Captuage

Captuage (CAP-tu-ajj) is an absolute theocracy in Southern Vargelia. Located within the southern part of the continent, most of Captuage's land is covered in lakes, marshland, and inhospitable steppe. Thus most of the population is gathered along the northern coastline, within the same temperate rainforest that runs through Galros and Morianna. Captuage is ruled by the Sun King; Tophet Ba'al, who is considered a living god and the divine ruler of the Capts, a people closely related to the Cochesians to the east, who migrated and conquered the native Puni, Belks, and Confederates to the west. They are actively hostile to most nations in the region and have been placed under numerous economic and international sanctions. Due to its aggressive and expansionistic nature, the nation of Captuage maintains one of the largest active militaries in Vargelia, though not nearly the best equipped or most advanced.

Prehistoric Era
Evidence of settlement in Caputage has been discovered, with the earliest Mazurkian artifacts dating to 55,000 years ago. Discovery of copper and bronze tools in the area places the beginning of the Chalcolithic to 4000 BCE, and the Bronze Age to 1500 BCE. Urban civilizations based around the Zurkulian Peninsula, such as the Carininites and Bosqu, created complex pictographic systems of writing, established trade networks as far north as Gurit, and developed rigorous methods of navigating the shallow seas of Vargelia.

The earliest records of the Puni, who comprise the majority of the inhabitants of modern day Captuage, date to 400 AD, where Bosqo chroniclers mention them as a tribe of "Gosgo" (related to modern day Confederates) from the north. Due to the scarcity of burnt settlements found from this era, the merging of Puni, Bosqo, and Carinite cultures was likely non-violent, though in the end the Puni became recognized as the dominant culture of the Zurkulian Peninsula and surrounding regions. For the next millennium, Puni civilization would rule over a fairly peaceful collection of cooperative city-states lining the coast of the Zurkulian Peninsula and their influence would be intermingle with the local Confederate tribes as far north as Osheawaga. The Puni would trade amber and gold from the mineral rich Zurkulian Mountains in exchange for furs, bitumen, and exotic vegetables. During this period of cultural hegemony, the Puni established trade relations with the Belk on the Western shoreline of the Bay of Ramon, who would become the main supply of mercenaries for the Puni.

Arrival of the Capts
In the year 1547, a multitude of calamities hit the Puni civilization at once. Changes to the regular monsoon cycle resulted in a year without rain, which devastated peasants and resulted in famine and intense social upheaval. The arrival of Orosilian traders and Ninhavan missionaries, who until now had been unable to venture far below the equator without running out of supplies, came into contact with the Puni for the first time. Trade in Northern weaponry resulted in city-states normally under hegemonic control of the Puni capital at Besquima breaking free of the mercantile trade agreements which they had been placed under. Civil war within the Puni Confederacy shattered the empire into a hundred separate city states, all of which became easy prey for a conquering tribe from the east.

Refugees of the Sagiri Empire of Colchesia, the Capts had been pushed from their homeland in the far east of Vargelia to the central steppes. The same drought which had shattered the Puni Confederacy had also forced the Capts to migrate northwest, where they transgressed Puni borders in the summer of 1547. Encountering no resistance, the Capts, lead by the Xsyathlo Gabal, commence raiding those cities south of the Zurkulian Mountains, hoping to loot the land thoroughly before the Puni army arrived. At the time, Xsyathlo had no intention of settling within the region, as the land south of the Mountains was over cultivated, and the jungle north of the mountains was even less appealing to the nomadic tribesmen. Nevertheless, summer came and went, fall arrived, and no force came to push the nomads out. Xsyathlo thus felt it prudent to send scouts north beyond the mountains to observe the situation with the northern city-states and to plan his next move.

Two groups of tribesmen were sent beyond the mountains, and observed the general state of chaos between the city states. While conducting reconnaissance on the eastern part of the Zurkulian Peninsula, the scouts were approached by militias from the city of Quqiba, then a city of minor importance. The emissaries inquired if their tribe would assist in the defense of their city while the militia campaigned out west toward Besquima, and hold the city for such a time as they were absent. The scouts returned word to Xsyathlo, who obliged and committed his troupe to crossing the mountains as soon as possible and occupying the settlement. While the city expected the mercenaries to arrive in the following spring, when a token force of new recruits would be available to dissuade the Capts from taking over the city outright, Xsyathlo arrived in the dead of winter, and his troops, starved and hungry, set about to conquering the defenseless city as quickly as possible, consuming winter hordes already strained by a year of famine. By the time the Quqiban forces returned in the late spring, the land had been drained and the city ransacked. What little food that was left was firmly under Capt control and the townsfolk were pressed into raiding neighbouring cities for extra supplies. Initially, the Quqiban militia had planned on retaking the city, but mutiny and hunger within the ranks persuaded the army to bargain with Xsyathlo, who integrated them into his own forces. Following the subjugation of the Quqiban army, Xsyathlo declared himself Absolute Ruler, executed all Puni noble families who had not yet fled, and installed Captic tribal leaders as the new elite. Xsyathlo then adopted the title of "Tophet Ba'al" (meaning Lord of the Gods in Puni) and set about conquering the rest of the Zurkulian Peninsula. The combination of Puni infantry and Captic cavalry lead to Xsyathlo decimating resistance north of the mountains and by 1550, the realm would be united under Captic rule. Following these victories, Xsyathlo renamed Quqiba as Captuage, and commissioned a new calendar based on the date in which the realm was made whole.

Modern Conflicts
Since the unification of the Zurkulian Pennisula, the Capts have waged an unending war against their neighbours, pushing out into the swamps and rainforests of the southern Vargelian interior.