Difference between revisions of "Belkondíl"

===Prehistory===

Belkondíl is presumed to have been the first area settled by humans during the original [[peopling of Elondor]], when western Nokimi populations migrated north into Tár-Noldorin during the last ice age and later dispersed all over the continent. Light hair most likely first emerged some 15,000 years B.E.B. among the population that had remained in the southwest and was now slowly receding towards the mountainous refugia to the north. After the Last Glacial Maximum, the upper Cëlac valley was among the first regions reclaimed. It was here that the ancestors of the Ortûlékians and Noldorinians came into contact with early farming, which had began to slowly spread west from the Besokan Valley with the earliest Besokian explorations between the ninth and seventh millennium B.E.B. Around 6500, the early Ortûlékians domesticate the wild Aurochs of the Rouningwood, beginning their long history of cattle breeding. This time falls about equal with the ''Golden Age of Man'' and the ''Age of Longing'' from Olgish legend, when the separation of the Genic, Olgish, and Aulish peoples is said to have occurred and magic was discovered by Dúrith the Elder in the Rouningwood. Olgish metalworking originates in the fifth millennium in the area of the later Lágon.

Ortûlékian territory at this point seems to be mostly restricted to Ortûlék proper and the western Rouningwood, while most of western and southwestern Belkondíl is occupied by the Noldorinians. East of the Ortûlékian domain, the early Besokians engage on recurring explorations from at least B.E.B. 3200, and the Sosks establish their presence in Oakshire around 2500. The first horses are domesticated here in the following two centuries, driving the expansion of the Sosks southward across the Edhennín. By 2100, four Soskish kingdoms have been established in Belkondíl, Tûnusta in the later Oakshire, Hûnutû and Dûroc in the Edhennín, and Norfêgu in Morineb. Soskilón is founded as a trading station under the name Ûrîdun-e-Sârish in 2053; at this point, the Olgs have begun their expansion south and are in permanent contact with the flourishing Soskish kingdoms. Their clans are already in frequent contention with each other, and by the end of the 21^st century, tensions within the Ortûlékian population have reached boiling point. The final stage of the first Olgish expansion, which inspired the monumental and legendary account of the First War and the Parting of the Peoples, is brief and violent, driving the Auls, Genes, and Noldorinians from their lands to claim them for themselves and subduing the Soskish kingdom save for Tûnusta.

===The Early Days, Olgish Clan Wars, and Younger Kings===

By 2011, according to legend, all of Belkondíl save for Oakshire and the Noldorin is under Olgish rule. The clans make peace, united under one high king ruling from Lágon. This first Kingdom of Belkondíl lasts for only a few centuries before tension break it apart again. The Olgish Clan Wars rage for most of the middle Bronze Age and end in the foundation of several smaller kingdoms, the most important of them Lon Avoch of the White Sea, founded in 1298, beginning the Age of Younger Kings. This is the end of the clan as the primary political unit in Olgish culture, replaced by new, semi-territorial counties and principalities. The relative stability of the following centuries  facilitates the second Olgish expansion, into the Ilathw valley, displacing the Early Aribelian populations there, and north into the western Reknaya. According to legend, the same period also saw the first invasions from the west, when the mythical Nathari people landed on the shores of Belkondíl and faught several bloody battles until their decisive defeat at the hands of Irlikun of Lon Avoch in the 1222 Second Battle of Mortim-Arnim.

 

This time of relative peace is followed by another period of unrest when the larger kingdoms of the Younger Kings break apart and in 1185, Lágon finally loses its, long only symbolic, status as foremost city of Belkondíl as its royal bloodline is expelled and goes into exile in the Kingdom of Simaël. The following Age of Towers is marked by brief wars and the formation of smaller, self-sufficient kingdoms, longingly looking back at the glory of the Younger Kings. The first parchment manuscripts in Early Old Olgish survive from this time, in the form of chronicles and early heroic poetry.

As the Bronze Age draws to an end, a new power briefly appears in Belkondíl as the emerging Iilish Empire invades from the sea and, beginning in 286, occupies most of the Edhennín west beyond the Cëlac and the northern part of Morineb. The Iilish Occupation lasts for more than 250 years and leaves persisting traces on eastern Belkondíl, most notably the structuring of the Edhennín into the counties of Nerrid, Gëllun, and Ton. Only when the Dragon in Banishment, the rightful heir to the royal line of Lágon and the rule over all of Belkdoníl, returns from exile and rallies the Olgish forces behind him can the foreign invadors be expelled. The Battle of the Glírob in 3 and the following Sacking of Iliston in the autumn of B.E.B. 1 prove fatal for the occupying host; the Iiles leave Belkondíl for good. The charismatic leader of this rebellion, the Dragon in Banishment, Enethin of Cëllar, ceizes his sudden popularity to claim the title of Enethin of Ortûlék and the permanent leadership over the council of Olgish peers. His recognition by the kings and queens of Belkondíl marks the return of High Kingship as it has before only existed in legend and at the same time the beginning of a new era, defined by the newly developed metal his legendary sword Brithalion was forged from. The Bronze Age of Belkondíl comes to an end.

The first decades of the Iron Age are branded by the growing aspirations of the new King of the Olgs, whose increasingly ambitious claims of dominion are finally formalized in E.B. 19. For the first time, Belkondíl is defined as a territory, and so are its counties, the new unit of division its young king has devised. Ortûlék, until now only a place of worship, becomes site to his castle and capital of the Second Kingdom of Belkondíl. Enethin is elegant in rewarding his followers and quick to dispose of enemies. A large faction of the Edhenian nobility, who partially sided with the Iilish Empire during the war, are banished with all of their retinue in a long and opulent trial in E.B. 17 and forced to resettle in Iilish territory. They are subsequently granted lands in southern Amasia by the Iilish Emperor, beginning conflicts with the Dasmilians and Hakessians that will lead to the Olgish Conquest of Seligon.

===The Rise and Fall of Lécaron==

In the following centuries, as peace has again taken hold of Belkondíl, art and science flourish in the new Olgish kingdom. It is in this time that most works of classical Old Olgish literature are written, including the canonical compilation of Olgish Legends in the Lonsorigi, written in the emerging new standard, the Koine of Soskilon, Lágon, and Ortûlék. While the Conquest of Seligon is ongoing, the Olgish populations in the Reknaya and Geran gain increasing dominance, and first relations with the Aribelian culture north of Geran lead to the bloody Aribelian Wars and the subsequent subduction of large parts of the Kingdom of Aribel as the self-governed Northwestern Colonies. As Olgish dominance reaches its high point, so does the power of the King of Belkondíl, Dírian III. In an attempt to gain sway over all Olgish-controlled territories in Elondor, he offers his protection to all rulers still adhering to the old Olgish faith or a religion of its progeny. In E.B. 1312, Dírian is crowed Emperor of all Olgish kingdoms and principalities: The Empire of Lécaron is born.

The time under Lécaronian rule proves even more peaceful and prosperous. Belkondíl is first province and heartland of the Empire, all its great riches and luxuries are brought together here, most importantly the stolen treasures of Seligon. With this arrival of a plurality of foreign ideas and artifacts, Olgish culture also undergoes a major shift, embracing Seligonian Fashion and many of the customs orginating in Seligon's Olgish kingdoms. The Olgish language has already receded to the fringes; most of the Empire's provinces speak Soskish, the language of their Edhenian invadors, and in L.R. 540, Ésôrin the Wise declares Lécaronian Soskish the official language of court and administration in the Empire, Olgish remaining only in ecclesiastic and ceremonial use.

It is this centrality that finally also brings Belkondíl back in the focus of war and unrest. In the troublesome 7th century L.R., when Lécaron reaches the high of its power only to within half a century lose most of its territory, Belkondíl experiences the first major external conflict in centuries. After Lécaron's critical defeat in the Geranian War of Independence 666‒672, the young Kingdom of Geran does not halt once its own lands are liberated. In the early summer of 687, the Geranian cavalry crosses the Ilathw and invades Ortûlék, beginning the devastating four-year Geranian War. The fatal Battle of Talis of 691 forces Lécaron into a truce. Atrissar is split between the kingdom and the empire, Tarébras has long declared for the invadors and remains with their new polity. Lécaron gradually loses more and more lands all over Elondor; by 740, the empire is truncated to its core lands in Belkondíl and its first conquests in Iilish territory.