History of Lugida

The recorded history of Lugida dates back from around the 2nd millennium BCE, under the Hallyn dynasty, although historical records from the Tigrate dynasty are known to describe kingdoms as far as the Kylon, which dates back from around 2100 BCE. The historical records also mentioned Lugida as a part of Qonklaks' Khon dynasty on about 2500 BCE, which has a profound influence on the Lugid culture in general. Lugida's history has been shaped by the almost-constant contact with the neighboring dynasties, the flourishing agriculture, the rise of Avism, and the significance of Lugida as a historical thalassocracy.

Prehistory

Paleolithic and Neolithic

Traces of ancient humans in Lugida found near Mono, Tenluhan have suggested their existence from as early as 1 million years ago. In 35,000 BCE, the earliest known anatomically modern humans settled in Lugida. The most common theory traces back these peoples to the first wave of migrations into Soltenna. During that period which began in 50,000 BCE, humans migrated through the Terminian land bridge to enter Soltenna from now-Quaxin Xun, ultimately eastwards to the rest of Miraria. Considered genetically related to Lugids, Qonklese and Xynder peoples are also theorized to ultimately trace back to the same migration wave. Other theories suggested more genetic relationship of Lugids with the second wave migrations, which instead originate from the Veridian land bridge and then westwards into Soltenna and thus Lugida, citing traces of ancient humans found in the Melunair and Ikhelet regions as well as those found near the Lafthe River.

During that period, people living in now-Lugida are classified as the Pre-Rietic Lugids. They inhabited most of the area until 4,000 BCE with the arrival of Rietic peoples, the earliest predecessors of modern Lugids as well as Riyans and several Kads. As the Rietic peoples expanded their settlements in the Rietic Basin – spanning eastwards from southern Rietic Mountains until the Yerlanis basin past the northeastern portion of the mountains – ethnogenesis of Lenthiris and Melunes is assumed to have occurred on around 3,000 BCE.

Agriculture in Lugida dates back to around 6,000 BCE. It gave rise to the Gapi culture. Many of what remained of the culture were found in the Grithen archaeological site in Mairapha. Over the course of the Neolithic era, the basin became the center to ancient Lugid cultures. Later in 2,000 BCE, Ancient Xyndens and subsequently Ngerupic peoples arrived in the southern coast. While these Xyndens remained along the coastline and was assimilated into Lenthiris to form its subgroup Kitrians, Ngerupic peoples settled and expanded towards inland; there has been traces of Ngerupic artifacts found as far as the upper Lithe River basin.

Bronze Age

Scientific reports vary on the matter of Lugida's earliest permanently inhabited settlements. Dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE, the (something) site near Mairapha is cited the most as such, evidenced by its abundance of Bronze Age artifacts. Such artifacts are also found in slightly lower quantities near Fercair, Zelika, Mono, and Thugint, originating from almost the same period. Thugint is theorized in one journal as the site of Lugida's earliest permanent settlement that was razed in the 7th century BCE. This theory is disputed primarily due to lack of clear evidence of razing.

Ngerupic people entered Lugida in the 2nd millennium BCE and assimilated with the Kitrians, introducing knowledge of more advanced fishing methods and longer-distance sailing to the region.

Ancient era

Pre-Merythic kingdoms

Records of civilization has been traced back to as early as the 17th century BCE, three centuries before the Meryth dynasty. Archaeological sites discovered near Namir, including most notably the Markairet archaeological site, hint existence of a kingdom along the Lithe River basin. Before Gamilami, an ancient historical record dated from 331 CE, mentions existence of kingdoms that preceded the Meryth dynasty. The kingdoms are depicted to have built temples out of wood and stone, having swaths of farmland along with its irrigation system, and is ruled by a king, adorned with a flower-leaf crown. Academic consensus is split on whether or not the kingdom can be considered civilization proper, as no bronze artifacts and temples mentioned in the historical record were found to date from this period, and historians prefer to refer the civilization as a chiefdom.

Meryth dynasty

In the 14th century BCE, the Meryth dynasty was founded. Its most common description is derived from the historical record Before Gamilami. It depicts the kingdom, founded by the legendary emperor Meryth—hence the dynasty's name— as spanning most of the Hetaf and Lithe river watersheds, and has a political structure reminiscent to that of the Old Kingdom of Kadya and Qonklaks' Hon dynasty. Meryth dynasty in addition has a religion, described to be polytheistic. The sky god Gerge is the most notable of the religion's deities as early Meryth dynasty emperors claim their lineage to the Son of Gerge.

Emperors of the Meryth dynasty adhere to the Mandate of Gerge, named after the sky god. In the mandate, the emperor has the absolute power to rule as demigod-king, under oversight of the Meryth deities. If the emperor was overthrown, it is interpreted as a message from the deities that the ruler was unworthy and therefore had lost the mandate; natural disasters such as flood and famine are often believed to be the signs of their disapproval.

Due to the lack of archaeological evidence, academic circles deemed the dynasty as mythical until evidence was found in 2010 in the Chimlife site near Mairapha. Artifacts found in the site include statues depicting Meryth dynasty emperors including the first emperor Meryth, bronze tools and weapons, and remains of Meryth buildings. Radiocarbon dating traced these artifacts to around the time of the dynasty in 1400 BCE. The Kailife site is then believed to be the location of Meryth dynasty's capital city Raphei, additionally matching several descriptions mentioned in Before Gamilami.

The dynasty's populace is believed to be ethnically composed of mostly Melunes who speak a Rietic language, with sizable amounts of Nellic people – believed to be an ethnic subgroup of the Lenthiris. Both ethnic groups were culturally less distinct from each other during this period.

Favorable agricultural conditions of the Hetaf and Lithe river watersheds allowed the dynasty to flourish through agriculture, primarily planting and growing grains such as Soltennan rice among other plants. Seeing the large yields of agriculture in the dynasty, hunter-gatherers within its territory began to move towards agriculture, starting a wave of immigration. However, this also invites tribes to conquer the dynasty and its rich agricultural lands; the dynasty's early period saw many attempts by foreign tribes at Meryth invasion. Starting the chain of invasions is a group of Sefi people – a Lenthiri tribe – which invaded Meryth sometime in the mid-13th century BCE, consequently leading to the loss of an estimated 12 to 20 percent of the dynasty's agricultural lands. This prompted the Meryth Emperor at the time (someone) to begin their military expansion in an effort claiming to secure the agricultural production from potential invaders. (someone) later used the military to expand Meryth territory along the watersheds few years after their military expansion.

Meryth dynasty subsequently reached its peak under the rule of (someone 2) in the early 12th century BCE. Under his rule, the capital is moved to Raphei (modern-day Mairapha), where he led the construction of many infrastructural projects. Most notably among these projects is the Raphei irrigation canal system. It was constructed to accommodate more agricultural land for the growing Meryth populace, while also using these canals to store rainwater and safeguard the supply of water.

Severe floods of the Hetaf River in the late 12th century BCE caused a famine, severing the dynasty's agricultural supplies which mostly relied on the river. Consequently, the dynasty lost one thirds of their territory, ultimately leading to the government's overthrow by Tirgo, who later declared the formation of the Tigrate dynasty with himself as the first Emperor. Some Meryth doctrines including the Mandate of Gerge were carried over to the new dynasty. Both the famine and the Meryth dynasty's collapse led its inhabitants to migrate out of the area. Areas such as modern-day Fercair and Achihera were inhabited, starting a period of separate Lenthiri and Melune dynasties.

Tigrate and Moth dynasties

After overthrowing the Meryth dynasty in 14th century BCE, then-emperor Tirgo, a Lenthirite, proclaimed and founded the Tigrate dynasty. Tirgo claimed the whole of former Meryth territory as part of the Tigrate dynasty. Former Meryth capital Raphei was also taken over by the emperor. The dynasty segregated Lenthirites and Melunes and grouped Lenthirites as the dominant group. Dissented, Melunes led by Khinde in response migrated northwards to found the Moth dynasty with Khinde himself as emperor. He founded a settlement slightly northeast of modern-day Nizen and designated it as the capital. Moth dynasty conversely considers Melunes as the dominant ethnic group and had attempted to assimilate Lenthirites in Moth territory into Melune culture.

As the outcome, Meryth territory was divided into two regions. Tigrate dynasty assumed control of upstream, southern portions of the Hetaf watershed, and conversely the Moth dynasty assumed control of its lower, northern portion. Both dynasties inherited Merythian culture and developed their own distinct ethnocultural identities, thus separating the cultural identity of Lenthirites and Melunes. Cultural separation is visible through characteristic differences between Tigrate and Moth artifacts found along parts of the Hetaf watershed; Tigrate bronze artifacts often display intricate divine symbolism, such as in a bronze artifact discovered in Mairabet depicting Gerge as "an emperor with a cloak of shining clouds living in the far corners of the sky". Conversely, most Melune artifacts of this period are pottery displaying intricate patterns symbolizing nature, particularly trees.

Antiquity

Letsatian period

Letsatian Empire began its expansion into Miraria in 25 CE, and contact with Altha Dynasty occurred on 64 CE. The Empire immediately declared war on Altha Dynasty as part of the Empire's expansion. Technologically superseded, Altha quickly surrendered its coastal area to Letsatia, thus setting foothold for the Empire to exercise influence in Lugida. Letsatia designated Kitlimis as one of their provincial capitals.

Qonklaks' Dlyrn Dynasty sent an envoy in 84 CE to Altha Dynasty to discuss the matter of Letsatia, and informing that Lou is concerned about the empire superseding Dlyrn's influence and power in southern Soltenna, the region influenced the most by Dlyrn. Dlyrn envoys discussing the same matter and concern were also sent to other Soltennan dynasties, ultimately leading the coalition of Soltennan dynasties including Altha to a joint war against the Letsatian Empire in 90 CE. The area near Kitlimis, Xynderland's islands, and the southern coast of modern-day Zaizung become the most intense battlefronts. Initial military progress goes in favor of the dynasties, later to stagnate throughout the war for both sides. The dynasties ultimately exhausted both their military resources and treasuries leading to internal conflicts across the dynasties that led to a victory for Letsatia. Altha Dynasty collapsed at this point, marking the end of Lugida's dynastic era.

This period saw greater advancements in technology, military, and economy of Lugida at the time, which are brought in from Letsatia. Ekuosian influence flourished and superseded Qonklese influence in Lugida for the extent of the Letsatian period. Iovism entered Lugida on around 130 CE, where it was met with severe resistance from most Lugid people. Its branch known as Avism is then founded, integrating elements from Lugid culture at the time to make it more accepted by Lugid people. Avism then spread across the Lugid portion of Letsatia and parts of the former Altha dynasty, propagating Ekuosian influence into inner areas of Lugida.

(someone) began to rose to power in 180 CE, proclaiming the Avite Empire in Kitlimis. Letsatia at the time was crippled by Peace of Galadrosia a year earlier, which sparked resistance against Letsatia across Soltenna and motivated (someone) to lead the Lugid resistance. Ultimately, Avite Empire took over much of the Lugid portion of Letsatia and also conquered inland, covering much of modern-day Lugida and ending Lugida's Letsatian period.

Avite Empire

Main article: Avite Empire

See also

• History of Soltenna