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| '''Hesgarigani''', from [[Mirselec]] ''Hesgari'' "to raid", is a historical term used to refer to several kingdoms, populated by the [[Mirsel]] and based mostly on [[Masalne]], from the first to fifth centuries DN, most noted and notorious for their raids on shipping and coastal cities all along modern day [[Osonde]] and even [[Norugatne]]. Besides being raiders, however, they were also proficient traders and explorers who founded several kingdoms along the coasts of areas they had captured. | | The term '''Hesgarigani''' denotes shipborne pirates, raiders, invaders and eventually settlers from what is modern day [[Masalne]], operating between the 1st and 5th centuries DN, who operated mostly on the coastal regions of [[Osonde]], but in many cases also reached far inland via rivers. |
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| The historical impact of the Hesgerigani on its surrounding lands, as well as towards the development of kingdoms in modern day [[Risevne]], is both varied and deep; the long-range raids, and later trading expeditions, brought back much continental culture that influenced the later scripts of the Mirselec language, while the age itself became the topic of countless sagas and epics. Ironically, as the formerly advanced empires in Osonde and Norugatne collapsed and fell into ruin, the artifacts and lessons taken by the barbaric raiders began a cultural flowering back in Masalne. | | The Hesgarigani were mostly [[Mirsel|Mirselani]] by ethnicity and in origin, though their ranks would eventually swell to include peoples from over ancient [[Kavena]], [[Birasleti]] and [[Ruguzma]] such that the term would become merely a catch-all description for any pirate and raider by the 3rd century. Their travels, as well as the devastation caused by the [[DN Event]], precipitated an age often known in Kavena as the "Pirate Kingdom Age", while for the Risevani the Hesgarigani have attained a status equivalent to that of epic and legendary heroes. |
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| ==Description and Name==
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| While Hesgerigani is a historical term applied to these peoples, it is a highly modern term derived from old Kavenain texts which recalled the ''raiders from the east, across the deceitful ocean''. The Hesgerigani, in their own records dating from the third and fourth centuries, rarely called themselves by any collective term, but simply named themselves by kingdom; this was true even when groups from different states banded together for the great raids of the second century.
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| ==Background==
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| ==First Raids==
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| The first documented raids made by the Hesgerigani are known from records kept by the collapsing empire of the [[Igusonkla]], in modern day [[Kavena]], and date back to the late first century DN. The brief record simply states that ''late in summer this year'' (generally agreed to be around 88 DN) ''light boats from across the ocean of the east attacked and burned several towns'', followed by a list of nearly 20 towns. The fact that they all came under raids at around the same time, and also that most of the towns were around the mouth and lower valley of the [[Agronus river]] (with some towns up to 30 km upriver), indicated that far from being isolated incidents the raiding seems to have been organised.
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| ==Deep raids and long expeditions==
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| By 110 DN the spectre of the raiders from Masalne was well known throughout the region, and in the years between 115 and 150 DN some of the most daring raids were attempted, mostly successful. The walled city of [[Bodaigor]], near modern-day [[Gorgha]] in Kavena and nearly 550 km up the [[Matru river]], was attacked around 122 DN by an army of Hesgerigani numbering "in their thousands"; the raiders apparently bribed a servant to open the gates of the city and carried out a night attack, killing hundreds and looting the city's southern port quarter.
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| Just two years later an even larger prize was taken, in the poorly fortified city of [[Prinama]], which had been bypassed by the Hesgerigani during the 122 raid; records say that nearly 3,000 men and women were taken as slaves, and that ''three palaces were set aflame, and all their treasures robbed... the palaces burned for a month''.
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| ==The founding of new kingdoms==
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| ==Decline and assimilation==
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| ==Legacy and Impact==
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| [[category:History of Risevne]]
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The term Hesgarigani denotes shipborne pirates, raiders, invaders and eventually settlers from what is modern day Masalne, operating between the 1st and 5th centuries DN, who operated mostly on the coastal regions of Osonde, but in many cases also reached far inland via rivers.
The Hesgarigani were mostly Mirselani by ethnicity and in origin, though their ranks would eventually swell to include peoples from over ancient Kavena, Birasleti and Ruguzma such that the term would become merely a catch-all description for any pirate and raider by the 3rd century. Their travels, as well as the devastation caused by the DN Event, precipitated an age often known in Kavena as the "Pirate Kingdom Age", while for the Risevani the Hesgarigani have attained a status equivalent to that of epic and legendary heroes.
