Timeline (Years before the Quest begins, which we'll count as '0'.)
-594: An invasion of Southlanders, led by a charismatic young warrior, begins to devour the dying and failing Empire, which has been beset by provinicial and religious tensions.
-593-583: The conquest of Csirit, and the marrying of the Emperor's daughter to the first Southlander Emperor, who at the time controlled both Csirit and almost all of the Southlands. A system is insituted to maintain cavalry superiority, and enforce the inferiority of the native Iritans and other Csiritan mainstays.
-582: The capital is moved to northern Nestirin, from Center Irit.
-583-555: The reign of the first Southlander Emperor. Filled with rebellions that are crushed time and again, he didn't have control over what is now northern Yeadalt, Xissand, Hirand, and Hari-Nat, which formed a rump state governed by a Prince of the Blood. But his conquests slowly pushed it back almost to the point of destruction.
-554: The division: One of this First Emperor's sons gains Far Southlands. Another gains Near Southlands, and the eldest is put as successor to Csirit. While for the first decade or two, this was actually an era of relative peace and prosperity, eventually the two younger sons fought, and the eldest son captured a chunk of Near Southlands in order to, combined with the ground of Hirand--which was at parts destroyed or altered to support, instead of food, horses--have a supply of horses and trained riders without having to rely on his brothers.
-553-518: Rule of the Second Southlander Emperor.
-517 - 506: Rule of the Third Southlander Emperor
-517: Conquest of Yeadalt by the Southland Csiritan Empire, and the first use of this land as a place of exile for political enemies and religious disputants.
-515: Civil Service Exams abolished.
-512: Official Religion dis-established.
-510: Revolt of Bloody Banners.
-508: Rebellion of the Horse-Nobles leads to the Emperor suddenly shifting back against his Southlander roots, trying to punish both sides, and restoring religious exiles to places of power, where these heretics had reason to hate both Iritans and Southlanders.
-506: Palace coup. New Southlander Emperor established.
-506 - 499: Reign of the Fourth Southlander Emperor.
-498 - 484: 5th Southlander Emperor, first not to be a noted and accomplished horseman.
-484 - 468: 6th Southlander Emperor.
-468 -440: 7th and final Southlander Emperor. In the final years of his reign, a rebellion from modern Basrat, led by an ambitious runaway slave who fought his way to glory and married into what remained of the Old Imperial line, joining himself in ceremony and in holy fact with the religion, conquered and at last was crowned. His reign, which lasted from -440 (before the start of this game) to 400, was a time of autocracy and absolute brutal power. He restored an Iritan capital, but with the war and raiding from the Southlands, the center of balanced seemed to be moving both east and north.
-400 - 300: An era of relative peace. The Sea-Raiders fought a bloody conflict in the -320s, but it failed to conquer Hari-Os, though it did lead to an economic shift that temporarily made the west more potent. However, in this age of peace, the centralized control slipped, and the Civil Service Exams, nor many of the centralized features that had been hallmarks of the Empire before the Southlander Emperor, didn't return. The Southlander Dynasty had devolved much power to the 'provinces' and after the First New True Emperor's long reign and his attempts to reverse this, the trend actually increased in strength, sewing the seeds of later rebellion and problems.
-300 - 270: The era of divided prosperity. The barbarians were encroaching at places, but the court did nothing, and even the power of taxation devolved into the provinces... and yet for a time, the court had wealth enough, and influence enough, that they were able to maintain some degree of balance.
-270- 225: Increased raids by Sea-Raiders, Bueli, and a drift in the southern parts of Csirit towards heresy and, more than that, paying bribes to the Southlanders to keep them from raiding all contributed towards a general malaise, though the Emperor (and they tended to run together) was rich and spoiled and made many Princely Dynasties in an attempt to let his family rule the Empire where he could not.
- 224- 222: Rebellion of Tang, Rebellion of Sui Gen, Rebellion of Basrat, Rebellion of Xissand Nobles, each put down with less and less success.
-221: Peasant revolt nearly overruns the capital and almost kills the Emperor.
-225 - 215: The Prince in Rae (not yet Csrae) starts the "Rectifying and Purifying the Center" movement. Among its demands were Civil Service Exams, greater control of taxation and foreign policy, a return to scholarship, an end to toleration of heresy, purity and an end to corruption, and a stronger scholastic tradition. All of these were embodied in Prince Song, who was known as a man of great virtues, though the farthest thing imaginable from being a warrior himself.
-220: A palace coup leads to almost complete control of the Emperor by the Prince, who moves the capital to a central location in Rae, which is partially demolished to rebuild a city: Csrae, as with Rae. In doing so it hopes to escape the corruption and agricultural exhaustion that had struck Irit.
-219-214: The provinces are conquered or appeased at least enough to fall into line, in the northern portions, but the Prince of Rae, suspected and feared, is exiled, barely avoiding execution.
213-211: The Prince of Rae, exiled to the Bueli border, meets a young officer named Hanae. Whether they become lovers or merely political allies is still a matter of some debate, but they successfully fight off Bueli incursions. They also begin reforms and other acts, gathering strength.
-212-210: The manifold humilations: The Emperor, not having any control over the southern third of the Empire, reacts laxly or not at all to calls to defend it as the Southlanders extort more and more and more from them.
-209: The Great Betrayal: The Emperor determines to sign a treaty presented by the Southlander Envoy from one of the great-lords vying for control of southern Csirit granting him ownership of the bottom third of Csirit in exchange for a huge sum of money. The logic was that since he didn't own it, trading it would be without price.
----A palace coup deposes him, and his sons, and then a nephew who is not obedient, finally falling to the Prince of Rae to arrive, marry his own close cousin, and become Emperor. And Hanae came with him.
-208: After a year of stalling via 'negotiation' the new Emperor repudiates the deal in its entirety. The forty-odd year old Emperor prepares for war.
-208 - -206: The Southlander invasion happens, and is ultimately defeated by both the Hanin and internal divisions, and thus the Empire begins to stretch out its forces.
-208 - -188: Reign of the Rae Emperor, as some call him. The Near Southland is conquered under his auspices and Bueli is pushed back almost to the current border lines. Centralization is only somewhat effective, but control over taxes, roads, and salt monopolies are regained, but not the end of Hereditary Governors. He rules in his own right, leading his own clique.
-187: Without his patron, Hanae, now aging and yet still leading the war efforts down south, begins to lose ground, and is removed because of court politics a year later, and dies bitter and angry two decades later.
-187 - 150: Reign of the Second Revived Emperor. His father's son, he's energetic and intelligent, though having grown up around his advisors, he trusts them quite a bit. But his martial pretenses mean he doesn't follow them in some respects, and about 2/3rds of the Mid-Southlands is conquered. Only one city remains 'free' in the mid-southlands, and the plains and desert tribes and Kingdoms beyond the mountain can do very little.
-150 - -141: Reign of the short Emperor, carried off by disease in his thirties. He was opinionated, but not always competent, but after him, greater strength begins to accrue within the bureaucracy and the advisers.
-141 - 125: Reign of the next Emperor
139- 134: A revolt is put down in the Mid Southlands.
132-129: The current borders/limits of Hari Bueli are reached, though it is not yet a province. Bueli continues to try to push back the borders.
128: Basratan Revolt leads to the creation of a Princely House in Basrat to hold the east, which they do honorably for over a century.
-125 - -114: Reign of the next Emperor, whose life was cut short by suicide.
-117-118: The Bueli are pushed back, seemingly for good. The Sea-Raiders occupy attention for a time.
-116 - 114: Spurred on by courtly plans, an invasion is launched to finally subjugate all of the Southlands.
-115: In the 'Battle of the Oasis' almost the entire army is lost.
-114: Upon hearing the news, the Emperor kills himself.
-114 - 101: Regency of the next Emperor, a time of dissension and desperation, as the Empire tried to hold onto what it could. But attempts to push beyond a certain point by Southlanders failed. In the wake of the invasions and occupations, a divided culture existed, as did many, many cities, the 'Seventeen Cities' which had been nourished by trade both internal and external, and they served as a blockage on any attempt to conquer Csirit again.
-103: Hari-Bueli is created... as a hereditary province, a sign of Imperial weakness.
-100: Upon the ascension of a new Emperor (instead of with a Regent), Hari-Su is created, and more or less the current boundaries of the Empire are set.
-100-85: Reign of Emperor Ji-Law.
-85-55: Reign of Emperor Hia Juang, a time of rampent corruption and even more factionalism, as the Empire's army gained both more independence and less power as the Council truly became what it is to this day.
-80: Birth of Kuojah.
-60: Kuojah, at the age of twenty, reaches the Highest Merit of the Civil Service Exams and begins a glorious career.
-55 - -44: Reign of Emperor Ha So.
-48 -44: The Bueli campaign ends in failure, the Emperor Ha So dying for his folly, and with the disgrace of his enemies for approving, Kuojah enters the full waxing of his power at the age of thirty-six.
-44 - -28: Reign of Emperor Chen'an.
-28: Death of the old Emperor.
-28 - 0: Reign of Emperor Meng
-25: Kiralo born of Jia and Kuojah. Jia steals away Kiralo to the Southlands.
-9: Kiralo becomes a Rassit.
0: Banner Day; Death of Emperor Meng, ascension, and without regency, of Emperor Dai'so; Kiralo recalled by his father.
1: Kiralo declared Envoy to the Council of Generals; Prince Jinhai raises his banner in revolt; Prince Jinhai is defeated in battle by Kiralo.
