Husna

An artist's impression of an 11th century BCE husna.

A husna (Old Hadrene: 𐤇𐤎𐤍𐤀 hsn'; Kayig: Հիւսնա, hüsna Estmerish: fortress) was a large type of fortified settlements found throughout Kadaria and Nise beginning in the 25th century BCE through the 9th century CE. The husna emerged with the Tjesh culture, but became widespread with the Kingdom of Lower Kadaria and later Dynastic Kadaria in the 17th century BCE. At the start of their history, husna were essentially city-states in their own right, controlling large amounts of people. Over the centuries, their economic and cultural power would wane as more centralized forms of governments rose. By the time of the collapse of the Kadarian Empire following Irfanic and later Tagamic conquest, the husna had been reduced to little more than a noble estate.

Despite their comparison to castles by Euclean historians and anthropologists, the husna was functionally quite different and there are some key difference between the two that make direct comparisons difficult. The biggest difference between the husna and Euclean castle, was the entire population of a husna would live within the confines of the fortress. The movement of the population in and out of a husna was heavily monitored to ensure the husna would always have a healthy male population for the defense of the city. Likewise, all economic activity of the husna was structured around the military to ensure the survival of the husna. Because of the inclusive nature of the benteng, strong cultural identities developed unique to each one. As Kadaria centralized as a polity, these cultural identities have in the past become a source of tension, particularly between groups of people from historically rival husna.

History

Origin

The origins of the husna are muddled and several conflicting theories on their inception exist. The most widely accepted theory by Euclean anthropologists and archaeologists is early husnas originating as small congregations of extended family groups, ranging in upwards of 30 households and having a population of anywhere from one hundred to five hundred people. In time, these family groups gradually expanded and incorporated more families, who commonly banded together to ease resource consumption and allocation, as well as common defense.

The first documented husna comes from the 2700s BCE when a series of earthworks were constructed around the perimeter of the city of Hetan. The earthworks stretched approximately 26 km from the perimeter of the city into its rural area. It is estimated that construction of this wall began in the 27th century BCE and was completed in the 25th century. By the 24th century, the original earthworks, which consisted of little more than ditches and 6 meter high walls, had expanded to a 12-meter high defensive wall and the ditches had been filled with trees. The defensive wall had expanded to include much of the rural area of Hetan, with all entry points having strong wooden gates. Several conflicts between Hetan and its neighbors eventually led to the removal of all but one of the gates, and sometime in the 2100s BCE, the Hem of Hetan, Petiharpekhruti, issued an edict forbidding its inhabitants from leaving the city. By the 2000s BCE, sixteen other husna are recorded to have be built. By the time of Lower Kadaria's conquest of the Kusre River in the 15th century BCE, every major settlement along the river had turned into a husna.

Early Husna

Following the collapse of 14th dynasty in the 800s BCE, the husna became the primary political unit during the Intermediate period of Kadarian history. Over the two centuries between the the collapse of the 14th dynasty and the subsequent rise of the 15th dynasty, the intrusive nature of the husna resulted in the formation of unique cultural identities specific to each individual husna. Along side the development of unique culture endemic to each husna, the inhabitants would become fiercely loyal to the lord of the husna. This side effect is theorised to be the primary driving force for the widespread adoption of the husna, as the loyalty of the inhabitants far surpassed those in ordinary towns and cities.

An early issue that quickly became apparent in early husnas was overcrowding. The limited space, particularly for agricultural products, resulted in overpopulation to be a chronic issue for husnas, especially as the fertile land along the banks of the Kusre River provided little room for expansion as the population of the husnas increased. Two primary methods of population control were utilized, often simultaneously, were population expulsion and the use of contraceptives.

Population expulsion was a popular method employed by husna lords. The most popular way of determining which families would be expelled was by lottery. The heads of every family, barring families of the aristocracy, would submit their clan names to the priestly caste. A seven-day long grace period was given out to ensure that all the names of the clans living in the husna could be gathered. After the grace period, the population would gather in one of several public squares, often coordinated in such a manner as to align with the families living in proximity. The priests would then draw family names until a safe population threshold was reached. This number could vary between only three or four to upwards of eleven. In the husna near modern-day Acemli, it was reported that in 684 BCE, 35 families were expelled due to overcrowding. Once the names were drawn, the selected families had another seven-day grace period to gather their belongings and leaving the husna. Once leaving the husna, they were considered "stateless."

A 20th century artist's interpretation of what husna nobles might've appeared like.

Contraceptives were the other widely used methods. Prior to the widespread adoption of aggriculture, Yams were a part of the regular diet of the population. These yams were rich in phytoestrogens and sterols, both being natural contraceptives, and resulted in a very low birthrate for pre-husna Kadaria. When agriculture achieved widespread adoption, cereal crops gradually supplanted yams as the grain of choice, and ultimately resulted in rapid population growth. Communities which remained hunter-gatherers maintained low birthrates. While the use of yams did not achieve widespread use as a contraceptive, knowledge of contraceptive and abortifacient plants did. The most commonly used contraceptive was silphium, which was also a major trade good of Dynastic Kadaria. It was not uncommon for a husna to dedicate an entire plot of land solely to the planting and harvesting of silphium. Other contraceptives used and harvested were the giant Fayas fennel and naturalized wild carrot.

The hierarchy of the husna evolved simultaneously with the transition from walled settlements to fully fledged husnas. At the top of the husna hierarchy was the hem, or king, who ruled over the entirety of the husna as both the supreme political and military leader. The hem was usually a hereditary position, but there are some husnas where the position of hem was elected upon the death of the ruler. Beneath the hem was the ruling aristocracy. Unlike Euclean nobility, the aristocracy of a husna were usually not wealthy landowners, but were instead influential merchant families. Because the husna was effectively a closed community, trade was heavily regulated and only permitted in a limited capacity. The aristocratic class of a husna arose out of this by being able to secure trade licenses, through pre-husna family fortunes as traders or other means, giving them unparalleled power in husna society. Priests are commonly the next rank in the husna social hierarchy, although their exact importance is a topic of debate among academic circles. A growing number of scholars believe, because temples were on private property and the priests were the ones chosen to hold expulsion lotteries, priests were actually just above slaves. Others argue that priests were still held highly, citing the importance of the priest caste in contemporaneous societies in Coius and Euclea, although no actual evidence has been found in archaeological sites in Kadaria. The military strata is next, and is composed of professional soldiers instead of peasant levies. Despite being built around the military, the actual professional cadre of a husna was relatively small, being only 15% of the total population. Because the defense of the husna was paramount to its survival, the soldiers were given preferential access to most of the resources available. The caste was not hereditary, although by the time of the 27th dynasty in 108 CE, it had evolved into one. Landowners and smiths were below in importance, and controlled most of the resource allocation in the husna. All metal, either mined or imported, were given to the forges and landowners were responsible for feeding and clothing the entire population of the husna. Slaves were the lowest caste and performed all the non-specialized labor in the husna, including construction and farming. Slaves were obtained through trade or through raids on stateless communities.

The political relations between early husna were not unlike the city-states of contemporary civilizations. Smaller husnas often became subordinate to a powerful neighboring husna. This show of subordination would either take the form of outright vassalization or through becoming a tributary state. Small husnas often had shifting allegiances and paid tribute to one or more neighboring husna. Some husna, such as the husna at Kismuhenet (now Kişe), were able to form empires. In reality, these polities were more like federations, consisting of several medium-sized husna swearing allegiance to a central authority, such as the Pharaoh of Kismuhenet.

Imperial Kadaria

Through the rapid adoption of Solarian siege techniques during the mid-2nd century BCE, the Hem of Djande, Harpakrut III, was able to rapidly defeat and conquer the husna lords of the Second Intermediate Period. This resulted in the near complete centralization of power of Kadaria for the first time in its history. The conquered husnas had their walls dismantled, while new husnas were constructed in border regions to ensure both compliance and to deter future Solarian incursions into Kadarian-controlled Nise and northeastern Tsabara. To achieve this goal, a complete redesign of the husna was required, as Harpakrut's ease of conquest only exacerbated the husna's antiquated design.

Reconstruction of an inner gate of the noble quarter of Tappisut on display at the Estmerish Natural History Museum.

While the redesign process remains obscure and poorly documented, it is known that several phases of husna designs were present, with each one featuring improvements over the last. These improvements range from the use of great archways flanked by towers, overhanging parapets like those seen later on in Euclean medieval machicolations, and battlements topping the walls. It is believed that the walls went through several design improvements as well. Earlier walls were constructed entirely with sun-dried bricks. This was later changed to a stone lower wall, with the top being constructed from sun-dried bricks, and then finally with the entire wall being stone. These stone walls were believed to be as high as 12 m (40 feet) and a depth of 1.2 m (3-4 feet). Ruts around the remains of these walls imply that the walls were tiered, possibly like those of a Solarian castra. At an unknown point of time, these style of walls were constructed around the conquered husnas.

The relatively peaceful era of the Harpakrutid dynasty saw the status of husnas decline. Outside of the Imperial Kadarian-Solarian border regions, husnas had changed from being effectively closed societies to open cities seen in contemporaneous societies. Alongside this change, the hierarchy of the husna underwent drastic change and a more traditional class system arose in its place. This class pyramid saw the priestly caste at the top of the husna due to their literacy, the the priest caste was instrumental in the collection of taxes during the Imperial Kadarian era. The professional soldier caste had merged with the pre-existing noble caste, and resulted in a hybrid noble-warrior caste, similar to the knights that would become common place in medieval Euclea.

The change in husnas moving from closed to open societies is believed to have several causes. The primary cause is population control had become untenable by the time of the 1st century CE, this coupled with limited resources, led to edicts from Kadarian pharaohs that started policies aimed at developing unconfined plots of land along the Kusre. Simultaneously, policies were being enacted that made the numerous communities of "stateless" Kadarians Imperial citizens, enabling them to move back into established husnas. The reasoning for the latter being the need for more soldiers for campaigning against both the Solarians in the west and the Sorsanids, later Arasanids, in the south. Despite the change in the functionality of the husna, their facilities still held purpose. For example, during the Aurelian plague in the 170s CE, husnas were closed as both a means to quarantine infected cities and as a preventative measure to stop the spread of the plague from entering a city.

Karagah of Ispandikyan.

The collapse of the Solarians and formation of the Verliquoian Empire in its place in the 6th century CE saw further evolution in the design of the husna. These husnas, classified as Late-Imperial husnas, are the most well-known and documented out of the three periods of classical, early-imperial, and late-imperial. Late-Imperial husnas featured the inclusion of a moat around the entire circumference of the husna. These moats were often in excess of 15 meters (49-50 feet) in width and could be as deep as 20 meters (65-66 feet). Additional smaller forts, entirely copied from late-Solarian castras, were constructed along the periphery of a husna. These forts solely housed soldiers and material, and are believed to have been tactical in their construction, meant to be used as a diversionary target that had to be taken before an enemy force could move onto the husna itself.

Decline

The use of husnas began to decline in the 8th century CE, as husnas could no longer hold the population required to sustain it within its walls. Overpopulation also became an issue, and a widespread exodus from the husnas to the countryside took place over the course of the 8th and 9th centuries, leading to some husnas completely collapsing due to its working population leaving. During this decline, a more itinerant approach to provincial governing was adopted, with mobile noble courts of the governors being utilized for administration rather than being permanently housed at a husna. Husna constructed during this period are noticeably smaller than previous iterations.

By the time of the Tagamic conquest of Lower Kadaria in 882, the husna had completely lost their strategic relevance, as husna-communities had practically ceased to exist due to centuries long Imperial policies of population reallocation and land settlement and development. Small husnas periodically were periodically built by Tagamic warlods, however, they were fell out of use quickly as the Tagamic Kingdom began its reconquest of Middle and Upper Kadaria and more tactically and strategic sound fortifications, such as the karagah could be constructed. Karagahs could, thusly, be considered a spiritual successor to the husna, although they would never grow to the physical size nor cultural importance of the husna. As karagahs gradually replaced husnas as military fortresses and as personal estates, former husna-cities tore down or filled up old fortifications in order to meet a resurgent urban population.

Under the Tagamic rule, husna society was completely eradicated as new policies adopted under the unifying Anushtegin khans sought to dissolve the strength of the few remaining "true" husnas. Husnas with remaining influence and political power, such as the former Kadarian capital of Kismuhenet, faced constant harassment by the Tagamic ruling class. Forced break ups of husna communities and confiscation of community-owned property were widespread as well, however, modern historiographers attribute this to aspirations of Tagamic settlement of Kadaria than as anti-husna policies.