Nusileh

Marshalate of Nusileh
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Nusileh in south-western Ascesia
Capital and largest city	Doborogam
Official languages	Agar
Religion	Vaestism
• Banner	Ascesian
Demonym	Nusilite
Government	Rescapitan marshalate
• Marshal	Tamantavattita Kadaronovo
• Imperial Plenipotentiary	Sillis Magar
• Emperor	Dar Tsutsun
Established
• Conferral of the Ascesian Banner	1897
Area
• Total	186,596 km2 (72,045 sq mi)

Nusileh is a Vaestic marshalate in Ascesia constituting the southernmost part of the Ascesian Banner, and covering the Tranoroa island group off the south-western coast of the Ascesian continent, as well as an area of the mainland in the south of the neighbouring Daan peninsula. Nusileh is named for its centre of government, the island of Nusileh; this area is ruled directly by the marshalate, but the rest of its territory consists of twenty-seven Pattern Fiefdoms still governed by indigenous elites and a number of predominantly Agamari territorial concessions, many of which date back to the earliest days of Joriscian colonisation. Nusileh remains a distinctively Agamari quality, distinguishing it from the other Marshalates of the Banner linguistically and culturally; it is markedly less integrated, and remains very much under the sway of the Agamari polity.

Historically, Nusileh was dominated by a number of relatively politically complex native Ascesian civilisations, including the Nus Bata Empire, a major maritime power which collapsed in the 16th century. Colonisation began with the establishment of Agamari trading posts in 1736 – the earliest Joriscian outposts in the region. Agamari interests in the region continued to develop steadily over the course of the 18th century with the growth of trade and the construction of naval bases and garrisons, alongside missionary efforts on the behalf of the Agamari Banner and of independent Joriscian groups. The Joriscian presence led to major shifts, and rifts, in local societies, especially on the island of Nusileh itself, which acted as an entrepôt for Agamari traders: a new class of intermediary elites emerged as locals converted to Vaestism and learnt Agar to take advantage of the opportunities this offered, leading to resentments and tensions which ultimately exploded in the 1801 Nusileh War, which ended with the cession of several major settlements to Agar control and the expansion of mokyklos' and Vesnites' privileges.

The nineteenth century saw Agamar, increasingly in competition with other Joriscian powers, extending its political influence throughout the islands which now make up Nusileh in an attempt to maintain its interests. The Agamari 'opening' of Nusileh saw Agamari advisors and missions deployed in force to all of the local polities, although missionary efforts like those exercised on the island of Nusileh proper remained very low key. With the development of the Kainish Crisis in Outer Joriscia, missionary efforts came under increasing scrutiny from the Prysostaia, and in 1897 Yorsephor, the penultimate Universal Prophet, ordered the centralisation of all Ascesian Vaestism under a new Ascesian Banner. In spite of the creation of the Banner, Agamar retained most of its possessions in the region as autonomous subdivisions and the pre-existing native elites – the rulers of the Pattern Fiefdoms – retained their political independence, albeit with the ever-present spectre of Agamari intervention. The island of Nusileh itself was placed entirely under the authority of the non-Vaestic Princedom of Nusileh.

Although Nusileh was now part of a wider political entity, its distinctly Agamari affiliations and a deliberate Agamari policy of isolation kept it relatively ignorant of political developments in the Banner as a whole. Agamari missionary efforts were never particularly intensive when compared to the rapid expansion of mokyklos in, for example, the Palaimoon, and this stymied the growth of the local intelligentsia. Whilst organisations affiliated with the Arbitration Movement were established in Nusileh, including the Doborogam Ascesian Club, there was very little popular basis for the changes advocated by the movement and Agamar cracked down violently on demonstrations in 1911 for closer integration with the Banner. Whilst tensions in the north ultimately deteriorated into the bloody Chamari War during the wider Long War period, there was very little violence in Nusileh other than a series of assassinations by the radical – and largely non-Nusilite – Light and Dark Brigades. In spite of the absence of widespread popular support for the arbitrationists, the 1962 Pragmatic Recognition did provide for the dissolution of the Princedom of Nusileh and its replacement by direct rule by the Marshalate authority; nonetheless, the rest of the Marshalate remained almost entirely at status quo ante bellum.