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<h3>3302 — Verduria rules the waves</h3>
<h4>Renaissance in Verduria</h4>
<b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Tomao');">Tomao</a></b> Ihtüec, Lord of the City Forum (<i>Kal</i>) and baron of Arostrana, led a successful revolution against Utu’s successor Utu-On in 3241, and became King of <b>Verduria</b>, ushering in the <b>Eleďe Dynasty</b>— for Tomao was Eleďe, and the underground organization of the Eleďe church had been an essential tool of the revolution.
<p>Tomao disestablished <i>tësaďát</i>, Caďinorian paganism, but did not attempt to force his own religion on the kingdom. He outlawed slavery (as had Ževuran; but it had reappeared under Boďomor), legalized printing, and outlawed interest; the brokerages protested, but learned to create alternative forms of investment. He also greatly expanded the powers of the Esčambra, whose main functions had been to levy taxes, give advice, and to choose Kings in case of dispute; it now became a true Parliament.
<img src="http://www.almeopedia.com/almeopedia/mediawiki/images/7/79/Elena.png" align="right" width="177" height="172" title="Elena">
<p>Commerce thrived under Tomao; Verdurian ships reclaimed their old routes and established new ones, travelling as far as Uytai, Nan, Xurno, and Téllinor in the far west of Ereláe. This naturally led to conflict with <b>Kebri</b> and, under Tomao’s successor <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Elena');">Elena</a>, to war (3266, 3271, 3284).
<p>The first war was a rout; the Kebreni dominated the seas and even the major rivers, and burned the Arcaln Bridge, then the only bridge connecting Verduria city with the Island (where its great fortress Arcaln stood). The humiliating terms of the defeat (including demilitarization of Verdurian merchant vessels) spurred the country to develop a significant navy. The second war was a draw; the third was a solid victory. The treaty of 3285 eliminated the Kebreni trading monopolies, reestablished Verdurian domination over Koto and the Ismaîn coast, and cemented an alliance with Érenat. (Ismahi, however, was drawn even closer to Kebri.)
<p>After the war, Verduria began to establish a naval presence in its trading territories. It established a joint naval base with Érenat at Melloin Island, and founded a colony at Karímia in 3291.
<p>Elena continued Tomao’s policy of restricting the rights and powers of the nobles. Her boldest stroke was the <b>reorganization of the Esčambra</b>, in 3266— nearly doubling its size, greatly increasing the number of elected and urban representatives, and reducing that of the nobles and pagan clerics. The immediate result was to strengthen Elena’s hand against the nobles and allow her to raise taxes (solving the kingdom’s chronic deficit problem). The long-term impact was to move toward constitutional monarchy and parliamentary rule.
<p>She was succeeded by the charismatic and mysterious Queen <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Andrea');">Andrea</a>, who patronized an order of female Knights (the <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Knights_of_D%C3%A9vora');">Knights of Débora</a>), visited Xurno (bringing back a craze for all thing Xurnese: art, music, apples, oatmeal, the Ways of War)— and disappeared over sea in 3301. Verduria waited for almost a year, in anxiety and confusion, but she did not return. She had not married, the Esčambra chose the conservative pagan politician Mëranac, count of Abolineron, as her successor.
<p>Elsewhere in Eretald, the most progressive states were those along the Svetla (Žésifo, Bažra, and Svetla) as well as Kebri and Érenat. These participated in the Verdurian renaissance; elsewhere, arbitrary rule and feudalism were still the order of the day.
<h4>In other areas</h4>
<b>Dhekhnam</b> crushed Iosoandro and half the Monkhayu (leaving them without an organized state) around 3280; it was the need to contain the Dhekhnami threat, as well as reasons of trade, that prompted Andrea’s extraordinary visit to Xurno.
<p><b>Xurno</b> reconquered the upper Xengi valley and Gotanel from Cuoli between 3240 and 3260, and reestablished the link to its colony of Xazno in 3284.
<p>The <i>tej</i> of <b>Lenan</b> drove the Losainor out of the Lenani plateau in 3250 (and into Cuolese territory). The victory seemed to infuse the <i>tej</i> with new vigor; it conquered the tej of Bukural by 3270, and also expanded into the north, at the expense of Dhekhnam. The previously fractious east had by now organized as the Lumbai Tej.
<p>To everyone’s surprise, <b>Belšai</b> weathered the Cuoli invasion (indeed, emboldened by the Cuoli defeat, the Losainor moved back into their old territories west of Lake Lenan). Several new cantons joined the new country, including the little kingdom of Tei.
<p>The empire of <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Jecuor');">Luṭay</a></b>, having conquered the Barmundi archipelago and additional slices of Čeiy, was now at its height.
<p>The <a href="Javascript:parent.al('%C4%8Cia');">Čia</a>, so painstakingly introduced to the rewards of civilization and Gurdagor rule, ungratefully wished to do without the latter. <b>Luxae</b> was expected to fall within months; instead the rebellion spread like a conflagration. The Čia defeated or subverted every force sent against them, and then counter-attacked, burning croplands and massacring villages. Finally (3237) the Gurdagor signed an armistice that proved permanent. The story then repeated itself in the Omi valley, independent by 3285.
<p>In both cases the greatest culprit was Gurdagor overconfidence. They had armed and trained the natives themselves, sure that the savages would obey their Gurdagor officers with blind loyalty; and it took years for them to learn that using Čia troops against the Ša or vice versa only reinforced the enemy: native go-betweens (unsuspected by the Gurdagor, who almost never learned any Čia-Ša languages) would convince the troops to turn against their masters.
(It should be pointed out, however, that the rebels also received assistance from Tásuc Tag and Čeiy, all of which wanted to see Luduyn open to trade with all nations.)
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