Difference between revisions of "A History of Earendam the Grand"

Latest revision as of 01:17, 27 April 2011

An excerpt from "A History of Earendam the Grand: Portrait of a City and its Times.."

By Jofis Tabr, historian and scholar

The fortunes of Earendam in the centuries following the War of Night would bring it from Republic to city-state, from feared to contented, and from mythic to legendary. And yet, despite its decline in fortunes, this city was and continues to remain the heart of human culture in Avendar.

Purported to have been founded after the War of Fire, it is certainly the oldest known city founded by humans. Beginning as a fishing village built on the banks of the Dantaron, and near the shores of the Uthlin, Earendam had long been a center for trade and council among primitive men, even before the War of Fire.

After the war, the human templars and sorcerers who had lead their people against the aelin met with death and exiles. The vast majority of humanity, tired of war and conflict, settled with relative ease under the leadership of the likes of Aramril and Salyra.

Earendam's rise to power is not the subject of this treatise, but it is sufficient to know that those who associated with the ancient banner of the blue and white rose brought with them more than force of arms, or powerful magic. With them rode the tide of culture, and the force of its coming changed the face of Avendar.

By the time of the War of Night, the Republic embraced most of the main continent of Avendar, with ties to the mountain strongholds of the aelin, and the more primitive ethron. Moralists among the priests of Jolinn and Iandir decried the onset of decadence in the people and the government of Earendam. With most frontiers closed, the eyes of Earendam turned inward, desperately seeking some novelty, some new thing, to come from within.

At the war's end, some predicted a new golden age for the Republic, supported by the new magics of spirits and united by the threat of the shuddeni. Few counted on these very factors forming the foundation for the fall of the Republic.

The new magics used in the War of Night had a deeper influence on the culture of the Republic than might have been expected. It was not a matter of citizens summoning demons or speaking to dead relatives, but rather the more subtle powers of the magic that began the process. The simpler magics of void allowed for easy travel across vast distances, as well as the similar powers of the scholars of spirit. Knowledge traveled quickly and easily between cities, and fractious and dissident thought proliferated. When the magics of air came into the second century, traditional trading practices also were turned on their head, with a proliferation of free-lance traders and handler of goods.

At the same time, the threat of the shuddeni actually served to increase factionalism in the Republic. Different city-states offered varying proposals for dealing with their defeated enemies. Most supported some variety of a containment policy, but more radical opinions ranged from conciliation (often heard from those cities occupied by the shuddeni) to a campaign of extermination (as advocated by extreme elements in the clergy of Jolinn). The political divisions over the "shuddeni" problem lead to Earendam being forced to garrison fortresses such as Kor Thrandir with their own troops and supplies, greatly weakening an already diminished military.

This period of decline continued until circa three centuries ago, when a ten year period of long winters and poor harvests intensified political unrest in the Republic to the breaking point. Provinces in the south began to revolt, refusing to supply the already overpopulated Earendam with the tribute and food it desperately needed. In the north, a new breed of kankorans had migrated from across the Uthlin, lead by fierce far leaders and fighting with a fanatical desperation. Trade disputes with Var Bandor further alienated Earendam from the western provinces, and turmoil over the open worship of the dark gods caused a furor in Earendam itself.

When the kankorans began a long and bloody series of campaigns in the northlands, Earendam's military proved unable to satisfactorily deal with the menace. Caught unprepared, and lead by generals who had never had actual experience in battle. Caught in the itinerant raids lead by barbarian warlords, Earendam's army was defeated in a long series of bloody battles, and driven back to the walls of the city itself.

In what is most likely the low point of Earendam's history, most of the ruling Senate fled the city, fearing for their own lives. The citizens rallied under the leadership of a man named Corvandil Novis, head of one of the city's oldest noble houses. While the ensuing battle ravaged the northern half of Earendam, the battle put an end to the kankoran presence in the area for the next two hundred years.

In the aftermath of what became known as the First Kankoran War, Earendam was forced out of political necessity to cede its claim to the far reaching provinces of the Republic, and the leadership of the city passed from the Senate (now in disgrace) to a ruling Patrician, which became a lifetime leader selected from among the city's nobility.

For those that balk at the thought of the social institutions of a Republic changing so thoroughly, let us not forget the stresses Earendam faced, and the fact that the institution of the Patrician mimicked the long- standing familial order of the city-dwellers, where a single rich noblemen would support many by his largesse. For these reasons, some have gone beyond the claim that the office was born of necessity, but rather, the role of the Patrician was a cultural inevitability.

Despite these changes, the unified voice that the Patrician brought to Earendam's politics lead to an unprecedented growth. The north side of the city was rebuilt, in part using the magics of earth, and changes in the laws regarded trade resulting in a small merchant class flourishing. Artisans and scholars once more came to Earendam, viewing it once more as a bastion of culture. [In this humble author's opinion, Var Bandorian scholars choose to live in a cesspool].