Jani Aylis
| Jani Aylis | |
| Founder of Loodon | |
|---|---|
| Reign | c. 1900-1917 SR |
| Successor | Vantral Aylis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | unknown |
| Died | 1917 SR |
Jani Aylis /'dʒæniː/ was the founder of what later became Loodon, along with her son Vantral Aylis.
They lived in a small settlement outside of Oyangaltans. Having relocated across the Loodon river, Jani and Vantral organized a cooperative and began to tax people for access to the river bank on the opposite side of Oyangaltans and upstream. In order to stop paying the tax, a household had to join the cooperative.
Oyangaltans was part of Mamkoon at the time, but Jani entered into a relationship with the Kareden tax collector who was responsible for the area, which allowed them to hide their cooperative for about 10 years, . The tax collector was reassigned to another area after that. They tried to negotiate the transfer, but reassigning tax collectors was an important rule in Mamkoon and he had to leave. This left a mark on Jani till the end of her life.
The Aylis were able to bribe the new tax collector, Been Kolor. He later demanded more money and then moved his family into the area to become part of the collective. He also began trying to play a more prominent role in running the cooperative, however, seven years into his assignment to Oyangaltans it was announced that Kolor would soon be reassigned to a new area. At first he planned to leave his family to continue being part in the cooperative, but then changed his mind.
Realizing that her enterprise could be at the mercy of the new tax collector, Jani organized a conquest upstream to find land for the cooperative. Her son, Vantral, who was running the cooperative with her, albeit in less prominent roles, was very unhappy with Kolor's attempts to gain power in what he viewed as family business, was happy to oblige. Many in the cooperative felt the same way and hated the Kareden and Kolor.
The cooperative forces, led by Vantral, left upstream of Loodon in 1917, having no experience fighting, let alone conquering lands. Since Loodon settlements were decentralized and not numerous, the army had no trouble getting everyone they would meet to submit to the collective. Instead of following the Loodon river proper, as soon as they reached the tributary called Tlax, Vantral led his troops towards the city of Tlax. Their conquest would have probably ended there, since Tlax was run by a powerful warlord Done Kandisis, but instead the cooperative forces encountered a defenseless city, since Kandisis had left it earlier on yet another conquest. This allowed Vantral to enter the city and close it down. Kandisis suffered an especially bad defeat at the hands of a Teamatian tribe, and upon his return was not ready for a siege. Within two weeks his army had abandoned him and Vantral proclaimed the Tlax river to be the cooperative's property along with the Loodon river, as well as the city of Tlax.
Meanwhile, Kolor began blackmailing Jani, demanding more money. Jani had to oblige, until Kolor announced that he plans to retire from his administrative job and stay at Oyangaltans and overtake Jani's cooperative: it turned out he knew the new tax collector personally and figured that he would be able to get away with it, while gaining political power.
News of the cooperative forces success reached Jani at this critical time, which probably seemed like an improbable turn of events in her favor. This was kept away from Kolor, and Jani, along with several of senior members of the community, left for Tlax.
Unfortunately, they never made it to Tlax, since Vantral wanted to rule alone and sent assassins to murder Jani and her party. This was concealed from the rest of the cooperative at the time, and instead Vantral said that this was done by the inhabitants of the city of Nator, a wealthy location at the headwaters of Loodon. By the time the truth was out several years later, most inhabitants of Tlax did not know much about the cooperative, since its original members were vastly outnumbered by the growing population, who were now under the leadership of Vantral. He was also not relying on the inexperienced men from the original cooperative and was able to attract the many experienced contractors, some of whom served under Kandisis. In fact, the story of this killing only helped promote Vantral's ruthless persona and instill fear in his enemies.
Kolor, hated by the cooperative, was indeed able to retire and retain his position as community leader. Vantral realized that he now needed governors, and he especially wanted to try to hold on to Oyangaltans, so Kolor became governor of Oyangaltans and held this position for the rest of his life, becoming Vantral's trusted ally in the north.
Legacy
Vantral's betrayal of his own mother did eventually catch up with him and his name was rarely mentioned in loodonian accounts of its history. Instead, Jani was widely recognized as the founder of the family and the country. A monument of her in Oyangaltans was set up by Kvean II and is on the city square to this day.
