Khazarkar Empire

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The First Khazarkar Empire, the FKE, reigned for 681 years on Gulimbor. It was ruled by monarchies, dictatorships, and ended under the magocracy of the Eldritch Conclave.

The Khazarkar population began to grow rapidly with the formation of the Kingdom of Belkazim on 7 Brightstar 250. Population expansion led to border conflicts with the Tragarans and the minotaurs of the Gulimbor's southern tracts, sector Marninnoth. The first people to fall to Khazarkar warmongering were the minotaur tribes of Imrabêl. The Third Imrabêl War resulted in the destruction of the minotaur holdings and their enslavement. Khazarkar settlers moved into the Imrabêl valley and turned the fertile lands into vast farmlands and vineyards. Over the next thirty years, the population in the area grew at a rapid pace. The town of Athânâlo became the crossroads of the First Khazarkar Empire. By 654, the town had grown to a city, and the capital of the Khazarkar Empire was moved from Akann'ndâb to Athânâlo.

On 12 War March 785, the empire was rocked by the Great Minotaur Revolt (785 - 796). After tens of resistance, feeling the economic consequences, the minotaurs are freed. Nearly all of the minotaurs head west into Azrik.

In 993, the Eldritch Conclave, a magocracy, became the masters of the Khazarkar Empire. The highest mages vied in council for personal power and domination of all those around them. A few short and bloody civil wars resulted as they jockeyed for power.

We will probably die in this assault on the Prismatic Citadel, and who will remember this battle to sate the personal pride of Lady Kelesoj? I feel like just a chess piece, to be removed from the great game of the Eldritch Conclave.

- unknown, "Last Letter Home"

In the Domination Wars (995 - 1016), the First Khazarkar Empire waged war on what they called the Rogue States. These were the empires Burterinii, the Cal-Thaoun Dynasty, Niratar Theocracy and Melephaeusa. Unchecked, mad with power, the Conclave's Web Weavers opened the taps to the Web of Magic. This led to cascades, magic gone sentient, destructive storms bursting with arcane energy, and a changing environment. Some areas went from rainy and temperate to hot and dry. Verdant valleys and dense forests turned into wastelands like the Broken Lands. The unabated use of arcane energy and its effects led to what is known as the Gulimbor Cataclysm (996 - 1203).

In 998, hundreds each month left the war and magic torn lands of Gulimbor and parts of Ma'Ohari. It was the start of the Great Exodus (998 - 1017). With a landscape ravaged and taunted by magical storms, living spells, and things more terrible, the Khazarkars also fled Gulimbor. While the civilian population was taken away, the military continued to do battle. Some captains took to taking civilian ships on the charge of aiding and abetting the enemy. Proof on the vast area of ocean they were patrolling took a long time to sort out. By the time it could get through the navy's court system, the suspect ships were often found to be now be in service to the First Khazarkar Empire; often in an important role like evacuation. The admiral of the time said that there will be a few that search for easy prize money. These we will eventually catch, they get greedy. It was his last important missive before his end at the Battle of Satheon. In this grand naval battle, the navy of the First Khazarkar Empire was effectively destroyed. The only thing they had left were the convoy ships protecting their people's escape from Gulimbor. Thereafter, Ivory Aslyum, victors of the Battle of Satheon, covered the Khazarkar ships traveling the Sea of Mourning. A monumental effort, the Great Exodus saw nearly 500,000 Khazarkar citizens relocated from Gulimbor to Cinazan.

In the eastern tracts of Cinazan, Khazarkar colonists founded dozens of small settlements. In 1017, the coastal town of Bandunazân was made the empire's new capital.

As fate would have it, the suffering was not over. Blamed for destroying the empire, and the embarrassment at Satheon, the Eldritch Civil War (1017 - 1027) ended with the Eldritch Conclave replaced by a theocracy. In 1027, the Church of Set established the Second Khazarkar Empire under a theocracy government called the Pharzîmrâth.

Following the civil war, the many families of nobility accepted the rule of the priests and set about training their own cadre of priests so as not to be left out of governmental affairs. Many of these families hope and some plot that some day the empire will be returned to rule by these noble blood lines. Dras'ee's War (1517 - 1519) was one such attempt at bringing back the days of rule by the highest echelon, the Minâth-Nôrî.

In 1060, the Pharzîmrâth reenacted the Khazarkar Purity Edict. It was done during the empire's western advance across Cinazan. Absorbing peoples and cultures along the way, the empire wanted to keep Khazarkar cultural and racial purity intact.

In 1421, the Gilraen Oligarchy was made a vassal state. After a westward territorial expansion of almost 400 years, the Khazarkars claimed territory from the cold waters of northern Erethor to the shores of the Core Sea. Along the way, and sometimes at odds with the Khazarkar Purity Edict, the empire absorbed the natives, adding Nermaneans, Gradorian descendants of Draguron, hobgoblins, and the Kriavfahliil of Gilraen.

The empire's capital is Nibar-Pharân. The social classes of the empire follow a caste system, with Minâth served by the Terrant and the Corralum.

The Minâth-Nôrî are the empire's noble houses. Relics of the First Khazarkar Empire, no longer the rulers, they still hold considerable influence over affairs. Many are devout worshipers of Set, or so they claim.

In the Third Epoch, the empire made moves beyond the continent of Brucrumus. This raised alarm in the nations bordering the Pearl Sea and the Sea of Mourning. Hundreds of years since the depredations of the First Khazarkar Empire, they still hold a deep distrust of anything Khazarkar.

Architecture

The Khazarkar Empire has many majestic and decorative dwellings. Grand, wealth flaunting architecture is depicted in massive pyramids, pinnacles, colossal monuments, and tall statues of obsidian and Nibarranâth. Statues depict the likeness of their deity Set, former leaders, or heroes of the Batthurâk. State buildings and those in secure areas are commonly decorated with colorful crystals and stones such as Tanulbazar.

The empire's caste system and its disparity of income is evident in the dwellings, the Minâth-Nôrî home to great estates, and the Terrant and Corralum living in varied conditions based on their prosperity.

At night, cities are aglow with varied colored lamps and even crystal orbs that magically float. The most well-lit areas are the main boulevards where elephants and other huge beasts can move without risk of leveling some peasant's home. Each of the empire's cities has a towering statue of Set. Ranging in height and grandeur belying the wealth of the owning temple, they face in the direction of the capital. Some cities have one or more Pyramids of the Setarchs. These massive edifices, closely resembling a Pyramid of Power, are the tombs of the empire's former emperor-priests, the Setarchs.