Lysandus
"Who are you, Lysandus? Are your jade-like hills and sapphire coast the jewels of Amagus or the craft of Boldur? Is it the Crown of Men that makes you grand, or the Hammer of Dwarves?"The Kingdom of Lysandus was a sovereign constitutional monarchy situated in the regions of Keller and Lisanrik. It shared land borders with Gothai in the Northwest and Boldurun in the Southwest.
Structure
Lysandus is a constitutional monarchy, centralizing power of the nation under a single crown. The crown is often passed down to the senior-most child of the king, biased more toward male heirs. However, if there is only a daughter left for the children, they become Queen while any husbands she takes rules as a Duke. If no children remain, the line goes to the King's oldest brother and/or his oldest child.
Power allocated toward the King would them being the head justice of the court in Lysandus. The King of Lysandus has their own small court of advisers and knights, which is called the Round Table, in which they discuss military, religious, and economic handling of the nation.
Under the power of the crown is the House of Chiefs, consisting of aristocratic lords that control the cities of Lisanrik and Keller. The most high ranking of these lords were the adventurous Dragonlords. The House of Chiefs would discuss with the monarch on different legislation and charters to give to the people of Lysandus. The Chiefs would vote on the legislation while the monarch had power to veto or pass it as official law.
Under them was the Court of Ebenwald, which would be the head of justice in Lysandus in order to convict felons. There would be a total of five judges who served for life here.
History
Sometime around 1A 1000, humans managed to construct ships to get to the land of Eiren coming from the eastern region of Chunc. There, they began to meet the Dwarves and Elves, who had power over the land for themselves. Though at first they served these men, some more Barbaric groups of humans, called the Goths, rebelled against the Elves and fought back their forces to live under their own rule. These men would establish the Kingdom of Gothai.
However, the men of Keller found themselves comfortable under Dwarven rule, at least for a while. Eventually they began to settle south in Lisanrik, which began to bother the Hill Dwarves in that region. Over the next 2,000 years small human city states sprinkled across Keller and Lisanrik, with tribal leaders heading the cities, while the Dwarves had a strict monarchical structure. This allowed them to still have better control over these men. That changed, however, as they began to extend their influence too far. Some of the Dwarven armies, afraid of the growing power of these city states, began to assault them in order to keep them in check.
Creation of the Kingdom of Lysandus
In 1A 5478, a young tribal leader from Brymoor named Aethel Ebenwald grew tired of Dwarven rule and rallied the tribes of Lisanrik and Keller in order to unite them under one banner. Some refused, to which he conquered to allow them to understand his power and rule. Eventually he took the city of Anfeld and became crowned "King of the Ebenwald", his own name for his gathered tribes. It wouldn't take long for Aethel to also gather the tribes of Keller. The Ebenwalds found themselves troubled by a Dwarven sabotage where they built dams on the Silver River to destroy the crops in Lisanrik. This started the Battle of the Silver River in 1A 5489, to which Aethel managed to win with new morale. Then, in 5492 Aethel attacked the Golden City in Northern Lisanrik in hopes to take it's economic power. Allied with Gothai, he managed to weaken the Dwarven numbers until in 5496 he disposed of the Dwarven King there and stormed the city. Then, Aethel would be crowned the King of Lysandus, a new united kingdom connecting the two regions of Keller and Lisanrik. Aethel would also have his named changed to "Ebenwald Lysandus". Under Ebenwald Lysandus' rule, the nation would undergo about 25 years of peace, until he would die and his crown would be passed to his son Adran I. Adran would focus on creating a proper judicial system as well as institutionalizing the land. However, because of his relationship with the Dwarves, he would be assassinated in 1A 5527, where his daughter, Dariah, would be crowned queen.The Dariahan Era
Because Queen Dariah was a half-dwarf, she immediately met opposition from the men of Keller, who hated Dwarves. A small rebellion from Keller began in 1A 5545 led by a man named Mortimer Oncett. Dariah would put down the rebellion, however the men of Keller would continue until they formed a new Kingdom of Keller, crowning Mortimer as king. From 5552-5554 Dariah would battle with Mortimer until divine influence from Amagus allowed her to capture Mortimer because of hysteria overcoming his troops. Then, Dariah would propose a political marriage to him in order to bring peace, to which Mortimer eventually agreed with. Thus, the kingdom was united again. 26 years of peace would come to Lysandus, with a Paladin of the Crowns order being created, the construction of Amagus tower began, making a navy in Keller, and continual public works. However, the years would end with a terrible plague in 5581 which killer Mortimer and left Dariah under pressure. A new Dragon Crisis arose in 5590, where dragons began to destroy cities in Lysandus and across Eiren. Dariah would turn to hiring powerful mercenaries along with her armies to stop these creatures. As a reward, she made many of the surviving mercenaries into Dragonlords, owning land and cities in Lysandus. After the crisis began to subside, Dariah continued her public works and rebuilt Lysandus. In 5637 she would retire her crown due to her weakening body and give it to her son, Mortimer I. Yet Mortimer's unpopular reign would not last long as he angered the new Dragonlords until he was overthrown by Erik Ebenwald.
Verge of Collapse and Recovery
Erik proved to be a terrible king, instituting corrupt sheriffs, blackmailing public officials, and shut down the Court of Chiefs made by Adran I. He would raise taxes to start a new war to gather new lands for Lysandus by attacking Gothai. In 1A 5658 a false invasion was staged of the holy city of Orwood by confused Gothai soldiers. Erik would use this as an excuse to attack Gothai for a crusade. For 8 years the lands of Lysandus and Gothai battled, however Erik would be defeated by Gothai, who kept the city of Orwood and took more parts of Keller. This angered the Dragonlords, who realized that Erik destroyed the Court of Chiefs to institute an absolute monarchy. They went to war with Erik in 5580, taking up Dariah's grandson, Mortimer Darius Oncett, to oppose him. Erik would be defeated and exiled as Mortimer was handed the crown, becoming Mortimer II. Mortimer II's reign was met with several crises. The Kingdom of Danen forcefully took Obesfeld, and the rebellious Knights of Black Dragon plagued the cities of Lisanrik with their schemes. Because Mortimer II gave up more power to the dragonlords, he struggled to consolidate funds to fight back Danen and successfully deal with the Black Dragons. In the year 5689, the Black Dragons summoned many dragons back into Lysandus, assaulting the north and south borders of the nation. Through the efforts of heroes called the Dragonblazers (and some intervention with the Lady of the Lake), however, King Mortimer II succeeded in propelling the invaders. This culminated in the Battle of Amagus Tower, where the Dragonblazers stormed the aforementioned tower while King Mortimer II found himself allied with Dwarves of Bolderun and, mysteriously, the ghostly army of the ancient King Boerhtric of Keller. Facing against the Knights of Black Dragon and the Danen forces, Lysandus broke through the lines, the Black Knights were defeated, and the dragons were driven away from Lysandus. The war efforts of Lord Wulfric Dragonbane would protect the north border, thus securing Lysandus for years to come.
Demography and Population
Lysandus has a huge population of about 1 million people, making it one of the largest nations in the realm of Talamh population wise. Many of these people consist of mostly humans and dwarves, with elves in the minority. There are also more rare races that can be found in larger cities, such as halflings and gnomes, as well as tieflings and half-orcs. Smaller cities likely do not see these races at all, so for them to see a Half-Orc will probably be met with confusion and potential racism.
Territories
Military
The military of Lysandus primarily operates in the city of Feller's Rock, a sprawling stone military outpost with an academy that trains citizens to be soldiers under harsh discipline. The local horses near Feller's Rock has made the city into a powerful horse breeding industry as well.
From Feller's Rock, the nation of Lysandus primarily focuses on cavalry units as a mounted infantry when protecting it's borders. The creation of the gun has allowed them to enforce this incredibly well. Besides horse units, Lysandus has always followed a conscripted army policy, allowing their number of soldiers to overpower other nations. This has become increasingly important with the use of guns.
Besides the infantry, the nation has an aggressive amount of castles along it's border and inside of it's land. It seems you cannot go 15 miles without seeing a castle. At sea, Lysandus has a small navy of 30 ships which dwindled after Wallingwish left, which is based in Keller's Coast.
Religion
Originally, only the worship of Amagus was allowed in the region of Keller and the worship of Boldur in Lisanrik. When the Kingdom was united, Amagusicm took over as the official state religion. However, this caused conflict with any Dwarves or Men who worshiped Boldur, leaving to tension over centuries. The tension ended with the formation of a new church worshiping all the Good Divines. The Church of the All-Divine is the current religious power in Lysandus, representing the gods of the main populations of Talamh. Amagus, the patron god of Men, is represented in this organization.
The Church of the All-Divine has a significant amount of sway over the crown in Lysandus, since the King/Queen of Lysandus is supposed to have religious advisers. Under their influence, the Kingdom of Lysandus places some of it's tax money to raising clerics and paladins for hunting cults and bringing religious order through inquisition.
Agriculture & Industry
When it comes to agriculture, the people of Lysandus enjoy their sheep and goat farming. Cheeses and lamb meat has been a staple of Lysandan diet. Most clothes from the region, if not being an aristocrat or king, are made from wool instead of cotton due to it's sheer abundance. Other than these things, many Lysandans use the Silver River to take wheat they had grown and crush it down to make grain for bread.
Lysandus is known for having a myriad of different local industries, ranging from lumber to textiles. However, it's main prize has been mercantilism due to it's gold and silver mining near Ebenwald and Silver Town, which they had taken from the Dwarves centuries ago. Smithing has been it's main draw, with steel from Lysandus being considered only second to the blades of Boldurun.
Trade & Transport
Domestic Lysandus uses the Silver River for most of it's long-range transportation for goods, often using rafts or boats to face the calming river. Even wizards from Cemedri Magicus use the river for transportation to get to the city of Ebenwald. When going the opposite way of the river, many travelers prefer to use Adran's Paths, the largest sprawling collection of roads created under the rule of Adran I.
When exporting, Keller's Coast and Wewich are choice for going to the sea for trading with other nations. When the Wallingwish Islands were under the control of Lysandus, they used them for a stopping point to get to Farewey. Now that Wallingwish is no longer under their control, they often have to make trade deals with the powerful Half-Elven family known as the Hapsburgs in Wallingwish to continue their trade. In-land trading is simpler, using extensions of the Silver River to enter Babash and trade with that nation and Gothai, as well as Gaelitia.
Heavenly Eye Preserve Us
Founding Date
1A 5496
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Capital
Predecessor Organization
Demonym
Lysandans
Leader
Government System
Monarchy, Constitutional
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Lysandus currently uses a system under a gold standard in order to value it's money. Different pieces are valued by a system of 10's, with a single copper piece equaling 1, a single silver piece equaling 10, and a single gold piece equaling 100.
Legislative Body
House of Chiefs
Judicial Body
The Court of Ebenwald
Official State Religion
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
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