OOC: The East Pacific, Circa 1000 AD

Roleplay Library Alternate Timelines / AU RP Library
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1

((OOC: thinking about making a -1000 TEP alternate universe. Might be fun. Also would be the first one in NS, I think))

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2397/v997.png
Vekaiyu in 1000 AD was a much different state that it is today. The ‘nation’ itself was divided into three leagues: Vesteri to the west, Sakeyuz in the center, and Listura to the east. Such leagues were loose bindings between the city states of the nation, governing over territory and overseeing the progress of cities within the league. Its main purpose was to create some form of defense from other cities and territories as well as establish better trade across the lands. Each league had a ‘capital’ city: Eldura, Provinsk, and Ye’leli respectfully.

Cities marked on the map are ones that had a presiding bishop. In that time, only select cities could have a bishop exclusive to their limits. Requirements were at least two cathedrals and one monastary, though typically an additional requirement of the Vayan Pope’s approval was needed as well, which was typically met through ceding lands to the papacy or donating to it in the hopes of supplying cash to the crusading cause of the time.

Some Vekaiyun cities lie outside of the three league boundaries and, thus, outside of the Vekaiyun kingdom. Such cities remained independent for a time, though were highly vulnerable to attack and face difficulty in trade. Still, if they were willing to remain independent, there must have be some problems in first-millennium Vekaiyu. The leagues often fought their neighbors, including each other, for ultimate control in Vekaiyu. All three leagues tried to gain favor with the Pope and his army, not only for a blessing, but for added defense and the potential of using such a force on another league. A city in Vekaiyu during this time was ruled almost like a separate kingdom in its own right - ever-competitive, it would attempt to find any advantage it could over other city-states. Consequently, many advances were established during this time in Vekaiyun history. The steel plow would be invented in Cestinglavoiga fifty years later, for example, to gain an advantage over Ye’leli.

The common Vekaiyun peasant would often call themself by the residence of their city over that of their nation. The Vayan Catholic faith was the center of their lives. While all three leagues tolerated other religions (due to their desire to have more minds working together and advancing their league / city further). Most were uneducated. Some who were lucky enough or who showed promise would be accepted into a university or learn the ways of a sword or staff.

Despite the implications, Vekaiyun city-states rarely fought. This is due to the city-state making itself vulnerable to other city-states if it chose to attack, as its armies became displaced, and there was always the possibility that a loss could lead to multiple losses. Furthermore, the church often had more leverage with the people than the king; most would obey a Pope or bishop over a king or noble if a call to war was made. The power-struggle between church and royalty often made Vekaiyu confusing to outsiders. Leaders from other lands would find difficulty in determining who to send a peace treaty or a trade agreement to: anyone from the Pope, to a bishop, to a king, to a magistrate, to a noble could handle the matter.

What kept the city-states together was their heritage and their faith. Many scholars believe that without the church having immense power during this time in Vekaiyun history, the nation would have further distanced itself. The power struggle would end in the 15th century, when the perfect storm of a peace-loving Pope and a hard-fisted king would unite the cities together and abolish their separate identities.

2

While the rest of the East Pacific struggled against the yoke of ignorance and oppression, Kandarinese civilization flourished. Remote from the backwardness of the human world, elven society was almost indistinguishable from the modern pinnacle of advancement that now exists. But for the presence of magic instead of technology, the dark elves’ gleaming cities would be almost indistinguishable from the modern day. The Kandarinese endured the collapse of other societies as a shining bastion in dark days.

At least, that’s what they’d like you to believe.

In actuality, Kandarin of 1000 AD was in the midst of the Eighth (or Sixth, according to some!) Era of Disunion. With the collapse of the delicate harmony of previous centuries, all-too-predictable paranoia and violence set in, creating an environment where House fought House, cult fought cult and fief fought fief. Though they would appear innocuous at first, each of the Nine Great Cities was riven to the point of lunacy by countless factional conflicts. To be sure, life and commerce went on, but all too often at the point of a blade.

In this strife, innovation and beauty withered, those who could not cultivate physical or arcane power died, and long-simmering disputes were settled with blood. It was not until two hundred fifty years later - in which two full elven generations had known only war - that the struggle died with the consensus of the Codices of Kh’mak.

The elves of the minor House Shahaale did not wish to wait two full generations. They had been a blip on the proverbial radar compared to the Great Houses at their best, and the conflict had not been kind to them. Caught up in the fighting, they had suffered the loss of a great deal of their resources and a full third of their numbers, including their last Overlord, Lucienne andir Vecken. It was as if their enemies were putting down a lame animal, for year after year, fewer and fewer of Shahaale’s resources and personnel were present in the Nine Great Cities. This was taken by others as a sign of weakness, that a House that was never strong was crumbling away. In time, the vanishing of their population with out a trace became harder to conceal, and so Shahaale were among the first to be assailed when the troubled came, cries of treason upon their assailants’ lips. It was not long before nothing of the House remained in Kandarin.

In truth, their enemies had been played. Indeed, those resources and personnel that were lost were the entirety of House Shahaale in Kandarin. andir Vecken was a crafty old Kandari, and she had foreseen the conflict. Believing that they would not survive, she set them on the path to something unthinkable for a Kandarinese House: Exile. For decades, Shahaale’s populace and resources were funneled away from the Nine Cities, far away, into a previously neglected and backwards land at the furthest end of the trade routes. All would have disappeared had the conflict been postponed for ten more years, but it was not to be. andir Vecken perished because she remained behind to the last, unwilling to leave others to a risk that she would not take and confident that her own demise would give the Shahaale the impetus to follow the path she had set.

And so, House Shahaale found itself in the East Pacific. But it was not to be that they would just claim a piece of land and make it their fiefdom, as was the custom back home. Shahaale was a merchant House, a maker of deals and go-between between greater powers - and so, in this remote part of the world, it would remain. andir Vecken had left no heir nor could another be located by custom, and indeed most of the House agreed that it was no longer of a scale to require leadership by an Overlord. These two factors created the face that House Shahaale presented to the rest of the world: Merchant fleets.

In the year 1000 AD, no less than twenty-four (Their descendents would insist on twenty-seven) clans of House Shahaale existed, each with a fleet of varying size. Some, like the glittering convoys of Ab’Wyth, were vast. Others, like the outlaw corsairs of Kin Kadith, were small. While some competed for the same routes and the same customers, all abided by elaborate codes of nobless oblige while in each other’s company, not least among which was the universal rule that Shahaale would never bring violence upon Shahaale, no matter the cause.

The services offered by the Shahaale fleets to the nations of the medieval East Pacific were myriad. As carriers of trade goods the Shahaale were, as is to be expected, both prized and profitable for, it was often said, the ships of the elves could not be foundered in even the greatest of storms, and anything sent by them would arrive true. Despite this, they were never entirely trusted for, it was said, the elves had been heard to wither farmers’ crops, turn gold to dust, and steal babies from their cradles - among more lurid tales. As such, it was common to see ships with the familiar black sails in the harbor of any major port at any given time.

Beyond their most obvious role, the Shahaale fulfilled other functions in society. In societies that frowned upon the practice among their citizens, the elves were able to lend at interest. Indeed, it was not uncommon to find large Shahaale compounds in the merchants’ quarters of major ports, at least those whose lords had not opted to drive out such things. The more open-minded among such lords were also known to play host to Shahaale mercenaries and privateers, roles that the elves took to with skill and relish.

While their eventual fate and final destination are told elsewhere, the elves of the Shahaale and their black fleets served as a valuable link between otherwise-isolated societies in the medieval age. Without them, its eventual end might have come much slower. But then, without them it may perhaps have been more peaceful.

3

Isn’t this the third time you tried an RP set in medieval times? I would rather see something set in a later time period, like the XIXth century.

4

— Begin quote from ____

Isn’t this the third time you tried an RP set in medieval times? I would rather see something set in a later time period, like the XIXth century.

— End quote

The 18th and 19th centuries are two of my favourite hundred-year periods.

5

— Begin quote from ____

Isn’t this the third time you tried an RP set in medieval times? I would rather see something set in a later time period, like the XIXth century.

— End quote

And despite we’ve been being mute to your cynicism before, Lazlow, nothing says you -have- to participate in a medieval TEP RP. If you’d like an 18th or 19th century TEP RP, feel free to, but don’t try to complain and darken the attitudes of the players who would participate in this RP already. I’m not saying this as any measure of staff, either, but simply a fed up fellow member of the region who’s tired of hearing it from you.

I’ll be working on my own post involving medieval Warre and Dveria.

6

However, if people want an 18th or 19th century TEP alternate universe made, I will join it and write something up. I am not trying to be selective here; history interests me very much.

7

is it supposed to be a medieval version of TEP? Same places and nations or? If its supposed to be the same places as the main TEP nations then well il be a bit far away(Kandarin comfirmed my map request over MSN).

8

Well, Drakkengard is a new country, with little more than 100 years, and even the Von Drakken family started in the 1400s, so i don´t see how i´d participate here. But that´s just me. I think its a fine idea, and i hope it works!

9

— Begin quote from ____

Well, Drakkengard is a new country, with little more than 100 years, and even the Von Drakken family started in the 1400s, so i don´t see how i´d participate here. But that´s just me. I think its a fine idea, and i hope it works!

— End quote

A NPC nation? Did any country exist in your nation’s slot before hand? Failing that I could probably arrange you a nation to play from one of the Dales of Dveria or one of the Ri of Warre. (There’s a strange tri/quad history going on about Warre.)

10

Well, i consider as part of my nation history that a chinese-like empire existed there until they were overrun by the british in late 1800s. So in AD1000, it´d be that.
Don´t think i´ll be able to flesh it out (too little free time). But i might take on your offer, or make a single char from some nation (as it´d be easier than to RP as an entire new nation).

11

This period was one of the greatest ones for the empire, which occupied the territory of the actual Shivat, however we are on this moments under the government of the inept emperor Sinxian III, who left the administration of the kingdom to the local clans, which lead a form of oriental feudalism.

12

Packilvania was a theocratic Empire in 1000 AD. (See Map attached) It eventually collapsed entirely in 1675 started by the FPS revolution in 1500. It invaded the territories where drakkenguard currently holds early on to try to convert the masses. I’m not sure if Todd wants to play out a holy war, but the old Packolosists would have hated the Christians of the time, and probably everyone else.

13

At this time Really Nice Hats’ old tribal societies, ruled over by what was previously the Hhatsu, would be almost totally amalgamated into a new nation proper. The Republic won’t be formed for three hundred years, which is incidentally when royal haberdashers started experimenting with mercury.