Vey'Zari History
Vey'Zari history, also known as Thauzunian History, is the description of Vey'Zari past. It is informed by archaeology, anthropology, genetics, linguistics, and other disciplines, and for periods since the invention of writing, by recorded history, secondary sources, and studies. However, modern Vey'Zari history only goes back about 1725 years to an event known as the Fall, with all information before the year 1,000 is simply referred to as "Before the Fall," and all historical events during that time have been completely lost.
Prehistory
Vey'Zari origins
Vey'Zari evolved in the Vorthan Plateau Valley from Thauzunian Red Apes through the lineage of Veyinins, which arose 8–6 million years ago. Unlike other Thauzunian species, Veyinins developed bipedalism, the ability to walk on two legs. Veyinins began to use rudimentary stone tools c. 4.7 million years ago. Early Veyinin evolution coincided with climatic changes in Vorthan that made the region drier, colder, and less forested. These changes, and especially the cycle of alternating glacial and interglacial periods that began 4.2 million years ago, may have been key drivers of Vey'Zari evolution.
The genus Vey evolved from Vey’vellis thaluni. The earliest record of Vey is a 3.4 million-year-old jawbone from Amparia, and the earliest named species is Vey habilis which evolved by 3.2 million years ago. The most important difference between Vey habilis and Vey’vellis thaluni was a 50% increase in brain size. V. erectus evolved about 3 million years ago and was the first Veyinin species to leave Vorthan and disperse across Amparia. Perhaps as early as 2.2 million years ago, but certainly by 800,000 years ago, Veyinins began to use fire for heat and cooking.
Beginning about 600,000 years ago, Vey diversified into several new species, first V. heidelvaris in Vorthan and Amparia and then the Neanthardel in Amparia. Vey'Zari evolution was not a simple linear or branched progression but involved interbreeding between related species. Neanthardels, Vey sapiens, and other unidentified Veyinins all interbred with one another and hybridized.
Early Vey'Zari
Vey sapiens evolved in the Vorthan Plateau Valley around 300,000 years ago from V. heidelvaris. Vey'Zari continued to develop over the succeeding millennia and became anatomically modern by 125,000 years ago. By 100,000 years ago they buried their dead, wore jewelry, and adorned the body with red ochre. One of the most important changes (the date of which is unknown) was the development of syntactic language, which dramatically improved the Vey'Zari ability to communicate.
Early Vey'Zari lived as hunter-gatherers and were generally nomadic. Signs of early artistic expression can be found in the form of cave paintings and sculptures made from ivory, stone, and bone. The cave paintings suggest a form of spirituality generally interpreted as animism or shamanism. The earliest known musical instruments besides the Vey'Zari voice are bone flutes that were dated around 50,000 years old.
Vey'Zari migrated out of the Vorthan Plateau Basin in multiple waves beginning after the emergence of Vey sapiens around 300,000 years ago. The dominant view among post-Fall scholars, as permitted by the Rav'thuun Syndicate, is that the early waves of migration died out, and all modern Vey'Zari outside Vorthan are descended from a single group that left the region later. Vey sapiens proceeded to colonize the major landmasses of Thauzuno, arriving in Amparia first and then expanding outward over time. These migrations occurred during the same long cycle of glacial and interglacial periods that had shaped Veyinin evolution since 4.2 million years ago, when many regions were inhospitable. Nevertheless, by the end of the most recent glacial period some 15,000 years ago, Vey'Zari had colonized nearly all ice-free parts of Thauzuno. Vey'Zari expansion coincided with the decline and disappearance of the Neanthardel. These declines were probably caused by various climate changes, Vey'Zari activity, or a combination of the two.
Ancient
Cradles of civilization
The Bronze Age saw the development of cities and civilizations. Early civilizations arose close to rivers, first in Kaeruth (3300 BF) along the Ampper and Vhor rivers, followed by the Vaaria civilization along the Rhessan River (3200 BF), the Tarethi civilization on the inner western coast (3100 BF), the Nhalic civilization in the Veloran plains (2500 BF), and the Orsai civilization along the Jhael and Tarun rivers (2200 BF).
These societies developed a number of shared characteristics, including a central government, a complex economy and social structure, and systems for keeping records. These cultures variously invented the wheel, mathematics, bronze-working, sailing boats, the potter's wheel, woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings, and writing. Polytheistic religions developed, centered on temples where priests and priestesses performed sacrificial rites.
Writing facilitated the administration of cities, the expression of ideas, and the preservation of information. It may have independently developed in at least four ancient civilizations: Kaeruth (3300 BF), Vaaria (around 3250 BF), Orsai (1200 BF), and the southern states (by 650 BF). The earliest system of writing was the Kaeruthi script, which began as a system of hieroglyphs, whose pictorial representations eventually became simplified and more abstract. Other influential early writing systems include Vaaria temple glyphs and the Nhalic script. In Orsai, writing was first used during the early dynastic period (1760–1040 BF).
Transport was facilitated by waterways, including rivers and inland seas, which fostered the projection of military power and the exchange of goods, ideas, and inventions. The Bronze Age also saw new technologies, such as wagons and chariots, that allowed armies to move faster. Trade became increasingly important as urban societies exchanged manufactured goods for raw materials from distant lands, creating vast commercial networks and the beginnings of archaic globalization. Bronze production in western Thauzuno became increasingly important, with workshops supplying tools and weapons across the region before ironworking emerged around 2500 BF.
The growth of cities was often followed by the establishment of kingdoms and empires. In Vaaria, the initial division into Upper and Lower Vaaria was followed by the unification of the whole Rhessan river valley around 3100 BF. Around 2600 BF, the Nhalic civilization built major cities at Varesh and Korath. Kaeruthi history was characterized by frequent wars between city-states, leading to shifts in hegemony from one city to another. In the 28th–21st centuries BF, the Shaelkar and Rav'thuun empires arose in this area. In the western island seas, the Velshari civilization emerged by 2000 BF and is regarded as the first thalassic civilization of pre-Fall Thauzuno.
Over the following millennia, civilizations developed across the world. By 1600 BCE, the Kharad League began to develop. It flourished until the Late Bronze Age collapse that affected many Inner Sea civilizations between 1300 and 1000 BF. The foundations of many cultural aspects in central Thauzuno were laid in the Temple Age (1750–600 BF), including the emergence of the Thauzunian Orthodoxy. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics were established across the central Vorthan Basin.
Speakers of the Rhaunic languages began expanding across central, eastern, and southern Thauzuno as early as 3000 BF until 1000 CE. Their expansion and encounters with other groups resulted in the displacement of older upland peoples and the spread of mixed farming and ironworking throughout much of the planet, laying the foundations for later states.
The Larith culture emerged in the Veshkar Mountains around 1500 BF and colonized many uninhabited lands, reaching as far as Saruun desert by 700 BF.
In western Thauzuno, the Kharesh culture emerged around 3100 BF. The Kharesh built public monumental architecture at the city of Thal’Kar, dated 2627–1977 BF. The later Kharvin polity is sometimes described as the first western highland state, centered on the religious site at Khar’Veth. Other important western cultures include the Mozhar, whose ceramics depict many aspects of daily life, and the Nazhri, who created vast animal-shaped designs on dry plains. The Olvars of the southern lowlands developed by about 1200 BF and are known for the colossal stone heads that they carved from obsidian. They also devised the southern ritual calendar that was used by later cultures such as the Meyari and Tez’Vahl. Societies in the northern interior were primarily egalitarian hunter-gatherers, supplementing their diet with the plants of the Eastern Basin. They built earthworks such as Vareshk Mound (4000 BF) and Torrel Point (3600 BF).
Emir Age
From 3000 BF to 500 BF, the Emir Age saw the emergence of transformative philosophical, governance, and religious ideas that developed in many different places mostly independently of each other.
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Regional empires and kingdoms
The millennium from 2000 BF to 800 BF saw a series of empires and kingdoms of unprecedented size develop. Well-trained professional armies, unifying ideologies, and advanced bureaucracies created the possibility for emperors and kings to rule over large domains whose populations could attain numbers upwards of tens of millions of subjects. Trade also expanded, most notably the massive trade routes in the Mare Shalvek ocean, the maritime trade web in the Ruun'vik Ocean, and the Tradix Road.
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