Kingdom of Eclea

The Kingdom of Eclea was, for several hundred years, the biggest and richest out of all human realms on the East of the Krisna. Founded by a legendary Queen Eclea the Pure, it was built on the foundation of peace. However, as years passed the ruling dynasty moved further and further away from the ideals of their predecessors, eventually starting to seek more power and lands. In the end, the realm was split into the Kingdom of Espua and Kingdom of Esma, and that was the end of it.

Structure

Nobility

For the entirety of its history, the Kingdom of Eclea was a feudal state ruled by the King or Queen. Unlike all other human realms at the time, males and females held equal rights to the throne, a tradition created in honour of the kingdom's first ruler. Another tradition was for all rulers to take a new name starting with the letter "E". Should a female inherit the throne, her ancestors would be considered belonging to the Noble house of Eclea rather than their father's family.
Although the royal dynasty held some lands under their direct rule, most of the realm was ruled by other nobles who would often be from other branches of the house of Eclea. Those nobles would hold the titles granted them by their fiefs, be it either a Baron, Count or Duke. While in everyday practice nobles were alluded to in accordance with a single title of their choosing, usually the highest-ranking one, for official purposes the full list of titles was customarily used.
Interestingly enough, sometimes there would be a situation when a noble could not call himself by the title a fief gave his predecessor due to a fact that for a fief to be a county or duchy, its owner must have Eclea's blood running in his veins. There was, however, no such requirements for the barons.

Servitude

While there always existed a significant share of the population that has owned its own land and was only ever obliged to pay minimum taxes to a noble in exchange for protection, the majority of the common folk held their land by tenure. A noble would give them a certain amount of land to work on and, obviously, expect something in return. Most commonly, that tenure would be inheritable, passing from father to son unless relinquished by the latter.
As far as the laws of the kingdom were concerned, only one thing was strictly forbidden: requiring that a man was to fight his landlord's wars. Owing its existence to the Queen Eclea's hatred of war, the concept of only willing men taking up arms gave rise to an idea of a semi-professional army instead of a levy. Most commonly, a man had to pay taxes in food and coin and work his baron's lands for him, just like they did in the western realms.
Barons usually did not have much power over their tenants other than that although the given oaths varied and, in some cases, additional taxes were introduced, such as a marriage tax or cattle tax. Those taxes never affected the freemen, who always had an option of remaining the direct subjects of the King or Queen and thus pay their taxes to the Crown.
In fact, many of the rich freemen and most of the traders chose not to become subjects of any noble. It both filled the royal treasury with gold and made barons quite reluctant to give away their lands permanently. Generally, a baron would only sell some of his properties if in real need of gold or to reward their most loyal subjects.

Land organization

Contrary to the chaotic nature of fiefs' borders in the realms west of it, the Kingdom of Eclea's lands were strictly organised. The main unit of land was a barony, consisting of at least 10,000 acres. Under no circumstances could land be detached from a barony except when it was divided into two or more different baronies. All baronies were given a specific name at the creation, usually that of the most prominent settlement existing on their lands.
There were two types of baronies: those owned by tenure and free baronies. While the former were usually bound to their owners, the latter could be sold and gifted freely, giving a noble title to anyone who would buy them. And just as a common farmer had his obligations defined by the tenure agreement, a tenant baron had his duties as well. Those obligations usually consisted mainly of two things: paying taxes and providing a certain number of fighting men.
The barony is an old human concept, but the remaining two units of land became common only after the Exodus and were first introduced to Eclea by King Enma in 157 AE. Both of them, as mentioned before, required their owner to have at least a single drop of Eclea's blood, determined by the heraldry. If such a title were to pass to a person with no Eclea's blood in their veins, it would be inherited by the current ruler instead.
To establish a county, a baron needed at least three barons supporting him. They can be either his vassals or free barons. The lands of all those barons had to be connected so that a person could move freely across the county. If those conditions were fulfilled, then the estates of all barons would compose the territory of a new country consisting of their baronies.
In doing so, the barons recognised the count to be the one to represent the interests of them all. It did not impose any requirements on them but to be potentially subjected to his court. The count would also represent his barons' interests at court and in disputes. They did not, however, need to provide fighting men nor pay taxes, and were still direct subjects of whoever they were before. It was basically an exchange of protection for prestige.
Above Counts stood the Dukes. The ways of forming and inheriting a duchy were just the same as for counties except for the fact that a future duke needed the support of at least three counts, not barons. Like the baronies, both counties and duchies could be owned by tenure or be "free" and followed the same rules for naming. It would often but not always lead to several fiefs of different levels having the same name.
A crucial moment to mention is that if a noble had more than one fief, they would be treated as separate titles rather than all together. For example, a noble could own a barony in a county and, at the same time, be a duke of the land that county was part of. In that case, he would have different rights and responsibilities as a baron and as a duke, which depended on the circumstances. The same was true for a noble whose lands belonged to several different counties.

Settlements

The bigger settlements never distinguished much from hamlets in the principal of how they lived. Parts of them could stand on the land owned by freemen, and thus not all inhabitants of a settlement were always subjects of the same noble. More significant settlements were still generally used as a base for some of the baron's retainers overseeing the territory, but that was only due to the convenience of it.
The population of the settlement would choose one or several respected people from among themselves to organise and represent them. Usually, the subjects of any noble other than the barony's owner were excluded from the political life of the settlement. The reason for that was that they had not to respond to the same noble as the majority of the population, and as such, were treated a bit like outsiders. It was also an uncommon case for a settlement to stretch across several different baronies, even if they were owned by the same noble, except for the biggest ones.
Most of the everyday decisions and disputes were considered by those informal leaders, including the process of collecting taxes. The baron's retainers would come to the settlement either every once in a while or on-demand, mainly doing so to safeguard collected taxes or convey baron's decisions. They would also serve as law enforcement force, restraining and escorting people to the baron's court in case of need.

History

Foundation of the kingdom

Although most humans settled on the fertile lands near the Krisna after the Exodus, over time some of them began to move further away from the river. Young men went off with their families to establish their own small settlements on unclaimed soil, seeking more land, independence or simply being afraid of the river.
Despite being not as fertile as the land near the river, by the end of the first century AE the eastern areas were covered in a vast network of settlements where every group of hamlets would consider itself an independent realm. They were all connected via an intricate spiderweb of alliances, waged war against each other and overall repeated the gradual process of consolidation of their western neighbours but at a much slower pace.
It could have gone so for long if not for a woman named Eclea. She came from the west one day, hopeless to stop the war that has fully gained momentum between the human city-states near the Krisna by then. The peace she so desired could not be found on the east either, but there was not nearly the number of people living there, and no strong city-states were founded yet.
Eclea, who was a very talented mage to the point where many people viewed her as a deity or an actual goddess. With her power, she quickly pacified part of the area and in 97 AE established a village called Safe Land under her rule.
Eclea's rule was fair and based on a prevalence of laws established by her and the elders of the families that came to live in Safe Land. Furthermore, the magic used by Eclea resulted in her lands giving a tremendously rich yield and thus allowing her people to prosper. Attracted by the rumours, many people started to flock there, and some hamlets accepted her rule as well.
In a few years, the small village grew into a town, and during the harvest festival in 104 AE, Eclea was crowned Queen of the newly-founded realm named in her honour. By that moment, many dozens of hamlets and villages were under her rule, and their elders became the kingdom's Barons. Eclea did not demand much from her Barons but to carry out the laws and came to here aid should such a need arise. In two more decades, the Kingdom of Eclea consolidated most of the eastern lands.

Peaceful growth

Queen Eclea passed away on Growth 72th, 122 AE. The throne was inherited by her daughter from the first marriage, Queen Erienia, who started the process of centralising the kingdom and created the royal guard. She was then succeeded by King Enma, famous for creating the noble hierarchy of Eclea, in 149 AE.
Although a major power, the Kingdom of Eclea did not engage in much diplomacy with other realms except for the trade. The kingdom slowly grew through establishing many new settlements and absorbing already existing one. Due to the relative peace that existed in the realm, its inhabitants could accumulate much wealth in their hands and establish trade companies all the way to the Krisna, quickly becoming an economic powerhouse.
Yet, with time the rulers of Eclea started to move away from their ancestor's testaments, seeking more power and turning their attention to its neighbours. By the end of the fifth century AE, the population has grown numerous enough to cultivate most of the land actively and started to experience famines, something that was rarely heard of before.
While the kingdom did occasionally conquer other realms previously, it always had at least some kind of cause. It was not so when in 502 AE a rich Kingdom of Ugrax came under an unprovoked attack, and part of it fell to the Eclean armies. This precedent caused the old traditions to be ultimately cast off, and the kingdom went on a conquering streak.

Downfall

By the second half of the sixth century AE, the Kingdom of Eclea was already considered to be a great power. Many believed that Eclea would eventually dominate the region, and its forces have even defeated a coalition aimed to stop Eclea's rapid expansion. No one expected that the kingdom's power would go down so soon.
In the Erratic War against the Kingdom of Ugrax in 583 AE, King Ectesa died in battle along with his only son, leaving the throne to be inherited by his nine-year-old daughter. She was not fortunate enough as to actually take the throne, smothered to death with a pillow before coronation took place.
The closest in the line of succession were the late King Ectesa's nephew and niece. However, due to being twins, they held equal rights to the throne, and neither was explicitly named an heir by the previous ruler. Both twins have put forward their claims to the throne, and the country divided into supporters of either of them. Thus started the Eclean Succession Crisis, a 17-year-long civil war which has resulted in the kingdom being split in two.

Disbandment

The Eclean Succession Crisis started on Death 25th, 583 AE. After failing to persuade each other to comply with their rule, the pretender twins decided to settle their quarrel in the field. The battle has proven indecisive, so both of them retreated to the places of their greatest support. The twins each took a royal name, King Esma in the south and Queen Espua in the north, and proclaimed themselves the only true rulers of the Kingdom of Eclea.
Neither pretender has managed to prevail in a prolonged war, so they reluctantly signed a truce on Birth 1st, 600 AE. That symbolizes the final destruction of Eclea, and two successor realms were established: the Kingdom of Esma and the Kingdom of Espua. Despite that, the rulers of both realms have never renounced their claims to be the true heirs of the Kingdom of Eclea.

Demography and Population

The most populated areas were always those closer to the Safe Land or, as the settlement became known later, Sefand. The prime reason for that is that Safe Land was a destination of much immigration during the early days of the kingdom, and thus the lands around it were settled one of the first. However, as time went, the population started to slowly move further away from the capital seeking more fertile land to work, although the tendency remained.
At its highest, the kingdom's population was estimated to be between 2,5 and 3 million people. A significant proportion of them were the inhabitants of the conquered lands, which were always more densely populated than the outskirts of the kingdom. As a result, there was a steady migration from the former lands to the latter.
Due to the peaceful nature of the kingdom, most of the people lived a long life and thus tended to have fewer children. They also often married only in their mid-20s, making sure they can provide for their children, and the share of freemen in the realm steadily grew. However, all those tendencies started to revert after the war of 502 AE.

Territories

At the moment of its foundation, the kingdom was no bigger but a few dozen square miles. Nevertheless, the realm has reached its highest in 583 AE and encompassed about 100,000 square miles of land at the time. Up to 30% of those lands have previously belonged to other realms and were forcibly occupied by Eclea, almost exclusively during the sixth century AE.
Despite its best effort, the Ecleans could not quickly assimilate the conquered lands. When the Eclean Succession Crisis occurred, and the kingdom started to fall apart, some of the occupied territories took the chance to revolt and reinstate their former realms, including the Kingdom of Ugrax.

Military

Because the concept of feudal levy was forbidden in the kingdom, its military strength was based on the regular troops serving the nobles. Fighting was rarely their primary activity as the realm was rather peaceful, so most of the time those soldiers were acting as envoys and administrators.
However, when the time comes, a noble would muster his retinue, or just part of it, who would take up arms and fight. In addition, if the noble had any tenant barons, he would call for reinforcements from them in numbers and with arms specified by the tenure agreement.
An essential part of the Eclean military system is the fact that nobles were not necessarily considered soldiers. Queen Eclea's law forbade to make unwilling people take up arms, and nobles were no exceptions. Even though the majority of them still fought in battles alongside their men, the tenure agreement only required them to provide soldiers and not fight themselves.

DISBANDED/DISSOLVED

"Peace, order, civilization"

Wane 100th, 104 AE - Birth 1st, 600 AE

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Capital

Sefand

Training Level

Semi-professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced

Demonym

Ecleans

Government System

Monarchy, Constitutional

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Traditional

Subsidiary Organizations

• Kingdom of Esma
• Kingdom of Espua

Notable Members

• Queen Eclea the Pure