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<h3>2750 — The height of Xurno</h3>
<h4>The dawning nation</h4>
The <b>Xurnese idea of nationalism</b> effortlessly encompasses Čeiy. Now that it was oppressed by the Gelyet and the Čisre, it was time that it be incorporated into the new empire. The Čeiyu did not reciprocate the sentiment— they spoke a different language, had a republican rather than an imperial form of government, and had never accepted Endajué— but the Xurnese invaded, and pushed the Gelyet into the mountains (by 2660). The Čeiyu were not appreciative; it proved necessary to abolish their senate and appoint Xurnese governors.
<img src="../bezu.png" align="right" width="220" height="210" title="Bezu ma-Veon">
<p>At about this time a radical <i>dzusey</i> or Endajué Master named <b>Bezu ma-Veon</b> was propagating his teaching that there is no essential difference between good and evil, that there is no divinity or order in the universe, and that salvation consists in surrender to one’s own powerlessness. Bezu advanced to the position of premier under the <i>nyei</i> Aulinir II before he was condemned and arrested by a conservative clique. His followers arranged his escape, and he barricaded himself in the fortress of Šušumbör off the coast of Mnau (2692).
<p>From here he organized a terrorist army, whose indifference to conventional morality and fanatic loyalty to its leadership both derived from <b><a href="Javascript:parent.updir('endajue.htm#Darkness')";>Bezuxau</a></b>, the doctrines of Bezu. His influence on the Xurnese administration goes beyond the many assassinations he engineered; in the tightly controlled world of Xurno, to affect the ideas of Bezu was a form of dissidence, and even a form of progressivism. As he supported Čeiyu independence, his ideas spread with particular rapidity in Čeiy.
<p>The Xurnese expanded also into the Xazen valley (2670), and into Pronel and Edinel (2690-2720). In response, the Gelyet in the mountains overran Tyellakh, while the Sainor pushed east into the Lenani steppe.
<h4>Elsewhere in the south</h4>
<p>The <b>Čisrans</b> had been pushed out of Čeiy but struggled ceaselessly to get it back; this annoyance was not eliminated till the Xurnese emperor Kipric occupied Čisra itself (2750). The effects on the Littoral were far-reaching. The Tžuro portions of the Čisran empire fell away; the western portions were recovered by Jippirim, while the eastern part retained its unity as the kingdom of Šurantal, and managed to conquer Gudlai (Tžuro <i>Gudral</i>). Gelihur and Šiji remained in the hands of Čisran loyalists.
<p><b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Gurdago');">Gurdago</a></b> saw itself as an empire, but in 2607 it lost its last imperial possession, Jecuor, to Čisra. It made several attempts to recover the island, as well as cities in Jeor; these both became obviously futile with the rise of Xurno.
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<br>The Mgunikpe peoples were hunter-gatherers, barely worth trading with, but the Čia-Ša were another matter. They had taken over the Kra valley, and establishing chiefdoms, and these would surely make benefit from Gurdagor rule. Around 2670 the Gurdagor took over the lower Kra, its <b>Third Empire</b>.
<p>The Čia-Ša expansion divided the Mgunikpe in two subgroups, the Nagbe to the west and the Gunik to the east.
<h4>In the north</h4>
The Naviu chieftain <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('M%C3%A1lia');">Mália</a></b> rose from commander of the nomad auxiliaries of the <b>Caďinorian</b> southern army to general to emperor (2610), founding the Dascoro dynasty. She recovered the upper Svetla, and just as importantly, perhaps, built public works and supported the temples— the sort of solid public service an emperor was supposed to do. Her son pushed the Somoyi out of Šerian, and her grandson Medric expelled the Gelyet from Eretald (2680); just as importantly, perhaps,
<p>Under these strong leaders Caďinas looked like a strong state, but their success depended on keeping the nobles happy, and the easiest way to do this was to grant them local autonomy. (The six imperial armies were an important resource, but even these were assigned to specific regions and resented serving outside them.) Under the later, weaker Dascoroi, centrifugal tendencies accelerated. When the southern army (the <i>Beomĭ Erei</i>, the Barons of the South, with barbarian auxiliaries) revolted and established their own state (2712), the central authority could do little.
<p>In Eretald, poems, religious works, and feudal paperwork are beginning to be written in the vernacular (which we know as <b>Old Verdurian</b>), rather than Caďinor, which continues to be used in scholarly works, liturgy, and the courts. The first <i>üllebe</i> poets are flourishing in Verduria; in Žésifo poets still write in Caďinor, or attempt to write in the vernacular using Caďinor poetic forms.
<p>Following their defeat at the hands of the Caďinorians, the <b>Gelyet</b> dominance over their fellow barbarians collapsed. I now show the Naviu divided into their component peoples. (In the east, where a good deal of tribal mixing had occured and the common dialect was that of the ruling tribe, they continued to call themselves Gelyet.)
<p><b>Kebri</b>, exploiting its traditional command of the sea, is still expanding; it has now conquered the entire seaboard of Érenat, so as to enforce a blockade over the interior.
<h4>The new ktuvok empire</h4>
<p>The union of <b>Dhekhnam</b> with Demóshinor (2712) has created a formidable empire. Tyellakh had been promised a partnership by the ktuvoks, but in practice had reverted to the ways of Munkhâsh, with the ktuvoks in firm control over the human nobles, who in turn ruled the peasants.
<p>The Demoshi were another story. They were highly advanced by local standards, having developed cities, markets, trade, seagoing vessels, writing, and a more modern government. Its religion, influenced by Jippirasti, deemphasized the gods of Munkhâsh in favor of a more fervent worship of Gelalh alone. Their way of doing things soon began to spread thoughout Dhekhnam— and beyond, since the Demoshi were eager for the rewards of empire.
<p>They made a show of submission to the ktuvoks— this was the key commandment of Gelalh, who was envisioned as a sort of supernatural ktuvok— but the dynamism of early Dhekhnam, its ease in the ways of human trade and diplomacy, owe much to the Demoshi. For the first time we may wonder if the human/ktuvok relationship had become more equal, more symbiotic.
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