Yularan History

The island of Yulara is found within the Sea of Petals, in the continent of Syltor. It is known for the civilisations of the Sand Republic, The Kingdom of Lennox, the Dominion of Ostia and the Kingdom of Valle, along with the Republic of Halge and its holdings.

Yularan history is defined by warring communities and frequent societal collapse due to both internal and external factors. The nature of the region as having large swathes of desert dividing the North from the South led to many numerous and isolated cultures emerging over time. Most dates are defined by a unique dating system of Before Dragoonid Collapse (BDC) and After Dragoonid Collapse (ADC), due to inconsistencies in unifying a date system with the rest of the Syltoren continent as a result of isolationism and historical record disruptions.

Raft-Culture Era (~25,000-40,000 BDC)
The Raft Culture Era is named after the Raft Peoples, immigrant tribes of unknown origins who marked the first humans to occupy the isle of Yulara. The exact timeframe of their arrival has been difficult to determine, due to numerous difficulties in obtaining any form of physical records of their existence or culture.

Historians first discovered evidence for the Raft Peoples' existence from excavations of extremely primitive boats in southern river valleys in Yulara. The presence of rich delta soils allowed for a good preservation of a sole rare specimen of a boat, which was little more than assortments of twigs and branches held together with reeds and twine. Due to the unlikely nature of such a vessel being seaworthy, it is theorised that these peoples arrived via nearby land either in modern-day Andorn or along land bridges from elsewhere. The latter theory holds the most prominence among academia due to a lack of finds of Raft settlements along the southwesternmost point of Yulara, in the Riverrun Region.

The Raft Civilisation were likely hunter-gatherers, thriving on endurance-based hunting accross the savannah and coastal desert regions for subsistence. Finds of pointed wooden spears in and around the Riverrun, Heliodusion and Ib regions suggest that these early settlers utilised burning the ends of their spears to create a hardened point. The skins of killed animals were used as clothes, with the pelts of antelope being particularly prized.

Beyond this, little is known of this period in Yularan History due to a lack of permanent structures enabling an effective preservation of specimens. The discovery of Raft Culture specimens has largely been through sheer luck, as some are found well-preserved in river-delta mud, but in areas farther from a river, preservation seems unlikely due to both exposure to the elements and the Fall of the Dragoonid civilisation some 25,000 years later. Prior to these discoveries, the basis for Raft Peoples' existence lay largely in the form of educated guesswork, a migratory seaborn people being the likely explanation for a genesis of human presence on Yulara.

Usage of stone tools occurred not too far before the following period after the Raft Peoples Era, and was the starting premise for the Dawn of Agriculture on Yulara.

Dawn of Agriculture (~3,500 BDC)
Some 3,500 years before the Fall of the Dragoonids, Yularan communities developed stone tools and primitive agriculture through cultivation of grain and small berry shrubs. A consistency of a food supply developed, leading to a nuceleation of communities together in arable areas arround river valleys such as the Epipria, Brhakus, Thura, Akh and Katoum rivers.

Society rapidly began to form during this era. Grain was gathered and collected by farming families into single granaries and storehouses, allowing for these farmers to hold immense sway in their local communities. It is believed that society operated on a basic bartering system, where the different members of the community traded between eachother in order to acquire food and water. The farming families distributed grain in the form of primitive currency to labourers accross the local community, as evidenced by excavations in Ib and Heliodusion revealing skeletons of labourers buried outside clay structures with the bodies exhibiting structural stress on the bone structure from toiling. Those inside larger clay structures had less obvious structural defects suggesting a lesser degree of work.

Housing began to spring up in a more refined manner, with mud and clay from riverbanks being used to sculpt basic dwellings. In many cases however, wooden huts assorted from fallen logs and foliage were used in absentia of their clay counterparts due to an estimated lenghty construction time. From finds within these communities it is estimated that the average diet consisted of a primitive bread, fish, berries and wild game.

Over subsequent centuries, pottery and carpentry began devlopment apace, with jars and containers occupying households to store freshwater and grain. An early evidence of writing was found enscribed upon shards of potterry, likely with a sharpened stone. The wrtiting resembled a sort of cuneiform. It is likley that most pottery was created from hardening of clay in the harsh Yularan sunshine.

This primitive writing system enabled basic communication of the earliest forms of religious belief found on Yulara; a form of animism and elemental worship that called for burnt offerrings to bring rains and sooner river floods.

Rise of the Grain Pharaohs (~3,000 BDC)
The dominant agricultural families of these agrarian societies would gradually consolidate vast swathes of power and influence within their communities. Tablets record offerrings of fish, pots, and whittled totems being offered to the eldest male of these families, which became the basis of the Grain Pharaoh titles that would exist for the following ten thousand years.

In the early days, Grain Pharoahs enforced their hold over the local supplies of grain by the creation of what Syltoren archeologists reffer to as "Grainsmen", a collective of enforcers drawn up of relatives and the occasional lucky outsider. Through these Grainsmen, the Grain Pharaohs could control the who gained access to the wheatfields and stockpiles within communinites. Most excavated settlements in the Yularan Ib, Riverrun and Heliodusion regions have been found to contain primitive granary structures where dried-clay records contained references to how much grain each Grainsman was allotted.

In cases of famine, it was not unheard of for desperate thieves to be exiled out into the desert north of the river valleys, a sentence considered to be effective death for the exile. Unbeknownst to these burgeoning Pharaohs, those that did survive these trials by fire would form small, roving nomadic communities, living oftentimes from the sustenance of stray desert mice and cacti juices. Malnutrition was commonplace for these scavengers, but soon, from desperation, raids would be conducted on the southern villages, for the sake of survival.

Dawn of Masonry (2,900-2,800 BDC)
The new pressures of sponatneous raids meant that the complacency of the Grain Pharaohs over their local communities was shaken. The men of the deserts and indeed the Grain Pharaohs themselves largely used stone tools for most purposes, and so the Pharaohs sought ways of innovation to keep abreast of attacks.

This innovation took the form of basic stonemasonry, as far as records tell. The name for this period is derived from the beginning of more coherent records, as all earlier documents have had much of their original content eroded due to the crumbling nature of sun-baked clay tablets. Excavations find that large slabs of stone were carved to create interlocking studs and indents in order to create basic battlements and larger-scale structures. In addittion, rare finds have shown the beginning of Pharaoh laws and doctrines, as recorded in a find known as the "Bhrakkus Steele".

"The catch of the River shall be worth an [untranslated] of grain. A mason's day's work shall be worth ten ears for craft of each Work. A fieldman shall recieve a part of the day's Yield in proportion to his toil."

-The intelligible sections of the Bhrakkus Steele.

Nyphmut Dynasty (~2500-2377 BDC)
Southwest Yulara along Ib and Bhrakus

Kephmesht Dynasty (2377-2213 BDC)
Took over Nyphmut Dynasty territory after their collapse.

Ba'ahtuuros Dynasty (~2500-2263 BDC)
Central Yulara along Epipia river

Other Notables (~2500-2200 BDC)
Minor Grain Pharaohs controlling small settlements and remote areas of Yulara

Roving nomads in Abaton and Khaset.

Natural disasters
Migrations of sand worms with poisonous adaptation

Encroaching desertification

Famines and dwindling fish stocks

Unrest leads to collapse of multiple Grain Pharaoh dynasties

Nomads to Desert Raiders
Nomads and exiles increase in numbers, organise and conduct raids more frequently

Bloody skirmishes common, many villages abandoned and rebuilt in cyclical patterns

Militarism begins
Organised armies and militias begin forming properly. Technological advancement increases. Prototypes of chariots appear, and basic metal armour implemented with more uniformity. Cultural backwardness prevalent due to emphasis on communal defense. Trade non-existent, so many grain pharaohs raid eachother like desert raiders.

Exsanguination of the Desert and the recovery (1986-1645)
Defeat of nomads, slow societal recovery and development of new agricultural techniques. River travel now far more common with basic canoes and barges.

True Dynasties (1645-1200 BDC)
Differentiation between kings/kingdoms and tribal leadership realities of old Grain Pharaoh dynasties. State calcification and writing systems develop in a more sophisticated manner. Intricate resurgences in art and technology. Mythological conjecture begins here. Argued that Darakon walked the earth during this period or even earlier.

Scourings of the Desert (Desert Raider killings) begin.

Contact with the mainland (~1200 BDC)
Yularans make basic trades with proto Ryzani peoples and Niedenese. Not substantive until Dragoonid Kingdom arises.

Grain Pharaohs in decay (1168-1159 BDC)
Opression rises as Grain Pharaohs become complacent. Iron Age begins in earnest and exploitation rises. Grain Pharaohs style themselves in divine image, but famines strike again, leading to unrest. Wars made to consolidate kingdoms under one Pharaoh with little success. Desert Raiders grow in number but are not as effective

Magic arrives on Yulara (1159-1037 BDC)
Enchantments and mysticism introduced and lead to massive inquality in day to day life. Grain Pharoahs create priest class of Duatim to control supply of teachings on mysticism. Opression ramps up, some practitioners seal themselves in subterrenean communities which would later become tomb cities like Zar'Roc and Dragoonios. Some groups of these are argued to be where the Dragoonids stemmed from.

The Dragoonids Rise (1037-996) BDC
Extensive military campaign by Dragoonids out of tomb-city called Khoponeos. Eventually overturns all Yularan Grain dynasties and unites them all under Dragoonid Kingdom. Later a proto-republic (councilor government with military representatives at local level).