[S] Terra Aeterna for Warband 1.134 (BETA 0.50) ~~NEW~~

THE HISTORY OF THE LANDS,
fragments from the chronicle of wiseman Leonard of Uxhall

"Of the old times, when the world came into beeing, very little is known. In the old books and writings of the Sarranids scholars of Ahmerrad it is said that in the begining the people where more akin to beasts, and only when the angels came down and gave souls did civilisation started to rise. Of course, this story is just one of many - but i, for one, do not doubt the wisdom of these scholars. "

"The oldest people in the land where the Arzawan, the first to rise and build cityes in the plains of Najarra River. They invented writing, and created and empire stretching farr and wide. Back in those ancient times, over 6000 years ago, the other nations of these lands lived in misery, organised in tribes and unions of tribes who often waged war one on another. The Arzawan empire lasted, as the old chronicles said, for about 2000 years, until it collapsed when the Men of the South known under the name of Nabathun, invaded across the Kharan Mountains and laid waste to the great cityes of Tanis and Sais. The devastation was great, and the Arzawans never recovered their former glory..."

"On the southern plains, near the Akana Bay, lived the warrior tribes of the Yalleni, Velluci, Jelkali and Calradi. The most warlike of them where the Calradi, who around the year 2100 before the birth of prophet Kesarion (may his name be blessed by all faithfull !), founded a kingdom under the leadership of a brave man named Marius. Over the course of years, the once small Calradian kingdom expanded, trough warfare and diplomacy over the other kingdoms."

"In the year 1547 BK, the Calradian king Ianus I, completely subdued the Swadian tribes, who lived to the north. Great battles have been fought, and only trough threachery did the Swadian fort of Uxall (today known as Uxhall) fell into the hand of the Calradii..."

"Between 1320 - 1240 BK, the Calradian kingdom fought an almost endless war against the Vlahata, the shephards of the mountains, as they were often called. They defended their ancestrall lands with great vigour, however this did not stop the Calradian Legionaires to conquer their capital Argesidava (today known as Argesh) and desecrate the local temples".

"In the year 891 BK, the Calradian king Augustus Maximus proclaimed himself as emperor, and moved the capital of the empire to the city of Zendar. Of great beauty was the city of Zendar..."

"Around the years 654-568 BK, a series of wars have been fought against the northern tribes known as the Vaegirs. The Calradian army was unable to defeat them, as its Legionaires where unused to the harsh northern climate. Howewer, in the end the Vaegir nobles betrayed the old tsar Vasily and joined the Imperial Army, as gold was, and still is, poison to the hearts of man. Unable to escape humiliation and capture in the subsequent battles, Vasily commited suicide on the altar of Vukar, the Vaegir god of war..."

"In the entire 4th and 3rd centuries BK, the Imperial Navy raided the western shores of the Akana Bay for male slaves. The lands to the west of the Akana Bay, on the delta and valley of the Lokhara River where populated by primitive but rather peacefull tribes who suffered greatly during these raids. It has been said, by lather chronicles and travellers who studied the songs of the Amazons of today, that in those times of sorrow man became like woman and woman became like man."

"During 189-170 BK, there was a great rebellion in the Empire, as most of the subjected people rebelled. Further more, a host of army from the steppes of Makaristan descended upon the eastern borders of the Empire, ravaging many cities. The young emperor Marcus was still a boy, no older than 16 years old, and he was deposed by general Aurelianus who attempted to use this crisis to put his hands on power. So the young Marcus fled into the southern deserts to seek asylum whith a small company of followers, but not knowing the paths of the desert, he got lost. Lucky for him, a local bedouin chieftain named Muktar, of the tribe of Sarrani, found them in time and offered them shelter and refuge in his camp. There, the young Marcus became charmed by the daughter of Muktar, Soraya, and the two became enloved. Muktar did not objected to the marriage, as he saw this as a great politicall oportunity. He gave permission to Marcus to marry his daughter, and even promised him military help if he would ever want to return and reclaim his lost Empire. And so, after a few years, with a large army recruited out of the desert, he reclaimed the throne, and he became again Emperor. Marcus lived happily forever with Soraya as the ballads say to this day, but what the ballads does not say is that the naive and romantic Marcus was only emperor in name, the true leader of Calradia was Muktar."

"Between 170 - 81 BK the succsesors of Marcus and Soraya ruled the Empire. It was a time of peace and prosperity, but also, of great corruption, as the Sarranids who took power in the Empire where not at all great administratiors. Of this, even their scholars agree !"

"In the year 81 BK, a military leader from the tribe of Velluci, Marno, overthrow the Sarranid Dinasty and took power into his hands."

"The great prophet, Kesarion Breb, was born in a village in the lands of the Vlahata. He was a man inspired by God, a man who preached to the people and performed great miracles. Many have listened to him, entire cities converted especially in the lands of Swadia and Vlahata, but other rejected his message, as the old Holy Books tells us. The Emperor however did not cared about him, in the great cities of the Empire the people whorshiped the Ancient Gods"

"Between 65 AK - 123 AK, a Vaegir Dinasty ruled, as in 64 AK a general of Vaegir descendance, Vladimir, overthrow the rulling dinasty and became emperor of Calradia. In this times, great wars where fought against the Khans of Makaristan, and eventually all but one subdued to the Empire."

"123 AK - 156 AK, a mixed Swadian - Vlahatan dinasty ruled the Empire. There where 12 emperors whith short reigns. They reigned little, as they attempted to forcibly convert the Empire to the teachings of the Prophet, and the Calradian Nobility, still loyal to the Ancient Gods, found a way to kill them, one after another. Little things of use have been done during these times, except for the fact that some Arzawan city states where brought into submission"

"156 - 456 AK, during these years a Calradian Dinasty reigned, it was a turbulent time, of religious warfare and persecution. Around 440 AK, the Swadians and Vlahatans where almost independet of the old Empire, who started to slowly crumble, and lost control over the lands of Vaegirs and Arzawans. To make things even worse, the tribes to the west of Akana Bay, the Amazons of today, destroyed all the Imperial outposts in those areas, stopping the necesary supply of slaves."

"In the year 487 AK was the Battle of the river Denar, the Swadian king Roderick helped by the Vlahatan voevod Vlaicu, defeated the army of the Empire. The decisive charge of the battle, it is said, was conducted by Esmirelda, the daughter of Roderick, who with her Swadian Knights smashed her way trough the ranks of the Legionaires."

"568 AK, the Empire collapsed, as the capital of Zendar was conquered by an allied army of Swadians, Vlahatans and Vaegirs. The city was rased to the ground and the last emperor, Marcus, was killed in battle. Luckily, a number of Saranid caravans managed to smuggle out during the siege most of the scrolls and books of the Zendarian libraryes, so the wisdom of the ages was not lost".

"666 Ak, this was called the Year of the Beast. Called by a strange wind, man of evil gathered in large numbers and started to preach a holy war in the name of the One whose name i shall not mention. They fought as knights, man dressed in black, they knew no honour and no mercy, as they razed and burned to the ground village after village. The holy man, servants of the true God, managed to gather a Crusading army, and under the leadership of the Swadian king Ulrick the Second, managed to defeat these evil man. Some of them attempted to take refuge in the lands of the Amazons, only to meet their end there. May the names of these Black Nights be forever cursed !

"681- 724 AK, these were again dark time for Swadia and the Vaegirs alike, as man from across the sea, known as the Nords, came and landed in great numbers in the western lands of Calradia. The Nords came from a distant island, it was said, and where in search of new lands. Great battles ensued as these Nords tried to forge a kingdom in these lands: they first attacked the lands of the Vaegirs, but where repulsed after heavy battles by Tsar Oleg. Later, they attempted to attack the land of the Amazons, only to be soundly defeated. Of this defeat, the Nordic chronicles of today rarely speak, as for them it was the greatest shame to be beaten by an army of woman. (...) Eventually, a peace treaty was forged with the Vaegirs, who gave willingly their scarcely inhabited southern lands to the Nords."

"889 AK, from the farr east, a nation of warriors named the Khergits came into these lands, spreading terror into the lands of Makaristan. The Khans of the Makaris where defeated, and their capitals of Angara and Abakli-Tama where rased to the ground by these foreign and savage invaders"

"891 AK, a combined Swadian - Vlahatan attack against the Khergits faills utterly, and in response, the Khergit Khan Bagudai launches a major invasion aimed to conquer all the lands to the western Sea. "

"894- 896 AK, these where some of the hardest times ever known in history, as the armies of the Khan sweped across the land, destroying many towns and cityes. In 896 AK, with the exceptions of the Amazonian lands who where too distand and dangerous to be attacked and the Vaegir tundra, all of the other nation where under the rule of the Khanate. But little did Bagudai knew, that out of the Vaegir tundra will came the man to challange and defeat him"

"Of the beginings of Boris, little is said in the Vaegir chronicles. But for certainly, he was a man of great strenght and great inteligence. He had a love of freedom beyond everything else, and he became loved by man of all nations for his chivalry, that is why so many joined his army when he called the people to make war against the Khan. In 894 AK, at the Battle of the Vorska Forest, the Vaegirs, altough outnumbered, managed to outmaneuver and defeat the huge Khergit army. Bagudai himself was found dead in the aftermath, and his great empire fell soon afterwards".

1167 AK The Yalleny, the Velluci and the Jelkali tribes where for centuries under the rule of the Swadian King, and paid taxes to the king in Praven. But as years passed, the yoke became unbearable. I, as a Swadian, have to admit that we have done many injustices to those people, even if we take into account the fact that they where pagan and alien to us. So, in 1167, these tribes united under a man named Grimaldo, and eliminated one by one the Swadian garrisons of the land. They achieved this farly easyly, because to their help came foreigners from across the sea, who strangely, spoke a language related to those of these tribes. Together, under this Grimaldo and under Antos of Geroia, they formed the Rhodok Confederacy, the name "Rhodok" meaning "unity" in the language of the Velluci.

1167 - 1198 AK, was the Great Rhodok War. The Rhodoks managed to defeat the Swadians early on, and expanded even further into the Sarranid lands. With the use of gunpowder, imported from Geroia, they defeated their enemyes one after another. At the battle of Weyyah, a Sarranid army of 5000 mamelukes was routed by a handfull of Geroian Musketeers, as the Sarranid horses where unacostumed to the terrifying sound of this new weapon.But the tide of the war turned soon, as the foolish Antos strived to expand his reign into the lands of the Amazons. He gathered a huge fleet and sailed across the Akana Bay with over 40 000 man, and he managed to defeat quikly the rather disorganised tribes, altough in many cases some fortresses and villages managed to resist. The Amazons would have probably been defeated, if not for the wisedom of Anahe, one of their wisewoman, who envisioned an alliance between all the tribes of the land. Proud and strong, she brought the tribal leaders under her rule, and even more, hired military help from Swadia and some scholars from the lands of the Vaegirs. In a few months, a united army was created and an Amazonian queendom was proclaimed, and in the great battle of Mauna, the army of Antos was defeated. It has been said by some Vlahatan traders who assisted the battle that Antos himself would have been killed together with his entire guard by Anahe alone, but i dismiss this as a legend, created by Vlahatans mainly to mock the Rhodoks. After the death of Antos, the power of the Rhodoks vained, and they where forced to sign a peace treaty with all neighbours, while keeping a good portion of the lands they conquered during the rebellion."

"The present days did not bring great wars, but neither great hopes of peace. In recent years, there has been an increase in banditry, especially in the Vlahatan lands, where the Lotri are creating havoc on trade routes. Discouraging news cames from the east, too... new raiders, strange to these lands, settled on the Ultaan steppes, harrasing travellers. To the south, the Nabathun, after hundreds of years, reappeared in great numbers, wracking havoc in the lands of the Arzawans and marching as farr north as the outskirts of Jelkala. There are rumours of wars circulating everywhere..."