Soirwind

Soirwind (Shar-vind) or officially the Sovereignty of Soirwind is a constitutional republic in Audonia. Located on the western coast of Audonia and bordering Arzanshahr to the east and Zaclaria to the south. Soirwind is an associated state of Fiannria and much of its history is derived from there. Originally founded by Culfran adventuring merchants and crusaders during the period of the Audonian Crusades, Soirwind became the hub of Culfran mercantile and imperial ventures in the far east. And following the collapse of the Culfran League and establishment of the Commonwealth of Fiannria, the center of the new colonial efforts and its remaining strength today in Audonia.

Soirwind's capital of Cathash serves as the center of operations of the General Board of Commonwealth Concessions (GBCC), leading to a very close relationship between the nation and the collection of charter cities.

Prehistory
The first evidence of human life on lands around modern Soirwind dates back to approximately 10,000 BCE. The first migrants were likely hunter-gatherer societies that arrived from southern Audonia. Early indigenous Sorwindic communities were settled primarily on the coasts where freshwater streams flowed into the sea.

Permanent settlement by hunter-gatherer societies was associated with agricultural developments heralding the Soirwindic own Bronze Age in the third millennium BCE. Agricultural societies succeeded in developing across the region during this period due to the rich soil. The domestication of animals also helped. Relatively little is known of the religious beliefs and rituals of Bronze Age Soirwindic though surviving reliefs and images appear to confirm reports of later societies that they had particular reverence for gods of both the seas and the mountains.

Common foodstuffs endemic to the region included rice, sorghum, and barley. Other crops included cotton which became increasingly important after the second millennium BCE. Agricultural societies developed strict hierarchical class systems; generally in three tiers with a working class, a priestly class, and a warrior ruling class; though distinctions between the latter two were more variable. Many of the more intricate details of the ways of life of early Soirwinds have been lost due to the lack of written records or continuity of oral tradition. Nevertheless, developments in Soirwindic archaeology from the 1840s to the present day continue to uncover more information about prehistoric societies in Soirwind.

Antiquity
Sedentary Bronze Age societies developed into more extensive stratified societies between approximately 4500 and 2000 BCE. Contact with Audonian merchants and the sharing of early Audonian cuneiform in the 9th century BCE advanced this process as formal states emerged. Four major city-states rose to promience in the second millennium BCE; Tefnaɣ, Battia, Melid, and Ker. The ensuing millennium and a half of the Soirwinds history saw a period of rapid and intense cultural development punctuated by sporadic warfare between the city-states.

During this era, the old cuneiform also came to be replaced by an early Ker alphabet known as which was likely influenced at least in part by the early Audonian alphabet. The introduction of a widespread alphabet played an important part in both creating a historical record and in developing a more expansive bureaucracy. Both of these feats were effectively used by the Kingdom of Ker under King Rudamun which both had a formal court record-keeper and took advantage of a sophisticated system of subjugated tribes which were mobilized in the latter years of the 4th century BCE in conquest of the region. By the turn of the century, the region had been unified under a single kingdom which was ruled as a diarchy between the Kingdom of Ker and the Kingdom of Melid.

Ker-Melid Kingdom (c. 300 BCE to 731 CE)
The Ker-Melid Kingdom ruled as a diarchy initially with each ruler retaining their capital. By the 1st century BCE, however, both kings ruled from Melid on the southern coast where the most fertile grounds were. While certain successions have been dubious, tradition maintains that the kings maintained the lines of the original states of Melid and Ker. The mid to late Iron Age on the Soirwind was characterized by the unification of the regiong and independent cultural development. The capital region became densely populated and built up with palaces and temples while the interior was heavily developed for agriculture, the geography altered with terrace farms; the remnants of which can often still be seen in the modern era., each headed by a governor who reported directly to the diarchy. Each province was made up of a variable number of townships. A coinage system was also introduced for the first time in this period.

In 148 CE, the diarchy was overthrown as King Palistin II of the Ker line assumed sole rulership. Palistin also reformed the Kingdom's religion, asserting divine rule and claiming the central triad of the pantheon as his ancestors. Elaborate temples and tombs for members of the Ker line were constructed during his reign. Purportedly, in 154 CE the bodies of hundreds of Ker rulers were exhumed from crypts in their home city and transported to Melid to be re-entombed within the capital. Palistin II would be assassinated in 159 CE and was succeeded by his son Ashur who ruled until c. 200 CE, continuing his father's legacy as a builder. While in the past this era was hailed as a Old Golden Age, contemporary historians have noted that the monumental temples and palaces of the Kingdom relied upon exploitative corvée labour which drew commoners away from their farms and their livelihoods.

The official Ker Dynasty remained in power until 418 CE when the throne was usurped by Gilgalion I of Sasan. The Sasan Dynasty would rule until the 7th century, with the kingdom suffering under a period of decline due to economic downturn and the onset of the Dark Ages Audonian Plague which struck in the ports. The construction of monuments also declined and in the present there are relatively fewer late-Iron Age structures remaining on the compared to the early to mid-Iron Age and even Bronze Age structures.

Oduniyyad and Khanate Period
Gilgalion III's critics would be justified in the 8th century as his descendant, Farrukh II, had to contend with the invasion of the Oduniyyad Caliphate in 730 CE. The unified Audonian army led by one of successors of Muhammad's trusted generals, Abu Talib Bey, landed swiftly on the coasts on May 2 avoiding any naval interception. Melid was besieged two days later, a sufficient time for King Farrukh to leave the city, attempting to rally an army while the majority of the royal guard remained in the capital. The king had little success, however, as many were convinced of the Caliphate's invincibility after it had taken over much of the mainland within a few years. In July, the Oduniyyad force managed to confront the small army of the Ker-Melid Kingdom which had thus far been contented with harassing the larger invading force while the capital expended its supplies to hold out. The battle on July 3 was swift, ending in decisive victory for the Caliphate, though a large portion of the Ker-Melid army including the king managed to escape. Following the routing of the army, the capital capitulated. General Abu Talib Bey establish court in the royal palace and ordered the destruction of many temples and idols within the city while a contingent of the army pursued the king. After a short period of resistance, the king was captured in September 731, unable to mobilize a force against the invaders. On December 22 of the same year he was executed, effectively ending organized resistance against the occupation of the Oduniyyad Caliphate.

The lands of Kermelid remained a periphery of the Oduniyyad influence i and extending its influence and teachings beyond into the steppes and lands to the south of the Kermelid lands and the rest of eastern Audonia. However in the early 11th century, sectarian conflicts and rising powers of steppe lords of the steppes of Audonia pushed the Odunyyiads out of Kermelid and effectively turned the settled coastal lands into a tributary vassal kingdom of whichever nomadic horde held the most influence close to the mountains.

This would change in 1221 when it would become subject of the Myanga Atyil Khanate which reached unmatched heights in size as a horde and Empire. With hordes giving obiesance to the great Chingis, so too did their tributaries, including Kermelid For the next one hundred some years it would be ruled by the Khanate and would grow in prosperity as the port to the west for the Khanate. Trade from the far reaches of Alshar would arrive in the cities of Karmelid and intermingle with goods from Audonia and recently also far off Sarpedon and Levantia as traders from those regions explored and expanded further across the seas.

The Crusader State period
The relationship between those far off lands and Karmelid changes dramatically when, following the capture of the Antilles by Christian Knights inspired the devout, the greedy, and opportunisitic alike within the Culfran princedoms to launch expeditions into the region as well. Originally, these battles were against Audonian enemies but one fateful expedition sent their Crusaders beyond and past the Antilles to the lands Levantine merchants called Karmelis.

Led by Sir Frederick Lochlan in 1346, a force of around 12,000, with about 2,000 knights from mostly Culfran princedoms arrived just south of the city of Cathash, built on the ruins of the ancient city of Ker. The forces laid siege to the city for five months before its surrender, giving Lochlan an area of control around southern Kermelid. Early word to the Khanate of the invasion of Lochlan was given little interest, the impression given by Levantine merchants who countered envoys from the Kingdom was that this was a trade conflict as the King of Kermelid unjustly was seizing Levantine ships and goods, and they were simply defending Levantine merchants to allow the goods to flow between the great Khan and their homelands. While undocumented, modern historians believe many gifts in gold, goods, and slaves and or concubines were delivered to the Khan to convince him of inaction.

Over the next decade, two more waves of Culfran crusader armies carved out crusader states, siezing valuable trade cities on the Soirwindic coast interested in siezing land and wealth from the infidel and access to the valuable ports from the Silk Road. And still the Khan was satiated with gifts and excuses of an internal succession crisis leading to conflict between the Levantines and Kermelidites. The war against the Kermelidites saw vicious conflict across plains on the coast and in the mountains further inland. This included the death of the leader of the Crusaders Sir Frederick Lochlan. The conflict continued at first under a council of leading crusader lords, but would soon involve vested interests and leading merchants of Free Cities from Culfra and the Derics which in exchange for money and mercenaries, bought exclaves and trade rights in the Crusader states in Karmelis.

As the conflict continued for control of Karmelis, Odunniyids in Audonia began utilizing the sea to combat the Crusaders and seize wealth from Levantine merchants. Corsairs backed by the Oddunyids began to strike shipping lanes and raiding the coasts of the crusader states of Karmelis. Propaganda built off the reports of the raids and attacks of the muslim pirates would tell Culfrans of the ‘Eastern land of vines’ where noble Christians fought the muslim menace. The early forms of propoganda would deliver two things to the crusader states in Karmelis, the development of the modern name of Soirwind, based of the old Faeskt words for Eastern lands of vines (as an attempt to make the land sound a prosperous land of grape vines and fertile land). It would also lead to the fourth expedition or Culfran crusade for Soirwind. But this one came with a war fleet and a holy order that would organize in Soirwind and devote to fighting corsairs and eastern pirates.

This fourth wave of crusaders in Soirwind would be the final push that led to the capture of the Kingdom of Karmelis. While conflict on the land had ended, the battle with pirates at sea continued. Meanwhile, a succession war within the Western Khanate in 1396 led to a unique relationship with the Khanate as the crusader states of Soirwind began to sell themselves as mercenaries supporting the friendly Khanate heir. The Wars for the Khans Son would lead to the Levantine Knights learning and experiencing more of the style of warfare native to the steppes beyond the moutains of western Alshar and eventually would develop a unique style of warfare the knights of Soirwind would develop to combat the different style of warfare seen on this far off continent.

Soirwind During the Anarchy and Kingdom of Culfras
As new ideas were born during the age of the Renaissance and settlements and mercantile adventures into Audonia began to rise once again following the Great Plague, soon after the drama of the Protestant Reformation would have its impact felt on Soirwind as well. Protestant churches would be founded by ministers escaping persecution in the mainland Levantia and the spread of pamphlets and Protestant texts spread like wildfire, nearly starting a new wave of Anarchy in Soirwind as was in the Holy Levantine Empire.

As the brutality of the Northern War for the Cross waned and Dragonnades began to be utilized as a tool in the mainland, Catholic governors, lords, and administrators in Soirwind took the idea in stride and began using similar tactics not only against Protestants but also against Jewish, Islamic, and Zoraoastrian residents of Soirwindic cities and towns. In this period of rising violence the Soirwind colonies, as they were not a unified state at this time, became both hubs of tolerance and epicenters of pogroms and mass violence. Border wars and skirmishes between the different colonial lords and governors nearly matched the violence experienced on the mainland until the arrival of the Griffin's Fleet, following the declaration of the United Kingdom of the Culfras under Alexander O'Rourke and his edicts seeking to pacify of the mainland, prepared a military expedition to the Culfran colonies and in what some consider an early modern example of gunboat diplomacy forced violence in Soirwind to end and consolidated the colonies into one entity, which would be known as the Royal Domain of Soirwind.

In the later years of King Alexander I O'Rourke, a Royal Charter was issued for the United Culfran Audonia Company, a trading company that would take prominence in trade through northern and western Audonia until it's bankruptcy and purchase by the Burgundian merchants in the early 1700s that would come to dominate Audonia in the years following.

Following the establishment of the Royal Domain of Soirwind and the edicts and military stationing from the mainland bringing about a period of peace and reconstruction, the colony would become very prosperous amongst the wealth brought from the merchants and new colonial ventures. But this also led to a period of piracy and naval combat with corsairs and interdictions by the Caliph to interrupt Occidental influence in Audonia. The seas around western Audonia would become an epicenter of privateers, piracy, and naval combat, including a resurgence of the monastic orders founded during the Crusades to take up the cross upon the seas against corsairs.
 * Soirwind and the League- After the Succession crisis in Culfra/Fiannria and establishment of the League of the Culfras, much of the greater colonies were seized or sold away however, the Dominion of Soirwind as it was recognized remained under the League's control. Probably piracy happened during this whole period
 * The Commonwealth and the Dominion- Following the establishment of the Commonwealth of Fiannria, an independence movement kicked off within Soirwind, however the details of it in Fiannria were vague as Fiannria sought to send exiles, impoverished, and former nobles to the colonies and create some system of republican government in the colonial domain.
 * The Bey's War- Native leaders integrated with independence minded settlers started a revolt in Soirwind against the rule of the far off Commonwealth, reeling from the defeat of the Third Kin War. The War consisted of two phases, the initial uprising and seizure of most major ports and fortifications, and then the arrival of the Fiannan invasion force that would put down the now disunited fighting factions initially united in declaring independence.
 * Fiannan presence in Alshar and the Sovereignty- Following that war, Fiannria became much more active in the Alshar region, establishing limited colonies but taking concessions from local powers to encourage trade and further Occidental influence into the countries themselves. To support the expanded operations, Fiannria gave Soirwind it's earlier sought independence as a Sovereign Republic and declared a treaty of eternal friendship, and cooperation between the states. Making Soirwind more of a dependency or a protecterate than colony.
 * The Second Great War- Audonia Front TBD
 * The Cold War and Operation Kipling TBD
 * The TBD Coup
 * The Soirwind Intervention
 * Present

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