens instantly. Many were, in fact, discovered as voids within the hardened ash and, once this was realised, their forms were able to be preserved using plaster. Many of these victims are on display in the museum.
A view from inside one of Cata varsea's preserved buildings.
Cata varsea is now the single most popular tourist attraction in Erinor and a visit to Ciria is rarely complete without a trip into the mountains to see the remains of the fabled city of gold.
Kheri sacrei - The Erinoran Dark Ages.
With the destruction of Cata varsea, the administrative centre of the civilisation known as Khera Varsad, Erinoran civilisation quickly fell into chaos, with little remaining of the once great empire within a few decades.
This occurred for several reasons, but first and foremost, in this historian’s opinion, was that, unlike the Serevans of that time, the Massim Varsad had no system of writing. This is one of the reasons we know so little about them, even to the point that we have no idea what they called themselves. All information was conveyed through elaborate imagery in their architecture, through a complicated system of knots, or through verbal communication. The problem with these methods is that, to ensure reliability, all of these required great skill, training and specialisation and it is understood that Khera Varsad centralised much of this in Cata varsea, so, when Khardo nyaveo buried the capital in ash in 346, most of the Erinoran administration went with it, as well as most of their knowledge.
It is believed that there were a number of other cities which served as regional centres of administration of ‘literacy’, such as the city known as Cata Terakhod cireo, now a collection of bleached ruins in the shadow of the Khardar cirear to the North of Erinor, whose intricately sculpted monumental architecture is suggestive of considerable knowledge and skill. These cities would have become immensely important in the early days after the eruption, but this sudden shift in significance would also have made them extremely vulnerable as the regions tried to decide which was the true successor to the empire.
At Cata Terakhod cireo the evidence clearly tells the story of how the city fell: not to neglect or social factors, but to armed attack. Chipped stonework tells the tale of thrown spears, the heads of some of which have been discovered buried a few feet down, amidst a layer of charcoal and ancient bone fragments. Cata Terakhod cireo, whatever it might once have been called, was destroyed with fire and violence, its citizens apparently massacred.
Serevan sources from this period back this up, although they remain reluctant to speak of their Erinoran neighbours in more than a few terse phrases. They are referred to as “The Butchers” and their nations as “The Inland Chaos”. There is much to suggest that the Serevans were not entirely detached from the disintegration of Khera Varsad, however. Serevan coastal settlements from the Fourth Century onwards are clearly built on the scarred ruins of Varsan cities, themselves captured from the Serevans years before. Indeed, the Serevans not only reclaimed the coastline of the Erinoran basin during this period but made inroads along the Qassar Syiranad, reaching as far as the modern town of Qassoro, where the river is joined by its last major tributary. It has been posited that for the latter part of the fourth century and most of the fifth century CE, the Serevans were actually the dominant people in the Erinoran basin, something which had not occurred either before, or since.
Meanwhile, the Erinorans tore themselves apart, splitting into smaller and smaller factions as they fought over the remnants of their once-proud empire. By the start of the fifth century CE nothing remained of Khera Varsad but ruins and even many of these were torn apart for building materials over the centuries that followed. During this period, small kingdoms and city states rose and fell, one after the other, all across the Erinoran basin. Some groups became nomadic, living as their ancestors had before the great civilisations. Others tried to recreate the past with stone cities and attempts at empire, but with the knowledge of the past lost to them and too much competition from other groups, as well as the Serevans with whom they were at war with as often as not, little came of the expansionist powers.
One part of Erinoran culture did begin to flourish during these chaotic times, however. Whilst the exact origins of Revara are a mystery, to say the least, it’s clear that the religion was founded sometime during the fifth century CE. Appropriating imagery from the Varsan temples as well as, perhaps, some of the mythology of ancient Serevan animism, Revara quickly developed its own character and, it is believed, thanks to the Serevan connection which may have brought its ideas into being, it also introduced writing to Erinoran culture for the first time, with written accounts of the origins of the world and of many of the myths of the Revanim appearing in books which have been dated as far back as the mid-sixth century.
This combination of powerful ideas and the ability to record and control knowledge meant that the Revara religion spread rapidly between most of the Erinoran states and groups, with those outside of Revara being easy prey for those on the inside. Indeed, the few alliances recorded by the Amlassar Revarad, or Priest of the Dream, involved small nations banding together to either convert or destroy those who did not embrace Revara. Of course this also included the Serevans, and the progress that the Serevan nation had made into inland Erinor was rapidly reversed as coalitions of Revaran Erinorans pushed them back to the coastline.
The influence of Revara on Erinoran culture and identity cannot be over-estimated and, whilst no unified Erinoran state existed during the period between the fall of Khera Varsad in the fourth century CE and the creation of Arutyarca Erinead, the Kingdom of Erinor, by Syarkho Qenarid in the twelfth century, the Amlassar Revarad served all Erinoran peoples across the basin and the Amlasso vaelyareo, the high priest, outranked any king. The term Massim Erinead, the people of Hope and the origin of the national name Erinor, began to be used by the Amlassar to describe the nations who were, very lightly, united by Revara.
Revaran art and literature began to flourish in the latter centuries of the first millenium and hundreds of small Menar, or temples were built across the many nations of Erinor, all in crudely approximated Varsan style.
It was during this period that the romantic idea of a Revaran Khera Varsad took root and the quests for the lost city of Cata varsea and its gateway to Syirana first took root. By the twelfth century it had become the theme of many an Erinoran court, with palaces decked out in as much gold as the increasingly briefly enthroned kings could get their hands on. Epic poems told of quests that had probably never taken place, or of the last days of the city, before the Dreamers took it with them to Syirana. These tales idealised adventure and the heroes who undertook such, although there is very little evidence of Erinorans straying very far outside their basin and contact with other indigenous peoples during this period was limited to occasional trade and brief skirmishes, which the Erinorans usually lost.
Still, it was probably reading works such as these that a young prince, whose name may have been Feoldo Ratyanod - although the records are particularly hazy about his early youth - became inspired to leave Erinor and seek adventure for himself. His journey has become a legend and it is difficult to tell fact from fiction for much of it, but when he returned to Erinor with an army from many of the diverse indigenous nations he had either served or passed through, he would soon be crowned King of all Erinor. His name was, of course, Syarkho Qenarid, the Dragon of Winter, and his reign would begin a new era of prosperity and influence for an Erinor, which had become united at last.
Vaqendujinar - The Terror Birds
If there is one aspect of Erinoran culture which has always made them stand out amongst other nations it is their love for and domestication of a creature which has become utterly extinct elsewhere on the Western Continent: the Phorusrhacid, or terror bird.
These gigantic, flightless birds are as much a symbol of Erinor as the ruins of Cata varsea or the ghost of Anturin sicaren on the flag, indeed, heraldic terror birds featured on almost all iterations of the Royal crest of Erinor and they have been retained for the official crest of the Republic. Despite this strong association, fossil evidence has proven that they once dominated much of the tropical North of the continent, becoming extinct only after the arrival of Humans to the region sometime between the nineteenth and fourteenth millennia BCE. Only a few species found in the Erinoran basin have continued to survive this mass extinction event.
Palaeontologists, archaeologists and anthropologists have been pondering the reasons for this since their disciplines began, citing everything from micro-climates to ancient silviculture, but the prevailing theory is also the simplest: Phorusrhacidae survived in Erinor because the Erinorans made use of them.
The domestication of terror birds seems to have happened quite early on in Erinoran history. Certainly they were being used as pack animals by the Massim Artil and there is evidence to suggest they were already being used in war as well, with a few archaeological digs having found the remains of terror birds in mass graves at sites of conflict between early Erinorans and Serevans. This may help explain the relative ease with which the Erinoran tribes were able to dominate the interior.
By the time of Khera Varsad, terror birds were commonly used as mounts and for brutal entertainments, with images on Varsan ruins often depicting slaves being fed to the hungry, waiting beaks. Whilst some of the more gruesome traditions began to be left behind during the dark ages, terror birds continued to be bred and trained for war and were a regular feature of Erinoran battlefields during this period. It should be no surprise, then, that when Syarkho Qenarid left Erinor to fight in the wars to the south, he took his terror birds with him, causing considerable fear and upset in a number of the nations he passed through, as well as being the probable source of one or two outlandish legends. The birds did not survive the journey to Karnetia, however, and when Syarkho Qenarid returned to Erinor he did so on horseback, introducing a new form of mount to the basin for the first time in recorded history.
Terror birds continued to be an important part of Erinoran warfare during the early years of the kingdom, but gradually the horse became more dominant due to it durability and ease of care. Terror birds became luxuries and began to be bred more for appearance, and unusual characteristics than for riding or fighting. The best birds had extensive pedigrees and selective breeding began to produce a wide variety of subspecies which would continue to diversify up to the present day.
In contemporary Erinor, terror bird ranches remain quite common, but the birds’ main use is now in the tourism industry as mounts for forest and mountain treks, where they are more agile in tight spaces than horses and as spectacles in their own right.
(This post was last modified: 05-14-2017, 05:56 PM by Seraph.)
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