Bamard
The Kingdom of Bamard rests towards the southern foothills of the Apps Mountains. Its borders include the foothills and Lake Conecuh in the north, the Opevie Hills to the south, and the Bamard and Chattahoo Rivers to the west and east, respectively. The Bamardi Kingdom can be best described as the crossroads of conquerors, having fallen under rule of a variety of states before it gained independence. Even after gaining independence, it persistently faces threats of invasions and raids from nearly every direction.
Structure
The Kingdom of Bamard is headed up by the king, and from there, it expands to the generals of the army. The Council of Bamardi Generals is the primary decision making force in the Kingdom, headed up by the Commander. From the Council, authority expands to military governors of various ranks that oversee all various towns and communities. The larger the community, the higher ranking their overseer, and the more subordinates they have. These posts oversee all government affairs throughout Bamardi, whether or not they relate to direct military purposes.
History
The original nation of Bamard was said to be a minor republic based out of the town of Wetumpka. It was small and weak, and fell before the Chatta Kingdom. The town was liberated by the Shin Empire, and then brought under the imperial fold. During this time, the Bamardi people began expanding across the southern provinces of the Shin Empire, until the War of the Five Hammers, when Shin authority diminished due to the pressing need for forces in the wars against the dwarves. Bamard was again independent for a short while until the conquest of the state by the Jakonian Empire in 355, in which the Bamardis were overwhelmingly outnumbered and defeated. Bamard spent hundreds of years under Jakonian rule, until the Battle of Conecuh Lake in 820. This battle formed the foundation of what would become the Kingdom of Bamard.
The defeat of the Jakonian Empire at the hands of the Sypi Confederacy and the Shin Empire led to the independence of Bamard as part of the treaty ending the war. Local Bamardi lords were recognized as independent, while Jakonian born lords were forced to the leave the territory of the new nation. A king was elected from among the native Bamardi nobility, closely under the supervision of both Shin and Jakonian oversight. The Kingdom of Bamard then was briefly left to its own devices.
The kingdom's feudal government lasted only a mere sixty years before the Saru and Ke'kaci tribes of the Sypi Confederacy decided to test their mettle and invaded in a major raid. The lords of the kingdom panicked and had few forces to offer to defend the nation against the invasion. The orcs and goblins rampaged from one end of Bamard to the others, while the aristocracy fortified their castles and allowed the others to suffer. Only the king and several military leaders did what they could to fight back. In the wake of this devastating raid, the officers who backed the king consulted with the military leaders of the noble houses, and they soon delivered an ultimatum to the aristocracy: renounce governance and give up their power while keeping their wealth, or face competent leaders on a field of battle in which they'd have no army. Thus, power transferred to the military.
This was unacceptable to the Jakonian Empire, which saw its allied nobility's power in Bamard go up in smoke. The recent loss of Losana to the empire had given rise to a growing discontent, and the Jakonians sought to invade and reclaim lands, at least indirectly. The Jakonian legions were in poor shape after almost a decade of guerrilla warfare in Losana, but they went in anyways. The Bamardi army was still outnumbered, badly by the invading force, but they managed to break the Jakonians in a single major battle. From there, they captured Clayhatchee and Perdu from the Jakonians, and managed to force a highly favorable treaty upon the empire, claiming the lands they had taken in Bamard's first great military victory.
The early 900s were full of further triumphs and successes, facing down more Confederate raiding parties and even leading a punitive force into the Sypi Confederacy against the eastern tribes. Similarly, border wars were fought against both the Shin Empire and Mersan Union, protecting the state from invading forces. By the end of the century, however, the successes began to slow as it seemed the world was settling into a new era of peace. Only a small orc horde from the Badlands threatened the peace and were summarily defeated in 988.
The closure of the border with the Shin Empire in 999 surprised many of the leaders in the Kingdom of Bamard, and all thought that this was the opening salvo of a new major invasion from the north. No invasion ever came, and some within the leadership saw this as a moment of weakness in the king and the Council of Generals. Plots and schemes began brewing in every corner, and assassinations and rapid changes of power became the fixture of life throughout the 1010s and 1020s. Only the eruption of the Sypi Civil War changed the course of instability for Bamard.
The Sypi Civil War led to many tribes taking the opportunity to cross the Bamard River to raid for the gold and resources they needed to continue their war efforts. The constant raids proved a major threat to the Bamardi government, and the military found itself strained in trying to hold back every assault. Attrition greatly weakened the Bamardi army, and with the deaths of many talented soldiers and officers, the Kingdom of Bamard was nearly as drained as the Confederacy when the war at last came to an end in 1027. Since then, the Kingdom of Bamard has been struggling to rebuild and restore the west, and renew faith in the military.
Demography and Population
The majority population within the Kingdom of Bamard consists of Bamardi humans. They are the most numerous residents of all of Bamard's towns and cities, and in some cases, it is rare to find someone who is not a human in these settlements. In the northern provinces there are believed to be some mountain gnome burrows, but they are often hidden, and only occasionally do the gnomes venture into human lands to trade their trinkets. Similarly, it is believed that one mountain dwarf stronghold still exists somewhere in Bamardi lands, but its location is unknown. As with most of the kingdoms near the Circle Sea, the Bamardis have a small high elf population in Wetumpka, from which a handful of half-elves have emerged. All of these races are minuscule when compared to the overwhelming size of the human population.
Military
The Bamardi Home Army is thoroughly intertwined with the nation's government. The Home Army administers every city and community throughout the nation, with each major town housing at least one regiment with local recruits. These act as both the bureaucracy and the defense of every major urban center of Bamard. The military consists fully of those who volunteer to serve within it, and during a time of great need, officers of the Home Army have full authority to conscript any remaining able-bodied men to serve in combat. Due to this, the government of Bamard is one of the most egalitarian in Emicara, as even the rankest peasant can ascend the ranks of the armed forces through merit, albeit with significantly more difficulty than a nobleman. Training is uniform and complete, following established procedures and policies that make every unit of the Bamardi army equal. Unfortunately, they often lack in high quality weapons, which is rarely available in the quantities required to staff every regiment.
A strange element of the Bamardi Home Army is the Bamardi Home Army Navy. Along with its unusual name, this so-called fleet consists only of a handful of river boats on the Bamard and Chattahoo Rivers. These ships are armed with repurposed siege weapons and sparse crews, trained to prevent smuggling and raids over the rivers. They have often proven their effectiveness, but very few volunteer to serve and lead these units, which receive the dregs of the Army's resources. Despite that, they have performed with uncommon valor, sometimes single-handedly throwing back raids from the Confederacy.
Technological Level
The Kingdom of Bamard is roughly equivalent to most of its neighbors in technology and science, except of course for the Shin Empire. Ample trade of technology and ideas comes from the south, and the research arm of the Home Army has been surprisingly adept at integrating new ideas and devices into the service. Unfortunately, they lack any real production of these new devices, and sophisticated facilities for high technology are absent from the Bamardi economy, forcing them to rely upon imports. The lack of any major universities and colleges outside of the military academy further contributes to an overall lack of internal scientific development.
Religion
The Church of the One Sun is the dominant faith in the Kingdom of Bamard. The Church is even granted a seat at most of the Council of Bamardi Generals meetings. Although they lack an official vote or say in legislative affairs, their words and guidance are often carefully considered whenever it is offered. Often, the Church's representative is usually the most influential Bamardi priest available, but in some times, occasionally a Jakonian or Columban ends up in these meetings. This is usually followed by such a representative having unusual accidents, and the Church has learned to keep the nation's spiritual affairs within the nation. Among the people of the nation, the Church is the uncontested faith, but Bamardis are usually a bit more moderate when it comes to the tenets of the faith than Jakonians or Columbans, choosing instead to take many of the more xenophobic or sexist elements more laxly.
Foreign Relations
The most important foreign ties to the Kingdom of Bamard are those with the Jakonian Empire and its successor states along the Circle Sea. With no sea access for itself, trade through the Kingdoms of Losana and Forard are vitally important to the import of goods into Bamardi lands. Currently relations with these states is often chilly, but they remain somewhat unified in opposition to the Mersan Union and the Sypi Confederacy. Both follow other faiths than the Church of the One Sun and have a history of warfare with the Kingdom of Bamard. Still, the Kingdom of Bamard can rarely afford to turn away allies and friends, and is notorious for abandoning one alliance in favor of another, keeping its eye on who can best help preserve its independence. The closure of the Shin Empire has led to them finding more and more common ground with the Kingdom of Columba and the various free cities, as the Kingdom of Forard still remains close to the remnants of the Jakonian Empire.
The closure of the Shin Empire is one of the great foreign relation enigmas to nobles and diplomats within the Kingdom of Bamard. The Legate of Kraticum has maintain communications and illicit trade with the Kingdom of Bamard and seems to have as little idea of what's going on deeper within the empire. Still, even the Legate has enough power and military force to topple the government in Bamard if he so chose. Therefore, the Shin Empire remains something that Bamardi spies and observers keep a constant, nervous eye upon.
Agriculture & Industry
The nation of Bamard provides more than enough foodstuffs for their people, usually of self-subsistence nature. The people of Bamard rarely starve, but usually lack in variety. Few cash crops are grown throughout the kingdom, with the exception of cotton and tobacco, which are used by locals. The key industry in Bamard focuses around iron and steel. During the height of the Jakonian Empire, the legions were equipped with the finest in Bamardi steel, produced in Wetumpka and surrounding towns. Although they lack the same scale of production as the Kingdoms of Alsona or Recfrere, they are still the largest steel producers near the Circle Sea.
Trade & Transport
Despite making up the borders of the Kingdom of Bamard, the Bamard and Chattahoo Rivers are some of its most important thoroughfares. Both of these rivers are essential for the trade of the steel and iron that make up the bulk of the kingdom's exports. These rivers connect the main population centers of the kingdom, as well, while the interior is mostly underdeveloped with dirt roads. Only a handful of long paved highways exist in the Kingdom of Bamard, and these are regularly patrolled by regiments in training exercises. In the south, there's not even that, and the Kingdom of Bamard's southern roads often have issues with bandits and monsters threatening local travelers.
Education
The only formal education a person can receive in the Kingdom of Bamard outside of private tutors is through the Home Army. Those who volunteer for the army receive education based on their talents and abilities. A person with a talent for magic will be educated by an army wizard, while another with a talent for engineering will receive similar training from an engineer. The army will ultimately decide the vocation of a new recruit, and no one truly gets to choose what education they will receive, but all recruits are given basic literacy and some other general education courses. A Bamardi volunteer is probably one of the best rounded soldiers in Emicara, but they are in the service for life, and sometimes even beyond death.
Infrastructure
The majority of roads within the Kingdom of Bamard are unpaved, with the exception of the King's Highway from Fountain to Shorville. This major road connects the largest cities in the kingdom, and allows for the bulk of its overland trade. The kingdom also maintains ferries along the Bamard and Chattahoo Rivers, providing quick and easy transportation between water based communities. Smaller streams and rivers throughout the country have smaller ferry services that offer passenger and livestock transportation. Outside of the King's Highway there are few roads and bridges, an intentional choice by the government. The low level of infrastructure slows invaders and offers chances for regiments to rally more quickly against an incoming threat.
Bamard Endures
Founding Date
Bloodset 4, 828
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Capital
Demonym
Bamardi
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
Copper/Silver/Gold
Major Exports
Iron ore, steel, lumber
Major Imports
Luxury foodstuffs, weapons, technology
Legislative Body
Council of Bamardi Generals
Judicial Body
Bamardi Military Courts
Official State Religion
Subsidiary Organizations
Official Languages
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Comments