History of Pelinai (Pacifica)

The history of Pelinai encompasses the history of the Pelinese people and the Kingdom of Pelinai, as well as the history of other states and civilizations that have previously existed in the region where the Kingdom of Pelinai currently resides. This encompasses the eastern half of the Milayakh region, including the regions currently known as Samara, Loshkaria, Stelossia, Yukisora, and Sevaria.

Specific time periods in Pelinese history, especially during the Bronze and Iron Ages, are typically named after the dominant empire in the region of Pelinai.

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age in Pelinai is generally considered by scholars to extend from the development of early bronze-working civilization in Shūr during the 5th millenium BC to the spread of iron tools and weapons during the golden age of the Salūshi Empire circa 1300 BC. The Bronze Age in eastern Pelinai ended roughly two centuries later, when the proto-Chorekic city states first widely adopted iron tools around 1100 BC.

City-state era

Shūric period

The recorded history of Pelinai begins circa 4200-4000 BC, with the invention of the first Marahic writing system by the city-state of Shūr (Samaric: ܫܘܼܪ) in the western Marahu River Valley region. It is known that Shūr itself was founded in 5000-4500 BC as the first known civilization to be established in the area, and that it was the first civilization in the region to leave the chalcolithic era and become an early bronze-working civilization as the fertile agricultural land of the greater Marahu region generated large crop surpluses and facilitated the division of labor. Little more is known about the history or culture of Shūr beyond its status as an early proto-Marahic civilization in the same culture family as Maraqāynic and other distant ancestors of modern-day Samaric; reconstructions based on likely cultural influences on neighboring city-states indicate that it worshipped a goddess of rain as the primary deity in an early polytheistic religion, and is often identified as the originator of the ancient Marahic practice of worshipping a rain goddess. Other similar Marahic civilizations quickly arose after the cultural, technological, and administrative example of Shūr prompted similar innovation throughout the Marahu Valley; Shūr itself existed as an independent civilization in various stages of rise and decline for roughly two millennia until it was conquered and assimilated by the nearby city-state of Qagāmā in circa 2390 BC.

Qagāmic period

Qagāmā (Samaric: ܩܲܓܵܡܵܐ) was a Marahic city-state and rival of the late Shūr civilization that was founded in the northeastern Marahu Delta region, near modern-day Tsugunare, in circa 2700 BC. Its culture and religion were largely similar to neighboring Marahic civilizations of the time, with its most notable innovation being the adaptation of the ancient Shūric script into the Qagāmic script that achieved wide use in the writing of contemporary Marahic languages. Its early adoption of the chariot from pastoral nomadic tribes, along with other military and administrative advances, allowed it to attain distinction as the first Marahic civilization to achieve the status of a small empire for a short time during the period from circa 2500-2200 BC. It first conquered the nearby states of Ōtā and Shūr in c. 2410 and 2490 BC, respectively, after which it reached a maximum territorial size of roughly 10-13 total directly ruled and tributary cities in addition to Qagāmā itself. The empire exited its zenith by 2300 BC and declined notably by and throughout the reign of king Marākish III (r. 2246-2215 BC), under whom the empire faced increasing military and economic competition from nearby city states that had adopted its technological advances and began threatening the lines of communication and supply that connected the Qagāmic Empire together.

Ihēlāki period

The Qagāmic Empire finally collapsed throughout the late 2200s BC due to repeated wars with neighboring states, with Qagāmā itself being conquered by the city of Salūsh (Samaric: ܣܲܠܘܼܫ) in 2184 BC. The destruction of the Qagāmic Empire and a lack of powerful states to replace it led to the return of the Marahu River Valley region to a second era of city-states, with a multitude of primarily single-city-based Marahic civilizations existing and waging sporadic wars with each other for the next 400 years. Some larger cities such as Salūsh, Ihēlāk (Samaric: ܝܼܗܹܠܵܟ), and Maraqāyn (Samaric: ܡܲܪܲܩܵܝܢ) did succeed in forming small kingdoms ruling a handful of cities and tributaries each, though none succeeded in matching even the relatively small Qagāmic Empire that had preceded them. Notable civilizations from the second city-states era include Maraqāyn, later renamed to the Early Samaric Kingdom in 2061 BC, Hānāyh (Samaric: ܗܵܢܵܝܗ), which created the proto-Samaric script (also referred to as the Hānāyhi script) that was later adopted and developed into the Imperial Samaric and eventual modern Samaric scripts, and Kōnēriyk (Samaric: ܟܘܿܢܹܝܼܝܟ), whose stonecutting and architectural works greatly influenced Bronze and Iron Age Marahic and especially Samarahic architecture and monument-building practices.

The greatest and last major empire of the second Marahic city-states era was the Ihēlāki Empire, which had conquered several nearby states such as the Early Samarahi Kingdom and formed an empire rivaling that of the Qagāmic period by 1800 BC. It was the last major empire in the Marahu region to continue using the Qagāmic script after adopting it in the 2050s BC, and established a thriving regional empire based on trade and military conquest. It entered a golden age after conquering the city-state of Maraqāyn in 1752 BC and subsequently affirming its control over the entire Marahu Delta as well as the nearby river plains, becoming a strong cultural and economic power in the wider Marahu region due to income from its tributaries and the wide production of goods such as gemstones, bronze tools, and gold. The Ihēlāki Empire was a strong candidate to establish the first greater empire of the Marahu region before a plague of an unknown disease swept through the valley in the 1680s BC and severely damaged the empire’s economy. Damage to internal trade and severe revolts in several of its major subjects quickly ended the Ihēlāki golden age and began a period of regional strife. While the Ihēlāki borderland remained safe from major invasions due to similar situations in neighboring states and most of the revolts were eventually suppressed at great cost to the Empire, the plague and subsequent independence of the economically significant tributary Maraqāyn marked the beginning of a period of decline for the Ihēlāki Empire that eventually led to its downfall at the hands of the rising Middle Samarahi Empire in 1493-1481 BC.