The Jarnish Empire

The Jarnish Empire was one of the successor states to the Greatwood Empire, and ruled over the territory of Yethisia, as well as the Jarnish peninsula, from its capital in Jirna. The Empire's rule was short-lived, as it collapsed shortly after the death of its founder, Ygra, the Unifier, just 17 years after its formation.
The Jarnish states were first united by the armies of the Greatwood Empire, who conquered the peninsula in 901 BIF. However, the Greatwood government made no efforts to mend schisms between different groups of Jarnishmen, and soon after its collapse in 897 BIF, the Jarnish peninsula dissolved once more into infighting. An exceptional figure was required to unite the Jarnishmen once more: a warrior who had served the Greatwood Empire in its campaign in Yethisia, and gathered a large following among soldiers of the imperial army. Ygra returned home shortly after the Greatwood Empire's collapse, and set herself to the task of uniting the Jarnish peoples more permanently. She accomplished this by first earning their respect and loyalty - she fought a number of duels, taking on the best Jarnish fighters of every town and village, and successfully defeating them. After consolidating her power on her home peninsula, Ygra led a force of Jarnishmen east, and was able to take the city of Iferi by surprise, stealing the Crown of Flowers for herself, and crowning herself the queen of the Sufi-Nazadi Kingdoms. Over the course of several weeks, Ygra was able to to consolidate her rule over the Sufi-Nazadi Kingdoms, and declare herself the first Jarnish Emperor.
The newly conquered territories of the Yethis were not well treated under imperial rule. As a pious devotee of Dyakyr, God of Justice, Ygra could not abide the pagan religion of the Yethisi. A year into her rule, with her power mostly consolidated, Ygra gave proclamations condeming Damari ceremonies. She executed many of the Isada, the Damari story-teller priests, and forbade the celebration of Damari festivals. Much of the Damari religion was forced underground by her actions, and much of their ancient history was nearly lost. Ygra appointed her most faithful cronies to positions of power and authority, and many of these new governors developed reputations for cruelty and violence, solving their problems with the sword more often than the quill.
In her homeland, Ygra's rule was considered far more progressive. She sought to truly unite the Jarnish peoples into one, and in pursuit of this, she ended many of the more barbaric, individualist customs practiced by the Jarnish: for example, yearly raids on neighbouring townsteads, and the castration of men from rival villages. Ygra was unable to completely reform the Jarnish people, however - death-bouts continued to occur long after her death. Ygra also sought to elevate the Jarnish merchant class. The Jarnish had long been known for their daring traders, from the pioneers who discovered the gnomes of Nek Tharad, the Workshop, to those who first travelled through the Jarnish mountains, seeking out the markets of the Sufi-Nazadi Kingdoms. Under her patronage, the trading class grew richer and more powerful, and the cities of Jirna and Genid grew to be some of the most prosperous of the north. Ygra sponsored the formation of the Jarnish Assembly of Traders, who were granted great influence within her Empire.
Many of the Greatwood Successor States believed the Jarnishmen to be barbarians and brutes, and so Ygra's diplomatic overtures were often met with scorn. Over many years, Ygra's work in reforming the Jarnish helped to alleviate this notion, and she was able to maintain alliances with some of the northerners, though she was careful to avoid embroiling her empire in their wars and conflicts. The kingdom of Feria became an especially close ally during this period, the Jarnish even providing weapons and funding to their armies in their wars with the other Naidhalaean kingdoms.
In 886 BIF, the Empire also sponsored several Jarnish pioneers, who sought to expand their territories in the south, and found new settlements within the Aelder Wood. The Jarnish Colonies were founded soon afterwards, with imperial funding, though these colonies would later be abandoned by the Jarnish.
As with its predecessor, the Jarnish Empire's fortunes were tightly bound to those of its founder. In 881 BIF, Ygra was challenged to a death-bout by one of her subservient chieftains, a warrior by the name of Janic. Ygra was killed in the challenge, and the empire was inherited by Janic. By all accounts, Janic's rule was incompetent, and under his mis-leadership, the Jarnish reformation took several steps backwards. Just a year after his coronation, Janic would meet his end in an event known as the Zaiki Miracle, and the Empire's territories in the Yethis would be lost. On the Jarnish peninsula, a new succession crisis, combined with more ancient feuds, ripped the Jarnish states apart once more, until the intervention of the Jarnish Assembly of Traders and their hired swords. The traders would go on to found the Jarnish republic, a state that continues to rule the peninsula in the modern day.
While the Jarnish Empire is long dead, its legacy remains in the form of the Jarnish republic, and the descendants of the Jarnish Colonies in the south. Ygra's reforms allowed the Jarnish to become one of the foremost trading powers on the continent, and allowed them to gain exclusive access to both the Yethisi and gnomish markets for many centuries.