Alva: Difference between revisions
→Collapse and Decline
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As the world outside began to modernize, Alva began to see tension again build between the east and the west. The city of Urgabom had existed as a sedentary settlement for 400 years by the mid 17th century and was a major center for trade and commerce in the region. As essentially the only permanent settlement in the country, it was also the largest settlement and home to most of the political elite. The period in Alva after the collapse of the Alvan Empire is known as the Western Dynasty due to this cultural dominance by Urgabom. Eastern tribes began to resent the increasingly cosmopolitan west, believing they had shunned ancient tradition. In 1674, a conflict known as the Carriage Wars broke out, as angry eastern tribesmen attacked Urgabom over the popularity of horse-drawn carriages, which they saw as disrespectful and contemptible towards the horses. The Carriage Wars would eventually encompass the entire country, and within 20 years, the relative unity in Alva that had been in place since the fifth century collapsed. The government of the country dissolved, and from the late 17th century, there was no longer a single Alvan state. Instead, the region returned to control by competing tribes.
While Urgabom remained relatively wealthy and cosmopolitan, the other areas of the country were relatively impoverished, and many continued to live in the traditional nomadic manner into the 20th century, especially in the far north and east of the country. However, in the 19th century, significant oil deposits were discovered in Alva, as well as mineral deposits of various kinds. As larger surrounding powers began to make moves toward taking the resources, the various tribes began to band together to defend themselves. A loosely organized state called the Alvan Confederation, with a capital nominally in Urgabom, was founded in 1850, the first united Alvan state in
===Modern Era===
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