Telmarine Age of Narnia

Time Periods of Narnia: The Telmarine Age (Narnian-years 1998&mdash;2303) Preceded by: The Dark Age (1015&mdash;1998) Followed by: The Age of Exploration (2303&mdash;2356)

The Telmarine Conquest (used as the name of the event), and the ensuing Telmarine Age of Narnia (used as the name of the era), was the invasion of Narnia by the people of Telmar during Narnia's Dark Age (with disappearence of the previous Narnian monarchs) and includes the time period that followed. The leader of the Telmarines during this conquest was King Caspian I, or Caspian the Great, who defeated the army of Narnia and built his own capital city at the heart of Narnia, far from the north, south, and the ocean, letting Cair Paravel be abandoned. Caspian I established the long-lived Telmarine Dynasty and the Telmarine-Narnian Army. Upon this conquest, the Telmarines amassed not only control of the mainland Narnia, but its imperial territories like the Province of Galma and the Lone Islands, making the King of Narnia also the Emperor of the Lone Islands and the Overlord of Galma.

After discovering the state of anarchy over Narnia, the Telmarines came from Telmar and invaded Galma and the Lone Islands, instituting close ties to Calormen in the Lone Islands and introducing governors and nobility. They then continued to mainland Narnia where they landed at Cair Paravel and defeated the Army of Narnia, which remained leaderless, and introduced borders seperating the far north of Archenland from themselves and discontinuing full relationships with Archenland. Many talking animals either abandoned their intelect or retreated to solitude and hiding, along with the centaurs, satyrs, and fauns, while the wood spirits and water spirits fell into a deep sleep in their trees and waters, with some of the more fortunate dwarfs, who could pose as humans to the Telmarines, inter-married with Telmarine women. The Telmarines instituted a new nobility and organized military.

The next generation of those Telmarines born in Narnia would be known by the exiled "Old Narnians" as "Telmarine-Narnians". The reinstitution of the tolerance of talking animals (who made up the majority of the Old Narnians) began with the reign of King Caspian X who actually sided with the Old Narnians rather than his fellow Telmarine-Narnians due to an understanding of the Old Narnians' plight and a destiny to obtain his rightful throne from his villainous uncle Miraz. Caspian went as far as to help the Old Narnians instigate and succeed in the Narnian Revolution after which he banished many of his own Telmarine relatives and allowed the Old Narnians to take back their land. However, although Caspian himself was born a Telmarine-Narnian, because he had aided them in their revolution, the Old Narnians allowed him to rule as the next Narnian monarch and this is generally accepted as the end of the Telmarine Age in 2303. However, because Caspian and his heirs still had Telmarine blood in them, Telmarine control technically didn't end until the Calormene Conquest.

Note on Names
It is interesting to note that every Telmarine king of Narnia except Miraz had the ending -ian in their names. Examples include Caspian, Rilian, Erlian, and Tirian. Other men of Telmarine descent often also had the ending in their names. Examples include Drinian, Revilian, Octesian, and Sopespian.