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<h3>1750 — A golden age in Caďinas and the Atej</h3>
<i>Note: From this point on I use the modern Tžuro and Uṭandal names of Skourene cities, rather than the ancient Old Skourene.</i>
<h4>The Kurundasti Tej</h4>
<p>Attafei died (1684) before he could reconquer the lands Gurdago had wrested from the <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Kurundasti_Tej');">Kurundasti Tej</a></b>; his son Kutaj (d. 1695) and grandson Busiŋgal (d. 1725) spent their whole reigns on the slow <b>conquest of Skouras</b>.
<p>Why did Skouras take longer to reduce than the Demon Realm itself? The brief answer is that the Skourenes fought better. The long centuries of internecine strife had led the Skourenes to perfect the art of fortification; the Tžuro had barely seen cities, much less learned how to besiege and reduce them. The Skourenes also came denser on the ground than the Munkhâshi, and resisted more creatively.
<p>Still, by Busiŋgal’s death the conquest could be said to be a complete. Only the southernmost portions of the Littoral were unconquered; these were largely under the control of Gurdago, whose control of the sea the Tžuro were as yet unable to counter.
<p>In the course of the war the Tžuro withdrew from Munkhâsh, except for Tyellakh. The Eynleyni estates were too poor and too distant to be profitable; and the army could be put to better use in Skouras. Fortunately, there was no need to simply give the Eynleyni their freedom. Several clans of the Qaraus had converted to Jippirasti, and these could be trusted to maintain the empire over the Eynleyni— and the guard over the ktuvoks. Over the centuries these Jippirasti Qaraus became differentiated from their fellow Qaraus, and are now known as the <b>Carhinnoi</b>.
<p>The period of <b>Gurdago</b>’s Skourene adventure is now known as the <b>First Empire</b>. It managed to maintain the independence of Gudlai (Guṭḷeli), supplying it by sea, and occupied Jecuor (1726) to assist in its supply problems; but its remaining possessions in the Littoral didn’t provide the resources to resist the massive Tej. It seemed prudent to expand the Gurdagor homeland in Luduyn, and to concentrate on the wealth from trading across the southern seas.
<h4>Caďinas</h4>
<p>It is a <b>golden age in</b> <b>Caďinas</b>. Ervëa died in 1692, in bed; his son <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Il%C4%8Faneas');">Ilďaneas</a> died heirless in 1725, and his nephew succeeded without a fuss.
<p>The Empire was divided into realms or provinces (<i>naiunit</i>), free cities (<i>satrandet</i>, such as Araunicoros and Aites), and military dominions (<i>saiundet</i>). Both civil and military governors were appointed by the Emperor; the free cities (or more precisely their important men) had the right to name their own leaders, under an imperial veto.
<p>Caďinas was a state ruled by law. The Emperor could make new laws, but once he had made them he was as bound by them as the least of his subjects. The laws on the whole were not unjust. A celebrated law prevented a rich man from taking away the house or land of a poor man; another mandated blinding for a government official who enriched himself via his position. A large civil administration oversaw the execution of justice.
<p>The Empire was never more prosperous. The farmers of Eretald (apart from a small class of slaves and servants) were not vassals; they owned their own land, and sold their crop to grain merchants, who sold it in the cities. The grain trade was both competitive and efficient: the city-dweller bought his food cheaper, and the farmer sold his crops for higher, than anywhere in the present-day Plain except Verduria. The farmer in turn bought manufactures, spices, and tools made in the cities and even from far abroad. He paid his taxes in coin; and his taxes were lower, and paid for better protection and justice, than would be seen in Eretald for 1500 years. He had nothing to fear from the local nobleman, who was only a richer farmer than himself, and equally subject to the Emperor.
<p>Philosophy, literature, and the arts flourished. The Caďinorians invented a precise system of musical notation, so that while we can entertain only guesses about the sound of Roman or Greek music, we have access to the full legacy of Caďinorian music. Caďinorian philosophy was a riot of competing creeds— beside the official <a href="Javascript:parent.updir('pagan.htm');">paganism</a> and the numerous tolerated superstitions of conquered peoples, there were pantheists, sun-worshippers, atheists, agnostic idealists, Arašei, and even believers in Jippir or Meša; the only prohibited worship was that of Gelalh.
<p>After the Munkhâshi wars <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Kebri');">Kebri</a></b> was conquered. It was an age of empire, and the Kebreni hardly resisted the advance of the legendary legions. The island was not really suited for Caďinorian colonization— there wasn’t much arable land, and the Caďinorians had little taste either for fishing, or wine-making, or ocean trading— so the rulers tended to clump together in their new port, which they called <i>Caďincaer</i> and the natives <i>Ḣyr Kaťynyr</i>.
<h4>Xengiman and Čeiy</h4>
<p>Many have tried, but none have succeeded in reestablishing the unity of <b>Axunai</b>. A dreary succession of warlords and barons oppresses the people and fights innumerable wars. Weinexi is a ghost town, sacked once a generation or so by some temporary new pretender to Axunašin glory. This is the time the Xurnese call the <b>Age of Small Kings</b>.
<p><b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('%C4%8Ceiy');">Čeiy</a></b>, on the other hand, is a great success story. The nation was formed by the union of Amurineli and Tandau in 1741, and enjoys a market economy, a senate, friendly relations with both the Tej and Gurdago, and peaceful unity.
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