Post by Horsie on Jan 5, 2015 2:28:33 GMT
Perhaps the first great empire since time of the ancient peoples who are now forgotten was the Ishmus Empire.
They created a vast nation and a powerful dynasty of mighty kings that would come to dominate northern Xalkara. Their race had long consisted of disparate tribes, living a nomadic life style, mostly along the coast. The secret of their success was the centralising of power, a single king who ruled with absolute authority and all other kings had to bow before. For this reason, the ruler was known as "The King of Kings."
This idea of bowing before the King of Kings was quite literal, as a complex system known as "Proskynesis" where people were required to bow to people of superior social rank. There were six stages of bowing that one was supposed to show depending on the other persons position relative to yours. A person 1 step above you required you to bow your head, 2 steps to bow at the waist, 3 to bow at the waist with one hand on the ground, 4 to bow so that bow hands were on the ground, 5 to put bother knees on the ground to bow even lower, and 6 steps (a peasant before the king of kings) to lie completely flat on their stomach in submission. Only the King of Kings had no one that outranked him (or equalled his rank) and was never required to make any show of submission. Failure to follow these rules was considered a grave insult and towards a person of high status to be equivalent to an act of treason.
To outsiders, especially the Galdrasai, this custom was often seen as weird and barbaric. Galdrasai felt such acts of submission should be reserved for gods, not people. This lead to the misconception that the Ishmus believed their king to be a god. This was not true, though they did believe their king was appointed by the gods and above all mortals. They took this view so far as to have the King of Kings place the crown on his own head during his coronation, as no mortal could be worthy of crowning him.
This centralised, structured power allowed them to organise on a scale not seen before. The consolidation of power allowed the King of Kings to maintain a permanent force of professional soldiers as the core of his vast armies. These warriors were known as The Immortals.
They wore standardised armour and weapons and received pay directly from the King of Kings treasury. They acted as heavy infantry, in contrast to the light, fast skirmishes that made up most of the Ishmus warriors. Their name came in part from their reputation as being undefeatable in battle, but also from the fact their numbers were always kept at ten thousand, with more being recruited to replace any casualties quickly.
Serving in the immortals brought wealth and respect and was one of the only ways a serf could rise above his origins in the rigidly structured empire. For this reason, virtually all the warriors in the army wanted a position in the Immortals, so they were never short of recruits and could choose the very best. Ishmus kings were generally careful about deploying the Immortals, as their invincible reputation was a source of great power, and they had to make sure it was not tarnished by potential defeats. When they did take to the field, many enemies fled in terror before them, while those who did face them found them to be braver, better trained, and better equipped than any comparable fighting force.
Ultimately though, the rigid structures that had given the empire its strength would also be its undoing.
New, young, ambitious powers were rising up in Xalkara. The mighty Galdrasai and stalwart Levengroust were building up new kinds of nations. Rather than authority, divine mandate, and force, they gave their citizens a sense of having a stake in their countries, making them true citizens rather than serfs. These new countries were dynamic, encouraging meritocracy and innovation in art, learning and warfare.
The Ishmus had always considered the Galdrasia to be southern barbarians, and had demanded tribute from them and received it for many years. When the Galdrasai Protectorate began to refuse to pay tribute, and became increasingly insulting in their refusals, the King of Kings dispatched his armies to punish the southerners. When the two armies met, the Ishmus armies seemed to be fighting with tactics from a bygone age.
The Gendarme were far better organised and far heavier armoured than anything the Ishmus had ever seen, let alone worn. What was more, the Gendarme fought in a new way, with the advent of heavy cavalry. Previously cavalry had been used as mounted archers, using their speed and range to harry enemies and attack stragglers and weak points, or destroy enemy baggage. The Gendarmes fought by directly charging their enemies, riding forward with long lances and heavily armoured suss birds to shatter and demoralise their enemies.
The Galdrasai's blades burned red hot with magic, and made short work of Ishmus equipped with wicker shields and little or no armour. The Ishmus army of skirmishes and archers largely disintegrated in response to these incredibly aggressive tactics, being thrown into confusion. The Ishmus did not initially realise the implications of the defeat. It was viewed as an anomaly rather than a sign of things to come. The King of King's was outraged and organised a new, larger army, that he would lead personally along with his Immortals.
The Galdrasai, meanwhile, were actually unhappy with their victory. The bulk of the Ishmus had managed to escape the battlefield, and they required a more crushing blow to their enemies to prove themselves to be the rising power they knew themselves to be. In this second confrontation, they made sure not to allow their enemy such an easy escape.
Their tactics and sophistication of war was far beyond that of the Ishmus armies, and they chose to encircle their enemies with dismounted Gendarmes and men at arms. Light Ishmus warriors simply withdrew when threatened, as the Galdrasai expected, allowing them to pushed together into a confused mass of warriors. The trap was finally sealed by heavy cavalry moving to strike at the rear of the disorganised Ishmus. Even with their wings, the Ishmus warriors had no where to run too, and those that tried to swoop over their enemies ranks found themselves crashing onto armoured warriors who hacked them apart. The Immortals attempted to fight but even they were quite outmatched by superior Galdrasai weapons, training and tactics.
The King of King's was forced to surrender, along with the bulk of his elite guards. Around 2000 immortals were dead, and another 6000 thousand captured, along with vast numbers of regular Ishmus warriors. The soldiers themselves could be replaced, and the King of Kings was ransomed back to his people, but the damage to Ishmus prestige was incalculable. The mightiest empire in the world had been utterly defeated and the relationship between them and the Galsdrasai entirely reversed.
The Ishmus society was too rigid to change and adapt, having become culturally stagnant. Wars against northern tribes had given them a false sense of power that had now be crushed, future Kings of Kings lacked any confidence or ambition, and the Empire only became more insular. They were forced to make vast concessions to the Galdrasai to avoid another conflict they clearly could not win. The empire became a sorry reflection of its former glory.
Some efforts were made to modernise, with the introduction of new, heavier infantry, modelled on the more professional formations of the south. But these Cardaces (as they were called) were never deployed very successfully.
Soon they were viewed as an irrelevant backwater to the new great powers. With the demon plague and the rise of the Godhead, they were eventually forced to beg their southern neighbours to protect them.
A sad end for such a once powerful empire.
They created a vast nation and a powerful dynasty of mighty kings that would come to dominate northern Xalkara. Their race had long consisted of disparate tribes, living a nomadic life style, mostly along the coast. The secret of their success was the centralising of power, a single king who ruled with absolute authority and all other kings had to bow before. For this reason, the ruler was known as "The King of Kings."
This idea of bowing before the King of Kings was quite literal, as a complex system known as "Proskynesis" where people were required to bow to people of superior social rank. There were six stages of bowing that one was supposed to show depending on the other persons position relative to yours. A person 1 step above you required you to bow your head, 2 steps to bow at the waist, 3 to bow at the waist with one hand on the ground, 4 to bow so that bow hands were on the ground, 5 to put bother knees on the ground to bow even lower, and 6 steps (a peasant before the king of kings) to lie completely flat on their stomach in submission. Only the King of Kings had no one that outranked him (or equalled his rank) and was never required to make any show of submission. Failure to follow these rules was considered a grave insult and towards a person of high status to be equivalent to an act of treason.
To outsiders, especially the Galdrasai, this custom was often seen as weird and barbaric. Galdrasai felt such acts of submission should be reserved for gods, not people. This lead to the misconception that the Ishmus believed their king to be a god. This was not true, though they did believe their king was appointed by the gods and above all mortals. They took this view so far as to have the King of Kings place the crown on his own head during his coronation, as no mortal could be worthy of crowning him.
This centralised, structured power allowed them to organise on a scale not seen before. The consolidation of power allowed the King of Kings to maintain a permanent force of professional soldiers as the core of his vast armies. These warriors were known as The Immortals.
They wore standardised armour and weapons and received pay directly from the King of Kings treasury. They acted as heavy infantry, in contrast to the light, fast skirmishes that made up most of the Ishmus warriors. Their name came in part from their reputation as being undefeatable in battle, but also from the fact their numbers were always kept at ten thousand, with more being recruited to replace any casualties quickly.
Serving in the immortals brought wealth and respect and was one of the only ways a serf could rise above his origins in the rigidly structured empire. For this reason, virtually all the warriors in the army wanted a position in the Immortals, so they were never short of recruits and could choose the very best. Ishmus kings were generally careful about deploying the Immortals, as their invincible reputation was a source of great power, and they had to make sure it was not tarnished by potential defeats. When they did take to the field, many enemies fled in terror before them, while those who did face them found them to be braver, better trained, and better equipped than any comparable fighting force.
Ultimately though, the rigid structures that had given the empire its strength would also be its undoing.
New, young, ambitious powers were rising up in Xalkara. The mighty Galdrasai and stalwart Levengroust were building up new kinds of nations. Rather than authority, divine mandate, and force, they gave their citizens a sense of having a stake in their countries, making them true citizens rather than serfs. These new countries were dynamic, encouraging meritocracy and innovation in art, learning and warfare.
The Ishmus had always considered the Galdrasia to be southern barbarians, and had demanded tribute from them and received it for many years. When the Galdrasai Protectorate began to refuse to pay tribute, and became increasingly insulting in their refusals, the King of Kings dispatched his armies to punish the southerners. When the two armies met, the Ishmus armies seemed to be fighting with tactics from a bygone age.
The Gendarme were far better organised and far heavier armoured than anything the Ishmus had ever seen, let alone worn. What was more, the Gendarme fought in a new way, with the advent of heavy cavalry. Previously cavalry had been used as mounted archers, using their speed and range to harry enemies and attack stragglers and weak points, or destroy enemy baggage. The Gendarmes fought by directly charging their enemies, riding forward with long lances and heavily armoured suss birds to shatter and demoralise their enemies.
The Galdrasai's blades burned red hot with magic, and made short work of Ishmus equipped with wicker shields and little or no armour. The Ishmus army of skirmishes and archers largely disintegrated in response to these incredibly aggressive tactics, being thrown into confusion. The Ishmus did not initially realise the implications of the defeat. It was viewed as an anomaly rather than a sign of things to come. The King of King's was outraged and organised a new, larger army, that he would lead personally along with his Immortals.
The Galdrasai, meanwhile, were actually unhappy with their victory. The bulk of the Ishmus had managed to escape the battlefield, and they required a more crushing blow to their enemies to prove themselves to be the rising power they knew themselves to be. In this second confrontation, they made sure not to allow their enemy such an easy escape.
Their tactics and sophistication of war was far beyond that of the Ishmus armies, and they chose to encircle their enemies with dismounted Gendarmes and men at arms. Light Ishmus warriors simply withdrew when threatened, as the Galdrasai expected, allowing them to pushed together into a confused mass of warriors. The trap was finally sealed by heavy cavalry moving to strike at the rear of the disorganised Ishmus. Even with their wings, the Ishmus warriors had no where to run too, and those that tried to swoop over their enemies ranks found themselves crashing onto armoured warriors who hacked them apart. The Immortals attempted to fight but even they were quite outmatched by superior Galdrasai weapons, training and tactics.
The King of King's was forced to surrender, along with the bulk of his elite guards. Around 2000 immortals were dead, and another 6000 thousand captured, along with vast numbers of regular Ishmus warriors. The soldiers themselves could be replaced, and the King of Kings was ransomed back to his people, but the damage to Ishmus prestige was incalculable. The mightiest empire in the world had been utterly defeated and the relationship between them and the Galsdrasai entirely reversed.
The Ishmus society was too rigid to change and adapt, having become culturally stagnant. Wars against northern tribes had given them a false sense of power that had now be crushed, future Kings of Kings lacked any confidence or ambition, and the Empire only became more insular. They were forced to make vast concessions to the Galdrasai to avoid another conflict they clearly could not win. The empire became a sorry reflection of its former glory.
Some efforts were made to modernise, with the introduction of new, heavier infantry, modelled on the more professional formations of the south. But these Cardaces (as they were called) were never deployed very successfully.
Soon they were viewed as an irrelevant backwater to the new great powers. With the demon plague and the rise of the Godhead, they were eventually forced to beg their southern neighbours to protect them.
A sad end for such a once powerful empire.
