the Kingdom of Venthir

[vorropohaiah]

edit: I've noticed theres some label overlaps in the right hadn side of the map - I'm working on this now

this one comes with a pretty hefty chunk of history, so feel free to ignore

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A key/legend to the map can be found here



Nation and natural successor to the Venathi empire that dominated the northern area of the Arid Triptych region, to the north-east of Sarastro and the north of the Anubian desert. For the majority of its existence Venthir has been a vassal of the Korachani empire, though it has enjoyed a degree of autonomy throughout its occupation unlike others conquered by the Archpotentate Malichar’s armies. This is largely due to the presence of the vastly powerful and unpredictable sphinx regent; Hetepheres, better known as the Strangler.

The nation of Venthir appeared as a natural progression of the earlier Venathi empire, which through the death of its charismatic leader Labaisingh, the so-called 'lion king', in 151 RM and the subsequent rapid loss of its conquered nations, crumbled by c. 190 RM. The Venathi capital had been ailing for decades. Its coastline, like that of all Venath, had been slowly retreating over the centuries, leaving its ports and harbours land-locked, its once-thriving trade dead. The ruling Asanate had never re-established control following Labaisingh’s death, and the entire region was allowed to degenerate into strife.

Hetepheres, her whereabouts unknown since 57 RM, returned to the city of Hetepheropolis in 194 RM. Her reappearance helped stabilise the region, cementing her worship amongst the people of what remained of the Venathi empire. Her religion prospered and from Hetepheropolis a measure of law and order was restored to the region. Her armies helped secure nearby cities over the next years, attracting disenfranchised people from all over the empire. The Asanate, though still embroiled in its own internal struggles for power, saw the threat and opposed her, meeting her fanatical army in a pitched battle in the plains outside Hetepheropolis in 200 RM. Their armies were crushed, which allowed her to sack the city, inviting its populace into Hetepheropolis, which became the capital of Venthir (which was in the local dialect; Venath) in 201 RM, leaving the city of Venath to crumble.

Hetepheres’ rule was harsh, though under her aegis were order and trade restored to Venthir. The retreat of the coastlines which had dominated the dying days of the Venathi empire became a major rebuilding effort, with dykes and channels built to connect once-coastal cities to the Dark Sea. Its trade-routes were re-established, and tentative trade reappeared with Sarastro and imperial-Nárthel, where the first true contact with Korachan was made. In the absence of the Archpotentate Malichar the Korachani empire’s expansive nature was somewhat sated, leading to trade and diplomatic relations. In 211 RM Korachani diplomats and Set established a permanent embassy in the city of Midal where alchemical secrets were traded. The city prospered, becoming a major scholastic centre once-more, its cossetted harbours in the waters of the deep Kalaun depth largely unaffected by the retreat of the Dark Sea’s waters. Korachani influence slowly began to permeate Venthiri culture in the following years, reaching its crux in the city-state of Teira, which welcomed the influx of imperial merchant-dynasties and patrician houses (most notable amongst them that of Ashura). Their presence brought increased trade, which allowed the city-state to grow in size, its artificially-built canal-harbours seeing much traffic from the west.

But it became clear that Korachan’s imperialist nature could not be contained. Zion was conquered in 212 RM and within a decade it had declared war on Sarastro. The war was long and bloody, the absence of the Archpotentate Malichar affecting imperial morale, but in 231 RM the city of Carula was taken. It was clear that if Sarastro was taken, Venthir would be next.

By that point, Queen Hetepheres had secreted herself inside lavish odah-chambers within her temple-palace in Hetepheropolis, leaving the Asanates to rule in her stead. Following her rise to power she had slain the most power-hungry amongst their kin, allowing those who swore loyalty to her to languish as regional rulers who met in council every season before her to discuss important matters. The Asanate met with her in early 232 RM, bringing news of the war to her attention – she dismissed them without care. As the Korachani armies continued to slowly advance across Sarastro the Asanate, alongside Hetepheres’ closest advisors secretly decided to aid the struggling nation, and sent reinforcements west in 233 RM against the Queen’s edict, whose languid nature allowed the move to pass unbeknownst to her. In Sarastro, the war became deadlocked, each loss counterweighted by a victory elsewhere. Every victory was phyrric and armies destroyed one-another over territories that mattered not. But were it not for the presence of Venthiri troops, Sarastro would have fallen. If they managed to push the Korachani troops back, the Asanate believed that they maintained enough power to assume control of the remnants of Sarastro.

In 318 RM an imperial lictor infiltrated Hetepheres’ massive palace in Hetepheropolis and told her of the war. She emerged from the palace enraged, slaying slaves and servants with equal abandon, ordering the armies’ retreat from Venthir. Upon their return she strangled the entire Asanate and their direct families, banishing their relatives from Venthir. Her actions earned her the moniker of the Strangler Queen, which she propagated herself in a bid to foment fear. Her tyrannical actions served to instil awe and fear in the populace and her presence became constant; idols and temples erected in her honour in every city, the statues serving to remind all that she was their ruler, and her word was law. The sphinxes telepathic abilities allowed her to maintain a vigil over her nation, using a few trusted religious followers who had kept her religion alive in her absence as lieutenants and proxies.

Despite the war, Korachan had maintained a presence in Midal and Teira, both of which had steadily grown more imperialised, to the point that their dominant institutions had become the patrician houses, whose presence slowly trickled throughout Venthir. Teira itself had become a major influence in the region by c. 350 RM and existed as an entity apart from Venthir proper, a small nation unto itself. The discovery of a potent artefact known as the Sphere of Dominion in the Go Bisammam desert in southern Venthir by explorers from Teira in c. 300 RM brought further influence to the region. The sphere was a large depiction of Elyden as an uninterrupted globe, ancient beyond reckoning, its construction or heritage unknown. The item was used in the coming centuries by Venthiri explorers to help chart the seas east and south of Venthir, where they made contact with indigenous peoples, establishing colonies there

With the withdrawal of Venthir from the War, Korachan was able to take Sarastro (though only after the reappearance of the Archpotentate Malichar in 339 RM). Imperial influence in the region continued to increase in the ensuing decades, with Teira and Midal in particular seeing much imperial trade and traffic passing through them. Imperial pressure was to increase until 359 RM, where history took an unexpected turn.

Little is known of the events that led to Queen Hetepheres’ abdication of Venthir to Korachan, and what is known is attributed to legend and the corruption of close to 4-millennia. It is known that the Archpotentate Malichar, alongside a massive retinue of his loyal followers entered Venthir early in 359 RM, a guest of Queen Hetepheres. Staying in her palace in Hetepheropolis, accounts and records of the times state that he and his diplomats were treated to displays of Venthiri armies on parade, and various other forms of propaganda designed to show its might. Later on in the year, during a tour of the nation's south, it is said that Malichar spoke with her alone in the ruins of the ancient settlement of Maphani, sowing what are believed to be the seeds of corruption that would take root 2-years later when Hetepheres unceremoniously prostrated herself before him and his armies, effectively handing Venthir over to Korachan. The monument of Symari was constructed in honour of the occasion, its monolithic height dominating the horizon of southern Venthir. Though it remained largely autonomous and she remained its regent, Venthir was accountable to Khadon in Korachan. Patrician families flowed into Venthir from the cities of Midal and Teira, and the imperial administration was fully established in Teira in 376 RM within the monolithic Acropolis of Caur, an edifice built in true imperial design with its grand granite architecture contrasting with the local structures. Teira became the centre of imperial influence in the region, though Hetepheropolis remained its heart, where Venthiri culture survived in its most unadulterated form. Relations with Sarastro and Nárthel were re-established, with trade flowing steadily in-and-out of both regions.

The religion of the Sphinx was allowed to remain though in a controlled form and as a sub-cult of the Church of the Machine, which advocated her as a prophetess of the imperial Church from c. 380 RM, following years of religions tension. Around the same time the mystery-cult of Khar’illæ first appeared in Venthir, brought by traders and merchants from farther west in other imperial nations in Sammaea. Like those regions, it was largely quelled in the coming centuries though persisted in the form of scattered mystery-cults.

As the Korachani administration settled into its role in Venthir and the immigration of patricians and freemen subsided by c. 400 RM, the empire began to look to the regions’ resources for exploitation. The mountains and scrublands of Worknah were already home to sizeable gold-mines, though the region exploded within the next 200-years, with the city of Kithamar appearing south of Worknah in c. 530 RM, where it became a major processor of raw ore and umbra, the latter of which was being extracted from the Shamal and Neyshabur in large quantities. These first centuries of Korachani rule were harsh on the regions’ populace; many of which became little more than work-slaves to the industries and houses of the occupying empire. In a bid to keep the people satisfied the administration of Teira introduced gladiatorial games to the region in 425 RM, which rapidly spread to surrounding areas and gained massive popularity. This served to keep the masses amused and gave the slaves something to hope for – victory in the arena could earn a slave freedom. The games became so popular that by c. 500 RM, itinerant mercenaries from surrounding areas migrated to Venthir with dreams of success in the arenas.

As living memory of pre-imperial Venthir faded, the region’s culture reached a crux of amalgamation and began developing its on distinct customs. Amongst them the Maphrans of the Church of Machine which were effectively little more than church-owned slaves whose sole purpose was to breed (to offset the regions’ high mortality rate); their offspring serving the church in a myriad of ways. From these Maphrians would later evolve the Maphrias, who fulfilled a similar role, though amongst the noble families of Venthir, out of which would rise House Ashura.

Already powerful, House Ashura continued to dominate trade in the region, its members eventually becoming so influential and permeating all facets of Teiran culture (where they were based, making it the most imperialised of Venthiri cities) that they inherited full administrative duties in 563 RM, instating the hereditary titles of Adonis in 575 RM, after which the House became a monarchy in all but name. In Hetepheropolis the regent Hetepheres continued to rule, her dark whimsy hanging pall-like above the city, her people as fearful of her retribution as they were in awe of her beauty and power. The cult of the sphinx continued to grow, distancing itself from the Church of the Machine as much as edicts created in 378 RM allowed.

Even though the empire periodically launched attacks north-east against Char Mâthi, cultural ties with the region had been bred out of Venthirs’ collective memory centuries past and there was little to no kinship felt between the two. Despite these attacks, the region was relatively quiet despite the occasional slave uprising, though disruption caused by the islands of Lathlos Cha in the north-west of Venthir was kept its navy on its toes. Populated by descendants of those Asanates banished in 318 RM, the small island-nation had grown considerably in size in the ensuing centuries, its small yet pervasive corsairs plaguing eastern Nárthel and Venthir, as well as the Haré Shka since c. 900 RM. In 925 RM Teira began celebrating the 500th anniversary of the introduction of the bloodsports with a massive 3-month festival of games, which saw no less than 200 slaves freed. In truth this was a tactic to keep increasingly restless slaves from dissenting, and it worked. The freemen left Teira, and were given free reign to settle any unpopulated land in Venthir. They settled the ruins of an ancient Alrasi city north-west of Teira in 928 RM, which they christened Latuar (Lit. freedom). The city would be a constant presence in Venthiri history for millennia to come.

The dawn of the second millennium of the imperial calendar brought strife to Venthir. Just off the southern coast of the Torrent of Karrock, construction was secretly competed on a temple dedicated to the Demiurge Shibboleth. Its completion announced by a halfblooded prophetess known as Hammoleketh, the temple had been secretly under construction for the past millennium, her fell sorceries keeping the place hidden from mortal eyes. Discovery of the temple brought strife to Teira, with many rival factions and cults appearing opposing each other. Many were executed by the Church of the Machine, with hundreds travelling east to witness the monolithic edifice and its halfblooded priestess. Less than 2-years after this the city of Teira was hit by a massive plague which led to the degradation of culture there. Its population decimated, the capital survived only through the vigilance of imperial troops and the Ashuran monarchy, which closed off its gates to the outside world in 1002 RM. Some blamed the retreat of the coastline and the appearance over the last centuries of an expansive wetlands and marshes which were said to harbour disease, though the truth was never revealed. It was around this time that the plains of Hamshen also began to die, their slow corruption beginning a journey that would end some 2,000-years later with the regions' desertification.

In a bid to save the region – Hamshen was a hub of many settlements including Midal, Hetepheropolis and the rapidly growing Myrmica – Korachan sent aid from the west in 1009 RM, in the form of alchemical vaccines and food and other provisions. In addition great siphon engines were constructed in Hamshen, their colossal engines sapping latent umbra from the atmosphere and pumping it south where it could be processed for use in other industries. Though despite these implementations, the region continued to suffer.

Over the next centuries Venthir bore witness to a change. Power waned in the east and waxed in the west, Midal, Hetepheropolis and Myrmica benefitting from the siphon engines installed there. Teira reopened its gates in 1102 RM when the last taint of plague was expunged, though the road to recovery was to be long. In its place did the city of Katlego rise to prominence, its technarcanist academies aiding it against the disease-ridden lands that appeared in the wake of the retreating coastline. It and Midal became new powers, their alchemists and technologists becoming the new elite of Venthiri society. They rapidly overtook the patricians and House Ashura in power, and by 1293 RM had implemented a technocracy across most of Venthir. The imperial Minasteria of Donhim was moved to Myrmica in 1238 RM in recognition of its advances in the art, and the twin cities of Midal and Katlego continued to advance the state of technarcana, becoming centres of its learning. The ruling Ashura of Teira disappeared in c, 1300 RM as the new technocracy introduced in Midal took root.


continued in next post