Fact Box for Cheira

Here is the fact box for the republic of Unions of Cheira. This will be the focus of the next high-res and textless atlas maps that will be published next week, exclusively for Acolytes, followed by the normal version and encyclopaedia entries the week after that.  Thanks all for your support :)  As always, feel free to point out typos in the comments ;)

Note: the below history refers to Cheira. You may have previously seen this region referred to as Waelmigh, which I've retconned to be the name of the rainforest, with the nation itself being called Cheira.

An Abbreviated History of Serrok and Cheira

• c. -200 - 1200 RM: Aksaran culture thrives in the equatorial E of Sammaea, inheriting Fourth Age ruins, whose creators are unknown, but which left a strong legacy that the Aksara adopted.
• c. 1100 RM: the Ualla Mighan culture appears around the Sea of Mosasa and spreads west through trade, slowly replacing many of Aksaran traditions, becoming ubiquitous and pervasive. Though this is not intentional, it will later prove to be instrumental in the expansion of Ualla Migha beyond its current borders.
• c. 1150 - 1500 RM: by the time Ualla Migha purposefully expands west, the disparate Aksaran tribes have already been indoctrinated into many of its ways, and by c. 1500 RM are largely absorbed by Ualla Migha, though their language remains strong, and the Ualla Mighan tongue is slowly replaced by it and its hundreds of dialects. The seat of Ualla Mighan power rests in the city of Erolusia, whose harbours are busy with great catamarans that command the Sea of Mosasa and see trade from many lands across the western shores of the Mirovean Ocean.
• c. 1590 RM: Teleanyara Apexeide marches her troops against the nation of Sebdra, utterly destroying its capital and plunging the region into chaos. It fragments, with the northern-most reaches  being absorbed by Ualla Migha.
• c. 1610 - 1663 RM: Ualla Migha is now in control of an expansive tract of land stretching from the Sea of Lethea in the west to the Mirovean Ocean in the east, and is over-extended, its armies stretched thin, its roads unable to cope with what is needed of them. Attentions from the Noavaturi Plutocracy to its west further destabilizes the region, which itself leads to a military coup in 1663. A year of war follows this, after which the old regime has been excised, replaced with a well-led and leadership that values infrastructure and organisation. Under its rule Ualla Migha is more united than ever before.
• 1663 RM: the Reformed Empire of Ualla Migha is founded, with a focus on militarisation and resource-gathering.
• 1670 - 1720 RM: Industry in Ualla Migha grows at the expense of its lower classes, which toil ceaselessly to furnish the palaces of the emperor and his sycophants. The bulk of this industry is centred in the north of the region, in Metagrash. Lands far from this industrial centre are ignored and used as recruiting grounds for its armies and labour-force, and are otherwise largely left to fend for themselves..
• 1720 - 1724 RM: multiple unrelated instances of unreset erupt across Ualla Migha, both within its northern industries as well as its neglected territories. This, coupled with the death  of the emperor early in 1724 RM, leads to a period of strife as generals and viziers compete with one-another for leadership.
• 1724 - 1726 RM: war engulfs the resource-rich region of Metagrash, and the armies of opposing generals and viziers are decimated by their blind greed over the next years.
• 1727 RM: war dies out after attrition has claimed most armies. By this time far-flung regions of the empire are either cut-off, falter, or secede from the empire.
• 1730 - c. 2700 RM: the so-called Divided Empire emerges, with as many as nine different regions claiming to be the rightful heirs of Ualla Migha. This marks a millennium of strife with little development or contact with the outside world as each of the nine regions is consumed with a desire for power and the old seat of the empire. War and distrust are rife during this period.
• c. 2690 RM: one of the regions, taking the name Waelmigh (a corruption of the original Ualla Migha) grows in power and influence in the north, amid the industrial lands of Metagrash. It exerts its influence on its neighbours and rapidly becomes the major power in the area.
• 2772 RM: the end of the Divided Empire and unification of its states under the singular banner of Waelmigh.
• 2774 RM: dephon coins are first minted after the unification of Divided Empire.
• 3337 RM: following centuries of rule under the Waelmighi dynasties, the empire fractures once more, with various regions gaining independence. This includes Serrok to the south-west, Metagrasha in the north, Cheira in the east and the remainder, which continued to be known as Waelmigh.
• 3440 - 3460 RM: in the east, Cheira gains power and influence under successive reins of powerful sorcerer-kings, who are able to reunite Metagrasha and Waelmigh with Cheria. Serrok remains independent to this day.
• 3621 RM: the otherworlder Har-rsi is discovered entombed within the necropolis of Andurri, in the southern foothills of the Labr-Achtug Mountains in Cheira. The otherworlder is alive, if greatly weakened, its alien body near calcified, and entombed with it are various writings in an unknown tongue thought to predate the appearance of the Aksaran culture, which are thought to be mystical in nature.
• 3621 - 3625 RM: efforts are made to translate the text as the otherworlder is indoctrinated into cheiran culture. It recovers and is of an amenable personality, though given its nature, it is distant and alien. The mortals of Cheira fail to understand it but it rapidly learns their language and is able to communicate with them through writing. It claims to be a prophet of the empyrean, born of the earth and destined to be found by a people predetermined to be its followers.
• c. 3625 - 3650 RM: the texts of the Prophet of the Empyrean are successfully translated in the translated in the city of Cheira, and it becomes a revered figure there. The Sorcerer-kings decry this gowing cult of idolatry, punishing those found to be revering the otherworlder, though this only serves to grow its spread.
• 3631 - 3651 RM: a great palace is built to the Prophet of the Empyrean close to where it was found, and the settlement of Menitab later grows at its base, eventually growing into a great metropolis and place of pilgrimage that shuns the rule of the Sorcerer-kings.
• c. 3650 RM: the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean is founded in Menitab, and at its centre is the eponymous otherworlder, whose words are considered gospel. By the time of the Church’s official founding, much of the surrounding area is devoutly following the otherworlder.
• c. 3650 - 3700 RM: daring missionaries and preachers are sent afield into distant Cheira, as well as neighbouring lands, including Elekhid, Gibeah, Pnessa, and Serrok, with different degrees of reception. Serrok is most accepting of this faith and it rapidly gains roots there, becoming a major ally of the church.
• 3679 RM: the Sorcerer-kings move against the city of Menitab, which by now has amassed a great following, with many other settlements seceding from Cheira under the guidance of the Prophet of the Empyrean. Their armies clash, but the Sorcerer-kings are unable to break the resolve of Menitab, which is bolstered at the last minute by reinforcements from Serrok. As a result worship of the otherworlder is outlawed, and all followers of the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean are branded heretics, with those found to be practising the religion within Cheira executed.
• 3692 RM: the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean spreads as an underground cult it in Cheira, becoming pervasive and an open secret. The policing forces of the Sorcerer-kings make examples of the weak and poor who are unable to oppose them, while the perpetrators of the religion continue to worship, their words becoming pervasive. Rumours abound of individual Sorcerer-kings who secretly revere the Prophet of the Empyrean.
• 3699 RM: there is a schism amongst the ranks of the Sorcerer-kings, with those opposing the Prophet of the Empyrean and those who follow him. The followers of the Prophet gain the backing of the people and usurp the old regime, who remain in the city of Cheira, now greatly diminished. Worship of the Prophet is condoned and increases exponentially across Cheira, with vestiges of its old religion remaining only in distant and rural regions.
• 3702 RM: the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean becomes the state religion of Cheira, and the worldly leader of the church (second in power to the Prophet itself), the Arch-pontiff Tilus, becomes ruler of Cheira, ousting the last of the Sorcerer-kings in the eponymous city. They are exiled, never to be seen again.
• 3782 RM:  more texts of the Prophet of the Empyrean are unearthed in a necropolis in Hodabr-Aghtul, speaking of the otherwordler’s crimes and its imprisonment in the tomb in which it was found as punishment. Word of these texts spreads across faithful lands like wildfire, and the Prophet claims these texts were heretical, but the seeds of doubt have been sown and there is a great schism within the church.
• 3782 - 3790 RM: the entire region of Cheira is destabilised by civil conflict as members of the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean suffer a crisis of faith - further proof has emerged that their entire culture, built upon the so-called Prophecies of the otherworlder that they freed from imprisonment, is based is nothing more than lies. Fighting and vandalism increase in the streets and the church’s structures, with the government unable to adequately counter on such a scale. Chaos reigns.

The people of Serrok suffer a similar crisis of faith, though it is more contained, and the church there calls a conclave that decides that the tenets of their faith are more important than the veracity of their history. What was once considered fact is now regarded as a parable. The Prophet of the Empyrean is no longer a deity to them, but merely an ends to a means - the manner in which the tenets of their faith were created. There are many in the church who oppose this and they leave, founding the New Temple of the Empyrean with similar-minded individuals from Cheira who blindly follow the Prophet of the Empyrean, working towards destroying texts that would deny its divinity. This church clashes with the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean, leading to instability for some years.

• 3790 RM: The otherworlder disappears, causing further chaos in Cheira and Serrok.
• 3794 RM: an accord is reached between the two sects of the church in Serrok, instating freedom of religion, allowing the people of Serrok to worship as they please so long as it does not cause harm to others. Many have by now abandoned organised religion, though there remain adherents of the two opposing sects, and they are now forced to live together under an uneasy and, at many times, unsuccessful, peace. A Kritarchy is established where members of all churches rule Serrok in a council made up of appointed individuals from each parish.
• 3803 RM: following the disappearance of the otherworlder, the Church of the Prophet of the Empyrean loses power in Cheira, leading to the growing power of its various secular guilds and unions which usurp power from the church, taking control of Menitab, effectively establishing a new egalitarian republic.
• In the ensuing years people in Cheira have become more secular, in some cases reverting to worship of the natural world, as their ancestors had, though this is far from a state-wide practice.