The Arystian Empire

The Arystian Empire.
 Overview ---

Land Size: 2500000Km^2

Population: Roughly 50,000,000

Settlements: Roughly 3 Big Cities, 105 Cities, 600 Towns, 98889 Villages

Livestock: 110,000,000 (74,800,000 Fowl, 35,200,000 Dairy and Meat Animals)

Military Limit: 1,000,000 max

Naval Limit: 69 Ship Capacity (3 Galleons, 6 Hulks, 2 Artillery, 7 Galleys, 10 transports)

--- Pre-Arystia --

After the Golden Split between the West and the East, ultimately resulting in the collapse of Imperial Daencer, the remnants never to set food outside of the great eastern forest for hundreds of years, the leaders of the rebellion were at a stand-still. Each of the leaders of the separate towns and cities wanted to govern themselves and rule others under their own name.

Few were compliant with accepting vassalisation from others, most notably what is now dubbed 'The Old Daencer Empire', a hardline Imperial Daencer loyalist successor state that had refused to retreat east along with the rest of the forces that would go on to become the Kingdom of Daencer had incorporated many smaller factions into it's lands near the beginning of the 'Fractured Era'. Other small factions like the Kingdoms of Pentros and Tradesman's Mouth formed, but not nearly to the size of the ODE.

The Old Daencer Empire

The Old Daencer Empire was formed from the lands taken by the rebels during the civil war, with the capital set at Radis, which is along Tradesman bay, a heavily populated trading centre. The Faction wanted to rejoin the newly formed Kingdom of Daencer, but due to the Kingdom shutting its gates to outsiders, it felt like it was betrayed, and sought that the Kingdom was not the 'true Daencer Empire' it once was, and that the ODE was the original empire, having the now ruined capital of the empire within its borders.

Its plan was to conquer the nearby cities and grow an army to overthrown the Kingdom for its betrayal to the Empire. Unfortunately, the small factions along it's borders knew that it would not like being a small empire in the shadow of it's past and formed a coalition against the new country in every new conquest it held. Some conquests did prove fruitful however, although not to the extent the emperors of the country had hoped, and by the time of the Arystian Unification, despite being a thorn in Arystia's side, eventually was swallowed by the new power and was served to rule under its new leader, Hunter I.

The Kingdoms of Pentros

The Kingdoms of Pentros was formed shortly after the Fracture of Daencer of nearby cities and kingdoms. Although not as big as the Old Daencer Empire, it certainly was not a power to mess with, and ranked second in size within the Fractured Kingdoms. It contained under its immediate control the City of Pentropolis, from which the King resided, the small city of Dartaine, local towns and villages, and had the Kingdom of Antia as a diplomatic vassal along with its surrounding settlements. Immediately after the fracture, it held no significance apart from holding major settlements along the river of Aggarthorn, but previously to the civil war and during it, it brought horses from the south and midlands up to the north to breed.

Due to the colder climates up north and the rougher conditions, the horses became more heavily built and larger, outclassing the southern horses in military combat. By the time of this new breed coming into place, the war was over, but the grace period of the Fracture did not live long and wars between the kingdoms for sovereignty of their lands became common place. Most northern factions did not take place in many wars due to having spent most of their man power in the previous major conflict. However, they did sell their newly breed horses to the south to keep good relations and profits. Since most conflict happened in the grasslands and open plains of the midlands, demand for cavalry was heavy and thus profits grew in the north due to their superior cavalry production. This made the northern cities of Pentropolis and Antia rich and thus they devoted a lot of their plains and lands to horse ranges in order to keep up with demand.

Eventually the southern kingdoms did not want to pay for their horses and deciding to take what they thought was rightfully theirs; The Northern Realm. Using the new found wealth, they brought mercenaries from nearby and far lands to fight for the Kingdom, using the rest of the funds to build great walls and fortifications to protect their good and cities. While the first few conquests of the north proved successful for the southerners on their not so suspecting northern neighbours, eventually the north brought them out in men and weapons, pushing back the invaders and hiding behind their shiny new walls. Afterwards, the north held quite well against the south and was able to live in peace behind their walls, almost like cattle. Eventually, a king in the north by the Name of Hunter, of the newly formed House of Pentros, grew tired of these constant raids and the feeling of living like cattle, and so he built a grand army, mainly of his superior horses, of which he stopped selling to the southerners, and deciding to take the southern lands in the name of peace and prosperity. Or so he proclaimed anyway.

Trademan's Mouth

Trademan’s Mouth originally consisted of two separate countries, the Principality of Southwatch and the Kingdom of Santis. Both countries controlled the opening into Trademan’s bay, a massive trading hub for Eris, and thus taxed accordingly. Unfortunately, neither had complete control of the mouth and skirmishes broke out between the two nations for dominance, which broke into full scale war. The war brought taxation of trade ships into the mouth to rise, causing a shift in trade power. Other routes were found to trade through so as not to enter the mouth, as either the taxation could economically destroy you, or a conflict would do the same physically.

A route through Kualdi Major from the mouth at Durquea was proposed, and at first seemed promising in bringing trade back to the midlands. However, over time, raids on ships on the river became common by Daencer skirmishers, and traders were wary using the route. Durquea had newly gained wealth as a major trading city because of this route, and did not want to lose the advantage, and so brought about the idea of military escorts through the river for a price. This benefited both parties, as smaller counties did not have to both building and funding a navy for protection, and this brought even more income into Durquea. Other southern cities like Sandstead benefitted from this new route too, as long range stops in-between the south midlands and the South East, to rest traders and replenish goods and resources.

Eventually, after many wars, the Prinicipality of Southwatch, were able to defeat the Royal First Fleet of Santis at the battle of The Horn, which resulted in an amphibious invasion of Santis, first of it’s kind in the wars of Tradesmans Mouth. Due to a lack of military training on land, Santis fell easily to the more trained army of Southwatch, which had more power-hungry neighbours and thus fought conflicts to defend their realm. After this victory, the two countries joined together to become the economic power of ???. The Prince of Southwatch then decided, in order to keep order in Santis and not involve itself in another 100 years of naval conflict, to build a huge bridge along the shortest point of the mouth so to easily install military presence if need be, which it was multiple times.

Eventually, Santis had accepted its new ruler and trade resuming into the mouth and the bay. Some trade still continued along the south, as the newly made economic powers of Durquea and Sandstead had proven to be good trading partners. Unfortunately, with the trade resuming through the mouth, the Kualdi Major Trade Route diminished, causing the ODE to lose alot of the income it had gained, weakening it to a point it could not recover from, losing its super power status. Unfortunately for the ODE, it lost most of it’s power at the wrong time; the time of the Arystian Unification.