Skanesh

A state in the northern Westerlands, ruled by Myachezka Tyr, her coat of arms, a bull's skull, bone white on blood red. 
Skanesh is bordered by the Fawks River in the north, Turokh's Eye in the east, the Karapos River in the south, and the Aral Highlands to the west. It is a thinly populated steppe country, centred around the massive city of Nazgorod, which was once the seat of the Kingdom of Vaskaja, and later the Golden Horde. The forests that stretch across most of its northern reaches are watered by Lake Wrettin and the Blackfen River. Father north lies the desolate wastes of Sonder.
== Economy ==
The region of modern day Skanesh was once an important link on the Gold Road, which stretched from Thyssen to Oswietzim. It also prospered greatly under the wealth of plunder under the Golden Horde. However, after the Doom of Deepwater in 1428, when Sonder turned to a desolate no man's land, the Gold Road dried up. Thanes began trading on Turokh's Eye instead, and Skanesh became an unnecessary stop in their trade. Since then, the region has seen a stark decline and its inhabitants have become to migrate to neighbouring countries.
==Administrative Divisions==
Snakesh is divided into three voivodeships, each ruled by a voivode:
*Kareth, ruled by Myachezka Tyr from the city of Nazgorod
*Bhaal, ruled by Tara Dinn from the town of Bhaal
*Sonder, ruled by Aneyon Natusa from the town of Ylvanesh
==History==
===Early History===
The fortress of Nazgorod was constructed in the 9th century along the Vaskajan Plain, from where the Kingdom of Vaskaja was established. By 976, it had become a powerful force in the central Westerlands, threatening Magiore and Corvians alike. The Vaskajans ruled several important trade towns and began to expand rapidly, conquering the coast along the Gulf of Gabal. In the 1030’s John II Coenoose failed to hold the north against Corveaux and Nazgorod was razed. Afterwards, John II hung all of his commanders as punishment. 
Exploiting Vaskaja’s loss and a switch of thrones, Stefan Aljevic, who held the title of Governor, led a rebellion to renounce Vaskajan rule in 1034. He took Oswietzim and Vaskaja retaliated by sending in troops from Nazgorod and capturing Stefan, who was taken prisoner to Nazgorod. He eventually escaped to Magiore, where he re-entered the country and began a guerrilla resistance from the bogs and marshlands. He defeated several Vaskajan expeditions and liberated most of the west coast. A rebellion in Nazgorod in 1038 worked in Stefan’s favour by diverting attention from his lands, allowing him to expand his rule East and even take Mireem.
In 1042, yet another Vaskajan attack of several of their vassals, led by Lutovid of Sobina, was defeated. Stefan overthrew Lutovid and placed the region entirely under his control to form the state of Tyania.
Between 1043 and 1080, Tyania managed to foster good relations with Vaskaja, thanks to King Mikhail, but his son Bodin, who was half-Corvian, betrayed his father’s promises to aid Vaskaja in war when the Corvians invaded in 1081-85, possibly as part of a pre-conceived plan with Corveaux. Unfortunately for Bodin, Vaskaja won and in 1090, Bodin was punished for his impudence and the City of Sobina was ceded to the Kingdom.
===Reign of King Falka===
In 1091 or 1092, King Falka of Vaskaja ascended the throne and began raiding Magioran territory in the vicinity of Cassow, the Maegar initially being unable to take counter-measures as they were fighting invading Vichin.
After defeating the Vichinians, the King of Magiore sent an army, which was quickly defeated by Falka in 1092. The King then mobilized a much larger army, led by himself, and marched on Vaskaja and Falka sent envoys, seeking peace, which the King quickly accepted as further problems arose at home. Immediately after his departure, Falka broke the treaty and began to expand into Magiore. In 1095, the King of Magiore marched out to meet Falka again. This time, he was forced to give up twenty hostages, including his cousin and second son.
Following Bodin of Tyania’s death in 1101, Falka forged an alliance with Kotzopar, the exiled brother of Bronislaw, Bodin’s nephew, who had been arrested by Bodin’s Corvian wife, Joaquina, fearing Bronislaw would seize power before her young children could take the throne. The takeover was a success, but Kotzopar had a falling out with his ally, Vulkan of Arsa, and after his death, Falka installed another brother of Bronislaw and succeeded in making Tyania a vassal state of Vaskaja.
===Revolt of the Brother Princes===
In 1160, the Vaskajan brothers Oros and Desza led a Corvian-sponsored revolt against King Manuel of Vaskaja, who was a cousin of the former Prince of Corveaux and had plans to claim the Corvian throne. The conflict became known as the Revolt of the Brother Princes, which become one of the most brutal civil wars in Westerland history.
In 1204, after King Manuel's death, his eldest son, Sam, a suspected lover of the late Oros, renounced his rule to become a monk and turned his effort to spreading the Cister Cartian church among his people, leaving his two younger brothers, Stefan and Vulkan, to fight for the throne. The Cister Cartian church already had ambitions to gain influence in the West and the youngest brother, Stefan, used these circumstances to obtain the recognition of kingship from the Pontiff, thereby becoming King in 1217. Sam became the first Vaskajan bishop in 1219 and in the same year, he published the Kanan, which shaped the culture in the northern Westerlands, a compilation of civil law based on Cister Cartian law.
===Fall of the Kingdom===
After the Corvian invasion of 1240, the Kings of Vaskaja lost Nazgorod to the Golden Horde and became increasingly dependant on Magiore to protect their remaining cities. However, their new ties with Magiore played a decisive role as King Oros was succeeded by his son Dragomir, whose wife was a Magioran princess. In 1282, when he abdicated in favour of his younger brother Milutin, King Ladislaw IV of Magiore gifted Dragomir lands in south-eastern Magiore, which for the first time came under Vaskajan rule. .
Under King Milutin, Vaskaja grew strong despite having to occasionally fight wars on three different fronts. Milutin was an apt diplomat, employing diplomatic and dynastic marriages and was married five times. After coming into power, he started lengthy attacks on the Golden Horde, but failed two campaigns, and much of the northern part of Vaskaja was lost by 1242. 
After putting extensive pressure on the Valonian League, Milutin obtained territorial gains in a peace treaty sealed in 1299. However, all his new territorial gains were lost between 1310-1330, in a civil strife between his bastard son Oros, who was unhappy with his father’s favouritism towards his legitimate younger brother Konstantin. When Milutin died without leaving a testament, civil war erupted between Oros, Konstantin, and their cousin Vladislav. Oros ended up victorious and was crowned Oros IV George in 1331.
He ruled until 1355, whereafter his son, Oros the Weak ascended, only to die in 1360, after a four-year war that resulted in the fall of the Kingdom and the subjugation under the Golden Horde.  
===The Western War===
After the fall of the Golden Horde in 1420, Vichin conquered the Vaskajan lands and divided its previous territories to make them part of several new duchies, a division which caused much ire between the cultural and national differing groups suddenly forced to live under the same ruler and during the Western War, several peasant militias rose up in the region to lead guerrilla attacks against the Vichin armies defending themselves the incoming Corvian army. 
Once King Louis arrived at Nazgorod, he began to pressure the Vichinian military effort in the city. Duke Madas Kolte remained close allies with Robert Barcley-de-Tolly and Landon Byways, both Vichinian commanders, but the people were sympathetic to the Corvians, owing the fact many citizens had business in Corveaux, and Kolte's grip on power was shaky. Nazgorod could likely withstand the Corvian army and their artillery for months, if not years, so Louis took his siege equipment to the town of Straed. The town was conquered and destroyed, killing Gean Galasso and Louis continued to lay waste to other towns surrounding the region with the sole objective of terrorising the three noblemen in Nazgorod. The looming danger of looting and the violence of the Corvian army heightened the resentment of most citizens against the Vichians. Duke Madas Kolte, having taken new counsel, went to meet the king to negotiate, and was forced surrender the towns of Bhaal and Ylvanesh, saving the King much time he would have otherwise spent besieging the fortresses.
Kolte was forced to flee from his citizens who accused him of a cowardly and servile attitude. Before Robert Barcley-de-Tolly and Landon Byways could seize control, the citizens facilitated the invasion of King Louis, who entered the city on the 17th of November and was hailed as a liberator from Vichinian oppression. After the war, the Kingdom of Corveaux recognized Skanesh as an independant realm under Myachezka Tyr, the former Castellan of Madas Kolte, who had officially yielded Nazgorod to King Louis.
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Category:Magnia