History of Caphiria

The history of Caphiria has been among the most influential to the modern world, from the spread of the Latin language and Romance languages as a result to the creation of the Imperial Church to its vast contributions to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language, and society.

Caphirian history is traditionally divided into nine distinct historical eras:

• The Prehistoric era, covering Caphiria's earliest inhabitants and the establishment of the Latinic people.

• The Kingdom era (480 BC - 370 BC), covering the formation of the city-state of Caphiria in 480 BC and characterized by a monarchical form of government in which according to tradition, Lanintius was the first of five Kings.

• The Republic era (370 BC - 414 AD), which commenced in 370 BC when kings were replaced with rule by elected senators. The period, which lasted 783 years, was marked by vast expansion of Caprivian territory, regional dominance, and eventually over the entire Ecinis Sea and parts of the Kindreds Sea and Great Lakes.

• The Principate era (414 - 1070 AD), marked by a series of civil wars and internal political conflict, centers around the reorganization of the Republic and creation of the Constitution of Caphiria. This era also marks the early stages of the city-state evolving into a proper empire, with vast territorial holdings, hegemony over Latium, and was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time.

• The Civil War era (1070 - 1115 AD), covers a dozen or so civil wars that took place over a period of four decades as contention for leadership and political groups vied for control over the massive and wealthy state. The most famous of these was between Marius Oratonius and Quinus Sator Alercius and the subsequent war between their successors and die hard loyalists. This led to the state splitting into two: a monarchy in the north and a republic in the south.

• The Reformation era (1115 - 1456 AD), begins with the reunification of the state into the Imperium, a hybrid political system that solved the crisis of the civil war. This new government retained Republic era bodies such as the Senate, but separated it into two distinct representative bodies, the Curiate Assembly and the Consular Congress. Conversely, the powers of the Imperator were increased even more from the Principate era. All of this was formally codified with the introduction of the Constitution of Caphiria which sought to eliminate the constant power struggles and conflict.

• The Dominate era (1456 - 1615 AD) is marked by its cultural and political achievement, becoming the symbol of artistic and cultural influence. This period is characterized by the rediscovery of classical Latin philosophy which encouraged a new thinking that became manifested in art, architecture, politics, science and literature. This era marks the transition from the Middle Ages to modern Caphiria.

• The Pontificate era (1615 - 1872 AD), is defined by the Great Schism of 1615, the break of communion between what are now the Levantine Catholic Church and the Imperial Church. The Schism was the culmination of theological and political differences between the traditional (Levantine Catholicism) and the new age of thinking that was permeating Caphirian culture and society as a result of the Dominate era which had developed over the previous centuries. As a result, this era marks the combination of the secular and religious authorities, creating a caesaropapist form of government, which meant emperors were regarded as greater than other mortals, though not quite as deities. As time went on, the identity of the imperatorship with the papacy became less clear and after a peaceful coup, the emperor became recognized more for his legal authority, rather than his religious one.

• The Mandatum era (1872 - present), covers the 18th century to present day. This period can be characterized as the shift from regional hegemon to global superpower. Caphiria played a major role in the Great War, notably as the first nation to use nuclear weaponry. Kiravia and Caphiria emerged as superpowers following the end of the 20th century and has maintained a mostly friendly relationship with it, confronting indirectly during the Space race, proxy wars, and propaganda campaigns.

Prehistoric era

The origins of Caphiria trace back to a geographic region called Latium that encompasses the southern part of Levantia and the northern part of Sarpedon. The region of Latium played a pivotal role in the development of a number of diverse cultural groups and civilizations. The lands of Caphiria were first colonized in a stable manner during the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic by people migrating out of the Latium area and across the Urlazian Sea. These settlements, usually of small dimensions, were generally built on hills and circumscribed with fortifications. The economy of these settlements were mostly based on agro-pastoral activities metallurgy and trades. After a period of considerable uniformity from north to south, the settlements began to show a process of regionalization. Starting around the 15th century BC, new regional tribes such as Adonerii, Pandrian, and the Idauronians began to appear. Although these new tribes shared many similarities with the preceding proto-civilizations, especially funerary customs, they also exhibited their own innovations. For example, Pandrian culture is identified by their hut-shaped burial urns; urns of the Idauronians are plain and biconical, and were buried in a deep shaft. The hut urn is a round or square model of a hut with a peaked roof. The interior is accessed by a door on one of its side. Cremation was practiced as well as burial. The style is distinctive. The hut urns were miniature versions of the huts in which the population lived, although during this period they also developed the use of stone for temples and other public buildings.

By the 14th century BC however, the Adonerii tribe became the prevalent culture and would spread and dominate the region, laying the foundation for the Adonerii civilization. The civilization of the Adonerii, known as Adonerum, was a thalassocracy spread across the partial coastlines of what is now Urcea, Caphiria, Cartadania, and Burgundie. Adonerum was organized into city-states, with each city-state functioning as a politically independent unit; there is no archaeological evidence proving that the Adonerii viewed themselves as a single nationality. Moreover, the Adonerii were primarily united by the use of the Ancient Latinic language. As Adonerum spread further inland through trade and colonization, Latinic city-states such as the Olvucchorso and Lomincori tribes, the Veteraii people, the Herelaosics, and the Kastiasuns would begin to flourish and eventually compete for territory. Despite their frequent internecine wars, the Latinic city-states maintained close culturo-religious relations throughout their history. These typically manifested in the form of complex festivals with highly specific routines. These elaborate rituals had to be performed with absolute precision and, if any procedural mistakes were made, had to be repeated from the start.

Adonerum would reach its peak around the 9th century BC when a confederation of several Latinic city-states formed the Adonerii League. Although there is no consensus on which cities were in the league, Olvucchorso, Lomincori, Vetera, Urceopolis, Toulonium, Portus, Coria, Arelate, Aarteia, Philaridon, Venceia, and Barduli are generally considered to be part of it. The Adonerii League was created primarily for common defense against other Latinic tribes and expansion of trade opportunities. It was governed by a council of local rulers that met infrequently in the city-state of Vetera, which became the de facto capital.. The League was an early example of a "world-economy"; they were among the greatest traders of their time and owed much of their prosperity to trade. At first, this trade was internalized within the league itself but quickly expanded as trading and colonizing spread across the Occidental world. Because of their expansive network of city-states and colonies, the Adonerii were able to trade a wide variety of things: wood, slaves, glass, dyes, textiles, silver, tin, gold, bronze, wine, and more. The Adonerii established commercial outposts throughout the world, many of which still exist today. As Adonerum's wealth and influence continued to grow over the next several centuries, strategically important city-states began to grow their own influence and become more important than the league itself.

The Adonerii League fell into rapid decline in the 7th century BC due to a series of changing climates and natural disasters that destroyed key trading cities and gave rise to other cities that would quickly outgrew the confederacy (particularly Urceopolis and Venceia). The first notable event occurred in 631 when Andromaleos, a submarine volcano in the Urlazian Sea erupted and a catastrophic volcanic eruption with a a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6 wiped out several key cities. Ashfall from Andromaleos choked off nearby plant life, causing starvation of the local population. Some sites were abandoned or settlement systems significantly interrupted in the immediate aftermath of the eruption. As the Adonerii were a sea power and depended on ships for their livelihood, the Andromaleos eruption likely caused significant economic hardship to the League. Several other natural disasters occured over the next century, continuing to negatively impact Adonerum and its ability to recover. By the 600s BC, a series of natural disasters had ruined Vetera and crippled Adonerum which led to a power vacuum and dozens of smaller tribes like the Agaro, Visustrati, and Camplectați broke out for control over the territory. In 570 BC, the Adonerii League was formally dissolved after which time the cities of Levantia formed the new league-state of Great Levantia. Two major city-states emerged as successors to Adonerum: Urceopolis in the north would settle in Levantia and Venceia to the south would settle in Sarpedon.

The coastal city Venceia was established in 814 BC during the golden age of Adonerum after a large Latinic tribe settled in the area. Venceia took advantage of the power vacuum left by the Adonerii civilization, quickly asserting their dominance and became an established city-state, and within a few centuries and had begun colonizing in its own right. After the fall of Adonerum, the city-state of Venceia called themselves Latinic, effectively birthing the Latinic people. The Latinics claimed to be the direct successors to the Adonerii, as they share the same language (the Latin language evolved from Ancient Latinic), ancestry, history, and culture. The Latinic civilization approached colonization differently than their Adonerii predecessors; instead of relying on a network of city-states, they relied on Latinisation, the use of acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations. This strengthened and spread the use of the Latin language and the Latin culture across the Sarpic continent. However, the region was plagued by constant warring factions and this time was marked by chaos and political instability.

This regional instability was exploited by a Latinic general by the name of Lanintius. Lanintius was born in Venceia in 527 BC during a five-year interregnum, during which he was sold several times into slavery. Over the course of his childhood and adolescence, Lanintius participated in numerous conflicts for Venceia. He was a successful military commander and built a loyal bond with the men he fought with. After a failed assassination attempt carried out by Venceia in 502 BC however, Lanintius rallied all of his supporters to pledge their allegiance to him, and that he would rule the future. Lanintius went on a series of decisive battles, sacking numerous towns and cities across the coast. In 493 BC, Lanintius unsuccessfully tried to storm Venceia. He would try two more times between 493 and 491 BC, finally sacking Venceia in 490 BC, at 37 years old. Lanintius spent the next decade continuing to conquer neighboring cities and towns until he had carved out a decently-large chunk of the northern Sarpic coast.

In 480 BC, Lanintius founded the Kingdom of Caphiria.