Kingdom of Olarã

The Kingdom of Olarã was an ancient, pre-Almadorian and pre-Lhûren State located in Southern Syltör. Its capital was located in the City of Kaliné, known at the time as a prestigious center of cultural and scientific wonders. Though its official religion was Asitir, they had high religious tolerance, accepting levels of syncretism not observed in other civilizations of their level. The main inhabitants of this realm were the Seraan, but just as religious tolerance, high ethnocultural diversity was also common, with many traders from faraway lands settling in Olarã and making it their home.

The Olarã had a tradition of female rulers, but the last two of their rulers were men, respectively King Altor and King Altor II. They were both elected after the death of Queen Maimara "the Only", who had left no heirs. She was known for her militaristic aspirations, expansionist projects, and a general wish to make the Kingdom of Olarã more of a power to be feared. Though it was not known at the time of her death, Seraan historians of the post-Olarã collapse uncovered a forgotten plot with evidence proving that Queen Maimara was assassinated by a group of conspiring nobles. Many speculate that if it wasn't for this act of political intrigue, the Kingdom of Olarã might've survived Almadorian aggression. King Altor I was "no more than a peasant boy, given a crown and a cape, serving as the political puppet of the aristocrats and clergymen of Olarã".

The Damaloriane House was the most influential royal family in Olarã, ruling over the Kingdom until the death of Queen Maimara and still retaining a lot of its political power and influence in the last few decades of its existence. After thousands of years of wandering, remnants of this royal family still exist, in the form of the Damalor and Loriã clans. They both lay claim to the extinct title of the Kingdom of Olarã, and have been for the last decades trying to gather the clans into one cohesive force to serve as a military force to strike against the Aurlûnor Velande. Not many advancements have been made in this matter, though, as the huge population and thus military of Aurlûnor is disconcerting to the point of making both clans seem foolish in their endeavours.

Etymology
See also: Seraani language

Not many linguistic records can talk of the origin of the word "Olarã". It is not a term that appears often in religious or historical accounts, and its common use coincides exactly with the foundation of the Kingdom by the ancient High Edaiship of Kaliné.

Seraan linguists, and those other linguists who work with the Seraani language, believe that the most probable origin of the word Olarã is from the root Laren, which gave such words as Lóri (meaning glorious, just, or beautiful) and Laire (meaning a cause of celebration, a feast, or a party). The appearance of O- coincides with the nominalization of various adjectives. The translation of "Olarã" would then be "Glory", or "Worthy of a feast". There is still no consensus on the origin of Olarã, as the study of the Seraani language is a niche.

History
The Seraan were a widespread people in Southern Syltör, being one of the pre-Lhûren species and cultures that populated the region. It is believed their first settlements started by rivers, as the oldest located Seraan settlement, dating of almost 50'000 years, was found near a major river in their historical region. The variety of art then produced by the Seraan is remarkable; it is said that one of the ancient Seraan tombs, found by explorers, contained hundreds of pieces of ceramic of varying qualities and motifs.

The Seraan is by some considered a vague term, since it encompasses a number of cultures that simply shared a similar language and various comparable cultural practices. The first idea of a Seraan people came with the various interactions between the Algar and Hamure peoples, two major cultural groups that gave birth to the Seraan culture. Because of their many interactions, other tribes began to form closer relationships, creating complex social structures between them while still having relatively simple organization. Cooperation was an important part of the formative years of the Seraan culture.

The Seraan were one of the earliest cultures to create writing, but for centuries they would not use it for the building of States and complex civilizational structures, creating rather pieces of primitive philosophical works, writing down tales and legends, or using it for art. Only much later in their history did they use writing to start the work of State-building and expansion of civilization.

Early Seraan Confederations
The Early Seraan Confederations period is one of complex history and timeline. Although various faults in the current knowledge of their organization exists, cooperating Seraan clans worldwide have been working on uncovering documents on this epoch to synthetize a full history of the Seraan kind.

The confederations worked all in different ways, but the main similarity between their diverse iterations is that they consisted of a decentralized agreement between various tribes and peoples to protect each other, share scientific discoveries, trade and stimulate economic production. Several confederations formed, some being small, made up of three tribes, with other being much larger; the largest known confederation consisting of seventeen different Seraan tribes working in cooperation.

As time passed, the confederations grew closer and closer internal ties, giving to their tribes access to each other's lands, formalizing administrative structures, and creating intricate political structures to define the limits of the power of the different tribal governments. This process of association reached its Zenith when three major confederations, namely the Kalé, Haldum, and Goltem, formed the Greater Confederation of Kailin.

These tribes, initially migratory, gradually started settling in certain regions together and constructing cohesive communities. The first permanent settlement was the City of Kaliné, that quickly grew in power and size as many other tribes converged towards it. Many other cities popped around Kaliné, formed by other tribes within the Greater Confederation of Kailin, until their administrative functions centralized around the City-State of Kaliné.

The Rise of Kaliné
The City-State of Kaliné quickly grew in power, as the several confederations around it either went towards it to plead allegiance and ask for protection, or rushed to the creation of permanent settlements to challenge the power of Kaliné. Wars were rare during this period; all the wars, though, had great impacts, being protracted, bloody, causing famine and pain all around. The power of Kaliné was thus mostly diplomatic in various senses - because they knew wars among the Seraan were detrimental to their general development, they preferred to subjugate the neighboring countries and realms through the power of rhetoric and extortion than the brute force of arms.

The Edaiship of Kaliné was declared when the administrative capacity of the city was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of protected states and tribes to be overseen. It meant the consolidation of the power in one central authority, and then the delegation of those powers to regional governors known as "Edais". The Edais were members of the Kaliné Council, and they decided over matters of administration.

With the event known as the Coup of Luã, the Edaiship of Kaliné reformed into the High Edaiship of Kaliné, as one member of the Council, Galgéa, named herself the High Edai, seized power with a series of intricate political schemes.