Meerō Dolysoh
Meerō Dolysoh /'miːrɒ dɑ'liːsə/ was the third gole of Toor. His reign was probably the most uncontested among all other monarchs of the Dolysoh dynasty, but he was considered a weak and indecisive ruler. The family's declining influence led to an almost successful coup by several of his generals. It was thwarted by Meerō's unexpected death from an illness, which triggered an automatic succession of power to gole's son Mosk-Sopoh.
| Meerō Dolysoh | |
| Gole of Toor | |
|---|---|
| Reign | 1811-1847 FR |
| Predecessor | Opol Dolysoh |
| Successor | Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1795 FR |
| Died | 1847 FR |
| Parents | Opol Dolysoh and Byskoh Losoh |
Reign
Military campaigns
Meerō's reign started during the campaign against the Negy and he was respected as the son of a great father. However, after the passing of Opol in 1815 FR and the passing of Byskoh in 1816 just mere months later, Meerō experienced a nervous breakdown from which he never truly recovered. He became moody and indecisive, and short bursts of activity would be followed by long bouts of depression.
Meerō did begin a series of campaigns against the Laeooy Coast in honor of his father who wanted to subjugate the territory. Four separate campaigns - 1824-1825, 1829-1831, 1834-1835 and 1841-1842 - were fairly successful, but all stopped short of actually finishing the job, with Meerō's inconsistent strategy and erratic behavior leading to bizarre decisions.
The "Pale Rose" campaign
The 1824-1825 campaign, known as the "Pale Rose", which reached the city-state of Troun, failed to confront it, with Meerō suddenly turning the army around. Confused generals tried to interpret Meerō's actions as having religious significance, and the army eventually returned to Gaskal. Troun, competing with another powerful city state, Tirna, for supremacy on the Laeooy Coast, used Meerō's retreat as propaganda.
The "Teal Orchid" campaign
The second 1829-1831 campaign was similarly odd, with Meerō ordering his forces to the south at Frooj. The army made an exhausting crossing of Kōnzoh and then returned back through Uzar, Dol and Palas. According to Porteek, Meerō's goal was a pilgrimage to the place of death of his father and then his mother.
It is at this time that the Jeenor of his army, Brone Forod, became his advisor and the official interpreter of his actions.
Writes Porteek:
Forod took on the role of the gole's advisor, but ultimately it was a fantasy that he and others in the court wanted desperately to believe. Meerō was a good listener, but a poor student. He did what he wanted and Forod became a pitiful translator of the gole's actions, summoning all the confidence and dignity he could muster in order to give an appearance of intent where there was none, of order where there was only chaos, of religious providence when there were just the unpredictable whims of a truly lost soul.
Forod portrayed the "Teal Orchid" as a march to demonstrate the strength of the toorian army to the world.
The "Orange Tulip" campaign
Forod then attempted to orchestrate and basically lead the third campaign. During the preparation for the campaign in 1833 FR two influential Ienana named Olboloh Joleeloh and Gorōntoh Kōtele were able to get Meerō's attention through disseminating what many believed to be important prophecies. Both Ienana were singers of lore and their arrival at Gaskal became an important event of the summer of 1833.
They were then able to upset Meerō's trust in Forod's judgement and tried to get him executed. This, however, had not worked and the gole had him imprisoned and then embarked on a third campaign against the peoples of the Laeooy Coast. With Olboloh and Gorōntoh at his side, Meerō led the army past Troun to Koalderood, where according to Olboloh's prophecy was supposed to be the next Laeooy Coast gole. At the time Koalderood was populated by the people known as the Hadeer. Their ruling clan, the Jumpelee clan, had offended Olboloh's family, although this was unknown to Meerō.
Meerō's army began ransacking Hadeer settlements, when suddenly confronted by the superhero warrior Damluk. Damluk was seen hitting the ground with his fist, which caused a powerful earthquake, forcing soldiers and horses off their feet. In the midst of the confusion the Hadeer attacked, pouring into the valley, archers and mounted warriors with long spears "ushering a rain of arrows and destruction". Suffering losses, Meerō was forced to withdraw.
Olboloh encouraged Meerō to turn back and attack, citing the prophecy and ensuring that he will be successful. Meerō listened to her and turned his army back that same night, reengaging the Hadeer the next morning. The enemy did not expect the toorians to come back so quickly, and this time Meerō forced the Hadeer into retreat. They followed them for several days, all the way to Lake Marood. Believing that the Hadeer have no ways to escape, Meerō was preparing for the final battle, when they saw a dark cloud come over the lake. Very soon they realized that the cloud was a fleet of incredibly fast small boats that were transporting the Hadeer across the lake. By the time the toorians made it to the shore, most of the Hadeer were already on the water, sending swarms of arrows and securing their escape.
Meerō led his troops around Lake Marood, locating The Hadeer stronghold. It had thick stone walls, but they were not high enough to withstand the siege engines which the toorians were able to construct. Meerō's forces then defeated the fortress and slaughtered its inhabitants, destroying much of the Hadeer army. Most members of the Jumpelee clan were executed, thus ending the generations-long rivalry in Joleelohs favor.
The chase did reveal that Hadeer commanded a much wider territory. Having spared the lives of some of the Hadeers, Meerō was able to learn from them about other Hadeer settlements.
He led his army back across Hadeer territory, locating the city of Brum to the south of Koalderood. The city closed its gates and Meerō set up siege and was able to enter the city a month later. The city was sacked, then burned, but its population was largely spared, with part of the troops marching them to Gaskal and forcibly resettling them in a number of Toor-controlled regions.
The city of Gor was more agreeable towards the toorians and its nobility struck a deal with Toor. Meerō, however, also led most of the population of the city out and resettled it to various regions on his way to Gaskal, including gifting some of them as slaves to his generals.
Porteek considers this campaign, christened the "Orange Tulip", as the most important campaign in the history of Toor, arguing that the destruction of the growing Hadeer empire made it possible for Meerō's son Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh to exert dominance of Laeooy Coast, something that Porteek believes to have been unlikely if Hadeer emerged as a regional power. He specifically points to Hadeers' ambitions, given their temporary subjugation of Nadd, and that had the Hadeer been given just a few more years, they might have become a military power that would have made Laeooy Coast much more resistant to a single conqueror.
At the time, however, the "Orange Tulip" was seen as a mediocre campaign, as nobody heard of the Hadeer in Gaskal, while the very visible city-states of Troun and Tirna continued to be independent. The only redeeming quality of the campaign was significant loot brought with the troops, as well as the long-term value of infusing Toor with new subjects, namely the people of Brum and Gor. Later Brone Forod instituted a project to promote the results of the campaign, by printing the new map of Toor with Koalderood and neighboring regions claimed under the Dolysoh clan's rule and demonstrating the greatness of the kingdom's reach.
The "Red Orchid" campaign
The campaign of 1841-1842 was the least successful campaign of the four. In spite of the usual long preparation, which mostly consisted of Meerō's court negotiating with various regions and ooron to put together an army, the campaign was poorly thought through.
Toorian forces first laid siege to Tirna, but then when a month later it seemed like the siege wasn't going anywhere, the gole decided to confront Troun instead. The siege of Troun failed when the Troun army was able to break out and force the toorians to retreat. Meerō tried to re-engage with the enemy, but was thrown off again.
He then marched back on Tirna and laid a second siege. This time the siege lasted for over a year. But toorians were ill-equipped to break Tirna's defenses: they did not have sophisticated enough siege engines to confront the walls of Tirna, which were very high, thick and well constructed, plus Tirna was able to supply itself through sea, while Toor's seafaring ability was very basic.
Both Porteek and Ludoh mention that Tirna's gole, Gutsag, had initiated correspondence with Meerō, in which he insulted him. Porteek goes into a bit more detail and explains that throughout the siege Gutsag sent insulting messages to toorians by throwing them with rocks over the walls, and also had musicians and a choir perform songs with offensive lyrics about Meerō every morning.
Eventually, Tirna called on the neighboring city of Nadd for help and naddian forces marched on Meerō. The naddians were not the strongest army of the region, but capable. Engaging with the toorians in several battles, naddians were able to eventually force Meerō to cancel the campaign and return to Gaskal.
The campaign proved almost fatal for the Dolysoh dynasty, as Meerō's indecision and lack of leadership had completely eroded the trust that his father had built, and several Jeens, hungry for both power and conquest, began plotting a coup.
The "Red Orchid", however, did affect Tirna's standing and shifted the power balance to Troun: while the naddians were busy helping Tirna, Troun occupied Nadd. When the naddian forces returned, they were faced with closed gates. The Murdoh of Nadd chose to submit to Troun and break off its relationship with Tirna. Perhaps for this and other reasons, Tirna's influence began to wane. It was conquered several years later by Meerō's son, Mosk-Sopoh.
Foreign relations
Deeras
Meerō honored his father's agreement with the Deeras family and Deeras was treated as an independent land. However, the consensus of nobility in Gaskal was that Deeras should at some point be confronted and contribute to the treasury. Uroh Maadoh became the negotiator with Deeras and established regular correspondence with them.
By the end of Meerō's reign, Uroh Maadoh began sounding the alarm that the population of Deeras has increased dramatically, due to the many Negy opting to migrate to the region and settle. Uroh Maadoh argued that Deeras might become a threat to Toor and again choose to invade.
Jhet
Toor financed the construction of a city on the Kaotooy river, which would later become Jhet. Toor's involvement was kept a secret, and even within Meerō's court almost no one knew. Gole's seers, Gorōntoh Kōtele and Olboloh Joleeloh, knew of the project. Brone Forod learned about it from Gorōntoh when he was reinstated as gole's right hand man and later became involved.
Jhet was meant as a way for Gaskal to have better access to Laeooy Coast, and featured heavily in strategic plans to subjugate and govern its population.
The establishment of Jhet and Toor's ownership of it was not common knowledge until the reign of Troh Dolysoh. Such massive secretive projects became the hallmark of Toor's foreign policy.
Death
Meerō fell ill in the winter of 1847, developing high fever, and was reported to have died within several days. The gole's unexpected passing triggered the succession of power to his son, Mosk-Sopoh, and thwarted the coup.
Porteek does not explain why Meerō's death wasn't used to actually speed up the coup, but Ludoh writes that "the honorable Jeens have not yet lost all of their honor and were embarrassed to proceed". Later researchers point out that the details of the planned coup have not been recorded and that it is possible that the religious significance of the Dolysoh family might have meant that the generals were planning to install one of Meerō's children to begin with. Opponents of the hypothesis argue that the reputation of the Dolysoh family did not seem to stop many others before and after to topple them.
Personality
Ludoh describes Meerō as meek, withdrawn and uninspiring, but that he had an air of nobility about him which helped him play the role of the representative of the chosen family. Porteek says that "he sometimes had bursts of energy that would fuel him for weeks, only to then become depressed for months, with only few having access to him".