New Ardmore: Difference between revisions

The northern isles of the Ardmori Archipelago began to be incorporated into the Ardmori kingdom after it attained independence in 1004. By the late 11th century, Garán Gaelic settlers from Ardmore had completely displaced the Gothic population that had preceded them.

In early mediæval times, the northern isles of Ardmore were widely considered a backwater within a backwater. The land was divided among small clan-based chiefdoms with undemarcated boundaries. It was common for clansmen to conduct raids along the Calinthian and Urcean seacoasts to capture livestock using {{wp|longships}}. By the 900s AD, however, raids against the Levantine mainland fell by the wayside as Ardmori violence turned inward and clans increasingly fought one another over territory. This prompted construction of the first proper castles and spurred the adoption of Levantine norms of land tenure and knighthood.

Early modernity saw the Kingdom as a whole rise as a maritime, commercial, and colonial power. The northern isles, however, remained a backwater and saw few direct benefits from the growth of the Ardmori Empire. Many northerners, especially landless younger sons of crofters, did participate in the expansion of the empire as sailors, soldiers, and pioneers, leaving their homes in large numbers for the exotic climes of Crona. Whether they found their fortunes or met their maker in these far-off lands, few who left would return. For those who stayed behind, the northern isles would remain impoverished, agrarian, and isolated.