Furuttiibana I

Furuttiibana I, also known as Angadu Furuttiibana and Furuttiibana the Conqueror was the founder of the Angadu Dynasty in Asidama and one of the most famous rulers in Dama history. Furuttiibana conquered and unified Asidama's big island of Kuguni in 454 CE and ruled as its king until 501 CE. He fought numerous campaigns against rival kingdoms to unite the island; his military prowess earned him the nickname "The Sword of Hingu," named for his home kingdom.

Furuttiibana rose to power during a time of regional chaos between the island's kingdoms, while all were threatened externally by pirates from what is now Duomo and other neighboring regions. He also worked with his ministers to enact major economic and political reforms, aimed at the standardization of the diverse practices of earlier Dama states. His public works projects included the construction of numerous harbors and inland forts across the kingdom. He ruled until his abdication in 501 CE, upon which the Azure throne passed to his son.

Early life
According to The Histories, written by Kanyu Uciciburu, the first king of a united Asidama was the eldest son of the king of the Kingdom of Hingu. Called Uren, his father had grown up a hostage in the neighboring kingdom of Duya. While in Duya, Uren fell in love with the concubine of a local lord. When her lord refused to allow them to marry, the two fled back to Hingu to be wed. The incident increased tensions a great deal between the two kingdoms, and open war was only narrowly avoided. Nevertheless, the two remained wed, with their first son Furuttiibana born in 423 CE. Furuttiibana's father ascended to the throne of Hingu in 429 CE following the king's death. Uren's legitimate half brother, Gijo, initiated a rebellion shortly after his coronation, which took three years to quell. During this time, the crown prince accompanied his father and learned from his time in the field. Uren passed away from illness (described as a "fever" by records) in 438, leaving Furuttiibana to ascend to the throne at the age of 15 with his mother as Queen-Consort.

The Sword of Hingu
Sensing potential weakness in the 15-year-old king, Duya mounted an invasion of the kingdom. Furuttiibana responded by leading his men personally; their time fighting in the civil war some years earlier meant not only that he had some experience, but that there was veterancy among his ranks as well. Furuttiibana led his army to several surprise early victories against Duya forces, resulting in a truce only two years later in 440 CE. It was during this war that Furuttiibana became known as "The Sword of Hingu" to his men. Following the end of the conflict, Furuttiibana was crowned as King of Hingu at the age of 17. Although the war cemented his popularity domestically, its results essentially returned the two kingdoms to the status quo. Hingu and Duya were the two largest of the islands' kingdoms, although several smaller ones existed as well. Geographically, Duya was the largest of the kingdoms, although it was poorly connected in some areas, leading to issues. The two were locked in a prolonged conflict regarding trade routes leading to and around the islands from the time before King Uren.

Pearl Wars
The first of the major conflicts following the truce between Hingu and Duya were called the Pearl Wars, fought for control over the key trade routes surrounding the island. Most of the Pearl Wars' battles were fought at sea; away from the coasts, Kuguni's hilly and rugged terrain historically made maneuvering large forces difficult and so encouraged defensive strategies. Land operations were largely confined to raids, sieges, and interdiction. The Pearl Wars began in 442 with Hingu demanding that Duya abandon a foothold into their territory which was used as a trading post by passing sailors. Duya predictably refused, beginning the Pearl Wars. Both kingdoms possessed sizable navies; Hingu's was made up of fewer ships, although they were much sturdier than the light galleys used by Duya. The two sides clashed repeatedly in small coastal skirmishes, with neither able to land a decisive blow.

This changed in 444, when Furuttiibana himself led a fleet to blockade the Duya trade post. From his flagship (called only "The Black Ship"), he directed their movement, hoping to force Duya into directing the bulk of their forces against him to relieve the blockade. In 445, Duya forces attempted to lift the siege but were badly defeated; that night, the garrison escaped into the surrounding country, and Hingu marines seized the port. Following their defeat, Duya agreed to a truce by which they would turn over other trading posts in Hingu territory, as well as pay 3,200 pieces of silver in reparations to losses sustained by Hingu during the war. The war's aftermath left Hingu the predominant trading power in the region, amassing wealth at the expense of Duya's defeat.

Jade Wars
Although Duya faced steep financial and naval losses in the Pearl Wars, its army remained intact, and its king was hungry for revenge in the face of his defeats by the young Furuttiibana. In 448, a Duya army besieged, captured, and sacked the small kingdom of Aya, a close ally of Hingu, and in the Spring of 449 Hingu declared war on Duya. Duya responded by marching their forces deeper into Hingu territory, scoring several more early victories. Furuttiibana elected to counter Duya forces by conducting a campaign of indirect attacks and light skirmishes. Although it did not slow Duya advance into Hingu territory, it did cause Duya forces to lose morale and men to attrition as well as disrupted supply lines. Finally, Furuttiibana led his forces against the Duya host near the small village of Garay.

At Garay, the Duya army forced its way through the Hingu center, but Hingu heavy infantry on the wings swung around their advance and menaced the Duya flanks. Tagaman, Furuttiibana's younger brother, led the Hingu cavalry on the left wing and routed the Duya cavalry opposite before sweeping around to the Duya rear and encircling their force. At least 50,000 Duya soldiers are said to have been killed or captured, including the Duya king himself, who perished in the fighting. Only a few weeks after, an army from the Hingu-allied state of Chiksi crossed into Duya territory and attacked. Histories generally regard the battle of Garay as the turning point of the Jade Wars, carefully engineered by Furuttiibana to turn at the opportune moment.

The new peace, once again dictated by Hingu, stripped Duya of much of its territory and levied an indemnity of 10,000 silver pieces to be paid over a century, as well as 45 kg of jade every year. Its navy was also limited to six vessels, and the kingdom was forbidden from waging war without the permission of Hingu's king. Many of Duya's elder nobles wished to reject the treaty, but its new king spoke strongly in its favor, and it was accepted in 452 CE. Under the pressure of the war, Hingu developed an increasingly effective system of logistics to equip and feed the number of soldiers which they fielded. During the last years of the war, this was extended by their joining forces with other, smaller kingdoms in the region. These developments made possible the subsequent Dama power projection through its navy and the seas.

Obsidian Wars
By the end of the Jade Wars, Duya had been reduced to a single city and some outlying territories. It was a shadow of what it had once been, with Hingu now controlling the rest of the region either directly or through its allies. In 453, Furuttiibana approached Duya proper with his army in tow. He demanded that, if further war were to be avoided, that Duya must hand over all of their armaments and instruments of war. Duya refused the ultimatum, thus beginning the Obsidian Wars. Furuttiibana moved into a close blockade of the city and built a mole across its harbor, cutting it off from supply by sea. By 454, his forces had managed to secure a foothold in the city's fortifications near the harbor. Furuttiibana launched a major assault which quickly captured the city's main square, where his force camped overnight. The remainder of the siege involved the systematic capture of the city itself over the course of five days. The last holdouts were enslaved, and the city was razed in 454 CE. Hingu's final remaining rival had been destroyed.

Unification
To cement his legitimacy as king over all of the islands, Furuttiibana traveled to the inland holy city of Kamahaupou. Central to the city was its grand temple, home to the famous Kewa Stone. It was said that whoever could lift the large stone would unite the islands and found a line to rule them forever. Furuttiibana not only proved able to lift the stone, but declared thereafter that he would rule under the name Angadu, after the mythical explorer and founder of their people. The few remaining lords who denied his rule were able to take his fulfillment of the prophecy as a chance to submit themselves to his rule.

Administrative reforms
In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of the political chaos of the previous era, Furuttiibana worked with his ministers to abolish the remnants of the islands' old systems of loose alliances and federations. They organized the new, unified kingdom into administrative units and subunits. People assigned to these units would no longer be identified by their native region or former feudal state. Bureaucratic appointments were to be made based on merit rather than hereditary right alone. Furuttiibana also worked to unite Asidama economically by standardizing the system of weights and measures used there. Wagon axles were prescribed a standard length to facilitate overland transport. Furuttiibana also called for the development of an extensive network of roads for trade and communication. The currencies of the different states were standardized into one. Perhaps most crucially, the Dama script was unified into the predecessor of the one used on the islands today.

As their ruler and king, Furuttiibana took further steps to ensure the islands remained a united realm following his death. He promoted trade with neighboring kingdoms as well as unifying the kingdom's legal system under what became known as the "Law of the Broken Oar". The origins of the Law of the Broken Oar are derived from before Furuttiibana's ascension to the throne of Hingu. During a raid, he caught his foot under a rock. Two local fishermen, fearful of the great warrior, hit him with the oar, splintering it into pieces. Furuttiibana was stunned and left for dead, allowing them to escape. Decades later, the same fishermen were brought before Furuttiibana by his allies for punishment. The king instead blamed himself for attacking innocent people, giving the fishermen gifts of land and setting them free. He declared the new law, "let every elder, woman, and child lie by the roadside without fear."

Later life and legacy
Following his long and prosperous rule, Furuttiibana abdicated in favor of his son in 501 CE. He spent the remainder of his life at the royal palace of Kahonu, the site of a fortress he had ordered built some decades before during the Jade Wars. He died in 509 CE at the age of 86. Following his death, his body was moved to the royal capital of Angadu and interred there, the first of many of the Angadu line to be buried there. The impact of Furuttiibana's conquest was profound; changes in faith, the aristocracy, culture, trade, law, and language of the country have since persisted into modern times. His conquest brought the islands together as a single Kingdom of Asidama, forging ties between them as well as with surrounding areas. His government introduced new elements which laid the foundations of the later medieval Dama kingdom.