Antiquity III

5. The south and the independent regions

The vassal Oligarchs of Victoria

Victoria, formerly Marina, renamed so after a victory over a Cantabri incursion and built in a safer location, was ruled by an oligarchic regime. It was a vassal state of the kingdom but managed to maintain nominal independence for most of the 900 years of the kingdom's existence - it was directly occupied by the kingdom only for 35 years during these centuries. Although its rulers were usually appointed with the kingdom's blessing, Victoria represented the most significant threat to Nobila. Victoria's oligarchs, through political cunningness, generally controlled lands up to the outskirts of Nobila and have, on occasion, dealt severe blows to Nobilite power with military campaigns. In all cases they were eventually beaten back but at great cost in human lives and at great expense for the kingdom's coffers - which were thereafter re-filled by land confiscations and the imposition of reparations. On the other hand, Victorians have never managed to make any significant inroads to the South, because of traditional hostility with the southerner inhabitants, many of them of Lusitanian and Galician descent, as well as the strength of Southern fleets that kept a constant check on Victorian ports at times of war.

The Nobelite invasion and the formation of Concordia

After establishing his rule in Nobila, General Kerykus invaded the Marina territory in 8 AD, declaring the area that is now middle and northern Concordia as a vassal state. In his second invasion a year later Kerykus marched towards Marina with a larger force and proceeded to coerce or invite many of the native leaders to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Luculus, was installed, and his rival, Prasus, was brought to terms. In 18 AD Luculus married Kerykus' daughter and the Nobelite regime controlled the line of success to the Concordian aristocracy.

In 34 AD, Anidua, the widow of Prasus, led the Concordians into a revolt against the Nobelites, which was put down by Karanos and his successor Kerykus II. The Nobila general Kassos defeated the Victorian army in the battle of Seneca in 47 AD and established a new government in Marina under the Nobelite Lord Catrimanus.

The Nobelite elite were either directly or indirectly ruling the Concordian territories for more than 100 years. A number of different rulers were appointed by the Nobila Kingdom during this era. There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Catrimanus appointment. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Nobelite forts south of the Nikopolis area were rebuilt and enlarged, although others appear to have been abandoned. Nobila coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Concordian Lowlands in the years before 100 AD, indicating growing Nobilasation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Anapolis in Mores, mostly dating to 90-110. These tablets provide vivid evidence for the operation of a Nobelite fort, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.
Around 105 AD, however, there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Concordians: several Nobilan forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armor at Palencia indicating hostilities at least at that site. There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Nobila, and an unnamed war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Marina. It was during this period of time that the Concordian capital of Marina was abandoned and a new city was built in the area of the Gulf, named Victoria.

The stronger and most renowned leader of the Victorian regime during this period was Agulus. He was the first ruler of the new city of Victoria and he made a treaty with Nobila King Gelon I in 118 AD, giving him the absolute power in the area over all other Victorian lords. With the aid of the Nobilan army he unified all the city-states in the area, and is considered by historians as the first ruler of the Concordian State. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in the area at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved between Agulus and the Nobila Kingdom. Sufficient Nobilan silver has been found in Concordia to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Nobelites were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Concordians, in order to prevent them from joining forces with the Daislanders. Agulus ruled for more than 40 years, establishing a strong kingdom in the south.

The naval power and opportunism of Sorvykon

Sorvykon, today's Sorbyke, named in reference to the predominant type of trees in its area, was the strongest city in the Iolian Gulf. It was a formidable naval power, executing most of the kingdom's trade with the Hinji capital Labra since the destruction of Attalia and the gradual fall from grace of Tavla. It also was a state vassal to the kingdom, governed by a merchant class with interests common to those of their Nobilite counterparts. Nonetheless, its infrequent challenges to Nobilite rule were organized in an opportunistic manner that dealt severe blows to the kingdom's prestige, usually during unrest in Nobila's relationship with Victoria. Although never directly occupied by Nobila, Sorvykon remained very dependent on the kingdom's goodwill because of the dependence of its economy on trade - it was thus that Nobila imposed its suzerainty on Sorvykon.

The Diacrian Alliance of Free Cities

The Diacrian Alliance of Free Cities was a loose alliance of city-states in Diacria and in the scarcely populated areas of the north and north-east. The northern areas acquired the name Solaria because of the oracles dedicated to Sol (the Sun), in Grael, which controlled the religious activities in the region. The north-eastern areas acquired the name Aurora, for similar reason, the oracle of Aurora (Io or Dawn) being located in Alva.

These city-states had various regimes, alternating frequently between democracies and oligarchies, although the strongest cities were those with tyrannies, such as Khorton (today's Cress), Satea (today's Satemberg) and Corelia (today's Corel) in the Auroran coast. The establishment of tyrannies was mostly dictated by the external threat of the Hinji and the Nobilites which made people accept the rule of lord-protectors. Democracies, such as Parva or Terminus, had less influence, as their fortunes dwindled with the retreat of trade, while the Northern territories of Solaria were mostly deserted.

The center for the Alliance's deliberations was the sacred city of Eptapolis, which remained out-of-bounds for all the powers of the island, on the merit of its cultural significance and on the sage choice to reject all gift and tokens of appreciation that would make it the target of looters or mercenaries. The Diacrian Alliance was extremely successful in both maintaining internal peaceand defending its southern borders. Historians have often pointed out that, without the external threats facing it, the alliance would disintegrate over the many centuries of its existence - the truth remains that the institutions, which it created, endured for nearly a millennium.

The Lands of Hinji

The Hinji Territories of small rural communities were linked through a tribal system of elders' meetings and decision-making, usually held in their nominal capital of Labra (formerly Labaro). After 540 AD, as pressure from Sorvykon increased, the capital was moved inland to Amaya (today's Taupo). Their economy was purely agrarian, but the Hinji were attempting raids every few decades, across the central mountains or around the Iolian Gulf - no major campaign against Diacrian cities is recorded. Although they had no success in centrally organizing their military for more than a few years at a time, they remained fearsome for their opponents and the Kingdom and its vassal states failed in all their attempts to bring them under their rule.

6. The Monrovian dynasty-seven centuries of isolation

The Monrovian Dynasty

Makrander was the last king of the Kerykian dynasty. In the year 238 he prepared a massive invasion of the Hinji territories aiming to subjugate them to the kingdom. The Terovo campaign, as it was called, started well and the Centralian armies crossed the mountains in large numbers attacking the weakest Northern parts of the territories. However, the absence of the bulk of Nobilite armies gave Victoria the opportunity to strike, as Makrander had neglected to guard his rear. In a reversal of fortune, Makrander made an attempt to turn back with part of his army and contain the Victorian threat but was defeated and killed by the Victorians in the Battle of Metropolis.

 The throne steward, Petracus, delayed the Victorians with guerrilla strikes, recalled all Centralian armies from the Terovo campaign and defeated the advancing Victorian army in Monrovia, outside Nobila. He was proclaimed king and founded the Monrovian dynasty that ruled until the final destruction of the Kingdom by the Norsemen, more than 700 years later.

The shift to feudalism   

With the decline of the Roman Empire, overseas trade gradually lost the significance it had previously enjoyed so far in the economy and daily lives of the people of Pharos. This has in turn leaded to the economic predominance of agriculture, cattle-breeding and urban artisans; and resulted in the gradual political shift of the island towards a feudal society. The political scene was dominated to an unprecedented extent by large landowners and, in some areas, an outright feudal system. Petracus had correctly assessed these shifts and based his rule on the support of landowners, who comprised the emerging landed aristocracy, over the previously dominant middle classes, ensuring similar power shifts in all vassal states of the kingdom.

The Daisland rebellion

A major challenge to the kingdom's power came in the period 356-392, when merchants and the urban population of Daisland rose in rebellion supported by Parva and Khorton. A short-lived free state was created with Holborn as its capital. Nobilite forces faced many initial setbacks; a destruction of their ships in the battle off Dorset in 357 by the Sorvykon fleet and an invasion by the Victorians the same year, obliged them to concentrate their efforts away from the rebelling Daislanders. After containing all other external threats, King Takistos Navis ended the rebellion with the defeat of Daislander rebel forces in the battle of Corintia (today's Corinda) at the end of his 3rd Daislander campaign in 392. No major threats to Nobilite power would come thereafter from Daisland.

At its new height, the kingdom occupied all of central and south Pharos, albeit mostly through vassal statelets. These statelets were ruled either by oligarchies loyal to the King or by lord-protectors assigned with the King's blessing. The Kings as well as local fieftains favored the absolute stability of this arrangement and thereafter took strong and brutal measures against any effort to change the status quo.  However, the kingdom's existence was dependent on its wealth and ability to extract taxes from its lands and four vassal statelets, as well as from its ability to provide protection against external threats.

The Vandal invasion

In this framework, king Takistos Navis undertook the most ambitious campaign against the Hinji territories in 401. The campaign seemed to lead to a final crushing of Hinji rule when the subjugation of Lucaya opened to road to Labra, which was under siege from the Sorvykon fleet. However the campaign had to be abandoned within a few days from these victories and a hasty treaty was concluded with the Hinji, so that the kingdom would concentrate its forces to face the first external threat since the Cantabri invasion: the Vandals had attacked, originating from Aquitaine, with a large fleet, sacking Tavla. Their simultaneous landing in the region between Nobila and Victoria was only just repelled at the battle of Vita.
Following a long campaign to throw out the invaders, the kingdom's forces decimated them in the battle of Anapolis, killing their king Godigisel, while Sorvykon battle ships under admiral Karterus completed their destruction by burning their whole fleet off Alma in 406. That was the last attack from the Vandals in the west, as they turned eastwards towards the collapsing Western Roman Empire.

The long peace

No external threat would come to the island until the Norse invasion at the end of the 9th century. The Monrovians, having learned from previous mistakes ruled
with an iron fist but generally avoided excesses that would permit a return to the tumultuous strives of the previous periods. The vassal statelets were ruled either by oligarchies loyal to the King or by lord-protectors assigned with the King's blessing. The Kings as well as local fieftains favored the absolute stability of this arrangement and thereafter took strong and brutal measures against any effort to change the status quo - in this framework, the Monrovians were especially careful to ostracize any religious movements that would jeopardize social cohesion, peace and order in the kingdom, such as the Christian faith.  However, the kingdom's existence remained dependent on its wealth and ability to extract taxes from its lands and four vassal statelets, as well as from its ability to provide protection against external threats.

Historians consider the Monrovian rule, especially from the 5th century, as enlightened. They recognize that its policies spared Pharos the general decline of population, technological knowledge and standards of living that plagued Western Europe - where the disappearance of markets reversed the economy to local production and consumption, rather than to webs of commerce and specialized production. The height of Monrovian civilization is considered to have occurred in the 9th century, during the rule of the Emman Uelsis Fratria and, more specifically, during the reigns of Anselm III and his grandson, Anselm IV - with marked progress in philosophy, the law and political thinking.

The last wars of the 7th century

After the Vandal invasion the only noteworthy war incidents occurred in the 7th century, when the Victorians rebelled against the kingdom in 641. Their initial
land successes led them to nearly occupy Nobila in 646. The new king Burgus Nikanor reversed the tide of warand the Victorians were finally forced to surrender after the destruction of their army in Deltalene from Centralian forces and the subsequent destruction of their fleet off Vigo Island in 649 by Sorvykon, which led to the temporary subjugation of Victoria to direct Nobilite rule. The foolish Esperia campaign of Sorvykon against the Hinji in 651 was unsuccessful, despite the heavy cost in lives, and left the South in a weakened position to take advantage of the kingdom's loss of military resources because of the recent Victorian war.