One idea of mine was loosely a rip-off of weeb shit that slowly evolved since I first came up with it back when I was in high school. Originally, the setting was more akin to high fantasy, but became more of a classical age low fantasy where magic can only work with rituals, runes, and incantations that take time. This is the fourth incarnation, and one that I'm getting a bit happy about.
The Anitai - Children of the Sea
The Anitai refers to a race of men that the old stories claim to have been born from the sea, from the baked lands across the water. Tall and swarthy in complexion, the Anitai are the hegemon race of the Continent. They are primarily known as cultured and wealthy merchants and citizen-warriors, although not all follow that lifestyle.
History
Around a thousand years ago, a large fleet of nomads came from across the sea on a variety of vessels. It was said that they were desperate for a new home, as the Baked Lands descended into barbarism and chaos around this time. Many of them saw the cool, windswept peninsula that juts from the West Sea as a new Eden, and settled roots there. They were not alone however; the indigenous people of this region of the world were wary of these foreigners, and proved to be skilled warriors not interested in losing grazing lands. However, the naval skills of the founders of the Old Cities and the mountainous nature of the peninsula allowed them freedom to escape and migrate. Eventually, the Anitai defeated the original inhabitants of the peninsula and could finally find peace.
They grew in prosperity, as their efficient and effective vessels allowed them to trade and fish profitably, and soon they exploded in population, settling newer cities in reasonable locations as trading points. The cities became as great as some of the cities in the east, in the Yim Mountains that crawl up the continents' middle. In another world, the Itjani and their later cousins the Mazuani would merely be a notable people vaunted for their naval prowess, ruling trade cities and petty kingdoms in the southwest corner of the continent. Fate however did not follow this path.
The Anitai you see were unique in one way: they recruited both men and women in the army. This concept came from the earlier wars of survival and never fully went away due to gender laws, which were somewhat more egalitarian than their peer peoples. This gave the Anitai a field advantage in numbers, as they hypothetically could recruit an army twice as large as their peers. This would be one of two tipping points. The other would be the Sa'aba the Victor; a great statesman and general of a petty realm of the Mazuani.
Sa'aba the victor had to regularly deal with the Zorn Confederacy in younger years, a native tribal confederation of horsemen known for their skill with lances and bows. To deal with this, the great general devised a new system for a new model army. The equipment was set to a basic standard; the noble willingly sacrificed much of the personal fortune of their estate to ensure each citizen had the same gear, and a limited form of conscription was enforced where citizens were expected to train at least a few days a month individually and in drill. From there, the wily strategist found out ways to limit and restrict movement for these horsemen, by inventing "mobile fortresses" of men that could quickly build and hold forts against these raiders, as well as mobile skirmishers and spearmen, who could chase the lighter armed Zorninese and still form a spear wall. One subjugation campaign later, and Sa'aba made these raiders a client people and subjects of the crown.
The Victor would split these peoples across the realm and require them to provide horsemen as a tithe of sorts. The newly revised army of Sa'aba the victor now included shock pikemen with spears that serve as a mobile picket line, lighter armed spearman/skirmisher combos, and lancers or bowmen from the Zorn. This would form the core of the Anitai Empire's army, as Sa'aba would use this army to subjugate the proud Itjani Cities, and later on defeat and absorb the kinsfolk of the Zorn. Sa'aba's death trying to navigate the Broken Lands would lead to the Victor's son, Sef the Chessmaster to finish the dream, heading east and conquering up to the Yim, where the Empire settled.
The decades of rule by these conquerors permanently changed the face of the continent. Many of the kinsfolk of the Zorn faded and melded with their masters, forming the Yanani of the plains or the Manbani of the swamps and forests. The kin of the Yim would also suffer some of this fate as well. The proud tribes of the Broken Lands, the Rock of Zam, dreaded Hegemon Wars are a testament of the durability of the indigenous peoples. However ethnic tensions still remained a problem, as did the size of this realm. It culminated in the Dissolution.
The Dissolution was in many ways due to how the Empire was managed. Strong local rulers known as Princes were given power to govern for the realm, as the capital could only control so much. Eventually these Princes would decide to listen only to themselves, and essentially carved the ossifying and decaying realm into personal play things.
Since then, the continent has been at war, as petty strong men, revolutionaries, and tribal groups wage war to exist and grow. In the west, the old Itjani cities seek unity, but only under their own rule or in a free league. The Princes watch as their numbers slowly dwindle, whether due to misrule or misfortune, as all seek to match the legacy of Sa'aba and Sef. The remnant peoples, kin to the Zorn, seek freedom, and in the case of the Broken Lands, vengeance. The Yim Cities of the east have recently entered a golden age, and an expedition led by Zeng the Witchlord has sought to recolonize the long lost Rock of Zam.
In the deserts of the south, a revelation spreads among the Kandak, the Twin Prophets speak of a new Age approaching. Much like the rise of the Anitai heralded an era, this age of decay offers a variety of new promises for whatever will happen...
