The Reign of Siniph II (166 AV to 184 AV)

Formation and Rise

Expansion and/or Reform

Hegemony and/or Stagnation

Collapse

Author's Notes

The Reclamation of Imperial Power: The Siniph dynasty arose as a puppet to the powerful Daramite priests. Fervent followers of the Daramaic faith, the first three emperors of the dynasty spent their entire reigns subservient to their priestly masters, before finally one stood up and retook power. Known as Siniph II, he proved a far more ambitious emperor than the priests would have wished, but wisely kept such schemes to himself. Instead he had himself smuggled out of Sunar on the back of a camel and made his way to the Valoni colony of Tantum Valona. Upon discovering the escape of their emperor, the priests immediately labeled Siniph II a follower of the Yellow Cult, and appointed one of their own order his successor. Upon arriving at the Valoni city Siniph II hired a Valoni legion with promises of wealth and power should they help him liberate his country. Acting largely independent of the Emperor in Valone, the distant legions out in the colonies, were largely left to their own devices at this time and so the Legate of this force, happily obliged in exchange for the fortune he and his men were promised. Siniph's conquest of Sunar occurred rapidly, and after smashing the largely outdated armies of Sunar and seizing control over the city of Sunas, Siniph II had every Daramite priest he could get his hands on arrested, and later ordered their execution.Unloved by the Sunarian people, the loss of the priestly oligarchs was met with celebration and over the next few months, city after city threw off the shackles of the Daramite priests, and pledged themselves to Siniph as the true emperor. While this went on, Siniph immediately dismantled the old Sunarian army, seeing in it nothing but Daramite threats. In its place, he honored that single Valoni legion which had won him the Empire, by making it his first, and only army of Sunar, granting lofty titles and fortunes to the commanders and legionnaires of what was technically, a foreign army. The Problematic Rule of Siniph II: Despite indoctrinating the masses to their fanatical religion, the Daramites had remained a largely disliked group for most of their rule. Many among their number had even forsaken their own doctrine, by the final century of their rule and begun partaking in the corruptions they openly criticized. This hypocrisy killed any support the Daramite had garnered among the common people an left them in power solely because of their control over the Empire's military. Soldiers during the Daramaic period had been abducted at birth and raised to be loyal unto death to the priests and their religion. Upon Siniph's dissolution of the old armies, these soldiers were arrested, and in most cases put to death. The new empire under Siniph II was a shadow of its former self as a result. Weakened, and reliant on foreign backing to remain afloat, Sunar was no longer the center of the world. The Valoni Empire had risen during Sunar's time of isolation and the ancient empire had fallen far behind even its weakest of neighbors. The Valoni Legion's Rise: As discussed Siniph's first step in remedying this problem was to replace the disloyal Sunarian army with the Valoni one he purchased. This worked for a time, but as the Valoni legionnaires stayed in Sunar, they realized just how reliant Siniph was upon them for power, and so their greed grew. This greed would boil over in 706 SD, when the Valoni legionnaires took over the imperial palace and placed Siniph under arrest. The attempted coup of the Valoni legion would fail however, when a palace servant got word out and the loyal masses of Sunas stormed the palace and rescued their emperor. Angered by their betrayal, but fearing the wrath of Valone in the north, Siniph reluctantly banished the Valoni legion, confiscating the fortunes he had paid them to topple the Daramite priests, and threatening death should they ever return. Most legionnaires, quickly returned to Tantum Valona, or Valona proper, and began to spread grand tales of their adventure in the ancient and wealthy empire of the far south. After losing his main fighting force, Siniph would make a desperate effort to recreate and reform a military for the Empire, but his attempts would meet only limited success. The failure of Siniph II to acquire a capable fighting force would be disastrous for the Sunarian Empire, when in 709 SD, Valone, having heard of Sunar's apparent weakness, sent five legions south to bring it under the Valoni Emperor's control. Unable to even resist, Siniph was dethroned and the regions of Upper and Lower Sunar became two new provinces of the Valoni Empire.