Mini-Meta: The Internecine Period

The Internecine Period consists of a series of, well, internecine wars throughout Northwest Tahuum Itaqiin, most of all the Haifatneh Basin. Settlers from across the great ocean make landfall, driven to carve out a new home where their people and religion can thrive. Of course, the geographic and cultural landscape they clear for their use is already the homeland of a great many cultures. While the settlers act in what they see as the best interests of their kin and their descendants, their colonial violence—and the violent resistance in response to this—perpetuate a blood feud that plunges the Northwest into a long age of darkness and deprivation.

Mood, and Inspiration

In terms of mood, atmosphere, and even the broad sequence of events, the Internecine Period has unignorable parallels with the Reconquista and the rise and fall of Crusader kingdoms such as Antioch. The fighting throughout the Internecine Period largely takes place across the Mediterranean-like Haifatneh Basin, the arid wastes of Agratekt, and the less-known homeland of the Shadrusun. In such settings, opposing forces often agree to pause their fighting through the late afternoon, and the logistics of securing access to water and equipping troops in sensible equipment for the climate are equally as important as each army's martial prowess for achieving victory.
The battles of the Internecine War also parallel those of the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire against the Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates, in which the Byzantines commanded conventionally powerful forces yet were dependent upon complex supply trains, whereas their Arab opponents skirmishes effectively and could retreat into the deserts, where the Byzantine armies were ill equipped to follow them, as needed. Here, too, the conflicts of the Internecine are comparable: The settlers founding the Reborn Theocracy make landfall in great force at the site of what is now the Free City of Andaen, and for a long while, neither the priesthoods and slave-armies of Agratekt the disparate tribes of the Haifatneh Basin and Takhet are a match for the force that the Theocracy commands. But as the survivors of the Theocracy's early conquests find common cause, their coordination and tactics improve, challenging the Theocracy's ability to guard its frontiers, never mind expand its borders.
The Crusade and Reconquest also prominently features the use of multiple systems of spellcraft in conflict. Though the precursors of the Haifah people and the mostly nomadic Takheti tribes are largely suspicious of magic, with only a few witches and shamans among them, the highlanders of Saukkan-Ghat have an ancient tradition of mysticism and astrology, and the ailing kingdoms of Agratekt still supplicate a vast pantheon of deities for aid. But the Order of the Returning Sun prays to a more mysterious force, the One Light, through which they call down searing judgment upon their foes. Whereas the human forces involved in these conflicts rely upon spellcraft by shamanism or divine intercession, the sorcerous Shadrusun command fearsome forces that even the One Light cannot seem to suppress.

Themes

As it happens, I hinted at themes a fair bit in my 2023 WorldEmber pledge article. Suffice to say that the Internecine Period, far from merely showcasing details of combat, armaments, and magic, will double as a reflection on the often intractable nature of conflict and the difficult questions of humanity's redeemability in the face of tragedy and suffering.

Worldbuliding Goals

During WorldEmber 2023, and likely beyond, I mainly plan to focus on a few key geographic areas, ethnic/cultural groups, and polities of Northwest Tahuum Itaqiin:

• Further development of the Haifatneh Basin, including the precursor cultures that coalesce into the Haifah people and the Reborn Theocracy they contend with. This will partly involve fleshing out Andaen's early history as a citadel and military headquarters of the Reborn Theocracy.
• Further development of Takhet, especially coastal Takhet, namely its complex geopolitics in the context of the Internecine and its complex cultural evolution both under the Theocracy's influence and after its fall.
• Outlying areas and cultures such as the once-proud chiefdoms of Saukkan-Ghat and the badlands of the Southfold, the eventual new homeland of a number of the Theocracy's dissidents who choose exile over accepting the terms of the Treaty of Andaen.
• Although much about the sorcerous Shadrusun will remain mysterious for the time being, more will be revealed about their material culture, their uncanny spellcraft, and their strange fate amid the Internecine War(s).

All of this will double as worldbuilding for future writing projects, as is arguably the case with more or less everything here in Tahuum Itaqiin. As for my writing itself, at the very least, I have a someday-novel and a fragmentary series of short stories planned, all of which will offer different perspectives on this tumultuous period of history. In early January, however, I'll likely be taking a detour to write a dark fantasy/horror novel set in a distant time and place on the Continent.