Buzhana (Buz-hana)
Formation of Buzhana
The region that would one day become Buzhana started out populated by a series of tribes along the River Tarvuk which made the desert around it fertile and good for farming. Historians reckon this was the general area that human habitation began, making the tribes in that area some of the oldest settlements in Ecoth.
In the year -5548 the chieftain of the Buus Tribe united ten tribes around Lake Vukuu to help fend off the hostile Vadrin Empire to the south. They succseeded in pushing the Vadrins back to their base settlement of Vaduur which they burned, ending the Vadrin Empire. Realising that they had created a massive power vacuum the chieftains of the ten united tribes decided to create a new empire in its place which would occupy the area of the old Vadrin Empire. They elected the Buus chieften, Nachahch I to be their first Notach (leader). And so the new empire became known as the Buus Empire and ruled most of the area around Lake Vukuu and the River Tarvuk to the south.
Early Buzhanan Empire (Buus Empire)
As the Buus Empire grew it expanded up river raiding and conquering the lands of the First Xyanvic Empire and settled in the city of Vlorich as its new capital. Here it began to participate in trade via the river, mostly with the Dynastal and Tarvali Empires to its north. This brought it new riches and allies but despite this the Buus Empire did not expand much in this time period as it was trapped between larger empires and the endless empty sands of the Hana Desert. Whilst alliances were made with the few tribes who inhabited the desert, no attempts of expansion were made into this area as it held no significant value. For centeries the Buus Empire was restricted to the River Tarvuk.
Despite its lack of expansion the Buus Empire experienced a cultural explosion during this time thanks to its new found wealth. Many great monuments were built in this time, mostly in honour of the Notaches who became increasingly vain and arrogant, enjoying their glory and wealth without sharing it with others.
War of the Tribes (-5383-72)
The Buus Empire was a united entity, but behind its collective name it was still split into 23 major tribes which were still quite seperate each having various traditions and cultures. The Buus Tribe had always been the most dominant, with all Notaches being from their lineage. In the year -5389 Notach Varpuur III assended to the throne and introduced policies that restricted the rights and power of most tribes other than the Buus. He was said to be very self obsessed, building mighty monuments and statues in his name. This made him incredibly unpopular among many other tribes in the Buus Empire who began to question his authority and leadership.
In the year -5384 the chieftain of the Iruugh tribe visited Varpuur III and told him that the Iruugh were unhapy with his rule and wished to test his competence. This outraged the Notach who responded by having the Iruughn Chieften beheaded. This act is seen as the start of the War of the Tribes as the Iruugh tribe declared war on the Buus. Other tribes started taking sides with only five of the twenty three main tribes remaining neutral in the conflict.
The tribes supporting the Buus were mostly the tribes which were closest to them and benefited the most from the Notach's rule. They were wealthy and most had intermarried with the Buus. The tribes supporting the Iruughn were mostly the poorer and more harshly treated tribes with less money, but what they lacked in wealth they made up for in numbers. The conflict caused a civil war within the Buus Empire where the Iruugh Tribe and their allies tried to overthrow Notach Varpuur III and establish their own Monarchy.
Initially the Iruugh tried an offensive from the south, making their way up the River Tarvuk to unite with other allied tribes on the sothern shores of Lake Vucuu then continue north to the capital, Vlorich. Unfortunatly they faced heavy resistance at Lake Vucuu and found their allies weakened. After several skermishes around the lake it was decided that they would send an army through the desert to launch a surprise attack on Vlorich whilst others distracted the enemy at Lake Vucuu. Those who went out into the desert became known as 'The Nobel Wanderers' and endured harsh desert conditions for months with no access to food or water besides the supplies they brought with them. It was an incredible risk as there was a good chance that they would die in the desert and no one would know of their demise.
Thankfully for the Iruugh and their allied tribes the Noble Wanderers were succsesful and managed to catch the defenders at Volrich completly off guard, sneaking inside and asassinating Notach Varpuur III. With the death of the Notach, the tribes supporting him fell into infighting over who should lead them, allowing the Iruugh and their allied tribes to fight up to the capital and take control of the Buus Empire.
After taking control of the Buus Empire the victorious tribes decided that Ravuuk, Chieftain of the Iruugh Tribe should become the new Notach, starting a new lineage of Notaches known as the Iruugh lineage. They renamed the Buus Empire to the Buzan Empire, to remove any idea that the Buus Tribe had full control.
Expansion Under the Iruugh
Expansion Eastwards
Once the Iruugh took control of the Buzan Empire they began to execute their desire to become a powerful empire like their neighbors, the Tarvali Empire. Notach Ravuuk I decided that the Buzan Empire needed to expand out across the Hana desert to prevent it from being vulnrable to attacks like the one executed so effectivly by the Noble Wanderers. During the -5360s, hundreds of explorers were dispatched to cross the desert and help the Buzan Empire expand eastwards into the baron landscape. Over the next few decades, inferstructure such as wells and outposts were established in the desert to help travelers survive and encourage a movement of people outwards to expand the influence of the Buzan Empire. Since the land was useless, no other empire or kingdom had laid claim to it apart from a few local tribes which the Buzans were more than happy to encorparate into their empire and form alliances with. This meant that despite the immense size of the Hana Desert, the Buzans met very little resistance besides the hot and dry conditions and so were able to expand quickly and become one of the largest empires on Ecoth by land mass in -5300.
Cultural Change and Unity of the Tribes
The new Iruugh Lineage also made a greater effert to unite the tribes within their empire as they understood that it had been the division and diversity between the seperate tribes that had led the the War of the Tribes in the first place. They hoped that by unifying them there was less chance the Notach could be overthrown again. This also stableised the Buzan Empire as now there was less infighting and discrimination within the boundaries of the empire's reach. However, whilst these efforts did bring the tribes closer together, it also erased many of the cultures and traditions of the smaller tribes. This forced them to act and behave in the same way as others around them in what some Buzan historians call 'The Great Wipe' as generations of small cultures were buried in the sands of the desert to make way for a more united culture, the Buzan culture.
The Tarvuk Wars (-5334-03)
In the year -5334 relations broke down between the Dynastal Empire, the Buzan Empire and the Tarvali Empire as each entity made a case for why it owned a section of the River Tarvuk. This led to the Tarvuk Wars where all three empires fought to gain teritory across the River. The Buzan Empire mostly fought the Tarvalians as they shared a larger boarder but they also had multiple significant clashes with the Dynastal Empire. This was the first major outside war the Buzan Empire had fought in and in the begining it got pushed back significantly by the Tarvalians, it was only with the Dynastals attacking on the other side of the Tarvali that allowed the Buzans to hold out long enough to survive.
In the year -5303 the series of conflicts was finally won by the Dynastals when they defeated the Tarvalians but since the Buzans did not participate in the last Tarvuk War they gained no teritory but also did not suffer the punishment which the Dynastals inflicted on the Tarvalians. Three years later the Tarvali Empire fully collapsed and Notach Harvsus I ordered Buzan troops to march in and capture the new teritory before the Dynastals could do the same. In the end the Buzans managed to take two thirds of what was once the Tarvali Empire's teritory but the Dynastals accused the Buzans of taking teritory that was rightfully theirs. Their logic was that since the Buzans had not participated in the last Tarvuc War, which was the one that caused the collapse of the Tarvali Empire, the Dynastals had the right to the entirety of Tarvali's teritory. The Buzans argued that the Tarvali Empire had collapsed after the conflict had ended so therefore the Dynastals had no more right to Tarvali's teritory than they did. Relations between the two empires broke down and a cold war period began between them however this was interupted by a coup in the Dynastal Empire (potentually sponsored by the Buzans) which started the Dynastal Civil war and took the Dynastal's attention away from the Tarvali teritories.
The City of Ravuuka and the Eastern Goldrush
Eventually after almost a centery of expansion, the Buzans emerged on the other side of the Hana Desert where they set up new outposts and towns on the boarder with Wenstar and the swamps to the east. The Notaches also wanted to encourage people to live out in the desert aswell, not just on its boarders so funded the construction of a city that would come to be known as Ravuuka (named after Notach Ravuuk II who first suggested and funded the project). The city was built on top of an underground spring in the hills and so water could be pumped up for farming. Arteficial lakes were created around the city for easy acces to the city and giant wells were operated all night to keep the water flowing. The project had some success after a road was made from Volrich to Ravuuka but not many people were interested in living in a city in the middle of the desert which led to the project being abandoned in -5252.
This changed however, when gold was discovered in the swamps to the Buzan Empire's east and a massive wave of people were suddenly trying to move across the Hana desert. With the infrastructure already in place, Notach Vaggh III offered Ravuuka and the road across the desert to travelers seeking their fortune on the other side. Whilst some Buzans used it, the road and city were mostly used by people from outside the empire in areas such as Capti, Xyanv, Huva, Suhuva, and even some from the Dynasty. Notach Vaggh III was able to tax the route and so gained many riches for the Buzan Empire which he invested back into the city of Ravuuka. As people realised that travelers were passing throught the city in mass, more merchants and tradesmen were attracted to Ravuuka which allowed it to grow a more permanent population. The travelers passing through the route refered to the Buzans as the Buzans of the Desert Hana, which would later become Buzhana, which is what the empire is known as today.
The gold rush in Wenstar lasted around 200 years through which the city of Ravuuka managed to grow into a trading city and whilst it didn't manage to gain a large sustained population, it did manage to become a permanent settlement in the desert, prieviously thought to be impossible.
Conflict with the Xyanv (-5162-60)
In the year -5162 Buzhana came into conflict with the Xyanv Union to their west as one decendancy leader lost a deal with the Notach of Buzhana at the time, Notach Buuhach II. As part of the deal, Buzhana was able to occupy that decendancy's teritory within the Xyanv Union. This upset the leading decendancy, the Potantists and they declared war on Buzhana.
Initially the Xyaav pushed Buzhana back to the River Tarvuk where they attempted to cross to Volrich, the capital of Buzhana. However they focused their efforts mostly on this area allowing the Buzhanans to break through their flanks and win the conflict.
As a result of their loss the Xyanv Union was dissolved and each of its decendancies became a new kingdom in Buzhana.
Wars with Capti and The Dynasty
The First South War (-4791-87)
Often confused with the Great South War which followed, the First South War, or South War was a short conflict between Buzhana and the Captirian Empire as Capti had been transporting gold from Wenstar through Buzhana's roads across the Hana desert without paying appropriate taxes. Capti would then ship its gold from Vlorich to the port of New Capti where they could ship it out across their empire. Outraged, Notach Harvsus VI ordered that all travelers along the road be searched, and if any were found to be transporting gold for Capti, they were to be hung, and the gold was to be taken for Buzhana. However, this new strategy did not go down well with Capti who demanded that Buzhana return their stolen gold, but Notach Harvsus refused. In protest Capti stopped all trade with Buzhana and captured several Buzhanan settlements on their boarders in the Narch Region. Once more, Capti had started using third party mercinaries to smuggle the gold through Buzhana's roads so now had their stream of gold flowing again.
Outraged by Capti's actions, Harvsus ordered an army, led by his son Buuhach, to be sent to libirate the occupied settlements which it did successfully, regaining Buzhana's teritory. However the Buzhanans did not stop at retaking their own settlements. Buuhach saw the conflict as an oppertunity to gain teritory from a weakened Capti, especially around the river Tarvuk. So he ordered his soldiers to march south and take Capti's teritory around in the eastern Narch Region. Capti was slow to react to this change as before they had been seen as an invincible empire and assumed that Buzhana would not have tried anything so ambitious. They were unable to prevent Buzhana's troops from crossing the River Tarvuk and on the way to the city of New Capti Buzhana had several skirmishes with Capti's army but managed to keep pushing south, with a supporting eastern flank supplying the troops. Eventually they made it to the port of New Capti where the Buzhanan front finally stopped, isolating the port city from the rest of the empire by the land. They were able to capture the Captirian city of Ctaycee which gave Buzhana its first major port and access to ocean trade.
In -4787 Buzhana and Capti signed a peace agreement, as Buzhana would not encroach further into Capti's teritory and Capti was no longer allowed to transport their gold on Buzhana's trade routes. The conflict also showed Ecoth that Capti was not the all powerful empire it had once been, shattering its image of invincibility.
Despite the peace agreement, tensions remained high between the two powerful empires, and these tensions were fully realised in the Great South War when Capti and Buzhana clashed once again.
Great South War (-4761-59)
In the year -4761 Notach Buuhach IV of Bzhana was aproached by Emperor Solvin VI of The Old Dynasty to form a joint effort to invade the Captirian Empire. Solvin believed that Capti had been responsible for his father's death and had already declared war. Due to remaining hostilities between Buzhana and Capti from the First South War (-4791-87) and Solvin's promices of Buzhana recieving Captirian lands that it captured. Buuhach IV was hesitant as the Dynasty had often been Buzhana's enemy in the past but eventually agreed and the two sides began planning to attack Capti. However it would take a long time for Solvin to march his troops to Capti so Buzhana had a head start. Buuhach wanted to gain as much teritory before Solvin arrived so he could claim more land after the war was over. He started by laying siege to New Capti which was isolated from the rest of the Captirian Empire in the East Narch Region. In this time Capti attacked the port city of Ctaycee and decimated Buzhana's only fleet whilst also setting sections of the city alight. Whilst Capti held a naval advantage they were slow to react and spent 4 months assembling an army to send to New Capti. As the relief army was preparing to leave Purrn Buuhach stormed New Capti, overwhelming the small force inside its walls and taking the last major Captirian stonghold in the east.
After the siege of New Capti, Buuhach led a large force westwards across the Narch Plains which quickly met with Capti's prepared forces. But he also sent a smaller force through the Craivun Mountains which took several months longer to traverse but Buuhach hoped provided a good flanking force. Buuhach allied with the local Narchic peoples who had been oppressed by the Captirians for generations. They helped his army traverse the unfamiliar land and gave them the advantage of cavalry support. After a significant Buzhanan advance the two sides finally reached a stalemate along the river Vishtiri which wasn't even broken by the arrival of Solvin VI and the Dynasty which attacked Capti from the north. The Captirians held firm from both sides but began to struggle internally due to their inability to trade with Wenstar.
A variety of factors contributed to the breaking of Capti's line but the most impactful was the emergence of the Buzhanan troops from the Craivun Mountains on their eastern flank. This caused Capti to focus its troops on the Buzhanan forces to the east which allowed the Dynasty to break their line to the north. From there it was only a month before the capital, Conagas, was under siege, and it finally surrendered ending the Great South War.
For its assistance in the conflict, Buzhana gained Capti's teritories in the East Narch Region and a large sum of money from the defeated empire. However, Buzhana's prosperity and alliance with the Dynasty was not to last.
Buzhanan War (-4757-51)
On his way back from his campaigns in Capti, Solvin decided to turn on his ally, Buzahana. His exact reasoning for this had been a topic of debate for a long time but one popular theory is that he was pressured to conqure land by his lords who were upset that they had been unable to occupy the defeated Captirian Empire. Solvin hoped to sneak his army into Vlorich under the pretence of resting his troops there on the way back to Capswold. Unfortunatly for him, a defector alerted Buuhach and after a failed siege of the city Solvin was forced to retreat.
Now at war with The Dynasty, Buzhana stated their own invasion, initially getting quite far into Dynal lands since Solvin's army was still at the gates of Vlorich. Their advance was only stopped by the emergence of an anual bacterial epedemic which the Buzhanan army had no immunity to, but the Dynals had been exposed to for centeries. The bacteria spred rapidly through the crowded Buzhanan camps and the local Dynals exadurated the effects of the disease, causing many Buzhanans to desert. This gave the Dynals to reorganise and begin to push back against Buzhana.
Over the next five years the Dynals pushed Buuhach back to Vlorich where he was forced to surrender in -4751. Both sides were completly worn down from years of conflict and so both wanted a quicker end to the conflict. Buzhana was given two choices, either it could lose significant teritories to the Dynasty or become a semi-independent vassal. Buuhach went with the later option, managing to secure relative independence from the Dynasty besides a small anual tribute and an alliance to assist them militarily. Despite having lost the war Buuhach had managed to secure good terms for his empire and apparanlty remained good friends with Solvin.
The two planned to launch a joint capaign into the teritories of the eastern kingdoms, a front which the Dynasty had been struggling on for centeries. However both did not live to see it become a reality as Solvin died in -4741 and later Buuhach too in -4739. Despite the brilliant relationship the two had built between their empires their sons went on to tear this down.
Rule under the Dynasty
Resistance to the Dynasty
Buuhach's son, Vigu, became Notach of Buzhana after his father's passing. Vigu was firmly anti-Dynal and thought his father's actions discredited the might of the empire. He saw an oppertunity to gain independence when the Dynal Civil War broke out in -4735 and he was offered his empire's freedom in exchange for helping the loyalists fight against the Dynalists in the south. He hoped if the loyalists secured victory he would be granted this promice, but as the Dynalists began to take the upper hand he backed down, fearing to lose favor with the apparent victorious party.
However, after the war the Dynasty fell into dissorder and so Vigu took the chance to declare Buzhanan independence. The Dynasty denied these claims but did not have the ability to enforce control over Buzhana.
The Dynasty did retake control of most of Buzhana under Emperess Catarphra and began to push back the Buzhanan cause but this didn't last long. After her death in -4702 the Dynasty fell into dissaray again where Vigu managed to maintain relative independence. I twas only after the Dynal Court of Lords was overthrown and Emperor Murchous I gained full control over the Dynasty that Buzhana had to start worrying about Dynal tribute again. Vigu fought a short war against the Dynasty in -4670 but lost as the Dynal army stormed through the gates of Vlorich.
After repeated failure to break free from the Dynasty, Vigu moved his capital to Ravuuka, away from the Dynal sphere of influance to try and prevent Dynal intervention in Buzhanan affairs. However, this only gave the Dynasty greater control over northern Buzhana and isolated the Notach from his population. Less than a year after moving, an aging Vigu died, leaving what remained of his empire to his son, Buuhach V.
Growth as a Naval Power
Buuhach was given a bad hand since his father, Vigu, had destabilised much of the Buzhanan Empire trying to resist the Dynasty. On top of that, the gold trade, which had given Buzhana so much of its wealth to begin with, had dried up in the absence of the Captirian Empire. Unlike his father, Buuhach befriended the Dynasty, understanding that resisting them caused uneccessary wars which he could not afford to wage. He also took advantage of the position of the new capital in the south, focusing on developing Buzhanan interests in an area of the empire many of his predecessors had ignored.
One particualy important thing his did was try to imporve Buzhanan naval power and trade along the coast. Since Capti no longer had dominance over sea bourn affairs and Buzhana had control of Carvuuk, Buuhach saw an oppertunity to expand into an area Buzhana had never really explored before. He began focusing on building and expanding Buzhanan settlements on the coast to encorage trade. One important city which rose to relevance at this time was Sacreen. Located in the Gulf of Zuu this old Captirian trading outpost soon became a centre of Buzhanan maratime activity due to its close proximity to Ravuuka.
He also sought to regain control of the region of East Narch which had been overun by the Oom Narchate during Vigu's neglectful rein. The city of Ctaycee was a tributary to the Narchate and the people of the great savana had even raided Carvuuk itself on several occasions. Buuhach built up a large fleet in Sacreen and sent them down to Carvuuk in -4665 where they met with a Buzhanan army to retake the important port of Ctaycee. Buuhach hired shipbuilders and sailers from the Captirian successor states to make his impressive fleet, developing a class of ship much bigger than the typical Captirian vessles to handle the strong currents around the Buzhanan coasts.
In -4660 he expelled the Sac Norsh Pirates from the island of Sirasku and in -4653 they took control of the pirates' main fortress at Sac Norsh. With the fall of the Sac Norsh Buzhana once again had full dominion over their seas.
However Buuhach's policies were not popular with everyone. He had largely neglected the nothern teritories around Vlorich and Xyanvia allowing them to fall further under the influance of the Dynasty. This allowed the governer of Vlorich to stage a rebellion in the region. Whilst it was surpressed, this event and Buuhach's later trip to Vlorich in -4639 for the Confrance of Vlorich, made the Notach realise that he had left the nothern teritories of his empire behind in pursuit of his new naval ambitions. In -4637 he decided that on his death his empire would be divided between his two sons, one to rule the north from Vlorich and another to rule the south form Ravuuka. He intended to go into greater detail about how the two states would be organised and work together, however unexpectedly died in -4635, leaving his empire to two heirs.
Buzhanan Civil War
In the wake of Notach Buurach's death, his two sons split Buzhana between them as written in his will. However tensions quickly grew as the two new Notach's became envious of each others posetions. Mostly, Notach Yarruugn II of the north was jealous that his younger brother Vaguu had inherited the much more prosperous south. The north was still influanced by The Dynasty which technically had vassalship of Buzhana, but the south operated much more independently, becoming wealthy through trade with the Captirian city states.
The map below shows the division of Buzhana at this time.
Yarruugn was unable to invade his brother's teritories however, since Vaguu had also inherited many of Buurach's best generals who had been living in Ravuuka at the time of his death. Many had sworn loyalty to the Notach that rulled over the city they were in, not the oldest claimer to the throne. However Yarruugn's luck changed in -4629.
The unexpected death of Sothern Notach Vaguu saw his sixteen year old son Harvsus VII assend to the throne. Yarruugn saw this as an oppertunity to seize control and began to amass his army outside of Vlorich. In the summer of -4627 he began marching southwards.
Yarruugn had expected the south to fall into chaos and disarray after Notach Vaguu's death but Harvsus VII had successfuly prevented this. He was aware of the likelyhood of invasion from the north and had also raised an army himself. He knew that if Yarruugn was to invade down the Tarvuk he would need to go through the Seragoti Pass. This was exactly what Yarruugn intended to do and the two sides met at the Battle of Seragoti where the much smaller sothern army successfully fended of Notach Yarruugn's forces. This was mostly due to better leadership on the south's side since Harvsus had better generals and was more open to their input than Yarruugn.
Despite this Harvsus was forced to fall back due to Yarruugn's use of Xyanvic mercenaries which came in through the mountains and jeopardised their position. This allowed Yarruugn to advance down the Tarvuk, and take teritories in the Narch Region. The outnumbered south fought hard but were forced to fall back again and again despite their better tactics.
However Harvsus had anticipated this disadvantage. One of the reasons his army was so samall was becauses he had gathered a second army at Ravuuka. Under the leadership of another of his generals they circumnavigated the Hana Desert and began taking small towns and villages in the east. By the time Harvsus had been pushed out of Carvuuk, his second army had almost reached Vlorich.
This put Yarruugn in a dificult position since his capital was now exposed. Worse still The Dynasty had changed sides, seeing an advantage to helping the south over the north. Yarruugn was forced to flee back to Vlorich but didn' make it back before the city had fallen. He then tried to wage a campaign in the North Tarvuk Planes but was pushed out be a joint Buzhanan-Dynal force. By the end of -4625 Harvsus had control over most of Buzhana and declared hiself Nothach of the whole Empire.
Yarruugn still held the Xyanv Region and Harvsus fought a brutal campaign ofver the next seven years to reclaim the mountainous teritory from his uncle. He was eventually successfull when Yarruugn was assasinated by one of his own, and the organisation crumbled. Even so, Xyanvia continued to be a probelm for the new Notach for the the following decades since the area was too mountainous to control effectivly.
Notach Harvsus VII also renewed his vassleship with the Dynasty, understanding it was better to give them a small tribute and recieve protection. He understood, like his grandfather, that the Dynasty were better allies than enemies, even if that did come at a small price. He solidified the allience which carried the Dynasty and Buzhana all the way through the age of Dynal dominance and allowed Buzhana to continue existing as a great power in Ecoth.
War of the Triumvirate
Freedom From the Dynasty
Position With the Second Dynasty
Invasion of the True Dynasty
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