A Nation Asunder
390.2-517.2
(301AE-400AE)
The early years of the fourth century were a time of continuing peace and prosperity for Yossod. Things would continue on as usual until the year 449.2 (345AE) with the death of the current Prophet. As usual the Ayelic Council would meet and spend several long weeks debating on the many candidates for Prophet before deciding on a young but wise man by the name of Oram. Under most circumstances there would be little outcry on this choice, except for from those who preferred one of the other candidates. Oram was no normal Yossodite however, and he would go down in history as the first promethean Prophet in Yossod. The opinion of prometheans within Yossod and its tributaries varied; though they were equal to all others by law, there were a great many who still viewed them as only slightly better than beasts. The outcry, though small for there were many who did not wish to publicly vocalize outright disagreement with the Ayelic Council, it was a few years later that the murmurings became even louder when a promethean by the name of Acham was chosen by the Brotherhood of the Covenant to serve as its First Brother. There were those who viewed such important positions within the government and military as evidence of the promethean minority attempting to gain control of Yossod for themselves.
The dissent was somewhat lessened with the arrival of Queen Lith and her group of kobolds in 455.2 (350AE). Though the Brothers of the Covenant kept a constant vigil on the Queen and her party, not only to make sure they did nothing wrong but to make sure such a person of importance wasn't harmed in Yossod, the reception of the kobolds were positive. Their constant questions were met with irritation by a good number of the Yossodites, but the merchants were more than happy to deal with them because of the promise of more trade and many intellectuals enjoyed speaking of less tangible things with people from another land. Prophet Oram himself made time to personally meet with Queen Lith, and though she mistook him for an enemy at first the promethean was quite patient and took no offense once things were explained. They reportedly spoke for a great time on a great many topics such as governance, the divine, and even the fall of Promethea which the Prophet reputedly told the Queen he held no sorrow for the fall of that bestial empire. The kobolds spent 4 years in Yossod; Yossod had not only learned more of the land to the South but established trade routes as well. But eventually the kobolds had to leave, and Oram bid his friend farewell with a great feast.
But things would not continue on as peacefully as they had. A series of dry spells and harsh winters resulted in periodic food shortages, though not severe enough to warrant the name of "famine". But dissent would still continue to grow for decades, and in 474.2 (365AE) plague would ravage the northeastern regions of Yossod's hegemony. It was then that things would finally boil over into open rebellion as one of the Idumian Kings, King Nini, would declare that the food shortages and plagues were proof that Oram was not the rightful Prophet and that God was angry with Yossod for this. He received much support outside of Yossod proper, though there were still plenty of bastions of Yossodite authority and the Brotherhood of the Covenant had only a handful desert to the rebels. Acham himself personally lead his armies in many of Yossod's greatest victories in the north, but there were still a great number of defeats. Several months after the original rebellion and neither side had gained much ground. But it was then that disaster struck; with the army occupied with the rebels to the north, a charismatic and cruel Yossodite by the name of Shama managed to gain a following of angered peasants in southern Yossod. Shama was the leader of a Third Age sect who preached that the god of Yossod was an evil demiurge whose creation of the world bound the souls of mortals to it and forced them to lead a life of suffering and pain and that the ayels themselves were his demonic servants. He launched a massive peasant revolt in the south, overrunning many of the territories until Yossodite armies were able to cease their advance.
But unfortunately with Yossod's army split between the north and south, they began to lose ground on both sides. But the war dragged on for a year, with the war in the north going moderately well as First Brother Acham was able to lead his forces to victory time and time again. But in the south things were going poorly; Shama's cult had taken much territory from Yossod and was absolutely brutal to those he conquered, murdering and enslaving the "demon worshipers" of Yossod. And it was at this time that they were on the doorsteps of Qa-Avnel itself, and the Ayelic Council was desperate. The stone trolls living within Yossod's territory had been an incredible help in the war thanks to their absolute hatred of oppression and slavery, which Shama's rebellion practiced quite freely. But when things went south for Yossod, more stone trolls and their spawn from the trolls' northern kingdom would travel to Yossod to fight against Shama and his brutality. In addition to this, Oram would hire several groups of saurian mercenaries, especially those who followed the Ilism school of thought. And so it was that a great army would assemble beneath the walls of Qa-Avnel with the very fate of Yossod hanging in the balance. It was an army of humans and prometheans, stone trolls and trollspawn, and saurians. And then, much to the surprise of all present, a force of nearly a hundred ayel warriors would join them. In such desperate time all the ayels who had chosen to dedicate their minds and body to the art of war had chosen to fight for the survival of their very race.
And such it was that the Great Battle of Qa-Avnel played out; even with their foreign allies the forces of Yossod were outnumbered by Shama's armies but the warriors of Yossod were mostly trained warriors while Shama had peasants with more experience than training. In the end it was a decisive victory for Yossod, with the armies of Shama smashed and broken and Shama himself captured and executed for his crimes. And with his death his 'realm' fell into ruin and infighting as his followers clamoured for his position and his oppressed subjects rose up and revolted to be returned to the fold of Yossod. The stone trolls were an important part of bringing the rebel territories back into the fold as they smashed through the defenses of the rebels. But the trolls were not known for their finesse and left a great amount of destruction in their wake. Meanwhile in the north with reinforcements from the southern region alongside many of the saurian mercenaries the tide eventually began to turn. Eventually the leader of the rebellion was captured when his city fell to loyalist forces and the remaining rebels surrendered by the turn of the year.
The destruction caused by the rebellion necessitated an extensive period of rebuilding within Yossod, to repair the damage caused both by the rebels and Yossod's allies. Oram himself would not live to see the completion of the reconstruction effort, but his successor would continue the effort to repair the scarred land as quickly as possible. Ties with Zaqir were strengthened as well and many Yossodites, especially those in the Brotherhood, voiced their support of the Ilist school of thought and it was likely thanks to its existence that Yossod chose to continue the funding of priests in Zaqir to spread the word of their God, rather than spending that money on more reconstruction.
Though an even more important result of the war was the loss of a large chunk of territory in the West, as the Feinar tribes took the opportunity to invade and conquer while Yossod was fighting its war. And while Yossod eventually fought them to a standstill, a region in the west was lost to the barbaric tribes of the Feinar. And the Feinar themselves were not as welcoming to Yossodite preachers, and so the border between their newly conquered territory and Yossod itself was one of constant skirmishes and raids on both sides. But Yossod itself didn't have the resources to commit to another military campaign to take back their stolen territory.
But the war itself had also exposed some rather glaring weaknesses in the structure or Yossod's government. From that time forward all of the leaders of the various states under Yossod's hegemony needed to be approved by the Prophet or Ayelic Council. But there were also several leaders in Yossod proper who had rebelled, though they were quickly beaten down. And further inspection brought to light the simple fact that many of the ruling "priests" weren't particularly pious and only received the position because their father had been ruler before. And so the Ayelic Council released a series of edicts in 495.2 (381AE) declaring several changes to the faith. Most importantly it banned priests from taking wives or having children or allowing their children to follow them into positions of power should they already have children. While there was an outcry from many priests, the Brotherhood of the Covenant quickly put down any dissent. But other than that the religion of Yossod was finally given an official name. Though it had been given a series of names by the Yossodites, mostly being various forms of simply 'the faith' or 'the word'. But it was officially named the Temple of Ila, after the Yossodite word for 'god' though many shortened the faith to Ilaism.
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Major Events of Yossod: Third Century
Cultural: Priesthood is forbidden from having children so that they will not focus only worldly matters, and the faith of Yossod is officially named as the Temple of Ila (shortened to Ilaism).
Technological: Very little technological advancement occurs.
Military: Massive civil war from 474.2 (365AE) to 477 (367AE) between the rebel King Nini in the north and the peasant cult leader Shama in the south. Eventually Yossod would emerge victorious, but much damage would be inflicted to Yossod's hegemony and the Feinar would swoop in and conquer a swathe of land in Yossod's western hegemony. Reconquest would be prevented by lack of resources due to reconstruction.
Diplomacy: Priests would continue to attempt to preach their faith within Zaqir, and the efforts of saurian mercenaries in the civil war would improve Yossodite opinion of Zaqir. Likewise some would look favourably on the stone trolls for their efforts, but others would not look favourably for the sheer destruction they caused in the south.
Government: The client states of Yossod now need approval of the Ayelic Council for any new rulers who take power, and priests are now forbidden from taking wives or having children resulting in the end of Yossod's priestly dynasties.
Territorial Expansion:
