Carsa

Carsa is one of the world's 7 continents. It is located south of Vasarea and west of Varasan; it is separated from Hypocos by the Chavar Sea and from Ausarea by the Mesepirotean Sea. Carsa is the most populated continent in the world, with a population of nearly 1.4 billion people; it is also the 4th-largest continent with an area of over 16 million square kilometers. Historically Carsa has been a center of human civilization, home to some of the leading empires of the world up until its displacement by other cultures beginning in the 17th century.

Geography
Carsa is conventionally divided into the following areas: Northern Carsa is generally known as being arid, although the northern coast of Tarsia and much of Sydia enjoy a more temperate and forested climate. The south is humid and hot. In ancient times, it was dominated by jungle, although human activity has cleared many of the formerly dense forests.
 * Greater Tarsia, the general area west of the Arsephian Mountains;
 * Sydia, the general area east of the Arsephians;
 * Saria (or Vohushtrastan), an area roughly corresponding to Akagrun and Lahomia;
 * Gauristan, an area roughly corresponding to Antarpass and Temaran, occasionally including Taguwa;
 * Utanistan, the southern reaches of the continent including greater Capay territory.

History
By the 10th millennium BCE neolithic cultures appeared in Tarsia and Saria. The Proto-Pagerians migrated out from their homeland eastern Tarsia in the 5th millennium BCE due to what is presumed to be rapid aridification taking place in the period, spreading themselves across northern Carsa as well as into Vasarea. The earliest known civilizations were the Kolmagar civilization in Tarsia and the Kassa civilization in Akagrun which thrived in the 4th millennium BCE. The 3rd millennium BCE saw the proliferation of metallurgy, leading to technological advancements, as well as social developments, such as centralization. In Tarsia this is thought to have led to the rise of the Ancient Tarsian Empire, established in 2264 BCE. Elsewhere on the continent various sophisticated polities and cultures evolved.

Ancient Tarsia under the Isnarids achieved further technological breakthroughs, and in the 15th-14th centuries BCE conquered all of Carsa and Varasan, inaugurating the golden age of High Antiquity. This period is traditionally held as a cultural and technological highpoint of civilization; the end of the High Antiquity in the mysterious and multi-factor Antiquity collapse saw the complexity of the Empire lost for many centuries. The Artic beliefs of the Ancient Tarsians were codified into Pastism, becoming a major unifying cultural influence on Carsans.

The Low Antiquity saw the center of culture shift to Saria, which evolved the Abovian and Ashimian states in Akagrun and Lahomia, and then the powerful Essegian Empire which dominated southern Carsa from the 5th to 1st centuries BCE. The Pastist clergy established a network of influence that transcended state boundaries known as the White Order which even came to govern political and diplomatic activity. By the 1st century CE however this was being challenged, as with the Sarian Pashultene Empire's attempts to subordinate the clergy to its own aristocracy, which even led to an invasion of the center of the White Order in Tarsia, leading to it being relocated to Danalia in Varasan. The Dalmanid dynasty in Tarsia also attempted (unsuccessfully) to undermine the power of the clergy.

The collapse of the Pashultenes in the 4th century led to Sazan invasion and domination of Sarians until the 9th century in the Gibil period; the Capay civilization began its rise in the wake of this, in the form of the Decapolitan League. Tarsia also began its return to ascendancy. When native rule returned to Saria in 805, it was based on leaders of anti-Sazan rebellions, who were ennobled at the expense of the clergy, leading to the downfall of the White Order. In 831 the Brilliant Restoration in Tarsia saw the restoration of imperial supremacy.

Through gradual expansion of its power, Tarsia became the hegemon of Carsa by the 11th century, as well as a cultural hub. Its ambitions of expanding into Vasarea and Sydia led to the Bewardrafsh Wars, which eventually led to the rise of an unified Sydic polity, the Jasgali Empire, in the 15th century; the two powers struggled in the Tarso-Jasgali Wars until the 17th century. To the south, the Capay Empire became a powerful thalassocracy dominating trade around Carsa. There was also growing influence of the Pytarene Empire to the west, which would defeat and unseat the Capays in the 17th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Tarsia and Pytarus began to vie for dominance, and after being dealt a series of defeats Tarsia was forced into isolationism. The south of the continent came under Pytarene influence while Tarsia held onto a weakening sphere of influence in the north, their condition temporarily improved by the collapse of the Jasgalis in the 1750s.

With the Industrial Revolutions it seemed Carsa was reduced to a periphery in the world trade system, being left behind by rapidly advancing states in Vasarea and Hypocos. In the first half of the 19th century however, dynamic Tarsian state policy allowed it to catch up in terms of technology, and eventually be able to challenge Pytarene power, alongside other revisionist polities on the continent. The conflict between the two imperial systems led to the Great Carsan War during the Decisive Wars (1920–1924), where Pytarus and the Great Path triumphed and ensured the longevity of the existing arrangement. However, Pytarus's own influence was weakened by the war, allowing the southern Carsan states to assert themselves more, and rapidly grow as newly industrialized countries during the Fleeting Peace. The Meltdown caused episodes of political upheaval in Carsa such as the rise of Rahulism, leading to a new period of local tensions.