Empire of Barud

Empire of Barud
Political details
Capital	Barudse, Korstonoh
Government	absolute monarchy
Language	Asdoh, Eastern Torv
Religion	Xaewoon
Historical details
Established	1880s FR
Disestablished	188 SR

Empire of Barud /bɑː'ruː/ was an early Tarnarian civilization. It was notable for its claims of military grandeur and multiple conquests. In spite of aggressive rhetoric, Barud was unable to expand beyond its original territorial claims. After a long series of unsuccessful campaigns against Asdoh and its own immediate neighbors, Barud fell into a prolonged phase of decline that it famously refused to acknowledge.

Nevertheless, Barud was a major player in the region and in many ways defined northern Tarnarian culture at the start of the millennium. It is believed that Barud's geopolitical methods strongly informed Yammoe's clandestine expansionist strategy.

The empire was officially dissolved in the 2nd CSR, with some of its remaining bastions overrun by Stogen.

Etymology

The word "Barud" is thought to be derived from the Asdoh word "Baru" that meant "dough", but was more often used in a sense of "common folk". Adding the "d" postfix to the end of a word would indicate a geographical area, which was a standard linguistic device in Asdoh (both the language and the state) at the time. Therefore, "Barud" would mean "the land of the common folk".

History

Barud was founded by the Gordoh family, who were the founders of the secessionist Gordohse, a settlement that was a self-proclaimed city state, but was not recognized as such by Asdoh's capital Estonoh. At some point in the 1880s FR, the Gordohs and their supporters abandoned the city and traveled east. They then settled on the western bank of Quoon River. The settlement was named Barudse, "the place of the common folk".

Over the course of the next several decades, Barudse was developed into a bustling city and a new city, Korstonoh, was founded on the eastern bank of Quoon West Fork, known locally as Qvonl.

Although the early history of Barud is scant, it is clear that the peoples that comprised the first settlement were not only the original secessionists and their families, but also the Maad people who lived to the east of the Moleeq desert, as well as the Kon people, who were farmers that settled on the western banks of the Quoon river. Most Mioh tribes who lived in and around the desert have migrated to Barud, mostly to its second major city of Korstonoh.

Economy

Barud invariably positioned itself as an economic superpower, regardless of the real state of affairs. Due to this consistent geopolitical posturing, mostly aimed at Asdoh and Toor, it is impossible to trust barudian historical records. The assessment of the empire's economy is usually done indirectly.

It is clear, though, that at the pinnacle of its existence in the 1st CSR Barud was exceedingly wealthy. Its economy plummeted by 80-90s due to a number of high profile military failures, as well as the disintegration of Toor, which dramatically reduced trade between the south and the north and, thus, the use of barudian roads.

Still, Barud maintained a standard of living that was probably the highest in the whole of Heran.

Barudian road system

By building Korstonoh on the bank of Qvonl, Barud claimed a large territory. Hun Nov Vone Gordoh began a series of major road-building projects that created a network of high quality roads, connecting both cities, but also crossing the empire from south to north.

By providing this advanced infrastructure, Barud imposed a fee on everyone traveling through their territory. The high quality of barudian roads made crossing Barud fast, safe and enjoyable, which provided the state with a steady influx of resources. It also served as a trading hub, establishing the famous Night Market in Korstonoh.

Coinage

Unlike Asdoh, which mostly used paper debtnotes, Barud established its imperial silver and gold coins. Barud's golen and emperors paid great attention to the distribution of their coins and made it mandatory to pay road fees using barudian currency, thus creating additional demand for them.

Barud's coins are also notable for the fact that they were essentially treated as investments in the Empire of Barud itself, with emperors minting additional coins on the wave of promises regarding upcoming conquests, and granting these coins to the nobility in exchange for their military service.

The value of barudian coins was high throughout most of its history, and only began to fall in value during the last several decades of Barud's existence.

Education

Barudse had a number of schools, dedicated to religion, languages, finances and politics. The financial and political knowledge from barudian schools was highly valued and some of the earliest descriptions of Hogloh vy Aanua come from barudian manuscripts.

Barud advertised its education and encouraged foreign students to study in Barudse.

Political worldview

Asdoh's political project was the creation of a bold and unified Eastern Dantrian civilization, a counterpart to the Western Dantrian civilization.

Barud viewed itself as a competitor to the state of Asdoh, citing numerous disagreements with how the government of Asdoh set about to institute said civilization, and believing that Barud should spearhead the project instead.

In order to do that, Barud needed Asdoh to officially step back, which was communicated to the officials in Estonoh in no uncertain terms through a series of ultimatums and led to military, political and propaganda campaigns against Asdoh that lasted for over two centuries. The sending ultimatums to Asdoh and other countries became a tradition in and of itself.

Barud's grievances with Asdoh came primarily down to its strong central government and the refusal to share power on the local level. The Gordoh family believed that they should be able to take part in the building of the new civilization and detested the difficult entry into the corridors of power. This is why initially Barud made a strong focus on decentralization, and its two main cities, Barudse and Korstonoh, each had their own gole.

However, very quickly the narrative shifted to a competition with Asdoh and the title of emperor (gole-vy-golen, bukkean for "king of kings") was created to ensure that Barud is able to mount an invasion force capable of toppling Estonoh. Reasoning for an emperor also included the need to build a high class economy and infrastructure, worthy of the progenitor of the Eastern Dantrian civilization. As Barud re-created more and more aspects of Asdoh, its power became increasingly centralized as well.

Barud's political innovation was that gole-vy-golen never saw military action and was not expected to lead an army, instead following the campaigns led by the golen through a system of messengers. Yammoe took note of that and some of the writings by Hlamess III suggest that this was one of the sources of inspiration of Yammoe's clandestine expansionist strategy, which removed the need for direct military intervention and instead had others do the will of Yammoe through political and financial means.

Military conflicts

Barud found itself surrounded by a number of kingdoms and empires that it attempted to dominate. While the emperors of Barud routinely voiced ambitions of defeating the state of Asdoh, Barud's periodic conflicts with the Okytoh Empire defined the majority of its expansionists projects.

The Maad people in the southeast were a mild threat and were eventually partially defeated and partially integrated into Barud, while Messrōn Baas became a constant source of raids, while remaining largely out of reach of Barud's forces. A number of campaigns in the very beginning of the second revolution culminated in the battle at Gwonoh, which saw the defeat of Barud's army.

Oversōn, a semi-nomadic kingdom, was mostly an ally in the first revolution, but became increasingly restless as time went on, demanding more concessions from its wealthier neighbor and eventually becoming part of Stogen.

First ultimatums

In 1912 FR Hun Nov Vone Gordoh proclaimed himself emperor and issued an ultimatum to Estonoh, threatening "a great deal of pain and horror thrust upon the gentle people of Asdoh, lest they don't bow to the only true Ruler Between the Earth and the Sky, the One Led by Providence, the Great Emperor of Barud and its Chosen People".

When Asdoh's government ignored the ultimatum, Hun issued the second ultimatum, this time asserting that Barud had "claimed all the land east of Quoon River and all its peoples that are at this moment ready to march on the city of cowards."

Porteek specifically mentions a number of insults that were included in the ultimatum, addressed towards specific individuals in the Asdoh government hierarchy, all of whom were by this time "either dead or forgotten". Porteek then suggests that the names came from Mols Gordoh, who knew them when fighting for independence back in Gordohse.

The second ultimatum did receive a response, which called Hun "a phony emperor, a disgrace to his parents and siblings, who should now bear the mark of eternal shame on their foreheads for the sheer stupidity of the One Led by Providence".

First Asdoh campaign

Emperor Hun led his troops on Estonoh in 1914 FR. They stationed at the deserted Gordohse, which by that time had turned into ruins, and then marched on Estonoh.

It is not clear how big the army was, but accounts seem to indicate that it was impressive. According to Ludoh, "it was an army so massive that when they approached Estonoh, a shadow was cast across the streets. Emperor's soldiers were so tall that when they stacked themselves into human columns, they could block out the sun".

Porteek is more reserved in his descriptions, but also mentions the trick of soldiers standing on each other's shoulders to give an appearance of extraordinary height.

Estonoh's rulers did not expect Emperor Hun to actually act on his threats. They fled the city, ordering its army and citizens to hastily retreat. Emperor Hun entered Estonoh and proclaimed himself to be the ruler of Asdoh. Because both times Emperor Hun's troops entered a deserted city - first Gordohse and then Estonoh - Porteek calls the campaign "the campaign of deserted cities".

Emperor Hun then installed Mortel Baoneek as the King of Asdoh and left the city with most of his army. Mere two weeks later the original army of Estonoh, bolstered by reinforcements from the Luzoh fortress, entered the city, easily defeating Mortel's regiment. Mortel and his court were swiftly executed.

The army then followed Emperor Hun to the south and located him stationed at Gordohse again. They engaged and this time Emperor Hun was forced to retreat. His troops, however, suffered heavy losses and several of the emperor's generals advised him to end the campaign. Records indicate that the Emperor was back in Barudse in 1916 FR.