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Sabarine Empire Imperium Sabarinum | |
|---|---|
| 412 BCE–1819 | |
 Coat of arms
| |
| Capital | Sabaria |
| Common languages | Sabarine Idrean (late empire) |
| Religion | Apostolic Perendism |
| Government | Autocracy (First Empire) Absolute monarchy (Second Empire) |
| Emperor | |
• 412BCE–389BCE (first) | Petellius (as King) |
• 1808–1816 (last) | Philip IV |
| History | |
• Established | 412 BCE |
• Imperialis Period | 31 |
• Second Empire | 501 |
• Treaty of Breun | 920 |
• Fourth War of the Eagles | 1411 |
• Disestablished | 1819 |
The Sabarine Empire (Sabarine: Imperium Sabarinum) was an empire which ruled over much of Auressia and parts of Idica between 412 BCE and 1819.
Historians generally divide the Empire into two distinct periods, the First Sabarine Empire from 412 BCE to 501 CE and the Second Sabarine Empire from 501 to 1819. Whilst the First Empire saw Sabarine territory cover Auressia and Idica under an autocratic system of government centred on the Emperor, the Second Empire saw Sabaria's borders retreat into Occidental Auressia with much greater power and autonomy vested in the vassals of the now elective Emperor.
Throughout their rule the Sabarines greatly influenced the culture, demographics and economies of the regions which they controlled, with the Sabarine systems of law and government still influencing modern states today. The Sabarines are also credited with influencing the spread and development of Perendism, cementing it as the dominant faith in the western world. Many historians argue that the Sabarine Empire was perhaps the most important and influential empire in history, laying the groundwork for the modern world as we know it today.
The Sabarine Empire is generally thought to have been formed at some point in the Fifth-Century BCE following the consolidation of the Ardaic League under the rule of the Sabarine Kings. This new empire quickly conquered much of the territory across Auressia as well as parts of Idica. Whilst the Sabarine government would quickly morph into an autocratic system under the rule of the Emperor, Sabarian rule saw the simultaneous spread of legal codes, political representation and citizenship across the imperial provinces. As the Empire came under threat from barbarian migrations as well as internal power disputes, Sabaria's frontiers rapidly began to contract, soon centering on the imperial heartland of Occidental Auressia. The rise of Isaric raiders across the continent almost led to the empire's collapse though a series of military-minded emperor's allowed Sabaria to retain its independence and rebuild, albeit smaller and with power decentralised amongst the provincial lords. Such reforms would eventually culminate in the creation of an elective monarchy with the Emperor chosen by the foremost ecclesiastical and secular Princes of the Empire.
Throughout the medieval and early-modern period the power of the Emperor continued to wane as a succession of states including Blayk and Vervillia were able to gain their independence. The Wars of the Eagles, a series of conflicts between the Empire's most powerful vassals, further weakened Sabaria and drove more power into the hands of the imperial subjects and away from the increasingly symbolic Emperor.
The Empire collapsed in the aftermath of the Great Upheaval as revolution toppled the rule of John III of Palia, with successive attempts to restore the monarchy under Philip IV of Barcia quashed at the 1816 Congress of Sabaria. In the following years the Empire would be reformed into the Occidental Confederacy influenced by revolutionary ideas of republicanism and limited government. Whilst the Occidental Confederacy remains today, attempts to revive the empire in the Twentieth Century under the rule of Gabriel Zárate are seen by some as a Third Sabarine Empire though such attempts were ultimately defeated with the surrender of Lancero Palia in 1943 and the reestablishment of the Occidental Confederacy.
History
Foundation
Evidence for an exact date for the founding of Sabaria is tenuous at best, though most historians generally agree the city was founded at some point in the late Ninth Century BCE. The traditional date for the founding of Sabaria is 804 BCE which is based on calculations from the work of Pollius the Younger by Nineteenth-Century Barcian historian and author of The Complete History of Sabaria, Carlo di Pasqua. Little is known about early Sabaria due to the destruction of most early sources, though clues as to the city's founding can be derived from myth and legend.
What is known is that Sabaria was a militaristic city state which was regularly in conflict with a number of its neighbours, notably thr Rudii and Camerians. Archeological evidence of bronze and ironworking for tools and spears also appears from this time. Sabarine legends however suggest that the city was founded by an eponymous hero named Sabarius who was tasked with scaling the Occidental mountains to slay a great dragon which was terrorising the people of the continent. After slaying this dragon Sabarius descended the mountains to find a virgin plain along the Idro river where the spirits commanded him to build a settlement that "would become the foremost city in existence and the centre of all things".
Sabaria was believed to have endured a number of raids in its early years predominantly from the neighbouring Rudii tribe. These raids and a series of early wars known as the Rudic Wars prompted Sabaris to form the Ardaic League with a number of friendly neighbouring cities in Fifth-Century BCE. This League though originally under the leadership of Ardea would quickly come to be dominated by Sabaria due to its military success against the Camerians. By 412 BCE the Sabarine League would become almost completely subordinated under the rule of the Sabarine Kings with the other states of the League firmly established as vassals paying tribute to their overlord. Historians would label this new period the Dominate period as power came to be centralised under the rule of King Petellius of Sabaria and is used by some to mark the beginning of the Sabarine Empire.
First Empire
- Main article: First Sabarine Empire
Second Empire
- Main article: Second Sabarine Empire
Dissolution
Geography
First Empire
By the Sixth Century and the emergence of the Second Empire, Sabarine territory had been predominantly been consigned to Occidental Auressia. Whilst the Emperor retained control over the lands around Sabaria and the north-east in Forlana and Russeto, the vassals of the empire maintained high degrees of autonomy in their rule of the rest of the Sabarine lands. Whilst the subjects of the Emperor were required to swear fealty, submit to imperial law, submit taxation and could petition the Emperor in cases of final appeal. Nevertheless, the vassals of the Empire retained their own banners and were responsible for local justice and administration. Over time the autonomy and power of these vassals relative to the Emperor only began to grow. By the Tenth Century the territories of Blayk and Vervillia began to break away from the Empire, leading the Imperial frontiers to fall further southwards.
Language
For much of the Empire's history Sabarine was the official language, spoken by the majority of the citizen population of the empire and used in legal codes and literature. Early forms of Old Sabarine written in archaic script from before the Fifth-Century BCE have been found in sites centred around Sabaria, with the oldest surviving example being the Black stone inscriptions. These inscriptions were taken from an ancient shrine within the city of Sabaria and are written in boustrophedon, an early style of writing where alternating lines of writing are reversed and mirrored. Early Sabarine script was much closer to Savolian than the modern variant and attempts to decipher the inscription have been met with limited success.
Most early examples of Sabarine proper stem from the Sabarine League or early Empire and include legal tablets and grafitti. Fragments remaining from the Library of Sabaria discovered in Antosa in 1546 remain the largest body of the Sabarine language from the Imperial period and the main original source of the language from the Empire. As the Empire expanded, Sabarine came to be used in the conquered provinces which much of the lay population adopting it through trade. Knowledge of Sabarine as a requirement for citizenship remained a constant throughout much of the imperial period leading to a wide uptake in the language amongst the provincial elite, even amongst Isaric landowners and rulers in the late Imperial period. Nevertheless, many native languages particularly at the fringes of the empire remained in use amongst the majority of the lay population and in a number of cases remained in use for legal and administrative purposes in areas of Oriental Auressia and Idica.
With the contraction of the empire around the Sixth Century Sabarine became relegated to merely the languge of law and administration whilst vulgar or corrupted variants of the Sabarine language began to take hold amongst the lay population with a variety of dialects emerging across the provinces of the Empire. By the early modern period, Sabarine remained in use for legal and administrative purposes but was gradually being eclipsed by Idrean which began to take hold as a common trading language across eastern Occidental Auressia. Over time Idrean would be adopted by various royal courts across the empire, further relegating Sabarine. By the Eighteenth Century and the standardisation of Idrean, Sabarine only remained in use as a scholarly and religious language whilst Idrean was adopted as the new language of the state.