This past semester was especially stressful. I had many papers and I barely slept for the two weeks prior to finals. A silver lining to this insomnia and caffeine-fueled late night paper writing nightmare, was the chance to actually use EVE as a subject for one of my classes. I was taking a class that focused primarily on Latin American religions, and over the course, I noticed major similarities between the history of the Spanish Empire and the Amarr Empire. This three part series will first give a historical overview of the Amarr and the Spanish timelines respectively, then highlight the similarities and contrasts in the final article. I present a very condensed version of weeks of research, and I hope you enjoy.
Origins of the Amarr
The Amarr, like all humans in New Eden, descended from colonists that originally came from our own Solar system. According to Eve’s Amarr timeline, the Sol system was fully colonized as of 2370 AD. The timeline jumps ahead a couple of times, stating that in 4224 AD warp drives for ships were invented. Then later in 7987 AD, the famous wormhole (aka the “EVE Gate“) was discovered. By 7989 AD, a group within the “Unified Catholic Church of Mankind” called “The Conformists” began migrating to New Eden at the behest of one of their leaders. It is cited as Dano Gheinok who lead them to the planet Athra. From that point, rapid colonization of the New Eden cluster, including the homeworlds of the other three major empires, continued between 7987-8061 AD, when the EVE Gate collapsed. This event cut off all of the colonies in New Eden from Earth, subsequently leading to their technological declines, assuming they survived.
Foundations of the Amarr Theocracy
By 8000 AD, Dano Gheinok proclaimed himself a prophet, 61 years before the collapse. Thus began the foundations of the Amarr Theocracy that would later develop. After the EVE Gate collapsed, the last group of Conformists that had gotten through the EVE gate in 8061 AD arrived on Athra (Amarr Prime), subsequently settling on “Assimia”—a continent on the planet’s northern hemisphere. Later, the Amarr were driven off the continent to “Amarr Island“, stated as the “true homeland” of the Amarr people and the birthplace of the Amarr Empire. Apparently once a lush island, it is now mostly covered by the Imperial Capital of Dam-Torsad.
According to the Amarr Island article, there was some religious upheaval, leading to division and multiple factions among the Amarr people between the 8,000 years that transpire between the final settlement from space and the true beginning of the empire. Starting in 8100 AD, the period known as the “Dark Ages” didn’t end for the Amarr until 16,470 AD. This was when a a highly religious warlord rose to power of the city-state of Dam-Torsad, named Amash-Akura, uniting Amarr Island under a single religion and officially establishing the “Holder” or nobility class.
The Reclaiming
For 4,000 years, the Empire ruled the island fairly peacefully, aside from the occasional heretical or peasant revolt. As of 20,022 AD, this changed with the arrival of the controversial Udorians to the island to do business. The Amarr maintained an uneasy relationship with the Udorians due to cultural friction. Eventually, several religious officials pointed out that the Amarr scriptures told of the Udorians being the reason that the Amarr were driven off of the main continent of Assimia over four millennia prior.
The peace was broken when the Amarr Emperor ordered an entire merchant fleet of Udorians being seized and enslaved in 20,078 AD. This sparked the beginning of the eventual successful “Reclaiming” of Assimia. This act had multiple social consequences on the Amarr’s society. Many commoners to rose to the rank of Holders with the influx of fresh Udorian slaves. By 20,371 AD, the last Udorian state fell to the Amarr, and by 20,544 AD, the entire planet was under the control of the victorious Amarr.
Slavery & Expansion
The Amarr eventually sought to look beyond. The planet Athra had been at peace for over 700 years, allowing for the Amarr culture to dominate every other completely. Due to this unity, the sciences flourished, and the Amarr were the first civilization in New Eden to go back to the stars.They built the first stargate between Amarr Prime, and the Hedion system in 21,290 AD, which led to interstellar expansion. Slavery had started to become all but extinct. But in 21,423 AD a stargate was built to the Ealur system, leading to the discovery of a human population on the sixth planet. The discovery of human beings on another planet absolutely challenged the Amarr’s scientific and religious theories. The Amarr Emperor Zaragram II ordered the Ealur people to be reclaimed and enslaved to compensate for the need for slaves in the empire.
The enslavement of the Ealur set a precedent that led to the Amarr occupation of the Minmatar homeworlds as well as the final invasion and enslavement of the Minmatar people on the planet Matar in 22,480 AD. It would be over 700 years before the Minmatar rebellion in 23,216 AD during the Amarr-Jove war, before a significant amount of the Minmatar would be free and able to do a cultural reclaiming of their own.
While there is far more to cover up until the “modern” year of YC119 (23,355 AD), this is the end of the relevant timeline similarities for the purpose of this article. Stay tuned for part 2, where I will discuss the Spanish timeline!
