Amandon

Details:

 * Population: 3.1 million, concentrated heavily in the north.
 * Size: Approx. 55,000 sq. mi. 33% developed, 67% undeveloped or abandoned.
 * Clan Heritage: Badger, Hog, Otter, Hare.
 * General Traits: Short-faced, round, wide-mouthed. Gossipy.  Ruddy tan, dark blond to black hair, brown/hazel/green eyes.  Average Height: M 5'6", F 5'2".
 * Cities: Andrisden, Silverton, Cantorin, Turo, Nissaton, Ancafel.
 * Places of Interest: Akarridi, the Wrecking Shore.
 * Education Level: Journeyman (13-18), through temple schools, tutor-priests and apprenticeships.
 * Exports: Grain, beer, hogs, goats, cheese, orchard fruit, citrus, melons, vegetables, preserves, cider, mead, freshwater fish, eels, sugar roots, nuts, plant fiber, textiles, honey, candles, lacquer and lacquerware.
 * Imports: Metals, gems, ceramics, timber, salt, stone.

History:
Amandon's original name was the Crane Kingdom of Anan. Founded in 4038 Long-Count-Year (1002 Age of Gods), it came into existence due to the secession of certain populations in the southern Heartlands from the perceived depredations of their masters/neighbors, the kingdoms of Nurin, Tevin and Sesen. These disenfranchised peoples rallied behind the self-proclaimed Crane King and declared independence, starting a series of wars that would pit all four kingdoms against each other for two millennia.

In time, Nurin and Tevin came to dominate the struggle, with Sesen, Anan and a fifth kingdom, Kiren, serving as vassal states of whichever was currently ascendant. This state of affairs changed in 6078 LCY (619 Age of Empires), when the Kingdom of Nurin claimed a decisive victory over Tevin and crowned its king the first Emperor of Ruen Wyn.

As a part of the new empire, Anan found its status improved in 6104, when a coup backed by the Imperial council overthrew the Snake Empress and placed a Badger Empress -- an Ananite -- upon the throne. She would be succeeded by a Crane Emperor in 6140, but the crown went back to Nurin upon his retirement. Still, as it was the way of the Ruenic Empire to select its new leader from the noble clans by council vote, Ananites sat on the throne now and then -- though not as often as any other nationality. They produced two strong emperors in 6201 and 6227 before losing the crown for nearly a century, during which many assassinations, coups and succession-based conflicts occurred between the noble houses.

Sick of the constant struggle, in 6330 the Ananite peasantry rebelled and abolished their own noble houses, then attempted to spread the overthrow to the rest of Ruen Wyn. The Kirenites backed them, as did some of the Nurinites; the Tevinites withdrew into their highlands while the rest of Nurin and Sesen attempted to put down the rebellion unsuccessfully. Within a few years, the entire Empire (bar the Tevinites) agreed to abolish hereditary nobility, and to select Emperors based on merit rather than family. An Ananite Emperor was chosen in 6332, succeeded by fellow Ananites in 6351, 6363, 6396 (Ashan the Gentle, education and public health reformer), and 6515.

The Badger Emperor of 6515, Gerron the Dour, sparked a new outbreak of fighting when he barred trade with the western world, then censured the Kirenites for continuing to pursue it. Most of the northwestern clans sided with the Kirenites, but when pushed into the Forest of Night by Emperor Gerron's soldiers, triggered a response from the loyuhene wraiths that drove all the combatants back into the Heartlands in a general disarray. Emperor Gerron's persecution tapered off, but his isolationist policies stayed. In 6531, he was deposed when his paranoia about the west kept him from mounting a defense against ogrish incursions to the north.

The Ananites claimed the throne again in 6575 and 6591 (after the previous Empress's possible poisoning). In 6607, the conflicts that had been simmering with the wraiths came to Anan's border for the first time, as the airahene of the Forest of Mists chose to retaliate against them for the destruction of Anlirindallora, the city of their loyuhene neighbors. In 6612, the Crane Emperor and most of his command staff were killed while overseeing an assault on the forest, causing an Ananite general to step in as interim Emperor under martial law. The general's claim was ratified the next year, and though he did not succeed in advancing into the forest, he did put a lid on the fighting.

In 6643, trade restrictions with the west were liberalized, causing an influx of godfollowers. In 6653, the current Empress converted to Loahravi's worship and was deposed by an Ananite, who unsuccessfully attempted to placate the tribal shamans about the threat of the god-cults and was assassinated by Loahravian cultists in 6667.

Despite this, ties with the west only increased, including marriages and the carving of the Rift Climb. The next Ananite Empress took the throne in 6763 and died in 6814, leaving the crown to an Owl. In 6853, the Owl Emperor's madness sparked the Ruenic Civil War when it drove him to assassinate many of his former allies and council-mates and turn his armies on the other clans; the Imperial army fragmented over his commands, and for two years all was chaos. Eventually, he was murdered.

The crown changed hands two more times before diplomatic discussions between Ruen Wyn and the west suddenly broke down, triggering the start of the War of the Lion and Eagle in 6912. Because of the Rift, proper conflict was difficult until 6919, when the Silent Circle chose to side with the western empire, Altaera, and permit its soldiers entry via portals. By 6921, the Emperor and his family had been slain, and the Altaerans bent their attention to eradicating the Ruens.

Along with Kiren, Anan bore the brunt of the murders and persecutions, until an extensive period of civil unrest back in Altaera first toppled the Altaeran Emperor and then pressured the military junta that replaced him into giving up the Ruenic occupation. By the end of 6928, there was no more Altaeran military presence in Anan, but still plenty of civilian occupiers -- whom the Ananites retaliated against fiercely.

The next century would be spent picking up the pieces of their shattered civilization. The Ruenic Empire did not rise again; Anan instead recreated itself as Amandon, a constitutional monarchy. Only when the Risen Phoenix Empire began to spread south from Daecia Swamp did they take interest in their neighbors again, initially to resist conquest (7186 LCY/0 Imperial Reckoning) but then to pledge fealty to the new Empire in 7191 after the murder of the resistant king by his sons.

Amandon participated fully in the Shamanic Purge from 7194-7216, eradicating nearly all traces of spirit-worship from their kingdom and accepting the Risen Phoenix Light as their official faith. They became a valuable jump-off point for the Empire's war against the forest wraiths, culminating in the creation of the Golden Wing Army in 7225.

In 7289, a revolution supported by Trifolders and Shadow Folk briefly overthrew the Amandic king in Silverton and declared its independence from the Empire. Both the Golden Wing and Sapphire Eye armies converged to put down the revolution, nearly eradicating the city.

In 7321, a terrible fire-season tore through almost all of southern Amandon, causing the abandonment of the cities on the Wrecking Shore and a huge flood of refugees into the northern cities, to Darronwy and to Daecia. Akarridi was created at the same time, where the fire-line finally stopped.

The current year is 7358 LCY, or 172 Imperial Reckoning.