The East PacificBoard

Somewhere in 300 A.D., even though the empire has converted to a religion of a pacifist, they still continued their tradition of expansion through conquest, which their last one has ended horribly. People, settlers and nomads from the southern and colder continent of Araseos, have begun a massive 'barbarian' invasion of the entire Empire, those people were Germanics. Even though Apimagnum had superior equipment, armor and weaponry, they were no match for massive numbers of the invaders. The invasion was slow, but brutal enough to collapse the entire Apimagnum dream. In 478 A.D., the Apimagnum city has fallen to the Germanic invaders, making a collapse of the empire, however, Germanics were not done conquering remnants of the empire.

The Fonsmunitis province "broke away" form the collapsed empire, renaming it's province and new nation as the Kingdom of Sanctmunitis, which means "Holy Fortress". The Kingdom of Sanctmunitis was thought by the Germanics and Apimagnum settlers to be a rump state of the empire.

The new Catholic Kingdom, ruled by former Apimagnum monarch and now King Tertius Comes, had to fight a brutal, massacring battle to defend itself against the Germanic invaders, who now had stronger armor and weaponry. This event was called the "Battle of Sanctmunitis" by historians, the battle was fought on every outskirts of the city of Sanctmunitis and a duel between the King and Lord Barbarossa of the Germanics, after long suffering, the Kingdom has won, successfully defending itself from Germanic invaders.

After recovery and re-population, King Tertius ordered at least the conquest of three Germanic held villages, he wanted to do this to restore the glory of the Apimagnum empire. The conquests were successful, but not long after Germanics started pushing back, making a renewed attempt to take the city of Sanctmunitis, the event was called the "Second Battle of Sanctmunitis", this time Germanics winning it. The Germanic occupation didn't last long however, not even a day. Due to fiery resistance from settlers, Germanic troops had a hard time keeping the peace, King Tertius of Sanctmunitis returned to the city with his soldiers in the night. After just another battle in the same day, a Germanic lord is killed by a knight in the city.

Days after the rapid restoration of the Kingdom, King Tertius ordered a renewed attempt to reconquer, this time successfully. The Kingdom of Sanctmunitis was slowly taking villages and cities occupied by Germanics, massacring "pure" Germanic settlers and replacing them with ethnic Natin people. King Tertius appoints the brother of the fallen Fierce Knight Servius, Petrus Servius as an heir of the Kingdom. A day after the appointment, King Tertius dies of a disease, a reason for appointment. Same day, the Sanquis Catholic religion is born, and it's new Pope Epidicus crowns Petrus Servius as King of Sanctmunitis, honoring Tertius' quest of reconquest.

Continuing the reconquest after two centuries, Sanctmunitis has taken many occupied villages and cities from the Germanic/Scandinavian empire. Respecting the theory of Christ sailing, some explorers from Sanctmunitis have sailed to look for a continent far away. In 683 A.D., the explorers named Aurorus Commidus (named after the Suilia planet Aurora), Antipho Malchus, Stratophanes Simo and other merchant crews have discovered the continent of Unistan. Just after discovery, they couldn't properly communicate due to linguistic differences, but according to some books that Aurorus has written, the tribes were beautifully decorated with this cultural group they called "arabs". Even if ways of communication were different, they were still able to trade, and in exchange, they would bring Unistani merchants to the home continent where Sanctmunitis is.

A decade later, in 693 A.D., trade with Unistani tribes and merchants was popular in Sanctmunitis. King Eligius IV took it as an opportunity for economic prosperity and as a way to make more funds for the continuing reconquest. Half of the Unistani merchants were near-humans such as nekos who adapted to Arab societies in their home continent. The very first of them, Alma Al-Sabir, was brought by a sailor named Baebo Andronicus.

Although the Unistani merchants (especially near-humans) did not help in the war against Germanics, they did help bring prosperity to both Unistani tribes and the Kingdom of Sanctmunitis. Despite prosperity, nekos (named Alcatus by Sanctish people) were discriminated by pure humans for being not "pure humans" and "disgusting demi-humans". Half of the near-human merchants did not care, but the other half did, either retaliating or moving to friendlier neighborhoods. Most of the demi-humans have converted to Sanquis Catholicism, changing their Arabic names to Latinized Arabic names such as Anaritius and others, while some still had native beliefs such as Islam (yes, Islam was made in the 7th century).

At the year of 944 A.D., after more than two centuries of merchants arriving to Sanctmunitis, a male and elder alcatus (neko) by the name of Abderrahim Samie settled in a village located at a very snowy mountain. Despite being old, Samie himself climbed up a mountain, popular theory of reasoning is that he wanted to see a more populous village in the flat areas from a mountain, other theories say that he wanted to commit suicide after doing a hard work. He hasn't reached the top yet, so he took a cave and went to rest. Originally meant to just rest, he started to sleep. After an unexpected dream, he woke up fast, and seconds later, decided to abandon climbing up the mountain.

Abderrahim Samie climbed down the mountain, and headed towards the populated village. The village was named Villaflum, and it had a large population of near-human settlers and Unistani merchants, that it was considered a near-human majority town. Samie went to visit his partners and friends of the village about a dream he saw, it was "holy", that it involved a man with a sword and wearing a "lion armor", and that the man behind the armor said that Christ and Muhammad were not pacifists, if not manipulators, that he was sent by God. Samie's friends did not believe him, but after he pointed out what Sanctmunitis did such as massacres and others, his partners were now being convinced. Same day, a new religion was founded named Nabua, which means 'Prophecy' in Arabic.

Four years later in 948 A.D., an emirate was founded, and Abderrahim, with supporters, crowned himself as an emir, and stated that he created the emirate to protect alcatuses (nekos) from being discriminated against and persecuted. He started right in the village named Villaflum, which he renamed it to Qarynahr (somewhere in modern day Guardana). The emirate was famously named "Emirate of Annayad" or just "Annayad". Months after recruiting troops and preparing them, Emir Samie discovered that both armies of Germanics and Sanctmunitis were exhausted because of non-stop wars, so he took it as an advantage and ordered a conquest of territory from both countries. The Annayad army started to conquer territories from Scandinavians (Germanics) and the Kingdom of Sanctmunitis, the advance was rapid, as they first took 21 villages in a week. The advance would continue for months and months, even years until the year of 962 A.D.. Same year, Emir Abderrahim has died, and an heir named Adil Samie, Abderrahim's son, took position of Emir. The new emir Adil stopped the focus of conquest, seeing that the emirate needs to rest from it's decade of bloodshed, however, he started to focus on building the Annayad Emirate to a more habitable and friendlier place.

Just after the conquests have stopped, King Lampadio was very unhappy to hear the news from his royal advisors of lost territory to a new "Kingdom" that the near-humans he disliked named it an "emirate". This huge territory loss was a rude interruption for a five century old quest.
And hearing of the religion of Nabua, the King himself ordered the Kingdom's council to outlaw the religion and to make guards enforce prevention of this so-called "Prophecy" from spreading.

At the Annayad Emirate, villages conquered by it had their human populations replaced with near-human alcatuses by the orders of Emir Adil. During the realm of Emir Adil and his Samie Dynasty, the Annayad Emirate became an isolationist kingdom, building itself and recovering from the wars they've fought.

At 999 A.D., one year left for the thousandth anniversary of Eripir's death, the Kingdom of Sanctmunitis has conquered a small portion of Germanic territories in the western part, but instead of annexing it, they have made an independent Natin and Catholic kingdom named the Kingdom of Santapal.

The year is 1107 A.D., one century after the thousandth year after Eripir's death, skirmishes were continuing on the borders between Sanctmunitis and the Annayad Emirate despite no official war declared. The Annyad influence in the Nonscion continent is re-shaping the Sanctish Natin language, changing dialogues and even new words deriving from the Annayad linguistics.

Same year, but months later, the Kingdom of Sanctmunitis would change in a religious way. At the Church of Ludex in the city of Sanctmunitis, King Eligius Sancho, along with Kingdom's own Pope Ferdinandus, showed themselves. This is a ceremony, and during prayers, the King himself has given a speech to re-name the country of Sanctmunitis into a name of a region given by his ancestors... formally declaring Altius Imperium, it's translation being 'Empire of Greater Heights', with Pope Ferdinandus crowning King Eligius no longer King Eligius Sancho, but Emperor Eligius Sancho.

Three years later, at 1110 A.D., ten Annayad explorers, despite their Emirate being isolationist, had a secret task from a military commander who disliked the Samie Dynasty's isolationist decisions, first saying the known quotes by historians:

"Would the Prophet himself know what is happening outside of the emirate? If so, I would suggest you would head out with our strong ships capable of holding you from the Prophet's wrath of Sea Attrition. The Samie Dynasty trapping us inside the lands is preposterous."

This was a rough translation of a dialogue according to a note written by an explorer named Aquila Leon, who was given a Natin name, but never said the name of what he claimed what was a military commander. The ten explorers, all near-human alcatuses, 9 male and one female, were sailing into the seas with a trade ship while carrying goods and gold. After days of sailing and sea sickness (but everyone surviving), the ship's crew finally saw distant lands that seemed tropical, so they headed there. Upon getting close to said lands, they have seen that people were already there, looking at the crew with mixes of fear, worrying and curiosity.

One of the explorers, Safwan Amarus, got down from the ship by a ladder, came to talk with a newly discovered civilization named the Caldheir in modern day Yucanoa. After conversations, explorers and natives have decided to trade a little something.

Days later, the explorers came back to the Annayad emirate, spreading news of discovery upon the settlements. The news was very spread, even the Annayad emir Hudu Samie heard about it. Following numerous trade requests with Caldheir, the emir rejected, following his dynasty's decisions of isolationism. Two months later, the isolationist Samie dynasty, after numerous renewed attempts to trade, finally decided to break the emirate's isolationism and agreed to trade with Caldheir. This led to happiness upon trades and merchants, who later sailed to Caldheir lands to trade with them.

News of the Yucanoan civilization and a new trade route being discovered spread across the neighbors of the Annayad Emirate, including the Empire of Hispania. Emperor Eligius Sancho, seeing this as an opportunity, sent merchants and Sanquis Catholic missionaries to said discovered civilization of Caldheir.

The 13th Century, or the 1200s A.D. begins. During the 1230's, the language spoken in Altius has changed dramatically thanks to the Annayad Emirate's cultural influence. The language has changed from Natin to what is known today as Sanctish, the same happened in the independent Kingdom of Santapal. A man with a new kind of name is crowned as emperor of Hispania, with the name being Lorenzo Sanchez, they have even changed the linguistics of the dynasty's name.

The Annayad Emirate, during the times of Altius' linguistic changes, was very, very open to trade now that their decisions of isolationism has been abandoned by the Samie Dynasty, they were even trading with Germanic Batarians whenever they weren't at conflict. They have kept upgrading their weapons and armor in case of a war.

Before the war began, not only Altius' names and linguistics had changes, but so did their weaponry, especially siege ones. They have gained what would be widely used for centuries... gunpowder, telling their cannons. In 1264 A.D., war has been declared on the Annayad Emirate by the Altius Imperium.

Now that war has been declared, both nations clash once again with bloodshed and the sounds of swords clashing. The Annayad Emirate was ready for this, but what they weren't ready for was the Empire's cannons. The emirate's first encounter with cannons was on a siege of the town of Wadyalsa, where an Altiusian knight named Cristoval ordered for cannons to be fired. Within that battle, the results were several walls of the village's fortress being destroyed, allowing easier access for Hispanic footmen and lighter knights would enter and fight the Emirate's troops. This came to Hispanic victory, capturing the town and beginning for .

Three years after constant battles, Emir Salimasso Samie looked from the city of Qarynahr (capital of the Annayad Emirate) with shed tears at a marching Altiusian army involving Emperor Lorenzo. He couldn't defend a nation that his ancestors founded, what he vowed to protect and expand. Emir Salimasso looked at his recently married wife who was shocked and quietly sobbing, and back at the marching army, he knew he had to face them to show that he wasn't a coward.

Hours after, according to most historians, Emir Salimasso has died in combat after slaughtering more or less than thirty Altiusian troops with fury, only to be left by a deep stab wound. This was the year of 1267.

Same year, the Annayad Emirate was annexed into the Altius Imperium, but not fully, since they had to deal with resistance from an Annayad rump state named the Kingdom of Al-Labar in the archipelago of modern day Langos Islands, which took less than a year to conquer and annex. This was a great victory for Altius, and same year after annexing and dealing with resistance, troops have been given orders by the emperor to slaughter Alcatuses who worshiped Nabiin known as "The Prophet", forcing survivors to convert to Christianity, which saved the Alcatus/Altusian neko race from extinction.

It is 1268 A.D., with the Annayad Emirate crushed and destroyed by forces of Catholic Altius, Nabua religious leaders are executed by broadswords and torching. Sanquis Catholic priests and missionaries, along with some knights, were going on missions to convert Alcatus populations to Sanquis Catholicism. If an Alcatus has been converted, then mercy and Imperial citizenship shall be given, but if refuse to be converted, then either death is given or the said Alcatus who has refused would be enslaved. This would go on for more than two centuries.

At the year of 1497 A.D., the last emperor of the house, Emperor Joanes Sánchez has died a virgin, meaning he had no heir to appoint as next emperor or successor. After his death, panic has spread wide in the empire, but not long after an imperial council named Cortes de Altús has made a proposal for the empire's stability, choosing la Casa de la Vela (House of the Candle), famously known as the Vela Dynasty. The Vela Dynasty was a royal family which was religiously theocratic. Same year but different days, the first emperor of Altius to be part of the Vela Dynasty has taken power, and the name was Béltrane Vela, crowned by a Pope named Alonso Martin.

From there, the Altius Imperium name had slight changes, with a more Sanctish sounding name 'Imperio Altús' and a more universally named 'Altus'.

When Béltrane Vela took the throne of Emperor and Altus, he established a Sanquis Catholic Theocracy soon after, religion ruling much more supreme than before. Sanquis Catholics, who make up nearly all of Altus feel divine by this new emperor, while non-catholics hiding from the tyrannical emperors fear this new "divine" happening.

One year later at 1498 A.D., the army of Altus founds the Serpie units from the previous Santino Unit used by the Sánchez Dynastsy in the wars against Germanics and the Annayad Emirate. These Serpie troops have new weapons as well, made with gunpowder and with ideas brought by an other-continental man with a "strange name" of Tang Huo, although the weapon is made in Altus. The weapon is named the Arquebus, which the empire would then use for two centuries and would begin with the concept of man carried gunpowder weaponry.

Within the reign of Beltráne Vela and the instability in the Lerasian areas, he has ordered for a conquest of this Lerasian peninsula that two nations that seem to be kingdoms are fighting over. Reasoning for conquest wasn't for power, but to spread the message of Eripir Christus outside of the Empire. That year was in 1499 A.D., and numerous Serpie Units were sent to both the Peninsula and the borders with Vindholm in the island of what's known today as Pópulo. These Serpie units were armed with pikes, swords and even arquebuses. They have taken the entire island and the key peninsula, which was thought to be the center of Germanic Lerasian culture.

Now that they have taken the peninsula, they have named it Dolorém, which is now being fortified and being converted to Sanquis Catholicism. This has sparked fury in both countries of the Free City of Vindholm and the Reformed Tyrist Kraterocracy, calling Altus' conquest an 'insult of thousands of years of reigning', this is where the Dolorém Conflicts would begin. The pope Alonso Martin, same one who crowned Emperor Beltráne Vela, has crowned his cousin Agustín Vela as client king and despot of the Despotate of Dolorém.

Vindholm as an army had mostly well trained militias, vikings who would later be recruited and fortune seekers who wee also recruited. The RTK had a more dangerous army of powerful and heavy knights, even very strong archers. Seeing the RTK was a Krateocracy, they preferred heavy armored knights than light-armored ones. The Altusian army in Dolorém made up mostly of Serpie Conquistadors, armored arquebusiers, swordsmen and Christian militias of the peninsula.

Both Vindholm and the RTK, although despising each other, have made a strike towards Dolorém at the same time. The Serpies' first encounter was with heavy armored Tyrists of the RTK, which made them pray before defending a fortress. Tyrist knights have fought well against the Serpies, but they have yet lost their battle with them due to the armor-penetrating arquebuses used by the Serpies (although they had a hard time on melee combat with said knights, even injured ones). Second encounter was with Vindholm, who were still hard to fight, but easier to do so due to lighter armor.

Even though Altus won most battles, there have been some that they lost to both nations, which are the ones in the northern territory, with churches built by them burned on the ground by the RTK. The most 'glorious victory' that Altus ever had was conquering the coastal lands of Vindholm, then making them a landlocked nation. Altus and the Despotate of Dolorém had opportunities to advance north, but lost them due to the thick mountain ranges defended by both nations.

The conflict would end in 1522, with the Despotate of Dolorém annexing coastal lands of Vindholm, but losing northern land to Vindholm and the RTK. Despite the conflict ending, skirmishes continued, and the Empire's grip on Dolorém were slowly becoming unstable. Reasoning for slowly losing stability were the conflicts between Vindholm and the RTK intensifying with nations breaking away.

Ten years before the Dolorém conflict has ended (and during the conflicts), Emperor Beltráne Vela has called for the establishment of the Holy Office and the launching of the famous Sanquis Inquisition.

The Sanquis Inquisition was an era of multiple events including series of religious persecution against non-Sanquis Catholics that was launched to keep religious stability of the Empire of Altus. Although the events started in 1512 A.D. and ended in the 1790's, this part will focus more on post-medieval history. The inquisition was even responsible for multiple conquests and religious missionaries converting outside countries to the religion.

In 1513, the Kingdom of Santapal has discovered where the man who brought gunpowder originated from... Kianese Kingdoms. Santapal, part of the inquisition, started trade with the Kianese societies. Months later, they have discovered a similar society, that being Shinnokawa. Same year the Dolorém Conquests ended (ten years later), the Imperio de Altús has annexed the Kingdom of Santapal, continuing communications with Oriental civilizations.

Trade between Shinnokawa and Altus have begun, but once the centralized imperial council of Shinnokawa saw Sanquis Catholic missionaries trying to convert people, they have demanded them to leave, for they did not accept foreign religions. This angered the missionaries, who ere told to inspire and incite rebellions inside the country by numerous religious speeches. This incitement would create a century long conflict that would be named by historians 'The Hundred Years Rebellion', with rebels supported by Serpie units with arquebuses.

Exact same year where explorers of Santapal has discovered the oriental civilizations responsible for Altus' revolutionary upgrade to weaponry, and during the middle of the Dolorém conflicts, emperor Beltráne Vela has remembered about the Caldheir civilization, a society discovered by explorers of Annayad, has demanded to send missionaries to convert said civilization into Christianity, hoping that Caldheir becomes a far more important trading partner, that they would allow easier access to the south and that people living there would see the "true divine light of God and Eripir Christus". Some royal advisors and speakers of Cortes de Altús spoke against the missionary decisions, claiming that with the war against Lerasian societies, it would plummet the empire's economy, but they were dismissed by both the emperor and the Cortes, soon beginning the conversion.

Same year and one month later, many missionaries from Altus came into the Caldheir empire, they were asked if they were here to trade, but the missionaries, including the leading one named Gonzalo (who later became a priest of a church), responded by saying that they are spreading the message of Eripir Christus and how God would bless the people living inside the civilization, this led to the guards on the coast to allow them to spread their faith, but weeks later, after Gonzalo became a priest and missionaries were still attempting to convert people, the monarch of Caldheir remembered that Altus destroyed an old trading partner and culture influence shaping nation, which of course was the Annayad Emirate, and fearing that Sanquis Catholicism would destroy Caldheir culture, demanded the Christians to leave the empire.

Discovering what went wrong in Caldheir, Emperor Beltráne Vela has ordered a full on invasion of this empire he called a "land of wretched peoples", appointing numerous Serpie commanders into process. Months later, possibly in late 1513 A.D., Altusians arrived to Caldheir once again, this time with a fleet of ships containing gunpowder weaponry, cannons and Serpie units such as pike-men, trained swordsmen and arquebusiers. It begins with a bombardment on the coasts with cannons against a coast, and even a blockade. Serpie troops, when ships start to get on the sandy levels of water, jump off ships to walk through the salt water into the coast. This mainly happens with swordsmen, while arquebusiers still on the ships support the swordsmen by firing at any men with swords, bows or even spears. After the battles on the trading area ends, the result is Altusian victory, with the Caldheir empire's main trading port captured, although there have been casualties in the Altusian side.

Inland battles and sieges would go on and on for a decade. In 1523 A.D., with Caldheir left with barely inhabited valleys, has been crushed by the pushing force of Altusian Conquistadors. This would bring an end to Caldheir, and a foundation of a colony named the viceroyalty of San Gonzalo Sacerdote (Saint Gonzalo Priest), named after a missionary who later became a priest. Just after foundation of the colony, conquistadors and new guards started to burn records of a previously existing Caldheir civilization, and inquisitors were brought in to enforce the Sanquis faith onto the natives. After the complete collapse of the civilization, a conquistador Esqive del Lunar was appointed and promoted to being governor of the viceroyalty due to being the best commander in the conquest, which of course he led brutal orders of massacres of natives and torchings of villages. One year later, the promoted governor has died of a disease that the lands of what's now San Gonzalo has had, appointing a new one later.

Succeeding in the conquest against the Caldheir civilization, and in the same year of the San Gonzalo colony establishment, the Empire of Altus then remembered the Western Unistan tribes, and for punishments against them. With the success of gunpowder weaponry, emperor Béltrane Vela was becoming a tad bit obsessed with them and the Serpie victories thanks to them, and because of the mentions of Western Unistani sultans, he has ordered a conquest of those said tribes to inflict punishment for bringing one of their native kinds and crushing the Kingdom of Sanctmunitis, although some historians claimed that it was actually the fault of Sanctmunitis for bringing alcatuses.

In late 1523 A.D., months after the establishment of the San Gonzalo colony, Serpie units and conquistadors have sailed Western Unistan, only to find that the sultans and arab tribes were quite different from what the ancestors have put in their records. Sultans and emirates have grown bigger and stronger, yet with inferior technology to the Altusians. That same year, the clashes have begun, firstly with the Sultanate of Tlath Biyrat (modern day former Dubokia), and with a decade of fighting and conquests, Altus has taken all coasts of Tlath Biyrat and some of other nearby kingdoms. This triggered the western Unistani kingdoms and sultanates to form up a confederacy by the name of Harakiya, which roughly translates to "Freedom Movement". Some tribes and kingdoms were able to use captured technology from the Serpie Units, but they still have lost almost majority of battles with the empire.

This fighting would last nearly a century, with Harakiya finally captured by Altus and annexed as two grand viceroyalties, the first one being the colony of Dubokia in 1612 by Garcia de Figueredo, and the second one being the viceroyalty of "Utopia" in 1622 given by a conquistador Hernando Santiago in 1604 due to it's beaches being beautiful. After establishments of viceroyalties, the Sanquis Inquisition has spread further while the Altusian army kept upgrading itself.

The third conquest would bring the Vela Dynasty's Altus to it's greatest extent, having a chunk of it's mainland in Nonscio, having a despotate in the Dolorem peninsula and three grand viceroyalties ruled by the crown and Empire of Altus. However, this wasn't the total greatest extent in Altus' history.

One hundred years, or if better said, a century of conquest events made by Altus, they begin to finally rest in their imperial glories of conquering. This empire has begun mining for gold in it's viceroyalties at Unistan and northern Solitas. The viceroyalty of San Gonzalo at Solitas, which was a colony of Altus, was being populated by people from Altus, most of whom were either prisoners sent to work or soldiers sent to occupy.

During the imperial building and religious inquisitions, anti-colonial uprisings have sparked up in the viceroyalty of Dubokia in 1625, which was then shortly quelled by the empire, but shortly after allowing some reforms of autonomy. Altus has also sent explorers and trade merchants to the continent of Orientalis, mainly to trade gunpowder weapons, holy water and slaves in exchange for spice, rice and even gold.

Way before the annexation of western Unistani sultanates, Altus has helped the Kampfian Empire discover the continent of Yaestrovakia, and has helped them conquer some portions in it at least in the 1540's.