Zurgite Varshan: Difference between revisions

|population_estimate        = 752,144,212

|population_estimate_year    = 2020

|population_census          = 747,010,625

The '''Worshipful Realm of Varshan''', referred to retroactively as '''Zurgite Varshan''', was a country in [[Crona]] and considered the largest country on the continent. Its history is a turbulent one, with challenges posed by natural disasters, periods of rapid change, attempted colonial exploitation, corruption, separatism, ideological conflict, dictatorship, religious fanaticism, war and mass slaughter.  

With the [[Fall of Anzo]] in May [[2024]], the Worshipful Realm was abolished. It was replaced by [[League-occupied Varshan]]. For most of its history, and particularly between its destruction of the [[North Songun civilization]] and [[The Deluge]], it was the dominant power in [[Crona]].

The lands comprising modern Varshan were once inhabited by a variety of different Cronite peoples belonging to several different linguistic families. These peoples, most of which have been lost to history, were all tribally-organised until the early Cronite Bronze Age, when city-states began to develop in the region's fertile river valleys. The area now known as ''Umzàg'' or Central Varshan, emerged as the most heavily urbanized part of north central Crona, possibly as a result of its fertile volcanic soils and geographic circumscription by high mountain ranges.

 

The history of Varshan is divided into a number of dynastic periods, punctuated by intervening periods of civil war and political decay.

The history of Varshan proper beings with the arrival of the Varshani (''Waršaŋ''), a migratory tribe of uncertain geographic origin speaking a {{wp|language isolate}} who subsisted primarily by raiding settled societies and hunting. Attracted by the wealthy city-states of Umzàg, the Varshani migrated into the foothills of the Mountains of Terror, from which they launched periodic raids against their neighbours. Initially, the Varshani raided only to capture food, women, and basic materials, and to spill blood in order to honour their gods. However, over time they also took to pillaging valuables, such as precious metals and stones and fine clothes and handicrafts, originally as trophies, but later as luxury goods for their own enjoyment. In order to provide higher standards of living for themselves, the Varshani began capturing slaves for labour rather than exclusively sexual use, and exacting tribute and ransom from communities within striking distance of the foothills rather than raiding them, obtaining wealth that allowed them to engage in trade with the prosperous central city-states. This began a process of acculturation through which the Varshani transitioned away from their traditional migratory raiding lifestyle and adopted many material, religious, and socio-political practices from the settled peoples of the region. This process reached its culmination under the Varshani chief Biji, who after sacking the city of Hoklo, chose to take up residence there instead of returning to his camp in the foothills. Biji renamed the city 'Anzo', and established it as the first Varshani state.

As Varshan reached what would become its relative economic and military peak in ca. 1400, the era of "[[The Hunt (Varshan)|the Hunts]]" began. While Varshan had warred with its neighbors in south central [[Crona]] since the establishment of the Varshani state, the newfound military dominance of Varshan and political decline of the states of the [[North Songun civilization]] enabled Varshan to begin raiding the North Songun region on an annual basis, with the yearly summer campaigns becoming known by the euphemistic term "the Hunt". At its peak, the Hunt would double the number of slaves in Varshan approximately every ten years, and its effects wrought complete devestation throughout [[Crona]], functionally destroying the ancient [[North Songun civilization]]. The Hunts were almost exclusively large scale raids and did not usually entail the conquest of territory. Gradually, the apparatus of the Varshani state began to transform into an implement to support the Hunt, drastically changing the character of both the state and Varshani society. These changes inaugurated the period known by historians as the "Huntocracy". While the lasting impact of the Hunt relates to slavery, some scholars suggest that perhaps an equal number of individuals were taken from the North Songun for use as human sacrifice as were put into slavery.

The Hunts are the lasting historical legacy of the Chazxin dynasty. Although they ended by the 18th century, most demographers believe the vast majority of former native-born Varshani slaves in the 21st century are descended from individuals enslaved at this time.

The modern interdynastic period, sometimes referred to as the "postdynastic period", began with the final fall of the Yun-harle dynasty in [[1970]] and concluded with the fall of Anzo in [[2024]]. The period was characterized by a mostly non-hereditary succession of the office of Zûrg: of the eight men to serve as Zûrg in the period, only one succeeded his father to the office. Contemporary Varshani cultural observers appear to have viewed the period as being ruled by "dynasties of one man" rather than an abolition of the dynastic period, and many of these transitions occurred by circumstance rather than deliberate effort. Four Zûrgs died relatively young, one appears to have been infertile, and the remaining three were either usurped or deposed at the end of the [[Final War of the Deluge]].