Kingdom of Spólństawo
History
The idea of a unified Kingdom of Spólństawo can be traced back centuries to the genesis of the Spólństawan people, but due to the tribal status of the region would see little headway until the unification of Upper Spólństawo and Lower Spólństawo in 1091 and 1006 SC, respectively. However, with both states seeking to be the unifiers of Spólństawo themselves, little headway was made for unification goals, with both states instead seeking gains elsewhere. They would, however, become subjects under the same crown in the early 13008, when Bolesław the Great, ruler of the Kingdom of Krókłość, declared the Rodłowi Empire. Although this led to increased freedom of movement between the two countries and fostered a spirit of brotherhood between them, the two states remained at odds. Still, over time, they came to resent the Krókłość more than one another, protesting the high taxes they were forced to pay as vassals. Lower Spólństawo was particularly resentful due to the direct Krókłość occupation of their coastline, including the critical port city of Augurówy.
This trend towards unity did not go unnoticed, and Krókłość began actively working to sow division between the two. With marriages to loyal Krókłoś nobles as well as a tradition of educating royal children from the two in the capital, they sought to keep the Spólństawans in line. However by 1559 they strayed from their close watch, and when the sickly and bedridden Krókłoś Queen of Upper Spólństawo died within a year of the new Queen of Lower Spólństawo's ascension to the throne, the two nations agreed to a marriage between the King and Queen. With both monarchs being previously childless, this meant that any heirs they produced would become the leaders of a new, unified, Spólństawo. The Rodłowi Empire was busy with the smuggling and with the north, so they did not react to the occurrences out west. Whether or not they missed it, simply decided to accept it, or were deliberately misled is still up for debate. Either way, the damage was done. The new Kingdom of Spólństawo immediately declared independence and began preparing for war, alongside their allies within the major coastal cities known as the League of Eight.
This war, though brutal, was relatively swift, and by 1663 Krókłość had capitulated, with Spólństawo receiving control over their coastline once more, though Augurówy and the coastal city of Lułlyny, which had grown as an entrepot during the Krókłoś occupation, remained free as a part of the League of Eight. Although the end of the war greatly empowered Spólństawo, their reliance on Augurówy and Lułlyny as the only major ports along their coastline meant that Spólństawo was unable to project naval power. With the concentration of mercantile power in the League, Spólństawo's leadership remained reliant to the nobility and clergy to support the economy, imposing stricter rules on the peasant class thanks to their unified government.
Spólństawo would seek little expansion in the early years of unified existence, with the state being focused on integrating the laws and customs of both the Upper and Lower regions. However, in 1574 and 1588, respectively, the Spólństawans would invade and seize control over two of the Vedolían duchies. Although the dukes were consistently locked in conflict with one another, they had only rarely never been attacked by outsiders, and the Spólństawan expansion worried them. This would eventually lead to the rise of the Ducal Confederation of Vedolía, a significant counterweight to Spólństawo since 1725.
Spólństawo would, however, be able to grow elsewhere, even as the Vedolíans slowly unified. With the League of Eight as a major rival Spólństawo was able to press their claim to Augurówy and Lułlyny, slowly taking control of more and more of the cities. Their campaigns against the Eight were multifaceted, relying not just on warfare, but also on external diplomacy as well as economic influence. Spólństawo would form an alliance with the Voðeren nation of Røðendjem in 1668, with both agreeing to work in tandem against their common enemy of the League. With Røðendjem focused on attacking Leaguer Shipping, Spólństawo pressured the cities on land, beginning in 1674. By this point, the Røðendjemers had waged war on Augurówyn commerce for half a decade, and the city was weary of war. Spólństawo promised to pressure Røðendjem to halt the attacks on their commerce if only Augurówy would allow the Spólństawans to use the port without paying dues. Once the rest of the League caught wind of this, a large Leaguer fleet would dock in Augurówy as an intimidation tactic, while negotiations continued. In the end, the two sides would settle for a reduced tariff on Spólństawan goods in Augurówy after negotiations stalled into 1675. However, the Leaguer fleet remained in port and worked diligently to guard Augurówyn shipping, though at a loss.
In 1683, the League managed to find an ally in the Voðeren nation of Ribjem, which was dynastically related to Røðendjem, as the two traced their lineages back to the Voðeren chieftain who first settled the region. Promising to aid Ribjem in pressing their claim, the League sent their fleet to harass Røðendjem, while Ribjem was to focus on landing their forces and securing the lands. However, once Spólństawo sent word, they were able to warm Røðendjem, which led to the Ribjemer army being ambushed and forced back. Without worrying about the Ribjemers, the Røðendjemer were able to fight the League to a standstill, forcing them to retreat to lick their wounds. After a short lull in the conflicts, Spólństawo began escalating attacks on the League, with soldiers finally seizing control of Lułlyny in 1691, after a short yearlong campaign. However, when the League retaliated by torching the Spólństawan coast and attacking shipping on the Azranen, Spólństawo was forced to come to the negotiating table in 1693, thus ending the First League War. Spólństawo's control over Lułlyny was established, but the city remained a League Member, and merchants from the League were free to trade and do business there.
Over the next century, there would be 3 more League wars, and though none ended conclusively, at the end of the Fourth League War in 1784, the League was drained of resources and its eastern cities more worried about the Krókłoś threat than that the Spólństawans presented. In a League-wide vote, the cities voted to abandon the west and focus on their core lands in the east for the time being, thus leaving Augurówy and Lułlyny to their fate. This would not last long though, as the two cities still had a strongly pro-Leaguer populace. With plague striking Spólństawo in 1806, they would seize their chance, rejoining the League and raising volunteer militias to defend against the Spólństawan attack. The resulting conflict, which saw Røðendjemer on the sideline, went well for the League, and they secured broad concessions from Spólństawo, only to see those concessions and gains reversed following the nation's recovery from the plague by 1820. The Sixth League war, as it was known, saw the League be forced to concede both Lułlyny and Augurówy to joint management with Spólństawan officials. When an internal coup was conducted in 1851, the two sides would go to war once more. However, the coup was well-planned, and with Røðendjemer aid the Leaguer Navy was routed and destroyed. Without their navy, the League was totally broken, and the remaining seven cities (Ingłyst having been annexed in 1719 by the nation of Litewskzyc) were all forced to accept subjugation by Spólństawo.
Still, without a major navy (having relied on Røðendjemer aid) Spólństawo was unable to prevent the cities from rebuilding theirs or easily replenish their garrisons, and the four eastern cities would soon slip from their grasp. After a few deaces, only the cities of Lułlyny, Augurówy, and Racrów, a city which had long bordered Spólństawo but was never under direct threat, remained under the Spólństawan thumb, albeit autonomously. Nonetheless, despite the loss of the eastern cities, Spólństawo was able to prosper thanks to the end of the League Wars. Though there had long been a trickle of slaves passing through Augurówy, this would soon rise as Spólństawo focused on inland expansionism and came into contact with Erleting tribes. Røðendjem would be the main buyer of the slaves, and the steady stream meant the two remained valued allies. Røðendjemer goods would enhance the prosperity of the coast and eventually led to the fading of Leaguer sympathies in the populace of Augurówy and Lułlyny.
Spólństawo's economy was also beginning to diversify beyond agriculture in this time, as Blazennian immigrants came to play a pivotal role in society. Following the Blazennian victory over the Secyudugaart Khanate, the Blazennian Empire now bordered the Vedolíans, and by travelling down the river, the could easily reach Spólństawo. Following the 1806 plague, small numbers of settlers began arriving in Spólństawo to fill missing jobs thanks to the inflated wages of the post-plague countryside. With regulations tightening on peasants to prevent them from keeping the wages high, the Blazennians naturally filled in as minor merchants. Despite differences in faith, these immigrants were considered hardworking and trustworthy thanks to their lack of Leaguer connections, and soon made up the majority of the small Spólństawan middle class, though they lacked the privileges of the nobility. Lower class Blazennians also began filling the mining industry, as peasants became tied to the land and no longer able to seek regular wage work. Skilled miners became significantly more valued following this change, thus drawing miners from Blazennia to the region.
With the rise of a Blazennian merchant class, it is perhaps unsurprising that a Blazennian soldier class also began to form. Many Blazennian veterans fleeing after their constituent had been defeated and annexed as well as soldiers of fortune and mercenaries would arrive in the region during the 1800s. These immigrants played pivotal roles in the final League Wars, being rewarded with land and for many with the ability to rise to the ranks of the nobility. By the 1900s, their influence had grown significantly, with reformist Blazennian cliques greatly influencing the kingdom. Even the Blazennian merchants saw their fortunes grow, as Spólństawo's rulers sought to undermine the landed gentry and clergy, who had become major opponents of reform towards a more economically diverse but also centralized state. Laws favoring Blazeology had begun to be enacted by the 1910s, though the state had yet to officially convert, with Blazeologist merchants and nobility receiving extra privileges.
Thanks to this influence, over the past several decades Spólństawo has become highly influenced by Blazennian culture and indeed the government and high nobility have adapted Blazeology as well as some Blazennian cultural practices. Although Blazennia had already become one of Upper Spólństawo's main trade partners by the 1800s, this relationship has grown much closer following their joint conquest of the Erleting in the Dennonian Wars, when the Spólństawan monarchs converted to their faith in order to gain the privileges of their Blazelogical fellows and secure Dennonian trade routes. Thanks to the uptick in conversion, the monarchy would declare Blazeology as the state religion of Spólństawo in 1961. However, due to the heavy entrenchment of the Wysoki Wyunałt religion, the Blazennian religion has made little actual progress in converting the general population. While peasants and petty nobility profess loyalty to Blazeology in name and do consider these gods to exist, they pay far more reverence to their local gods. The clergy have taken to calling these people Blazelukhó as a derogatory term. Essentially, these Blazelukhó have accepted the greater Blazeological cosmos, but only within the bounds of the Wysoki Wyunałt religion, where local gods take precedence. This struggle is a new one for Spólństawo and it is unknown who will come out on top.
Converting faiths was not just an internal move of course, but was also one that sought to improve relations with the Empire. Converting to their faith certainly caught the eye of the ambitious new Blazennian Emperor Alezar VIII, who had been elected in 1956. Thanks to their new ties to his Empire, the Blazennian Empire would include the Kingdom in their plans- in 1965 the two states staged a joint invasion of the Dennonia region. By 1974 the wars had ended decisively in the invaders’ favor, with Spólństawo reaching the apex of its power. In the series of wars against these tribal states, Spólństawo had increased its land size by about 30%, though the actual population increase was much smaller, perhaps 5-10%. Most of the Erleting population of these lands were driven out, killed, or enslaved and those who remain are generally poor and unproductive subjects. Ironically, this depopulation of the region has created quite the issue for Spólństawo because serfs have begun fleeing to the far reaches and establishing Cossacks (mimicking the Relvetsian tradition). The government has been on the fence about whether to incorporate these rough men back into society or to crush the dream of liberty the peasants there feel.
As the war wound down, Spólństawo's government decided that the country would probably be tired of conflict and seek to return to a peaceful life, and so would go along with harsher efforts to convert the population in spite of promises not to. Potentially motivated by the rise of the heretical Blazelukhó sect, this move would instead backfire. Although the Faithful Banners were still in the south of the country fighting Erleting, they immediately began a march for the capital. En route, they were joined by peasant forces, while the main body of the clergy fled to the coast. The Faithful Banners Rebellion, as it has become known as, was chaotic at first, with various bands of guerilla fighters on both sides skirmishing in local conflicts and various attacks on isolated Blazennian homesteads being noted. With the majority of the military concentrated in the south as well as in the capital region, rebels were able the seize most of the coastal provinces plus the majority of Upper Spólństawo. Still, cooperation between the Faithful Banners, the clergy, and various local nobility who sided with the rebellion was difficult, giving the royal army an upper hand.
The rebels would soon attempt to advance on the capital of Spólństawo, Kalishnikov, with Spring of 1978 seeing pitched battles across the land. Gambling on the defense of the capital with reserve forces, most of the remaining royal army in Kalishnikov would march out to meet the Faithful Banners, joining with Blazennian militias and parts of the army which had remained in Dennonia to stage a three-pronged attack on the Banners. The gamble worked, and the Banners were scatted- parts of the column fled into the woods and into the neighboring nation of Pryzelfów, while much of the rest broke through and headed for the lake, where they would make their stand. Curiously, many of the bodies from this engagement could not be found afterwards, with both sides accusing the other of artificially manipulating the numbers of of using dark magic on these fallen soldiers.
The lakeside stand would similarly be shrouded in mystery, as the rebel army somehow found boats and escaped to the coastal provinces in the night after several sorties the day before. This aid baffled the Spólństawan loyalists, but eventually they would accuse the Kingdom of Krókłość of sponsoring the rebels. Though coordination doesn't go quite that deep, Krókłość has certainly provided support to the rebels, with funds ramping up in recent years.
Despite the escape of the majority of the Faithful Banners to the north, the rebels were still on the back foot, and despite minor gains in the rest of 1978 and early 1979, when winter set in 1979 their offensives would grind to a halt. During 1980, things became even more chaotic as plague ravaged the land. Small outbreaks had begun in the summer of 1978, mostly localized to Upper Spólństawo, but things soon worsened as cases spread across the nation and both the royal and rebel armies suffered heavy losses to desertion and plague, weakening their ability to push into each other's controlled territories. Although local operations to root out rebels occurred, the remaining organized forces within coastal Spólństawo and the hinterlands were not so easy to take down, and rebels continued staging attacks from their hideout in the Pryzelfówy forests.
With both Spólństawo and Kryziddia on the back foot in 1980 and chaos setting in during 1981, the coasts were an easy target for Voðeren raids, marking the first time since the Golden Age of Raiding they had been so open. Breaking their longstanding alliance with Spólństawo, the nation of Røðendjem would soon launch attacks along the coast, culminating in the seizure of the Cypcdek Headlands, a province of Spólństawo which was occupied by Kryziddia and with a primarily Maryzynye population. Although Spólństawo and Kryziddia weathered the raids, they sent the situation further into chaos, with both sides forced to modernize their coastal defenses as opposed to prioritizing winning the war.
The quiet of the mid-80s allowed Spólństawo in particular to leverage their population advantage; by now, almost insurmountable, to launch one last push into Kryziddia. Unfortunately for Spólństawo, this attack would grind to a halt rather close to breaking the remaining Kryziddian lands into two, with desperate attacks forcing the retreat of Spólństawan forces and reinforcement of the corridor, lest Kryziddia encircle their forces. Even still, Spólństawo might have been able to force a victory if not for the rising problem of zombies.
Zombie plagues are relatively rare, typically occurring at the behest of a dark mage, and although none within the realm are currently known with the power to cause such an event, zombies had been slowly popping up as plague death tolls rose. While by the mid-80s most of the plague's last few lingering illnesses had either died or recovered, this hid the reality of zombies arising within the countryside and beginning a different sort of plague. Although only a few sighting had been made in the late 1970s, due to infecting live people things started to spiral out of control. Consequentially, Kryziddia and Spólństawo were both forced to sign a ceasefire, turning their attention to the undead crisis. This ceasefire has thus far lasted slightly over a decade (since 1989), as zombies keep popping up every time just as it appears they have all been dealt with...
Territories
Military
Technological Level
Religion
Agriculture & Industry
The Kingdom of Spólństawo is an agricultural powerhouse. With the majority of Spólństawo's land situated between the Arcesiel and Azranen rivers as well as Lake Dłienki, many of its provinces are extremely fertile despite their relatively high latitude. Spólństawo tends to avoid heavy rains, aside from rare winter storms from the north, thus preventing ferocious autumn storms from harming crops and causing famine- though winter storms mean the region often sees snow. This beneficial climate has allowed the nation to grow vast amounts of wheat and other grains for both consumption and export, and as a consequence the Spólństawan possess a very centralized and feudal system of government as opposed to the more traditionally decentralized Rodłowi form of government. Still, the high population and ease of grain exports has allowed the nobility to become rather powerful in Spólństawo, which limits royal power somewhat.
Although both Upper and Lower Spólństawo are dominant agriculturally, each contributes more specialized economic benefits to the state. Upper Spólństawo is home to the Kalishnikov Bee, with honey and beeswax making up a majority of the economy in the region, and consequentially the early proto-state of Upper Spólństawo developed around this industry. The Kalishnikov Bee, a species of bee which dwells only in this region of the world, primarily produces its honey from the fields near the lowlands, although colonies exist which have spread to meadows higher up into the mountains. The candlemaking industry would eventually become concentrated in several towns, with the largest of these becoming the city of Kalishnikov and the eventual capital of the unified realm.
Besides honey and other bee products, Upper Spólństawo is also known for its mining operations, with rich ore veins being found throughout the foothills of Dennonia. Historically settled by Blazennian mining colonies, the metals produced there of of great use to the crown for their wars, although not extensive enough to put Spólństawo on the map export-wise. These Blazennian colonies have often been sponsored by the crown because the nobility has sought to keep control over their serfs, who make up the vast majority of Spólństawo's population, thus preventing them from seeking employment elsewhere in reasonable quantities. Slaves have also been used in both the fields and mines, primarily in Upper Spólństawo, with most slaves being Erleting war captives.
What slaves do make it out of Spólństawo are generally sold down the Azranen river to Lower Spólństawo, where they can be sold through the northern seas. Despite this minor slave trade, Lower Spólństawo is generally known for more humane trades, with amber, furs, and salts often passing though the region, even if most of them are not produce locally. Near the coast, fishing is also a major industry, with Spólństawan fishermen having experienced a resurgence during the early 20th century. However, with warfare along the coast continuing, fishing has declined as of late.
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