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« on: September 06, 2017, 08:01:51 PM »
[big][big]Aeternum: A Brief History[/big][/big]
While it is difficult to pinpoint an exact starting date of the history of Aeternum and Mundus as a whole, it is widely agreed by both Aeternumese and international scholars that Aeternum was one of the first civilizations on Mundus. Written records of Aeternumese history can be found with dates as early as 1550 BC, describing farming and very primitive government systems. These records even describe a civilization before that one, one which had no system of writing on a medium that could be preserved. For clarity's sake, we will only focus on Aeternumese history that has written records.
[big]The Xia Dynasty[/big]
The Xia dynasty of Aeternum (from c. 2070 to c. 1600 BC) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records. The dynasty was considered mythical by historians until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Guihang in 1959. It still remains unclear whether these sites are the remains of the Xia dynasty or of another culture from the same period. Excavations that overlap the alleged time period of the Xia indicate a type of culturally similar groupings of chiefdoms. Early markings from this period found on pottery and shells are thought to be ancestral to modern Aeternumese characters.
[big]The Zhou Dynasty[/big]
The Zhou dynasty (1600 BC to approximately 256 BC) was the longest-lasting dynasty in Aeternumese history. By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Zhou dynasty began to emerge in the Grey River valley, overrunning the territory of the Xia. The Zhou appeared to have begun their rule under a semi-feudal system. The Zhou lived west of the Xia, and the Zhou leader had been appointed Western Protector by the Xia. The ruler of the Zhou, King Wu, with the assistance of his brother, the Duke of Zhou, as regent, managed to defeat the Xia at the Battle of Xiahai.
The king of Zhou at this time invoked the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to legitimize his rule, a concept that would be influential for almost every succeeding dynasty. Like Shangdi, Heaven (tian) ruled over all the other gods, and it decided who would rule Aeternum. It was believed that a ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven when natural disasters occurred in great number, and when, more realistically, the sovereign had apparently lost his concern for the people. In response, the royal house would be overthrown, and a new house would rule, having been granted the Mandate of Heaven.
The Zhou initially moved their capital west to an area near modern Unova, on the Le River, a tributary of the Grey River, but they would preside over a series of expansions into the Ardent River valley. This would be the first of many population migrations from north to south in Aeternumese history.
[big]Spring and Autumn period[/big]
In the 8th century BC, power became decentralized during the Spring and Autumn period, named after the influential Spring and Autumn Annals. In this period, local military leaders used by the Zhou began to assert their power and vie for hegemony. The situation was aggravated by the invasion of other peoples from the northwest, such as the Qin, forcing the Zhou to move their capital east to Luoyang. This marks the second major phase of the Zhou dynasty: the Eastern Zhou. The Spring and Autumn period is marked by a falling apart of the central Zhou power. In each of the hundreds of states that eventually arose, local strongmen held most of the political power and continued their subservience to the Zhou kings in name only. Some local leaders even started using royal titles for themselves. Aeternum now consisted of hundreds of states, some of them only as large as a village with a fort.
As the era continued, larger and more powerful states annexed or claimed suzerainty over smaller ones. By the 6th century BC most small states had disappeared from being annexed and just a few large and powerful principalities dominated Aeternum. Some southern states, such as Chu and Wu, claimed independence from the Zhou, who undertook wars against some of them (Wu and Yue). Many new cities were established in this period and Aeternumese culture was slowly shaped.
Once all these powerful rulers had firmly established themselves within their respective dominions, the bloodshed focused more fully on interstate conflict in the Warring States period, which began when the three remaining élite families in the Jin state – Zhao, Wei and Han – partitioned the state.
The Hundred Schools of Thought of Aeternumese philosophy blossomed during this period, and such influential intellectual movements as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Mohism were founded, partly in response to the changing political world. The first two philosophical thoughts would have an enormous influence on Aeternumese culture.
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