Aimaur Empire

The Aimaur people are known to have existed in the vicinity of their modern lands for thousands of years before the rise of a centralized state. These early settlers were influenced by several cultures in and around the area, such as the P̄hækhan, Vóreachóra, Ursumar, and Talpehlari, as well as being part of the early gnomish trade networks. The Aimaur statelets closest to the gnomish trade in the east would be the first to centralize and develop, as gnomish institutions began to diffuse amongst their people.

The Aimaur Empire was unified in an extremely quick, twenty-year period which followed the ascention of a young, military minded ruler of this gnomish entrepot. Known only by his regnal name of Avalman I, this ruler would blitz across the savanna and unite the people, who were split between tribal holdings and emerging nations. These nations were divided between the aforementioned influence from gnomes as well as from competing Ursumar, at that time under the Ashēryk-Trūnth diarchy and therefore splintered. This vacuum of divided loyalties and incomplete settlement allowed Avalman I to seize the whole region for himself.

The early Empire would launch a massive construction effort throughout the lands, in order to realize their potential. Throughout the 11th century, monarchs would extensively develop irrigation, building reservoirs, clearing fields, and flooding valleys. Consequentially, the Aimauri population was able to spike, going from scattered villages to developed urban centers, with their core a river or reservoir from which the irrigation lines flowed. By centralizing and increasing population, the Aimauri would produce a large surplus of rice, which quickly become the critical staple crop. Using funds from this rice crop, early emperors continued to fund ecnomic expansion, developing a network of roads, temples, and ziggurats in varying styles. Indeed, a towering new capital was built just a few miles from the river of tbd, just next to a low valley which would later be flooded and converted into the heart of miles of farmland. They claimed tribute from tribes out west, the P̄hækhan chief among them, while also using military force to evict trolls wherever they could be found. Although almost nobody would object to the removal of trolls, in the case of Aimauria, this would be the first warning sign of a darker future.

The growth and development of the early empire came to a crashing halt after the death of Ingrapuraman II, who in 1112 would divide the Empire amongst his three sons. While remaining nominally united, in reality the next 50 years would be a civil war between the brothers as well as local lords. With violence only ceasing in 1165, the foundations of the empire had been shook. Although the nation continued to thrive, the war had cemented power blocs and allowed a stifling caste system to develop, restricting trade. Damage to irrigation would lead to the abandonment of a number of cleared towns, and trolls crept back into the savanna. The capital, having suffered damage, was relocated and a new site was chosen hundreds of miles from its original location, a costly project which sapped resources from local communities and sent rice exports far and wide, with the state and growing bureacracy siphoning off most of the wealth.

The emperors of this period now began to meddle in religious matters, emplacing themselves as god-kings and developing a unique mesh of traditions from enighboring cultures into a new religion, which soon began to be propagated by the state. This message provoked unrest in many places, especially those of their Aimauri tributaries and places where the old folk religion had not given way to the teachings of gnomes, ursumar, or other parties. This unrest was soon exploited by neighboring powers- the Divine Empire of Edil had arisen as head of the Ursumar, and the gnomes were eager to take advantage of internal issues to expand their trading concessions. Beyond this, the Anemoi of the Vránzoúala Plateau had begun to get involved in disputes about the place of the Mnouska and the Anaskhrom within Aimaur society. These peoples were considered lesser by the Poloras Aimaur majority, and forced to live in virtual slavery to the state in return for little to no rights. Forming the bottom of the caste system, these unlucky laborers naturally preferred the lax rule of the Anemoi, and many fled to the highlands.

The collapse of Aimauria into yet another civil war in 1227 was probably expected by just about everyone involved. However, the victory of the "god-kings" was probably not expect by any involved. Yet, when the genie slave-soldier "volunteers" of the Ursumar-backed faction mutinied and slaughtered the faction's leadership, the reactionary monarchs were in the best position to sezie back the lands. The gnomes would soon bow out too, unwilling to risk their trade- they were confined to one city for their treason and their allies slaughtered or enslaved. This left only the Anemoi, who would be on the receiving end of 112 years of on-and-off warfare. This conflict and the supposed betrayal of outside influence would lead to a human supremacist current arising within the elites. Although the Anemoi were nor particularly reviled, the necessity of the corrupt bargain with the gnomes meant they were an outlet for monarchial frustration, especially with slaves free in the highlands.

With the dust settled in 1346, the Aimaur Empire settled into an uneasy an poverty-stricken state. With high taxes keeping the people down, the nation was generally not in a state to fund lavish projects, yet fund they did. A series of monarchs invested into the capital region, which grew to 1 million people by 1500, but this was only because of the poor economic state of the rest of the nation. The lower castes continued to be downtrodden, with slaves in even worse state, and nonhumans chased out at best and captured to parade around as trophies by the elites at worst. The god-kings sat at the top of a pyramid of castes, with close advisors and noble families ruling their own personal fiefdoms. While agriculture continued to be developed, this was only in order to extract more tax from tenant farmers- with the population dependent upon irrigation, they could never really prosper on their own, especially when the elites ensured that areas of smallholders were lightly defended from trollish raids.

Thuviyurmaniyal III was the only actually decent monarch during this era. Unifying the empire internally, he led a fierce but ultimately unsuccessful campaign against the Anemoi- though he sacked and occupied their capital city and reduced their nation to squabbling tribes, raids from these tribes forced a retreat of his armies. Following Thuviyurmaniyal's reign, another 50 years of internal conflict followed, in which the ruling monarchs were deposed a shocking four times (the fourth coming at the hands of a daring raid by a resurgent Anemoi state which sacked the capital).

The raids by the Anemoi would force a new capital to be built once again, this time just off the river tbd because the funds to sponser irrigation to the city were nonexistent. Instead, the ruler Avalman VI would take the throne and carry out an extensive campaign against the Anemoi in which he finally managed to secure enduing territorial gains. While not personally a tyrannical ruler, he reinforced the systems of oppression which, after his reign, allowed the empire to reach new lows. Within two generations, the Empire had once more lost control over its periphery, and local nobles had begun establishing the foundations for the post-Imperial tribes. This time, the Anemoi needed to do nothing but watch as the consequences of Imperial mismanagement came to bloom. From 1600 onwards, the Empire was harassed by trollish raids, a consequence of provincial governors concentrating power in their capital cities and allowing the rural regions to fester, as well as a focus of military might on the anemoi instead of trolls. The centuries-old irrigative naetwork had already begun to break down, but when drought struck and the reservoirs ran dry, thousands began to starve.

Fleeing to the capital in deseperation, crime and poverty spiked rapidly and the capital's water reserves were only kept afloat by virtue of its river. Yet this would prove to be fleeting, as a meteor storm had begun to harass the nation. of unknown origin, the Aimauri people attributed this event to the gods' displeasure. Riots and conflict began to break out in the capital and in outlying provinces- all of which would be rendered moot as a massive meteor struck the capital, killing almost 90% of the population. This essentially signaled the end of the Empire, as all provinces immediately became de facto indepndent, and would soon fall into strife of their own as the caste system was upended. While the Followers of the Four would provide some links to the old empire and a measure of commonality amongst the people, they were a religious, not political thread. The empire was decisively dead and would not recover. It has never been reformed, nor have any tribes come close to doing so. However, with the fall of the Divinity of Bēlqūašdu, the old Aimaur lands lay as open for unification as ever before. Perhaps a new, fairer Empire will be founded, one that is not cursed.