Vastran Kingdom
The Västran Kingdom is the largest unified country, nation, or empire within Wren. Spanning from the western shores of Wren to the midpoint of the continent, the kingdom contains the majority of the Blood Peak Mountains, as well as the south western foothills. There are several large rivers that push deep into the center of the Västran Kingdom, making trade within the kingdom relatively easy compared to the rest of The Reach. Along with these rivers, there is a substantial number of roads that connect the northern portion of the kingdom with the more populated areas in the south.
Structure
The Vastran Kingdom is ruled over by a Dual Monarchy. Both the King and Queen have equal powers and rule over different domains of their kingdom in accordance to their abilities. From there, they have different council members who advise them on affairs they are less versed in. Their kingdom is divided into three holds, that within each are ruled by different noble houses. From that nobility a Warden is selected to be directly in charge of ruling the hold and is a representative of the crown.
Culture
The Vastran Kingdom does not have a completely unified culture. Upon it's formation, William Vastra unified people from all of the western half of Wren to fight alongside him in his campaigns into the mountains. This caused many different groups with vastly different cultures to all unify into one kingdom, which has lead to vastly different cultures throughout the kingdom. The Ashen Hold is known for it's commitment to unification, even after the kingdom no longer faces massive threats from the Blood Peaks, the people who live here are still tight knit communities that rely on one another. The Meadow Hold is known for it's advancements in the sciences and arts, and is seen as the forefront of cultural evolution within the Vastran Kingdom. The Hessen Hold is known for being the most diverse of all the places within the Vastran Kingdom, being situated along massive trade routes, it is seen as warm and welcoming to people from all over The Reach.
The one aspect of Vastran Culture than unites all of the holds as well as the capital city is their loyalty to the Eternal Royal Family. Citizens of the Vastran Kingdom see their monarchs who were able to achieve the statues of immortal deity as protectors of their kingdom, ensuring that they will continue to prosper throughout the ages.
History
The Västran Kingdom is a young one compared to the rest of the nations within The Reach. Only being founded one milieu ago it pales in comparison in age to the likes of the Anorian Empire or the Grand Republic of Durham. The kingdom itself formed out of the unifying of petty lords and wealthy nobles under the banner of William Västra. So many were willing to unite under William because he had a vision to lead his armies into the Blood Peak Mountains and beat back the threats that ravaged his lands. Thousands followed him into battle, and they even made allies with the populations of people already living in the far reaches of The Blood Peaks. After leading his armies of Brandt-Heart into the mountains he emerged victorious beating back the dragons and giants who had free reign to attack and pillage anywhere they see fit across Wren. Upon his return to his people, they pleaded with William to take up the title of king and finally form a kingdom to rival those of O’Valir on Wren. Though he did not set out to become king, William was more than happy to take the place on the throne.
William was a very young ruler and found very quickly that he and many of his advisor’s did a poor job of managing the more administrative duties of ruling a kingdom. Luckily for this infantile kingdom their ruler had fallen in love with a member of his court who routinely voice her opinion on what the king should do, and where his failings where. First placing her on his advisement board, and then marrying her when his feeling was reciprocated, they would from the first ruling monarchy of the continent. Emily Vale, the new queen, would enact a structure of government that relied on the delegation of power to three sperate holds in the kingdom and would allow power to be decentralized so that her and her husband were not making all the executive decisions for their entire kingdom. What followed was many years of a successful reign, the standard of living for many of the peoples improved with a more centralized government that would fight to protect them. Towards the end of their reign, William discovered a means to transcend the mortal world and for him and Emily to become immortal gods. Together they decided to pass ruling off to their eldest child, establishing a monarchy based on lineage, and become gods seeking only to be worshipped by the people they had dedicated their entire lives to serving. Their people welcomed the idea of always being looked over by what many saws as the mother and father of their kingdom.
The next several rulers came and went, seeking wise counsel from both William and Emily but not being able to successful lead this fledgling kingdom into further success. This lead to bickering between noble houses and a resurgence of threats coming from The Blood Peak Mountains. The forts and keeps that were once filled with men slowly went less and less occupied until there was a thin line between the chaos of the Blood Peak Mountains and the people of the Vastran Kingdom. This line was often broken, and many people had lost faith in their new kingdom.
Coming to a head one hundred and fifty years after the rule of William and Emily the mountains erupted with a terror that had not been seen since before the Västran Kingdom. It took until the next rulers to step into command for the problem to be resolved. Sonia and Øtto Västra were crowned during a time of great turmoil but lead with a seeming ease. Sonia was the direct descendant of William and had his mind for war. Leading her armies north to the mountain, she began a campaign in which she slowly contained the threats of the Blood Peak Mountains, while she did this her husband Øtto took an envoy of diplomats to Draconia to seek the aide of the dragonborn in fighting a threat that he and his wife saw as too great for the kingdom to handle on its own. Establishing the first alliance for the Västran Kingdom, the Dragonborn travelled back with him, bringing with them three legions of their best trained soldiers and traveled directly northward joining Sonia on the front lines. With her lines reinforced, Sonia turned the tides of this conflict and was able to reestablish to dominance her Kingdom had over the territory and leaving a standing force in the mountains that would routinely scout the mountains for new threats. Sonia and Øtto had seen their kingdom through a tumultuous time that could have easily broken the back of their nation but instead it rose again to dominate The Blood Peak Mountains. They spent much of their life ensuring that their great work would not go to waste, building new fortifications all along the Blood Peaks and supplementing their new alliance with Draconia through trade as well. For their dedication to The Västran Kingdom, they were bestowed the greatest gift any king and queen can be given. Sonia and Otto were offered places at the right hand of the Eternal Royals, and were the first two monarchs to join in the pantheon with William and Emily.
Coming rulers sought new ways for them to achieve godhood but none did much of note and so their rules ended with grand funerals instead of celebrations of ascensions. The next couple who would ascend would be Kean and Iris Västra. The beginning of their rule was no different than the numerous before them but would not remain that way for long. A terrible drought struck the land in the center of the kingdom that was used for most of the agricultural production, meaning the rest of the kingdom would be running out of food soon. Fields dried up, livestock had no drinking water, and famine struck. Acting swiftly, Kean meet with several notable leaders from around the Gunnison Plains to establish a form of relief from the famine by providing food from the Gunnison Plains that would be paid back across several years. This solved the immediate food crisis that the kingdom faced but did not deal with what had happened to the fields. Iris set out to deal with this problem, and for an entire year she and a group of advisors toured both the dried lands of the Västran Kingdom as well as the fields of the Gunnison Plains and the western part of the Anorian Empire. During their travels they discovered that the Västran Kingdom had far less advanced farming techniques that left it more susceptible to drought. She designed a system that would not only prevent the overuse of land, but also designed a unique irrigation system at the center of the kingdom that would allow for a stable food supply that could cover the basic needs of the kingdom. Preventing this disaster was a feat that was recognized all around The Reach and began the Västran Kingdom’s march towards joining the Anorian Empire and Durham Dynasty in being a stable, advanced, and prosperous nation. For their effort, Kean and Iris were offered that chance to join the growing pantheon of Gods that were praised in the Västran Kingdom. They accepted, like their predecessors they were loved during their lives and praised upon their ascension.
It had now been established that to join the Västran Pantheon, a ruler did not need to fight back some great evil, but only do a great good for the kingdom. This lead the next four ruling monarchs to attempt to find new ways to help secure a better future for their people. None were successful, as most of them did not do anything that benefited the kingdom as a whole but would merely innovate a portion of the kingdom. This allowed the kingdom to see many years of progress in different areas, but nothing that would move the entire nation forward. Along came the brilliant minds of Emmerich and Phoebe Västra, meeting early in Emmerich’s life the couple fell in love during their studies and knew they would do something great for their kingdom. Upon Emmerich’s coronation they immediately set out to discover the worst problems of their kingdom, and after their research they had discovered that diseases were a great affliction for people all over the kingdom. Both those in rural farmland and bustling urban area had family and friends die from disease they knew nothing of. There were not enough healers to make it to every sick person, and this problem was only getting worse. Together this young couple would not only discover where these diseases came from, but how to avoid them completely as well as how to dispose of the dead in a way that would keep the living safe. Phoebe spent time making plans with the best of her royal engineers to design a simple and effective sewage system for the three large cities in the kingdom as well as making blue print for towns they could implement themselves. While she did this, Emmerich and a team of doctors studied how these diseases traveled and found that they needed to ensure the bodies of the dead were being properly cared for. Traveling all throughout the kingdom they began teaching local doctors, healers, and undertakers how to properly lay bodies to rest. These two feats together wiped out some of the most devastating diseases and gave clerics more time to reach the sick who needed their help the most. The Västran Kingdom was now on its way to be a model for the other major kingdoms of The Reach. Emmerich and Phoebe became loved by their people and were able to live a long life adored by their people. For their great achievements there was no reservations when the people were informed, they would be the next addition into the pantheon they worshipped.
The final couple to have ascended until modern day is Briella and Cullen Västra. These two meet at a young and married some 6 years before Briella would take the crown. She, alongside her husband, decided to travel the world before they would become rulers. While on their travels, they were able to see a wildly different world on the eastern continent of O’Valir. There they found two thriving nations similar to theirs. Seeing many things, they had never been able to experience, they set out to bring this part of the world to the people of their kingdom. When they both took their place as Queen and King of the Västran Kingdom, they did not hesitate as they began crafting a vast trade network that would allow their nation to bridge the watery gap between them and O’Valir. Briella used the friendships she had made while in the Anorian Empire and Durham Dynasty to secure trade relationships in port towns in which Västran traders could bring their goods and expect fair prices and good trade. While she spent several years doing this, Cullen recruited many ship makers from Luker to move to his kingdom and begin the process of crafting not only vessels for trade, but also a sufficient armada that would be able to protect their trade ships from the dangers of the ocean. While ships were being constructed, the couple then had thousands of Västran citizens train on the boats of Anorian Traders, while having entire regiments of their army train with Durham Sailors on their boats in order to provide ample protection along their new trade routes. This new arm of the Västran Kingdom would connect it with the rest of the world and provide a new means of living for so many of its citizens. The importing of new spices, metals, and even animals took place rapidly changing the landscape of the kingdom. The change was initially resented by some, but as each wave of new imports incurred a stronger economy the overwhelming support of the people was behind Briella and Cullen. This innovation changed the empire from an isolated western kingdom into a continental power. This change prompted the original rulers of the Västran Empire to offer a new seat to Briella and Cullen towards the end of their reign, and so they pantheon of the Västran Kingdom expanded to ten.
The allure of becoming a god is a heavy prize that lays on the shoulders of every new king and queen of the Västran Kingdom. The burden of devising a plan that will not only leave a lasting impact on the kingdom but will also effect it in such a way that a god and goddess who rarely directly communicate with you will deem good enough to allow you to enter their pantheon is one that not many would choose. This weight had generally resulted in a positive impact for the kingdom, but after the reign of Cullen and Briella, it may have had quite the opposite. Marcellus and Caitlin Västra married sometime after Marcellus had taken the throne, and he had already been devising his plan to join his ancestors in the eternal life of being a god. He had decided that the kingdom had not had a ruler ascend from a feat of battle for almost five hundred years, and he believed he and whoever his betrothed would be could do this. He asked his advisors to find a suitable companion who would be able to carry out this vision with him, and so Caitlin was brought before him, a woman who had spent her life fighting in in Blood Peak Mountains. She was known for her “preemptive strikes” on the peoples who lived below the mountains and did not much care for if they were a true threat to the Västran Kingdom or not. Together they would devise a plan to invade the free area of the Gunnison Plains, and add the fertile fields of the eastern part of Wren to their kingdom. The separate groups of the Gunnison Plains were able to unite into one temporary army, also calling on the dragonborn from Draconia to their aide, and successfully convincing them to break their alliance with the Västran Kingdom. This did not mean it would be an easy victory for the people of the Gunnison Plains. For the entirety of the reign of Marcellus and Caitlin they perpetuated this never-ending war, that gained little to no ground. At the end of the rule, their funeral was attended only by the people that were so hawkish to continue their support for the war even after their death.
The Absurd War, as it would be called, was over the people of the Gunnison Plains would not forgive the Västran Kingdom for giving into the demands of two deranged rulers and allow them to attack their people for over fifty years. The Sentinels of the Gunnison Plains were formed to protect the border with the Västran Kingdom, and the pirate sailing out of Old Salt now had the protection of the Free People of the Gunnison Plains offering them protection from the Västran Kingdom, enabling them to freely attack passing kingdom ships. This has led to almost three hundred years of unending tensions on Wren that have several times boiled over into border conflicts that will last upwards of five years. The conflicts have not led to any long-lasting fighting, but the tension between the people who live close to the border is palpable, and there is no a hatred that streams both ways across the eastern border of the Västran Kingdom.
Currently the kingdom is being ruled by Matthijs and Thora Västra, who are only ten years into their rule. They have been continually sending troops to the eastern border as well as placing increased troops aboard trading vessels but seem to be attempting to broker peace with whatever form of leadership that exist within the Free People of the Gunnison Plains. The kingdom is still suffering from recurring raids on imports and exports, making it hard to find any goods from O’Valir, and the decrease in trade between the Gunnison Plains has caused food to become more and more expensive, forcing many to survive off of subsistence farming in the rural part of the kingdom. Worry of threats coming from the Blood Peak Mountains had increased as troops are being moved from their northern posts to man forts that are being constructed on the eastern border.
Unified in Conquest
Founding Date
5250 AB
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Training Level
Professional
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Leader
Location
Controlled Territories
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