Valonian League

The Valonian League is a military and diplomatic alliance of Albaan Magnates, situated in the south-western tip of the Magnian continent, from Wrynova Key to the west, the Wrynova River in the north, the Pagan Sea in the south, and the Kingdom of Metina in the east. It is ruled from the city of Valona by the chief of the league, Grand Princess Luchella Aryaan. The league's coat of arms is a black crowned two-headed eagle on orange, below a golden star on a deep blue chevron. 
The league was established in Valona in 1344 as a military alliance against the Golden Horde and is considered the first unified country in the region. With a tight grip on both banks of the Wrynova Key, the only sea route for most of central and northern Magnia, the magnates grew immensely wealthy by charging tolls for passage through the Key, while the city of Valona provided ample opportunity for shelter, trade, and protection from pirates. This source of revenue was lost, however, during the Golden War, when the Kingdom of Vichin used their annexation of the Westerlands to strip the League of their lands north of the Key. 
== Culture ==
The Valengar, the people of the Valonian League, are known for their military prowess and their worship of the Dancing Flame, a religious cult which rose to prominence in the region in the 13th century. Due to heavy Urubuhl influences in its early history, it is culturally divergent from the Menkhu and Cister Cartian lands of west and Central Magnia, and has a high degree of religious tolerance. The league is divided into five autonomous principalities and the chief of the league has no say in the domestic affairs of other nobles. 
== Economy ==
The Valonian League is perhaps the second wealthiest country in Magnia, surpassed only by the Kingdom of Thyssen, although it is far more fertile than Thyssen. Among its products are melons, plums, peaches, apples, and rich fine wines. They also export grain, limestone, and salt, and are a strong naval connection to the Skahazadans, importing every luxury from the Urubuhl lands. So strong is their economy, that the gold coin known as the Valonian Duke has become an international trade coin.
== History ==
=== Early History ===
Very little is known about the early centuries of the region's history. Only that the lands now under the Valonian League was extensively settled by Menkhu and Albaan migrations. All that is known derives from Metinan accounts, and information is rather sketchy since Metina only dealt with the other Albaan tribes during times of war. According to the chronicles of Metina, the people of the area was divided into many small tribes, each tribe composed of several family clans, whose affairs were ruled by elders. 
=== Urubuhl Kingdom of Valona ===
In 1047, an Urubuhl conquering party, led by Emir Zomeeri Ziyad, arrived from Benghezakhan, containing 7.000 horsemen and 50 war elephants. Crossing the Pagan Sea, they won decisive victories in 1048 when the Metinan King Sigmund III was defeated and reinforcements of an additional 5.000 men were quickly supplied. By 1054, the Urubuhls were in control of all of Albaan. Their advance into Magnia was only stopped by Prince Louis IV of Corveaux at the Battle of Peshac Bay. Benghek rule over Albaan was an era of relative religious tolerance, not many people in the area was converted to the Urubuhl faith, and Albaan became part of a forming Northwest Skahazadani Empire called the Amareed Emirate.
At the mid 12th century, civil disputes rose within the Empire and the Urubuhl governors of Albaan were loosing ground to the Cister Cartians in the north after the loss of Stokengrad in 1085. Not long after, the Albaani Urubuhls were defeated by an alliance of the Cister Cartian military at the decisive Battle of Grimmen Field in 1201. By 1212, the Skahazadani had been driven from nearly all of Albaan, except for an Urubuhl Kingdom emerging around the city of Valona. During Urubuhl occupation of Valona, the region enjoyed considerable cultural and economic prosperity. However, in 1227, the Amareed Emirate was struggling under dynastic strife. The Emir was killed, her successor assassinated and her assassin rose to become the new ruler of the emirate. Mezaman Nazyr, the head of the branch of the ruling family in Valona, for whom the city of Nazaire is named, dispatched an army across the Pagan Sea in 1228 to confront the usurper. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Metina began to expand westward and raid deep into the Urubuhl country. Feeling that the Urubuhls had failed to protect them, popular uprisings took place throughout the region. City after city deposed their governors and installed local Magnates in their place. This marked the end of the Skahazadani era in Albaan. 
=== Formation of the Valonian League ===
After the final expulsion of the Urubuhls in 1255, the magnates, a mix between landowners and wealthy merchant settlers, established their own dominions, small principalities that were engaged in constant and vicious fighting among themselves. At the same time, the Golden Horde was establishing itself in the Westerlands with no significant resistance from the surrounding regions. 
Many of the Valonian Magnates were still too busy fighting each other and did not see the Horde's advance as a threat to their power, until the Emperor of the Horde Anton Nagy crossed the Wrynova River in 1315, capturing the city of Monteleone in 1317, annexing the northern half of the region and crushing several revolts of the Valonian nobility between 1332 and 1336. In November of 1343, Andrea Aryaan, Lady of Valona, captured Monteleone and declared its independence from Anton Nagy. In 1344, she hosted a general council of the magnates of Valona, who had all put down their arms to discuss the future of the region and on the 2nd of March, the Valonian League was founded. Andrea was proclaimed Chief of the League and under her, the magnates combined their armed forces which numbered 18.000 warriors. It was agreed that all Magnates would keep their own domain and that the chief of the league had no right to interfere with the domestic affairs of any other noble, acting only as the supreme military leader of the league. 
=== War With the Golden Horde ===
The League's first big victory against the Horde was at the Battle of the Red Plains on the 29th of June 1344 and the news of their victory spread very quickly in Magnia. In 1450, Anton Nagy laid siege to Nazaire, but had to give up the following year without success. Andrea formed an alliance with Casmer the Great of Vichin, however, the Valengar received no help in their fight against the Horde, as the Vichinian Kingdom was still too fragile fighting the Pretender John of Carinthia. Still, Andrea's troops were able to defeat the larger and better supplied Horde every time without significantly weakening their superiority until 1363 when a ceasefire was struck. After Andrea's death in 1368, the League began to disintegrate, with many of its members breaking away. While the lords began to serve their own interests, some even allying themselves with the Horde, the northern lords continued the fight against Anton Nagy II, until 1379, when the Horde captured Monteleone. The resistance collapsed and the entire Valonian area was incorporated into their Empire. A large number of Valengar fled to Chorene, Metina, and Ayyubid, but maintained their national identity. 
=== Second Valonian League ===
After the Golden War in 1420, the Kingdom of Vichin defeated Anton Nagy III and annexed the Westerlands and the cities of Nazaire and Monteleone as Vichinian protectorates. When they refused to acknowledge the independence of the former Valonian cities, the magnate of Nazaire pleaded with the other lords and a new general council was called in Valona in 1422. During the meeting, a treaty nearly identical to the one which was struck during the first Valonian League was written and proclaimed Andrea's granddaughter and a descendant of two Valengar houses, Luchella Aryaan, the new chief of the League. 
Between 1422 and 1423, they fought the Vichinian forces and the war ended on the 4th of October, with Luchella signing a peace treaty with King Florence II of Vichin. Valona was once again made independent, although Vichin was allowed to keep some possession in Monteleone, including the rights to establish a standing military, under the condition that they payed a yearly sum of 500 Dukes, and that some League members would benefit from trade privileges with Vichin. Monteleone continued to be jointly ruled by Vichin and the Valengar until 1428 during the Western War, when an armed conflict between the Vichin city watch and the Church of the Dancing Flame led to the expulsion of the Vichinian people.
== Administrative Divisions ==
The League is divided into five autonomous principalities with their own domain and laws. The chief of the League has no right to interfere in the domestic affairs of any of the other principalities. The only shared laws of the League concern that of the military as well as trade laws. The five principalities are:
* Aryaan, ruled by Luchella Aryaan from the city of Valona.
* Scutari, ruled by Castellan Godfrey from the city of Monteleone.
* Nazaire, ruled by Amin Zaharia from the city of Nazaire.
* Misaia, ruled by Amanda Golemy from the town of Mezzo.
* Kameri, ruled by Andrea Kameri from the town of Dimitras.
Category:Countries