Sarvaran History

Last updated Dec 20, 2024

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• Sarvara

Ancient Sarvara was a civilisation founded by the early Morellic tribes in southern Tseireph. The civilisation began in the eponymous city-state of Sarvara, which would go on to flourish into one of the first, and most influencial, empires of the 2nd realm.

Sarvara itself was a city, originally a city-state, and later the capital of the Sarvaran Empire. It was built in the Sarvaran River Basin upon the river Sarav, experiencing seasonal floods and greatly fertile soil. The city’s main food sources were Lunuth wheat, grubs, and woolly hogs.

The city’s name was partially calqued into Old Sarvaran from the Diiran term ‘Kaula sa Laba,’ meaning ’the city on the river.’ This was rendered as ‘Sarava-ran,’ and evolved into ‘Sarvárą.’

The Stone Age was marked by the use of stone tools, hunter-gatherer tribalism, and basal magic use; customs such as pottery, writing, and complex technology were not put into practice yet. Thusly, Sarvara as it came to be did not exist during this period.

The area now known as Sarvara was then inhabited by the Diira minikin, a tribe that had settled from the west, and were related to the Neth minikin. The Diira were adept foragers, and were highly knowledgable of the edible and inedible foods of the river basin.

The northern steppes, across the Jana mountains from the basin, were then inhabited by the Mora minikin, a nomadic group. It was in the steppes that the Mora came into being, learning how to take advantage of the environment around them, especially of the native animals.

Circa. 10,200 BS¹, the Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, was heralded by innovations such as the creation of structures, the domestication of animals, and the development of farming.

The pre-pottery neolithic period spanned from 10,200 BS to 5,700 BS, preceding the late neolithic. It was in this period that the Mora began to domesticate animals, taking on more of a pastoralist lifestyle rather than of hunter-gatherers.

The Diira further gained a foothold over their environment, beginning a tradition of proto-agriculture centred around seasonal harvests of the natural wilderness following the floods of the river Sarav. However, they had not mastered sowing, hybridisation, nor domestication of their local flora.

The Late Neolithic began circa 5,700 BS, marked by the emergence of pottery and developments in warfare, agriculture, and the building of structures.

It was in this time that the steppe was hit by droughts and famine, resulting in higher mortality rates and inter-tribal tensions. The Mora were now threatened by Nethic war parties from the west, who came east in search of water, food, and resources, and were driven out from their homeland.

Following the Nethic raids, the Mora travelled south, passing through the Jana mountains, before arriving at the basin. There they came into conflict with the Diira, largely admixing into and wiping out the group, whilst appropriating aspects of their culture and their expertise on local flora and fauna.

During this time, the Mora were greatly influenced by the Diira. Morellic women took Diiran husbands, and many words were loaned from the Diiran language, including the same of Sarvara.

The Mora were familiar with keeping snoutgoats as livestock, but learnt to keep the native woolly hogs as livestock once they had settled. Furthermore, they began to cultivate and farm crops such as Lunuth, Pelen, and Canara.

Circa 3,200 BS, the Mora had begun to mine and smelt ores such as copper and tin, spelling the end of the stone age and the beginning of the transitional chalcolithic period, or copper age.

It was in this period that the Mora began to smelt Janic copper in furnaces, greatly benefitted by the resources within Jana. The mountains afforded them resources such as flint, obsidian, and various other minerals and metals, which were all used in the creation of more sophisticated tools and weapons.

The bronze age was ushered in with the advent of agriculture, pottery, and, namely, bronze tools, circa 700 BS.