Era 8: Colonialism and Exploration Year c8000 - Year c9000

Exploration and Expansion: Surviving civilizations recover, initiating exploration beyond their borders. Colonisation efforts commence as societies seek new lands, resources, and opportunities.   By the ninth millenium, the explosion of knowledge had led to the reformation of strong societies, no longer dominated by autocratic rulers, but led by various different government systems. Some, like Nordrest, unique for their democracy, others, like Cytania, a complex oligarchy of leading economic powers merged with a head of state.   However, restrictions on a growing trade market were causing a clash between the great powers. No powers wished to directly challenge one another on the continent. Nations and cultural identities were too strong, so each nation sought to look beyond the borders of the continent of Edane. This was especially due to the increasingly combatitive Order of the Crimson Blade. They controlled the key trade route between Zhdan and Edane, and in 8086, the taxes on trade reached such an exorbitant price that traders travelling through the region refused to pay them. In response, the Crimson Blade confiscated all of the goods coming through the region and put the traders to the sword.   Many of these traders came from the different nations across Edane and the coast of Zhdan, south of the Bestridt Sea was blockaded by Nordrest. With the vast empire of Zhdane to the east unaffected, this blockade had little impact and the nations of Edane sought to force trade with the East through other paths.   Nordrest sought to explore the northern passage. A frozen sea route that ran along the north of the Zhdanese empire. A route frought with problems and frozen for ten months of the year. Thousands died in the pursuit of this trade route.   The Crimson Blade, gaining power and influence in Zhdan, seized control of the capital and instigated what it called 'Holy War'. A cultural war on the corrupt influence of Edane and severed all ties with the continent. It was in this period, the heavily fortified Dawn Gate was constructed to protect entry into Nordrest.   The only options for the nations of Edane were to attempt to sail south, into the Boiling Sea, or to find a land route that skirted south of the Backbone mountains. Neither route was ideal - one involved a treacherous sea voyage into unknown territory. The other involved setting across the vast, inhospitable plains of the Steppes, hoping to find a suitable route through.   The land routes were the first to achieve a modicum of success. Government funded traders set out from Cytania and Veccara, each city state vying for influence on the burning shores of the southern continent. Across the early 8100s, horse pulled caravans were soon faced with overcoming the huge plateau that stretched across the southern end of the Backbone mountains. The first traders to summit these heights were forced to abandon their wagons and subsist off the land. Once they obtained the heights, a huge, lush plain opened up before them, surrounded on all sides by dramatic scenery.   The land slopped down towards the sea over the course of hundreds of miles, eventually arriving at a narrow strip of water that opened out into the eastern seas after hundreds of miles. A route, albeit unwieldy, had been discovered to the east. A seaport named East Harbour and a network of trading posts grew up quickly along the shoreline and by 8220, a steady flow of trade flowed through East Harbour into Edane.   The trade route did not grow unchallenged, however. Attempts were made to discover further land routes to the north. These involved further negotiation of mountains to the east and navigation down rivers and through thick, tropical forests until the borders of Anshar were reached. Along the route, many tribal communities existed, with their original origin unknown. Many traders feared they were a violent race not descended from the original 9 tribes and would attack them on sight. The overland route became especially dangerous because of this.   A final problem with the trade routes were the actions of the Order of the Crimson Blade. With their control over the Zhdanese empire complete, they were quick to extend their influence south along the mountains that border their nation. Military posts of Crimson Blade knights were established all along the southern slopes leading to the eastern trade routes and the nations of Edane, keen to maintain control over the supply routes, would, in turn, send resources to control the region. It became known as the Contested Lands, which did not truly do justice to how fiercely the land was fought over. Rival military orders were establish to maintain dominance in the region.   The expansion of territory outside of Edane led to violent disputes over land and sea. The nations of Nordrest and the Litikania sent several expeditions out west and were successful at claiming islands and territory out to the west, but any attempts to reach the far shores were completely unsuccessful, many never returning.   The journeys south were also largely a failure due to the searing heat in the Boiling Ocean, until the first lady of Nostre Calda said that any who returned unsuccessful would be executed. Tentative journeys south discovered the heat subsided the further south they travelled, but the sheer cliffs along the shoreline made it all but impossible to make landfall. Small communities of people were discovered along the shoreline and the desparate sailors from the north sometimes resorted to butchering the local populations and stealing their resources. There were rumours of a vast, inland nation, powerful enough to rival those of Edane but they were never discovered. Many believed them to be the descendents of the Baarathi who had fled the west.   Small colonies were established along the shoreline and mines were set up to harvest valuable resources found there, but life was brutal, the heat would spread disease rapidly and often, relief ships would arrive only to find the entire population decimated and the forest reclaiming much of what was left. There were no successful attempts to sail through to the east by sea.   The disputes and wars of this period came through claiming the resources they discovered and using these to gain spheres of control and influence against the other empires. Each nation increasingly identified themselves as an empire, seeking to spread their vision to the world outside their borders. More and more firmly, each nation began to strengthen their national identity, not along class boundaries, but along lines of them against the foreign 'other'. Whereas under the resurgence, the elites across the continent forged close ties, in the period of empire, differences were highlighted and mixing with other nations was frowned upon.   Technology continued to develop with a strange mix of belief in science merging with the old, archaic ways rooted in religion and the occult. This was especially apparent in the north with Nordrest and Zhdan becoming pioneers in new technology in farming and understanding of the natural world. In the south, medicine and trade were the major developments while the Litikanians found increasingly more adept ways to mine the resources of their home nation and to spread these techniques to their colonies.   The increasing trade with the east led to a significant opening of the borders in the east and a flow and exchange of culture led to the empire of the east flourishing. However, the only empire the experienced problems was Zhdan. Mostly landlocked, it struggled to establish an empire beyond its already formidible borders. As such, it has become increasingly beholden to the whims of the powers that surround it and restricted from access to the lucrative empires of the south.   After 800 years, some modicum of normal trade relations with Zhdan occured with the removal of the Order of the Crimson Blade. The rulers of Zhdan had become puppets in all but name, the people returned to serfdom and tied to the land. However, one ruler was adamant that the future of their nation lay in closer relations with Edane. He had witnessed most of his family being murdered by Crimson Blade soldiers in his youth, and so harboured a personal vendetta against them. In 8943, he publically disbanded them, after having slowly replaced them with his own personal guard in key positions across the empire. Religious fervour was strong in the empire, so he kept all religious institutions in place, targeting the corrupt leadership instead.   His coup was successful and the Order were completely ousted from the empire north of the mountains. They maintained a strong foothold in the Contested Lands and still do to this day.