Blackrock

Blackrock is a region of northwestern Aresra. The area is a volcanic caldera surrounding the dormant supervolcano Mt Q'asterroos. Inhabited originally by saurians, including the now extinct fire newts, under the rule of enigmatic dragon god-kings. The dragons departed for unknown reasons in 1015, and over the next several centuries various human states would conquer and colonise the area to where today the great majority of Blackrock's inhabitants are human. Politically, most of Blackrock is split between Areltya, Ros, and Tira Vella, with the rest being part of the An Dynasty.

Names

During the era of the dracates, the four dracates referred to the whole area of Blackrock as Mount Q’asterroos, each dracate believing itself to be the true heir to Sahrin of Mount Q’asterroos entitled to the whole realm. In Then, the area was commonly referred to as 黑塵國, “Het-tshun-kuet”^{note 1}, meaning “black ash country” or “black earth country”, referring to the black volcanic soil that covers much of what was the dracate of Shahar, the southeasternmost of the dracates and one which engaged with foreigners the most. This name would keep in common use among Then people and this name in Xioun, “Xí-ḥweòn-kuǒ”^{note 2}, would become the name of the Xioun in Tira Vellan and subsequently most Oecumenical languages. However, Oecumenians associated Xioun with the state and not the region itself, and the fall of the Xioun meant a new name for the region. The Then still referred to it as “Het-tshun-kuet”, and the Oecumenians calqued the word, unaware it was the same as Xioun, into “Blackrock”. It was also historically referred to as 危國, "Ngui-kuet"^{note 3}, “precarious", "dangerous", or "high up country". This name led to many of the early settlers in Blackrock being called 危, "Ngui", becoming a common family name, and, due to the large influxes of mustelins, the second most common family name among culturally Then mustelins after 貂.

History

Prehistory

Very little is known of Blackrock before the dracates. Mythology from the dracates tells of the great dragon-lord Sahrin who ruled over the realm and its saurian inhabitants before retiring to a great slumber atop Mount Q’asterroos, leaving his four children to squabble over his lands. Ancient Then tradition holds that the dragon Suliung, the first son of heaven, ruled over the world as a just ruler, but that his descendants became ever more despotic and tyrannical, and the mandate of heaven was then given over to the Then people, who overthrew the dragon rule and banished them to Blackrock. Sahrin is often conflated with Samum in Shant Karotu tradition.

The Dracates

The origin of the dracates is unknown, and they are first mentioned in Then texts dating to the early first millennium BCA, but this only indicates the last possible date for their origin. During the period of the dracates, Blackrock was split into four states, each ruled by an immortal dragon-lord. The dragon-lords were revered as god-kings by the inhabitants, and their personalities each had a great impact on how their states were run. Society in the dracates was highly stratified according to race, with kobolds at the bottom as slaves or labourers, lizardfolk as warriors and artisans, and fire newts as priests and functionaries. Each dracate was inhabited by kobolds and lizardfolk of a single scale colour. The four dracates warred with each other almost constantly, but borders were relatively stable. They all treated Mount Q’asterroos itself as neutral ground, under control of none but Sahrin himself. It was considered a holy place, with only saurians allowed on its lowest slopes, and only the dragon-lords themselves at the higher slopes of the mountain, under pain of death. Bloodshed was likewise prohibited on the mountain. The dragon-lords seemed to all be entirely uninterested in conquest outside of Blackrock, and no wars between the dracates and any outside power were ever recorded.

Akt’arr

Rraanos

Shahar

Tiikhran

Post-Dracate

The dragon lords all vanished in 1015, coinciding with an end to the Soulfading pandemic. No link has been definitively demonstrated, but a connection has been long suspected. In the absence of the dragon-lords, the dracates quickly fell apart into petty kingdoms ruled over mostly by lizardfolk warlords. In the absence of their god-kings, the priestly class of fire newts lost much of their power and prestige, and many were massacred, leading eventually to their extinction. The human populations to the south and east capitalised on this state of chaos. Blackrock had long been prized for its fertile soil and bountiful natural resources, but the presence of dragon-lords as powerful, immortal god-kings had made any attempt at conquest unthinkable. The Bodyund and Tourghesh were the first to make inroads into Blackrock. Instability prevailed in the region for centuries under the rule of various saurian warlords and nomadic raiders. The first mustelin expulsion in 1121 from the Mahanjat saw many mustelins eventually settle in Blackrock among the chaos, unwelcomed elsewhere.

Then Rule

The Gau Dynasty emerged in Then around 1290 following a period of civil war after the downfall of Sarkon. The Gau consolidated all of Then under their rule by 1340, and began a campaign to pacify Blackrock in 1344. Blackrock was conquered and established as a frontier protectorate. The next decades would see large population influxes of Then settlers drawn by the fertile soil and lower tax burden under protectorate administration. The nomads were pushed from Blackrock back into the Nenayas and Nichuhe, and many of the native saurians were expelled to make room for the Then settlers. The mustelins were allowed to remain and were given explicit protection by imperial edict in 1361 by the Taoreng Emperor, who kept several mustelins in his harem. An expulsion from the Muroshcan Kingdom in 1380 led more mustelins to settle in Blackrock. An imperial census in 1361 had the saurian population at 85% of the total population of Blackrock. By 1480 this share had declined to just 36%. In this time, the mustelin population in Blackrock nearly tripled. The Gau protectorate would last until around 1510 when imperial administration collapsed there. Many Then settlers fled back to the Gau realms as Blackrock came under tributary rule of various nomadic groups. This population influx coupled with the loss of such agriculturally productive land precipitated the collapse of the Gau.
(cycles of Then then nomadic rule) Blackrock had alternated between integration and separation with Then proper for centuries, and this led to the development of a unique and separate identity for Blackrock Then, who were viewed as rugged, hardy, and half barbarised. They were notably still settled agrarians, unlike the "barbarian" nomads, spoke Then, and paid deference to the emperor. The Middle Then spoken in Blackrock developed separately from that spoken in the core of Then, developing eventually into Xioun.

Xioun State

The Xioun State was a semi-independent state under An suzerainty in 2560 when Celos Haspeth made contact, beginning the Chaspethian Exchange between Oecumene and Aresra. The Great Plagues thus began in Blackrock in Aresra. Blackrock was ravaged by the Great Plagues, and the An central authority used this as an excuse to further integrate the Xioun into the An, especially over matters of taxation as trade with Oecumene was already beginning to become quite important despite the plagues. The An suffered greatly from the Great Plagues and teetered upon collapse, unable to pay soldiers and suffering peasant unrest. The Xioun and the Oecumenians, both also suffering from the Great Plagues, but to a lesser degree, seized on the weakened An: the Xioun declared their independence from the An in 2598. They fought a war with the An, with Tira Vella, Dvekmenia, and Ros aiding the Xioun in exchange for trading concessions with the Xioun. Tira Vella, notably, was given control over the port of Tungsang. The Xioun hence became a wealthy and powerful state rivalling or even surpassing the An and Oecumenian powers. In 2745, king Soukwan was described as the wealthiest man on the planet. The Xioun would invade and conquer large parts of the An Empire, reducing it to a small rump state in southern Then.

Oecumenian Colonialism

The Xioun golden age would come to an end as Oecumene industrialised. The Xioun had become fabulously wealthy and powerful, and had managed to dictate much more favourable terms with the Oecumenians than had originally been negotiated in the aftermath of their independence. This led the Oecumenians as first to support the Xioun’s old rivals, the An, against them. In 2771 the Xioun army marched into Tungsang, occupying it. This act began the massive Blackrock War, involving Tira Vella and the Xioun, as well as the An, Dvekmenians, Enzimians, and Rossans. In the aftermath of the war, the Xioun State was dismantled and carved up between the victorious powers. The An regained all of Then proper, and Blackrock was split mostly between the Tira Vellans, Dvekmenians, and Rossans. The Enzimians did not receive any colonial holdings, but were guaranteed favourable trade terms.
In the aftermath of the War of Areltyan Succession, control of Dvekmenia’s portion of Blackrock was given over to Areltya.