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===Ancient History===
[[File:ni and rao.png|left|200px|thumb|Approximate borders of the State of Ni (in blue) and the Kingdom of Rao (red) at the time of the Merger of the Crowns in 900 BCE, superimposed on modern borders. The current area of Ni-Rao is shown in dark gray.]]
The earliest cultures identified as "proto-Raonite" are attested as early as 3100 BCE in the Ni Valley south of the Danvreas Range on the northwest coast of Gondwana. Immediately east of the Ni Valley are the Rao Highlands, an area of significantly higher elevation that eventually rises to the Rao Plateau. The two immediate predecessor states of Ni-Rao were the State of Ni, a city-state on the coast that dates to approximately 1800 BCE, and the Kingdom of Rao, which was originally located further inland and has been dated to approximately 1600 BC. The primary population of both states were felines who are believed to have migrated to the coast from the interior of the continent. As the historical record indicates that the languages spoken in Ni and Rao were written in similar scripts with nearly identical grammar, it is believed that both groups of felines descend from the same population. Fragments of tablets found in Ni dated to 1500 BCE show that the royal court of Ni was concerned at the time that "countrymen of Rao are almost indistinguishable from our own [citizens] and can commit crimes among us unnoticed."
Conflict between the two states was common, although not typically severe. Villages on the frontiers of both states often changed hands. In approximately 900 BCE an event known as the "Merger of the Crowns" occurred and Ni and Rao were merged into a single state. However, the records written in each state both indicate that it was their own army that conquered the other state. As literacy and the ability to write were both restricted to a select class of scribes in both states, written records are scant, and it remains uncertain if the Merger was caused by one state conquering the other or by mutual consent. The head of state of the newly-combined state was called the Emperor, a tradition that continues to the current day. A commonly-believed anecdote is that, in the country's combined name, "Ni" comes first out of recognition that it is the older (and therefore seniormost) state, but the people are called "Raonites" and not "Ni-Raonites" in recognition of the fact that both peoples were said to have come down through the Rao Highlands as they migrated from the interior of the continent. Written records kept by royal scribes at the time seem to confirm this hypothesis, but the matter is still debated.
The first Emperor of Ni-Rao was Ramar, who ordered that a great stone tomb be built for him to be interred when he died. He ordered that the tomb be built on what had been the border of Ni and Rao, as an "eternal testament" to the unification. The tomb took the form of a stepped pyramid, with each successive layer smaller than the one below it. The stone came largely from the eastern highland regions of what had been Rao, and was moved from eastern quarries to the site by river. Significant amounts of slave labor were used in its construction. Ramar is popularly said to have died the day after the pyramid was completed, although modern historical analysis indicates he was alive for at least one or two years after completion. The construction of the Tomb of Ramar spurred a tradition in Ni-Rao of massive monuments and extensive funerary rituals and myths centered around the Emperors.
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