Dukedom: Meloir
Meloir is a dukedom of the Arcanaan Empire and a former kingdom pre-empire once ruled by the now-extinct House Deshaies. Shortly before the formation of the empire in 1012 B.A., House Duval, who were friendly agents of Antony Viscus (later Anselm I) before his rise to imperator, overthrew King Edmont Deshaies of Melís and seized power. At the Summit of the Four (the days-long debate over ceding power to Antony), House Duval bent the knee, abdicating their crown to Anselm I. Loic Barthet Duval, the first and last Duval king of Melís, became the new empire's first duke and was styled by the imperator as "His Grace."
During the War of Retribution in 1011 B.A., Meloir's military accounted for almost 40% of the empire's combined forces. Anselm called them a "grand army" as he watched a contingent of Meloiran soldiers clash head-on with Dominion legions and emerge victorious in every encounter until the end of the conflict. The Meloirans have since stylized their military force as the Grande Armée.
Pre-Empire
Established circa 1360-1350 BA, the present-day capital of Melís was all there was to the would-be kingdom. It began as a small settlement that borrowed ambitions of becoming a respected city-state from neighboring human enclaves but was stuck playing catch-up when everyone else started ahead of them after the Void Years. During its first century, the territory was governed by an oligarchy and was focused on defending what little it had from hostile kingdoms on all sides. In 1260 B.A., however, the oligarchical council that ruled Melis dwindled (through political maneuvering or other schemes) to a single family and its patriarch, Raymon Deshaies. Raymon installed himself as an authoritarian king and took full control over the military that Melís had worked to build to protect its walls. Training them to be more aggressive but also more disciplined, he converted the fledging force of guards and scouts into a brutal but effective war machine. He also took full advantage of spies and established a network of agents that reported back on neighbor force strength and tactics. In 1263 B.A., Raymon pushed his army into Malét, Leclair, Plaissis, and Sarcourt, which all directly bordered Melísian territory. Raymon split the army into two main forces, moving one to the north to invade Malét, and the other to the south, to invade Leclair. When both were successful in their blitzes, he moved them clockwise, simultaneously, from Malét to Plaissis, and from Leclair to Sarcourt. The rapid invasions and swift movement overwhelmed the small kingdoms that Melís' military had out-developed and out-classed in a period of just three years since Raymon ceased power. He then annexed the four territories and converted them into the first counties of a new kingdom: Meloir. The names of these former kingdoms remain the names of the counties today, their same borders still drawn on modern Abian maps. Until House Duval usurped them in 1013 B.A., Meloir had been ruled by a long-lasting Deshaies dynasty. Most of the Deshaies monarchs put immense focus on military development and training. They expanded Meloiran control to the present-day borders of the imperial dukedom it would eventually become. It once also held the city-state of Pavicelle, but the port was yielded to Anselm I by House Duval as a gift in return for the imperator's political support and legitimization of the Duval dynasty after the formation of the Empire. In 1018 B.A., Meloir became embroiled in a regional war with Lornaris, the neighboring kingdom on the west side of the Blue Mountains. Lornaris was a rival in military strength at the time, and the royal families of both kingdoms were known to harbor loathing for each other that spilled over into both political and armed conflict. The long-standing tension had roots in a disagreement over the line of succession when both families became connected by blood in 1124 B.A. However, "disagreement" would be a drastic understatement, as the frequent armed clashes would see a total death count in the millions over the next century. The last outbreak of war between the two kingdoms, declared by King Edmont Deshaies, would drive Meloir into an economic recession and sacrifice thousands of men. The end of the Deshaies reign was a bloody coup that plunged Melís into chaos in 1013 B.A. Count Loic Barthet Duval, an accomplished and capable general of the Meloiran army, supported Antony Viscus' ambition to unite all Abia under a single banner. He was also tired of sending young soldiers to die in the Blue Mountains for a pointless war over bloodlines. Having acted as a political agent on Antony's behalf for several years, it is speculated that Count Loic manipulated many junior officers of the army into having no confidence in King Edmont, making them believe that the king himself was a traitor to the country and that Meloir's honor could only be restored by deposing Edmont and removing the Deshaies family from power once and for all. Though Melís was wracked by panic when Count Loic marched on the capital, he ensured his mission was swift. Approximately 300 Meloiran sentries in the city that night, all loyal to the count, opened the gates of the concentric walls to allow Loic's army to pass through to the royal palace. At first confused, the citizenry quickly realized they were not witnessing a late-evening victory parade, but an in-process coup d'etat. Slow to react, forces at the palace, who had never seen real combat, tried to protect the king and the royal family, but were cut down quickly by Loic's hardened veterans of the Meloir-Lornaris wars. The massacre of the royal family that followed was brutal, violent, and shocking. In a letter to Antony Viscus, after the soon-to-be imperator announced he was convening a summit of the Abian rulers, King Lybault Montague of Lornaris, wrote:...After the atrocity against my kin, never, in a thousand-thousand lifetimes of Montague kings and queens, will Lornaris sit at a table with that bastard butcher. Despite our differences, our words, our wars, and the blood spilled with honor on the battlefield, King Edmont and Queen Johanna were still family. Distant cousins we may have been, King Edmont and I shared the blood of our forefather. He and his wife were mericlessly slain, and their children were put to the sword 'ere they left their own beds. I lost a piece of myself, and though a year has now gone since they were betrayed, I yet grieve in torment. I grieve even more at the news of you hosting the villain that murdered them, offering to make him a vassal to your ambition. You and he may as well be conspirators in this crime. And so my answer to you is no. I will not join your call for unity. I will not cede a single grain of power. And I will never forgive this transgression against my family.
Geography
Situated on the southwest side of the Blue Mountains in what is considered the Midlands region of Abia, Meloir is a temperate region with thick black forests and rushing rivers in the west, and fertile farmland, rolling hills, and natural fields of endless flowers to the east. It is often considered the most beautiful of the empire's dukedoms, with stunning vistas all year round, no matter where you are. In the northern reaches of the dukedom, the Azure Pass offers an easy path through the Blue Mountains into the neighboring dukedom of Lornaris on Abia's Western Plate.Melís
The capital city, Melís, is the beating economic and cultural heart of the dukedom. It is a sprawling metropolis that, unlike many large Arcanaan cities, began as a purely human settlement and was not built off of or around pre-existing chimeric ruins or landmarks. Thus, consisting entirely of human architectural designs that developed over the centuries, Melís is one of the few examples of Adaran human-exclusive design and construction philosophy. At the outset, the city is reminiscent of 15th- and 16th-century Tellan West European architecture. Odysseus-1 Anthropology has referred to it as "the Paris of the Empire." Originally adopting a defensive layout with high, fortified walls around the city's center, Melís surrounded itself with concentric sectors walls over time. Each encirclement was eventually split into baileys or wards as city planners began to organize a modern layout and scheme. Though these old wards and walls still exist today, most of the city actually expands beyond the outermost walls. As the empire had long ago entered an era of relative peace within its borders, Melís no longer saw a need to keep expanding fortifications. The city sits to the east of the Verley River, which itself splits into the West and East Verley south of the city. This grand channel of fresh water comes from the east slope of the Blue Mountains and is responsible for quenching the fertile and bountiful land for miles around Melís.Territories
Meloir borders Lornaris to the northwest, Crestos to the southwest, Ebrius to the south, Nexus to the east, and Caster to the North. Under the governance of the duke, there are 21 counties, each with a varying number of baronies. Under the oversight of the Astralian Church in Arcana, there are five dioceses that make up the Archdiocese of Meloir.
Military
Like all other dukedoms of the Empire, Meloir's military is made up of strictly-human soldiers levied from the general population. However, unlike the other dukedoms, these recruits are highly trained and disciplined into regular army regiments that are commanded by officers trained at a military academy in Melís, the Grande Marc Gardet. Once training is completed, the recruits—who were once likely farmers or poor citizens from the city slums—become professional soldiers that receive compensatory pay when remaining on voluntary active service on top of an allowance for housing, food, and uniforms. Their weapons and armor are provided to them by the Grande Armée's "Central Armory Detail" at no charge, but they are entitled to discounts from Meloiran smithies for maintenance.
The Grande Armée is the premier model military of the empire that the more centralized Royal Army, which answers to the imperator, models itself after.
For Home and Honor
Founding Date
1012 BA
Training Level
Professional
Veterancy Level
Decorated/Honored
Demonym
Meloirians
Ruling Organization
Leader Title
Head of State
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Dependent territory
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
Imperial Lora
Official State Religion
Notable Members
