History of Fripperland

The History of Fripperland

Table of Contents

• • Early Happenings
  • Early Happenings
  • Early Happenings
  • Early Happenings
  
  

  Fripperland

  
  Fripperland is the largest continent on the planet of Johorne, its only true rival being Kolaskyva. However unlike Kolaskyva, Fripperland is almost half comprised of one massive desert, leaving much less land for traditional settled civilization. Despite this, parts of Fripperland hosted some of the planet's earliest civilizations. While globally Fripperland has been arguably less impactful than its continental sibling, some of the most colorful cultures, richest empires, and two of the world's major religions came from Fripperland. Even in the modern day, where much of Fripperland lags behind the global north in development, the continent has major stores of important resources such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, and uranium. If the nations of Fripperland are able to fairly exploit these resources for the benefit of the continent, then the future may shine brighter upon them all.

  Fripperland's First Days

The earliest settlements within Fripperland are those in Eshubul, arising in force by around 2600 B.K. Located in the Great Flat of northern Fripperland, Eshubul has access to the three great rivers which draw from the mountains to their south and west, their names being the Burantes, the Tirgindis, and the Zuabu. These three rivers bring water rich in quartz down from the highlands, thus allowing irrigation and mass agriculture in the region. Historically the region has been one of the most populated areas on the planet, and it was serve as a breadbasket due to its enormous crop yield.

Eshubul's rise was mirrored by several other regions on the planet, the first being nearby Asomia off to the west of Fripperland. However, unlike Asomia, Eshubul would remain largely disunited until the Empire of Dergidk was created by Agadarin in 2540 by conquering several other small, multi-city kingdoms. Agadarin's empire would extend along all three great rivers and up into the southern highlands, wresting control of several important mines. The empire of Dergidk, based in the by now prominent city of Dergidk, flourished for several generations. In its period of strength, the empire drew tribute from the highland tribes and from the pastoralists to the east. Often this was in the form of young slaves, either for labor in the empire's many construction projects or as women for the enormous royal harem.

By the early twenty-fifth century B.K., however, the Dergidk empire was falling apart. Dissent in the cities had always been present, especially in such a large empire, and the constant strife of revolt was compounded by increased attacks from neighboring tribes. In 2476 the empire's capital was destroyed after an invasion by the nearby kingdom of Yutabdr. With the destruction of the capital and the death of the emperor, the forces within the dying empire tore it apart like a rotting corpse, leading to an era of renewed disunity.

Stirrings in Atin

As the empire of Agadarin fell apart, the first semblances of states within Atin‌ began to appear. Atin had long had urban settlements, but during the twenty-fifth century B.K. they started to grow in size and in complexity. With its many mountains and resulting valleys and rivers, the landscape of Atin was greatly divided, and yet was united in similar lifestyle and a shared mythology. It was this sort of shared division which fostered the creation of several sizable but relatively small states. Atin and its colonies would become very well-known for their influence in and around the Great Channel‌, however at this point in time the isolated valley-kingdoms of Atin were barely infants, barely aware of even Asomia and Ecret‌ across the sea.Shortly following the destruction of the empire in Eshubul there was an influx of nomads from the Seara‌ and its adjacent drylands into the region. Rather than a simple raid, many of these invaders settled within and around the great cities of the floodplains. Although much damage would be done to the irrigation canals ands the farmlands over this period, equilibrium would once again be found. However this period, starting roughly in 2450 B.K., would schew power in favor of the assimilating invaders- mostly located in the south and southeast.As developments took place in the center and west of the northern chunk of Fripperland, so too, in this time, would the east slowly arise. In modern day Buluragia‌ there continued to arise the local culture developed from their southerly goat-herding origins. These were the early Kurkites‌, who, as far as all recorded history and archaeology relates, have always been associated with their religion of Salija-Hjeru‌. Likely originating from a single tribe or clan millennia before-hand, their gradual spread into Buluragia maintained a loose confederacy via religious leaders and a strong religious institutional hierarchy. Their slow transition from goat-herding to mass-irrigation farming would greatly increase the population of the regions, and populate the river basin with many cities. By 2200 B.K. the proto-Kurkite culture reached to the sea along three main rivers, as well as a small delta in the south east of Buluragia.

Dominion of Eshubul

The status quo of Eshubul finally came to a close in 1987 B.K. when the region was reunited by the city of Trasur. Previously a relatively unknown city in upper Eshubul, Trasur would give rise to the empire of Trasuria. The city, and its surrounding area, had been populated by migrants from the southern highlands who had come to the region at about the same time as the Lakim'a, and would become known as the Trasurians. Trasur arose at the end of the period of contention during the reign of its king Thannatrasur, who would unite all of upper Eshubul by the time of his death in 2000 B.K., leaving the full conquest of the river to his son. Succeeding generations would see the new empire expand to conquer even Yutabdr, shattering the kingdom's power and razing several cities.

Trasuria expanded even farther than Yutabdr, subduing many tribes and settlements east of the broken kingdom, as well as incorporating highland tribes to the south, parts of the nomad frontier to the east, and the escarpment along the coast of Fripperland to the west. The Trasurian empire was longer lasting than its predecessor, and led raids deeper into the surrounding regions, extracting great quantities of tribute.

The Trasurian empire would eventually be broken in 1679 A.K. by a combined force of proto-Nassuri tribes in the east, the rising Xhergwin kingdom from the southern highlands, and internal rebellion against the tyrannical king Nazhekhened, who was infamous for his massacring of merchants who sailed by river near his palace. Trasur would be sacked by the southern hosts, as would many other cities, bringing much gold and other splendid materials back to the highland kingdom. Despite this sacking, however, the city would remain as the seat of power for a much reduced Trasuria as most of its empire broke apart. The breaking of Trasuria would open into yet another period of smaller kingdoms warring in local spats for several more centuries.

Mass Migration

In around the year 1200 A.K. the scenario of Eshubul and its surrounding region would forever be changed. Some freak event described in the histories at the time recorded a deep infestation of death in the three rivers and their tributaries. Many who drank from the rivers' waters died, and the crops irrigated by the rivers largely failed. The resulting catastrophe ended in a massive depopulation of, what was up to then, the most populous region on the planet. While many countless perished from the effects of the infestation, many yet also left the region in order to find livelihoods elsewhere. The event lasted for many decades, the ending of which coincided with another migration into the region from the highlands, where the once rising kingdom of Xhergwin had apparently itself been crushed by a migration from the west. The native, and old migrant, groups within Eshubul would resurge, especially in the north, while the newest arrivals from the highlands, thereafter called as the Ham'an, reigned in the cities of the far south. It would take until nearly the end of of the twelfth century for the population to start to climb back, not reaching pre-disaster levels until nearly the 800's.

Yet while Eshubul entered into, and started to recover from, a great dying, the Kurkites and Atinians remained more stable. It is thought that the sudden and great decrease in trade from the region, particularly in the various metal ores and artisan products, created the lesser pressure that is observed within these regions. However the Kurkites suffered no major population shifts, whereas while the Atinians were faced with a sizable, and somewhat destructive, wave of migrants- presumably from the same peoples which had destroyed and displaced the Ham'an, the local states were able to largely vanquish the threat and absorb it, leaving minimal lasting effect on the region.

Of particular note is that around this time frame the continent had been making regular trade with southern Kolaskyva. It had been under the Trasurian empire that such trade regulations had become more and more commonplace, although its collapse, and especially the subsequent depopulation, had left Eshubul cut off from their Rutheinian partners, who instead evidently developed closer relations with the Atinians- a possible factor in the latter's rise to prominence.

Rise of Atin, Shaluach, and Aeshrya

As Eshubul decline, Atin rose. The small valley-kingdoms of Atin started to coalesce into larger states within the interior of the region as the centuries passed on. However the opposite trend appeared on the coasts of Atin. Situated on the northwest corner of Fripperland, these Atin cities were recipients to trade coming from the seas to west, the Hamil Ainsolof, as well as from the north from the Rutheinian kingdoms. Bolstered by this wealth, many of the coastal cites maintained fiercely their independence, developing as affluent city-states which ruled a degree of land around them. Many of these powerful cities dwelt in either of the "horns of Atin," the northern one, known as the region of Borscython, or the western one, known as Okiscython. Consistent struggles between the cities and kingdoms of Atin, as well as exposure to foreign trade and thought, led to an accelerated development of the region's state structures and institutions and in the philosophical quandaries which went with them.

Far in the southwest of Fripperland, beginning in the 1200's, the local Shalk tribes started to urbanize on a much grander scale in the great expanse of what is modern day Shaluach. It was the western coast, of the more agreeable type of climate, where the first tribes had settled down and had started to build their small kingdoms. By around 860 A.K. the tribes had coalesced into a larger polity, united under an emperor referred to as a Ngingten, and had started to expand eastwards into a more temperate region. Shalk expansion was typified by a sort of tribal integration that left the newly acquired regions integrated, but not fully assimilated. Throughout Shaluach's history this expressed itself in several phenomenon. The first would be in the form of itinerant capitals, wherein the Nginten would frequently move from one prominent city to the next, acquiring tribute, oaths of loyalty, brides, often, and furthermore securing relationships throughout the growing country. The second form this took was in the usage of tribal cohorts. Armies would historically be levied as tribal units, each being wholly drawn exclusively from a single tribe. This assured a sense of cooperation within the regiments and a sense of competition between them, however this could also prove disastrous if said feelings escalated into hostility between tribes, as sometimes happened. Emperor's who relied too much on certain tribes for support tended to find that they became isolated from the rest.

Within those perfidious highland which ever haunted Eshubul eventually arose a new people, formed from the migrants which had driven out the Ham'an, the Aeshryans. The Aeshryans, related to the rugged hillsmen of the west end of the continent, would subsume what had remained of broken Xhergwin, adopting its civilization as their own. Although the old cities of the Xhergwin would be inhabited and once again rise to prominence, it would not be this false kingdom, parading around as a resurrected state, which would so dominate Fripperland, but an altogether different tribe further east.

The city of Gaewahat, now the most storied city in all of modern day Aeshrya, started out as a common tribal ground. Deriving its name from the local word for "plain" (wahat) and the Gaew, a bovine which all of the hillsmen of Fripperland relied upon, its humility speaks for itself. However by the virtue of its position at a crossroads within the highlands, and owing to the meteoric rise of a certain king, Gaewahat and its tribe would come to create one of the wealthiest empires on the planet for many centuries to come.

The life of Khaeret, first great king of the Aeshryans, although influential and important, is relatively unknown. As opposed to the storied histories of ancient Eshubul, the highlands of Aeshrya lacked a tradition of written history and as such most elements of Khaeret's life are unknown. However of what is clear, under Khaeret's leadership the Aeshryans of Gaewahat and the surrounding area rose to incorporate several other nearby tribes, including the kingdom in Xhergwin, into an empire which was largely based on the latter's infrastructure and governing institutions. By 987 B.K. the nascent empire had expanded up to the borders of what was, possibly, the next great Eshubul native unification. However before history in the region might repeat itself yet again, the still energetic Khaeret swept down from the highlands into the river valley and conquered all of the, still relatively understrength, cities. The Aeshryan conquest of Eshubul would prove crucial to the empire's development, as Ashubul engineers and bureaucrats would be integral in contributing to the state.

It was under Khaeret's successor that the empire would come to its greatest extent. In 947 B.K. the Aeshryan's colossal conquests reached from the escarpment in the northwest, just east of Borscython, to the border of Buluragia in the east, thus incorporating almost all of northern Fripperland under its banner.

It had been during this time period that the remnants of Yutabdr's cities, since recovered from their destruction at Ashubul hands, started their colonial settling of the Great Channel. Although some cities and merchant quarters were set up in Kolaskyva across the waters, most of the colonies would find themselves heading eastwards, towards the eastern mouth of the Great Channel. Primarily on Fripperland's north coast, the colonies strayed up to border the pastoral lands of western Buluragia, and began to penetrate into the arid interior of the northeast. All of these cities, many peacefully, submitted to the great king of Aeshrya over the period of its expansion.

Likewise, in Atin pressures within the growing coastal cities led to imperatives of colonization. The primary targets of Atinian colonization were the islands and escarpment along the northern coast of Fripperland. Further colonies moved further east into the channel, but found little room for them within Fripperland. So it was that by the end of the 8th century B.K. Atinian colonies started to take root within the largely rural Amethia. Here the Atinian culture and institutions would leave a lasting impact on the locals, inspiring the eventual rise of the Leomite empire which in turn would become an integral foundation for Eastern Kolaskyvan History.

Beyond their western colonies, several colonies would be founded along the western coast of Fripperland, even down to Shaluach itself, although few did make headway out into the Hamil Ainsolof. Many of these colonies would find themselves subsumed by other powers in the area, often so far away that they would fall to aggression before their mother city could arrive with any aid. Perhaps the most ephemeral of these colonies were those scant few which ended up in modern day Atelia, where the Kathuri were starting to arise as a recognizable group.

It had been shortly after the Aeshryan empire's height when the states of Atin faced its armies as the next target of expansion. What was by that point a solid state, wherein its myriad of new provinces were governed by appointed officials, aimed to draw from its enormous resources and turn its full weight onto the divided states within Atin. The quick overrunning of Borscython and the eastern valleys alarmed many of the nearby kingdoms, who began to band together for common defense. It was in the longest valley in Atin, the Maegoptihmas, where the Aeshryan expedition became bogged down. Although the armies of the east had had much experience in the highlands, the easy triumph over and incorporation of the less organized tribes did not compare well to the well-defended and well-organized Atin states. It was deep in the Maegopthimas valley where the Aeshryan army, near to subduing the entire valley and ill-informed by its since reduced spy network, became blocked in by a combine Atinian army at the mouth of the valley. With their supply lines cut off, the Aeshryan army was forced to try to break out of the valley. The resulting battle, the Battle of Doshbea, resulted in a decisive Atinian victory. The scattered Aeshryan army fled into the hills and and deeper into the valley where most of them were killed by local resistance. Following the battle in 930 B.K., and coinciding with internal rebellion by several eastern governors, the Atinian allied army defeated several smaller armies and liberated eastern Atin, including the island of Threganthrop which had been an important site for Atinian colonies before the Aeshryan empire had expanded into it early on.

The Atinian alliance, lacking rationale to continue, eventually fell apart as the kingdoms returned to their ante-bellum states.

The Aeshryan empire would eventually recover from the defeat in Atin, and would last until 724 before the constant Civil wars and factionalism would leave the empire shattered. Most of the empire besides the eastern highlands would break away as their own states, structured like the empire but in miniature. Beyond the highlands and to the south rested the great endless sands, from which scant few invaders would ever truly come, although growing oases' populations would prove as a valuable source of certain trade goods such as salt.

In Shaluach, too, the late 8th century would end in fracture. Tribal mismanagement compounded with a defeat against a southern enemy left the empire ready to burst. In 702 B.K., when the Ngingten died in battle with said enemies, the empire truly broke. Particular hostility was marked by the divide between east and west, the temperate and coastal regions respectively. However tribal loyalties went further than that, and with the failure of an immediate reunification, many tribes would divide into their own miniature versions of Shaluach.

New Peoples

The 7th century would see much change for the populations of Fripperland. The Aeshryans, though having lost their great expanse, were renewed. The power vacuum left by their decline had created chaos in Eshubul, as well as elsewhere. However despite Eshubul's return to its pre-disaster population level, its power on the global stage of history would forever be diminished. The original people of Eshubul themselves now hugged to the coast, living largely as fishers in cities that had lost their edge to the other great urban centers throughout the north. The invasion of Aeshrya by a related group from the east, the Gectheari in 663, ignited a second empire which, although ultimately smaller and less controlled, would manage to subdue the many tribes of the highlands into a more or less unified state. The Gectheari themselves were less interested in governing than they were in ruling, content with exacting tribute enough to support great hunts and lavish feasts.
Meanwhile in Shaluach, the state of anarchy between the tribes would persist throughout the century. For many, it is thought that the failure of a new imperial arrangement to form would doom Shaluach to a history of weak unity, with factional elements ever wont to tear the empire asunder. So it would be that Shaluach would reunify in the year of 626 B.K., preserving the idea of the empire, although it would only remain in this state for another three hundred years or so.
East of the Shalk tribes during the 7th century began the ethnogenesis of a new people group in the steppes, known as the Burka'oon. The proliferation of this group of many tribes relied on their extensive use of a southern breed of Gaew which had adapted to the dry steppe and for moving great distances often. In such early days, and in the current state of the empire of Shaluach, they would prove as much less of a threat than they were a disturbance as they pastured in or near agricultural land. Small skirmishes with local towns and tribes and nothing more is what such confrontations would consist of, but in the following millennia the eastern tribes would prove to be a much greater threat- perhaps surpassing that of internal tribal hostility.
Further north of the Shalks and the growing Burka'oon lay the tribes of what would form modern day Callaud, the many pre-Callaudic tribes starting to coalesce over the rough mountainous terrain. It is not certain, but it is thought that ancestors of the Aeshryans and their highland ilk are ultimately derived from this area and that the mass migrations of the 12th century began from this area. Almost nothing of note is said about the pre-Callaudic tribes at this time, other than sparse Atinian, Shalk, and Aeshryan mentions of their existence and trade from the region.
Eastwards, near to the highland core of Aeshrya, the desert of the Seara had nourished, by the 600's, a growing genesis of the Nassuri. Many of the practices and rituals of the modern culture trace their root to these centuries. In particular, it is thought that the formation of an oases around the tower at Al-Shirimat allowed for its inhabitance and the local religion surrounding the structures likely originated from such events. Further east, in Buluragia, several Kurkite kingdoms arose during the 7th century from collections of cities throughout the basin. Drawing from the earlier era, the Kurkite kingdoms developed into a formative era of culture, further unifying the region and providing a greater basis for the millennia that would follow afterwards.
South of the mountains from which the Buluragian rivers run, another valley, almost as a mirror of the north, there would arise several recognizable tribal groups. Along the ridges, plateaus, and highlands which run down the southeastern section of the continent arose the Hyingyan. Just south of the mountain ridges in the jungles and savannah, mirroring Buluragia, arose the Pingthso tribes, whose extent stretched to the sea. Further south beyond them in the humid region of which Luxahn would sit in the modern day arose the Luxi tribes, which would sit largely in isolation for the long years before Kolaskyvan colonists appeared on southern Fripperland's shores.
By the 620's all of Eshubul was again under the sway of the new Aeshryan empire, governed loosely as governates of Aeshryan background. Trade across the channel, especially with the Rutheinian kingdoms, would enrich the coffers of the new empire even more. The Atinian cities of Amethia were at their peak, having exerted influence over much of the country side as de facto kingdoms. However, many of the local Amethian tribes by that time had developed off of Atinian example and the entire peninsula was home to like cities and small kingdoms of their own, now providing ample threat and competition to the colonizers.
In the early 6th century, the genesis of an important, albeit relatively short lived, Atinian empire began. The kingdom of Heelot, based in the titular city, rose to prominence in central Atin, exerting undo influence over its neighbors, establishing a hegemony of sorts. In 579, shortly following the ascension of Phthalos of Heelot to power in the kingdom, Heelot would lead a combined Atinian campaign into the highlands of Aeshrya. A fraternal dispute over the empire had torn it asunder over the previous years, leaving the country drained and weary. The divided forces put aside their dispute to unite against the common enemy too late, and in only a few years the empire had fallen. The new empire scarcely outlasted Phthralos' death, and it too was torn asunder by new claimants. Aeshrya itself would eventually coalesce around an Atinian successor whose dynasty would rule for some time in the local style. Similarly many of the other regions of the empire would also follow such a path.

-2700 Asomian empire arises?-2542 About 21 million people on the planet up from about 5 million. Mostly in agricultural areas.-800 Frippish colonies on Amethia.-772 - -572 Kathuri ethnogenesis.-470 First Rutheinian empire is founded.-540 Leom is founded.380 Leom falls.560 Arasian Migrations start.827 Invasion.836 Miisub coronation.Some Pseudo Turk group takes over the escarpment.1080_____Aeshrya controls more than its core, including the west coastal escarpment.Small western neighbor being subsumed by Aeshrya.Successor states control southeast part of traditional core. Also the "Mesopotamia" of the world. All of it. Rich Pheonecian coast is divided between 3 successor states. Bulus is divided between one native state and 4 successor-successor states. One successor state controls a great southern expanse, going strong and getting rich off of slaves. The Caliphate itself still stands, of course.Callaud is on steroids at the moment, although is about to meet its decline after a crushing battle. Loses to blue guy in Atinia.Atinia is, as always, divided. 8 different states. Each seems to control a suitable territory. The many valleys and rivers keep the region divided but to a certain degree of unity.SHALUACH is IN CIVIL WAR.Things will probably get worse.8 "Native" states. One state of invading Nomads. They get stronger. Then dissipate.1 Island faction. Just chilling. 1 desert faction. Enjoying independence. For now. "Main" faction sitting pretty. Will likely triumph. Mix of Rome and Ethiopia. 1 rump state on the west coast. Larger coastal state stretching across the south. Then another serious contender to their north. Two more nobody states in the southeast, although one of them is quite large.Many nomads around the east of Shaluach. Many tribes in the west, near what will become Luxahn.The desert has oases, but not nearly the same density of people that its neighbors do.