...let's go east! EASTERN HISTORY of The Continent North of The New Sea Part 2 (370RT - 870RT) Introduction- [In what manner] may the Loninen go about the complete conquer of the southern enemy (Sythe)? They will surely fail before every [commoner] hears what his [leader] now [has conference] on. For centuries, we lament a defeat, and now we slowly prepare [to avenge]... -- Dahlke Vehlutehleh Ahdahde Beteh Dezeh Hahk, Pudelehlkahn of Orhsa (569RT) from the Official Records (sk, Daalkyy Veeluuteelee Aadaadyy Byytee Dyyzee Haak) (en, Daalkae DAHL-kae [from] The Line of He who [Overcame] Protection) On the brink of war with the ominous Empire of Sythe, the Loninen had approached the leadership of Orhsa with hopes of securing an alliance with the presently powerful tributary city-state. The Pudelehlkahn, as is here illustrated, scorned the proposition of the Loninen with the past experiences of Orhsa itself and reference to the Orhsan conflict with Sythe from 327 to 331RT. He could hardly believe it when, eight years after his conclusion, the Loninen brought the great empire under their rule. His attitude matched the general sentiment of the Fho Plain: how could the nomads take on an established state? Though they would have nominal influence on the overall culture of the Fho populace, the Loninen proved to be part of a signal to the easterners to look beyond themselves. And they, while not the most advanced on their continent, would begin to adapt from these important formative times onward. P r o d u c e d b y D W P C o . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DWPCo. (c)MMIX-MMXIV DWPCO. TRANSLEARN (c)MMXIII ALLIED ENTERTAINMENT (c)MMXI Trademarks provided by MDU (Multidimensional United) NOTE: The Traader used in this work is Golden Age Traader, the dialect of the Central Empire's capital far in the west. In reality, the Traader sounds nothing like this but it is important to provide the base for the sound and morphologic changes (such as the loss of much verb synthesis) which will be later applied to adjust to the age and easterness of the language. NOTE: The dates used are in the traditional western reckoning of RT. These will be adjusted for the east and such "revised" dates included in the work. NOTE: In earlier works, the Loninen are referred to as "Lonites" or "Eastern Barbarians". "Loninen" is simply closest to the way that Sekuuns and Traaders would personally refer to the inhabitants of the Lehlehk desert. NOTE: Maken city-state names and personal names featured in this work are either Traader-itized beyond original comprehension or based on Fho corruptions of Maken names. The original Maken names are at this time unavailable with the language of Maken not even being fully catalogged. Complicating things, the Traader localizer ("n"/"en") has been appended despite the foreign origin. GLOSSARY OF FHO TERMS AND CONCEPTS: lahbehd - the staple crop of the Fho civilizations; it was cultivated based on a tropical-like climate with a single long rainy season in the early summer (not to mention intensive irrigation and field-flooding) lukehk - a bureacratic agency in preclassical Sythe Lukehklehlkah - the Public Works Agency, it managed the construction and redemption of irrigation works, utehlhah, and public projects Lukehktelehvnu - the Commissions Agency, it functioned as the library for the empire and often produced the closest advisors to the Pudelehlkahvahn during times of deliberation Lukehkzehlkah - the Ancestral Agency, it managed the zehlkahupahk, collected taxes, and set the standards for religious adherence nahkle - the staple crop of the western civilizations (at the time, Sekuun Empire and Yaardsvaav); it was cultivated based on a temperate climate with regular light rains throughout the spring and early summer Pudelehlkahn - the Father of a clan; he made the ultimate decisions concerning his clan and its assets Pudelehlkahvahn - with the augmentative suffix 'vah' added, the word for the leader of a clan was transformed into that for 'Emperor'; the modern form derived is 'Kahvahn' Pudelukehk - (en, Father of the Agency) the high official of one of the three main agencies in the Sythen bureaucracy Tehlkem - The northern outpost of the Orhsan who cultivated nahkle and gave up the traditional lahbehd work utehlhah - the ancestral house at the center of zehlkahupahk life; here, taxes were collected, marriages conducted, funerals directed, and offerings made zehlkahupahk - a subclan prefecture of the imperial government as standardized in Sythe zehlkahvehlute - the Upper Fho word for clan; an allomorph was used along the coast CIVILIZATIONS MENTIONED: Ahkze (Fho) - a coastal clan most noted for its early talks with the foremost Maken explorers; the first of the Fho civilizations to build boats Hahdehb (Fho) - a northern clan neighboring Orhsa, they were stagnating by the 450s RT and conquered by Orhsa to become important tribute-payers Hehkvahv (Lelehk) - founded in 564RT by a Loninen tribe leader, it would match the trade-government of Yaardsvaav and become the gateway to Fho for western merchants Lehlehvahv (Lelehk) - founded in the 540s RT by the Loninen tribe leader Kehtulah, it was the first Loninen state that resulted from the "Upset of the Desert Balance" Maken (Maken) - the first Maken seafarers entered their namesake islands (then uninhabited) in the first decade of the 300s RT; they would interact with the coastal Fho clans, bringing them boats and knowledge of the stars Mud (Maken) - one of the two Maken city-states that participated in the sudden colonialization of first the Fho Delta and then the entire Northern Fho Plain Nekul, Empire of (Fho) - founded in 339RT, this small empire effectively duplicated the political system of Sythe with its own Pudelehlkahvahn Orhsa (Fho) - slowly transformed from a strong clan to great tributary city- state in the 290s RT, it would go on to expand into the northern forests and foster the cultivation of nahkle there Sekuun Empire (Western) - founded with the Sekuun conquer of Trada-town in 259RT, it would be the first imperial government in the west and would fall only with the unexpected success of the army of Yaardsvaav in 708RT; this signified the return to the dominance of trade-government in the west Sythe, city-state of (Fho) - the other city-state effected from the events of the 290s RT, Sythe would prove to be the dominant power on the southern Fho Triplet and would only end when it was transformed into an empire in 327RT Sythe, Empire of (Fho) - founded with the usurpation of the Sythen Pudelehlkahn by Fahltem Vehlutehahknahzehn in 327RT, it would be the first imperial government in the Fho River Basin and would fall with the invasion of the Loninen in 578RT Ukkah (Maken) - one of the two Maken city-states that participated in the sudden colonialization of first the Fho Delta and then the entire Northern Fho Plain Unfehklah (Ancient Fho) - one of the last ancient clans, the Unfehklah invented irrigation and through this gained great, if ephemeral, power Yaardsvaav (Western) - founded by Nonk Yaard in the 540s RT, this city-state revisited the trade-government which was vanquished by the Sekuun Empire; it would topple the great empire in 708RT, thereafter rising to great prosperity and name CITIES MENTIONED: Ahkzehahv (Fho) - the urban area central to the Ahkze clan domains; featured ports Ahlzeh (Fho) - the village of the Ahlzeh zehlkahupahk (Sythe) turned halfway point between the Pudelehlkahvahn and the Pudelukehk under the Lehdku Dynasty Ahnehulhahv (Fho) - the city on the Fho Delta; featured ports Dehpehvahv (Fho) - capital of Orhsa Hehkvahv (Lelehk) - urban area of the city-state of Hehkvahv Lehlehvahv (Lelehk) - urban area of the city-state of Lehlehvahv; the imperial capital of Sythe during the Lehdku Dynasty Sythehahv (Fho) - capital of Sythe and, later, the Unity Dynasty of the Empire of Sythe; the bureaucratic capital of the Lehdku Dynasty Yaardsvaav (Western) - urban area of the city-state of Yaardsvaav CONFLICTS MENTIONED: TIME (= RT) NAME BELLIGERENTS 327RT - 331RT Siege of Orhsa Empire of Sythe (advantage) vs. Orhsa 456RT - 457RT Northern War Orhsa (victor) vs. Hahdehb 567RT - 577RT Lehdku War Lehlehvahv (victor) vs. Empire of Sythe 712RT - 719RT Ahkze-Mud War Mud (victor) vs. Ahkze 712RT - 738RT Colony War Mud vs. Ukkah (advantage) 752RT - 753RT Orhsa-Maken War Mud, Ukkah vs. Orhsa (victor) 751RT - 755RT Coastal War Ukkah, Mud (advantage) vs. Ahkze, Coastal Clans 767RT - 775RT Middle Fho War Empire of Sythe vs. Orhsa (advantage) 773RT - 777RT Succession War Successor Brother vs. Kuzkehl (victor) NOTE: Of course, many other minor conflicts occured during this lengthy timespan; they are simply not mentioned here as they are not fundamental to the history of the region overall. SUCCESSION OF PUDELEHLKAHVAHN OF THE EMPIRE OF SYTHE TO 642RT: REIGN (= RT) NAME MODUS MORTĪ 327RT - 331RT Fahltem Vehlutehahknahzehn (Assassination) Unity Dynasty 331RT - 354RT Vahnu Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Old Age) 355RT - 388RT Ahnehk Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Old Age) 388RT - 451RT Dukhahb Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Pneumonia per Attempted Suicide) 451RT - 455RT Kenutahl Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (did not die; peaceful transfer) 455RT - 496RT Dehlhahk Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Old Age) 496RT - 507RT Belehk Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Assassinated) 507RT - 568RT Kehvahm Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Battle Casualty) 568RT - 577RT Hahkle Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh (Executed; End of Dynasty) Lehdku Dynasty 579RT - 603RT Fehlu Vehlutehahz Dehzeham (Heart Condition) 603RT - 642RT Uhaht Vehlutehahz Dehzeham (Old Age) OTHER MENTIONED PUDELEHLKAHVAHN OF THE EMPIRE OF SYTHE: REIGN (= RT) NAME MODUS MORTĪ 726RT - 770RT Hehkdeh Vehlutehleh Dehzeham (Battle Casualty) 777RT - 792RT Kuzkehl Vehlutehleh Dehzeham (Assassinated) 792RT - 821RT Tahkuk Vehlutehleh Dehzeham (Assassinated) 1 : Unity Dynasty -- Empire of Sythe (331RT - 578RT) : Leading the Fho Plain Shifts in Political Structure When Fahltem Vehlutehahknahzehn seized control of the Sythen domains in 327RT, he had little idea of the consequences his actions would effect. The most apparent was the concept that the ultimate leader of the city-state was a father (Pudelehlkahn) no longer, instead being a ruler (Pudelehlkahvahn). The people of Sythe reacted violently to this change, claiming that anyone not of the highest relation to the Pudelehlkahn had no right to dictate the actions of the city- state. Fahltem had quickly responded to these accusations by attempting to point out faults in the religious adherence of the late Pudelehlkahn; his efforts were met with little heed, and the emotion of the public, resulting in part from a recent increase of taxes (indeed enacted by the late Pudelehlkahn), was only largely placated by Fahltem's offense on the Orhsan domain. Interestingly enough, this took Fahltem a whole year to figure out, or perhaps he simply used the time to reform the army to suit his family and supporters. This ploy would last only so long as Fahltem would himself be assassinated in 331RT. This rough start to empire was stabilized by Vahnu Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh, who proved to be insightful and able in the role of a people-pleaser, all the while greatly influencing the fundamental design of the empire he ruled. This formative force only continued under the rule of third Pudelehlkahvahn, Ahnehk Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh, who established international trade and brought the Traader Logography to the Fho Plain. By 390RT, the Fho Plain had been transformed from its prehistorical clan structure to one of great capability and power, though with the increased rigidity that would long characterize the civilizations of the triple rivers. The Pudelehlkahn of the individual tributary clans of Sythe were many and exercised considerable authority in the court of the Pudelehlkahvahn. They, however, were increasingly pulled to the capital and the role of Pudelehlkahn became synonomous with living in the capital, far away from one's home. The direct authority of the Pudelehlkahn on their clans was interrupted by the use of the zehlkahupahk system; these sub-clan prefectures rendered administration by a Pudelehlkahn over a certain region of the empire impossible. Instead, a growing bureaucracy supplied court officials (all too often from the close relatives or clan members of the Pudelehlkahvahn) to administer these divisions. The Pudelehlkahn almost blindly watched their power decrease as first Vahnu, then, Ahnehk expanded the empire then did that which they wished with the whole system. The piety of the masses was thus equally justified; the zehlkahupahk functioned as religious divisions, each featuring an utehlhah central to the region. The utehlhah came to be a community center for the zehlkahupahk where before such was supplied by the house of the Pudelehlkahn (this was increasingly inhabited by only the unmarried daughters of the Pudelehlkahn, who dared not travel to Sythehahv save they be forced into marriage by some powerful clan, or perhaps the Pudelehlkahvahn himself). The slow transfer of land from clan ownership to the royals was indeed caused by this mentioned circumstance. The Pudelehlkahvahn would often seize useful and long-cultivated land from the Pudelehlkahn only to end in "paying back" the assets gained with frontier land that once developed, would be acquired in this vicious cycle, forever exhausting clan wealth. The bureaucracy of the court only increased from the last decade of the 300s RT. Elite officials were usually appointed by the Pudelehlkahvahn directly and came from either closely connected clans or other powerful units; this instance was usually to further limit the power of the Pudelehlkahn of that clan in the court as his family was now indebted to the Pudelehlkahvahn for the appointment. Three main agencies developed to administer the populace, each representing a certain aspect of Fho Culture: the Lukehkzehlkah (en, [Agency] of the Ancestors), the Lukehklehlkah (en, [Agency] of the grasslands), and the Lukehktelehvnu (en, [Agency] of the commission (of texts)). Each of these agencies featured a high official, a Pudelukehk (en, father of the [Agency]), who reported directly to the Pudelehlkahvahn. The meaning of the high title was taken quite literally; this was indeed part of the centralization process as a prominent citizen could be a man of his clan and be the father of it, just as his younger brother could participate in his agency and be the father of it. Despite this effort by the Pudelehlkahvahn, however, the bureaucrat was never as valued in society as the patriarch, and this would always threaten centralization. The bureaucracy was also characterized by the dependence on family ties to enter even the lowest positions. The situation was confused by the large number of lines that had been "founding officials" of the officiate as families would often feud over their positions in the bureaucracy. The Pudelehlkahvahn was always watching, though, and those who performed well would be duly rewarded, making the system somewhat meritocritous (those rewarded would then, however, easily bring their families to work with them). Though the three lukehk were practically divided along the cultural and philosphical lines of the Fho lifestyle, the reality of the situation was quite pitched in the direction of the Lukehkzehlkah with a distant second Lukehklehlkah and a trailing third Lukehktelehvnu. The Ancestral Agency found itself in charge of zehlkahupahk administration and tax collection while the duties of the Lukehklehlkah revolved around the repairing and upkeep of irrigation works (some of which was and long would be under the charge of the clans themselves) as well as all construction of monuments and of public works. The Commission Agency found itself as a small and elite group of skilled writers who functioned as scribes, poets, and artists for the use of the ruler. Being small and closer to the Pudelehlkahvahn himself, the Lukehktelehvnu would often be used as a ear for the Pudelehlkahvahn to root out corruption and greedy clan officials. Religious and Societal Directions Tax collection and ancestor-worship were at first merely conducted at the same place (the utehlhah), then on the same days, and finally were deemed to be interrelated and complementing. The practice of tribute and offering dedicated to the Ancestors became nearly synonomous with the tax sent to the capital. From the 390s RT, a great increase in the ritualization of the Fho ancestor-worship effected a strict system that used political structure to match and back up the evolving religious theory so important to Fho conformity. A number of Tribute or Ancestral Days were scheduled on an astrological calendar borrowed from the coastal clan units (these had adapted it from the bearings system of the Maken seafarers). These became holidays and festivals as well as tax collection events. The elderly of the clans and especially the Pudelehlkahn were expected increasingly to medidate daily to receive the words of the Ancestors on the topic of the best irrigation works around. Marriages were rendered null and void if favorable results were not returned on the Third Day's Tribute (curiously enough, three days was also deemed the amount of time necessary to inspect the dowry properties paid to the suitor's family). Death ceremonies of a father of any family, however large, either left clear instructions from the Ancestors as to the placement of the line under another father or with lack thereof, the placement of the family into slavery under the Pudelehlkahvahn. With the ever-growing population of the Fho Plain (and especially in the rather ordered Empire of Sythe), marriages were ever aggregated by a suitor and cursed by a father somewhere. Not only was the dowry a terrible financial burden for a family, but also it proved to subjugate one line to another for generations. By the 390s RT, veils were first seen worn by women in public and especially in the presence of men so as to protect them from identification and marriage. At first only a practice of the most prestigious families, the trend spread around the whole society by the end of the century. By this time, men would be surprised to witness a woman without a veil and considered the veil a form of appeal as opposed to a bare face. Children born in the 390s RT and later would balk and avert their eyes from women's faces lacking veils. The wealthiest would then go a step further, often hiding and locking their daughters away until they were safely above marrying age. Infanticide was considered one of the worst crimes possible by a Sythen and the doing was said to curse one's line for generations. An object of popular criticism, the daughter of the Pudelehlkahvahn Dukhahb was forced to insanity and starved herself to death as a result of her imprisonment: ...and the beautiful thing, thin as a stick, she let out one single breath, [this breath was all too solemn, it was the last one she had,] now the Ancestors, with graceful hands, they accepted her without protest... --"Nukehdelpudelehlkahvahn" Kulehd Vehlutehbehzuke Dehketehl (413RT), this poem illustrated the dark extent of the prevention of marriage (en, "The Emperor's Daughter") Levels of wealth greatly categorized the Sythen population by the early 400s RT and produced more rigid societal roles than ever before. Though not going as far to include differing ways of expression for clans differing in societal class, the stress on the word for clan, "zehlkahvehlute," had shifted to the second syllable for a respected clan and the fourth syllable for clans of lower prowess than the speaker by 410RT. Clans impoverished from the unfortunate bearing of a generation of daughters lost status as clans that commanded huge gains in dowry rose to the top position in society. Being so dependant on the equal possibility of male or female child, social mobility as an individual was quite limited while that of the entirety of a line (or a whole clan) was fluid, as the next generation could fundamentally shift the wealth and property of the clan. This created temporary aristocracies and alliances among clans that maximally failed to form permanent bonds or factions because of the flux of society (much to the benefit to the Pudelehlkahvahn and his bureaucracy). By the 430s RT, however, the richest clans managed to stay above those which were trodden down with generational misfortunes, but the large "middle class" of constant change would always exist and be a cruical part of Sythen society. As an effect of the great generational change in Sythe, the Sythen (as well as Fho people as a whole), tended to look at the passage of time in a manner of generations, these periods being marked by a marriage between two clans that matched for the most part the trends of the next few years. This view of years made itself clear in the manner in which year reckoning was represented. Once again based on the lunar calendar, some Pudelehlkahn came together in 409RT to discuss the periodization of the time of the empire (a separate system would arise to deal with the time before the empire existed). The year 409RT was set to be viewed as the twenty-fifth year since the family Vehlutehpudehz Dehvahlku (en, the Line of the New [Army]) married their daughter to a son from the family Vehlutehkedeht Dehtahve (en, the Line of the Violent Vision). The count was demonstrated thus: 25 Vehlutehpudehz Dehvahlku bed vehd zehlkehd Vehlutehkedeht Dehtahve (en, 25 the Line of the New [Army] (here) allowed the Line of the Violent Vision) Note that this long romanization is representative of only 9 characters; even so, the verb would be omitted for abbreviation to 6 characters in less formal cases. The Pudelehlkahvahn Dukhahb, despite already measuring time since the ascension of his grandfather Vahnu (a rather practical method), switched to the marriage- based reckoning system officially in the same year due to its wide popularity. The Peaceful 400s RT and Clan Culture In 388RT, the Pudelehlkahvahn Ahnehk, an astounding seventy-one years old, lay sick in the palace. He called his only son, Dukhahb and his daughter, Kenutahl, to his side and entrusted his title to Dukhahb and the protection of the title to Kenutahl, who would prove a force to be reckoned with in government. After his daughter's death in 413RT, the Pudelehlkahvahn Dukhahb became an ineffective leader for many years and left the management of the great empire largely to his sister. Dukhahb would rule as a veritable instrument of Kenutahl through the middle of the century until he fell sick after jumping into the Sythen River most likely to end his suffering. In 455RT, the Pudelehlkahvahn Dehlhahk, the son of Dukhahb, would receive the authority of both his late father and Kenutahl peacefully. Despite court battles in the first half of the 400s RT between Kenutahl and Dukhahb's queen, reaching their height in the early 440s RT, the empire would not go to war or expand its borders in this era of wealth and prosperity. Trade with the Loninen (and indirectly, with the great Sekuun Empire) developed further into the 400s RT. Where before the trade from west to east consisted largely of iron tools and the metal itself, it now included some western luxury items, especially dishes, which came to show (but not symbolize) wealth in Fho society. Most of the merchants traded in Sythehahv, but still a steadfast number found themselves in Orhsa for lower exchange rates despite the longer trip. The westernmost Sythen domains were nominally arable and quite desertous, and the rule of these influenced the Loninen mercantile practices, as those merchants who hailed from these "in-between" regions found themselves compelled to accept the clan system from religious and financial duty to the Pudelehlkahvahn. The only major decision of Dukhahb (and not of Kenutahl) was the indifference to trade that was practiced from 401RT. The Loninen living in the border regions were forced, by tribute requirements, to begin the mass cultivation of lahbehd from this time, regardless of their importance as merchants. This shift in the roles of the Loninen is often known as the "Upset of the Desert Balance" and its effects, direct and indirect, would soon plague Sythe (and the civilizations of the west). Clans, having been greatly subdivided by, first, their organic growth to great sizes and, second, their realignment into zehlkahupahk, faced great confusion as a whole clan and by 360RT, individual members ceased to identify with a clan as a sole family group but rather a line. This was reflected in nomenclature, with one's personal name followed by the line name (the clan name was included as third, but often omitted). Most of the line names had been created before the beginning of the empire, but their use did not completely solidify until the clans were deemphazised with the zehlkahupahk system. They traditionally told of some act or trait of the founder of the line or perhaps expressed a symbol of the line. Mostly, they were a substantive modified by an adjective, but in some cases, the line names featured a relative clause to show an action (best shown by the line of the Pudelehlkahvahn, which translated to "the line of he who unified"). The clans, however, predominated the family system, overarching the lines completely. The Pudelehlkahn of a certain clan did not consistently come from the same line, as the system of selection was based on the ancestral will and on the age of the prospective Pudelehlkahn, often with the incumbent line being unable to produce another elderly candidate (from a different generation, that is: younger brothers frequently took control for a few years after the death of a Pudelehlkahvahn). Line status chiefly derived from the status of a whole clan and was affected greatly by the activities of other lines in the clans, even if those actions were completely unrelated to the original line. The subject of geneology was a hot one in Fho society, and great efforts were made from the genesis of writing to preserve one's clan information and pass it accurately and completely on to the next generation. Oftentimes, the geneologies began with the founder of the line on which the record was written and contained all those with the line name despite how erratic the line's displacement and marriage practice was. As a result, the Pudevehluteh (en, the Father(s) of the Line(s)) were often worshipped directly when the Ancestors were addressed perhaps as a line patron. The clan-founders would remain far more important in general ancestor-worship, and would stay forever the object of the "irrigation deal" laments and prayers. Religious punishment was usually issued on a clanwide basis; and all the clan was expected to be present at clan festivals, holidays, marriages, and funerals. Occasionally marriage partners were from the same clan (in fact not looked down upon), but maximally, marriages were between two different clans for the purpose of obtaining the dowry property of another clan. The concept of line-owned property was rather undeveloped, so the former case mostly did not effect landholdings greatly. Opportunities and priviledges came with being in wealthy and influential clans just as life was harder as a member of an impoverished clan. The clan and line cultures standardized by Sythe would indeed carry over to all the residents of the Fho Plain, even to the coastline. 2 : Later Orhsa (410RT - 600RT) : Bringing Balance to the Fho Plain The Northward Push and Resurgence of Power In the early 400s RT, as the great southern empire of Sythe gained great power and further formalized the ancestor-worship culture, Orhsa lagged behind the trend of development. For now, the right side of the Middle Fho Triplet was the southern side. Due to overall loss of power and economic decline, irrigation works fell into disrepair and many were unable to support the water-intensive cultivation of lahbehd. With the international trade from the Loninen merchants only increasing with the slow transfer of spices west, some Loninen offered up the iron tools of the Sekuun Empire in exchange for luxuries. The Fho states had already worked iron for some time, but the iron tools were heartily accepted by the Orhsan peoples despite their original construction as farm implements for the cultivation of nahkle (the western staple crop). Until the 410s and 420s RT, the Orhsan mostly repurposed the iron tools for their own uses, but some impoverished lines and tributary clans became interested in their original use, which the Loninen pointed out was for a "much less troublesome plant." At some juncture, the most impoverished clans began to attempt at farming nahkle; their first ventures were met with failure as the climate of the river basin was too warm and the rainy season too long and infrequent. While these first trials were initiated, some Orhsan pursued an alternative to impoverished life on the river: moving north to an area of forested hills. Not many succeeded in the area as lahbehd was not viable in the region, but with the introduction of nahkle, it was only so long before the northern alternative was combined with the new crop. Unlike lahbehd, nahkle would flourish in the forested hills of the north which was indeed somewhat like the Ubiscē River Basin of the west. By 434RT, Orhsa had effectively established a northern outpost at what would become known as the Tehlkem utehlhah. When his descendents went to the north, the Pudelehlkahn still maintained standard tribute and governing systems upon them, preserving the unity of Orhsan everywhere. Life in Tehlkem was hard, with the struggle of mastering new cultivation methods matched by the continued struggle of those migrating to pay tribute to the Pudelehlkahn. The lower density of labor and population involved with the less water-intensive but more land-intensive nahkle strained the utehlhah system and often the people felt isolated in a strange land despite some success with mass nahkle cultivation by the late 420s RT. Contact between Tehlkem and Orhsa proper remained frequent and the Loninen merchants often extended their journeys to Tehlkem as the Orhsan there were quite interested in the tools the Loninen traded. In 442RT, the Pudelehlkahn Kehlaht visited Tehlkem himself as his brother had farmed there since early adulthood. Like the Empire of Sythe, Orhsa had tributary clans within its domains, and the Pudelehlkahn of these were subject to loss of power. However, with the lack of presence of a figure above the status of Pudelehlkahn (for Sythe, the Pudelehlkahvahn was the ultimate ruler) and the general disorganization and decentralized nature of the government, the Pudelehlkahn were in most cases able to stay within their own domains, and the partition of the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn of his state into divisions similar to the Sythen zehlkahupahk would have little effect on their constant handle of their clans. But, with the unprecedented instance of Tehlkem, the residents of which coming from many different lines and clans and therefore not under the clear direction of a certain Pudelehlkahn (who would not be present in Tehlkem), the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn was able to gain more power over the tributary Pudelehlkahn. He appointed officials to directly manage the region and became the direct ruler of those in the northern outpost. The tributary Pudelehlkahn also suffered from the depopulation of their clan by those moving to Tehlkem. The Orhsan Pudelehlkahn slowly built, like the Empire of Sythe, a vibrant court bureaucracy; by 450RT, the tributary Pudelehlkahn had been completely "humbled" by the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn, and (again like Sythe) the Pudelehlkahn Kehlaht had built a strong conquest army. He first directed this at the clan just east of Orhsa, Hahdehb. Hahdehb was experiencing a situation of depression and poverty similar to the Orhsa of perhaps thirty years prior, but the creation of the nahkle-dependent Tehlkem had thoroughly transformed Orhsa and left Hahdehb behind. The Hahdehb Pudelehlkahn, only expecting offensives from the traditionally aggressive southern Empire of Sythe, was rendered quite unprepared for the Orhsan army and was forced to cede the clan's domains to Orhsa early in 457RT. The small Empire of Nekul to the direct west of Orhsa had effectively duplicated the Sythen system (perhaps with the similar fascination with the late 350s RT western expansion) to the degree of adapting their ruler to the title of Pudelehlkahvahn; they proved fearsome to Orhsa even after their conquer of Hahdehb. So, Orhsa proceeded to expand north once again; this time it would be a true conquest of the northern regions. By 465RT, the domains of the Orhsa stretched far across the northern forests (though much of this land was sparsely populated). All this new land acquired in the 450s and 460s RT only heightened the power of the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn. The great expansion resulted in three-fourths of the Orhsan domains falling under direct control by the Pudelehlkahn and his growing bureaucracy although only two-thirds of the total population under Orhsan rule inhabited these regions. Retired officers from the army were appointed to manage the new lands of the Orhsa; these would provide opposition to the will of the tributary Pudelehlkahn in government and proved to drown out their claims of hereditary control of their districts. While the Orhsa failed to institute bureaucratic control of their original domains, the majority of the population and land was, and this would subject the tributary Pudelehlkahn to increased regulation and overall control of their actions. The lahbehd cultivation around Dehpehvahv and in the original Orhsan land began a slow recovery as well in the late 460s RT with the overall decrease in stress on the fields with the lower population in the area from the move north to Tehlkem. Improperly tended works were repaired with the new tributes and taxes paid to the old regions of Orhsa. Overall, the conquest had only strengthened the state, which was effectively an empire into the last half of the 400s RT. The structure of Orhsa, however, was realized as a tributary city-state with a more "civil" government in the city and the original domains and what seemed like a military organization ruling the outermost provinces. Unlike in the Empire of Sythe, the Orhsan did not divide their realm into the subclan zehlkahupahk; this again reflected the lesser power of the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn over the tributary Pudelehlkahn. Instead, they largely partitioned the land directly into clan districts characterized by the presence of a single utehlhah. These were controlled by the tributary Pudelehlkahn in the original Orhsan domains; the court officials often had quite a time wresting control of the newer lands from their original Pudelehlkahn (both would try to prove to the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn that their direction would be the most effective and efficient). Obviously, the court officials won out, but in the 490s RT, the Hahdehb would rebel just short of success, and this would grant them some concession from the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn with the reinstatement of the Hahdehb Pudelehlkahn as the ruler of the direct Hahdehb domains (not the tributary regions of the previous Hahdehb state). This only further contributed to the irregularity of the whole of the Orhsan government. The preexisting unity in both religion and language, however, still managed to bind the regions together; the form of the Orhsan government did not hinder the overall progress and rejuvenation that occurred in the 400s and the early 500s RT. Change in the Desert and Orhsa in the 500s RT Orhsan trade with the Loninen only increased despite the Sythen conquest of some desertous regions and the regression of some Loninen mercantile activities this caused. Dehpehvahv grew larger with not only the residences of court officials but also with the buildings of Loninen trade organizations and entertainment and boarding venues for the tired merchants. The longer and more arduous route directly to Orhsa as opposed to that which went through Sythe became busy and well-guarded by both Orhsan ranks and Loninen tribesmen. Where the Sekuun Empire pioneered early road systems in the west, not otherwise was Orhsa, which with help from the Loninen produced markers along the route from the Lehlehk Desert to Dehpehvahv and even the way that wended travelers to Tehlkem. While much of this shows the influence of international trade on Orhsa, the influence of the Orhsan on the traders must also be considered. The Loninen, especially those in the newly conquered regions of the Empire of Sythe increasingly cultivated lahbehd and/or nahkle (surely depending on the area) as the 400s RT came to a close. The shift to an agricultural lifestyle for a people used to nomadic traditions would not be without consequences. The Loninen on the arable fringes of the desert began to pioneer statehood; it would take much time for this practice to be realized, the ends of the process not being seen until the mid- 500s RT. The loss of the mercantile incentive in the Loninen of the westernmost zehlkahupahk of Sythe in 401RT was perpetuated by a decade of bad harvests and then famine in the Sekuun Empire in the 430s RT, which proved to be even more of a deterrent to the Loninen merchants. Overall, trade declined, but the Orhsan predominance only grew, giving the Orhsan economy apparent growth. As the Loninen shifted to agriculture as a means of subsistence, their society became more stratified and began to go through a pattern of centralization not unfamiliar to the inhabitants of the Fho River Basin. Those under the rule of the Sythen Pudelehlkahvahn shifted their concepts of tribes to organization as clans. Those suffering the trade depression and not under outside rule looked to Orhsa as a model for an "agricultural state." The clan structure was nominally applied to tribe conductions and ancestor-worship gained some Loninen adherents. By 540RT, formalized Loninen governments had begun to appear; the city-state of Lehlehvahv (indeed, this is the state from which the name for the desert was derived) was founded by the tribe leader Kehtulah and announced friendly terms with Orhsa. Lehlehvahv was quickly accompanied by many other small states on the fringes of arable land as well as some on the southern coast. Even those close to and neighboring the Empire of Sythe would follow Orhsan customs to an almost religious degree but would tread carefully around the great southern empire with its great size and army. While these states did not pay tribute to Orhsa directly, the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn found gratification in his support for the road system in the tolls which he placed on the merchants' use of the routes. Already having experienced the downfall of their previous attempt at alliance, Orhsa would not try to overtly bind the many Loninen states to themselves or to each other. This would allow some of the states battle each other for domination of particular regions, a development which effectively delayed the aggression of the Loninen towards Sythe. The Orhsan domains, already recovering rapidly with the resurgence of lahbehd cultivation in the 460s RT, benefitted greatly from the presence of Loninen states around Sythe. The expansion north had begun to pique the interest of the Empire of Sythe; their sudden surrounding with Loninen that seemed all too eager to support Orhsa caused a reconsideration of this interest. The young Pudelehlkahvahn Dehlhahk would be unable to accomplish expansion of the empire like his grandfather Ahnehk had done. It was as if Orhsa had been transformed from a weak unit to a powerful state over the course of just forty-odd years from 425 to 465RT. The Orhsan Pudelehlkahn Kehlaht had given his country great power, and would pass this power to the next logical successor, the Pudelehlkahn Nahtul Vehlutehpudehz Dehpahvvah (en, the Line of the Good [Army]) who was fourth cousins with Kehlaht. The Orhsan populace would not be governed by a hereditary tradition like Sythe instead preserving the traditional Ancestral system, and they would long gloat that this was an important form of piety to the Ancestors that the Empires of Sythe and Nekul missed with their system of Pudelehlkahvahn rulers. In accordance with this, Orhsa would be viewed for no short time as a more conservative Fho state and would be the source of religious revivals for centuries despite their unusual streak of Loninen trade. For Orhsa, the following hundred years after the 460s RT allowed them to test their greater role in the Fho Plain and solidify their position. The Orhsan population greatly increased from 470RT onward, but the growth was largely sustainable with the surplus moving north to cultivate nahkle in Tehlkem (and in the other northern regions recently conquered). Dehpehvahv weathered the increase in Orhsan power with determined resurgence of life and activity. In 518RT, the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn Nehkud Vehlutehkulahvehv Dehkehvle (en, Nehkud (from) the Line of the Certain Harvest) expanded the Grand Utehlhah at Dehpehvahv and founded the first institute of higher learning in the Fho Plain, the Lahdehvahluvahvubezehk (en, Realizing (of) Permitted Matters). Here, literature, prose and poetry, flourished and reached new heights. The first Eastern Traader Language grammar was published from this early university in 539RT. Long beaten by Sythehahv in size and population, Dehpehvahv would still not match the capital of Sythe in this era, but it was widely known as much more busy and interesting. What remained of the Loninen trade was centered here and the city became not simply a residence for the Ancestors and the Pudelehlkahn, but also a place of learning and some commerce (note that there were no Orhsan merchants in existence). By the 560s RT, the Loninen had also completely transformed. Their adoption of agriculture in many regions led them to mimic another feature of the Fho units: aggressiveness. The Loninen states built massive armies just as Orhsa and Sythe had done; their nomadic mindset of never completely settling down was kept in use, causing frequent conflict among the many states. Not only near the Fho Plain did the Loninen build states; the city-state of Hehkvahv was founded on the steppe just east of the Ubiscē River Basin in 564RT, borrowing some governmental organization from Yaardsvaav. This constant presence of Loninen states around the Empire of Sythe aggravated the Pudelehlkahvahn Kehvahm, who had ascended after the assassination of the Pudelehlkahvahn Belehk in 507RT and despite being quite elderly in 567RT (fifty years of rule, no less) broke the long trend of peace for Sythe and fought to push to the southern coastline through the Loninen states which lined the sea and had been daunting the outer provinces of the empire. This decision would cost Kehvahm his life; he would die one year into the conflict at the first major battle in a ten-year long war that would change Sythe forever. 3 : Lehdku Dynasty -- Empire of Sythe (579RT - 642RT) : Introducing New Ideas War Rages in the Southern Fho Plain The Pudelehlkahvahn Kehvahm had good prospects when he sent his army into the Loninen states barring Sythe's way to the southern coastline. The army was the largest in the Fho Plain, and had the latest military technology. The states to be conquered were small in size and weak in resources. However, these states had much to lose, and the entire population was roused to war as in the nomadic tradition. The size of the forces surprised the Sythen generals, but the Sythen army still far outmatched that of the Loninen. The states also faced disunity in the face of what was a common problem; they would still bicker and quarrel even as the situation became increasingly dire. Despite how motivated these small units were, they would suffer much loss in the first year of the war. Sythe did not drive all the way to the coast, but they had broken states and defeated armies. Seeing itself as the foremost in the matters (though uninvolved in the conflict), the city-state of Lehlehvahv consulted the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn about the rapidly-ending war in the south. Like the Loninen of Lehlehvahv, Orhsa did not support the Empire of Sythe in the conflict but was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to show support for the Loninen. In the talks, it was suggested that the Loninen combine their forces against Sythe; Orhsa would maintain a rather backseat and diplomatic role in the conflict through its entire course but would remain open to Loninen trade. The leaders of Lehlehvahv, however, had been exacerbated enough by the conflict and after returning from Orhsa, would consult the other Loninen states west of Sythe (those previously unaffected by the war) to discuss some idea of a unified, Loninen cause. The other states quickly agreed that the cause of defeating the ominous empire, which had always made them apprehensive, was just, but they were likewise apprehensive of the nature of the intentions of Lehlehvahv in creating an alliance (not unlike the attitude of the clans of Nekul and Hahdehb toward Orhsan alliance centuries previous). Only in early 568RT, when the leaders of Lehlehvahv promised joint management of any lands conquered, did some other Loninen states agree to the alliance against Orhsa. A great combined army was hastily assembled: half was sent to the losing states to reinvigorate the front there; the other division was sent to invade the westernmost provinces of Sythe. The Pudelehlkahvahn Kehvahm had dedicated his forces maximally to the south; such was the place of his objective. The forces that were available for repelling the western invasion were greatly unprepared and misdirected, and when they went against the now unified Loninen, they were met with fierce defense. In the south, where the bulk of the forces were, the Loninen had much more trouble. The war dissoluted into a bloody stalemate for a time until a secret Loninen force flanked the Sythen army and attacked with a new power in the rainy season of 568RT. Kehvahm was disconcerted at this development and himself led a huge force against the Loninen. This would be the last battle he would lead; he would die from a stab wound sustained in the skirmish. His son, Hahkle, would continue fighting with utmost fury and the spirit of vengence for his father's death in his heart. The Loninen expelled the Sythen invasion by 570RT, but the southern war did not end here; the Loninen had gained a new goal upon entering into alliance with Lehlehvahv and the more westerly surrounding Loninen: the annihilation of the Empire of Sythe. This new resolution had been considered to some degree in the Lehlehvahv-Orhsa talks, but no specific decisions had been made, matching the general Orhsan uncertainty and apprehension towards the whole conflict. The leaders of the Loninen states chiefly formed the alliance around the protection of the southern coastline from Sythen domination. As the war went on (and especially with the battlefield death of the Pudelehlkahvahn), the Loninen increasingly saw (whether actually or as a product of fancy) a "kill or be killed" ideology in the Sythen command. Such was a basic component of the aggressive Fho culture built off of highly detrimental clan feuds; defeat, for all practical purposes, was equated to death. In observing this "war fervor," the Loninen leaders decided that it would be best to make the best attempt to conquer Sythe completely save the Sythen army ever pursue the peace-seeking Loninen states. Again, in 571RT, some of the highest Loninen leaders traveled to Orhsa to appeal for help in their plight. Orhsa, cagey over past ventures and untrusting in the institution of alliances, only pledged their trade and arms works to the Loninen, not even entrusting a token force to a cause which was by no means one they did not support. The Loninen leaders would regard this piecemeal support from an old trading partner as ungrateful; this would lead to some dire postwar consequences for Orhsa. Also with the end of 570RT and the beginning of 571RT, the western Loninen faced trouble from what before was a relatively painless drive into the heartlands of Sythe. The empire showed great resilience and managed to nearly double the size of its army; the gains would be devoted to the western incursion. The southern forces were in a similar stalemate after having repulsed the Sythen invasion. The rainy season of 571RT proved to be one of the worst in decades with torrential rains tearing apart irrigation works that were ill-kept with the lack of labor due to the war effort. The bad season afflicted the economy of Sythe, which would only decline from this point. On the other hand, the Loninen came out of the season with heightened morale and targeted resolve; they would slowly drive the Sythen back to their capital at Sythehahv from this point. The remainder of the war was hard, but overall, the disruption in Pudelehlkahvahn leadership caused issues with management and direction among the generals of the Sythen army, some of which would act out of coordination and try to show their individual prowess or defy the orders of the new Pudelehlkahvahn Hahkle. It was tedious and time-consuming, but the war would come to a bloody close with the siege of Sythehahv and the execution of Hahkle in 577RT. The great conquered regions of the empire and the Loninen domains had already begun to be administered from Lehlehvahv by 575RT. It was a simply a matter of cleaning up the last organized resistance in and around the capital, and, in late 578RT, the task was complete. The result was a great upset; never before had the Loninen defeated great empires. The entire Fho Plain was in awe, and the seafaring Maken had also paid close attention to the conflict, which would define the fortunes of the Fho civilizations for centuries to come. The Rule of the Nomads The Loninen were quite overwhelmed with their vast territorial gains, but the war had formed a sense of Loninen comradery to match their alliance. Indeed, the alliance would provide the structural basis on which the Loninen would form their government. In the confusion toward the end of the war, Lehlehvahv was able to take effective control of the Sythen government, leaving those of the other Loninen states to divide the great amount of zehlkahupahk among themselves. It was the sheer extent of centralization of the empire that saved it from partition by the mass of the Loninen states. From the start of their rule, the Loninen would be pulled into assimilation into Fho culture; here, they would preserve the unity of Sythe because of the organization of the empire. In 579RT, the Loninen, in the Sythen fashion, installed the Lehlehvahven noble Fehlu as the next Pudelehlkahvahn of the empire of Sythe. Fehlu was quick to observe traditions and hastily adopted the line name Vehlutehahz Dehzeham (en, the Line of the [Lively] Way). To appease the other Loninen states, the top positions in the three lukehk were given to the leaders of the states which had once lined the southern coastline. The actual process and manner of the Sythen bureaucracy was instructed to these capable Loninen by an array of Sythen officials; managing the great area of Sythe was a fundamental shift from seeing to the city-states (these being new and untested themselves) for the Loninen. The three lukehk were in effect for a time run by the top adivisors to the Loninen Pudelukehk. The original Loninen homelands were divided into zehlkahupahk like the rest of the empire, but taxes on the conquering states were less than normal. Fehlu made his capital at Lehlehvahv, but kept the bureaucratic headquarters of Sythe at Sythehahv; he and his officials would oft meet halfway in a villiage called Ahlzeh, which would grow in importance during this time. The Loninen city of Lehlehvahv, the clan village of Ahlzeh, and the ancient center of Sythehahv would be the objects of increasing commerce during the time of Loninen rule. The older, shorter route to Dehpahvahv would again become predominant as the traditional trade routes through Sythe were directly controlled by the Loninen merchants. The majority of merchants would henceforth not travel directly to Orhsa but rather make stops in Sythe beforehand. Trade, and the tolls on it, paid by merchants from other Loninen states (such as Hehkvahv), brought revenues to the Lukehklehlkah, which managed the rudimentary Sythen road system, (as opposed to the tribute-collecting Lukehkzehlkah) for the first time, shifting the equilibrium among the bureaucratic agencies. Commerce affected the cities greatly by bringing the concept of markets to the city squares, these urban areas before being only districts of palaces and homes of officials. Slowly, the presence of markets began to build a market economy, but this facility was restricted to the wealthiest of lines and the few Sythen merchants (usually orphaned or adopted by Loninen parents). Though the government advocated for commerce, the most pious adherents to the Ancestors harsly denigrated practice and idea of a free market, saying that it disgraced one's line to give up cultivation of lahbehd and enter a foreign trade. Commerce would be one of many features in the Loninen-ruled Sythe that functioned only as an extension of the Loninen presence. Not otherwise was the culture of the Loninen, which was largely lost by the Loninen of Sythe by the early 600s RT. The Sythen were not ready to expel their current leadership from the Vehlutehleh Dahn Beteh; they did not welcome expediently the Loninen. The Sythen saw the Loninen as bothersome nomads, and the prerepresented disposition of the Loninen toward the practice of free markets was certainly present in the opinions of the Sythen. As the Loninen shared language and skin tone with the Sythen (and all those who inhabited the Fho River Basin), the ability of the Sythen people to discriminate the Loninen (or vice versa) was greatly hampered, rendering the Loninen different only in the line names they all eventually chose. The bureaucracy was mainly staffed by Sythen, and great turnover was necessary in the 580s RT as loyal Sythen were found to cooperate with the Pudelehlkahvahn Fehlu. Rebellion in some of the easternmost zehlkahupahk was commonplace during the first decades of Loninen rule; luckily, Fehlu spent most of his time in the Loninen city of Lehlehvahv, far from the vast majority of assassination attempts. He would die of a heart condition in 605RT, and his eldest son, Uhaht, would easily ascend. He, in attempt to both exclude Orhsa from the fruits of a victory to which they had not contributed and play off the popular animosity the average Sythen felt for the northern unit which they had fought so frequently in the past, reduced trade to Orhsa through discouragement and heavy tolling from 612RT. The lack of a certain direction in the policy of Orhsa would be a recurring issue with its international conduct, this situation being only one of many resultants. By and large, the next century for Sythe would be a prosperous one; trade, technological advancements in lahbehd cultivation, and steady but sustainable population growth would characterize the 600s RT for the great empire. The Loninen, who would be assimilated without much consequence into the Sythen population, well-adapted to Fho culture to the detriment of the more egalitarian status of women in their nomadic societies, who would suffer the same repression into the dowry system as did their Sythen neighbors with the further adoption of intensive lahbehd cultivation. Trade, which had served as an important function of the Loninen while in the desert, would enter Sythe in this dynamic era but would fail to entrench itself into Fho culture. The populace would be kept content with the actions of first Fehlu then Uhaht, which were carried out with Sythe in mind. It was not as if, while Sythe grew, that the other regions of the Fho Plain did not likewise advance. Orhsa, unlike during the majority of the first dynasty of the empire, did not stagnate and fall behind; it would continue in its own unique direction. The coastal clans would enter into an uncertain age of increased contact with the Maken islanders; just as ambiguous to the Fho Plain were the events that were instigated by these seafarers. 4 : The Coast and Maken Sea Power (550RT - 760RT) : Dispersing the Fho Way Cultivation on the Coast The original areas in which lahbehd was grown proved to be the least labor- intensive. Here, at the Fho Delta, the least amount of time had to be set aside to repair irrigation works as so much of the irrigation was done by the natural lay of the land. Indeed it had been from the appearence of these lands that the technology of irrigation had been so accurately synthesized. The waters closest to the sea contained the most nutrients; this was reflected in the high yields of the coastal lahbehd works. With less to do than their upriver counterparts, those clansmen on the coast developed an avid taste for fish, the technology for the harvesting of which was slowly developed over hundreds of years. By the last half of the 500s RT, a few lines in each clan were devoted to the labor of fishing exclusively, quite unlike the upriver aversion to anything not about the cultivation of lahbehd. The most ambitious of these early fishermen would venture out into the New Sea from the port in the delta at Ahnehulhahv (en, Delta-Town) or to the south at Ahkzehahv to bring back boatfuls of seafood. The boats, of course, not been developed independently by those inhabiting the Fho River System, but by those of the Maken Islands distant from the eastern coast. Despite the introduction of fishing as a way of life along the coastline, the lack of a free-market system persisted. The Pudelehlkahn simply began accepting seafood as a form of tribute. Not many tributary states existed along the coast, with most clans in loose alliances or completely self-governing; this was the cause of much conflict and feud between the small units. Both the cities, however, were owned by tributary states, and this preserved the cities from the frequent conflicts that only engaged small clans and other small clans. The typical coastal clan was governed by the Pudelehlkahn with a council of the elders of each line (lines had become important on the coast as well). The few larger states that there were pursued a somewhat Orhsa-like structure, with the tributary Pudelehlkahn managing their clan's domain and the overall Pudelehlkahn managing the conquering clan's land and the other Pudelehlkahn. Bureaucracy did not play a part in the governments along the coastline; no states were large enough for it to be necessary, and those who inhabited the coast often looked at the activities of the upriver states (especially the Empire of Sythe) as impious to the Ancestors, implying that the concept of a Pudelukehk as opposed to a Pudelehlkahn was not respectful and should be repulsed. But the religious trends, if not the philosophy, penetrated all borders: the ritual component of Ancestor-worship only grew (indeed it was the coastal clans that first possessed great astronomical knowledge which they would pass on to the upriver states in the 390s RT). When the Sythen developed an elaborate system of Ancestral Days, the coastal clans would only accept such a concept as an obligation. Utehlhah were constructed throughout the coastal regions and in the two cities. The coastal clans surely enough began to also see the sea as a religious concept. The early coastal clansman was likely to know of the existance of Maken, but of no other lands to the east of this (the Maken knew differently). The sea, then, began to be seen as the end of the world, and some philosophers felt that if one were to travel far, one would find the land of the Ancestors. This component of Ancestor-worship spread nominally upriver, but nowhere was religious thought as a whole directed in such a philosophical manner as along the coastline. Through this era, inhabitants hailing from the coastal clans would produce the major theological works for Ancestor-worship. The coastal cities were differing in atmosphere from their upriver counterparts, especially after the late 500s RT. Ahkzehahv and Ahnehulhahv had shifted the idea of a city towards that of token commerce, but in a different direction; both were ports (one on the near open ocean, the other in the Fho Delta). The easterners did not make by any stretch the best boats in the region, but they were capable of sailing on the fishing trips which had become characteristic to the coastal culture. The cities themselves were more spread out, with long avenues parallel to the shore. The urban areas were not as populated as those upriver which demanded the attention of huge domains, but they were designed to fit the coast, where the upriver cities were designed to fit the palace of a Pudelehlkahvahn or an utehlhah. Without the Pudelehlkahn inhabiting the coastal cities, though, these would be largely unimportant. So the primary function of the urban areas along the coast still remained the central location of rulers. However, Ahkzehahv and Ahnehulhahv provided social mobility unheard of elsewhere in the Fho River Basin (even the upriver centers). The possibility of going into the fishing industry was available to any impoverished line or clan. In fact, the majority of the lines involved in fishing did not stay involved for a great period of time; the lines would acquire enough stature in the area to marry and collect dowry and by this means become involved once again with the cultivation of lahbehd, which was deemed favorable from both religious, social, and economic standpoints (cultivation, if done properly, had little chance of failing; the harvesting of seafood, was, otherwise, an arcane industry for one to be reliant solely upon). Fishing did, though, serve to make the coastal society less rigid than that of the upriver regions through its reinvigoration of clans with poor marriage fortune. Also stemming from the presence of ports, the coastal cities demonstrated a much less static quality about them; Maken seafarers visited from time to time especially through the 600s RT, and with the turnover in the fishing industry the inhabitants were constantly changing. The advent of writing in the Fho Plain, through the introduction of the Traader Logography to the area, had also affected the coastal clans greatly. As the early epic poetry of Orhsa died out with its weakening in the late 300s RT to 400s RT and the Lukehktelehvnu (Commissions Agency) in the Empire of Sythe stuck maximally to nonfiction prose accounts and some narrative poetry, the coastal clans wrote the next great epics of the Fho Plain that embodied the high Fho culture and the Ancestors in a popular sense. Sometimes commissioned by Pudelehlkahn and sometimes written with Ancestral inspiration, these epics, mostly dating from the 600s RT, described the semi-mythical history of the peoples of the Fho River System from an estimated -1500RT: ...the brave hero looked [on] at the fighting with the [utmost] scorn. Not one moment [had passed] before the hero joined and fought the Nahkehlen. The entire battle shifted in his [direction] and was won in such a way: "Make the Nahkehlen bow and [place dowry] for ten on my threshhold..." --"Dehnkehtahvahlketeh" Author Unknown (648RT), this epic discussed the rise, technological advancements, and fall of the Unfehklah clan in the viewpoint of the Ancestrally-inspired prodigy and eventual Pudelehlkahn: Dehnkehtah (en, Doings of Dehnkehtah) Other epics tackled theological topics and some visions of the natural world based on such theological conclusions. The coastal populace would remain more creative in their works than those of the upriver units for a time, and this matched the general attitude of the coast and its decreased rigidity in society but well-emphasized religious guidelines. While the coast failed to match up the civilizations farther up the river in terms of population or size, this period on the coast proved to be just as important with important literary and technological developments (those dealing with sailing technology as well as irrigation techniques). Here too, the urban areas only grew. The political situation matched earlier eras with small clan- based domains and two major tributary states matching the organization of Orhsa before its defeat several centuries prior; these were the most decentralized units in the Fho Plain. The coast would also be able to more easily accept the practices of other peoples despite their conservative (as opposed to the "loose" traditions followed in Sythe) religious adherences. When the Maken seafarers began to play a larger role in the directions of the coastal clansmen, these were able to accept Maken culture with some cordiality, but events largely out of their control soon would disadvantage the coastal clans. The Jolting Influences of the Seafarers The Maken had long been interested in the activities on the densely populated coastline they had discovered in the late 290s RT and first years of the 300s RT. However, they had only established a seasonal presence on their namesake islands, and events in their own continent, far to the southeast, had recalled many of the Maken to their homes. The Maken returned from the mid-300s RT with an Early Maken logography from their continent, and this time there were quite a few. Complete family groups of Maken seafarers landed on their islands and astutely picked up the cultivation of lahbehd from the coastal clans (namely the Ahkze, with whom the Maken had first come into contact). The seafarers adopted some of the concepts of Ancestor-worship, if only to humor the pious coastal clansmen. The Maken had established an ordered civilization on their islands and become a separate entity from their mother continent by the early 400s RT. From this time, Maken contact with the Fho populace would only increase out of proximity and mutual gain. The Maken aided the coastal clans on boatbuilding and astronomical technologies (which were already well developed independantly in the Sekuun Empire far to the west by this time); they gained cultivation technologies and help with state-building. The latter half of the 500s RT saw a great expanse in population and power of the island civilizations as the lahbehd cultivation was finally in full swing and the units had become somewhat stable. Unlike the clan-based Fho system, the Maken had no concept of sustainable growth, and this would slowly but surely lead to a great expansion crisis for the Maken. The ports of Ahkzehahv and Ahnehulhahv accepted more and more boats coming from both their own growing domestic fishing industry and visiting Maken seafarers who came to learn from the Fho. Many Maken visited the Ahkze utehlhah to learn the Traader Logography from the line of the Pudelehlkahn. The Maken observed and learned much from the easterners, but were adept at not adopting thoroughly the practices they saw; this would come to be important as interactions between the Fho peoples and the Maken only increased. Their culture, based somewhat on the exploration and colonization efforts which led them to their namesake islands, would play an increasingly important role as they began to increase their overall presence on the Fho coast. The rulers of the many Maken city-states feuded constantly and through this, developed their navies greatly. The concept of using boats for military purposes was largely undiscovered and if realized, not considered wholeheartedly by the populace of the Fho River Basin. The three rivers that constituted the region, though, were navigable far upriver, almost to the western half of Sythe. The coastal states infrequently sent boats upriver except in times of some nominal interest in the coast by the Loninen merchants which became so crucial to the Empire of Sythe. The great navies of the Maken city-states at first fought in defense of their own domains, but when these domains became well-defended, the battles started to move westward, toward the eastern coast of the Fho Plain. Boats (not necessarily of the navies) would meet en route to and from the port cities to the islands and would clash in bloody conflict. Maken piracy was a constant danger to seafaring through the 600s RT, but this did little to deter the growth of seafaring (both among the Maken and among the coastal clansmen). In 712RT, the port city of Ahkzehahv received two Maken boats from the city- state of Ukkah. The Ukkahn here docked their boats for two weeks, breaking the rules of the Maken seacode, a widely accepted and agreed-upon set of basic conduct for the Maken city-states and their boats. Here the transgression was that of the treatment of a neutral port (in the literal Maken sense, a port which no Maken city-state was in control of). This infuriated the other city- states, but most eventually accepted the Ukkahn story that the chief sailor on the boat had come down with a sudden illness. However, this explanation did not suffice the Muden, long a fierce rival of the Ukkahn; the ruler of Mud sent its navy against the port of Ahkzehahv and the Ukkahn vessels still residing there in the midst of the controversy. The Ukkahn navy hastily pursued the Muden, and battle broke out in the port. Boats with that similar to emissaries in them journeyed to the Ahkzehn Pudelehlkahn and appealed for the allowance of just one of the two city-states. The Ahkzehn Pudelehlkahn, not having been acquainted with the Maken seacode, promptly saw no wrong in the movements of the Ukkahn and declared the Muden navy the aggressors. The "aggressors," livid with rage at the decision of the Pudelehlkahn, kept their navy in the port with no prospect of leaving. The Ukkahn boats, then violated the basic conceptualizations of the coastal clans concerning the practice of seafaring: the boats were blocking their port from receiving others in a situation which the Ahkzehn Pudelehlkahn had already once had to address. Cursing the adverse practices of the Maken seafarers, the Ahkzehn Pudelehlkahn declared war on the city-state of Mud. To put it bluntly, the Fho people, even the most developed of the coastal clans, were lacking in naval technology as compared to the Maken (these being raised from infants to be seafarers). It was a ill-thought move to open war against the Muden, but the Ahkzehn Pudelehlkahn assumed that a war meant fighting on the land. He would not be forgiven for this grave error in judgement. The Mud quickly invaded and conquered the city of Ahkzehahv, which was truly all they were interested in. Applying the same impenetrable defenses to their new port in such a way as that which they had in their city-state on the islands, the Muden navy bravely weathered the attacks of the Ukkahn, who were beyond thought on the matter. This all was carried out before the Ahkzehn Pudelehlkahn had time to remove his entire army from his outer tributary clan regions, where they were fighting peoples rebellious to Ahkzehn rule. News of the events in Ahkzehahv traveled quickly along the coast northward toward the other coastal port of Ahnehulhahv, but it traveled even more rapidly to Ukkah by boat. The Ukkahn ruler sent his navy to the port of Ahnehulhahv, adopting the mentality that the Fho coast was simply a resource to be grabbed before someone else had the opportunity; this reflected the colonial attitudes of the Maken. Thusly the colonization of the Fho River System had begun. Using their recent population growth to their advantage, Ukkah and Mud partitioned all the coastal domains with agreements protecting the Fho clans from the other city-state. It did not take long, of course, for the Pudelehlkahn of each clan to deduce the real meaning of the maneuvers of the Maken: they were being taken over by the navies of the seafarers. As opposed to sending large overland forces to the center of each state with hundreds (if not thousands) of soldiers, the Maken relied on trickery and reverse diplomacy to annex the lands of the coast, a type of warfare unfamiliar to the people of the Fho River System. Beginning with the conflict between the city-states of Ukkah and Mud, the early to mid-700s RT brought colonial domination to the coastal clans by two ambitious empires. The Brief Success and Eventual Downfall of Colonization If the Sythen people were infuriated with the Loninen rule, then those living on the coast were beside themselves with sudden hatred for the Maken colonizers. It was also the nature of the conquest; the Maken had, one certain day, discovered their strategic superiority to the Fho states and decided to use this against them in a conflict among themselves. There was nothing more spiteful to the Fho populace than to conduct a military operation against a third party for the purpose of fighting an enemy; the practice was deemed the utmost in cowardliness (it would be long before the inhabitants of the Fho River System understood the purpose of colonization). The Maken accepted the preexisting administrative systems and geographical divisions of land for the most part, but overhauled the vast majority of officials, not just those at the very top, with avid Maken. A great tribute was exacted on all the Fho; this somewhat cut out the more free schedules the coastal clansmen enjoyed from the relatively little effort they had to instill in lahbehd cultivation. The colonial race only continued into the 730s RT with the sailing up the river of both the Ukkahn and Muden navies. The Orhsan Pudelehlkahn was surprised to hear of more than boat sailing up the river at a time. Not only was there more than one boat, but both the Middle and North Triplet were the objects of the race. The Muden navy perservered on the Middle Triplet while the Ukkahn navy slowly worked its way through Orhsa on the North Triplet. The Orhsan Pudelehlkahn first, by pure chance, joined in agreement with the Ukkahn, but only after, unbeknownst to him, the southerly tributary clans that Orhsa controlled were "signed away" by the Muden navy. The Empire of Nekul, despite having recently gone through a weakening shift in power, was beyond the reach of either of the empires; their power relied solely on the availability of access to the region in question by sea or river. When protectorized, each Fho division (be this division based on utehlhah, line, or clan) was obligated to pay tribute to the faraway Maken city-state which had brought it under its control. The first use of boats en masse on the rivers was for the collection of said tribute, which was from these outposts shipped to the islands. The outposts often became regional urban centers in regions without preexisting centers. Maken frequented these outposts and the rivers themselves, seeing the Fho as rebellious to the control of the islands. Indeed, the largest employment of the Maken populace in the areas they controlled seemed to be the collection and organization of tributes. No longer were the Maken interested in the Traader Logography; they would use the one gained for their own language: the Early Maken logography (which, in the 700s RT, would be adapted to a much less complex syllabary with the increase in common use). However, they would continue their adherence to the Ancestors in their own context and their practice of lahbehd cultivation, which had proved so important in their gradual gain in power in the 600s RT. Along with unsustainable population growth, the Maken experienced increased sectionalization and competition as is indicated by the aforementioned piracy. With the end of the 600s RT, were conditions in the Maken islands such to finally effect an inevitable offensive on the eastern Fho coast? Or was the cause simply that the conflict between two city-states was so permeating that it set the whole region aflame? The Ukkah and Mud ended naval actions against each other in 738RT; the rulers of each simply had to much to handle with their vast colonial empires. Needless to say, the Fho institutions in the conquered areas faltered under the rule of the Maken. The inland urban center of Dehpehvahv was hit with hard times once more as most traffic centered around the western Maken administrative center of Kehdeluhahv, a small clan village turned river port. The Orhsan university, the Lahdehvahluvahvubezehk, had been open in name only since the Maken incursion. The Fho had to work more than ever on their irrigation works and fields in order to properly fill their tribute quota. Little influence from the hated Maken was carried over to Fho society, and the anti-Maken sentiment never went away. The Ukkahn and Muden, despite their expertise in taking the region with little effort, were not able to handle their new domains well. In truth, the Maken were not stronger than the Fho in political organization or land military; it was the surprise and novelty of the invasion that rendered the colonization no difficult matter for the Maken. This fact showed starting in the 750s RT, when the Fho River Basin erupted in what seemed like organized rebellion against the Maken. The Maken were not started by the sudden rebellion of their empire (such was the fortune of the colonizer). The limited amount of Maken land soldiers rushed from province to province, going to somewhere to put down a rebellion and doing so only to find that the region they had left had once again risen up. The weakness of the Maken was soon made clear. The mass of the Fho people was just too much against the paucity of Maken soldiers. Wearing dark blue robes clad with lehlub, the Maken soldiers were in danger of losing their entire land force to the Fho populace, which took their once proud green (Orhsa) and grey (Ahkze) and other clan colors out of storage and reinforced them with early iron mail. Old groups got together under generals of past conflicts and turned against the Maken, who were expelled from Orhsa in 753RT. The Orhsan Pudelehlkahn Nehlkah Vehlutehahk Dehvahlku (en, the Line of the New Protection) had stealthily taken a portion of the Orhsan army with him to Tehlkem, and in the rainy season of 752RT, these reserves descended from the forested hills into the plain and onto the Maken institutions, quickly freeing the Ukkahn Orhsa from domination. The Mud Orhsa to the south had harder luck with their less organized rebellion; the Maken had unusual success in putting down the militants. The Pudelehlkahn Nehlkah, seeing his opportunity led his army, larger than ever, against the Mud Orhsa for the pledge of the tributary clans to return to Orhsan rule as opposed to insurgency. Outright rebellion was waged against the Maken, with "peaceful" areas refusing to pay tribute to anyone except the Ancestors. By 755RT, Ukkah was reduced to a stronghold at Ahnehulhahv, and the Mud to Ahkzehahv. They would hold here for some time. Peace had returned to a disturbed Orhsa, but the coastal clans were quite shaken from the experience, many being unable to gain footing after the Maken were gone. The Maken were no longer trusted as simple traders, much to the dismay of the merchants that resided in the island city-states. The coastal states became even more decentralized, and no tributary states existed on the coast after the expulsion of the Maken. The only urban areas were under seizure of the Ukkahn and Muden navies; these being the traditional centers of power in each respective region: the older state organizations were crippled. The next five hundred years on the coast would be characterized by these small states grappling with one another in the face of their once-colonizers. Orhsa, however, had returned to full power (the region of Tehlkem being largely unaffected) by the 760s RT. 5 : Later Empire of Sythe (700RT - 864RT) : Preserving the Fho Plain A "Reign of Ancestral Will" During the upheaval on the coast and in Orhsa, the Empire of Sythe hit a high point with the reign of the Pudelehlkahvahn Hehkdeh, who despite being yet another Loninen ruler was brought up in the palace hearing more of the greatness of Sythe and of Fho culture than of the activities of his nomadic ancestors. He had ascended to the throne in 726RT and made it a central priority to conduct sweeping bureaucratic reforms. His father, the Pudelehlkahvahn Dahklehv, had begat two sons: one was with the queen, the other with a mistress. Even though Hehkdeh was the eldest of the two, and Fho culture dictated that the offspring be interpreted as completely the line of their father and not a mix between such and the matriarchal line, Hehkdeh would never receive equal treatment in front of the queen; he would long be paranoid of what he feared to be her plots against him. Thus, the first decade of his rule was geared toward ridding the lukehk of the supporters of the queen. Bureaucratic family line traditions that had been the standard for centuries were broken and new lines entered positions. The Lukehktelehvnu grew in power as it was used increasingly as a censory force in government. The Pudelehlkahn who congregated at the imperial court were likewise scrutinized; these were in too conspicuous a position to be removed expediently, but the majority of the court officials had committed some sort of conspiracy or tribute evastion, and a surprised Hehkdeh found so many guilty of crimes that he placed the blame for the uncontrollable effects of a famine in 710RT on the scheming Pudelehlkahn for not paying tribute that would have been used for relief and the late Pudelehlkahvahn Dahklehv for overlooking such blatant signs of crime among the many court officials. The populace was equally surprised with the reckoning of Hehkdeh, giving his period of rule the nickname "The Reign of Ancestral Will", which referenced the popular religious belief that the Ancestors judged those in Sythe and called upon the pious to execute their will. Indeed, there seemed to be no ruler as faithful to the Ancestors as Hehkdeh, who when conducting inspections of the countryside would stop at every utehlhah he passed to pray. The Zevzehnkehl and the other early commissioned works by the 700s RT had gained great religious context. The deeds of the pre-imperial Sythen Pudelehlkahn and other leaders in the area from -1000RT had become semi-mythical and embellished. These inspired a rash amount of works in these prosperous times focused on early religious theory and society, often commentating on the "generational marriages" that so determined the course of the vast majority of the population of Sythe. As was the persuasion of the Lukehktelehvnu, indeed the Commissions Agency, most Sythen works continued in prose (the best epics and poems would spring from Orhsa). With this increased examination of the past, a hatred for the Orhsan grew once more in Sythe. The Loninen, once firm allies of Orhsa before their conquer of the great empire, had had little contact with the northern state for much time as international trade had been redirected to the cities of the then merchant-ruled Sythe. (The economy of Orhsa, in turn, had been bolstered by their continued northern expansion even with the lack of trade.) The Maken colonization preempted any action to the end of the popular hate for Orhsa; the movements of the Maken were of great intrigue and mystery to the Sythen as they had also not before seen the rivers used to conquer land or conceptualized colonialism. From the more religious texts produced in the early years of the empire stemmed first a set of religious laws to match the increase in ritualization during the first half of the 400s RT and then a set of common laws for the empire, entirely compiled and codified in one place for the first time by the Pudelehlkahvahn Hehkdeh. The common law specified the social hierarchy among the clans, with those at the top and serving in the bureaucracy receiving special priviledges along with their present wealth. The majority of the clans which struggled with fortune and misfortune were grouped with the downtrodden clans, paying the bulk of tribute but still being quite free and having the ability to be hired into the lowest ranks of the bureaucracy with the demonstration of great potential; the great occupation of the "middle class", however, was the army, which was much more meritocritous than the lukehk. The lowest class was that of the servants, which were those indebted to the government beyond repayment or those sold into servitude by poor families (infanticide was still a form of the worst line crime possible: the murder of another in one's line). They staffed the houses of wealthy clans, the palace, and the utehlhah across the Sythen domains. The law went on to address transgressions between the social classes, and how these might be handled by the government. Matching the origins of the common law in religion, the common law included copious sections on proper relgious adherence and piety. The concept and physical organization of tribute was given long tracts in the common law with which to be regulated. In 735RT, the smaller Empire of Nekul to the north of Sythe went through a bloody civil war, in which the ruling dynasty shifted in favor of a radical priest named Ludehlkah. Though the Nekulen were weakened overall by this development, the Pudelehlkahvahn Hehkdeh was alarmed by the incident and strove to further incorporate the freelance priests with government. Most were of the generation-dependent status from the fluctuating clans, and many did not come to the same conclusions as the Lukehkzehlkah, the Ancestral Agency, did on topics such as tribute and harsh ritualization. The extent of the common law caused some unrest among the freelance priests, and their ability at careful rhetoric in key rural centers distanced the farmers from the order of the bureaucracy and the Pudelehlkahvahn. Hehkdeh established the quasi-governmental Vahzehahzehlkah (en, Brotherhood of Priests), which sought to staff the utehlhah with the rural priests, calm the growing tides of radicalism, and eventually aid in the continued direction of religion by the rulers. Exceeding expectations, the Vahzehahzehlkah was in fact quite popular among the farmers and was the first and innovative unity between the status of priesthood, which became formalized through the latter half of the 700s RT. Priests had started out as little more than rabble-rousers; all things truly religious had stemmed from the central government with its utehlhah and the Lukehkzehlkah. By the early 700s RT, though, they had gained increasing popularity as traveling speakers, on occasion taking disciples (though few had the opportunity to give up a life of cultivation). Most, though, did not know how to write, and this hampered their lasting impact on a society whose government was based forwardly on writing. Priests failed to receive any kind of government office (not that many attempted such); this proved to render them rather inaccessible by officials. The most enthusiastic priests led riots against paying the heightened tribute of hard economic times. Thus, Hehkdeh had correctly and insightfully solved a great potential problem with the concept of religious duty in his creation of the Vahzehahzehlkah; the growing amount of priests were incorporated into official religion and not excluded and allowed to fester. The close of the brief colonial period on Orhsa and on the coastal Fho plain by the 750s RT effected weak and disorganized states (excepting Orhsa itself as the Tehlkehm region had well survived during the exacting Maken rule). Little was left on the coast in general, and, despite the inviting vulnerability of the remnants to conquer by the empire, there was little reason perceived due to the state of the area, which was feared would require so much effort to reconstruct that no money would be left for the Ancestors. The populace, surrounded by the epics and stories (and by the priests' radicalism), caged for war and the army trained hard for inperceptable ends. The Sythen people looked to Orhsa for a war when they realized the coast had no purpose for their invasion. The ambitious Orhsan Pudelehlkahn Nehlkah was anxious to prove the resilient power of Orhsa on his neighbors on occasion of their economic and political recovery into the 760s RT. Despite the Loninen origins of the rulers of the Empire of Sythe, the two Fho powers entered into battle in 767RT. Indecisive War and Subsequent Suffocation The premise for the war was officially border disputes that had been left unsolved for centuries and exacerbated by the end of the Maken colonial moves which had allowed for the aggressive reorganization of Orhsa. To unify a people split by two colonial empires, the Orhsan Pudelehlkahn Nehlkah feigned that he required a social motive for everyone to live contently in Orhsa (his earlier exploits with the secret army seemed just not impressive enough). The army was quickly and heavily prepared. The Sythen were almost eager for war, and the Pudelehlkahvahn Hehkdeh, always paranoid, would look as well for social approval in the conflict. The constantly shifting middle clans found maximal occupation with the war effort, and bureaucratic officials were called away in great numbers to the army as officers (in the case of most from the Lukehklehlkah, the Public Works Agency) and generals (in the case of the Lukehktelehvnu, the Commissions Agency and the one closest to the Pudelehlkahvahn himself). Hehkdeh and Nehlkah both personally led their armies, leaving the control of their domains to trusted advisors. Battles were fought primarily along the Fho Middle Triplet once again, which reportedly ran red with blood and took dead bodies with its current to the coast. The armies clashed repeatedly, but the skill of the tested Orhsan forces was matched by the mass of the Sythen. Neither side was able to gain much ground, and the battlefield death of Hehkdeh (the Sythen rulers are indeed unlucky) in 770RT spelled stalemate for the empire. On the Orhsan side, things looked brighter despite the stalemate. The "loosely attached" southernmost provinces that had once been under Muden domination were firmly indebted to Orhsa for their protection from the Sythen army. The fact that the Orhsan army could even engage in proper battle with the Sythen force with the magnitudinal gap in the size of said forces astounded and impressed all Orhsan denizens; divisions gained complimentary nicknames and legends. Casualities were not heavy and the war did not take place, for the most part, on the fiercely protected lahbehd fields. Irrigation works were tended by a large task force of bureaucrats who did not, by order of the Pudelehlkahn, proceed to the front (no matter how much they wanted to). The Orhsan forces defended their domains well, and they would not fall to the Sythen in the many indecisive battles that caused the Sythen populace grievance. Though beginning with great enthusiasm, the Sythen people had grown tired of the war by 772RT. War had become a bulky and awkward enterprise, with the danger of disentegrating works ever present. The levels of tribute to continue pushing more and more into the service of an already-huge army were massive, and a population deprived of its patriarchs had to through some means pay these great taxes. The sheer size of the Sythen army was frustrating; how could it not defeat the Orhsan "scum"? By 775RT, battle had died down and the leaders of Sythe and Orhsa came forward to commit terms: the border would lie along the Fho Middle Triplet; both states gained and lost nominal amounts of territory, staying roughly the same size. Both sides had lost great amounts of troops, but the Sythen were the most impacted. Orhsa continued its economic recovery with barely an interruption. The war served to demonstrate the Orhsan presence in the Fho Plain and, as the Pudelehlkahn Nehlkah had designed, to bring the Orhsan together. On the other hand, the Sythen economy was deeply depressed by the war and the traditional problem of lack of care to the irrigation works had persisted. The disorder attributed to yet another wartime death of a Sythen Pudelehlkahvahn and the selection of a successor (though he was elderly at the time of the war, the Pudelehlkahvahn Hehkdeh had not produced an heir, the one perceived failing of his otherwise perfect reign) troubled the Sythen domains. The War of the Grand Succession was fought between the son of the half-brother of Hehkdeh and a cousin to Hehkdeh that had advised the late Pudelehlkahvahn at key moments in his reign (or so he said). The cousin gained the favor of the Pudelehlkahn; this was because they saw a certain inherent weakness in his political talents and designed to gain more power over their clans. The half-brother was executed in favor of the cousin, the new Pudelehlkahvahn Kuzkehl, in 777RT. Unfortunately, the assumptions of the court Pudelehlkahn were correct; Kuzkehl demonstrated early in his reign that he was not a strong leader. The bureaucracy chafed under his direction, and the Loninen increasingly felt no allegiance to him as he seemed ultimately intrigued in Sythen culture more than Loninen though the rulers had effectively been assimilated into the Fho society since the times of the Pudelehlkahvahn Uhaht. An age-old tradition, however, was harshly overturned when Kuzkehl moved the capital back to Sythehahv. Assassination attempts overwhelmed the capital and the Loninen zehlkahupahk began to revolt. Kuzkehl failed to handle the deteriorating economic situation that had resulted from the two bloody wars. Trade had as well declined some with the 708RT fall of the Sekuun Empire far to the west; unlike in previous times, trade was no longer strong enough a base for the empire to rebuild its economy on. The irrigation works were left untended from the war effort. Despite the assassination of the Pudelehlkahvahn Kuzkehl in 792RT and the ascension of his son, the twenty-year- old Tahkuk, the great empire would be permanently impacted by the failures of the Kuzkehl which directly contrasted the golden age of Hehkdeh. The empire slowly declined despite reform efforts from time to time until 864RT, when it was overwhelmed with rebellion of the outer provinces and the court Pudelehlkahn refused to convene. Overall, the war had effected the slow downfall of the Empire of Sythe.