The Ralish
04-03-2004, 19:33
The continent of Aisa is estimated to be almost 4,500km from east to west, and said to partly resemble Europe and parts of the Middle East.
While the Iberian Peninsula has no equivalent in Aisa and the France of this continent is somewhat distorted Aisa’s own Denmark juts out from the frozen land of Okolor, opposite the southern boot-like appendage of sunny Sutruah. East of Sutruah Agentia appears as if the Balkans (though the Greeks may find a less impressive archipelago here) while the glorious land of Alshor is separated by the Bosporus’ sibling, creating in the process the Kreshian Sea, into which juts the Crimea-like formation that furnished its name. Off Alshor’s south coast, Akralonians would as well suit the name Cypriot, while the troublesome people of desert Gershor might nearly call themselves Saudi.
One might almost be forgiven for thinking that the rivers Vistula and Bug had cut Aisa adrift from Russia and the Baltic, and that everything north of Fort-Shevchenko had fallen into the Caspian Depression (known here as the coastal Rustia/Kandahi border area of the Casa Highlands).
Afghanistan and Pakistan, were they Aisan, would denote the continent’s eastern-most extent.
To a large degree, Aisan climates mirror those of their region’s Eurasian equivalents, though in the north and west especially they may take them to greater extremes of cold.
Expansion; the birth of empire:
Agentia-
In 2,500bc a people known as the Ralish struck out from their already ancient homeland, Alshor. Constructing a small and primitive navy they sailed west, where an expert mastery of bronze and of horse saw them win victory after victory against the little city-states of Agentia, birthing the Ralish Empire.
In the years that followed the Ralish grew wealthier and more advanced, and the glory of conquest combined with frequent barbarian raids fostered in the people of Alshor a warrior culture. Membership in the Alshorian Guard became a hugely desirable trait, and many dedicated their lives and their families to the institution based in the capital, Azaria.
Gershor-
To the south and east however, the vast land of Gershor was quite different. A nomadic people living from day to day with no thought to progress or empire peopled the desolate, burning land. The Gershans’ preoccupations were difficult to set aside once the Alshorian Guard turned east, and the vast desert fell quickly. Despite the rapidity of their subjugation the Gershan people never fully give-up the fight and the Alshorian-built city of Gerash raised revolutionary after revolutionary against the empire.
Akralon-
Even as Alshor’s roads crawled out across Gershor new enemies revealed themselves to The Ralish Empire. While soldiers put-down Gershan rebels and fought off barbarian attacks on the province of Agentia sails appeared to the south of Alshor itself. Akralonia’s wealthy merchants had taken the greatest exception to the domination of their markets by the rival people of Alshor, and the island people meant to break the monopoly.
It was in these years of Akralonian war that the Ralish learned to build truly great fortifications, and that their armies became infamous in their mobility. There was no doubt that the island-dwelling Akralonians were master sailors, their ships larger, faster, and more numerous than the Ralish’s. The result of this, apart from the raising of coastal fortifications around seaside towns, was massive expansion of Alshor’s road network and the introduction of fast-moving chariots to the Alshorian Guard. The Akralonians had little difficulty in coming ashore, but once there they had never time to lay a major siege before chariots and cavalry swept them back to the sea. Mounted archers and camelry performed similar feats in defence of the Gershan coastline.
In spite of their well-documented and impressive defensive achievements, the Alshorians were largely cut-off from their Agentian province and suffering as a result of Akralon’s partly frustrated efforts. The northern coast of Alshor would benefit as port-cities sprang up. Hundreds of miles from Akralon, Alshor built a fleet of six hundred tiny war galleys and several dozen fire ships. Akralon was completely surprised when a merchant ship returning from Rustica told of the approach of such a massive fleet, and within weeks the island nation became a province. Mere months passed before the reintegration of Agentia.
Kandahi and Tudkaha-
It was during the war with Akralon that Azaria forged its greatest alliance. The city of Gerash lay on the border of another empire, and one widely regarded to be richer and older than that of the Ralish. The Tudkahal were less advanced militarily compared to their new neighbours, but their many united princes ruled over massive numbers of subjects and controlled huge material wealth, mainly in gold. They were keen to hang-on to all of this, and gladly aided the Ralish in subduing Gershan revolts. They even gave Azaria permission to build military roads, granaries, and barracks through the north west of their lands, enabling the joint invasion of Kandahi, a troublesome land populated by cousins of the Tudkahal who were motivated by religion rather than loyalty to their princes or the pursuit of gold. Barely capable of metal-working, the Kandahai were no better able to resist the Alshorian Guard –now boosted by Tudkahali war elephants- than had been the people of Gershor. It took many years for some few bands amongst them to be rooted-out after taking to the hills, but the inclusion of their homelands in the next manifestation of the Ralish Empire was inevitable.
Sutruah and Assalia-
To the Northeast of Agentia and the west of Kandahi the vast lands of Rustica defied invasion mainly thanks to the population’s renowned horsemanship, and their relatively placid nature. It would appear that Ralish kings were keen to avoid making such a powerful enemy while other avenues of expansion remained open. West of Rustica (Northwest of Agentia) lay Assalia, and Southwest of that (west of Agentia across a vast bay) was a land the Ralish called Sutruah. These lands were relatively civilised compared to Rustica, Kandahi, and Gershor, though Assalia’s technology was limited and Sutruah’s population disunited. The Alshorian Guard, which was now sometimes able to march in armies twenty or even forty thousand strong, easily picked the latter province apart. Assalia was, by all accounts, largely disinterested in fighting, preferring trade and diplomacy. When it became evident that Alshor’s expected trade terms made the Assali less than equal an army was raised. By now though the Ralish were the finest bronze-workers on Aisa, and well-organised legions of spear and swordsmen heavily supported by cavalry, camelry, and elephantry. The Assali were crushed on one bloody day, thousands dying in a shallow valley Northeast of the Sutruahn city, Florez.
Atlan-
The Atlan would prove Alshor’s closest match in Aisa. A Carthage to Azaria’s Rome. The Atlan Empire had the beginnings of a new craft at their disposal and, when battle with The Ralish was first joined, its blades shattered Alshorian bronze and stopped the all-conquering enemy in its tracks. The Atlan were the first foe to be unphased when confronted with Tudkahali war elephants- their own were larger! Their warships too were formidable- finer even than those of Akralon. Trireme-like vessels kept the Ralish from venturing west of Sutruah by boat, and carried several Atlan armies to that province’s large western island, Sut. Sut had been a major trading partner for the Atlan, and its annexation enraged the empire. At least three major battles were fought over it before the Ralish won the day, apparently by weight of numbers and the favour of the gods, or of chance.
Okolor and Pyrenia-
After Atlan’s defeat Aisa was all but granted to The Ralish, except for the steppes of Rustica. The Ralish learned of an Atlan trade empire in the far north and west- the stone-age people of Pyrenia lived in ignorance of their effective subservience to the Atlan who encouraged their chiefs to mine on the empire’s behalf. Pyrenia was essentially inherited with Atlan’s surrender to The Ralish. Its savage people would prove troublesome, but never were they able to organise full rebellion.
The Okolor however were an oddity. Icemen to the Ralish, they lived in seemingly abject poverty, punctuated by finely crafted metal jewellery. The Alshorian Guard sent to fight them suffered beyond all proportion when faced with a hostile population numbering less than their own ranks. It was said that the enemy was impervious to the bitter cold, possibly because their blood ran ice, or possibly because it ran wine. The Okolor were never known to be sober, drinking as they did powerful ales and wines, many of which were almost pure alcohol, and consuming any number of natural hallucinogens even as they went into battle. The Okolor killed more Ralish than their snow-covered land could ever have supported, but in the end they could not hope to defeat the continental empire. Their skill as metalworkers may even have been enough to keep them from total destruction, and they soon began to decorate Azarian homes and armour Alshorian soldiers.
Rustica-
To this day there’s some question over how the Rusticans could have been so unprepared for invasion by The Ralish Empire. Of course the horsemen fought back in time, following long retreats into their homeland’s vast interior. The massive empire however attacked from all sides. Savage Okolor infantry and powerful Atlan legions from the west were frequently lead by Alshorian-trained Sutruahn generals, as that people proved a race of exceptional tacticians and administrators. From the south landed Alshorian, Agentian, and Akralonian warships, laying siege to the Rustican city of Kresh, an ugly but important centre of commerce and population unique in Rustican civilisation. While Rustican horsemen harassed the infantry-based forces assailing them from the west they found Alshorian cavalry backed by phenomenal Tudkahali numbers too much. After several years of hard fighting the last holdout to Ralish domination of the continent was subdued.
The Tudkahal arguably destroyed themselves as minor princes began to fear their Alshorian allies who had become all but their masters, and the vague possibility of rebellion they suggested to Azarian minds was sufficient to bring on the annexation they feared.
Through four generations of kings –Ralish I to IV- the massive empire was sustained against all odds. Eventually isolation and a lack of new conquests brought on in fighting, and today The Eternal Golden Empire of The Ralish is widely known as The Fractured Alshorian Empire as Gershor and Pyrenia revolt and other provinces threaten to follow suit. Many provinces have grown to hate one another as much as they once hated Alshor. King Ralish V appears to have lost his once inspirational vision and Azaria stutters while the provinces clash.
While the Iberian Peninsula has no equivalent in Aisa and the France of this continent is somewhat distorted Aisa’s own Denmark juts out from the frozen land of Okolor, opposite the southern boot-like appendage of sunny Sutruah. East of Sutruah Agentia appears as if the Balkans (though the Greeks may find a less impressive archipelago here) while the glorious land of Alshor is separated by the Bosporus’ sibling, creating in the process the Kreshian Sea, into which juts the Crimea-like formation that furnished its name. Off Alshor’s south coast, Akralonians would as well suit the name Cypriot, while the troublesome people of desert Gershor might nearly call themselves Saudi.
One might almost be forgiven for thinking that the rivers Vistula and Bug had cut Aisa adrift from Russia and the Baltic, and that everything north of Fort-Shevchenko had fallen into the Caspian Depression (known here as the coastal Rustia/Kandahi border area of the Casa Highlands).
Afghanistan and Pakistan, were they Aisan, would denote the continent’s eastern-most extent.
To a large degree, Aisan climates mirror those of their region’s Eurasian equivalents, though in the north and west especially they may take them to greater extremes of cold.
Expansion; the birth of empire:
Agentia-
In 2,500bc a people known as the Ralish struck out from their already ancient homeland, Alshor. Constructing a small and primitive navy they sailed west, where an expert mastery of bronze and of horse saw them win victory after victory against the little city-states of Agentia, birthing the Ralish Empire.
In the years that followed the Ralish grew wealthier and more advanced, and the glory of conquest combined with frequent barbarian raids fostered in the people of Alshor a warrior culture. Membership in the Alshorian Guard became a hugely desirable trait, and many dedicated their lives and their families to the institution based in the capital, Azaria.
Gershor-
To the south and east however, the vast land of Gershor was quite different. A nomadic people living from day to day with no thought to progress or empire peopled the desolate, burning land. The Gershans’ preoccupations were difficult to set aside once the Alshorian Guard turned east, and the vast desert fell quickly. Despite the rapidity of their subjugation the Gershan people never fully give-up the fight and the Alshorian-built city of Gerash raised revolutionary after revolutionary against the empire.
Akralon-
Even as Alshor’s roads crawled out across Gershor new enemies revealed themselves to The Ralish Empire. While soldiers put-down Gershan rebels and fought off barbarian attacks on the province of Agentia sails appeared to the south of Alshor itself. Akralonia’s wealthy merchants had taken the greatest exception to the domination of their markets by the rival people of Alshor, and the island people meant to break the monopoly.
It was in these years of Akralonian war that the Ralish learned to build truly great fortifications, and that their armies became infamous in their mobility. There was no doubt that the island-dwelling Akralonians were master sailors, their ships larger, faster, and more numerous than the Ralish’s. The result of this, apart from the raising of coastal fortifications around seaside towns, was massive expansion of Alshor’s road network and the introduction of fast-moving chariots to the Alshorian Guard. The Akralonians had little difficulty in coming ashore, but once there they had never time to lay a major siege before chariots and cavalry swept them back to the sea. Mounted archers and camelry performed similar feats in defence of the Gershan coastline.
In spite of their well-documented and impressive defensive achievements, the Alshorians were largely cut-off from their Agentian province and suffering as a result of Akralon’s partly frustrated efforts. The northern coast of Alshor would benefit as port-cities sprang up. Hundreds of miles from Akralon, Alshor built a fleet of six hundred tiny war galleys and several dozen fire ships. Akralon was completely surprised when a merchant ship returning from Rustica told of the approach of such a massive fleet, and within weeks the island nation became a province. Mere months passed before the reintegration of Agentia.
Kandahi and Tudkaha-
It was during the war with Akralon that Azaria forged its greatest alliance. The city of Gerash lay on the border of another empire, and one widely regarded to be richer and older than that of the Ralish. The Tudkahal were less advanced militarily compared to their new neighbours, but their many united princes ruled over massive numbers of subjects and controlled huge material wealth, mainly in gold. They were keen to hang-on to all of this, and gladly aided the Ralish in subduing Gershan revolts. They even gave Azaria permission to build military roads, granaries, and barracks through the north west of their lands, enabling the joint invasion of Kandahi, a troublesome land populated by cousins of the Tudkahal who were motivated by religion rather than loyalty to their princes or the pursuit of gold. Barely capable of metal-working, the Kandahai were no better able to resist the Alshorian Guard –now boosted by Tudkahali war elephants- than had been the people of Gershor. It took many years for some few bands amongst them to be rooted-out after taking to the hills, but the inclusion of their homelands in the next manifestation of the Ralish Empire was inevitable.
Sutruah and Assalia-
To the Northeast of Agentia and the west of Kandahi the vast lands of Rustica defied invasion mainly thanks to the population’s renowned horsemanship, and their relatively placid nature. It would appear that Ralish kings were keen to avoid making such a powerful enemy while other avenues of expansion remained open. West of Rustica (Northwest of Agentia) lay Assalia, and Southwest of that (west of Agentia across a vast bay) was a land the Ralish called Sutruah. These lands were relatively civilised compared to Rustica, Kandahi, and Gershor, though Assalia’s technology was limited and Sutruah’s population disunited. The Alshorian Guard, which was now sometimes able to march in armies twenty or even forty thousand strong, easily picked the latter province apart. Assalia was, by all accounts, largely disinterested in fighting, preferring trade and diplomacy. When it became evident that Alshor’s expected trade terms made the Assali less than equal an army was raised. By now though the Ralish were the finest bronze-workers on Aisa, and well-organised legions of spear and swordsmen heavily supported by cavalry, camelry, and elephantry. The Assali were crushed on one bloody day, thousands dying in a shallow valley Northeast of the Sutruahn city, Florez.
Atlan-
The Atlan would prove Alshor’s closest match in Aisa. A Carthage to Azaria’s Rome. The Atlan Empire had the beginnings of a new craft at their disposal and, when battle with The Ralish was first joined, its blades shattered Alshorian bronze and stopped the all-conquering enemy in its tracks. The Atlan were the first foe to be unphased when confronted with Tudkahali war elephants- their own were larger! Their warships too were formidable- finer even than those of Akralon. Trireme-like vessels kept the Ralish from venturing west of Sutruah by boat, and carried several Atlan armies to that province’s large western island, Sut. Sut had been a major trading partner for the Atlan, and its annexation enraged the empire. At least three major battles were fought over it before the Ralish won the day, apparently by weight of numbers and the favour of the gods, or of chance.
Okolor and Pyrenia-
After Atlan’s defeat Aisa was all but granted to The Ralish, except for the steppes of Rustica. The Ralish learned of an Atlan trade empire in the far north and west- the stone-age people of Pyrenia lived in ignorance of their effective subservience to the Atlan who encouraged their chiefs to mine on the empire’s behalf. Pyrenia was essentially inherited with Atlan’s surrender to The Ralish. Its savage people would prove troublesome, but never were they able to organise full rebellion.
The Okolor however were an oddity. Icemen to the Ralish, they lived in seemingly abject poverty, punctuated by finely crafted metal jewellery. The Alshorian Guard sent to fight them suffered beyond all proportion when faced with a hostile population numbering less than their own ranks. It was said that the enemy was impervious to the bitter cold, possibly because their blood ran ice, or possibly because it ran wine. The Okolor were never known to be sober, drinking as they did powerful ales and wines, many of which were almost pure alcohol, and consuming any number of natural hallucinogens even as they went into battle. The Okolor killed more Ralish than their snow-covered land could ever have supported, but in the end they could not hope to defeat the continental empire. Their skill as metalworkers may even have been enough to keep them from total destruction, and they soon began to decorate Azarian homes and armour Alshorian soldiers.
Rustica-
To this day there’s some question over how the Rusticans could have been so unprepared for invasion by The Ralish Empire. Of course the horsemen fought back in time, following long retreats into their homeland’s vast interior. The massive empire however attacked from all sides. Savage Okolor infantry and powerful Atlan legions from the west were frequently lead by Alshorian-trained Sutruahn generals, as that people proved a race of exceptional tacticians and administrators. From the south landed Alshorian, Agentian, and Akralonian warships, laying siege to the Rustican city of Kresh, an ugly but important centre of commerce and population unique in Rustican civilisation. While Rustican horsemen harassed the infantry-based forces assailing them from the west they found Alshorian cavalry backed by phenomenal Tudkahali numbers too much. After several years of hard fighting the last holdout to Ralish domination of the continent was subdued.
The Tudkahal arguably destroyed themselves as minor princes began to fear their Alshorian allies who had become all but their masters, and the vague possibility of rebellion they suggested to Azarian minds was sufficient to bring on the annexation they feared.
Through four generations of kings –Ralish I to IV- the massive empire was sustained against all odds. Eventually isolation and a lack of new conquests brought on in fighting, and today The Eternal Golden Empire of The Ralish is widely known as The Fractured Alshorian Empire as Gershor and Pyrenia revolt and other provinces threaten to follow suit. Many provinces have grown to hate one another as much as they once hated Alshor. King Ralish V appears to have lost his once inspirational vision and Azaria stutters while the provinces clash.