Snefaldian Sandbox

[Snefaldia]

Historical Accounts of Snefaldia

"We have divided ourselves from the West, as it has always been, and have coursed a fresh path outside the creeds and crowns of those lands. No, sir, Hoptŏgën stands apart, existing by right of the Teaching. No Elvish hand has deigned to crown us Prince of the East, as it is with the Chamavens, nor has the mystical hand of the so-called Christ World-Ruler decked our kings in purple cloth. Hoptŏgën is united in sacred purpose, by the soil itself and the blood which has nourished it, and our people are separate. You speak about the West as the beacon of culture and light, but you see us only through a poorly-trimmed candle, smoking and unclear."
Letter of Loremaster Matiy Zivan to the Segovan Reformers, 1815.

"Took strannge winds past Mid-Night, takenn off course. Land spotted at daybreak, wind harde on tack. Ta'us bless us! let it be the Excalbian Islands. The Christ-Worshippers will burne Us if't is New Rome. "
-Captain's Log, the Vaynaa Gold, final entry, 1781

"For men of the est with men of the west, as it were undir the same partie of hevene, acordeth more in sownynge of speche than men of the north with men of the south, therfore it is that Dayens, that beeth men of myddel sneeuw-falle-land, as it were parteners of the endes, understondeth better the side langages, northerne and southerne, than northerne and southerne understondeth either other…"
-Frisian Jellrich Walingse, in 1387, speaking of the difference of dialect in Snefaldia

"Nalda, called by his own people "The Teisnayan," to whom Ratuum [Ratuum Ta'us, Hegemon-Prince of Serasarda] had sent an ambassador, though of no great power in the beginning of his reign, had enlarged it so much by a series of successes, of which there are few examples, that he was commonly surnamed "Great King". After having overthrown and almost ruined the failing family of the Nērdàl Kings, successors of the great Kmuw; after having very often humbled the pride of the Bajeo, transported whole cities of Sendar into Dayan, conquered all the South and northern lowlands, and given laws to the Neeri called Tablets, he reigned with an authority respected by all the princes of the world. The people paid him honours after the manners of the East, even to adoration."
- Palaamian chronicler Muhammad ibn Muhammad in 1500 CE, on the accomplishments of Nál Dá Têisnáyán, Great King of Neer Dal circa 1100 CE

[Snefaldia]

SIC

Email correspondences, Special Minister Rolindil Morsarthas, Ministry of War, of James Korvik-Hantili, head of the Military R&D's special operations division.

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Jim,

Got your message from Thurs. Will be over by train to take a tour of the facility. Schedule a test run for Tues. next.

R.

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Tuesday is much too early for a full test, most of the leads haven't been connected yet and we're still running diagnostic on the server clusters to work out response time issues. The cyberneticist from K. Corp., Vatghan, started a scattershot stress Friday morning to resolve issues with pattern recognition and judgement.

We'll be nowhere near ready for a test run by Tuesday- there's too much to be done.
-James

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Jim,

I'll see whatever you've got. D & T are anxious, want production up, and I need something to show them. K. Corp squint is working out well?

R.

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The whole div. is moving as fast as we can without making mistakes and you'll trust me when I say this is last project to make mistakes on if you want this thing to work here and not on Trid. Vatghan is a genius- however much K. Corp. got for him to come over isn't enough, and he's done stuff with the scraps we picked up in '07 we wouldn't have dreamed. Funding makes all the difference, now that we have it.

You can see the results from the scattershot when you arrive. I think you'll be impressed by what we have so far.

-James

[Snefaldia]

An except from Gantila of Tarhuntassa's Atlas of Lands, 1410 CE.

A great encyclopedia commissioned by King Mashkuiluwa II of Washukanni, Gantila's Atlas was intended as the king's response to his rival, King Wagasanali IV of Isaardlang, who had in 1395 convened the Conclave at Tejaara to codify the young faith of Aatem Nal. A devout practitioner of the faith, Mashkuiluwa ordered Gantila, a respected member of the faith and noted chronicler, to compile a study of as much of Snefaldia as he could. His Atlas was noted not just for maps, drawn in the style of the Teisnayan Empire of Neerl Dal that had come north in the 14th century, but also for the cultural and geographical writings Gantila collated from reports and existing records.

...and in the east of that basin, rising up from where the Saard runs, is what is called the Tasadar, or Dos-dau-ren in the tongue of the Dayan who reside there.It is green and good of farming, or of herding, but in particular the many forests are of note, which have trees not known in the rest of the South save the very south where the Vischaya are, but the Tasadar Dayan take great pride in their forests and the great works they make with it. There is a great river, forking in twain and generated out from a bend in the Saard to the north, where that mighty river touches the southern border of our own domain of Washukanni, the Vinselvymo as they call it, or the Green-gem, and the other branch the Maurtgym, the Murkymud. The Tasadars regard it as separating them from their western kin, though it is much smaller than its parent.

Their space is bound in the east by a respectable spur of hills and mountains, dividing what is called Dayan from Bae-land, running from the north and the Asharaatsuyts to south as far as the eastern part of the Vischayan empire, and curving away to the east against those great Seril mountains. These hills are called in Serasarda the Asarats Kelangatyuut, Kelangat's Mountains, after the third Trimna who was victorious at Yanzi against the Bae-folk. The Dayans do not call is thus, and instead name it the Nertorn Auniqma, Auniq's Mounds, for that is their name for the god Washuk and they worship him in its foothills.

They are not united, as they once were in the Tausite's day and the dominion of the princes, but have many lords and kings among them who, professing either for or against Aatem Nal rule their people evenly. It is their custom to raise women to the throne of their lands, and do not make it practice to exclude them from rule or administration. It is custom in some cases for the notable people of the city to, upon the death of their last lord, choose from among themselves one to replace the deceased, but so often it is the heir of the departed they can be said to have dynasties, just as our august King of Washukanni has, though much less ancient and noble for their democratic tendency. There is one king who can be said to have a great and respected clan, whose lands are those north where Bae-land and the Kelangayuut begin, of the name Manar-Auniq-Manar, whose father was Auniq-ra-taka, whose father was Aunig-no-gen. They rever Washuk muchly there, but Ta'us as well, for this King has named his son Ta'us-atum-Ta'us, having married a princess of Tavvakum; he is as our glorious King devout in his obeisance to the Great Teaching, and sent a delegate to Tejaara for the Great Debate, but he reveres Washuk above other gods as is his family custom. He is vigorous in defense of his land against incursions from those folk who live north of Bae-land, and the Bae-folk themselves, and people of the Mountain Valley who worship the many-armed gods, and hill-tribes.

They are known well, the Tasadars, for their growing of grapes and fermentation of wine, and they claim to have invented the means by which spirits are distilled thereof, and specialize in doing so for wine but I can place no stock in their claim, as it is well-known the Vischayans were first to do so and spread it even to our own great city and across the land. It is custom for them to drink wine mixed with spirits, consecrated to some god, and imbibe great amounts of it in a sacred glade, and to revel naked under the deity's influence. Such a practice I have heard is common in all Dayan, and in Allakash to the west, but in their devotion to Washuk the Tasadars are known to excel in their debauch.

I have heard from men of that country that they raise sheep, and pigs, and cattle that rival in taste those of Isaardlang and Ishuwa, but it cannot be true, so I have discounted their silly tales for the boasting of prideful men. It is true, though, that like all Dayan their wheat comes in many colors- white, gold, and red particularly- and that they learned of baking from the ancients of the west, just as we have, though they say they taught it to the Vischayans and the Bae-folk, and their red breads are the envy of all the north, but are said to be inferior to the hearth-goods of their southern Dayan cousins, along the border with Vischaya, though I imagine the contention between them is as of brothers between two fine coursers, that is amounting to nothing more than the contention of the blood for one to excel over the other.

[Snefaldia]

Excerpt from "Falanda's Sword," a popular Neer Dal myth of the forge-god Falanda, 9th century CE.

Falanda, or Vaul the Hammersmith, called Wayland in Dayan, Welendaz in Sring Issa, is an important figure in the pre-Teisnayan religion of the Neeri people and associated with the end of the rule of the gods, the arrival of the People of the Word, and the eventual rise of the Minayan Kingdom in the 7th century. Although there are many versions of the myth, the most enduring aspects of the story involved Falanda, the artificer of the Elders, the god-like beings who inhabited early creation, and his creation of a powerful sword with a terrible doom. Falanda's hubris, and his belief that none could ever surpass him, is prophesied to bring ruin to the Elders by the chief among them, Eldan, who forsees their doom should the blade ever be returned to their mythical home.

This 9th century version of the myth, compiled by the Minayan chroniclers, lists the sword as having been put into the keeping of the "People of the Word" by Falanda, who realized the error of his pride, and who then taught them the great arts of smithing and metalworking. The end of the myth concludes with a long genealogical exposition on how the ruling family of Minaya descended from these ancient and semi-mythical superpeople.

Falanda, commonly called Vaul, and the worship of the other Elders (Lindai and Eldan included) was de-emphasized beginning in the 12th century, when the Teisnayan dynasty of Neer Dal turned to a state-sanctioned worship of nature and ancestors, although the deities are still worshipped in some cult centers in the South of Snefaldia.

After the world had come to be, and all that was took on its first form, and after the great days of the youth of creation when the Elders were still fresh in the world, Falanda conceived in his heart to forge a blade to surpass all others he had made in the dawn of the world when he first learned his craft, and so retreated from fair Ilmar to his foundry under Asgaldn, father of mountains, and drawing the fires of the Elders he set about his task.

Long Falanda labored, coaxing out the precious metals of the ground and tempering the molten ore in the pure water that ran down from Ilmar the fair, and poured in the blade the power he had been given when he was thrust into the world, and laboured long at his anvil.

Now in high Ilmar the Elders were accustomed to depart and wander to and fro in the vastness of creation, amongst the eldest of the world and the youngest, and observe the works they set in motion when they came from Outside, but so long did Falanda labour beneath great Asgaldn, his brethren feared, and so great was the issue of smoke, white and black, that poured from his smithy always they feared Asgaldn himself was raising up to walk and spit fire and molten metal. But Eldan, the far-seeing, said only “Fear not.” and of Falanda he said, “yea, his labors are not yet begun.” Then he said no more.

At long last he emerged from beneath the great father of mountains round whom the world turns no more, and bore aloft his creation. “I have poured myself into it.” Falanda proclaimed, his face dark and his proud body made black by the soot of the foundry, “Yea, it shines as an untouched pool beneath the starlight, and brighter than the gold and silver in the halls of Ilmar. Sharper it is than any knife of the Elders, lighter than any feather oft he great birds of Aum, yea it shall not be surpassed from now until the end of the creation.”

Therefore all the Elders who stood watching from high Ilmar were in awe at Falanda and the object he had wrought, marveling at his power. “Truly you are the great smith.” they said as one, “and though you teach your craft to your children of the world, surely they shall never surpass you.”

But Eldan, the clear-eyed, the oldest of them, was silent, for it was and always is that Eldan perceives what has been and shall be as through an untarnished mirror, and he gave Falanda, whom the people of Atan call Welendaz, the Heavy-Hand, question, asking “Long Falanda labored, yea, long ages indeed. Now he is arrayed as no other Elder, yea, he can not be matched in arms by any child of Ilmar.”

“Aye, and never shall my craft be equaled, nor my art broken! Nought but the power of the One could match me, or cast it in twain!” Falanda cried proudly. “And all that is shall know it. I shall ride, and the Young will know my triumph through these long ages.”

Again Eldan spoke not, but it was Lindai, Bright-Handed Lindai, Thundering Lindai, rising in his fury with eyes flashing silver who spoke. "Ware Falanda, you prideful boaster, riding as you will among the Young, remembering the voice of the Earth when we came in the early days, that we are as guides only, not made to rule, but serve out allotted space, for a Power great has doomed it so."

And Lindai, the raging storm, fell silent, and deferred to Eldan, eldest and wisest, who gave his peace to Falanda, still flushed with pride at his act, and whom sped from fair Ilmar with eagerness and haste. But Eldan spoke, his eyes gazing clear and bright through the clouds at what none of the Eldest could see, and spoke- "Hail Falanda, called Vaul among the Speakers, set in motion is our loss, and the ending of our spring. Never will your blade return to Ilmar, lest it is for our ending."

[Snefaldia]

excerpt from the journal of John Myriokephalon, Chalcedonian diplomat in Serasarda, 1801

Myriokephalon was a low-ranked diplomatic figure representing Imperial Chalcedonian interests to the Segovan government from 1790 until 1802, keeping a journal for most of those years chronicling his experiences. Serasarda was at the time the center of learning, culture, and politics in most of Snefaldia (excluding the Empire of Bae, the Neeri polities, and the lands under control of the ensi of Korsahadi Allasha.

Throughout his writings, he expressed a fascination with the cultural and religious practices of the Snefaldian people, fascination sometimes at odds with his Orthodox background. He was perhaps affected by the Decree to Return the People to their Homes in 1799, an Aatem Nal document that essentially ended the flowering of Serasardan science and culture and diffused hundreds of thousands of courtiers, diplomats, nobles, artists, merchants, and others throughout the Segovan domain.

In these days the religious processions and engagements are not as they once were, having been these two years affected by the great emptying of the city proclaimed by the Librarians. Those that remain, such as they are, still carry out the those ceremonies and celebrations that were organized by their forefathers.

I dined with the Lord of Hraïnaz Kîkanân last evening, and returned home by carriage, and at Avenue Trimna III were halted by a grand procession to the shrine of that vicinity. I inquired, and was told that this was the birthday of the god, and which the people always celebrate with food, and music, and the burning of candles and incense. My aide spoke of the local god as if he was a real person, and when I expressed my curiosity, he stated that the god had been real; his name was known, as was the date of his birth and death, and that it was known among all the Sringi, Neeri, Tasadars, and other tribes in the land that any mortal can become a god after death, if they are so worthy. I questioned further, asking his what sort of man might be so worthy to be celebrated with day-long revelries and fervent devotion, and it was relayed to me that this god had lived some five hundred years ago, during the great Siege, and given his life near where we now stood to provide for the escape of his neighbors.

I have heard and seen that it is common for the departed ancestors, those that we faithful believe dwell in Christ, to visit their descendants in dreams and prayers. My aide, who is a man of this city himself, said that it was so, and told me further that this god, who was named Turiyawarka , had no shrine until the time of his own grandfather, until he visited a local merchant in his dreams and warned him of a band of thieves who sought to rob him. Surely the merchant was careful, and prepared himself, and so caught the criminals as they came, ascribing his success to the god he built him a shrine and made offerings their regularly.

The tumult passed we continued on the way and I inquired further, asking if it was common for mortals to become gods. He affirmed it, saying that according to the cycles of nature it was common in some times and not in others; before the arrival of the Arsaths the people believed the spirits resided around them always, and made sacrifices to them many times, revering some elders and ancestors among them who had been great in life and efficacious in death. After the scholars came the spirits spoke less to the people, and after the Segovan was created it seemed the gods and spirits spoke more. He said that he did not understand it himself, but he heard that in different places in Snefaldia it was common for the gods and the spirits to walk among men, and that it took many forms; in the great smoking city of Kand they worship a pyramid, which holds all the souls of the dead, and in Mahavijya they worship trees.

Their practices are certainly interesting, but I am not surprised their state in disarray and the people are in a harried state. With such diverse beliefs, how can one man feel kinship with another? We have no such problem in the Empire, where Christ is our common bond.

[Snefaldia]

selection from Nawlë Arsaþ Hât-Raänun's "The Luwite Heritage of Allasha, Dayan, Sring Issa, and the former Luwas in the East," 1875

Hât-Raänun (1845-1905) was an Aatem Nal theorist and later prominent Republican whose writings had a large impact on Pan-Luwian thought and the unification of the Snefaldia under the Republic. From a conservative Ishuwan family with links to the kingly house, he entered Aatem Nal and became interested in the ethnic history of the Luwites, who migrated into Snefaldia some 3000 years ago. He came to the understanding that the Sringi, Dayan, and Allashan (and Great Luwian) peoples were interrelated, an understanding at odds with predominant royalist, chauvinist, and ultraconservative leaders in Aatem Nal and the Sringi leadership.

He publishd his "Luwite Heritage" book in 1875, and although it was popular, it caused political troubles and he was never able to rise above the rank of Scholar due to political pressure. He was expelled from Aatem Nal in 1878 after publishing tracts supporting the policies of Sønël Tåsøll, who in 1835 led an armed rebellion of pro-Segovan forces against an alliance of Aatem Nal conservative forces.

He then went on to become an associate of Marto Quilmar, later first Chancellor of the Republic, and became involved heavily int he Republican movement, helping to organize the Republican Army and receiving the rank of General. He lived to see the establishment of the Republic, and died of illness while on campaign against the Empire of Bae.

In current times it is forgotten by most people that there is a shared heritage linking together many of races of Snefaldia, despite the great differences between them in language and custom. The people of Sring Issa, those of Dayan, and of Allasha are descended from the same thirty-six tribes of Luwas who came over the Velnar Mountains in ages long-past, entering the Land-Between-the-Mountains and creating civilization.

Of the thirty-six tribes, 18 remained in Sring Issa, 9 went to Dayan, 6 went to Allasha, and the final three made their homes Great Luwas, what is today Bae. As it is known, the landscape of a place may change the minds, souls, and bodies of a people, and it is no different with the descendants of these thirty-six tribes. Those people in Allasha found the climate hot and harsh, and so their skin darkened to combat the sun and the sand, and in their huddled cities they remembered the gods of their ancestors and worshipped them in the way that seem right to them in their new land.

As for Dayan and Sring Issa, today language divides them; the Bagura of the central plains and fields and forests holds little connection to the tongue of the north, but it is clear that they once shared a common language; the words inscribed on the Stela of Vultures, that monument to the third King Trimna's conquest of his brothers in the east, are almost the same as those on the Rock of Wołlmænö that lists the gifts given by the city worthies for the festival of the god Uhhaziti. This was over 1500 years ago, and from that time until the conquest by Edram Ta'us of the lands of the north, the tongues diverged further.

Now, in Snefaldia, there is a great movement to reunite the separate lands of the Luwite peoples, and bring together those of the people of Bae, and the Neeri in the south. In Allasha, and Dayan, and Sring Issa, there is opposition from the separate kings and lords and other polities (such as they are), saying things such as "we are independent" or "we have no kinship among us." This thinking is not correct, for in the end the ancestors of all of us are of the same people, having come across the mountains into our lands from the same place of birth.

I wish to speak also of that lands; what is called "Old Luwas" by some (though in truth this word is also used to denote the former lands of Great Luwas, conquered by the Bajeong). Sabaristan lies to the north of the Velnars, the lands of the horse-lords, though in the misty days of antiquity it is not known whether they inhabited that land. Perhaps it was here, in what is now the range of the Sabari khans, that the Luwites emerged; or perhaps it was further still afield. There is an old poem in Taygattë, which ends "the stars no longer shine upon Old Lawasa," and it is here that I think the truth may be gleaned.

Hoptŏgën is our land, and we are bounded in kinship, or by love of it, or by reverence of its spirits and the ancestors who lived and passed here.

[Snefaldia]

Selection from "The Origin of Words," by 19th century Sringi linguist and antiquarian Pihasassi Kuwanti

Born in the remote mountain village of Huluganni in 1845, Kuwanti spent his early life among the shepherds and mountain-folk of the Velnar mountains, learning ancient stories from both the Sringi and mallash denizens of the area. He would later say his fondest memory was exploring the ancient ruins in the hills and valleys around his village and imagining the ancient Luwites who built them. Joining Aatem Nal, he would go on to study at the Grand Library of Serasarda, and would ultimately become one of the first modern Snefaldians to travel into Vasconia and attend school in Caldas.

In 1866, he returned to Snefaldia and, with the sponsorship of local noble patrons, undertook a comprehensive archaeological study of the Velnar foothills, identifying some thirty-five important archaeological sites and excavating several of them over the next ten years. His techniques are now considered primitive, but his dig at the ancient site of Enissan in 1879 revealed a treasure-trove of early Luwite artifacts of gold and jewels, the discovery of which sparked a new interest in early Luwite studies. Injured in a dig accident in 1881, he turned to linguistics, producing translations of ancient Luwite texts and inscriptions and writing books on the common culture of the Allashans, Dayan, Sringi, and Matoluwian people. His "Origin of Words" was a popular work exploring the relationship between words in modern Sringi and their ancient antecedents.

We must turn now to a very consequential word, "hassatar," which is now used to refer to the official household register one must maintain for the state. In its legal format, it is a list of births, marriages, and deaths within the family unit. The word itself means "lineage," or "family line," and was used as recently at ninety years ago in hymns and poems to the royal families of Isaärdlang and Washukanni in that form. It has now become obsolete, I believe due to the legal reforms at the close of the Tåsœllian Wars.

But we must look at this word to understand more of where our current tongue descends, and given its origin it is fitting. The old Sringi word for the house is "hassa," and before that, originated in the verb "has," to give birth. Thus we see in the ancient mind the genesis of the house was the woman, who produced children for the family and thus continued the lineage. Without the generative act and giving birth, in the mind of the ancients, there could be no home. "Hassant" takes this idea further: the word refers to the legitimate son, and in "hassa-hanzassa" we see the grand-son and great-grand-son.

This is all elementary, though. It is when we examine the relationship with the family and the nation that the meanings truly illuminate; "hassu" is the king and "hassusara" is the queen, all words borne from that same word for birth. In the ancient Sringi they used the ideogram known as "LUGAL" to represent a royal person in writing, which we known not to be pronounced, and from which we see how the ancients graded their relations with other.

The kings of the ancients were great chiefs, men who led their tribes over the mountains and into the sedentary life of herders and farmers; their homes were not palaces in the sense of our great kings today, but instead merely large houses befitting their rank. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that their name should reflect this: the king is the man of the great house, and the queen the woman of the king. We also know that "hassuwai" means to govern as the king should govern, again reflect the origin of this word in the management of the home.

The king orders the home, reflected in his bloodlines. The center of the ancient world, and thus reflected in their language, was the procreative act, and the act of giving birth. Can this heritage be invisible today? The kings of the past took multiple wives, as did the queens, and this practice persists in some parts of Dayan and Allasha. It was, perhaps, peculiar to their tribe. But what has not changed is the emphasis on lineage, the recording of those births and deaths. The lord who could not do so would lose the lordship, because in his world the lordship revolved around that idea, which links birth and the home and thus the idea of the kingship itself.

[Snefaldia]

OOC: the following is a top-secret report on Army military readiness; it is provided only as color commentary on future and existing RPs, and is not a document that would be available outside the Central Military Commission and the Supreme Council of Snefaldia.

TOP SECRET - EYES ONLY
Central Military Commission of Snefaldia

Report on Army Military Readiness

Compiled by the Commission on Military Readiness, Research Bureau, General Staff Department

General Summary

This report is broken down into three categories assessing the military readiness of the Snefaldian Army, namely capability, readiness, and capacity. In conjunction with the officers of the General Logistics and General Armaments Departments, this represents the first complete analysis of the Army within the last eight years; previous assessments lacked the analysis of data and granular reports from the battalion and company levels that we now present.

The Army is Snefaldia's primary land warfare component. Although it addresses all types of operations across the range of ground force employment, its chief value to the nation is its ability to defeat and destroy enemy land forces in battle. Despite a steady increase in funding and the reinforcement of mandates to modernize the Army, efforts to comprehensively enact the modernization policy have been piece-meal, in sharp contrast to the efforts of the Navy and Air Force. To that end, of the 18 Group Armies, a full 11 have still not completed the process of introducing new AY144L assault rifles to active-duty personnel, and have neglected to introduce a regularized training schedule on the Cockatrice and Shepherd rocket artillery systems, or the LY6 tank destroyer. Additionally, regular active-duty training is lacking in differing levels across all 18 Group Armies, leaving readiness sorely lacking for the regular army forces.

These issues arise from and are compounded by political instability and confusion among the officer corps at and below the rank of lieutenant about the mission of the Army and the Armed Forces in general, especially for officers who received a commission after 2015. This report did not involve, but includes important data from, the General Political Department, and it is in the opinion of this Commission that the CMC immediately redouble efforts of the GPD to ensure ideological clarity and stability within the officer corps.

With the notable exception of the Special Forces this commission will show that in the categories of capacity and capability, the Army must be rated "weak;" only in the category of readiness is the Army rated "marginal." We note that as the Special Forces have a unique and separate command structure, procurement, and training regimen, and are the only section of the Army to have experienced combat in the past decade, they have been spared the degradation of capability experienced by the Army in general.

In short, although the Army has benefitted greatly by the increase in appropriations, procurement of modern materiel, and reorganization of the command structure and Army Group system in the past decade, there is urgent work to be done in order to bring the Army's fighting capability up to the level of the Navy and Air Forces.

We begin the detailed analysis below with an evaluation of the armament stocks and quartermaster capabilities:

[Snefaldia]

Royal and Noble Houses of Snefaldia, Part 1:
the House of Wagasanali

The former royal house of Wagasanali was the longest-ruling and most prestigious royal line in what is now modern Snefaldia; originating as ducal feudatories of the medieval Kings of Isaardlang in Sring Issa, the family under Duke Hattušul overthrew King Mafanda III and assumed the throne of Isaardlang in 1302. In fulfillment of the religious prophecy that had animated his rebellion, he declared that the name of his house would be "Wagasanali," as well as his own regnal name, that his father, the murdered Duke Supiluma, would be remembered as "Wagasanali I." His own son took the regnal title Wagasanli III, and began the tradition of each sovereign taking same title.

The power of the Wagasanlids expanded as they became early patrons and defenders of the religion of Aatem Nal, and adherence to and support of the faith became inextricable from Wagasanalid power and influence, and in 1380 assumed the ancient title of "High King of the Luwites," previously held by the defunct King of Serasarda. Over the next several hundred years, Wagasanalid power expanded through marriage and conquest; in addition to their Kingdom of Isaardlang they came to rule over nearly a dozen small feudal and royal states as High King; the so-called "Kingdom of the Luwites." By the 1800s, the Wagasanalids were the preeminent state in northern and central Snefaldia, and pro-Wagasanalid thinkers in the Segovan govermnent were referred to as "Imperials" for their exultation of royal prerogatives and strong central rule, in opposition to liberal reformers and clerics.

In the 1820s and 30s, the Wagasanalids and their Imperial supporters emerged from the Tausollian wars in control of the largest land empire in the Five Lands of Snefaldia, and in 1834 formally create the Luwite Empire, adding the imperial title to both the title of High King and King of Isaardlang, the so-called "Triple Sovereign." Over the next century, the royal house reached the zenith and then ebb of its power, its ultraconservative politics clashing with changing social and economic systems. Fighting a conflict with Republican theorists and later rebellions within its empire, Wagasanalid power was finally broken after 8 centuries in 1895, with the abdication of Wagasanali XIV, the last Triple Sovereign. The family lost almost all of its political influence but managed to maintain some its wealth, but was effectively in the wilderness during the radical years of the early Republic.

After the Great War, many of the political rights of those former royal and noble houses that had lost were restored, and the Wagasanalids attempted to refashion themselves into civil servants and captains of finance and industry. By the 1940s, there was even a revival of Royalist sentiment, but the dictatorship of Baran-atum-Šimkhetak saw this tendency violently suppressed. He did, however, promote Aatem Nal and conservative principles once more, bringing members of the Wagasanlid clan into government, but strictly punishing any hints of Royalist sentiment.

This trend was continued after the fall of the Republic; in thanks for the centuries to Aatem Nal, the new clerical leadership gave greater prominence to members of the family, encouraging them to enter Aatem Nal, join the civil service, and work in industry. They always strictly guarded against Imperial sentiment and restorationist tendencies, though, and several Wagasanalid clansmen who were only marginally affiliated with Royalist sentiments were put in prison as a warning.

The end of religious rule in the mid-2000s saw the resurgence of Imperial thinking and Royalist sentiment that had been tamped down earlier, but the house itself was divided: half supported deeply conservative principles and an almost Fabian approach to restoration, while others, notably the Snefaldian Chancellor, Anzapahhadu Mugallu, became great supporters of further liberalism and democracy. The former faction found support in the military, with Field Marshal Pairi Hantili promising to lead a conservative revolution for the family; this would be a fatal mistake, as his religious zealotry convinced him that the clan was an enemy to progress and national revival, and orchestrated a massacre of most of the clan's leadership and many of its members.

In the aftermath of Hantili's downfall, though, the family has begun to regain prominence and influence, with some of its members serving the Supreme Council under Markes Vinselmo-Ryme.

Organization

The family is divided into three clans:

1. Hantili
2. Mugallu
3. Zidanta

The current heir apparent to the vacant Triple Crown is not clear; until 2014, it was Tudhaliyas Hantili, who held the title of "Wagasanli XVII" in pretense. His death at the Isaardlang Massacre, as well as the death of many other members of the House, has left the succession in doubt. As the most senior member of the family left alive, the title would pass to Prince Anzapahhadu Mugallu, Count of Pitassa, former Lord Chancellor. However, Mugallu has refused the title explicitly. It could conceivably pass to his son, Atân Mugallu, but he has not made a claim. There are three other claimants: Prince Muwatalliš Zidanta, Count of Torök, Prince Primua Hantili, Count of Borashi, and Prince Tahuraš Mugallu, Count of Imurru.

The family's wealth was formerly maintained by an interlocking series of private banks and companies similar to a Japanese keiretsu system, but under Pairi Hantili most of these companies were expropriated and broken up; the Vinselmo-Ryme government has returned much of their expropriated wealth, but there remain questions about the probate and estates of the murdered clansmen, as well as the inheritance and ownership of some properties.

[Snefaldia]

Kingship and the State among the Luwites

The ancient Luwites were a population that migrated from over the northern Velnar mountains into the "Five Lands," the territory that now make up the modern provinces of Snefaldia. These ancient Luwites were clan-based society ruled through a system of chieftainry and tanistry; the concept of kingship had not yet developed in the 1st millenium BCE when the first Luwites began to migrate into what is now Snefaldia. As the migrant Luwites began to settle in Sring Issa, Dayan, Kassu, and Allasha, they began to develop new forms of political organization that evolved from the clan-based traditions of the past. Traditionally, the chieftains would be chosen via a system of tanistry from among the heads of the pankus-esha, a term referring to those men who were "esha-eshar "lordly blood." The eligibility was based on patrilineal relationship, which meant the electing body and the eligibles were agnates with each other. The composition and the governance of the clan were built upon male-line descent from a similar ancestor in a lineage called a "hassatar. The Chieftain would be the harsan-pankur, the "head" of the clan.

The first recorded Luwite "King" was Kantili of Taygatte, a harsan-pankur who was referred to in texts by the title "salli-hassa-eshar," or "Great Household-lord," a title that placed him above the local chieftains of his clan in the area surrounding the city of Taygatte. The evolution of the idea of kingship is somewhat unclear in the rest of the Luwite polities, but it is believed the development of a single hereditable king grew out of the tanistry system; by the 2nd century CE, the electoral practices of the pankus-esha had largely been supplanted by a form of family primogeniture as clan affinity became less important in cities and villages linked in a new economy; centrally-located kings who could provide security in exchange for service and economic support became more important, and the term "Hassu," originating from the word for household, "hassa." These kings were the absolute masters of their domain, and often also served as priests. In Allasha, this form developed into the priest-king or "ensi," but in Sring Issa and Dayan the kings and their priestly role gradually separated. By the 4th century, the major Luwite polities in Sring Issa, Dayan, Kassu, and Allasha had all grown into centralized states ruled by hereditary kings.

In practice, the King was the ultimate dispenser of military, judicial, and social power. In practice, however some officials exercised independent authority over various branches of the government. One of the most important of these posts was that of the gal mesedi (Chief of the Royal Bodyguards). It was superseded by the rank of the gal gestin (Chief of the Wine Stewards), who, like the gal mesedi, was generally a member of the royal family. The kingdom's bureaucracy was headed by the gal dubsar (Chief of the Scribes), whose authority didn't extend over the hassu-dubsar, the king's personal scribe. In Great Luwas, the role of hassu-dubsar took on great civil importance, as the keeper of the royal libraries and learning.

The Luwite kingdoms continued as a patchwork of rival kingdoms but, beginning in the 7th century, a concept of national kingship gradually became articulated through the concept of a High King of the Luwites, which was claimed by the Kings of Serasarda. Medieval Sringi and Dayan literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings stretching back thousands of years, but modern historians believe the scheme was constructed in the 8th century to justify the status of powerful political groupings by projecting the origins of their rule into the remote past.

By the 9th and 10th centuries, the earlier absolute form of kingship that had developed in the Luwite states had grown into a form of feudalism, whereby the King would appoint influential servants and family members to a grant of land or special office and assign the descendants some rights and duties. This system was the most influential in Dayan, where bonds of suzerainty and clan affiliation were stronger, and led to a marshaling of greater military force. Edram Ta'us, the Lord of Tavvakum, used his vast network of suzerains and feudal connections to lead a successful invasion of Sring Issa, subjugating many of the kingdoms there.

By the reign of Mafanda I, King of Isaardlang, the role of the pankus-esha in selecting the tanist and therefore chieftain had been replaced by hereditary descent; the pankus-esha remained, however, as an informal grouping of the great men of the kingdoms, usually the King's household officials and close relatives, his suzerains and lords, and clan chiefs and cultic priests. When Wagasanali II usurped the throne from Mafanda III, he convened a council of his own men, those who had led the rebellion with him, and declared them his "Pankur," his Great Council, which would exist only to serve him at his pleasure, rather than form a body with a transactional relationship with the monarch. This new form of administration was slowly replicated throughout the Luwite lands, especially after the 1395 Aatem Nal Conclave at Tejaara.

As a general rule, members of the royal houses practiced endogamy, marriage within the broader clans, but after the 13th century began to marry more frequently with other members of royal, kingly houses; the Royal Tudhaliyas, the Kings of Tarhuntassa, married six times with princesses from the House of Mursilissa of Washukanni. There are even instances of marriages from abroad; Apatan princesses from what would become the Caldan Union were sometimes married to Allashan priest-kings, and Sabari princesses were sometimes exchanged with Sring overlords in the north.