Era 4: Expansion and Conflict Year c2500 - Year c4500

Territorial Expansion: Nations vie for land, resources, and dominance, leading to territorial conflicts and power struggles. This era witnesses the rise and fall of empires, shaping geopolitical boundaries.
At the start of this period, most of the burgeoning nations of the six tribes had reached almost total collapse. Changes to the climate and a string of natural disasters had undone 2000 years of slow but steady development. But the history of the seven tribes was one of overcoming struggle. The people of Edane had triumphed over the disasters of the cataclysm in the west and rose from the ashes of their respective nations.
One nation had managed to emerge from the First Great Disaster relatively unscathed. The Litikanians on the Brooding Peninsular were already used to scraping out a living on the barren rocks and mountains of their homeland. When the weather deteriorated, they retreated into the protection of the mountain, almost completely disappearing from the historical record in this period.
However, from 2610 onward, they exploded onto the world stage with a brutal expansion across the continent. While most of the north remained frozen and their coastline being so difficult for the Eksil raiders to attack, they swooped south, exploiting the weakened city states of the Golden Peninsular, subjugating their people and forcing them into practical slavery, using them as the breadbasket of the empire. As a result, the populations of these nations flourished.
The Eksil and the HIzbrann, separated from the rest of the continent by the northern mountains, continually fought back and forth for control of what little farm land could be had. The brutal conditions prevented significant population increases.
By 3000, the temperatures had begun to rise, tipping control of the region in favour of the Eksil, until the year 3049, when the northern invasion by the Litikanians began. Keen to push the borders of their empire to natural geographical defensive features, control of the shores of the Bestridt Sea were their best hope of controlling the region. Over the next 20 years, they gradually increased their power and influence, dominating the region.
The Hizbrann lost their grip on the valuable strip of land on the southern shores of the Bestridt Sea and were forced to retreat further in land. Recognising their primary weakness being the nature of their independent family tribes, a series of rulers known as 'The Unifiers' in the 3400s focused on uniting the Hizbrann tribes into one great nation. Trade also developed significantly between the Hizbrann and the tribe far to the east known as Anshar. The Hizbrann capitalised on maintaining control over the Golden Pass, enabling them to gain riches as they stood at a key trading point between the east and the west.
Meanwhile, in the south, subjugation of the Fortunari led to frequent rebellions that were brutally put down. In 3994, an alliance between the Vespera, who were keen to stoke rebellion, and the Hatnu Pachi, led to the assassination of several members of the ruling Litikanians. The consequences were disasterous for the Fortunari. The Avidians collaborated with the Litikanians to escape persecution and huge swathes of Vespera and Hatnu Pachi were rounded up and executed, bodies piling high in mass graves.
Many of the surviving Vespera were chased out of the cities and fled into the empty hills and wastes of the Steppes to the east. The Hatnu Pachi, even mysterious and secretive, simply disappeared across the whole empire, including in the north. Rumours spread that they had travelled into the Backbone, hoping to begin their lives again in the mountains.
The assassination of 3994 led to a slow and steady decline for the Litikanians. The Hizbrann and the Eksil became increasingly more brazen in their raids along the borders of the Litikanian empire, slowly chipping away at their control of the north and eastern territories. The Vespera had quickly adapted to life on the Steppes and harried the city states of the Golden Peninsular from 4100 onwards.
But it was the combined might of the final Unifier's armies which swept out of the Golden Pass in 4184 that finally put an end to the Litikanians. A combined force of Hizbrann and Eksil relentlessly captured city after city in the empire over the next five years, rolling back the Litikanians until they controlled only a narrow peninsular in their homelands. Each city was occupied by a commander of the Hizbrann armies, their methods of control varying depending on the whims of the individual in charge. The Eksil managed to avoid subjugation through their alliance but they were still forced to pay a heavy taxation burden.
By c4500, most of the continent of Edane was ruled by military leaders, beginning the Era of Absolutism.