To understand the history of Salenzis, we must first look west, across the Vast Ocean, to the Eastern Continent. Yes, we're going west to reach the east. Blame spheres. This is important, because the land known in the Third Age as Ticondera was once part of the Eastern Continent - attached to what is now the Jami Province of the Talurmen Empire. The people who lived there were Jamic, just as their cousins who remain in their eponymous province today. The biggest question about the Ticonderan Transit is how - how did an entire country move across the largest ocean on the planet? Magic, you say? Of course it was magic. That much need not be stated. The real how - how could anyone gather enough power to move an entire country across the largest ocean on the planet - leads into the what and who. The what is, by all accounts, the Onyx Dragon, an immensely powerful being - reportedly reptilian in appearance and made of dark stone - who deigned to act and move the country. That there are no records of a reprisal against him by the mana spirits for what must have been a gargantuan expenditure of mana speaks to either his power, his subtlety - or simply a lack of records. The Onyxians would claim both of the former, but we'll get to them later. The who could either also be the Onyx Dragon, or, more interestingly, a tribe of Jamics who were fleeing their conquerors. This tribe entered a cave system in the low mountains of the east of the country to hide. It is in this cave that it is written they found the Onyx Dragon. Seeing him for the powerful being he was, they begged him to deliver them from their conquerers. So, he delivered the entire country. Across the Vast Ocean. And then slammed it into Salenzis, creating the tall, proud Ticonderan Mountains we see today. Surprisingly, this upheaval wasn't completely destructive - two major city-states remained mostly in-tact, along with various minor ones, though all of the coastal city-states were, of course, absolutely obliterated. These two major city-states are known to us today as Anshacras and Jadant. This, by the way, makes Anshacras the oldest surviving city on Salenzis, a fact its people - largely still of Jamic descent, though Salenzian in culture and speech - are quite proud of.

Now, as the Jamics of Ancient Ticondera set about rebuilding, they found themselves faced with contact from the east - and here, dating to c. 0:250, is where we find the first surviving mentions of Salenzian people. Of course, the Jamics didn't call us that - 'barbarians' sufficed - but nonetheless, contact was made. At first it was tentative and vaguely peaceful. The Salenzians of the day had none of the notions of civilization we have now - all of it, we learned from the Jamics. And the Prophans learned from us - but don't tell them that, they'll get sad and angry. However, despite our vague knowledge of some small Igionese states along the coast, the Prophans seemed to have been better at it than us. By the middle of the First Age, their city-states were in full swing, while we were only warring against the Jamics - and winning - by the late First Age. We had the numerical advantage - we had more land, more people, more resources... Of course, that all began to end by 2:247, when we have the first records of a Prophan colony on the mainland. Veron I was done uniting Propha and set his eyes on the mainland.

Thus began the Prophan Empire, and the first bits of Salenzian history that we could simply look up in a library, instead of having to dig it up out of the ground. As most things, it was gradual. First Igion, then Ticondera, then Gallar, Jilneas, Antiem, Giel. I'll spare you the details - you can go read those endless tomes on your own time. Mostly a bunch of war, anyway. And for that matter, this lecture is about Salenzis, not the Prophans.

[Professor da Lupuwlenis takes a moment to sip his coffee.]

Now, where was I? Right. The Second Age. The Prophans had a particular fondness for Ticondera, for whatever crazy reason. But, of course, they were still quite elitist and refused to instate their language across the Empire because they didn't want barbarians speaking it. But they still recognized the need for a single language to be spoken across the provinces, to make communication and trade easier. They chose the language spoken in Jadant, their capital in Ticondera, and that language is what we now call Old Salenzian.  Anyway, enough about language. So, after Giel, the Prophans were done conquering for a while, decided to focus on building up what they already had. Thus, the Pax Prophana. Now, previous to the Pax, the conquest had disheartened the Salenzian peoples - our ancestors thought that when two cultures fought, their gods fought as well. So, Salenzian gods came and went as the little pre-Prophan states and tribes fought, but when the Prophans came along, well, their complete victory and domination was such a blow to the Salenzian peoples that they believed the gods dead or lost. Our ancestors were then prepared to receive the domination of the Prophan gods in their lives - but the Ancient Prophans, elitists that they were, refused to have barbarians sullying their temples. So the Salenzian subjects of the Prophan Empire were left godless. Warriors set off on adventures to find the gods - sages probed reason and texts. The gods never were found. During the Pax, Salenzian scholars and poets coalesced this churning brew into something concrete. This is where our modern Tradition comes from - that we Salenzians have no gods, and don't need them - that we need not hope for they or their champions and thus not despair at their inevitable absence, and instead solve our problems ourselves, in accordance with the principles of Collective Self-Reliance. Of course, the Temple of the Sublime Goddess also emerged during the Pax, in 2:1048. While today you may think of these two belief systems as completely seperate, their emergence around the same time led to cross-pollination of beliefs. Go read the Codex Sublimis sometime. You'll find the principles of Collective Self-Reliance in there, even if not under that name. And on the other hand, look at how our Tradition speaks of the sexes - equal, without any higher power to say otherwise. The information we have on the pre-Prophan states tells us they thought differently. So, there's your Sublimist influence in the Tradition. I suppose you could call it two sides of the same coin - we lost our original gods, so on one side we gave up the search and found strength in ourselves, and on the other side, we finally found a new god.

Of course, it's not quite that simple - the Prophans' elitism started to ever so slightly break down during the Pax. We also see Salenzians taking up the Prophan Pantheon during this time, though in nowhere near the numbers of the Tradition or Sublimism. And, of course, there are the Onyxians. But they don't come around until long after the end of the Pax, after the Prophans failed to invade both Xenas and Zarcos. The Procession of the Sleeping Onyx Dragon, as they call themselves, emerged in 2:1331, in southeastern Ticondera. Tablets were discovered hidden in a cave in the Ticonderan Mountains, covered in a Jamic script. These were studied by scholars and identified as the language of that Jamic tribe I mentioned earlier - the one that started this whole mess. They had been worshipping the Onyx Dragon, it seems. But more importantly, the tablets told the scholars where to find him. An expedition was sent, and it was successful. The Onyx Dragon was located, but they couldn't wake him up. All except one, who went on to found the Procession. So, yeah, they worship the damn thing and - I won't go into the details of their beliefs. Go read it yourself. The Procession never spread far - stayed rather local, in southeastern Ticondera.

[The professor takes another sip of his coffee.]

So. The Prophans started to get fed up with the whole 'Empire' thing. By all accounts, it was costing them too much. They gradually made reforms upon reforms that gave the provinces more and more autonomy, until, in 2:1511, they officially dissolved the Empire. Hence, the Kingdoms of Ticondera, Igion, Gallar, Jilneas, Antiem, and Giel. And the end of the Second Age. There was some minor controversy over the turn of the age. Most scholars agreed it was time, but some few were stubborn, and so you can get documents from around the time with dates like 2:1513, which really should be 3:2. After that, well. Rather peaceful, actually. A few border skirmishes here and there, sure, but nothing major until 3:334, when Ticondera underwent a succession crisis that led to a civil war that is technically still being fought today, four-and-a-half centuries later. It's why Jadant is a ruin. It's why Anshacras and Naldus are independent states, and why the Onyxians have their own state, and why the coastal plutocrats banded together in the Ports Union to protect eachother from the warring of the other three, and why the farmers of the Ticonderan Plains have been screwed for four centuries. Do I sound bitter?

[The professor takes yet another sip of his coffee - he recoils, presumably finding it too cold, and heats it up with some minor pyromancy while he continues.]

Then, in 3:619, Veron L of Propha was assassinated, and an advisor of his by the name of Jason took over. Jason the Betrayer, he's known as, now. He went and invaded Igion, the fool, declaring the New Prophan Empire. We soundly smacked him about - it wasn't hard, his own people hated him. We supplied them with plenty of arms and direction, and took down his regime from within. Then Propha became a republic, but, again, this lecture is not about Propha, so you can get the details on that elsewhere. But it is relevant, because in 3:652, the newest Salenzian state, the Republic of Alnurka, was formed. Farmland was getting hard to get in Propha, so some Prophan merchants - with support from various Salenzian merchants, of course - gathered up a bunch of settlers and started Alnurka, north of Igion and Gallar. They had to get rid of some Northlanders to do it, though. The Northlanders weren't too pleased to have southerners just up and settling down in land they considered theirs. But, they're a bunch of uncivilized tribes, so there wasn't much they could do.

Well, now, we're getting into recent history, folks. Things that happened in my lifetime! Twenty-six years ago - 3:750 for those of you who don't know how to count - guess what? Yes, more succession crises! This time, in Jilneas. At least it didn't destroy the whole country. Ended sixteen years ago, 3:760, and it's why we have Upper Jilneas and Lower Jilneas.

[The professor stops heating his coffee and takes a sip, recoiling again and shouting after swallowing the scalding beverage.]

Damn! Ah, I think we're just about done here, anyway. Hm. In '64, there was the Treaty of Zendal. More World History than Salenzian History, but Port Zendal's in the Ports Union, so I figure it counts. That's where Zarcos, the Trade Union, and the Talurmen all decided to stop fighting. The Wary Peace of Three Powers, we call it. Only a matter of time before some idiot fires a bolt or a spell the wrong way and the Dotted Ocean's back to war, I say. Anyways, we're done here. Next class, I'll start in detail on our ancient history with the Jamics!