[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/0gkhJW3.png[/img] [b]100 - 200 A.E, the Three Wars[/b][/center] Buzi was only Potentate for ten years before the Circle made its first attempt to oust her from her throne in 101 A.E. It was a well executed plan: she was attacked while hunting in the jungle with her sisters in spring. She and her two sisters were unguarded, and they were attacked by fifteen well trained warriors. However, Buzi was simply too skilled a fighter: though her sisters died in that fight, ten of the would-be assassins were killed. The remainder fled for their lives. One of them was captured, and she told Buzi everything before the Potentate strangled her to death. Buzi's retribution was brutal. She returned to the city, gathered her warriors, and attacked the Circle. A terrible battle engulfed the center of the city, but within a week it was over. Buzi did not kill the Circle immediately, but instead took them prisoner. Then she brought their families before them. One by one she killed their mothers, then their sisters, and then their husbands as well. Their sons she enslaved and later sold; their daughters were forced to join Buzi's warband, the threat to their lives very clear (as being in her warband meant she could execute them whensoever she wished). Finally, Buzi killed all the members of the Circle she felt were useless to her. Only five of the original twenty-one Circle members remained. Buzi the Butcher appointed new members to the Circle, and she made it clear on several occasions that her rule was absolute. She led our ancestors well, inspiring terror and respect in those around her, controlling the populace through fear of what her reprisal would be should they disobey her will. While some would certainly call her a tyrant, such a despotic reign was seen as virtuous by saurians in those days. Zaqir flourished. The raids around the world continued in Buzi's reign, but she had a taste for something more. First, she wanted to glorify Zaqir and her reign, so she set into motion great building efforts using slave labor and the wealth Zaqir had procured over the last century. Grand temples to the Divine were erected throughout the city, each of them dedicated to a different aspect of the Divine: War, Trade, Storms, the Sea, and Civilization. Other building projects took place as well, such as new wells for clean water and a huge arena called the Ring of Valor in which daily battles were fought. The walls that protected the city were reinforced, new ballistae were set upon them, and the towers that stood watch over the city were adorned with a new flag: a field of green split by a bloody sword. Most grand of these city beautification efforts, though, was the start of a canal. The saurian raiding efforts to the north were slowed because the greatest of the fleets were located on the western side of the Zauri Strip, the piece of land on which Zaqir was built. Yet the strip was not especially wide: at its thinnest point, it was maybe 29 leagues wide at most. Some saurians and humans had settled the region just east of Zaqir and had built a small town called West Zaqir, but it was not the same as living in the splendor of the city itself. So Buzi began building a canal that she hoped would one day connect the Red Shores[sup]1[/sup] with the Pearly Sea[sup]2[/sup] to the east. The canal would not be completed in her lifetime, and a thousand slaves and two hundred free laborers would die between the canal's start in 120 A.E. and the end of Buzi's rule in 178 A.E, but work on the canal nevertheless was in full swing. Under Buzi's direction, the raiding fleets of Zaqir became more aggressive than they previously had been. Zaqiri explorers discovered a number of settlements held by human-like creatures in the southern isles, so in 112 A.E. they began raiding those villages in earnest. The people they raided, the Ashkari edimmu, were unable to muster a proper response: twelve years of highly profitable raids went by as Ashkar's shores were plundered and hundreds (perhaps thousands) of villagers dragged to the ships in chains. Zaqir grew prideful. But then the unthinkable happened: the edimmu actually beat saurians in battle. One of Zaqir's largest raiding fleets - a six vessel fleet with a crew totaling seven hundred saurian and human women - took shelter in a cove after finishing one of its most lucrative raids yet. Somehow, edimmu soldiers knew where they were camped, and at night they ambushed the Zaqiri raiders. It was a slaughter: only one vessel escaped the cove, and aboard it were only forty-five women. The rest were all killed or captured by Ashkar. When Potente Buzi heard of this, the Butcher was worked into a state that was said to be "of both great fury and great pleasure," for this meant there was a real fight to be had. So, Buzi called for a meeting that winter with the Circle and the raid leaders of Zaqir. She arranged for a huge fleet to be assembled at the start of summer: Ashkar's shores were going to be invaded, and the edimmu would learn why the saurians ruled the seas. In the first weeks of the summer of 125 A.E, a saurian fleet of around five thousand raiders fell upon the Ashkari city of Aba-ada. The city was garrisoned with perhaps three or four thousand soldiers, but there was also a sizable militia, and together they outnumbered the Zaqiri warriors. The battle was fierce. One of the raiders in Buzi's became a bard after this battle and wrote about the battle. One scene is described like so: [i]The whole world was painted red No cobblestone was spared. The streets were covered with dead Stuck with swords and spears. Fire and smoke choked the skies They poured out their tears. Though my sisters met demise Glorious was this war.[/i] Zaqir was forced to retreat to their ships, but it would be accurate to say that nobody really won the battle. Zaqir gained no loot. The city of Aba-ada was covered with the dead. Both sides lost more than half their warriors. The saurian raiders retreated back to Zaqir. Our ancestors debated what action to take next. Though the invasion of Aba-ada was ultimately unsuccessful, it had given Zaqir's warriors a taste of war they had not known for over a century. Buzi decided it would be best to let the Ashkari be untouched for a time: her reasoning was that if they waited, Ashkar would either grow weak in their absence and so be good for plundering or would grow strong and become a worthy opponent the saurian people needed. A small number of women on the Circle protested. They were summarily executed by single combat in the Ring of Valor. Buzi the Butcher prepared her fleets for a second invasion, this time against the regulii of Ilitscium. It took some time to build them back to their former strength, so she simply had her fleets raid Ilitscium's coast. The regulii were not warriors; the Ocean Guard were formidable enough, but they were not prepared for the focused attacks they suffered at the hands of our ancestors. The actual invasion fleet arrived in 148 A.E. and anchored not far from the city's shore. They attacked the farmlands and villages surrounding the city en-masse, torching a great many fields. Then Zaqir sent a single ship to the city with an ultimatum: pay tribute or suffer the full wrath of Zaqir. Within a week, the decision was made, and Ilitscium began paying tribute to Zaqir. But Ilitscium's leaders were cunning. Ten years of annual tribute came and went, but regulii diplomacy saw this change. Soon tribute became trade, and that trade slowly shifted to favor Ilitscium. Without ever lifting their hand to attack Zaqir, Ilitscium managed to shift some of the region's wealth away from Zaqir and into the regulii city. Meanwhile, the raids against Ashkar started once again. By that time, Ashkar had developed a small fleet and the two city-states were warring back-and-forth on the seas and the shores, raiding each other and boarding each other's vessels. Zaqir came out the better in most of these skirmishes thanks to its long history of naval warfare and the natural saurian abilities at sea. Slowly, Ashkari seamen became more skilled and experienced. Zaqir's women made better warriors at sea, but on land Ashkar's forces seemed to have the advantage. But here, too, things became strange: while every summer and harvest season was one of raiding and warfare, every spring became a time of trade between the two nations. From the end of winter to the middle of spring, Zaqiri merchants would dock in Ashkar and Ashkari merchants in Zaqir, and there would be little to no violence between them. But then they would cease trading in the latter end of spring, and in summer they would return to trading blows. It is strange to look back on this period of history, because the cycle now seems almost ritual, like a game between two children. But these two wars with Ashkar and Ilitscium were not the only wars that Zaqir became embroiled in. In 178 A.E, the nearby human city-state of Sasham invaded Zaqir, its people tired of the constant raiding they suffered. Their invasion was repelled. Zaqir responded with an invasion force of its own, half marching through the jungle and half invading by sea. Unlike their invasion of Aba-ada, Zaqir's armies were successful in their attack. The city was placed under saurian rule, but Buzi died in the attack. The death of Buzi left a strange power gap in the city. Several saurian women called themselves Potentate between 178-180, none of them lasting longer than a few months before a coup, assassination, or revolt brought about their end. It was in this time of strife that many saurians and humans decided to leave Zaqir and settle elsewhere. Some went into the jungle to build small villages, or they settled along the shore; but others decided to build a new city along the western coast of the peninsula. They called it Tiraqir, and by 190 they declared themselves independent. Zaqir's new ruler, Izani the Brave, would have none of that. She took her fleet and promptly forced Tiraqir into submission. She executed Tiraqir's Potentate and forced its Circle to submit to her rule. Those who did not were also executed. She then planted the new Zaqiri banner on all the towers surrounding that city. From that day on, Zaqir was no longer a city, but a nation: the Zaqiri Dominion. [hr] 1. The Red Shores consist of the coastline west of Zaqir and refer to the sea they surround. 2. The Pearly Sea is the body of water east of Zaqir. [hr] [center][h2][u]Major Events of Zaqir - 2nd Century[/u][/h2][/center] [b]Cultural:[/b] The city of Zaqir underwent massive beautification efforts as the wealth accrued from years of raiding was used to build grand new buildings throughout the city, including the famous Ring of Valor, a gigantic arena for bloodsports. Furthermore, construction of a canal to connect the Red Shores to the Pearly Sea began in the second century. Trade with Ilitscium began some time after the middle of the century, and Ilitscium profited most from this trade. There is a cultural exchange involved as well. Trade also was conducted with Ashkar in the latter half of the century, but each season of trade was followed by a season of raiding on both sides. [b]Technological:[/b] No great technological advances were made in this century. [b]Military:[/b] The raids continued in the second century. Zaqir attempted to sack the city of Aba-ada in 125 A.E, but the fleet was forced to retreat from that battle; over twenty-five hundred saurian and human women died in that battle. Ilitscium was surrounded and forced to pay tribute to Zaqir starting in 148 A.E. The city of Sasham attempted to attack Zaqir in 178 A.E, but their army was repelled and the saurians conquered them. When the city of Tiraqir rebelled against Zaqiri rule, Zaqir subdued them in a quick but bloody battle. [b]Government Changes:[/b] A completely new regime was established by Buzi in 101 A.E. The position of Potentate changed hands several times after her death in 178 A.E. Izani the Brave became Potentate in 180 A.E. and maintained that position. [b]Territorial Expansion:[/b] Zaqir conquered the human city of Sasham and built a new city on the western coast called Tiraqir. Several villages, often a mixture of human and saurian, have begun to crop up in the jungle and along the shores. [img]http://i.imgur.com/ufyUxQN.png[/img]