Ilarís: Difference between revisions

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In 1715, the Sisters sold the rights to a substantial swath of land—ostensibly purchased from natives, but modern historians consider it questionable that the natives ever intended to grant the Sisters ownership of the land, only the right to live on it—to the Central Arcturia Company, a Tavari corporation based in [[Elatana]]. The Central Arcturia Company, in turn, surveyed, parceled, and either sold or leased most of the land to other business interests, most of whom came from countries other than Tavaris. There was relatively limited Tavari interest at first, as Central Arcturia was the most distant frontier of Tavari settlement, the most unknown, and the least infrastructurally and administratively developed. In contrast, businesspeople from places such as [[Alksearia]]—already well acquainted with the Tavari after their joint settlement of Elatana—and [[Valerijk]], for whom the costs of travel and transporting supplies to and from central Arcturia were far less, leapt at the opportunity. As a result, the population of Tavari Central Arcturia became highly diverse, more than anywhere else in the Tavari colonial empire. In the modern day, nearly 30% of the population descend from either Alkari or Valrijkian settlers.

 

This decision outraged supporters of Matron Ilara, who were not yet calling themselves “Ilarists” but who had already begun to identify themselves as a distinct constituency within the Church. A large number of priestesses protested, and the elder Nanshai resigned in public defiance of the Matron’s decision, an almost unprecedented break in protocol at the time that expected Elders to never publicly disagree with one another. In response, Matron Latra immediately excommunicated the former Nanshai—who returned to her birth name, Vedra Vantas Mettõba—and literally every person who had volunteered at the Mausoleum of the Elders in the preceding two years, numbering more than 600 people. While Latra had hoped this would present a powerful opening barrage that stamped out their political power before it began, her actions only inflamed Ilara’s supporters. For four years, Vedra Vantas Mettõba traveled across metropolitan Tavaris preaching a message in support of what she called “Matron Ilara’s doctrine” and in opposition to the current Matron’s strict opposition to the veneration of deceased Matrons. However, in 1700, Matron Latra was able to convince authorities in Anara to arrest Vantas Mettõba for breach of the peace—she had been preaching outside after sunset, ostensibly a minor offense, but one almost never enforced—and, as was done with most Tavari criminals at the time, send her to the newly established Tavari penal colony: Elatana.

 

 

 

The Yachi were led by an official whose name was recorded by the Akronists as “King Otan,” though this was almost certainly neither his name nor his title. (Otan is a common Tavari name often used as a stand-in to mean “any generic person.”) Indeed, the Akronists recorded almost no information about the Yachi at all—not even the name they called their own settlements is known, as Vantas Mettõba began calling the city “Ilarís” immediately upon arriving. The Order of the Twelfth Niche appears to have taken the Yachi grant of permission to build as having given them outright ownership of the land, as letters from Vantas Mettõba and others almost immediately begin speaking of plans to sell tracts of land to interested developers to raise money for their order. None of the Akronists appear to have attempted to learn the Yachi language, which was described by several as being difficult to understand, communicating first in Zapolese and then, after the Yachi began to learn it, in Tavari. (The Yachi language remains spoken today but is considered highly endangered.) Akronist records also show a general presumption that the Yachi were primitive and that their losses to the Zapolese were the result of the Yachi being technologically outmatched. This, it would seem, was based entirely on the fact that Akronists saw young Yachi men hunting with bows and arrows when they first arrived, and because they did not use metal or much stone in constructing their buildings.

 

For a few years, the Order of the Twelfth Niche continued to reach out to supporters across Tavaris to encourage believers in Matron Ilara’s doctrine to move to central Arcturia, and the Heart of Lansai continued to ferry supporters to the settlement. Within five years, there were more than two thousand Tavari settlers. Initially, the Yachi continued to be very happy with the Akronists, especially as their city expanded and the labor shortage eased. However, the growth soon became too much for the small city to handle, especially after especially wet weather across 1707 and 1708 caused repeated flooding and, with the stagnant water, cycles of malaria and cholera outbreaks. The rapidly expanding population also outraged the Zapolese, who sought the land for themselves. In 1708, believing herself to be approaching the end of her life, 68-year old Vedra Vantas Mettõba decided to engage in her plan to launch a war against the Zapolese to reclaim the lost Yachi lands. She also decided to lead the war personally as “Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of Akrona and Matron Ilara,” believing that the Goddess would imbue her with the power needed to defeat the Zapolese and “prove to the world that our Goddess does not shy away from the sword, but embraces it as the tool to destroy the wicked and, thus, to perpetuate and protect the lives of the good and pure.”

On November 9th, 1708, Vedra Vantas Mettõba and some 2,000 soldiers—about two thirds Yachi and one third Tavari—commenced a march down a narrow jungle footpath that led, about thirty to forty kilometers inland, to the Yachi wet season settlement, which by that point had been occupied by the Zapolese for almost ten years. The effort was entirely the idea of the Akronists, and even Akronists records show a reticence on the part of Yachi Tribe leadership to commit to the plan. In convincing the tribe, Vantas Mettõba remarked that “her reconnaissance” showed the Zapolese had built no fortifications in the Yachi settlement and that their numbers were small and dominated heavily by women and children. No records of any Tavari reconnaissance agents at the time exist, and it is generally believed by modern scholars that Vantas Mettõba was either entirely guessing or simply lying to encourage the Yachi to join her plan.