The Valyean Empire
Screw* the empire. Screw* the Valyean Elves. Screw* them allDuring the Age of the Fourth Clans, the Kingdom of Valyea rose in military superiority and quickly began to find itself holding more and more power over its neighbouring territories. By 300 RB, the entire continent of Olivia was claimed to be part of the Valyean Empire, with only a few regions either ignored (the northern areas of the Vintaflans and Olav's Arm) due to their insignificant representation or resources, some regions pledging allegiance without appropriate Imperial presence (islands in the Norlands including Beljikka and Skye), and some regions with somewhat autonomous powers even with the Imperial presence (the "free" cities of Kettel, some areas of F'yore). The Valyean Empire was a huge victory to the Valyeans, and a great loss, as the Empire managed to collapse not long after its peak. Attempting to unite a continent of varied and different cultures, and ignoring the already apparent problems, caused the Empire to quickly separate and fall back to a collection of nation states. However, the impacts of the Empire are still felt today. The current remains of the Empire are often referred to as The Eastern Empire instead and considered an entire new entity, though the Empire will still refer to itself as the Valyean Empire.
Structure
At the highest level is the Emperor and Empress Consort (or in the case of Empress Rouna, Empress and Emperor Consort).
Below the Emperor lie the Regional Custodians; respected and trusted noblepeople who are granted lands within the Empire, but act as proxies for the Emperor in general regions: these regions are Northern F'yore; Southern F'yore; Western Yule's Heart; Central Lamércia, the Elpan Mountains, and Eastern Yule's Heart; Western Lamércia; Eastern Lamércia and Eastern Kettel; Western Kettel and Aradea; the Marshlands; the Norlands; and the Valyean homeland.
Beneath the Regional Custodians are the various lords and governances of the smaller lands and titles, conglomerated and distributed as needed. These parties cannot hold arms but do manage taxes and pay taxes to the Empire treasury. These smaller collectives differ largely due to the difference in how each region was originally ruled: Western Kettel for example has a number of 'free cities', governed by city governors that report to the Regional Custodian of Western Kettel and Aradea. Meanwhile, the Norlands have chief and tribal lords acting as their local governments who report to the Regional Custodian of the Norlands.
Public Agenda
The Empire was a dream and prophesy of King Mikhael. The intention was to unite the people's of Olivia in its later years. Initially, it was a show of strength and power by the Valyeans after centuries of conflict with Kettel and the threat of the every expanding Kingdom of Lamércia. After F'yore was absorbed into the Empire, the dream was realised as being able to absorb the rest of the continent as well.
When Saint Dafyd became Emperor Consort, there became four main ways in which the Empire wanted to assimilate the continent and improve it, aside from pushing Hommism as the Imperial Religion:
- Improve communications and establish strong continent-wide communication channels
- Improve cultural arts, to herald a new era of art and design, pushing Valyean art into the realms and trying to bring a renaissance
- Improve the continents economy and manage the markets fully under a centralised system
- And unify the sciences and technologies across the continent
History
King Mikhael of Beatrix II, son of King Roja III, was ruler of the Kingdom of Valyea in 160 RB. At this time, the Queendom of Kettel, neighbours in the east, was beginning to lose control of its cities in the west, near Skara's Mouth. The Valyeans had a strong control over the Three Veins, a term that concerned the three seas that separated Valyea, Kettel and Aradea from one another. Because of this, they also had a great amount of control over entry into the Espanol Gulf.
The Valyeans had always maintained a powerful navy. Pinem Piner bay required a strong fleet to manage and moderate. And in the south, connections to Kettel and the eastern parts of the continent were valuable. However they lacked numbers when it came to infantry. The peninsula of Valyea was not densely populated. However this meant their soldiers were very adept and, being made up of a majority of Valyean Elves, they were long-living and very skilled in archery and spears. They had no horses, horses did not do well in the forests of the peninsula. Instead, infantry moved by foot.
Prior to 160 RB, the cities in western Kettel were beginning to want for less taxation and a clearer separation from the activities in the east. Closer to Valyea, both the Aradeans and those in the Western Steppes felt more closely in tune with the Valyeans and those on the coasts of Lamércia. As their defiance grew to the Queendom, city governors and wealthy merchants spoke with Valyean officials to gain some form of protection. Valyean found this agreeable as it would hand them complete control over the Three Veins, able to regulate ports and trade through them.
In 161 RB, the Queendom of Kettel sent the Queen's Men and the Desertwalkers (a mercenary group) to these free cities to bring them back under the Queendom. Vying for help, the Valyean sent ships of soldiers to protect the free cities, and with this obvious annexation, the Queendom was forced to declare war on Valyea. Valyea accepted this, fully happy in sending men and ships further inland until Niluo Bao was taken in 164 RB, forcing the Queendom into Valyean control.
Because of the distance between Kettel's populated areas and Valyea, Valyea dispatched higher lords to manage the realm, with the merchants and wealthy nobles in the Western Steppes being granted titles under Valyea. This was the beginning of the Valyean Empire; King Mikhael declared himself Emperor Mikhael I, King of Valyea and King of Kettel, Commander of the Three Veins, and Emperor of the South.
In 248 RB, King Roja IV, now Emperor Roja I, began an attempt to claim the lands of Southern F'yore, and set to work creating the Valyean Canal to better accodomate traffic between the Espanol Gulf and Pinem Piner Bay. The Northern Kingdoms of F'yore outcry at the treachery of the elves and declare war. Lamércia sit out.
In 254 RB, the war is over with F'yore and Valyea making truce, with Valyea claims over the south unspoiled. But in 259 RB, there is talk of a religious prophet that causes a wave of religious fanaticism. The F'yorish believe that the gods have given them a sign, and they rise up and fight against the Valyeans.
In 268 RB, twenty years after the initial declaration of war, the second daughter of Emperor Roja, Princess Rouna of Beatrix, was married to the saint of the F'yorish - Dafyd Malor. This move was to assimilate, who the F'yorish believed would lead them to victory, and peace is restored. In 269 RB, fifteen major lords in F'yore swear fealty to the Valyean Empire and northern F'yore enters the Empire.
In 271 RB, a terrible disease takes Emperor Roja I and his eldest daughter Kaare, and two perish. Rouna is crowned Empress, with Dafyd Malor becoming Emperor Consort. While Rouna is the true Empress, the F'yorish believe Dafyd has taken his rightful place and many recognise Emperor Dafyd I as the true leader of the empire.
Concerned with Valyea's growing influence, Lamércia finally declares war in 276 RB after multiple efforts made by the Valyeans to push their borders in the west. The war lasts a year, and Emperor Dafyd is considered a military genius. Instead it is likely that the elves in Eastern Lamércia were sympathetic to the Valyean cause, and that with the seas all controlled by the Valyeans there was little that Western Lamércia could do. The Capital of Brye is taken in 277 RB.
In 282 RB, Emperor Dafyd is urged to begin a campaign into Yule's Heart, to claim the rest of the continent under the Empire. It takes fourteen years but eventually the claim is made.
In 306 RB, Emperor Consort Dafyd dies, and marks the beginning of the collapse of the Empire.
Disbandment
In 307, Rouna Beatrix marries Oji Mizushi, of the Ou family. The entire royal court is now elvish in species and the humans of Lamércia don't like this. To appease the F'yorish and the death of their prophet, the Valyean Empire launches a crusade to Papyon, a sacred location in the Widuw Peaks.
The Western Lamércians oppose and forces from Eastern Lamércia are forced into conflict with those in the West, at the original capital of Brye and settlements along the rivers Green and Lam. Eventually, Valyea makes peace with the fledgling alliance of Dymercia.
In 431 RB, civil war breaks between the Valyean elves and the elves of Eastern Lamércia, after the new Emperor Tsuyo of Ou attempted to move the royal court to Gaijo in Eastern Lamércia. Juhana Matillix, a cousin of Tsuyo, challenged Tsuyo for the crown and a civil war broke out in Valyea. Eventually, the terms were set that Valyea were to be ejected from its own empire in 431 RB, thereby ending the Valyean Empire that still contained Valyea. However, Emperor Tsuyo I of the Valyean Empire disagrees, and is still content to refer to the dominion as the Valyean Empire.
Military
The military of Valyea was considered the strongest military at the time. Valyea had a very militaristic and authoritarian culture that it's not surprising that it ensure it had garrisons of soldiers at every major city as it widened its territory.
Because of the quick expansion of the military, recruiting from the commonfolk was a necessity.
Religion
At first, the Valyean Empire had no official religion - Titanism and Hommism were the most common religions, and Sissarukism was an old belief of the Valyeans.
Sissarukism had ancient ties to the peoples of Valyean, all tales being of Valyean origin and centred on the peninsula. Titanism and Hommism were in murky collectives; one believing in saints that fought the Titans that created the world; the other in a almighty force that created the world and guided the saints. The west (F'yore) were mostly Hommist, and the east (Lamércia) were mostly Titanist.
When Dafyd Malor was preaching, he preached the words of Hommism alongside his skills - an attunement to Fost that allowed him to create wonders and devices beyond what had been seen before. It managed to sway a number of the F'yorish, and when the Valyean Empire was attempting to subdue the F'yorish Kingdoms, he managed to rally people to think the Valyeans were acting against Hom.
The Valyean Royal Court arranged for Rouna Beatrix, second daughter of Emperor Roja I, to marry Dafyd to try and appease the F'yorish. After the Emperor's death and the somehow fortunate circumstance that rose Dafyd to Emperor Consort, the people of F'yore saw this as a sign that the Valyean Empire was to lead with Hommist beliefs, and that Dafyd was a gift from Hom - a prophet with a true connection to the heavens. An angel in human form.
The Valyean Royal Court knew this was a way to placate the masses and immediately made Dafydism, a new branch of Hommism, the official Imperial religion, funding the construction of churches across the Empire. It was seen as a way of uniting the people under the banner of Valyea, of giving people a natural reason to follow the Empress Rouna and her consort Dafyd, and for pushing the narrative that the east should be conquered.
This would eventually cause issues after Dafyd's death; when Saint Stephen of F'yore proclaimed the east were blasphemers and that the sanctuary of Papyon was the core of their beliefs against Hom, this lead to Emperor Consort Mizushi's attempt to storm the Elpan Mountains and his mortal wounds.
Trade & Transport
The Three Veins, the seas surrounding Vayea, Kettel, Aradea, were imperative to controlling sea traffic in and out of the Espanol Gulf. It's not hard to consider why the initial push from Valyea was into the east to secure these routes.
F'yorish and Lamércian roads were also imperative to connections from the west and east of Olivia. F'yore was already well known as the 'mud plains' in Olivia; fertile land with produce being exported south, especially wheat. By securing F'yore as well, Valyea had a stranglehold on Lamércia that had difficulty in trading south, receiving produce from the west, and was under the pressure of being bordered by the Valyean Empire in two places.
Valyea relied on the sea as its main method of transport in the early years of the empire, and only when F'yore was secure could the main roads in Olivia be used.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
269 RB - 431 RB (Debated)
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Alternative Names
Valyea, The Empire, The Elven Empire
Predecessor Organization
Successor Organization
Demonym
Imperial/Valyean
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Location
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
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