The years under King Haran (378AE – 397AE):
Haran, much like his father, believed that the time had come for the children of Avraham to expand. A kingdom of quiet traders could no longer be supported not with the Far East gaining strength. It was also time to bring the lost sheep back into the fold – Ya’ar must be reunited with the kingdom.
In 378 King Haran moved forces from the Betis Plains; creating a small diversionary force to be sent over The Vascones (OTL Pyrenees) while the bulk of the army would be picked up by his navy. However, before he could issue the call to march the Arevaci Rebellion occurred. With the death of his father, a feared and respected war leader among the native tribes, and the reshuffling of the Cetherian army in preparation for the war to reclaim Ya’ar, some among the native tribes felt it was the perfect time to reassert their independence.
For two years King Haran fought an ambush war, first with the Arevaci but soon against other tribes who joined the fight. By 380AE Haran had succeeded in subduing the Betis Plains once again – many of the more rebellious had been forced into the hills and mountains that yet remain outside of Cetherian control. There were even a few tribes that retreated over The Vascones into the northern wood country.
King Haran had to postpone his war with Ya’ar yet again for he did not have the treasury of his father (as the army still relined heavily on conscripts King Avram had spent much to buy food supplies to keep his kingdom feed during his years at war). With the two year rebellion just over there was not enough now in either food surplus or silver to finance what could be a long struggle with Ya’ar.
It is said that King Haran was enraged for a full year by this situation and locked himself away in the palace to be seen by few. One day in late 380AE, in the despair brought on by impatience; he angrily knocked over a cup of wine which spread out over a map in a great wave. God had spoken to him: a plan was born: his kingdom needed funds and food and there had always been a way for his people to acquire such necessities.
In 381AE he sent an envoy to Yehuda laying plans for a profitable alliance and within a month Haran’s gamble was in motion. He was counting on a swift victory and sent his fleet, augmented by those of Yehuda, into the east under the command of his son Yisma’el and General Kedar. But unknown to King Haran was that Assyria had maintained its fleet and would not so easily be raided this time. The war would be swift, as Haran had planned, though the immediate affects would not be realized by the King. Kedar was killed during the assault on the Egyptian delta, though ultimately the Assyrian navy was driven off. Yisma’el continued to lead the Cetherian fleet, finishing the raids on the Nile cities. He went on to battle the Assyrian fleet several more times as he raided the coast of the Homeland. There is even word that Yisma’el was tempted by Seren Savlos of Mikos into helping him battle the Athenians. Yisma’el refused and sailed for home in 382 leaving the Yehuda pirates, joined by some of Seren Savlos’s vessels, to continue the war which now included raiding the Hellenic coast.
The return of Yisma’el in 382 brought wealth and supplies to Cetheria – enough for a war. But King Haran would be denied once again, Ya’ar was not to be his, for Yisma’el’s return was also marked with a return of the native hordes. It began with skirmishes and raids but quickly escalated into a 3 year war. The natives, though bold in spirit and fierce in battle, could not stand against Haran’s hardened army. Several times during the three years the King tried to offer terms of peace – as he still hoped to fulfill God’s plan by punishing the traitors and bring Ya’ar back into the family. By 385 Haran’s peace had been accepted: he allowed the tribes to settle in the lands of the northern mountains and dry lands (Haran had no wish to bring more tribes under his control, he had a hard enough time handling the natives his father had subdued, nor did he feel it necessary to lay claim to the dry lands or the northern mountains as the territory already under his control was under populated). The treaty created the Detnawnu dnalim (the Unwanted Lands) and King Haran proclaimed a lasting peace.
Over the last 3 years it was also learned, primarily from captives taken by Yisma’el, but also from continued contact with Yehuda, that the Assyrian Empire was not the great power it had once been. Beginning around the year 365AE shifts within the state began to stress the Assyrian cohesion: 1) A growing unrest in the core of the empire as “true” Assyrians were constantly being ignored by the capital in Damascus which had shifted internal interests away from the river valley to the coast. 2) The Followers of Mazda, though underground, had slowly gained a sizable following in Egypt (as well as their continued strength, despite Assyrian attempts to disrupt the powerbase, in Philistia): it was becoming increasingly difficult for Assyria to maintain control over a people who believed in martyring themselves to fight against the Assyrian Emperor who they perceived as Ahriman. 3) Several slave revolts, the growing power of the neo-Babylonians, incursions from Carthaginian forces, and raids by Yehuda, Mikos, and Hellenic pirates had strained and exhausted the Assyrian military and civilian population.
After the war with the natives there was no time for Haran to prepare for his war with Ya’ar for he remained in Cadeth Hevron to deal with the never ending requests for help in the Betis region. There were disputes between Cetherians and the native population, there were legal hearings to pass judgments on as the area was quickly falling into the hands of thieves and cutthroats, there were requests from the priests who felt betrayed since King Haran had given such little attention after his father had given so much to the Order (not to mention his efforts to bring Avraham’s teachings to the plains). It was perhaps these letters from the priests of the One God that weighed heaviest on King Haran’s mind for after 10 years of planning to reclaim Ya’ar he changed his focus and now concentrated on winning the battle of spreading Avraham’s teachings.
It is learned that in 385AE Emperor Tiglath-Pileser IV of Assyria wins a decisive battle against Mikos – ending that kingdom’s status as an independent realm. A year later in 386 he is able to defeat the Yehuda pirates ending their raids on the coast. In 387AE he turned back an attempt by Carthage to annex portions of central Anatolia and late in the year conducted a major purge of the Followers of Mazda in Egypt. He also captures his brothers and uncle who were involved in two separate attempts on his life. This small resurgence of absolute dominance in the region however must not have been feared by the Therans for they established the colony of Cyrene on the African coast to take advantage of the lush valley, the growing of silphium, trade intermediary between Yehuda and Assyria, and to act as a staging point for Egyptian insurrection against the Assyrians (a land actually that the Hellenes had been somewhat infatuated with since their early days at the end of their “dark period” when they joined with the La’adamah in raids).
It was around the year 387AE that Haran founded the first of 12 new cities. He implemented a massive colonization effort to bring Cetherian civilization to the midlands that were still largely empty except for the native villages. King Haran made few attempts, other than the visiting priest, to open the heart of the Cetherian people to the Celtic tribes that until recently had enslaved a number of Avraham’s children. He himself, like his father, took every opportunity to minister to the villages he came upon, spreading the word of Avraham, but even those villages that began to accept the true word of One God were kept apart from the Cetherian population.
Haran more and more left the military aspect of his rule up to his son who continued to build fortification along the border with Detnawnu dnalim as well as keeping up envoys to the Rasenna and the Kingdom of Yehuda. He also increased the flow of goods between Cetheria and the Hellenes.
For ten years King Haran would travel and minister to his subjects, becoming the first king of Cetheria to do so. Not only did the natives he was trying to control with faith partake of his countenance but in 392AE he began to regularly make a circuit of the kingdom as a whole bringing his voice to the words of Avraham for all to hear.
King Haran would die in 397AE (780BC) of a coughing illness while visiting Siloh – present with him was not his son Yisma’el but High Priest Ehud II who had been occasionally taking time from his duties in Cether to join the King in his travels.
Haran, much like his father, believed that the time had come for the children of Avraham to expand. A kingdom of quiet traders could no longer be supported not with the Far East gaining strength. It was also time to bring the lost sheep back into the fold – Ya’ar must be reunited with the kingdom.
In 378 King Haran moved forces from the Betis Plains; creating a small diversionary force to be sent over The Vascones (OTL Pyrenees) while the bulk of the army would be picked up by his navy. However, before he could issue the call to march the Arevaci Rebellion occurred. With the death of his father, a feared and respected war leader among the native tribes, and the reshuffling of the Cetherian army in preparation for the war to reclaim Ya’ar, some among the native tribes felt it was the perfect time to reassert their independence.
For two years King Haran fought an ambush war, first with the Arevaci but soon against other tribes who joined the fight. By 380AE Haran had succeeded in subduing the Betis Plains once again – many of the more rebellious had been forced into the hills and mountains that yet remain outside of Cetherian control. There were even a few tribes that retreated over The Vascones into the northern wood country.
King Haran had to postpone his war with Ya’ar yet again for he did not have the treasury of his father (as the army still relined heavily on conscripts King Avram had spent much to buy food supplies to keep his kingdom feed during his years at war). With the two year rebellion just over there was not enough now in either food surplus or silver to finance what could be a long struggle with Ya’ar.
It is said that King Haran was enraged for a full year by this situation and locked himself away in the palace to be seen by few. One day in late 380AE, in the despair brought on by impatience; he angrily knocked over a cup of wine which spread out over a map in a great wave. God had spoken to him: a plan was born: his kingdom needed funds and food and there had always been a way for his people to acquire such necessities.
In 381AE he sent an envoy to Yehuda laying plans for a profitable alliance and within a month Haran’s gamble was in motion. He was counting on a swift victory and sent his fleet, augmented by those of Yehuda, into the east under the command of his son Yisma’el and General Kedar. But unknown to King Haran was that Assyria had maintained its fleet and would not so easily be raided this time. The war would be swift, as Haran had planned, though the immediate affects would not be realized by the King. Kedar was killed during the assault on the Egyptian delta, though ultimately the Assyrian navy was driven off. Yisma’el continued to lead the Cetherian fleet, finishing the raids on the Nile cities. He went on to battle the Assyrian fleet several more times as he raided the coast of the Homeland. There is even word that Yisma’el was tempted by Seren Savlos of Mikos into helping him battle the Athenians. Yisma’el refused and sailed for home in 382 leaving the Yehuda pirates, joined by some of Seren Savlos’s vessels, to continue the war which now included raiding the Hellenic coast.
The return of Yisma’el in 382 brought wealth and supplies to Cetheria – enough for a war. But King Haran would be denied once again, Ya’ar was not to be his, for Yisma’el’s return was also marked with a return of the native hordes. It began with skirmishes and raids but quickly escalated into a 3 year war. The natives, though bold in spirit and fierce in battle, could not stand against Haran’s hardened army. Several times during the three years the King tried to offer terms of peace – as he still hoped to fulfill God’s plan by punishing the traitors and bring Ya’ar back into the family. By 385 Haran’s peace had been accepted: he allowed the tribes to settle in the lands of the northern mountains and dry lands (Haran had no wish to bring more tribes under his control, he had a hard enough time handling the natives his father had subdued, nor did he feel it necessary to lay claim to the dry lands or the northern mountains as the territory already under his control was under populated). The treaty created the Detnawnu dnalim (the Unwanted Lands) and King Haran proclaimed a lasting peace.
Over the last 3 years it was also learned, primarily from captives taken by Yisma’el, but also from continued contact with Yehuda, that the Assyrian Empire was not the great power it had once been. Beginning around the year 365AE shifts within the state began to stress the Assyrian cohesion: 1) A growing unrest in the core of the empire as “true” Assyrians were constantly being ignored by the capital in Damascus which had shifted internal interests away from the river valley to the coast. 2) The Followers of Mazda, though underground, had slowly gained a sizable following in Egypt (as well as their continued strength, despite Assyrian attempts to disrupt the powerbase, in Philistia): it was becoming increasingly difficult for Assyria to maintain control over a people who believed in martyring themselves to fight against the Assyrian Emperor who they perceived as Ahriman. 3) Several slave revolts, the growing power of the neo-Babylonians, incursions from Carthaginian forces, and raids by Yehuda, Mikos, and Hellenic pirates had strained and exhausted the Assyrian military and civilian population.
After the war with the natives there was no time for Haran to prepare for his war with Ya’ar for he remained in Cadeth Hevron to deal with the never ending requests for help in the Betis region. There were disputes between Cetherians and the native population, there were legal hearings to pass judgments on as the area was quickly falling into the hands of thieves and cutthroats, there were requests from the priests who felt betrayed since King Haran had given such little attention after his father had given so much to the Order (not to mention his efforts to bring Avraham’s teachings to the plains). It was perhaps these letters from the priests of the One God that weighed heaviest on King Haran’s mind for after 10 years of planning to reclaim Ya’ar he changed his focus and now concentrated on winning the battle of spreading Avraham’s teachings.
It is learned that in 385AE Emperor Tiglath-Pileser IV of Assyria wins a decisive battle against Mikos – ending that kingdom’s status as an independent realm. A year later in 386 he is able to defeat the Yehuda pirates ending their raids on the coast. In 387AE he turned back an attempt by Carthage to annex portions of central Anatolia and late in the year conducted a major purge of the Followers of Mazda in Egypt. He also captures his brothers and uncle who were involved in two separate attempts on his life. This small resurgence of absolute dominance in the region however must not have been feared by the Therans for they established the colony of Cyrene on the African coast to take advantage of the lush valley, the growing of silphium, trade intermediary between Yehuda and Assyria, and to act as a staging point for Egyptian insurrection against the Assyrians (a land actually that the Hellenes had been somewhat infatuated with since their early days at the end of their “dark period” when they joined with the La’adamah in raids).
It was around the year 387AE that Haran founded the first of 12 new cities. He implemented a massive colonization effort to bring Cetherian civilization to the midlands that were still largely empty except for the native villages. King Haran made few attempts, other than the visiting priest, to open the heart of the Cetherian people to the Celtic tribes that until recently had enslaved a number of Avraham’s children. He himself, like his father, took every opportunity to minister to the villages he came upon, spreading the word of Avraham, but even those villages that began to accept the true word of One God were kept apart from the Cetherian population.
Haran more and more left the military aspect of his rule up to his son who continued to build fortification along the border with Detnawnu dnalim as well as keeping up envoys to the Rasenna and the Kingdom of Yehuda. He also increased the flow of goods between Cetheria and the Hellenes.
For ten years King Haran would travel and minister to his subjects, becoming the first king of Cetheria to do so. Not only did the natives he was trying to control with faith partake of his countenance but in 392AE he began to regularly make a circuit of the kingdom as a whole bringing his voice to the words of Avraham for all to hear.
King Haran would die in 397AE (780BC) of a coughing illness while visiting Siloh – present with him was not his son Yisma’el but High Priest Ehud II who had been occasionally taking time from his duties in Cether to join the King in his travels.
