Haraklina

The Haraklina were a people descended from ethnically Kasranou settlers who colonized the Dersialdaric coastline beginning with the foundation of Larakali in 406 BNE. They built a series of independent city states along the coast that were loosely aligned in the Haraklina League. Their economy was heavily reliant on slave labor from indigenous Carasalic peoples. They developed a number of cultural and technological developments, including the first phonetic alphabetic script, which they introduced to other peoples in the region such as the First Noulaenic Empire. They fell into conflict with the Noulaenic Empire during the 5th century NE and their continental cities were eventually sacked and depopulated by Noulaenic forces, with the final continental Haraklina enclave of Larakali falling in 512 NE. The Haraklina culture and language persisted on the island colony of Karichaka, on the island of Anatha, until a fire destroyed the city in 891 NE.

Etymology
Haraklina derives from the Haraklika words harakli meaning "of or from the sea" and na, a suffix for a people. Literally it translates "people of the sea" or "sea people."

History
The Haraklina settlers were Kasranou peoples who sailed from the Dafado River region today known as Casalanoua to build colony cities in the Faslula Sea. They spoke Old Kasraka, which later differentiated into the Haraklika dialect, originally referring to themselves as the Charokulino people. The large distance between Dersialdara and Casalanoua and the challenges of sailing through the Nuscarome Straights meant that the colonies were isolated from their ancestral lands and became independent of the Kasranou states they came from immediately on foundation. Nonetheless, they retained many Kasranou religious and cultural practices in their new land and built cities in similar style.

Six cities of the Haraklina were founded from 406 BNE - 398 BNE: Larakali (406), Larathiphi (404), Phachala (404), Hazhazhi (402), Chakarani (401) and Shisilakshi (398). These six cities allied to form the Haraklina league. Other smaller settlements existed, including the Larakalna island colony of Karichaka, but were generally under the control of one of these six cities.

The Haraklina either enslaved, drove off, or killed all of the native peoples of Dersialdara. The slaves were put to work in the Haraklina cities or on large plantation farms in the fields around the region. The high demand for labor on the farms could not be met with the number of slaves captured in Dersialdara, however, so the Haraklina purchased a large number of slaves from neighboring peoples beginning in the late 4th century BNE and continuing until the neighboring regions were captured by the Noulaenic empire in the 5th century NE.

Several substantial slave rebellions struck the Haraklina cities during this period. Phachala and Karichaka, prominent Haraklina ports, were both briefly overthrown by slave rebellions in 120 BNE and 42 NE respectively. Major rebellions also occurred in Hazhazhi in 100 BNE and 124 NE, in Shislakshi in 40 NE, and is Larathiphi in 50 NE and 224 NE. Unrest in the field of Dersialdara was also a frequent occurrence during this period. Despite this unrest, the Haraklina league continued to grow in wealth and power in the Dersialdara region and the slave economy continued to grow.

Several attempts were made by the Haraklina to found additional colony cities outside of Dersialdara. Lakizhazhi was founded along the coast of Nilfalam Bay in modern Falea in 167 BNE but was destroyed by indigenous Faleic peoples the same year. Nanasighka was founded in 120 BNE on the Nadaric coast, near modern Fasulafalis, but was destroyed by indigenous peoples in 117 BNE. The only successful colony outside of Dersialdara was Karichaka, built on the island of Anatha in 4 BNE.

The Haraklina economy was built on slave labor agriculture and manufacturing of goods, which were traded around the Faslula Sea by the Haraklina merchant fleet. The Haraklina traded with their former homeland of Casalanoua but these voyages were hindered by the dangers of sailing through the Nuscarome Straights. The Haraklina began to look for an overland route across the Malaenic peninsula in the 2nd century NE and settled on a route along the Sarabal River course and over the Nusour Pass into Siardara. They made deals with the local governments along the route, including the Noulaenic Empire, for safe passage of caravans.

Raids from tribal groups in Calbaena and the Binnar Mountains impeded trade and the Haraklina helped Noulian expand its territory to secure these regions from bandits. Noulian continued to expand, conquering the whole Malaenic peninsula and the islands of the Nuscarome Straights, leading to increasing concern among the Haraklina about Noulaenic expansionism.

Relations between the Haraklina and Noulian became openly hostile in 410 NE when Noulian invaded Falea, a region the Haraklina considered their sphere of influence. The Haraklina assisted local resistance to this rebellion and occasionally intervened directly, including when forces from Larakali seized control of the Nilfalam River briefly from 422-425 NE.

The Haraklina efforts did little to slow Noulaenic advance and Noulian invaded Dersialdara by crossing the Doucusa in 428 NE. A combined Haraklina League force took to the field and defeated Noulaenic forces at the battles of Bare Hill and Sadoseda in 432 NE and 435 NE, forcing the Noulaenic force to withdraw from the region. The Haraklina proceeded to build a series of forts along the Doucusa and in the Daua Hills to defend against further incursions.

Noulian continued their advance and soon surrounded Dersialdara's land borders with the conquest of Nadaria in 469 NE. The border between Nadaria and Dersialdara was not easily defend-able and though the Haraklina constructed a wall from the coast to the foothills they weren't able to man the entire wall sufficiently to deter siege craft. Noulaenic forces breached the wall in several places in 471 and 472 NE and advanced into Dersialdara. A second force overran Haraklina defenses at Filou Pass in 472 as well, entering Dersialdara from the south. Haraklina forces in the field defeated the eastern Noulaenic force at the Battle of Sialcarias in 473 and won a minor strategic victory over the southern force at the battle of Ourloul Canyon, also in 473. They were unable to force the Noulaenic forces to withdraw, however, and faced sabotage and guerrilla attacks from farm slaves who had been offered freedom in exchange for military service under Noulian. Noulian won a decisive victory at the Battle of Desada Plain in 474 NE and the Haraklina were forced to retreat to their walled cities.

Noulian occupied the farmlands of Dersialdara but found direct assaults against the heavily fortified Haraklina cities fruitless. They began to surround the cities to cut them off from supplies in 477 NE, a strategy that was considerably hampered by their inability to enforce a naval blockade. Famine nonetheless took hold in the Haraklina cities and five were eventually forced to surrender (Shisilakshi (modern Calanaen) (481), Hazhazhi (modern Daramaen) (482), Larathiphi (modern Confalis) (482), Chakarani (modern Sarmafalis)(484), and Phachala (modern Doucusamael) (485)). These cities were depopulated under a harsh Noulaenic practice known as tripartition, under which a third of their surviving population was slaughtered, a third enslaved, and a third resettled in winderness regions in Salarasua, Dodalo, and Casalanoua. Phachala was resettled under the name Doucusamael in 487 and became the capital of Carasala province in 490 NE.

Larakali, aided by its island colony of Karichaka, avoided starvation and resisted the siege far longer than other Haraklina cities. Noulaenic forces were unable to starve the city into submission and numerous attempts to scale or break the walls failed. in 510 NE, Noulaenic engineers began digging long and deep tunnels through the limestone under the city walls, an effort significantly hampered by the high water table in the area, and succeeded in collapsing two of the corner towers of the walls in 512 NE. The city fell and was depopulated through tripartition. In total, roughly 1.5 million Haraklina peoples were subjected to this practice. The capture of Larakali marked the completion of the Noulaenic invasion of Carasala. The city was re-populated by ethnic Malaenics under the name Carathailiaen (modern Carasilaen) in 513 NE.

The surviving Haraklina people enslaved and resettled suffered high mortality rates and the survivors lost their cultural identity and language completely. Upper-class Haraklina slaves were prized for their education and skills but they were forbidden from maintaining their language or religion.

Karichaka was desperate to avoid the same fate and searched for allies to help defend itself against the growing Noulaenic threat. They reached out to a military order known as the Knights of Konocka who defended the Konockax peninsula, the largest nearby region free from Noulaenic control. A deal was reached that essentially ceded the city and its governance to the Knights in exchange for allowing the Haraklina population to retain their language, culture, and religion.

The kings of the wealthy port city, though still members of the Knights of Konocka, adopted Haraklina language and dress and eventually declared independence from the greater organization in 758, making the city fully independent for the first time. The city suffered a massive structure fire in 891 NE, however, that destroyed much of the city's housing, harbor facilities, and defenses. The city was subsequently ransacked by pirates from Konocka the same year and left destitute. Survivors of the city were forced to abandon it and either moved to the west of the island among the Anatheen peoples or volunteered to join pirate bands. The Haraklina language and culture soon became extinct as survivors blended into their new cultures.

Haraklina Alphabet
One lasting legacy of the Haraklina people is the Haraklina alphabet, although later sources do not give the Haraklina credit for its creation. The alphabet was developed in Hazhazi in 210 BNE. It used simplified glyphs from the more complicated Kasraka script to represent consonant sounds, making it the first script on Opelyx to use characters to represent phonetic sounds rather than words or syllables. The script lacked symbols for vowels as Haraklina has few vowels and text is easily decipherable without them.

The script was modified by the order of Emperor Iacothios for use with Noulaenic by the addition of novel vowel characters in 153 NE. It was also modified with additional vowel diacritic symbols to form the Ousilian alphabet, the predecesor of modern Ialian and Imarian alphabets. Later historians inaccurately claim these alphabets as local inventions, with Noulaenic historians claiming Iacothios invented the alphabet himself and Ialian and Imarian historians both claiming precedence for the creation of the Ousilian derived scripts. Little record remains of the Haraklina alphabet, although Haraklina inscriptions are still present in the caves of several former Haraklina cities. Scholars aware of these un-deciphered inscriptions incorrectly believe the script is based on the Noulaenic alphabet.