Ramatrah Era
The Ramatrah Era, or Pecantik in Terangau, was the terminal phase of the Bhaareesir Period during which the classical figures of imperial political thought emerged beginning with Lady Kirana, the queen-regent of Anaisan who ordered the construction of the Serahan Stele, and ending with the coronation of Ishta-Deva, ruler of the first empire. Many aspects of this era are products of "Ramatr" personality cults which attribute divine power to largely undocumented figures. Although the traditions associated with the era tend to be exaggerated, there is a documented continuum of political centralization and a decline in international warfare, which was at the very least uninhibited by a series of largely pacifist political leaders.
Origins
Warfare
A higher degree of political stability in Daratanayah, brought about through the exploration of local strategic mineral resources, allowed rulers to engage in large scale construction projects. Among a large number of palaces, public buildings, and prestige projects were extensive urban fortifications. This was known as Menaikkan, an uplifting of walls. The most durable and common form of structure was a stone or brick-clad rammed earth wall ranging from 10 to 20 meters in thickness. These structures had a profound impact on the practice of warfare, which changed from predominantly field battles to extended siege warfare. In many cases, this made warfare unfeasible as a means of conflict resolution for a would-be attacker, but when wars did occur, they had a much more wide-ranging impact on civilian life. Hundreds of thousands of civilians, who would have previously only engaged in the highly ritualized Bhaareesir warfare system, were now threatened with disease, famine, and economic ruin as the result of multi-year sieges. Warfare also became simultaneously rarer and more brutal in the countryside where some generals engaged in chevauchée to lure defenders out of their protective fortifications, typically to no avail.
The Menaikkan also encouraged the formation of professional, non-noble soldiers who could be away from their fields or court duties for extended periods of time and had experience in the maintenance of increasingly complex siege machinery. According to one poet of the time, a penawi mercenary was able to cross from Uttarsar to Puakit "never lacking work and never bloodying his blade." Professional soldiers form earlier Bhaareesir were viewed with some respect because of their ritual role as protectors of the kingdom, but public opinion seems to have turned against mercenaries during this time as there were decrees issued prohibiting branding mercenaries and demanding stronger punishments for anyone robbing them. Unable to meet this demand for professional soldiery, the military nobility lost status and were expected to supply their monarchs with more and more tax for salaries with fewer and fewer retainers for service.
The total result of these changes in warfare meant that warrior-kings quickly became bankrupt kings and it became less and less feasible to win prestige on the battlefield. Tactical surrenders and diplomatic solutions were now more viable; many kings even exhibited signs that they had unspoken agreements to exchange different territories for each other merely by threatening war. They would parade their armies through the streets and erect monuments claiming that no one would even dare face them in battle. At the same time, territory would be exchanged with a neighboring kingdom and their lords would repeat the charade at home.