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<h3>2538 — The height of the Gelyet</h3>
The death of Hiuriaz (2505) did not dampen the <b>Gelyet</b> thirst for glory. The Gelyet did not trust to the chances of heredity to select their leaders, but to games and tests of strength and boldness; the winner and new <i>anaraz</i> was <b>Läŋuraz</b>. His first task was to chastise the Gurdagor, who had thought the apparent absence of the Gelyet a good opportunity to reclaim their lands in Jeor and Niormen. He destroyed their empire in a single year’s campaign (2508), and was only deterred from crossing through Luduyn to sack Gurdago itself by promises of submission and massive tribute.
<p>He then turned his attention westward, where the Meťelyi were getting uppity. He chased them across the steppe and out of the watershed of the Eärdur entirely (2514). He spent some time absorbing the Bešbalicu (another branch of the Naviu) and the Coruo, as a preliminary to the conquest of Caďinas. The conquest of the upper Svetla (2519-2523) went well enough, though the barbarian-stiffened Caďinorian army resisted fiercely. He was leading a charge on Ctesifon when he received a Caďinorian arrow in his eye, and fell from his horse dead (2525).
<p>On the very edges of the Caďinorian capital the Gelyet held their games to choose a new <i>anaraz</i>. They had no sooner chosen <b>Aitän</b> as their new leader when news came of rebellion among the Coruo to the south. The glory of taking Ctesifon had to wait; it was greater dishonor to countenance rebellion, even that of impoverished nomads in the distant plains. The Coruo were reduced (2525-26); it then proved necessary to chase the Meťelyi back, well into their own homeland, and to reacquaint the Axunemi of Dintarn with the taste of Gelyet fury.
<p>From here it seemed most convenient to drive straight north, and conquer Sarnáe. In a series of three brutal campaigns (2536-8) Aitän conquered the free Coruo and Sarnáe and drove through to the sea.
<p>The Gelyet, who numbered no more than 100,000, now reigned over perhaps 20 million peasants and city dwellers, and several million nomads. They had created the greatest empire in the history of Ereláe, stretching from the Lernukh to Doju and from the northern to the southern sea; but they were now highly overextended, and their proud empire was to expand no further.
<p>The first sign of this was the appearance of the Axunaic state of <b>Xurno</b> along the middle Xengi (2530, under the <i>nyei </i><b>Rejabriš</b>). Xurno was organized for defense: every peasant is expected to serve in the army; towns are constructed within enormous fortifications, with sources of water and fields inside the walls. The local Gelyet, those left behind as Aitän and the bulk of his forces romped through Sarnáe, had so far been unable to reduce it.
<h4>Other developments</h4>
<p>In the course of reducing the Gurdago, the Gelyet had taken over a good swatch of Čia-Ša territory; as a result the Čia-Ša have pushed down the Kra basin.
<p>The <b>Sainor</b> were unable to effectively resist the Gelyet; they found the states to the east, by contrast, delightfully accessible. By 2525 they had occupied much of the Ediri mountains.
<p>The <b>Anajati Tej</b> was riven by a strategic conflict. The heartland was preoccupied with the Čisrans; the north advocated union with the Lenani; Feináe saw no need for change. In the early 2500s the Tej split along these lines. The lower Šinour was ruled by an aristocratic oligarchy; the Anajati dynasty held on in Feináe. During the course of these troubles the Tžuro lost their empire over the <b>Fei</b>, as the eastern Mei were now called.
<p>The <b>elcari</b> had come to believe that their divided geography was allowing the humans to dominate them. They built a wall across the mountains between the two halves of their <i>khak</i>, then reinforced it with new settlements. This was enough to recover their independence for good.
<p>Of ominous note is the union of Tyellakh with the ktuvoks, forming the new nation of <b>Dhekhnam</b> (2537). The Tyellakhi had been in no hurry to return to the subordinate role they had played in Munkhâsh; but they were hard-pressed by the Gelyet and the Coruo, and looked to the ktuvoks for help. For their part the ktuvoks promised a partnership, with the spoils of empire to be divided equally. As even their neighbors had lost the habit of paying attention to the ktuvoks, the external threat implicit in this arrangement went unheeded.
<p>In addition to the Gelyet crisis, the <b>Caďinorians</b> had to deal with the independence of Sereor and Ismahi (for now, Érenat was loyal to the crown). In this period, however, it was no great step from Caďinorian province to independent kingdom.<font size=1><sup></sup></font><font size=1><sup></sup></font>Indeed, the Caďinor title for a prince of royal blood, <i>dalu,</i> became the Verdurian word for ‘king’. Princes often served as governors of a province.</sup></font></sup></font> Each province managed its own affairs, collected its own taxes, and handled its own defense, sending only token tribute and military assistance to Ctésifon, whose area of direct rule was limited to the middle Svetla, up to Aránicer. To put down a rebellion on the periphery required raising an army from unaffected provinces, or enlisting the aid of the Verdurians, or hiring barbarian mercenaries. The price the Emperor had to pay to his vassal the <i>sanno</i> of Verduria to help repel the Gelyet from the capital (in 2524) brought tears to his eyes.
<p>The <b>Qaraus</b> are beginning to colonize Irqaraumia, east of Demóshimor— mostly a process of breeding goats and cattle adapted to the savanna.
<h4>Problems in Nan</h4>
<p>Some sort of ecological collapse, plus a plague, has devastated <b>Nanese</b> civilization. This left the Alfonine Coast independent. The homeland, still nominally governed by the kings of o-Dayevu, was actually ruled by warlords.
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