World Ember 2023 | Tahuum Itaqiin: The Internecine War

Here we go again, friends. Since I have yet to collapse under the weight of my workload as a grad student and an amateur writer, we're going to see whether I can fill out more of Tahuum Itaqiin during this year's World Ember compared to when I crashed and burned last time around.
Frankly, between my academic work for the rest of this year, my ongoing writing projects and my holiday travel plans, I still have doubts that I'll be able to write much for World Ember! But as far as I'm capable of doing added worldbuilding in December, I'm excited to say I have a specific project that'll be the focus of next month's writing:

The Internecine War, a.k.a. The Crusade and the Reconquest

Synopsis:

Consisting of a series of related, multi-front conflicts over a nearly 80-year period in the northwestern reaches of the Continent, the Crusade and the Reconquest is a sufficiently tumultuous episode of Tahuum Itaqiin's history to earn its designation as its own era in the world's timeline between the Ancient and Grim Eras. The Internecine Period centers on the imperial conquest of the entire Haifatneh Basin and its frontiers, as well as a brutal purging of the realm of Agratekt by religiously zealos colonists from across the sea—and the equally violent backlash against their land-grabbing Reborn Theocracy. Unlikely coalitions of allies and foes clash in mountain passes, across deserts, and over azure seas with arms of bronze and iron, with competing systems of spellcraft and sacred works, and with cutthroat politics and unsteady allegiances. Many of those who do survive this series of wars find themselves living in a world completely different than the one they were born into, struggling to build new lives for themselves in a centuries-long, virtually post-apocalyptic Grim Era.

In the scope of my many, many creative writing plans, I currently have two WIP stories that take place within this period, and the conflict will someday be the setting for a Fanon-esque novel (or series? both?) exploring the difficult ethical questions about violence as part of rebellion, the justification of seeking revenge, and humanity's (in)ability to heal and move forward from conflict.

Week 1: The focus of this project

The focus of this project looks pretty straightforward, doesn't it? But rather than merely being a worldbuilding project about a war (or wars), the Internecine War will serve to flesh out a critical period of history across the Northwest and explore some key themes of my entire project here. Some areas of focus will be:

• The rise and fall the Reborn Theocracy, and its lasting but different impacts on religious (or irreligious) traditions, worldviews, and cultural norms throughout the Northwest.
• The emergence of the Haifah culture and what it means for disparate people to have a shared identity.
• The relationships between different systems of spellcraft, religious and spiritual belief systems, and cultures' ways of seeing the world.
• The sorcerous, reclusive Shadrusun will feature prominently in the story.

Week 2: Mini-Meta

The mini-meta for the Internecine War(s) merited an article all of its own.

Week 3: Homepage redesign!

As I announced here, I finally redesigned the landing page for Tahuum Itaqiin! If nothing else, it looks cleaner, the once long-winded synopsis has been relegated to a separate page, and I've got a highlights column for articles I'd especially like to showcase alongside my recent work.
More importantly, somene commented that the page's design really gave them a feel for the deserty environment, the sand and heat! I'd say this qualifies as mission accomplished as far as Northwest Tahuum Itaqiin goes. Once I get to work on building out the other subregions of the Continent, however, I'll probably have to redesign things again!

Week 4: Miscellaneous prep, apparently.

My focal point for this week's homework is the small arsenal of stub articles I've prepared or will prepare for next month. Mainly, I plan on fleshing out geography, ethnic groups, cultures and languages, history, and military-related articles, especially for the following areas:
The Reborn Theocracy and supporters: The state religion, its leading martial-religious arm the Order of the Returning Sun, and what's known about the culture of the Northerners who sailed from across the Boundless Ocean and founded the Theocracy. There is also much to be said about the tribes and small polities of Takhet, the majority of whom supported or were under the influence of the Theocracy, and the drastic changes to their religions and traditions from the Internecine Period onward.
The Rebel Coalition: While the majority of Rebel Coalition's members are tribes which would collectively identify as the Haifatnehti (Haifah) people, along with the Saukkanese people who were immiserated by the damage to cross-regional trade caused by the early conflicts of the Internecine Wars, a few dissident Takheti factions and others are counted among their ranks as well. There's also more to be written about the sorcerous Shadrusun and their relatively complex role in the conflict, including some tantalizing hints as to why they seem to have disappeared early in the Internecine Wars (and reemerged later).
Sites of inter-ethnic mingling and conflict: The coastal city-state of Geiljana (later Kailrana) was initially a Northerner settlement, but Takheti laborers, merchants, and craftspeople from factions supportive of the Theocracy later comprised the majority of the city's population. Further tension would arise as the mainly Haifah-led Rebel Coalition eventually compelled the city to surrender, resulting in disparate groups with multi-generational feuds living there together. Another key site is the Bay of Maherat (later the birthplace of folk hero Misra in-Maherat), a bay branching off from the Haifatneh Sea and a gateway to the mountain valleys of Saukkan-Ghat. While historically its population was mostly Saukkanese, the Rebel Coalition's capture of this site from the Theocracy resulted in mass settlement by Haifah soldiers, leading to tensions over claims to the land and a defensive Maherati-Saukkanese populace struggling to hold on to their traditional culture.

Addendum: Comment caroling!

Joining nnie's initiative, I'll make my best effort to comment on others' WorldEmber articles this year, especially those of mutual followers (since their work is most likely to enter my field of vision, so to speak). I encourage all friends here to do the same!

The Year Month in Review

If nothing else, at 11,014 words written for WorldEmber last month, this was my first time completing one of these big writing challenges on WA! I'm reasonably proud of myself for this, seeing as I was juggling December's worldbuilding with my qualifying exams and holiday travel plans (not to mention a fair bit of holiday cooking!).
What's moderately funny about last month's worldbuilding accomplishment is that I completely forgot which time zone World Anvil operates on, so I miised the cutoff to finish my two lengthiest WE articles. Proud as I was/would've been to showcase these articles for WE, it looks like my social history of grape wine in Tahuum Itaqiin and in-world history of the leaders of the Reborn Theocracy will have to remain WIPs until after the WE Awards Ceremony.
Below is a gallery of all the articles I've completed for WE, plus the two aforementioned WIPs (which you should feel free to read anyway!). Coming up in a separate article will be a breakdown of my plans for fleshing out Tahuum Itaqiin in 2024, or at least what I think might be feasible to accomplish between my studies and my narrative writing projects.

Entry for WorldEmber Prep 2023

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