Ardoseh

The Ardoseh Bakeikau, or simply Ardoseh, is an ethnically Ardosan nation located in the Tekra mesas of Centalia Minor, Akonanda. It is a small city-state centered around the town of Bakva-Terse on the summit of Mount Daurum. Its primary and state-mandated religion is Vwyytakeh, and its sole official language is Ardosots.

The name Ardoseh comes from an ancient root word in the Adaham language of Adavots meaning "home". The name was applied to the region retrospectively after the Adaham had settled the area.

Early Settlement
In the Neolithic, the ancestors of the Siyyam, farmers who were not unlike those of Uresh and Sefyyr in terms of culture, settled the land around Mount Daurum. These people known today as the Utimseh-Smara ("children of the sea") fished the rivers and began cultivation of crops. Their initial survival was harsh, as the local semi-aquatic sandworms plagued the fishermen and attacked people. However, the highest peaks of the mountains, upon thin layers of soil above scorching bare rock, were free of the worms, and thus they took residence on the hills.

A system of pumps and water reservoirs was established upon the great plateau of Mount Daurum, to bring the muddy river water up her slopes and irrigate the barren land. While the higher altitude did bring cool dew and relatively temperate weather relative to the desert lowlands, the extra water was necessary to establish permaculture of wheat and root vegetables upon which the Siyyam subsisted. Gold and copper, of which large deposits were available in the mesa's abundant placer and hydrothermal deposits, were quickly understood to be worked and were used to craft various tools and trinkets the Siyyam used.

During this Chalcolithic period of copper and gold tools, the Siyyam were a collective of farmers, but lacked any social hierarchy or structure. They lived in a state of primitive communism, where all was held in common by the farmers. They thrived and suffered as one. Their religion worshipped a single creator god, whom they called the Dak Akeb, or "Great Spirit".

Arrival of the Adaham
The Adaham were one of many nomadic peoples of the early bronze age, spread across Akonada in roving bands of horsemen. These nomads eventually came to the mesa, seeking food and water, but were turned out by the Siyyam. The Siyyam accused the Adaham of being against Dak Akeb, and refused to feed them. Rather than die, the hungry Adaham summoned the strongest among them, who would take the Siyyam's land and food by force. Their warriors, with tools of bronze and horse-drawn chariots, could quickly overwhelm the more numerous and well-fed Siyyam, who were not warlike in disposition.

Legend has it that the night before the battle between the Siyyam and Adaham, one of the Adaham, by the name of Halbanvox, had a vision while dreaming, known as the First Revelation. A sign was given to him by Latzwakhei, and the sign manifested in the sighting of the great holy moths. The morning after, Halbanvox told the men of this sign, and they went into battle. They spared who they could, but killed those who resisted. They then found the abundant supplies of the Siyyam, and fed their own in a great feast. Halbanvox then had another revelation that night, where Latzwakhei continued to explain the world around him. This, and further revelations, became the religion of Vwyytakeh.

Ethnogenesis of the Ardosans
The Adaham and Siyyam eventually became mixed as they intermarried. However, in those early years a class system was established with the Adaham as the superiors and Siyyam as inferiors, and mixed individuals as a between-class. However, As time progressed, the distinctions between the classes waned as more inter-ethnic mixing occurred and the establishment of the Vwyytakeh faith held that ethnic divisions were sinful products of the material world, which the religion claims to reject.

The Adaham language of Adavots morphed over time, influenced by the Siyyam's own language in phonemic inventory and vocabulary, though most of the original words and grammar of Adavots remain today in slightly modified form. Thus, the modern Ardosots language was born, and continues to be used across Tekra as ethnic Ardosans migrated around the local region.

Ardoseh Bakeikau
The ethnic Ardosans of Mount Daurum established a council on the mountain to administer the town of Bakva-Terse and its surroundings. The council became a formalized institution upon the introduction of the Akonanda Western Company to Tekra. The Bakeikau, meaning "council" or "horde" in Ardosots, remains as the government of the city-state.