Ithanian Gem Boom: Difference between revisions

Ithanian Gem Boom
Historical Event
Event Name	Ithanian Gem Boom
Dates and Times	Approximately 150 - 180 AC
Location	Corontium
People Involved	Ithania, Regalian Empire

Latest revision as of 16:39, 15 September 2024

The Ithanian Gem Boom refers a period defined by the discovery of gemstone deposits in southern and southwestern regions of the Regalian Archipelago. The event sparked the migration of Ithanian citizens to the surrounding regions and the subsequent development of grand urban centers where none had stood mere decades before. To this day, the Gem Boom defines local history, where many families can trace their current opulent status, and also lay claim to creating the items beloved by many other noble families.

Background Information

As part of the Archipelago’s unification, polities in the region which became Girobalda willingly subjugated themselves to the Regalian Empire in 112 AC. Decades of infrastructural development followed during which the region was brought on par with the Empire’s heartlands. In the 130s AC, Imperial surveyors were deployed to the northern Girobaldan mountains with high hopes of finding valuable minerals. At the time, however, “valuable” had a different definition in Regalia. From 113 AC onward, the Empire was pushed into near-eradication of all its natural resources in the First and Second Skagger Holy Wars. The Empire was desperate to find iron and coal, and the discovery of vast gem deposits instead was only minimally developed. The subjugation of Ithania in the 150s AC by Nicholas Kade doubled the Empire’s population and established an exchange of population and goods across western waters. Immigrants from these lands gravitated into regions with a familiar climate to their homeland, and the Ithanian founded their townships along a horizontal belt above the lands of Girobalda, expanding the lands of Vixhall, and into central territories which later became Lorhaus and Osteirmark.

History

The Jewel Craze

In 155 AC, Ithanian colonists purchased the rights to mine a large swathe of land from the rulers of Girobalda, and rapidly had mining infrastructure built to begin delving into the mountains. While the Regalian Empire lacked attention and care for the gemstones, the Ithanian immigrants arrived with centuries worth of mastery in jewel-crafting retained from their days beneath the Allorn Empire. A vast amount of Ithanian jewelry flooded the Regalian markets during the next decade, and a whole craze for the precious gemstones developed within the Empire. Nobility from various lands, conquered or assimilated during the Empire’s archipelago conquest, flocked to Vixhall to commission circlets, crowns, scepters, and family heirlooms. The rapid development in jewel-crafting also resulted in a steady increase in quality. The situation stretched to such a radical point where certain Caerden rulers ended up with multiples of the same basic objects, simply because they found the Ithanian craftsmen could produce something superior to the works of existing workers. The most notable gems involved in the Boom were: the emerald, whose veins was mined completely dry within a decade; vast deposits of onyx, similarly emptied by the turn of 200 AC; amethyst, which grew to define the color choices of Ithanian nobility, and are still mined, and small amounts of purple-hued ruby.

The Economic Miracle

From this point of success came a great economic boom that spread across the lands of the Empire, and even beyond. Great amounts of trade had to take place between different regions as each required something different to offer the new Ithanian nobles and those who served them in the creation of marvelous crafted items, and the Ithanians also sought out the best of foreign materials for their new cities, homes and palaces. Huge amounts of grain left Anglia to feed the laborers who mined day after day in the mines, while the gems they produced were hauled north to to be refined, cut and set in precious metals shipped from lands like those of the Wirtem, newly joined to the Regalian Empire. Taxes from all of this trade was also highly lucrative for the nobles, even if they did not directly engage in any of the economics that were needed for the Boom. In the end, a revitalized system of trade came to the Empire, all at the hands of Ithanians.

Decline and Conclusion

However, almost as soon as the Boom had begun, trouble started. The Daendroque who came flooding into Girobalda rapidly took offense to the Ithanian locals, who now carted off tons of valuable material to the north for their own purposes, while the local lords only gained a fraction of the total riches through taxes on the transport of these materials, and providing the bare minimum to the laborers. While these rumblings were largely just that, theft, labor strikes and more punctuated the Boom and often corresponded with slowdowns, and price fluctuations in some of the minerals. However, with time, the mines ran dry, and more and more Ithanians progressed north never to return. Some stayed, and integrated locally, turning their eyes to the lumber industry or mining for more base materials. By around 200 AC, the last of the most valuable mines were picked clean, and many Ithanian claims on mines were given to local parties instead.

Effects

Though often written down as simply a local craze for gems and jewelry, the Gem Boom changed the whole Empire permanently. The economic increases that resulted from the sudden establishment of Archipelago-wide trade contributed to the rapid end of the Skagger Wars that had been underway for decades. The trade connections the Boom helped to forge within the lands of the Wirtem helped them rapidly recover from the suffering and decay they had undergone when the Wirtemcaller Kingdom collapsed, while the Boom's overall success pushed the exploration of new lands for similar resources. However, the Boom also doubled, if not tripled, the amount of mining labor in the Regalian Archipelago, and centralized wealth that could have been spread across a grander area of the south and southwest within one people, and one strip of land. Ultimately, the Boom and its many minor or major effects became a common sparring point between the political lobbies of the Imperial Court for years to follow, though today the entire enterprise is colored with a positive tinge.

Trivia

It is estimated that at least one-third of all heirloom jewelry belonging to the Archipelago nobility was crafted during the Gem Boom. This includes some pieces claimed to be over two hundred years old, though in some cases, the piece was merely refurbished with new gems or metals overtop of an older framework.

Accreditation

Writers	HydraLana

Last Editor	HydraLana on 09/15/2024.

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@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |eventname       = Ithanian Gem Boom
 |datesandtimes   = Approximately 150 - 180 AC
-|location        = [[Regalian Archipelago]], namely [[Girobalda]], [[Pays Sud]] and [[Loiree]]
+|location        = [[Corontium]]
 |peopleinvolved  = [[Ithania]], [[Regalian Empire]]
 |}}
-The Ithanian Gem Boom refers a period defined by the discovery of gemstone deposits in the Girobalda region of the [[Regalian Archipelago]]. The event sparked the migration of [[Ithanian]] citizens to the surrounding regions and the subsequent development of the Loiree and Pays Sud lordships as urban centers. To this day, the Gem Boom defines the local economies as well as the general Ithanian sentiment in the Empire, which remained to overflow with immense wealth in the following decades.
+The Ithanian Gem Boom refers a period defined by the discovery of gemstone deposits in southern and southwestern regions of the [[Regalian Archipelago]]. The event sparked the migration of [[Ithanian]] citizens to the surrounding regions and the subsequent development of grand urban centers where none had stood mere decades before. To this day, the Gem Boom defines local history, where many families can trace their current opulent status, and also lay claim to creating the items beloved by many other noble families.
 ==Background Information==
-As part of the Archipelago’s unification, the Girobaldan region willingly subjugated itself to the [[Regalian Empire]] in 112 AC. Decades of infrastructural development followed during which the region, similar and parallel to future Galloway, was brought on par with the Empire’s heartlands. In the 130s AC, Imperial surveyors were deployed to the Girobaldan mountains with high hopes of finding valuable minerals. At the time, however, “valuable” had a different definition in Regalia. From 113 AC onward, the Empire was pushed into near-eradication of all its natural resources in the First and Second Skagger Holy Wars. The Empire was desperate to find iron and coal, and the discovery of vast gem deposits instead was only minimally developed. The subjugation of [[Ithania]] in the 150s AC by [[Vladimir Kade]] doubled the Empire’s population and established an exchange of migration and trade across the Western Sea. Immigrants from the west gravitated into regions with a familiar climate to their homeland, and the Ithanian founded their townships and hamlets along a horizontal belt stretching from their arrival ports in Loiree to the northern coasts of Girobalda.
+As part of the Archipelago’s unification, polities in the region which became [[Regalian Archipelago|Girobalda]] willingly subjugated themselves to the [[Regalian Empire]] in 112 AC. Decades of infrastructural development followed during which the region was brought on par with the Empire’s heartlands. In the 130s AC, Imperial surveyors were deployed to the northern Girobaldan mountains with high hopes of finding valuable minerals. At the time, however, “valuable” had a different definition in Regalia. From 113 AC onward, the Empire was pushed into near-eradication of all its natural resources in the First and Second Skagger Holy Wars. The Empire was desperate to find iron and coal, and the discovery of vast gem deposits instead was only minimally developed. The subjugation of [[Ithania]] in the 150s AC by [[Nicholas Kade]] doubled the Empire’s population and established an exchange of population and goods across western waters. Immigrants from these lands gravitated into regions with a familiar climate to their homeland, and the Ithanian founded their townships along a horizontal belt above the lands of Girobalda, expanding the lands of [[Regalian Archipelago|Vixhall]], and into central territories which later became [[Regalian Archipelago|Lorhaus]] and [[Regalian Archipelago|Osteirmark]].
 ==History==
 ===The Jewel Craze===
-In 155 AC, the Ithanian colonists purchased a large swathe of land from the Lord of Girobalda. The territory remained irrelevant in the eyes of the lord, resulting in a mistake during the transaction where he referred to the northern coastline of Girobalda as “those southern lands,” translated to “Ces Pays du Sud” or “Pays Sud,” in short. The colonists built their mining infrastructure soon after and began extracting gems from the mountains. Where the Regalian Empire lacked attention and care for the gemstones, the Ithanian immigrants arrived with centuries worth of mastery in jewelcrafting retained from their days beneath the [[Elven Empire]]. A vast amount of Ithanian jewelry flooded the Regalian markets during the next decade, and a whole craze for the precious gemstones developed within the Empire. Nobility from the various lands, conquered or assimilated during the Empire’s archipelago conquest, flocked to Pays Sud to commission circlets, crowns, scepters, and family heirlooms. The rapid development in jewelcrafting also resulted in a steady increase in quality. The situation stretched to such a radical point where certain Dragenthaler rulers ended up with five or seven crowns ordered over the course of three decades, simply because they found the Pays Sud craftsmen could produce something superior to their previous craftsmanship. Today it is estimated that at least one-third of all heirloom jewelry belonging to the Archipelago nobility was crafted during the Gem Boom. The most notable gems involved in the Boom were: the [[Emerald]], which was mined completely dry within a decade; vast deposits of [[Kadite]], similarly emptied by the turn of 200 AC; [[Amethyst]], which grew to define the color choice of Ithanian nobility, and are still mined, and small amounts of purple-hued [[Ruby]].
+In 155 AC, Ithanian colonists purchased the rights to mine a large swathe of land from the rulers of Girobalda, and rapidly had mining infrastructure built to begin delving into the mountains. While the Regalian Empire lacked attention and care for the gemstones, the Ithanian immigrants arrived with centuries worth of mastery in jewel-crafting retained from their days beneath the [[Allorn Empire]]. A vast amount of Ithanian jewelry flooded the Regalian markets during the next decade, and a whole craze for the precious gemstones developed within the Empire. Nobility from various lands, conquered or assimilated during the Empire’s archipelago conquest, flocked to Vixhall to commission circlets, crowns, scepters, and family heirlooms. The rapid development in jewel-crafting also resulted in a steady increase in quality. The situation stretched to such a radical point where certain [[Caerden]] rulers ended up with multiples of the same basic objects, simply because they found the Ithanian craftsmen could produce something superior to the works of existing workers. The most notable gems involved in the Boom were: the emerald, whose veins was mined completely dry within a decade; vast deposits of onyx, similarly emptied by the turn of 200 AC; amethyst, which grew to define the color choices of Ithanian nobility, and are still mined, and small amounts of purple-hued ruby.
 ===The Economic Miracle===
-Although the gems were restricted to the Pays Sud region and the rest of Girobalda, the economic boom soon spread to the rest of the Empire. The newly settled regions were sparse both in food and the actual metals designated to frame the jewels. Whole trains of grain wagons left Anglia to feed the migrants who still were not self-sufficient, and the new industry relied on the freshly conquered Calemberger regions from the Second Skagger Holy War. Land trade developed in a U shape across the whole of the Archipelago, where both ends streamed their respective goods to the middle. The trade was, of course, heavily taxed by local rulers in the lands therebetween, namely [[Dragenthal]] and [[Montania]]. Most of the profits earned streamed back to the landholders in the form of taxation, who then spent their newfound wealth on nothing more than the Jewel Craze radiating from Pays Sud.
+From this point of success came a great economic boom that spread across the lands of the Empire, and even beyond. Great amounts of trade had to take place between different regions as each required something different to offer the new Ithanian nobles and those who served them in the creation of marvelous crafted items, and the Ithanians also sought out the best of foreign materials for their new cities, homes and palaces. Huge amounts of grain left Anglia to feed the laborers who mined day after day in the mines, while the gems they produced were hauled north to to be refined, cut and set in precious metals shipped from lands like those of the Wirtem, newly joined to the Regalian Empire. Taxes from all of this trade was also highly lucrative for the nobles, even if they did not directly engage in any of the economics that were needed for the Boom. In the end, a revitalized system of trade came to the Empire, all at the hands of Ithanians.
-This resulted in a circular trade where the Archipelago regurgitated its wealth repeatedly for an economic miracle that transformed a freshly unified Archipelago into a highly-developed Empire, which would soon become the supreme power in global trade. The wealth of Ithanian investors grew exponentially, soon joined by a freshly born finance industry in Dragenthal and Montania, whose simple goal was to handle investment banking and leech off the sudden growth, by both feeding from it and feeding into it with fractional reserves. The Gem Boom gradually subsided by the turn of 200 AC into a more laid-back development, which eventually crashed in the years leading up to the [[Regalian Pessimism]] and the [[Drachenwald Crisis]], heralding a shift in tone to a long-lasting recession.
+===Decline and Conclusion===
-===Local Development===
+However, almost as soon as the Boom had begun, trouble started. The Daendroque who came flooding into Girobalda rapidly took offense to the Ithanian locals, who now carted off tons of valuable material to the north for their own purposes, while the local lords only gained a fraction of the total riches through taxes on the transport of these materials, and providing the bare minimum to the laborers. While these rumblings were largely just that, theft, labor strikes and more punctuated the Boom and often corresponded with slowdowns, and price fluctuations in some of the minerals. However, with time, the mines ran dry, and more and more Ithanians progressed north never to return. Some stayed, and integrated locally, turning their eyes to the lumber industry or mining for more base materials. By around 200 AC, the last of the most valuable mines were picked clean, and many Ithanian claims on mines were given to local parties instead.
-The Gem Boom cemented the presence of Ithanian colonies within the [[Regalian Archipelago]]. The central region of the Gem Boom, Pays Sud, rose into one of the industrial heartlands within the Empire and a melting pot of Ithanian, [[Daendroquean]] and [[Dressolini]] culture. The ports of Loiree were urbanized by the turn of the century into the most prominent western trade havens of the Empire, whereas the Loiree heartlands became a sort-of “Ithania minor” for the [[Champagnard]], who settled into the region with plantations and vineyards. The zenith of cultural persistence in the region was the semi-annexation of the Vixhall region. The area remained largely unpopulated due to its uselessness: a valley of swamps, forests, and bogs. The Ithanian nobility turned the whole region into a single patch of lavish gardens and palaces as a lasting landmark of the sheer amount of wealth that had piled up during the Gem Boom.
 ==Effects==
-Though often written down as simply a local craze for gems and jewelry, the Gem Boom changed the whole Empire permanently. The economic increases that resulted from the sudden establishment of Archipelago-wide trade contributed to the rapid end of the Skagger Wars that had been underway for over forty years at the time. The freed up manpower in the [[Calem]] regions fuelled directly into an immense conquering army that would go on performing a whole series of conquests to establish the Empire’s presence in all corners of the world from [[Daenshore]], through the [[Ellador]] colonies, and to [[New Ceardia]]. Whether these were results of the Gem Boom or the triumphs of the Calem armies remains a hot debate between the Calemberg and Ithanian lobbies. In general, it is a fair estimate that the Gem Boom and the subsequent economic miracle slingshotted the Empire thirty years ahead of all other nations present in the world, especially in regards to society, development, sciences, and general well-being.
+Though often written down as simply a local craze for gems and jewelry, the Gem Boom changed the whole Empire permanently. The economic increases that resulted from the sudden establishment of Archipelago-wide trade contributed to the rapid end of the Skagger Wars that had been underway for decades. The trade connections the Boom helped to forge within the lands of the Wirtem helped them rapidly recover from the suffering and decay they had undergone when the Wirtemcaller Kingdom collapsed, while the Boom's overall success pushed the exploration of new lands for similar resources. However, the Boom also doubled, if not tripled, the amount of mining labor in the Regalian Archipelago, and centralized wealth that could have been spread across a grander area of the south and southwest within one people, and one strip of land. Ultimately, the Boom and its many minor or major effects became a common sparring point between the political lobbies of the Imperial Court for years to follow, though today the entire enterprise is colored with a positive tinge.
 ==Trivia==
-*The current crown of the Ithanian Grand Sovereign was crafted in 192 AC, in Pays Sud.
+*It is estimated that at least one-third of all heirloom jewelry belonging to the Archipelago nobility was crafted during the Gem Boom. This includes some pieces claimed to be over two hundred years old, though in some cases, the piece was merely refurbished with new gems or metals overtop of an older framework.
-*Gems from the Boom are all warm-colored, lending an easy way to identify proper Pays Sud jewelry.
 {{History}}
 {{Accreditation
 |Artists =
-|Writers = Miss_Ortonnaise
+|Writers = HydraLana
-|Processors = JennaLikesCoffee, Erzly, Enkiduu, SupremeCripple
+|Processors =
 }}
-[[category:History]] [[category:Recent History]]
+[[category:History]] [[category:Post-Cataclysm History]]