Kryvian subcontinent

Kryvia or the Kryvian subcontinent is a geographical region in the southeastern Eulabia projecting southwards to the Eulabian Ocean. It is mainly inhabited by Slavs who assimilated much of the native population.

Map of the Kryvian subcontinent

History

Pre-history

There is evidence of an ancient human civilizations existing in Kryvia as far as 5000 BC. The first known civilizations sprung to existance in the Rzhuchana valley. Oldest bronze tools found in this region can be dated to 3000 BC. It is around this time when the so-called Rzhuchanian civilization is founded. This term refers to a collective of city-states located around Rzhucha river. In 2500 BC the so-called Yesretani civilization is formed on the island of Damalis. It was a civilization of merchants and seafarers and were responsible for the formation of multiple colonies on the southern and eastern shores of the subcontinent. It is theorized that the ancient Yesretanis themselves were not native to Kryvia, but that they come from the east.

Iron Age

The Kryvian iron age began around 1000 BC. The Kryvia saw a rise of advanced city states, especially in the south, where the city-states of Acruia and Marcadia became particulary developed. In around 610 BC, one of the Marcadian colonies separated it from its mother state and formed the Kingdom of Lendos. It soon came to dominate the northern regions of Kryvia. In 558 BC, Dimitrios I ascended to the throne of Lendos, his rule saw huge swaths of Kryvia conquered under the Lendosian banner.

Upon his death in 523 BC the Empire split into multiple succesor states, the most powerful being the Atusian Kingdom in the south. The Atusians further subjugated western and sourthern parts of Kryvia, establishing themselves as the military powerhouse of the region. The remaining Elinkan states meanwhile oragnized into so-called Leagues, the major ones being the Acruian League and the Marcadian League.

This regional order would come to an end in the 2nd century BC with the subjugation of Atusian by the Republic of Pavia. Pavians already had some presence in Kryvia by the 3rd century BC, when it took over the city-state of Tesus (today's Chernogorod). But it is only during the 3rd century when it entered in an open conflict with the Kingdom of Atusia. Following the series of Pavio-Atusian Wars the former Atusian kingdom was organized into multiple Pavian provinces.

Pavian Era

By the 1st century AD the Pavian Republic became too large and unwieldly to effectively to govern. At the same time the political situation in Pavia itself was getting increasingly intense. This resulted in the reformation of the Pavian Repulic into the Pavian Empire in 45 BC. Despite the initial stabilization achieved by the first Pavian Emperor Aulus Silius Caesar, the Empire would enter into a civil war unpon his death in 32 BC.

One of the Caesar's pretenders, Lucius Muco took over the Kryvian provinces and established his own Empire. Muco tried multiple times to take over the cit of Pavia itself, but unsuccessful. But at the same time, Sextus Farus, who ruled the core provinces of Pavia, was unable to completely subjugate Muco's realm. A truce was declared on 21 BC under which Muco was named Dominus Orientis (Lord of the East) in exchange for swearing loyalty to Farus.

Despite the de jure re-unification, Emperor Farus (as well as all the Pavian Emperors after him) had hard time in keeping Muco and other subsequent Lords of the East under control. As such the Kryvian part of the Empire operated mostly autonomously until the 252 AD, when the Pavian Empire collapsed. Subsequently the Lord of of the East Casca II claimed the title of the Pavian Emperor. Nevrthless he, nor any of his successor would ever reconquer Pavia. Casca's realm is now known as the Atusian Empire, to differentiate it from the classical Pavian Empire.