AbydosBoard

When we chronicle the extensive annals and history of the region of Abydos, we do so through the usage of various terminologies which help us to understand and classify this subject. Our mammoth history record is vast and nearly as old as NationStates itself, with 2003 being the year of the first known proof of existence. With this gratifying fact, we also find ourselves unfortunate in that so much of the ancient records have been lost to the unforgiving sands and harsh climates of this place, this game, and the various circumstances its occupants experienced. It is therefore, our duty as modern Abydos citizens to spend considerable time and treasure into delving into our own antiquities. Furthermore, we owe it to our own posterity to record and document what we can of our time so as to not only educate the future of this region we call home, but to fill a void in the very essence each citizen of Abydos has for discovering things unknown.

We have come to recognize such time periods for their distinct shreds of information, or likely more accurately, the lack of information available. The most distinct point of reference when classifying the history of Abydos is to separate what is known by we, the writers of this history, and by what is unknown. We have come to use the founding of Abydos by the nation of Zyris on March 26, 2018 as this distinct point. All history prior to this founding is considered prehistory, or history which very little is known. All history after the Zyris founding of the region is known as modern history. These two distinctions should be known and recognized by all for a full understanding of the history of Abydos, a region which extends as far back as 2003.

In modern Abydos, we refer to any resident from prior to the founding of the region to be an Ancient, or person who existed in Abydos before the founding by Zyris in 2018. While this term, Ancient, is used to classify anyone from that time period, known or unknown, Abydos has had in its midst two Ancient nations living in the modern era. The nation of Zyris, using the puppet nation Trinosophia, had founded Abydos in 2017, and therefore classifies as an Ancient. The nation of Yaqobia resided in Abydos from January 2012 until September 2014, nearly 3 years.

Abydos is fortunate to have its long history, yet unfortunately no accounts of the history were ever recorded or found during the pre-historic eras, only accounts written by Zyris and Yaqobia of their time during these ancient times. While little information is known of Abydos during all those mysterious years, what little information there is has to be interpreted correctly, and interpreted to reflect an honest view of the region as it existed at the time. There are three distinct eras of this prehistoric age. Each of these eras are defined by what we, the interpreters of history view as distinct features or happenings of these unknown times. The following is a listing and the approximate time frame upon which these eras existed for Abydos.

Era of Bones - May 2003 - December 2009
Era of Long-Dwellers - December 2009 - January 2017
Era of Transition - January 2017 - March 2018

To rightfully begin the history, or any history we shall explore these three eras and what is known about them and what makes them distinct time periods for classifying Abydos history. With so little information present on these time periods, these three eras make up the vast unknown bulk of Abydos history, yet pale in comparison to the modern Abydos history, where history was well recorded and a passion for it thrived within the citizens of Abydos. In this respect, we are blessed to be living in this modern era.

Era of Bones

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The Founderless Days
The first prehistoric era of the region of Abydos is known as the Era of Bones. This title was chosen by Zyris, who compiled this history, because the region of Abydos would die off and be refounded several times.

In the early NationStates game we know that the very concept of a regional founder did not exist. It is natural to assume that whoever the first founder was for Abydos came after this gameplay feature was added. The earliest records, based of the Texas Dossier, indicate that the oldest known World Assembly Delegate for the region of Abydos was a nation by the name of Usire from about May 28, 2003 to June 3rd 2003. It is believed that Abydos was first discovered and founded and refounded under several different founding nations until 2004. The ancient nations who founded and lead the region have all been lost to time.

The Vanquished Mystery
Early bones and pottery indicate that around September 2004, Abydos reached a record 10 nations in population. From this shard of information, we can deduce that either the founder or delegate wanted Abydos to grown into a great region, or that the region itself was used as a puppet storage. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine what the cause of this spike in population was, but we can know that whoever caused it, did so with some purpose in mind. Nothing is known about this tribe from our region regions antiquity, however, it lasted until about April 2005 when suddenly, within a week, this group of nations disappeared from the region.

No account or record exists to explain exactly why the entire population of Abydos disappeared, but the likely conclusions are either a griefing raid by enemy forces, which prior to the introduction of gameplay influence statistics in 2007 was a common happenstance. Griefing was, by 2005 rules, considered the act of raiding a region, and kicking all the natives out of the region with the hopes of refounding the region before the founder discovered the act. Other possible reasons for this disappearance of ten nations from Abydos could be caused if all ten nations belonged to one player, and they all died due to that player quitting the game. It is also entirely possible that the nations simply decided to on to another region in a merger.

The Great Major Death
The Great Major Death is an extended period of time in which the region of Abydos simply did not exist. By this, we interpret this to mean that no nation resided in Abydos and any nation at any time could have founded Abydos for themselves. Archaeological records and documentation from the Texas Dossier indicate that the last inhabitants of Abydos died out sometime in 2006. From that point onward, Abydos was abandoned until November 2009 when it was rediscovered.

While Abydos has experienced numerous deaths and refoundings, the Great Major Death remains the longest period in which Abydos did not exist by far. This event, or rather lack thereof, is a permanent reminder of the great void we face should our attentions be turned away from the region we call home.

Era of Long-Dwellers

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As we continue our examination into our prehistory, we come to a distinct change, which we now call the Era of the Long-Dwellers. Unlike the Era of Bones, in which only statistical data exists, we have first hand accounts of some of the happenings in Abydos during these times.

This era is so named because each of the three founders during this era ruled over the region for a year or longer, unlike the previous era where founders and abrupt deaths of the region were a common and frequent occurrence. One of the more fascinating bits of information is that we can begin to personify some of the happenings in the region at those times. With more light being cast into the dark recess of the ancient history of Abydos, we as archaeologists can begin to make more accurate interpretations of our own history and meaning.

The Rule of Assuwa
The nation of Assuwa ended The Great Major Death in Abydos and became the first founder under the Era of the Long-Dwellers around the date of November 28, 2009. Assuwa held onto the region as founder for nearly two straight years before Abydos died out again around the date of September 18, 2011. During the rule of Assuwa, Abydos never rose above two nations in population. We as historians can conclude that this could be caused by a lack of recruitment on the part of the founder. A lack of recruitment may mean several different things for a region, and likely Abydos fell into one of these scenarios. It is likely that Assuwa could have simply been an independent nation, who played alone, and enjoyed the game for two years. It is equally possible that Abydos was a holding for another region with imperialistic claims. With only two nations in the region for this long of time, it can be reasonably concluded that both nations belonged to Assuwa.

After the ending of the rule of Assuwa, Abydos would remain dead for four months in a period of time known as the Great Minor Death. Abydos would be founded after this period of death around January 21, 2012, continuing the Era of The Long-Dwellers.

The Rule of Yaqobia
The second founding of Abydos during this era was the nation of Yaqobia. As of the modern era under the founder Zyris, Yaqobia is the oldest ancient nation from Abydos to survive into modern times. The region under his rule had a population at its height of eight nations, all refugees from the the recently founderless and invaded region of Egypt. Abydos had a short-lived World Assembly delegate named Ra-harakhte, which was the primary nation owned by Yaqobia himself.

"I really think it's part of the spirit of Abydos to have a fresh start on NS."
~ Yaqobia, April 23, 2018

When the nation of Yaqobia returned to Abydos from the region of Egypt during the Modern Era in 2018, his first introduction was to announce his former role as founder of Abydos back in 2012: I was your founder ~6 years ago, and I'm curious to see the rise of Abydos as a new region. being the oldest ancient, Yaqobia rose to be appointed the first Abydos Oracle under the modern founder Zyris. From there, he offered more priceless incite into the history of Abydos during his rule.

When Egypt founder popped in 2012, because everyone with the password had stopped playing, it put Egypt into a dire situation. We were very quickly discovered to be founderless and invaded by a group of invaders (I can't recall whom, but I could probably dig around and find out). With the help of a group of defenders, we were able to repel the invaders and retake Egypt, but we were still vulnerable and founderless.

Using my puppet Yaqobia, I founded Abydos in January 2012 as a refuge for Egyptian nations as we worked to rebound the region.
I created The Egyptian Council to be the new founder, to be what Egypt founder was supposed to be, a joint nation controlled by a "senior council" of long-term members.

The nations of Egypt went to Abydos for safety, and I stayed behind to refound the region. Once everyone had gone to Abydos, , I too left to Abydos, leaving Egypt with no nations and ending its "5th Dynasty". I quickly refunded Egypt with The Egyptian Council, and stayed as delegate of Abydosbriefly to oversee the migration back to Egypt, moving to Egypt 3 days after its refounding.

I don't recall how long I maintained Yaqobia, or how long the region existed after I founded it. I seem to remember some nations never moved back to Egypt.

So there's a little more specific history of that era of Abydos. It was founded as a refuge for Egypt in our time of crisis, and continued for a few years after that as a region in it's own right.

Abydos would continue on for a couple of years, slowly decreasing in population from eight to five nations before the region abruptly ended and died out around the date of September 20, 2014.

The Rule of 3-
Abydos was founded for the third time during the Era of The Long-Dwellers by the nation 3-. 3- held the region from about October 11, 2014 through January 14, 2017. Under his rule, Abydos never rose in population, and like with the rule of Assuwa several years prior, it is highly likely that the region was simply used as a conquest from a foreign region, or as a small puppet storage region for the nation. Virtually nothing is known about this period in Abydos history as no records have survived into the Modern Era.

Era of Transition

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In January 2017, the prehistoric chronology of Abydos transitions into the Era of Transition. This era is so named because it transitions from the Long-Dwellers into the Modern Age. What is also unique about this era is that every founder was a puppet nation belonging to the nation Zyris. Abydos was used for a variety of purposes during this time, but never as a region independent and built for itself. As such, we historians do not classify this time period as the modern era.

Rule of King Tabriz
Abydos was founded by the nation King tabriz on January 28, 2017. King Tabriz was the noted founder of the short lived Sovereign Imperial Realms, a six region kingdom that centered around medieval gameplay. While the Sovereign Imperial Realms was in a state of decline by this time, King Tabriz kept a watchful eye of Abydos to refound it should the previous founder, 3-, die off. When this happened King tabriz took the region for himself, but by this time, his own Sovereign Imperial Realms was in a downward spiral and so Abydos never got a chance to be built up as the seventh realm in the kingdom.

The Rule of Trinosophia
On February 25, 2017, less than a month after the King tabriz founding, The nation Trinosophia refounded Abydos and established the Council of Abydos, where former Sovereign Imperial Realms nations gathered to draft the Eye of Providence, their constitution and to consolidate the remains of the Sovereign Realms into one region. The population reached a historic record of 16 nations, the most in history up until this point. The region had two known delegates, Kiebe and Neo natal. Abydos would continue under the rule of Trinosophia until August 19, 2017.

Abydos would die again due to the Council of Abydos not advancing and the overall vision of the Sovereign Imperial Realms in total ruin. Abydos itself did not evolve its own government, and the people saw themselves as displaced refugees of other regions. Ultimately Abydos was abandoned as the people simply died out or moved to other regions.

The Rule of Zyris
Zyris founded Abydos for the first time on December 30, 2017. This first founding lasted only 18 days and Abydos was abandoned again in January 2018. Abydos was simply used as a holding region for the nation Zyris, with no recruitment done during this short period.

The nation of Zyris would found the region a second time on March 26, 2018 and this time Abydos would be built up in our current Modern Era. Zyris would crown himself Grand Luxarch, successfully launching the most prosperous era in Abydos history.

"Abydos deserves to thrive."
Zyris, March 25, 2018