Dzeia

The 3rd Dze Confederation Dzetśaqto
Flag Seal of Tsot'aan Xanaaq̇ut
Lands and surroundings of the Dze Confederacy, 1612 AR
Status	Independent state
Capital	Xanaaq̇ut's moving horde
Official languages	Old Dze
Ethnic groups	Dze (97.9%) Humans (2.1%)
Religion	Tẋeẋuq
Demonym(s)	Dze
Government	Semi-nomadic tribal confederation
• Tsot'aan	Xanaaq̇ut
Establishment
• Founding of the 1st Confederation	7274 BR
• Start of the Strifes	6429 BR
• Founding of the 2nd Confederation	2764 BR
• Founding of the 3rd Confederation	1598 AR
• Fall of the Human Kingdoms	1602 AR
Area
• Land Area	695,622 km2 (268,581 sq mi)
• Water (%)	5.31%
Population
• 1610 estimate	~10,000,000
• Density	7.19/km2 (18.6/sq mi)

The Dze (Old Dze: Dzetśaqto ['d͡zet͡sʼaqtɔ]), officially known as The Third Dze Confederation, is a medium-sized nation located in north-central Pythia with no countries bordering it, however being relatively close to Axeut, Kursibar and Nishikaigan. An unknown nation in uncharted lands, it was recently unified in its totality by Tsot'aan Xanaaq̇ut, the founder of the modern confederacy.

One of the least populous countries of Sparkalia, the Dze have undergone a very recent population growth, no longer burdened by the constant conflicts against human invaders, reaching an estimated 5 million inhabitants during this century. Nontheless, it seems to be one of the oldest continuous inhabited places on the planet, having remained mostly isolated from the events that befell the surrounding lands due to it's geography and unassuming location, not being of high strategic importance.

Etymology

The name in English is merely a translation of the Old Dze name, which translates to "Oath/Alliance of the Dze", with the word Tśaq meaning either Alliance or Oath (added the possesive -to) and the word Dze meaning "Stargazer" and the endonym of these people in several languages and in the Old Liturgicals.

History

The lands of the Dze Confederation have archaeological evidence of a cultural existance since at least 100.000 BR, belonging to the Leaf Lance Culture, a Dze Paleolithic Culture that inhabited the mountainous central and northern regions of the country which seems to have mostly been located in the eastern ranges of the Great Mountains until about 70.000 BR when they began to expand alongside the hills and rocky outcrops towards the coast and the west. Characterized by their elaborate leaf shaped shrines and star-moon worship, two aspects that still carry on to this day in Dze cultures, by 50.000 BR the original culture split during the LNDC into several chalcolithic cultures later culminating in the Flower Stirrup Culture, which kickstarted the Dze Bronze Age by 20.000 BR. However around 8.000 BR there is archaeological, and later written, evidence for the arrival of four distinct human groups, the Longplow, Broadaxe, Highstone and Red Arrow cultures; having triggered a near all out war with the first three cultures, the Dze began to coalesce into more organized societies after the Invasions, an event happening around 7.500 BR which triggered the formation of the First Confederation. The subsequent 8.000 year long conflicts culminated in the rise of the Third Confederation in the late 16th century AR and the fall of human invaders less than a decade later.

Paleolithic Age

The archaeological record shows that these lands have been inhabited by an ancestor of the modern Dze, Tenacitherium anthropopsius, at around 2-1.000.000 years ago until evolving into the modern Dze, Tenacitherium terrible, around 500.000 years ago. Both a paleolithic people, it is thought that they mostly stayed around the Eastern Mountains. By around 100.000 years ago it is estimated that the first proper culture arose, the Leaf Lance Culture, named after a valley in the far east of the country; this culture's name also comes from the name given by scientists to the arrow and spear tips found, which bear a distinct leaf shape and pattern to them.

This culture spread throughout the mountains along river valleys and cliffs where they built small shrines in moon-like patterns that are still frequented to this day, some of the oldest being carbon dated to around 110.000-90.000 BR. Other distinguishing factors of this culture are an affinity towards inhabiting mountainsides rather than caves properly and their hunting method, which is depicted in some paleo-art, which puts more emphasis in Persistance Hunting in combination with either driving or calling methods as a coordinated maneuver between archers and spearmen.

Mesolithic Age

By 70.000 BR there is evidence for a slight change in the style and production of stone tools as well as the start of ceramic pottery, distinguished by their simple shapes and square painting patterns. It is also around this time when the Leaf Lance Culture, and by extention the Dze Population, began to spread into the Central Steppes and Coastal Ranges, however still mostly remaining in the east of the country as evidence by a higher abundance of pottery remains in those areas.

The Mesolithic Age also defined the transition from fully nomadic to a semi-nomadic lifestyle as evidenced by the recent discovery of massive stone circles in river valleys which are thought to be temporary summer refuges, later abandoned in preference for warmer places in winter like the cliffs overlooking the High Springs on the northern edge of the Eastern Mountains.

Neolithic Age and the LNDC

Around 60.000 years ago arises the first evidence for animal husbandry in the lands of the Confederation, with the previously mentioned stone circles being repurposed for keeping animals as a sort of pen. This and the continuous evolution of stone cutting techniques pinpoints to the start of a Neolithic, or Late Leaf Lance, period which ended by 50.000 BR with the Late Neolithic Dze Collapse, an event of unknown causes that led to the abandoning or destruction of the stone circles and the spreading of Dze populations westwards. A possible trigger of this event is volcanic eruptions in the Coastal Ranges, of which we have some geological evidence for, but frequent, and particularly cold, years might have caused the mass death of the game the Dze hunted or simply forced an emigration westards, the ending of these winters coinciding with the flooding of several rivers, causing the destruction of most stone circles.

By the end of this period the Dze began a cultural split from the once unified nature of their species, undergoing surprisingly fast changes that prove the Dze Cultural Hibernation hypothesis, which theorizes that Dze are naturally, culturally conservative until forced by mass scale disasters to change, first evidenced by this and later quick disturbances to Dze communities inside their lands.

Chalcolithic Age

After the Late Neolithic Dze Collapse, the archaeological record shows us that the range of Dze inhabitation massively expanded in all directions, specially westwards, and after population levels recovered from the collapse there arose several chalcolithic cultures, including the Moonblade, Caveshrine and Lowmound cultures, each of which began to participate in localized forms of trade, slowly expanding until what is called the "Steppe Roads" arose, which is a collection of several known trade routes that led from the westermost points of Dze inhabitation all the way to the Oriental Fjords. One evidence of this is the usage of the Dze Hieroglyphic script by the Woodhut Culture in the far west by 38.000 BR, not that far from when the script first began to be used by the Moonblade Culture.

Key developments that occured in this time also include the start of the usage of wheels and carts as depicted in rock art and evidenced in writings by the Early Moonblade period at 46.000 BR as well as the previous requirement of animal domestication, specifically of the creatures known in Standard as Dräihoufen, Krummhörn and the Gromähne which had begun even earlier during the Late Neolithic, which allowed for the true start of the semi-nomadic lifestyle the Dze prefer nowadays as well as the invention of the stirrup, a localized development that seems to have occurred independently at least 4 times. By the end of the chalcolithic the Dze managed to spread to most of their currently owned lands, now also inhabiting the open prairies that define the landscape of their territories. Around 25.000 BR a second civilizsation collapse occured, evidenced by the sudden dissapearance of writing whatsoever asides for very isolated corners where the old liturgicals were still carved; this one we know was caused by volcanic activity and natural disasters that send the Dze into more than 5 milennia of darkness, a period of which we also barely have any archaeological findings.

Bronze Age

By 20.000 BR the remnants of the Moonblade Culture seem to have evolved into the Flower Stirrup Culture, denoted by the shape of the steel footing and the intricate bronze decorational patterns, which by 15.000 BR had spread the usage of Bronze alloys to all corners of Dze inhabitation. This period of renewal also saw and shed light into the evolution and further diversification of Dze Cultures that happened in the collapse, however writing seems to have been confined to the lands inhabited by the people of Flower Stirrup culture until around 15.000 BR or even later depending on the dating of tablets on the southlands. By the end of the Bronze Age around 10.000 BR the Dze civilizations and cultures had recovered from the Late Chalcolithic collapse and they had begun the usage of Iron technology in certain areas.

Arrival of Humans

Human arrivals to the Dze lands begin to be documented from 8.057 BR in the Çḳunyw Stele in the far south, which tells of a meeting between Dze Chieftains and the kings of four migrating tribes of "Short Folk" as they are referred to in the carvings. The arrivals seemed to have not stirred up conflicts at first, but texts unearthed reveal that by the end of the 9th millennium BR Human-Dze conflict arose, specifically with the Longplow, Broadaxe and Highstone cultures, which led to the slow creeping of humans into the territories of iron age Dze cultures in the south and west; the Red Arrow culture seems to have settled around the north-western shores and the Western Range during those times, hinting to a more friendly interaction between them and the Dze.

Initially it seems that humans had the upper hand, driving the descendants of the Woodhut and Caveshrine cultures from the western lands. These early defeats began to propel the Dze into more organized forms of tribal governance, around this time also arose the title of T'aan among the Dze as a word for chieftain or ruler. After some generations the Dze tribes coalesced into the First Dze Confederation under Tsot'aan Quƚaq of the Alẋtśaq tribe in 7274 BR.

The First Confederation

Under the leadership of Tsot'aan Quƚaq (7274-7231 BR) the armies of the First Confederation scored several victories against the forming Human Kingdoms during a campaign known as the Thunderstride (7273-7270 BR) which culminated in the Battle of Bones in where a coalition of human kingdoms were soundly crushed by Quƚaq, the site of which was then made into a pile with all of the corpses of the defeated, which began the practice of Corpse Mounds in Dze warfare. After the Thunderstride the rest of Quƚaq's reign was spent warding off human expansion into the central meadows and eastern steppe, resorting to more defensive, guerilla style, warfare rather than military campaigns. Succeeded by his daughter, Tsot'aan Tẋeńat (7231-7182 BR), the confederation mostly kept to this policy, however during the Jhu'kan Campaigns (7190-7185 BR) they faced off against the forces of the Jhu'kan Empire in the Battle of Alẋḳyx in which the Dze managed to defeat the forces of Ka'sun I, dealing a decisive military defeat and securing peace between the Dze and the Jhu'kan for the following centuries.

At the same time, the peoples descended from the Red Arrow Culture were also victim to the Jhu'kan campaigns and in their case, they were subjugated by 7187 BR such as the Bör Kingdom, this led to an exodus of these peoples who, seeking protection, came to the lands of the Confederation in search of protection. The confederation and the Jhu'kan empire spent the rest of the 8th millenium at peace however at the start of the 7th millennium BR, tensions began to arise as human settling of a region called Latqom, "The Lake" in Old Dze, which culminated in the devastating Latqom War (6902-6893 BR) in where the lands of the confederation, under the rule of Tsot'aan Tẋeł̣eew, great-great grandson of Tẋeńat, were invaded and ultimately driven from the central meadows and steppes, resulting in the death of the Tsot'aan and the disbanding of the confederation as the Jhu'kan, weakened by the war, also faced a period of strife in their lands, ultimately weakening them in the long term.

Human Dominance

For nearly 5 centuries the landscape would be dominated by human polities, most notably the declining Jhu'kan empire and the Kingdom of Gharat, one of the several entities that arose during the aftermath of the Latqom War, as well as the Zálltá Chiefdoms, a collection of small states nominally subservient to the Jhu'kan. During this time the Dze were thought utterly crushed and the lands to the east were neglected by human entities. However, during those 5 years, some T'aan began to slowly unify the clans as the Dze recovered from their defeats. During this time the human kingdoms remained mostly at peace, still recovering from the past wars, however by the end of the 66th millennium BR the Jhu-Gharati Wars (6507-6472 BR) had started, a massive conflict that burned through the human inhabited lands and weakened both states significantly. By 6450 it was reported by Gharati scribes that roaming bands of Dze horsemen had begun to return to their old ranges and by 6440 BR a tribal confederation known as the Taaxdze had subdued the Gharati and entered the Jhu'kan lands, known as The Scouring of the West (6440-6429 BR), this mysterious confederation managed to destroy the Jhu capital of Loran, laying down it's foundations and destroying the Jhu'kan empire. After this even the power vacuum led to the return of the Dze to the central and western regions of the lands and the period known as The Strifes.

The Strifes and the Second Confederation

After the fall of the Jhu'kan and the emergence of the Taaxdze, the following milennia were ones of warfare and constant shifting of the balance of powers. During these times the Dze seldom attacked or were attacked, being feared and thought of as demonic in nature by the survivors of the scouring. In this vacuum of power one of the first entities to arise was the Kingdom of Buri which, after supplanting the decayed Kingdom of Gharat and subduing the Zálltá Chiefdoms, managed to carve out a decent land for itself in the 64th century BR. During the first centuries of the strifes comprised a small dark age in the human inhabited areas, for the exception of the Kingdom of Buri and the northwestern polities, descendants of the Bör. By the year 6192 BR the Zálltá coalesced into the Mako Tetrarchy and created a more stable balance of power with the Buri, later with the surgence of the Kingdom of Rogar in the early 61st century BR, descended from the Lûxari City States destroyed in the Jhu'kan campaigns.

During the first centuries of this period the balance of powers between Buri, the Tetrarchy and Rogar was mantained as the outer human polities in the south and west, such as the Manath Thalassocracy and the Ojore Kingdom, which rose to prominence during the last years of the 7th milennium BR. The Great Winter of 5957 BR, which primarily affected the southern and western regions, brought about the end of the Buri Kingdom after the winter left it open to invasion by the Mako Tetrarchy, its lands occupied mostly by the Ojore and the Mako states. During this time too the Shore War (5921-5916 BR) began between the Kingdom of Rogar and the Tłdze, an amalgamation of coastal tribes that fought for control of the northern shores with the Kingdom of Rogar utterly crushed and it's people driven westwards towards the lands of the Manath, which had also fought in the conflict and was left severely weakened as well, which opened the way for the Iematu Kingdom and the Kingdom of Nimsin, the descendants of the Bör, to overtake them as the main powers in the north-west.

In the south the Kingdom of Yam, using the vaccuum left by the Buri, rose to challenge the Mako Tretrarchy during the Zálltá Civil War (5932-5907 BR), reducing the Tetrarchy's power significantly. At the same time, more waves of human immigration were arriving from the south and eventually, this allowed humans to invade Dze territory again in the Eastern War (5901-5872 BR), in which the Taaxdze and the Łik'dze, another confederation, defeated the human incursions and even managed to reclaim some of their previous southern holdings during the latter years of the conflict; this however did not stop human migrations to the south and west in the coming centuries, which helped to de-stabilize their realms further, by the 57th century BR the situation had turned into chaos, resulting in the collapse of the Manath, Yam, Ojore and the weakening of several other states, which caused the Long Silence, a period of almost 200 years of almost no written records, caused by the collapse of most human entities due to the increased migrations in their territories; however, various Dze steles date to this era, specially in the south-east, where attempted migrations by humans were repelled by the Alẋtśaq and Ẋ'onyw tribes between the years 5872 and 5808 BR.