The Kuertasi Dhakladoro Mavehortewetu ("Holy Dhaklada Commonwealth")
Nowadays, the inhabitants of the Holy Dhaklada Commonwealth call the peninsula Nuthekrofívotracu. The „Great Northern Horn“ [1]. This peninsula is a part of the subcontinent Toulaňérši kvatupaler („Land of the Misshapen Hand“)[2]. From times immemorial, it was the site of many a story of success, bounty and advancement, as well as those of strife, bloodshed and drama. When the great glaciers receded many millenia ago, it first seemed that the giant low-lying peninsula would be engulfed by the merciless waves, its sparsely-forested grasslands and bogs never seeing the light of the sun ever again. But, by some stroke of luck (or perhaps magic), what might have occured in most of the myriad worlds of the multiverse, did not occur in this one... Suffice to say, things changed.
The names of the first permanent settlers of Nuthekrofívotracu are unknown, burried in the distant abyss of the past. Yet, from what they left behind, we know that they were nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived in tents made from the hides and bones of the large beasts that roamed the vast grasslands and northernly steppes of the peninsula. They came and went, following the great herds as many before them.
Probably 7000 years ago, the peninsula was already settled by several broad tribal groups, some sharing a common (if distant) origin. The ones in the south and central regions of the peninsula kept their hunter lifestyle unchanged for a long time, while the tribes who settled the coasts gradually turned to fishing and hunting seals and developing simple boats. About 5000 years ago, the sealers and fishermen took up more active sailing along the coasts, exploring new territories, hunting grounds and trade routes. They eventually crossed The Throat [FONT="][3][/FONT] , meeting people from the western peninsula of the subcontinent, forging new bonds, exchanging goods and ideas.
A few centuries later, agriculture arrived, slowly spreading from the southwest. The idea of raising livestock and taiming wild animals from the roaming herds came first. Nomadic herder-hunter-fishermen were the norm for a certain amount of time, but people soon began to feed themselves with the seeds of a peculiar new grass, one that was brought here from distant southern lands, many hundreds or even thousands of days of travel away. As the centuries passed, the crop became one of the main sources of nourishment on the subcontinent, gradually bolstered by other new crop imports as well. While the windswept plains and low hills were not always ideal for agriculture and hunting and fishing never truly diminished, growing plants and raising livestock was here to stay. Communities grew bigger, and with them, the size and complexity of settlements, tools, ships and social hierarchies grew as well. Unfortunately, the strain of the hunters on the grassy plains - once teeming with herds of wildlife - followed these trends too.
Men eventually came to dominate the society of emerging early civilizations, though some matriarchal holdovers survived. Tribes eventually became small nations. And they were not homogenous by any stretch of the imagination, not in language nor in ethnicity - particularly in the southern parts of the peninsula, where the traffic of nomadic nations travelling across the continent was alive and well. Misunderstandings (linguistic as well as semantic) disputes and skirmishes between the tribes became increasingly common. From fights and arguments over the best hunting grounds, fisheries and pastures, to polemics or even insults of the other side. The pressure grew, until one day, the first war in this part of the world broke out. And with the coming centuries, wars would only multiply in the windswept grasslands of
Nuthekrofívotracu. The conflicts were not without their upsides : They encouraged breakthroughs in weaponry, leading to a greater emphasis on mettalurgy and the importing of ores, metal tools and metal weapons. Tribal alliances morphed into the earliest territorial states of the peninsula and skilled and powerful chieftains became the first warlords and rulers.
Roughly 2400 years ago, another milestone in Nuthekrofívotracu history had occured : The birth of the first local empire, one that encompassed the entire peninsula. A man rose from humble fishing origins and became a wealthy sailor and naval merchant in one of the major trading ports of The Throat - the mighty city state of Trafebyv [4]. Many of the city's wealthiest feared his rising influence and daring reformist ideas on how to rule. A group of conspirators rose up and, with the help of sympathizers, expelled the dangerous rival from the city state. The disillusioned man sailed north, searching for a new home in one of the other polities. He was willing to start from cratch, but deep inside him also burned a desire for retribution on those that wronged him... He finally decided to settle down among the sealers, fishers and hunters of the northernmost coast of the peninsula. These were the Dask tribes. Men and women of humble origins and lowly culture, but hard-working, determined and intelligent. Just like him. Here, he would not only make a name for himself and eventually climb up the social ladder of the Dasks, but start making moves towards something unprecedented in the peninsula's history. Alliances of early peninsular nations were quite common before, but never on the scale of this man's fervent dream. A dream that would not be fully realized in his lifetime, but one that would come to fruition a few generations down the line.
During the rule of the exiled man's successor, the might of the alliance grew steadily via diplomacy, conquest and missionary activities. The simple religion of the sealers became a complex ideology and pantheon, supported by a well-developed missionary and priestly class loyal to the alliance's leader. Once half of the peninsula was conquered and everything was starting to come into its place, the ruler's subordinate chieftains agreed to become his vassals and unite their territories into one. Though referencing the Dask, the newborn empire came with a fresh, universalist name : Dhaklada (roughly "The Unity of the Peoples"). And its hunger for conquest and growth didn't end there. It took a few more decades and centuries, but eventually, the southernmost parts of the peninsula were assimilated into Dhaklada, including the humiliated remnants of Trafebyv. Dhaklada endured the following centuries, changing its form many times, being witness to eras of decline and renewal, but most importantly, being a regional power and a force to be reconned with on the seas and costs of these outskirts of the main continent. But, as with everything in life and history, not even the Dhakladic Empire could stand the test of time indefinitely.
Roughly 1600 years ago, the empire was at the height of its power, but that power was slowly dwindling. The state was becoming more corrupt and incompetent with each passing year. While the decline was slow and gradual, its effects were hard to dismiss. After the empire lost two defensive wars in close succession, it was reduced to one third of its original size, consisting of only the northernmost tip of the peninsula, its birthplace. As if that was enough, several years of harsh weather disrupted the local sea trade and caused - in conjunction with exhausted soils - one failed crop harvest after another. Famines struck the citizens of the once well-fed empire. Indeed, from all this bad luck, one would assume that the empire had fallen out of favour with the gods. Could these be their retalliations ?
Such worsening conditions brought opportunities for those who wanted to reap the seeds of change. Many did so. But one figure brought the criticism of the shrinking empire's failings to a whole new level, forever chaning the history of this region and many parts of the main continent as well. He was an enigmatic preacher who started wandering the land, including the many lavish cities and towns of the proud, yet increasingly decadent empire.
This prophet preached that the world was now beggining to near its end, for the natural order of things has gone astray. The overhunting of deer, seals and other large, once plentiful beasts (saigas, wisents, aurochs, etc.) had led to their increasing scarcity and near-disappearance, despite the fact that these creatures were still considered important foodstuffs, as well as living religious icons of the Dhakladic stare church. "Indeed", fulminated the prophet in his public lectures, "it is the sign of the decadence of our times and of the ever recurring error of our ways. For I tell you : The Imperial Cult is but a fraud, a mockery of the true ways of our Lords. I know this, for I had experienced revelations of the true nature of the relationship between them, us, the land, the sea and the sky. While many of the old teachings carry truth deep inside, we have been worshipping some false gods, impostors of the true ones. The sun god and the moon goddess are real, as well as their servants - the Sunstag and Sundoe, carriers of the life-giving Sun and guardians of the grass and groves, the Bull and Cow of the Moon Seal, bringers of the cold peace of the Moon and the stars at night. Both the Sunstag and the Seal Couple have revealed themselves to me and served as the mouthpiece of the Spouses of Light. They have talked with me and reassured me that they are real and they are benevolent, loving us, their children. But beware, for the Windmaster and Wavemaster are not what they seem ! While they do provide mischievous tests of our courage and resolve, they don't do so out of a willingness to better us, as the Church preaches. No. They do so out of sheer hate and malice, making life harder for us, mocking the true love that the Spouses of Light and their guardians display towards us. They curse our land and many other lands with winds, storms, cold, frost, impudent waves and all around bad weather. They are not to be trusted. They implant us with many vices, including the unsung sin of not living in harmony with the world given to us by the Holy Spouses. Not valuing the precious gifts of the Spouses, encouraging us to overhunt the plains and groves, overuse the soil, overfish the coasts and seas. The signs of the coming end are a warning to us all. And, thankfully, only a warning. We can still repent for our sins and turn back to the true path - the Four-fold Path of the Sun and Warmth, Moon and Stars, the Sea and the Coast and the Plain and the Grove. The Path of the Lord, Lady, the Stag and the Seal. To repent, we must return to modesty and repay the Lord, Lady, Stag and Seal for their kind gifts, without which we would not live to see another day. One thing the Lady and Lord ask of us is to restore the numbers of deer, wrinklesnouts [5], aurochs, wisents and...". And so he rambled on wherever he went, slowly gaining faithful, determined converts who started defying imperial power. While the prophet and the growing ranks of his followers were persecuted by the empire, his ideology eventually won and began a new chapter in the history of the Nuthekrofívotracu peninsula's civilization. After a rather chaotic interregnum of a century and a half, Dhaklada was renewed. Not as the empire of old, but it did restore some of its former expansiveness and glory. But the differences end there.
The new Dhaklada was a theocratic state with elements of a noble's republic - jointly ruled by a council made up of local nobility, the elected high priesthood and the members of the holy orders. The de iure (but not de facto) head of state is the weak figurehead emperor (a role renewed in the fiftieth year of the new calendar started with the founding of the Commonwealth [6]). The HDC is rather decentralized, but due to its small size and the small number of its overseas colonies, it remains united and stable, with political upheavals being rare in its long and rather illustrious history. The emperor being a reliable (if powerless) national symbol also helped.
One thing that sets the Commonwealth apart from its predecessor is the active spreading of its religious teaching around the world. This in turn has led to the founding of a surprisingly high number of colonies worldwide, including ones in the North Greatsea [7] or even as far away as New Nuthekrofívotracu [8], an archipelago near the southern tip of the Farwestlands [9].
1450 years after its founding, the Holy Dhaklada Commonwealth still stands strong - though some might argue that its greatest days are long gone. While its seemingly endemic and limited local religion had succesfully made converts all around the world (especially in countries with a cold climate) and its conservation of animals species is unprecedented, it has failed to react effectively to the industrial revolution of the past few decades. The bias of its scholars towards biological sciences is apparent as ever in these rapidly changing times Ones where the hunger for heavy industry, mass production and technological advances makes research of living organisms and medicine into a form of crippling overspecialization. Yes, medical knowledge and research in the HDC are the most advanced in the entire world - but the ruling class is starting to realize that they had seriously fallen behind in other sciences and advancements.
A war is brewing with the recently rebelled colonies in the Farwestlands, now independent for nearly three decades. A war unlike any before it, be it a war fought with stone axes or the latest percussion musket. Industrial production and innovation in machinery and military equipment are fast becoming one of the most desired elements of all national economies. [FONT="][10] [/FONT]
Will the tired and increasingly breathless Commonwealth enact the much needed reforms and march forward to the future with new vigour ? Its prospects seem grim. But only time will tell...
[1] – known as Doggerland in an alternate universe far, far away...
[2] – the subcontinent consists of a fusion of Doggerland and what we would recognise as Great Britain and the coast of the Low Countries and northern France
[3] – the long narrow bay formed between OTL Britain and surviving Doggerland, effectively splitting the European northwestern subcontinent into two halves
[4]– this fictional city lies nearly at the very dead end of The Throat, near the landbridge that connects OTL Britain with Doggerland and the rest of Europe
[5] - saiga antelopes
[6] - roughly 451 AD; the HDC is currently celebrating the 1450th year of its calendar
[7] - the North Atlantic; most of the colonies there are soem of the local islands and archipelagos, including Iceland and the Faroe Islands
[8] - the Falklands
[9] – the Americas
[10] – the current (1st January 1901) tech level in the most advanced countries of this world is roughly on the level of the 1840s-1850s