Origins of Ulutor: Zahraja, Rivalry, and Yurvin(689-766 CE)

For a large part of the history of the Western half of the Ulutorian island, it has been divided into multiple princely states. Each independent, and each uncooperative. Political rivalries were prevalent, each Prince vying for power and influence. It also hosted a tremendous amount of inequality. The Caste system of Hinduism had created a stark, formal divide in society. With the highest caste, the Brahmins, lording over in great wealth, while lower classes and those completely left out of, like the Untouchables, lived in poverty and were shunned by society. There existed great cities on the coast who dominated the Spice Trade, holding thousands of ships with their massive ports. They engaged in trade with nations on nearby continents like Glasgae. Trading the wildly popular spices of Ulutor for gold and metals. The great wealth that could be amassed by whoever controlled the trade has attracted many from the island and beyond to try to control it. But often the ones trying to control it were rulers of the West Princely States.

One of the Princely States was the State of Ankharat. Ankharat was isolated in the East, it was in the north-east of the subcontinent, along the Suitiya river. It was mostly ignored by the larger more powerful states on the coast, but it had the advantage of having spices in its territory, specifically the wildly popular black pepper. This made it one of the more powerful inland states, and its position on a major river allowed its traders to move across the continent. The small professional army of around 2,000 men was its only real defense against other states, leaving it vulnerable, and heavily reliant on larger states, who were interested in keeping a power balance on the island. It is here in Ankharat, that Prince Zahraja, was born.

Prince Zahraja was born to King Neshali on the 21st of June in 689 CE. He grew up well, being the son of a king and all, and while he was growing up he gained tremendous interest in history and philosophy. He studied whatever he could and during his studies he became fascinated with the idea of Indu-Kurutas, the Unification of the Ulutorian subcontinent started by a philosopher named Jintya. Jintya thought that a united Ulutor(the western half not the eastern. The East was thought of as a land of uncultured heathens) could dominate the spice trade and become the worlds strongest state. The idea seemed at that point incredibly impossible considering Ulutor was divided into 10+ princely states. Not only did it seem impossible, but it would most likely involve massive violence and war, which the state of Ankharat was poorly equipped for. Not only that, King Neshali died in 711, when Zahraja was only 22, which signaled to other princely states that Ankahrat was ripe for conquering. However, fate was about to throw Prince Zahraja a bone. Or rather, multiple bones.

Yurvin of Ulanick was a famous 'Conqueror' of the Eastern half of the island. His life story reads like a pirate legend. At the age of 17, he stole a number of horses from a trade ship and led his friends and some others on a raiding spree. They regularly assaulted towns for money until eventually they were met by an army and demolished. Then he began strategizing to regain his pride. After years he eventually outmaneuvered the army. But instead of continuing raiding he instead defeated the army. He then ruled his newly conquered lands like a poor king before setting off the expand his personal kingdom. He would dominate the rest of the eastern half of the island until 702 CE when at the age of 33, he tried to strike on the Western half. He was promptly rebuffed by a larger army of trained soldiers. He tried again and again, lost. This brewed inside Yurvin. He grew a hatred of the Western nations and desperately wanted to defeat them. He wanted his title as Conquerer of Ulutor, and Zahraja was willing to give it to him. When Zahraja and Yurvin met, Zahraja talked about how the larger nations waved their power over Ulutor. How their larger armies were so hard to overcome. And Yurvin ate it up. He wanted to take his Army of Horseback raiders and Ankharat's small army and destroy the other states. So he devoted himself to it completely during his tenure as Commander of the Army. And Zahraja pointed Yurvin at his objectives.

Zahraja, having his massive army and legendary general, he ordered Yurvin and his Raider army to conquer nearby states in 713 CE. There had been several overzealous states directly south of Ulutor. Some of which had been flaunting their armies near the border and annoying Ankharatan citizens. However, when Yurvin confronted these states on the plains of open war, their armies crumpled quickly. Why? Well because tactics and strategy Yurvin was using had never been seen before in the West. His horseback armies were so effective they were able to beat 5 opposing armies within 6 months, along with his new Catapults mounted on Elephants, another gift from the east Yurvin had brought.

In only 5 months Ankharat had acquired swathes of territory in inland Ulutor and had gained a small amount of coastline on the Northern coast during what would be called the 1st Kurutas War. However great the victory, King Zahraja was finding that the people living in those conquered territories didn't want to live under him. They lived okay lives under their previous nations and now some of their homes were destroyed and they were now under military occupation by what had been a foreign nation. Yurvin wanted to crush them and kill anyone who rebelled with deadly force. However, Zahraja saw an opportunity.

The West of the Ulutorian island was dominated by the aforementioned religious caste system that had developed. Alacism focused on a rigid class system and the ability of the Strong to take from the poor due to the nature of the Gods and their wishes. Yurvin sought to take advantage of some of the grumblings of the lower Castes. He would tax anyone who used their caste position to lord over others. And he would provide jobs 1st to the untouchables and the lower castes in order to gain their support. And if a Higher Caste acted out against his authority he would arrest them and then donate part of their fortune to the poor and another part to his own treasury. Although Resistance often meant the heads of higher Castes actually ended up with their heads off of their heads. This strategy actually worked well and Zahraja would continue to use it in his later conquests. With this Zahraja managed to significantly consolidate his conquests and by 719 CE his new territories were almost entirely loyal to him.

However other players on the continent were concerned about this state's new expansion and the beheading of high-ranking members of Castes only accelerated Resistance to Zahraja. The Princely state of Vahujit was now right next to Ankharat and contained a huge amount of Southern coastline and valuable trading ports. It was heavily concerned that it was Zahraja's next target, which was fair because according to Zahraja, it would eventually become his next target. "I will pursue all course to bring about Indu- Kuratas, from east to west or any other way, through force or peace, we shall take the ports, and then Ulutor.". So Vahujit began its own invasions of inland territory and acquired a few of their own inland conquests, the conquered States primarily being between Vahujit and the Turet Mountains. This expansion, perhaps hypocritically, made Ankharat nervous that Vahujit was going to use its massive wealth to increase the size of its army by hiring mercenaries.

So Zahraja ordered Yurvin, who was currently a military governor, to give a sum of money and what was the equivalent of citizenship to any newly conquered man who joined the army, or the new navy. And to of course impose a new tax on men who didn't join. These incentives greatly encouraged newly conquered people to join the military, enough so that by the time of the outbreak of war with Vahujit, Ankharat had 25% more troops than Vahujit. These enlistment policies also had incredibly beneficial by-products that would not be seen until after the unification of Ulutor, namely the joined armed forces grew a sense of pride and unity of being in the military and therefore it created pride in being Ulutorian.

Ultimately the outbreak of war would not come because of either Ankharat or Vahujit. It would be the other huge expanding Princely State ofHirhan. Hirhan and Vahujit were already long-time enemies at this point, having fought numerous wars and in constant competition over trade. Well, the expansion domino effect had hit them too. The expansion of Vahujit created fear that they were acquiring more resources to finish off the far Western Hirhan. So Hirhan invaded the last of its neighbors and reached out for an alliance with Ankharat, which was accepted. It was after this that Yurvin suggested that they initiate the first strike, to deliver a decisive blow. And so they did. And so on January 25th, 723 CE, the 2nd Kurutas war began when a Hirhi band of naval vessels, disguised as traders, snuck into the Capital of Vahujit, the city of Masurun. After the huge fleet of 'traders' made it in, outburst a few thousand marines. They pillaged the city relentlessly, then they fortified it the best they could while the combined navies of Hirhan and Ankharat fought and defeated the Vahiji fleet, allowing supplies to flow en masse into Masurun to form a reverse invasion of the nation.

Vahiji generals had expected an attack through existing land routes. But the reverse invasion caught them off-guard. This gave Yurvin time to move his troops, while Vahujit repositioned their soldiers. The massive Ankharatan campaign continued to funnel men into Masurun and pushed out from there after a 10-day siege. The Battle of Korosin was made inevitable by the strike and push of Ankharat. The morale of the Vahujit troops was at rock bottom and their manpower had been greatly degraded by the attacks of Yurvins calvary and his attacks on smaller individual groups of soldiers during the push outwards from Masurun. So at Korosin, Yurvin surrounded the Vahiji General Alivani, and his troops and bombarded them for 23 days nonstop until they surrendered. The War in Vahujit had been won.

In 724 CE, Hirhan and Ankharat divided the territories of Vahujit and Zahraja implemented the occupation policies that had worked so well in his last conquests. The effects repeated themselves and soon his new territory had assimilated. All was well for Ankharat. Meanwhile, their ally Hirhan was not doing nearly as well. The old king of Hirhan was near death due to sickness and the people of the nation had grown frustrated. His neglect of domestic policy and his interests seemed to absorbed in accumulating more personal wealth and glory. And a growing number of political intellectuals were saying the nation should adopt an Ankharatan system. It would end up adopting more than that, on April 18th, 732 CE, a coup de'tat led by the Queen and several generals and governors ousted the Hirhanian King.

While Zahraja didn't want to end up getting caught up in a potential civil war he also saw a new opportunity. As unrest grew he made a deal with Queen Alazane who had started a coup de'tat. In reality, it was far less of a deal, no Hirhanian would accept a woman as the ruler of Hirhan, so in late 732 CE, Zahraja stepped in and married the Queen's daughter and proclaimed himself the new King of Hirhan. He was of course backed by his military commander Yurvin who would pass away later in 735 CE. Zahraja also outlawed the beheading of Caste members or former Caste members, while removing any legal power those castes might have had. The reaction to his reign was immediate and mixed as shown by the infamous Calicut rebellion. In which several thousand former soldiers border up old Masurun and declared the 'Republic of Osia' a 'nation' that could hardly be called Republican at all. They were soon defeated by a blockade. Eventually, the starving people of the city kicked the new 'Republic' out themselves. The city would then be renamed Bolivant, meaning new life in old Hirhanian tongue. Resistance would persist for a time but after several years of lax taxes and government-sponsored trade, Hirhan finally seemed happy with their new King. Which made it the perfect time for Zahraja in 741 CE to declare Ankharat and Hirhan united, into the Empire of Ulutor.

It was at the age of 77 in 766 CE when Emperor Zahraja the Uniter finally died. He had lived a tremendous life, with Zahraja uniting most of Ulutor, he had disposed of most of the Caste System and its influence, and he had given Yurvin the weapons he needed to complete his revenge before he died. Zahraja had finally born a son in 740 CE, an heir to the new Throne being built in an all-new Capital, the new Jewel of Cezanne. The 2nd Emperor, his son Alakil, would build a massive temple to his father in Cezanne, the Zarovanic Temple, were Zahraja remains are today.