Minos
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Minos (Μίνως) is a Terran country bordering Sargon and the mountain range of Kjerag. It is a confederacy of three major city-states practicing a classical democracy overseen by religious priesthoods. Minos is famous for being a pacifist patron of arts, its warrior culture that gives birth to high-quality weapons and soldiers, and the popular cult of hero veneration centering the Twelve Heroes of Mount Hymnoi.
As one of the surviving classical civilizations of Terra, the Minoan civilization was said to be traced back to the mythical era when a legendary heroine led several homeless refugees to build a homeland free of strife which laid the foundation of the Minoan hero cult. For the next few centuries, Minos remained undisturbed from the outside world until the tenth century when imperial Sargon forcefully annexed the city-states and brought it under its colonization lasting for more than a century. The Sargonian imperial force was eventually driven out of Minos under the leadership of the Twelve Heroes, and Minos has since been undergoing an era of recovery while remaining alert over Sargon's return, leading to various skirmishes between the two nations in the present days.
The Minoan language is identical to the Greek language, notably Ancient Greek, in our world. However, both have distinct grammars and accents, even though both are mutually intelligible enough with each other.
History
Founding myth
The Minoan founding history began from an epic, Tales of Ceresia, and the origin of Athenius the capital. According to the epic, the heroine of the story, Ceresia, led a few homeless refugees wandering around the mountain range of Minos to search for a paradise without bloodshed. Ceresia met countless hardships throughout her journey from wars to plagues, and she wore off more than thirty shoes as she traveled along the rugged road. Ceresia eventually found a virgin land among the valleys, and she encouraged her followers to settle there and build a peaceful homeland which later became present-day Athenius.[1]
The Minoans explored the mountains to set up new cities as Athenius expanded and took in new citizens. In the process, those pioneers who braved the mountains, be it leaders or commoners, were given the title of hero, one who dared to face difficulties regardless of their personal flaws. Through their admiration, the Minoans set up the earliest form of hero cult to commemorate their achievements through hymns, epics, and stage plays.[1]
Classical era
Throughout the classical era, Minos prospered in terms of both culture and politics. There were already more than ten Minoan city-states dotting the mountain foots, and each city-state sought to unify others under one leadership. Over the course of history, these handful of city-states were eventually unified into three major city-state alliances: Athenius the capital, Corinia the trading hub, and Lachedamon the military outpost. In the meantime, the Minoan hero cult evolved to become a popular religion in which they worshiped these heroes as legendary mortal men who once left their legacies on Minoan soil.[2]
Following several conflicts, the three city-states agreed to be unified under a confederacy. While occasionally, these city-states made temporary alliances, betrayal, or even massive warfare, they did not seek to fully annihilate one another. The constant warfares among the city-states also gave birth to Minoans' sports culture as a peaceful diplomatic means, and these sports became crucial elements in modern Minoan sports games.[2]
Sargonian invasion
Entering the Crystallization Age, Minos' peace was quickly shattered by neighboring Sargon. Ever since Sargonian envoys and travelers uncovered the Minoan fertile valley and rich city-states, the Lords Ameer at the borders plotted to bring Minos under their rule. In the year 915, several Lords Ameer were given the privilege to discuss this matter in the capital of Shar-Agade to the ruling Shahanshah, Pashtu the famous "White-Maned King," the longest reigning Shah of Sargon who had reached an old age. Deeming that it might become his last achievement, Shahanshah Pashtu reluctantly allowed the Ameers' military campaign upon Minos out of consideration to distract the royal court from internal power struggles.[3]
By the early spring of 917, a huge assembly of Sargonian imperial troops was ready to wade across the bordering River Agnes and march towards Minos. Even though the Minoan city-states were already prepared to face the invaders after receiving reports, they were overwhelmed by the numbers of armies Sargon dispatched. Nevertheless, the Minoans utilized their complex topography to conduct siege battles and guerrilla warfare against the Sargonians. Furthermore, Minos hired mercenaries from Victoria and Gaul to form a "volunteer frontline" against Sargon's invasion despite both nations never formally accepting Minos' requests for military aid. In the early stage of the battle, the Sargonians suffered severe casualties before reaching the Agamem Pass, but with sufficient manpower that could exhaust the Minoan army and quick adaptation of the topography, the Sargonians finally penetrated the garrisons of the pass, marched across the Aegean Plain to corner the retreating Mioan, and finally occupied both Athenius and Corinia. By the winter of 917, Lachedamon finally surrendered after a long tug of war to stop further massacres upon civilians.[3]
Despite the invasion ending in Sargonian victory, it paid a very high cost. The campaign was initially planned to be accomplished before autumn, but the siege battle of Agamem had resulted in a large number of casualties due to early misjudgement, and by the end of the war in the winter, five or six-tenth of the Sargonian soldiers were killed in action. Furthermore, a week before Lachedamon's surrender, Shahanshah Pashtu passed away due to old age, leaving his messy legacy to his successor Shahsullam. Most importantly, those Minoans who refused to surrender retreated back to the Minoan mountains for hiding, waiting for the right opportunity to reclaim their homeland.[3]
Wilayah of Minos
In the following year after the ascension of Shahanshah Shahsullam, Minos became a province of Sargon, and Shahsullam promoted his sister, Princess Marah, as the first Padishah of Minos. To the Sargonians, Marah's rule brought prosperity to both Sargon and the province of Minos. Starting from 920, Padishah Marah willingly spent the royal treasury and hired talented architects from Shar-Agade to migrate the three Minoan city-states onto large-sized mobile platforms while Sargon only possessed only less than ten smaller nomadic cities. Sargon greatly prospered economically as it extracted resources from Minos and imported back to the suzerain as tributaries. As a fervent lover of Minoan culture, Marah encouraged many Sargonians to settle in Minos, and she often participated in various Minoan ceremonies and festivals to strengthen her image. By using Minos as an outpost, Marah sought to bring the Sargon Empire back to its zenith and become a major superpower in the Terran heartland.[4]
Marah's rule in Minos, however, was perceived as a dark age to many Minoans. While she painted herself positively in public image, she imposed a totalitarian rule upon Minos and converted it into a colony of Sargon. Under her rule, many Minoans were forcefully relocated to the three city-states from their original settlements. She imposed forced cultural assimilation into Sargon upon the Minoans through various prohibitions of various customs like sports games and stage plays and censorship upon literate works as she believed some of them could encourage local resistance against Sargon. Many temples dedicated to the Minoan hero cult were forcefully shut down, leaving only three temples in the respective city-state remaining in operation. Those who strongly opposed her would be punished through either slavery back in Sargon or execution. Furthermore, she promoted a "Sargon-ized" Minoan culture as propaganda to displace authentic customs. Many Lords Ameer conducted raids upon Minoan settlements, and Marah usually turned a blind eye upon their actions.[4]
In 950, Marah was summoned back to Shar-Agade following the ascension of a new Shahanshah and never returned. Many Minoans had long been assimilated into mainstream Sargonian culture since her departure as they either recognized themselves as Sargonians or accepted a distorted version of Minoan culture. Even the succeeding Padishah of Minos were recognized as legitimate successors of the Shah's throne. As a consequence of her iron-fist rule and her brutal cultural purges, Minoan artworks, festivals, and even language were on the brink of extinction, and many precious Minoan arts were either destroyed or being sold to foreign countries as museum treasures, leaving many irreversible damages upon them.[4]
Reclamation war
In the year 1038, the ruling Shahanshah, the grandson of Shahsullam, was assassinated by his queen, and Sargon was once again thrown into political instability. As a contestant for the Sargonian throne, the Padishah of Minos quickly put down his affairs in Minos and returned back to Sargon. Given the opportunity, the Minoan restoration movement was immediately revived. In 1039, several guerilla forces attempted to assassinate Sargonian envoys but much in vain. Nevertheless, the news quickly spread among the Minoans which encouraged them to start a war of independence against their colonial overlords amidst the absence of the Padishah.[5]
Throughout the war, the Minoan resistance force was led by twelve prominent leaders, notably Aeschylus the priest, Palladius the bloodheir of the Lachedamonian king, and Prometheus the mason. These twelve leaders would later be bestowed in the hero cult as the legendary "Twelve Heroes of Hymnoi." Upon learning about the rise of the Twelve Heroes, the Padishah of Minos desperately dispatched an army to recapture Minos and suppress the rebellion, but he could not receive additional military support due to his rivalry against other competing lords in the palace, forcing him to lead the army on his own. By 1041, Corinia became the first liberated zone by the Twelve Heroes, and the Minoan resistance force continued to gain their victory throughout the war, aiming to liberate the remaining two city-states from Sargon.[5]
The "Temple Reclamation Battle" was the turning point of the Minoan war for independence. During the battle, the Minoans succeeded in recapturing the Hall of Heroes in Athenius, and the Padishah of Minos was killed in the battle. Subsequently, the Minoans quickly retook other temples that were forcefully shut down by the Sargonian lords, and Minos was de facto independent by the end of the battle. A year later in 1042, the new Shahanshah immediately halt the military campaign and redrew the remaining troops from Minos as Sargon no longer had the resource to recapture Minos due to internal strifes among the lords, and this formally declared the end of 125- years-old Sargonian colonization of Minos.[5]
Restoration era
After the liberation war, the Twelve Heroes first led the Minoans to restore their culture by rebuilding temples and relearning forgotten customs. The Minoan language was revived through the priesthood, and the language was then redeveloped to fit the modern era. Sports games and stage plays once again flourished after being outlawed for more than a century. The contributions of the Twelve Heroes further exalted them by the populace to become the greatest pantheon of gods Minos had ever met.[5] Although the Twelve Heroes eventually passed away and were buried in Mount Hymnoi, their legacies still live on as they encourage the Minoans to fully restore their lost culture.
Even though Minos is no longer a colony, Sargon continues to refuse recognition of its independence. Consequently, skirmishes between Sargon and Minos continue in the present days as Sagon constantly raids defenseless villages at the border. In turn, the guerilla forces remain active in Minos by leading the villagers repealing the invaders.[6]
Notable people
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- Aeschylus: One of the leading Twelve Heroes of Hymnoi who was originally a priest who initiated the failed assassination onto Sargonian envoys in 1039.
- Palladius: One of the leading Twelve Heroes of Hymnoi, claiming to be the bloodheir of the last king of Lachedamon.
- Prometheus: One of the leading Twelve Heroes of Hymnoi who is an ordinary mason.
Enemies
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Places
Settlements
- Akroti: A village that borders Sargon. It was the place where an injured Heavyrain was rescued by Pallas.[7]
References
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