Empire of Dor-en-Sann

The Empire of Dor-en-Sann, [DOORR-enn-SAHN] also called the EnSanni Empire, was the largest empire in history. It dominated central Anásthiasplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAnásthias

Anásthias [a-NAS-thee-ass / ænæsθiːæs], or [an-ass-THEE-as] is an equatorial island continent, heart of the Civilised World. The north straddles the equator and is hot and humid, while most of the equatorial centre is an upland plateau with fertile river valleys, and stretches of arid plains and desert in the shadow of the mountains. The south is temperate but more wild, separated from the civilisations of the north by the almost impassable Harthera for nearly two thousand years, from 1903 BME, until the conquest of Galkesh in 59 ME. The empire consisted of hundreds of ethnic groups and cultures, its people were collectively called the EnSanni.

The Empire grew out of the former Gaal Empire, using military might, careful diplomacy and a powerful theology to embrace hundreds of nations far to the east and south. The empire adapted and changed over the many centuries of its existence, central authority often giving way to competitive powers within its constituent kingdoms. After two millennia, the imperial system was overrun by invaders from the west, who founded the modern unified state of Ororr.

Important dates, in MEplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigModern Epoch (ME)

The Modern Calendar is a dating system acknowledged throughout the Civilised World. It numbers years from the Modern Epoch, abbreviated ME and BME (Before Modern Epoch). It is also called the Modern Era.

Calendar

This is in a series of articles about calendars and dating systems.OrorrHartheraHMOrorrHartheraOrorrOrorrHMHartheraHMHartheraOrorr.

• c. 2400 BME - Traditional founding of Gaalkedch
• c. 2300 - decline of Issid Block States in the Lower Wiyel, Ves Jaen Wars
• c. 2180 - beginning of traditional Gaal Matriarchy, Qedjeen Dynasty of Kings.
• 1965 - Gobalay seize power, end of Qedjeen Dynasty.
• 1903 - Vequidch declared first Emperor of Dor-en-Sann in Gaalkedch. Gebjon Dynasty
• 1768 - Colony of Gaask founded as an Imperial Kingdom
• 1603 - Conquest of Ancient Remel. Kingdom of Garnarre-Remel founded
• 1458 - Ecumenical Treaty absorbs Seqal
• 150 - Deltirot joins the empire
• 128 - Treaty absorbs Emanune into eastern empire. Empire at its height.
• 40 - severe drought begins. Crops fail in successive years in Gaalkesh and home provinces, causing famine.
• 38-32 - Great Famine. Mass migration of the starving poor to cities. Troops recalled from frontiers, but problems of desertion and border raids.
• 30 - Saloyan seize Bahl Dorr. Emanune province lost to Saloya. EnSanni withdraw to garrison at Harlon.
• 28 - The Apostate Menkirafed executed in Delan, uprisings in Deltirot.

• 1 ME - Traditional birth of the Prophet Therion
• * 2 - Junda attacks Alonorr province and settlements along the River Velun. Saloyan government killed during the sack of Vahldoya. Start of Saloyan Civil War.
• 29 - Foundation of the Mother Army in Mordant. First War of Unification begins.
• 38 - Conquest of the Siltorn Republic.
• 42 - Seige of Remel - city and region falls to the Mother Army in a virtually bloodless conquest.
• 43 - Siege of Toborr - city falls. Mother Army controls the whole Wiyel river. Empire confined to the northeastern home provinces.
• 48 - All troops recalled from eastern provinces. Harlon falls to Hartheraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHarthera
  
  The Hartheran Union, commonly named Harthera, is an imperialist maritime nation state dominating the northeast of Anásthias. It is one of the two great powers of the modern epoch, arguably the most technologically and militarily powerful nation in the world, only matched by the vast size and wealth of its neighbour, viridOrorrMEOrorrOrorrOrorrOrorr. Gedoq overrun, EnSanni refugees flee westward. All eastern provinces are abandoned.
• 57 - Kingdom of Gahskaht sues for peace, kingdom lost to the Mother Army. Empire loses effective control of all cities and garrisons beyond the capital city. Siege of Galkesh begins.
• 59 - Conquest of Galkeshin. Imperial city sacked. Empire finally defeated.

The empire of Dor-en-Sann was one of the greatest civilisations in recent history. It was the greatest civilisation throughout most of the current Aeon, from the founding of the city state, Gaalkedch, around 600 HMplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHirèrk Moonscale

The Hirèrk Moonscale [Hee-Rerrk] (HM) is a luni-solar calendar used at least since the time of Miyarris, which measures cycles based on the moons, solar years as well as the millennia-long cycles of global climate change. Today years HM are only seen in historic works and not considered accurate in historical accounts.HMHMepochsepochepochepochepochepochHMepochsME, to the empire's eventual conquest in 3158. The great church-state of Ororrplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigOrorr

Ororr [o-ROARR, ɒ̝rɔ'ɾ], also called the Holy Motherland of Ororr, is a theocratic nation in Anásthias, one of the world's great powers. It the largest nation in the world, perhaps the largest empire in history, occupying the entire northwest of the continent between the mountains and the sea. Ororrlanguagelanguagelanguage is undoubtedly its successor, and, some would say, merely the continuation of the Empire in a new form. The Gaal Empire

Dor-en-Sann, as a multinational, theocratic union, had its roots in the Gaal Empire which preceded it. In the four centuries after the founding of their city, the Gaals grew rapidly to dominate the northeastern region of what is modern Ororr, until the Gobalay Guard forced a vicious military coup. Vequidch, first Emperor of Dor-en-Sann

During the nearly 150 years of Gobalay tyranny, the empire accomodated a succession of barbarian rulers. Despite erratic leadership, the Gaal mentality gradually influenced the Gobalay. For the first time, trade and architecture penetrated to the north, and the Gobal peninsula became tied into the imperial system.

Mer Gebjon Vequidch (1160-1226 HM) was born into a mixed Gobal-Gaal family. As the son of a powerful warlord his succession was by no means assured - in fact it was almost unusual for a son to survive to rule. However for the first time he used a new weapon: religion. It was his idea, long before his father lost power, to draw on the common threads of faith found in the various cultures in the empire. They all had differing ways of worship, matriarchy or patriarchy, and prejudices based on both culture and religion. But all had been heavily influenced by the still-pervasive Gaal Goddess.

Vequidch was the first to pull together various cultural threads, demonstrating a (possibly fatuous) religious commonality. Using his theology and his personal charisma, he recuited allies and began to promote the idea of unity between disparate groups.

His approach was extremely successful, and though loyal to his father, by his mid 30s he had already gained an unprecedented group of allies, made up of Gobalay, Gaal, Gaaskart (a Gaal colony and vassal kingdom), Cavannay, and other groups that would normally never have sat at one table together.

On his father's death he already had a powerful coalition of followers behind him. He was ruthless in suppressing groups that opposed him in the early years of his reign, because for the first time he could commit troops from various parts of the empire without fear of immediate revolt.

He built up administrative and military institutions, and for the first time commissioned theological works highlighting commonalities of worship. He built new unitarian temples to the One Goddess of Many Aspects, and rebuilt and rededicated old ones, warning the priests to stress areas of cultural unity, and downplay areas of conflict (often on pain of death).

The policy was continued by his successors, turning the Gaal empire from a military to a theological one: the Empire of Dor-en-Sann (cities of one thought). This is perhaps how the empire survived as long as it did. Neighbouring states were encouraged to seek ways in which their own gods could be worked into the pre-existing pantheon of enSann. By submitting their theology to the enSanni way, trade and stability flourished, whilst they maintained their own cultural diversity. Such was the theory at least - at various times imperial policy was often ruthlessly hegemonic.

The empire spread up the Wiyel river, taking root more through persuasion and trade than military expeditions. The enSanni only attacked weakened states, replacing them with pro-Gaalkedch governments, all paying a proportion of their temple offerings to the central government.

The Empire changed its institutions of government as time passed and the empire expanded to cover half of modern Ororr; stretching from modern Vahltor in the east to the foothills of Siltorn in the west: from the Gobal peninsula in the north to the Dun Jaen in the south.

At its greatest extent, the Empire was a theocracy, eventually made up of a ruling council that met annually at Galkesh. It became a clearing-house for the vast wealth amassed by the church.

By 3000, the empire had survived in various forms for over 2000 years, since the near mythical founding of Gaalkesh. Kingdoms and governments had changed many times, but the principle of an imperial pantheon under one supreme Goddess, with herplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHerbs

Herbs are usually green plants cultivated and used for use in medicine, cooking or for other purposes.

Herblore is the traditional practice of making decoctions, extracts, powders and other preparations from the roots, leaves, seeds, bark and fruit of plants found across the world.greengreenAnásthiasAnásthiasgreenMunatangreengreen many faces, shrines and forms of worship, had continued all this time. The series of famines in the early 4th millennium HM were serious, and caused the death of hundreds of thousands, through starvation and disease. But the empire had survived such traumas before, and always turned to the old sureties of religion. However the loss of the eastern provinces to first Saloyan, then Junda invasion was a severe blow. With food in short supply it was difficult to control armies, who were needed to maintain order in the homelands.

Attacked on all sides by unrest and border barbarians, it was an ideal time for the religious zealots of the Mother Army, led by their sorcerous Prophet, to strike into the very heart of the empire.

Through its long history, the empire gradually evolved from a highly centralised Gaal state, united under the rule of an Emperor, to a patchwork of constituent nations and self-governing kingdoms united by a common languageplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigLanguages

List of human languages and dialects, contemporary and extinct.

Language

language

This is in a series of articles about Languages and Communication.

topics sidebar cult1, currency, trade, legal system, culture and, most importantly religion.

At the greatest extent of the empire's power it was divided into distinct regions, almost empires in themselves, each nominally in vassalage to the Imperial Church.

In the north were the Imperial Provinces, the territories surrounding the old Gaal Empire. In later years the Autarkate spread eastward in what is now Harthera. Southeast was the Kingdom of Gahskaht, established in the first millennium of the empire and now extending far south through desert and forest.

West was the Kingdom of Garnarre-Remel. Garnarr was founded as a Gaal colony on the River Wiyel, and had become so rich and successful that it conquered the crumbling rump of Ancient Remel, and was established as a new Imperial Kingdom. In later years Garnarre traders and colonists won effective control of the entire Lower Wiyel, and the Kingdom's territory extended eastward to snap up lands which had once been under Gaal control.

In the southwest, Seqal had been an ancient Issid state, ruled by priests and kings for thousands of years. It was originally a Imperial Kingdom, but was reduced to the status of Satrapy in X ME following accusations of heresy and dissent against the state. This meant that the Church had a great deal more temporal power in the region than elsewhere, outweighing the authority of the local rulers.

The term Dor-en-Sann has uncertain origins, no less because of the way Ensanni writers, historians and poets were fond of creating false or dubious etymologies for jingoistic, poetic or even humorous purposes. The most plausible official etymology is the Late Gaal D'orr en san, meaning “Cities of one thought” or “Cities with a single purpose”. Late critics of the imperial system, and particularly the church, claimed this was a false etymology created to promote the illusion of a collective spirit, as a cover for imperial tyranny.

Other examples are Doren san, “A solid/correct/healthy way of thinking”; D-orr ens'n, “Cities going in the right direction”, literally meaning 'pointing the right way', used as a political slogan in the middle Imperial period; and the Mayápo-inspired D'aurensun, “The Golden Time”, title of Zinnober's famous history of the empire. A popular term in Deltirot was Dawr am Sumb, meaning “Pile of dung”, coined by a humorist during one of the many border wars of the third century BME.