History
40,000 - 3000 BC: Beginning Ages
It is not known how Neolithic man arrived on the Vipran mini-continent, but none the less they appeared on the island at an unknown time. The date of arrival is only unknown due to the destruction of records and fossils during the Rhom War. However we can estimate that the first Viprans arrived around 40,000 BC give or take a few thousand years.
These Neolithic people were hunter gatherers up until 3500 BC, which is the period when civilization first took hold in Vipra. The first civilizations were city states spread throughout Helumer, Crotalinasia, Toropido, and Causia
Of these city states two stood out, the coastal city of Hellum, which was located on the far western coast of current Helumer, and the city of Azo in southern Causia. These cities were the major powers of the continent at that time. They soaked up traders and conquered nearby settlements with either force or an economic dependency on the larger city.
Hellum was a large walled city, with stone quarried from the Western Echis Mountains used to build the large outer wall. The buildings, however, were built halfway into the ground with a wood, straw, and leather roof. Only the wealthy could afford free-standing stone houses.
Unlike other cities of the time, Hellum had a middle class. This middle class made up the merchants and entrepreneurs. This middle class outnumbered both the upper and lower classes, creating a rather wealthy city renowned for its sculptures and art.
The far southern city of Azo’s buildings were made out of leather coverings with wooden supports. Even the most lavish of houses was still only leather and timber. Azo, instead of having a proper wall, had a simple timber stockade that was expanded outward with the city growth.
Azo, because of it’s mostly barbarian populace, was run by a chieftain. The chieftain was simply the strongest, and anyone could challenge the chieftain for ruler ship of the city. Challenges happened constantly, meaning that there was rarely a single leader for more than five years.
The constant flux of leaders of Azo lead to chaotic behaviour with the other city states. Sometimes it would have periods of relative peace, trading with other cities and only sometimes raiding. But mostly they were the pillagers of their age, taking attacks of opportunity and looting what they could.
These two cities only waged war twice. The first war, the War of Dinlus, which occurred in 3209 BC, was over the fate of a fair sized city. Azo, the more militaristic city, besieged Dinlus. Hellum had economic interest in Dinlus’ gold mines, many of which Hellum merchants owned or operated, so they naturally rallied to Dinlus’ defence.
So the war became was a standoff between the two powers of the age. Hellum rallied its mostly decadent citizens for a war it was only interested in for long term profit. Azo, on the other hand, was a city of warrior barbarians, living off pillaged loot and prizing strength, so they had the advantage in force of arms and experience.
However, Dinlus was closer to Hellum than Azo. This meant that the Azo warriors had to have a longer march to the city, and had to wait longer for reinforcements. After several staggering defeats at the hands of the Hellu’s and nearly being routed before reinforcements from Azo could arrive the barbarians were forced to the bargaining table.
In return for one hundred goats and large amounts of jewellery the Azo stopped the siege of Dinlus and returned to their city in a mix of shame and glory. From this point on Azo and Hellum had strained relations, leading to the second conflict.
The second war, which occurred in 3143 BC, was very influential on later history. In this war the Azo chieftain, Gardu the Butcher, a man who had seen to the slaughter of several small villages and even a fair sized city, decided to settle the score with Hellum.
In order to fight over the great distance between Hellum and Azo, Gardu ordered the movement of the city to a closer location. Because of the style of housing the city was made out of the Azom had little difficulty picking up and moving, but even so it took them six months to get closer and dig in.
The Azo immediately set about striking Hellum, breaking into the city before they could close the main gates. The band of warriors that managed to get in wreaked havoc among the city guard before being repelled.
Gardu then set about a full siege of Hellum, using makeshift catapults to assault the walls. This siege lasted two weeks before Hellum’s allies arrived to protect it from the southern barbarians. Hellum’s allies were many thanks to their economic support of many different cities, and the ties they formed with Dinlus during the first war ensured their support.
Hellum and its allies managed to beat off the barbarians and take the fight to them, actually assaulting the barbarians in their city. The Azom suffered heavy losses before surrendering after the death of Gardu. The defeated Azom were forced to leave the Western and southern country, so they traveled to current day Azemiop and rebuilt Azo.
This was how the early ages of Vipra ended, the Azo defeated and running to Azemiop while the Hellu’s were becoming the central power in the west. However, the reclusive Toras of the Beatus Delta were gathering strength and the ravaged tundra of the south was fathering the woman who changed Vipran history.
3000 - 2500 BC: Era of Iron and Blood
Hellum was the largest city state on Vipra at this time, and while it did have impressive artwork and jewellery, it lacked the incentive to develop new military technology and equipment. This was not so in the war-torn south. There tribes constantly fought over the meagre resources, and new discoveries concerning weapons were especially prized.
One such discovery was made in 2998 BC, when the first iron instruments showed up in excavation digs. The discovery of iron is attributed to a mythical female Savant that blundered into the discovery as a child while experimenting with blacksmithing. While this is debateable, it is the widely accepted version instead of the importation of Iron crafting by seafarers.
But what is definite is that the knowledge of how to craft and refine iron gave the southern nomads an advantage. They slowly banded together through conquering and treaties until they were unified and powerful enough to assault the North. The Hellu’s, having grown fat off of their impressive trade network, had almost no standing army and were constantly on the retreat from the aggressive southern armies until they had conquered enough land to sate their appetite for war.
While the newly unified iron forgers of the south were conquering their northern neighbours, the Toras of Beatus were bearing down on the easterly Hellum cities, stretching the Hellu’s even thinner. The Toras, while they only had bronze weaponry, managed to have successful campaign after successful campaign against the Hellum people.
The Tora were a mostly agricultural people that kept to themselves until King Opido the Fourth came into power. Opido was one of the first Tora Kings to have extensive written records, going so far as to have entire conversations written down. Archaeologists believe he did this because of a faulty short term memory.
He encouraged travelers to bring back information about foreign cities, especially about their military. What we know now is that he was collecting intelligence on the cities to the west for a later conquest.
On 2936 King Opido sent out dignitaries to the cities of Hellum, Dinlus, and several other city states. The dignitaries asked for the presence of an ambassador in the great halls of King Opido for a meeting on a trade arrangement. Almost all of the cities agreed to arrive.
When the ambassadors and merchants arrived they were captured and taken prisoner by King Opido’s guards. Opido then had them tortured for information on their cities. As we know from the preserved records, they told mostly true information. Opido then rallied his armies and set off on the war path.
The Tora King swept into the west, defeating the first cities easily thanks to information gathered over years and the new knowledge garnered from the ambassadors. Opido, while he was slightly despotic, was also a fair ruler, so instead of subverting local rulers and replacing them with loyalists he let them retain power if they gave him a yearly tithe.
King Opido rolled over the Westerly powers until he tried to capture Hellum. Hellum, holding onto its roots, fought tooth and nail. For every soldier that Opido managed to kill, two of his fell in battle. So by the end, when Hellum fell from a fire started by a traitor, Tora’s army was vastly depleted.
King Opido, in an effort to rebuild his weakened army, gave cities that offered soldiers leniency with their tithes. Many of the cities supplied soldiers to Opido’s army, refuelling it and offering a new strategy to the King. From the success of his first ‘soldier tithe’ Opido proceeded to continue to do so every year henceforth.
The Tora’s, revitalized by the new influx of western soldiers, marched on the Iron cities of the south. This proved to be King Opido’s fatal mistake, he assaulted the now well founded and powerful Southern Cities during the spring.
During the winter all the young boys in the Iron cities went out on their rights of passage, braving the wild for a season before returning as a man. So, when Opido decided to attack the now peaceful southern nation he fought a fully armed force filled with men who had just survived one of the harshest winters of the age.
Opido, even though he had superior numbers, didn’t have the loyalty of his men. This led to the breakdown of his army when the first few sieges on the Iron South failed and the Iron wielding men attacked, pushing Opido back into the west and north.
The Southern Nation, with new bloodlust, fought the Tora’s out of the West. When the Tora loyalists were driven out of the west most of the aristocracy left with them, leaving behind the peasants. The Southerners, stretched thin, simply left most of the cities and withdrew to Crotalinasia.
The people of Hellum were left leaderless and simply fell apart into small farming villages, creating the region of Helumer. The loyalists that left with the Toras were refused entry to the Tora homeland, and forced to make new homes in Central Vipra, at that time known as Viperidae.
The new inhabitants of Central Vipra had to cross the Hossen Desert, most died during the passage, but those that survived established great cities in the fertile plains of Central Vipra.
Until 2500 BC there were only slight events, but nothing of great significance.
2500 – 500 BC: The Golden Age
During 2500 BC there was an upheaval in Toropido, as it had renamed itself in 2638 BC, and a new Dynasty took control, deposing Opido’s family. This Family was headed by Queen Thera, a headstrong woman that must have been only 17 at the time she took control. She managed to take power because her brother, the man who overthrew the Opido bloodline, was mysteriously murdered and had no heirs.
Thera introduced huge reforms to Toropido and ensured woman’s rights in the kingdom, then Queendom, of Toropido. She also ensured that trade was opened with Helumer and the descendants of the Azo, the Azem.
Toropido experienced a huge boom in wealth and luxuries, as did the humble farmers of Helumer and the barbarian herders of Azemiop. There was also a large increase in paintings and sculptures from the Queendom of Toropido. It is also because of this increase in the arts that we know what Queen Thera and her descendants looked like, as they all had paintings made that have stood the test of time.
While The North, West, and East were experiencing a golden age, the south and central powers were experiencing a bloody one. The Iron cities, renamed Causia and Crotalinasia in 2798 BC, separated during a bloody civil war that left thousands dead. During the centuries they had several nameless wars that cost numerous lives, yet had no victor.
These wars lasted hundreds of years and separated the two nations from their peers. Such was not a bad thing. They kept their advancements in military technology to themselves. They discovered many uses for horses, and bred them as steeds where the other kingdoms saw them as food or pests.
The two southern nations also created complex suits of plate mail armour that afforded protection as well as warmth. The Causinae developed effective crossbows and ballistae. The Crotalinae created chemical weapons and minor explosives, such as grenades, from the discovery of black powder. Both sides were evenly matched.
They kept up the ceaseless wars for thousands of years, only ending at a truce on 871 BC because a threatening power that was growing in Central Vipra.
The Viperinae of Central Vipra were growing powerful thanks to prolific gold mines and having exclusive control over a new product that they discovered at the base of the Plateau, Cotton. Cotton and the gold mines that lined the western and eastern mountains fuelled their economy for centuries. This allowed them to develop a huge treasury and a large army.
Even though the Causinae and Crotalinae had superior weapons, they had inferior numbers. The Viperinae outnumbered the Southern nations by seven to one, and had numerous mercenaries at their beck and call.
This predicament made the lifelong enemies Crotalinasia and Causia come to an uneasy truce that would last under the threat of their rich and powerful northern neighbour. Even though the truce was only meant to stop the fighting, it also led to the opening of trade between the two nations and an alliance that lasted for thousands of years.
Under the looming threat of The Viperinae, the Blood Brother Alliance was created. This alliance was the bonding point between the two nations. It was an agreement where if either were to come under attack the other would support the attacked nation no matter the cost. It also secured trade agreements that were highly profitable to both. The alliance also prohibited talks to foreign nations. This was probably for fear of aggressive nations acquiring their superior military technology.
At the end of this Era the Causinae and Crotalinae had joined in an alliance that would last for centuries. The Viperinae had become a huge power from the wealth they derived from the plains of Central Vipra. The Toropido was the center of art and intellectual knowledge for the entire Era, and many discoveries that will be discussed in the next section originated from Toropido. The Helumer stayed humble farmers with no conflict. And the Azem were growing hugely in populace in the fertile fields of Azemiopinae.
500 – 0 BC: The Creation of Cerastes
This era is marked by the legendary creation of Cerastes and the unification of Toropido and Central Vipra. The Crotalinae, with Causinae assistance, would crush the Viperinae in a great yet tragic war.
The greatest achievement of the Tora’s was their architecture. Great arched stone buildings, huge cathedrals dedicated to Gods of old, and bridges that still last to this day. This architecture would see major use during the construction of Cerastes, lending the city it’s elegant yet forceful appearance.
But this would not have been possible if the Tora’s had stayed separate and detached from Central Vipra and the Viperinae. Thankfully, years of pressure and intermarriage between ruling houses would result in the unification of the two nations. The unification only became politically true when the eldest daughter of the Queen of Toropido married the only son of the Crotalus Family, the leading house of Central Vipra.
The combining of the two nations was celebrated with the construction of Cerastes on the Central Vipran Plateau. The city, being newly constructed and using Toropido’s excellent architecture, quickly became a hub for the powerful and intelligent, separating the upper class from the middle and lower classes. It literally put them above their lowers.
The creation of Cerastes was a large drain on the Viperinae’s coffers, and thus they dropped a large portion of their army. If they had been paying more attention to their paranoid southern neighbours they probably would have taken longer building their new capitol and retained their large armies.
Causia and Crotalinasia, seeing their chance to strike out at Central Vipra, sent the majority of their armies north. They met little resistance on the warpath, and what they did meet they mercilessly crushed.
By the time the Viperinae realized that the Southern Nations were attacking them, the Causinae and Crotalinae were already closing in on their larger cities with their three five-thousand man armies. The Viperinae scrambled to defend their cities, but the militias fell before the war-machine of the south.
The Causinae and Crotalinae simply left the cities, sending the plunder back with a few messengers. The only residents of the cities once the southern armies left were corpses. The South believed in scorched earth, and left only destruction in their wake. They held no illusions, they knew they were not going to go back to their homes and families, instead they were going to send a message to all the Viperinae. They weren’t the major power in Vipra.
The Combined Causinae and Crotalinae armies managed to punch deep into Central Vipra, sending back their loot the whole time, until they set siege to Cerastes. Even though the city was new, its walls were finished and well prepared for assault by the time the southern armies arrived. While the catapults and ballistae did damage the walls, they weren’t effective enough to punch through.
When winter set in, the southern army, against their orders, went to the bargaining table. Even though the Viperinae were spiteful, they knew that a prolonged siege would destroy their economy and therefore their kingdom.
The agreement that was reached was that Causia and Crotalinasia would each be given a far southern city in exchange for the retreat of the assaulting army and the ceasing of further aggression. The ashamed southerners agreed and left for their homelands.
Where societies normally greet their returning soldiers with hurrahs and flowers, these soldiers were met with rage and barely restrained hostility. Though they managed to secure tenuous peace with Central Vipra, and gained two cities as well as the riches of at least four other cities, the leaders of the Crotalinae and Causinae wanted to set and example of perseverance and strength, not retreating when the first winter set in. What they didn’t realize was that the Viperinae, with their economic cunning and epic subterfuge now respected the Southern Empires and would continually try to use or ally with them.
By 0 BC the Viperinae had rebuilt their cities and long buried their dead. They developed trade ties with both Causia and Crotalinasia, even though the Southern Empires were mostly reluctant. So the Era ended with peace, but as always war and death waited on the horizon.
0 BC – 1500 AD: The Culling
The famous Culling Era, this was when the Azemiopinae and Hellu’s were captured and subjugated by the Viperinae with Causinae and Crotalinae assistance. This created the caste system that still prevails to this day, and as such is one of the greatest chapters in Vipran history.
The Culling began in the late third century, and finally ended at the start of the fifth century. It covered such a large span of time due to the reluctance of the Causinae and Crotalinae, and the resilience of the Azemiopinae.
The Culling started as simple incursions into Azemiop, the Viperinae desired more land and believed they could crush the Azemiopinae. They did, for a short while. When the Viperinae started reaching into Azemiop’s heart the Azemiopinae gathered their forces and mounted a counter attack.
The Viperinae had been fed tales of the weak barbarian Azem that had fled to the east to fester while the Hellu’s grew prosperous. The opposite could have been said, while the Hellu’s suffered from years of disastrous wars the Azem had been left to their own devices in the fertile plains of Eastern Vipra. The Azemiopinae out numbered the Viperinae at least twenty to one because of the mammoth growth of their populace.
So the counter attack, while only consisting of leather wearing barbarians, quickly trampled and overran the Viperinae defenders. They captured hundreds of craftsmen and plundered the city clean of anything remotely shiny.
This forced the Viperinae to immediately pull back out of Azemiop and protect their cities from further attack. Though, if they had realized that the Azemiopinae had sent most, if not all, of their spare soldiers they might have kept on fighting.
The Azemiopinae war-band, when they finally arrived back at their home city, aptly named Azea, forced the blacksmiths and masons they had captured to teach them their arts. This act quickly evened the odds, and when the first armour wearing and sword wielding Azemiopinae appeared the Viperinae knew that their chances of clear success had been blown away like dust. This was when the Crotalinae became involved.
The Crotalinae, disconcerted by their meagre standards of living, often took to migrating to the successful Viperinae cities. So, when the offer came of entering a coalition where the Crotalinae would act as the military branch while the Viperinae handled the mercantile affairs, they tentatively accepted.
Their first act when they agreed to join the Viperinae was to assault the Azemiopinae. They sent most their army, leaving behind only what was necessary. The mammoth numbers of Crotalinae troops on the frontline were feed and armed by the Viperinae, securing the Crotalinae’s trust.
At first, the victories in western Azemiop were few but they grew until the Crotalinae were dominating the battlefield. The Azemiopinae soon realized that, even though they had recently discovered iron and all its uses, they were losing horrendously. But they never did give in.
Halfway into the fourth century the last Azemiopinae stronghold fell, completing the Viperinae and Crotalinae subjugation of Azemiop. Normally, the Viperinae and Crotalinae would have immediately started attacking the Hellu’s, but they were having difficulty retaining control in the newly conquered lands. The Causinae entered the coalition at this point.
The Causinae were asked jointly by both the Viperinae and their long time allies the Crotalinae to join the coalition. The Causinae, holding onto their heritage of defence and lawmaking, were perfectly suited to peacekeeping of the east. They accepted the alliance for the higher living standards and doing the thing they loved, keeping the law.
With the east under the watchful eyes of the Causinae, the Crotalinae quickly reorganized and struck at Helumer. They dealt blow after blow to the loosely knit western city-states. They quickly coalesced together into a formidable force, and managed to repel some of the major Crotalinae assaults. However, under the pressure of continued Crotalinae aggression and a few bad harvests, the Hellu’s surrendered on the dawn of the fifth century.
After the Culling of the few sovereign kingdoms was finished, the alliance teetered on the brink of falling apart. The Crotalinae had finished mopping up all external powers, and the Causinae had subdued any and all rebellion in Azemiop. The Viperinae feared the worst, so called all of the nobles of the three member nations to a summit in Cerastes.
At the summit a new system of government was agreed upon, a triumvirate of three. Each representative would represent their nation and their interests. They would each be able to act individually, declaring war and such, but they would rely on each other for mutual support.
They would also stop family mixing, making sure that no cross-caste child could try and become the representative of two or more of the nations. This prevails as well to this day, ensuring that each caste stays pure.
The only nations not represented were the Helumer and the Azemiopinae, and as they were conquered they were only fit for low level manual labour. So they were lumped into the single, unrepresented, Azemiopinae caste.
This is the system that still reins to this day in Vipra, under the same agreement and with only minor adjustments to the laws. This was when Vipra as we know it first came into being.
The Church of the Mother Snake also holds its roots in the Culling Era. The Church had been around long before the Culling, but it had never drawn much of a following, being more of a gentleman’s club for the wealthy and powerful.
However, as the culling grew on and the citizens of the Viperinae grew discontent with constant conflict they needed a distraction and a way to weed out those with little faith in the leading monarch. When King Jannis Crotalus III adopted the religion publicly, so did the people, and those that didn’t were forced into attendance or flogged until they adopted the kings beliefs.
This unified the Viperinae people under one Monarch and one Goddess. When the Crotalinae became the Military arm of the Viperinae they weren’t required to become Serpentine Worshippers, but slowly they converted due to subversion and cultural diffusion.
The Causinae adopted the religion even before they joined the Coalition, this eased their joining even more. As such, when the Azemiopinae and Hellu’s were conquered they were forced to worship the Goddess or suffer dire consequences.
It is believed that the Church of the Mother Snake holds its roots as a fertility goddess of the old Toropido Queendom. This older goddess was represented in statues and murals as a giant humanlike Viper holding its human young close to its chest. She was also depicted as a giant Python incubating eggs containing the first Viprans.
The Church of the Mother Snake still depicts the Goddess in this manner, creating the loving, nurturing, and generally benevolent image that the Church still spreads. However, this has never stopped believers in Her to stoop to evil and depravity. But like all Churches, it has it’s benefits and downfalls.
This Era ended in peace, with the Azemiopinae being spread throughout Vipra as a source of manual labour. The Viperinae became the administrators of the nation, creating new sources of income and resources constantly. They were also the source of most technological advancement, as Cerastes was quickly becoming a hub for scientists and the worldly.
The Crotalinae exercised military might once in a while, putting down small rebellions that the Causinae couldn’t handle. The Causinae spread quickly throughout society, acting as Judges, Juries, and Executioners all in one. As the Causinae were incredibly zealous about keeping cross-caste children to a minimum they were quickly given the honorary caste-wide title of Blood Guard.
1500 – 1850 AD: The Age of Gunpowder and Advancement
This Age began with extended peace up until the middle fifteen hundreds. During the middle of the sixteenth century European Explorers landed on Vipran soil, and like all of their ilk claimed it as territory for their Monarch. However, unlike other areas where they met little to no resistance, the European explorers met only failure on Vipra.
They set up a base of operations on the far eastern coast, and when they moved inland terrorized the local populaces. However, the Crotalinae, giddy as they were at the opportunity to kill something, came crashing down upon them.
The Crotalinae had expected little resistance from the men with no swords or armour, but instead got gunned down by muskets. Where this impressed other people, it only enraged the Crotalinae. They attacked until the explorers ran out of bullets and tried to retreat to their sailing vessels.
As the Crotalinae, and even the rest of the Viprans of the time, had never seen sailing vessels before they were shocked by the discovery. As the explorers retreated to their landing craft the Crotalinae overran them, and decided to have the captured explorers take them to their ship.
The Crotalinae, not used to ocean going or any other such thing, were confused yet elated by the ship when they arrived on it. And after they had been shown how it worked by the cow-towed explorers, they sent them, their strange weapons, and everything in their hold back to Cerastes.
After the interrogation of the captured sea-farers and the thorough study of their weapons, the scientists went to study the ship. As the ably minded people weren’t used to being on the water, they soon had the vessel towed on to the ground and slowly but surely transported farther inland where they could study it in peace.
When the last piece of the ship had been thoroughly sketched down, the muskets dissected, and the explorers under constant questioning the Viperinae set about reverse engineering all the new discoveries.
They did well, quickly creating muskets that could interchange parts, vessels capable of oceangoing, and the mass scale production of the gunpowder the Crotalinae so long ago had mastered into creating grenades.
The advent of this technology sent Vipra into a flurry of research into the possibilities. The Crotalinae commissioned hundreds of cannon-bound ships to be made so they could patrol the seas around Vipra. They also turned their standard weapon into the musket.
Along with the technology that the Viprans managed to reverse engineer they also were spurred into other discoveries, such as the ability to refine iron into steel. This was a necessity to build the high-rises of the time. The high rises became popular when the population started following a more clustered and centralized trend, multiple families living in the same building to save space.
Concrete was also discovered, allowing the quick production of free standing structures. This also allowed for better foundations under all new buildings, increasing height even more and making the buildings earthquake resistant.
Even with such advancement, the Viprans of the age still felt lagging, and set about studying all possible outlets for their intellect. Such possibilities as raising the dead through droughts and other chemicals were explored. The Subject of electricity and lightning also encompassed years of study, scientists not making the connection between the two until eighteenth century.
Electricity raised eyebrows, and as such methods to replicate it became common subject. Once they had managed to create large electricity generators based on the spinning of a large fan and the boiling of cauldrons of water, they turned to ways to actually use the generated electricity. The uses of electricity ranged from simple coils being heated to generate light to methods of ingenious torture. The first batteries also appear nearing the end of the era.
Also coming into its own was steam powered engines that ran off of coal. The method was first discovered by Edios Hel Drymarchon, who created the first steam based engine that could used for transportation. Originally ridiculed for creating a non-traditional method of transport, the scientists in Cerastes quickly caught onto the idea and adapted it from simple automobiles into larger vehicles that had to run on tracks. Simply put they created trains.
Soon trains criss-crossed all of Vipra as the effective method of transport caught on. The Viperinae, as well as the Azemiopinae, used it for the daily commute to work, the Crotalinae used them to transfer supplies, and the Causinae used them to keep track of the movement of citizens.
Of course, to keep track of the trains’ movements and ensure no crashes they had to come up with a method of transferring information quicker than the trains could move. Thus was born the telegram, and shortly after the first phones.
But, as with all good things, this golden age had to come to an end. The Rhom war was looming on the horizon as Azemiopinae discontent grew to a peak in the middle of the nineteenth century.
1850 – 2000: The Rhom War
The Rhom War began with Azemiopinae rioters attacking several Causinae. The Causinae retaliated with deadly force, but instead of the Azemiopinae peacefully whimpering and going back to work, they struck back harder. They organized a strike throughout almost all of the cities, and with stolen or illegally crafted rifles attacked the Causinae.
In a swift and unexpected blow the Causinae in several cities were forced to retreat back to Cerastes and other cities that had managed to pull through the attacks. The Crotalinae quickly mounted a counter attack at the Rebels, and managed to capture a few cities back, but failed at suppressing the rebellion.
The Azemiopinae held all of Helumer, Toropido, and Azemiop and renamed their captured territory Rhom, after a significant Azemiopinae activist. With their superior numbers and land area they were able to dig in on the border lines of the other provinces. The Crotalinae and Causinae banded together to fight the Azemiopinae. They built trenches of their just across from the Rhomian Azemiopinae, ensuring a slow and painful war.
The ground war reached a stale-mate quickly, neither side punching through the other sides opposing trenches. So, they turned to Naval Warfare. The naval might of the Crotalinae quickly counter attacked the Azemiopinae, punching a hole into Rhom on the eastern coast.
However, the Azemiopinae retaliated quickly and regained their land leaving the Crotalinae with heavy losses. The Azemiopinae suffered several more daring sea-borne raids until they had built a substantial navy of battleships and other naval craft.
The Azemiopinae navy surprised the Crotalinae, who had expected ironclads or other vessels like their own, not naval craft that were still under debate by numerous military scientists. But the Azemiopinae jumped the gun and built the first Vipran Battleships and other more modern vessels.
With the Azemiopinae navy quickly outclassing the Crotalinae’s, they built ships of much the same class and met at sea in devastating battles with no clear victors. This trend would carry on, even after the first Tanks were invented and they managed to push through opposing enemy lines. Even air-craft, a phenomenal discovery, didn’t really change the balance of the war.
It wasn’t until 1924 that old trends were shattered. After nearly seventy five years of continuous fighting and numerous advancements in military technologies and medicines of all branches did the greatest discovery descend upon Vipra.
Vipra scientists, working hurriedly in Cerastes, discovered the devastating affects of Uranium and the radiation it emits. A scientist, Eryx Dendro Aspis, discovery, E equals M times C Squared. This lead, called the theory of Relativity by other nations, lead to the discovery of Nuclear energy and power.
While other inventions had matched the outside world at this time, the Viprans Discovered Nuclear Weaponry before any other nation, and used it in their bombs to great and devastating affect.
The Azemiopinae were used to fire raids, but nothing prepared them for the destruction the first nuclear bombs unleashed upon them. Millions died in the First Nuclear Rain. The Azemiopinae were shocked by the explosions that wiped out several of their cities, but held fast. At least they did until The trench was broken from a lose of communication on the Azemiopinae side. On the eve of the new year of 1929, the Azemiopinae surrendered.
Things quickly returned to normal. The Azemiopinae took their place back in society, the Causinae kept the law, the Crotalinae researched still more deadly weapons, and the Viperinae got back to management.
Vipra never fell behind the other nations in the world by technological standards, but rather kept up and tried to push forward. The Viperinae quickly developed an effective economy and tied the Vipran Mark to the Uranium standard. Causinae continue to keep the peace, and Crotalinae concentrate their researching efforts on new and improved body armour. The Azemiopinae take the simple lot of life, with little worries other than working and enjoying Vipran life.