Rudian Empire

The Rudian empire, The Rudian Shaardom or Saarjabe Rudos in the rudian language, is a powerful militaristic state located in Kabar and covers much of eastern Casary. One of the largest, oldest and strongest nations of the entire known world, Rudia boasts a thousand cultures and a thousand nations, all united in two things, their reverence for the Shaar, and their hatred for their enemies. Rudia is most notably home to one of the largest and most feared armies of the world, the so called "Glorious Grand Army", an army that still refuses all firearms and prefers more ancient weapons and tactics. The Empire has seen many periods and dynasties throughout the ages, dominating the world in one time while dwindling and decaying in the next (at one point being totally vanquished temporarily).

Ancient Rudos
The origin of the ancient state of Rudos remains to this day a mystery. In the official Rudian history scrolls in the library of Karmad, the Rudians are said to be descendants of Liernor, the god of war and the earth. While the historians of Erinia have suggested a more feasible theory, that the rudians people are of relations to athurians, and migrated from Athuria some thousands of years ago. Whatever the case, by the year 1500 BF, there existed a small Rudos state in the eastern part of the Kabar highlands. Rudos was not a Shaardom like the later empire, but was more a federation of small farming communities and a few city states, forming together against external threats such as the Kozuts, Athurians or Margavans. The state had a pretty mundane existence for most of its 100 or so year lifespan, but notably defended itself against numerous invasions, Rudos is credited with playing a major part in resisting the Seringian invasions of Kabar. But according to contemporary records, the state had an immensely corrupt ruling class of politicians and wealthy noblemen, which is what prompted the revolutionary founding of Rudia.

Kuruz the Conqueror
Gladiatorial combat was a big part of Rudos' culture and was immensely popular throughout the state. By the year 1420 BF, a gladiator by the name of Kuruz appeared in the great arena of Karmad. Almost nothing is known about him before he appeared there, only that he was a slave in his original homeland before he was bought by a Rudosi merchant. Kuruz's homeland has often been speculated about, with Athuria, The Moligar Empire, Larmia and Seringia all as possible candidates. Kuruz proved to be an exceptional gladiator and fought his way to become one of the top ranking gladiators in all of Rudos. His weapon of choice is said to have been a giant flail that he could use to turn any man's head into bloody mush with just one strike. But no matter how skilled or famous gladiators became, they would still always be slaves in Rudos. In 1408 BF, Kuruz unexpectedly lead a large gladiator revolt in Karmad, defeating the local garrison and looting the city before dissapearing into the highlands outside the city. Apparently, Kuruz's intentions were initially just to escape and live as a free man, but sometime after his escape from Karmad, his intentions changed. He and his band attracted a large number of devoted followers, angry at the corrupt authorities and the poor economy that they blamed the nobles for. Kuruz began organizing raids and sent recruiters all across Rudos, appealing to the many farmers, beggars and slaves of the country to join them in deposing their unrighteous rulers. This worked exceedingly well, as Kuruz's army may have numbered in the tens of thousands by 1406 BF. The Rudos council deemed this an emergency of the highest caliber, and sent all the forces they could muster to crush the rebels. Kuruz's army soundly defeated the council's forces at the Battle of Turyenal, leaving Karmad completely vulnerable. Kuruz soon swept in to take the city by storm, capturin the stubborn council who had refused to leave the city. One might have guessed that this was the part where Kuruz the barbarian slaughtered the council, looted the city and lived his days in rich laziness in the Karmad palace until a rival nation's army deposed him. But in fact, the exact opposite happened. Kuruz seized all power for himself, but let the council live and even act as his valuable advisers. He burned no buildings, robbed few stores, and kept his slave army as peaceful as he could. After five days of asserting his control in Karmad and the whole country, Kuruz created a new political position called Shaar. The Shaar would act as the supreme leader of the council, and therefore the whole country, now officially named The Rudian Shaardom ("Rudos" became "Rudia" some decades later). Shaar Kuruz settled his liberated slaves in new settlements all across the country and brought economic welfare back to the lower classes at the expense of the upper ones. He also reformed and expanded the army, preparing to wage war against enemy nations. He had at first prepared to fight Athuria in the west, Rudos' greatest rival, but after Margavan raiders burned one of his newly established settlements, he turned his attention to his eastern borders.

Margavan War
Margava had been a growing power in south-eastern Kabar for some decades when Kuruz declared war. It's capital Essafi was a marble of science and culture, and had what were considered unbreachable defences, as well as being situated on top of a small mountain, which provided superb geographical defences. Margava's armies were also quite sizable and renowned for their excellent light archers throughout Kabar and Bungal. It is commonly considered among historians that when Kuruz declared war on Margava in 1404 BF, the Age of Steel ended, and the Age of Rudia began. Using the pretext of Margavan invaders disrupting the peace, Kuruz gathered his army and marched them into Margava's borders. Not much is documented about the invasion, only that the Rudians crushed all Margavan opposition easily and were quickly at Essafi itself, and there would lie their real challenge. No matter how hard he tried, Kuruz could not take the well defended hilltop city, suffering large casualties during a 7 month siege. During that time, the Margavans could have regrouped and perhaps even relieved their capital, if not for the intervention of Seringia who invaded from the north a few months after Kuruz's invasion. With their help, Kuruz managed to starve out the defenders of Efassi and took the city in 1403 BF. Kuruz then begrudgingly made a deal with the Seringians regarding the partition of Margava, territory that he originally intended to take all for himself. The Seringians would take the northernmost part and much of the coastal regions, while Efassi and the southern regions would go to Rudia.

Unsure succession
After the conquest of Margava, Kuruz started to annex the small states at Rudia's southern border. Most of these annexations were bloodless, but in some cases extreme violence and brutality was needed to bring the states to heel. News of these instances of brutality reached the courts of the states of souther Kabar, Mai, Larmia and Baravi. Traditionally enemies and competitors but now they faced a common enemy, and so the the rulers of each kingdom agreed to enter into a coalition against Kuruz in 1401 BF. Bayor, the king of Larmia was insistant on leading the combined forces but the king of Baravi, Sozem, threatened to leave the coalition if so would happen. But before they could act, Kuruz died of a severe fever in Karmad. He left behind him no legitimate sons, only a dozen bastards. So the throne of the Shaar was left open to almost anyone, any commander, bastard or nobleman could have laid a claim to it. But Kuruz's top commanders had forseen this problem, and had already elected a successor among themselves, and whoever they chose would therefore get the support of the army. They elected one of Kuruz's most competent and most feared commanders, Arkos.

Enter Arkos
Arkos the invincible, as he became known as later, was a famed gladiator that joined Kuruz sometime after the battle of Turyenal and served him as a bodyguard. Through his service as a bodyguard, Arkos eardropped on all of Kuruz's most important meetings and councils, and apparently also provided some advice to Kuruz during the Margavan campaign. After showing impressive tactical skills, Kuruz promoted Arkos to command his own forces, which he used to bring numerous small states to hell. Arkos was described as a monstrous figure, standing at 2 meters tall and so strong he used a double-handed great war-axe with only one hand, holding a giant shield in his other hand. The already formidable Kuruz was nearly dwarfed in comparison. Arkos was only 27 when he came to power and was described as a tempered but ambitious leader, one who didn't indulge in as much in drinking and whoring like the Shaars after him. He had a grand vision for a world conquered and united under him, and he pursued this dream brutally and relentlessly.

First Arkosian War
Arkos quickly took control of most of the army after Kuruz died. He then purged it of all those who didn't support him and marched it to Karmad to formalize his position as Shaar. A local noble in Karmad had declared himself the new Shaar there, but when he heard that Arkos was marching his entire army to him, he immediately surrendered the city. Arkos, now officially crowned Shaar, pardoned the noble pretender and promised to do the same to all others who "falsely claimed to be Shaar". This tactic appears to have worked, although some claimants were more stubborn than others and refused cooperation for long periods. But during Arkos' consolidation of his power, the southern coalition had preparing their attack. They figured that since the Shaardom was in disarray from the recent death of Kuruz, now was the best time to put their plans into motion. Sozem of Baravi and Jayor of Larmia had finally agreed on a joint leadership of the combined army, while King Tachames of Mai would simply take a backseat. The size of the army is said to have been around 20,000 men, which would have outnumbered the Rudian army, although not by much. The coalition initially gained much ground and advanced steadily towards Karmad. But that's when Arkos sprang his trap. When the coalition army was deep in Rudian territory, he had his engineers destroy a local dam, which promptly flooded the coalition army. Although the army remained relatively intact and all monarchs survived, the damage was insurmountable. Perhaps as many as 4000 died and many more wounded, and a majority of the provisions, equipment and supplies all washed away. Arkos didn't wait a second. He gathered his forces and stormed the recovering coalition army, wiping it out entirely and killing all Sozem, Jayor and Tachemes.

Alliance with Baravi
But Arkos didn't march to finish the coalition off, nor did he sue for peace. Instead he sent his army to deal with the few remaining pretenders to the throne and went himself back to Karmad. There he wrote a letter to the new regent of Baravi named Lyor Penponic, who had assumed control since the new king of Baravi was still only 7 years old. In the letter, Arkos expressed regret towards the death of King Sozem, and proposed an alliance to Lyor, promising immense wealth and Baravi's rightful place as a powerful nation. Lyor accepted Arkos' offer, although no reason has ever been stated as to why he chose to do so. In 1398 BF, both the armies of Baravi and Rudia invaded Larmia and Mai, and in two months conquered both. Arkos took most of the land for Rudia, giving Baravi only a small strip of Larmia's land, which they were forced to accept. Now around half of Kabar belonged to Rudia, and the only thing that stood between Arkos and absolute control was Athuria.

Conquest of Athuria (Second Arksosian War)
Now having conquered almost half of the entire Kabar and with Baravi as a vassal in all but name, Arkos was ready to face the most powerful state in the Kabar, Athuria. Her armies were usually some of the largest in all of Mikana, and had experienced generals much unlike the bickering monarchs of the southern coalition. But Athuria had some problems in 1397 BF, their armies had been fighting the Vorian Hetrarchy in the west and had drained a portion of its manpower to that. Another problem was the Kozut state to her northern border. The Kozuts were a nomadic people who had recently settled in the Kabar and united under a single state. Although not a great power, their military fielded some very impressive cavalry and they would often prove troublesome for Athuria's interests in the region. While Arkos was consolidating his new territories, he sent an offer to the Kozuts of a join-invasion of Athuria. Although the Kozuts had already received a similar offer from Athuria, they accepted Arkos' offer instead, presumably because of their historical rivalry with Athuria. Not much is recorded of the subsequent invasion of Athuria, only that the Athurian armies were completely crushed by the combined Kozut-Rudian invasion force. The Vorian hetrarchy even later joined the invasion from the west, putting the final nail on Athuria's coffin. Arkos captured Athuria in 1394 BF and officially declared the Kingdom of Athuria over. He made some radical changes to the city by taking the upper classes' wealth and distributing it among the poor, similar to what Kuruz did in Rudia. Arkos rewarded the Kozuts with a portion of the conquered territories and loot, and entered into and official military alliance with the Kozut ruler, Ulan Huyig. Arkos was not so kind to the Vorians however, and would not long after conquer their state and would enslave most of them, starting the Vorian wanderings.

United Kabar
In 1393 BF, Arkos was proclaimed "The Invincible unifier" in Karmad. He now had the largest empire in the world, and a populace fiercely dedicated to him through his social and economic reforms. He made Karmad his administrative center and converted the arena that Kuruz had fought in into his imperial palace. Over the next few years Arkos would preside over one of the greatest periods of prosperity in the history of Kabar. Trade with the Ardenians and Casarians blossomed and created a booming economy. Arkos put most of the money into improving his army, starting the legion of 1000, and elite infantry unit tasked with delivering the final blow to enemy armies during battle. He also improved the army's equipment and commissioned elephants and giant rhinos to be trained as war beasts. Arkos' administration also widely published propaganda to improve the unity of the empire. Much of this propaganda was pointed at the mistrust of foreigners outside of Kabar, a clue to that Arkos had even further conquests in mind.

Prelude
The Rudian standing army became known as "The Glorious Grand Army" in 1390 BF, and the same year was added an official Rudian navy. These were sure signs that Arkos was getting ready for further conquests. He was 38 during this time and was still a very intimidating force although not in his physical prime anymore. In 1391 BF he strengthened the army even further by introducing a law that required all available men to take up arms whenever Rudia was threatened. What "able men" meant really was that the army could conscript anyone they wanted as long as there was war, and war would soon arrive. Arkos was still unhappy that he had to partition Margava with the Seringian Empire, and conquering it would open up the way to the Bungal peninsula, a land rich in resources. Since the Seringians had attempted to conquer Kabar a few decades earlier, it was easy for Arkos to paint them as foreign conquerors that needed to be expelled from dealt with. In February 1388 BF, Arkos called up all his generals to gather at Karmad, they would soon march on Seringia.

Seringian defence
The Seringian Empire was without a doubt the dominant force in the Bungals in the 1390s BF. It controlled a majority of the peninsula, only lacking old Mikarae and other southern kingdoms. Fighting these kingdoms had weakened Seringia for some time, but when Arkos conquered Athuria and the Vorians, the Seringian emperor named Hyrtr Dawid decided to withdraw from his wars in the south and focus on defence against the growing threat of Rudia. Over the next two years, Dawid had built a great fortress on the river Bokrid, which marks the boundaries of Casary and Mikana. This fortress was one of the finest of its time, acting as a safety net for retreat from Seringia's Margavan territories. The fort, named Belskar ("vigilant" in old seringian), was completed by the end of 1389 BF, two and a half months before Arkos invaded. Historians often put very different estimates on the size of Arkos' army, the numbers between 200,000 up to 1,000,000 being the most prevelant (If Arkos' army did indeed muber up to a million, then it was the first army to do so). Whatever the size, it was one of the most terrifying armies ever assembled, featuring Kozut nomads, Athurian archers, Larmian cavalry and the famed freed gladiators. At the mere sight of this army, the Seringians abandoned Margava immediately and retreated to Fort Belskar.