Warring Dukes Period

The Warring Dukes Period is the name give to the time period following the decline and fall of the Naja Dynasty. The period lasted for c. 350 years and came to an end when the Varanus clan united the Kingdom under its rule. The Warring Dukes was a period of disunity following a Golden Age. The traditional historical narrative emphasized the kingdom's division and the frequent military conflicts between neighboring states, but more recent appraisals have noted that this was a period of ingenuity and a flourishing of art and poetry. The ingenuity, mostly improvements in military tactics, technology and engines, was born out of necessity as the dukes sought to gain an advantage over their enemies. Further, several ducal courts provided great patronage for the arts and sciences. The most renowned poets of this period were writers of bucolic idyls who avoided the pitfalls of court life.

Warring States

The political landscape changed throughout this periods with the formation of unions and annexations, the splintering of some states, and the rise and fall of regional powers and dynasties. Although treaties (such as marriage treaties and treaties of mutual defense against a common enemy) arose between different states, it has been said that the natural state was for each duchy to be in a constant situation of suspended war (if not outright military conflict) with all of its neighbors.

Petty Kingdoms

Several large regional powers developed during the Warring Dukes period such as the Kingdoms of Anura and Taipan. The leaders of these states styled themselves as kings and they stood out from their contemporaries due to the territory under their control and their spheres of influence. They are often called "petty kingdoms" by modern historians. Traditionally these petty kingdoms (in particular Taipan which rose to power toward the end of the Warring Dukes Period) were sometimes looked at as "near misses": clans that managed to consolidate control over a large portion of Long territory but fell short of unifying the Kingdom. Contemporary histories tend to deemphasize this perspective instead studying more intently the actual achievement of the petty kingdoms and their rulers.