ANATIAN EMPIRE
Before the rise of
Quendor, the empire that once dominated both the
Southlands and
Antharia is known by scholars as the Anatian Empire, a
power whose existence was once doubted.
Mizniaport was a thriving and
important trade center at the heart of this empire, alongside the
cities of
Gurth and
Mithicus. This world-power, with the
Eastern Empire
and the
Borphee Hegemony, once controlled the bulk of the known world
until its mysterious demise in 800 BE. There were political and
commercial ties in those days between the Eastern Empire and the
western lands.
Curiously, the people of the Anatian Empire
shared the same sort of obsessive interest in tunneling and underground
living that so possessed the world from the time of
Duncanthrax (666
GUE) and on. At least some large portion of the coastal caverns near
Egreth, such as
the
Griffspotter Caverns, were excavated by this nation (the
Anatian Inscription still remains within one of these underground
passages). In fact, this mania for caverning seemed to take on an
urgent religious aspect, the underground tunnels seen as a way for
these people to attain communion with their gods. Some believe that
they had attempted to reach the
Great Brogmoid who holds up the
world on its shoulders.
Although
the Eastern Empire met its end about 1000 BE, it is estimated that
around 800 BE, that a great disaster fell upon the Anatian Empire,
which most anthropologists today term as a “goof-up of the first
order.” Some speculate it was the wrath of the
pseudo-gods in
retribution at the intrusions into their domains. But the one in which
almost all historians unanimously agree upon had to do with this Empire
being the crown of the Mithican tribes.
Since the Mithican
tongue had been formed from the elements of magical incantations, the
mysterious disappearance was most likely the accidental side effect
invoking some potentially dangerous spell, namely one of
transformation. All in one sudden stroke, every member of the ruling
family, and large segments of the population as a whole, were
transformed without warning into
platypi. With the rulers of the
kingdom stuck in Mithicus and Antharia in the feeble isolation of
newly-born platypi, all form of order and civilization in the lands in
between came to a sudden halt. In a matter of minutes, the empire
collapsed, only to survive in distant and obscure legends.
Whatever
the reason for the fall of the Mithicans or this Anatian Empire, they
were gone, but their cities lived on. Through the chaos and confusion
the small remnant of humans which survived the disaster multiplied and
grew into the modern Southland cities, including
Miznia, Gurth, and
Mithicus; which shortly after 400 BE would be resettled by the
Borpheans.
Although there are few people today who would argue
with the idea that some now-lost civilization dominated the Southlands
of Quendor, we must admit that not everybody would agree with the
problematic Platypus Scenario. Lacking any evidence in favor of some
magical spell that turned an entire ruling family into a flock of
platypus overnight, most people prefer to dismiss the
Misty Island and
Mithicus Mountains settlements as hopelessly confused enigmas that will
never be explained, even by blaming the entire affair on the
Implementors. (
Zorbius Blattus, for instance, in his
900 Questions on
Just About Everything, saw fit to ask: “How exactly could a platypus
live in a castle? Have you ever actually looked at a platypus?”)
ANTHARIA AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE ANATIAN EMPIREWhat
exactly happened on the isolated island continent after the collapse of
the mysterious and controversial platypus kingdom is totally shrouded
in mystery.
Muckrum’s 7th century poetic verses that describe several
centuries of violent debauchery and rampant prostitution certainly make
entertaining reading, but it does seem unlikely that an entire nation
of thousands could withstand three hundred years of a drunken stupor
and live to tell the tale. In any case, it seems clear that a long
reign of darkness descended upon Antharia.
The last
legitimate Anatian governor of the coastal cities had died by the year
of
Zylon's ascension to the throne of Quendor in the west (55 GUE), and
after that, no coherent government was to emerge for quite some time.
With the halting of coin production from the platypus mints, the island
quickly reverted to the primitive stages of a
granola economy, and
promptly lost all contact with the thriving nations of the Westlands.
Although the evidence is hazy, it seems that the survivors of the
Platypus Transformation and their immediate descendants were on the
verge of uniting under a noble family from
Marba and perhaps
resurrecting the ancient glories of the Anatian Kingdom.
In
any case, the potential Antharian rebirth was cut short by the sudden
arrival of a second disaster, this time one from the east. As we have
seen, the reason behind the sudden collapse of the Eastern Empire will
never be entirely clear, but the hordes and hordes of
Fenshire refugees
turned invaders that sailed across the
Great Sea were apparently too
much for the fragile Antharia, and all signs of civilized life stop for
several centuries.
| SOURCE(S): A History of Quendor |