Early History
In the early divine era, Esken was perhaps the least hospitable place in Desmia. The first to master charioteering and always somewhat more warrior-centered than the rest of Desmia, they were feared as raiders during those early centuries. Despite this reputation as inhospitable warriors, they were not particularly bothered by the arrival of exiled
Dryads from the South, which they accepted as neighbors and trading partners. They were fierce defenders of these new neighbors from outside excursions, as long as the dryads paid tribute to them. In the late Divine Era, Esken ceased to be a safe placed for dryads: instead of raiding Esken for dryads and risking the wrath of the local human warriors, South-Desmian merchants began purchasing dryads from Esken as prestige sacrifices. Esken tribes turned on one another and their neighbors for dryads to sell for new iron weapons and spices. As human-dryad trust shattered, it devolved into a horrific warzone. Only the
Mathari federation to the East and North survived the wrath of the human raiders.
The divided Esken tribes became more divided as their elites became more wealthy from this slave trade. They intermarried with South-Desmian merchants and warriors and some even began to construct Southern-style cities around their trade ports. By the end of the Divine Era, Esken had become unquestionably
Orthodox Desmian. That isn't to say Esken was the same as the South: with its focus on a small elite warrior class, it had far greater income inequality and a large portion of its economy relied on slavery. It also had its own Gods and customs. But as more and more Southerners flooded in to support their war with the Mathari, the unique elements of their culture became less and less pronounced. When the Mathari encouraged slave and class revolts as a tactic to conquer almost all of Esken in the Serpent Wars of 345 ME, Esken's uniquely inhuman economic model even began to collapse. When Southern counter-invaders retook Esken from 370 to 400, they kept free many of the slaves and began strategically abolishing slavery and introducing status-equalizing measures to keep Esken safe from class-related sympathizing.
The early history of Esken after that is almost entirely synonymous with that of
The Golden Crusade. Some even say that the Golden Crusade got its name from the yellowish sandstone and golden sunsets of Esken. Esken historians have interpreted ancient documents referring to an "Indigo Crusade" to be possibly referring to Esken's lavender hills, though others have contested that this is probably referring to battles with purple-cloaked Feywilders instead. The Golden Crusade reshaped Esken, perhaps even was Esken: with the constant Mathari wars, Ishkibite uprisings in the West, and rise of the first
Empire of Nefka in 500, Esken was essentially a staging ground for warriors from across the continent to fight their wars of ideology.
Esken Has A Moment
Three major events gave Esken some breathing room: First, the great push of the Golden Crusade by the legendary warrior
Kiru from 905 to 911, which shattered the stalemates in Northern and Western Esken and allowed the Orthodox forces to rapidly gain ground. Second, the Sacking of Nefka in 1080 that finally ended the Feywilds raids and invasions. And third, the Mathari civil war in 1100 that allowed for significant territorial gain in the North. These three factors finally meant that the Esken heartlands were not under constant attack- they could actually exist in peacetime for the first time in over 1000 years. This was more true for humans than for cats- the Cat clans had largely been united against the Mathari until this point and the line between Ishkibite and Orthodox cats hadn't really existed. At first, peace seemed to mean a kind of religious regime of peace and tolerance among the cats- until the infamous cat warlord Ashtara Firetail ignited the first Northern Cat War of Orthodoxy in 1104.
From 1106 to 1450, Esken was no longer the land of endless war. Victory celebrations were held, efforts turned inwards to development. The petty holdings began to unite, and by 1440 there were four major powers in Esken: Agorana,
Torza, Okonara, and Okeruv. There were even talks of voluntary Esken unification, to better build and man defenses against Feywild attacks. And then everything fell apart. With troops focused on diverting the
Halikvar Invasion in the South, the Orthodox world was unprepared for the resurgence of Nefka or the Mathari. The Golden Crusader states to the North were suddenly on the defense and were forced to turn inwards; Feywilds invasions flowed in from the Northeast and East as
The Kidon March was destroyed and reinforcements from the South were cut off. To make matters worse, feuding with the Ishkibites to the West led to an Ishkibite invasion in 1450. The violence was back at it again, I'm afraid.
Back At It Again
Under constant siege, three of the four great Esken empires proved unable to sufficiently defend themselves. Local lords simply stopped listening to their overlords and focused on their own lands. One by one, the three Western Esken states collapsed. In 1500, things only became more dire: better ship technology, perfected in the Ishkibite kingdom of Hadaya to the West, enabled reliable and quick transit across the Western passage to Samvara. While it took time for these ships to be built and the technology to spread, the 1500s saw new problems for Esken: first Hadayan pirates, then Samvaran mercenaries, and then Samvaran invaders. But not all was war and misery- peace did come to some places again. In 1550 the Orthodox Speaker of Esken, Arhana Tanatar, shocked the Alliances of Esken by convening a joint conclave with the Ishkibites. Over years, Arhana was able to broker peace with the Ishkibite kingdom of Lusaya, and was able to work with the Ishkibites to repulse the Samvaran invaders. Ishkibite warriors even helped with a number of Feywild raids that managed to make it into central Esken. Some consider Arhana to be worthy of ancestor status, but accusations of heretical sympathy have continually stalled all attempts.
The 1600s continued being like this, especially after a number of overzealous young warriors disturbed the Peace of Arhana (this happened a few times over the century, ultimately leading to it dissolving formally in 1791). The 1600s saw more Southern support but also constant new problems. Among these was a particularly brutal outbreak of the
Crimson Death in 1678, which killed record numbers of city-dwellers and led to massive flight to the countryside. Esken's urban centers still haven't full recovered.
Esken's decentralized alliances may not have been as good at offense as defense, but they still contributed heavily to the Great Feywilds Push of 1790. Perhaps the greatest unsung hero of Esken's fight against Nefka is Iada the Bat - a rather uncreatively named
Vesper and Feywild merchant born in Eastern Esken. Iada played a pivotal role in causing internal chaos in Nefka in 1845, backing an intended coup of dissatisfied merchants upset with
The Violet Company's monopolies. By funneling Desmian warriors and funding into that attempted coup and retrieving information on the resulting infighting for the Perpetual Conclave, Iada could arguably be credited for enabling the 1850 Desmian Invasion of Nefka.
The decline of Nefka hasn't meant smooth sailing for the Esken alliances. Esken principalities were heavily pressured to provide levies for both the Golden Crusade and Nefkan war, and while Nefkan raids ceased, Samvaran piratical raids only intensified afterwards. And while Eastern Esken was protected as a route to the Golden Crusade, the West was not prioritized by the Perpetual Conclave. And as the public reaction towards the Nefkan expedition soured, Esken morale was hit hard. In 1880, an Ishkibite paladin and missionary known as Kulina Silatar began a campaign of missionary work in Esken targeting disenfranchised communities. She spread the good word, built heretical networks, and worked to humiliate elder priests in the Esken Conclave. As the legitimacy of the temples were undermined,
Seruvianism began to spread like wildfire as well.
Wars against the Ishkibite kingdoms and purges of heretics did little to solve the piracy problem or to answer any of the fundamental complaints of those living in Esken. It wasn't until a concentrated join naval and military campaign westward in 1966 that the sea raiding was brought under control and the missionary networks were cut off from support. And really the struggle has been constant since then.
Yellow is chaparral/maquis, Brown-Purple is Oceanic, Green is Temperate, Light Green is mountains
The Pink boundary is The Feywilds
Most of Esken is semi-arid, with large tracts of tall grass and shrubland dotted with forests. It becomes much drier during the summer, but has mild and wet winters. Laurel, pines, and oak trees are common, and the grassy hills of Esken are famous for their abundant lavender. Beyond this maquis/chaparral climate, the land becomes more humid and forested.
In the Northeast are The Fey Peaks, and to the North and Northwest are the Nothikal mountains.
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