The Qaramyari Empire

**Mizu** Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:15 pm

I can see from the vast and level sands
A rising tide of shining brilliance -
A mighty beast come from some foreign land.
Head raised and tongue thrashing, proudly it stands
Slitted eyes unblinking, coldly they scanned
For something worth taking tight in its hands.
Flexing golden scales, from deep slumber stirred,
A mighty hunger roused, a rage incurred.
Happily greeted by all that it met:
“Shining savior, from the land of Hehkmet!”
The beast looked upon them, claiming rapport:
“Fear not, for we have much greatness in store!”
The people rejoice, joyful to their core -
They are gladly devoured; nothing more.

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Sabia is a land of very ancient civilizations. The most unequivocally important, however, was the great Qaramyari Empire. Originally a small Arami city state in the far eastern reaches of Mahrud, the Qaramyari came to rule a truly massive state, with borders stretching from Aram to the southern coasts of Kossa. Qaramyar is considered by most to be almost wholly responsible for the rapid technological and social advances that took place in Sabia during the period of their reign, bringing the mostly primitive sabite world out of the so called “Tribal Age.” How much modern Sabia can owe to its Qaramyari ancestors is subject to debate, but truly, modern Sabia would look radically different today if not for them.

Qaramyar, like many historic Sabite empires, was a state fueled by the near constant conquest of foreign lands, and the wealth which it brought. The well known Sebkan philosopher, Mísrhut Kablahém, once said that “the great Qaramyar is as the sands that birthed it: never still and always changing.” Though Qaramyar is remembered as an almost deified paragon of civilization, even the greatest of empires have humble beginnings.

Qaramyar was at one point only a small, coastal Aramite settlement near the banks of the Firhut River in Mahrud, believed to have been first settled as early as the year 100, based off ancient records. The image of the city of Qaramyar as a bustling metropolis only began to take form much later in the 6th century, when it became poised to dominate the rest of Aram both economically and militarily. By this time, Qaramyar was a naval juggernaut, with a grain-based economy that ensured an army would never go hungry, and a treasury rich with the fat of trade that ensured those armies never went unpaid. Qaramyar’s conquest and colonization of neighboring Aramite lands met little difficulty, resulting in an explosion of growth. It wasn’t long before the Kingdom of Nazarra, a contemporary state to the west, began to see them as an existential threat. Nazarra, situated in the fertile floodplains of the Anket river valley, was a wary state familiar with neighbors who eyed their lands hungrily - and Qaramyar was no different. It wasn’t long before conflict sparked between the two regional powers, igniting a series of wars that ultimately ended in the annexation of the Hyreshi Nazarra by the pagan Qaramyari.

The Qaramyari Empire Qaramy10

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