Neo-Sepcan Empire

Neo-Sepcan Empire sebuk zaraha (Later Sepcan) Sedŭbyskoje vladyčĭstvo (Literary Vitrian)
189 BCE–935 CE
Imperial escutcheon (used from 6th century onwards)
Maximal territorial extent of the Empire c. 5th century Maximal territorial extent of the Empire c. 5th century
Capital	Antabazay Gyalsum/Dymigrad Brungun/Srebriles Platsnygrad Chudesepole Blagochesty
Common languages	Neo-Sepcan, Sedbian Argilian, Literary Vitrian
Religion	Sepcan religion, Vitrian folk religion, Tastanism
Demonym(s)	Neo-Sepcan, Sedybian
Government	Imperial quasi-feudal monarchy
Sepcan Emperor
• 189-177 BCE	Mutha I
• 40-72 CE	Toskotadi
• 519-535	S'lniceslav I
• 933-935	Vladimir II
History
• Established	189 BCE
• Disestablished	935 CE
Preceded by Lysandrene Empire
Today part of	Kheratia Luziyca Nunalik Razaria Zesmynia
...

The Neo-Sepcan Empire, also known as the Sedybian Empire, was a state located in West Borea that beginning in the late 1st century CE spanned much of the civilized areas of said continent.

Initially a nomadic empire based in western Kheratia, assembled from Sepcanic confederacies that roamed West Borea after the collapse of the old Sepcan state, the conquest of Vitrian tribes and other peoples by the Neo-Sepcan state eventually placed those groups into important positions, and the empire was transformed into a more settled and developed multiethnic society. The Neo-Sepcan empire played a significant role in the downfall of the Lysandrene Empire and annexed much of former Lysandrene territories in the 1st century CE. A resettlement effort organized by the Sepcanic rulers pushed Vitrians into previously sparsely populated regions of West Borea as part of a colonization programme, laying the foundations for modern West Borean states.

The period of history concerning the Neo-Sepcan state after the Lysandrenes' subjugation is known as the Pantocracy, an important chapter of West Borean history that saw among other things the conversion of the region to Tastanism, the re-division of the region based on the Empire's quasi-feudal estates, the dissemination of Argilian culture across the realm, the development of a Vitrian high culture, and general material prosperity.

Vitrians would eventually overtake the Sepcans in importance in the Empire, and in 477 the throne was usurped by the Orlovids, a Vitrian dynasty. Meanwhile, the system of sualny developed into a collection of highly autonomous entities that began to overpower central authority by the 8th century, with the Emperor's own domain beoming a subject of political manipulation. The empire was at this point set on a path of slow fragmentation. Attempts to reassert imperial supremacy failed, and the utility of the throne was soon worn out in the tumultous 10th century, by the time of which not only did numerous claimants to the imperial title rule but new titles were created in clear disregard for the original empire. In 935 the last emperor was deposed and the empire disestablished.

For a period of time after the empire's collapse, some of the new states in West Borea and a handful of warlords would title themselves Sepcan Emperor, but the currency of the title also gradually devalued as empires based around the new states' identities themselves formed and acquired importance. Nevertheless, the Neo-Sepcans' cultural and political legacy remained significant in the region for centuries, such as the concept of a world-state of Podslynitsia, which continues to drive politics and foreign relations in the region to today.

History

Early empire

The Sepcans had, since the Ancient Sepcan Empire's collapse in the 13th century BCE, dispersed into a collection of small states located in eastern Zesmynia, northern Razaria, and southern Kheratia; in the Kheratian grassland many had reverted to tribal social organization and simple nomadic ways of living. Their prominence in West Borea was eclipsed by various native cultures such as the Mesians and the Kalians on the Rimmory Sea littoral, and eventually the Lysandrene Empire which became the continent's main hegemon.

The Neo-Sepcan Empire originates in the region of Gatandavay in western Kheratia, just southeast of what later became Boratia. Its founder, the warlord Mutha, was a chief of the clan known as the Semkurids, of both of which even imperial records document poorly prior to the establishment of the Empire. Mutha subjugated a number of neighboring clans from 194 to 190 BCE and even gained lordship over small cities in the area, expanding his dominion greatly. In 189 BCE, shortly after defeating a rival clan in a campaign, he declared before his subjects that in a vision that a personification of Alari, the Sepcan concept of universal truth and order, had commissioned him to establish a 'state extending to all under the sun' and restore order that was last observed during the Ancient Sepcan period. Besides this proclamation, accounts of the foundation are vague and conflicting, with some claiming the manifestation of gods at the scene to affirm to the entourage the truth of Mutha's words. In any case, the revelation purportedly drove even more clans in the Kheratian steppe to swear loyalty to Mutha, and eventually justified an invasion of Selsu (now Boratia), populated by Vitrians. From 187 to 182 BCE the nascent empire conquered the tribal Vitrians in Selsu, gaining large amounts of territory. This was followed by encroachments into northeastern Razaria and southern Volomeria, where native Vitrian forces were speedily defeated and accepted vassalage to the Sepcans.

From 178 to 173 BCE the Sepcans entered the Zasem river valley and conquered the area. The Lysandrene Empire, which controlled the Kalian coast, had its first military encounter with the Sepcans shortly after as it moved to defend a vassal under attack, which ended in a stalemate. The military strength of the Semkurid empire alerted the Lysandrenes, who moved their capital city to Boreiopolis to defend against the apparent threat in the 160s. From this point onwards the Neo-Sepcan and Lysandrene empires engaged each other in a protracted series of conflicts known as the Sedybian-Lysandrene Wars, competing for military advantage and political influence in the greater West Borean region. The military prowess of the Neo-Sepcan forces, which combined speedy Sepcan cavalry with ferocious Vitrian warbands, allowed the Sepcans to attain a tactical advantage and to score numerous victories against the Lysandrenes. The Sepcan policy of granting great autonomy to local rulers also avoided the bureaucratic overextension suffered by the Lysandrenes, allowing a focus of effort on the wars. Due to military setbacks, internal conflict, and similar pressure from Namor, the Lysandrenes lost more and more territory to the Neo-Sepcans in West Borea, first losing the Kalian and Mesian coasts and later swaths of land in northern modern Luziyca.

The steady expansion of the empire created a demand for an effective bureaucracy, as well as ability to rein in local lordships. Lysandrene institutions were copied by the Neo-Sepcans, although restorations of recorded Ancient Sepcan systems were made as well. Beginning in 30 BCE, after a failed rebellion by a Vitrian local leader, emperor Mukemilaym substituted governors and princes with Sepcan noble clans or provincial bureaucracies, which led to a number of internal conflicts from opposition to these changes but nevertheless ended in imperial victory. Securing control over the empire's domains would consolidate it further. Economically, the empire's hub naturally developed in the wealthy Zasem valley, which became its political as well as commercial core. It also expanded revenues through trade with northern West Borean states and even Central Borean civilization, as well as fostering of local industries and internal commerce. The Sepcan nobility grew accustomed to settlement and sedentary life, establishing residence in the cities, while Vitrians were promoted to an administrative class and given command over many territories, becoming the second most powerful ethnicity in the empire. Culturally, Argilian culture was enthusiastically adopted and spread to quickly unify the different peoples under the empire's rule, as well as to implicitly put into question the declining Lysandrene empire's positioning as the main vehicle of Argilian culture; the Argilian script was adopted to improve literacy, and Argilian became something of a bridge language across the empire.

Following internal stabilization, the empire re-focused its energies outwards. Under emperor Toskotadi, the Neo-Sepcans were able to sack the Lysandrene capital of Livadi. The Lysandrene civil war in the mid-1st century CE saw extensive Neo-Sepcan intervention on the side of the Hectorite Empire, before the Hectorites were betrayed as well and more territory seized by the Neo-Sepcans in another invasion. By 90 CE the Neo-Sepcan Empire controlled nearly all territory west of the Sprska river.

In the 100s, with the final collapse of the Lysandrene Empire, the Neo-Sepcans under emperor Baraketri II opportunistically invaded the remains of Lysandrene territories in Argilia; while the army of the moribund Lysandrenes was easily defeated, the incursion turned into the first major war between the Neo-Sepcans and Bo Namor which attempted to secure its territorial gains against the invaders, known as the War for the Lysandrene Crown. The war, which lasted from 101 to 105, was indecisive, but Baraketri II's forces gained Limani and other large parts of former Lysandrene territory, and also secured the Crown of Lysander, all of which hugely bolstered the already powerful empire's prestige, either practically or symbolically. This is usually seen as the formal beginning of the Pantocracy period.

Early Pantocracy

• Conquests also made westwards in Razaria and beyond
• Most conquests get desolated and depopulated
• Highly sophisticated Argilian culture promoted and spread across empire
• Administrative system fails to keep up with rapid growth; greater decentralization in response, division of most of empire into noble-controlled estates, beginning of sualny
• Incentivized settlement of desolated Argilia, Mesia, etc., driven by Vitrians
• Rise of Tastanism, state conversion
• Development of Vitrian high culture (based upon Argilian culture)
• Conquest of Aucuria?

Vitrian dynasties and decline

• Vitrians overshadow Sepcans, formally take over in 477
• Spread of Vitrian culture
• Rebel court in Aucuria
• Sualnic fiefs (especially the colonial ones) turn too powerful for central authority to handle, frontiers either formally or effectively break away
• Sub-imperial titles taken up by sualnic fiefs, effective division
• Luziycan states overshadow Zasem river valley in prosperity
• Empire recedes into a political stage set

Downfall

• New states start fighting each other and no longer pay tribute so whole empire's now in chaos
• Lots of pretend-emperors by the 900s
• Actual throne abolished in 935 by some warlord