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When traders from the North Songun Civilization first encountered the indigenous islanders they were noted for their excellent navigational skills, making use of well-crafted canoes, as well as fishing expertise. What likely drew the traders' attention the most, however, would be the vast amounts of wealth that was primarily displayed through an abundance of {{wp|pearl|pearls}}. These pearls were among the first things that the North Songun traders would start buying for use in their trade networks, the pearls having first entered the North Songun capital of [[Maktalin]] as late as approximately 500 BC. The first urban settlements would soon be established on islands by the year 350 BC, slowly integrating the indigenous tribes into the larger North Songun Civilization. Many records would consider Malentina to first exist as a truly civilized entity around the period of the 5th to 3rd Centuries BC, although modern scholars have largely debated upon this subject with many claiming that Malentina would not be deemed a truly civilized entity until much later. | When traders from the North Songun Civilization first encountered the indigenous islanders they were noted for their excellent navigational skills, making use of well-crafted canoes, as well as fishing expertise. What likely drew the traders' attention the most, however, would be the vast amounts of wealth that was primarily displayed through an abundance of {{wp|pearl|pearls}}. These pearls were among the first things that the North Songun traders would start buying for use in their trade networks, the pearls having first entered the North Songun capital of [[Maktalin]] as late as approximately 500 BC. The first urban settlements would soon be established on islands by the year 350 BC, slowly integrating the indigenous tribes into the larger North Songun Civilization. Many records would consider Malentina to first exist as a truly civilized entity around the period of the 5th to 3rd Centuries BC, although modern scholars have largely debated upon this subject with many claiming that Malentina would not be deemed a truly civilized entity until much later. | ||
=== | ===North Songun Civilization=== | ||
Although | Although these North Songunese settlements have started off as a group of smaller colonial city-states that were established primarily to facilitate trade and cooperation between the various indigenous insular tribes and the North Songunese traders, Malentina would eventually grow to be one of the most significant and wealthiest regions of the North Songun Civilization, which became much more apparent as the heart of the North Songunese lands was beginning to collapse. Malentine sources at that time have proven to be largely vital for modern scholars as they have described in great detail the events that have happened during the collapse, which is especially important as most of the other North Songunese lands would collapse to the point of having little to no scholars left to record these events. | ||
For the period between 400 BC | For the period of time between the years 400 BC and 100 BC, the islands were mostly just trading posts at the edge of much greater lands on mainland Crona. The primary purpose behind these trading posts would prove to be exactly what would lead to Malentina transforming from a backwater on the edge of the North Songunese lands to one of the most well-developed regions within the North Songun Civilization; this in stark contrast to the small trade cities that were initially established. Cities that dot the western coast would serve as vital centers of trade between the great cities in the North Songunese heartlands and the various settlements to the south of the islands. This slow rise would quickly scale up exponentially in the 3rd and 4th Centuries as the expanses of land in what is now [[Tierrador]] began to develop into stable and lucrative places to trade with. | ||
What is perhaps much more important than the vast amounts of wealth that have been flowing through the Malentine cities during this period of time was the cultural exchange, as elements of the North Songunese culture began to fuse with not just the indigenous insular culture but also with cultural aspects from the lands to the south of the islands. Although the cities were massively profitable, the indigenous tribes on the islands would still prove to be just as vital to the overall prosperity of their homelands, mostly thanks to their ability to gather certain valuable materials such as pearls, but most especially as warriors whom the cities would recruit for protection from neighboring cities mostly. From the growing mainland civilizations to the north and south, the islands would also learn a lot about proper administration and statecraft, allowing for the emergence of very effective forms of centralization. Such invaluable knowledge would bring forth a level great stability and prosperity to the cities that by the time of the 6th Century Malentina could no longer be considered to be a mere extension of a much greater civilization, but rather as the second-wealthiest region of the North Songun Civilization, with only the heartlands in what is now [[Kelekona]] and [[Arcerion]] being wealthier still, as the three largest city-states on the islands grew to great prominence in not just among the islands, but among the entirety of the North Songunese lands. Each of these cities controlled large amounts of territory along the western coast of the islands, with them spending many years competing over alliances with the various smaller settlements that were nearby. | |||
This golden age would soon end, however, as the 11th Century brought forth an era of wars and devastation as conflicts emerged between the city-states and the tribal mercenaries who have rebelled over both payment and supposed snubs. The rebellious mercenaries were successful in conquering some of the North Songun cities on the islands, soon causing a division between the wealthy coastal North Songun city-states and the traditional natives further inland. This period of sectarian conflict would soon end by the late 1030s as relations between the North Songunese and the indigenous tribes would normalize once more with trade resuming relatively quickly. The period of time since the late 1030s has been known as the Malentine silver age, a time when the islands would experience another period of long-term prosperity which began with the formation of an alliance between the city-states by the year 1040. This alliance was a loosely-connected league of the seven most powerful cities on the islands, each representing the seven major cultural groups on the islands, which even included most of the indigenous tribes on the islands. | |||
===The Collapse=== | ===The Collapse=== | ||
The | The silver age would soon come to an end since the late 13th Century with the rise and growth of the [[Zurgite Varshan|Varshani]] realm to the west of the heartland of the North Songun Civilization, much at the expense of the latter. It was during this time that trade across the seas would begin to slowly dwindle, and yet ironically not only would Malentina be relatively unaffected by what was largely the slow and painful death of what was once Crona's greatest civilization it would also become the center of the North Songun remnants as a result. Indeed, although much of the history of the North Songun Civilization have been lost thanks to the collapse, several highly important scholars and many other wealthy and influential individuals from the North Songun heartlands would flee the mainland for the safety of the islands, becoming the ancestors of Malentina's largely wealthy Kelekonese and Telekonese minority. By the end of the two-century long process towards the ruination of the North Songun Civilization, the former heartlands were largely in ruins and soon the Varshani would turn their sights towards the islands and began to conduct raids. However, due to the insular advantage and sheer distance from the Varshani heartlands, these raids were complete failures as the indigenous warrior tribes proved themselves to be an effective and formidable foe. At the same time, however, the indigenous islanders began to push towards militarization once more, soon becoming a far greater threat to the seven city-states than even the invaders. | ||
By the | |||
===Era of Isolation=== | ===Era of Isolation=== | ||
The | The Varshani did not give up so easily though, they would continue to attempt further raids throughout the next hundred years, but once again they were failures for the most part. Due to their resilience and survival, the seven city-states saw themselves as the last of the North Songun Civilization. This view would soon evolve, with scholars arguing that it was at the behest of the wealthy refugees from the mainland, with the cities beginning to consider themselves to be the rightful successors to the entirety of the North Songun Civilization, and that it was their destiny to reclaim the former heartlands. The many refugees from the mainland, who would often refer to the islands as the ''qhispina'' ("haven"), would soon add to the growing problem that was emerging on the islands. Although the seven city-states have depicted themselves to be a united front, they were in truth nothing more than a loose collection of alliances and not a centralized power. This led to there being an immense imperative to try and centralize the city-states alongside an immense imperative to militarize through the use of the warrior tribes even though those same warriors were finding themselves to be once again outsiders in their own homeland, especially as many new people arrived to the islands and causing further social unrest. This would soon reach a tipping point in the early 17th Century with an event that has since been given the name the "Crisis of the Twelve", or as one famous scholar at the time would name it in some of his final writings, the "Fall of the Haven". | ||
The many | |||
===Qabóri settlement=== | ===Qabóri settlement=== | ||
To further exacerbate the social and cultural troubles that were already plaguing the islands was the arrival of migrants from the south. Although they had come to the islands not as refugees but rather people looking for a new life outside of their homeland, the emergence of yet another foreign group on the islands made the indigenous Malentine tribes feel more and more isolated. These newcomers were the [[Pan-Qabóri civilization|Qabóri]] people, who hail from the [[Qabóri Woqalate]], which was at the time of the first arrival of the Qabóri people onto the islands on its way towards becoming southern Crona's great indigenous civilization in opposition to the growing northern power of Varshan. The apprehensive reaction the indigenous tribes had towards the newcomers were made worse when they felt that the Qabóri were being treated better by the North Songun elites of the city-states. Indeed, the nascent Qabóri population of the islands had ideas of their own, that being that the islands should be greatly centralized under the rule of a powerful monarch known as a Woqali, the Qabóri term used to refer to monarchs, specifically a lesser Woqali under the suzerainty of the Qabóri Woqalate. The Qabóri had hypothesized that this would ensure that the islands would serve as a {{wp|buffer state}} against the growing threat of Varshan. This stood in direct opposition to what the North Songun elites had wanted, which was to reclaim the former North Songunese heartlands by directly confronting the Varshani forces. It is from this rivalry between the recently-arrived Qabóri and the North Songunese that the two main political factions amongst the Cronan Malentine elites would emerge, those being the Qabóri [[Malentine Woqalists|Woqalists]] and the North Songunese [[Malentine Qhapaqists|Qhapaqists]]. | |||
===Crisis of the Twelve=== | ===Crisis of the Twelve=== | ||
The "Crisis of the Twelve" began with a series of smaller revolts and notorious major cultural clashes, which culminated in the creation of the Great Council in the mid-1610s. The Great Council would bring forth all of the issues that were currently plaguing the league in hopes of coming up with solutions which would necessitate large-scale reforms that were to be decided upon by the ruling class. However, despite these goals, the Great Council would prove to be a great failure as there was a large series of errors and miscommunications that would slowly lead to the islands' descent into chaos and the eventually escalation towards indiscriminate violence between the different groups. Throughout the next few years, various revolts with lots of bloodshed, costly civil wars, and sectarian tribal conflicts would break out. These conflicts were largely caused by the swift separation of the traditional indigenous tribes which included the warrior tribes, who were once prized as the finest mercenaries on the islands, fighting against their former bosses in the quickly collapsing cities. It was also during this time that the Varshani raids would start to become successful after centuries of failures, and the absolute devastation caused by the raid would further crush any hope for the northern cities to ever recover. | |||
The final result of | Ironically, the raids would inspire the tribes, leading them to unite into a new confederacy which would once more prove to be a formidable foe against the Varshani raids, with the raids soon ending permanently around the year 1690. The final result that came thanks to the Crisis of the Twelve was that it ultimate spelled the final end to the once-great North Songun Civilization as the descendants of the refugees who have fled the former heartlands began to dwindle to the point that they were deemed to be largely irrelevant to the indigenous peoples on the islands. The cities that once held the honor of being the first point of contact between the indigenous tribes to the great mainland civilizations that surrounded them were reduced to ruins, with only two of the seven cities managing to survive in a somewhat functional state. It has been estimated that at least two-thirds of the islands' population died out within a span of less than a century. It was also around this time that the islands would first come into contact with the [[Occident]] through new settlers arriving on the eastern coast. These new people were from [[Cartadania]], and had first encountered the islands in 1689, and arrived on what was now the nearly-deserted east coast which was considered to be the backwater of the islands even during the golden and silver ages of Malentina. | ||
===Sails and Oars=== | ===Sails and Oars=== | ||