Great Sturvandian Empire

The Great Sturvandian Empire, also known as the Empire of Whytehold, was a successor to the White Kingdom, and was created by King Kadrich the Conquerer, who was the last of the Regent Kings, and the first of the Sturvandy Emperors. The empire was named after the dynasty of emperors who ruled it, House Sturvandy. It lasted from 16.53 to 18.26, and controlled more of Tyrrus than any other nation has managed before or since. It was succeeded by the Whytehold Commonwealth. 
The Great Sturvandian Empire was a feudal nation, where all titles were inherited, unlike the elective government of the White Kingdom before it. The nation was mostly ruled by the Great Houses, powerful vassals and friends of the Emperor who were given command over a massive section of the empire. 
The Great Sturvandian Empire is responsible for many of the common aspects of present day Tyrranean nations. It is because of the empire's standardization efforts that Tyrrus shares a single language.
== Rise ==
The Great Sturvandian Empire officially began with the territorial expansion under King Kadrich I during the 17th century. The Battle of the Midden in 16.53 was considered the turning point of the war of expansion, where King Kadrich's army rapidly pushed across the Moors and crossed the Wyrm river, decimating the Erdannian mercenary forces on the way.
After conquering Varawyn and Erradan, Kadrich allowed the city's previous governments to remain, but named himself to Emperor, and claimed absolute rule over his new lands.
By 16.72, the Sturvandian Empire had conquered the rest of the South, and most of the Dragonvale Republic. The only reason they didn't take Haven itself was out of fear of retribution from the Arcane Dragons. The new empire had left behind many of its strictly Whyteholder traditions, and became a mix of cultures from across Tyrrus.
Kadrich's goal had not been to expand the power of Whytehold, but instead to create a unified empire of Tyrrus, in which all the different people of the region could collaborate and share their unique knowledge and craft. For a few decades after the conquest, this was successful. Varawyn alchemists and Whytehold metallurgists collaborated on grand new inventions, Light priests and Dragonvale mages studied deep into the nature of magic and shared their knowledge, Erdannian Merchants ensured that everyone across the empire prospered. However, it was unsustainable, and couldn't last.
== Fall ==
The Great Sturvandian Empire was plagued with problems since it was created. Kadrich's dream of a unified Tyrrus was perhaps possible, but not in the way he went about doing it. Many of the conquered nations were resentful of the aggressive way they were subsumed, and constantly sought freedom. For the first few decades of the empire, things were mostly prosperous and peaceful, largely due to the iron-fisted rule of Emperor Kadrich. After his death in 17.01, things got worse.
=== The War of the Pretender Kings ===
The following century was littered with rebellions, secessionists, and strife. The most violent of these was the War of the Pretender Kings, which was caused by a succession crisis after the death of Emperor Matthias in 17.34. The brothers Dietmar, Radulf, and Conroy each claimed a section of the Empire, and fought a war to claim the throne. While this was happening, the Exiled Dragoncrest King Ervandal invaded the shores, in an attempt to reclaim Erradan while the brothers were warring. In 17.44, Emperor Dietmar won the war, after slaying his brothers, reclaiming their land, and pushing away the Exile's invasion.
=== The Draconic Purges ===
Emperor Dietmar did an excellent job of keeping things together for a while after this, but there were many other problems that he could not deal with. One of the greatest divides in the empire was the religious divide between the followers of the Light, and the Dragon Cult in Dragonvale. Upon originally conquering Dragonvale, Kadrich had allowed the inhabitants to retain their religious freedoms, to the chagrin of the light priests. In 17.60, at the request of the Heirophant Purity VII, Empress Ivanna I outlawed the Dragon Cult across the empire, and put the Light Church in charge of enforcing this. What followed was a terrible time known as the "Draconic Purges", during which Draconic chapels across Dragonvale were burned down, and thousands of Draconic cultists were slain. This ended in 17.65 when the dragon Lazankantir infiltrated the Empress' court in human form, then transformed in the middle of the palace and slew the Empress, the Heirophant, and many other members of the Sturvandian government. The dragon was killed by the guards, but not before he could cause a great deal of damage to the palace.
=== New Dasa ===
Following this, Empress Frederika rose to power, and immediately moved the capital of the Sturvandian Empire to the city of New Dasa, which was roughly in the middle of their territory, and was intended to be a more multicultural capital. She also repealed the outlawing of the Dragon Cult, and attempted to achieve greater unity among the people of the empire. This proved to be a terrible decision, as all it did was estrange the Sturvandy dynasty from their Whytehold roots, resulting in dissent at the original capital.
=== Rebellion ===
Over the years of the Sturvandian Empire's reign, many of its components had been working their way towards achieving independence, while the power of Whytehold had been slowly waning. The lack of wars to fight had resulted in their military becoming largely ceremonial, and although they still had many knights, the most combat any of them had seen at this point had been putting down minor rebellions. The authority of the Sturvandian Emperor was spread too thin to be particularly effective, the government was bloated and bureaucratic, and New Dasa did not exert as much influence as the city of Whytehold had. Even the power of the Light Church was failing, and internal disagreements among the priests resulted in a rival Heirophant rising in Kirkenhold, Tenacity I. Not to mention that being Emperor was practically a suicidal profession; in the entire history of the Sturvandian Empire, only one Emperor died of natural causes, and that was Kadrich the Conqueror himself. All the others were either assassinated, or died in battle. Though we cannot say for sure, it can be safely assumed that the majority of these assassinations were performed by the Cabal of Erradan.
And so, when powerful and determined rebellions began to arise in the nineteenth century, the Sturvandian Empire could do little to stop it. Haven was the first to push back, with an army of Golem Knights backed by Dragons. Dragonvale was swiftly reconquered in 18.01. Meanwhile in Erradan, the Cabal had orchestrated the return of the rightful king Varren III from exile on the Kraken's Isle, and forced the puppet King Adalar I to abdicate. The Empire rapidly shrunk, as Erradan, Varawyn, Thassalus, and a hundred other smaller nations reclaimed their rightful land. The end came in 18.26, with the fall of New Dasa, and the deaths of the Sturvandy dynasty. The cause of their deaths is not certain.
== Aftermath ==
=== The Scramble for Whytehold ===
Following the collapse of New Dasa, many of the most powerful of the rising Tyrranean nations still had a grudge to settle with Whytehold, resulting in the Scramble for Whytehold of 18.27. The two major players, Erradan and Haven, sent forces. A Havenite army tore its way across Silvershire to arrive at the King's Plateau, while an Erdannian mercenary army snuck its way up the River Strom. Both forces were repelled by the High Marshal of Whytehold, Sigfried Kommanstrom. However, the Cathedral of Kirkenhold was burned down, and the Anti-Heirophant Tenacity I was killed.
=== The Aristocratic Purges ===
During the chaotic final years of the Empire, the Great Houses had been administrating the empire terribly, and they got the blame for a lot of the problems plaguing the empire. When the end finally came, this discontent escalated to outright hostility to the aristocratic families. Military leaders, knights, priests, and even commoners enacted coups to depose the old families and steal their lands and wealth. This revolution was focused on Ebenreich, Rivenwald, and the White Cape. Many of the wealthy houses who had gained power and prestige through the White Kingdom, and into the new empire, were suddenly eliminated. Very few of the old families survived, and those who did mostly achieved this by switching sides and appeasing the anti-aristocratic ideologies.
With this shift in ideologies, and the fact that there was no apparent heir to the throne, Whytehold reformed itself into a military-lead government, ruled by the High Marshal, who would be elected into power. The first of these was Sigfried Kommanstrom, who was well respected after his defense of the city of Whytehold, and managed to regain control over the central Whyteholder territories.
=== The Hundred Kingdoms ===
The collapse of the Great Sturvandian Empire resulted in an enormous power vacuum across Tyrrus, and thus was followed by the Hundred Kingdoms period of Tyrranean history.