Saman (880-900 ST)
While the new Shah, the son of Carmandar, openly professed the supremacy of the light, few among the Carmanians were so outspoken. Those Sirdars who had kept their positions through Asacar, Carmandar and Ammas had sworn allegiance to light and darkness both, and saw no need to revoke either to follow the whim of their lord. He for his part saw that the old disputes were largely irrelevant, now Dara Happa had fallen before another foe. The Carmanians felt that this triumph justified their balanced, ambivalent position, which gave them the strength of Darkness and the prosperity of Light.
Shah Saman is the great religious reformer. He listens to the prophet *A, who resolves the conundrum that has led to such great strife and conflict.
Miscellaneous Religious Inscriptions
"The Wise Lord is a great god, the greatest of the gods, he made this earth and yonder sky, he created man and well-being for man, he created Saman and bestowed the Kingship on him, he gave him the good land possessed of good horses and good men, he gave him the great kingdom with mountains and flat land, this side of the sea and the other side of the sea, this side of the desert and the other side of the desert, in fact this great earth far and wide; divine blessing in life and in death, many children and long life will be upon those who worship him; by the favour of the Wise Lord may their farmsteads, their livestock, and their labourers be assured to them; may the Wise Lord protect the land from invaders, famine, and the Lie."
Sacrifices to the Wise Lord are carried out on mountain tops, which are sacred to him. The King performs the sacrificial act, but a Magus is needed to chant the sacred words that attract the attention of the Wise Lord. Other sacrifices take place on "Fire Altars": some Dara Happan (open square altars with fires burning in dips on the top), others Spolite (ovens and furnaces wrought of clay, stone or brass). Chief form of temple: raised platforms, "sacred terraces". Also (later) Dara Happan style towers. Purity: fire and water cannot be defiled. Forbidden to wash in rivers. The dead are not to be burned (pollution), but exposed for devouring by dogs (bad) and birds (good).
Insert a version of the caste-joke "Village of Nobles" story, here.
Carmanians lose to War Dragons??
Saman is father of Samandar and Survilstar.
Samandar (901-912 ST)
Note: we are telling two stories in tandem here. The Shah is fighting the EWF and allying with Karvanyar to throw the Golden Dragon out of Dara Happa; his half-brother Survilstar ("Sir Wilistor" of the earliest texts) is going among the barbarians to slay dragons in the wilds of Brolia.
Survilstar the Dragonslayer
902 - Samandar's half-brother Survilstar discovers the Carmanian Dragonslaying with aid of refugee Brolian anti-EWF fanatics. First time is like Siegfried and Fafnir: the old pit trick against one of the crawling Behemoth dragons (combines darkness/concealment with the bright death wielded by Our Hero). Survilstar must do this to prove himself to the rebels.
905 - "Three Dragons Fall," in Talastar. More pyrotechnics than last time: possibly requires the help of local Orlanthi. After this victory, Survilstar carves out his own land there.
909 - Carmanians advance through Darjiin v.EWF. Beat dragon army at Ulifilas. Most of Darjiin revolts to join Carmanians, who do not aid them against EWF reprisals this year.
910 - Dara Happan Revolt under Karvanyar against the EWF. Carmanians and Yuthuppans fight to victory in the "Storm of Falling Dragons" battle NB: "Storm" could mean this is aided by Orlanthi from Talastar: thunderclouds and lightning give the Carmanian magi their sources of manipulatable darkness and light? This aspect would of course be ignored in the Raibanth Book! EWF Zebras??
913 - Raibanth liberated. Death (after battle? inside Dragon?) of Shah Samandar.
Nadar the Avenger (913-955 ST)
913: Carmanians and Dara Happans part company.
First, Shah Nadar reminded Karvanyar of his sworn promise to give equal aid to that he had received from his father if ever a rightful Shah of the Carmanians should stand in need of help to reclaim his homeland. The young Emperor agreed that these had been his words. Then Shah Nadar told him of the Anabasis of Syranthir, of how the founder of Carmania had been driven out from his homeland and forced into distant exile; he appealed for the aid of the Dara Happans in punishing this usurpation, this crime of two centuries before.
Karvanyar protested: this was not what he had meant. But it was what he had sworn to do, and he could scarcely break his given word. Placed in an impossible position by his rash promise, he made a new and binding oath that for so long as he reigned there should be a firm peace and alliance between Carmania and Dara Happa.
(This is the "carmanian Peace," which lasts until superceded by the "Three Brothers' Division," which in turn lasts until the defeat of the EWF. Quite a good time to live in north Peloria).
The Shah leads a crusade through Syanor against the God Learner remnants of Loskalm, now the Jrusteli are being chucked out. His march ought to "set to rights" any historical crimes inserted into the Anabasis. The sack of Eastpoint is followed by a disillusioning parley with the leading Loskalmi rebels. The Carmanians are now too "foreign" to return to their homeland. Sniff. This leads to a deliberate policy of turning their backs on farther Fronela.
The Carmanian Peace
Carmanians conquer all of Darjiin. DH won't mind: Darjiin's an old foe, and haven't been beaten so badly for generations! Allies (nobles from DH?) installed as rulers: the land is not long occupied by Carmanians (perhaps this was a Dara Happan stipulation). Links with Darjiin become closer over the next century, until "We Still Hate" in the 1050's is enough to break the Peace.
c.945 - the new Dara Happan Emperor, Sareresh son of Karvanyar, marries Nadar's only daughter. She courts him, which the DHs find a bit off: she is doing it as a "second founding" heroquest. Song of Solomon overtones from the Dara Happan side: "black but comely" etc. She turns out to be the heiress to Carmania when her brothers predecease her; possibly she knew it all along. (Now [1620], Yolanela intends to emulate this, hence the restrictions placed on her by the Red Emperor??)
955 - Carmanians Kill Dragons (Old Jillaro). Saird freed.
