Chapter 2 : The Plague and Fall Of Aotearoa
The 17th century was waning, and Aotearoa was thriving. In 1687 a monumental event occurred, 19 year old Prince Tumeke, 4th in line to the Aotearoan Throne, married 21 year old Empress Milonia Caesonia, Daughter of the Emporer, and ruler of the Animustus Province of Eurasia. This act alone is enough to show just how far Eurasian-Aotearoan relations had gone since the rule of Queen Ahorangi. The Empire of Aotearoa was small, yet extravagant, with the vast majority of it's 492,000 citizens living in the north eastern parts of modern NZ, living in a sprawling city that was situated along the coast. The Capitol City of Kapiti had expanded exponentially, with the city no merely being the capitol district of the sprawling mega city that was Aotearoa. Trade with Eurasia had far surpassed everyone's expectations, with the harbors almost packed full of a constant supply of Eurasian trading ships.
Aotearoa thrived on it's forestry industry, with tradition Maori woodwork making a true impression on the Eurasian populace. Soon Aotearoa was overwhelmed with orders as citizens of the 56 Million strong Eurasian empire yearned to use Aotearoan made furnishings in all their homes. The seemingly never ending Aotearoan land mass allowed the Primary sector to thrive, and the economy was extremely export driven with effectively all exports going to various parts of the Eurasian Archipelago.
That said, the Eurasian Empire benefited immensely from trade with Aotearoa. Pictures of Aotearoa show that their cities were almost identical copies of Eurasian cities, understandable consider it is no well kept secret that the Aotearoan populace admired Eurasians and their shiny marble cities. As a result the always expanding Aotearoan Metropolis imported all it's marble from Eurasian mines, furthermore Eurasian Made ships were the ships of choice for Aotearoan traders. In fact, by the late 1600s, relations were so good between the two nations that there were talks about the Aotearoan military merging with the Eurasian Legions and becoming a division of the Eurasian Forces.
Alas. This merger never had the chance to happen as disaster struck in the winter of 1690. The mega city that now made up Aotearoa was a perfect target for infections, and in that particular winter, the plague struck. Over the next months the region was overwhelmed by a virus more powerful than the world had ever seen. Thousand's fell by the days, and by the end of the winter almost half the population had perished. Not much is known about this period as the civilization fell to complete Anarchy, with the royal family succumbing to the virus a few months after it presented itself. All we know is that the virus decimated the population, effectively wiping out the entire empire. The estimated death toll is expected to be in the range of around 83%, with the lucky 17% fleeing fleeing north away from the city. It is believed that these survivors spread out into Arveyres, USE and maybe some even going as far as New Tarajan, showing quite clearly how spooked they were by the virus. Inter-marriage has effectively wiped out the gene pool of the survivors.
The only things we do know about the plague, is the reports in the Eurasian Archives. From what was recorded, it seems the Aotearoan Empire fell hard and quick, and the virus was so infectious and lethal, that the Eurasian Empire was forced to ban all travel and trade to the Aotearoan Empire. It is said that the Eurasian Government sent a team of over 200 doctors and military personnel to try and control the situation, but none ever returned.
Prince Tumeke attempted to restore order, but in the end his efforts were futile. It is believed that he tried to find the fleeing uninfected Maori and bring them back to Animustus with him, but none came. It seems the Maori believed that the recent splendor and riches of the civilization had led the Maori to get cocky and turn their back on their religion, with many adopting the Eurasian gods. As a result, they believed this plague to be a curse sent by the gods, and returning to be a sure way to invoke the wrath of the gods once more.
In the end all Tumeke could do was recover the bodies of his family and bury them in a secret tomb in and undisclosed location of Animustus. With the 50 workers and priests present committing suicide within the tomb after closing it to both hide the location and seal the curse. Till recently the location of the tomb was unknown, until a group of Eurasian archaeologists managed to find and open it in late 2014. Since then the sudden spread of the Red Death in that region has led some to claim the curse to be true. Back to history though. After the collapse of the Aotearoan Empire, a period of time known as
"The Dark Years" began. But not much of this period is documented, and nothing of much importance really took place. Thus, we will be skipping that time period and continuing straight to the colonial period.
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