Miabarosia

Miabarosia is a city in the Daradaela region of the Ousilia valley in Carasala. The area was first settled in pre-historic times by indiginous people of the valley, but a permanent settlement did not exist at the site of Miabarosia until 302 NE, when the city was founded by Ousilic Rigini speaking peoples as Miabrauziae. The city was conquered by Noulaenic forces in 439 and became a county seat, though it was later demoted to a township. It has also been the capital of a kingdom known as Daradaela on several occasions. Today it is the capital of the Faleic Imperial Province of Daradaela and has a population of 59,000.

## Etymology

The name derives from the Miabaro Rivier, which was named Miabrau (lit. "bright") in Ousilic Rigini (O.R.). The city sits at the confluence of the Miabrau and Doucusa Rivers and was an important trading and watering location for travelers in the valley, as the Doucusa River itself was already heavily polluted by the time Miabrauziae was founded and the cleaner Miabrau River provided a source of good drinking water. The clarity of the water is likely the origin of its name.

Local sources apply an incorrect etymology claiming that Miabrauziae was the name of an ancient settlement in the area founded by the mythic hero Miabaroma (O.R. Miabraumai) during the Age of Heroes and that the modern settlement and the river are both named after this fictional ancient settlement, which was supposedly destroyed in ancient times. There are ruins of an ancient temple and mausoleum near Miabarosia, which are attributed as evidence of the ancient city, but there is no evidence the settlement was known as Miabrauziae or had any relation to Miabaroma. Miabraumai and the Miabrau river share a common etymological origin but this is merely a coincidence. The origin of the root (O.R. *miabrau*) is not known to most locals the Ousilic Rigini language is extinct in Ousilia and its closest relatives (Ialini and Imarini) are not well known by most people in the area, so most locals are familiar with the name of the legendary hero Miabaroma but not the origin of that name.

## History

Native hunter-gatherers hunted in the Miabaro River region in ancient times and the area around Miabarosia was frequently used for camps, especially in winter months when the comparatively warm water of the Doucusa was preferable to the frigid Miabaro. The area was among the first to be over-run with Rigini speaking pastoralists in the 10th century BNE and the local populace has the highest percentage of ethnic Faleic ancestry outside of the Falea, as evidenced by the high number of red-haired individuals. Red hair is a recessive trait rare outside of Falea but historically nearly universal among ethnic Faleics.

Ancient Rigini peoples built settlements along Miabaro fords as watering stops and camps, but didn't build a settlement at the confluence with the Doucusa. Ruins of a small settlement, including a temple and mausoleum, are present 1 km away from Miabarosia and are inaccurately claimed to be ruins of an ancient city with the same name. These ruins date to the 5th century BNE and were abandoned after an attack on the village in the second century BNE.

Miabarosia (then Miabrauziae) was founded in 302 NE and served primarily as a watering spot. Heavy agricultural runoff from the upper course of the Doucusa river had rendered the river nearly undrinkable in the western Ousilic region by this time and ferries carrying fresh water from the Miabaro sold fresh water to herders moving along the main transit route along the north shore of the Doucusa.

Miabrauziae was conquered following a heavily lopsided battle against the Imperial Noulaenic Army, which had marched into Ousilia after its conquest of Falea, in 439 NE. The city's name was retained but Noulaenicized as Miabarosia. Noulian installed a garrison in the city and constructed a large fortress across the Miabrau starting in 441 NE, which included a fortified bridge across the river that ran past the north tower of the fortress, but made few other changes to the city.

The city was made the county seat of Doucusada Country when the county was created in 445 NE, where it remained until it was moved to the fortress city of Bincaraelaen in 585 NE. Due to concern about the possibility of further Faleic unrest after the Faleic Rebellion of 545, the city was walled in 549 NE and improvements to the castle were completed in 550 NE. The western Ousilia region, which first became known as Daradaela during this time, was relatively peaceful and benefited from open trade passing along the Doucusa River during the first empire.

In the 760s NE unfounded rumors began to circulate that Noulian was planning a forced resettlement of Daradaela in order to provide farmland for Noulaenic Army veterans, as the empire had previously done with farmland in Dersialdara. The county government attempted to calm the area and defuse the rumors but unrest became widespread. Following news of the Battle of Sedacarias in 764 NE, a peasant rebellion broke out throughout Ousilia and rebel sympathizers threw open the gates of Miabarosia to the rebels in 765 NE, forcing the Noulaenic garrison to retreat to the fortress across the river. The fortress was surrendered as well in 767 NE, as the garrison was starving and eventually realized that no force was coming to relieve them.

The rebels failed to take Bincaraelaen and fell into infighting over territory. The rebel leader in Miabarosia, Miathothios Noufal, declared himself King of Ousilia, but there were several other claimants to that title. A treaty was eventually agreed to in 768 NE with the leaders of forces in Bincaraelaen and Fasdaela to divide the central and western Ousilic region into three kingdoms, with Miabarosia becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Daradaela.

Daradaela became impoverished during the inter-imperial period and the state fell into a system of feudal subsistence agriculture with most peasants reduced to serfdom. The government invested heavily in defensive fortifications, leaving few funds available for other concerns. The old Noulaenic fortress was improved further and built into a castle, with a court and palace for the Kings of Daradaela.

Daradaela submitted to imperial lordship under the Second Noulaenic Empire in 1222. By this time, Bincaraelaen and Fasdaela had already swore fealty to the emperor and threatened Daradaela's eastern frontier. An incursion from the Faleic Kingdom of Caladafalea into Daradaela that began in 1221 threatened Daradaelic territorial integrity as the invaders reached as far as the Dasbal River. The last king of the inter-imperial Daradaelic kingdom, King Sarasis II, negotiated a treaty with the empire. Under the treaty, Daradaela received gold, arms, 2,500 imperial troops, and guarantees of preferential rates for the sale of Daradaelic grain to Dersialdara. The empire received an oath of fealty from Sarasis, guarantees of duty-free transit of imperial trade convoys, and guarantees of annual tax payments to the county government in Bincaraelaen, the provincial government in Carisilaen, and and the imperial government in Noulian. Daradaela was able to drive the invaders out of its territory with imperial assistance and regained control of its territories.

The king accepted a demotion to the role of viscount under the agreement and legally Miabarosia became a township as the county seat remained in Bincaraelaen. Formally the Viscount of Daradaela owed fealty to the Count of Doucusada and Duke of Carasala but in practices the viscounts in Miabarosia paid little heed to those lords and continued to rule over the former territories of Daradaela as monarchs.

Daradaela prospered during the second imperial period and Miabarosia became a wealthy trading port. The city reached its maximum population of 212,000 in 1740 NE, prior to the Plague of 1741. The plague destabilized the Ousilia region, however, and regional conflicts between lords became more pronounced during the 18th and 19th centuries, however, and the region began to experience decline in trade and wealth. The Viscounts of Daradaela began to flout imperial decrees and tax duties, especially after the Battle of Bincaraelaen in 1812.

Daradaela remained an imperial territory in name only for several centuries, primarily due to its continued reliance on imperial trade. After Falea broke from the empire in 2054 NE, however, trade duties were again imposed along the Doucusa and the last lord to claim the title Viscount of Daradaela, Viscount Soulsis, decided that it was pointless to remain in the increasingly toothless empire and declared himself King Soulsis II of the renewed Kingdom of Daradaela in 2057. Daradaela. Other Ousilic lords soon followed and the region became divided into rival kingdoms once more.

Daradaela suffered from dwindling trade along the Doucusa more than other kingdoms which had better over-land trade routes and Miabarosia became impoverished once more, with most of its residents forced to migrate to the fields in search of work. By 2300 NE, the population of Miabarosia was just 12,000 and most of the residents resided in the boundary of what had once been the Noulaenic fortress.

Miabarosia was besieged by Faleic Imperial forces in 2311 and the last king, King Miasosis IX, surrendered the city and kingdom in 2312. Under the terms of his surrender he abdicated and married his daughter to a Faleic prince, who became duke of the new Faleic province of Daradaela. The city remains in Faleic hands and the province is still reigned from the court in the castle at Miabarosia.

The regions economy has improved somewhat under Faleic control as Falea has dramatically increased import of grain from Daradaela and shipments moving down the Doucusa have increased. The recent food crisis in the Tozari empire has led to a spike in the price of grain, increasing the profitability of export and creating a surge in travel and trade passing through Miabarosia.