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<h3>2155 — The nomads are restless</h3>
<h4>Eretald</h4>
A glance at the map, or, from the viewpoint of the civilized states, a glance at the horizon, shows that the military balance of power had now passed to the <b>nomads</b> of the plains, where it would remain for the next millennium.
<p>Numerically, they were overwhelmed by the plainsdwellers; but every other advantage was theirs. Each nomad was a trained fighter and a skilled horsemen, and possessed three or four horses. The farmers, by contrast, were no good as soldiers, and the professional, mostly infantry armies of the Caďinorian army were small by modern standards, or even by the standards of Ervëa’s day, when two hundred thousand men could be led into the field against Munkhâsh.
<p>Nor did the civilized states really face up to the barbarian threat; both Axunai and Caďinas wasted their strength on internal conflicts, and the Skourenes, of course, had already fallen to the nomadic Tžuro. Their standard external defense was to hire groups of barbarians to defend themselves against the others; but the nomads now saw their way to more: to permanent conquest of large portions of the plains.
<img src="http://www.almeopedia.com/almeopedia/mediawiki/images/4/43/Caballist.png" align="right" width="135" height="210" title="A caballist">
<p>The <b>Caďinorians</b> still retained the organizational skills to resist the nomads, although they could not prevent the Coruo from overrunning Araunicoros (2145). Technically they were no longer an Empire: in 2107 the <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Red_Cabal');">Red Cabal</a></b> of nobles and generals had culminated thirty years of intrigue by taking over the government and executing the young Emperor Ďallir and his family, with such brutality that this event, rather than the barbarian invasions, has always been taken as the beginning of the <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Dark_Years');">Dark Years</a> of Eretald.
<p>The nine Caballists never appeared except in red robes and mask, and ruled as a body; when one died the others would name a replacement. The Cabal claimed to have been formed to protest imperial tyranny and the civil wars that had begun to break out as each emperor died; it soon became evident that the real project of the oligarchs was to indulge their own rapacity. They plundered the treasures of the empire, persecuted their enemies, and pressed the commoners hard.
<p>The military governor of Kenand took the opportunity (in the name of the Empire) to establish his independence (2155); his province was distant and poor enough that the Red Cabal made only a token effort to regain it. They were more ruthless with the rival White Cabal of Seraeor, whose rebellion was suppressed in 2133.
<h4>In the east</h4>
<p>The <b>Carhinnoi</b> had learned the trick of empire-building from the Tžuro; they conquered the Lenani plateau about 2050 and Demóshimor around the turn of the century. The Demoshi found that they were more demanding conquerors than the Caďinorians; they zealously promulgated Jippirasti. Under their influence the Six Gods of Gelalhát were increasingly deemphasized in favor of Gelálh, and when Carhinno ears were about they made him sound more like Jippir than like a supernatural ktuvok.
<p>Many Lenani crowded into the <b>Naraji Tej</b>, which attempted to assert its authority over the newcomers. The Lenani were having none of this; in the subsequent war the Naraji were completely defeated. This event left a number of peoples free for the first time in centuries: the Mei kingdom of Sevisor, the Wede:i kingdom of Pronel, and the Axunaic province of Bosan. Around 2150 the larger potion of the Lenani were organized by the warlord <b>Tokruj</b> into a new Tej.
<p>As the Tokruji were pushed south and fought with the Tžuro <i>teje</i>, the <b>elcari</b> fought their way to independence, a little the worst for wear. The Jippirasti states fought hard to keep them under their thumb, but this was marginal territory for them and complicated by inter-<i>tej</i> wars.
<p>The eastern Mei are now given their modern name, the <b>Fei</b>. Already separated from the western Mei for more than two millennia, no one remembers the link between them.
<h4>Xengiman</h4>
<p>The <b>Axunemi</b> are more divided than ever; the middle Xengi is now a scramble of minor states too small to show on the map. The frequent wars were bad enough, but companies of mercenaries had taken to banditry, harrassing both peasants and cities. Kings sometimes made moves to suppress them, but halfheartedly, as they were generally errant bits of their own armies and would be needed during the next war.
<p>The Sainor are pressing south against the Bucair. Despite or perhaps because of their dual administration, the Bucair are now perceived by other nomads as soft.
<p><b>Čeiy</b> conquered the major city of Bizawak, Kuroxamo, in 2070, giving it almost exactly its modern boundaries.
<h4>Nan</h4>
<p>The <b>Nanese</b> city-states were consolidated by Ɔmsɔ arouind 2100, and the unified kingdom was taken over by o-Dayevu under its legendary king o-Ȟama (c. 2150). Caďinorian contact with Nan was fitful by this time, due to the collapse of the trading system back home and the lowered level of Nanese gold exports.
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