The Dominion of House Arana

The Dominion of House Arana was a Post-Demonic Empire established in Year 0 of the Age of Elves by Primarch Minanen after the banishment of the Demon Lords and the Crowning of The Dragon Primarch. The Dominion included all of the territories in the Gaian Basin, Worldwound Mountains, and parts of the Theloniki Plains. From here it continued for 5,000 years until it was dissolved in the First Year of Liberation during the wider 8th War of Liberation. The Fall of The Dominion is considered the end of the wider Age of Kings and the start of the Age of Nations.

The Dominion had rapidly expanded after the Birth Of Dragons and at first under Primarch Minanen in the First Crusade until her death in 100 AoE. After this, her daughter the Primarch Araden along with her four other sisters began the "Crusade Of The Five Sisters" from 100 AoE to 600 AoE. Here the modern borders of the Dominion were established along with the creation of the Viceroyalty System wherein parts of the Dominion were split between the daughters of Minanen Arana under the rulership of a central Primarch elected by the Viceroyals and the capital set in the city of Skywatch

With the exception of the brief rebellion by Nalia Arana-Forzaantirilys (700-705 AoE), the Dominion saw an unprecedented growth in what is known as the Reign Of The Divine Primarch from 800-1,200 AoE under the Primarch Calmine Arana-Durxaviinox. However, after her death in 1,200 AoE, the Dominion experienced its slow decline first in the Reign of both Hideleth Arana-Durxaviinox and Halion Arana-Yserthrax during the period from 1,200 AoE to 1,500 AoE known as the Reign Of The Twin Primarchs. Which started the decline of the Dominion via a steady eroding of central power.

From there the Dominion suffered from repeated rebellions by its human subjects as steadily the central authority of the Primarch until finally in 4,800 AoE the Century Of No Rulership occurred where all five Viceroyals could not agree on a new Primarch to ascend the throne. While not uncommon the throne being vacant for so long threw the Dominion first into stagnation and finally into outright war in the Viceroyal War from 4,900 to 5,000 AoE. This conflict along with the 8th War of Liberation culminated in the end of the Dominion in Year 0 of the Age of Nations and the crowning of the human Empress Shi Hui and the Hui Imperial Dynasty.

Given the length of rule the Dominion has influenced almost every aspect of life in Creation's Cradle. Middle Aged High-Elven spread through out the Dominion and mixed with Common Human. The sacrifice of humans helped created the Cult of The Seven Saints along with the advancement of Arcana propelled magical studies. The practice of Viceroyalty also was the foundation for the Hui Council of Lords and later the Republican Parliment. In regards to arts and culture this proved minimal in it's influence as the expulsion of High Elves during the Hui Dynasty resulted in the destruction of most Dominion art pieces not moved with the expulsion though traces of it can be found in Hui Dynasty architecture and within the former territory of the High Kinlands of Arana.

The Dominion of House Arana Tel' Dominion Ath House Arana
0 AoE–5,000 AoE
Motto: "Our Blood Burns Pure"
City and largest city	Skywatch
Official languages	Middle High Elven
Recognized languages	Middle High Elven, Low Dark Elven
Common languages	Middle High Elven, Low Dark Elven, Common Human
Ethnic groups	20% High Elven 20% Dark Elven 80% Human
Demonym(s)	Dominionite
Government
Primarch
• 0-100 AoE	Minanen Arana
History
• Established	0 AoE
• Disestablished	5,000 AoE

History

Main Article: History of The Dominion of House Arana

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of House Arana

See Also: Campaigns Of The Aranakin and High Kinlands of House Arana

Kinland of Skywatch

Further Information: Kinland of Skywatch

The Kinland of Skywatch was one of many small Kinlands within Creation's Cradle during the Age of Demons. Ruled by a single Kinlord amongst smaller vassals most of whom owed partial military service to the Kinlord and were thus called Battlereeves. Despite the relative skill of both Battlereeve and the average Elven levy forces under the Demon Lord Arakhan the Unholy had made steady advances into the Kinland of Skywatch destroying much of the armies of House Arana at the Battle of Vipnest wherein Arakhan had killed the then Kinlord of Skywatch Aicanno Arana and most of his retinue causing the rest of the force to rout. The Demon Lord then advanced deep within Skywatch and wasn't stopped until met by the newly crowned Kinlady of Skywatch Minanen Arana at the First Siege of Skywatch where Minanen using the first recorded case of Dragonforming destroyed the Lord's army.

The Dominion Crusades

Further Information: First Dominion Crusade and Second Dominion Crusade

After the defeat of Arakhan at Skywatch Kinlady Minanen Arana continued to advanced and reclaimed most of the Kinlands of Skywatch and called for a War Council with the nearby Kinlands of Oncanto and Indoril. This trio of Kinlands agreed for Minanen to become leader or "Primarch" of the War Council and cemented it with a marriage alliance in 1`AoE. From here Primarch Minanen and her now bolstered forced steadily expanded out from the hills in the Western Gaian Basin with the Primarch's Dragonform and the disunity of the Demon-Lords being the primary cause of the relative ease of the Elven conquest. During this conquest of the West, Minanen had her five children Araden, Nalia, Camena, Culunwe, and Psylia. Despite it being the largest conquest of Demonic lands since the beginning of the era the toll of Minanen's Dragonform left her infirm and thus she died in 100 AoE at 489.

With the death of Minanen the First Crusade came to an end as Araden Arana-Durixaviinox was crowned the second Primarch of the newly formed Dominion of House Arana. Needing a way to unify her sisters Araden quickly launched a Second Crusade with each Sister leading a Claw (Unit) of 10,000 Elves along with the newly created Aranakin whom quickly swelled the ranks of the nascent conquerors. From there each sister advanced at a steady pace surrounding and defeating Demon-Lord armies nominally larger than theirs via their Dragonforms and the ability of Elven units to better adapt to changing circumstances compared to the disunited warbands that normally made up a Demon-Lord's standing army. However fighting bogged down in the Worldwound Mountains as Nalia's Claw was having difficulty taking the series of mountain forts that dotted the multiple peaks as their deep cave systems made the normal Dragonform tactic of burning Demonic forces out difficult. Here Nalia engaged in recruiting local humans native to the region as guides to better position her and her armies to cut off Demonic forces before they could reach their holdouts. With this last obstacle cleared in 200 AoE the next four hundred years of campaigns proved to be a simple matter of isolating and them eliminating Demonic warbands as the appeared and finally in 600 AoE the final Demon-Lord was defeated in the Battle of Kithin.

Nalia's Rebellion

Further Reading: Nalia's Rebellion

Shortly after the unification of the continent Araden went about dividing the massive landmass amongst her and her sisters and called for the Council of Skywatch wherein after a year of discussion the Creation's Cradle was finally split with the Worldwound Mountains going to Nalia, Western Gaian Basin to Araden, Eastern Gaian Basin to Camena, Theloniki Plains to Culunwe, and finally the Southern Guardian Mountains to Psylia all of whom would now be considered Viceroyals and who among having almost total judicial and political powers in their region were also Electors on new Primarchs upon the death of Araden though the current Primarch could nominate an heir with their vote counting as two as they represented both the Dominion as a whole as well as West Gaian. On top of this as well only direct members of the Arana line or "The Blood" were allowed to become Electors. All of this agreed and signed in AoE 606 however dissent was already brewing amongst the Viceroyals.

There is much debate as to why Nalia rebelled against her sisters, the historian Han Ming posits the Early Liberation Theory wherein due to her Claw working closer with humans during the Crusade she had garnered sympathy with evidence pointing towards the change in language used when referring to humans referring to them closer to prized pets than as chattel normal amongst High Elves of the period. However, the Elven historian Faillon Grayiane posits that because of the provision of only direct members of The Blood being able to become Electors and she had already sired two children not directly within the Arana line and thus put her newfound claim as Viceroyal of the Worldwound Mountains in political jeopardy.