ZB1996 — Roleplayer Guild

Genseric stood there, impressed by Jahan’s rhetoric, yet also keeping a firm hand on the hilt of his sword. It would remain unsure what these brigands would do, as Genseric had no idea what was going through their minds. Much to his surprise, however, those behind the seeming leader of the brigands seemed to be taking Jahan’s words to heart. 

Their leader, however, was in disagreement with them. This lead to fighting, which lead to great surprise for Genseric. They must have been quite uncomfortable, then, living the life of a brigand. The arguments quickly turned violent when the leader hit one of his men with his cleaver, and everything violent and angry. Nonetheless, even as they fought amongst themselves Genseric did not loosen his grip on the hilt of his sword.

Then the captain went forward, and tried to grab him back by his shoulder. However, the captain received to a blow of the cleaver to his arm. Genseric saw it slice into the captain’s arm, deep enough to cause injury but hopefully not deep enough to cause lasting damage. Genseric ran towards the captain’s aid, but he simply chastised him for not subduing the man with the clever. “Don’t Just stand there, subdue him,” the captain had said.

Genseric would follow his orders. His grip had been tight on his sword, and now he would finally be able to draw it. He drew his sword with his right hand and held his shield with his left. He ran forward towards the man who wielded the cleaver, and was confident that he would be able to bring down a single brigand. It would help that he had seen him fight in combat, and his fighting ability was not superb.

As Genseric ran towards him, while his opponent began to raise his cleaver. He stopped himself from moving suddenly, and the man’s cleaver went down right in front of him, missing him completely. He held it up again, readying himself to strike another blow. Genseric burst forward, and as the brigand began to swing forward his cleaver a second time, Genseric landed his shield against his cleaver, stopping it before it gained full momentum.

Then Genseric struck against the brigand’s hand with his blade. He tried purposefully not to damage him too much, as he assumed the captain had something in mind for him. So he only slashed against it, but not too hard, although hard enough that the brigand recoiled in pain, and dropped his arm. 

When Jahan and Genseric had gotten the brigand down and knocked him unconscious, they would have left him for now. The captain looked at his wound, and seemed to continue on in the same capacity as he had said before.

“They're her kills so she has the right to take their stuff. Sorry lads' - rules of war. After yer' done with the bodies you can search the tents too. As sergeant, I'll take a small share of whatever you find,” their officer had said.

Genseric laughed, as he had discovered marvelous, yet very quickly suppressed his laughter. Truly, it was a break in character. He had no need of the loot. The son of a count who had been supplied with plenty, he had no need with what brigands could have. The loot, however, was mostly a secondary concern in Genseric’s mind. He stood beside the brigand’s body, the sword in his hand.

“Go ahead and take all of it,” Genseric said, turning to Jahan. “I’ve no need of it.”

As soon as the loot was collect they began their departure. The body of the brigand was carried away, Genseric doing his part in carrying him. They went back to the treeline where they had departed and left their cook and healer, Ellinor. However, she was not where she had been, where she had been left. Genseric dropped the unconscious body of the brigand and ran towards the spot where she had been.

Ashkar Kingdom: Century of War

285 – 384 E.C. (201 – 300 A.E.)
Ashkar Hymn to Eliyahu

How full of folly it would be to think to invade Zaqir! With certainty I say it would end in disaster and embarrassment.Illedrazki II

King Iyannaabu prepared for five years, gathering his naval forces and training his army to be seaworthy. His goal was to end the Zaqir civilization by destroying their cities and exterminating their entire population. In the year 289 E.C. (205 A.E. ) King Iyannaabu sailed to Zaqir and besieged the city, the King himself leading the siege. Using ladders, they climbed Zaqir’s walls. Fighting both an uphill battle to climb the walls and suffering from the city’s ballistas, they received high casualties in the initial assault, but continued onward. The Ashkarians set to the torches everything to which they came into contact with. However, the Zaqiri army, backed by a sizable militia, achieved a decisive victory and routed the Ashkarian army after King Iyanaabu, who retreated back to their ships. 

Illedrazki II, Iyannaabu’s son, came to the throne. During his reign he tried to protect the villagers of the coast from Zaqiri raids and the army rejuvenated after the loss in the First Siege of Zakir. Regarding intellectual culture, especially philosophy, as the defining trait of Ashkarian high culture, and promoted it so that it would not be disrupted or edge into decline. He is noted also for his building of many great ziggurats, for beginning the building of walls in the cities, the grandest and most impressive in the capital. He supported colonists, mostly villagers on and near the coasts who feared Saurian raids, and greatly increased the territory of the civilization. He did not go to war with the Saurian raiders, and thought another expedition to Zaqir would end disastrously.

In 315 E.C. (234 A.E.), Illedrazki II died and was replaced by his son Sumarael III. Unlike his father, Sumarael III was determined to create an absolute peace by destroying Saurian civilization. He had a hatred of all things Saurian, even rejecting the spherical shape of the earth, as knowledge of it came from Zaqir. In 318 E.C. (234 A.E.), after several years of preparation, Sumarael III led another invasion force by sea to attack Zaqir. Unlike the previous attempt, the Second Siege of Zaqir ended disastrously, with the Zaqiri taking few losses and the invading Ashkarians being decimated.

King Sumarael III was killed in battle, and the remainder of the Ashkarian invaders surrendered and were promptly sold into slavery. After working off their years as slaves, they organized, migrated to the northern Zaqiri territories, where the subjugated humans lived, and married human women, forming a small but distinct. They would become known as the Asqari, and adopted Zaqiri language and culture while keeping noticeable Edimmu traditions, and worshipped the Divine.

The remants of the fleet drifted east and ended up in an archipelago of islands inhabited by dark-skinned humans. This remnant would conquer this area by subjugating the natives, which occurred from 319 to 338 E.C. Trade ships, which would pass by the archipelago, soon realized what had happened and reported it back to Ashkar, and official Ashkarian control of the islands, and some territory on the mainland they eventually seized, was taken. 

The dark-skinned natives, called the Or’Rouzi, were treated as inferior to the Edimmu. The Or’Rouzi that remained subjugated were at least free from slavery, but those outside of the Ashkarian colonies were not so lucky, and were routinely captured and sold into slavery. Unlike Saurian slavery, Edimmu slavery extends until death and continues through the slaves children. 

The ruling class in these colonies were the Rosians (a Edimmu bastardization of Or’Rouzi), who were the descendants of the expeditionary remnant that conquered the islands and took Or’Rouzi wives. They were fully Edimmu in culture and religion, but not in appearance.

Sumarael III’s son was Akaku, who became king. Unlike his father, he did not have a hatred of Zaqir. In fact, it could be said that he had Zaqirophilia, or love of Zaqiri culture. His role model being Marduk, the great hero of the Epic of Marduk, he praised highly the culture of war Zaqir embraced, and was the first to express a desire for an Ashkarian Ring of Valor. Despite his relative youth and eccentric, according to his people, personal beliefs, he proved to be a highly effective ruler.

 In 334 E.C. (250 A.E.) war came once again with Zaqir. Zaqir was on the edge of annexing Illitscium, home of the Reguli, into their dominion, of which Ashkar objected to. Akaku looked forward to the coming war, and gathered his army. In 335 E.C (251 A.E.) the two engaged in a naval battle, during which they were routed, but were able to proceed to Illitscium. A fierce campaign ensued, but it would end indecisively. The city of Illitscium was effectively destroyed, and the Reguli were sent adrift.

The campaign had also claimed the life of Akaku, and his son Samu-Sumu II ascended to the throne at a relatively young age in 334 E.C. (250 A.E.). Although he was not Zaqirophillic, he did have an appreciation for Saurian culture and technology. His main focus was on trying to keep stability and prosperity, the recovery of the military, and the expansion of the southern frontier.

Samu-Sumu II’s earliest challenge was dealing with an influx of Reguli refuges who arrived. Many of them were destitute, and those who did not stay in the cities lived nomadic lives. Edimmu villagers had little sympathy for them, regarding them as no more than thieves and criminals, although they did enjoy their trinkets, as well as other things. In the cities they fared better. 

In Ashkar, the capital, Samu-Sumu II approved of a plan to make aside a home for the Reguli. The native Edimmu, seeing this influx of foreigners, were uncaring and hostile towards them. Their homes soon declined into poverty-infested slums. The Reguli asked the priestess Inakkya how they could get the Edimmu to be friendlier. Inakkya recommended that sex would work very well, and the Reguli were pleased to know that their most masterful art here would be useful. Through craftiness and intelligence, the Reguli would overcome.

The fared better in Irgilu. The poverty-striken Reguli, finding themselves in Irgilu. The journey would be slow and hard, but they carve out a living working as artists and merchants. 

The Reguli did not assimilate, and kept their culture and religion. Hostility against them by the Edimmu was common, and in the city of Ashkar two riots during this century, one in 358 E.C. (274 A.E.) and one in 375 E.C. (291 A.E.), but were both violently suppressed by the army. King Samu-Samu II would not have his new denizens’ homes destroyed.

In 354 E.C. (270 A.E.), a Zaqiri ship appeared at Ashkar in winter, and invited them to the Games of Valor. Samu-Sumu II accepted. The nobility protested, but it didn’t matter, as power resided in the King. The warrior class, long declining into irrelevance as warrior-acolytes of the temples of Eliyahu, received a revival in relevance. They were sent to Games of Valor to fight on behalf of Ashkar, but did poorly, all the Ashkarian contestants losing early on, which sent shame from the highest of the nobles to the lowest of peasants.

All those who hailed from Ashkar have felt a great pain today. It felt as if every hit laid upon our warriors, every blow and strike, was laid upon our soul. How are the Zakiri to take us seriously now, seeing such a shameful display?Inakkya, Priestess and Theologian

The most important Ashkarian philosopher of this century was Apiashal (300 – 388 E.C., 216 - 304, who defined the century’s philosophy. However, he began to dabble in political philosophy, and, superficially influenced by Zaqir’s government, attacked the state by saying Zaqir was better governed. He was accused of treason and forced to retreat into exile in Zaqir in 365 E.C. (281 A.E). He wrote a book in the Saurian language called Encylopedia of Edimmu Science and Philosophy, which effectively catalogued the whole of Ashkarian knowledge into an organized format and gave it to Zaqir.

List of Kings during this era
Iyannaabu	223 – 289 E.C. (139 – 205 A.E.)	283 – 289 E.C. (199 – 205 A.E.)
Illedrazki II	247 – 315 E.C. (163 – 231 A.E.)	289 – 315 E.C. (205 – 231 A.E.)
Sumarael III	267 – 318 E.C. (183 – 234 A.E.)	315 – 318 E.C. (231 – 234 A.E.)
Akaku		288 – 335 E.C. (204 – 251 A.E.)	318 – 334 E.C. (234 – 251 A.E.)
Samu-Sumu II	311 – 407 E.C. (227 – 325 A.E.)	334 – 407 E.C. (250 – 325 A.E.)

Culture

Popular Society
It was known as the century of war, and for good reason. In the first half of the century there was a number of invasions against Zaqir, and major attacks on their own territory alongside the raids. On another note, the people were interested in the matters of religion, and there was much religious debate. They were to choose whether or not to continue the traditional religion or adopt a transcendent view of god, and chose the former.

Or’Rouzi Culture
Contrary to what the Edimmu thought, the Or’Rouzi were not savages. They mastered ironworking (the pre-iron age type), and built their weapons and totems out of it, and had developed a system of writing that was written on parchment. The most successful villages were growing large enough that they were morphing intro metropolises, although the Zaqiri raids and the Ashkarian conquests significantly hampered their efforts. The Or’Rouzi are humans of, a race the lives roughly twenty-years less than Edimmu, and can produce offspring with them, and their skin and hair is dark. Each village is individually lead by a chief, and there is no political unity between villages, just a strong cultural link. Although long grown out of the hunter-gather life, tribal clothing and tradition have persisted.

As mentioned before, the Edimmu believed the Or’Rouzi to be natural inferior. This had less to do with the actual Or’Rouzi and more to do with the Edimmu concept of natural slavery, the view that some people were naturally designed to be slaves, an idea that developed after the shock and xenophobia, which both eventually went away, that the First Zaqiri War cause. The Or’Rouzi are often sold in slavery and used for both house slaves and concubines.

Religion

During this century, the worship of Iyanna gradually increased, although Eliyahu maintained his place as the deity of chief of the pantheon. During this period, the Ziggurats grew into grand structures.

Near the beginning of the century the theologian Yahubahu (240 – 345 E.C.), also known for his positive portrayals of Zaqir, countered Azupirano’s criticism of supposed anthropomorphisms, and his rebuttal was effective among the priests and populace. 

The controversy on the philosophers heightened when philosopher Apiashal included in his writings agnosticism. The priests saw a serious affront to public morality and religion, and wished to have him executed. However, the King was ambivalent at worst about him, and it did not occur. The Priests favored his academy, however, which weakened the teachers and put the priests in a favorable position.

The discovery that the earth was round, after an initial controversy, was accepted even by the priesthood, the mythic portrayals of a flat disk floating in an ocean were done away with. 

Or’Rouzi religion

The Or’Rouzi have practiced their form of religion for as long as it is known, and it likely slowly developed out of the religious practices of the late Stone Age. It is animist, proclaiming that all things, whether they be men, animals, trees, or rocks, have a soul. The divine are the spirits of the ancestors who have gained power through time. That being so, ancestor worship takes a key role in the religion. A spirit will become vengeful and cause destruction, and will only be placated by proper reverence. 

The ancestral spirits are worshipped through the idols and totems. Belief in magic is widespread, and diviners and magicians are said to be able to use it. Shamans also are supposed to know magic, but they are distinct from diviners and magicians in that they lead religious worship. There are a number of religious ceremonies, which take place outdoors, unlike the Edimmu, who worship in temples.

Poetry

Ibrimmu (281 – 378) was a writer of elegant poetry in the tradition of poetry. He wrote on most the same subject matters except for erotic love, and was known for his elegance and highly symbolic poems of nature which had universal application to things.

Yasthiru (275 – 317) was short-lived but had a large impact. An adorer of Akhu, he adopted his noticeably simpler style, at least in comparison to Zabaia. He began the “Eastern Tradition” of Edimmu poetry, based in Argilu. He eschewed nature as a subject, preferring the human affairs of life and love, and his poems were meant to communicated and understandable to the general populace. Unlike the lyric poets of the capital, Yasthiru poems were spoken not sung.

Following in his footsteps was Ub (300 – 330), a warrior-poet and folk hero, his life is more legend than fact. Said to have died in 330 in a failed invasion of Zaqir, a year when there was no such invasion. His death date is accurate, but not the cause. Although Akhu wrote polemics against the Saurians, Ub was the first to really write about war, and depicted it harshly, although the majority of his poems are on the themes of love, emotion, and the natural world.

Philosophy

Apiashal

Apiashal (300 – 388) is the second of the Three Great Sages, three men considered the best ancient Ashkarian philosophers. He invented the term “philosophy.” His commentary on The Dialogue of Pessimism circulated in 350, caused the greatest controversy of ancient Ashkarian philosophy. Irreverent to previous thinkers, he claims influence from Tudiya and Ira-galamil.

Verification of things, he says, is impossible, and there is no absolute truth. Agnostic, he said we can’t know if even the gods are real. Uiraka the Amaratist (312 – 394 E.C.) critiqued him as self-refuting, as saying there is no absolute truth would still be an absolute truth. Apiasha replied there’s a double truth, ultimate reality, which doesn’t exist, and the nature of the cosmos, which does exist.

He mocked traditional religion, especially the priests of Iyanna, who practiced sacred prostitution. Inakkya (328 – 376 E.C.), priestess of Iyanna, wrote a reply. Uncaring of his reasoning, she said his skepticism was mere frivolity, that he’s not only impious but nihilistic, and defended the sexual practices of not only the temple, but also the common extra-marital homosexual relations and sex for pleasure’s sake.

In the midst of the controversy, Apiashal founded The Academy,  an elite institution that would create a new kind of intellectuals. It worked, as hoped, to weaken the teachers.

Apiashal’s visited Zaqir, admired both their society and government, and thought that a government where leadership was based on merit and not divine blood was superb, and made the blunder of expressing this in writing. This was the last straw, and Apiashal was in 367 E.C. (283 A.E.) accused of treason and fled to Zaqir, where he died, but not before passing considerable knowledge to Zaqir. The Academy would continue to thrive without Apiashal even amidst controversy. 

Tudiyanism
Tudiyanism was hit hard by Apiashal’s writings. They professed the traditional religion and did not deny that truths existed. They tried to criticize Apiashal’s writing, stating like Uiraka the Amartist that his writing was self-refuting. Nonetheless, Tudiyanism took a major blow. A similar school of thought to Apiashal’s, it could only defend itself by commentating on subtleties and intricacies, which did not impress.

Cosmologists

Udagam (311 – 388 E.C., 227 – 304) was the last of the cosmologist. His arche isn’t a physical substance. Rather’s it above them, and it’s called the apeiron. To review, the arche is the first principle that other elements spring from. He says it’s an eternal substance thing which is eternal and spreads infinitely through space. It had an indefinite nature, and things with definite natures came into being from their separation from the apeiron. Also, the cosmos’ changes towards what is good or just.

Amartism
Amaratu’s austere teachings were revived by Iddu the Stone (230 – 329 E.C., 146 – 245 A.E.), that all things are transient except for the self, the only thing that can’t be taken away, and the only things which intrinsic value are virtue and knowledge. However, he put a large emphasis on logic, specifically dialectical reasoning, making seminal developments. Amartism would gain traction but would decline with the advent of Apiashal. Uiraka the Amartist, who developed logic beyond mere dialectical reasoning, was the last great Amartist.

Technology

Scientific Discoveries

Knowledge from Zaqir was imported, and it was discovered that the world was not actually flat, but spherical. Qabaru (241 – 327 E.C., 157  - 243 A.E.), a teacher who had travelled to Zaqir, was initially interested in engineering, but became aware of other knowledge. His writing On the Earth, distributed 299 E.C. (215 A.E.), revealed this magnificent discovery, and after a short controversy it was accept as fact.

Astrology was seen as science, and the greatest of the ancient Ashkarian astrologers was Li-Bappir (284 – 384 E.C., 200 – 300 A.E.). Greatly talented as far as that is possible is these things, he developed a system where the movements of the heavenly bodies showed the blessings and curses of the gods. The movements of the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies would have an effect on the world, he thought.

Li-Bappir taught Edony (314 – 409 E.C, 230 – 325 A.E.), influenced equally by his master’s study of cause and effect and heavenly bodies and the knowledge of a spherical world, he made strides in astronomy based purely on empirical and arithmetical methods. By 355 E.C. (271 A.E.) he catalogued the stars and constellations and the cycles of the heavenly bodies, then continued by creating a more accurate calendar through knowledge of solar and lunar cycles, and thought that not only did the earth and heavenly bodies rotate, but the cosmos as well. Realizing irregularities in the sun’s cyclic rotations, he assumed its movement was arbitrary because it was a god. The irregularities were in fact due to the earth’s rotation around the sun.

The mathematician Baraqu (306 – 377 E.C., 222 – 293 A.E.) used advances in mathematical geometry, as well as his own innovations, to invent Baraqu’s screw, a machine that transfer water by pumping a screw-shaped surface inside a pipe.

Yaamu (384 - 464 E.C., 300 - 380 A.E.) an accomplished traveler and sea captain, created the first Ashkarian map of the world. However, it was quite rough, with continents which seem to go on for far too long and a number of errors involving scale. He knew of the Prometheans and had a relatively accurate idea of their holdings, but had very little information on the dwarves, and assumed they had the whole of the continent from the edges of Promethea to the land of the Reguli.

Military

No notable changes.

Territorial Expansion

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