7. Modern Dwendalian Empire

For three hundred years, the Empire has expanded and prospered under the rule of the Dwendalian line of kings. King Alfwin Dwendal increased the Empire's military power by establishing the stronghold of Bladegarden and assimilating Grimgolir into the empire, seeking to hold back the savage creatures of Xhorhas. King Theoderich Dwendal’s benevolent nature brokered the partnership with the Clovis Concord of the Menagerie Coast without bloodshed and ushered in new opportunities for trade with the rest of Exandria. King Willamar Dwendal established the initial prominence of House Truscan and granted them oversight of the Truscan Vale, to the displeasure of the other noble houses.
Other kings have come and gone, but few have made as immediate and lasting a mark as King Bertrand Dwendal. On assuming the throne in 790 PD, King Bertrand immediately demonstrated his love of spectacle and social manipulation by instituting town criers across the empire to disseminate Crown-approved messages. With the aid of Master Ikithon Trent of the Cerberus Assembly, he captured the imagination of the masses with well-crafted tales of his deeds, proclaimed by the criers in every town square.
Seeking to bury any dissent against the Crown, King Dwendal began to use the empire’s spy network to seek out sources of unrest in the public and punish those who sowed thoughts of rebellion. Public holidays and celebrations were given greater funding to quell the masses and distract the people from the increase in taxation implemented across the valley. This allowed King Bertrand Dwendal to rise in popularity while also ruling with a far more ruthless and self-serving agenda than most kings before him.
King Bertrand maintains the isolationist world view of his predecessors, even in times of need. By ignoring political alliances from distant nations, preventing the construction of any skyship docks within the empire, and ignoring calls for aid—such as the fight against the rising threat of Vecna two decades before—the King believes he has made the empire stronger than it’s ever been.
However, the King's focus on isolationism fades as tensions with Xhorhas grow. Worry about his legacy mingles with the new and deadly threat of the Kryn Dynasty, now emboldened and pushing into his kingdom with strange magics and dangerous warriors. He mistrusts the very Cerberus Assembly that grants him so much influence and arcane might to combat the ever-darker world that barks at the borders of the empire. Public approval of his rule wanes with growing economic disparity, and the whisper of Myriad power returning under his nose only heightens his paranoia.
When the Kryn orchestrated an attack on the Halls of Erudition in Zadash, the Cerberus Assembly pushed for a display of military power to rally the people and bring unity to the national identity of the Empire. The king declared war on the Kryn Dynasty and the people of Xhorhas, embroiling the region in this new full-scale conflict, with the hope that, as history has proven, people are easier to unite against a common enemy.