Old Capedo
the First United Novyum
Capedo, known to modern scholars as 'Old Capedo', was a prominent city-state in north of Novyum on Ethae during the second half of the Valmon Age. The founding of the city is unknown, believing to be centuries before the Black Collapse. It rose to fame and power somewhere around 4350sc as it quickly spread, conquering its neighbors throughout western Novyum.
Though an inland city of the Northern Reach, Capedo's power came from its satellite cities that lined the western coast, giving the Capedian access, and ultimately complete control over, the western seas of Novyum and beyond. At its height it controlled near all of the sea trade of the Piercing Ocean as far away as Isle of Iracro in the north-east and Tinjir to the west. This range was unheard at the time, giving the Capedian civilization the sometimes moniker of 'First United Novyum'. The wide grip of this nations power also helped spread the Capedian language and the Capedian Alphabet as the first historic 'common tongue' of the continent. So vast was the Capedian trade networks that their language spread far beyond their borders of control. Their alphabet still in use today as the most common writing system thanks to the pervasiveness of this network.
Despite being considered in the history books as the first nation to unite Novyum, Capedo never held the entire reach. Far from it. At its height, the Capedians control was the lands west of Lake Roic and the coastal cities around the northern of the reach. The coastal cities of Novyum on the Criup Ocean never fell under Capedian sway, and after a bloody four-year war known as the Parcel War, Tinjir held against becoming subject to the powerful nation.
The Parcel War (4518sc-4521sc) was particularly devastating for the Capedians. Though winning most battles, the war of attrition was costly for Capedo, forcing the nation to sue for peace, ending their expansion west. This, coupled with the difficulty and cost of maintaining sea routes east through the turbulent Piercing Ocean along a rocky coastline with few ports, lead to the slow decline of the Capedo state. Though it lingered on for several more centuries, the city was finally conquered by Lakorth in 4846sc with the Capedians and their remaining assents absorbed into the new rising Novyum power.
Capedo was sacked and razed in 5396sc by the Vervigon, ending the life of the ancient power. Survivors scattered or were enslaved, with the city being looted and abandoned to decay over time. Little more than a cluster of stones and pillars in the Novyum countryside remain today. The name Capedian and Old Capedo remain famous in the literature, however. Many travelers have passed through it unaware that the stones they camp on had such an impact on Ethae history.
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