Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut

Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut
Tsotʻaan of the Eight Peoples
Portrait made by Etrian explorers in 1950
Tsotʻaan
Reign	22nd March 1906 - 13rd June 1964
Election	22nd March 1906, Leaf Lance Valley
Successor	Tsotʻaan Ł̣utʻtońat
Born	X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ 7 March 1810 Ńepł̣oqʻ river
Died	13rd June 1964 (154 years old)
Spouse	Tʻeweł̣q
Issue	Alx̣tsʻoŋ Ńiin Tṡuńat Ł̣utʻtońat Ŋq̇emuq (adopted) Dzaḿiq̇al (adopted)
House	Qułʻaq
Father	Ł̣oqʻł̣eeq
Mother	Tx̣eńat
Religion	Tx̣ex̣uq

Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut (born X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ 7 March 1810) is the founder and first Tsotʻaan of the Third Dze Confederation, the largest nation in northern Tselmeg to exist in the last years. Having spent most of his latter years fighting human invader states, he was at the command of several military campaigns for over.

Born the first child of Ł̣oqʻł̣eeq, Tʻaan of the Alx̣tsʻani people, on the 7th of March 1810, Xanaaq̇ut would have to step into the role of leader soon into his life, his father dying in a battle against the Thuhaq when he was 16, however managing to expell the invaders and allow for the first years of his reign as Tʻaan to remain peaceful. By 1864 however the Thuhaq Kingdom had renewed its efforts to expand northwards and launched a suprise assault which culminated in the Alx̣tsʻani massacre of 1867 in where Dze camps were burned as the warriors were away. This event began Xanaaq̇ut's plans to unify all of the tribes of the Dze and human peoples allied to them, which by 1598 he completed after a series of diplomatic moves and maneuvers in where he was proclaimed Tsotʻaan of all Dze in a Great Meeting in the Leaf Lance Valley, the first Tsotʻaan in over 2,500 years.

Afterwards he would turn his sights on reconquering all of the lands that once belonged to the Dze, the subsequent campaigns between 1887 and 1892 would devastate human populations in the south and east, with several kingdoms and polities who opposed him destroyed. The Thuhaq Kingdom was defeated by 1888, its people displaced and entire cities barren and turned to pastures, and most human resistance in the White plains collapsed by 1899. He would launch a grand offensive by 1905 to vanquish the last of the resistance in the Nejjen sands and the Sunlands where he, in the span of little more than a year, would reconquer all lands inside the Dze's homeland.

Names and titles

Tsotʻaan

Tsotʻaan, meaning "Great Leader", (Old Dze pronounciation: [t͡sɔtʼaːn]) is an honorific title that was bestowed upon him by his people in 1887, officialized in 1906, the title having been used by the rulers of the other two confederations prior to his.

Xanaaq̇ut

A given name, bestowed upon him at the age of 5, is said to have been due to a lightning storm in where he, according to the Writings of Ńṭhuuḿ, had walked outside his tent and faced the storm as a bolt struck besides him and he remained unphased. It became a secondary title as well during the Last Dze-Human War, replacing his given name and eventually becoming part of his title. The ERD romanization is Xanaaq̇ut (Old Dze pronounciation: [xanaːqʰut]), though it has also been spelt Xanaaqhut or Khanaqut as well.

X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ

His birth name, according to the Writings of Ńṭhuuḿ, was X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ (Old Dze pronounciation: [χtʰem̥ɬʰɔq]), meaning "blue river", and it was given to him, per Dze customs, at the age of 2 and denoted his birthplace, the blue waters of the Ńepł̣oq́ river; it can also be spelt as Khtemlok.

Birth and early life

The birth place and date of X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ was accurately described in the Writings of Ńṭhuuḿ to be the 7th of March, 1810, as well as the birth region being the Ńepł̣oqʻ river. Some alternative dates have been proposed by Etrian anthropologists and researchers, however due to the Dze's extensive literary tradition and noted accuracy of their writings, this is the most agreed upon date.

X̣ṭeḿł̣ǫqʻ was born into the Alx̣tsʻan clan to Ł̣oqʻł̣eeq and his wife, Tx̣eńat, being their firstborn child. His father and mother would have two more children later and they all lived in the main Alx̣tsʻani camp, where they would be for their first years in peace, learning the skills a Dze must acquire before adulthood.

When he was 12 years old, his father traveled with him to the allied Nuł̣ńtʻe clan in search of a wife to arrange for him where it is said that after arriving, he would meet the Tʻaan's oldest daughter, Tʻeweł̣q, and they were betrothed after an "omen from the stars", nowadays interpreted as a meteor shower, from the spirits had declared the marriage to be approven and be set 4 years in the future. With the Nuł̣ńtʻe asking for him to stay and work with their tribe as part of the dowry price, he would remain for four years with the Nuł̣ńt'e, his father riding back to his people.

Adolescence

The mostly peaceful life of X̣ṭeḿł̣ǫqʻ would be cut short when his father died in a skirmish against the Thuhaq in 1827, which coincided with human raids into Alx̣tsʻani camps, and he was forced to return to the now very weakened Alx̣tsʻan clan and become the Tʻaan of the tribe, taking care of his three siblings as well as taking the leading role in the war effort. He would also, as agreed in his visit to the Nuł̣ńtʻe, that he would marry Tʻeweł̣q. During this period of time, the Thuhaq would not attempt any incursions, having deemed the Alx̣tsʻani defeat irreversible and so this granted the young Tʻaan a few years to prepare and help his people recover from the previous disasters. This would not last for long, as he would be captured five years later by the Thuhaq during a hunt and remain prisoner for many years, which allowed his enemies to further weaken his people.

Rise to power

Early battles

After a daring escape in where he was badly wounded, he would return to his people in 1834 and, now angered after his capture, would resume the war effort his father previously led, beginning with small scale incursions throughout the following decades and, after gaining enough allies, launched a full scale invasion in 1840 where he would manage to defeat several Thuhaqan armies. During this time his first child, Alx̣tsʻoŋ, would be born during the latter days of that campaign.

His success would be halted however when learning of raids into allied tribes, which forced many of them to return to defend their lands, leaving his army significantly reduced and forcing him to retreat back to his lands by 1852; for the following decade a stalemate would take place where he would defeat Thuhaq raiding parties, but he lacked the force to strike back at them. In 1854 would be born his second child, Ńiin, followed by Tṡuńat in 1864, and in 1867 his last child, Ł̣utʻtońat would be born. During the first month of that same year he would finally gather enough strength to present proper battle to the Thuhaq and set out on a campaign to the east.

Alx̣tsʻani massacre

During the campaign of 1867 as he was battling in the east, he had not left many forces behind, believing the Thuhaqi to be solely focused on hunting him down, yet a second army would be organized and sent to strike directly at the Alx̣tśani heartland. It is described in the Writings of Ńṭhuuḿ the following account of the event.

"As the young Tʻaan and his warriors were in a battle with the Thuhaq in the early weeks of 8,857, a second army came down from the hills and laid waste to the camps of the Alx̣tśan in the woods, slaying many of the warrior's women and their kin. Of these the wife of the Tʻaan and all but his youngest of his daughters were part of the slain as their mother took up sword with the women and elderly to help what few warriors remained; for the Thuhaqi paid dearly for every soul vanquished. The smoke was accursed and many of the dead had been desecrated as their bodies were strewn about or burnt without completion and it was a red day for the once called X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ, for as he returned and saw the bodies of his people, little remained of his former life and the glitter in his eyes would vanquish as his rage was heard across all of Dzeia"

Although few accounts remain of the event, during the Tʻaan's campaign in 1867 he would return to a catastrophic sight, with over half of all Alx̣tsʻani camps burnt and all who dwelt there killed. During the remainder of the year he would lead his people towards the mountains, gathering up the dead and properly cremating them. Nearly decade he would spend in hiding, recovering from the devastating blow, and by 1873 he had managed to gather a few dozen hundred warriors from his clan and a few thousand allied clans, most prominently the Nuł̣ńtʻe, eager to avenge the death of their own Tʻaan's daughter, and launched a punitive campaign against the Thuhaq Kingdom.

Unifying the Dze

It was during this punitive campaign throughout 1873 and into 1874 that X̣ṭeḿł̣oqʻ not only succeeded, but managed to triumph completely over his enemies, defeating the Thuhaqi in several small engagements before assailing them at the Battle of Whistles and annihilating the Thuhaqi royal family, slaying personally the king and his oldest sons.