Report on the Actual History of Novaya

The Report on the Actual History of Novaya, also known as the Report on the Actual History of Novaya IV, was an investigative report commissioned by the federal government of the Novayan Stellar Commonwealth into the actual history of Novaya IV, especially those of the ancient past. This report focuses on the history, culture, religion and so on of each nation and region.
==Novayan Empire==
===Overview===
The Novayan Empire, also known as the Imperium Novayanum and the Novayanisches Kaiserreich, was a militaristic empire spanning from the Novayan continent (otherwise known as Greater Novaya) to the Bloodlands, Sarassa, Minerva, Erastien and Amaterasu. Formed from a collection of ancient city-states in Southern Novaya (both mainland and islands/archipelago), they united to form the early Novayan Empire that would dominate the rest of Novaya IV in a series of wars that later see its transformation into the Greater Novayan Federation and its successor, the Novayan Stellar Commonwealth, and revival as the Greater Novayan Empire of the Novayan Nation as a constituent state.
Initially thought of as a civilizing force of good, preliminary investigations into the Burgundian Horror incident and the discovery of the underground yet still-intact Tower of Atoradas, including a chance encounter within between investigators and armed soldiers and the few remaining inhabitants of the Tower, revealed a darker history of the Novayan Empire. The investigations and encounter also revealed that, contrary to popular beliefs, there existed thaumaturgy and magic throughout before both had been regulated until they were controlled.
The Novayan Empire was a highly-militaristic empire bent on becoming the dominant hegemonic superpower in Novaya IV, before a series of wars, disasters, plagues and instability known as the Crisis of the Third Century forced it into a defensive posture, which would be challenged by the Migration Period and then the Chaos of the Three Centuries, during which a fractured Western Novayan Empire defied all odds through sheer determination and, ironically, adoption of "barbarian" tactics and strategies, equipment and ideas after the Nord, Sud and Alianz (also known as the Nordsudalianz) families launched a coup d'etat against the corrupt emperor and his cronies. Despite having full control over the Western Empire, they were only able to rein in a moderate fraction of the Imperial Novayan military as the rest of it, fully reformed and reorganized, launched a devastating conquest of the Bloodlands that saw the Deluge, reducing the region from a vibrant land of various cultures to a desolate ruin that would take a few centuries to recover.
During the Migration Period and the Chaos of the Three Centuries, the Western Novayan Empire had been fractured to the point it now consisted only of the entirety of the Southern Novayan mainland and islands, but there existed a few rump states that managed to survive both, and later became constituent states in the resurgent Novayan Empire. The Kingdom of Spania was led by a magister militum who would later become military governor of Spania, while the Kingdom of Soissons was led by Aegidius, then Syagrius and lastly Syagria, the latter of whom concluded an alliance with the barbarians in order to ensure the continuation of the Western Empire. Both reunited with the resurgent Western Empire, though only after Spania became a hereditary military governorship and Soissons was affirmed as a feudal monarchy within the empire itself.
===Government===
The independent city-states of Southern Novaya were led by individual kings, generals and clergymen who hold divine right over their peoples. After their unification into the early Novayan Empire, it became a monarchy that was initially elective before it would become a semi-elective, semi-hereditary monarchy due to the fact many Novayan emperors (called aautokratirs, with female ones called aautokratias) were more known to be overthrown by power-hungry politicians, military leaders and so on; seven of these emperors were politicians, military leaders, soldiers or even religious priests who did so to reform the empire. It was only during the Crisis of the Third Century that the Novayan Empire would see the rise of an emperor backed by his or her legions, as well as politicians and priests who supported them.
The Chaos of the Three Centuries had furthered this modus operandi, except that it is a militarization of the Western Empire. Due to this, the line between civilian and military infrastructures had blurred to the point it is maintained by the military; the result led to the establishment of a new aristocracy that was formed from the provision of territories to legionary officers and soldiers as rewards in exchange for military services. In contrast, the Eastern Empire had stratified its civilian and military infrastructures and, after having reformed its government, laws and legislature, saw the legal coronation of its eastern emperor. Regardless, the two empires would unify under an emperor of the Nordsudalianz family line and, while having integrated the Eastern Empire's reforms into the Western Empire, had granted local aristocrats the right to create their own armies.
During the Migration Period and the Chaos of the Three Centuries, rump states of the Western Novayan Empire were led not by emperors but rather military leaders. The Kingdom of Spania was led by a magister militum whose family formed a line of military leaders who would become hereditary military governors of Spania. The Kingdom of Soissons was founded and led by Aegidius, who was succeeded by his son Syagrius. He would later be succeeded by his youngest daughter, Syagria, who not only became the first female leader of Soissons but the first to conclude an alliance with the barbarians to Soissons' north and northeast and the first to become the pontifex maxima of the Soissonian imperial cult. Spania was administered via a militarized feudal monarchy or a hereditary stratocratic monarchy and after reunification a hereditary military governorship; Soissons, on the other hand, remain a feudal monarchy (with obvious trappings of an imperial cult) even after reunification with Syagria at the helm.
===Military===
The Imperial Novayan military was a tax-funded standing force of the Novayan Empire, consisting of the Imperial army and the Imperial navy. The Novayan military saw involvement in a number of revolts and wars, as well as events like the Crisis of the Third Century and the Chaos of the Three Centuries. The Chaos of the Three Centuries and the Holy Wars were more notable, especially the latter as the Novayan Empire had to effectively reorganize its military and adapt new strategies and doctrines necessary to organize a proper military response.
Cross-comparisons between the militaries of the Novayan Empire, Roman and Byzantine Empires, and Aversarinas Aautokrata reveal a clear outline of the former's military structure, especially the army. The Imperial Novayan army was home to the imperial legions, who by now had been divided into different categories:
*Company Legions (Legio Comitatensis) - legions that serve as imperial field armies and retinues for any Novayan leader
*Governorial Legions (Legio Kyvernis) - legions that swore loyalty to and led by governors and act as a balance for the power of the emperors
*Heroic Legions (Legio Heprasitosiac) - legions that consisted mostly of mercenaries and then later citizens, barbarians, slaves and soldiers
*Noble Legions (Legio Kratoxon) - legions that swore loyalty to feudal rulers and noble dynasties, is considered the most numerous of the Novayan legions and the most disparate in both size and quality
*State Legions (Legio Politesron) - legions that swear loyalty to the emperor, is the most elite military force as well as the most smallest but the most competent
*Thematic Legions (Legio Themata) - provincial legions that follow the orders of the legon and tasked with ensuring security throughout the empire
After the Chaos of the Three Centuries, the Imperial legions were expanded to be able to administer the newly-conquered/acquired imperial territories, such as the Bloodlands after its Deluge in an attempt to deprive the Novayans of territories ripe for exploitation. These legions consisted of the following:
*Bloodlander Legions (Legio Sanguinarias) - legions established to occupy the Bloodlands, consisted of surviving Bloodlanders and then imperial legionaries sent to occupy and settle
*Sagittarian Legions (Legio Sagittarias) - legions established to occupy Sagittarius, a vast region in Greater Novaya most known for its steppes, rough terrain and mountainous and hilly areas, and consisted of Chirono-Novayans and Chirons
===Society===
====Culture====
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====Religion====
Before the chance encounter at Atoradas in Eon-U 5SB144, the Novayan Empire was said to have founded the Gnostikisimos, Orthodoxitos and Nea Gnostikisimos Aagiokratias. Somnambulistic and thaumaturgical recording of memory-laden blood within the Tower of Atoradas' Reservoir had revealed to be a lie, one fabricated to make it look like the Cult of the Loop had existed before its actual appearance during/after the Great Persecution.
Before the rise of the Novayan Empire, there existed a number of faiths and religions that predominated Greater Novaya, Erastien, Sarassa, and later Amaterasu, the Bloodlands and Minerva. After its rise, most or all pagan religions were allowed to exist so long as they pay their taxes. In the Novayan Empire, various sanctioned and unsanctioned cults existed. One such unsanctioned cult was the Cult of the Loop (called Cult of the Eternal Worm at the time), which practiced doctrines seen as esoteric and distinct but otherwise left alone; it was this cult that would spring to become the dominant faith in the Void and, in a way unbeknownst even to the Novayans and others, the first to condemn the Great Persecution and its perpetrators by adopting the doctrines, rites and practices of many religions, especially Christianity, Islam and Hellenism.
By the 3rd century (somewhere in the 300s) or perhaps during the Migration Period and/or the Chaos of the Three Centuries, it was speculated that the various sanctioned and unsanctioned cults would be dissolved or reorganized into a major religion. After somnambulistic readings, it was later revealed that almost all or most of the cults did merge into the Novayanas Aagiokratia in the 100s in order to legitimize the Novayan emperor's divine ancestry; these cults, led by a Novayan imperial cult, would develop into cults for different gods, heroes and villains, and even the various imperial families.
Prior to the formation of the Novayanas Aagiokratia, the Novayan imperial cult was a cult where it had identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas). Led by a pontifex maximus/maxima (who may or may not be the emperor/empress), the official offer of cultus to a living emperor acknowledged their office and rule as divinely approved and constitutional: their Principate should therefore demonstrate pious respect for traditional Novayan deities and mores. A deceased emperor held worthy of the honor could be voted a state divinity (divus, plural divi) by the Senate and elevated as such in an act of apotheosis. The granting of apotheosis served religious, political and moral judgment on Imperial rulers and allowed living emperors to associate themselves with a well-regarded lineage of Imperial divi from which unpopular or unworthy predecessors were excluded.
The imperial cult was inseparable from that of Novaya's official deities, whose cult was essential to Rome's survival and whose neglect was therefore treasonous. The imperial cult would later lead the other cults into becoming the Novayanas Aagiokratia, which contain Novaya's gods as well as the gods of other religions. Ironically, the name would be taken by a Novayan sect of the Cult of the Loop while the name's original holder would become the Novayan Imperial Aagiokratia in the aftermath of the Great Persecution; this name change was the result of the Novayan emperor-in-exile (who resides in the old imperial palace in Morales at the time) being thoroughly disgusted alongside his other cultists at seeing the Novayan Stellar Commonwealth's fear-based persecution of every members of the Old Faiths and then dissidents, rebels, revolters and uprisers.
==Kingdom of Atoradas==
===Overview===
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===Government===
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===Military===
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===Society===
====Culture====
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====Religion====
==Holy Kingdom of Minerva==
===Overview===
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===Government===
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===Military===
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===Society===
====Culture====
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====Religion====
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==Locations of Interest==
===Greater Novaya===
Greater Novaya is the generally accepted name for the continent (especially the western, central and northern regions) that contain the realms of Novaya, the various Bloodlander nations, and multiple barbarian tribes and independent city-states. Dominated by Novaya for much of its histories, the continent in the western vernacular has gradually been named after them, though many cultures retain their own terms for the area. The generally accepted boundaries of Greater Novaya are the lands of the Bloodlands northwest of Novaya, the eastern border of Sarassa, and the mass expanses of wilderness and mountains to the far northeast.
Greater Novaya is home to the Novayan Empire, a militaristic human society bearing similarities to the Roman Empire and Aversarinas Aautokrata, especially the former. Once a collection of independent city-states located in Southern Novaya, they united into the ancient empire that eventually conquered and colonized what would become Greater Novaya. They later expanded to Erastien, Sarassa, Amaterasu, Minerva and the Bloodlands; Novayan presence in the Bloodlands were miniscule yet militarized, in comparison to its limited presence in Erastien.
The Migration Period had seen the empire divided into the Western and Eastern Empires, with the latter reforming while the former stagnating and reduced to its Southern and Central Novayan territories and rump states such as the Kingdom of Spania and the Kingdom of Soissons. The Chaos of the Three Centuries saw the revitalized Western Novayan Empire conquer the Bloodlands (though it colonized it after the Deluge), reunify with the Eastern Novayan Empire, integrate Sagittarius and Minerva into its imperial territory, and conquer Amaterasu and large sections of Erastien. After the 10th century did the continent was generally accepted as mainly Greater Novaya.
Results of the Greater Novaya History Investigation and Resolution Commission: A mass-production of history textbooks in light of the report was authorized, and the first million textbooks were distributed throughout the Greater Novayan Empire and its thirteen reichskommissariats.
===The Bloodlands===
The Bloodlands, or the Land of the Bloodfolks, was a region located to the north and northwest of the Novayan Empire which would later become the administrative entity named Reichskommissariat Burgund. Named after the blood-faith cultures known as the Bloodlanders, it is home to a variety of religions and cultures, of which the largest majority is the Bloodlanders. The Bloodlanders were most known for their use of blood magic, though rare cases of blood sacrifices had been indeed committed by a few fanatics due to the region's total ban on such horrific rituals. While there existed many civilizations, the most notable were the Kingdom of Atoradas, the Empire of Greater Valash-Jeldis, the Fehl-Scharuv Union, the Kingdom of Malkov-Saradhiszh, the Province-State of Opralis Khashzhdahl, and the Kingdom of Qeru.
Of all these Bloodlander nations, the Kingdom of Atoradas was the most well-understood, with much of their history preserved in the blood of each individual Atoradian who spilled a pint of blood within the Reservoir of the Tower of Atoradas. Atoradas was also the most magically-advanced as its unique form of blood magic allows one to preserve their memories in their blood. This characteristic of preserving memory was unique and distinct from other Bloodlander cultures, who were otherwise known for their exhaustive recordkeeping.
The Bloodlanders were most known to be hostile due to being aggressed by the Novayan Empire, which culminated in the Novayan-Bloodlander War that lasted until the Chaos of the Three Centuries, during which the Bloodlands began rapidly falling upon the Novayan Empire's attempt at a magical attack despite the Nordsudalianz family's refusal to use it. The resulting failure caused eldritch monsters to appear throughout the Bloodlands, Greater Novaya, Erastien, Minerva and Sagittarius as well as a thaumaturgical and magical devastation of the Bloodlands. Not willing to be slaughtered, the Bloodlanders evacuated the few remaining peoples to places and unleashed the Deluge, which consisted of a few weeks of falling rocks, natural disasters wrecking havoc and a great flood that wiped out the Bloodlands.
As a result of the Deluge, the Bloodlands was buried under sand, dirt, rocks and water, and in the process infertile. A bleak landscape, the Novayan Empire colonized the former Bloodlands and established frontier bases, outposts and colonies that would see the establishment of Reichskommissariat Burgund. The surviving Bloodlanders were integrated into Novayan society, but the large minority would settle in places throughout Burgundy nominally considered unreachable to preserve their histories, cultures and religions.
Results on the Bloodlands Investigation and Rehabilitation Commission: The Bloodlands' underground cities, towns and villages would be excavated and artifacts related to the Bloodlanders' past preserved in museums throughout the various Bloodlander autonomous zones. As part of the Bloodlands Investigation and Rehabilitation Commission's efforts to restore Bloodlander identity, a number of autonomous regions and provinces were established to allow Bloodlander cultures to grow again within the confines of Burgund. The Atoradian Autonomous Zone, centered around the excavated and restored Tower of Atoradas, would become home to the Bloodlander Council.
Also as part of the Bloodlands Investigation and Rehabilitation Commission, prejudices against the use of blood magic would be eventually combated as propaganda efforts focus on its original purposes: the preservation and via-touch usage of memories in blood, its use for healing, and the ability to identify diseases. New reservoirs similar to the one at the Tower of Atoradas were also being built up to store pints of memory-laden blood while the cryptic unfinished tomes left by the other Bloodlander nations were being finished to allow the "stored" Bloodlanders to return and integrate into modern society.
An operation is ongoing to awaken the Scarlet King who slumber underneath the Tower of Atoradas to allow HIM to guide HIS people once more.
===Sagittarius===
Sagittarius, meaning the Land of the Star Peoples, is the name of a massive region located in central, northern, northwestern and northeastern Greater Novaya. It was inhabited by the Chirons, otherwise known as Sagittarians or Star Peoples, human cultures who worship Chiron or Sagittarius, their namesake goddess of astrology, astronomy, wisdom, healing and hunting.
Located in central, northern, northwestern and northeastern Greater Novaya, Sagittarius consisted of vast steppes, rough terrain and mountainous and hilly terrain. Many of the Chirons reside in the forested and mountainous terrains, though some could be found wandering throughout Sagittarius, especially its steppes. The Chirons themselves were known for their involvement in astrology, astronomy, wisdom, healing and hunting, and they were either solitary or nomadic. What is known in Chironic society is that for each village there is a tutor who is a theologian in the Chironic faith.
Despite being peaceful, the Sagittarians were more notable for their horses, which were known to move quickly while also being sturdy. The Novayan Empire's attempts at pacifying the massive region were defeated time after time due to the swiftness of the Chironic forces laying down arrow fire and then trampling them. The constant military defeats forced the Novayan Empire to adapt, culminating in the first defeats inflicted upon the Chirons, who had otherwise made such defeats pyrrhic victories for even the Novayans to accept. Eventually, the Novayan Empire was forced to adhere to a peace deal. It took almost a century for Novaya to recover from its pyrrhic victories, this time with the intent of making treaties that would allow the Novayans to establish settlements throughout southern Sagittarius. This allowed the Novayan Empire to recruit the first Sagittarian legions who served with greater distinction.
Through trade and interactions between Novayans and Chirons and the establishment of colonies, three-sevenths of Sagittarius would be Novayanized while the rest remain Chironic territory. Eventually, the peoples of Sagittarius would take cues from their Novayan and Novayano-Sagittarian neighbors and adapt their towns and cities to be similar yet distinct. Because of the nature of Sagittarius, Novayan and Novayano-Sagittarians would wander the massive region like how the nomadic Chirons did. The Sagittarian steppes would later become host to horse competitions to see which horse is the fastest. Chironic astronomy, healing and wisdom, known to be more advanced, would later be inherited by the Novayans and Novayano-Sagittarians.
The Crisis of the Third Century, the Great Migration Period and the Chaos of the Three Centuries had seen the Chirons expanding their villages, towns and cities into what would become the first Sagittarian kingdoms. Though styled after the Novayans and then barbarians who came into Sagittarius, the Chironic kingdoms had no trouble raising armies of their own due to the lack of tax-funded standing armies as well as the fact they need no money and instead trade their goods for anything. Only after the Chaos of the Three Centuries did the Chironic kingdoms adopt standing armies, albeit ones that were still landed.
The Sagittarian kingdoms included Sagittarius, Chironia, Northwest Point, Astrofengia, Center Point, East Point, Lampsi-Asteriou, Starfall, Peftasteri, Avgerinos, Astrikiptosi, Asteriargeleiou and Lampero-Asteri.
Results of the Sagittarius Investigation Commission: The lack of the Chirons' and/or the region's presence in the history books was due to the humility the Chirons expressed themselves. Interviews with a number of Chirons and Novayano-Sagittarians revealed that their modesty and humility was the cause for their lack of presence, and felt that while they should be included they would not even glorify it; it was also revealed that they historically asked the Novayan emperor not to, saying they would want to be unnoticed.
As part of rehabilitation efforts, Sagittarius would be divided into a number of autonomous zones based on the names of their ancient kingdoms.
===Minerva===
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===Atlantis===
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===Amaterasu===
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===Erastien===
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