Registry of National History

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Dromodian history Dates back 8000 years ago

8000 The Kenho Tribe settled around the Kyatsau river

7950 the first city's appeared. Kyongda and Dongze

7900 the first expansion to the south. made possible by the first emperor of Dromoda, Kenji the son of heavens

7600 an official governmental form of justice appeared.

7400 first war with the Kaikaou tribes

7000 Second war with the Kaikaou tribes

6950 Drochinji Tribes from the Mountains raid the southern part of the lands

6700 Dromchinji peace treaty.

6400 First money circulates in the form of Copper coins.

6000 Trade increases due to the unification of the Tribes near the Guenzou river.

5700 The Kenho Tribes Unification with the rest of the Dromo valley's lead to the Empire of Dromo

5400 Feng hou, a general in the Dromonian army held some huge conquests against the Kaikao and killed till the last wasn't standing on its feet but was begging for mercy.

5200 the official name Dromoda came into use. it means, gods land.

5100 Unification of the city's around Guofeng bay. Kyongdong was founded  

4800 Library's were set up. and the first public baths arrive.

4600 Dromodian Explorer Sianmin the wise Discovered the Deserts of pu-deng ( later the Deserts of black rivers )

4500 Dromoda expand to the south and conquers a huge part of the mountains.

4300 Written text are being written on paper made from bamboo

4000 The Begining of the 3 Empires : Dromoda,  Alzagar, and Xin .

the rest of the Empires were eliminated from the continent trough wars and conquest.


3700 Alzagar and Xin joined together and became Indanjanja

3600 Dromoda and Indanjaja go to war.

3500 Dromoda and indanjaja killed almost each other and made both a drawl from the fields. a peace treaty was singed.

3200 Indijaja broke up in 89 different states.

2900 the Dromodian 1st golden age. art and culture booming from the city's and the capital Kyongdong was the centre of the world.

2950 Dromoda builds a ocean going fleet to discover the unknown world, ordered by the emperor.


his majesty was interested in new fruits and vegetables.

2700 the victory of Heinan, the Emperor swept away thousands of invading forces from lands unknown to Dromodian men.


2500 Kyongdong gets a new watersuply made posible by an tunnel by transporting water from the high mountains in the north underground.

2300 Dromodian high shaman ( by the name of Dengfu )makes the 4 customs Dromodians live up to till the end of time.
   
1900 the empire enters its 2th golden age. with an expansion drift.

1800 using a compass Dromodian Chinkoka sails around the globe.

1700 the great killing, a time called this way because the Emperor was killed. therefor his son the new emperor said : every family must pic someone who he can loose and kill him.

1600 Dromoda isolates itself from the rest of the world.

1500 Dromoda Builds the Singjin seawall

1400 the Fromal Colony of Genjo colapses.

1300 the Colony's of Fenghu kinjin baikao leisu and Finjin also collapsed due a shortage of food for the army's . only chinbei kenjo emhin and seljin are left.

1200 Dengfuism becomes widespread across the lands.

1100 Dromodian currency changed to silver due to the huge silver mines in the area.

1000 Dromoda opens its borders for a small group of foreigners(traders only).

800 3th golden age with the incoming outside world the Dromodian economy is booming like never before. Kyongdong profits so much that it passed the 2 million citizen.

700 Dromodian forms of Yanism are forbidden

500 thea is the main export from Dromoda

400 the last blue rino was captured for medical observation.

300 Dromoda lost more colony's

200 the Rice war. the Entire continent of Chin Belongs to Dromoda again.

100 the 1st Dromodian revolution. the Emperor wins.


20 the second Dromodian revolution. the line of Emperors is gone and for the first time Dromoda gets another leader than Emperor. a chairman.

New Paristan was founded 552 years ago as a colony of the Kingdom of Versailles. Ruled by the absolute monarch King Phillipe XVII, Versailles was a brutal place of cruel feudalism, and in its early days, its colonies, including New Paristan, were ruled by colonial governors who were absolutely loyal to the monarch.

Eventually, a group of colonists, allied with an indigenous population that had been nearly wiped out by colonial development, overthrew the colonial government and established the Free Republic of New Paristan. War with Versailles followed, and the Free Republic was defeated. An even more brutal regime was established to punish the rebellious colonists, but this only crystallized the colonists' desire for freedom.

Twenty years later, King Phillipe XVII died and was succeeded by King Louis IV, a notorious drunkard and incompetent. King Louis IV ignored his overseas colonies and let them languish, preferring to spend his time hosting lavish parties and flaunting his wealth. Under his mismanagement, the Kingdom of Versailles became a place of stark contrasts - vast wealth next to crushing poverty, peasants with no work, children dying in the streets. Disgruntled members of an emergent merchant class began to meet in secret to figure out how to change things in the country. Meanwhile, the colonists of New Paristan, feeling themselves free of the watchful eye of Versailles, began to plan a new revolution. The rebels in Versailles sent secret shipments of weapons and equipment to the colonists disguised as trade goods. The shipments also contained correspondence and plans of how to coordinate a revolution both at home and in the colony.

It took five years of careful planning, but a simultaneous revolution in both Versailles and New Paristan meant the overthrow of King Louis IV and the establishment of both a new Versailles Republic and the Republic of New Paristan. With the cooperation between the newly-established republican government in Versailles, the Paristani revolutionaries established a new government and trade and diplomatic relations, cementing the Republic of New Paristan as an independent nation.

The industrial revolution brought new tensions to the Republic of New Paristan, as dangerous working conditions and low pay in the new factories led to war between management and workers over the right to establish labor unions. Bloody riots, brutal oppression by the bosses, and wildcat strikes followed, but the workers of New Paristan eventually did win the right to organize, and through militant action, won an 8-hour workday, a minimum wage, and other safety protections. The main labor federation (FDOT) allied itself with one of the three major political parties and became the central voice of worker rights in New Paristan, working for incremental change without addressing the fundamental class contradictions of the capitalist system.

A century later, industry began to flee New Paristan for low-wage countries where sweatshops could churn out cheap consumer goods at a fraction of the cost. Meanwhile, at home, as politicians bickered about how to keep the economy rolling and attract industry back to New Paristan, the general consensus was that austerity, cutting social benefits, and slashing taxes on businesses and industry would help boost the economy. All political parties agreed, and even the FDOT bought into the notion that slashing worker pensions was the only way to get good jobs back.

As the income gap widened, poverty grew, and conditions became even more miserable for workers, a new consciousness began to dawn. It started as a series of seemingly unconnected events - a strike by fast food workers, who were not even members of a union; the occupation and eventual worker takeover of a window manufacturer; labor unions defecting from the FDOT and beginning to advocate wildcat strikes and sabotage. Momentum spread.

The first general strike and march on the capital drew 50,000 workers. A speech by Marius Pontmercy, a leader of the CGT, a radical anarcho-syndicalist union, called on all the splinter groups and industry-specific labor unions to come together in what he called le Grand Syndicat, or the Big Union. Pontmercy and his Red & Black coalition were instrumental in the formation of the SNT, the Syndicat National des Travailleurs. The SNT became the organizing and governing body of a newly radicalized working class, and its power and influence grew.

The Grand Greve, or Great Strike, shut down the entire country's economy. A second march on the capital drew a million workers, and this time they weren't there for speeches. The workers, who by this time had enlisted the support of both the national police and the military, marched into Parliament. The MPs, knowing the stakes, surrendered, and the government fell.

The country spent a good deal of time debating how best to set up a new regime. A large Marxist-Leninist coalition tried to establish a vanguard party to lead the revolution, insisting that the nation must first go through a "dictatorship of the proletariat" before a truly free and equal worker's state could be established. They were quickly outvoted, however, as the vast majority of workers had had enough of political parties and factionalism, and knew from their experience in the FDOT that large bureaucracies led only to inefficiency and inaction.

Instead, the revolution was characterized by violent confrontations between workers and management, as the working class began to fire their bosses and take over each company, each factory, one by one. The country's stock market was burned to the ground. The workers established a Cooperative Bank, expropriating the wealth of the financial sector and repurposing it to rebuild the country's crumbling infrastructure.

Eventually, the Rotating Council of Workers was established, and with it, a new, decentralized system of governance by worker's councils. An economy of cooperatives, worker-owned, democratically managed, emerged, and the nation's crashed economy began to recover. The country established a new flag, which honored the blue, white, and red stripes of the tricolor but enlarged the revolutionary red stripe, slashed in the middle with black to represent the contributions of the anarcho-syndicalists, and a yellow star to represent the unity of the working class.

Here endeth the lesson.

The first humans arrived in Ireland between 7,000 and 6,000 BC after the end of the last ice age. The first Irish people lived by farming, fishing and gathering food such as plants and shellfish. The Stone Age hunters tended to live on the seashore or on the banks of rivers and lakes where food was plentiful. They hunted animals like deer and wild boar. They also hunted birds and they hunted seals with harpoons.

About 4,000 BC farming was introduced to Ireland. The Stone Age farmers kept sheep, pigs and cattle and raised crops. They probably lived in huts with wooden frames covered with turfs and thatched with rushes. The farmers made tools of stone, bone and antler. They also made pottery. For centuries the farmers and the hunters co-existed but the old hunter-gatherer lifestyle gradually died out.

The stone age farmers were the first people to significantly affect the environment of Ireland as they cleared areas of forest for farming. They were also the first people to leave monuments in the form of burial mounds known as court cairns. The Stone Age farmers sometimes cremated their dead then buried the remains in stone galleries covered in earth.

They also created burial places called dolmens, which consist of massive vertical stones with horizontal stones on top, and passage graves which have a central passage lined and roofed with stones with burial chambers leading off it. The passage graves were covered with mounds of earth.

About 2,000 BC bronze was introduced into Ireland and was used for making tools and weapons. The bronze Age people also erected stone circles in Ireland. They also built crannogs or lake dwellings, which were easy to defend.

Then about 500 BC the Celts arrived in Ireland. They brought iron tools and weapons with them. The Celts were a warlike people. (According to Roman writers they were passionately fond of fighting) and they built stone forts across Ireland. At that time Ireland was divided into many small kingdoms and warfare between them was frequent. Fighting often took place in chariots.

The priests of the Celts were called Druids and they practised polytheism (worship of many gods).

Celtic society was divided into 3 classes. At the top were the kings and aristocrats. Below them were the freemen who were farmers. They could be well off or could be very poor. At the bottom were slaves. Divorce and remarriage were by no means unusual in Celtic society and polygamy was common among the rich.

CHRISTIANITY COMES TO IRELAND

In the 4th century Christianity spread to Ireland, probably through trade with England and France. In 431 Pope Celestine sent a man named Palladius to Ireland. However he was killed shortly after his arrival.

Then in 432 a man named Patrick arrived in Ireland. Patrick was probably born about 390 or 400. He lived in Western England until he was captured by Irish raiders at the age of 16 and was taken to Ireland as a slave. Patrick was forced to work as a herdsman and so had much time for thinking about religion. After 6 years as a slave Patrick managed to escape back to England.

However he had a vision in which he read a letter asking him to come to Ireland. This he did. Patrick became a missionary to Ireland until his death in 461.

Patrick tried to organise the church in Ireland along 'Roman' lines with Bishops as the leaders. However the Irish church soon changed to a system based on monasteries with Abbots as the leaders.

From 500 to 800 was the golden age of the Irish church. Many monasteries were founded across Ireland and soon the Irish sent missionaries to other parts of Europe such as Scotland and Northern England. Irish monks also kept alive Greek-Roman learning during the Dark Ages. In Irish monasteries learning and the arts flourished. One of the greatest arts was making decorated books called illuminated manuscripts. The most famous of these is the Book Of Kells, which was probably made at the beginning of the 9th century. However this golden age ended with the Viking raids.

THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND

The Vikings first attacked Ireland in 795. They looted monasteries. They also took women and children as slaves. However the Vikings were not only raiders. They were also traders and craftsmen. In the 9th century they founded Ireland's first towns, Dublin, Wexford, Cork and Limerick. They also gave Ireland its name, a combination of the Gaelic word Eire and the Viking word land. In time the Vikings settled down. They intermarried with the Irish and accepted Christianity.

Around 940 the great High King Brian Boru was born. At that time the Danes had conquered much of the kingdom of Munster. Brian defeated them in several battles. In 968 he recaptured Cashel, the capital of Munster. After 976 Brian was king of Munster and in 1002 he became the High King of Ireland. However in 1014 Leinster, the people of Dublin and the Danes joined forces against him. Brian fought and defeated them at the battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014, although he was killed himself. This victory ended the Viking threat to Ireland.

More about the Vikings

THE ENGLISH INVASION OF IRELAND

During the 11th and 12th centuries the church in Ireland flourished once again. In the early and mid 12th century it was reformed. Synods (church meetings) were held at Cashel in 1101, at Rath Bresail in 1111 and Kells in 1152. The church was reorganised on diocesan lines and bishops became the leaders rather than Abbots. However Pope Adrian IV (actually an Englishman called Nicholas Breakspear) was not satisfied. He was determined to bring the Irish church to heel. In 1155 he gave the English king, Henry II, permission to invade Ireland to sort out the church.

However Henry did not immediately invade Ireland. Instead Dermait MacMurrough, the king of Leinster, brought events to a head. In 1166, another king, Tiernan O'Rourke forced MacMurrough to flee from Ireland. However MacMurrough appealed to the English king Henry II for help. Henry gave him permission to recruit in England. MacMurrough enlisted the support of a man named Richard FitzGilbert de Clare (better known as Strongbow) to help him regain his kingdom. In return MacMurrough promised that Strongbow could marry his daughter and would become king of Leinster after him.

MacMurrough returned to South Leinster in 1167. The first English soldiers arrived in 1169. They landed at Bannow Bay in County Wexford and soon captured the town of Wexford. The High King, Rory O'Connor led an army against the English but Dermait came to terms with him. He agreed to submit to O'Connor as High King.

However the next year, 1170, Strongbow led an army to Ireland and captured Waterford and Dublin. Askluv the king of Dublin sailed away. However the next year he returned with a Norwegian army but some English knights sallied out on horseback and defeated them. Askluv was captured and executed. Next Rory O'Connor led an army to Dublin and laid siege to the town. However the English slipped out and made a surprise attack, routing the Irish.

Henry II became alarmed that Strongbow was becoming too powerful and ordered all English soldiers to return to England by Easter 1171. Strongbow made Henry an offer. He agreed to submit to king Henry and accept him as Lord if he was allowed to continue. Henry decided to accept the offer on condition he could have the towns of Dublin, Waterford and Wexford. In the meantime Dermait died and Strongbow became king of Leinster. The English king Henry landed in Ireland in October 1171. Strongbow submitted to him. So did most of the Irish kings. In 1175 Rory O'Connor submitted to Henry by the treaty of Windsor.

IRELAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES

In the early 13th century the English extended their control over all of Ireland except part of Connacht and Western Ulster. The English also founded the towns of Atheny, Drogheda, Galway and New Ross. The first Irish parliament was called in 1264 but it represented only the Anglo-Irish ruling class.

However after 1250 the English tide ebbed. In 1258 Brian O'Neill led a rebellion. The rebellion failed when O'Neill was defeated and killed in 1260. However the English landowners were gradually absorbed into Irish society. Many of them intermarried and slowly adopted Irish customs. In 1366 the Kilkenny Parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny. The Anglo-Irish were forbidden to marry native Irish. They were also forbidden to speak Gaelic or to play the Irish game of hurling. They were not allowed to wear Irish dress or ride bareback but must use a saddle. However all such attempts to keep the two races separate and distinct failed.

In 1315 the Scots invaded Ireland hoping to open up a second front in their war with the English. Robert the Bruce's brother led the Scottish army with considerable success and was even crowned king of Ireland. However the English sent an army to oppose him and he was defeated and killed in 1318.

In 1394 the English king Richard II led an army to Ireland to try and re-assert English control. The Irish submitted to him but promptly rebelled once he had left. Richard returned in 1399 but he was forced to leave due to trouble at home. From then on English control continued to wane until by the middle of the 15th century the English only ruled Dublin and the surrounding 'Pale'.

IRELAND IN THE 16th CENTURY

Henry VII (1485-1509) tried to bring Ireland to heel. In 1494 he made Sir Edward Poynings Lord-Deputy of Ireland. In 1495 Poyning persuaded the Irish parliament to pass 'Poyning's Law' which stated that the Irish parliament could only meet with the permission of the English king and could only pass laws previously approved by the king and his ministers.

Henry VIII (1509-1547) continued his father's policy to trying to bring Ireland under his control but he adopted a 'softly, softly' approach of trying to win over the Irish by diplomacy. In 1536 the Irish parliament agreed to make Henry head of the Irish Church. In 1541 the Irish parliament agreed to recognise Henry VIII as king of Ireland.

Under Henry's son Edward VI (1547-1553) English policy hardened. The English undertook military campaigns against Irish chiefs in Laois and Offaly who refused to submit to the king. They then made the first attempt to 'plant' loyal English people in Ireland as a way of controlling the country. Land confiscated from the Irish was given to English settlers. However in the face of attacks from the Irish the English colonists were forced to abandon the 'plantation'.

After Edwards death his sister Mary (1553-1558) became queen. She carried out the first successful plantation of Ireland. Again people were settled in Laois and Offaly but this time they were better prepared for war.

Further plantations took place under Elizabeth (1558-1603). From 1579 to 1583 the Earl of Desmond led a rebellion against the English. When the rebellion was finally crushed much of the land in Munster was confiscated and was given to English colonists.

Then in 1592, Elizabeth founded the first university in Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin.

Finally in 1593 rebellion broke out in Ulster. Hugh O' Neill the Earl of Tyrone, joined the rebellion in 1595. At first the rebellion was successful. The rebels won a victory at Yellow Ford in 1598. However O'Neill was severely defeated at the battle of Kinsale in 1601. The rebellion ended in 1603.

IRELAND IN THE 17th CENTURY

After the rebellion O'Neil was, at first, treated leniently. He was allowed to return to his land. However after 1605 English attitudes hardened. In 1607 Hugh O'Neil and Rory O'Donnell, the Earl of Tyrconnell, fled to France with their supporters. This event became known as the flight of the Earls.

Afterwards their land in Ulster was confiscated by King James who decided on a plantation of Ulster. This time the plantation was to be far more thorough. This time Protestant settlers would outnumber the native Irish. Between 1610 and 1613 many English people and Scots settled in Ulster on confiscated land. Many new towns were founded.

The native Irish resented the plantation and in 1641 Ulster rose in rebellion and massacres of Protestants occurred.

In the South in 1642 the Anglo-Irish and the native Irish formed an alliance called the Confederation of Kilkenny. They quickly took over all Ireland except Dublin and some other towns and part of Ulster. Meanwhile in England civil war was raging between the English king and parliament so Ireland was largely left to its own devices for several years. However divisions between the Anglo-Irish and the native Irish weakened the rebellion. Moreover the English civil war ended in 1646. King Charles I was executed in January 1649. Afterwards the English parliament turned its attention to Ireland.

Oliver Cromwell was determined to crush Irish resistance and impose Protestantism on Ireland. He also sought revenge for the massacres of 1641. When Cromwell captured Drogheda in 1649 the defenders were massacred. A similar massacre took place in Wexford. Cromwell left Ireland in 1650 and his Son-in-law took over. By 1651 all of Ireland was in English hands.

In 1653-1654 another plantation took place. Land belonging to Irish Catholics was confiscated. Those who could prove they had not taken part in the rebellion of 1641 were given other (less fertile) land west of the Shannon. The confiscated lands were given to Englishmen.

In 1660 Charles II became king of England and Scotland. At first it looked as if he would undo the Cromwellian confiscation of Irish land. However the king soon back-pedalled, fearing a backlash among his own people.

Furthermore during the 1660s the export of cattle from Ireland to England was banned. Yet exports of meat and butter boomed. The population of Ireland also rose rapidly in the late 17th century. English merchants also resented competition from the Irish wool trade. Labour costs were lower in Ireland than in England and Irish wool was exported to many other countries. In 1699 the Irish were forbidden to export wool to any country except England. However the English already charged high import duties on Irish wool and there was little demand for it. So exports of Irish wool were effectively ended.

In 1685 a Catholic, James II, succeeded Charles II. The Irish hoped James would treat them more kindly but he was deposed in 1688 and fled to France. The Dutchman William of Orange and his English wife Mary were invited to come and rule in James's place.

However James was not willing to give up his crown so easily. The Lord-Deputy of Ireland, the Early of Tyrconnell was still loyal to him. So were most of the Irish. In March 1689 James landed at Kinsale and quickly took most of Ireland.

Londonderry was one of the few places that stood by William. In December 1688 Catholic troops attempted to enter but 13 apprentice boys shut the gates against them. In April 1689 James laid siege to Londonderry and his men laid a boom across the River Foyle to prevent supplies reaching it by water. However in July a ship called the Mountjoy broke the boom and relieved the town.

William's army landed in Ireland in August 1689 and on 1 July 1690 the two armies met at the battle of the Boyne near Drogheda. James was decisively defeated. William entered Dublin on 6 July 1690. The next year his army lay siege to Limerick. That town surrendered in October 1691. The Treaty of Limerick ended the war in Ireland.



IRELAND IN THE 18TH CENTURY

From 1704 all members of the Irish parliament and all holders of office had to be members of the Church of Ireland. (This Act excluded Presbyterians as well as Catholics. As a result many Presbyterians left Ireland for North America during the 18th century).

Another Act of 1704 stated that Catholics could not buy land. They could not leave their land to a single heir, and they could not inherit land from Protestants. These measures meant that by 1778 only 5% of the land in Ireland was owned by Catholics. Both Catholics and Dissenters (Protestants who did not belong to the Church of Ireland) had to pay tithes to the Church of Ireland, which caused resentment.

An Act of 1719 reaffirmed the British parliaments right to legislate for Ireland. The Irish parliament was made definitely subordinate.

There was a great deal of dire poverty in Ireland during the 18th century, at its worst during the famine of 1741. This disaster killed hundreds of thousands of people.

In the 1760s the grievances of Irish peasants boiled over into violence. In Munster the 'whiteboys', so called because they wore white smocks or shirts to disguise themselves burned buildings and maimed cattle. In the 1770s they were followed in the north by the oak boys and the steel boys.

From 1778 the laws restricting the rights of Catholics were gradually repealed. From that year Catholics were allowed to lease land for 999 years. From 1782 they were allowed to buy land. In 1782 Poyning’s Law was repealed after nearly 300 years. The law of 1719, which gave the British parliament the right to legislate for the Irish, was also repealed. In 1792 Catholics were allowed to practise as lawyers and to marry Protestants. From 1793 Catholics were allowed to vote (but were not allowed to sit as MPs).

In the 1700s a linen industry grew up in Northern Ireland. A Linen Board was formed in Dublin in 1711. However the linen industry soon became concentrated in the north and another Linen Board opened in Belfast in 1782. From the late 18th century Britain began to industrialise. In Ireland industrialisation was limited to the north. The south of Ireland remained agricultural, exporting huge quantities of meat and butter to Britain. During the 18th century the population of Ireland rapidly increased from less than 2 million in 1700 to nearly 5 million in 1800. Trade with Britain boomed and the Bank of Ireland opened in 1783.

However at the end of the 18th century the ideas of the American Revolution and the French Revolution reached Ireland. They influenced a Protestant lawyer, Theobald Wolf Tone who, in 1791, founded the Society of United Irishmen. The society wanted Ireland to become an independent republic with religious toleration for all. In 1794 Britain went to war with France. The United Irishmen were regarded as a dangerous organisation and were suppressed. Wolf Tone fled abroad and tried to persuade the French to invade Ireland. In 1796 they sent a fleet but it was prevented from landing by a storm.

Then in May 1798 risings took place in Wexford, Wicklow and Mayo. However the rebellion was defeated at Vinegar Hill near Enniscorthy on 21 June. French soldiers landed at Killala in August but they were forced to surrender in September. The French sent another fleet but their ships were intercepted by the British navy and most of them were captured. On board one was Wolf Tone. In November he committed suicide in prison.

IRELAND IN THE 19TH CENTURY

The British government then decided that radical reform was needed. They decided the answer was to abolish the Irish parliament and unite Ireland with Britain. In 1800 they managed to persuade the Irish parliament to agree to the measure. It came into effect in 1801.

In 1803 Robert Emmet (1778-1803) and a small group of followers attempted an uprising in Dublin. They killed the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and his nephew but the rising was quickly crushed. Emmet was hung, drawn and quartered.

In the early 19th century a movement to remove remaining restrictions on Catholics was led by Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847). In 1823 he founded the Catholic Association. In 1829 their wishes were granted. The Catholic Emancipation Act allowed Catholics to become MPs and to hold public office.

In 1840 O'Connell began a Repeal Association to demand the repeal of the Act of Union. He arranged 'monster meetings' of his supporters. In 1843 he called for one at Clontarf. However the British government banned the meeting. O'Connell cancelled the meeting and his movement collapsed.

THE POTATO FAMINE IN IRELAND

In 1845 a large part of the Irish population lived on potatoes and buttermilk. It was an adequate diet but if anything happened to the potato crop there would be disaster. In 1845 potato blight hit Ireland. Peel, the British Prime Minister, appointed a scientific committee to study the disease. Unfortunately they did not understand its true nature.

Faced with famine Peel started relief works to provide work for the starving. (Peel was reluctant to give away free food). The potato blight returned in 1846. By 1847 the situation was so bad that Peel's successor, Lord John Russell realised direct relief was necessary and soup kitchens were set up. Private charity also struggled to cope with the calamity.

However hundreds of thousands of people died each year of starvation and disease such as cholera, typhus and dysentery. (In their weakened condition people had little resistance to disease).

The famine was worst in Southern and Southwest Ireland. The North and the East coast were less affected.

Many people fled aboard. In 1851 alone some 250,000 people emigrated from Ireland. (Many of them died of disease while on board ship). The population of Ireland fell dramatically. From over 8 million in 1841 it fell to about 6 1/2 million in 1851 and it continued to fall. An estimated 1 million people died during the famine. Many others emigrated.

The failure of the British government to deal with the famine caused a lasting bitterness in Ireland.

THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT

In 1842 an organisation called Young Ireland was formed to campaign for Irish independence. (They were called 'Young Ireland' because they were opposed to O'Connell's 'Old Ireland', which advocated peaceful methods. In 1848 Young Ireland attempted an uprising. Led by William Smith O'Brien 1803-64 a group of Irish peasants fought with 46 members of the Irish Constabulary at Ballingary in County Tipperary. The skirmish later became known as 'the battle of the Widow McCormack's cabbage patch'. Afterwards O'Brien was arrested. He was sentenced to death but instead was transported to Tasmania.

In 1858 another movement called the Fenians was formed. In 1867 they attempted a rising in England, which did not succeed. In 1870 they were banned by the Catholic Church but they continued to operate.

Also in 1870 a lawyer named Isaac Butt (1813-1879) founded the Irish Home Government Association. The aim was to gain MPs in the British parliament and fight for independence. The Association was a success in that it soon gained a large number of MPs but Butt was regarded as too moderate. He soon lost control of the movement to a Protestant Lawyer called Charles Steward Parnell (1846-1891).

THE LAND WAR

In the late 1870s Irish agriculture entered a recession and many tenant farmers were evicted. Then in 1879 a Fenian called Michael Davitt (1846-1906) founded the Irish National Land League to demand land reform. He asked Parnell to lead the movement. The land war of 1879-1882 followed. Rents were withheld until the last moment. Anyone who took the land of an evicted tenant was boycotted. This word came from a Captain Charles Boycott. He managed an estate in Mayo. Local people refused to work for him but in 1880 50 labourers from Ulster, protected by troops, were sent to harvest his farm. However life was made so unpleasant for Boycott he was forced to leave.

During the land war some people became violent. As a result in 1881 the British government passed the Coercion Act, which allowed them to imprison people without trial. The leaders of the land league were arrested. At the same time Gladstone passed another land act. Tenants could apply to a special land court for a fair rent. Gladstone's land acts of 1881 and 1882 also gave tenant farmers greater security of tenure.

The land war ended with an agreement called the Kilmainham Treaty. The government released the leaders and agreed to some more concessions and the violence died down (although the Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary were murdered in Phoenix Park, Dublin).

THE HOME RULE BILLS

In 1886 Gladstone introduced his first Home Rule bill but it was rejected by the House of Commons. Gladstone introduced a second Home Rule bill in 1893. This one was passed by the House of Commons but it was rejected by the House of Lords.

Gladstone introduced a second Home Rule bill in 1893. The House of Commons passed this one but the House of Lords rejected it. Nevertheless some reforms were made to land ownership. In 1885 money was made available for leaseholders to borrow to buy their land. The loans were repaid at low rates of interest. The loan system was extended in 1891. More land acts were passed in 1903 and 1909. As a result many thousands of tenant farmers purchased their land.

In 1893 the Gaelic League was founded to make Gaelic the main language of Ireland once again.

Meanwhile Protestant opposition to Home Rule was growing. The Ulster Unionist Party was formed in 1886. Other unionist organisations were also formed at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

However Sinn Fein (Gaelic 'we ourselves') was formed in 1905.

In the 1900s Ireland moved towards civil war. The Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in 1913. In the South Nationalists formed the Irish Volunteers. Both sides obtained arms.

Finally a Home Rule Bill received the Royal Assent on 15 September 1914. However it was put on hold for the duration of the First World War. The war split opinion in Ireland. Some people were willing to wait for the end of the war believing that Ireland would then become independent. Some were not. The Irish Volunteers split. About 12,000 men broke away but kept the name Irish Volunteers. The rest (0ver 100,000 men called themselves the Irish National Volunteers).

THE EASTER RISING

In the early years of the 20th century the Irish Republican Brotherhood remained a powerful secret organisation. Many of them joined the Irish Volunteers. In May 1915 the IRB formed a military council. In January 1916 they planned an uprising and set Easter Day (April 24) as the date. MacNeill, the leader of the Irish Volunteers, was only informed about the planned uprising on 21 April. At first he agreed to co-operate. He ordered the Volunteers to mobilise on 24 April. However a German ship called the Aud, which was carrying rifles to Ireland was intercepted by the British Navy and her captain scuttled her. MacNeill changed his mind and cancelled the Volunteer Movements. As a result the uprising was confined almost entirely to Dublin and therefore had no chance of success.

The insurgents occupied the Post Office in O'Connell Street where their leader Patrick Pearse announced an Irish Republic. However the British crushed the rebellion and the insurgents surrendered on 29 April. The British then court-martialed the insurgents and 15 of them were executed. Public opinion in Ireland was appalled and alienated by the executions.

IRISH INDEPENDENCE

In December 1918 a general election was held and Sinn Fein won 73 seats. However the Sinn Fein MPs refused to sit in the Britsh parliament. Instead they formed their own parliament called the Daill Eirann, which met in Dublin.

In January 1919 the Irish Volunteers renamed themselves the IRA the IRA began a guerrilla war when they shot two RIC men. The guerrilla war continued through 1920 and 1921. The British recruited a force of ex-soldiers called the Black and Tans to support the RIC. The Black and Tans were sent to Ireland in March 1920. They undertook reprisals against the IRA by burning buildings. In Dublin on 21 November 1921 they fired upon a crowd watching a football match killing 12 people. Shortly afterwards the Black and Tans burned part of Cork city centre.

The war continued into 1921. On 25 May 1921 the IRA burned Dublin Customs House However 5 of them were killed and 80 were captured. Shortly afterwards, in July 1921, the war ended.

Meanwhile in 1920 the British government passed the Government of Ireland Act. By it there would be 2 parliaments in Ireland, one in the north and one in the south. However both parliaments would be subordinate to the British parliament. An election was held for the southern Irish parliament in May 1921. Sinn Fein won almost all the seats but their MPs refused to sit in the new parliament. Instead the Dail continued to meet.

Then in October 1921 a group of 5 men were appointed by the Dail to negotiate with the British. The British prime minister demanded that Ireland be partitioned and he threatened the delegates with war if they did not sign a treaty. Therefore they did so.

The Dail approved the treaty on 7 January 1922. However opinion split over the treaty with some people willing to accept it as a temporary measure and some people bitterly opposed. Fighting broke out between the IRA and the National Army. Michael Collins was killed in an ambush on 22 August 1922. The civil war in Ireland lasted until May 1923.

IRELAND IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY

During the 1920s and 1930s unemployment was high in Ireland. Furthermore many people lived in overcrowded conditions. As a result emigration continued. However things slowly improved. In the years 1925-1929 the government created a hydro-electricity scheme called the Shannon scheme. By 1943 all the towns in Ireland had electricity. So did most of the villages. In the 1930s the government tried to help the unemployed with a road-building scheme. Furthermore some industry developed in Ireland at that time.

In 1937 a new constitution made an elected president head of state. Furthermore the name 'Irish Free State' was replaced with either Eire or Ireland. Then in 1948 Ireland was made a republic and the last ties with Britain were cut.

In the 1930s Ireland fought an 'economic war' with Britain. Before 1922 many tenant farmers borrowed money from the British government to buy their farms. As part of the treaty of 1922 the Irish state was to collect this money and pass it on to the British. However in 1932 de Valera stopped paying. In response the British imposed a tariff of 20% on Irish goods. This caused great harm to the Irish cattle trade. However de Valera imposed import duties on British goods such as coal. He hoped Ireland would become economically self-sufficient and Irish industries would develop. In reality the war hurt both sides. In 1935 they made a coal-cattle pact, which made trade in the two commodities easier. In 1938 a general trade treaty brought the economic war to an end.


IRELAND IN THE LATE 20th CENTURY

In 1949 an Industrial Development Authority was founded to promote industrialisation and from the late 1950s the Irish economy developed rapidly. During the 1960s and 1970s the Irish economy grew an average of 4% per year. The first Irish motorway opened in 1962. Also in 1962 Irish television began broadcasting.

However Irish people continued to emigrate abroad during the 1950s and 1960s. Despite emigration the population of Ireland rose in the 1960s and 1970s (for the first time since the mid-19th century.

In 1973 Ireland joined the EEC (forerunner of the EU). Membership brought great benefit to Ireland both in direct aid and in investment by foreign companies.

During the 1980s the Irish economy was in the doldrums. Unemployment was only 7% in 1979 but it rose to 17% in 1990. Then in the 1990s the situation changed completely. The Irish economy boomed and it became known as the Celtic Tiger. By 2000 unemployment in the Irish Republic had fallen to less than 4%.

Irish society also changed rapidly in the late 20th century and the early 21st century. The Catholic Church lost a great deal of its influence in Ireland and church attendance fell sharply. Today Ireland is an increasingly secular society.

Meanwhile Mary Robinson was elected the first woman president in 1990. Homosexuality was made legal in Ireland in 1993. In 1995 the Irish people voted in a referendum to allow divorce.

IRELAND IN THE EARLY 21st CENTURY

In the early 21st century the Irish economy grew rapidly. However in 1999 Ireland unwisely joined the Euro.In 2008 Ireland entered a recession. Unemployment in Ireland rose to 13.2% in the autumn of 2010. However Ireland began to recover in 2011.

Today the population of Ireland is 4.7 million.

The beginning: - 0 J.E.


The Port of Arzimakil of Muraz, reconstructed at the Royal Tarajan Historical Museum of Astana, is one of the most famous monuments of the Shramanid Empire.

The lands of the actual Kingdom knew a form of unified government since the very dawn of history.
The first trace of a civilization in Tarajan is the so-called Paragaal Culture, a prehistoric culture principally known through its conic monuments (archaeologists are still divided if to consider them as temples/places for the community or graves; probably, they were used for both functions). Then, around the third millenium before Jahan (B.J.), the Plain of Kashair, at the time the most fertile and rich area of Tarajan, saw the birth of the first, true civilization: the Murazians, from the name of their principle city, Muraz (they're, however, better known, especially in New Tarajan, as Shramanids, as we will see below).
This civilization introduced a writing (ideographic) system, and produced some of the most beautiful artifacts and monuments of the Tarajani history (the ruins of Muraz, the ziqqurat of Bakran, and the Shraman Tomb are all examples). Also, they were the first to unify (at least, under a same culture, if not under a same government) the land of Tarajan from the Azarsheen Mountains (the great chain dividing New Tarajan and Antanares) and the Shalimar River at the south. The political structure of what is known as Shramanid Empire is still to be fully understood by scholars, but at the actual stage of play the most reknown theory is that the Empire was not a fully unified body, but a sort of confederation of small principalities, with a (often symbolic) head in the prince of the city of Muraz, known also as Emperor. The centrality of Muraz, as main and also holy city for the Shramanids is unquestionable any way.
For around three millennia the Murazian civilization dominated Tarajan, starting also contacts with many other cultures around it. However, civil strife and wars continuously weakened the Empire, eventually giving the opportunity for its fall.
And, indeed, this event (recorded by the few documents survived as one of the most catastrophic imaginable) came, from the hands of a semi-nomadic people from the north-east, the Ajans.
The real steps of the invasions are not known: the only, complete, tale of it is the Song of Jahan, an epic and lyric poem composed during the last centuries of the Ajanic civilization.
Remnants of the Murazian civilization will keep to stand only in Alleskandberg and in the Seven Rivers Region (still today, that area keeps its cultural distinctiveness).

Note: The Song of Jahan


Jahan and Shraman in Muraz, picture from one of the first copies of the Song of Jahan, Nuyern, 1427 a.J.

The Song was composed around the 1425 J.E. (during a time the Ajans defined as Waning Era), by Tariz Qin Firuz, historian, philosopher, architect, poet and scholar at the time of Anoushiravan IV Jahan Shah (1385-1424) and his son, Kalihaan Jahan Shah (1424-1446), and one of the most famous representatives of the Ajanic culture ever. His main goal was to collect all the stories circulating at the time about the beginning of the Ajanic history, thus "discovering" and systematizing the mythic history of the period, while at the same time founding a mythological (thus, almost religious) ground for his ideal (in reality, an ideal always present in the Ajanic culture) of the Ajans as the perfect mixture of War (instinct) and Art ("the understanding of beauty", as defined by an anonymous poet two centuries before Qin Firuz). The result is one of the most beautiful poems ever composed, and a piece of invaluable importance for the study of the Ajanic history (obviously, with all the necessary caution, due the nature of the document).
The Song begins with the tale of how Kilijali, the Ajanic god of war, unified all the Ajanic tribes, giving them also the powerful Ajan (the characteristic spear of that people, so important that it will become their own name later) to defeat the giants which inhabited their land. After this victory, Kilijali decided to invade the rich and prosperous Kashair, ignoring the warnings of an old man he met during the march to south. At the end, he was defeated by Arzimakil, emperor-god and protector of Muraz. Finding refuge on Mount Grishna (one of the most high peaks of the Azarsheen Chain), he then met Yaligham, the beautiful goddess of arts and music, who seduced him, "civilizing" the barbaric warrior. Their union gave birth to Jahan who, loosing his true identity, reached Muraz, where, thanks to his courage, ability in war (the legacy of his father) and the beauty, his artistic capabilities (legacy of the mother) he became the lover of Shraman, beautiful daughter of Arzimakil himself. Then, during a duel, Arzimakil recognized in the impetus of the young boy the heritage of the blood of his ancient enemy Kilijali, and decided to ban him from Muraz once and for all, ignoring the protests of Shraman.
Jahan accepted the exile, deciding to prove to Arzimakil that he's not the heir of such a bloody god like Kilijali himself. He went to the north, then meeting the Ajans. When he reached them, a mysterious knight suddenly appeared, challenging all the warriors to duel. Nobody could defeat him, but Jahan, conscious of his heritage as son of the gods of Ajans, feeling as an humiliation those defeats, decided to challenge the knight himself, and ultimately defeated him, who then revealed to be Kilijali himself. From that day to come, the Ajans welcomed Jahan as their King. Deciding to clean the humiliation suffered long ago by the Ajans from Arzimakil, he united once again the tribes, and marched against Kashair, forgetting about Shraman and his love.
The night before the final battle, Shraman herself reached him, but, blind for wrath, he didn't recognize her, and he rudely sent her away. Then, he fought against Arzimakil himself, defeating and killing him. The entire Murazian army was annihilated, Muraz destroyed, and Kashair sacked, becoming a desert without life. Shraman fled away (to the Shraman Isles, or maybe more far, to the actual Meisjegronden), and Jahan, finally recovering from the blindness of the wrath, understood what he had done. With his heart broken by his own action, he founded Astana ("capital"), teaching to the Ajans the arts of his mother instead of the sole, barbaric costumes of his father; then, after this civilizational work ended, he fled away, searching for his lover. And some people still believe to see him all around Tarajan, screaming and crying desperately for Shraman.

The Ajanic Empire (Empire of the Padishah): 0 - 487 J.E.

The foundation of Astana symbolically marked the beginning of history (the year zero of the Jahan Era). After Kashair became a desert (still at our times it did not recover), the Ajans mainly transferred themselves to the east region (the Horat Region), where Astana itself was founded, and to the south. Led by their emperors (the Padishah), direct descendants of Jahan, they conquered one by one all the remnants of the Murazian principalities, establishing an empire which extended its borders to all the contemporary Kingdom of New Tarajan, the Sdudeti-Karabak, the actual continental territory of Shirouma, and North Ajania, at the north, and to the coasts of the Atletius Sea at south.
This age was a time of renaissance for every arts: the Ajans created their own architecture style (which is still a characteristic of New Tarajan); they left their mark everywhere, shaping the true identity of the land they conquered, eventually giving to it also their name (Tarajan means, literally "Land of the Ajans")
While the first four-five Emperors are known only through few documents, and are still surrounded by a mythological aura, we can reconstruct approximately the line of emperors (always belonging, by same way or another, to the House of Jahan) of Tarajan. The most famous ones are without doubts Anoushiravan I and II (334-342 and 345-360, respectively), and Ardashir III (434-478).
Anoushiravan I is particularly known for his military conquests: inheriting the throne during a period of civil strife, he personally led the imperial army against the principalities in North Ajania, which had proclaimed themselves independent, and after a five years campaign he completely subjugated them, eventually extending the influence of the Empire even on the northern part of contemporary Antanares (but scholars are still debating about this); the main reason he's so well known is that he founded Shahrazad (capital city of North Ajania), building a summer palace, where he wished to represent all the history of the Empire till his days. He was also a legislator, promoting one of the most complete code of laws the Ajans left to us.
His son Anoushiravan II became Emperor after a three-years regency by his corrupted mother, Azar (who someone accuse of having poisoned the husband), ended by a plot inside the court itself. Obtaining the crown at the young age of fifteen, he was mainly a constructor (he builded the Palace of the Padishah in Astana, which became the masterpiece, and yardstick of all the future Ajanic architecture), but didn't lack also military qualities, suppressing a revolt organized by his own mother with the support of some princes of the south (350-352).
He updated the code of law commissioned by his father, and promoted arts and culture in every form. During his reign the famous philosopher Abbas was welcomed at court. But, more important, he was the first Emperor to institutionalize the office of Wizard (an approximate translation from an Ajanic word which means, literally "one who knows the Truth"): members of an ancient order of scholars, organized in an independent community based on the semi-legendary island of Takara, known for superior knowledge and technical capabilities, who assisted the Padishah and the princes with every mean.
During the subsequent period, taking the opportunity offered by the continuous fights between the central power and the princes (mainly in the south) the Wizards became the real power behind the throne in many occasions, and soon they began to become princes themselves.
Ardashir III Jahan Shah was the second-last Padishah of the Empire. He rebuilded the Palace of Astana (destroyed during a fire which broke out during an attempted coup): many of its parts still survive today. He had to manage the first series of clashes between the now too-powerful Wizards: particularly, two factions began to organize in Takara in the last years of his reign. The reason of the rivalry is not well known, since it has been obscured by the representation of one of the most important mythos in the Tarajani culture.
What is known is that the rivalry escalated at the end in a full-scale conflict under the son ofArdashir III, Tumir IV (478-487), the last Padishah.
The rival armies of two Wizards, Fed'on and Uyil, started to fight in the south, literally devastating the empire.
The Padishah decided to intervene in order to finally restore peace, but in the catastrophic Battle of Bakran (487), he was killed, together with most part of the imperial army, and with Fed'on and Uyil themselves. Suddenly, the Empire crashed under the invasions of barbaric populations coming from east and from the south, while the remnants of the imperial army was divided between different warlords who began to fight for supremacy. Astana itself was sacked few years later (490). It was the beginning of the Waning Era.


Statue of the Emperor-philosopher Humyat Jahan Shah (401-423), in Humyat Square, Himeraa. Follower of the philosopher Abbas, Humyat founded many schools and universities in the Empire ; he devoted himself completely to culture, allowing the resurgence of internal fights between princes, until he was finally killed by a guardsman.

Note: the Myth of Shalimar

Together with the mythos surrounding Jahan, the pillar of Ajanic mythology and religion is without doubts the Myth of Shalimar. The Myth tells how Fed'or and Ulyil, once best friend, became rivals for the love of Shalimar, the most beautiful creature, and one of the women Wizards. They started to fight, bringing with them the entire order.
When Emperor Tumir decided to find a solution to the problem in Bakran, Shalimar herself tried to collaborate, calling at a meeting both rivals. But, when they saw Shalimar in the tent of the Padishah, they felt betrayed, believing she was falling in love with the sovereign, and they began to fight each other, until the entire imperial army was destroyed, and the emperor killed, thanks to their magical powers. In order to stop the war once and for all, they tried a last powerful attack against each other. But the energy they released could have destroyed the entire world, thus Shalimar decided to put herself in the middle, absorbing all the energy. However, it was so powerful that a wave of energy destroyed the armies of both Fed'or and Uyil, killing also the two Wizards, and ultimately destroying Takara. The scar left, became the Shalimar River, while all the energy absorbed, and the spirit of Shalimar itself, was forever imprisoned in a stone, the Stone of Shalimar.
Soon, this tale became the core of a true religious cult, the Church of Shalimar, which grew in power during the centuries, almost causing a civil war during the reign of Kalihaan Jahan Shah.

The Waning Era: 487-1505

The period lasting from the Battle of Bakran to the creation of the Grand Duchy of Bakran (1505) was called by the Ajans the Waning Era, and the scholars decided to keep this definition.
The first centuries of this age are obscures: the fall of the Empire had terrible consequences, with the end of a central, organized power, thus leaving behind only few documents. However, it's not like for the fall of the Shramanid civilization, and we can reconstruct the main events of the period with a good grade of approximation.
From 487 to 790 about, the land of Tarajan was devastated by a series of external invasions and the strife between warlords.
After the first sack of 490, Astana was conquered many times, by many ambitious warlords who tried to restore the previous glory, as symbol of the ancient power of the Padishah. But all those dominations provided to be ephemeral, together with many dominions created during this time. Worth of mention is the dominion created by Arezu Bahadur Badak (555-592): born in a poor family of Nuyern, he became a soldier, and then a commander, thank to his innate abilities. After the death of the local bey, he created a vast kingdom, which,for the first time since the Empire, unified most part of the south of the country. He also fought many battles against the barbaric populations who lived on High Shalimar (the eastern part of the river).
He died during one of these battles, and his empire suddenly disintegrated.
Meanwhile, in Astana the Jahanid Dynasty was formally restored by Javed Jahan Shah (790-834). A descendant of Tumir IV, he claimed the heritage of the ancient Empire after defeating in battle the army of his rival, tarkhan Rashid Jalaawi, not far from Astana itself. Thus, Astana became the core of a new political entity, the Tarajan Shahdom, which claimed to be the only, true successor of the Ajanic Empire.
However, the first decades were not easy for the new kingdom: Javed himself fell assassinated in 834, and for thirteen years the throne was contended by his sons. In 847, Mehrdad, nephew of Jamshid, the third son of Javed, took the power, restoring the order in the kingdom, and even conducting a brief, successful military campaign on the east side of Horat Lake (the region will be soon known as Tarkhanate, since there all the tarkhans of the Shahdom will have their own residences and fiefs, following an imperial tradition), subjugating all the small principalities of the area. However, he was killed on the way back to Astana by his wife Laleh only five years after he obtained the crown (852).
At his death, the shahdom saw the quick rise and consequent death of at least ten shahs (852-876). The situation was finally stabilized with Javed III (876-900), who restored the order in the entire shahdom.
The reign of Javed III is known for the partial reconstruction and enlargement of the Palace of Astana, and for a military expedition he led against the south of North Ajania (definitely lost already after the death of Ardashir III). His son Javed IV (901-915) conquered the contemporary Sdudeti-Karabak and Kashair too.
But it's only forty years later, with the reign of Ardashir IV (957-980) that the Shahs will feel themselves finally ready for their first campaigns to the south.
Here, the fall of the empire founded by Badak paved the way for the birth of few States, the so-called Beyliks. The most important of them were Nuyern (direct successor of the Badakian Empire, ruled since then by the Rumi Dynasty, one of the most ancient and important Tarajani families till today), Kusraw (ruled by the Darya family), and Aken, the modern Aaken (ruled by the Hedayats). Alongside these States, the High Shalimar was still in the hands of barbaric tribes which often sacked the lands around them, while Alleskan (the modern Alleskandberg), while formally governed by a beylik, assumed more the shape of a mercantile city.
The first military expedition to the south led by Ardashir IV lasted for three years (960-963) and allowed the Shah to create the ground for all the future campaigns, defeating the allied armies of Alleskan and Nuyern, and accepting the submission of the former.
Esmail Jahan Shah (967-983), followed his steps, defeating once again Nuyern and conquering the city (970). However, he understood the impossibility to keep full control over it, and restored Dara III Rumi on the throne, as vassal, thus beginning a policy which his successors will continue in the future.
Esmail II (983-990) led the armies of Tarajan against Kusraw, which voluntarily submitted (985), and, two years later (987) against Aken. He died in battle against the army of the bey Daryush II Hedayat. However, the same bey was lately defeated and imprisoned by Ardashir V (990-1050), the most long-lived sovereign in Ajanic history, in 1093. Daryush was then taken to Astana, where he was finally executed, one year later.


The School of Firuz, in the Ajan Citadel of Astana. A masterpiece of the late Ajanic architecture, it was builded under project of Tariz Qin Firuz himself in the first years of the XV century of the Jahan Era.

The final blow to the independence of the beyliks came in the 1114, when Sarmath Jahan Shah  conquered Aken after a revolt had expelled Daryush IV Hedayat (vassal of the Shah) and elected his cousin, Mahmoud, as new bey. However, once again, after the suppression of the revolt, Sarmath restored Daryush IV.
The Shahs never attempted to fully integrate the beyliks, since their power was sensibly lower than the ancient Empire. Moreover, south of the Shalimar River, many sultanates and beyliks still lived in full independence.
The Shahdom also had to face a dangerous invasion from the Sinaic kingdom (from the VIII to the XIII century the most powerful kingdom on the west of Antanares), which lasted for twenty years (1230-1250); the Sinaics were finally defeated by Mahmoud Jahan Shah (1248-1257).
The Tarajan Shahdom saw its most prosperous period from the XII to the XIV century: during this time, the arts and culture saw their most classical development, producing jems which last until our days.
The most important Shah of the late Ajanic history was Kalihaan Jahan Shah (1424-1446). He concluded the campaign against the tribes of the High Shalimar during which his father found the death, before coming back to Astana (1426). The beginning of his reign saw the explosion of the Alleskan Uprising (1426): cultists of the Church of Shalimar killed the governor of Alleskan, causing a civil unrest which was put to an end only with the arrival in the city of Hedyat Dilaver Taher, right-hand of the Shah. However, the unrest reached Astana itself, with an attempted assassination of Kalihaan himself. The entire strife ended when Kalihaan allowed the cultists to freely worship Shalimar (later she would be recognized as one of the Seven Gods of the Ajanic religion). While giving to the Shahdom the maximum of its power, Kalihaan also reformed the legislation, promoted culture and philosophy; he also commissioned the construction of the Kalihaan Temple of the Seven Gods, the most important example of Ajanic religious architecture, and restored, for the last time, the Palace of the Padishah.
Kalihaan is without doubts the Ajanic sovereign who saw the most number of myths on this figure. His love for Mahavash Alaleh Ziyar, who later became his wife, will soon become a legend, and a paradigm for any future romantic story.
After a long and prosperous reign he died in 1446, leaving to his successors a strong kingdom.
But the end was near. It came through christian knights coming from the West. Scholars are still debating about their exact origins: many of them came from Meisjegronden, while others came for sure from Ermeland and Casavarr.
The first wave was led by Gustav Van Der Grudeln (1449-1507) and Sigismund I Van Vinkel (1465-1520). They rapidly established their stronghold in Alleskan (lost by the shahdom after a revolt organized by extremist cultists of Shalimar once again), keeping it under control, nominally as vassals of the Shah (at the time, the throne was occupied by Kalihaan III, a child of twelve). However, the affluence of many other knights and adventurers soon led the Westerns to occupy and destroy Kusraw, while founding a new stronghold near the ruins of the ancient Bakran, creating the Grand Duchy of Bakran. The birth of the first, officially independent (thus, finally leaving behind the mark of the formal submission to the Shah)  Western fiefdom in Tarajan conventionally marks the end of the Waning Era.

Note: the stories around Kalihaan

The main myth about Kalihaan concerns his first years of reign. The tale tels about the secret love for Kalihaan of Mahvash, daughter of Arash (vizir of Kalihaan) and childhood friend of the Shah himself, commander of the guards and expert musician (she played the arezoo, a characteristic Ajanic flute). Kalihaan was cursed by a medallion he found near the ruins of Bakran, containing the memories of a young girl, follower of Shalimar, during the last moments of her life before the final annihilation. Kalihaan became so obsessed by this memory, that he literally fell in love with the mysterious girl, ignoring the sentiments of Mahavash.
The situation changed with the arrival of a mysterious and strange group of adventurers, which firstly tried to resolve the problems in Alleskan. When they failed (partly), Hedyat Taher took them in Astana, where they met Kalihaan. But an obscure creature, sent by evil cultists, tried to kill him. Only the noble sacrifice of Mahvash allowed him to survive; at the same time, the warrior-girl was saved by one brave adventurer. At the end, the creature was defeated through cunning tricks by the adventurers, who also promoted the final peace between Kalihaan and the cultists of Shalimar. Then, they freed the Shah from the medallion and finally he understood the love he felt for Mahvash. The mysterious guests at the end left Tarajan, but with rich gifts from the Shahs and the promise that they would be always welcome in the Shahdom.


Statue of Kalihaan Jahan Shah, in the Ziyar Gardens, Ajan Citadel, Astana.

Founding a new Kingdom: 1505 - 1597

After the foundation of the Grand Duchy of Bakran, the Western knights began an uninterrupted series of (often very brief) military campaigns, whose main result was the complete elimination of the power of the Shahs of Astana from the entire south.
In 1507 (only after two years from the birth of the Grand Duchy), Gustav Van Der Grudeln himself led a small contingent of 2000 knights to the southern bank of the Shalimar river, occupying the sultanate of Myra and the beylik of Marisah, thus constituting lying the ground for a stable domination in the area (however, he was killed in Marisah during an outbreak of small pox during the same year).
Sigismund Van Vinkel, instead, focused on the consolidation of the Western control on the northern bank. Consequently, he led two expeditions against Aken (1507-1508 and 1511-1513), at the end of which the beylik was finally occupied, with the creation of the Landgraviate of Aaken; and another expedition against the Shahdom itself. This first, direct war between the Shah of Astana (at the time, Kalihaan IV, after the violent death of his predecessor) and the Westerns showed the incredible military superiority of the the latters on the obsolete techniques of the Ajanic forces. And, indeed, at the end of the brief conflict (1517-1519), Van Vinkel obtained from the Shah the control over the Great Eastern Road (the road which connected Astana to Alleskan, backbone of the Tarajani trade), and the liberation from any obligation, even formal ones, of Alleskan and Nuyern.
As a direct consequence, his successor, Sigismund II, will conquest Nuyern itself (reduced to a small enclave surrounded by Western fiefs), founding his personal fiefdom, in the city of Merlberg (with the title of Marquis), which will become the center of the Van Vinkel power over the next decades.
In the north, the power of the Shah was ever reduced by a continuous series of plots and assassinations made by ambitious aristocrats and military commanders. Kalihaan IV himself fell under a knife, the 13th May 1520. After his death, the Shahdom was divided between his two sons, Kalihaan (V) and Arad (II). But the division didn't last for long: Arad killed his brother while he was relaxing in his rooms in the Palace of Astana, and his troops entered into the capital, sacking it (1523). Arad was supported by a strong military faction (the tarkhans), and was forced to delegate much of his remnant power to them. The consequence of this was his assassination (1525) by a small group of bureaucrats of the capital, who tried to impose their own candidate, Amin, son of Kalihaan IV; but also this attempt failed, and Amin was captured and killed by Tarkhan Rashid Balili (1526), who proclaimed himself as Regent and protector of the child son of Arad, Anoushiravan, practically exercising absolute power over the remnants of the Shahdom. The reign of Balili (which lasted for almost ten years, to 1535), marked a brief recovery of the Shahdom: he promoted the restauration of both the Palace of the Padishah and the Temple of the Seven Gods, together with many other important buildings; he also commissioned many epic poems on the ancient Ajanic history.
This period of relative peace was also favoured by the feuds erupted between the Western lords after the death of Sigismund II Van Vinkel in 1527: Roderick Van Aardenne, Count of Marisah, attacked Nuyern, then besieging directly Merlberg in 1530. The city survived only thanks to the heroic resistance of Margarethe Van Vinkel, widow of Sigismund, and regent for the young Heinrich. Count Roderick was then ultimately defeated by a coalition of the families Van Leeuwen, Van Der Grudeln and Van Sondenburg in the Battle of the Stone (1533), after he attempted to conquer Bakran.
The conflict between the Western families continued until 1539, when Heinrich I Van Vinkel reached the majority age and took the full control of his State. Brave like few, and incredibly skilled in strategy and tactics, Heinrich I immediately attacked Count Roderick, avenging the siege of Merlberg with the conquest of Marisah itself (1540), which, however, he gave to the son of Roderick, Albrecht. Immediately after this victory, he was challenged by his own brother, Alexander Rupert, who attempted to plot against him in Merlberg during his absence. But, once again, the intervention of their mother Margarethe saved Heinrich, and Alexander Rupert was forced to leave Merlberg with many of his supporters.
He then fled to Astana, to the court of Anoushiravan V, who had killed Balili five years before, taking the mantle of power on himself.
The asylum offered to the fleeing brother offered to Heinrich a perfect casus belli for a new war against the weakened shahdom. However, he waited for other four years, while consolidating his power in the south. Then, at the end of the year 1544, an army marched through the Great Road, directly toward Astana. Anoushiravan V decided to face the threat firmly. He managed to collect an army from the remnant lands under his power, and tried to intercept the enemies before they reached the capital. But he was tricked: because the army marching from West was simply a vanguard, while Heinrich I was sneaking on the other side of the Shaby Mountains, reaching Lake Horat two months after the beginning of the hostilities.
Surprised by such a maneuver, and fearing for the safety of Astana, Anoushiravan immediately stepped back and headlong attacked the Van Vinkel, thus falling in his trap.
Because, following the quick withdrawal of the Shah, the vanguard sent from West managed to reach the besieged army of Heinrich, and Anoushiravan, together with Alexander Rupert, found himself trapped between two armies.
The battle was fierce, and bloody, and it was resolved only when the Marquis himself led a devastating charge of the Western cavalry against the center of the Ajanic army.
The defeat was complete: the last army of the Shahdom was annihilated, the Shah himself was killed during the battle, Alexander Rupert was captured and his supporters who survived were executed directly on the field.
Then the victorious Heinrich led his army to the doors of Astana, which surrendered.
It was the end of the Ajanic rule over Tarajan. Heinrich Van Vinkel didn't allow a sack of the capital, thus preserving the beauties of the city, but left it few days after, coming back to Merlberg, and installing a governor.
Few remnants of the Ajanic aristocracy fled to the region of Karabak, where they created their strongholds: it was the beginning of that "Karabak Question" which will so deeply influence the future history of the Kingdom.


Heinrich I leading the Western cavalry to victory, during the Battle of Lake Horat.

But the victory over the Ajans did not mark the foundation of a new political entity.
However, it definitely marked the beginning of an age of oppression for the Ajans themselves: with their religion persecuted by the new christian dominators, the Church spreading everywhere, and the lords themselves interested only in making more Ajans possible their slaves, for that ancient and once glorious population, a dark age began.
In the meanwhile, rivalries between Western families erupted once again, particularly feeded by the victory of the Van Vinkels over the ancient Shahs.
Heinrich I would be the first victim of the renewed hostilities: the brilliant commander and warrior was indeed killed by Alexander Rupert (whose life he graced after the Battle of Lake Horat), instigated for the occasion by Mathieu Van Geldern, Duke of Eindhoven (1550).
Alexander Rupert then usurped the title of Marquis of Merlberg, only to be killed three months later by his nephew, Sigismund Heinrich, a young boy of the age of seventeen, who thus avenged the death of his father.
The new, young Marquis then spent ten years of his reign to consolidate his power. In 1560, he bestowed himself of the title of Prince of Merlberg, elevating the old Marquessate in a Principality.
More importantly, in 1561, there's the first meeting of what will become, in the future, the Landsraad. With the end of the Ajanic power in Tarajan, indeed, the Western lords understood that, sooner or later, the endemic conflicts between them would have exposed their domains to new threats. Consequently, they decided to create an assembly of all the lords of Tarajan, with the aim to try to ensure peace or, at least, balance and stability between them.
The first meeting of the new-born Landsraad was in Alleskandberg, historical place of the first landing of Western knights in Tarajan.
Although it successfully resolved a number of disputes in the next twenty years,  the Landsraad also demonstrated not to have the necessary power to stop the struggles between the major lords of Tarajan. The prize was no less than the complete supremacy over the entire former Ajanic territories.
The last years of reign of Sigismund Heinrich I (1550-1578), saw the Prince fighting against the Ajanic remnants in the Karabak region, and subjugating the three Duchies of North Ajania.
After his death, the Principality was governed by his son, Gustav (1578-1590), mainly known as a poet and a scholar, very differently from his successor, Sigismund Heinrich II (1590-1598).
True heir of his grandfather, he demonstrated great skills as commander and tactician, but he revealed also to possess the qualities of a true statesman and diplomat. Moved by an apparently-infinite ambition, he was extremely keen on believing his House to be the only, true possible dominator of Tarajan. And he spent the entirety of his life to realize this belief.
And it began with a traditional rival of the Van Vinkels: in 1591, he marched against Mathieu II Van Geldern, son of the same Mathieu who instigated the murder of Sigismund Heinrich I.
The result was the complete defeat of the Duke of Eindhoven, who was subsequently forced to submit himself as vassal of Merlberg.
In 1592-3, the Prince led a new campaign in the Karabak, destroying one by one the Ajanic strongholds. In 1594, however, he was obliged to quickly come back.
The power of the House Van Vinkel was now too strong, not to cause panic between the other noble Houses of the Landsraad. Thus, in the same year, during a meeting held in Bergenfort, the Western lords decided to unite their forces to stop, once and for all, the ambitions of the young Prince of Merlberg.
Sigismund Heinrich took the new threat terribly seriously: the army of the Landsraad outnumbered his own, and was far more near to Merlberg than him. Indeed, the first move of his enemies was to besiege Markenstadt, a strategically important stronghold on the way for Merlberg.
Taking the opportunity offered by this move, with his enemies focusing their attention on the siege, Sigismund Heinrich immediately came back from Karabak, calling around him the last allies of his House (the House Van Leeuwen, De Witt and Van Sondenburg). After hearing of the rapid march of their enemy, the lords of the Landsraad left the siege of Markenstadt, moving to intercept the Prince.
The battle between the two armies took place near the old Ajanic town of Himeraa (later, it would be renamed Koenigscasteel). The result was a catastrophic defeat of the Landsraad forces and the triumph of Sigismund Heinrich superior skills and troops.
With many lords died in battle, and others captured by the Prince of Merlberg, the Landsraad, in a new meeting held in the same town, sanctioned the victory with the proclamation of Sigismund Heinrich II as first King of Tarajan (6th May 1595). The coronation took place in Merlberg only two years after.
It was the beginning of a new chapter of the Tarajani history.


The army of the House Van Vinkel standing on the fields of Himeraa immediately after the battle. Anonymous. Royal Palace Collection.


Sigismund Heinrich II is crowned King of Tarajan. Painting of Michael Angels. Royal Tarajan History Museum.


The new Kingdom was, since its very birth, fragile.
Based solely on the ground provided by the military supremacy of House Van Vinkel and its allies against the other Houses of the Landsraad, it was no more than a feudal conglomerate, loosely based on the recognition of the authority of the King.
After the death of Sigismund Heinrich II in 1598, these weaknesses became far more evident to his son and successor, Heinrich III (1598-1613). Initially recognized as King by the Landsraad (since the outcome of the Second Battle of Himeraa was still fresh), he was however obliged to face almost immediately the challenge posed by the rebirth of the coalition between some of its Houses, now also helped by the defection of some of the former allies of the Van Vinkels, scared by the power obtained by them after Himeraa.
But Heinrich III was well aware of the fact that a return to a state of war would have almost surely destroyed the already-low legitimacy of his power, not to mention his finances. Thus, a skilled diplomat and statesman, he decided to use diplomacy, bargaining and also treachery in order to achieve his goals.
His first move was to re-gain the loyalty of some of the former allies of his father (such as the powerful House De Witt). Then, he began to use a divide et impera strategy against his rivals. Both these moves soon proved to be successful, as the new King managed to defeat in front of the Landsraad the new Duke of Eindhoven, Marcus II Van Geldern, by publicly obtaining his apologies for the attempted rebellion.
Heinrich III also focused on the organization of the young Kingdom: conscious that it was impossible for him to govern without the support of the Noble Houses, he left the feudal structure almost untouched, while at the same time giving to the lordships of the Kingdom a more stable and organized structure. Thus, he ordered the birth of a unified juridical system (which, with all the necessary adjustments, it is still used nowadays), and arrogating to himself the rank of supreme and final judge.
He also strengthened the army, weakened by the heavy losses suffered during the never-ending wars of Sigismund Heinrich.
At his death, in 1613, although not totally pacified, the Kingdom appeared at least more calm, and better organized.
It fell upon the shoulders of his young son, Heinrich IV (1613-1630), to go ahead on his work.
He was the perfect representative of the new course House Van Vinkel was taking: strong (both physically and mentally), intelligent and cleaver, extremely keen on both studies and politics, he was also firmly in support of an absolutist view of the King's power.
After only two years of reign, he decided then to carry out his views by emanating a new edict, the Capitolum Pacis (also called First Capitolum Pacis by historians), in 1615
A strong blow to the aristocratic power, the edict relieved from the noble families most of their powers, from taxation, to the right to organize the local administrations following their own wishes; the Capitolum also formalized the birth of a new central administration, with its head in the Royal Council, a meeting assembly of all the advisers of the Crown.
Not surprisingly, the Noble Houses did not react passively to the new attack brought against them by the Crown, and finally decided to rise up against the King, with the so-called Revolt of the Castles (1615-1616). However, the new rebellion proved soon to be extremely weaker then expected, and it took only five months (from November to March) to the King to crush down the rebels, restoring order.
The following fourteen years of reign saw the Kingdom relatively calm, with Heinrich IV keeping going ahead with his plans of transforming Tarajan in a modern absolutist monarchy: on this way, he also formalized the new juridical system already inaugurated by his father.
At his death, in 1630, however, he left behind him a power-vacuum, due to the young age of his only male child, Sigismund. This situation led to a power struggle between two rival factions at Court: the first led by Queen Regent Elise Van Sondenburg, who managed to collect around her figure her own House, and the Houses De Witt and Van De Groot, the most powerful supporters of the Crown; the second was led by the emerging figure of Duke Robert Van Aardenne, former Counselor of the Treasury (a sort of Minister of Finance) and appointed as Chancellor of the Kingdom few months before the death of Heinrich.
The fight erupted after only one year, in 1631, when the Queen, after months of careful preparations, made her move: by putting under trial a young page of the Duke, she tried to undermine his power and blacken his reputation in front of the Kingdom.


=== TO BE CONTINUED ===