Unifying Revival

The Unifying Revival refers to a series of processes in which various governorates of the former Second Unifying Realm within the Karana and Imo Basins militarily and politically consolidated into the polities, with the intent of final reunification and restoration of the Itayana Realm. While there is no agreed-upon date to mark as the start of the Revival, it is accepted that the 1947 Conclave of Temples in Yanbango was the starting point in the lower Karana and Imo basins.

Etymology

The term "Unifying Revival" was coined in Opening Address to the Yanbango Conclave of Temples in 1980. The newly-instated High Priest of the Sun Eternal, addressing the assembled priests, regional governors and technical intelligentsia, referred to the past three decades as "...the Unifying Revival of the Two Basins, the repetition of births [rebirth] of the Solar Realm." He then referred to the three "stages" of the Revival, of which the third was to begin on the Conclave and to bring forth the final unification of the Two Basins under the Solar Temple. The Address was widely publicized across the Two Basins and Temple Missions and became the accepted basis for its interpretation.

Background

After several heavy pandemics and subsequent lost wars, the Solar Realm, formerly encompassing the entirety of the Two Basins, collapsed in 1875. Its remnants encompassed the core Amayana territory and were split into 26 regional governorates: eight (29th through 36th) of the Makgato plateau, six (3rd, 7th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17st) of Erinle and Kasai basins on the left bank of Karana river, five (16th, 18th, 20th, 15th and 19th) of the Imo basin, two (5th and 7th) of the Karana-Imo Mesopotamia, and five (1st, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th) of the right bank of the lower Karana basin. Although weakened, governorates managed to stop further incursions into their territory in several border conflicts. However, the population loss in the Basins meant partial collapse of the irrigation network, particularly sensitive in the Karana basin, while governorates' inner strength between themselves led to the rapid erosion of any central authority from both the more far-reaching regional governors and the local temples, which themselves refused to recognize any central templar authority.

The next 70 years were spent largely holding and trying to rebuild whatever economical and military base regional governors had left, as the inner strength of the governorates was yet insufficient to promote any forceful political reintegration. Governors were lax in adopting more modern military technology due to the lack of funds, while industrial technology often had to be bought through shared efforts. Most notably, the Laodan Arsenal was expanded in 1910s through efforts of lower Imo governorates to the point it became the most advanced arsenal in the Two Basins, the only place that was capable of mass-producing field artillery, further strengthening the position of the 18th Laodan Governorate. Less notably, Shenmesu Arsenal in the 6th Governorate was upgraded around the same time to produce infantry equipment and train first generations of industrial cadres.

In addition to the difficult reconstruction and re-industrialization efforts governorates began strengthening trade connections between each other at the first sights of their economic recovery. Mesopotamian governorates of Kanokari (5th) and Asima (7th) have been coordinating between each other since the collapse of the Solar Realm. 12th Governorate expanded trade connections with 13th and 17th Governorates of the Kasai river; 3rd Governorate served as a link between Erinle governorates and the right bank of Karana; 6th Shenmesu Governorate started consolidating its power base with the 1st, 3rd, 8th and 10th governorates of the right bank of the Lower Karana; finally, Imo governorates consolidated their connections to the point they could afford joint re-industrialization efforts. Coordination and reconstruction in the Imo basin was made easier by the fact the basin did not suffer as heavily from pandemics as the Karana basin, although the upper Imo basin was lost in 1840s with much of its wealth.

In 1946, the Charnean Army (ICA) mechanized vanguard crossed the borders of 10th and 12th Governorates, involving the right bank of Karana in the ongoing Agala War. Raised forces of the right bank governorates only managed to repulse the incursion by outmanoeuvring ICA units in the hills, while open-field head-on engagements ended with heavy casualties to the Karanites. The Agala War, described in the modern sources as "the rude awakening to their [governorates'] weaknesses", ended in withdrawal of the ICA, more busy conducting anti-guerrilla campaigns against the Zarma people; the border between Agala and the Karanite governorates was settled in the 1947 Treaty of Kahrash. The same year, the Solar Temple of Yanbango called for the first Conclave of the Temples since 1872. This allowed the story of the Agala War to spread across the lower Karana and Imo basins, forcing the governors to further their efforts in economical and political consolidation and reintegration, with the eventual goal of reunifying the entire former Solar Realm.

1940s-1956

Main article: Kasai War

Although the 1947 Conclave provided an impetus for the reunification efforts in the lower Karana and Imo, the first overtures towards regional expansion happened earlier. It is known that around the late 1930s or early 1940s, the 29th Airashe Governorate started making overtures towards the 12th Governorate downstream of Karana in order to gain control over the its networks in the Kasai river as well as to assert control over the agricultural land on the right bank of Karana. There is no definitive information about whether Makgato troops took part in the Agala War; whatever the case, the unification proceeded until 1952, when the groundwork was completed. By that time the 6th Shenmesu Governorate consolidated its position in the late 1940s, asserting suzerainty over the 3rd, 8th, and 10th governorates, forming what later became known as the "Shenmesu Clique". The two cliques clashed over the 12th Governorate under the pretext of border demarcation conflict. The resulting Kasai War was a failure of the Makgato governorates, resulting in annexation of the 12th Governorate by the Shenmesu Clique.

The Kasai War was the only major conflict in the lower Karana and Imo. Other governorate cliques consolidated by the 1953, with 5th and 7th governorates consolidating into what later became known as the "Kanokari-Asima Clique", while imo governorates consolidated around 18th Laodan Governorate.