Najaran Empire

The Najaran Empire is a human empire that encompasses the Red Peaks, the Red Valley, and stretching down to the coast of the Upper Maw. The Empire was founded in 0 NA by thirteen native human chieftains, whose bloodlines would later be known as the Princes of Najar. Guided by the influence of the Demon-God Navillus, the Princes quickly unified the Red Peaks and the valley below and within a century built five legendary cities and forged one of the greatest empires of the Cycle.

## History

### Age of Savagery

Prior to the Immolation, the humans of the Red Valley were a race of savage and cannibalistic hunters. Barely tribal, they lived in isolated pockets in the Red Peaks and in the valley below. Ever at war, they brutalized each and lived in fear of the great volcano that rose above the peaks, ever trembling and belching black smoke high into the sky.

It was not long before they began to worship it as an angry and vengeful god above all else. Control of the volcano and the catacombs below it pulled humanity ever into a constant state of war. Human sacrifice en masse to the volcano was common practice.

Over time the myriad small human groups began to merge and would eventually solidify into fourteen great tribes. While their warring never ceased nor their battles to control the great volcano, the stability provided a chance for the development of primitive agriculture and culture.

### The Immolation

The great volcano began to rumble and shake as never before. Earthquakes and tremors were felt as far as the Metal Tiers and the plains of the Lower Maw. The sky was blackened by a thick smoke and so it was that the volcano erupted spewing lava down its slopes and setting the Red Valley aflame beneath a rain of flaming ruin.

The chieftains of mankind united and journeyed into the catacombs beneath the volcano ready to sacrifice themselves to their god for the sins of their peoples. Deep below the surface they witnessed the world-birth of the Navillus entity as it forced itself into Gurutama.

The chieftains and Navillus formed a covenant under the volcano, save for one of the chieftains who fled from the catacombs. The remaining chiefs accepted Navillus as the volcano made flesh and their rightful god and gladly accepted the salvation it offered from the savagery of the human reality.

### First Empire

Using the knowledge of Navillus to fuel their growth, the humans of the Red Valley who now called themselves the Najarn quickly and efficiently established an empire the Northern Maw, stretching from the Western Red Peaks to the new city of Farpoint in the East.

#### Early Empire

Within a century, the human chieftains transformed their peoples into the Najaran Empire. They built five enormous cities, known as the Najaran Quintet, the jewel of which was the city of Najar nestled at the base of the great volcano and at the entrance to the catacombs. They established trade routes with the Metal Dwarves to the West and with the Merfolk in the center of the Maw. Clever, ambitious, and unchallenged, the Najarns developed a decadent and lavish culture rich in art and tradition and supported by a growing population of enslaved humans.

Seeking to expand ever outward, they built the city of Cynelle on their coast and the city of Hykma in the Southeast corner of the Maw. The young cities grew quickly under the imperial guidance of the empire.

Within two centuries of contact with the Metal Tiers, relations grew cold as the Western Dwarves slowly severed ties with the young Najaran empire, while making ever greater demands that the Najarn make sweeping cultural and religious changes. Communications ground to a halt in the early third century NA.

#### The Ice War

Ever aware of the Grez-Wraiths to the North and the expanding ice, the Najarn began to militarize. They had long ago abandoned the primitive tactics and militarism of their forefathers, so for the first time the Najarn recruited and trained soldiers. The Najarn excelled in archery and bolstered their indirect tactics with horses from the Plains of the Pure. So equipped, they defended the Red Peaks from the Grez and pushed back the ice with their shamanistic pyromancers empowered by the Black Prince Navillus. The threat hardened the decadent empire and during this period the first empire reached its height, serving for later generations as the model for high Najaran culture.

#### The Invasion and Collapse

Wary of Navillus and the ambition Najarn, the dwarves of the Metal Tiers launched an invasion of the Upper Maw. The dwarves landed in the south western tip of the empire at the new city of Cynelle and quickly advanced north. Battered by conflict with the Grez, the Najaran empire folded quickly under pressur. The Najarn's bronze arrows proved ineffective against heavily armored dwarven legionaries and their evasive tactics allowed the determined dwarf armies to march quickly and besiege the cities of Syluk and Alrixia.. With the empire on the brink of being split by dwarves armies marching on Alridia, the emperor chose to ralliy her remaining soldiers at Najar, abandoning Alridia and Farpoint to their fate.

Although the impenetrable metropolis of Najar remained unbroken, the dwarves reveled in their victory and settled into over a century of occupations. The dwarves found the Najarn elite to be elusive and beguiling yet nevetheless the first few generations passed smoothly. The Najaran lords proved the most effective control of the masses and the dwarves found that allowing them autonomy under dwarves rule peaceful enabled their control.