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[[File:ISS-38 Kliuchevskoi Volcano on Kamchatka.jpg|thumb|Mt. Koriba in the present day, photographed from low orbit]]
====Koriba Catastrophe====
In 748 BCE, Mount Koriba in the eastern Lyr valley experienced its most powerful eruption in recorded history, rating a 6 on the volcanic explosivity index. The explosion is recorded being heard across the entire peninsula and beyond, surrounding towns are thought to have been levelled instantly by the shockwave and buried by pyroclastic flows. This caused devastating local effects, causing widespread crop failures due to the ash clouds and acid rain. Whilst all civilisations west of the Zycannes were impacted by the eruption, the trade dependant Teba empire was among those who suffered the most.
Other civilisations such as the Kassyr and Mirazii, who were also connected through Teban trade networks, suffered greatly in the years after the disaster, however with weak neighbours and natural defences on their side, their civilisations managed to remain stable and prosperous past the initial
====Rise of the First Kormistazic Empire====
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Early in their history, the seafaring Kveshi civilisation of South East Aurora began exploring much of the Azure sea and establishing numerous outposts to facilitate trade. One of their furthest western excursions led them to contact the Kormistazics in 723 BCE, where it is written they were received very well and a cultural exchange took place between the two cultures. In order to facilitate further trade with the region, the Kveshi colonised a small, sparsely inhabited region of coastal foothills shadowed by the Okrani mountains. The Kveshi established an outpost town on the territory which would later became known as Oceansend and began trading regularly with the cultures on the southern coast of the Axdelian peninsular, with their primary interest being silver bullion from Kormistazm and the Lyr Valley. Among the most historically important effects of Kveshi trade was the introduction of advanced iron smelting technology to the region. This combined with the reverse engineering of their advanced naval vessels allowed the Kormistazic confederations economic and military power to balloon rapidly before other civilisations in the region could fully take advantage of the new technology themselves.
Despite relative prosperity within Sekan-Aruqa, the economic booms did not work to reduce violence and infighting between the Kormistazic ruling classes. Soon enough the entire of Kormistazm was under direct or indirect control of the Jakatei and Renequil families. In the 5th century BCE a plague swept through the south of the peninsular, triggering a civil war which resulted in the rapid collapse of the confederacy into two alliances of independent city states, with many of the inland ones loyal to the Jakatai and the coastal region under the Renequil. The matriarch of the Jakatei, Vireña was a radical reformer who was very popular due to her embracing of Kozam as the state faith. With the Renequil remaining staunchly pagan, this created a significant amount of tension between the lower and upper classes in
In 539 BCE, the Renequil army revolted, imprisoning members of the family and inviting Mariqo to claim Sekan-Aruqa. Facing little resistance, Mariqo took the capital and immediately set about uniting the lands of the confederacy under the Jakatei dynasty. He expanded the scope of the reforms introduced by his mother to every Kormistazic town and city to ensure their cohesion and loyalty. He also made the decision to pardon many of the remaining members of the Renequil, even granting them some governorship over their historic lands. A devout follower of Kozam, he further incorporated the religion into the government and promoted its worship as a unifying tenet of Kormistazic culture and laid the foundations for the development of its Orthodox sect. He passed away a year later, his son Kalam Jakatei succeeding him. Like his father Kalam was enamoured by Kozam philosophy and took several years early in his reign to travel east to the Mona Valley and the Zycannes in order to seek divine inspiration. Upon his return in 533 BCE, he declared the reform of the still nominally Confederate government into an imperial executive supported by a council of noblility from every region of Kormistazm, and that he intended unite the dozens of dividied states west of the Zycannes as equal territories under a single prosperous empire. Although his main stated motivation for conquest was oestensibly for the purpose of spreading the teachings of the Oracles, this would open the division between nonviolent, monastical schools of Kozam and the growing Orthodox, the latter of which allowed for some violence so long as it was in pursuit of proselytising and saving more sentient beings from the cycle of reincarnation. Kalam then changed his name to Enullus Jakatei Kalamitas, beginning the Kalamitas Dynasty and the first incarnation of the Kormistazic empire.
==== Era of Rapid Kormistazic Expansion (532 - 310 BCE)====
[[File:Axdelian peninsula 400BCE.png|thumb|A map of the Axdelian peninsula in 400BCE showing various civilisations and their spheres of influence]]Upon Enullus' ascension to the position of Kormistazic emperor, he began a campaign of Northward expansion, incorporating the regions small Lordships and chiefdoms as provinces under his rule. Naval advances brought forth in earlier centuries now allowed faster and easier navigation of the Axdelian peninsular riverways. However the conflict endemic to the region had driven many people to banditry, and thus much of it could not be used safely for trade due to the risk of piracy. Thus as the Kormistazic empire used rivers to assert themselves across the southern plains, the loyalty of conquered people was often earned with the vanquishing of river pirates and the opening of free trade.
By this point, civilisations north of Kormistazm were predominantly weak and stagnant, still recovering from the century long conflict that ravaged them after the environmental fallout of the Koriba eruption. The only exception to this was the Neo-Soltic Lordship, which had expanded into a vast empire and now almost completely dominated the states north of the Teba mountains enjoying a position of considerable military and economic influence. The Teba empire, after seemingly unending border conflict draining its resources and manpower, had been struggling with a falling population and weak government for decades, and so in 447 BCE the Teban Emperor Cerules II famously visited the recently incorporated Kassyri city of Zhaeqan to meet with the Kormistazic Empress Ñeya. Following several weeks in the city, Cerules publicly converted to Kozam and announced that the Teban empire was to enter a pact of friendship and defence with the Kormistazic empire. With the defence of the empire now bolstered by Kormistazic assistance, the reaction from the Teban populace was one of elation, however detractors claimed Ñeya had seduced Cerules in order to influence him. Cerules public conversion plus the close bond between the two empires also led to an explosion in Kozam
After the rapid pace of unprecedented expansion in the first half of the century, the Kormistazic imperial bureaucracy had been stretched beyond its limits. Thus the sovereigns succeeding Ñeya focused their attention domestically, reforming the empires government structure to better manage its new lands and formalise relationships with its neighbours. The largely disorganised territory that had been incorporated at this point also required attention to ensure its full integration and quell dissent. Among other things the empires provinces were reorganised and large scale public works were authorised to support the capital city, which had grown significantly to the point Sekan had fully engulfed Aruqa, leading to its name shortening due to the redundancy.
With the Teba empire serving as a buffer between the Soltic and Kormistazic empires, the turn of the century saw campaigns of lateral expansion launched to secure riverways and establish coastal provinces.
====Solto-Kormistazic Wars (309 - 70 BCE)====
Rapid Kormistazic expansion into the Lyr valley was viciously denounced several times by the Neo-Soltic Lord Tulis VII in the 320's BCE. A large army was called to be raised with the intention of conquering and dismantling the dangerous state. Emperor Uuranqa was unimpressed by the Soltic Lord, believing the state to be a declining power destined to fall to Kormistazm sooner or later. Thus as a show of force, Uuranqa convened with the Teban emperor Cerules V and produced a declaration of protectorateship over the empire. Furthermore, threats of trade embargo against the Soltics were made that were expected to force Tulis into submission without a costly war that would pull resources away from the politically and economically unstable Lyr valley. A miscommunication led to Tulis being informed that an embargo had already been enacted, which he considered to be a Kormistazic declaration of war and began rallying his forces for a campaign to sack Sekan. He also ordered the Soltic Navy to sail around the Peninsula to cripple Kormistazic shipping, raid the southern coast and rally dissidents to the Kormistazic empire in the Lyr valley. After tearing through the border with the Teba empire first target of his army was The Teban capital of Montza and Cerules V. A battle in the fields just north of the city saw the Teban army that had assembled there handily defeated, whilst Kormistazic reinforcements arrived late and were forced to retreat in order to avoid being slaughtered. Cerules was quickly executed and replaced with one of Tulis' generals to watch over the city whilst the bulk of the army continued its charge southwards. In one fell swoop the Teban central government was destroyed, and Montza was pillaged by the occupational forces. Tulis' army would never reach Sekan, however, but for over 6 continuous years would maraud across the Kormistazic empire, gathering supplies by pillaging and foraging, and humiliating its military at every engagement. Attempted counterattacks into Soltic territory were also unsuccessful. Eventually the army was halted after it crossed the Okrani mountains into the Lyr valley. Tulis intended to rally the Lyr natives to their cause in order to sow dissent against Imperial rule and replenish manpower that his army had lost to attrition. This failed due to local opposition and mistrust, and after being surrounded on all sides by Kormistazic forces his army was decimated and he was forced to retreat back to Soltan. With Tulis defeated, the Teba Empire was quickly recaptured and remained a protectorate of Kormistazm, albeit worse for wear.
Over time war between Kormistazm and the Soltic Lordship would flare up over the status of the Teba Empire and Northern Lyr Valley. Eventually the Lordship would slowly succumb to mounting losses against the more populous, industrious and fervent Kormistazic empire, and suffered debilitating territorial losses. Despite previous conflict, the Soltics attempted to form an alliance with the western kingdoms of the Maltervenian empire in order to counter Kormistazm. Distrusting the Soltics, this eventually resulted in an opportunistic conquest of the Molvian corridor by the Maltervenians
With its only real competitor now within its dominion, the Kormistazic empire assumed de-facto control over the Axdelian peninsula. The most prominent region not under imperial control were the [[Emberwood Coast#History|Aronian]] city states on the north-west coast beyond the Auric mountains. Although there was some political pressure that called for the conquering and assimilation of Aronia and to totally dominate South West Aurora, after two centuries of conflict the already vast empire required
==== Golden Age of Kormistazm and Final Conquests (1st - 4th century CE)====
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