Zeshinava: Difference between revisions

|map_caption = Zeshinava (dark green)<br>and the claimed but uncontrolled [[Sydona Islands]] {green)<br> in [[Sarpedon]] (gray)

'''Zeshinava''', officially the '''Neoteric Confederacy of Zeshinava''', is a country in the [[Istroya]] region of southeastern [[Sarpedon]]. It is neighbored by the [[Sydona Islands]] and the [[Founders Sea]]. Zeshinava is a storied country inhabited by the {{wp|Slavs|indigenous Sarpedonic people}}, who migrated in droves to the southeast of the continent during the [[Crusades]] to aid the Iddyritine Despotate. The Zeshen and Iddyritine people assimilated with the establishment of the Zeshen Kingdom by the crusaders as the Oduniyyad Caliphate fell, though this saw resistance from the former exclusive High Sarpedonic ruling class. The falling Islamic powers took advantage of the squabbling peoples, leaving several independent emirates to take the lands of the Zeshens and Caliphate. The Fourth Crusade brought an end to the infighting, with the Zeshen Kingdom establishing itself in the northwest of present-day Zeshinava, the christening of the Absurian Empire along the south, and several other minor crusader states surviving in the east.

With {{wp|Pope Gregory VII}} preaching for the reconquest of Sarpedon's lost lands in 1084 as a Christian emergency thousands of Slavic men took the call to action and migrated from the [[Caphiria|Caphirian]] Slavic vassals of Central Sarpedon to the Oduniyyad-controlled southeast of Istroya. Though largely untrained, the collapsing Iddryitine Despotate made use of the influx of migrants to retake its lost lands. However, it would be some time before the masses could be made into an effective fighting force. The unskilled infantry allowed for the continued defense of the remaining Iddryitine lands, but the Odduniyad Caliphate maintained its hold on southeast Istroya through the first and second crusades. In 1120 during the Second Crusade Iddryitine forces were able to make minor gains in the Founders Sea. Forces launched from the Sydona Islands were able to capture Prevoy and Zavoy from local occupants. These islands and the surrounding archipelago weren't directly controlled by the Caliphate but were held by subservient Odduniyad merchants as trade outposts to reach other states on the south of the continent. The islands had to be sieged due to intense fortifications but were quickly forced to capitulate with Iddryitine naval superiority cutting off supply to the islands long enough. Tydoaea was seized in 1130 and led to a campaign to retake the islands of the Founders Sea for the Despotate.

The Zeshen Kingdom continued to aid in the reconquest of Istroya from the remaining Odduniyad Caliphate and independent emirates. As the crusades came to a close however, the Catholic Church cracked down on Zeshen Kingdom and declared Lady Ava a heretic for wearing men's clothes and marrying a Muslim man. She risked being tried for blasphemy and excommunicated from the Catholic world unless she repented for what she had done. She repented for her wearing of men's clothing and agreed to resign from bearing arms. The Church forbid her from divorcing despite her husband being a Muslim man, but the Zeshen Kingdom was restructured into a grand duchy with the Christian Despot of the Iddryitine Despotate, Theodoric Abcis. Theodoric was crowned Archduke of Zeshinava and converted to Catholicism. Lady Ava became Grand Duchess Ava, and her husband Addas Al-Ahzmira becoming the Grand Duke. Though on roughly equal footing, it was expected that Ava would lead the state with Theodoric rather than Addas, with the Grand Duke title only serving as a technicality on Addas' name. The Iddryitine Despotate remained in the form of the Free Cities of Sydona which would stay under the exclusive control of Archduke Theodoric. This situation allowed Lady Ava to avoid persecution, excommunication, and potentially revolution at the hands of a population angered by her heretical actions, she still remained out of the good graces of much of the Catholic world and was largely forced to resign to the more traditional role of the female leaders of the Middle Ages.

Following the collapse of the Caliphate in Sarpedon the new Grand Duchy of Zeshinava would assume the role of the trade hub of the south of the continent. While other major powers were mired by internal conflict through this period, the southern islands would maintain their place as trade hubs despite a new authority. While the Free Cities of Sydona shied away from interaction with the Muslim world, Zeshinava would lean into its position as a bridge between cultures and continents. This served to placate the subservient Muslim population of the officially Christian country and allowed conflict like the inquisitions through the rest of Sarpedon to be avoided, though not without disapproval from the Catholic Church. Though formerly at odds with the Caliphate, Audonian rulers would remain amicable with the Grand Duchy as to maintain a semblance of influence on the continent.