Kingdom of Aspax

The Kingdom of Aspax was one of the major human powers in the seventh and eighth centuries AE. Founded by the local clans seeking protection against their neighbours, it rarely engaged in the large scale politics until the War of Five Kings broke out in 802 AE, consuming the entire region and leading to the creation of the Human Empire.

Structure

The kingdom of Aspax was not what you would expect a human kingdom to look like. Rather than being a realm with some degree of central power represented by the royal dynasty, it was, in fact, a confederation of numerous clans that would elect the king from among the clan Chieftains to act as a judge and to lead the combined forces against the outside enemy.
The king did not get anything from his position except for the said obligations, having to rely on his own power to carry them through. He was the first among equals, one of the strongest chiefs that would lead the rest, but all the control over land and people belonged to the local chieftains.
The society of most clans was pretty centralised due to them being essentially one big family, most common lead by one of the elders elected by means of voting. The chieftain would assign the clan members their plots of land to work, collect and distribute a certain amount of food to help those in need, and train the warriors from among the young men.

History

Aside from a few individual clans, not much is known about the area before the foundation of the Kingdom of Aspax. The more powerful neighbours rarely paid any attention to it, attracted more by the rich and fertile lands near the Krisna. However, it all changed in 639 AE when Queen Eswaea of Espua decided to grow her realm by means of the hillmen tribes to the south.
The Kingdom of Espua was then in a long-going succession conflict with the Kingdom of Esma, both of which claimed to be the only true successors to the throne of the Kingdom of Eclea. With their conflict being in a stalemate, Queen Eswaea has gladly answered the request for help from one of the clan chieftains, sending his troops to aid the chieftain against the enemy clan. However, after achieving a victory in battle, the Espuans did not leave.
The story further progressed the next year, when Queen Eswaea has put forward a claim to the lands occupied by the clans. She argued that they had no king to rule over themselves, that they only quarrelled and fought each other, while her rule would bring them peace in a unified realm. It was not much of an excuse, but what the queen lacked in reasoning, she planned to compensate for with power.
Soon after Queen Eswaea and her army crossed the border and marched in, they encountered a big army of hillmen blocking the way. Demanding to be let through, they were replied that the hillmen "have already found themselves a king, and they need no other" and ordered to leave the lands of the newly founded Kingdom of Aspax. Unwilling to take an open act of aggression with the Kingdom of Esma being sure to jump in, Queen Eswaea backed off and left, freeing the previously occupied land.
The hillmen then continued to live the way they always did, fighting battles among themselves. Over the next 150 years, a few attempts were made to invade their lands, yet they were always repelled by the combined forces of the kingdom's clans. In fact, many clans even started to organise joint raids against the vulnerable parts of their neighbours' lands, something that was not frequent before due to clans lacking coordination. As a result, the borders with the Kingdom of Aspax were soon well fortified, which led to the hillmen raids becoming rather rare once again.
The most serious war that the kingdom participated in was the War of Five Kings in 802 AE. Feeling threatened by the Kingdom of Lleira's recent expansion which gave them a common border, the majority of the clan chieftains supported the idea of their current king, Darren, to side with Esmans in attacking the Lleirans. However, the war went fairly bad for the attackers and resulted in their enemy achieving dominion over the region. In just a few years, King Darren was forced to subdue to the Kingdom of Lleira along with the rest of the realms.

Disbandment

The kingdom ceased to exist during the meeting of the kings of all remaining independent human countries on Wane 81st 811 AE. King Jaymond of Lleira threatened the rest of the kings with the overwhelming power of Lleira's armies and forced them to become his subjects, announcing the creation of the Human Empire off his realm.

Demography and Population

During the two centuries of its existence, the population of Aspax remained stable and was estimated at or slightly under a million people, although no one could quote the exact number. Largely unaffected by the time passing due to the relative stability the kingdom lived in, it was yet prone to massive drops in times of poor harvest.
Due to being located in the hilly area far away from the Krisna, the lands there were never very fertile. In fact, they were the least fertile among the territories occupied by all Five Great Kingdoms. Despite that, the population was always rather high in the kingdom, which frequently caused famines in some parts of it should harvest be poor for a few years straight.

Territories

The kingdom was located in the hilly southern and south-eastern parts of the region known as the East of the Krisna. It encompassed 40,000 to 50,000 square miles of land, although not all of it was ever inhabited, and remained unchanged throughout the history.

Military

There was never such a thing as Aspaxian army as each clan had their own forces. The majority of the small feuds were solved in one-on-one duels, although the number of participants could be extended. However, every able-bodied man was trained to handle a spear and a shield, and it was not a rare instance for clans to wage war against each other, or to band together to defend themselves against the outside threat.
Usually, only the oldest members of the clan were called to battle. The only common exception was a blood feud where no mercy would be asked or given to the men of the feuding clans, and thus every one of them was to fight for the very survival of their clan.

Foreign Relations

Due to the repeated attempts by the Kingdom of Espua to conquer the Aspaxian lands, the relationships between those two were always very tense. However, it also caused increasingly warm relations with the Kingdom of Esma, Espua's longtime rival. There were not much in terms of diplomacy with the rest of the kingdoms in the region, as the Kingdom of Aspax was always more or less isolated and perceived as primitive and barbaric due to its clan-based social structure.

DISBANDED/DISSOLVED

"Strong, free, proud"

639 AE - Wane 81st, 811 AE

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Training Level

Semi-trained

Veterancy Level

Trained

Demonym

Hillmen

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Confederation

Economic System

Traditional

Neighboring Nations

• Kingdom of Espua
• Kingdom of Moclad