Principality of Haikella
In Veiama's largest lake, dozens of islands are brought together by three co-princes. Haikella is the largest Karuvian nation, and a long rival of Kaleina.
Structure
Haikella is ruled by three co-princes. Each one traditionally focuses on different areas of government: military, foreign politics, infrastructure, legislature, etc. There is no formal rule about who does what; they decide among themselves who will take care of what.
Each prince represents a ruling house. As soon as a prince takes power, the house decides who that prince's heir will be. Often this is a direct blood relative of the prince, but it can be any male adult from that house. Only the house gets to decide who their prince will be; no one else gets to veto.
The Parliament of Haikella was formed shortly after unification. Each noble house elects representatives to sit in parliament. The number of representatives each house gets is proportional to their land holdings. The three houses that jointly produce the princes also have representatives in parliament. The princes oversee Haikella as a whole, and the representatives promote the needs for their individual houses.
Haikella is broken into dozens of small islands. Noble houses are divided among the islands, and save for the 5 largest where borders had to be drawn, every other house runs their own island as counties or baronies.
History
Before the Forest, Lake Taiha was divided between the kingdoms of Maunia to the west and Mähakama to the east. The western islands of the lake were part of the territory of a Maunian prince, and the eastern ones split between two Mähan princes.
As the Forest spread, all thee princes retreated to their islands with as much of their households and assets (including peasants) as they could. Both Maunia and Mähakama crumbled within a few years of the Forest taking over, leaving the three princes suddenly independent. Each had his eyes on the rest of the lake's islands, and the Haikellen Civil War ensued. No prince was ever able to seize control of the entire lake, because any who tried would be met by a united front from the other two.
The civil war ended with a peace treaty and an agreement to join their lands into one unified principality ruled by the three of them in a joint triumvirate.
Since unification, Haikella (a name formed from "realm of three" as none could agree whose land to name the new territory after) has been one of Veiama's major players. It is the most powerful Karuvian nation, and rivals with both Kaleina and Falla.
Founding Date
621 AK
Type
Geopolitical, Principality
Predecessor Organization
Demonym
Haikellen
Government System
Monarchy, Elective
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Haikamen Mark
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities