Sarzashapehan Empire

The historical precursor which led to the formation of the Sarzashapehan Empire was the warring states period. This time was known for the various rising and falling solar elven warlord states which continued to clash with one another, with trolls, and with humans. The warring states period was itself caused by the Great Calamity, which of course set off a new wave of conflict among the solar elven states, and saw old nations crumble to be replaced with the new. Two different types of countries emerged from this strife. The first were trade-focused nations whose monarchs aligned with mercantile interests to preserve commerce and maintain standards of living. The latter were fundamentalist, hardliner states in which the ruler and the priestly caste worked together to establish a high level authority, levying large taxes and tariffs to increase income.

The Shermanišixids were the hereditary warlords of the latter type of state. Their nation had been formed near the beginning of the warring states period, when Shermanišix, the first member of the dynasty, was granted governorship of a small region due to his army experience. Over several years, Shermanišix would consoldiate the region, but he was fairly old and would die in 90 SC. His successor Caphirae would build up a strong power base by aligning with clerical interests and eventually declared independence after the conquest of his overlord's territory, but never formed a particularly powerful nation, especially since the state was on the outskirts of Solar Elven lands. Caphirae would also begin funding several dark elven settlement missions, but none of these saw any tangible benefit to the state.

However, his son Cyraedix would truly take the nation to the next level, as he led a mighty campaign against the powerful [tbd] in 254 SC, shattering their state and taking control of the entire river Ægir river system, and thus the Ægyian lands. Declaring himself as their rightful monarch, he would levy harsh taxes on the humans in order to pay for wars of conquest against the remaining solar elven states, dark elven colonies, the P̄hækhan, and trolls. Although monumentally successful in every miliatry action he undertook, Cyraedix would fall ill while campaigning in the jungle and perish in 277 SC, thus leaving the nation to his young son. This son, Cyraedix II, was a shadow of his father and allowed the clergy unprecendented control over the state, leading to oppression and revolts. He was poisoned in 335 and died, leaving the throne to his cousin Xecharl I. Xecharl was forced to make heavy concessions to the rebels, which led to a reputation as a pushover, something he spent his whole reign trying to recover from by being a harsh ruler. Although outwardly healty, Xecharl would die after a sudden illeness in 399, just as a new revolt broke out from his human subjects. In the chaos which followed Xecharl's sudden death, the Ægyians gained independence, and Caphirae II (Xecharl's son) was another lazy monarch, leading to various provinces drifting away from the imperial center.

This would change in 423 SC, when Caphirae II was overthrown by his brother Gargon I, a harsh ruler who had the full support of the clergy. Gargon spent the early years of his reign reigning in provinces, and eventually reasserted control over the Ægyians in 474 SC. Having secured the state of his forefathers, Gargon began tighening his control to rideiculous levels preparing for a major purge in tandem with the clergy. However, despite his efforts, he always felt that there was a social malaise infecting the empire. His conversion campaigns failed as heretical teachings stood strong, elves continued to fall for humans (in his view, sullying their blood), and taxes continued to fall. All this was blamed on these so-called 'liberals, half-breeds, and heretics' who needed to be cut out at the root, lest the entire empire fall. This push would militarize the clergy and nobility against the average citizen and soon led to escalating violence as nobles families accused one another of being conciliatory towards heresy and anti-state, thus legitimizing takeovers and leading to countrywide strife. Gargon I remained isolated by his court full of yesmen and radical clergy, who were convinced his efforts were working and that the blood needed to be spilled, ignoring that the country was rapidly descending into a thousand mini civil wars. Coastal regions as well as Ægyia itself were essentially in open revolts as the P̄hækhan and trolls ramped up border raids, with garrisons busy killing each other.

In 521, Gargon I would decide to move to his summer residency, but on his way there his party was ambushed by rebels and everyone slain. His advisors had tried to convince him not to go, but convincing him not to go would mean telling him the full extent of how they'd misled him would have probably resulted in execution. And so, the emperor and his family were sent to die. The empire lasted another year with the central clergy trying to keep it afloat, but after the news became widespread that the royal family was dead, de jure independent provinces made their independence permanent. Though the clergy were able to establish a centralized control over religion in the wake of the disaster, the Empire was decisively dead and the various new states would never again reunify.