Agheze

Agheze (A portmanteau of Mwo words Agha, meaning war and Eze, meaning king.) was the name used to refer to the several pseudo-houregic warrior kingdoms that existed in modern-day Tiwura following the collapse of the Kingdom of Adilun in the Dikebilie during the mid 1400s. These warrior kingdoms functioned in a different manner than the other true houregic villages and kingdoms that existed around them. The most influential warriors would take over and upsurp the smaller villages that were formerly under the hourege of Adilun. At the top of this new system was the Agheze, or warrior king. Below him came the Keji, a group of warriors appointed by the Agheze to serve as his advisors and military leaders. The warrior caste would come next, overtaking the priests as well as the king. Below them came them merchants, then the artisans, and then the menial workers. In many cases, several villages came under the rule of a single warrior, and many of the eze would offer loyalty and grant the Agheze with their own warriors and recieve protection from others. This would establish the organization of pseudo-Hourege Agheze system. An Agheze state would see the Ipele(Cogodaimic equivalent of a Hourege) be replaced a Nchebe (known as an Idabo in Gundaya areas), meaning protection or protector. Another difference between Hourege and Agheze was an Agheze king could not become loyal to another and remain in his position as the Agheze of a village. They must join the Keji of their new Agheze and surrender their village if they wanted to become loyal to them. This change in the system saw struggles for control over neighboring villages amounting in armed conflict more often than not.

History

Hourege in Medieval Tiwura

Depiction of King Asegun of Adilun

Southwestern Tiwura would see Hourege arrive in the 11th century, while the further north the Cogoday river region would first see Hourege during the 13th century. With increasing expansion of Irfanic Razzia States in the north, the Gundaya, Awa, Biwe, and Isowo peoples would rapidly accept the Houregic system. In the midlands regions, Hourege would not be established until the end of the 13th century due to many of them being under the rule of Irfanic states to the west. In southeast Tiwura, Houregeic states would not be formed until the 1270s, the reasoning for this is commonly believed to be the lack of Irfanic expansion into the region. However, by the 14th century nearly all regions of modern Tiwura were wither under the control of Houregeic or Irfanic states.

In the north, however, Houregeic states would rapidly develop and expand. The first few included Oborun, Funafa, and Ilumeta. During a war between the Razzia states and northern Fetishist houreges, the hourege of Alidun would take power and defeat both the Razzias and rival Houregeic states. This war, known in the Zamga Codexes as the War of the Rising King. Between the year 1000 and 1150, the Gondiatic Zamga people would migrate northward and destroy the the native !Chadic peoples of western Tiwura. This invasion saw the establishment of Tiwura's most powerful razzia state, the Zamga Empire.

This empire, centered around modern-day Karshentafiya, would begin its push eastward and conquer the weak Biwe villages. This invasion would prompt the adoption of Hourege in northern Tiwura, and Adilun would become increasingly important as invasions moved closer to the coastline. Adilun would offer protection to the leaders of local villages in time of war, and as payment the local leaders would become loyal to Adilun and hand over control of their warriors to the Ipele of Adilun. It was in 1244 when the Zamga Empire launched a massive invasion into southern Gundayaland, with cities being attacked as far north as central Asase Lewa. By 1244, Adilun's vast array of allies allowed itself to repel the invasion with ease. Within a year, Adilun would do something few houreges had done and launched a counter-attack, striking at the conquered city-state of Emizhi. The Zamga warriors were defeated by the sheer numbers of soldiers under the control of the Ipele of Adilun. This defeated the Zamga, but the Ipele was ambitious, and used his current control over this vast army to strike at his rivals. Funafa was the largest rival, and fell swiftly. By 1248 Adilun ruled all of Koriko. The prestige this victory gave allowed the empire to expand much further south over the next two decades, with villages began pledging allegience en masse to Adilun's Ipele. The first Ipele, known simply as Asegun, or conquerer, would die sometime before 1300. It is apparent that his son did not live up to the prestige of Asegun, resulting in a period of internal strife and resulted in the fall of the empire's northern frontier. This second Ipele was swiftly replaced by Alagbara Olori, the first well-recorded Adilun king. Alagbara Olori was popular, and reestablished the vast power of the empire under Asegun.

The center of the empire, located near modern-day Ogbaopuona, was the expansive and fortified city of Adilun. Adilun's location upon a hilltop allowed itself to become heavily fortified, and its early rulers would build walls rising 120 feet surrounding the city. Under Asegun, the city understand expansion, and saw the creation of an caste-based layout. The inner walled city was the home of the rulers, the priests, and the warriors. The next layer was along the sides of the hill, home to the mercantile and artisan castes. There land was not regarded as useful for farming, but their highest members were granted entrance into the inner city during sieges. The last layer was the menial workers' farms, which extended into the surrounding flat land around the hill. They were not allowed access to the inner layer without permission from the Ipele. Inside the inner walls also existed the Quarter of the Chiefs, where rulers of villages that who have sworn loyalty to the Ipele were allowed to stay.

The empire flourished from the rule of Alagbara Olori until the 1400s, when growing tensions arose between the Ipele and the warrior caste.

Dikebilie

A page from the Zamga Codex, from which much of the information on the dikebilie is found.

In the early 15th century Adilun began showing cracks in its empire. Rebellious chiefs from villages around the empire became commonplace as resources were stretched thin. However, the most significant fracture was between the Ipele and the warrior caste. In 1401 Ipele Abimbola would launch a raid onto the weak Najo city-states along the Cape of Riches. It is said that Abimbola refused to allow his warriors to have any of the riches gained from the battle, saying that it was divine intervention that won the battle for them. Abimbola would return to Adilun with vast gold captured the trading city-states, and began the great disconnect between Ipele and his warriors. The Zamga Codex blamed Abimbola's belief in divine intervention as central to this rift, as he would still give vast gold to this priestly caste in hopes that they would bring the spirits on his side during battle. Abimbola died in 1423, and was succeeded by Toyin.

Toyin would continue this practice of denying spoils to his warriors. By 1434 this practice began to be imitated by those loyal to Toyin, who would create vast gold shrines with these spoils around the inner walled city. A local ruler in Obagado, a village near modern-day Isowo City, would decree that his warriors were a lesser caste than his merchants, whom he saw as more important to the city. This opinion grew due to an era of peace that existed within the empire, as the razzia states began to face their own issues. The opinion on the warrior caste grew less and less important as time went on, especially by those within the mercantile caste, who were seen by the rulers as providing more wealth to the village than the warriors.

Between 1434 and 1448 the warrior caste and the other castes deteriorated. Incidents began during this period of disloyal warriors and warriors who would be caught stealing from the leadership and merchants. In 1447, the rulers of Adilun began to grow increasingly distrustful. In 1448, the ruler of Okilu, Iwodu, would banish his entire warrior caste after believing they had stolen from his son. This led to the first revolt by the warrior caste of Okilu, resulting in the death of Iwodu and his family as well as the destruction of his palace. The rebellious soldiers would take control of the village. What resulted after this was a series of rebellions across the empire. From 1448 to 1461 Adilun would collapse as the local rulers would be usurped by the warrior caste. In 1455, the largest of these rebellions would take place in modern-day Uhiohia, and saw the Adilun's control split in half. The southern frontier in Mwoland was overrun with warrior revolts and became one of the centers of Agheze in Tiwura. In 1458, Adilun would come under attack by a combined force of its own defected warriors and warriors from the nearby village of Lorodo. Their leader, Bíìjà, would assault the walled city and breach into the inner walls. There King Toyin was killed along with the entirity of the city's priests and merchants. Adilun was abandoned following the assault and Bíìjà would become the most powerful new leader after the fall of Adilun.

According to the Zamga Codex, the system of agheze formed fairly quickly after the Dikebilie, with the most powerful warriors consolidating control over the villages they overthrew. The most documented was Bíìjà, who is often credited for the establishment of agheze as a system. Bíìjà would form the first keji, consisting mostly of the most powerful warriors from Adilun that supported his attack. Bíìjà would then gain the loyalty of many local leaders who wanted to avoid the assault, and in doing so grew his army. It is believed that this system arose similarly amongst the other powerful warrior leaders nearby and spread quickly all the way down into Mwoland and even into Emizhi.

Agheze Period

After the series of rebellions began to slow down, only a few classical houregic states would remain within the Cogoday region. The agheze system would immediately undergo its first change. With the fall of hourege rulers, a power vacuum opened up. Smaller villages with smaller armies did not see many rebellions, but the rise of the aghezes and the overthrow of the protective houreges left them vulnerable and they would seek protection now from the agheze rulers. This practice began in the Agheze city of Lorodo, which boasted one of the largest and most powerful armies after sacking Adilun and integrating their warriors. Local rulers around Lorodo would see this and saw them as the only ones who could possibly protect them from attack. In 1460 Lorodo's ruler, Bíìjà, would arrive as "Obogun", the warrior-king. The title of "obogun" would begin to be taken by other Gundaya aghezes. In the aghezic cities of Mwoland, the title "agheze" arose for their kings and quickly grew in popularity and usage. In Mwoland another title came into being, "Nchebe", a title roughly meaning protector. This title became synomymous with "hourege" and quickly began being the title of aghezic rulers who integrated neighboring houregic villages into their control. A similar title, "Idabo", arose in Gundayaland. Aghezes and oboguns would replace ezes and obas and nchebes and idabos would replace houreges. This system came into being between 1448-1464, and by 1465 Tiwura would be radically changed by this new system. The early agheze period was marked with imitial chaos as the warriors would overthrow and shake up the caste system of their villages. Once this happens, their leader would become an agheze and would establish a militaristic society, demoting the powers of noblemen and clergy and raising that of the warriors to the top class. Palaces and noble homes would be handed over to warrior caste families. In 1465 the system would begin to solidify, with several warrior kings expanding their empires as a new system of militaristic honor and expansionism took over.

The creation and establishment of the "keji" and "keche" systems within governments would become one of the most significant problems of agheze. By the 1460s customs arose based on a system of militaristic honor, in which it was deemed wrong and even evil for an agheze to surrender their village and come under the wing of a new ruler. This code meant that new leaders had to join the "kejis" and "keches" of those who they sought to align with, and give up their warriors to the control of this agheze. What resulted was a period of warfare that lasted decades, as it was also seen dishonorable to abandon one's army to another agheze. The first of this conflicts arose in Mwoland between two aghezes, the aghezes of Irozi and Ubitụtụ. Irozi's agheze would begin a campaign of expansion to escape a drought, and sought to conquer the crop-rich Ubitụtụ. It began with an offer for peace of Ubitụtụ gave their warriors to Irozi and let them find another village to attack. Ubitụtụ's agheze refused, and what ensued was a dramatic war that grew out of control as Irozi and Ubitụtụ continued to seek alliegiance from other aghezes and ezes, resulting in expansion and constant warfare between the states. This region of the Cogoday, modern-day Ohere, was devistated by warfare. This style of governance took hold across modern-day Tiwura.

Between the late 1400s and early 1500s, agheze states were in periods of near constant war and rulers often has short-lived tenures. What resulted from this was differentiation of agheze governments. In some of the early agheze states the warrior caste was not willing to overthrow their ruler. What came out of this was the system of "combined agheze" in many of the villages along the modern-day coast of Port Royal. In the 1480s, agheze spread westward to the culturally diverse and wartorn region of Emizhi. "Emizhi agheze" formed from this, a system that installed a "dual leadership" of the civilian king and the military agheze.