Chronicle Entry – 100RE to 150RE (Recorded Era)
’When the sons of the Black River go to war, its waters run red… The Gods are pleased by such offerings.’
Old Mobian proverb, circa 140RE
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The dawn of the 2nd century RE brought woe upon the peoples of the Black River basin – they who had already suffered so heavily in decades previous. The heady triumphs of the later first century over the Jomnii and the Emphythines did not satiate the increasingly belligerent Sunking of the Black River, and his many disciples, for long. Instead, Sororu Haragami – third of his line – lord and protector of the Mobian peoples expanded his armies greatly between 97RE and 112RE. In 114RE, with the public exchequer exhausted, the augurs finally blessed a campaign against the hated Emphythines; they who had jostled with the Mobians for so long. Five thousand Mobian foot and a small detachment of cavalry crossed into Longinia to make war upon the infidel.
The Emphythines had not been idle in the interim. The city-folk drew back from their earlier defeats against the well-equipped Mobian hordes, and instituted a series of military reforms in the first decade of the 2nd century RE. Their urban militia was reforged as a solid, highly drilled block of spearmen, with skirmishers and riders in the van and on the flanks. It was this force that was to meet the more numerous and better armoured Mobians in mortal combat at the Vuyten Crossing, in Longinia’s interior. This, the first battle of the Black River Wars, saw the Mobians defeated soundly. They retreated back into the Delta to reinforce and regroup. The Emphythines did not pursue them with any vigour, which eventually allowed the Mobians to initiate another campaign in 116RE. This time, under wiser leadership, the Mobians dealt the Emphythines several sharp reverses, before a bloody and painful stalemate was reached in the hinterlands of Longinius. The Mobians settled in for the winter, before receiving dire news.
The Jomnii, under Thurge Kenson, son of Hroot, son of Juneison, were ravaging the newly settled Mobian Southlands. Their raiding parties were exacting a ghastly toll in slaves and booty, as the communal militias failed to cope with their threat. Sororu III was forced to recall a large portion of his tired army from Longinia to deal with the threat. The opportunistic Jomnii persevered, and continued raiding well into the 120s. The Emphythines, for their part, regrouped, rearmed and reinforced their broken militia. This did not, of course, mean that the city was solely focused on the war effort during this troubled time. In fact, the period of 120-140 was, according to available evidence, a time of great cultural and commercial development in Longinius, which was still the largest and wealthiest city in the Known World. Furthermore, it was quickly becoming obvious that the Emphythines were better able to bear the financial burden of warmaking than the Mobians, who were experiencing great financial stresses.
With their efforts split, the Mobians were never able to crush the Jomnii for any significant period between 110 and 150RE. When the Mobians began another campaign against the Emphythines in 123RE, the Jomnii resumed their raids with increasing voracity. Nonetheless, the Sunking was convinced that defeating the Emphythines was the first priority, and this emphasis nearly bore fruit in 124RE, when the Emphythine armies were convincingly defeated at Hephesta. The Mobian horde would triumph again two years later at Senca. In 128RE, however, the Emphythines managed to stem the Mobian tide at the outskirts of Longinius itself, smashing them in a pitched battle that sent their foe reeling.
The Mobians and the Emphythines agreed to stop hostilities, thereafter, with the Emphythines obliged to pay large quantities of silver to the Mobians and to concede some territory along the border, in exchange for peace. Though they had triumphed at the death, the Emphythines needed respite from the fighting. The Mobians, for their part, were finally able to turn their attention to the Jomnii. This time there was no pitched, decisive battle between the two, and the constant back-and-forth raids were to take their toll on both sides.
To the south-west, beyond the Kul-Kaltra range, the Ilitrad were proving similarly hostile to the Panoplites. These tall, bearded behemoths, with their shaven heads and pony tails were proving a consummate foe for the priests of Meir Ginis and Meir Solise. The latter were wholly unprepared for Illitrad ferocity and, though their armies offered some protection, were unable to stop the Kings of Mindulj; the Mountain Lords of Kul-Kaltra from taking thousands of slaves between 95 and 140RE. Panoplite merchant caravans and river boats were frequently the target of Illitrad depredations, even as these began reaching the Baltusians downriver, who were proving to be a folk cut from a similar cloth, and who were ready to compete with the Panoplites as fellow merchants.
Despite the tender attentions of the mountain men, the Panoplites continued to focus on trade, cultural pursuits and building projects. These were yielding great riches by 138RE, when the Grand Bazaar was opened in the Panoplite capital. This contemporary wonder housed trade goods from virtually the entire Emerald Coast and brought the priesthood much wealth. It was around this time, too, that said priesthood became even more aligned with money-making pursuits, and a mercantile meritocracy was developing as a result.
Further down the Emerald Coast, the Priest Kings of Amalech were also beginning to settle into their role as rulers of a stable domain. They began to place a stronger emphasis on cultural pursuits and urban dwelling, even though the Amalechites’ bloody origins were never far from the surface. This was best evidenced by the so-called ‘crimson sports’ that the Baal’im nobility entertained itself with every year. In 135RE, the yuletide celebrations in Elam resulted in the deaths of up to three hundred gladiators in mortal combat. Amalech was not a place for the timid. Soon, the influence of the Baal’im brought the neighbouring region of Nemech into the growing Amalechite realm, as the Twin Pantheons spread further and further out.
In the Costalian lands, a propertied nobility was slowly rising, as Costalian settlements spread into Faragusta. More and more councils of elders were dominated by the wealthy, who could increasingly buy their way into local power and influence. The inexorable settlement of Faragusta was somewhat disrupted by proper contact with the Holau – a coastal dwelling people whose lightning riverine raids into Famagusta cost many Costalian lives, but whose trade goods saved hundreds of others. The ‘Children of the Sea’, as the Holau were also known, were proving a curious folk, indeed, for Costalian villagers. By 150RE, there had been both peace and conflict in equal measure between these two burgeoning peoples.
Finally, to the south, the matriarchs of the Inui were directing their people to settle Sython, a region that housed the source of the Odetta river. By 125RE, this process was well advanced. There was little resistance to the spread of Inui dominion. This allowed the deeply religious Inui to begin rudimentary mining efforts in the foothills of Sython – an effort that quickly yielded results, and expanded the scope of the Inui economy enormously. Coupled with this increased economic activity was Inui emphasis on thought. The first half of the 2nd century was marked by a number of great Inui thinkers, including Derecca and Anike. These women were responsible for some incredibly advanced theories regarding the life cycles of flora and fauna.