Toliema
Once upon a time, there was a might Tsar who protected his people with the help of a mighty dragon. The Tsar and the dragon were friends, and the people they protected felt safe and happy.
But when they looked around them, past the borders of the Tsar's lands, to the kingdoms of the Tsar's brothers, they found that not everyone was as happy as they were and none were as safe.
The Tsar turned to his dragon friend and asked her what he might do to alleviate the suffering of his brothers' lands, and the Wyrm was more than happy to provide council.
"The world is a dangerous place-" the dragon said, "-and you humans do not have scales such as I. Your strength lies when you are all together."
-The Brothers Toliema, a folktale retelling of the country's early history.
It is easy to draw a parallel between the Tzarinate and the Empire . After all, they're both political entities that attempt to maintain order by not directly affecting it's member nation's native hierarchy. Yet, they are not the same, and that difference starts with Toliema.
Toliema is the founding country of the Tsarinate, a position that it earned and has maintained since its founding.
For a less kid-friendly version, during the War of the Wyrms, the young dragon Khione was injured and when her wings could take her no farther, she plummeted into the lands of Toliema, who were preparing to defend themselves. The First Tsar took great pains to nurse her back to health, and she was more than willing to remain in the land once she was healed.
For many years the Wyrm provided advice to the Tsar of Toliema, helping it navigate and grow powerful amidst the kingdoms ruled over by the Tsar's brothers. Despite being pushed to the far north, it's lands flourished and it's people prospered. So prosperous were they, that eventually the Tsar took note of the state of his brother's land and wished to ease the suffering of his brothers' people alongside his own.
For a time, he gave them what food he could or helped them stabalize themselves, but he knew that he needed to do something more perminant if change was to be stay in coming generations. Then, Khione suggest that all of the kingdoms come together. Then they could share what they had with little worry. The Tsar knew, of course, that the problem wasn't so simple as that but the mere suggestion was enough to spark his mind.
For the following years, the Tsar of Toliema leveraged his nations strength to pull the kingdoms of his brothers closer to his. Not to absorb, and certainly not by force, it was an oh-so-careful teasing of many elements into position. To force it would drive the others away, and the closer the kingdoms became, the greater the risk of it all snapping back onto the Tsar and his people, like a leather belt pulled too tightly.
With the aid of the Wyrm Khione, however, he succeeded. He invited his brothers, the other Tzars, to a grand feast beneath the wings of Khione. He fetted them for days, making sure to not reveal his plan too soon. He did not want to appear as some sort of plotting schemer. On the tenth day of celebration was when he finally broached the subject. It was his one and only chance. If they refused now, they would never accept the proposition in the future.
He asked them to join together into one nation, but before they could protest, clarified that he did not seek their crowns. Their lands would remain their own, unmolested by him or the others. They would not dictate action to one another, but have an open forum to discuss, like the Brui had done for centuries. Five nations, seperate, but in the eyes of the world united as one.
At first his brothers laughed. The idea of such a magnanimous ruler seemed impossible. Naive at best. Toliema's Tsar would not be so easily cowed, however, and pressed forwards. They could leave the union if they wanted, if it truly had no positives for the nation in question, but for the time being they lost nothing and stood to gain everything their people lacked.
They seemed unconvinced but had not yet said no.
Then, the oldest of the Tsar's brothers looked up at Khione, her wings spread against the cold winds and her sapphire eyes looking down towards him. He contemplated her for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, he nodded and stated his assent to the plan.
He had seen what the plan needed as the Tsars had argued. If one agreed, all would follow. Once he gave his assent, the youngest quickly followed. The two that remained now looked panicked as if they were going to be left behind, and shouted over one another to agree.
The ten day feast turned to twenty days, and then thirty. No longer was the table covered in food, but with paper, ink, and wax.
It seems, looking back on correspondance, that the weight of ruling each kingdom was the only thing pushing them forward. Without the every growing pile of letters and scrolls, asking for the Tsars to return or begging for a response, they would have spent the rest of time arguing about the details of their agreement.
In the end, the Tsar of the Toliema got what he wanted. For his efforts, he was made the First Tsar, a position that was supposed to be passed between the kingdoms. His daughter, trained and taught by him, proved so profficient in rule that she was made First Tsar when her father passed away, and then a precedent was set.
While the title has certainly been challanege in the Tsarinate's history, at least once by each component nation, and several times by most, it has been retained by the line of the preeminent First Tsar ever since. Of course, it is dependent on the whims of the other nations, but even now they seem content to simply leave it in the hands of others.
Every Day a Victory
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Capital
Training Level
Professional
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Demonym
Toliic
Ruling Organization
Head of Government
Location
Related Ethnicities
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