Edexanö

Edexanö was an important Ižqöhnäx ancient city near modern Shaanhazh. The city was founded in -1164 RE dated thanks to historical records.

The city's patron deity was Östlahqo, the Ižqöhnäx deity of the soil and agriculture. The city was rediscovered in the 4710s. The main buildings we have found include the Östlahqo temple and the ancient fluvial port nowadays 620 meters far from the river.

Layout
Fantastical records said that the city's layout is made to represent the five known celestial bodies at the time. With a celestial body for each neighbourhood. With a militar quarter, a artisan quarter, a merchant quarter etc. Also its known that farmers couldn't enter the city. The city covers an area of 700 x 900 meters.

Streets were very narrow, like a labyrinth except for two great streets which were wide forming a cross symbol. There were some open places inside the city for gatherings and possibly events. Its known that they had structures for water resource manageent and flood control. Houses were build from mud bricks and plaster. Important buildings were reinforced with a stone core. Nowadays the foundations and some small ruins remain nowadays, except for the Östlahqo Temple, which thanks to its rocky core, it became a fortress the centuries after Edexanö abandonement.

Also had a double wall, where the external wall was 5 meters tall and the interior wall was 10m tall. The external wall was 11m wide and the internal wall was 18m wide.

Society and Culture
Archaeological discoveries have shown unequivocally that Edexanö was a major Ižqöhnäx city in the Fertile Bowl. The discovery of the Östlahqo Treasure has confirmed its splendour. The treasure is dated to the Middle Ižqöhnäx Period between-970 and -930. It contained lots of luxury items made from silver and gold and many precious metals from different places outside the Fertile Bowl. (Ancient Cvias, Pajpamia and the Olovam Islands). This wealth, unparalleled up to then, is a testimony of Edexanö economic importance during the Early Bronze Age.

The city, controlled the trade which came from the northern mountains outside the bowl, thanks to its strategic location in the middle of the Fertile Bowl. Merchants of gold, silver were common and the trade of gems was also very important in the settlement specially red beryl, carnelian and olivine.

It is thought that Edexanö society was very stratified and hierarchical, from slaves to different ranks of priests. High rank priests had a luxurious lifestyle with many mansions inside the city. Farmers were banned from the city, known thanks to the northern gate of the city which had inscribed "Farmers of Death not allowed" dated to -975 RE soon after Bowl Clay Cuneiform was adopted by the central regions of the area.

Thousands of cuneiform texts recovered from the Östlahqo Treasure has confirmed that it had an advanced and complex legal and economical systems. One of the most famous ones are the contracts of the Östlahqo Temple workers, which we know that were paid with a red beryl ring and food for lifetime.

Prehistory, Edexanö I and II
The first known Homo Sapiens in the area, dates back to -4200 RE, these ancient people probably between the ones who brought agriculture to the area, made the first permanent settlement, which archaeologists who found the ruins called it Edexanö I. There were lots of stone tools in the site, probably had a big artisan population. Edexanö I is located 2 km northeast of the main Edexanö ruins. We have found five stone circles which were probably the foundations of structures. One of the circles had buried some shell jewelry so its probable that the sea level back then was higher. The settlement was already abandoned in -3600 RE, probably due to the Faino Glaciation which moved the coast 4 km to the east.

1500 years later, the Edexanö area would have again human presence. Copper users who mastered the ageiculture nearby now find a different valley. These would be the Ibäno People and would be related to the Ižqöhnäx. Edexanö II, located in the new Lvai River 4,5 km east from Edexanö III, the city was a key fluvial port in the Fertile Bowl thanks to the extraordinary river stability of that area which should not be there because of the melting of the ice reservoirs. From Edexanö II we have the fluvial port which nowadays is under the lake Veesât and a mine. They would dissapear due to the sea level rise.

Ižqöhnäx Period
In -1164 RE, long after the Edexanö II ruins the Ibäno descendants which called themselves Ižqöhnäx reached again the northern valley of the Fertile Bowl. Founded by a semi-mytological chief called Deixnö who settled the place with 1000 people. It is not known if they knew about Edexanö I which should have been visible due to the relative sea level drop. Edexanö II was surely underwater in the centuries of Edexanö III.

Early Ižqöhnäx Period
The Early Ižqöhnäx Period corresponds to the time between its foundation to the rule of the Chief Äihncahx who crowned himself as King of Edexanö. There are no bronze manufacturing anterior to -1050 RE, so inside this period the metalurgy in the city appeared. At the same time that means that they already were trading with other polities as Tin is not native to the region.

At the end of this period, Edexanö reached 20.000 Population and had enormous problems of population due to the lack of space as the different farms were inside the walls until Chief and First King Äihncahx banned farmers to live and have properties inside the settlement. The different fields were replaced into 5 neighbourhoods each with the name of a celestial body. And every quarter would be inhabited by an specific group of workers. There were the merchants quarter, the militar quarter, the artisan quarter, the foreign merchant quarter and the miners quarter.

The main buildings that still exist in the form of ruins are the Southern Gate, the Tower of Silver and the Chief Residence which was reconstructed in 4808 RE.

Thanks to the ancient Chief Residence records, we know the names of the different chiefs who inhabited the palace.
 * Deixnö Dynasty
 * -1164 to -1103: Deixnö
 * -1103 to -1074: Ahšöhradei
 * -1074 to -1063: Staqödei
 * -1063 to -1048: Širhohnadei
 * Cahxan Dynasty
 * -1048 to -1009: Cahxan
 * -1009 to -984: Äihncahx

The most famous chiefs of this period are Deixnö as he was the founder, Ahšöhradei as he sent more than 100 trade expeditions, Cahxan as he usurped Edexanö and Äihncahx as he banned farming inside the walls and crowned himself as King.

Middle Ižqöhnäx Period
The Middle period starts with the death of Äihncahx and the rise of the Nöhnhalaz Dynasty. This period is marked with the construction of the Östlahqo Temple, the adoption of writing and the start of Bronze Metalurgy. It would end with the Siege of Edexanö in 583 BRE. The main differences between the Early and Middle periods are a new architecture brought by the Foreign Merchants descendence which create a new powerful groups of oligarchs and had tremendous wealth.

The most known king of this period is the founder's reign, Nöhnhalaz who was a priest son of Edexanö merchants. He opened the city to foreign influences and knowledge and his reign became a fast time of change. He built a scribe-only building, which in posterior times it would be a Library and built small holdings around the ancient swamp to collect clay and were controlled by wealthy farmers. They werent allowed to enter the city due to the Edexanö Laws so they slowly got the control of the holdings. Near the middle and final parts of his reign, he also stablsihed a more authoritarian regime focused to defend their trade interests. The first wars of Edexanö probably were declared in his reign and thanks to his succesors it would create the Ižqöhnäx Kingdom.

The Östlahqo Temple was built in the start of Nöhnhalaz reign as a confirmation of his legitimacy towards the gods, specially Östlahqo who was chosen as the protector of the city. Inside, there is a vault where in his reign merchants were taxed and the wealth was seen as an offering to the protector. The construction lasted 12 years.

Almost all the records of Ižqöhnäx are from this period and show a very advanced city-state with a complex barter-based economy backed with a solid law behind. Furthermore, in 952 BRE we have the earliest piece of literature known, a love poem from a female scribe called Indäcnë to a spearman called Öcoi. The city had spectacles, brothels and closed circles of wealthy people. Only in Äihncahx reign, the population grew from 20.000 to 30.000 people. At the end of the period, the city reached 80.000 People.

We have almost no information on his descendants more than their names. Probably the use of writing declined into only a practical government-run scribe institution. But in 712 BRE, writing came back with the flourishment of private scribes and the forced education which some groups of people underwent to mantain their social status.
 * Nöhnalaz Dynasty
 * -984 to -931: Nöhnalaz
 * -931 to -895: Qikqanöhn
 * -895 to -853: Staqönöhn
 * -853 to -792: Edonöhn
 * -792 to -786: Xaltlenöhn
 * -786 to -785: Ätaaganöhn
 * -785 to -712: Nöhnalaznöhn
 * -712 to -674: Htaxhožanöhn
 * -674 to -630: Deixnöhohn
 * -630 to -611: Änahnaknöhn
 * -611 to -583: Hcaahztlonagakqnöhn

Late Ižqöhnäx Period
The Late Period of Edexanö covers from the Siege of Edexanö which happened in -583 to the first Non-Ižqöhnäx King in -274 RE. This period is significative by the gradual loss of power towards the new iron-based neighbours and the reconstruction of Edexanö into a city much less important. From this period we only have few records posterior to the Ižqöhnäx. At some points between the fifth and forth century BRE, the main Ižqöhnäx population became a minority and the citizenship laws changed so if you could trace back your Ižqöhnäx ancestors to Nöhnalaz times by both lines, you would have more rights. Counts of the time tell us that some years before the loss of Ižqöhnäx Edexanö, there were only 5849 Ižqöhnäx Citizens.

After the siege, the kings built the Trikqasötlzë Walls three kilometers north of the city center, which never were completed as it was too large for the wealth and workforce which had the settlement. Corruption also was flooding the city and many merchant properties were left abandoned in the city because of the decline of trade due to the sea level rise. Still, the city was an entertainment hot spot and merchants stopped there not to trade but as an stop to other flourishing cities nearby. Because of this, it was not weird to be robbed or mugged say some records.

From this period we have the ruins of the Trikqasötlzë Walls, the Temple of Änahtžera and Sar'do Palace. Which was a palace built for a Priest with the same time. After his life, the palace was razed because he did not believe in Ižqöhnäxic Cult.
 * Nöhnalaz Dynasty
 * -583 to -579: Raczaansinöhn
 * -579 to -578: Tahztlnöhn
 * Sönaqa Dynasty
 * -578 to -547: Sönaqa
 * -547 to -538: Loki'asöna
 * Zat'ahxla Dynasty
 * -538 to -512: Zat'ahxla
 * -512 to -459: Doszat'a
 * -459 to -434: Eriqzat'a
 * Sönaqa Dynasty
 * -434 to -428: Zlaksöna
 * Zat'ahxla Dynasty
 * -428 to -350: Xoktasöna
 * -350 to -328: Atiašasöna
 * Ta'as Dynasty
 * -328 to -296: Ta'as
 * -296 to -274: Htaxsolahxahrta'as

Nauêcu and Final Edexanö
After the death of Htaxsikahxahrta'as, the first non-Ižqöhnäx Dynasty rose to power. The Naui Dynasty of Runōs arrived to the city three years before the last King death and had a lot of power as because of the Naui Nobility in the city, they were relatively safe from their invasions and militar campaigns. They would be in power for two centuries until the Mitrinese King Muhtēž conquered then razed the city as it was the enemy capital and didnt follow Naui Cults.

In this period, Edexanö regained stability in exchange of political influence and trade. And Ižqöhnäx use started to decline to an only religious, law and important trade language. In 64 BRE, the first king who didnt know Ižqöhnäx was crowned, King Fanêh the same king who lost against Muhtēž. The main calendar nowadays start the day after the Raze of Edexanö (RE), it was a cultural shock to the Fertile Bowl and because of the destruction of it, many nomad cultures crossed the ruins which in some of there Edexanö was a Holy City and had to be protected.

Legacy
The Legacy of Edexanö was present in hidden and very closed cults to Ižqöhnäx Gods until the sixth century RE and after that in the Middle Ages it was thought that in the city there was the Cure to Death where could revive dead people. In the 19-27th Centuries is known that many nations were searching the lost city, as they knew that existed but not where. Finally the city would be rediscovered in the 48th Century with questionable techniques which ended up with 872 deaths and at the same time a natural disaster and for 4962RE, there is built a Museum Complex and two temples.