Dchon Host
The Dchon Host was a Cossack state which existed between the two great powers of the Relvetsian Empire and the Rodłowi Empire for over 150 years. Its former territory is contained in the modern nations of Kyvrik, Pmovsky, Rikkedenn, and Uzkhiviych, though only parts of the latter two. The Don host was initially established by Bolesław the Great of the Rodłowi Empire after his armies defeated the Relvetsians in the early 14th century, and were formed out of the existing Cossacks in the region. Initially an autonomous province of the Rodłowi Empire, Dchon was fiercely independent and quickly escaped control, becoming increasingly autonomous over time. It was eventually destroyed following the encroachment of Relvetsia and the division of the people into pro-independence, pro-Relvetsian, and pro-Rodłowi camps.
History
Following the defeat of the Relvetsian Empire by Rodłowi forces, Bolesław the Great was faced with two main issues. The first was that the demographics of the historically Rodłowi parts of Relvetsia had shifted to heavily favor Relvetsians and no longer possessed a Rodłowi majority, and the second was that the Relvetsian Empire's southern border moved further south than the Rodłowi ever had, meaning that only taking lands once belonging to a Rodłowi nation would leave the frontier long and difficult to defend, with a massive Relvetsian salient in the south, from which raids could be conducted against the Rodłowi. Therefore, it was decided to leave the administration of this region up to the local Relvetsian population as a vassal state.
With the Vondyeriya river being the decided border, the new Relvetsian state was granted, essentially, all lands to the south of that river up to the point where it turned sharply north. Although there were some exceptions to this rule, and the lands in the far east were still occupied by trolls at the time, this gives a fairly accurate picture of the borders of the new state- noting, of course, that both major tributaries of the Dchon were at the time the northern extent of centaur control (following the regional border of the Plaires Centralis).
Administration of the state was given over to the already existing Cossacks, who had settled the region beginning in 1256. Though there were multiple such organizations, they were lumped together in one state along with parts of Vnutyr Relvetsia which did not have Cossack government previously, thus birthing the Dchon Host.
The Dchon host was always intended to be a primarily militarist state, and was wholly exempt from taxation, but would instead support the Rodłowi Empire by levying the Cossack tribes into the army. In this form, it served two main purposes- to provide a buffer in the east as well as shorten the length of the Relvetsian-Rodłowi border, and to defend against centaur raids from the south. In theory, the former was a passive benefit and required little to no effort from the Cossacks, and the second was something they would be doing anyways.
As with most plans made by Bolesław, things went well. As predicted, the Cossacks were active in both defending from raids from the centaurs and in counter-raiding, with the centaurs being primarily interested in seizing slaves to work on their farms and the Cossacks staging rescue attempts as well as seizing some captives of their own (though typically centaurs were not seen as valuable slaves). The issue was that these Cossacks, who did not pay tribute to the Rodłowi crown or receive military support from them in defending their villages were increasingly operating on their own. There were several instances in the 1350s where the Dchon Host allowed centaurs to sate their captives quotas by tacitly standing aside as they raided primarily Rodłowi villages, forcing them to defend their own lands. Such raids were the main issue for the Rodłowi, and the crown was eager to protect the Rodłowi minority in the region. This was seen by the Rodłowi crown as a total failure of the one job they gave the Dchon Host, escalating tensions further. Finally, in 1363, the crown sent officials to the Dchon capital in order to settle the dispute- these officials were killed and sent back.
Although technically the Dchon Host did not declare independence for many more years, 1363 is typically seen as the date they achieved it de facto. This can be seen by the tariffs enacted on goods from the Dchon Host and by an increased presence of the Rodłowi military in border areas. Over the next 50 years, the Dchoni foreign policy largely consisted in strategically allying both the Rodłowi and Relvetsians whenever it suited them in order to keep both powers way of invasion, while continuing to fight mainly against centaurs. However, by the 1410s this strategy had become far less effective, with the Rodłowi and Relvetsians both encroaching on Dchon lands despite nominal alliances. Over the next 80 years, a series of wars between all three parties occurred, with the Dchon typically being peripheral. Generally, the Dchoni would be attacked by a punitive expedition from one of the parties, which would then be forced to withdraw after the Cossacks fled into the grasslands. The other party would then attack their weakened rival and either seize lands or be defeated themselves. Either way, such strategies, while effective at maintaining independence, led to a gradual loss in territory, especially on the Relvetsian side. Most significant of these losses was in 1487 when Relvetsian forces captured the regional capital of Khivoy Roh, a town on the eastern bank of the Dchon. This allowed them to disperse the Cossacks in the area and take control of most of northern Dchon, gaining a foothold near the river and allowing them to continue consolidating their gains against the Rodłowi, as by this time they had begun reclaiming significant portions of land for good.
The fall of Khivoy Roh and loss of the northern territories was a sign of things to come for the Host. Already disparate and fractured, the host had long had multiple Hetmen at the same time (since a Hetman is nominally just a leader of the military) but with one standing above the rest. However, with the state losing control over its land, various Hetmen stopped listening to the authorities and began working alone. The situation worsened in 1494, when these Hetman coalesced into factions; some pro-Relvetsian, some pro-Rodłowi, and other pro-independence. In 1496, the factions came to blows and a civil war began. With Relvetsian and Rodłowi forces sweeping into the country in order to support their preferred faction, the Dchon Host became a battleground. Over the next 6 years, the Relvetsian faction came to control the majority of the lands, and became integrated back into that nation as the Pmovsky Hetmanate in the Treaty of Khivoy Roh. The remaining territory was divided between the remaining pro-independence faction and the pro-Rodłowi faction and these two continued fighting over which was the rightful Dchon Host until both were destroyed in 1515 following a new Relvetsian attack. The land gained in 1515 became the Kyvrik Hetmanate.
During the civil war, the lands were ravaged by centaur raiders taking advantage of the distracted Cossacks, and it is estimated that between the eyars of 1494 and 1515 the annual slaving yield was roughly 20,000 people, though of course this was also taken from Relvetsia and the Rodłowi. This is in contrast to the typical figure for the 15th century of 2-5,000 per year. It's said that so many people were taken prisoner that this singlehandedly revived the fortunes of the Clesentian Khanates and led to their reconsolidation, and the weakness of the Cossacks over the next few generations led to an uptick in slave raids over the entire first half of the 16th century. Additionally, significant portions of the steppe were lost to the centaurs and would only be reclaimed much later.
Despite the failure of the Dchon Host in the end to maintain a cohesive and enduring state, its legacy remains. For Chernoyetsians, it is greatly romanticized and is seen as the first example of a modern Chernoyetsian state away from Veltelvetsian dominance. It's seen as an expression of the Chernoyetsian spirit and independence, where their culture was able to develop and grow.
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