Coringian Empire History
When Odin and the other Norse gods planted the Norse peoples around the Fodsel Sea, they intended for them to multiply and spread. The protected fertile lands around the enormous freshwater lake of their homeland was an idyllic environment. The first peoples prospered on the shores of the lake, fishing in its waters, hunting in the surrounding mountains, and farming the fertile fields of the southern shore and the Slickrock River valley. As the established communities grew, the Norse moved away from the Fodsel Sea, with the first groups migrating down the Odinflow to Lake Laksverd and eventually to the sea where they traveled the coast and built cities on the edge of the Inner Sea. Kingdoms were built around these cities, and the population centers shifted to the Inner Sea coastline. What became known as the Dymark and Southhold developed into farming communities while the cities on the coast developed a maritime culture exploring new lands, trading and raiding other settlements as they went.
Many warlords arose and established power over petty kingdoms, warring with each other, raiding, and sailing along the coast of Ankomst. There is a long history of kingdoms and warlords, of peace and conquest before the Empire came into being that we will not get into in this brief description, but suffice to say that there were thriving states established by warlords who declared themselves kings centered on the cities of Yord, Fodested, Maksverd, Bannerheim, Salstad, Lanhavn, Kaldhavn, Oskerford, and Tommer. Maksverd became a wealthy nation, being in the center of all trade, and having access to the sea via the lower Odinflow River. They developed militarily, building the largest land army on the continent and maintaining a strong fleet of longships in the lake. The farming villages of the Dyrmark, along with the kingdom as Oskerford quickly became vassal states to the Maksverd kings, trading crops and freedom for the protection of the Maksverd army. Maksverd controlled the entire Dyre River valley, the lower Odinflow, and pressed their tax collecting efforts on the people of the Longwood and the northern portions of the Banner Hills. Uncomfortable at losing control of his ability to reach the sea without constraint, and feeling pressed in by Makverd’s strength and expansionist tendencies, the king of Yord maneuvered to counter the efforts of the Maksverd king. In the year 1302 in the Age of Kings, (1302 A.K.), corresponding to the year 4 BCE (Before Coringian Empire), the king of Yord, Axelwulf III, whose kingdom centered on the great bend of the Odinflow and controlled all the lands from the Wolfscrag to the Longwood, refused to pay the annual tribute to the Maksverd King Coring Tolbrok for transit of the lake, and sent a fleet of longships down the river. This refusal to pay and attempt to push the king's hand, sent Coring into a rage and was all the excuse he needed to declare war upon his great rival Axelwulf. The Maksverd fleet caught the Yordish boats in the lake and quickly defeated them, killing a great many and taking the remaining men captive. Coring promptly closed the Odinflow to all boat traffic but his own fleet and readied his army to assault the seat of Axewulf in his citadel in the city of Yord. His army marched south, up the Odinflow, accompanied by hundreds of longships, with the intent of utterly destroying the forces of the defiant king.
When word of the approaching Maksverd army reached the people of Yord, a great deal of them fled north, up the river past the great waterfall and into the Fodested province of Elmhollow, just inside the Wolfscrag Mountains. Axelwulf chose to stay within his keep and wait out the impetuous King Tolbrok. The Maksverd army promptly laid siege to the city of Yord who looked to the neighboring kingdom of Fodested for help. King Harald of Fodested, seeing the refugees from Yord flowing into his country and fearing that his lifeline to the sea was also cut, refused the Yordish king's calls for help. As the siege wore on into months, Coring called for Axelwulf’s surrender, but the latter refused, content to remain behind his walls and stall for time, convinced that at some point the Maksverd Army would return to its home on the lake. As winter set in, King Tolbrok again demanded the surrender of Axelwulf, but this time added that a refusal would mean the extermination of the entire city. When the Yordish king again refused, Coring’s forces assaulted the city in force. They were led by the king himself, surrounded by a cohort of Maksverd berserkers and supported by siege engines blessed by clerics of the god Thor. The city's walls fell and the berserkers laid waste to the city. Axelwulf was brought before Coring himself who forced him to watch the systematic destruction and burning of his city and the execution of his remaining sons, before declaring that Axelwulf, for his refusal to surrender, would be made into a “blood eagle” in the middle of his destroyed city.
Upon hearing the news of what befell Axelwulf at Yord, King Harald of Fodested immediately traveled downriver to pay homage to King Tolbrok and become his vassal, bringing the kingdom of Fodestad, the Norse homeland and cultural center, under the control of Coring of Maksverd. He now controlled the interior of northern Akomst, and in the course of one fighting season had significantly added to his realm, gaining control of the entire upper Odinflow and the Fodsel Sea. Coring now turned his sights downriver to the kingdom of Lanhavn. Lahnhavn and its sister city of Havhavn had been a thorn in the young king’s side for years. Just as Coring had taxed the vessels traveling the water through his lake, so too did the Havens tax ships exiting and entering the mouth of the Odinflow. The coming Spring, in 3 BCE, or 1303 AK, Coring sailed down the Odinflow and landed on the shores of the island city of Havhavn. His fanatic berserkers and clerics of Thor easily took the undefended city in a matter of hours. From there he directed the siege of the walled city of Lahnhavn. Lahnhavn was prepared, well-stocked, and unlike Yord, still had access to the sea to resupply themselves. Coring knew his men had already missed much of the last planting and harvest season during his campaign against Axelwulf, and knew his men did not have the stomach for another prolonged siege. Coring went before the gates of the mighty city himself and issued a challenge in one-on-one combat to the king of Lahnhavn, King Lothgar Rolloson. Lothgar, an absolute giant of a man, and a veteran of many sea campaigns, quickly agreed. The two kings met on the road outside of the city gates and exchanged formalities, each swearing that his holdings would transfer to the other should he be killed in this contest of kings. Both kings then began to work themselves up into a berserker rage, stomping their feet, slapping their face, showing their teeth and calling on the names of the Norse gods. It is said that Thor himself signaled the beginning of combat with an enormous thunderclap. Coring lunged at the larger man, swinging madly with his ax, but Lothgar was an experienced fighter and sidestepped or blocked the blows. Lothgar fought with an enormous sword that would take most men two hands to wield. But King Rolloson swung it with one hand easily, leaving his other arm to carry a large wooden and iron shield. King Coring had a smaller shield with a large spike protruding from it and a single-bladed ax. In single combat Coring appeared to be bested. He was exhausted, his shield was broken and he could no longer even lift the remnants that remained strapped to his left arm below the elbow. In an act of desperation, Tolbrok called on the name of Odin and threw his ax at the head of the Lahnhavn king. Passing just over the top of the king’s shield, the blade of the ax caught Lothgar on the chin as the blade rotated down and forward. The ax blade cleaved the king’s lower jaw in two and bit deeply into his neck, slicing deeply into the one spot open between the lower portion of the king’s helmet and the upper portion of his armor. Lothgar was dead before he hit the ground. Coring assumed the kingship of the Havens without any of his men having yet set foot within the city. When Lothgars attendants presented Coring with the crown of Lahnhavn, he took the name Coring Kingslayer and proclaimed himself the first emperor of the Coringian Empire. This marks the beginning of the current Norse calendar and the year 1 CE (first year of the Coringian Empire).
Within the next twenty years, through intimidation, blockades, and outright military assault, the Empire annexed the Kingdoms of Kysfort, Kaldhavn, and Tommer to the north. The royal families and attendants from the coastal kingdoms fled across the Inner Sea and to the relatively unexplored lands on the other side, and established new kingdoms. Harstad on the extreme western coast of Apenrike was established by the king of Kaldhavn and the royal family from Kysfort established the island nation of Kylos.
The country of Banner proved more difficult. The king, Barad the Fat, refused the overtures made by the emperor, and erected large forts on the plains west of his major cities, Bannerheim and Salstad. After a long and costly war, Barad the Fat was betrayed by his youngest son Barash who informed Coringian forces of the time and place of Barad’s planned sea voyage to Heliopolis in the south to purchase military help from the Hellenes. Barad’s ship was captured and he was brought back to Coringhall where he was imprisoned and never heard from again. In return for his treachery, Barash was made the governor of Bannerheim and given lands in the Banner Hills. The older son of Barad the Fat, Baran, also known as Baran the Navigator, made his escape to sea with the majority of the kingdom's fleet, sailing far north into the Inner Sea and establishing the kingdom of Barania in the lands past the Belts of Ran.
Coring Kingslayer now held sway over all land east of the great Dividing Range and north of the Laspi River. The little known and little seen Halfling folk of the Barrelstave Warrens were happy enough to become a vassal state of the empire, sending annual amounts of wheat, barley, and beer to the empire, in exchange for protection and generally being left alone. The only Norse peoples left in Ankomst not under the jurisdiction of the empire, were the city-states found on the western coast, on the other side of the Divide, and the tiny, overlooked outpost of Thorswrath in the land of Falbak.
In the centuries that followed, the Empire expanded the short distance across the Coringian Channel, and by 500 CE had established mining colonies in the Seaspine Mountains. The cities of Riga and Tahkveer, grew up quickly as men of the Empire discovered huge amounts of iron ore and gemstones hidden in the mountains. This has, of course, served to provide an opportunity for interaction with the Dwarves of Rikhem, and the relationship has proven contentious at best.
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