Descendants (if rarely exclusive) of a small cluster of refugees , the Warriors of Jiathnar carved out an empire for themselves. Drawn from the classes of artisans, scribes, merchants and wealthy landowners who were required to keep arms and train with them, the discipline, organization and equipment gave them an advantage over the pastoral natives. In equal numbers their armies were composed of archers and spearmen. Both of which carried bronze short-swords for close combat and usually wore padded cloth armor for protection as a default supplemented with additional bronze armor among the wealthier of their ranks, including helmets, pauldrons and vests of scale for the wealthiest. Shields usually bore the seal relating to the user's profession, in this case that of a bronzeworker. They did adopt some foreign ideas from the peoples they absorbed, such as trousers and boot and they did invent their own architectural styles, laws and systems of government. Never the less, some traces of their origin remained as they retained use of a mostly unchanged version of the archaic syllabic script of their ancestors.For five centuries the first Jiathnari empire ruled it's twelve cities in relative peace before things began to deteriorate. As time went by, the eleven cities founded by conquering Jiathari hosts desired more and more autonamy while the rulers of Jiathnar had become hereditary in all but name, grew more corrupt and disinterested in the welfare of their realm. Eventually civil war broke out as the cities fought against their rulers. Jiathnari formations clashed with each other and city states that had emerged on their borders launched attacks. In two decades this first Empire lay in ruins, but for all that the system of tradesmen warriors remained, even if they fought for their cities rather than the Empire as a hole and wars disrupted supplies of copper and tin, forcing them in time to take up blades and spearheads made from more brittle but readily available iron.