Ziaraat: Difference between revisions

From the late 10th to the late seventh century BC, the Ziaraa peoples conquered the other civilizations of Ziaraat through a series of rapid invasions and diplomatic conquests. The lesser ethnic groups opted to join the Ziaraas in their rise whereas the greater ethnic groups decided to go to war. At first, the Ziaraas only managed to conquer their immediate neighbours which was mostly the lesser ethnic groups. The Ziaraas eventually began an offensive on the Malmes in the west who wete caught by surprise and offered little resistance. The Ziaraas then launched an offensive on both the Zazends and Riroars. The Zazends eventually surrendered under the condition that their people be spared. The Riroars continued fighting until their king, Eemal, fell in combat. Their cities were pillaged and their people were punished severely. Their population shrank by nearly 60% during this period.

The Ziaraas created their first empire and continued for about three hundred years. Revolts were frequent in thr rural areas of the empire but they rarely developed further than highway banditry. The most significant revolt of this period was the failed revolt of the northern Malmes. They, at one point, managed to secure independence from the Ziaraas. They were eventually put down by the Ziaraas with the northern Malmes cities being razed. After the razing of the northern Malmes cities, the Malmes were enraged and decided to unite under Deoches, the head of a large Malm tribe, who then formed Malm confederacy. The Ziaraas tried to disband the Malm confederacy but failed after Deoches withdrew his forces from the urban areas and began his insurgency from the rural country side. The Malm confederacy continued existing until it formed the Malm Empire.

After the death of Shara Atossa, whos heirs had both died in a civil conflict for the crown, the Malmes and Zazendi began an uprising against Ziaraa rule and inspired the Riroars to do the same. The revolts ravaged the Ziaraat Empire between 616 and 605 BC and freed their respective peoples from three centuries of Ziaraa rule.

The Malm confederacy had survived the Ziaraa Empire and played a crucial role in the Malm Revolts. Due to their role, the Malm people welcomed them as their new rulers. They began to take control over the Malm region and, eventually, two thirds of present-day Ziaraat in the confusion following the Ziaraa Empire's collapse. This marked the end of the first Ziaraat Empire which was dissolved.

In 550 BC, Crus unified the Zazendi tribes and founded the Zazendi Empire. He immidiately began unifying other neighbouring city-states. His eventual conquest of the Malm Empire was a result of revolts and military conquest. The revolts were initially triggered by the introduction of taxes for non-Malm people by the Malm emperor Ayages. The Ziaraas and Riroars were quick to revolt and the lesser ethnic groups joined in the revolts. Crus was quick to take over the revolting areas and circled in on the Malm Empire's capital, Sparthen.

539 BC was the year in which Zazendi forces defeated the Ziaraa army at the last battle for Pay Takht and marked the end of around four centuries of Ziaraa independence and autonomy. Crus entered Pay Takht after the battle and presented to Shara Zahir time two options; accept Zazendi rule or have his city razed and his people killed. Shara Zahir accepted Zazendi rule and was allowed to keep his position although with significant Zazendi oversight.

After the fall of Pay Takht, the Zazends encircled Sparthen and, after a long and bloody seige, captured it and had conquered the Malm Empire. Following Crus's unification of Ziaraat, he began consolidating his territory. He would eventually die after ruling for 30 years. His successors continued to maintain the Zazendi Empire and eventually, under Emperor Darus, annex the territory south of the river Ultaj and north of the river Whool.

In 334 BC, Ishkandar of the Ghilt Riroar tribe conquered the other Riroar tribes and invaded the other kingdoms of Ziaraat. Eventually defeating the king of Malm, Dius III, at the Battle of Issus and continuing to take territory until his premature death. At this point, the Riroars were in a precarious situation. With their leader dead, their reign was fickle. However, due to the swift action of his successor, Akdun, the Riroars were saved after he brutally put down rebellions which inspired fear and kept the populace in check. He also established the Riroar confederacy which would elect a new ruler every ten years. He was elected and kept into power until he died of old age.

In the middle of the second century BC, the Riroars began infighting over who should become ruler and the confederacy collapsed into infighting between factions. This led way to the rise of the second Ziaraa Empire which became the sole power in Ziaraat after rapidly sweeping across the territory of the former Riroar confederacy. The second Ziaraa Empire continued for nearly five centuries, until 224 CE, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Ziaraat which continued to rule for four centuries.

Sometime between the second Ziaraa Empire and the Kingdom of Ziaraat, the other civilizations were assimilated and wiped out by the Ziaraas, leaving the Ziaraas as the sole ethnnic group in Ziaraat. It was after this assimilation that the emperor declared himself to be the Shara, creating the Kingdom of Ziaraat.