Severan Dynasty

It is one of these beautiful rhymes of history that the Severans would leave the world in quite the same way as they had entered it: in a storm of fire and blood.

— Amelian IV. Emperor of the Hegemony

House Severus is often cited when it comes to determining the most influential families in Vardania history. Rising from rather humble origins, the Dynasty would grow ever more powerful, even managing to become one of Vardania's Imperial Dynasties. In the process, they would help lay the foundation of the modern age.

Building a Dynasty

by Jorge Barrero

Tracing their origins to minor nobility of mixed Vardanian-Rhovarin heritage, the Severans would first appear in records around 2341 DA, when Eugenia Severa is mentioned as an architect in service to the governors of Savena. Credited with the design and construction of several cities and fortresses across northern Vardania, Eugenia would eventually be raised to the status of Praefect in the 2360s.
Her sons and daughters would build upon her achievements, rising through the civilian and military ranks of the Tiberian Empire. Said realm had begun to seriously decline in the 2410s, constantly battered by Vitrian attacks from the West. When the last Tiberian Empress fell in battle, the army raised the Legate Antoninus Severus in her stead. While limited in achievement, Antoninus was able to keep the realm alive, creating the Severan Kingdom.

Iron Kingdom

In time, the Severans rose to become one of the most potent forces in northern Vardania. Not particularly exceptional in their competence, they would manage to maintain and grow their power. However, it was their opposition to the two great forces of the 3rd Millennium that would propel them to the forefront of Vardanian politics:

The Vitrian Scourge

Ever since their great uprising had broken the Second Hegemony, the Vitrians had stormed across Vardania, conquering and pillaging in their wake. The Severan State would prove to be one of their staunchest rivals, battling them throughout the rugged north for nearly two centuries, becoming a beacon for anti-Vitrian coalitions in the process. And while not always victorious, they proved more enduring than their enemies. Growing in strength and competence, Severan Armies would eventually push the horse lords out of the north entirely, ending the last Vitrian realm there in 2590 DA.

The Spirit of Republicanism

Just in time, as it would turn out, for another force was about to test them. Coming out of Anidara, the old idea of republican government spread in a new and radical form that opposed even the resemblance of royal authority. Forced by this wave to join the emerging Third Hegemony, the Severans faced the fanatic rage of Feran zealots and republican agents, weathering the storm with astonishing stubbornness. Their opposition to the Third Hegemony did much to cause the Empire's downfall, and when the dust settled, the Severan Kingdom stood as the strongest power on the continent.

War against Vitrians and Fanatics would severely affect the Severans, imbuing them with a strong affinity for military power and absolute rule. No other realm would quite match their disdain for the ancient bureaucratic and elective institutions so sacred to most other Vardanians, and no other family would embrace the fiction of a divinely ordained rule so strongly despite being utterly anathema to the scions of Tarquinnia.

Imperial Power

by Ahmad Said

The Severans would reach the apex of their power in the last century of the Third Millennium. After a series of rulers more content with focusing inwards, fate gifted the dynasty with three sisters, each as brilliant and ruthless as the last. The Furies, as the world has since known them, would prey upon Vardanian weakness, devouring the land to turn their kingdom into a truly imperial power.
However, shortly after proclaiming the Fourth Hegemony, the three would fall into bloody conflict from which Maria the Red emerged as sole Empress. She and her direct descendants would bring the new realm to the height of power, yet it was their faults that sowed the seeds of collapse.
Weak rulers would see the army come into power and unleash an age of civil war and usurpation. In 3034 DA, Arcadianus, last Severan Emperor, would fall in such a conflict, ending the main family line. Branch members would continue on for several decades, some even attempting to pry back their throne. In the end, they too would fall in the chaos they had caused. Late Septem of 3079 DA would see the last known Severan executed. More than seven centuries of history were ended with a single swing of an axe.

Some would condemn my family to the deepest abyss for its deeds. Others would make us gods for our accomplishments. I share neither view. We did what we had to. Vardania is a cold mistress. You either play to her tune, or you perish.

— Maria the Red

2341 DA - 3079 DA

Type

Family

Capital

Aedes Ceranis - The Unconquerable Fist

Predecessor Organizations

• Late Valerian Dynasty

Related Ethnicities

• Vardanians

Notable Members

• Eugenia Severa 2341 - 2412 DA
  Progenitor of the Dynasty and Architect

• Antonius Ireus Severus 2426 - 2491 DA
  Established the Severan State

• Vitellian the Silver-Eye 2796 - 2875 DA
  Prominent Poet and Painter

• Maria the Red 2933 (2938) - 2963 DA
  Founder of the Fourth Hegemony

• Gratian II. Ironside 3016 - 3031 DA
  Last Severan Emperor

Skill? More often than not, it was luck that saved them.

— Aelia Anistra, Archivar

Divine Right

The concept of divinely ordained rulers is well known around the Divide. Vardanians are one of few cultures that eschew it, in part due to their Apostasy but also because a ruler's power is seen as based on laws and offices rather than blood or fate. It is one reason why there is such a divide between Vardania and its ancient mother, Rhomeia.

by Jue 'Leo' Li