History of Sarconia

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See Also: For the history of Sarconia's southern provinces in the period 2049-2115, see History of Aquaria.

Prehistory

Evidence of kerbal settlement in Sarconia as early as 9000BE has been found, however is suspected to be predate this period significantly.

Ancient Sarconia

Aiken's Conquest

In 1305, Sarconia was invaded by Zeoul with devastating consequences, resulting in the end of Hervol's Khanate and the foreign conquest of the southern reaches of the nation. The land de facto ceded in the war would not fall back under Sarconian control for over 800 years until the Fall of Aquaria. The conflict was largely responsible for defining the modern linguistic borders of Zeoul and Sarconia.

By the 14th century, Zeouli shipbuilding had greatly intensified, and almost every forest in the nation had been depleted. In response King Aiken II ordered several hundred men to cross the mountains and begin harvesting trees. Upon discovering these labourers, nearby southern Sarconian tribes organised several raiding parties and attacked the Zeouli.

When the reigning king of Zeoul Aiken II heard of these raids he became enraged, mistakenly assuming them to have been ordered by Sarconia’s Khan Hervol.

“	He? Who has no need of trees, who sleeps under cloth and burns grass to find warmth! I will take the wood and more besides. A country of beasts and capals.	”
—King Aiken II Kerman

At almost the same time, he received word that the Khan’s wife had fallen pregnant and as a result he had begun relocating his household from Aerfel to Arrataxt Island as dictated by tradition. Aiken then spent approximately five months assembling a host of 10,000 and crossed the Zeuldopines. After massacring the tribes of modern day Corain in several small engagements, King Aiken II encamped his force on the southern banks of the Great Lakes and ordered his men to cut down Delge Forest. With the aid of several expert shipbuilders he had brought from south of the mountains, his army built a fleet of approximately 30 light wooden warships. He then marched and sailed north up the Great Lakes, conducting a form of asymmetric warfare against the mounted archers of the nomads. Some were caught completely unawares by the vessels and assumed them to be Dorvic. The Zeouli possessed vastly more maritime experience; their vessels were better constructed and their crews were more skilled. Only around a dozen Sarconian craft were encountered, and none expressly made for fighting - in the few ship-on-ship clashes that occurred the defenders were routed without exception. His strategy of moving his army and the bulk of his warships in tandem allowed him to occupy most of the Laroc Peninsula as well as a thin strip of land on the opposite western bank, which would come to be known as Dziak after the largest tribe found and defeated on its shores. The use of bombards and artillery amongst his warfleet was the earliest instance of naval fire support in recorded history.

Hervol was still bound from leaving the island, and his capacity to direct a counteroffensive or halt the invaders was limited. Lacking clear leadership, attempts to stall the attackers were uncoordinated, and inflicted relatively few losses before being driven off or defeated. Additionally, the rate at which the Zeouli’s advanced outstripped the speed limit of northern reinforcements arriving at his call.

When the Zeouli were just days away from Arrataxt, the Khan was forced into action. Still forbidden by tradition to leave the island until the birth of his child, he cut off his hair and left it at his palace, then crossed the water and assembled his force of mainly mounted archers on the tip of the Laroc peninsula. This action was received uneasily, and many amongst his men perceived it as an ill omen.

The two armies clashed with the island in sight, several kilometres from modern day Lavran, with both sides sustaining heavy casualties. The Khan and his inner circle charged the Zeouli formation attempting to find and kill the King in single combat. Though successful in breaking through the Zeouli ranks, Hervol's attack then lost its momentum. Aiken, in reality on his flagship the Agetar, observed this attack and later sustained a minor arrow wound from a mounted archer. The Khan's force was ultimately defeated, with thousands killed and taken prisoner. The exact circumstances of Hervol's fate are unknown, but he was among the dead after the battle.

The Zeoulian fleet then briefly surrounded Arrataxt. As all men of fighting age had already been killed or taken prisoner, it was entirely occupied by women and children. Entering the city, the Zeouli found little of conventional value. Aiken, his force having suffered serious attrition and by now several months into its campaign, then resolved to simply burn the city and begin the journey home. It is unclear how many were in Arrataxt when it was torched, and accounts of this figure vary wildly. Some sources claim that the city was emptied of prisoners before being put to the torch, while others suggest only a small percentage escaped the fires to return north. The razing of Arrataxt is believed to be the origin of its moniker the 'City of Ghosts', (together with its religious significance in Sarconian Shamanism as the place closest to the spirit world).

The lands conquered by Aiken were settled by the Zeouli in the following decades. Though Arrataxt itself was briefly claimed by the Zeouli settlers, it suffered near constant Sarconian attacks due to its cultural significance once Sarconian forces in the new south had reconsituted, and attempts to hold the island were formally abandonded in the reign of Aiken's son, Gelbry I.

“	Aerfel will muster naught but ghosts ‘til the time of our grandsons.	”
—Thernodil Kerman, Advisor to the King

Timbers belonging to a vessel of Aiken’s warfleet were found during the construction of the Pallikon Bridge between Arrataxt and the mainland peninsula in 2058. The unforseen potential archeological value of the site caused several delays to the project, but no further significant relics from the period were found.

The hull of the ship was raised in 2061 and was displayed in a local museum until 2115, where it was destroyed along with the bridge by the final ICERV munition employed during the Fall of Aquaria.

The Great Decline

See Also: the Great Decline

Devastation

Sarconia burns in the aftermath of the Second Continental War. Photograph taken by departing Grestian colonists en-route to Eve, September 2nd, 2082.

Invasion of Aquaria

Main Article: Fall of Aquaria