Time and History

            Chesmian history is measured in ror. One ror is equivalent to 1000 chesmian days which is equivalent to 1000 earth days. An astronomical chesmian year is actually only 120 earth days or 120 chesmian days. However, due to Chesmo’s negligible axial tilt, the time of year induces no seasonal affects. Without seasons to motivate the farmers, only astronomers used astronomical years to measure time. Most azdoves adopted the ror as their time measurement because it was decreed by the first azdov emperor, and 1000 is a nice number.

            The ror is divided up into ten months (each 100 days long) which are divided up into weeks (each 10 days long). The months and weeks are referred to by number rather than having special names. An example of a date in this system would be day 1, week 3, month 2, ror 1000.

            A Chesmian day is made up of 1440 minutes which is equivalent to 14.4 tauruses. The time of day is typically given by stating how many minutes it is into the day. 3:00 am would be 180 minutes or 0180. However, if one is staying up late, the first 100 minutes or so of the next day can double as extended minutes of the prior day. 0032 on day 3 is equivalent to 1472 on day 2. Azdov colony planets have their own local calendars, but the Chesmian calendar is used as the Azdov Imperial calendar.

Chesmian History (In bullet points)

Foundation Era -733 to -2 ror

-800 ror; The azdov agricultural revolution occurs.

-1100 to -733 ror; “Mythic” age during which many legends supposedly took place. This is when the Mythic Azdovid Empire supposedly existed.

-733 ror; Foundation of the first non-mythical azdov civilizations along the river of Ishma, in the Chesian highlands, and on the Great Island.

The Great Island was the homeland of the brown furred azdoves but is also believed to be where azdoves first evolved.

Ancient Cheisa was a collection of city states that was populated by azdoves with red to orange fur tones. These cities constantly fought.

Ishma was founded by a mixture of yellow and orange fur tone azdoves and was the only three of these civilizations that was a single unified state at the time. It hugged the great river of Ishma much like ancient Egypt hugged the Nile.

-700 ror; The “Rain Kingoms” are founded to the south of the Cheisan Highlands. This was a wet crescent of mountainous lands between the northern hyperlake to the east and the world dessert to the west. The azdoves here were related to the Cheisans.

-319 ror; First evidence of the monotheistic worship of I’awa in city states in Cheisa.

-59 ror; City state of Malucrete (or Malukarit) begins to unify Cheisa and impose I’awa on those it conquered.

First Imperial Era -1 to 262 ror

-2 ror; The purple azdoves to the east of the Great Island and the white furred slank eared azdoves in the southern hemisphere begin building their first cities around this time.

Note that the white furred slanks are the only azdoves in the southern hemisphere at this time and all other azdoves live in the northern hemisphere.

At this time, the blues and greens to the west of Ishma and Cheisa still only have tribal kingdoms with no true cities.

-1 ror; The Cheisan Empire is officially formed. This empire is regarded as the first great azdov empire.

0 ror; First Emperor Ror created the ror calendar based on a neat number of 1000 days. The time unit ror is named after Ror.

11 ror; Ishma conquered by Cheisans.

12 ror; The green azdoves of the tribal forest Kingdom of Jonas were exterminated for refusing to convert to I’awaism, the religion of I’awa.

19-20 ror; Cheisans conquer the Rain Kingdoms

130 ror; This ror was said to be the height of Cheisan Empire.

262 ror; Due to plagues, tribal invasion, and mass revolt, the first great empire that was the Cheisan Empire fell.

First Intermediate Era 263 to 641 ror

263 ror; 100 successor kingdoms and other states had formed out of the ashes of the Cheisan Empire. 90% of pink nomadic azdoves were killed due to blame for the fall of the empire.

270 ror; The blue furred kingdom of Lynart forms where Jonas used to be and pushes the eastern invaders.

490 ror; The dark plague begins in Lynart.

500 ror; The dark plague ends on the Great Island

600 ror; A new kingdom is slowly rising in the Cheisan highlands. Cheisa and said kingdom become known as Chesamu.

Second Imperial Era 642 to 725 ror

630-642 ror; Genius generals allow Chesamu to expand rapidly in a myriad of wars.

642 ror; Chesami Empire officially begins after taking over Ishma and Lynart again. This is considered the second great empire.

645 ror; The southern hemisphere is discovered by the north.

645-655 ror; 90% of slank eared azdoves die of northern diseases.

655-675 ror; Chesami colonization of southern hemisphere.

688 ror; Two thirds of the world had been conquered by the Chesami Empire by this time.

699 ror; Gunpowder discovered by an alchemist in Lynart.

701 ror; Second imperial era plague begins in the heart of the Chesami Empire

711 ror; Second imperial era plague finally ends.

711-725 ror; Revolution, fallout from the second imperial era plague, and the consequence of imperial royal inbreeding destroys the empire from the inside out and the world breaks into political pieces. The Chesami Empire ends.

Second Intermediate era 726 to 824 ror

726 ror; The new states around the world soon start fighting using gunpowder which was now fully realized as a weapon.

730 ror; The Kingdom of Lynart reforms after pushing out red, yellow, and orange invader states from its region. The Lynartians are innovative in both tactics and weaponry.

740-745 ror; Lynart and Ishma invaded and took control over territory in the southern hemisphere in a resurgence of colonialism. Meanwhile the Chesami remnant kingdom known as Chesmiya started attacking city states on the coast of the Great Island.

809 ror; By 809, wars are less frequent but larger in scale.

817 ror; By 817, the industrial and nonagricultural revolutions began in both Lynart and the former Chesami heartlands.

Reclarification Era 825 to 859 ror

818-825 ror; Chesami, now Chesmiya, reforms and starts to build an empire again, using the ancient city of Malukarit as its capitol. The dialect of Malukarit in this time would later become the basis for standard Chesmian Azdov. While some wars are needed, many states of similar culture voluntarily join the Chesmiyans.

825-835 ror;

The infamous war of the red and blue armies.

The red army was the name of the huge army the Chesmiyans formed after industrializing. The Lynartians renamed their royal army to the blue army to defy the rising Chesmiyans. The Lynartians were a bit of a stuck-up nation of philosophers, but they at least cared about freedom. The Chesmiyans were pushing a new sect of I’awaism that cracked down on everyday life even further than normal, meanwhile the Lynartians were having atheist and neo-pagan movements pop up in their nation.

The Empire of Chesmiya regarded itself as the third great empire, a resurrection of the Cheisans and Chesami. They believed they were entitled to the entire world. Furthermore, the Lynartians were individualists whereas the Chesmiyans hated individuality.

In 825, the red army of Chesmiya invaded Ishma and the Lynartian blues rushed in to oppose this. This was the beginning of a bloody ten ror struggle between the two powers. It wasn’t easy for the red army but Chesmiya eventually won and demoralized Lynartian philosophy out of existence.

835 ror; The United Azdoves started gathering member states in the southern hemisphere much to the dismay of the Chesmiyan Empire.

850 ror; The Chesmiyan Empire ruled the entire northern hemisphere whereas the United Azdoves was made up of the entire southern hemisphere.

853 to 856 ror; The Great Azdov War (the Chesmiyans surprise the Southern hemisphere with the invention of nukes, they desolate their capitols and crush the South. Chesmo is unified permanently. Chesmo gets its named from Chesmiya, prior to the war, it was just called the World. All now worship I’awa or else. Chesmiya, the third great empire, is eternal.

Early Space Era 860 to 1020 ror

860 ror; First Azdoves land on the planet Cuirin (Chesmo’s lifeless neighbor)

907 ror; Azdov colonization of New Chesmo in the neighboring system begins.

1020 ror; After expanding across the sector with 12 colonized habitable planets, alien contact is made.

1021 ror; It is reasoned that the ugly non-furry aliens must be the mistake that I’awa wished them to fix as mentioned in scripture. I’awa wanted azdov kind to purify the universe.

Galactic Era 1021 to 1274 ror

1022-1030 ror; The war against the human-like kineticans is fought, ending with the azdov invention of the wa’a’ai and the extermination of the kineticans. The war was difficult at first but after the middle of it, it was an easy azdov victory.

1030 ror onward; The azdoves begin to expand their azdov empire non-stop through violent measures. It is officially known as the Azdov Empire from this point but it’s still a continuation of the third great empire that the Chesmiyans founded.

1120 ror; The gangzt, a fellow furry species was discovered and were made a vassal of the azdoves diplomatically.

1159 ror; The besugo, another furry race, are vassalized as friends of the azdoves.

1250 ror; Azdoves become the most populous species in the Protonic Galaxy, and directly or indirectly control all of it except for the Likana Dominion.

Intergalactic Era 1275 ror onward

1275 ror: Azdoves discover intergalactic travel and begin setting up colonies in the Milky Way galaxy.

1276 ror: Human civilization is destroyed by the azdoves.

1309 ror; Azdoves control part of the Milky Way Galaxy and all of the Protonic Galaxy, except for the relatively small portion ruled by the Likana Dominion.

Overview of Azdov History;

The main focus of Azdov history for the past 5800 earth years or so has been the iterations of “the great empire” Starting with the Cheisans, reborn as the Chesami, and the modern iteration that conquered the galaxy being the Chesmian Empire also known as the Azdov Empire. All three of these empires started in the same general region on Chesmo and all shared various stages of the same culture. The most notable feature of this culture was the god I’awa who went from a random local god from a pantheon to the one and only god of the entire azdov race. Once in space, this faith provided the perfect ideology for destroying countless alien civilizations that didn’t look enough like azdoves and vassalizing countless civilizations that did.

Culture

Religion

I’awaism is a monotheistic faith and the primary faith of the Azdov Empire. The basic theology of the religion is that I’awa created the entire universe. I’awa was an imperfect god who created many mistakes which he regrets to this day. He used the last of his creation powers to create the azdov people to erase his mistakes. He then went to rest to one day regain all of his power.

The modern clergy’s interpretation of this is that sapient races that don’t look enough like the azdoves are the mistakes and the azdoves have to fix them by killing them. In order for a sapient species to be deemed worthy of life, they must have at least two of the following three features; a muzzle, a tail, and fur.

However, throughout history the exact definition of I’awa’s mistakes have been debated and changed. Originally in ancient times the mistakes were concepts like failure and disloyalty, these older ideas survive via the circles of the azdov hell (b’ure) and the core sins. The core sins are considered to be failure, treason, heresy, and weakness.

The two main interpretations of where I’awa is currently resting. Some azdoves believe he’s resting in Amina (the azdov version of heaven). Other azdoves say that I’awa rests in pieces inside azdoves themselves, typically larger male azdoves. I’awa will either descend from Amina, or emerge from azdoves themselves whenever he wakes up. Many azdoves claim to see him in their dreams, where he talks to them.

H’l’o’ism is a very small minority faith that worships the god of truth and love, H’l’o. Having rebelled in the past, the H’l’o’ist faith has been almost entirely destroyed by greater azdov society.

Atheism exists but most azdoves who profess it keep it to themselves due to how harsh and religious azdov society is.

Paganism used to be practiced among ancient azdoves. I’awa used to be the head of a pantheon among the red and orange azdoves, rather than the exclusive god of all azdov civilization. It is believed I’awa was the god of pride, sand, sandstorms, the desert, the sun, the sky and lightning. Modern I’awaists like to ignore and erase this older version of I’awa as it contradicts the modern monotheist version of the god.

Life ceremonies

Na’r’to;

The Na’r’to is the celebration of when a ‘dovlet has matured enough to be able to discern what their biological sex is. When azdoves are born they are given two names apart from their surname, which are male and female versions of the same name. On their na’r’to, the name that matches their sex becomes their first name and the name that doesn’t becomes their middle name. Male na’r’tos are always held outside around a fire whereas female na’r’tos are usually held inside.

Marriage;

Marriage is huge commitment in Chesmian Azdov society. You can only get married once. You go see a marriage counselor in an official building (usually a place of I’awaist worship) and go through tons of paper work. Then the partners in marriage use special pens to take a bit of oral acid from their oral acid glands and burn it into the neck of the other marriage partner. If you get divorced, your marriage marking is blackened out with a big square iron and you are never permitted to get married again. Only a portion of couples get married. Most azdov children are raised by parents who aren’t even married.

Farewell Parties for Death Puberty; Death puberty is when an elder azdov male gets to the age where his testosterone levels rise to toxic levels. Typically a farewell party is held before they are sent to a facility that watches over those with death puberty. The symptoms start with fur darkening and aggression and advance into primal fits of rage until nothing is left of the azdov’s former self and he eventually expires. Farewells are often delayed because the man’s wife or kids or grandkids want one last holiday with them, and this often results in a fit of rage going off at a bad time and the elder in question injuring or even killing a loved one.

A farewell party is whatever the elder male in question wants it to be, almost anything. It’s a big deal it’s like a last meal but instead of food it’s time with friends and family as a sane sapient azdov.

Death; Death is inevitable, and azdoves tend to bury their dead just like humans do. The only difference is that they use symbols of I’awa on their graves. The symbol of I’awa looks like a cross but with a line at the bottom.

Holidays

Foundation Day (colonial); Every azdov colony planet has a foundation day which marked only on that planet’s local calendar rather than the Chesmian one for official imperial use. No planet celebrates the same. Banoo has an m’pak race where as Staroon has this weird bubble festival thing. One things foundation days have in common is that they revolve around something their founder liked.

Imperial Day; Day 5 Week 10 Month 9

This day is dedicated to the theoretical foundation day of the first great azdov empire all the way back in ror -1. It is typically celebrated by public live sea animal feasts in coastal cities, decoration of flowering trees with shiny decorations, and exchanging gifts among family.

Victory Day; Day 10 Week 10 Month 5

The 500th day of the ror, Victory is a celebration of the horrible death of the disgusting gross worthless hominid species such as humans. It is a tribute to all the extinctions that azdoves have caused in the name of I’awa. Prisoners are dressed up as ugly non-furry aliens and killed in gorey fashion rather than being executed normally with base bath. Children make effigies with fruit and eat them. Plays are held mocking the existence of gross bad lame species and glorifying their deaths.

Ror’s end (or Rorsend); Day 10 Week 10 Month 10

The last day of the ror, Ror’s end (or Rorsend), is a loud festival of music, dancing and fighting to usher in the next ror. Many major sports have final tournaments on Ror’s end.

Year’s end (colonial);

Like foundation day, this is a colonial holiday that isn’t celebrated on the azdov home world. It is simply a celebration of the end of the year of the local calander. It’s described as being like Rorsend but lamer.

Sports

Azdov Mixed Martial Arts;

Azdov mixed martial arts is a sport in which two contestants (usually azdoves) fight each other until one admits defeat or is no longer able to fight. The only rule is that they can only use their body and the clothes on their back. Death and mutilation are permitted. The end tournament for AMMA is streamed during Rorsend every ror to the entire galaxy and it’s the most popular event in the history of the protonic galaxy (the azdov home galaxy.)

Pikopik;

Pikopik is a bastardization of the ancient Lynartian word pigharh, it’s meaning is unknown. Pikopik, as a sport, is basically tennis but with baseball bats and a ball that hurts when it hits you. You get 2 points if the other team misses and 4 if it hits one of them. This game isn’t taken serious as it usually isn’t lethal for anyone.

Blue versus Red;

Blue versus Red is a lethal sport in which the war between Chesmiya and Lynart from way back in azdov history is poorly reenacted by a blue and a red team. Typically the azdoves sign up for this are males in need of the money they get paid. Some players can get as much as 100k Karwa for playing (Karwa being the imperial currency). Anyway, the two teams are assigned red or blue preferably by fur color but if that’s not feasible a coin may be used. They fight with antique firearms from the Chesmiyan-Lynartian war and try to take the enemy flag while defending their own. Since it involves people dying, this sport is fairly popular, but it’s still not as popular as Azdov Mixed Martial Arts. The final tournament for Blue versus Red is typically held around Imperial Day, often Imperial Day Eve.

Architecture

Most residential buildings are utilitarian and plain, and are rented out by citizens from the government, think soviet Russia. Upper class dwellings on the other hand are privately owned. Private dwellings are usually much bigger and decorative than those of the common azdov. Private dwellings are most common on older planets with higher populations of the one percent. On the azdov home world of Chesmo, land previously set aside for government housing is giving more and more ground away to huge private mansions.

Music and Dancing

Music; The azdoves pretty much have an equivalent instrument for every human instrument that can make a similar sound. Despite this, azdoves don’t quite share the same genre range as humans. There are three major genres of mainstream azdov music; Metal, Folk, and Popular. Popular music is sort of like American human pop music but on average is better and has less repetitive music. Azdov Metal is a surprisingly traditional and conservative choice of music that is a favorite of the azdov imperial army and navy. Azdov Folk music is even older than Azdov Metal and has a sort of medieval sound to it. Occasionally Metal and Folk will be combined for some ceremonies and traditional gatherings.

            Most traditional Azdov folk music sounds vaguely like East Asian, especially Japanese traditional music. However, it also has touches of sounds more reminiscent of western types of folk music such as tango, flamenco, and klezmer. To emulate the basic sounds of a typical azdov folk song using human instruments, one could use a shamisen and a fiddle.

Dancing; From the traditional waltzes and shanties to the modern battle dances and love dances, the main characteristics that define azdov dancing is forceful stomping, frequent intervals of not touching the ground, and unfortunately a strong sense of male dominance and power. She-doves generally only dance when synchronized with a male, otherwise they seem non-elegant and tomboyish. Fortunately, more solo female dancers have risen to prominence over the years to challenge the influence of patriarchy over azdov choreography.

            Battles for gender equality aside, the hardy hopping and crushing gestures of azdov dancing has become just as popular among the other furry species that live under the Azdov Empire as it is among the azdoves themselves.

The Azdov Empire & Protonic Galaxy

This map only shows some of the planets in the Protonic Galaxy.

The Azdov Empire is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament. As of ror 1309, 550 trillion azdoves and 475 trillion other furries live in the Azdov Empire. At this time, the galactic azdov birth rate is 6 ‘dovlets born per azdovette, and the average birth rate for all other furry species is 4 children per woman. By ror 1309, the Azdov Empire covers most of the Protonic Galaxy, and a portion of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Azdov Emperor is an inherited position of great cultural influence. The emperor has the power to vote to break ties in either house of parliament, as well as address parliament. He also handles making public statements and any diplomacy with other nations (which the Azdov Empire rarely ever does). Also, the imperial throne has to go to the son of the prior emperor, or nephew if there is no son. Emperor is a position held for life. The Emperor is also head of the military.

The Azdov Clergy are also mostly inherited or appointed positions. The clergy study I’awaist texts and advise parliament and the emperor. Being part of the clergy is a position held for life.

Parliament is made up of the House of Sectors and the House of Planets. The house of sectors is made up of sector representatives which are voted in by the leaders of the planets within their sector.

The process in which a representative is chosen for a planet in the House of Planets can vary form world to world. On most worlds, regional leaders elect the representative of their planet. However on other worlds the planetary leader may appoint their planetary representative which may or may not require approval from other entities of their world.

It should also be noted that sector governors are not sector representatives, but are also elected by the leaders of the worlds in their sector.

The leader/governor of a planet is also a separate title from planetary representative. Planetary leaders are elected by regional leaders on most planets and are called governors, however on some worlds this is not the case. Some planets have nobility as their planetary leader.

For example, Sulka, the home planet of the Besugos, a subject fellow-fur species under the azdoves, they don’t have an elected planetary leader. Instead, the leader of Sulka is an inherited title called the Viceroy of Sulka.

The average azdov citizen has limited voting rights. If you’re an azdov born on a normal world, you’re lucky enough to be able to vote for mayor of your locality (and any local representatives for regional governments that aren’t appointed by the mayor). Azdoves retain the right to vote no matter which world they move to.

Fellow-furry non-azdov subject species can only vote on the world designated to their species such as Sulka and Second Sulka for Besugos or Baknea for Gangzt or Dwargon Prime for Dwargons.

Whether a local vote effects the overall political make up of the Imperial Parliament at all depends on how the government of their specific planet works.

An azdov’s vote on New Chesmo elects local figures who elect regional figures who elect planetary figures and so on, but a Besugo’s vote on Sulka stops at the regional level as their planet is ruled by the Viceroy of Sulka.

Both houses of Azdov Parliament share one speaker, who is also the president. This means only one house can operate at a time, and the speaker/president usually is just in charge of guiding the process of law making. The president is elected by the members of parliament… and usually they just elect the emperor to be president. The president/speaker even decides which of the two houses a law passes through first. All a law needs to pass is more than 50% of the vote and the emperor’s signature… which is convenient when he’s also the speaker and the president because the houses have the same speaker who is the president which is usually the emperor. If the emperor doesn’t sign the bill and vetoes it, the parliament houses just need to pass it over 50% again and it overides the veto. However, the public backlash of going against the emperor would make overriding a veto unthinkable. The Emperor also happens to be the second most holy figure in the state religion of I’awaism after I’awa himself. The president/parliament speaker position is also held for life.

In circumstances where the Emperor has been elected President, the ability to make laws is slowed down by the Emperor having a life and throwing parties. This isnt considered much of an issue because the Azdov Empire isn’t big on changing its laws anyway.

Overall, democracy is very indirect and diluted in the Azdov Empire. The Azdov Empire is more oligarchic than democratic. The majority of positions, including elected ones, are held for life.

There is almost no judicial branch in the Azdov Empire, the laws of parliament are enforced by a policing branch of the azdov military. People caught doing crimes are usually killed on sight. Courts only exist to process paperwork and ceremonies for civil matters like marriage, and they don’t even solve disputes. There are holding cells in police stations but there are no prisons. In addition to the military, priests and family may also pressure azdoves to follow societal norms.

Technology

The Azdov Empire of Chesmo is a highly militarized economy with technology more available to the government and military than to its civilians. Civilians enjoy excellent healthcare, holographic looking writing tools ,and floating vehicles. Military tech ,however,  is faster and more powerful in every way.

One of the most notable achievements of the Azdoves is Space Jumping, an extreme form of teleportation in which entire fleets can stop existing in one point of space and start existing at another point. Eventually this tech improved enough to make the jump between galaxies. While the actual jump is instant, there is a loading time before the jump can be performed which takes longer the farther one wishes to jump. Azdov ships can also fly around normally with their nuclear-powered propulsion.

The most terrifying azdov weapon is the wa’a’ai. The wa’a’ai is an array of either nuclear or anti-matter missiles depending on the desired effect on the target planet. Nuclear is preferred as the goal is to kill everything on the planet rather than destroy the enemy planet all together.

An anti-matter wa’a’ai array is what destroyed the planet Claudius, which was the home world of the Kineticans. The Kineticans were the first aliens the azdoves met and were a local power in their part of the sector.

A single standard azdov nuke is enough to incinerate all of Texas and leave a crater that puts a third of Texas below sea level. A nuclear wa’a’ai is what was used to exterminate humanity. By the time the azdoves reached earth they had the technology to make a planet recover from nuclear winter faster after the ugly species was exterminated. The azdoves can rehabilitate a planet they decimated in about 50 to 100 earth years.

Another aspect of azdov weaponry is their impressive laser-guided plasma gun technology. Whether it be a handheld weapon or a ship’s canon, azdov firearms can blast, melt, and cut through almost anything, including the hull of a ship. These weapons have virtually infinite ammo when in air or water as they convert fluids into ammo. However, in the void of space condensed matter canisters are required to be used as ammo.

That brings us to their other major innovation tiny, completely safe, nuclear reactors that can be used as batteries. They can power a rifle or phone or what have you for up to ten years! They are called nucleocells.

Being at an intergalactic or even galactic stage of development also infers that azdoves have faster than light transmission signals for communication. Azdov Wi-Fi is free and covers the entire Protonic Galaxy (the azdov home galaxy) and the portions of the Milky Way they control.

Last but not least, the kill rays. Kill rays are a very specialized and advanced form of controlled emps. Omega kill waves are used by imperial agents to erase their tracks by destroying all their data at a moment’s notice. Omega waves are designed to destroy azdov trinary code, epsilon waves are for binary. Alpha kill waves are a last resort for when it appears a ground force is losing to a mechanized enemy. Alpha kill waves destroy all electronics in range.

It's also worth noting azdov fighting tactics. Even though some azdoves may be very stocky or even fatty, they are pretty agile. This combined with how powerful their weapons are makes them choose a glass canon fighting styles. Armor just isn’t their specialty. Azdov ship and vehicle armor is nothing special.

The personal armor of imperial agents and crusaders is somewhat decent. Imperial agent armor can withstand anything less than 100 metric tones of force. However even this armor is decimated by azdov laser.

Azdov ships have an appearance similar to giant firearms, and they rely on their offensive abilities rather than their defensive abilities. Civilian ships in comparison tend to be boxier and more generic.

Two azdov imperial agents (a.k.a. azdov crusaders)

The humble M’pak model terrestrial war vehicle.

A small azdov war corvette.