From the Ashes: The Nations of Raq

From the Ashes: The Nations of Raq is a historical tome recovered from Camp Dekhaanoc.

## Description

Bound in red leather and weathered by the ravaging sands in which the book was found, From the Ashes appears to detail one of the ancient realms of Ahlus and its eventual demise - as well as the nations that were created with its collapse.

## Research

### Completed by Ronan

One of the first nations to rise after the time known as Aita's Second Gift, the Empire of Raq was the first true superpower in Ahlus, its territory extending from the western edge of the Ironfangs at the border with the Realm of Anorcor to the peninsula of Diamond Dance in eastern Tourmalini'i. Few could truly contest the might wielded by Ivory Emperor Rakim Nur-Ayya, but the scale of the domain made central rule challenging, so extensive uses of satraps throughout the Realm would prove necessary, placing a great deal of intrarealm strain as the subregions squabbled and bickered through petty skirmishes. The Empire of Raq had been built upon hundreds of miles of fertile grasslands, its coasts forested and ripe with sturdy timber and with that the neighbouring realms grew covetous. One such interested party were the House of Allaire, the rulers of the Realm of Tulis at that time and in 848AG they marched west towards and then through the Ironfangs with a large invasion force bolstered by reinforcements from Lienia and Stranere, seizing territories that would amount to just over a third of the realm by the end of the three year campaign.

But the inevitable collapse would not come as a result of the House of Allaire, but rather more humble, if not seemed mystical, origins. Supposedly granted a vision in the dark of tunnels winding, a miner would throw down his pick and instead turn upon his masters, wielding magical abilities previously unseen. Men resolute screamed themselves to death in the night and any that attempted to cut him down found themselves crushed into the dusty cobbles by hands of great unstoppable force. The more learned have since mused that the miner surely located the vessel of a genie of some sort, on account of the sudden development of powers, but in time even this would falter. Having served the purpose intended, the being behind these talents cast him aside, claiming another and another, stirring rebellion and dissent across Tulisian-occupied Raq. Eventually, an injured military general, left blinded from the wars when Tulis first invaded was regranted his sight in exchange for servitude. The man that would become the Sultan Igmilum of Aaydda would cause the fracturing of the Empire of Raq, forcing Tulisian administrators out and prompting immediate civil war and struggles over dominion of the lands of the Ivory Emperors. Following the revolutions, the Empire of Raq would splinter and break, forming the realms of Ironfangs and the Shifting Dunes - Ra-Larara, Ra-Galthe & Nidaynia, and the lands of Tourmalini'i - Tviatin & Aaydda - as well as neighbouring Tulis.

With the fall of the Empire of Raq, central Ahlus collapsed into chaos. The newly-formed mountain realm of Nidaynia, having thrown off the chains of both the rule of Raq and the Tulisian occupation now sought to expand their territory, pushing south and coming into conflict with the forces stationed on the northeastern fringes by the Rose Throne of Gawylthlan. Elsewhere, the realms that would eventually become Ra-Larara and Ra-Galthe would war with each other, while the Duchies of Tynd attempted (and largely failed) to tame the jungle lands that would come to be known as Tviatin. At the Battle of White Mountain in the southeastern Ironfangs the strength of Nidaynia would find themselves at an impasse with the Gawylthlian armies, before finally achieving a pyrrhic victory against the soldiers of King Byron VIII Tawnbert. The Rose Throne of Gawylthlan had ruled over the minor nation of Astedia since the Siege of Esterving was broken with assistance from the Eventide League in 766AG some hundred years prior, but with the military might of The Slate-Stone Kingdom shattered by the equally devastated dragonriders of Nidaynia, the newfound opportunities of the coming years would allow the people of Astedia to rise up once more.