The Jainkoaren Dominion

History

The year is 815, after the records kept in the holy city of Yekem.

The Jainkoaren, a savage people from the far south, conquered and replaced the Kuranekian Dominion in 644. Joinkron, their chief at the time and tribal patriarch. To be able to govern the enormous landmass and dozens of large cities he and his successors created a cast system which divided his subjects on the grounds of tribal ancestry. Under this system the Kuranekians lived like serfs while the Jainkoaren were established as a class of feudal lords and administered the farmers and laborers. The sovereign would travel from city to city with his court and overlook his regional governors, resembling the nomadic existence of his ancestors.

This would change when a series of peasant uprisings and succession wars lead the Dominion into decades of civil war. The Governors started to resemble the Priest Kings of Leha’ihn and introduced the concept of hereditary monarchy to the Jainkoaren. When Ergonai, nephew to the last legitimate king, concluded his reunification campaign in the 770s he kept the system of hereditary titles, but reformed the feudal system. The Kuranekians where awarded full citizenship and swaths of the alluvial farming land, while the Jainkoaren where relocated to the pastoral lowlands, the woodlands and the steppe as a way to avoid conflict between the clashing ways of life of the two nations.

While the Jainkoaren still hold singular control over the Dominion, the Kuranekians enjoy equal protection and representation under the law and some even hold pivotal positions within the priesthood and army. Just like the Jainkoaren they are expected to follow their lord’s call to arms and to defend their homes if threatened. The foederati, mostly Mexxej at the coasts of the Inner Sea and Kaitari municipalities in the wild north, enjoy a self-governance and protection in exchange for their martial support. They still live according to their traditional law while the rest of the dominion has replaced their tribal common law with the Ergonian law codes.

The current ruler

After the sudden death of his father, the title of Noble Commander in the Jainkoaren Dominion is currently held by Ergonai’s grandson Paigon. Striving to emulate the successes of his grandfather he has made it a focal point of his reign to secure the Dominion’s status as a major power in Lurran. By suring up the northern border, reaffirming the alliances with the Kaitari in the north and reinforcing the standing army and successful skirmishes with an expansionist Morite Dynasty in the south east, Paigon has already distinguished himself as a competent ruler.

Nevertheless, to some he is also a controversial figure. Maybe most notably his marriages have been very upsetting to traditionalists, as he has refused to bond with native nobility or foreign empires. Instead, at the age of 23, he has already married a Mexxej chieftain’s daughter from the ranks of his foederati, the sister of second degree cousin and current leader of the Taizen confederacy, Khoman and the daughter of chieftain Argo of the Guijhôn. Even though polygamy is not a part of Jainkoaren culture. Currently none of his wives have borne children. However, the question of succession is already tearing at the fabric of noble society and people begin to question whether such a young and inexperienced man should have taken the throne.