The Fourth Empire (136 AM to 300 AM)

Formation and Rise

Expansion and/or Reform

Hegemony and/or Stagnation

Collapse

Author's Notes

The Fourth Sunarian Empire: The Third Sunarian Empire would begin to fall apart not long after the first generation of Valoni legionnaire's began to die out. Cut off from the academies in Valona, the Valoni elite in Sunar lacked the capacity to train comparable troops, and in time the veterans at their disposal had to be replaced with local Sunarian men. Using the old veterans to train and build up a younger fighting force, was pivotal to the lasting control over the Valoni in the region, and while it worked for several decades, the talent and quality of Valone's military, gradually was lost with each passing generation. As the Valoni aristocrats lost their elite armies, there hold over the country gradually began to slip away. Rising calls for Sunarian rule, slowly began to build, until in 1187 a revolution began; and while it would fall apart a few years later, the mortar was chipped, and the bricks loosened. The next revolt of the Sunarian people, would erupt in 1194, and it again would fail, but again, more bricks began to fall away, and finally in 1205, the wall would come crumbling down. Led by the man who would become Atheknot I, the rebels began their campaign in Upper Suner, before forcing their way north and capturing the imperial capital at Sunas. Enacting new laws, banning the Valoni minority from holding imperial office, the new Sunarian Empire styled itself the Fourth Empire, and ushered Sunar into the modern age. The Fourth Empire Today: Today, the Fourth Empire exists as the strongest state in Magna Sunaria, save for perhaps Na'tal, which while wealthy beyond measure, remains in the far east, and nonthreatening to the still growing Sunarian Empire. Problems still plague the growing power though. Of its armies, the best and brightest still flock to the banners of old Valoni bloodlines, who hold much of the regions wealth for themselves. Technologically, much of the Empire remains suffering, held back still by the shadow of the Daramaic period, and then years of foreign rule. Made up of dozens of peoples, cultures and religions, numerous separatist movements naturally exist within the vast boundaries of the Empire, calling for freedom, independence and reform, and stand ready to bring about a fourth Intermediate Period should the new Empress Anipara II, fail in her role as ruler. A boiling pot on the edge of the known world, Sunar remains ever on the edge of either another golden age, or dark age, forever tilting between chaos, and prosperity.