Aunic Empire

The Aunic Empire, also known as the Second Aunic Kingdom, and at the time known as the Realm of the Four Pillars, was the largest pre-contact empire in Vatupaya. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in its central kingdom, Hoʼysâ (what is now Ta'aroha), and its capital of Javeve. The Aunic civilization first arose in the Ta'arohan highlands sometime in the Third Century BCE in the form of the First Aunic Kingdom, before collapsing in the year 144 BCE. The Second Aunic Kingdom appeared starting in 40 BCE, and endured for more than four centuries before collapsing in 370 CE.

From 100 to 300, the Aunics incorporated a large portion of the subcontinent of Vatupaya, centered on what is now Ta'aroha, using conquest and peaceful assimilation, among other methods. At its largest, the empire joined Riyude, Ta'aroha, the Teleri Republic, and all land surrounding the Bay of Guasu into a state comparable to the ancient empires of the old world. Its official language was Kanasa. Notable features of the Aunic Empire included its monumental architecture, especially stonework, extensive road network reaching all corners of the empire, network of messenger runners connecting the empire, finely-woven textiles, and the organization and managed fostered on its people and their labor.

The Aunic Empire largely functioned as a decentralized federation, with the three tributary kingdoms of Andu'avypoi (modern Riyude), Mba’embyasy (modern Teleri Republic), and Ne’êmbojere. Each tributary kingdom was ruled by a Vice-King appointed by the High-King, who in turn ruled the primary kingdom of Hoʼysâ. Although the Vice-Kings were obligated to present the High-King with tribute, soldiers, slaves, and oaths of loyalty, they were otherwise generally left to rule their Vice-Kingdoms as they saw fit. "Taxes" could consist of resources, labor, or slaves; Vice-Kings reciprocated in their relationships with their subjects by granting access to land and goods and providing food and drink in celebratory feasts for their subjects. Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire, most of them concerning local sacred Hikuái (spirits), but the Aunic leadership encouraged the sun worship of Kuarahy - their sun deity - and imposed its sovereignty over other cults until relatively late in the empire's lifespan, when worship shifted to the human hero-deity Kuimba'e.