Great House of Temekan (Temekanian Empire)

The Great House of Temekan, commonly referred to as the Temekanian Empire, Old Temekan, or Ancient Temekan, was a Mithril Era civilization centered along the Niru River in Nioa. It was perhaps the longest-reigning civilization in Holosian history, coalescing around 400 ME (~4070 BSA) with the unification of aasimar and tiefling people in the Upper Cataracts region and the Tsakhit yuan-ti of theNiru Delta under the first Pharaoh of Temekan, Ohr Aka. The history of Ancient Temekan appears to have been a series of stable dynastic kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as the Riven Years. Many other mortal peoples would come to integrate into Temekanian society, such as aarakocra of Myurdin and elves from the Mirror Realm of the Fey, making Ancient Temekan the first true multi-ancestral culture in Holos. The Great House of Temekan reached its zenith in the Late Mithril Era, controlling territory across Nioa and into the Shanindar Mountains Mountains as well as several outposts in Iroa, Auloa, and Hakoa, after which it began a slight, slow decline culminating in the Reckoning of Temekan around 3210 M.E. (~1260 B.S.A..)

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Demography and Population

Prior the the establishment of the Great House of Temekan, the region surrounding the banks of the Niru River was initially populated by two cultures. One known, as the Proto-Temekanians, was primarily made up of aasimar and tiefling individuals who came together during the First Intermediate Period in the area around the Upper Cataracts. Little is known about how these two ancestries came together, particularly given the hostile relationship between their divine progenitors. They appear to have been a combination of agriculturalists and pastoralists. Some have argued based on iconographic evidence that aasimar primarily worked as farmers while tieflings tended to livestock, however, evidence for a division of labor based on ancestry during this period is quite limited.
The other parent culture of the Temekanians was the Tsakhit or Psakhit people of the Lower Niru. These people appear to have displaced a population of aasimar and tieflings living in the region during the last decades of the First Intermediate Period. According to early Temekanian sources, the Tsakhit were actually yuan-ti colonists, said to have come from "a distant land" and "claimed allegiance to a foreign empire." Many scholars have disputed this claim, as there is no concrete physical evidence for intercontinental travel prior to the Middle Mithril Era. In spite of this discrepency, what sources remain from the period all appear consistent in their depiction of the Tsakhit as snake folk and seafaring foreigners.
According to later Temekanian legends, the Tsakhit were already accomplished agriculturalists and architects when they arrived in the Niru Delta. They record that the Tsakhit worshiped a being known as the Serpent Below and that they raided settlements throughout the Niru Valley. During these raids, the Tsakhit would capture vast numbers of farmers and either send them across the sea to work as slaves or sacrifice them on stone altars. Their victims' blood was then used in depraved rituals to transform the Tsakhit into the image of their dark god.
Around 400 ME, the ruler of the Proto-Temekanians made war on the Tsakhit, who are said to have lost contact with their allies across the sea some ten years prior. The ruler, Ohr Aka, defeated the leader of the Tsakhit, a yuan-ti laxeotikaztl called Shaqqar, at the Battle of the Reeds. This is regarded as the unification of the Niru River peoples and the beginning of the Great House of Temekan. Though there would be several rebellions and civil wars over the following centuries between the east and west, the Temekanians came to adopt many aspects of Tsakhit culture, including serpent iconography, irrigation, architecture, and even eventually writing and social stratification.
Overtime, the dynasties saw influxes of other Elder Races, beginning with the elves, dragonborn, genasi, and and eventually even aarakocra. While these groups intermingled, there remained a certain degree of animosity between them as each of their divine creators were often seen as at odds with one another. Aasimar and elves made up the majority of the population, with tieflings following close behind and dragonborn and genasi largely being found in the more remote frontiers of the empire. Additionally, by the 10th Dynasty, most of the Tsakhit yuan-ti had become so interbred with other mortal lineages that they cease to appear in the census records.
Traditional Temekanian law prohibited citizenship for non-aasimar but as of the 15th Dynasty elves had a special status as "beloved consorts of the Pharaoh." Very few Temekanian pharaohs or high officials were of these races, with almost all of them born aasimar or aasimar with some elven heritage. Dwarves could be found in the nomes of the lower Shanindar and Upper Cataracts but were traditionally seen as foreigners. Despite this apparent racial classism, the Great House of Temekan was generally quite welcoming to refugees and immigrants from other regions, so long as they integrate into Temekanian society, paid an additional tax, and willingly participated in corvée labor.
Some races in Ancient Temekan became associated with a particular class or occupation, with tieflings working as mercenaries and blacksmiths, dragonborn working as masons and miners, and genasi appearing in a number of specialized trades including faience and ceramic pottery, shipbuilding, and mining.

Territories

The center of the Great House of Temekan's identity rested in their relationship with the River Niru. Over the course of their three thousand year history, the Niru changed its course several times, leading to the construction and abandonment of many settlements along its banks. However, the Temekanians considered the Niru River Valley to be effectively split into two parts: the eastward Upper Cataracts and the westward Niru Delta. Even during periods of unrest or invasion, the Temekanians retained these regions as their homelands and considered them the heartbeat of both their kingdom and the world itself.
While the Niru River today runs through the center of the Nioan continent, the Mithril Era saw the river holding a more northern course, through the region contemporaneously referred to as the Ghostdunes. During this period, the Ghostdunes were a lush landscape of fertile hills and valleys. Savannah and dry tropical forests dotted the landscape and the Temekanians used this natural abundance to grow their civilization. This region's fertility became blighted through divine wrath and magical conflict during the Reckoning of Temekan, leaving it the haunted, arid landscape we know today.
At its height during the Late Mithril Era, the Great House of Temekan controlled much of the Lower Shanindar as well as the Mashiq and Kanesh of Nioa. The Temekanians even established small colonies in Auloa, and Hakoa, in what is today Cape Amberfall, Solstice, the Deccan Kingdoms, and several of the Ulukandan city-states. These outer nomes, or "districts," were taken over the course of several wars with the early Shanindar Empire and the indigenous populations of these regions.

Military

The Great House of Temekan's military was a combination of levéed recruits from across the empire's nomes and mercenaries hired from various territories beyond the Great House's control. It was responsible for defending Temekanian territory and for maintaining Temekanian dominance in regions where they had an influential role. The military protected mining expeditions in the Marrow Desert and Mashiq, and established fortifications along important trade routes to protect merchants from foreign threats and the saggasu. At various times, pharaohs used the army both to crack down on dissidents as well as to fight campaigns and capture more territory for the Temekanian Empire.
Typical military equipment included bows and arrows, spears, and round-topped shields made by stretching animal skin over a wooden frame. War mages were also employed along with many exotic beasts trained for battle, including elephants, hippos, rhinos, and toratons. Weapons were usually tipped with bronze or mithril. The khopesh, an infamous weapon among the Ancient Temekanians was adapted from Ulukandan centaur mercenaries. Few pharaohs actually fought alongside their troops, though many are depicted as leading charges or personally bringing home captives.

Technological Level

The ancient Temekanians pioneered a number of innovations and discoveries both mundane and magical. They were some of the first to develop irrigation, canal construction, crop rotation, crop modification, animal husbandry, empiricism, faience and glass construction, medicine, dentistry, advanced algebra and geometry, shipbuilding, as well as other technologies.
Ancient Temekanians also perfected many spells, particularly those of a necromantic nature. Unfortunately, many of these advances would come to exacerbate the impact of the blight brought against them during the Reckoning at the end of their reign.

Religion

During the Mithril Era, the gods were thought to be intimately involved in the daily lives of their creations and in some instances appear to have directly intervened in mortal affairs. For this reason, belief in the Heavenly Council was exceptionally strong. However, little information remains of ancient Temekanian ritual or myth. It is widely believed that the Heavenly Codex and many other religious texts were authored either by individuals with direct contact with the gods or the gods themselves. However, the first copies of these religious codices do not appear until the Late Mithril Era, when the Temekanians were becoming more and more familiar with the arcane magics pioneered by the former Temekanian mortal, the goddess Myurdin.
Ancient Temekanians also believed that the pharaohs and other legendary individuals were actually the offspring of the gods and held semi-divine power. This meant that the religion of Old Temekan was intricately linked with the mortal power structure and believed to be divinely ordained. Some evidence does support this, as some Ancient Temekanians really did have incredible, neigh-godlike abilites, but the extent to which this was an inherited trait or universal across all Temekanian legends is disputed.

Foreign Relations

The Great House of Temekan interacted with a number of early states and culture groups throughout their three millennia reign. Their most frequent foes and friends were the dwarves of the early Shanindar Empire, beginning a long tradition of begrudging alliances, marriage pacts, trade negotiations, and wars between the mountainous Shanindar and the organized agricultural states of the lowlands.
While relations with the dwarves of the Shanindar appear to have been as sour as they were sweet, the Great House of Temekan was on far better terms with the people of the Shattered Strait and the Ulukanda Coast. Trade between the two regions began during the Middle Mithril Era and increased drastically as the era progressed. The Temekanians traded faience, finished goods, arcana, and grain for slaves, ivory, animal skins, and monster parts. The Temekanians particularly prized Ulukandan centaurs, for their speed and skill at archery. This trade eventually reached a point where the number of Ulukandan mercenaries in the Temekanian Army nearly outnumbered the number of local recruits.
During the Middle Mithril Era, the Great House of Temekan began to establish relationships with a number of small city-state kingdoms located in the Mashiq. Many of these kingdoms became either client states of the larger Temekanian Empire and the Temekanians often found themselves embroiled in disputes over territory and trade. Temekanian pharaohs sometimes did send armies into the region to enforce their international policies and protect their client states. However, the reach of the Great House across the Marrow fluctuated greatly, meaning that little could be done to firmly establish a presence in the region. However, this cycle was eventually broken by the Pharaoh Sethenes II when he attacked and conquered the Holy City of Jeharoa and the ruling Ashkelonian Dynasty in 2509 ME Sethenes II and his descendants continued to push south until they controlled much of the Mashiq and the Kanesh Peninsula.
South of the Niru River Valley and the homeland of the Great House of Temekan lies the Marrow Desert. Though smaller during the Mithril Era, it remained a massive barrier to the Temekanians without the initial advantages of domesticated camels or scarabs. The Temekanians feared the Marrow as well as its native inhabitants, the thri-kreen and tlincali. Thri-kreen Marrowmen sometimes worked as mercenaries or border patrols for the Temekanian state in exchange for traded goods. However, the fear of thri-kreen meant that unlike other races, the Marrowmen were prohibited from setting foot on Temekanian soil except under flags of truce. This proved particularly challenging considering the importance of the Tsewa Oasis, a sacred shrine and trade nexus located in the heart of the Marrow Desert. Following conquest of the Mashiq, the pharaohs of the Great House of Temekan felt forced to grant limited autonomy to the Marrowmen in exchange for access to their new territory. This led to further disagreements and eventually a short period of Riven Years during the Late Mithril Era.

Agriculture & Industry

Agriculture:

A combination of favorable geographical features contributed to the success of Ancient Temekanian culture, the most important of which was the rich fertile soil resulting from annual inundations of the Niru River. The Temekanians were thus able to produce an abundance of food, allowing the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits. Land management was crucial in Old Temekan because taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person owned.
Farming in the Niru Valley was dependent on the cycle of the Niru River. The Temekanians recognized three seasons: Akhet (flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The floods of the Niru, while sometimes destructive, were regular and actually deposited a mineral-rich silt ideal for growing crops. This was then followed by the plowing and planting of the fields. Harvesting occurred at the end of the year and included threshing via sickles to winnow the grain from its stalks before the next flood. Because of the regularity of the seasons and the fertility of the Niru, the Great House of Temekan could support a massive population and export surplus grain to other areas, which stimulated the development of mortal civilizations across Holos.
Temekanians cultivated emmer and barley, and several other cereal grains, all of which were used to make the two main food staples of bread and beer. Flax plants were also grown to be made into linen and textiles. The aquatic papyrus plants allowed Temekanians to produce the first scrolls on paper. Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots, close to habitations and on higher ground, and had to be watered by hand. Vegetables included leeks, garlic, melons, squashes, pulses, lettuce, and other crops, in addition to grapes that were made into wine.

Animal Husbandry:

Because Temekanians believed that a balanced relationship between people and animals was an essential element of the cosmic order, Animals, both domesticated and wild, were therefore a critical source of spirituality, companionship, and sustenance in Ancient Temekan. Cattle were the most important livestock; the administration collected taxes on livestock in regular censuses, and the size of a herd reflected the prestige and importance of the estate or temple that owned them. In addition to cattle, the Temekanians kept sheep, goats, and pigs. Poultry, such as ducks, geese, and pigeons, were captured in nets and bred on farms, where they were force-fed with dough to fatten them. The Niru provided a plentiful source of fish. Bees were also domesticated from at least the Early Mithril, and provided both honey and wax.
The earliest Temekanians used donkeys and oxen as beasts of burden, and they were responsible for plowing the fields and trampling seed into the soil. Horses were introduced by the Iroan mercenaries during the Middle Mithril Era. Evidence for elephant domestication exists as well, but were only seen in great use in the Hakoa colonies and Niru Delta. Dogs, cats, and even monkeys were common household pets while royal Temekanians bred cheetahs as hunting companions and lions as status symbols. Falconry was common and saw the taming of many kinds of falcons, eagles, and other creatures.
Later Temekanian dynasties began to use magic in order to increase the size and productivity of domestic animals. They used similar techniques to make exotic creatures easier to train and keep for transport, food, and companionship. Toraton are believed to have been developed by ancient Temekanians as large beasts of burden across the vast Marrow Desert. Giant eagles and gryphons were also domesticated and used in the armies of Temekan as well as royal mounts and messengers.

Mythology & Lore

Early History: To Edit
During the Early Mithril Era, the Early Temekanians made war upon the Tsakhit yuan-ti and eventually conquered them. According to legend, the leader of the Temekanians at the time—a man by the name of Wajet—slew the leader of the Tsakhit who was a multi-headed yuan-ti anathema called Shaqqar. For the next century, the Niru River was united as a single entity ruled by a mortal monarch, likely of aasimar descent. However, throughout the Early Mithril Era, the people of the Lower Niru would rebel against the Temekenian state, sometimes on their own and sometimes with the assistance of the nomarchs.
After this conquest, the Temekanians seem to adopt many of the serpent iconography associated with the Tsakhit. However, this is also when we begin to see the first mentions and depictions of the other major serpent god, Kōs, leading some scholars to suggest that Kōs' increased role within the Temekanian pantheon may have been a deliberate effort to try and unify the two groups. By the end of the first millennia ME, it appears that few true yuan-ti remained within the Temekanian Empire, though much of their iconography and culture would go on to influence Temekanian culture for generations.

List of Temekanian Dynastic Rulers

Dynasty	Start Date	Length	End Date	First Pharaoh	Last Pharaoh	Subdivision
Dynasty I	400 ME	200 years	600 ME	Ohr Aka	Ishem	Early Mithril
Dynasty II	600 ME	204 years	804 ME	Konuet	Abti	Early Mithril
Dynasty III	804 ME	73 years	877 ME	Asshay	Sethenes II	Early Mithril
Dynasty IV	877 ME	119 years	996 ME	Atur-Kesh	Khonsu	Early Mithril
Riven War	996 ME	2 years	998 ME	-	-	Early Mithril
Dynasty V	998 ME	139 years	1137 ME	Manhunuet	Abusanti	Early Mithril
Dynasty VI	1137 ME	164 years	1301 ME	Nepherites I	Nesahor	Early Mithril
Riven War	1301 ME	>1 year	1302 ME	-	-	Early Mithril
Dynasty VII	1302 ME	21 years	1323 ME	Rehmose	Unknown	Early Mithril
Dynasty VIII	1323 ME	30 years	1373 ME	Pia I	Menkares	Early Mithril
Dynasty IX	1373 ME	48 years	1421 ME	Sheqqet IV	Nepherites III	Early Mithril
Riven War	1421 ME	6 years	1427 ME	-	-	Transition
Dynasty X	1427 ME	139 years	1566 ME	Artames	Cheres	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XI	1566 ME	189 years	1755 ME	Khudesh	Sifa III	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XII	1755 ME	154 years	1909 ME	Anat-Ka	Uraemes	Middle Mithril
Riven War	1909 ME	2 years	1911 ME	-	-	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XIII	1911 ME	75 years	1986 ME	Sekhemet	Unknown	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XIV	1986 ME	99 years	2025 ME	Thothenet	Hamos	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XV	2025 ME	42 years	2127 ME	Unknown	Shoseqesh	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XVI	2127 ME	67 years	2190 ME	Ozor-Khur	Hamenet II	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XVII	2190 ME	30 years	2220 ME	Hamenet III	Ish-Kathet	Middle Mithril
Dynasty XVIII	2220 ME	8 years	2228 ME	Khumenon	Azrakhet	Middle Mithril
Riven War	2228 ME	1 year	2229 ME	-	-	Transition
Dynasty XIX	2229 ME	258 years	2486 ME	Khemet I	Karneq VIII	Late Mithril
Dynasty XX	2486 ME	103 years	2589 ME	Nimre	Unknown	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXI	2589 ME	112 years	2701 ME	Nakhemes	Dhakla	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXII	2701 ME	126 years	2827 ME	Hemon I	Neveg	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXIII	2827 ME	223 years	3050 ME	Djothor	Soris IV	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXIV	3050 ME	109 years	3159 ME	Anu-Khefre	Medhi-Ka II	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXV	3159 ME	12 years	3171 ME	Khepri	Reshef	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXVI	3171 ME	11 years	3182 ME	Akhen-Heq	Nkere-Bek	Late Mithril
Dynasty XXVI	3182 ME	2 years	3184 ME	Ozha-Ban	Ozha-Ban	Late Mithril

~400 ME (~4070 BSA) - ~3210 ME (~1260 BSA)

Type

Geopolitical, State

Capital

Old Temekan

Alternative Names

Temekan - The Temekanian Empire - Old Temekan - The Temekanian State - Ancient Temekan

Demonym

Temekanian (Old)

Leader Title

Pharaoh of Temekan

Government System

Monarchy, Theocratic

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Palace economy

Currency

The Great House of Temekan did not have coinage or an official system of currency. Instead, taxes and wages were paid through the collection of goods, such as grain, cattle and other domesticated animals and their byproducts, and corvée labor.

Major Exports

Grain (primarily barley & emmer), paper (papyrus), arcane texts & technology, beer, domestic livestock, hippo ivory, stone, faience ceramics, clay pottery, gypsum, gold, ink, glass,

Major Imports

Timber, copper, tin, iron, lapis lazuli, gold, salt, animal skins, resin & incense, obsidian, greenstone, ebony, elephant ivory, monster parts, olive oil, spices, malachite, electrum, silver,

Official State Religion

Heavenly Council

Location

Niru River Valley

Neighboring Nations

• Shanindar Empire

Notable Members

• Princess Salama
• Sethenes II
• Tiakken

Related Ethnicities

• Temekanian (ethnicity)

Related Myths

• "The Origin of Iskendra"