Malentina: Difference between revisions

With the help of a small number of archaeological findings within on the islands it is believed that the cultural history of the malentine peoples date back to around 1600 BC. Very little is known about this period, especially as the islands have both geological and geopolitical reasons causing a severe lack of research into this distant history. Most of what is known about Malentina's early history is connected to the North Songun Civilization, whose records first mention the islands and their peoples as early as 700 BC.

When the traders of the North Songun first encountered the islanders they were noted for their excellent navigation, using well crafted canoes, as well as fishing expertise. What likely drew the traders attention most however would be the wealth mainly displayed through an abundance of pearls. These pearls were one of the first things that the North Songun would start to trade an at latest around 500 BC. The first larger settlements would be established on the islands by 350 BC, slowly melding the tribal native peoples into the larger North Songun civilization. Many records consider Malentina to first really exist as a civilized entity around the 400-200 BC period, although modern scholars largely disagree on the subject.

=== Songunese Civilization ===

Although starting of as a group of smaller colonial city-states trading and cooperating with the various island tribes Malentina would grow to be one of the most significant regions of the North Songun, especially at the time when their larger civilization was starting to collapse. Most importantly for modern scholars Malentina sources proved vital in describing events during the collapse, as few scholars of the other regions remained to record these events.

For the period between 400 BC to 100 BC the islands were mostly just trade posts at the edge of the much greater states of the mainland. The main purpose of these trading post would prove to be what drove Malentina to become a well developed region rather than just a series of small cities. Cities along the western coast would serve as the centers of trade between the great cities of the north and the various settlements to the south of the islands. This slow rise would quickly scale up significantly in the 3rd and 4th century AD, as the expansive lands of what is today [[Tierrador]] would grow to be much more stable and lucrative to tradesmen.

 

 

Large-scale war causes significant devastation, tribal mercenaries rebel and conquer some of the cities, causing a division between the coastal city-states and the traditional natives.

 

In the end things calm down, leading to new era of prosperity.

 

New silver age for Malentina, as it is united as one great alliance for the first time in history around the year 1040. A loosely connected league of the seven most powerful cities, representing the seven largest cultural groups of the islands, even including most of the indigenous peoples.

The era of prosperity ends, ironically by slowly making Malentina the center of the North Songun, even if only for a time. Over the course of 200 years, starting near the end of the 13th century, the arrival of the Arzali would drive the mainland states to collapse. During this time the trade flowing across the seas would slowly dwindle, but besides that Malentina would be relatively unaffected by what would prove to be the slow death of an entire civilization.

 

 

By the early 1500's, the mainland was in ruins and the first attempts at raiding the islands were made by the new Arzali invaders. These proved to mostly be a failure, as the warrior tribes of the islands proved themselves a tough foe. These efforts would cause the islanders to grow much more militarized again, which would prove to be a far more dangerous threat to the seven cities than the invaders.

==== Era of Isolation ====

The Arzali were not quick to give up however, numerous raids were attempted over the next century, with only a few proving even partially successful.

At this time the seven cities considered themselves the final North Songun state, although an alternative view also started to grow. The idea that they are rather the successors to the greater Songunese civilization, and that they should reclaim the former heartlands. These efforts are believed to have been lead mainly by those who had fled the very lands they now wished to reconquer.  

The many migrants who often referred to the islands as the Haven (transl?) would add to a growing problem on the islands. Although the seven cities depicted themselves as united, they had always been more of a loose collection of alliances than any central power. The pressure to centralize these states, together with the pressure to militarize especially by utilizing the warrior tribes even as these warriors found themselves more and more separate from the cities they fought for, as many new peoples arrived to the islands causing cultural and social unrest. It all reached a boiling point in the early 17th century. An event that would be referred to as the "Crisis of the twelve", which would lead to what one famous scholar of the time would refer to in some of his final writings as "The Fall of the Havens".

A series of smaller revolts and notorious cultural clashes would result in the creation of the Great Council around 1616, who would bring forth all of the issues currently being faced by the league and seek solutions through large-scale reforms decided on by the ruling class. This great council would prove a great failure however, as a large series of errors and miscommunications would slowly descend the islands into chaos, slowly escalating towards discriminate violence between different groups.

 

 

The final result of this time of trouble was what many consider the final end of the North Songunese civilization, as the people who escaped the heartlands are believed to have died out almost completely and the cities that first connected the island natives to the surrounding civilizations were reduced to a fragment of their former selves. Of the seven cities only two remained anything more than ruins. It is estimated that at least two thirds of the islands population died out in less than 100 years. It is around this time that the islands would see their first settlers on the eastern coast, peoples from a land far distant from theirs. The first cartadanian explorers visited the island in 1689, arriving on the now nearly deserted east coast that had always been the backwater of the island.  

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