Montiero
The Old King Across the Sea as it's called, Montiero is a kingdom in retirement from what it once was. In the previous era, it was a power of the world that few would dare to have challenged. Its grand army and great fleet could seemingly touch anywhere in the world, all the Reyalle had to do was reach for it.
That came to an end at the battle of Lost Ways and the Siege of Ten Rivers. Separate battles, continents, and oceans apart, but part of the same war that would claim the lives of two of the nation's crown princes, one princess, the entirety of its overseas holdings, and cause an identity crisis within the empire itself. The campaign that ended the empire of Montiero deserves a more thorough look, and I shall touch on it later, but for now, it simply can be said that both were brutal drawn-out battles. Numbering in nearly 20 days of fighting between the two struggles.
20 days to wound an empire so mortally that it has never been the same. Yet it still stands.
Follow the generations to the modern era and you will find the nation split into two camps of about equal size. One is the royalists, who agree with and follow the crowns generally....relaxed demeanor. They believe that they have everything they could want, and are content to simply trade for those foreign luxuries they wish to have. After all, a whole continent is a significant power base. Proffering to stay out of national conflict, leaving the other nations of the world to fight over each other scraps. They advocate to keep the great army of Montiero but in a completely defensive manner. The Royalists in government want grand forts to be constructed, and great fortifications across the nation. Like on the shoreline, to keep watch for the sails of invading ships.
Then there is the conservative movement. Known to the general public as Bitters, this group wishes to ignite a fire in their nation again, to bring the empire back to it's former heights. They want to reclaim what they lost in the Princekiller War. Well, what can be reclaimed after all that death. Within the public eye, the Bitters are viewed with a bit of distaste. They're often viewed as an attempt to erase the sacrifice of all the men and women who allowed the empire to maintain its continental holdings by sidestepping the Princekiller War entirely in public debates or private conversation. Preferring instead to focus on previous glories of invasions and wars against ancient rivals.
That being said, the Bitters have more support than the general populace lets on. They won't come out and say it, but many quietly support the Bitter's goals. Unwilling to be judged as callous to the nations suffering, but being seduced by the calls to conquest all the same.
The current Reyalle, Guillen de la Sahagund himself is the leader of the Royalist movement or is at least viewed as such. While the Bitters are lead by a small cabal of government officials.
Culture
While they were once known for their fiery temperament and boisterous attitude, that characterization has largely gone the way of the Montierite Empire. Cooled, like the embers of a fire.
They are still driven, with many Montierites passionately living a sort of relaxed demeanor on top of it. Asíel Vidalia, as it's called in their language (Literally translating as "Come what may".), is a sort of...school of thought. Similar, in a way, to we Laidrian's gallows humor.
They are very rarely off-put or caught off guard, no matter the situation, or so they'd have you believe. It's less a serene calm, and more of an implacable grin that gets slapped onto rejection, death, loss, slight embarrassment, etc. Almost any situation people would most likely not want to be in would be simply brushed away with a smile and a snappy retort.
Public Agenda
The public agenda, as given by the nation's leader, is one of isolationism backed up by military might. As of now, they are hesitant to even enter negotiations with foreign dignitaries for anything more than trade contracts or topping up their political inroads.
History
Once upon a time, Montiero was primed to take the lion's share of the world, and each little piece of the map they colored in only made them stronger. It seemed like they could do no wrong, with every nation that came into their sights falling in quick succession.
Its home continent fell completely under their control. Then every island in-between it and their sister continents. Then much of those sister continents, with the one to Monteiro's west almost completely falling, bar one final holdout. Which maintained its defensive posture for over a decade, frustrating the nation to no end.
Their greatest test would come when Montiero attempted to invade a continent farther across the ocean. Their reputation proceeded them when the great bars of Montiero's flag could be spotted from the coast, and all the continents residents sent runners to each other, something that had never happened before. The kings, queens, and ministers of state all came together to discuss how they wanted to defend themselves. If they even wanted to defend themselves. After all, the Montierites and many of their subjects enjoy a great deal of wealth and abundance in the empire.
It took less than an hour to decide they didn't want to take the chance of simply becoming Montiero's next bank to empty. As their coalition was signed into being, Montiero was biting away at their outer states and provinces, slowly but surely making its way across the continent.
To this day, the skeletons of towns that were looted by that army still stand, like grave markers in the sun.
The coalition, now known as the First Accord, realized that even with all their armies marching together, they could not win in a war of attrition. Montiero still outnumbered them by (note, this number is hotly debated by historians to this day as contemporary reports conflict) at least four to one. So they knew they had to act decisively, and preferably strike the first blow.
It is here that their first spot of good fortune came to be. As they marched towards the Montierite armies, four in total, two were scheduled to rotate out. One going home for rest and resupply, while another came in to finish the campaign. As both armies transitioned on or off of naval vessels, a storm began to form. One that, when it broke, was one of the great storms in history, even reaching and surpassing the heights of the ancient Greatsquall.
Whole harbors were shredded as the armada of Montiero was smashed against the coast and itself. By the time the sun started to peak through the clouds again, half of the invading armada sent lay at the bottom of the ocean. Almost all of the ships that sank, which included half a dozen men o' war amongst their number, went down with all hands. Those that didn't then reside at the bottom of the ocean could even reliably get back to shore as even the stone wharves that towns around their landing points had were damaged so badly as to be unusable.
What remained in the field of both armies was less than an eighth of their original combined strength, and it would take months to either repair the great wharves or the armies would have to spread out to the many smaller port towns that still had functional docks and facilities. They decided to spread out and had to further split up the other active armies to protect their landing points.
Just as Montierite forces on the continent started to land, the second great tragedy of the Princekiller War occurred. The one that gave the conflict its name. The crown prince of the nation, Nicolao de la Sahagund: Loved by all of his men, peer of generals twice his age, and a reputation as a kind charmer, died in camp. One of Montiero's warbeasts, a great horned animal known as a Detorga, went berzerk and rampaged through the camp the prince was staying.
No fowl play was suspected, as it wasn't uncommon for the Detorga to break loose, but it may have well has been an assassination with the damage it did to the already flagging morale. Especially when eyewitness accounts of what the princes' body looked like when the warbeast was done with it got around. Scattered brains, a pierced throat, and flattened ribcage were all parts of an ignoble end for such a beloved fixture of the nation's armies and the people in general.
By no means out of the war, the Montierites attempted to rally themselves and marched towards the First Accord's growing army in the hopes of knocking out most of the members before they could all gather. They thought they might be able to catch the First Accord by surprise, and that they were still disorganized. Without a unified command structure according to some reports.
Those reports couldn't have been more wrong.
[Excerpt taken from Military Mistakes, Blunders, and Tragedies of the last millennia, by Uỳnhvăn Min
Military
The structure of Montiero's military is up to modern standards, with its two most recognizable additions are the Solatia Mejorio, and the godcrafted Detorga.
Always Remember the Cost of the Past
'Reyalle' is the Montieran term for king.
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Alternative Names
The Old King Across the Ocean, Sleeping Montiero, The Great Beast,
Demonym
Montierite
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Market economy
Location
Comments