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#22
October 2nd, 2011, 07:58 PM
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Stepping Stones: 770-779 AUC Chapter II, part II The first and most important item on Erminaz’s agenda was to reorganize agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and land. He would look to Rome for his inspiration, having been raised and trained in their Empire himself, for there was no better (or other) model for infrastructure in Europa. However, the other tribes would certainly not be open to such changes if the Thingan meetings were anything to judge by. So, Erminaz would first implement these changes in his own territory, and then prove its efficiency to the other tribes. Even his own people, however, would be reticent to accept reforms that were blatantly “Roman,” and so he would have to disguise it. Erminaz’s model for land distribution was simple enough to be handled with limited infrastructure, and sure to appeal to the nobility. The territory of the Cherusci would be divided into Lando [1], which would then be handed out to lords, called Druhtinoz [2], who would also rule over their Landan’s residents. This was on several conditions: that the Druhtinoz acknowledge the Theudanaz as the highest authority, that he use it for only the purposes dictated by the Theudanaz, and that he pay a small fraction of what that land produced to the Theudanaz as tribute. This offer was enough to entice twenty-three retainers, nobles, renowned warriors, and their respective clans, which was more than Erminaz had hoped for, and certainly enough for his plan to succeed. Almost every Landan had arable land, some had mineral deposits, and most had large tracts of forested land. With their orders given and the incentives laid out, the Druhtinoz set their workers to gathering resources. This was a slow process, lacking the experience, organization, and machinery of the Romans, but it did what was intended of it. After a few years, the differences, while not striking, were noticeable. The Cherusci were better fed, their warriors were better-armed, and their settlements were bigger. The other tribes watched in curiosity, sometimes impressed, and sometimes distrustful. Manno, as usual, was in on the plan. He became the first to adopt the Landan system Erminaz had developed. This was not just to strengthen the influence of the Thingan Hauhaz; the mountainous Boihaemum promised metal and stone that would be extremely useful if exploited properly. With them came the Langobardi, and soon the Hermunduri. The tribes in their spheres of influence followed suit in the years that followed. Adgandestraz, king of the Chatti, however, preferred to keep his power all to himself, and stood adamantly against the reform. The Tencteri, Mattiaci, and Sicambri also refused, as the Chatti held them firmly under their sway. This would set a precedent for relations between Erminaz and Adgandestraz, which would show itself in the Thingan Hauhaz. Erminaz now had even more influence amongst the tribes in the Thingan. His expertise drew respect from the tribal representatives, and this gave him the power he needed to begin truly uniting the tribes. Every idea, every resolution, and every movement he made in the Thingan now pushed towards that goal. Increasing the number of warriors each tribe had to give, proposing that “tributes” be given to train these soldiers, each was a quiet, cautious step towards a Germanic kingdom. Sometimes these proposals weren’t even his own; indeed, his ideology was spreading through the tribes and was gaining ground, albeit fairly slowly. The Chatti represented their king well, however, and attempted to block these efforts at every opportunity. Sometimes they were met with success, much to Erminaz’s resentment, but more often than not they were overruled. Adgandestraz grew increasingly angry with Erminaz, and to some degree he knew what was going on. Slowly, tensions built up to a breaking point, until finally, Adgandestraz decided that enough was enough. Erminaz had made the mistake of misjudging exactly how furious the Chatti king was, and pushed too far towards centralization in the Chatti’s eyes. The Chatti, Tencteri, Sicambri, and Mattiaci representatives drew steel during a Thingan meeting, and a fight broke out in the meeting hall. The Marcomanni guards intervened quickly, and two Chatti representatives were slain, while the rest fled the hall. Whilst Erminaz worked to control the uproar in the Cherusci village, the remaining representatives brought news back to Adgandestaz. He was so infuriated by this that he declared the Chatti to no longer be part of the union. The Tencteri, Sicambri, and Mattiaci did the same only a week later. Thus began the greatest test of Erminaz’s skill and power. [1] Plural of *Landan, meaning “land” or “area of ground.” Administrative division based on the Roman Province. [2] Plural of *Druhtinaz, meaning “lord.” Based on the Roman Provincial Governor, but closer to a feudal lord. 
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#23
October 2nd, 2011, 08:02 PM
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Good to see Erminaz is taking up reforms inspired from the Roman system of governance. Let's hope Erminaz and his allies are successful slaying those treacherous Chatti dogs!
For Germania!
__________________
When Western Europeans conquer, it's called uplifting the natives. When anyone else does the conquering, it's called barbarism.
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#24
October 2nd, 2011, 10:10 PM
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Actually, I thought that a Druhtinaz was a king, with a Harjanaz (possibly the origin of the later German ducal title of Herzog) being the equivalent of a general or governor. A Druhtinaz was a militaristic form of kingship which supposedly superseded the sacral office of Theudanaz. Not that, I think, that it would be impossible for one to be both Theudanaz and Druhtinaz simultaneously.
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#25
October 2nd, 2011, 10:47 PM
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 . I'll try to make the Chatti Rebellion as interesting as I can, but I'm not sure if I want to do another description of a battle like the German Cannae. That was a bit of a pain.
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#26
October 2nd, 2011, 11:24 PM
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Its been a couple of years since I've last read the article explaining it. I'll try to relocate it for you if I can.
In the meantime, I've only been lucky enough to find a webpage called Reginheim on Google. It gives a comprehensive overview on ancient Germanic society. Another form of Harjanaz seems to have been "Harjatugon" (army-leader). The former is translated in the article seems to have meant "war-conductor".
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#28
October 6th, 2011, 09:54 PM
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So as you may have guessed by now, thanks to school and whatnot, I can't promise consistant updates during the week (as I said, the first 5 updates were all written before I even posted the first). I should be able to post an update later today.
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Bump!
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#29
October 7th, 2011, 01:35 AM
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The Chatti Rebellions: 779 AUC Chapter II, Part III The Chatti Rebellions (Apr. 3-Jun. 9 779 AUC) would be a critical step towards achieving Germanic unity, though Erminaz hadn’t intended it. The Rebellion would also serve as a proving ground for the effectiveness of the Landan system at supplying and raising an army. To later historians, it would be patently clear that the rebellious tribes stood little chance at any point in the war. Two armies, one of Cherusci and Langobardi, and one of Hermunduri, Marcomanni, and Angili converged on the lands of the rebelling tribes, all of which lay fairly close to the Rhine. They each headed straight for the Chatti territory with the single-minded objective of crushing them, the primary aggressors. Without the strength or control of the Chatti, the other rebellious tribes would soon cave and surrender, for the Chatti’s influence over them had been the only real reason they had ever dared rebel. The Chatti proved to be less of a challenge for Erminaz than the Frisii and Batavi had been 11 years prior. The two armies rapidly carved through Chatti territory, and moved with great speed towards the settlement of Mattium, the capture of which would certainly seal victory. The Druhtinoz of the tribes were also mandated to serve as military commanders during wartime, and so were often put in charge of small detachments throughout the war, who moved against smaller villages off the course of the main army’s warpath, to ensure that the army would not be flanked whilst traveling, and that resistance after the war would be minimal. The Chatti were one of the largest, most powerful tribes in all of Germania, and the support of the masses had always been key to the political success of Erminaz. Therefore, he did as much as he could to ensure that he retained the favor of the Chatti tribesmen, obviously a difficult task in the midst of war. To that end, he ordered the armies to act with a firm but fair hand in dealing with villages. He made it clear that settlements were not to be burned, and that tribesmen not involved in combat were not to be attacked or imprisoned unless necessary. While this hardly made the Chatti fall in love with Erminaz, it served well as damage control of the public opinion, and things were not as bad as they could’ve been. On June 2nd, Erminaz brought his army at last to the settlement of Mattium. He shouted a message to the defenders behind the town’s sealed wooden gates; that he would be willing to spare the life of Adgandestraz if he would surrender and renounce his own actions. He received an answer even more hostile than he expected: spears and arrows flew over the palisade, and Erminaz ordered his army to storm the city without hesitation. They had brought siege ladders which they used to scale the walls and avoid an extended siege, a new tactic amongst the tribes. The Chatti were unprepared to deal with this form of assault, and quickly Erminaz’s forces swarmed into Mattium. By the end of the first hour the gates had been broken down and the battle entered was in full swing. The Chatti crumbled before the better-equipped, more numerous attackers. While most of the army swept through the settlement eliminating or capturing the defenders, a group a few dozen made a beeline for Adgandestraz’s hall. They battered down the doors to find the traitorous king, who had been foolish enough not to flee. His personal defenders were easily vanquished, and Adgandestraz was unceremoniously impaled, ending the battle. The outcome of the Chatti rebellions sent a clear message to the other tribes: “this was the price of defiance. The Thingan Hauhaz is the dominant power in this land.” The other rebellious tribes, as predicted, surrendered, and were not punished as greatly as the Chatti were, who were forced to adopt the Landan system, had to pay an additional tribute to the Thingan Hauhaz, were restricted in the number of soldier they could have, and a new, Pro-Union ruler was elected from the Chatti nobles. The corpse of Adgandestraz was hung from his own hall for the next two weeks as a symbol, and as a warning. With this, the Thingan Hauhaz would cease to be an impotent ceremonial council, and become the true ruling body of Germania. Last edited by Vinland; October 10th, 2011 at 08:53 PM..
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#30
October 7th, 2011, 01:36 AM
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Highly interesting. Watching with rapt interest.
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#31
October 7th, 2011, 01:43 AM
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nice update
keep it coming and good luck with school 
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#33
October 10th, 2011, 09:15 PM
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Thanks for the support and feedback everyone! So I need just a tiny bit of creative assistance, though. I get the feeling that, eventually, I'm going to have to actually give names to a few of these settlements that I've been mentioning, other than "the Cherusci principal settlement" or "the Marcomanni principal settlement" or the obviously Latinized Mattium, the problem being that I'm rather terrible at making up place names. As a result, I'd like just a bit of help thinking up a few. Hopefully I'll be able to evolve the Germanic language into something easier to work with soon, so I won't have to do this again. Just about any reasonable combination of English words would do, and I'll try to translate them into Proto-Germanic.
The only idea I had was Burgizharuskoz, which is as near an approximation as I could get of "City of the Cherusci." Also, while I'm on the subject of Proto-Germanic, now that I have a better resource to use (Thank you Lysandros!) I was thinking of going back and converting as many tribe names as I can into Proto-Germanic and actually have some consistent convention for naming things. Thoughts? There should be another update today, and that'll be the last part of Chapter II. After that I plan on doing one chapter on the Romans, then going back to the Germanic Union. EDIT: Also, in the mass conversion, I'd be changing some titles and the name of the Landan system (a term that I thought too bland anyway). Overall, it shouldn't make too much of a difference. Last edited by Vinland; October 10th, 2011 at 09:31 PM..
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#34
October 10th, 2011, 10:57 PM
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Excellent! The Chatti are getting what they rightfully deserved!
__________________
When Western Europeans conquer, it's called uplifting the natives. When anyone else does the conquering, it's called barbarism.
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#35
October 10th, 2011, 11:05 PM
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 . But who knows how opinions will change in, oh...500 years-ish?
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#36
October 11th, 2011, 03:53 AM
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The Suebic Wars: 782-786 AUC Chapter II, Part IV Erminaz presided over a relatively peaceful land for the next four years. Unrest was infrequent and easily destroyed whenever it arose. In these years, Erminaz focused more on infrastructure, technology, and development more than political restructuring. In these years, the first great stone buildings were erected in Germania, though these were uncommon for practical reasons, and were mostly of symbolic importance. Roads (not even close to Roman quality, but roads all the same) stretched from village to village, connecting the settlements within each tribe and each tribe within the union. Several larger settlements, usually those of powerful and influential Druhtinoz, drew in tribesmen to fill permanent bureaucratic positions, and manufacturing, agriculture, and trade industries were built up around them over time, resulting in the first true cities in Germania. The Germanic people were still not united, however. In fact, regional tensions had started rearing their heads again. Erminaz was determined not to allow another rebellion, and realized that he needed to create a single identity for the tribes that they could identify with, and hopefully unite them. Erminaz needed to distinguish “us” from “them” in a deeper way than simply enemies and allies. He looked to the east and saw his solution: the Suebi. The Suebi were incredibly powerful, mightier than even the Marcomanni had been, and dominated the lands between the Germanic Union and the Vandals. They were not one tribe, but many, and their greatest constituent in every capacity were the Semnones. Some of the tribes making up the Germanic Union were in fact Suebic, but their new allegiance and increased development in recent years made this name nothing more than an artifact and a formality to them. Recently the Suebi had been overstepping their boundaries into the Union’s territory and carrying out raids on the visibly more prosperous settlements of the Cherusci and Hermunduri. They were seldom met with success, as the guards were more organized and well-equipped, and were little more than an annoyance, but this gave Erminaz an excuse, and an enemy upon which he could turn every tribe. In 782, Erminaz ordered forces into Suebi territory, initiating the Suebic Wars (Oct. 22 782-Sep. 30 786). Erminaz, as was expected of him, led the charge into Suebic lands alongside Manno and a Langobardi Harjanaz [1] named Athalwulfaz. Athalwulfaz pushed north towards Juteland and would stop just short of the Saxones’ territory, then move east along the northern coastline. Erminaz and Manno would move towards the heartland of the Semnones. Manno and Erminaz cut a bloody swath north into the Semnones’ territory, but their assault was stalled once the bulk of the Suebi arrived from the north, who were sufficient in number to greatly stall Manno and Erminaz’s armies. Athalwulfaz, however, made slow and cautious progress northwards, and arrived at the coast after many of the Suebi had left to confront the other invasion force. Athalwulfaz had been selected to lead this force because he had shown both promise as a leader during the Chatti Rebellions, and because he had been one of the strongest supporters of the invasion. This fervent support showed itself in the battlefield. His forces swept through every village on his path to Juteland, dispatched what defenders remained with ease, and kept the villagers in line by threatening to raze the settlement and take the villagers as slaves. When the villagers did resist, they made good on their threats, and hacked off the hair knots that the free Suebi men wore as an act of humiliation. Athalwulfaz’s actions would earn him a monstrous reputation amongst the Suebi, and Erminaz and Manno were supposedly shocked and appalled when word of this reached them. Nevertheless, Athalwulfaz was left in command. When winter arrived, the Germanic armies were forced to retreat back to Germania, having made little progress in their war of conquest, even on Athalwulfaz’s front. Near the end of the next summer, a second invasion was launched, which succeeded in gaining some ground against the Suebi, but was again halted with the coming of winter. Athalwulfaz, perhaps after threats from Erminaz, had toned down his aggressive tactics, but was still by far the most brutal of the three commanders. Erminaz ordered several loyal retainers of his to accompany Athalwulfaz and keep an eye on him. From this point on, the two would be at odds throughout the remainder of Erminaz’s life. In 786, the third and final invasion was launched into Suebi territory, which would be the final blow to the Suebi. The Germanic army had used the intervening time in between the second and third invasions to build its strength, while the Suebi had been worn down considerably by the wars. Erminaz, however, was too old to lead on the field, and was replaced in his command by another Cherusci, Berhtgaizaz. The armies timed their movement along the northern and southern fronts well, and were able to distract and divide the Suebi forces with staggered raids, showing the superior organization of the Germanic forces compared to other tribes. In only three months the Suebi, once the most powerful force in Germania, were overcome by the better-equipped, better-organized, and better-trained Germanic Union, who had completed its first war of conquest. In 789, the heart of the Germanic tribes would be torn from it. Erminaz died at the extremely old age of 76, leaving a massive impact on the history of the Germanic people, and the world. He was succeeded as Theudanaz by Manno, who would honor his friend and ally with a monument in the center of the Cherusci capital. Erminaz’s great feats would see him honored as the first hero of the Germanic people later on in history, and he would be officially recognized as the founder of the Germanic nations. Amidst his exploits, though, the Julio-Claudian emperors of Rome were facing their own tribulations that would shape the future of all of Western Europa… [1] Germanic military leader, literally War-Conductor
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#39
October 13th, 2011, 12:52 AM
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I second Beserker. That was a muy cool update and you're better at making maps than I am.
__________________
When Western Europeans conquer, it's called uplifting the natives. When anyone else does the conquering, it's called barbarism.
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