Swanamutu: the Tangor Region - History
by Giulio Caroletti2900 BC: The axis change brought by the Great Rain of Fire becomes clear to the Tanagoro humans, who find themselves in colder strokes, where mountains begin to form where once grasslands stood, and where the aurochs and dinosaurs who formed the basis of their existence are dying. Some Tanagoro begin to follow the auroch migrations toward the west, while a consistent group remains in the region. In this part of the history, we will deal only with the Tanagoro that leave westward and settle in the Tangor Empire region.
2500-1600 BC: The western descendants of the Tanagoro tribesmen, who has undergone a cultural change in the past centuries, enter their Dark Age. They are by now reduced to a nomadic, barbaric tribe who has for the most part lost their past simple philosophic attitudes, and retained just their fighting tradition. The nomadic tribes slaughter each other with savage and brutal satisfaction; tribe faidas and raids are exponentially growing, and the chaos reigns over the land. The Tanagoro lose more and more land to the nature and wilderness. This is in part caused of the loss of interest of their patron Immortals, Ka and Korotiku, in them, due to the transplantation of many of them in the Hollow World since 2'500 BC, and especially by the migration of many of the more adventurous, energetic and good-willed Tanagoro (These will become the ancestors of the Pearl Islanders and the Yavdlom). The decline has been slow but constant, and at this time the Tanagoro are very different in manners and behaviour.
1600-1000 BC: The Tanagoro are pushed further west by the arrive of a new race to the eastern tip of the Skothar continent: they are slowly attacked, infested and replaced by colonies of Hivebroods. When the Tanagoro finally understand what is happening, they begin a continual guerrilla against them.
933 BC: A Tanagoro sorcerer rises to prominence in the region surrounding the small town of Sulu by killing a roc that was infesting the village. His name is Lobu.
931 BC: Lobu leaves Sulu, where he has become Tribe-Chief, to search for the fabulous city of Iknaji, mentioned in the Tanagoro legends as the depositary of powerful magics. Sulu has the ambition of stopping the decline of his land, and reunite the Tanagoro in a strong kingdom.
923 BC: Sulu returns to his village. He appears to be paradoxically younger than when he left, although nearly ten years before. But Sulu no longer exists, burnt down in a raid by a nearby village.
922-911 BC: A great wizard that calls himself the Black Sorcerer of Durhan raises a great army and unites Tanagoro from the east coast of the Wide Bay to the western borders of the Hivebrood colonies. He proclaims himself Emperor of Tanagor after 11 years of bloody fights.
854 BC: The Black Sorcerer of Durhan is killed by a Jennite adventurer named Eet-an. The young adventurer is not at all interested in ruling- he did so because he was well payed by a group of Tanagor that couldn't bear anymore the dictatorship of the Black Sorcerer. Unfortunately, although his ruling was harsh, it was the only thing to keep the peace in a devastated land. Now, the situation reverts back to before 1'822, with wars worse than ever, because more civilised and magic studying warlike Tanagors can now fight on a bigger scale with better weapons. The Tanagor are living now mostly in the forested region that surrounds the eastern part of the Tangor Bay; they have mostly abandoned their ancestral areas at the easternmost tip of the Tangor Chain, slowly migrating westwards in the continent; they have been followed by the Hivebrood colonies, who need the humans for their broodlings.
848 BC: Eet-an, now known as the Steel Demon, is a successful leader of a Tanagor raiding band. He has managed to build a stronghold called Hell's Kitchen, and now his raiding actions are growing to a bigger scale...
841 BC: ...so finally he crowns himself King of Ubu. His kingdom occupies just a small portion of the Tanagor Empire, but is nevertheless a solid institution in the sea of chaos that the Tanagor lands are now. The name Tangor is now being used by the black men of the area, the central "a" dropped for obvious phonetic reasons.
821 BC: The Steel Demon leaves his kingdom during a night with no moon. A voice from the statue of the Immortal Xenon speaks to the crowd saying that the Steel Demon is now one of the Gods, and that the new ruler of the city will come from east 77 days after this. He will bear a recognisable sign of his royal status. 77 days later, an iron golem, apparently intelligent, enters the city and claims the throne. He assumes the name of Hawa Dulu, and proclaims to be King of Tangor. He then begin heavy military actions in the hope of conquering all the Tangor lands for himself and builds great temples to the Steel Demon in every city of the region.
803 BC: While the remnants of the Kingdom of Ubu crumble to dust, in the capital city of Hell's Kitchen, Hawa Dulu is killed by the statue of the Immortal Xenon, animated by a divine power. The statue proclaims the Steel Demon to be dead, and that it is no longer a God. It also says that all traces of the divinity that led to the destruction of Ubu, giving the power to an incapable golem like Hawa Dulu, must be removed from Tangor.
730-800 BC: The Tangors bordering the Hivebrood colonies manage to open diplomatic relations with the insectoid humanoids. Raiding and guerrilla begin to stop, and the two races start to collaborate in the face of the menace coming from the north: a massive migration of Dark Goblins led by a charismatic chief named Ghulan.
696 BC: The Hivebroods and Tangors of the eastern borders repel the goblins. The Dark Goblins settle in the forested regions just at the north of them; Ghulan still leads them to occasional raids in the following years.
665-61 BC: A great campaign conducted by the Hivebrood colony of Lleweryn and the Tangors of the city of Yara defeats the Dark Goblins, whose king Ghulan had died some years before. The campaign is a total carnage: the surviving goblins and hobgoblins are taken as slaves by the two groups, and the Tangor give all their slaves to the Hivebroods in sign of friendship. The insectoids of Lleweryn have now the victims to use for their broodlings; they use their slaves for breeding, and begin to sell goblinoid slaves to the eastern colonies, thus rising to prominence in the area.
700-400 BC: The Tangors create several small tribal kingdoms, centred around small cities ruled by a great chief. The only exception are the Tangor of Yara, that profit by the trade with the Hivebroods; many are employed also as mercenaries by the Hivebroods, especially by the Controllers (ruling hivebroods) of the colony of Lleweryn, who control the monopoly of goblinoid slaves.
463 BC: The Hivebroods are united by the Controllers of Lleweryn in a Great Colony.
400-200 BC: During these two centuries, a dozen of major Tangor kingdoms are formed.
167-153 BC: Four Tangor kingdoms are slowly united by Makala, a woman sorceress and brilliant tactician, into the Empire of Tangor.
AC 0 : At the time of Zendrolion's crowning in Thyatis, there are only five kingdoms in Tangor: the Tangor Empire, the Kingdom of Ubu, the Kingdom of Mawuru, the Principality of Zambul and the Republic of Durhan.
AC 193-194: The Republic of Durhan is conquered by Zambul.
AC 219-243: The Tangor Empire conquests the kingdoms of Ubu and Mawuru; many Mawurans leave westward, and build the independent cities of Akuba and Batu-Fomba. The only other Tangor kingdom to remain independent from the Empire is the mountain Principate of Zambul.
AC 335: To resist Tangor's aggressive attitude, several Tarystian cities organise a League led by Minaea. The first Tangor War is won by the Tarystians at the Battle of Traun (336 AC).
AC 439-446: Second Tangor War. Akuba is conquered by the Tangor Empire.
AC 633-42: Great slave revolt in the Hivebrood kingdom. It takes nearly ten years for the insectoid to take again control of the goblins, many of whom manage to flee southwards in the mountains. This leads to increasing tensions with Zambul, who accuse them of raids in the black-skinned humans' lands against their century-long treaties.
AC 645-67: Tangor and Lleweryn conquest Zambul after a long war; especially bloody is the battle against the city of Durhan, the last one to fall. Empress Zaila the Ruthless of Tangor donates all the prisoners of Durhanian language as slaves to the Hivebroods in change of the complete sovereignty over Zambul (663). Disgusted by the political move of the Empress, several nobles and cities revolt, but the Empress crush them (667).
AC 671-674: Empress Zaila is poisoned by her fourth husband, who seizes the throne of Tangor and leads his people to the rescue of the Tangor slaves. The Hivebroods, irritated by the continual problems they face in the area, leave the region heading eastward in the hope of finding other less proud populations to colonise. They kill all the Tangor slaves they can find, and take with them only the few necessary for their broodlings. They pass through the kingdom of Rathasia, weakening it greatly. The new Emperor, Vamoro III, is thus able to conquer the kingdom.
AC 681: The Hivebroods conquer the Duchy of Cymru, and stop there, using the human population as broodlings.
AC 701: Emperor Swahimi of Tangor sets a referendum in the provinces of Durhan and Zambul, allowing the population to choose whether becoming independent or remain in the Empire. Durhan chooses independence, Zambul remains in the Empire.
AC 742: Several Dark Goblin tribes of the mountains are conquered and united by a weird race of female humanoids that call themselves Demonettes. The new kingdom is called Lamu.
AC 794: The Demonettes ally themselves with the governor of Ekleke, and begin to prepare the city to regain its independence.
AC 814-16: Third Tangor war. Tangor loses Akuba, but the city doesn't enter the Minaean League. Moreover, the Mawuran city of Ekleke manages to gain independence. Black-men from Batu-Fomba organise a political coup to bring the city in the Confederation, but it is foiled by a young adventurer named Dabo. He is crowned King of the city.
AC 823: Demonettes begin to infiltrate the human population of Ekleke.
AC 964: Batu Fomba is raided by people from Akuba.
AC 967-68: Batu Fomba and the Tangor Empire's city of Ungkha ally themselves against Akuba. The city is conquered and split in two parts: one controlled by the Governor of Ungkha and the other by the Ruling Council of Batu Fomba.
AC 981: Akuba regains its independence with the military strength, led by the politician Trabul. A democratic government is elected.
AC 1000: Gazetteer time. All information contained in this Gazetteer are written for this time.