Yokudan
The ancient empire of Yokuda sank beneath the waves in the First Era. Its survivors took refuge on vestigial islands which could not support their population, and so a series of excursions drove them toward Tamriel, and their new home in the desert province of Hammerfell. Since their arrival, this race of men have produced some of the most legendary heroes in Tamrielic history.
Purported to have been over twice the size of Tamriel as a whole, the original homeland of the Redguards was a land of vast deserts, far more deadly than even the mighty Alik'r, with craggy mountains rising out of the sand. An endless sea of mountains blocked off foreign lands to the West, jungle and rainforest in the South, dragons in the north, and islands dominated by the evil Left-Handed Elves guarded the East. Despite this opposition, the Yokudan people became an unstoppable force in the continent, and formed an Empire which achieved more than any other in history.
When the Yokudan nobility first united their kingdoms under the ruling council of the Na-Totambu, the Sinestral Elves of the eastern islands formed a confederation in opposition. Although their numbers were few, the elves had learned to augment their magic through elaborate tattoos on their left arm. One skilled Sinestral mage had the power to command storms and summon leviathans capable of wiping out hundreds of human warriors. This struggle for control engulfed the continent, and lasted over a thousand years. The conflict finally came to an end when Diagna, a mortal incarnation of the HoonDing, the Yokudan Make-Way God, brought orichalc weapons to the Yokudans, and the goddess Leki taught them a new technique to wield them more effectively. Within a generation the Lefthanded Elves were driven from the mainland, and in time, from the islands as well. Diagna would go on to be revered as a god in His own right.
The ansei who remained turned on one-another. The largest army in Yokudan history had been defeated, and their leader had abandoned them. Some believed that all ansei should follow, while others demanded the power they had earned through blood and hardship. During the civil war, a cell that had formed as part of the Hiradirge, masters of stone-magic, attacked the Orichalc Tower built by the Sinestral Elves millennia ago and made it their fortress. The Tower was believed to have the power to bring the spirit of Sep upon man. The other warring ansei set aside their conflict to stop them. But, as they laid siege to the Tower, a lone ansei, whose motives and loyalties are unknown, performed a forbidden technique with their shehai upon the tower's Stone, and as a result the continent began to sink below the ocean.
Millions died in the flooding, including most of the ansei at the tower as it collapsed. Refugees gathered at the highlands as they became islands in the raging ocean. There were too many survivors to be sustained after the calamity, and three subsequent Ra-Gada were organized to follow Hunding to Tamriel, carrying Totambu nobility in tow.
Na-Totambu
The Age of the Sword-Singers
In the early First Era, by Tamrielic count, Yokudans had a continent-spanning empire. Land was divided under the emperor and the Na-Totambu were reduced to feudal lords. For centuries, the emperors ruled over an age of prosperity and innovation, but this peace would be broken in the year 1E 376 when the capitol was stormed by a warlord, who named himself the Elden Yokeda, a military dictator of the land. Lesser Yokeda took swaths of territory, with feudal lords pledging fealty to each. The emperor remained a figurehead, whose only real role was to officiate the naming of the Elden Yokeda. For nearly three-hundred years, the Yokeda warred among themselves, forming and breaking alliances, and always seeking aid from the Elden Yokeda, who ensured none became too powerful to challenge their hegemony. Yokudans were accomplished artisans, architects, and artists. During this period of continuous civil war, those traditions were poured into a new class of warrior, who pledged themselves to serve the Yokeda, or became mercenaries and adventurers of great fame. They were the Ansei, or "Saints of the Sword", who learned the art of Sword-Singing, a technique allowing them to create blades made of their own life-force called shehai. The position of Elden Yokeda changed hands many times in this period. Each ruler was far more concerned with maintaining their fragile power. It wasn't until an Ansei named Mansel Sesnit conquered most of the empire, taking the title of Elden that Yokuda was united once more. His reign was brief, but formative, laying the groundwork for power structures that persist into Hammerfell to this day. Sesnit was assassinated in 1E 617, replaced by Randic Torn. Torn's Sword Hunt, wherein he declared it illegal for any non-Ansei to wield a blade, allowed him to truly end the age of civil wars across the empire. This peace cost the ansei their sense of honor. With no hope of raising an army to gain power, the relationship between the yokeda and the ansei had dissolved. They had been employed by Torn as his direct enforcers, and forgot their old loyalties. Ansei walked the streets with weapons and magic at their side, and the impunity granted to them by the ambitious Elden. Torn's peace collapsed with his death. Suddenly, the rule of the Elder was no more, and there was no clear successor. Yokeda rapidly began forming armies and having weapons forged, trying to be the first to build momentum in the coming war, guaranteeing victory over the others. The first move was struck by a young Emperor Hira, whose alliance quickly overtook the majority of the land. Naming himself Elden Yokeda, Emperor Hira became the first true Emperor of Yokuda in centuries. He quickly secured his power by having all yokeda executed, and outlawing private armies. All able-bodied Yokudans were to serve the emperor if called upon.Exodus
When Emperor Hira had consolidated power, only the ansei were a threat to him. With a letter, silently written, all ansei became enemies of Yokuda. Their first target was Divad Hunding, a former ansei and bard. During his arrest, Divad's elderly mother was killed. Enraged, Divad channeled the power of his shehai through the chains he was bound in, and slew the hundred guards sent to capture him. Divad became the face of the resistance. The Hiradirge fought from the shadows, but were badly outnumbered. Few were willing to risk execution to protect them, the abuses of ansei during Torn's reign still fresh in the public's mind. Divad was a charismatic leader, but knew he did not have the wisdom to preserve their tradition. He traveled to the secluded home of his father, the legendary ansei master Frandar Hunding, who wished to live out his final years recording his wisdom. When Frandar reluctantly agreed, Hiradirge cells quickly organized into the Army of the Circle, which could strike at the emperor's forces from across the continent. The war was waged across seven battles, orchestrated by Hunding to both force the emperor's men into the wilderness, and to hone the shehai of his own. In their final confrontation, the Circle ambushed the emperor's forces at Mount Hattu. The ansei were outnumbered thirty to one, but still the sword-singers were victorious, and the emperor had been slain. But when the ecstasy of victory waned, Frandar saw only a mountain soaked in the blood of his own people. He called for a Ra-Gada, a Warrior Wave, where all ansei would leave with him to the eastern continent. He did not command this as Emperor, or as Elden, but asked it of them as a man. Without another word, the father and son left for a new world, a thousand of their most faithful followers in tow. They settled on the shore of Hammerfell in 1E 780, where they went to war with a tribe of giant goblins to make way for those to come after. Frandar died early in the conflict, with Divad taking over the charge. The ansei who followed him remembered him as a HoonDing like Diagna before him.
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