Northern Kingdoms
The Northern Kingdoms as a recognisable entity did not exist until fifty years ago. Before then, it had simply been a disparate collection of realms clustered in the northernmost tip of Erru. Occasionally they traded with each other, more often they warred with one another. The royal houses intermarried, and fostered rivalries, and brought an end to those rivalries by more marriages.
All that changed after Midaevia invaded.
War for the North Errusians had been a simple thing, done for simple goals such as the pursuit of land and the settling of grudges. It rarely involved armies larger than a few hundred men, and lasted no longer than a number of days, before both sides settled peace over a shot of whisky.
They had known about the Empire for many years, but it had always seemed a faraway problem for faraway nations. Even after the powerful human nation of Calderon, which for decades had fought a bitter struggle with the Empire, capitulated, it was still believed that the Empire would have no interest in expanding that far North.
Then, during the first month of spring in the year 2845, the Empire launched a massive surprise attack on Ravernorne, penetrating all the way to Lake Somermore before the Ravernornians could marshal a response, but by then it was too late. Imperial assassins from the Ministry of Enlightenment, including a pair of Praefects, infiltrated Tethoris ahead of the army and murdered the King. Three banner legions arrived the next day to occupy Tethoris, and the Empire quickly set about establishing a permanent presence there.
The reaction among the other kingdoms was one of shock and horror, as they finally acknowledged the threat the Empire posed. Some tried to scramble together an alliance, others prepared to attack on their own. Over the following months, a new sense of community began to emerge as the remaining realms banded together out of sheer necessity, shelving old enmities in order to face this threat, not as separate kingdoms, but as the Northern Kingdoms.
At the end of the series of wars that became known as The Northern Conquests, the now vassalized states remained collectively known as The Northern Kingdoms throughout the rest of the Empire.
Type
Subcontinent
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