Ihemod
| Ihemod | |
|---|---|
| |
| Amenokal of the Charnean Empire | |
| Reign | 10 August 1355 – 25 February 1390 |
| Coronation | 9 September 1357, Agnannet |
| Successor | Magdan ag Alwali |
| Born | 30 August 1333 near Ekelhoc, Charnea |
| Died | 10 December 1390 (aged 57) Sirwah, Fahran |
| Burial | Ramlat Abu al-Dhiyb, Fahran |
| Consort | Amunnet Hanni |
| Issue |
|
| Religion | Tenerian traditional religion |
Ihemod (30 August 1333 - 10 December 1390), also known as Ihemod Imekkusa, was a 14th century Tenerian conqueror who founded the empire of the Kel Kaharna which encompassed more than half of the continent of Scipia at the time of his death. During his 33 year reign as Amenokal of the Kel Kaharna confederation, Ihemod was an undefeated commander in battle and is widely considered to be one of the greatest military minds of the era. Ihemod's legacy is one that is deeply controversial even in the modern day. He is widely considered to be one of the most brutal warlords in Scipian history, whose wide-ranging atrocities rise to the label of genocide. He is also the father of the Charnean nation, the first to unify the disparate nomadic tribes of the Ninva since the fall of Tamazgha, and whose conquests paved the way for the renaissance of Ninvite civilization that had been lost more than a thousand years prior.
Ihemod was born in August of 1333 in the Arwa mountains near the city of Ekelhoc in the western Tenere desert. Very little is known about Ihemod's childhood, parents or birth clan, as he was taken as a slave during a major raid on the Arwa tribes by the Kel Awakar confederation of the eastern Tenere region. In the first six years of his captvity, Ihemod had attempted to escape on four occasions with the fourth and final attempt resulting in the killing of an Awakari tribesman, for which Ihemod was sentenced to die upon being recaptured. The Amenokal of the Kel Awakar, Akorebi ag Uksem, intervened by ordering a stay of the boy's execution and taking the 12 year old Ihemod as his own ward. Ihemod became the Amenokal's protégé over the ensuring years, becoming involved in the military ambitions of the powerful Kel Awakar and learning military tactics and leadership under the tutelage of Akorebi and his subordinates in the field.
Akorebi ag Uksem's health declined in the two years following the distant Siriwang Eruption of 1353 which darkened skies around the globe. In 1355, now on his deathbed, Amenokal Akorebi formally adopted the 22 year old Ihemod as his son and named him the designated heir of the Akorebid dynasty and power-base in the Awakar, above his three biological sons. This splintered the Kel Awakar and threw the confederation into a civil war in which Ihemod, now honorary Amɣar of several tribes of the Awakar, cornered and defeated the Akorebid princes to claim the title of undisputed Amenokal of the Awakar. By 1360, Amenokal Ihemod had unified the Tenerian tribes of the eastern and western Tenere deserts within the Ninva for the first time since the fall of ancient Tamazgha in 250 CE, taking the oasis city of Agnannet to serve as the capital for his new Kel Kaharna confederation. Immediately following this foundation, Ihemod would go on to launch an invasion of the Agala highlands to the south which would expand into a full scale invasion of Itayana, marking the beginning of the Ihemodian Wars which would continue unabated until Ihemod's death 33 years later.
Early life
Ihemod was born to the Aztal tribe, part of the wider Kel Atram confederation which ruled the old Tamazghan heartland in the Arwa mountains from their seat in the old city of Ekelhoc. Most accounts of his life which are based on his own recollections of this time place the date of his birth at the end of August, although there is some uncertainty as to the year of his birth. Sources vary between 1330 and 1335 although the official account written by Ihemod's court biographer in 1387 states that he was born in 1333. This would have made him 6 years old during a year of escalating conflicts between the Kel Atram confederation and their eastern rivals in the Kel Awakar, who crossed the Erg Awakar dune sea in the winter months and raided the outlying camps in the Arwa mountains and the wider Azalay caravan routes in that region. During one of these raids, Ihemod was taken as a captive and brought back east to be raised as an Ikelan serf-slave of the Kel Awakar. This was a common practice in this era, particularly targeting young members of enemy tribes as a means of replenishing numbers and weakening enemies. It is presumed that Ihemod's parents were likely killed during this same raid, leaving Ihemod orphaned, although this could never be corroborated by any reliable source.
From 1339 onward, Ihemod lived among the Ikelan of the Kel Awakar. He was moved between nomadic camps in the Awakar, the White Desert and the oases of Achra during this time. Ihemod became infamous for his repeated attempts to run away and escape his captors, which were especially notable as such was virtually unheard of among the Ikelan. As in later eras, Ikelan were not chattel slaves but rather closer in status to serfs who were kept on the lands they worked simply by the intense hostility of the surrounding landscape. Even stealing a camel to ride, the odds of survival for a lone Ikelan in the desert was always very low, and so it was uncommon for any Ikelan to try and leave the community in this way. Ihemod was likely kept under a special level of watch by the clan members as well as the other Ikelan due to a propensity to get himself into trouble, which likely motivated and exacerbated his attempts to leave the community. Ihemod could apparently disappear for days or even weeks in the desert even as a boy, only being returned to the care of the Ikelan after being run down by Awakari riders or caught trying to steal crops and livestock from the camps of other Awakari tribes.
The last of these escapes led to a fight in which Ihemod was shot with an arrow and grievously wounded but had also killed an Awakari tribesman with a telak as he attempted to steal a camel. Ihemod was captured and was to be executed for the crime of murdering a tribesmen, had the Amenokal of the Kel Awakar not intervened in the matter. Amenokal Akorebi ag Uksem defended the Ikelan boy and took him in as his ward. The reasoning for this is disputed. Akorebi justified his actions by claiming that Ihemod's resourcefulness and uncanny ability to survive in the desert could make him useful to his clan and the confederation. However, later historians point out that the man Ihemod had killed was very likely connected to a family that antagonized Amenokal Akorebi and opposite his rule of the confederation, agitating against his rulership in the past. It is likely that Akorebi intervened to spare Ihemod to antagonize the dead man's family.
While under Amenokal Akorebi's care, Ihemod made a significant impression on the elder ruler of the Awakar and quickly became his protégé. Ihemod's charachter left a significant impression on the Amenokal, enough to build trust with the boy. Once he was trusted by the court, Akorebi began to employ Ihemod, then a teenager, as a desert scout and a spy against other Tenerian tribes as well as internal opponents within the confederation, for which the boy's wit and resourcefulness in the desert proved advantageous. At the age of 15, Akorebi pulled Ihemod out of these duties as a runner and spy to begin is formal training as an Awakari military officer. The Amenokal likely felt that Ihemod was more reliable than the sons of other clans, as he was personally loyal only to Akorebi and lacked any connections to other families, and wished to train him as an officer in order to put such a trusted person in sensitive positions of privilege. Therefore, Ihemod would be brought on numerous raids and participate in battles from that point forward, primarily being involved in the raids against the Kel Atram not unlike the one which had taken him captive a decade prior, as well as Amenokal Akorebi's struggles with the princes of Agnannet from 1349-1351. This military service would serve as Ihemod's introduction to military command, a skill which he would have ample opportunity to cultivate later in life. It would also put Ihemod in an excellent position politically by connecting him to many important military leaders of the Kel Awakar, connections which Akorebi's three sons lacked.
Rise to power
Military career
Ninvite unification
Ihemodian wars
Some of the early successes of the Ihemodian armies have been attributed to a severe weakening of many of the polities which came under attack by the Kel Kaharna. The 1353 eruption of the Siriwang volcano in the Ozeros sea spewed great quantities of ash and particulates into the atmosphere resulting in a worldwide cooling effect. This volcanic winter lasted for several years and resulted in climatic upheaval which in turn led to crop failures and famines the world over. In many cases, famine and crop failure co-occurred with outbreaks of disease which is speculated to have been caused by rats and other vermin which entered human dwellings more often without crops and grains in fields and storehouses to scavenge from. These disasters effects of the volcanic winter often had political ramifications, destabilizing states and governments, causing rebellions and internal strife. The people of the Ninva, who primarily relied on fossil water aquifers accessed by through oasis springs and foggaras, were largely unaffected by the disruptions in rainfall. This put the Tenerian forces of the Kel Kaharna in a uniquely advantageous position over their sedentary and semi-sedentary neighbors whom they could invade in the decades following the volcanic winter. The worldwide crisis of the later 14th century is credited as one of the major contributing factors towards the unprecedented and unforeseen emergence of the Ninvite peoples as a major power on the continent, together with their unexpected political unification under Ihemod just a few years following the 1353 eruption.