The Drumidian Empire (248 AE to 372 AE)

The Age of Lions

Formation and Rise

With his empire forged in the turmoil and chaos of the Second Intermediate, Haphkanses in 990 FD was in all likelihood the most powerful man in the world. He could have simply returned south then and there, extracting tribute from the cities of the north as many had done before him, but instead, maintained his army and marched on the Sun Delta. Still wracked in the turmoil of Rot infestation, the Sun Delta was slowly recovering. Thousands of people had flooded into the region after the discovery of opeht oil's combative effect on the fungus, eager and desperate to stake a claim to the now uninhabited and fertile delta, but progress was slow, and unorganized. Haphkanses would change this though, and deployed his army upon the delta, not to conquer and kill, but to fight back the Rot. In doing this, he not only solidified his claim to the region, but ingratiated himself with the men and women returning to Sunar now that the Rot Crisis was over. Escalating the recovery of the Sun Delta immensely, Drumidian support proved supremely effective, and within about ten years, civilization, slowly, began to return to the depopulated delta. The old capital at Sunas would be recovered from the fungus in 994 FD, but would not become the official residence or capital of the new empire for centuries to come. Vast, and depopulated, the city would exist as a ghost town throughout the periods of both Drumidian and Zanarid control in Sunar. Sunas would not truly recover for over a century, and the Sun Delta would take even longer, the region's population not returning to its pre crisis levels until almost two and a half centuries later, with the rise of the Amekhanic Dynasty, and the birth of the Second Empire. In this vacuum, Upper Sunar would emerge as the seat of imperial power, with the ancient city of Khusuru becoming the new capital of the Drumidian Empire, for the remainder of Haphkanses' reign. From there he would lead his armies on numerous campaigns, in the south, subjugating the few remaining traces of separatism, and utterly crushing the rule of his former liege, Obarc of Tome. Capture Acbur and the free Drumidians

Expansion and/or Reform

Hegemony and/or Stagnation

Collapse

Author's Notes

Despite its large size, much of the Kingdom of Drumidia had, until the expansion into Sunar, been a gigantic sparsely populated wilderness with only a handful of urban settlements. Viewed in Sunar as purely a trade partner, the land was most well known, as a source of ivory, jewels, pelts, exotic animals, and at times were slavery was intermittently practiced within the Empire, slaves. Despite these lucrative goods, Drumidia was never a very viable conquest for Sunar. Its cities were under developed, and population trivial in comparison to even the smallest of Sunarian cities in the north, and for this reason it had survived the Red Plague largely unscathed. Following Haphkanses' triumph, this remote, rural and ritualistic society shifted overnight, to become an urban, multicultural and decadent one, in the style of their northern neighbor. Haphkanses' sons would succeed him for a short time, but ultimately numerous Drumidian dynasties would come and go in their period of hegemony over Sunar, each born in the throws of violence as one dynasty rose at the expense of another. This was the norm within the Drumidian society though, as their kings cemented their rule around martial prowess and glory seeking stunts, frequently dying young as a result. As a side effect of this style of kingship, the Drumidians would properly solidify a system of imperial record keeping for the first time. Many of these articles remain to this day, however, their value is frequently put into question for the blatant bias preset in each work. Such a fact, suggests Drumidian kings were far more involved in the scholarly art of history than their predecessors, and may have supported the chronicling of their, and their ancestors, achievements, to reinforce a sort of pseudo cult of personality surrounding the glory driven kings. Ultimately, this tumultuous series of successions would be a lasting reminder for Sunarians that their emperors were not native to Sunar, but foreigners with strange customs. Despite this view, however, most remained loyal, if only for the conquest and prosperity that existed during the rule of Drumidian rule. While not as prosperous as the Akenits, the Empire remained stable and well governed under the Drumidians, and while not as aggressive and war minded as the Canethops, the Drumidian, reignited Sunarian conquest, and expanded the borders in a stable, and affordable manner that, as they wanted, brought them glory and respect

Emensis and Kamet

Very little is known about the two lands of Emensis and Kamet during this time, however, both were well traveled during the second Akenit and Drumidian periods as eastern trade began to grow. In either case, the people of each region, have a darker complexion than their Drumidian neighbors, closer in color to the tribes in the farthest south, of the Kamvali Rain-forest. Emensis in particular was and has never been united as a singular state, instead it was fractured into numerous, minor chiefdom's, led by both men and women. Most Emensites today, are farmers, or laborers working on Sunarian settled farmland, due primarily to the region's incredibly fertile soil. At the time of the Drumidian Empire, however, it is believed Emensis' was largely populated by hunter gatherers. Kamet differs in this regard as it well known to have been a heavily settled and united region, with numerous cities. Ruled by a king, Kameti society, revolved strongly around religion, with its entire faith based around elephants,hippos and rhinoceros gods. Covered in short woodland, Kamet, has often been viewed as the entrance to the east with nearly every traveler passing through its forests, or ports on their journey eastwards into the Boiling Sea.