The Great Landing was a historical event that took place in the first year of the Raveenen Common Calender. The event involved the landing of eight hundred galleys of the Avokashi Imperium onto the shores of the continent, intending on settling the new land. The event was believed to have been the start of human colonisation of Raveenen, so that it is used as the epoch of the calender. In spite of this, the Imperium had already established several settlements on the continent beforehand. The Great Landing heralded a great change in the balance of power on the continent in the centuries to follow, with the hegemony of the various elven kingdoms been usurped by the new human invaders of the Imperium. The event is fondly recalled by the humans who reside on the continent, but is rembered bitterly by all elves.
History[]
Background[]
The Avokashi Imperium had risen from a humble farming community to become the most expansive empire the world had ever known. The emperors and empresses of the Imperium had gained mastery over the continet of Far Dorsendi, with their realm stretching from the windswept plains of Askalar in the north to the edges of the volcanic Sulphur Stretches in the south. The empire had a population of hundreds of millions, with one million fighting in the Imperial Legions. By the time of the first century before the Great Landing, most of the power of the realm had come under the control of the High Senate, due to numerous civil wars for control of the Imperial throne.
The Avokashi were a curious race of men who enjoyed and entertained knowledge. With their powers curbed for the protection of the Imperium, the monarchs of these lands took to becoming patrons of artists, alchemists, mages and explorers. An era of exploration began in the -120s G.L, with the Empress Cyldea IV sponsering expeditions into the frozen seas of the north. Maps were produced for the first time of the continent, and new lands, which made the upper classes of the Avokashi long to uncover more of the world. The icy island of Ruisa was discovered and colonised in the -90s GL, where exotic animals such as the pale bear and leviathans being discovered by fishermen.
The Avokashi Imperium was the greatest of the human nations in the world prior to the Great Landing. The Imperium had begun as a simple farming community to controlling the entire continent of Rydsia by the year -48 GL. The warrior emperours of the Cariuanus Dynasty had come to bring in strict miltary protocal and superior armies, The continent of Rydsia had been fully unified by the Avokashi Imperium by the year -49 GL which was at the time under the rule of the warrior emperour, Mithos Cariuanus. From the northern provinces of Askalar to the southern tip of the Lands of Flames, the Emperour held sway from his capital of Sel Avokashi on the eastern coast of North Rydsia. The emperours from Mithos would hold direct rule over the Imperium, which grew foodstuffs now considered exotic to Raveenen tastes. They grew tomatos, potatoes, tobacco and more, and raised animals such as turkeys for meat.
The expedition left the capital of Sel Avokash on the second day of Tyrhon in -29. They first sailed south for nearly three hundred leagues until they arrived off the coast of the Frudant, and then began sailing east across the Great Sea. The expedition first entered a storm on the twenty-third of Tyrhon. The ships sailed for two months in unpredictable weather, until they landed on an island on Paynaal 27. This island they named Isla Caisus, and after resupplying sailed further east. They landed on the coast of southern Davoria in Aburnan 6, on a place called Emperor's Strand. Filios spent three months surveying the land, and made a map of the region. He was convinced he had landed in Turani, and so began sailing home. After a delayed three months by severe storms, the fleet arrived back in Sel Avokash on the night of the 33rd of Ruvenmar -28. The fleet was welcomed with great celebrations, and Filios was made a noble and given lands in the west.
In -21 GL, Caius decided to send Filios again to 'Turani'. This time he was to establish a base there, and claim the region for the Imperium. This time he was given eleven galleys, six filled with soldiers and five with settlers. They left the port of Elra Dune on 21 of Cordux. Ducios Filios decided to sail north this time, for only a hundred leagues, and then sailed east. They landed on the tundra-filled island of Ruisa on the 33rd of Cordux, where they saw strange 'fish with horns from thier mouths '. The fleet left the island on the 35th day of Cordux, sailing on the fringes of the Great Sea and the Northern Expanses. They experianced very few and mild storms, but the fleet lost two of its troop carriers and one of the civilian gallies. After three and half months, the fleet landed in modern Camlia in 37th of Navac -21. They founded the town of Niew Rucanto, and began building it from wood from the local forests. The town did not last long however, as the Ul-Ondanes Elves controlled the region at this time. They had a strong hatred of man, so burned the town and slaughtered the people on the night of Mardyll 1st. Filios was among the victims. Only one ship made it back to the Imperium to tell the tale to the Emperor.
The continent was soon forgotten as a hostile place by the Imperium. The Emperor Caius II died in -20 GL, and for ten years three different emperors were elected and died. These emperors (Caius III, Lucius IV, and Roimol I) were less concerned by the lack of trade with Turani. They instead began a more massive scale production of sugar in the Frudant, with the mass enslavement of thier enemies in the North. However, after the death of Roimol in -10 GL, his successor was elected to be Lucius V. Lucius was a man who had many pleasures. He partied often, and he raised taxes to build marvelous buildings at the price of the common man. By the year -1 GL, he was hated throughout his empire. There was a group of generals who were plotting against him, often referred to as the Renegade Generals. Lucius was not stupid, so he decided the people needed a distraction from him. He thought of a brilliant scheme; to invade the entire continent of Turani.
The Great Landing[]
The Great Landing was the most ambitious military operation ever undertaken in the history of Empia. Emperor Lucius claimed this is what his higher taxes had been put to achieving. Lucius had actually first thought of such an invasion at the start of his reign. Entire forests had been cut down during his reign, to build his Grand Navy. By the year of the Great Landing, this navy had gone from a fleet of one hundred and three ships, to nearly ten thousand. Not all these ships were for the use of sending troops. Nearly half of these were dedicated to the use of carrying settlers and plants across the Great Sea. The emperor also was to give nearly two hundred dragons, to be used for the invasion. These dragons had been the secret to the Imperium's success, even despite their slow reproductive cycle. They were to be flown there by 'island-hopping' across the Great Sea. Lucius had also increased the Army from 20,000 to 75,000, which were 40,000 to guard the Imperium and the rest to invade the east. To go with these were the so-called Renegade Generals. Lucius decided he was to lead the invasion himself, and left the Imperium Council to rule in his absence.
The fleet of ten thousand gallies and cogs left the city of Sel Avokash on Tyrhon 1st 1 GL. Admiral Oli Mandas led the Southron Fleet, which was to use Filios' original first route across the Great Sea. The Southron Fleet had the Emperor Lucius V and some 19,000 men. They sailed however for 221 leagues to the south, and then sailed north-east. The fleet took four months to cross the Great Sea, stopping on a number of islands off the continent. The fleet has lost ninety-five galleys to the sea, and Admiral Mandras had died of a new disease that was to become known as the Eastern Pox to the Avokashi. Mandras was replaced by Rear Admiral Tyus Kluis, who led the Southron Fleet the rest of the way. By the month of Salharn, the Southron Fleet had entered the Gulf of Tears and landed on the northern coast of the Davorian Peninsula on Salharn 7th 1 GL. They landed on a sandy beach now called the Forlorn Sands. This is tradtionally the event called the Great Landing.
The Northern Fleet was a seperate invasion force under the command of the loyal Grand Admiral, Taius Tylos, who had served the Imperium for twenty-seven years in the navy. He was trusted with most of the Renegade Generals, who included names like General Dacius Jarnden, who had aided the conquest of the Avokashi mainland. The fleet sailed north after leaving Sel Avokash on the 3rd of Tyrhon 1 GL, and sailed north to Ruisa whcih the Fleet arrived at on the 31st of Tyrhon. Instead of immediatly sailing east, the Fleet established a new port on Ruisa known as Mor Dall. The Fleet stayed untill the summer, when the Northern Wastes were shortened back by melting. Tylos made east on 13th of Navac, under good weather. They saw land on the 7th of Salharn, which turned out to be the northern coast of Camelia. They landed two days later, in Soina Inlet. Here, Tylos set up a wooden fort where he ran an extreme regime.
Aftermath[]
The immediate aftermath of the Great Landing was the establishment of numerous Imperium towns across northern Davoria. The region was named Luciuster, after the Emperor. Lucius V began the Great Wars of Conquest soon after the arrival of the Sky Legion. He began a rapid war against the various high elven petty kingdoms of the region, in the Conquest of Davoria.