Gameth

A longstanding human kingdom in the center of Liat. Founded nearly a thousand years ago as the largest human empire in the world, the kingdom fell into a steep decline in the mid-800’s after decades of civil war and neglect. Queen Astrid took over from her father and led the kingdom into a new era of prosperity in the 870’s, making Gameth one of the most powerful kingdoms in all of Pescaliat by the 4th Cycle's tenth century.

Structure

The king or queen rules with a royal council to advise on important decisions. Semi-autonomous powers have been granted to the local leaders of Hakon as part of the deal that led to the two nation's reunification. Currently Gameth is in the process of transitioning into a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament and checks on the monarch's power, but the process has slowed somewhat under Queen Stella Nestorius.

Assets

• Vast farmland in the Amber Plains and the southwest of Oakengaard
• Eldermere University in Oftin is one of the most prestigious institutions for higher learning in the world
• Powerful artisanal guilds in Gameria crafting top-notch jewelry, furniture, clothing, etc.
• The mines of Ravi and expat engineers from Avicenna provide Gameth with a technological edge over many of its neighbors and rivals.
• The heroic exploits of the Royal Knights Brigade have provided Gameth with a wave of international goodwill that few kingdoms could ever dream of

History

Early Years of Unity

Founding of Gameth King Cosmere Nestorious founded Gameth and its capital city of Gameria after years of fighting the various kingdoms of Liat. Legends have it that Cosmere appeared on the dawntime horizon with a fleet of golden ships and soldiers, but scholars believe this to be literary embellishment from historians of the time. Gameria, an abandoned mining colony from the days of the Old Myltev Empire, was rebuilt and expanded into a multi-layered city designed for all classes. A golden age of art, science, culture, and commerce began under Cosmere's reign, and to this day many heroic fantasies and adventures are set during this time period.
Gamerian treatment towards elves Few histories of Gameth’s first century addressed the mass displacement and persecution of Liat’s elves. Prior to Cosmere’s arrival, elves could be found in all corners of the continent, with kingdoms controlling vast swathes of land in the south near modern-day Sardivelia. Cosmere’s conquests pushed elves north towards territory now known as Hakon, and thanks to this large population of displaced elves Hakon would remain independent for decades to come. The continent's metallic dragonborn and tortles experienced similar persecutation, but without similar means of relocation they were almost brought to the point of extinction by Gamerian conquerors.
The Aurora Sisters (88 - 158) The Aurora era of Gameth’s history encompassed the reigns of all four of Stella I’s daughters. With a twenty-three-year age difference between them, their reigns covered over sixty years as Gameth formalized its borders and control over Liat. Tensions rose between Gameth and Myltev during this era, leading to some of the first written instances of Myltevian piracy in the 4th Cycle.
The Aurora Sisters (named so for the aurora borealis that occurred each time one of them was born) weren’t immune to intrigue and factionalism, each one fighting the other for supremacy over Gameth. Each of them drew their support from a different region of Gameth’s empire: Central Gameth, Sardivelia to the west, Avicenna to the east, and Hakon to the north. The youngest outlived her sisters by over half a century, leaving each region in Gameth with a stronger sense of identity and self-interest.
Extinction of the Metallic Dragonborn Metallic dragonborn, after decades of resistance to Cosmere’s reign, were wiped out of Liat in the 150’s by Cosmere’s great-grandson Nestor I. The dragonborn gene pool was devastated, and small tribes barely managed to survive isolated in the Nestorian Mtns in eastern Liat. The wizard Asuria the Enchantress protested against the violent campaign, leading to her condemnation and banishment from Gameth by King Nestor. Some theorize the illness that killed Asuria years later was a poisoning done by one of Nestor’s agents. Today, humans and elves remain the only major races on the continent of Liat.
Reign of Penumbra I (186 - 221) A free-spirited leader who often frustrated her royal court by doing the exact opposite of what they advised, her reign was marked by several successful surveying expeditions of Pescaliat. A sailor named Paolo Piedmonte surveyed the most remote portions of Pescat and its coastline with the Arrayas Ocean, and for a time the islands of Myltev were even used as trading ports instead of hubs for piracy.
There’s reason to believe that a handful of ships made it across the Largas Ocean to a mysterious continent known as Rana during this period. Hudson's Travels, a collection of traveling stories published in 203, said the region was full of ‘colossal god-like monsters'. Johnathan Hudson, the expedition’s leader, made it back to Gameth with only three members of his crew alive.
Ironically, Penumbra was lost at sea during a voyage to the Northern Territories on a quest to establish diplomatic ties with the Kiri and Kawa Clans of the region. A succession crisis ensued for the next four years, but her distant nephew Gibbous was eventually chosen to lead the kingdom. His first act as monarch was to end any further surveying expeditions.
Reign of Gibbous I (221 - 244) Gibbous I’s reign marked one of the only times in Liat’s history when the schools of magic and technology frequently collaborated to improve the kingdom. For a time Eldermere University in Oftin even had a devoted engineering department.
Powerful spells became easier to cast thanks to alchemical formulae developed by Avicennan researchers. Is it any wonder that a wizard as powerful as Theo Faust was born during this period?
Reign of Meridian I (321 - 345) Meridian proved to be a tolerable ruler when it came to Theo Faust’s feats of magic, so long as he helped her court magicians research and develop new technologies. These inventions helped improve Gameth’s military, construct sturdier buildings in Gameth, and conquer the islands of Myltev to stabilize the region. Theo distanced himself from Meridian when she began an ill-fated campaign against Glace, leading in part to his missing decade in the 340’s. Some scholars presume that Meridian had an affair with Theo, but no records exist to confirm these rumors.

Gamerian Fragmentation

Reign of Celestia I (363 - 395) The last monarch to serve during Theo Faust’s lifetime, she remembered her great-grandfather Constell’s stories of Theo and called on him to fight the Sea God (perhaps an earlier incarnation of the Sunken God) terrorizing Hakon. The nation went into years of mourning to memorialize the legendary wizard, but Avicennan forces in the east conspired to secede from Gameth in the meantime.
Thus began the Avicennan Divorce in 376, a violent civil war that left the continent of Liat divided for the first time since Cosmere Nestorius’ conquest of the region more than 350 years earlier. Wracked with guilt and depression from this defeat, she invested heavily into Gameth’s schools like Eldermere University in Oftin to compete with Avicenna’s technological innovation. She never shook her legacy of defeat, but her endowments to Eldermere helped turn it into one of the most respected schools in Pescaliat.
Reign of Gibbous II (395 - 461) One of Gameth’s longest-reigning monarchs, his reign was marked by a massive religious revival that consumed every segment of Gamerian society. Led by druidic priests and clerics from Hakon, this period of religious fervor was in direct response to Avicenna’s agnosticism and technological developments. This new religious movement emphasized the sanctity of nature and the supremacy of magic over technology, two tenets that came to define the secession movement of the Hakon Dispute four centuries later.
Gibbous became senile later his reign, allowing zealots from Oakengaard to rule his court for years and punish their rivals with impunity. This alienated many members of Gameth’s merchant class in Gameria and the western port towns: any new factory or foundry built was labeled blasphemous if they failed to bribe the local priest. Gibbous’ great-grandson Constell II took over in the 460’s, expelling many of the die-hard members of the religious movement back to Oakengaard where they would denounce the Gamerian monarchy from afar.

Constell's Conquests

Beginning of the Pescat Campaigns Young King Contsell II of Gameth attempted to expand his kingdom's borders beyond Liat and into the kingdoms of Southern Pescat. He grew up hearing stories of Gameth’s majesty before the Avicennan Divorce, and he wanted to reclaim that old glory for the kingdom. New military techniques and a fresh generation of generals gave Constell a battlefield advantage on both land and sea, and a naval victory at the Myltevian town of Vostok in 467 was the culmination of new techniques that cemented Constell's reputation as a visionary leader.
Gamerian Campaign into Glace King Constell II began an invasion of the elven kingdom of Glace in 472. Glace, an elven hegemony, failed to prepare for surprise assaults and new siege equipment developed by Gameth's mages. The capital city of Iverburg fell in three days, and Glace was conquered in a matter of months.
Thorvald Grettirson, a dwarven miner, fled south to escape oppression from elves and humans alike in 471 amidst the chaos and founded the Free State of Thorvald to the south. Constell used Iverburg as his base of operations in the following decades for future conquests.
Elflands and Gameth’s Special Relationship After minor skirmishes in the Golden Forests, Elflands and Gamerian diplomats came to an amenable truce in 482. The Elflands would provide valuable intelligence and trade routes, and Gameth would focus its resources on conquering the tiefling kingdom of Rakka (the Elflands’ largest rival). Long after Constell’s death the two kingdoms would stay on good terms for centuries to come.
The Rakkan Campaign Constell II prepared for a years-long march to the Rakkan capital of Delmascar in 486. Minor races like the drow and aarakocra were recruited to turn against their tiefling oppressors, the drow providing valuable magic/relics along with access to the Underdark. The Battle of Rel-Odar in 488 pushed Rakkan forces west and guaranteed drow independence for the first time in centuries.
Constell II died of wounds inflicted during the Siege of Delmascar in 493. Alliances with the drow and aarakocra fell apart following this devastating defeat, and Glace rose up in a revolution that united the kingdom's three major races. Thousands of soldiers were left stranded in Pescat, and only a handful survived a treacherous winter trek back to Gameria. To this day Constell II remains the only Gamerian monarch to have died on a different continent.
Gamerian Civil War Following Constell's defeats in Pescat, the western cities of Gameth declared their independence as the kingdom of Sardivelia in 495. Multiple city-states led by families of wealthy merchants had long chafed under decades of strict trading rules imposed on them by Gameria. A corrupt and weakened Gameth was no match for Sardivelia's well-funded armies, and it was forced to recognize the independence of cities like Trecce and Garavecchio in 502.
Abdication of King Parallax The Gamerian Civil War and rampant corruption led to popular uprising in Gameria in 503. Weeks of street protests and embargoes led to much-needed reforms of civil service and royal councils, and King Parallax abdicated in 504 to his distant nephew King Nestor III.
Reign of Celestia II (530 - 557) The years after Sardivelia’s independence from Gameth proved to be a precarious time in Gameth’s history, and many members of the court worried that a Hakonian secession was imminent. More than any monarch leading up to the Hakon Dispute, Celestia II worked tirelessly to reform Gameth’s military and ensure the stability of the kingdom for several decades. The military, still in the Constellian mindset of conquest and expansion, was reformed into an army focused on defending the kingdom’s borders and suppressing any signs of unrest.
The Elflands proved to be a powerful ally in these years, providing gnomish technology from Galway and dragonhide armor from Estrival that helped revive Gameria’s ailing merchant guilds. Celestia died at sea with her granddaughter Meridian and many members of the Nestorian family, but her reforms helped ensure that a succession crisis wouldn’t occur in her unexpected demise.
Reign of Constell III (557 - 589) Constell hoped to replicate some of his predecessor’s greatness by taking Constell’s name, but his reign proved to be ill-suited for the needs of the kingdom. Hakonian reformers demanded more druidic representation in Gameth’s pantheon, and years of poor harvests ravaged the kingdom for much of the 580’s. The Gulf of Gameth was rife with piracy from Myltev, and some of Myltev’s most famous pirate kings emerged from this period.
Wearied from years of conflict and crisis, Constell gratefully abdicated when his long-lost daughter Meridian II appeared in Gameria one day to claim the throne for her own. Constell spent his remaining days in Midworth writing poetry, some of which has aged quite well (e.g. “The Gulf of Gold”)
Reign of Meridian II (589 - 615) Many believed that Meridian had died at sea during a voyage to the Elflands, but when she arrived in the streets of Gameria with a mercenary band of pirates she was called the second coming of Cosmere Nestorius. Primary documents from the time recount stories of Meridian’s years spent at sea, forging a band of pirates powerful enough to rout the king of Myltev and claim the throne of Gameth from her aging father. Her reign was a bawdy time in Gameria’s history, few felt safe traveling in the city’s lower levels at night as pirates and sellswords roamed the alleyways.
Her realpolitik approach to foreign policy ensured that Avicenna never attempted a war of expansion, and she played the Sardivelian families against each other during the Season of Slit Throats to annex farmland for Gameth to the west. Perhaps this was why she was one of the victims of the Temple of the Ageless One massacre in 615 along with the rulers of Avicenna and Sardivelia. She left behind a powerful legacy that adventurers like Amara Fireheart sought to emulate centuries later.
Reign of Nestor IV (615 - 653) Although coronated in a time of crisis for the continent of Liat, Nestor’s reign proved to be a stabilizing force in the region for decades to come. A gifted orator, Nestor was one of the key negotiators following the Temple of the Ageless One massacre that helped ensure a unanimous coalition in support of the Gentiloni noble family in Sardivelia. Avicenna was appeased with considerable tribute from both kingdoms, but several years of bountiful harvests allowed Gameth to afford the expense and begin major trading ventures with its neighbors.
Relations were normalized with Glace for the first time since Constell II’s invasion, and a consulate was built in Delmascar to resume relations with the tieflings of Rakka. Myltev remained a sore spot for Gameth’s foreign policy ventures, but several displays of military might in the Gulf of Gameth convinced Myltev’s leadership to focus their pirating on the coasts of the Largas Ocean near the Free State of Thorvald .
Reign of Meridian III (658 - 682) Ever since Sardivelia’s independence in the early 500’s, the monarchs of Gameth were constantly paranoid that the same would one day happen to Hakon in the north. Ironically, many of the policies taken to prevent such secession ended up exacerbating Hakon’s demands for independence.
Take Meridian III’s reign for instance, a period marked by suspicion and oppression against the wood elves of Hakon. A member of her royal court was revealed to be a yuan-ti pureblood early in her reign, leading her to believe that she needed to use excessive force against Hakonian dissidents to project her reign’s power. She was popular for a time in Gameria, less so in the regions to the north.
Reign of Penumbra II (682 - 725) A wizened leader who was raised in the Temple of Erivo, Penumbra made the most drastic changes to Liat’s pantheon since its founding days during Cosmere’s reign. Rexfur had been a staple of the pantheon since the early 500’s, but he was removed and replaced by more local deities. Helm was reinstated as the second-most important deity after Erivo, in recognition of their sacrifices made in service of the Ageless One during the Ostry Apocalypse.
These changes were met with controversy as years of feuding and fighting left the kingdom riven along sectarian lines. The Hakonians were the most opposed to the pantheon changes, another reason added to Hakon’s secession in the early 800’s.
Reign of Solstice II (725 - 759) One of the only Gamerian monarchs to attend school in a foreign nation (he graduated from Mulane College with a degree in public speaking), Solstice managed to steer the kingdom of Gameth though a tumultuous war with Avicenna. The Avicennan leadership sought to claim control over the Nestorian Mtns. and the vital coastal towns near Gameria, leading to a protracted conflict that lasted for most of the 730’s.
A political stalemate left the border drawn at the fishing town of Cosmere with much of the Nestorion Mtns. in Avicennan hands. In return, Gameth was given Avicennan technology to modernize the kingdom’s farming industry and aqueduct canals. His successors failed to capitalize on this success, but Gameth lived to see another century thanks to him.
Reign of Nestor V (759 - 773) Nestor was a weak ruler who failed to deal with the rising threat of lawlessness and economic uncertainty in his kingdom. The Myltevian pirate king Gordiefsky was allowed to escape after raiding the coffers of Oakengaard, and a cattle blight starved many of the elven farmers in Hakon. Tired of the poor administration, Hakonian forces staged monthslong protests that led to Nestor’s resignation in 773. His nephew Gibbous III proved to be more competent, and Nestor died in anonymity years later in North Watch.
Reign of Gibbous III (773 - 807) Hakonian agitators had overthrown his successor, so Gibbous III governed with a cautious hand for much of his 34-year reign. The largest crisis came in 783 when thousands of Myltevian pirate ships charged towards Gameth in an attempt to conquer the kingdom under the leadership of Cpt. Gordiefsky. A massive hurricane destroyed much of the pirate fleet, but Gameth still had to deal with the disorganized remains of Gordiefsky’s fleet as well as devastating flooding in Gameria’s lower levels. Gibbous was known as a defender of sorts, even if he failed to sufficiently identify the threat of Hakonian secession in his later years.
The Hakon Dispute Hakonian mages declared independence from Gameth in 821, claiming the continent's ecosystem and old magic systems had been neglected by the Gamerian elite. Gameth, scared to lose even more power and territory, leaned into years of civil war against the Hakonians. The war was brutal, tearing families apart and ravaging towns on both sides of border. King Terran of Gameth underestimated the power of Hakon’s enchanted military class, and all of his children except Prince Nestor VI were killed in battle.
The peace treaty was signed in 836, guaranteeing Hakon’s independence from Gameth. Oftin would operate as a neutral entity and enroll students from both nations. King Wending I of Hakon closed its borders to Gameth to ensure no further meddling from its neighbors.
The Redpox Plague A plague broke out in Gameth in 833, leading to its eventual signing of the 836 treaty with Hakon. The plague affected all classes and facets of life, but seemed to affect magic users less severely. King Terran II of Gameth died of the plague in 838, and his 19-year-old son took the throne as King Nestor VI.
Kidnapping of Queen Astrid I In 848 Nestor's only daughter Astrid was kidnapped at the age of 8 by Hakonian radicals. They wanted to use her to gain further concessions from Gameth, but their actions were denounced by Hakonian authorities as it threatened to restart another decade of warfare.
The radicals were put on trial and executed, and Astrid was put into the care of the Temple of Erivo under an assumed name to prevent further attempts on her life. She rose to the rank of High Priestess in 868, but her father fell into a deep depression in Gameth and allowed the kingdom to fall into ruin. He preferred to focus on festivals over state affairs.

Revival

Abdication of King Nestor VI After decades of mismanaged rule, King Nestor VI abdicated the throne in 874 to his daughter Queen Astrid I. Long presumed dead after her kidnapping, she returned to Gameria and claimed the throne for her own in the nation’s most dire moment in centuries. Serving for years as High Priestess of the Temple of Erivo in Hakon, she reunified the two kingdoms just when Gameth’s stability seemed perilous.
Astrid reformed Gameth's decrepit government to make it more efficient and accommodating, ensuring that more forward-thinking druids and spellcasters were given a voice in the government's affairs during the Avicennan War of the 870's. Teams of adventurers like the Royal Knights Brigade were relied on to help secure the Gamerian countryside, and a desperate population of refugees in the capital were eager for any kind of reforms that would make life in Gameth more secure.
Astrid’s reunification initially received outrage from the older Hakonians who still bore the scars of the terrible civil war. High Priest Ove in Oakengaard was one of the most vocal critics, but once he was discredited as an Avicennan propagandist resistance to reunification began to lose steam.
Avicennan War Territorial disputes between Gameth and Avicenna led to all-out war in 874 between Queen Astrid and Gen. Boua Ussaki of Avicenna. The latter made gains in the western borders, but plans were disrupted when Gen. Boua was assassinated by a halfling named Sebastian the Character. An Avicennan naval assault of Oakengaard also failed miserably due to a kraken attack in 875.
Adm. Aldo Snaggletooth, the new leader of Avicenna, won skirmishes in the Nestorian Mtns., but his plans of an airship bombing campaign on Gameria were ruined when Gameth's Royal Knights Brigade destoryed his airship. Aldo was presumed to have died in the crash, but no body was found. The war ended when Avicenna's Interim Leader Idris was killed by Fairouz the Undying's cultists and the town of Ravi surrended in 876. Post-war, the city of Ravi was claimed by Gameth and the island of Charybdis was granted to Sardivelia for its contributions to the Gamerian war effort.
Technological Progress in Gameth With the mining town of Ravi under Gamerian control, Gameth held vast resources to develop high-tech weapons and inventions. A large number of Avicennan researchers and engineers fled their home country to work on high-tech projects with firearms, steamboats, and railroads.
A transcontinental railway was projected to be completed by the mid-900's, and the first rail system connecting Ravi to Gameria was completed in 895. Gameth's technological advancement ran into several obstacles not long after, most notably from a new generation of Hakonians fearing the harmful effects of these new inventions on Hakon's ecosystem. Spurred on by groups like the The Knights of Yo-Na, Queen Astrid was forced to accede to Hakonian demands and ensure that proposed technological projects underwent a rigorous review by an independent council of druids and environmentalists. The reforms helped modernize Gamerian government and democratize the kingdom in ways similar to that of the Treeleaf Union and Broggfey, but the nation's technological innovation was significantly impeded by the moves. Gameth would quickly be outpaced by rival kingdoms like Rakka during the airship development race of the 910's.
By the start of the 4th Cycle's tenth century, Gameth was once of the most powerful kingdoms in the world. Its adventuring group the Royal Knights Brigade had successfully defeated The Sunken God, and diplomats like Roland Fireheart helped forge goodwill for Gameth around the world. More than any other nation in Pescaliat, Gameth appeared well-placed to reap the full blessings of the new century if it could overcome its internal disagreements. Queen Astrid's later years in power have been spent cementing her legacy and transitioning the kingdom into a constitutional monarchy, leaving much of the heavy lifting of foriegn policy to her daughter Stella.

Demography and Population

• 81% Human
• 9% Elven (Wood Elves)
• 10% Other Races (Tiefling, Goblinkin, etc.)

Territories

Rulers of Gameth

1. Cosmere Nestorius (004, 4th Cycle - 057)
2. Stella I (57 - 88)
3. Aurora Sisters (88 - 149)
4. Nestor I (149 - 186)
5. Penumbra I (186 - 217)
6. Nestorian Succession Crisis (217 - 221)
7. Gibbous I (221 - 243)
8. Stella II (243 - 272)
9. Constell I (272 - 313)
10. Nestor II (313 - 321)
11. Meridian I (321 - 344)
12. Solstice I (344 - 363)
13. Celestia I (363 - 395)
14. Gibbous II (395 - 460)
15. Constell II (460 - 492)
16. Parallax (492 - 504)
17. Nestor III (504 - 529)
18. Celestia II (529 - 556)
19. Constell III (556 - 589)
20. Meridian II (589 - 614)
21. Nestor IV (614 - 657)
22. Merdian III (657 - 682)
23. Penumbra II (682 - 725)
24. Solstice II (725 - 759)
25. Nestor V (759 - 772)
26. Gibbous III (772 - 807)
27. Terran (807 - 838)
28. Nestor VI (838 - 874)
29. Astrid (874 - 927)
30. Stella III (927 - Present)

Let None Be Forgotten

Founding Date

004, 4th Cycle

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Capital

Gameria

Government System

Monarchy, Constitutional

Official State Religion

Temple of Erivo

Subsidiary Organizations

• Eldermere University
• Hakon
• Royal Knights Brigade

Official Languages

• Common
• Elven

Controlled Territories

• Amber Plains
• Cosmere
• Craftsman's Guild
• Dahlonega
• Dunwich
• Eastwood
• Gameria
• Gameria - 1st Level
• Gameria - 2nd Level
• Gameria - 3rd Level
• Gamerian Docks
• Gamerian Temple of Erivo
• Gulf of Gameth
• Kelethian Woods
• Lake Etirna
• Midworth
• National Archives
• Nestorian Mtns.
• North Watch
• Oakengaard
• Oftin
• Ravi
• Shank's Fighting Pits
• Stockton Keep
• The Astral Palace
• Watchtower
• Westmont
• Windfaire

Neighboring Nations

• Avicenna
• Myltev
• Sardivelia

Notable Members

• Astrid Nestorius
• Hoeven Godwinson
• Kells
• Vandakar