East Marcia
The Royal Kingdom of East Marcia is a fuedal monarchy in the Marcian region of Prima Terra. Historically one of the most influential and important human kingdoms in the western continent, the nation has seen a steep decline in the third age through internal conflict and external pressure from the Eldrian Empire and Seldrinar Supremacy.
Originating from numerous smaller nations liberated by Saint Catherine during the Dark Ages - East Marcia has existed as a single entity since 2220, founded by St Catherine's descendents. East Marcia has resisted many modern movements inspired by the Great Awakening, still relying heavily on feudalism, serfdom, and a rigid class structure founded around wealthy land barons from old aristocratic families.
East Marcia was the heart of early fighting in the 40 Year War and is still recovering from the damage and loss of life across their new reduced kingdom, with its southern most regions of Selonny and Aquitaine being ceeded to the Seldrinar Supremacy. Since the end of the war, a large scale dsicrimiantion against magic users has errupted in the king, with Robert VII, a hero of the war, banning magic following the Soliel Distaster in which his wife was murdered by magic using terrorists.
Structure
East Marcia remains a feudal kingdom divided into three key duchie; Cheval, Picarnie, and Solaine. Solaine is traditionally the capital region of the kingdom, housing the noble family and their vassaled houses, with the other duchies housing influential and powerful noble families. There used to be five duchies, but with the loss of Selonny and Aquitaine following the 40 year the balance of power has been shifted to the northern regions.
Beneath the dukes, there are numerous lords, earls, marquis, counts and barons ruling over smaller subdivisions. Some larger cities house councils composed of freemen and guilds, but democracy or civilian power is scant throughout the kingdom.
Culture
East Marcia has historically been the centre of art and culture amongst western humans. Considered a cultural great power in the late second age and early third age, East Marcian practices and styles spread throughout its neighbours and helped to inform modern artistic and cultural movements. The chivalric culture of second age East Marcia persists to this day, with knights seen as the protectors of the East Marcian people and defenders of faith.
East Marcian art was traditionally controlled by the clergy and monastic communities who commissioned colourful tomes, portraits, and stained glass windows. Since the second century of the third age, clerical dominance over the arts has shifted away to smaller artistic communities in Soliel, which remains the cultural centre of the kingdom in its western quarters.
Art remains focused on history, monarchs, great figures, and religious dedications. A more unnaturalistic style remains the standard style for East Marcian art and literature, focusing on flowery representation and impressionism over accurate depictions.
Abroad, many consider East Marcians snobbish and arrogant. The Kingdom's most prominent struggles in the Marcian Wars and 40 year war have also earned them the reuptation of being a 'weak' nation with a poor military who are reliant on their Eldrian overlords. This stereotype is largely based on foreign exposure to the nobility and ruling classes, with lower classes being far more expressive, friendly, and welcoming to strangers.
History
Ancient History
Human settlement to the region came in the late mythic age and early first age as the Sun Elves allowed new affiliated human tribes to migrate to unsettled areas of their empire. Sun Elves heavily settled East Marcia building Soliel and Vueclaude and still having numerous ruins scattered throughout the Sun Mounts and Dorric Alps. Elven population centres would be destroyed in the final years of the First Soulthek War, likely forcing the remaining elves into remote rural areas such as the Albmire and Dorric Mountains. With the fall of the Sun Elves, the human Galiyian peoples moved into the area. The Galyians were a group likely related to the Albionii tribes of the modern Eldrian Heartlands who worshipped the old gods and maintained a nomadic and druidic village culture. Much of Galyian culture and history would be lost with the rise of the Marcian Empire, who conquered the province and incoporated it as Marcia Minor. What has survived from the Galyians, it appears they had numerous tribal conflicts with the 'Faerie' tribes of the woods and mountains. Whether this means the Galiyans had regular conflicts with the wood elves of the Silverwood, isolated former sun elf population, or even residents of the feywild is unclear. The most likely answer is battles with the wood elves, as the isolated sun elf tribes most probably integrated into the Galyian population, accounting for the high rate of half-elves born to human couples in modern East Marcia. Much of the modern East Marcian infrastructure such as the rebuilt city of Solinium (Soliel) Montaes Valantia (Vueclaud), Phinetium (Phinette) and Almoricum (Albmire) being built, as well as the major road networks and waterworks.Dark Ages
When the Marcian Empire fell, Marcia Minor was amongst the last provinces to fall to the raiding barbarian tribes. A Tumbrian coalition of tribes invaded the province. Led by king Thalaric, the kingdom of Marschland occupied the modern East Marcian territory, taking Solinium, renamed Solel, as his capital. The Marschlander kingdom established the first duchies, Aquitaine, Selony, Equitar (Equitas), and Picandland (Picarnie). The Marschlanders also established new settlements and towns, rebuilding around ruined Marcian towns and forts. The Marschlanders were amongst the earliest barbarians to convert to Divinitism, with Thalaric's succesor, Odo, converting early in his reign to appease the local East Marcian rulers. Compared to the late empire, where disease, war, and economic catastrophe saw standards of living collapse and the impressive engineering feats of the Marcian Empire fall into ruin, the early Marschland Kingdom was generally stable and saw life expectancy increase. This peace would change with the rise of the Barbarian Queen Gothica, a Tumbric warrior who pillaged from Dracenfel to Soliel and usurped the role of monarch of Marschland from Odo's son, Adalric. Gothica's reign saw rebellion across the kingdom, with the barbarian queen funding her rulership by raiding monasteries and butchering priests. Gothica's reign lasted for ten years, when the barbarian queen was killed by the fabled warrior Maracalon and the sorceress Igrite the Red Witch. The last two kings of Marschland came from the Gotherand dynasty, a cadet branch of Thalaric's house Thalarginian house. Kings Borg and Dalocar saw the kingdom fall apart slowly as the effects of Gothica's reign increased animosity between the East Marcian populace and Tumbric rulers.St Catherine
Her birth name lost to time, Saint Catherine was a young peasant girl from a now lost village somewhere between the rivers Lune, Aquitaine, and Spear. Catherine's village had been raided by Gothica a decade before her birth, leaving a burnt out convent on its edges. Legend holds a 16 year old Catherine was visited by the Angel of War in her sleep and walked into the ruins of the convent, where she recieved a divine blessing. With divine inspiration and a new purpose, Catherine swore and oath to Saint Paladia and took up arms, marching on the Marschland army beisging the town of Vinstand. In legend, Catherine brought forth a, "host of angels of the prophet, and saught righteous vengance on those who took the blood of the heavenly chosen." The Marschlander army was vanquished, and using rebel groups from around the kingdom Catherine would collapse the Marschland regime, spawning the duchies as independent regions. Catherine then marched south, liberating the holy land and then aiding in the fall of Norvjold. Despite not unifing the kingdom into a single entity, Catherine's is seen as the 'founder' of the East Marcian kingdom for her role in routing out the Marschland regime. In legend, the hero Arthur became king and united East Marcia for ten years, founding the Knights of the Circle and dying at the hands of his son and most trusted knight. This is largely considered folklore as no evidence of a united kingdom exists before Louis the Conquerer.Louis the Conquerer
With the fall of Marschland in 2198, the various duchies of the region began independent warlord states. In Soliel, the descendents of Saint Catherine took control of the former Marschland capital. Catherine's son, Louis, became ruler of Solaine upon his mother's death and assencion into sainthood in 2214. Louis moved to consolidate his new realm, and his legacy as the child of the woman who liberated the region gave him incredible political clout. Louis gathered the Knights of the Circle, the most 'noble' heroes of the realm, and had them swear and oath to him. Louis also supposidly left for the great steppes on a 'holy mission' where he recovered lost Rexian tomes on warfare and strategy. In 2220, Louis sent a messenger to each of the other duchies, ordering them to come to Soliel and bend the knee, recognising him as king of the East Marcians, or die by his sword. Not a single duke would yield - with Montaigne, Duke of Cheval, sending the messenger back to the Louis with a note nailed to his tongue that read;"We will ride to Soliel, but we shall never yield, and if you do not fall on your blade then I will stick it in you myself."Not long behind the messenger, the Chevalian army rode. Consisting of mixed cavalry units and some smaller, lightly armed spearmen, the army besieged the capital. Louis, realising the Chevalian cavalry would outmatch any resistance even his best warriors could amount in the open field, devised an intelligent strategy to divide and slaugther the attacks. Behind the northern gate, Louis deliberately collapsed buildings, creating narrow slips of land and outside key stone buildings such as churches, watchtowers, and old imperial buildings, he laid lines of flammable oil and hid mages in his service behind walls. In smaller buildings, he hid hundreds of archers, and at the end of the narrow street, two more battlemages and armed the Knights of the Circle with heavy spears. Next, Louis convinced a low-ranking guardsman he trusted, named Yves Ameleur, and used him as a double agent. Yves convinced the Chevallian forces he would betray the city and open the north gate, which would ultimately trap the forces in Louis' carefully laid death trap. The plan worked without a hitch - Yves ingratiated himself to Montagine of Cheval, and opened the north gate in the dead of night. The enemy knights flooded into the city, squeezed down an ever narrowing street, and when in position, the mages lit the flames, splitting the attackers into smaller sections behind lines of fire. The hidden archers jumped out of their hiding spaces and flurried artillery down on their enemies whilst Louis marched forward with the knights of the circle, his battlemages taming the flames as they crushed and speared each divided section. The Night of Screaming Horses, as it would be known, saw minimal casualties to Louis' army and catestrophic losses for the Chevallian forces. Montaigne was slain in the combat, found with a dozen arrows in his armour. Louis made a local bishop resurrect the fallen duke, only so he could look into his eyes as he thrust his sword, Angel's Tear, into him. Using his forces, Louis marched in Cheval, meeting little resistance and sacking Equitas, the duchy's capital. Louis would be bogged down by fighting in the marshy Albmire region, the dukes of Picarnie and Aquitaine allied together and marched on Soliel as well. To their surprise, Louis did not march to meet them, but instead split his army, sending half on ships across Lac Dauphin to raid the Aquitainian countryside whilst Louis led his half to pillage the farming and mining settlements of the Picarnie highlands. Retreating from Soliel, the besieging armies of Aquitaine and Picarnie returned to their homelands to chase Louis' armies. In Picarnie, Louis would meet his enemy in a narrow canyon called Belanial Fault. The Conquerer placed his cavalry in positions on the hills, leaving his infantry and artillery to sit in the canyon as bait. The Cavalry remained hidden, hiding in mine shafts and caves until the Picarnie army arrived. Easily outnumbering Louis, the Duke of Picarnie, an old and brash man named Jean Claude, fell for the king's bait and marched into the canyon. Louis held his troops in defence, and feigned a retreat deeper into the canyon. With the Picarnie armies deep within the narrow causeway, the cavalry fled their hiding spaces and ran around he valley to the rear of Jean Claude's army, charging into his back line, encricling the soldiers. The battle was a slaugther. Duke Jean was likely suffocated in the crush caused by the encircling, with the bodies becoming so mangled and descereated by the hooves of horses and heavily armoured feat of Louis' knights, that his body was never identified. To fulfil his promise, after the battle was complete, Louis simply went around and stabbed every single body. In the wake of such a brutal defeat, the remaining nobles of Vueclaude surrendered their duchy, approaching to Louis outside the Valley of the Elves, and bending the knee. This action inspired a witnessing monk, Lyon of Arais, to begin work on the Gallesian Tapestry, depicting Louis's conquest of East Marcia. Aquitaine still fought on, chasing the king's second army throughout the countryside, never catching them. Louis marched south, sacking villages on the Via Aquinus, the road which led to Aquitaine's capital of Crasteaux. The siege of Crasteaux by Louis would become known as the Battle of three three walls. The city of Crasteaux sitll had its tall Imperial era walls, forcing Louis to bring in trees from surrounding glades and woodlands to build siege towers. Hearing the Aquitanian army was returning to his position, Louis instead used the wood to build another wall, half a mile from the city, to defend him against the coming army. The Aquitanian army arrived, and then had to lay siege to Louis's walls, but were also being chased by Louis's reinforcements, so built a wall of their own, another half a mile from Louis's walls, forcing the reinforcements to also lay siege. In a battle fought over several days, all the walls would eventually collapse as the king's reinforcements built several giant battering rams. The Duke of Aquitaine would surrender, and laid his life on the line in exchange for his city. Louis obliged, and spared Crasteaux and the duke's family. With four duchies now under Louis's control, only Selonny was left. Louis marched for the capital of Mursel. When he arrived, Louis found no army but an open gate with the steward of the duchy riding towards him. The Steward told Louis they had "only just" recieved his initial letter, and were more than happy to recognise him as king of East Marcia. Louis then asked for the duke to come out and meet him to pay homage, but the steward told him that the duke, Florian di Jurette, was following the rules of the letter explicitly, so was sailing to Soliel to pay homage. Louis rode back to Soliel, and found no duke, only a dignitary of Selonny. The dignatry said that after arriving, a messenger reached Duke Florian and told him Louis was at Mursel, so he immediatly sailed back to pay homage there. Louis, anticipating a return to Mursel would force him to turn around again, disbanded his army and sent one more letter with the dignatary to take to Florian, calling him to Soliel. Despite his initial anger and frustration at the duke, it is said that when Florian bent the knee and sweared homage to Louis, the new king "smiled with respect."
Early Kingdom
Louis the Conquerer cemented his legacy as the first king of East Marcia and spent his reign uniting the realm under his banner, the three golden lillies to represent the values of his kingdom, Duty, Loyalty, and Faith. Louis's new kingly court in Soliel was a marvel for its time, expanding the original Marschlander keep, Louis filled it with advisors from around the continent from priests to Aedrinaran mercanaries. Louis also kept numerous mistresses, as did his wife, Angeline of Vinstand. Other than his seven legitmate heirs, Louis fathered between 20-50 bastard children. Louis spent some additional time in his reign conquerering additional lands for his new kingdom. In the great steppes, he took lands around the Dorric Mounts and established small frontier keeps, and in the holy land he took the prinicaplity of Benedictium. The early kingdom became the powerhouse of the region alongside the papacy, being seen as the leader of humanity and a strong trading partner of its western neighbours through the Irrano trade routes. The third king, Francis II, the Pious, began construction on the Cathedral of the Our Lady of Marcia in Soliel, and although its construction would not be completeled for another two centuries, Francis II and the other Di Catherine monarchs are buried in its crypts. Francis's son, Marcel I, The Inadqueate, would lose their territory in Benedectium and the Steppes through revolt. Marcel was also seen as a 'madman' experiencing bizzare visions and wrote a series of rambling prophecies. He was locked away for the final years of 31 year long reign, with a regency led by his eldest son, Anthony.First Crusade
East Marcia became a pivotal force during the Crusade period of the second age, with tens of thousands of East Marcian nobles, paladins, and commoners answering calls to crusade in the holy land. When the papacy allowed exiled southlanders to found marchdoms in the holy land, the Seldrinar Supremacy invaded, seeing the prescence of 'enemies of the state' on their border as threat to their empire. Answering Lucius II's call to crusade in 2353, East Marcia helped repel the Seldrinar troops following 'the banner of god.' East Marcian holy warriors served alongside the rest of the divinitist world, but it was their actions in combat and general warfare that would ultimately see the Divinitist cause win. As a reward, when the crusade ended in 2360, the new pope, Charles III, granted many of the new crusader kingdoms to East Marcian nobles and knights. This expanded the kingdom's sphere of influence and control, cementing them as the great power of the second age. Although East Marcian knights would also participate in the Second Crusade for the Northing, their role remained minimal compared to Tumbrian and Axian factions.Queen Helen and the Borvan Dynasty
The East Marcian Golden age of the 24th and 25th centuries met its height under Queen Helen the Golden. Helen helped to fund new monasteries, churches, and was a great patron of the theatre. A new theatre district blossomed in Soliel, with a bardic college being founded as the first college of the University of Soliel. Helen's cognomemn of the golden was inspired by her generosity with the overflowing East Marcian treasury and by her 'golden hair.' Despite her beauty, Helen would have no children, living alone but having multiple mistresses and lovers. In her place, her nephew, Marcel II Borvan, the Lord of Qicara in the Holy Land, would inherit the throne. Marcel continued his predacessors generosity with the common folk, hosting tournaments and festivals of the arts across East Marcia. Marcels dynasty of the Borvan's would go onto rule East Marcia for 415 years, being the longest reigning noble dynasty in the kingdom's history. It was under the Borvan kings that East Marcia would again be drawn into the crusades. With the Seldrinar once again invading the holy land, threatening the East Marcian held lands of Qicara, King Francis III, The Crusader, led his own forces alongside Pope Urban IV in fighting the Seldrinar. With a white peace being signed in 2439, Francis III willingly gave up his holdings in Qicara to the newly formed Knights of Gosca and convinced other East Marcians in the region to do the same. His son, Francis IV, the Elf Slayer, would go to the fourth crusade alongside the knights of gosca and other holy orders, winning pivotal battles at Victorae, Acua Vitae, and Paladium. Francis IV would be appointed as "defender of the holy" by John III and a grand stained glass window depecting his victory at Paladium was erected in Chateau Borvan in Soliel. The final king of the golden age, Robert I, the Magical, trained as a wizard at The Miskatonic, only coming into theline of succession after the death of his older brother, Louis the Warrior Prince, in a jousting accident. Robert I commissioned a new school of magic in the University of Soliel and built Sorcitour as an enclave of the magically gifted to conduct research into lost sun elf artefacts and codify spells and spellcraft for east marcian wizards.Great Awakening
East Marcia would end the second age as the undisputed great power of the age. Pivotal in defeating the Seldrinar Supremacy in multiple crusades, uniting the Marcian region around their culture, and being the heart of trade for their time, the fuedal kingdom forged by Saint Catherine and Louis the Conquerer had no true rivals amongst the other human kingdoms. This would change with the coming of the Great Awakening, as new ideals and culture sprang from Altruscia and causing unprecidented growth amongst formally weak nations such as Altruscia, Estrella, and Middleaxe. East Marcian dominance over culture would wane in the second centuries as Middleaxian fashions spread throughout the human world. Some acceptance of these new ideas would spread into the region, as the later Borvan monarchs of Philip I, Robert IV, and Catherine constructed new ornate palaces, opera houses, and built new buildings and roads throughout Soliel to a modern gridded network. The Borvan dynasty would end after Robert IV, the longest ruling king at seventy years of reign, outlived most of his heirs bar a single grandchild, Catherine. Catherine had married into a minor Soliel family, and her son would be part of the short lived Carol dynasty. The Carol kings of Charles II, III and IV lived decadently whilst the rest of the nation fell economically and technologically behind. The benefits of the awakening around culture and living standards were horded by the nobility alone, as the idea of the 'divine right' of monarchs began to take hold amongst the aristocracy.Decline and the Terror
East Marcia would continue to fall behind the other western nations even when the Albonne dynasty inherited the throne under Francis VI, the pompous. Francis beleived heavily in the divine right of kings, a despotic, pro-monarchist philosphy that originated during the court of Charles II. It argued that the king was chosen by god themselves, and thus should have the authority of god on earth, with their actions considered in falliable and any speech against the king being considered heresy. The Albonne dynasty, starting with Francis the Pompous, beleived heavily in this idea and began to enact laws and punishments that reinforced it. Meanwhile, reformist clergymen and radicals began opening free schools and in the universities of Soliel and Crasteaux, radical thought began to spread arguing against monarchism and the liberation of the serfs, as was been done in Middleaxe and West Marcia. These two doctrines and their followers would clash multiple times in the late fourth century, culminating in small revolts and riots throughout the major cities and countryside as the Radicalists and Monarchists clashed. The attacks, repriasals, and general conflict would become known as The Terror. The crown hunted potential radicalists, whilst radicalists targetted powerful families and the church, looting monasteries and torturing nobles. The Monarchists were no better, killing entire villages and burning books at the library of the University of Soliel. A radicalist bard named Luc Clarice was also hung for two days from the dungeon walls by his lute strings before being mercy killed by a passing hunter. The Terror would spill beyond punishing radicalists, as the divine right also called into question the autonomy and power of the dukes and other nobles. Crown levies and punishments against the duchies would cause civil war and rebellion, as the duchies became more autonomous and close to independent from the crown itself. The Terror's effects spilled beyond East Marcia as thousands fled to neighbouring countries, including the newly formed Eldrian Empire and the Conglomorate of Iranno. Some fled south, becoming assets of the fascistic and renewing Seldrinar Supremacy.Francis X
By the end of the fifth century, The Terror had torn East Marcia apart. The former great power was not a hotbed of civil strife, famine, and disease. In its place, the Eldrian Empire to its north began to emerge as the new great power of Humanity, whilst the Seldrinar to their south saught to take advantage of their traditional foe collapsing. By 480, Aquitaine was full of Seldrinar sympathiesers and sleeper agents. Under the nose of the king, the rebellious duchy of Selonny was also annexed to the Supremacy. The rule of Louis VI, the Cruel, saw punishment of the radicalists and rebel nobles expand massively, all whilst he was blind to seldrinar subterfuge and infilitration of his kingdom. One such noble family, The Equines, dukes of Cheval, were all killed or pushed into exile. A boy named Francis was one of that noble family who fled in the night on his red pegasus to Eldron, taking asylum in the court of King Edward I of the Eldrian Empire. What made Francis different to all the other nobles hiding in the empire was his bloodline. His mother was the daughter of the previous king, Charles V, giving the boy a claim to the throne. Edward saught to use this particular asset to his advantage. Unlike the East Marcians, the Eldrian Empire were fully aware of the Seldrinar's incursions into Marcia and feared they would expand and gain control of the resource and trade rich region. In 490, Edward set for Neapia with Francis, and 'convinced' Pope Angelo II to coronate the young nobleman as the true king of East Marcia. Angelo obligend, and Francis Equine became King Francis X. Fitted with an Eldrian Legion and armies composed of exiled East Marcians, Francis swiftly retook his kingdom. Many welcomed a new claimanent, as Francis promised an end to the century long division between the monarchists, radicalists, and nobles, refuting the Divine Right but asserting that the monarchy and nobility shall stay in power as they always have done. Thousands flocked to the king's banner, and after a brief battle in Soliel, Louis VI was captured and executed for 'treason' by Francis. Francis would stomp out smaller rebellions in his kingdom, putting down radicalists cells in the Albmire and restoring order to the Duchy of Picarnie. Five years after his coronation, Francis felt he had secured his kingdom enough, and whether through stupidity or hubris, he invaded Selonny, aiming to take it back from the Seldrinar. This one action would lead to fifty five years of war that would last for the rest of his lifetime, cost him two sons, and end with his kingdom being in the pocket of the Eldrian Empire.Marcian Wars
The Marcian Wars began with Francis's invasion of Selonny. The Seldrinar and Eldrian puppet states errupted throughout Marcia to battle each other throughout the fifty-five year period, but East Marcia saw the most fighting and devesation. The Indirect phase of the war involved the western puppets fighting each other, with only Irrano and the Seldrinar pushing into East Marcia itself. Francis was completly outmatched, losing most of Aquitaine and territory in Cheval. In the battle of Grusontombe, two of Francis's sons, including his heir would die in a meteor strike from a Seldrinar battlemage. His wife, griefsticken, would pass away long long after, her weeps being heard across Soliel until her eventual death. The ancient kingdom was only capable of staying in the war thanks to additional resources from the Eldrian Empire. Although supplying Francis and his people with food, weapons, horses, and spell components, the kingdom was being placed into even further debt with their northern neighbours. The tide would turn for East Marcia in 522, when the direct phase of the war began and Eldrian legions marched across the River Albion into their country. An offensive from the Knights of Gosca would also push the Seldrinar out of Aquitaine, finally giving Francis, and his kingdom, hope. The Eldrians and East Marcian forces battled through to Selonny, where the Seldrinar entrenched themselves. Reinforcements from around the Divinitst world arrived as Pope Innocent IV called the last crusade. Additional allies organized by the Eldrians turned up in the final decade of the war. Finally Dwarven mercanaries from the three kingdoms and warrior monks from the Vale of the Moon Elves. Imperial involvement also saw the west marcian states unite under the guidance of Innocent IV and the King of Kernow under the Treaty of Saunton - pushing the alliance deep into the Seldrinar heartlands. Peace would come in 555 with the Rassendorf Accords. The Eldrians and Seldrinar withdrew all their troops and agents from the Marcian region, Aquitaine and Selonny were returned, and hundreds of thousands of East Marcian lives had been lost for the borders to change across a single duchy. Despite the great powers promising to keep out of all Marcian affairs, the truth of the matter was that the East Marcian crown was in platinum's worth of debt to the empire, and Seldrinar sympathizers remained in Aquitaine."Sick man of Marcia"
The post-Marcian war period of East Marcia effectively saw the once great kingdom a subject in all but name to the Eldrian Empire. With the war other, Francis X retreated to his castle in Soliel and never reemerged. Contemparies, including Archbishop Glaine Donbrie, the future Pope Sanctius IX, remarked that a deep depression overtook the once youthful and firey king. An apocryphal quoute attributed to Francis during this time reads,"I sold my soul and the honour of my country in exchange for a kingdom of ash and ruin. Let the angel of death pluck this crown from my head in exchange for my countrymen and the last fifty-five years of pain and sorrow taken away."Francis would die at the age of 90 in 558, eight years after the war ended. His grandson, Francis XI, would take the throne and the next century of Equine dynasty kings would all struggle to rebuild their fractured and war torn nation. East Marcia became known as the "Sick Man of Marcia" for its economic struggles and low levels of life expectancy, literacy, and development. Its impressive early third age and late second age greatworks fell into disrepair and ruin whilst the practice of fuedalism and serfdom became even more imbedded inspite of most of its neighbours. Seldrinar intervention in the kingdom would come to its apex in 628 when the Duke of Aquitaine, a Seldrinar Sympathizer, rebelled against the crown in an independence war. The Aquitaine Crisis lasted for a year and saw only two key battles at Florent and Grape Hill. A delicate peace treaty was organized by King Edward II of the Eldrian Empire and the Duke of Iranno between the East Marcian King, Louis VII, The Weak, and Duke Aldo the Traitor of Aquitaine. The duchies independence was recognised, but it was barred from formally allying with or joining the Supremacy. This mattered little, as the duchy was effectively another extension of the Seldrinar Supremacy in the region. East Marcia would finally pay off its debt to the Eldrians in 691, and some growth could resume. Under king Charles VI, The Kind, East Marcia looked like its reputation as 'sick man' would be ending as roads, walls, and great works were rebuilt including building numerous orphanages and schools throughout rural areas of the kingdom. Things were looking up for the kingdom, as its economy gradually grew and is population flourished once more. Hope was squashed once more with the arrival of the Pig Plague in 740. Around 3% of the population would die within the first two years, including King Francis XII, and numerous key figures in education, the clergy, and military veterans. Official records broke down by the end of the plague in 747, but it is believed around 7% of the total population died in that time, and a slow process of rebuilding had to be completely renewed. Not all was bad under the thumb of the Eldrian Empire. The added security from the Empire garunteeing the kingdom meant none of its neighbours could take advantage of East Marcia's weakened state, and trade could flow more freely between the two nations, stopping the economy from completly collapsing or famine spreading into the region on top of everything else.
Robertine Revival
Things would eventually start to turn around for the kingdom in 799 when Louis X died with only a single surviving nephew as an heir. Robert V, who would go onto become known as the Swift, was a Marquis in Solaine, and the son of Louis X's older sister, Marie-Madeline. Robert was a strong traditionalist, former knight of the Circle, adventurer, and orator. Robert brought in some of the brightest minds of the age to help him run the country, and touring his realm he inspired a new belief in East Marcia with a nostalgic view on its glory days in the late second age. With his new advisors and skills at inspiration, the kingdom began to grow once more. East Marcia became a strange relic of a forgotten time, knights rode around the countryside helping where they could, new bands of adventurers were funded by the court to fight great beasts, evil sorcerers, and discover long ancient mysteries. Production and trade increased, and East Marcia returned to a rank of being a middle power. Robert then took a small army of loyal and powerful knights and wizards into Aquitaine in 804, completling his reconquest in five battles and a single year. His victories were considered so efficiant and quick the Seldrinar dared not intervene out of fear of Robert's skill as a monarch, and prefered to wait till he died. Robert would die only six years of reuniting the kingdom, being honoured with his own grand masuoleum and his children assuming the new surname of Robertine in his honour. The Robertine Kings continued to revive the country, embracing tradition and melding it with new technology in construction and trade and industrial practices. East Marcia looked like it might finally be earning its prestige and power back, but despite two prosperous centuries, the kingdom was still a pawn of the Eldrians. A minor member of the royal family named Joan would marry into Goldwyrm family of the Eldrian Empire, becoming engaged to Prince Heinrich, the eldest son of King Donald I.Pre-War Period
In 978, King Robert VI was coronated on a warm summer's day in Soliel. Robert VI would have the unfortaunte luck of being the king to be parternered with the Eldrian Empire during their most devestating sets of crises in recent memory. Robert's daugther, Joan, had married into a member of a then minor noble house in the Empire called the Goldwyrms, a man named Heinrich. The two met a royal ball in Eldron hosted by the Eldrian Monarch, Tristan II. At first a good match, it would turn out ot be a headache for Robert VI when in 982 Heinrich's father, Donald, became a usurpation crisis against Queen Hilda. Bound by family marriage, East Marcian knights marched into the Empire to assist Donald in what was known as the Usurpation Crisis. If the usurpation failed, it was likely that East Marcia would be cut off from the empire, leaving them open to invasion from the Seldrinar or Iranno. If the crisis won, Robert would forever be tied to an unpopular king facing a constant threat of revolt. The latter scenario would come true, as Donald I was coronated in 981. To Robert's relief, no open revolts came, but the king had to sit and watch the Eldrian Empire become corrupt and unstable as Eldrian promises of garunteeing independence seemed to mean less and less. To the South, the Seldrinar Supremacy had finally rebuilt after the Marcian Wars and was waiting for an oppertunity to strike. The next crisis came in 992 with the assassination of Joan le Roi's husband and heir to the Eldrian throne, Crown Prince Heinrich alongside the Eldrian Chancellor in Gwenydd. East Marcian knights were sent to help bring 'order' to province, and after the bloody fortnight both Gwenydd and Cape County errupted into open revolt, signing the Commonwealth pact and beginning a full on war for independence. An entire unit of East Marcians would die at the battle of Saunton in Eldrian general Azumon's defeat. At least 49 more lives would be lost in subsquent battles and skirmishes trying to aide Donald I regain the region before independence was ratified. Robert's stress only grew worse as the Eldrian Empire errupted into Civil War in 995. Still tied to the royal family as Heinrich and Joan's child was still in the line of succession, East Marcia contributed soldiers and supplies to the Loyalist Cause, losing around a hundred soldiers and thousands of golds worth of weapons and food. A band of knights of Circle did manage to smuggle Princess Joan, her child, Donald the Younger, and other prominent Loyalists into East Marcia. Robert hosted the Loyalists at a royal estate near Mireville, where in 997 they launched a second civil war against the new Queen Hilda to install Donald the Younger as king instead. Robert officially commited troops to this conflict, declaring war upon Queen Hilda and her supporters. Thousands more East Marcians died on Eldrian Soil to install a king that would not care for them, all whilst Robert nervously eyed up the growing Seldrinar prescence on his southern border and their incurssions into Goscan territory. The civil wars ended in 1000, and East Marcians finally returned home fully aware of the devestation and weakness throughout their strongest neighbour. Robert VI died 4 months after the end of the Eldrian Civil Wars, and was the only one at court or amongst the Imperial allies that was warning about the Seldrinar and demanding the human kingdoms prepare for an inevitable invasion. His son, Louis XIV, did not trust in his father's warnings. In another time, Louis would have been amongst the great thinkers and artists, but the warning signs of war were ignored by a king would prefered to party and holiday in mountain chalets.40 Year War
War finally came again for East Marcia in 1002 as Seldrinar legions marched into Selonny and Aquitaine. The 40 year war had officially begun and various alliances and treatires were triggered, pulling all the Marcian kingdoms into one faction or another. Iranno, the Papacy East Marcia, Altruscia, Southaxe, and the Eldrian Empire were on one front whilst Vulcania, Estrella, and the Seldrinar Supremacy formed the rival camp. Seldrinar forces marched through an unprepared East Marcia, blitzing towns, villages, and forts with heavy magic and magical weapons of war. Sympathizers within Aquitaine flipped their holdings to the supremacy in exchange for future power, putting the supremacy on the back yard of the capital. Across a decade, the armies fought massive, week lasting battles and sieges with each other. When Eldrian Troops first arrived across the Decius Bridge in Mireville, they were met with cheers and flowers. When their bodies were returned, they were met with sobs. East Marcian troops were outnumbered and outgunned by the Seldrinar, losing every key battle. Soliel fell after a lengthy siege in 1015, King Louis dying when the roof of the ballroom he was hiding in collapsed. Marcia was without a king for the first time since the second age. With no figurehead and a demoralised force, The Seldrinar Pushed the Eldrians and East Marcians into the Duchy of Cheval. From East Marcian soil, the Seldrinar also attempted to invade the empire but were rebuffed in the Battle of Red Waters by the Southaxian army. A change would come in 1018 when Lord Edward Marolingian of the Eldrian Empire secured Cheval and alongside Irranoese and Southaxian troops managed to secure the River Albion's shoreline. A young knight was also rising to prominence, the son of a minor land baron from Soliel named Robert Dracones. Robert had fought valiantly in multiple battles and skirmishes during the Eldrian and East Marcian victories throughout Cheval and was granted leadership of units in the Albmire campaign. The brunt of the fighting would be lifted from East Marcia's shoulders in 1022 when the Eldrians Seldrinar both invaded The Commonwealth. Fighting would still continue in the country, as Robert Dracones assumed a greater burden of leadership, retaking territory in Picarnie and starting a slow and steady push towards Soliel. The capital would be reconquered in 1030, with Robert crowned as Robert VII. Robert's reconquest would be stopped in 1034 when Seldrinar sympathizers, who happened to be magic users, launched a devestating and suicidal attack on his castle in Soliel. The disaster cost the lives of numerous key military figures and Robert's wife, Igarine. The Witchfinders were officially founded in the wake of this incident, with anti-magic laws limited use of magic items and spells put in place across the kingdom. East Marcia signed a ceasefire in 1038, but would not make official peace until the end of the war in 1042 with the Peace of the Vale. The Peace was not kind to the kingdom - as the provinces of Aquitaine and Selonny were ceeded to the Seldrinar Supremacy.Post-War
The war saw Seldrinar use of magic brutalise and destroy many East Marcian settlements and soldiers. Robert had already introduced anti-magic laws to the kingdom, but made magic officially illegal in Snowfall. Magic was officially banned, with the Witchfinders hunting down magic users and imprisoning them and confiscating magic items for destruction. This New Terror continues to the current day, as anyone even suspected of harbouring magical abilities or items is rounded up by the Witchfinders, tortured, and burnt at the stake. The magic college was burnt down and its professors executed, and ancient ruins plundered for remaining lore and aretfacts to the horror of the archaelogists guild. The nation's economy has stabilised, but remains weak compared to its neighbours. With Aquitaine and Selonny lost to the Seldrinar, two centres of industry and all their resources are beyond the kingdom's reach. The scars of war remain in the populace and landscape, with burnt out and destroyed buildings and vilages dotting the landscape. From the anti-magic discrimination to the return to wide-spread serfdom, East Marcia has declined massively from its height in the second age. With the Eldrian Empire in decline, the Kingdom has no friends left and is unlikely to last long unless a new monarch can restore hope and strength to the beleaguered and tired nation.Demography and Population
East Marcia is a majority human nation with sizable minorities of half-elves, gnomes, and halflings. Goblinoids are also prevelant in the eastern most regions with slum districts in Equitas and other settlements in the duchy of Cheval. Half Elves born to human parents is also higher than average in the region, likely due to mixing with post-sun elf populations during the second age.
The population is largely rural, with only 40% living in cities. Of those cities, the largest is the Capital of Soliel, which as rebuilt its population out of Aquitainian and Selonny exiles fleeing the Seldrinar Supremacy. The density remains relatively high in its central most region around rivers and Lac Dauphin, thinning out in the more rugged areas of Cheval and the Sun Mounts.
Territories
Military
East Marcia does not hold an organized professional army but rather relies on levies raised from knights and peasants. This outdated form of military service is likely what led to their massive losses in the 40 year war, with the only 'standing' army of sorts being the indepedent Knights of the Circle, who are in practice sworn to the crown but technically count as a paramilitary group.
Religion
The Galiyian people of East Marcia once worshipped the old Gods, and the elves before them the Seldarine. The ruins of their temples and stone rings litter the landscape - but for at least 2000 years East Marcia has been majority Divinitst. The Orthodox sect is the most prominent, with a traditionalist viewpoint dominating Marcian culture. No standing temples or shrines to other divine beings outside of Divinitism are currently known to be active in the region, but rumours of an Old God druidic circle operating in secret in the Calcul forest of north-west Picarnie remains a prominent rumour and legend amongst the population.
Duty, Loyalty, Faith
Founding Date
2220, 2e
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Demonym
East Marcian
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Market economy
Official State Religion
Neighboring Nations
Related Species
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