Lore:Anequina

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Anequina
Type	Kingdom
Continent	Tamriel
Province	Elsweyr
Subregions	Dawnmead High Savannah Jodewood Rim Territories The Scar
Demonym(s)	Anequinan Ne Quin-alian
Appears in	ESO

Map of Elsweyr from the Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st ed

Anequina (Ta'agra: Ne Quin-al), also known as Anaquina, Ana'quinal, or Northern Elsweyr, is a historical region and former Khajiiti kingdom in southern Tamriel. It is one of the two traditional regions of Elsweyr, along with its southern neighbor, Pellitine. Anequina traces its history back to Anequina Sharp-Tongue, who served as the queen of the Ne Quin-al Prides in the time of the sixteen kingdoms. It emerged as one of the largest kingdoms in the province following the Anequine Conquests. It merged with the rival kingdom of Pellitine in 2E 309 to form the Elsweyr Confederacy, uniting the region for the first time. Anequina occupies the northern half of Elsweyr, a region of harsh badlands and arid plains.

History

In the early First Era, Elsweyr was known to consist of sixteen independent realms that cooperated with each other for their mutual protection and economic benefit. Ne Quin-al was famed for its great warriors and Temple of Two-Moons Dance. Traditionally, the city-states of Elsweyr shared power based on the lunar phases of Masser and Secunda, and Ne Quin-al's influence was said to be at its height when both moons were full. By 1E 461, Ne Quin-al was ruled by the legendary Darloc Brae, the Golden Beast of Anequina. Darloc Brae's reign was considered glorious by the Khajiit, as he led the Anequine Conquests and expanded his kingdom's territory to its greatest extent, from as far west as Arenthia to as far east as Rimmen.

The devastating Thrassian Plague of 1E 2260 proved particularly disruptive to Elsweyr's delicate political balance, and when it subsided the original sixteen realms had consolidated into two survivors: Pa'alatiin and Ne Quin-al, or Pellitine and Anequina as they were known in Cyrodilic. The two kingdoms fell into a bitter, often violent feud that stalemated for centuries, even as both kingdoms were incorporated into the Empire of Reman Cyrodiil; Anequina had developed a disciplined warrior culture, but Pellitine had wealth enough to hire mercenaries. The feud finally ended in 2E 309, as the kingdoms' rulers, Keirgo of Anequina and Eshita of Pellitine, married and united their realms into the Elsweyr Confederacy. This move was initially deeply unpopular among the tribes of Anequina, who felt that their nobility had betrayed them, and they rebelled and besieged Anequina's cities. After the Second Empire ignored Keirgo's pleas for aid, Mane Rid-Thar-ri'Datta quelled the unrest by instituting another moon-based power-sharing system between the tribes and the nobility.

Many years later amidst the Interregnum in 2E 576, the city of Rimmen, the capital of Anequina, was ruled by King Hemakar and Queen Numara. As Emperor Varen Aquilarios was occupied in Cyrodiil, Euraxia Tharn was sent on Imperial business to Rimmen, where the King welcomed her kindly. This proved to be the King's greatest mistake. Using her militia of Nibenese mercenaries, Euraxia Tharn conquered significant parts of the Northern Elsweyr and executed the royal family. She was known as a tyrant across Anequina, from Rimmen to Riverhold. As time went on, Queen Euraxia imposed heavy and costly taxes such as the fur tax, built siege weapons meant to destroy Rimmen should the people rebel, and even work with a cult of necromancers led by Zumog Phoom. Euraxia's forces spanned across Northern Elsweyr, eventually taking Riverhold in the western hills. In 2E 582, the Speaker of the Mane, Gharesh-ri joined the Northern Elsweyr Defense Force in their battle against the Usurper Queen of Rimmen. Because of the ongoing Three Banners War, the Aldmeri Dominion were pre-occupied in Cyrodiil, and so the Khajiit were on their own in the civil war. The Defense Force, under the command of Gharesh-ri and his agent, Khamira retook Riverhold and established their base there, but that was before their situation worsened. Ancient Dragons returned to wreak havoc across Elsweyr when Abnur Tharn, the Overlord of Nibenay, and the Vestige released these beasts from their imprisonment in the Halls of Colossus. Euraxia Tharn joined forces with the Dragons, not knowing that she was merely their puppet and giving her the false idea that she was above them. Abnur Tharn and the Vestige attended a parlay with Euraxia Tharn at the Rimmen Palace, only to be rejected and inciting another assault onto Riverhold. But after their failed attack, the Vestige, Abnur Tharn, and Khamira infiltrated the Rimmen Palace where they burned down their siege weapons and assassinated Queen Euraxia Tharn. The throne was empty and Hemakar's last remaining heir, Khamira proclaimed herself the Queen of Anequina. From the capital of Anequina, Queen Khamira commanded the Defense Force to end Zumog Phoom's attempt to revive Cadwell the Betrayer and the Dragon's plot to harvest the lunar energy of Jode's Core. As of then Rimmen and the Kingdom of Anequina were parts of the First Aldmeri Dominion and referred to as Queen Ayrenn's domain.

In the late Third Era, Anequina lent its name to the "Heart of Anequina", a pivotal battle of the Five Year War between Elsweyr and Valenwood in which the Khajiit triumphed. The Khajiit artist Cherim, a veteran of the conflict, created an elaborate tapestry that depicted the battle.

In 4E 115, the Thalmor backed a coup that dissolved the Elsweyr Confederacy. In its place, the kingdoms of Anequina and Pelletine were reestablished and made client states of the third Aldmeri Dominion.

Geography

A huge portion of Anequina's landscape is dominated by various canyons, with the biggest being known as the Scar. The Scar stretches in the kingdom's northeast area starting from the southwest of Rimmen and ends near the border of Valenwood's Grahtwood. The Scar consists of various subsections, and starting from the east is Scar's Edge, a name clearly used to indicate the edge of the canyon. To the northeast is the Ashen Scar, home to a towering shrine to Azura. Southeast, there is a notable fork with the canyon winding around the city of Orcrest, leading to the subsection known as the weeping scar, a death trap that is home to the Vampire clan, the Tenarr Zalviit. Back where the canyon forks around Orcrest, the path southeast passes through the canyon city known as the Stitches, a haven for the unlawful. Scab Ridge is the canyon subsection in the southeast area of Anequina, near the city of Cicatrice. Finally, the winding canyon ends at the area called Scar's end, near the border of Valenwood.

Known Rulers

• Merethic Era (During the Sixteen Kingdoms period)
  • Queen Anequina Sharp-Tongue (ME? - ???)
• First Era (During the Sixteen Kingdoms period)
  • Darloc Brae, the Golden Beast of Anequina (1E 461 - 1E?)
• Second Era (During the Interregnum)
  • King Keirgo (2E 309 - 2E 326)
  • King Hemakar (2E? - 2E 576)
  • Queen Khamira (2E 582 - 2E?)

Gallery

• 

  Anequina Style Armor

• 

  The Anequina Fragment in the Rithana-di-Renada

• 

  Climate map of central Anequina

Notes

• The work of historical fiction, 2920, Sun's Dawn, asserts that the kingdom occupied the south of the province around Senchal, which is clearly wrong.