Dovan

Dovan is a continent in the western part of the known world. It is mainly inhabited by Arostrians and Campanians, but also houses minorities such as Nulians and Bergans. The continent is completely dominated politically by the Erinian Empire, after they annexed Fralenda in 584 AF.

## History

### Early History

It is unknown for how long Dovan has been inhabited by humans. Some say it has been for almost as long as it's neighbouring continent Mikana, from which humans originate from. But there is no proof of any civilization until at least 2000 BF, when civilizations had been existing on Mikana for thousands of years before. The first civilization which is known of is that of the Elt valley civilization, but little is known of these people aside from their pottery, which has been preserved through the ages. But in 1500 BF, most of the people on the continent had adopted agriculture and became "civilized", founding towns and cities, and even small centralized states. These native people of the continent were related to modern day Nulians, so most refer to them as "ancient Nulians". These peolple it seems were the sole culture on the continent, but that would soon change. In 800 BF, a people arrived at modern day Noge, called Bergans. It is not known where these people came from, but many speculate that they came from an unknown continent that lies somewhere west. These people colonized the mouth of the river Len and founded the city of Noge. Throughout the following years the Bergans continued to colonize northwards until they had colonized the entire Arygian peninsula. This alarmed the Nulians, which lead to many Nulian kingdoms in southern Dovan to band together to drive out the foreign Bergans. This started the Great Southern War, which was by far the bloodiest war ever fought in Dovan at the time. The first few battles were won by the Burgans, but after the Burgans went on the offensive, the tide of the war turned again so the Nulians had the upper hand. The war lasted 17 years and ended with a stalemate. The Bergans agreed not to colonize any further, but were granted a large piece of land just west of Bungal's northern border. In this area the Bergans founded Parsis, which later became the richest and most populous Bergan city.

### Arrival of the Arostrians

During the later years of the great southern war, when both sides were weakened from the fighting, another foreign people appeared near modern day Byblos. They were called Aostrians. They had migrated from Ilnomica, the southernmost part of the known world, to the island of Minoa, where they soon faced overpopulation problems. Many of them began to serve as mercenaries for the Bergans, who promised many of them the lands near modern Byblos and Seria. After the war ended in stalemate, the Arostrians began settling in that land and forced all Nulians there to resettle elsewhere. The Nulians kings barely tried to stop them, as they were in extremely bad shape after their war with the Bergans. But the Arostrians thought that they needed more land than they were given, and so an army assembled by the legendary king Goldron, king of all the Arostrians, attacked a Nulian kingdom north of their lands. This became one of the most notorious acts in the history of Dovan, if not the whole world, for it started the 1000 year war. Although not technically a war, the 1000 year war was a series of conflicts between the Arostrians and Nulians, sometimes involving Bergans. And the name "1000 years war" is an exaggeration, for this period of conflict lasted about 890 years. Throught out the period Arostrians conquered kingdom after kingdom, often slaughtering every Nulian in their path. In 200 BF many Nulian kings decided to band together just as their ancestors had in the great southern war, to halt save the Nulian culture itself from extinction. The army assembled by the Nulians was enormous, estimated to be somewhere between 200,000 to 400,000. Although their first offensive was a success, driving the Arostrians out of modern day Skagos and much of the land around the Peron, the Arostrians would crush them with their own sizable host at the battle of Kolbrack. This crushing defeat saw almost the entire Nulian army slaughtered, which was already a sizable portion of the population of Nulians. After this almost every Nulian kingdom was destroyed by the Arostrians. At the time of the foundation of Erinia, The only places Nulians still had lands where in modern day Nulia and the Freyl peninsula, which would soon be lost to Campanian colonists.

### After the 1000 Year war

After the Arostrians took control of most of the lands that Nulians previously inhabited, they founded many of the major cities of in modern day Dovan. Cities such as Byblos, Seria, Skagon, Elgos and Erinia. But in 40AF, the Arostrians received some competition for the dominion of Dovan when Campanian settlers arrived in Freyl. Soon the entire Freyl peninsula would be dominated by the Kingdom of Campania, even housing the new most populous city of Dovan, Fralenda. Though Byblos and Seria were briefly conquered by Campania in the 2nd century, they soon broke off during the Great Campanian Civil War. During the 3rd and 4th centuries the Arostrian states warred with each other in a battle for supremacy, most notably the rivals Byblos and Seria, who fought up to 6 wars. This period came to an end with the rise of Erinia, when they conquered Skagon and founded the Erinian Empire. During the years 430-558 the Erinians united all Arostrians for the first time under the same banner, altough with a degree of tolerance. The Empire then quickly conquered the Bergans and finally in 679, conquering Fralenda, bringing the entire continent under their control. Since then there has been a period of great peace in Dovan, and altough many non Arostrians still think of independance, there hasn't been a major conflict on the continent itself in over 100 years.

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