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<h3>3410 — The modern world takes shape</h3>
<h4>Verduria</h4>
<img src="http://www.almeopedia.com/almeopedia/mediawiki/images/7/79/M%C3%ABranac.jpg" align="right" width="200" height="202" title="Mëranac 1e">
<a href="Javascript:parent.al('M%C3%ABranac_1e');">Mëranac</a>, who was chosen by the Esčambra as King of <b>Verduria</b> in 3302, reestablished the Caďinorian pagan religion, reconquered Ctésifon (3305) and Viminia (3312), and virtually rebuilt the capital, adding new buildings and memorials and Haussmanesque boulevards to connect them. In his spare time he wrote a history of Verduria in eight volumes. His admiration of classical Caďinas was intense, and it was widely believed that he aimed to declare the restoration of the Empire; his sudden death in 3316 put an end to this project.
<p>The remaining <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Abolineron');">Abolinerons</a> seemed intent on playing out a drama of imperial decline. Mëranac’s daughter Icëlana and grandson Ažerey 2e waged a bitter battle over the succession, exchanging the sash more than once between them. The struggle was continued after Ažerey’s death by the successors of each. In 3374, a disgusted clique of Esčambromi murdered most of the royal family and attempted to set up an oligarchy. Much of the realm refused to accept the usurpation, and a civil war ensued, punctuated by one pretender or another declaring himself King, with the aid of a captive or partial Esčambra.
<p>The forces of the commoner <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Pelerin');">Pelerin Vočnor</a> prevailed in 3376; Pelerin declared himself merely Lord Protector, until the Esčambra, grateful for the cessation of war and alive to the hints which were being broadcast, named him King. He was succeeded by his son and then by his daughter; but these having unwisely neglected to provide further heirs, the sash was usurped by the prime minister, Onvaďra Anëtey (3404).
<h4>Elsewhere in Eretald</h4>
<p>During these dynastic troubles Ctésifon and Célenor drifted away yet once more, while the Caizurans conquered parts of Viminia and Sereor (3327-9). Still, what is most remarkable about the misdeeds of the Abolinerons is how little they affected the day-to-day life of the country. The government was now the affair of bureaucrats and Esčambromi as much as of kings. The commercial development of Verduria proceeded apace; the colony of Karímia was expanded and a new one was begun in the even richer territory of Téllinor, on the western end of the continent (3355).
<p><b>Kebri</b> also had overseas colonies, including Broidabo in Qaraumia and settlements in Moreo Ašcai and Arcél. Kebri and Verduria dominated the <b>ocean trade</b>, with some competition from Érenat, the flaids and the Nanese. All these powers built large ships that stand up to the strong winds and storms of the Mišicama; by contrast the Uṭandal, Xurnese, and Gurdagor, though born to the sea, have relied too much on small coast-hugging vessels.
<p>Philosophers (not only in Verduria, but in Kebri, Érenat, Flora, Žésifo, Svetla) were applying the <i><a href="Javascript:parent.updir('pagan.htm#natural');">žuyse onteca</a></i> (‘practical demonstration’; i.e. the <b>scientific method</b>) to expand the sphere of knowledge. The telescope, the microscope, the compass, and the mechanical clock have all been invented; the theory of gravity was worked out by Aron Nošcerey in the 3360s, while the Ctésifoni contributed the theory of evolution in the 3320s.
<p>By this time, 10,000 books were printed every year in Eretald, and over two dozen weekly or monthly magazines.
<p>The little Caďinorian principalities of southeastern Eretald have succeeded in imposing their authority up to the mountains, dividing the <b>Caizurans</b> in two. The northern branch were now somewhat settled down as a new kingdom, <a href="Javascript:parent.al('Caizura');">Caizura</a>; the southerners were now known as the Kešvareni, after the Kešvare plateau they have occupied for centuries. (Their name for themselves is Kazulē.)
<h4>Other developments</h4>
<p>In the Barbarian Plain, the Mixain divided off from the Küret, while the Akari have largely disappeared as an independent tribe.
<p>The <b>Xurnese</b> have been whittling Cuoli down to size. They pushed the Cuolese out of their Lake Van fief in 3352, and reconquered Bozan in 3367. They tried several times to reduce Tásuc Tag, but its coastal fortresses were too strong— except for that of Revi Sauznar, which fell in 3402. This gave the Xurnese a more westerly port and cut Tasuc Tei in half; the western portion, Čiqay, declared itself independent five years later.
<p><b>Čeiy</b> reconquered the southern portion of the Mnau peninsula from Luṭay in 3365. Barmund completed the humiliation of the Luṭair by occupying their last mainland possessions (3380).
<p>Čeiy was also now openly supporting the Čia rebellions in the lower Kra, which the Gurdagor are attempting to suppress with a brutality that raised questions about who were the savages.
<p><b>Šura</b> absorbed the minor southern state of Šurantal (3370), and occupied the northern portion of the Namal.
<p><b>Belšai</b> has expanded not by conquest but by accretion. Nearby peoples (most lately, forgotten provinces of Šura and Sevisor) find its peace and prosperity attractive, and ask to join. Upon promising religious and ethnic tolerance, and to defend the union when any portion of it is attacked, they can do so.
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