Dzeia

The 3rd Dze Confederation Dzetśaqto
Flag Seal of Tsot'aan Xanaaq̇ut
Lands and surroundings of the Dze Confederacy, 1612 AR Lands and surroundings of the Dze Confederacy, 1612 AR
Status	Independent state
Capital	Xanaaq̇ut's moving horde
Official languages	Old Dze
Ethnic groups	Dze (97.9%) Humans (2.1%)
Religion	Tẋeẋuq
Demonym(s)	Dze
Government	Semi-nomadic tribal confederation
• Tsot'aan	Xanaaq̇ut
Establishment
• Founding of the 1st Confederation	7274 BR
• Start of the Strifes	6429 BR
• Founding of the 2nd Confederation	2764 BR
• Founding of the 3rd Confederation	1598 AR
• Fall of the Human Kingdoms	1602 AR
Area
• Land Area	695,622 km2 (268,581 sq mi)
• Water (%)	3.86%
Population
• 1610 estimate	~7,000,000
• Density	10.06/km2 (26.1/sq mi)

The Dze (Old Dze: Dzetśaqto ['d͡zet͡sʼaqtɔ]), officially known as The Third Dze Confederation and sometimes colloquially known as Dzeia, is a medium-sized nation located in north-central Pythia with no countries bordering it, however being relatively close to Axeut, Kursibar, Nishikaigan, Unairecos and Nastamonia. An unknown nation in uncharted lands, it was recently unified in its totality by Tsot'aan Xanaaq̇ut, the founder of the modern confederacy.

One of the least populous countries of Sparkalia, the Dze have undergone a very recent population growth, no longer burdened by the constant conflicts against human invaders, reaching an estimated 5 million inhabitants during this century. Nontheless, it seems to be one of the oldest continuous inhabited places on the planet, having remained mostly isolated from the events that befell the surrounding lands due to it's geography and unassuming location, not being of high strategic importance.

Etymology

The name in English is merely a translation of the Old Dze name, which translates to "Oath/Alliance of the Dze", with the word Tśaq meaning either Alliance or Oath (added the possesive -to) and the word Dze meaning "Stargazer" and the endonym of these people in several languages and in the Old Liturgicals.

History

The lands of the Dze Confederation have archaeological evidence of a cultural existance since at least 100.000 BR, belonging to the Leaf Lance Culture, a Dze Paleolithic Culture that inhabited the mountainous central and northern regions of the country which seems to have mostly been located in the eastern ranges of the Great Mountains until about 70.000 BR when they began to expand alongside the hills and rocky outcrops towards the coast and the west. Characterized by their elaborate leaf shaped shrines and star-moon worship, two aspects that still carry on to this day in Dze cultures, by 50.000 BR the original culture split during the LNDC into several chalcolithic cultures later culminating in the Flower Stirrup Culture, which kickstarted the Dze Bronze Age by 20.000 BR. However around 8.000 BR there is archaeological, and later written, evidence for the arrival of four distinct human groups, the Longplow, Broadaxe, Highstone and Red Arrow cultures; having triggered a near all out war with the first three cultures, the Dze began to coalesce into more organized societies after The Invasions, an event happening around 7.500 BR which triggered the formation of the First Confederation. The subsequent 8.000 year long conflicts culminated in the rise of the Third Confederation in the late 16th century AR and the fall of human invaders less than a decade later.

Paleolithic Age

The archaeological record shows that these lands have been inhabited by an ancestor of the modern Dze, Tenacitherium anthropopsius, at around 2-1.000.000 years ago until evolving into the modern Dze, Tenacitherium terrible, around 500.000 years ago. Both a paleolithic people, it is thought that they mostly stayed around the Eastern Mountains. By around 100.000 years ago it is estimated that the first proper culture arose, the Leaf Lance Culture, named after a valley in the far east of the country; this culture's name also comes from the name given by scientists to the arrow and spear tips found, which bear a distinct leaf shape and pattern to them.

This culture spread throughout the mountains along river valleys and cliffs where they built small shrines in moon-like patterns that are still frequented to this day, some of the oldest being carbon dated to around 110.000-90.000 BR. Other distinguishing factors of this culture are an affinity towards inhabiting mountainsides rather than caves properly and their hunting method, which is depicted in some paleo-art, which puts more emphasis in Persistance Hunting in combination with either driving or calling methods as a coordinated maneuver between archers and spearmen.

Mesolithic Age

By 70.000 BR there is evidence for a slight change in the style and production of stone tools as well as the start of ceramic pottery, distinguished by their simple shapes and square painting patterns. It is also around this time when the Leaf Lance Culture, and by extention the Dze Population, began to spread into the Central Steppes and Coastal Ranges, however still mostly remaining in the east of the country as evidence by a higher abundance of pottery remains in those areas.

The Mesolithic Age also defined the transition from fully nomadic to a semi-nomadic lifestyle as evidenced by the recent discovery of massive stone circles in river valleys which are thought to be temporary summer refuges, later abandoned in preference for warmer places in winter like the cliffs overlooking the High Springs on the northern edge of the Eastern Mountains.

Neolithic Age and the LNDC

Around 60.000 years ago arises the first evidence for animal husbandry in the lands of the Confederation, with the previously mentioned stone circles being repurposed for keeping animals as a sort of pen. This and the continuous evolution of stone cutting techniques pinpoints to the start of a Neolithic, or Late Leaf Lance, period which ended by 50.000 BR with the Late Neolithic Dze Collapse, an event of unknown causes that led to the abandoning or destruction of the stone circles and the spreading of Dze populations westwards. A possible trigger of this event is volcanic eruptions in the Coastal Ranges, of which we have some geological evidence for, but frequent, and particularly cold, years might have caused the mass death of the game the Dze hunted or simply forced an emigration westards, the ending of these winters coinciding with the flooding of several rivers, causing the destruction of most stone circles.

By the end of this period the Dze began a cultural split from the once unified nature of their species, undergoing surprisingly fast changes that prove the Dze Cultural Hibernation hypothesis, which theorizes that Dze are naturally, culturally conservative until forced by mass scale disasters to change, first evidenced by this and later quick disturbances to Dze communities inside their lands.

Chalcolithic Age

After the Late Neolithic Dze Collapse, the archaeological record shows us that the range of Dze inhabitation massively expanded in all directions, specially westwards, and after population levels recovered from the collapse there arose several chalcolithic cultures, including the Moonblade, Caveshrine and Lowmound cultures, each of which began to participate in localized forms of trade, slowly expanding until what is called the Steppe Roads arose, a collection of several trade routes that led from the westermost points of Dze inhabitation all the way to the Oriental Fjords. One evidence of this is the usage of the Dze Hieroglyphic script by the Woodhut Culture in the far west by 38.000 BR, not that far from when the script first began to be used by the Moonblade Culture.

Key developments that occured in this time also include the start of the usage of wheels and carts as depicted in rock art and evidenced in writings by the Early Moonblade period at 46.000 BR as well as the previous requirement of animal domestication, specifically of the creatures known in Standard as Dräihoufen, Krummhörn and the Gromähne which had begun even earlier during the Late Neolithic, which allowed for the true start of the semi-nomadic lifestyle the Dze prefer nowadays as well as the invention of the stirrup, a localized development that seems to have occurred independently at least 4 times. By the end of the chalcolithic the Dze managed to spread to most of their currently owned lands, now also inhabiting the open prairies that define the landscape of their territories. Around 25.000 BR a second civilizsation collapse occured, evidenced by the sudden dissapearance of writing whatsoever asides for very isolated corners where the old liturgicals were still carved; this one we know was caused by volcanic activity and natural disasters that send the Dze into more than 5 milennia of darkness, a period of which we also barely have any archaeological findings.

Kraterolithic and Siderolithic Ages

By 20.000 BR the remnants of the Moonblade Culture seem to have evolved into the Flower Stirrup Culture, denoted by the shape of the steel footing and the intricate bronze decorational patterns, which by 15.000 BR had spread the usage of Bronze alloys to all corners of Dze inhabitation. This period of renewal also saw and shed light into the evolution and further diversification of Dze Cultures that happened in the collapse, however writing seems to have been confined to the lands inhabited by the people of Flower Stirrup culture until around 15.000 BR or even later depending on the dating of tablets on the southlands. By the end of the Bronze Age around 10.000 BR the Dze civilizations and cultures had recovered from the Late Chalcolithic collapse and they had begun the usage of Iron technology in certain areas.

Arrival of Humans

Human arrivals to the Dze lands begin to be documented from 8.057 BR in the Çḳunyw Stele in the far south, which tells of a meeting between Dze Chieftains and the kings of four migrating tribes of "Short Folk" as they are referred to in the carvings. The arrivals seemed to have not stirred up conflicts at first, but texts unearthed reveal that by the end of the 9th millennium BR Human-Dze conflict arose, specifically with the Longplow, Broadaxe and Highstone cultures, which led to the slow creeping of humans into the territories of iron age Dze cultures in the south and west; the Red Arrow culture seems to have settled around the north-western shores and the Western Range during those times, hinting to a more friendly interaction between them and the Dze.

Initially it seems that humans had the upper hand, driving the descendants of the Woodhut and Caveshrine cultures from the western lands. These early defeats began to propel the Dze into more organized forms of tribal governance, around this time also arose the title of T'aan among the Dze as a word for chieftain or ruler. After some generations the Dze tribes coalesced into the First Dze Confederation under Tsot'aan Quƚaq of the Alẋtśaq tribe in 7274 BR.

The First Confederation

Under the leadership of Tsot'aan Quƚaq (7274-7231 BR) the armies of the First Confederation scored several victories against the forming Human Kingdoms during a campaign known as the Thunderstride (7273-7270 BR) which culminated in the Battle of Bones in where a coalition of human kingdoms were soundly crushed by Quƚaq, the site of which was then made into a pile with all of the corpses of the defeated, which began the practice of Corpse Mounds in Dze warfare. After the Thunderstride the rest of Quƚaq's reign was spent warding off human expansion into the central meadows and eastern steppe, resorting to more defensive, guerilla style, warfare rather than military campaigns. Succeeded by his daughter, Tsot'aan Tẋeńat (7231-7182 BR), the confederation mostly kept to this policy, however during the Jhu'kan Campaigns (7190-7185 BR) they faced off against the forces of the Jhu'kan Empire in the Battle of Alẋḳyx in which the Dze managed to defeat the forces of Ka'sun I, dealing a decisive military defeat and securing peace between the Dze and the Jhu'kan for the following centuries.

At the same time, the peoples descended from the Red Arrow Culture were also victim to the Jhu'kan campaigns and in their case, they were subjugated by 7187 BR such as the Bör Kingdom, this led to an exodus of these peoples who, seeking protection, came to the lands of the Confederation. The confederation and the Jhu'kan empire spent the rest of the 8th millenium at peace however at the start of the 7th millennium BR, tensions began to arise as human settling of a region called Latqom, "The Lake" in Old Dze, which culminated in the devastating Latqom War (6902-6893 BR) in where the lands of the confederation, under the rule of Tsot'aan Tẋeł̣eew, great grandson of Tẋeńat, were invaded and ultimately driven from the central meadows and steppes, resulting in the death of the Tsot'aan and the disbanding of the confederation as the Jhu'kan, weakened by the war, also faced a period of strife in their lands, ultimately weakening them in the long term.

Human Dominance

For nearly 5 centuries the landscape would be dominated by human polities, most notably the declining Jhu'kan empire and the Kingdom of Gharat, one of the several entities that arose during the aftermath of the Latqom War, as well as the Zálltá Chiefdoms, a collection of small states nominally subservient to the Jhu'kan. During this time the Dze were thought utterly crushed and the lands to the east were neglected by human entities. However, during those 5 years, some T'aan began to slowly unify the clans as the Dze recovered from their defeats. During this time the human kingdoms remained mostly at peace, still recovering from the past wars, however by the end of the 66th millennium BR the Jhu-Gharati Wars (6507-6472 BR) had started, a massive conflict that burned through the human inhabited lands and weakened both states significantly. By 6450 it was reported by Gharati scribes that roaming bands of Dze horsemen had begun to return to their old ranges and by 6440 BR a tribal confederation known as the Taaxdze had subdued the Gharati and entered the Jhu'kan lands, known as The Scouring of the West (6440-6429 BR), this mysterious confederation managed to destroy the Jhu capital of Loran, laying down it's foundations and destroying the Jhu'kan empire. After this even the power vacuum led to the return of the Dze to the central and western regions of the lands and the period known as The Strifes.

The strifes and the Second Confederation

After the fall of the Jhu'kan and the emergence of the Taaxdze, the following milennia were ones of warfare and constant shifting of the balance of powers. During these times the Dze seldom attacked or were attacked, being feared and thought of as demonic in nature by the survivors of the scouring. In this vacuum of power one of the first entities to arise was the Kingdom of Buri which, after supplanting the decayed Kingdom of Gharat and subduing the Zálltá Chiefdoms, managed to carve out a decent land for itself in the 64th century BR. During the first centuries of the strifes comprised a small dark age in the human inhabited areas, for the exception of the Kingdom of Buri and the northwestern polities, descendants of the Bör. By the year 6192 BR the Zálltá coalesced into the Mako Tetrarchy and created a more stable balance of power with the Buri, later with the surgence of the Kingdom of Rogar in the early 61st century BR, descended from the Lûxari City States destroyed in the Jhu'kan campaigns.

During the first centuries of this period the balance of powers between Buri, the Tetrarchy and Rogar was mantained as the outer human polities in the south and west, such as the Manath Thalassocracy and the Ojore Kingdom, which rose to prominence during the last years of the 7th milennium BR. The Great Winter of 5957 BR, which primarily affected the southern and western regions, brought about the end of the Buri Kingdom after the winter left it open to invasion by the Mako Tetrarchy, its lands occupied mostly by the Ojore and the Mako states. During this time too the Shore War (5921-5916 BR) began between the Kingdom of Rogar and the Tłdze, an amalgamation of coastal tribes that fought for control of the northern shores with the Kingdom of Rogar utterly crushed and it's people driven westwards towards the lands of the Manath, which had also fought in the conflict and was left severely weakened as well, which opened the way for the Iematu Kingdom and the Kingdom of Nimsin, the descendants of the Bör, to overtake them as the main powers in the north-west.

In the south the Kingdom of Yam, using the vaccuum left by the Buri, rose to challenge the Mako Tretrarchy during the Zálltá Civil War (5932-5907 BR), reducing the Tetrarchy's power significantly. At the same time, more waves of human immigration were arriving from the south and eventually, this allowed humans to invade Dze territory again in the Eastern War (5901-5872 BR), in which the Taaxdze and the Łik'dze, another confederation, defeated the human incursions and even managed to reclaim some of their previous southern holdings during the latter years of the conflict; this however did not stop human migrations to the south and west in the coming centuries, which helped to de-stabilize their realms further, by the 57th century BR the situation had turned into chaos, resulting in the collapse of the Manath, Yam, Ojore and the weakening of several other states, which caused the Long Silence, a period of more than 200 years of almost no written records, caused by the collapse of most human entities due to the increased migrations in their territories; however, various Dze steles date to this era, specially in the south-east, where attempted migrations by humans were repelled by the Alẋtśaq and Ẋ'onyw tribes between the years 5872 and 5808 BR.

The next records of large human activity appear in the year 5632 BR with the Mako Tetrarchy, one of the few states to survive the collapse, defeating the Ñalçi Kingdom and managing to even beat back the Yamian attempts at conquest, breaking free from their yoke in the Great Makian Revolt (5632-5625 BR). Another event of note came with the ascension of the Kingdom of Mvadi in the north as well as the establishment of the Yegin Empire to the far south, which had extended beyond the Biote Limes into regions unknown to the Dze at the time. During this time the Dze-Human conflicts slowed down even further, with a tense period of peace arising after the Long Silence due to the focus of the human kingdoms to contain their own invasions and the subsequent collapse of human society which also led to small dze advances in the north in their reconquest of their lands.

Geography and Climate

At 695,622 km2, the Confederation stands at the middle in terms of size for countries in Sparkalia, similar in size to Kursibar or Japuile. In terms of latitude it's current southern borders coincide with the southern borders of Choslow or the northern borders of Axeut, while it's northernmost point lies roughly in accordance to the central-northern of Choslow. The confederation is unique in not sharing a border with any given nation, having thousands of kilometres between it and the closest nation, Axeut.

The geography of the Confederation is varied, however mostly comprising the mountainous southern areas, the hill-covered north and steppes making up much of the interior. However, around 20% of the country is forested; the whole of the confederation lies within the Polykariote-Eukariote Limes, a region of Sparkalia where strange and seldom seen flora and fauna inhabit, almost entirely in isolation from the rest of the world. The highest peak of the country is the Snowcrown, with the average height above sea level in the country laying around 1.000 metres above sea level.

Climate

The lands of the Dze are known as the "Land of ice and fire" (Old Dze: "Ŋq̇enyyŋt'e'y ẋƚe", referring to the monstorusly harsh winters and the mild summers it is subjected to.

Due to the ocean currents and wind cells, the country is known to drop as low as -50ºC on bad winters on the more glacial areas, with temperatures in the summer averaging to 18ºC to 21ºC. In the winter the whole country is subjected to the Bight Anticyclone, however, due to the rugged mountainous south, the country is home to several microclimates in its valleys, supported as well by minor geothermal activity which has caused for warm water springs to appear in the interior. The country also has on average 197 cloudless days, particularily in the summer and it's a nation with high atmospheric pressure on average. Precipitation is also more notorious in the north and west, with the southern valleys being classified as a Cold Desert, with the most precipitation occuring in the Cloudspear peninsula at an annual average of 630mm and the least happening in the Dlał̣ Desert in the south at 207mm of annual precipitation.

Wildlife

The rain shadow effect, nigh unpresent in most of the country, has created a myriad of small deserts in the south below the Greater and Lesser Southern Ranges. Due to the abundance of creeks and rivers, as well as glacial lakes, the country is surprisingly humid in most places, despite the coasts having hills and the rapid ascension of the Dze Plateau. The microclimates allow for a great range of wildlife diversity in these enviroments.

Demographics

Although the total population of the Confederation is unknown, the most accurate estimates carried out in 1610 by the Tsot'aan in the Great Meeting estimated the population at 7 million, with a sizeable human population acounting for 2.1% of that number, making it one of the least populous countries in Sparkalia with a population growth of 1.19% and a fertility rate of 3.9 children per Dze woman and 3.3 per human woman, with the national average at 3.6 per woman. The Dze make up 97.1% of the population in the confederation, with the human minority inhabiting the far western reaches of the land; in ancient times the percentages were much less disparate due to constant human invasions and migrations, but in recent times most of these invaders have been pushed back, with only human ethnic groups allied to the Dze remaining.

Languages

There are more than 70 languages spoken in the Dze Confederation, most of these belonging to the Dzenic Languages and some other smaller families spoken by human groups; another thing to note is the 10 Lingua Francas spoken between people of different groups, of which the most widely used is Old Dze.

Religion

Dze follow a set of religious practices collectively known as Tẋeẋuq, called Dze Shamanism by outsiders, which seem to stem from a common ancestral religion of which the descendant traditions have only slightly diverged from. Humans on the other hand follow many different religions, the most widely practiced one is Zheduktsu, of which around 50% of the human population adhere to.

Government and politics

The Dze rule themselves in a Confederation, with the central figure of the Tsot'aan, who is elected for life during one of the Great Meetings held annually at the Leaf Lance Valley; these meetings are held by the Tsot'aan and the 147 T'aannyyŋ (chiefs) of each dze and human tribe and nation. In these meetings most of the things discussed relate to potential land disputes after geographical changes, the management of ongoing conflicts, movement of animal herds and so on. When a Tsot'aan dies, the Great Meeting elects amongst the most worthy of candidates, usually from the direct family of the last Tsot'aan, which are valued in their worth by their intelligence, strength and craftsmanship, with whoever excells the most at these three categories being elected, be it man or woman. The current Tsot'aan, Xanaaq̇ut, ascended to power by unifying the local confederations between 1582 and 1598 AR. The Tsot'aan however is not a supreme monarch, with most of the governing being done at the local level.

Foreign relations

With the isolationist nature of the Dze and their human allies, very few have traversed into their lands in the past from proper nationstates, the only two so far known have been expeditions by Santi Rasta in 1611 and by Nova Solarius in 1608 and later again in 1611-1612, all three of were successful in bringing peaceful relations with the outside world.

Military

The Confederation relies upon the Ł̣eewŋq̇enyw for territorial defence and incursions into enemy territory, comprised of a semi-permanent base of soldiers, and the Q̇tenyw, known as the Dze Rangers, for the more permanent guarding and patrolling of the lands.

Economy

The economy of the confederation is almost exclusively driven by herding, small-scale mining and manufacturing, with blacksmiths and weavers being the two predominant jobs outside of herding. Mining is done on a very limited scale and usually just to provide the blacksmiths with the materials necessary for their craft. Other than that, the economy of Dzeia is very much underdeveloped and in pre-industrial capabilities, due to both their technological level and their way of life.