Asàel

Asàel was a state located in Southern-Central Gondala, created after the collapse of the Asatic Empire in 2151 4A and lasting until Coedor became independent from it in 2656. Asàel was regarded as a heir to the Asatic Empire, and its rulers typically styled themselves emperor or king of the three thrones.

Early Years and Decentralisation (2135 - circa 2280)
See more: Asàelese nobility, Asàelese Council, Nummure - Astfeli War

Following the de facto dissolution of the Asatic Empire in 2135, the former Imperial provinces of Coedor and Aradór remained together under the reign of King Atsa fan Relesári (reign: 2135 - 2138). The King soon married a woman of Coeric descent, the noble Nemaine na Ruin. The Ruin family were one of the most influential Coeric nobles, with vast land and property holdings and a large number of vassals and servants; the union of Atsa and Nemaine ensured that Aradór and Coedor would continue as a single state.

To battle the still ongoing economic recession and the ever high unrest among the people, King Atsa initiated a plan to decentralise the state and grant more power to local noblemen. The territory of the Asáel was reorganized in several smaller lands, called the humdoris (essentially, fiefs), officially property of the Crown but under the control of the raśtuńas (the vassals). Originally, the number of humdoris was a few tens but it rapidly grew to number at more than two hundreds. The raśtuńas had the authority to further lease the land to other nobles and to farmers who worked the land in exchange for services. The system was implemented comparatively rapidly and started bringing results in a few years.

After Asta's death in 2138, his widow Nemaine na Ruin remained on the throne as regent for their Torme. However, Torme fan Relesári died in 2141, and a brief civil war broke out over the next king. Nemaine remarried and became Queen, with King consort Tsvalte na Sonnebar (fan Sandubàr). Officially Nemaine retained the name fan Relesári but at this point, the word "relesár" was synonymous with the ruler, and had essentially just become a title.

Their son, relesár Torme na Sonnebar eventually became the new king. Torme (reign: 2159 - 2170) continued his mother's domestic policy. Under Torme's reign, the Asàelese Council was established - a gathering of the raśtuńas and the King to decide on domestic and foreign matters. This marked a gradual loss of the King's power and authority in the state.

Torme's daughter, Queen Scanallo (reign: 2171 - 2200) reformed the Asàelese Council, drastically increasing the number of humdoris and consequently the raśtuńas while proportionally decreasing the number of people on the council, by then already known as magnes or "lords" (the number of magnes still increased, but the increase was smaller compared to that of raśtuńas). The move was aimed to weaken the Council by dividing its opinion; even though it partially succeeded, this did not bring more power to the relesár. The Scanallo's Reform was the last interference of the Throne in the affairs of the Council.

After Scanallo's death her nephew Atsa (reign: 2202 - 2250) became the King and ordered the construction of a royal palace in Northern Shanida. Atsa was generally uninterested in affairs of the state as long as tax money continued to come in from the vassals. Meanwhile, members of the Council started power struggles for control, the most prominent being the Nummure - Astfeli War (2215 - 2221) and the related Bürad Campaign (2227 - 2239), both fought for the control of the Between-Rivers region.

The Bloody Century (2281 - 2377)


Following the Bürad Campaign, relative peace was established in the Between-Rivers, as the region was divided into two large zones of influence by the Nummurezi and the Astfelizi. However, Western Asàel became the new battle ground, as internal conflicts ravaged such areas as the Dry Plain and the Nelean Highland. Most of the conflicts were small and involved only a few participants; however, due to their relative frequency, the period of Asàelese history is heavily marked by the large human losses, whence the name the "Bloody Century".

As the fighting seemed to die off at the beginning of the 24. century in the West, the East was again arming itself. This period is marked by the construction of several castles and fortifications, most importantly, Mirg Soyazi (construction 2345 - 2358), Mirg Rúbarde and Bili Facti in the Between-Rivers. In 2360s, the Eastern precaution paid off as several minor skirmishes were fought, notably between the Nummurezi and the House of Tsörniste, a noble family from the Dry Plain.

Meanwhile in the North, Seturh and Qulat rebellions resulted in several provinces ceding to the newly formed Seturhion and Qulion. Several lands near the border with Ínah had become de facto independent; the easternmost reaches of Aradór had been subjugated by the Danoédan.

The internal fighting stopped suddenly in 2377, when an external aggressor breached Asàel's north-western borders.

Magorian Expansion and the Years of Shame (2377 - 2533)
See more: Empire of Magorion, Beringion, Tarmanion, Asàelese War of Freedom

In 2377, Magorion attacked and occupied several border provinces of Asàel before officially notifying the King and the Council that Magorion considered wide expenses of Asàelese land to be rightfully Magorian. As the Magorian army pushed further south and east through the already war-torn land, the Asàelese Council, now dominated primarily by the Eastern nobles, decided not to act on the invasion with the hope that the local lords will fight it off or that the Magorian military forces will simply not be enough.

Encouraged by the lack of strong response from Asàel, Magorion continued to penetrate deeper into Asatic lands; most of the campaigns were rather slow and bloody, as the local population proved to be very resistant, but over a series of wars and campaigns, the Magorian Empire reached its peak extent eastwards by 2436. The Magorian armies were stopped at Haltwen and any further expansion was halted by the heavily fortified Between-Rivers region. In 2429, Queen Stevanu fled her residence in Nelea as it was under attack by Magorion and ended up in Torłeśe. With her country under constant foreign invasion and the authority of the Queen virtually non-existent, Queen Stevanu paid a visit to the concurrent High Priest of Obenism, bönúna Dzima Danate, asking the head of the religion to crown her the Empress of the Three Thrones in the eyes of Sallóh to reaffirm to her people that Asàel is not yet dead. The bönúna initially was reluctant to do this as it fell out of his competences, but eventually agreed to the ceremony. However, the change of title brought little to no changes to the life of Asàel.

The Years of Shame is a colloquial name to the period between 2436 and 2533, when the Magorian expansion had ground to a halt but Asàel made no attempts to reconquer its territories; the period was essentially a century of Magorian occupation of the most part of Asàel. During this time, the lands closest to Magorion were intensively machorified via the introduction of thousands of Magorian colonists. An area particularly influenced by this Magorian policy was northern Shanida. However, plenty of other territories further inland experienced very little change.

In 2470, Stáve II fan Relesári, Emperor of the Three Thrones and Defender of the Faith, King of the Lands of The Aras and the Coers, the Bringer of Peace, signed a truce between Asàel and Magorion effectively stopping any further Magorian invasion but also officially ceding the occupied lands to Magorion. Afterwards, the unoccupied lands continued to exist as Asàel; the imminent threat of another Magorian act of aggression eventually consolidated the Asàelese lands and brought end to domestic fighting.

As the Asàelese people slowly recovered, discontent grew both in Asàel and the occupied territories; the tensions started escalating in 2515, when a group of Coers led by magne Chàillan na Mareon burned the residence of the local Magorian administration and killed the statesmen. The next few years saw similar events all over the province of Coedor / Tusfete and a little later, also in Aradór and Nelea. The rebels were actively supported by people of the unoccupied Asàelese lands, particularly eastern Aradór and Mörone.

The culmination of this insurgency was reached in 2533 as the people of occupied Central Aradór revolted and overthrew the Magorians. The bloody battles sparked outrage and similar events soon happened all over Asàel. The Asàelese War of Freedom was finished after five years, with Magorion losing all of their conquered territories and Asàel now gaining lands with large number of Magorian people.

Aftermath of the War and Coeric Autonomy (2538 - 2551)
See more: War of Tiger and Stag, Davíno's Reforms, Coeric Council

Following the War of Freedom, Asàel found itself in ruins; the war had ravaged the majority of the country. The human casualties were huge, damage had been done to property, real estate and crops. As Empress Davíno fan Relesári, daughter of Stáve II, tried to consolidate her powers to help lead the country towards prosperity, she met fierce resistance from the nobles who now possessed large, albeit tired, but war-trained personal armies. Empress Davíno was forced to abandon her plans and to retreat to the reconquered lands of northern Shanida, a region which had been part of Magorion's province of Beringion for more that a century and a half. Davíno there settled the Royal Palace built there by Atsa II in the early 23rd century.

As the nobles of Asàel once again started forging alliances among themselves and the internal politics of the state continued to spiral downwards, the Empress and her son, Prince Raila, established good contact with the local people and even earned their trust. Meanwhile, the nobility of the province of Tusfete / Coedor experienced unprecedented growth of solidarity in the wake of nationalist sentiments within the common people and the nobles alike.

In 2545, a civil war broke out between two groups of Southern nobles, the so called War of Tiger and Stag, where Eastern (led by the House of Nummure)and Western (led by the House of Salca) magnes fought for the control of the Dry Belt. Coed nobility remained neutral and Nelea was far to ravaged by the occupation and the war of freedom to be able to participate in another war. In late 2547 it appeared that the Western lords were gaining the upper hand; at this moment Empress Davíno led an army of Machoric and Asatic men against the Western nobles, crushing the army and gaining the support of the Eastern nobles.

With the Nummurezi and their allies backing every Queen's effort out of gratitude, Empress Davíno was able to push several new laws through the Asàelese Council (see: Davíno's Reforms) that expanded the royal authority and attempted to re-centralise the power in the hands of the Emperor. However, the Coeric nobles expressed deep dissatisfaction with the recent developments and left the council both in 2548 and 2550.

In 2551, Davíno was informed that the Coeric nobility had formed their own council and no longer intended to be subjects to the throne of Araero. After several months of negotiations the Empress and a Coeric representative (Naobruin na Mareon) signed a deal that guaranteed Coedor complete authority in domestic and economic matters but limited foreign affairs and the military to exclusive Asàelese competence. The complex system involved the Asàelese Council (without the Coeric representatives), the Coeric Council and the Queen.

Davíno died shortly thereafter; her son King Raila fan Relesári (reign: 2552 - 2555) ascended to the throne. Coedor was dealing with secession (see: Gádenys, Galaduise) and foreign invasions, answering to both with war and military action. King Raila used this as a pretext of accusing the Coeric Council of acting outside of their competences in early spring 2555; he renounced all Coeric autonomy and declared all Coeric lands to be direct subject to the King, essentially destroying the whole class of Coeric nobility.

Naturally, this did not go as planned and lead to the Coer amassing armies and leading them to Aradór. As the Coer and Arazi forces met in northern Between-Rivers in the summer of 2555, King Raila was killed by a freak accident - he was struck by a lightning bolt just before the battle was about to start. In the ensuing chaos, a truce was made between the waring parties. When Raila's son, King Scata was crowned, he acknowledged Coedor's autonomy in accordance to the treaty of Davíno. When, in early 2556, Naobruin na Mareon came to the King to inform him in person that Coedor is to formally proclaim independence and sever all formal ties with Asàel, King Scata accepted and is reported to even wish the new country luck. Although the decision was met with discontence in Asàel, it paved the way for a long friendship with Coedor.

For further historical development, see Kingdom of Aradór and Kingdom of Coedor.

Government
The Asàelese government in the beginning was essentially the same as that of the Asatic Empire: the King / Queen held the supreme power but was assisted by a handful of Ministers, usually selected by the monarch themselves. Later, a three-part system of the monarch, appointed ministers and representatives from the nobility, emerged.

The Monarch
The monarch of Asàel, usually styled King or Queen, but later also Emperor (/Empress) of the Three Thrones was a hereditary title, usually inherited by the eldest child of the monarch. Under Asàelese law, the title of King or Emperor could be inherited both by male and female children; Asàel had absolute primogeniture.

The King was the sovereign of the state, originally holding absolute authority over anything related to matters of state but gradually losing more and more power in favour of the Council. After 2202, the Kings and Queens of Asàel were gradually less and less involved with the governance of the state, leading to more power being usurped by the Council to govern the state.

Asàelese Council
See more: Asàelese Council

King Torme gradually introduced the Asàelese Council, a consultative body representing the nobility, to appease the nobles and ensure their loyalty. The Council was formed by the raśtuńas, wealthy land-owning nobles whose title was hereditary. After the reforms of Queen Scanallo, the number of raśtuńas and the associated fiefs drastically increased, but the number of representatives on the council increased proportionally less, de facto creating another class of nobility, the magnes - land-owning nobles with representation in the Council.

The Council managed to gradually acquire more power; after 2280, the Council had the authority to appoint and release Ministers, it could veto any proposal of the Monarch and propose new legislation (that had to be approved by both the Ministers and the monarch). The frequency of the meetings varied; at some point the Council came together every five years, at more turbulent times - every one or two years.

The Ministers
The Ministers of Asàel were originally appointed by the monarch to serve for an undetermined period of time. In the late 23rd century, the Council assumed the role of appointing state ministers for a period of 8 (later - 6) years. The ministers were in direct control of their sectors of the state but had to act within the will of the Council.

The number and spheres of authority of the ministers changed a lot, but the core ministers were:
 * Minister of Military (sometimes, Minister of the Army, Minister of the Navy)
 * Minister of State Finance (also, Minister of Coin)
 * Minister of Trade
 * Minister of Agriculture
 * Minister of Foreign Affairs (also, Minister of Diplomacy).

Religion and Culture
Obenism became the dominant religion first in southern Asàel by the 19th century and later spread to Tusfete during the 20th, 21st and 22nd centuries. However, some nobles were reported to still adhere to the Cult of the Sun up until the 22nd century.

The religious history of the period is characterised by the Obenist Schism, a dispute of interpretation of religious dogmas that divided Obenism into two denominations in 2014. Eastern Obenism eventually became the dominant religion in Tusfete, Nelea and most of Aradór.

Accompanying the spread of Obenism was the spread of the language of Oben; the dialect colloquially known as Biblical Arazi. Classical Arazi was officially recognised as the official language of Asàel in the 24th century. Several prominent authors writing in Arazi rose to fame, including Stafa Dibeli, Luide Namàs, Raimane Filli and the female Anno Gabi.

Several seminal works of literature in the Coeric and Nelean languages are also found during this time.