Decades of the Mountain

The **Decades of the Mountain** (1788 AA to 1811 AA) was a time period where the Ynnsman nation of New Havoral conquered most of Veykoda and Sarda, and cannorian influence in the Ynn reached its peak. This included many wars, the spread of Ravelianism to the Ynnic Ruinborn people as well as the spread of cannorian ideas in their lands, all under the rule of King Jahanon síl Lethir and his descendants.

## Rise of High Havoral

New Havoral always had poor relations with their neighbors due to its history of harbouring bandits. New Havorics especially resented the Empire of Arverynn ever since their intervention in the Ivory Wars in 1724 AA, and had been forced into an isolationist stance by force of circumstances.

This would change in 1788 as their ruler at the time, Jahanon síl Lethir, was a man of ambition and the Red Year gave him the opportunity to act despite the Bandit Kingdom's diplomatic isolation.

Immediately after Corinsfield had conquered much of Arverynn's eastern territories, New Havoral declared war against them under the pretense of restoring West Tipney’s lands the Corinites had also annexed. The overextended Corinsfield quickly fell to the New Havorics who not only conquered the former Pipefoot territory, but the rest of Corinsfield as well, tripling the kingdom's size in an astounding victory.

### Proclamation of High Havoral

Jahanon promptly betrayed his promises of restoring the status quo ante bellum and started to work on integrating his conquests into New Havoral instead. West Tipney was made into an autonomous region, and Ynnic lords were reinstalled as vassals of the Kingdom in the lands conquered during the Red Year under the agreement of collaboration with their new overlord. A strip of Balgabar land that was previously conquered by Corinsfield was returned to them, aligning the dwarves with New Havoral so they helped with the reconstruction process in return.

With his powerbase secured, Jahanon was crowned as King of High Havoral, ushering in a new order. To his Ynnic subjects, he was acclaimed as *Vaisledar*, the High Ruler, a title reminiscent of the ancient Kingdom of the Mountain of Dolindhan legends. Seeking yet more legitimacy in their eyes, the capital was relocated from Greyguard further downstream to Arvezl, now New Havorton, a location almost bordering the City of Arverynn and making Jahanon's next move clear to all.

### War with the Arverynn Empire

Using the arrest of the mayor of Vels Domfan by Emperor Calrodiy VII due to a cannorization edict legalizing the spread of Ravelianism and Cannorian knowledge there, King Jahanon claimed the Ravelian communities of the Arverynn Empire needed his protection and declared war upon Arverynn in 1789.

Calrodiy VII had signed a truce with Corinsfield and was not expecting a return to hostilities so soon. He marched to meet the eastern invaders again but his forces were shattered at the Second Battle of Vels Cestor. Emperor Calrodiy VII was killed in action, the famed Veykodan Guard slain to the last except for a single survivor and Lord Vitsred of Stanyrhrada taken hostage.

Jahanon used the armor subsequently looted from the defeated Imperial knights to disguise himself and his men, capturing the Teal Keep through trickery before his main forces marched in the rest of the city of Arverynn. With many nobles gathered there due to a canoe race, most of the Sarda leadership was captured along with the city. The High Havorics were halted in their attempt to sack Arverynn by Lord Vitsred who implored Jahanon to spare the city, offering him his most prized possession, the legendary Golden Dome of Stanyrhrada, as well as huge ransoms.

This quick victory over Arverynn was a shock to many Ynnics as the Empire, even after the Red Year, was still posed as the Dragon Dominion's main contender for hegemony over the Ynn River Valley and the foremost Ynn River Worship power. Where the Red Year created cracks in the faith, the fall of the Empire shook it to its core.

## The Ynn under Cannorian rule

### Reorganization of the feudal system

Most of the key Ynnic Lords had begrudgingly submitted to Jahanon following the conquest, but this was not a stable state of affairs as the lords of the western side of the Ynn broke away along with Ynnsmouth. From 1790 through 1795, King Jahanon began a process of consolidation of his rule. The Imperial Demesne became Jahanon’s own and was expanded, and the vassals were re-ordered with powerful lords seeing their domains divided. Many serfs from Jahanon’s demesne were freed and invited to move to New Havoral, where they ended up living similar lives anyway.

The Arverynn imperial bureaucracy was mostly kept intact with Jahanon continuing the centralization process started by the Vyrekynn dynasty. While rules were changed to allow a greater proportion of humans than before, it was mostly to remove Vyrekynn loyalists and not to systematically replace the Ruinborn. Sarda lords were even appointed to the Royal council.

The title of Emperor tempted Jahanon, yet he decided against it due to hopes that his realm would become a more coherent nation rather than a patchwork of ethnicities. In his opinion of the title of Yrisar, the Ynnic Empire, would only lead him to a sooner war against the growing Dragon Dominion as well as the rest of the Ynn. The line of the Vyrekynn dynasty claimants were mostly purged with the exception of Morvel and her mother, who remained alive in Veykoda, hidden by the Order of the Mountain Eye.

### Military reforms

Magi-rifles and cannons were introduced to act as a trump card against the Ynnic knights' bullet-repellant armor as the modernization of the military commenced. An artificers’ lab was built in New Havorton to study the enchanted Ynnic armor in an attempt to to unravel its secrets and eventually neutralize it.

Many bandits of Sarda were granted a royal pardon by decree of King Jahanon and allowed to join the military, but these units were only given standard guns. The levies Jahanon received from subdued Sarda lords still fought with magical blades and bows as per Ynnic tradition, with the exception of the Knights Oathkeeper.

### Unpopular rule

Jahanon's rule over Sarda was characterized by the systematic plundering of its wealth, as the Bandit Kingdom stayed true to its roots. The Golden Dome of Stanyrhrada that was given to the High Havorics by Lord Vitsred was dismantled and sold off to the Gnomish Hierarchy. This made the Knights of the Dome rise up against the High Havorics, but they were swiftly defeated and the Order of the Dome was disbanded with many members being executed or exiled. Jahanon signed the Barge Seizure Edict and all funerary Ynnic barges reaching the Dam of Adbrabohvi were looted of their valuables.

While this was highly unpopular among the Imperial Sarda, a lot of Treehouse Sarda supported Jahanon's rule. Beginning with Arvezl's Buykonyr, rumour spread among Ynnics that Jahanon was the second coming of Rhovynuc, a heroic bandit who takes from the rich and gives to the poor, and many rangers from the forests of southern Sarda flocked to join him. The lords of Trompolere and the city of Vels Domfan were his main supporters among the conquered due to respect for his ambition and the Cannorization he introduced, respectively.

Jahanon's rule was controversial even among his Cannorian subjects. Most notably, Corinsfielders staunchly opposed him, and even some among his own people: humans who stayed in New Havoral felt abandoned as they had become a minority in their own kingdom, now ruled from a former Sarda town.

The High Havorics planned to introduce an ancient dwarven invention on Balgabar's solicitation: a railway connecting Arverynn to Greyguard through Veykoda. The project was left half-built due to protests by Ynnic nobility, issues with early rail technologies, raids by Veykodans along the construction sites and an eventual falling-out with Balgabar dwarves.

### Spread of Ravelianism

The River Worship clergy was highly divided at the time. After the Red Night of Adbrabohvi and the sudden fall of the Empire, the faith was at its weakest. The most devout priests opposed High Havoral, but others made the opposite choice, converted to Ravelianism and became Rectors; some to get the favor of the new administration, but many out of genuine belief. The Rectorate never recognized High Havoral rectors however, despite Jahanon's insistence.

### Worsening Isolation

High Havoral was widely disliked by Ynnic as well as Cannorian states in the Ynn. Their fellow Ravelians in Plumstead saw High Havoral as a backwards authoritarian state, and a common declaration from many western rulers denounced Jahanon as a “villainous Cannorian usurper”. Even their Balgabar allies were eventually driven away by their greed.

The former vassal of Ynnsmouth embargoed High Havoral in 1790, cutting them from their main trade route with the Trollsbay and the world. The embargo was responded to with the building of the Arbeloch Ascensor in order to link eastern Veykoda to the Sella River which flows into the New Redglades. While this construction did not dislodge the role of Ynnsmouth as the main port towards the Ynn, it opened up an alternative avenue to trade through the Yanekin and Sella rivers.

Not many were willing to have ties with High Havoral, and those who did were either isolated themselves or had a very flexible diplomacy, such as Bosancovac, the kingdom of the Freemarches or Brelar.

## War of Ynnic Unification

At the peak of High Havoral's power, Jahanon felt ready to challenge the Dragon Dominion for hegemony over the Ynn, hoping to finally claim the title of emperor and unite the valley. The situation quickly escalated as a coalition was formed to contain his hegemonic ambition and most other states sided with the Dominion. This marked the start of the War of Ynnic Unification.

Jahanon initially made gains in the war with the capture and looting of Bosancovac, but he mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the war after an expedition in Lukausta. His sons inherited the throne in the middle of the war but were not up to the task and High Havoral eventually surrendered, was greatly humiliated and had to renounce their ambitions.

## The Mountain Crumbles

Jahanon's son Brayden síl Lethir, now king, went on to rule for another decade. While in the second decade of the Mountain High Havoral had to massively scale back their ambitions, they continued the cannorization process of Sarda. The Sarda traditionalists, in response, grew stronger and rallied around Morvel, the last Vyrekynn, and Adrjon II, regent of Stanyrhrada after his father's capture, to plot an uprising.

### Morvel's Rebellion

The year 1810 saw the eruption of numerous rebellions. Dharo led the Garforga tribe to war in southwestern Veykoda, posing as a native uprising by Veykodan natives and concealing the fact that a claimant to the Vyrekynn dynasty and loyalist knights were fighting in their midst.

The people of New Havoral that felt abandoned by the king also entered rebellion; a military junta took over New Havoral and declared war on High Havoral. This republican uprising was joined by Pipefoot halflings. To the north, Balgabar seized Corinsfield and kept out of the conflict.

The New Havoric uprising was seen as the main threat, and Brayden ignored Dharo to retake his old homeland. While the High Havoric king focused on the east, Sarda rebels seized the opportunity to act: Lord Adrjon II of Stanyrhrada rose up in the west, while the clergy of Adbrabohvi led an insurrection in the south.

Brayden's army marched towards Greyguard along the Galynn River, however he never reached it: Brayden was ambushed by Morvel and Dharo's forces at the Battle of Velencestor while in Tipneyan territory, and his forces were annihilated due to the new Bloodrune weapons and armor used by the rebels. Morvel revealed herself and took leadership of the rebellion, eventually earning the support of the western Sarda rebels who recognized her as legitimate Empress.

While many participants fought in the rebellion, it became known as Morvel's Rebellion because of her victory.

By the end of 1811, Sarda control over their homeland was restored, ushering what became known as the Sarda Empire. High Havoral was no more, and New Havoral only controlled eastern Veykoda along the Dalaire Range, with the Kingdom of Veykoda being carved out of its southwestern possessions. Thus ended the Decades of the Mountain.