Gemmarate of Khra

The Gemmarate of Khra was a state which existed in what is today principally Abranoussa in north-eastern Lestria during the period between 1300 and 1550. Although comparatively short-lived, it was during its existence one of the most important political entities in the north of the continent and a significant regional trading power.

The Gemmarate – the term comes ultimately from Liturgical Antissan gimras, “field, enclosure” – emerged as a development of the political and economic power of the Sirian House of Khra, based in the city of Khessopt (today the capital of Abranoussa), from which the name of the polity is taken. The city was favourably placed at the meeting point of several trading routes from the north-eastern coastal regions, mainly in modern Neyet, and the largest city on a major route between the central Messenic Sea coast and the city of Antheula (in modern Tisceron), one of the larger port cities along the southern Medius Sea shores. It also provided a link into the deeper interior up the Takessart valley into the lower Tloule mountain range. The house of Khra had already assumed a position as the dominant merchant house within the city during the last quarter of the 13th century, although the first clear reference to a “Gemmarate” dates only from Khessoptine lamneary records which have been dated with confidence to 1358.

This document also refers to the first ruler of the Gemmarate to be identifiable by name; Erat may have already ruled the state for as much as twenty years at this point, and is known to have held the role until his death in 1370. Erat appears to have been known and well-regarded for his observances within the Sirian faith, and styled himself as a prince (augho, literally “great lord”) rather than a king (erro, as still used until recently by the Neyeti royal family) to mark himself as subordinate to Nevaras, the immortal commander of the armies of the Sirian Ascended. Leaving this modesty aside, he still largely comported himself as a king, particularly on the battlefield; he led the first significant expansion of the Gemmarate beyond its heartlands in Khessopt and southern Abranoussa, taking over the city of Thtatme and its hinterlands in the south of modern Neyet in 1366, after the city’s leaders petitioned him for aid against attacks from raiding bands out of the south in modern Yufet.

While most of the strength of the Gemmarate rested on its status as a conduit and facilitator for regional trade, it nonetheless could put substantial military force into the field if this became necessary. Even so, this had its limitations, particularly as regards the continuing irritation represented by the Tikliwin tribes of the Tloule range; efforts by the Gemmarate to subjugate the Tikliwin at various times proved inconclusive, as has been the case for many successor regimes in the region. The most sustained effort by the Gemmarate, in 1420-22 under the command of the general Methek ne-Laloukhin, ended in frustration and failure with the loss of something around a third of the army’s initial strength of some 15,000 men.

The Gemmarate was probably at its peak in the last decade of the 15th century under the rule of Khalil Zainumi (r. 1480-1522), in which time its direct rule and indirect influence extended well into modern Neyet, Yufet and eastern Tisceron. Zainumi, who underwent training as a hallegeant before choosing a secular life, has been described by contemporaries as a harsh and cunning negotiator whose every word in trade dealings had to be parsed with care; a report by a trading party from the Holy Empire which visited Khessopt in 1503 observed that “it is as well to beware when [Zainumi] clasps your hand in brotherhood, for he may steal your very fingers as he does so”. However, Zainumi became much more indolent in his later years, detaching himself from much of the day-to-day responsibilities of rule and spending much of his time in the luxury of the private quarters of his palace; he was largely content to delegate matters to trusted subordinates, and in particular his nine sons, who formed a government in miniature in his name.

The strains in this arrangement were not long in manifesting; and Zainumi was ousted from rulership in 1522 by Sarakoute, the eldest son and the functional chief executive, and was driven into exile in the foothills of the northern Lestrian Spine, in what is today central Turgal. Internal wrangling between various members of the extended family as they scrambled for position and influence in the wake of his ouster caused the Gemmarate to lose focus on the territory over which it claimed dominance. It now became a very tempting target for outside raiders, particularly by the Neyeti tribes to the north; by about 1550 Neyeti influence had extended south as far as the Takessart, and the Gemmarate had effectively ceased to exist as an entity.

The heyday of the Gemmarate remains something of a cultural touchstone in present-day Abranoussa, which has never recovered the prominence in world affairs which it then enjoyed, and which has been subject to outside rulership or economic control for much of the ensuing centuries. It was alluded to strongly by several Abranoussan rulers, and in particular by Nesbo Ghek, the last khraisabe of Abranoussa, in his efforts to rouse enmity in the country against Messenian economic interests during the 1920s and 1930s.