Rigo - History

347 UT - The Sakxani Empire, so-named for Eddvar of Sakxa, AKA the Black King, takes hold in present-day Ald Cyngric.
91 UT - THE DELUGE occurs, a catastrophic melting of the ice caps in Dokeen flooding all Elven tribal lands beyond the Lukpa Gate. The Elves (Mynedoc: "Dok") plead to King Eddvar to show mercy by admitting them to his lands. He refuses.

0 NT: The Battle of the Ebon Plains

The Battle of the Ebon Plains rages between Sakxani and the Dok. The Elven King dies on the battlefield, throwing Elven traditions into chaos.

0-10 NT: The Settlement of Narthis

Years after King Eddvar's death, elves settle everywhere in the territory of Grinfaldar, primarily the trade city of Narthis.
0-5 years: Elves begin showing up and are forced to settle in slum areas outside Narthis.
6-10 years: Elves are denied further rights as the Sakxani Empire finally begins to buckle after its capital is flooded. Racial tensions culminate in the Shedruh Riots.

11-20 NT: A Shift in Power

Conditions slowly begin to improve for Elves as Sakxani strength declines, leaving humans less able to suppress them. The Dok are allowed to sell their goods. Humans like this at first because Elves are taxed heavily, and gold once again begins to flow into the city of Narthis. Elven craftsmanship is notably better than its human counterpart, and even humans begin to make use of tools of such make.

21-25 NT: Trade Union (Dokindoladdich)

Due to their superior craftsmanship, elves begin to pull ahead of humans, drawing in substantial wealth from the manufacturing industry. They form a Trade Union (Dokindoladdich), which brings on a renewed wave of anti-Elvish sentiment. Division exists between city officials, who grow fat off the elves' continued taxation, and peasants/craftspeople, who accuse their pointy-eared neighbours of conspiring to push them out. The Trade Union is set fire to. A prominent human named Carella, the daughter of the Lord Governor Kindall, is caught inside and meets her end there, prompting a strong crackdown by Kindall afterwards on the human uprising. The Trade Union is rebuilt towards the end of this period, along with a statue in honour of Carella Kindall. (It is less well-known and historicized that before this, Lord Kindall had many unfavourable attitudes towards the Elves. In modern times he is held up by Elves as a hero, a sort of ideal for humans to live up to.)

25-35 NT: The Years of Drink and Song

Elves continue to prosper. Originally, their goods were limited to wooden and gilded objects, but there is now a push into other forms: the Elves seek to open a Brewhouse. Negotiations are fierce as human brewers push back. Finally – and once again, with an ample distribution of Elven gold to smooth over bad feelings – the doors of the Lethanway Brewhouse swing open to the public. It is a large hall which makes its own beer and wine. Exportation soon begins south to Dragonshead and north to Dokeen. Elves begin by supporting human farmers, but demand grows too great, and they shop the extra work out to elven farms in Grinfaldar, which one by one take over the human contract entirely. The same is true for the glassblowers and other labourers needed to bottle the product. Through sale of drink, Elves become rich enough to begin buying land from many human farmers at several times its value. The Elvish Quarter (Andokil), once a hovel on the edge of the city, swells with incoming elves eager to share the newfound prosperity. Its population more than doubles, and elvish political influence now outweighs that of humans. The name of the area is changed from Narthis to Rigo, meaning “Fortune” in Mynedoc, with the double meaning of Fate and Wealth.

36-40 NT: The Time of Tears

A pox ("Weeping Sickness", named for the uncontrollable tears that are its key symptom) breaks out in the city, decimating a large number of its human inhabitants. The elves do everything they can to save them. As the pox grows worse, human sentiment towards elvenkind turns bitter. Palden Grassdoor, a member of an underground anti-Elvish faction, conducts an all-out raid at the Lethanway Brewhouse and murders the head of the Trade Union, Illindon Tamoon.
A sizable contingent of Elves leaves for Bonicaroo upon hearing that Yela Mardinow has returned from Unudo – with a Heart of the Woods.

41-48 NT: The Altalaminui

Tamoon's philanthropist wife, Llandil, becomes politically active, and a strong force for Elvish values. While not exactly anti-human in her views, she does advocate for her race to claim a firmer hold on the region. Rather than looking back to Dokeen for answers, she calls for a new order based on the independence the elves of Rigo have collectively built. A council of representatives made up of key clans is created with the mandate of disseminating pro-elvish values. They call themselves Altalaminui, or "Council of Virtue". They open a college, the Tellthu Academy, which provides free education to children of elvish residents; a special sidebar of the Tellthu, The Aldembra Program (“Blessing-in-Giving”), is made available to human children to learn about elvish culture and language. The Academy is opened in a smallish building abandoned after the plague. Elven festivals begin to hold a larger and larger place in city life, and the city expands into the Lambadron District. Finally, Tamoon Hospital is dedicated to the fallen Trade Head's memory, and that of the plague which indirectly brought about his death. Its mandate is to extend healing to both elf and human communities.
A handful of reports are recorded of dragons flying overhead from Bonicaroo to the Unudo Woods in this period. So few see this that it is considered a tall tale shortly thereafter.

49-55 NT: Call to Rule

Llandil's sister “falls ill” in Bonicaroo (secretly, the family may have been having darker struggles), and she leaves Rigo to tend to her. Without her unifying leadership as the wife of a martyr, the Altalaminui begins to squabble over two main issues: how the council should be run, and political attitudes towards humans and how to deal with them.
Traditionally, those from higher-ranked Clans can cast more votes at a council table. Back home in Dokeen this practice was not so unfair as there were many hundreds of Clans, but in Rigo, the numbers are skewed. Few members of the Sky Clans (the highest ranked) ever went to the city as those of noble birth embraced more conservative settings, such as Bonicaroo. But because of tradition, the three or four Sky nobles present majorly outweigh the votes from the more numerous Crafting Clans, who are actually wealthier than their social superiors. There is a push to oust Sky Clans from their classical roles and cede more votes to the lower classes. For Sky nobles, the move is akin to heresy. Some push back, but many simply leave. In the gap, a new political order emerges. Wealth supplants blood in determining who is noble. This is historically referred to as the Call to Rule.
The Craft leader that takes over at the end of this process is Ullo Ominbindo - a member of a Samloo Druidic clan, but not himself a Druid. Ullo becomes one of the great forces behind Elvish economic expansion and spearheads a movement to broker trade with Dragonshead province. His shop in Magnavil, Ullo's Gems, is the first elvish business on human soil. Ominbindo is also instrumental in merging the Altalaminui, or Council of Elvish Virtue, with the Trade Union, adding broad financial powers to the former's (ideally) philanthropic cause.
By now, the smaller Elvish Quarter of Rigo has expanded to encompass the entire city region, with humans becoming secondary citizens by default, if not by design. That their overall population dwindled after the Weeping Sickness did not help matters. Some of their race still whisper that the Elves were behind the Sickness, but most appreciate that life has indeed improved with the new opulence surrounding them.
In NT 54, Endar Ledux finances the Arcane Library, a masterpiece of engineering poised over the Crystal Falls.

56-65 NT: The Aurelian Bloom

The new Altalaminui commissions a massive, culturally-focused building project celebrating elvish innovation and tradition which kicks off an unmatched expansion of the arts. Both the city district and the period over which construction took place become known as the Aurelian Bloom, or Dobridol in elvish.
A number of grand institutions are established in the Bloom. Arguably the greatest of these is the Ildor Museum, whose establishment corresponds not only to an influx of real material wealth in town, but also a marked shift towards a colonizing mentality over cultural forms. Theatre Thainwa showcases traditional drama and dance, including Lhubai, a balletic form, and Caspah Bod, ritual maskwork. Mandolyn – fabled bard of Bonicaroo – built a good part of her career here before founding the Sunset Theatre some 10 years later on the island of Effeti. Ollon Meno, famed playwright, also got his start here. The Rigoreen Gilded Symphony plays the works of classical masters in Red Echo Hall. A major monument dedicated by the Trade Union to the Battle of the Ebon Plains and the lives lost there looms in the Bloom's central square.
Near the end of this period, the Tellthu Academy undergoes a sweeping transformation from a rickety classroom to a fully fledged university. The Academy moves its premises to the Cian Mian waterside district. One major initiative undertaken by its faculty is the systematic re-invention of the language, from the heavily caste-based Varidoc, or High Elvish, to the ideally egalitarian Lulylindelindoc. Its use is widely encouraged, though it is slow to catch on, especially among older and/or noble members of society.
A youth movement known as the Ice Wave (Keldathuhdri) takes shape, as the first generation of elves born in Rigo seek to connect with their ancestral roots. The movement, characterized by a high degree of romanticism for days long past and the dream to bring them back again, is heavily inspired by the new availability of elvish literature and myth. Pilgrimages organized to Dokeen capture the popular imagination, with the more eventful ones frequently retold as adventure stories. Figures from ancient legends lend their names to a great many babies born during the Wave.
Over the Nar River, the Tokallan District takes shape.

66-70 NT: The Druidic Scandals

After sorting out decades' worth of their own troubles, in 66 NT, the Druids of Bonicaroo are finally in a position to demand that the citizens of Rigo start paying Jaloo - a sacred tax which supports the Druidic caste. Traditionally, the tax is obligatory for all lower castes; but then, the Druidic Order is also traditionally subject to royal oversight. With the royal family dead, and given Rigo's proud independence, what claim the Druids have to collect the tax becomes the subject of fiery argument.
Envoys from Bonicaroo put forth staggering numbers for Rigo to pay - almost 70 years of back payments, far more than the average citizen can afford. The Trade Union refuses the proposal outright. A second solution emerges - no one is sure whether from the Union or the Druids - that nearby farmland could be turned over to the Druids' care to pay off a hefty part of the debt. Though Druids are strictly forbidden from owning land, certain plots are eventually ceded over to them after byzantine points of law are twisted to make it work. This causes a double scandal: First, ownership of these lands was always of a "soft" variety, based on joint contract between Trade Union businesses and the farmers who worked and lived there. The decision to grant the Druids the land fully excluded the latter. Secondarily, only a few Druids seem to have benefited from the arrangement, leading to allegations of corruption in those cases. That these Druids also established lavish manors, often staffed with the same peasants whose lands they'd acquired, did little to quash the rumours they'd been bribed.
Due to the financial hit, the opulence of the Aurelian Bloom years diminishes somewhat. The Tellthu Academy cancels its Aldembra Program, citing financial strain, although it may equally have been the growing pretension of Elves to favour their own kind. Humans, who are not required to pay Jaloo, begin to do better in the city and make political and financial gains during the Scandal.
Perceptions of the Druids are sharply divided. Devout and conservative types are overjoyed to see their return and willingly undertake the Jaloo to have these figures back in their lives. But many in Rigo no longer hold to traditional ways, while increased levels of tax-based poverty pose a crisis of faith for those caught between their spiritual beliefs and the need to eke out a living. Voices emerge critiquing the Druids. The most organized dissenters join Capersah, its name a play on Casperha, a word meaning "family" used by the Druids to refer to each other. A Capersah by contrast is a small, piranha-like fish best known for its ability to devour even the largest sea creatures by nibbling tiny pieces at a time, an obvious metaphor for how its members view the Druids. Though appearing as a grassroots movement, the group is secretly backed by a number of wealthy donors in the Union. Its earliest incarnation is wholly pacifist.
Bringing the period to a close, the Tallisanta family of Bonicaroo establishes a Druidic Thifwendr in Rigo, the Camhan Fir.
Endar Ledux, founder of the Arcane Library, dies. A statue is raised in his honour, and the Nar river running through Rigo is renamed after him.

71-83 NT: The Dune Pact

Seeking to recover financially from the Scandals, the Altalaminui pursues a trade agreement with Sekh Anoob which would open a new market for elven goods and introduce many new ones, especially silks and spices, to the citizens of Rigo. This agreement comes to be known as The Dune Pact.
Due to regime change in Sekh Anoob, the deal takes a full twelve years to negotiate. King Afnukentis, last in the line of Khufanet Dynasty kings, cedes the throne two years into initial talks, suddenly and with no apparent ascension plan in place. The resulting power vacuum inspires several bloody years of tribal infighting, and the small party of elven diplomats sent to hammer out the Pact end up stranded in the capital city of Tpoth. Open war in the region endures for nearly six years. At least one member of the Rigoreen party is killed. Peace is achieved after the Nazhbehtaqs, conquerors from L'ai Alaq, quell remaining disputes with their superior cavalry, converting many of the tribes to the Alaq faith.
The Nazhbehtaqs swiftly consolidate their power, establishing their own royal capital at Seqqwat'in and declaring their reign the advent of the Third Empire. The new stability permits the elves to revisit the notion of the Pact with the Yassul, head of the Nazhbehtaq family, and details are hashed out over a grueling four years. Complicating the matter is a powerful cabal of sorcerors, The Sons of the Serpent. In addition to controlling certain unforgiving lands to the north, the Sons are well-woven into the fabric of Anoobi life and enjoy popular support from many who view them as the land’s rightful protectors. They vie to be factored into the trade agreement, insinuating that they will make life very difficult for the Nazhbehtaqs in more ways than one if they're excluded. Eventually, the Nazhbehtaqs agree to cut the Sons into the deal, since the spice from areas loyal to the latter represents a substantial portion of Rigoreen interest. The negotiation process is unduly strained by fundamental differences between these groups - the Nazhbehtaq faith positions itself squarely against magic and its users, such as the Sons.
Key clauses of the Pact are left unwritten and remain in dispute due to the stake all parties had to get gold flowing in quickly. The import of Rigoreen beer and wine, specifically from the Lethanway Brewery into Djazeh, is among the document’s more problematic items as the Alaq faith opposes consumption of alcohol. Formalizing transportation, Shanrah Shipping contracts with West Traders, Inc, in Magnavil. Goods thereafter travel from Djazeh to Magnavil, and from there, by caravan north to Rigo. Ullo Ominbindo is instrumental in setting this up as he already has a perch in Magnavil, and good relations with the ruling Baron, Radgo Athul.
While the Pact takes shape, back in Rigo, the Capersah breaks into two splinter factions: one opposed philosophically to Druid oversight, another forming into a more militant wing. The former group is made up of peaceful objectors, many of them academics, who target localized aspects of Druidic dominion but fall short of rejecting the tradition wholesale, preferring a reformist approach. The militant group wages an increasingly violent campaign against the Druidic Order which in NT 85 finally inspires a city ban of all gatherings related to apparently anti-Druidic causes. The militant group shrinks back with unexpected obedience. Nothing more is heard from them until years later, when a core of well-known ex-Capersah members re-emerges as the Dok Ralindok ("Elves for Elves"), a movement whose ideology pivots to despise humans as well as Druids. The pacifist strain continues throughout this period, if underground.

84-88 NT: Nallidronanthu (The Desert Wind)

PRESENT DAY RIGO
With the Dune Pact in play, Rigo becomes globally wealthier, and all of its residents come to enjoy some fruits of the trade. Those with businesses find them bustling. Elven weapons command especially high prices from desert lords, and those that produce them grow rich indeed.  Fine spices and silks are newly available in shops; restaurants offer new and exciting dishes. Elves are not as curious by nature as humans are and tend away from travel, but nevertheless, a small tourist industry develops for those with the means to plan an Eastern getaway, and these experiences excite the imagination back home.
The Trade Union encourages those of the crafting class to go and bring back new ideas for elvish goods, creating the Redersi Fund (affectionately known as the Sand Stipend) to cover basic expenses for those answering the call. A handful of innovative art academies pop up to teach newfound exotic techniques - especially mosaic geometry, which the elves are fascinated with and begin to incorporate into new buildings with a Rigoreen twist. Arning Cledopht founds the Cledopht Institute for Foreign Design to learn, produce, and “improve upon” any new styles that ever might be encountered. It is the first new and truly vital addition to the Aurelian Bloom district in almost 20 years, and reinvigorates the craft and architecture industries. The Ildor Museum expands, adding on an Eastern wing to house artifacts gathered from expeditions in Sekh Anoob. Its curator, Kief Elando, offers a standing package for those willing to seek new objects out from afar. The success of this program feeds the cultural fever for the stuff, and also kicks off a spirited debate on whether to set off expeditions into Ald Cyngric as well, a place the elves have avoided since the times of the Ebon Plains on account of superstition. The Arcane Library also begins buying Anoobi manuals, under the new direction of Endar Ledux's grandson, Eldon.
In Tokallan district, the Chabudon Sect of the Monks of Ti-Lak build a monastery - the only such complex outside of Dokeen.  A small community of the Shu people follows the monks and settles in town.
They are not the only foreign settlers: Seeking better living conditions, many human Anoobi take refuge in a poor area of the city of Rigo off the ports west of Cian Mian, where they repurpose warehouse structures into housing.  Hishak and Alawaq echo through the streets.  After a few years’ influx, the area bustles with enough of a population to count as its own separate district, and is deemed New Shedruh, to commemorate the watershed event that sent elven history on its upward trajectory. The youngest son of the Yassul, Prince Ajzur, establishes an official presence for the Nazhbehtaq family nearby where his people settle by constructing the Olqarab Edrah, a magnificent edifice that tolerates no rival. (This fact actually proves a major headache for city officials who feared its proposed gawdiness would make for a permanent eyesore. The contract for the site held stipulations for every detail of the build in hopes of minimizing such aesthetic damage.) The Olqarab is an outlier in its opulence, however; the remainder of New Shedruh’s growing community must huddle together for warmth beneath the tower’s cold shadow, short on food and opportunity.
As a bridging gesture between peoples, the city commissions the first public artwork in New Shedruh from Maestro Tokari, sculptor of renown. The Maestro is famously reclusive, so it is notable that he leaves his countryside manor to take up residence in the city while he works.  Tokari insists on total control over his subject matter.  His eventual monument interposes the plight of the elves in the original Shedruh Riots with that of the humans of Sekh Anoob - a theme the Trade Union is unaware of until halfway through its construction. The sculpture becomes an instant scandal, revealing the widespread polarization in the elven community with respect to its new guests.  The Dok Ralindok, official voice of opposition to human settlement, files a formal complaint with the Union for its spending taxpayer money on "propaganda".    
Other developments: Anoobi newcomers open a Temple of the Alaq faith.  A small number of curious Rigoreen attend services, and one or two even convert.  The Tellthu Academy reopens the Aldembra Program to provide additional education on the Elvish Species to the new influx of non-Elves.  An uptick in crime rates is traced to the drug Thooj, an Anoobi opiate whose ultimate source of distribution is unknown.