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by The Dominion of Nhoor. . 393 reads.

History of Nhoor

Mae esgidiau gwyn yn gwrthyrru
Overview · Geography · Maps · History · Politics · Monarchy · Military · Economy · Culture · Religion · News · Index
Diplomatic relations · Royal family trees · History timeline · Provinces · Legality · National holidays · Language · Sport · Biographies · Names
Dydw i ddim yn mwynhau'r gwiberod du yn y swyddfa


This history overview of Nhoor is still being constructed. Existing information my still be altered and new information may be added.

History until 1587


The Pact of the Five Sisters (ca. 200 CE)
The area that encompasses the Dominion of Nhoor used to be inhabited by indigenous peoples named Anura and Kinaera by the Raelosi Civilisation that had developed several city states in Eastern Nhoor and elsewhere. One of these, Cas Pāla, rose to dominance and was known as a major player in Raelosi politics. Influenced by the Raelosi Civilisation, the Aasharé religion was spread among the Anura and the Kinaera. After the decline of the Raelosi Civilisation, Cas Pāla fell to decadence and was plundered and burnt down by invading Kinaera tribes in 199 BCE. The Kinaera established a kingdom (the First Kinaera Kingdom), which lasted for roughly three centuries and dominated most of the western peninsula at its greatest extent. In 56 CE, a volcanic eruption on an island off the coast of Raedlon lowers the average temperature in southern Raedlon by several degrees, leading to famine and eventually the collapse of the Kinaera Kingdom. The five sisters of the last ruler concluded the Pact of the Five Sisters, which caused the dissolution of the kingdom, dividing it in five parts: Kova, Kira, Sain, Dhehari, and Anasi; while three of the five Sisters’ names have all but disappeared, Kira lives on as the Nhoor province of Chur and Kova as the Nhoor provinces of Cōmh. Anasi’s territory (roughly the present-day province of Orleqh) remained mostly unchanged during the centuries that followed; over the years, the other territories however fell apart in several smaller realms.

The people now known as Nhoor were a semi-nomadic people indigenous to large parts of Raedlon but generally dominated by other powers. The Nhoor didn’t have a name of their own but had various names (most of them not very flattering) depending on where they lived. Nhoor tended to work as servants or even slaves for other peoples, but there were also free Nhoor who in many parts of Raedlon had the reputation of being cattle thieves, which may have been only partly true but resulted in other peoples generally ‘taking back’ sheep and other livestock that were ‘stolen’ from them.

The presence of Nhoor in most parts of Raedlon disappeared between 900 and 1200 CE. Travellers introduced hinduism in the Second Kinaera Kingdom (a small realm around the city of Cinharda that used to be part of Dhehari) and many Nhoor felt drawn to this new religion, which spread among them rapidly. Many Nhoor started to move to the greater Cinharda area, where the religion quickly became dominant and where the Nhoor quickly started to outnumber the indigenous peoples. In 1102 the king of the Second Kinaera Kingdom, who still believed in (some form of) the Aasharé religion and had issued a decree to ban hinduism, was toppled by hinduist forces and replaced by the ethnic Nhoor dynasty of Ocurhda.

Over two and a half centuries the Second Kinaera Kingdom expanded to include much of the original territory of the First Kinaera Kingdom. From 1324 to 1368 Narhato̦ would be the last Queen of Kinaera; as she had no surviving children but did have three important rivals who she feared would rip the country apart upon her death, she forged the Act of Transferral, which divided the kingdom in five parts, so called Archduchies (this is an approximate translation to English). The three most powerful, located in the south, were ruled by the rivals and were named Orleqh, Ta̦rleqh and Camhɵrlanh. The two remaining archduchies, Hīllos and Swlanh, divided the large northern part of the country in two. Although Ta̦rleqh and Camhɵrlanh were united in peronal union in 1563, causing a small disturbance in the balance of power, the Act of Transferral ensured a period of relative peace until the arrival of the explorer Numav in 1587.

In 1580 Qhod-Uba claimed and obtained the Archducal title of Ta̦rleqh. He was only a distant relative of the previous Archduke and his succession to the throne was therefore controversial. Qhod-Uba started a campaign to rid his country from any serious opponents, with the Siege of Caybir of 1583-1584 being the most notable event in this undertaking: during 441 days the town of Caybir was besieged by the Archduke's troops to force Qhardo of the house of Cɵrh-Cellichen, his second cousin once removed, into submission. Qhardo managed to escape the town however and she fled to the Archduchy of Orleqh. She tried to return in 1586 but her army was defeated and she returned to Orleqh, where she married into the local Archducal house. Qhod-Uba in the meantime secured his position and kept his potential heirs divided, confused, bewildered, and on a short leash.


Tachil influence

In 1587 the explorer Numav of the Hangate of Tachil (see: Razzgriz), in the final years of his Western Expedition, lands in the city of Qhōmh (which was then the capital and Archducal residence of Ta̦rleqh) where the strangers are received in a friendly manner, but due to a misunderstanding, Archduke Qhod-Uba is mistaken for a thief and killed by the newly arrived: after attending a banquet on Numav's flag ship, during which Numav was named Lord of the Seas and jokingly named 'Heir of Ta̦rleqh' ("as you'd make a better ruler than those good-for-nothing relatives of mine"), the disappearance of a ceremonial mask is discovered. During the search party that ensues, the Archduke is found standing near the location where the mask is lying but due to the night and the presence of fog he isn't recognised as the Archduke and shot.

Things get out of hand quickly and before long Numav and his men have taken control not only of the city but also – making use of the sudden power vacuum that they created themselves – the entire Archduchy of Ta̦rleqh. They send a message to the empire, reinforcements are sent, including government official Shukura Alahmoot to assume formal control of the empire’s new remote outpost Ta̦rleqh as Barhèn.

Attempts to undo this chain of events lead to nothing: several groups tried to convince Qhardo of Cɵrh-Cellichen to come back and revive her claim to the throne of Ta̦rleqh but being in bad health, she refused. The legality of the deceased Archduke's (joke) proclamation during the banquet that Numav was his successor was found 'dubious' but based on the facts that there had been witnesses during the event, that there were precedents of oral appointments of heirs, that the heir was part of Ta̦rleqh nobility (as Numav had been appointed Lord of the Seas mere hours before), and that it hadn't been Numav himself who had killed Qhod-Uba, Ta̦rleqh's leading legal advisors were forced to agree that Numav's accession to the throne of Ta̦rleqh had been according to the rules.

At first, a new Barhèn is sent to Ta̦rleqh every couple of years, but K'avene Yilema convinces the empire’s central command to keep him appointed a bit longer in order to deal with neighbouring lands that started to consider the Khas-Kirati influence in the region as a thread. The Hangate of Tachil was replaced by the Empire of Iskarian Isles in 1597. In order to gain the trust of both the locals and the neighbours, Barhèn Yilema reinstates the Archducal title in 1608 (Numav had been titular Archduke since 1587 although he left Ta̦rleqh in the same year; in a letter he renounces the title and names Yilema as his heir) and assumes the local name I̦ldurud VI. He founds the Archducal dynasty of Cenharruc (named after a now obsolete word for larch, a common tree in Nhoor), which later became the royal family of Nhoor that would rule until 2017 (or 1978, rather). Over time, the office of Barhèn becomes of secundary importance and the word barhen was gradually introduced in the Nhoor language as the word for ambassador.


Unification

Ta̦rleqh and Camhɵrlanh had been ruled by the Archdukes of Ta̦rleqh since 1563, when Archduke I̦ldurud V of Ta̦rleqh inherited Camhɵrlanh from his aunt, the last ruling Archduchess of that realm, who had died without alternative heirs. Although in practice both nations had been growing closer to each other, Camhɵrlanh was still de jure independent and therefore not a part of the Empire of the Iskarian Isles. The growing influence of Ta̦rleqh and by extension the Empire of which it was part, worried the rulers of Orleqh, the Archduchy to the north. Archduke Lɵcmws III, who ascended the throne of Orleqh in 1630 and who was a descendant of Qhardo of Cɵrh-Cellichen, a former claimant to the Archducal throne of Ta̦rleqh, organised a rather large army and launched an attack on Ta̦rleqh in 1633. Lɵcmws III hoped to defeat the enemy before reinforcements from the rest of the Empire would arrive. Despite the size of his army, he failed however and the war would stretch out until 1639 and become known as the Six Year War. Lɵcmws III was defeated and he and several members of his family were executed in a gruesome way on the main market square of O̦qwrruc, the capital of Orleqh. During the war the smaller nations of Īnōsy, Sola, and Tenda were also annexed by Ta̦rleqh.

While Archduke Osvīd I of Ta̦rleqh (1628-1640) just planned to assume the Archducal rule of Orleqh in personal union while keeping it mostly independent, his successor Archduke Osvīd II (1640 - 1644) was convinced by his imperial advisors to formally annex Orleqh and Camhɵrlanh, as well as Hīllos and the territories of the former Archduchy of Swlanh. The legal aspects of such a union were investigated and in 1644 Ta̦rleqh, Orleqh, and Camhɵrlanh were formally united into the Dominion of Nhoor, an event still celebrated on 23 September as the Unification. Several other smaller nations in the area were annexed by Nhoor under King Armhad I within 50 years after the Unification: Sīron-Onharh (1650), U̦mhach (1655), Pāla (1659), Bavoraqh (1677), and Vaqtwch (1683). The principality of Chur was annexed by Armhad I's successor, King Ily-Nheva (1694-1712) in 1695.

The area north of the mountains hadn't prospered as much as the south, due to a number of crop failures, extreme winters, and bad decisions made by the local Archdukes. The Archduchy of Swlanh in the west had already fallen apart in 1603 and Hīllos had lost a great deal of its territory over the years. Several of the resulting realms were dominated by warlords and criminal gangs. King Ily-Nheva had little trouble bringing these 'lost' territories into the fold of the Dominion, either by conquering them or bribing their rulers into obedience.


Nobility rule

In the early 18th century, Nhoor nobility had steadily gained influence during a couple of weaker kings who started their reigns as minors under regency of prominent nobles and were then kept on a short leash. This started in 1712 when King Ily-Nheva died and left the throne to his 7 year old son King Umhīla. The Council of Nobles, headed by the new King's uncle by marriage Zajela, the Duke of Tojy, managed to take control of the country at the expense of the non-noble citizenry and the peasantry (the latter of which had never been in a favored position to begin with). Taxes were imposed to fund the noble's expensive lifestyle; the economy started to feel the effects after a few years as foreign traders began avoiding doing business with Nhoor.

By the 1720s people had grown increasingly disgruntled with the harsh rule to which they were subjected but initial protests had no effect. In the years that followed, the unrest grew however until it culminated into an insurrection, during which an angry mob occupied the city centre of Sārruc as of May 1723. The government house was invaded and ransacked, but due to the absence at the time of any person of influence, there was only a lot of damage. The troops of the Council of Nobles advanced on the protesters and had the lot arrested and half of them executed for high treason. King Umhīla, who became of age in 1722, was however shocked by the events and had his uncle stripped of his title and privileges, and confined to his quarters for the rest of his life.

King Umhīla tried to undo some of the economic damage that the Council of Nobles had done but the arrest of the (now former) Duke of Tojy had created enmity between the King and the Council, and during the rest of his adult life, King Umhīla's policies were questioned, discredited, opposed, and even thwarted by the Council. King Umhīla died in 1745 at age 41 and left the throne to his oldest son King I̦ldurud who was only 17. The Council of Nobles saw their opportunity to take the lead in governing the country once more.

After king I̦ldurud’s death in 1766 at age 38 (there were rumours that the Council had had him murdered but historians have never found conclusive evidence for this theory), the nobility proclaimed his 15 year old son Armhad II king, but I̦ldurud’s younger brother Urhod succesfully claimed his nephew’s guardianship and was appointed regent on behalf of him. Regency alone seemed however inefficient to Urhod and a year later he took the kingship for himself. Tensions between the new King and the nobility all but exploded and the country succumbed into a short civil war, which was eventually lost by Urhod, who died on the battlefield near Qhōmh in 1770. His nephew Armhad II was subsequently reinstated as King of Nhoor, but he was a mere puppet figure as the country was now effectively ruled by the Council of Nobles.


Urhod II and the Feast of Amercement

When Armhad II died in 1789, his oldest surviving 18 year old son was proclaimed king Urhod II. The young king had a rowdy but cunning character and as the Council of Nobles found it hard to work with him, they confined him to the royal castle and just ignored him. In 1792 the king sent a formal invitation to all the nobles to attend a royal banquet as some sort of peace offering and a formal request to be included in state matters again.

The banquet famously took place on the 23rd of June of that year. All the most important members of the Council of Nobles attended the feast and their intention was to refuse the king’s request, which they did while arrogantly mocking their host. The king, being bored and having enough of the nobility’s arrogance, had had the food served to his guests poisoned and their screams of agony could be heard throughout the night – according to historical accounts, which may or may not have been largely exaggerated. The far majority of nobles died as a result of what became known as the Feast of Amercement, and king Urhod II then organised a hunt on the remaining members of the Nhoor nobility and had them executed. Urhod II then took direct charge of his country's government. Under his rule, the country bloomed industrially, culturally, and scientifically, although the nation still remained linked to the Iskarian Isles.


Events in the 19th century

(to be added)


Events in the 20th century

Although Nhoor had in practice been acting as an independent nation, its King had always also been Barhèn in several incarnations of the Tachil Empire; the Confederation of the Iskarian Isles (Konðætalíszkárí), which existed between 1719 and 1905, and Nhoor however gradually grew apart, mainly because of the distance between Nhoor and the rest of the Confederation. Already as heir presumptive during this great-aunt Queen Umhīlī's rule (1851 - 1898), the later King Armhad III (1898 - 1920) had expressed the opinion and his wish that Nhoor become fully independent from the Iskarian Isles. Despite some opposition from the Confederation, this happened peacefully in 1905.

In October 1916, King Armhad III had an assault launched on the exclaves of Kaumaa and Forwyka, which at that moment belonged to Solaryia, and added both to Nhoor. The war against Solaryia didn't however go as well as hoped and in the Solaryian Christmas Offensive of 1918, Solaryian made significant advances to gain back the lost territories. Despite objection of the King, Nhoor politicians hastened to arrange a peace agreement with Solaryia, which was concluded in March 1919.

Despite of the full independence of Nhoor, there were some who didn't consider this final enough and reminded that the royal family was still of Iskarian descent as well. Fueled also by an economic downturn in Nhoor at the start of the 20th century, a socialist-like movement popped up against the establishment that not only wanted to get rid of Nhoor’s final connection with the Iskarians but to replace the entire government system of Nhoor: the Severance Party. King Armhad III's private little war to annex Kaumaa and Forwyka had not been well received by a large part of the population. Hope for radical change after his death in 1920 disappeared quickly as the new King Urhod IV had no intention of stepping down, and still benefited from significant support from the political and military elite. General elections had however existed in Nhoor since 1897 and the parliament had been filled with mostly conservative members since the beginning, but the general election of 1923 saw a majority of parliament seats being filled by members of this Severance Party. The government, headed by the King, was willing to implement a few of the SP’s proposals for change, but refused to alter the form of government that was in place. A stalemate followed that would last for several years: policies that had been in place continued as usual, but no new policies were made.

In 1930 King Urhod IV ordered the army to vacate parliament, forbade the Severance Party, and called for new elections in what became known as the Night of the Knot. Heavy protests by members and supporters of the SP followed and Sārruc became essentially a battle zone. A few dozen people died during clashes between protesters and the police. The King issued a statement explaining his actions, calling the SP’s lack of flexibility ‘against the best interests of Nhoor and its people’, and stated that the SP would be allowed to run in elections again if they adapted their policy so that it would serve the Greater Good of the entire country and all its people. Allthough the protests weren’t as heavy afterwards as initially, the situation in the capital remained tense throughout the ‘30s.

The power that the King wielded as head of state of Nhoor started to wane in the second half of the 20th century. The fact that King Urhod IV only had had one child, the later King Armhad IV, in combination with a series of unexpected tragies that all but decimated the country's royal family in the 40s and 60s only left a small and vulnerable core family. King Armhad IV's second son and heir presumtive Prince Acāver had died in 1964, just days before his older brother Prince Armhad, who used to be the Crown Prince but was stripped of this title when a severe drug addiction had made his prospective ability to rule 'improbable'. Their youngest brother Prince Nheva and his wife already died in a car accident in 1948. Prince Acāver's son was therefore crowned King Urhod V upon the death of his grandfather in November 1967.

Urhod V was 28 when he ascended the throne and turned out to be very interested in politics but rather incapable regarding military and foreign strategies. His inflamable character contributed to a number of explosive situations both in his personal life (his wife Queen Kadra had at least three miscarriages and their only son who survived infancy, prince Acāver, only lived to age 5) and in his attempts to rule the country (war is said to have been declared to various foreign powers on numerous occasions, and only thanks to some strong and persuasive ministers the King was convinced not to persue further action in these matters). On top of this, the country was hit by a series of violent protests in 1970 and 1971 when a series of mine incidents forced the government to discontinue most of the country's mining activities, due to which a large number of miners lost their jobs.

King Urhod V hit his head however whilst swimming in his private pool in 1971 and drowned, and as he had no surviving children he was succeeded by his younger cousin the heir presumptive Prince Armhad, who was by then the last remaining member of the House of Cenharruc. The new King, Armhad V, who was the only son of Prince Nheva who died in 1948, was 24 years old and wholly unprepared to assume royal duties, and had been diagnosed with a mental affliction a few years earlier. For this reason, he left the responsibility of ruling the country to his cabinet ministers, who started to prepare a change of the constitution that would take away most executive powers from the King.

The new constitution followed the ideas of Trias Politica but to a radical extent as propagated by Nhoor political philosopher Rhoja̦d Badorgeqh (1793 - 1860) who argued that the Legislative power is the only one able to truly represent the people of their nation and that the independence of the Executive and Judiciary branches can only be guaranteed when their composition isn't determined by the same institution that determines the composition of the Legislative (i.e. the people), so not only should the three powers as entities be completely separate from each other, also the ways their respective members are elected should be completely separate from each other. This philosophy resulted in the constitution that has been in force since 1978 with a layer of legislative powers of which the people elect the municipal level, the members of the municipal parliaments elect the provincial parliaments, and the members of the provincial parliaments elect the members of the national parliament, while the Executive and the Judiciary are completely self-regulating bodies.

The 60s and 70s were marked by an increasing amount of tolerance throughout society of things that were previously considered taboo. Habits, fashion, and artistic expression as well as the discussion of sexuality had changed rapidly within a decade, partially thanks to the introduction of the television in most households in Nhoor. Not everyone considered this development a good one and in 1974 the Puritan Society of Nhoor (Anhost pw Cwstorhanana li Nhōrili, ACNh) published their pseudo-religious manifesto, which combined some random old religious laws to propose a new and pure way of life. From that moment on, members of this cult would step forward to people whom they considered sinners to give them a harsh talk and/or to publically shame them. The ACNh quickly grew into a national movement of people who couldn't cope with the societal and moral developments, and in 1977 they presented themselves as a political party to participate in the first elections under the new constitution that would be formally adopted by this elected parliament a year later. Although they won almost a quarter of the seats, differences of opinion within the movement and the party caused a series of schismas, and by 1981 the remains of the party suffered a huge election loss and in 1985 they didn't participate anymore. Various remaining factions of the movement are still active in Nhoor and can be found protesting outside e.g. abortion clinics, too lewd and frivolous bars and clubs, as well as cinemas showing films that are considered too experimental.


Start of the 21st century

In the second half of the 20th century the country slowly started looking around for new international partnerships, both economically and diplomatically. In the 2010's, Nhoor investigated possibilities to participate in an international plan to found an economic community for nations on the subcontinent of Raedlon, a plan which was further developed in early 2020 and lead to the foundation of the Raedlon Organization of States by Solaryia and Nhoor in July of that year.

Following King Armhad V's confinement to a mental institution in 1978, the government also started looking for a successor, as the King had no children or other close relatives except for Queen Kadra, the widow of his cousin King Urhod V. There were a couple of more remote branches of the family tree which are intertwined with the royal houses of other countries but these lines were only briefly investigated. Nothing interesting happened in this area until prince Maximus of Havalland presented a claim to the throne of Nhoor in July 2019. Talks were successful and on 29 February 2020 he succeeded to the throne as King Elerha Maximus.

In national politics, a scandal involving defence minister Demher being blackmailed into passing classified information to a yet unnamed criminal organisation in 2019 caused tensions between parliament and the government, and more direct attempts by the first to control the latter. So far, this situation has caused the forced dismissal of two First/Prime Ministers and ongoing debate among several political parties to change the nation's form of government. A bill to this end was drafted, but it suffered a crushing defeat after it turned out that many members of parliament were asked to vote in favour in exchange for bribes. Despite the fact that the bill would probably have passed without a bribe, the scandal put doubt in the independence of those members as well as in the question whether the bill would be good for the country. Early elections were called in October 2022 to vote in a new parliament as it was felt that the old one has lost the people's confidence.


Rulers of Nhoor

See here.

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