The Historical Origins of Certain Nations Ayst Istan an Kulstof translated by J. Robertson contents: I. Introductory 1. purpose of the work scope of the work - geographical historical theoretical II. The Earliest Times 1. theory on the beginnings of the nations - general theory of the birth of mankind number and distribution of brute-men before humanity theory of dissemination of human blood through brutes 2. list and desciption of the original placement of certain nations: Elosids - Lower, or Elosians proper Upper - Tijils Vians Stoffs Erctiloids Manulto-Meelians Verneocals Ipsilstanst Foeloids - Quoelpurn Migltorv III. The Beginnings of Empire, and of the great Migrations The Origins of the Elosian Empire The Confederacy of Enat The Rise of Elos within the Confederacy Conquest of the Manultulians Conquest of the Tigils Establishment of the Monarchy ( translation is currently up to this point ) IV. Continuation of Conquest, Migration, and Mixing of Nations 1. Expansion of the Upper Elosids Tigils move to the north Vians displace the Meelians Mixture of Meelians, Ipsilstanst, and Quoelpurn Aksurst displace Maalbobs Notes on the Decline of the Ipsilstanst 2. ( table of contents continues but hasn't been translated...) ---------- I. Introductory The purpose of this work is to examine and to discuss the origins, from as far back in time as possible, of the major nations now united under the Stoffonian Empire, and of other nations to the extent that they are connected with the former. Geographically, then, this work is mostly concerned with the great land mass of Stoffonia and Elos, and with parts of that landmass which is the home of the Foels, as far south as the equator, but generally concentrating on the lands which border directly on the Elosian sea and those which are the former homes of nations now situated around that body of water. In matter of time, this work is concerned with a period from several hundreds of years before the beginning of the Elosian Empire up until the present 472nd year of Stoffstan, which is more than two thousands of years. This work will be mostly occupied with the movements and developments of nations as a whole over long spans of time, and will not be overly concerned with particualar rulers whose personal influence is dwarfed by the ages, nor will any attention more than that which is vital and crucial be paid to particular historical events, such as battles, but more to protracted happenings such as wars and migrations, or series the same. Some attention will be given to general concepts that apply to all nations, as such broad-based knowledge is most helpful in understanding the workings of the world. II. The Earliest Times It is generally supposed that man as first created by the gods was a brute, in all respects like a wild animal in human form. In this state, he lived in mindless primitiveness and total lack of technology. Man became a rational being with a soul when the blood of the gods was diffused into these creatures. On this much, there is general concord among most authorities, and the view is supported not only by religious doctrine, but also by discoveries of very old human bones in such locations as to suggest that people lived completely without even what little refinements are practised by the savage, such as ritual disposal of the dead and the use of fire and simple tools. Some argue that these brute men were all located in one place, and then spread out over many generations, gradually having covered the world by the time of the dawn of reason. The fact that physical appearance has always varied from nation to nation can not be satisfactorally be accounted for by this argument, though some have tried to explain that the original creation of men were of all different physical types, and that those who had similar appearances naturally flocked together in their wanderings, so that eventually men differed from place to place and men who lived close together were of the same appearance. The argument is complicated by the fact that no one region (with the exception of the extreme climates) appears to have been originally populated either sooner or later than any other. There is also the argument that men had already received the powers of reason and the soul before they spread out over the earth, but this is soundly refuted by the fact that widely separated regions have been found to contain the bones of brute men. It is much simpler to assume that just as the gods placed other kinds of animals in every region that would support them, the same was done with brute humans. The regional differences reflected the prudence of the gods in such details as putting men with more hair in the colder regions, and the like. Why such a simple explanation is not universally accepted can only be attributed to the desire of one nation or another to claim to occupy the original home of mankind. Then, there is the argument as to how the powers of reason were spread throughout the human world, as no people - not even the most uncouth of savages - have been found to truly lack minds and souls. By one argument, blood of the gods was fused into that of man once, and in one locality, and through each succeeding generation was more widely dispersed, without being diluted in the least because of its supernatural quality. It seems more likely, however, that the fusion took place in several widely separated locations at about the same time, and then commenced to spread. The oldest civilizations, as opposed to the oldest populations (which do not exist) are obviously the likely settings. Elos is among them, as is Foelia. In any case, by the time that even the first steps were taken out of savagery, the blood of the gods had most likely spread to every single part of humanity. Here I present a survey of the locations and conditions of the major nations with which this work is concerned, at the time at which written records began to be kept in the area, around 2000 years before the era of Stofstan. At this time, the nations which occupied the landmass of Stoffonia and Elosia could be grouped into four large divisions. The northern nations occupied what is now Alkch, Ertcilia, Tijil, Neavoi, Lermozmu, and Itzex. These people were at the time very primitive savages, living mostly from the hunting of large game. The names of most of these nations have been lost. The records refer to all of them as Erctils. They are the ancestors of the Alkch, Erctilians, Lemozmuans, Itzex, and Eshtikur. The western nations, situated in what is now Verneocal and Custofia, were not much more advanced than the northern. Their descendents are the Verneocals, who still occupy exactly the same territory as they always have. The southern nations occupied present-day Almusp, Stofonia, Ijermeshil, Hemal, Manaltul, Haltickch, Binulul, and those parts of Elosia which are south of the mountains. The Manultulian nation developed a civilization around this time, though they remained divided between local and regional regimes. The Meelians, located in what is now southern Elosia, were somewhere between true barbarism and true civilization. They too were divided. The Maaldobs, located in what is now Hemal and Ijermeshil, were of the typical barbarian belicosity, and were well known as pirates. The Mayols, occupying what is now Stofonia and Almusp, had the rudiments of civilization, but were never able to rise above barbarism in their political and social institutions. The Haltikch have never, since the dawn of civilization, been free from rule by other nations. In the earliest written history, they were already ruled the Manultulians. Ever since, they have only been free for short times. There were doubtless many other southern nations, but the details of their exact names and locations are not clear. Aside from those already mentioned, the modern descendents of the southern nations include the Runkans, Malst, Umults, Scaylians, Nastarians. No original homelands can be located for these, and it is assumed that they resulted from the mixture of Mayols, Meelians, and Maaldobs with foreign peoples. The circumstances of these combinations will be discussed laters. The eastern nations occupied all the land which drains into the sea of Enat, as well as the rest of modern Enatil. The eastern half of the domain was occupied by the Elosian nation, which was at this time was becoming truely civilized, who were divided into a large number of city-states and regional kingdoms. There were some aristocracies and democracies among the cities, though the republic of Raton was perenially ruled by dictators. West of the Elosians, centered around Altick, were the Tijils. West of the Tijils, in the region of modern Elosia that is called Arvoi, and also in the central portion of modern Eshitkur, were the Vians, common ancestors of the Neavoi, Favoi, and Cust. The extreme western portion of the drainage area was occupied by a nation who were the ancestors of the Stofs, Hemals, and Aksurst. They were called Aksurst by the Elosians, but it is doubtful that they had any name for their nation as a whole. All of these last three nations were barbarians divided into numerous kingdoms at the time when the records begin. South of the Elosian Sea, in what is now Mayol, Angstof, Maaldob, and Meels, there lived a number of nations which have since that time been completely absorbed or wiped out by others. The names of these people are not known, but they are often referred to as Ipsilstanst (Stof. for "sailors"). Hardly anything is known about these people, except that some of them had developed civilzations, since there are cities in this territory that date from this long ago. What little of their writing that survives is useless because neither their language nor their alphabet is understood. The Foels and their various kindred nations, in addition to the land which they still occupy today, at this time also lived in modern Umult, Scayls, Nastar, and Malst. While the great Foel river itself was already home to people of a civilized nature (which is not a matter which can be discussed at length in this work - a separate history of the Foels is in order), the inhabitants of these fringes were barbarians at that time. The original inhabitants of modern Umult, Aktickch and Scayls were all called Quoelpurn by the Foels. They were distributed as far south as Asnurn, were their descendants still exist today. West of the Foels proper were the Migltorv, in modern Nastar and Malst. These people have apparently been completely absorbed by invasions in later times. III. Beginnings of the Elosian Empire; and the start of the 'Great Migrations', beginning with the Tijils. Around 700 BC [translator's note: from this point onward, equivalent earth dates will be given. The Epoch of Stofstan corr- esponds to 908 CE], various states of the Elosians formed a permanent military alliance so as to better defend themselves from neigboring peoples. This was known as the League of Enat, after the city in which the agreement was made. The origin of the name of the 'Gulf of Enat' lies with this League. In 652, the alliance was augmented by the formation of a Confederation. All states were considered equal, and each year the rulers (or their emmissaries) met in a different city to act as a legislative assembly. From about 500 BC, the ambitious kings of the city of Elos began a deliberate program of improving their position within the league. By various intrigues, (some of which deserve a separate history to do them justice), they succeeded in gaining control of enough seats in the legislature by 432 for Nelanon to persuade the delegates to move the capitol permanently to Elos. A five-man Executive Council was set up to run things all year long while the legislature was not in session, made up of members chosen by the assembly. The membership of the council was supposed to be open to change on a yearly basis, but in reality it was perenially dominated by Elos. The Council was given the power to maintain armies and collect taxes. Binalon, the son of Nelanon, persuaded the assembly to give Elos a permanent place on the Council. In 423-420 a war was fought against the Manultulians and Tijils, and Binalon emerged even more in command, as the armies of the states were merged into the Confederate Army. The Elosians failed to conquer either of their enemies in that conflict however, and another war was fought in 410-399. The territory of the Tijils and the Manultulians was completely conquered, and were assimilated into the Confederacy. The Manultulians mainly yielded to Elosian rule, but great numbers of Tijils migrated across the mountains into the territory that was then occupied by the northern nations and established a country for themselves there. This set a precedent for later migrations by Vians, Aksurst, and so on, which will be discussed later. Meanwhile, the high esteem in which Binalon was held by the Elosians allowed him to become monarch of the entire Confederacy. In 393, he was crowned Emporer, and the Elosian Empire was to last until the extreme recent period, over 2000 years after the first formation of the League of Enat. In the early centuries of the Empire, the authority of the Emporer was in every way supreme in matters both temporal and religious. After that, the symbolic and ceremonial functions of the Emporer became more important than his actual power, and the daily business of government was left to the Council and the military officers.