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<h3>1632 — Civilization 1, Demons 3</h3>
<h4>Eretald</h4>
The Munkhâshi plans for <b>Eretald</b> depended on keeping the Caďinorians fighting among themselves. They helped the process along, covertly, as best they could, subsidizing one lord or another, and even hiring out mercenaries to both sides. (Their best agents were Monkhayu. Many could be found who hated the Caďinorians, and who spoke Caďinor.)
<img src="http://www.almeopedia.com/almeopedia/mediawiki/images/e/e3/Erv%C3%ABa.jpg" width="219" height="241" align="right" title="Ervëa">
<p>Sevurias started with the bulk of the Caďinorian army, and he used it to strike at loyalist strong points along the Eärdur. Ervëa avoided combat, instead undertaking a series of attacks on the rich fiefs of the central Svetla. Sevurias tried marauding as well, but in this game he had more to lose. Ervëa now had the resources to raise and maintain a respectable army. He used half of it to harry Sevurias, the other half to secure Cayenas (1617-19), cutting Sevurias off from the sea.
<p>Araunicoros joined him in 1620; Ctésifon was besieged the next year, and fell in 1622. Sevurias fled toward Scormai, which his advisors felt was still solidly his. Ervëa got there first. Seeing which way the wind was blowing, the advisors themselves presented Ervëa with the head of Sevurias (1625). Ervëa thanked them, then had them put to death,with the comment <i>Disclaeteci disai</i> (‘Oath-haters [traitors], I hate’).
<p><b>Munkhâsh</b>’s plans were precipitated by this unexpectedly quick solution to the civil war. Before Ervëa had even returned to Ctésifon they invaded. They assumed that the Caďinorians would be exhausted and disunited by their civil war. Their spies also reported that the armies that had fought the civil war were relatively small, and seemed to avoid heavy fighting.
<p>They had not counted on the fury that would take possession of the Caďinorians (who grew up hearing tales of the long night of the Occupation) by the call that sounded forth across the land: “Demons on the Plain!” New and larger armies were raised; the remnants of the dynastic quarrel were forgotten as the Caďinorians united behind Ervëa.
<p>Ervëa left Sevurias’s old army to hinder the progress of the Munkhâshi, and took his own forces north to began a counterinvasion. Leziunea was lightly defended, and fell easily; by 1627 he had liberated Awoilas (<i>Aveilas</i>, to the Caďinorians). The Munkhâshi hastily withdrew troops from the Plain to reinforce their key fortress of Gopando, at the mouth of the Shkónoro. It was too late; the fortress fell in 1629.
<p>The Munkhâshi suggested peace talks. Somewhat against his better judgment, Ervëa agreed. A treaty was signed on the basis of the current situation; both sides expected it to be temporary. Ervëa used the time to consolidate his rule, to develop some of the arts of peace, to reorganize the army, and to build a ring of defensive fortresses around Eretald.
<p>Almost unnoticed, the <b>múrtani</b> occupied the nation of Metauro— the first time humans had been ruled by múrtani. They did not find it a pleasant experience; múrtani are small but nasty, and one of their favorite tactics is sexual assault.
<h4>Xengiman</h4>
<p>In 1620 a civil war broke out in <b>Bukanel</b>. The precipitating cause was said to be the poor quality of the wine served at a banquet in the halls of the Bucair king; this was of course only symbolic of the rebels’ grievances: they lived in the east, and felt they had done most of the fighting against the Axunašin and seen less of the spoils.
<p><b>Axunai</b> invaded, under the <i>niveï</i> Bijereis, to take advantage of its enemies’ division. Things went well for awhile— Jeinizun and Naiyor were retaken, and the entire Ideis seemed within reach— till the Bucair rallied, put aside their quarrels, and counterinvaded.
<p>On the whole things did not go well for Bijereis. The Bucair were still essentially nomads, and grew up with horses; they could always burst through the Axunašin defenses and raid or burn a town on the Xengi. Bijereis could destroy a town on the Ideis in revenge, but this would do him no good— only Axunašin lived there. And taking the war to the Bucair pasturages in the west overextended his forces.
<p>Worse yet, the war was unpopular in Axunai— especially in Čeiy, which paid heavy taxes but, since it depended on rainfall and not community waterworks for irrigation, was conscious of no great benefit received in return. The governor of Bizawak province repudiated the <i>niveï</i>, and three southern provinces followed his example, uniting in 1628 as <b>Amurineli</b> (‘united land’).
<p>The <i>niveï</i> was now fighting a losing battle on two fronts; and other governors and generals were as well starting to see better leaders in the mirror.
<h4>The Tžuro</h4>
<p>On the death of <b>Kurund</b> in 1623 his son <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Kurund');">Burudusi</a></b> was named as Atej. Burudusi was nominally Jippirasti, but he had no desire to fight demons; he wanted to aim for the rich southern states instead.
<p>For practice, the Tžuro gobbled up portions of Puroŋeli and Mei Ros, as well as the little Tei principality, Lian; then (1626) they turned south to Skouras. By 1632 the strongest Šinourene states, Papliopagimi and Ṭisuram, had vanished without a trace.
<p>Lord Adesdanti of Peligi preached a nationalist crusade to liberate the lost territories; but as he had done nothing to help them, the remaining Skourenes were wary. Adesdanti explained that the lost states had refused his very generous terms of union. Iṭili, now on the front lines, thought that these more nearly resembled terms of surrender, and sought an alliance with Gurdago. This was certain to lead to war with Peligi, since Gurdago would demand the independence of its mother city, Guṭḷeli.
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