Sultanate of Chorene

Chorene was a historical sultanate ruling the Chorenese lands from the 12th century until the death of Sultana Elyria Yazi in 1428, when the country split in four after the death of Elyria. Their flag was a setting sun on a deep blue sea with white waves, which is still used by the Sultanate of Arana.

## History

### Early History

Chorene is first mentioned in the 7th century when it fell to Urubuhl invasions and was entirely incorporated into the Rahusha Emirate. A scholar noted then, that the local tribes and their farmland had become the haunt of pirates, thriving in the string of havens made by the region’s rocky headlands and small, sheltered harbours. The Emirate failed to gain a permanent foothold in Magnia, as Chorene was taken from them in the year 672 by Emperor Madrahash of Maracacar. After their conquest, the Maracacan expelled Urubuhls living in the region.

In 1064, with the Maracacan Empire slowly dwindling, the Rahusha Emirate once again made their advance towards the Chorenese by capturing the city of Ezurum, winning decisive naval victories. Seeing that Maracacar was failing them, some Chorene leaders set themselves up as sovereign lords, while others remained, at least in name, loyal to the Emperor.

The most successful of these early Chorene warlords was Philaperos Bracham, a former Maracacan general who had led the defence of Ezurum. Between 1078 and 1085, Philaperos built a principality centred around the emerging strongholds of Pendosis and Mezaka. But Philaperos’ state began to crumble even before his death in 1090, and ultimately disintegrated into local lordships. Another commander to come into power after the Battle of Ezurum was Suleiman Qutul, who captured two fortresses on the Rahusha-controlled coastline but died in battle in 1086. His son, Karaman, immediately established himself in his father’s territories. He fully repelled the Rahusha from Chorene before his death in 1107.

### Establishment of the Sultanate

Karaman's daughter, Mesud I, took the city of Konaya in 1116 and captured the remaining territories around Kapan and Malitoya and became the first sultan controlling nearly all of Chorene. Despite a temporary occupation of Konaya in 1190 by Vichin forces, the sultanate, under Mesud’s son Karaman II, was quick to consolidate its power.

In 1256, the sultanate experienced a civil war between children of the current sultan, Elyria I and Suleiman III. Suleiman rallied his vassal lords and marched against Ezurum with an army of 150.000 men. Tamar of Ezurum, an Elyrian loyalist was quick to marshal an army and put it under command of one of her lovers, David Lorland. Their troops made a sudden advance into the valley where Suleiman had encamped and assailed the enemy’s camp in 1262. In a pitched battle, Suleiman’s forces managed to force back several attacks from the Ezurum but were eventually overwhelmed and defeated. Suleiman was wounded and withdrew to Pendosis.

Suleiman died two years later and was succeeded by his son Kilij IV, whose reign was unpopular. Elyria I seized Konaya and Pendosis in 1265 re-establishing her reign. Under her rule and those of her two successors, Kakar I and Kyabar, Chorenese power reached unprecedented heights. Kakar captured the harbour of Zis in the Headlands and made the coastal tribes his vassals in 1314, along with several islands in the Astentine Shallows.

In the 1320s his successor, Kyabar, sent expeditionary forces across the Pagan Sea and began to put pressure on the Skahazadani states. In the east, he defeated the local forces and took established his rule over several port towns around Bursa. His son, Kakar II, began his reign in 1337 by capturing Ezrincan and thereby further broadening their dominance of the southern coast of Magnia. By now, many petty kingdoms and coastal towns all over the world were forced to pay them tribute.

### The Olive Wars

Their might and influence did not last long, however. In 1360, a civil dispute about olive taxes sparked a conflict which would cost the realm their footholds across the sea and destabilize Chorenese politics, later named the Olive Wars. The conflicts lasted nearly 50 years and caused the deaths of thousands until a young Elyria Yazi rose to prominence and put an end to the fifth and final Olive War.

The spitting image of the warrior queen, the noble lords gave control of the Chorene lands to Elyria, who became Sultana Elyria II, only opposed by the eldest daughter of Krushaw and the husband of Cuphan, Sayf, who marched on Elyria, but was captured by her son, Osman, and sent to prison. While Sayf apologized for what she had done and was forgiven by the Chorene ruler, her brother Ramaza, briefly captured Tytos before fleeing from an incoming Yazi army, who pursued and captured him. After that, Ramaza and Sayf were both exiled to Ayyubid.

Elyria finally reigned unopposed and continued to increase her power and influence, largely aided by the Ayyubs, and began to treat with other Magnian states, developing trade and culture throughout the region, while her daughter Ana Yazi brought a fleet to the Astentine Shallows to clear out its pirate dens, opening up the coastline to safe naval trade.

### Disintegration

In 1428, on a diplomatic visit to Vichin, where a week-long tourney had been prepared in her honour, Queen Elyria was seized by the Cister Cartian church, accused of adultery and homosexuality, all of which she was guilty of, and without the consent of the King, they executed her on the steps of the white Marble Plaza, a devastating blow to Chorene, which quickly collapsed into scattered internal struggles.

Chorene tradition dictates that inheritance should be divided equally amongst all heirs, unless an heir apparent is chosen, and men and women, even base-born children, inherit equally. Elyria left twelve children, five of whom were bastard-born.

A council was called, summoning all of Elyria’s children to the Isle of Orak, home to the Chapter of Wizards. It was meant to be a neutral ground upon which to determine a single ruler of Chorene, but a union of three of Elyria’s children sprung a coup during a feast on the second night. Violence broke out and many nobles, including many of Elyria’s children, were killed or injured, Then began the Dissolution War, which resulted in the total collapse of the sultanate and the emergence of four new states: Arana, Osmany, Mersin, and Anatoly.