Hegemony of Serica
The Hegemony of Serica was created after the Kingdom of Serica rallied the city states of the Aetol Peninsula under the command of the god Eleutherius and pushed the undead out of their lands. The Hegemony of Serica is currently at war with The Republic of Solden and Vernica, The Dwarven Holds, and are working to purge the isle of the dead. The Hegemony of Serica is the second largest nation right after The Republic of Solden and Vernica. Its main focus is not to invade the Republic, but instead purge the undead from Gaulren entirely like they almost did at the end of the events of the sundering. Since then their wars with the Republic has forced the Hegemony of Serica to redirect troops they would prefer to use purging the undead.
Structure
The Hegemony of Serica is the collection of city-states of the Aetol peninsula under the command of the Serica. The hegemon of Serica rules over these city-states as the defacto military leader of the forces, he is allowed to levy troops from these city-states and it is up to the city-state to pay their wages and equip the troops. Serica does not collect taxes from the city-states and has no legal authority in determining laws in the city-states. Should a city-state declare independence the hegemon is allowed to forcefully bring them back into the hegemony, but must reinstate a member from the city-state loyal to the hegemony to continue ruling.
History
The plains of Serica were settled by Vernican colonists a few centuries before the The First Republican Civil War. A few years after those events Serica declared independence after being neglected by Vernica and realizing they need to take care of themselves and won't be able to always rely on The Republic of Solden and Vernica. They formed the Kingdom of Serica and crowned their first king. The Kingdom of Serica began forming its armies and preparing for retaliation from The Republic of Solden and Vernica as had happened during the First Hadasht Expedition. The Republic was tired after years of conflicts and had taken quite a beating leaving Serica with a large army with nothing to do. They initially had them constructing defenses and fortifications, but after some time the households got tired of maintaining an army that was doing nothing. So King Histoph decided to attack the relatively defenseless dwarven holds in the Mydon Peaks. The armies of Serica marched into these holds and the dwarves surrendered after a brief battle with their meager defenses. The Sericans kicked them out of their holds and claimed them as well as the riches inside for themselves leading to the First War of the Broken Holds.
The conflict was brutal, but Serica emerged victorious over the dwarves in a extraordinarily costly victory. Serica had begun to push into the Dwarven karaks, but it was at that time that the legions of The Republic of Solden and Vernica flanked the Serican army pushing into the mountain forcing a surrender. The years following the end of the conflict saw Dwarves all around Serican lands sabotaging buildings, burning farms, and causing mayhem. The Sericans after several years of this sabotage enacted policy banning all Dwarves from entering and gave the dwarves a month to leave the country. During this month the sabotage escalated even destroying a barracks killing close to a hundred soldiers. It was then that Serica executed all dwarves residing in their lands. The Sericans then began to truly inhabit the former dwarven holds and began tearing down their monuments. This enraged the Dwarves even further, but they no longer had the manpower to initiate another offensive. So they elected to enter a contract with The Republic of Solden and Vernica saying they would equip large portions of their legions with finely crafted arms and armor in return for their attack on Serica. The Republic agreed and made some flimsy excuse about Serica actually being a colony of the Republic and this was nothing more than a rebellion. The Republic then initiated the Second War of the Broken Holds.
Serica lost the mines in the Mydon Peaks for some time due the dwarves collapsing the mines on their way out of the mountains. Serica spent several years attempting to repair the mines and recovering from the damage that was created by the invasion. It was at this time many of the city-states in the Aetol Peninsula began marching armies up into the Southern portions of Serica even threatening the capital at one point. Serica spent a lot of time dealing the various city-states to their south before eventually securing a peace deal from the northern city-states. Serica managed to also gain some land in the Aetol Peninsula and began setting up forts to protect their southern flank. Serica also managed to clear the mines about a decade before and were able to fortify their southern border heavily protecting it. They were able to equip their armies with well-crafted weapons and armor once again and noticed and opening in the Republic due to the Second Civil War currently raging.
The King of Serica marched his army westward and sweeping through the province of Luclana. The armies marched and after taking almost the entirety of Luclana and reaching the Crelan Spires before encountering significant resistance from the Republic. The legions standing before them were understaffed and the King saw this as an easy victory against the Republic. He didn't expect the dwarves to march out and assist the Republic allowing the first battle to favor the Republic and beginning the Third War of the Broken holds. The dwarves fell back from the province fairly early in the fighting, but had managed to equalize the combat. Serica still held the majority Luclana for the better part of a decade before finally being pushed out of Luclana. Serica fell back to their kingdom and accepted a simple non-aggression pact between the two as the southern city-states had begun to stress their southern defenses. There were a number of brief wars with the Aetol peninsula city-states all the way up until the events of the sundering.
During the sundering Serica was pushed all the way back to Thellica and were only saved by the ascension to the divine by their newly elected King Eleutherius. He was able to use his new powers to began destroying thousands of undead to relieve the beleaguered defenders of the capital. After saving Thellica and the plains of Serica they moved south and began saving city-states from the attacking undead. Eleutherius began the Hegemony of Serica for protection from the undead scattered about the countryside as well as a united front to fight the Republic when the Justicar brought the crusades to their borders. The city-states hated the Republic more than they hated Serica so as city-states were captured they began harassing the back lines of the Republic destroying supply lines allowing Serica enough time to get their armies together and push them out of the Aetol peninsula. The Hegemony has maintained since the sundering lead by Serica due to the constant incursions from undead armies as well as major attacks from the Republic. The city-states are willing to remain under the relative control of Serica in return for the safety of their cities.
Serica in the modern age is stretched thin defending against undead attacks and fighting off the Republic and with the Dwarves joining in the attacks now it is getting increasingly difficult to hold their outer defenses. The Hegemon of Serica is getting desperate and is requesting an increasing amount of soldiers from the city-states causing them to get angrier at their demands.
Military
The Hegemony of Serica's military consists is split between the northern and western branches. The northern branch is dedicated to the destruction of undead. They are the premier undead fighting force on Gaulren only rivaled by some individuals from the tribes of Caelum. Their general strategy is to form a circular shield wall, sit in the center of a horde of undead, and continue stabbing and slashing as well as casting divine spells until the undead are put to rest. The Northern Force's numbers is usually understaffed and can't do much more than hold the northern borders due to the amount of troops needed to staff the Western Force.
The Western Force is dedicated to fighting the legions of The Republic of Solden and Vernica. The legionnaires usually try to get up close and personal in the fighting so the Sericans have specialized in pike warfare to try and keep them at a distance. They also use more mobile short spears on the flanks to prevent getting surrounded. The Hegemony of Serica can usually beat the legions if they are able to choose the battlegrounds, but if they get outmaneuvered it can quickly lead to a route. The mountain passes entering the Hegemony of Serica's lands are easily defended by their formations and negate the Republic's artillery support, but struggle in the Plains of Guira.
Religion
The Hegemony of Serica's patron god is Eleutherius, he became divine during the events of the sundering and saved Thellica as well as the rest of the Aetol peninsula from the vast armies of the undead. Worship of any god is allowed other than the Justicar and the machine god. The Justicar is the one who initiated the crusades into Serican lands and under his command penetrated the deepest into Serican lands. The Sericans also distrust machinery because of the use of it by dwarves and The Republic of Solden and Vernica and therefore use a minimum amount of machinery.
Founding Date
1484 C.E.
Type
Geopolitical, City-state
Demonym
Sericans
Government System
Stratocracy
Power Structure
Semi-autonomous area
Legislative Body
Each member of the Hegemony is relatively autonomous and is allowed to rule their city-states as they see fit. The only thing the hegemon is allowed to order from its dependents is military troops to fight The Republic of Solden and Vernica and the undead. The various city-states have numerious ways of determining rule from democracy, to stratocracy, to kingdoms or queendoms.
In Serica itself the Hegemon acts as a constitutional monarch and has authority over everything except for the rights provided in their constitution. The Hegemon determines policy and foreign relations as well as sets taxes within the confines of the constitution. The Hegemon gives control over certain sectors of Serica to the various noble houses and gives them a large degree of latitude in determining how to rule their lands as the Hegemon is usually busy directing troop movements and attempting to keep the city-states happy.
Judicial Body
Each city-state has control over their own judicial system and can implement their laws as they see fit. A city-state can elect to have the hegemon intervene in disputes between two city-states, but the hegemon can't intercede until one of the disputing parties asks for their presence.
Subsidiary Organizations
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
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