Ruskland-Preuben

Minority languages:

* Olikian
* Tarkian
* Kavelian
* Germanic tongues

Ruskland-Preuben is a small but densely populated nation(following old NCSU population data), with Emperor or Imperator Johann II mn Suesani ruling over its hard-working but not humorless populace with an iron but fair hand. The people here have odd, or more like grotesque and morbid forms of entertainment such as the human sacrifice of death row criminals to Cthulhu and the other gods in the pantheon of Cthulhism.

Exact demographics point to a whopping 2.3 billion people, all housed in sprawling undergoing complexes complete with farms, commodities, and other beneficial infrastructure. The R’lyeh Complex alone can hold and luxuriously support 500 million people, and with recent expansions, it can now support 750 million, and along with that, is immunity to earthquakes below 7 and resistance to anything above.

Massive funding to underground construction technologies have resulted in this, and the surface, as a result, is in pristine condition. Policies allowing polygamy, the encouragement of having large families, and the age of consent being lower than average by 2 years cause this nation to have a massive manpower pool to draw from during war or in peace. It is also forbidden to have less than two children.

The nation can defend itself with its large and efficient army, navy, and air force, the three are currently armed with some of the most advanced military technology the nation of Ruskland-Preuben has to offer. And speaking of the military, we come to space and the sciences, where they exercise a deep interest in, even space warfare is being touted.

As morbid as the culture of this nation is, it is also rich culturally, with museums dotting the many cities of this nation, filled with relics from the sculptors and painters of the past and works of the artists of the present.

Borders the nations of Aydinir, Bearstin, and Wargloria.

On geography and weather, the south has slightly volcanic mountains and is the tail end of the Urus Mountains. Even if there is volcanism, rivers still flow northward, feeding the fertile hills and valleys of the middle section of this nation. The far north is swampy though, due to many river deltas passing this section of Ruskland-Preuben. The weather is generally cold, with temperatures averaging at 17 degrees in the summer and an average of -20 degrees in the winter. When volcanic ash comes, the winter tends to be longer lasting and much more brutal, as temperatures drop to -27 to -35 degrees Celsius.

The capital, located on an island between two raging and wide rivers that have put bridge-building efforts in the far past at bay, is R'lyeh.

## Military

### Doctrine

The military doctrine of Ruskland-Preuben emphasizes defense above all, and as a result, the pristine marshes of Ruskland-Preuben can be turned into kill zones in the matter of minutes. Autonomous turrets can be activated from underground computer rooms miles away, poison gas released into the land in order to kill as many soldiers as possible, and entire legions of soldiers and armor deployed near instantaneously to points of importance via heavily armored underground lifts.

During wars, in which we assume most are defensive, initial operations are that of intelligence; how many men are there, how much ammunition do they have, and do they have the stomach to give up at the suggestion of brutal fighting lasting decades? In the event of an attempt to shut down intelligence operations via physical or cyber attacks, recon drones in the thousands are sent in place of men, each armed with a minigun or an AP rocket launcher. If the situation is that of a cyberattack, back-up servers are activated, and rapid repair of downed servers are attempted.

Nearly all defense systems are located deep underground, able to be sent to the top via lift, these defenses even include missile defenses, and launch sites. Backup satellites are located in higher orbits, some even around the moon, connected to primary intelligence satellites, once a satellite is downed, an automatic program starts, positioning the backup to the orbit of the original satellite.

After an enemy is successfully able to land in Ruskland-Preuben amidst intense shelling, the doctrine shifts to that of a war of attrition, with underground farms maximizing crop output, ensuring that Ruskland-Preubenr soldiers are well fed while the enemy succumbs to starvation.

An important point in our military doctrine is when the enemy starts waning in their reinforcements, in which it will be known that the enemy is now rethinking and possibly touting the option of retreat, in which slight offensive operations will be conducted with the objective of making retreat the only option for the enemy, and pushing out enemy forces.

After a successful push, the option of counter-invasion will be debated.

When it is FOR, Ruskland-Preubenr offensive doctrine is put in place, with the usage of multiple specialist teams in unison to cripple the enemy across various fronts. The conducting of espionage, spy, and reconnaissance operations are commonplace.

After the enemy is crippled, a mass bombardment of the enemy is conducted, after the bombing, offensive forces move in to occupy the man-made wasteland.

## History

### Tribal Times

The Rusks are actually the first Slavic people, in fact, Old Rusk can be considered the first Russian/Slavic language, and the progenitor to all Slavic languages. At around 600BC, they are spread out in an area covering parts of Wargloria, Immobilia, modern Ruskland, the Urus Desert, and the Urus Mountains. It this language is called Old Slavic.

As for where the Rusks come from, nobody knows for sure, but recent discoveries in the unoccupied northwest tundra have revealed the very old age of this people, slightly younger than the venerable Aynadans.

Modern Slavic, or Rusk(not Old Rusk), evolves at around 500BC, and splits into three groups at around 492BC, Rusklandr, Valorians, and Bramblemen. Not much happens until 482BC and 478BC.

In 482BC, by the swampy north coast of modern-day Ruskland-Preuben, the Germanic culture of Preuben evolves as an offshoot of German, they are a culture of expansionist trades by the coast, but they begin expansion inwards, towards the Slavic tribes.

478BC and they encounter the three Slavic groups in the north, and the Mingling(478BC to 346AD) begins as the Rusklandr and Preuben cultures begin to merge slowly. The tribes in the south, however, being distant from the Preuben, were not that affected. Not affected, although to a lesser degree, are the Valorians and Bramblemen. Due to the militant nature of the Preuben, the Slavs slowly too, become militant, expanding slowly and slowly.

It was also around this time the Arenginian language and culture split with Rusklandr.

### The Era of City-States and Kingdoms

     Around 448BC, the first Slavic city-states begin dotting the area, most of them being walled trading posts with a permanent population, others in the warmer south are better walled and have bigger populations. The southern cultures not influenced by the Preuben begin moving away from the Rusks slowly, forming small city-states as they move throughout the years, away from the aggressive Rusks.

In 440BC, a rapidly growing city-state in the south, which had taken over other, nearby city-states, is declared as the Kingdom of Mokcba by its ruler, King Starq Grey(440 to 430BC). They begin rapid expansion northward but overextend and a revolt occurs in 431BC, Starq dies due to stress from trying to negotiate a year before, and it fell to his incompetent son Cregan Grey, now King Cregan(430 to 423) to deal with the rebels. The war ends a few weeks later with a rebel victory, and the leader of the rebels, Rubric(431 to 426BC), declares the area he took from Mokcba the Kingdom of Esgarde. Later on, these two states would multiple wars for dominance occur, all would end in a stalemate, however.

At 427BC would see an Bearstinian barbarian tribe under Atralikr smash into both states, looting and burning everything they saw, draining both nations. The kings of both, Rubric and Cregan, knew that it was time to put their differences behind them and deal with this foe, and so they made the Mokcba-Esgarde Union to defend themselves. And after the invasions in 420BC, this union was solidified via the marriage of King Manus of Mokcba(423 to 420BC) and Queen Airene of Esgarde, but it was their son King Sanguinus(420 to 399BC) that would rule both kingdoms as King of Mosgarde.

He and his son King Karlon(399 to 380BC) would then begin the first of many Barbarian Pacification Campaigns, which under the veil of establishing order in areas ravaged by so-called "barbarian" tribes, was simply a subjugation of nearby tribes to turn them into tributaries and occasionally annexing them into the Kingdom. He and his son Karlon were benevolent leaders though, and most tribes allowed themselves to be annexed by the Kingdom. Although other tribes, which turned into real states, resisted them. One of these was Dai.

In the years 401-388BC, the War of Daish Independence begins, and multiple tribes in the far north flock to their banners, King Karlon, already exhausted from a rather troublesome barbarian pacification, immediately sues for peace with the rebels, and on the negotiating table, he is capable of lessening the loss of power from this secession of a rather prosperous territory. The Kingdom of Dai is formed, and they are rather bloodthirsty raiders with no care about any group that they raid.

### The Succession Wars of 377 to 361BC and the Pre-Migration Troubles

Succession Wars 377 to 361BC caused by multiple houses making a claim to the land, stating that they have evidence of marriages and land deeds, and these houses would begin revolting against the current ruler of the Kingdom, King Karlon III(377 to 361BC). The main theatre of battle would be the fight against his own brother, however, as Mael(377 to 361BC), discontent with what he has, would gather up some of the currently revolting houses under his banner, and the war devolved into a three-way war. Battles were fought, the dead stacked, and the winter was getting colder and colder by the minute. Mael was later assassinated, and so was Karlon III. The nobles took this chance to control the Kingdom of Mosgarde via the council.

359BC is when a rather nasty plague rocked the land and some of the already weakened towns of the Kingdom were either deserted or severely weakened that they remained small towns up to the present. This plague’s bacterium then evolves into a more complex state and the plague then was combined with a famine, as this disease was now corrupting crops as well.

351BC and the disease is still running rampant, and something more sinister is coming as well, as late in 351BC, a harsh winter hits the land hard, and this, combined with the already pathetic state of the kingdom, causes it to collapse into tribes, both big and small, strong and weak, rich and poor.

### The Great Migration(and Return) and Cthulhism

The weaker tribes, unable to survive in the harsh environment due to being bullied by stronger tribes, begin to leave the area en masse, and those stronger tribes would begin expanding in the lands they left, declaring themselves as Petty Kings of the area, the winter is also thawing, slowly but surely. 346BC is when all of the smaller tribes finally left, and the Great Migration was in full blast. They cross the Urus, and from there, they cross over to the fertile lands of Shahinay, untouched by the cold throes of the winter. This makes it a perfect target for raiding, and they do so, establishing themselves on the edge of that empire, and from there, they launch invasion after invasion, weakening Aydinir with every incursion into their lands.

340BC arrives, and with it, an enigmatic but persuasive, and religious person, only known to us in the annals of history via his moniker, "The Preacher". This man approaches the coagulation of tribes at the edge and begins to preach to them, teaching them about Cthulhism. He is able to convert nearly all of the tribes to the faith he is preaching, and soon, he wrests control of the tribes and leads them into an organized march of death and destruction, all pointed at Aydinir of course. Walls are broken, cities pillaged, towns burned, and farms salted, however, the man knows the value of knowledge, and ingrains into the people the importance of ingenuity, and they soon refrain from burning libraries, raiding and translating the tomes within instead. This may explain why Ruskland seemed to have a massive boost in technology a few decades later.

This bloodbath is then ended and the Aydiniri have been given rest from all the people raiding them till collapse in 333BC. This was around the time when The Preacher declared the Great Return. He claimed that their homeland was corrupted by evil forces and that Cthulhu has sanctioned them to return and cleanse their homeland.

They arrive and immediately displace those stronger tribes from their lands, and in 331BC, it is centralized into a kingdom, the Kingdom of Nasasuy, with Baelor Monterys, an influential Valorian chieftain(331 to 299BC) at its head, his eldest son its right hand, and The Preacher the left. Under them, they expand the kingdom to its previous counterpart's borders, and then they go beyond that, expanding until 317BC, in which the biggest possible size of the kingdom is achieved. They stop at that time in fear of overextending and showing weakness to their enemies, which would no doubt capitalize on that at the Kingdom's expense.

### Heretics and 3 Scores of War

In the times of 296-280BC, the religion of Cthulhism, no longer headed by a leader(The Preacher mysteriously disappeared from the Kingdom, leaving it and its faith slightly weakened), is showing symptoms of heterodox views. And only a few years later would the heresy shows itself, Azathothian it is called, and it is the cause of multiple conflicts in the inside of the Kingdom. Some Dai rulers even adopt it as their main religion, as to spite the Kingdom and to support the rebels, which would weaken their enemy. No war was declared, however, and the formation and rise of Cthulhu's Inquisitorial Order in 265BC would crush these heretics and push them underground and out of the Kingdom of Nasasuy’s borders.

A period of calm prevails, and the people begin recuperating, however, during the restoration progress, which was almost finished, the calm is disturbed by a call to arms. Dai has invaded, and The Sixty Years War has begun.

The Sixty Years War was a long-running war between Dai and Nasasuy, and their rulers, that occurred in 265 to 200BC. This was a war like the Succession Wars of old but on a much greater scale. Both sides bribe each other's subordinates to rebel against them, causing the front to be inward as well as outward. In 240 to 229, the war was turned into a three-way slugfest as the Kazanites, and ambitious family would declare themselves as rulers.

The war ended in mid 200BC via the death of those participating. The Kingdom of Dai was shattered by a tribe of Cruxans, removing a thorn(though later on, that thorn would be reinserted during the GRW). The Nacasu'uyn, the dynasty that ruled the Kingdom, would die out in 197BC as members begin dwindling from decreasing fertility rates. The Azkez rise and hard fall was the final nail in the coffin for the Kingdom, and the families that came after them, the Capetish, Valoyard, and Nord Valoyard would not help in any way to the current state of the rotting Kingdom. And it temporarily died in 1BC.

### A Restoration and The Electorate Era

The Jorviks, a fairly unremarkable family of dukes, that were able to secure marriages to multiple duchies, counties, and baronies during the time of the Valoyards. These unremarkable rulers would be the ones that would restore the Kingdom to glory, and it started off with Grand Duke Eadward declaring a war of reconquering and land claiming against his neighbors, he was the son of the legendary Grand Duke Aeris II and Elise Nord Valoyard. His relation to the latter would be helpful in his attempt at claiming the Kingdom when he crowns himself. He then was crowned in Year 1, as King Rodrik the First(Year 1 to 22), his family would rule until Oswell the Second(91 to 100) died without issue, and the crown passed over to the Plantageneß/Plantageness via relation.

Arenginians and pretty much every other Slavic culture that was not Rusklandr left the area due to persecution under the Plantageneß/ Plantageness and the Fitzwards. All of them finally left in 200.

Families dying out was the only way for an aspiring family to attempt to claim the crown, and even then, they would need to be related to the previous kings. Marcus Viktoren however, was an exemption, as he overthrew the de Cjardoß/Cjardoss family with little bloodshed. His family would enlarge the Kingdom to such extent that they would be able to declare themselves as an empire in 391, the Empire of Ruskland(Preuben was added during the rule house Mountain). Rulers past Georg III(451 to 465) even restarted the Barbarian Pacification Campaigns, with some of those being pointed at the Arenginians.

The weak rulership of Viktor II(500 to 523) would fragment the empire into four nations. However, barbarian tribes began pouring from the tundra, raiding and sacking the cities of the four states, and so, in mutual agreement, they made the Alliance, a loose union of all four nations, and to give all four authority within the new state, there were to be elections in which the nobles voted the next ruler into power. This started the Electorate, a brief period rife with scheming nobles, each vying for rulership of the alliance, although not much of note as well. The Bittershield family would restart the Pacifications as well after the Haegar stopped it for the sake of making peace with the barbarians. The Greynes would succeed the Bittershields in the elections, and their rulers were elected over and over again, and those rulers were wise and just, earning them the right to be able to restore the empire and remove the Electorate for good, ending a chapter in Ruskland-Preubenr history.

### Turn of the Millennium and Creation of the Cthulhist Council

After the Greynes were peacefully removed from power by the abdication of the last of the male line of the Greyne house, Olderich "the Chaste"(761 to 786), the House of Hill under Baxtus, now Emperor Baxtus "the Black"(786 to 802). He persecuted the clergy, so much that when he was killed by an angry mob of priests, cultists, peasants, and an odd noble or two with their retinue, nobody grieved for him, and instead celebrated.

His son, Olderich II, would reverse his father's damage, and successfully did so, becoming a paragon of the faith, and was immortalised as Saint Olderich "the White". More mediocre Hill rulers of Ruskland-Preuben came and went, until the foolish Charlir III(855 to 901) burned the capital of the current regime, the castle of High Hill, into ashes, and burned along with the charred emperor was his entire family. This put an end to the Hills, and so, a council was declared in order to select which family was to be selected as the new Imperial House, and what was chosen was a count with territory on a river delta leading to a lake, Lucas of the County of Marshfort, now Emperor Lucas "Go-Lucky" Castell(901 to 927).

He, now armed with the entirety of the imperial coffers, set to work, erecting new castles in the borderlands and on the coastal isles and rebuilding destroyed houses, High Hill was even repaired. These castles would be given to people that proved themselves worthy of a castle. With the coffers he also made his dreary two storey stone fort into a grand megastructure, Palas Fomalhaut. Located on the Delta Hill, it had grandiose spires towering into the air, a spacious throne room with an aura of intimidation, and an equally, if not, even more spacious and maze like underground dungeon and vault. During its construction, blood was mixed into the mortar, giving the walls their distinct red-grey color.

Not long after the construction(three years to be exact), he died, and the crown was passed seamlessly to his son of the same name. Lucas II(927 to 945) would refill his father's coffers before restarting the building effort, and when he did, he followed in his father's footsteps, building castles and expanding Fomalhaut. This went on until Lucas IV, who went to war to expand the territories of the empire along with his sons, he died in the last years along with his male progeny during the Battle of Svyso Plains, and his only daughter(and his eldest child) was already married(to Qarl Fabler) and with children, and so, the throne passed to her son, Charlir, now Charlir VII(1000 to 1030).

The emperor was already of age(18 years old already), and when he was crowned, the first millennium began in earnest. His first problem was that of the Azathothian Heretics beginning to pop up once more, and with the weakening of the Cthulhu's Inquisitorial Order, there seemed like there was nothing he could do. He crushed them without bloodshed through the writing of The Commission, which created the Cthulhist Council, led by the Grand Fanaticus. Church authority skyrocketed with the creation of leadership, and the Azathothians were forced to depart back to the frozen tundra, where they made their home many years ago. Charlir VII was now called "the Blessed" because of this action.

It was peaceful from then on, until the Age of the Mind entered full swing in 1125.

### Age of the Mind(occurred simultaneously with Arengin's Age of Iron)

When 1125 came around, and the Age of Iron in Ruskland-Preuben's sister state of Arengin, the Age of the Mind was in full swing. Under the watchful eye of the Sevenstar dynasty, and with the creation of leadership for Cthulhism under Emperor Charlir VII "the Blessed" Fabler(1000 to 1030) a century and more back, the arts and sciences began flourishing. Trade also grew, as exports increased. They also were supplying weapons to the highest bidder, except to their bitter enemy, Arengin.

When the wars between Aydinir and Arengin started, the empire immediately cut off all trade between Ruskland-Preuben and Arengin, and began increasing resource and weapons imports to Aydinir, in the hope that they would be able to strike a fatal blow to their mortal enemy. The 16 y/o commander Arźan Ćandrashif showed promise in being able to do this task, and so when she was defeated in battle, Ruskland-Preubenr riders took her corpse-like body off the muddy and bloody battlefield and brought her back to the empire, to be trained, to be used as a union to the Aydiniri.

After her ten years of training, she led multiple Barbarian Pacification Campaigns, and all were resounding successes, with little loss of life on the Ruskland-Preubenr side, she would gain the moniker of "the Conqueress" after this.

Emperor Baelon IV(1151 to 1167), a brilliant strategist on the field and on the negotiating table, at 26 years of age, would marry Arźan, who also was of similar age, and although all of his children were females, these girls were not to be trifled with, as they were trained by both Baelon IV "the Magnificent" and Arźan "the Conqueress", and were masters of their parent's arts.

Baelon IV, however, sadly died early during a rather brutal campaign in the barbaric tundra, and his last gift to the world was his youngest daughter, who he declared would be named after her mother. Arźan, nicknamed the Younger(more formally known as Arźan Śandra Bloss) was born in the winter of 1168 to her 43-year-old mother of the same name, and was younger sister to 10 other daughters of the same father and mother.

She was immediately trained once she was able to walk and talk, and she forced herself to master a great blade larger than her, and heavier as well. She was already capable of leading an army before she reached the age of majority, and was immediately made to lead campaigns, her potential was unrivaled, and so was her beauty, and her genius.

However, she was forced to marry Emperor Charlir XI Mountain(1187 to 1218), a rather mediocre ruler with a good amount of potential. She immediately became dominant in the family's business of ruling the empire, essentially becoming the de-facto ruler of Ruskland-Preuben, and she was wise and cunning, and to her enemies, ruthless. She had 4 sons and 8 daughters with him, the youngest daughter continuing her namesake.

She led what is now known as the "Southward March", a Barbarian Pacification Campaign turned into a brutal slaughter of innocent Arenginians and other Slavic cultures. Although her loyalty to Ruskland-Preuben was unwavering, this campaign was capable of breaking her, as during a rather brutal battle, her reinforcements, led by Baelon VI, a local Grand Duke from the former leading family, charged through the ranks of both Ruskland-Preubenr and Arenginian, inflicting massive casualties on both sides.

She exiled herself after this, counted as dead, due to pre-charge battles as the documents regarding that battle say. And fled to her mother's homeland, Aydinir.

### End of the Age of the Mind and the Pretiot War

Not much of note occurred in this chapter of history other than the end of the Age of the Mind in 1231 with the Azathotian Invasion. Nothing else occurred, until the rise of the Fabler-Castell dynasty after a violent succession war between them and house Mountain in the year 1338. In 1339 was the war concluded, and Aurion, now Emperor Aurion "Ironside" Fabler-Castell, took the crown and sat on the throne. The Pretiots under Supreme Kazkos rose on the tundra lands not owned by anyone in 1410, and the original plan was to destroy and annex them like the barbarians they were, but when they invaded Arengin by 1412, the plan was scrapped in favour of war with Arengin.

The invasion lasted for half a year, and they took over most of Arengin. The Pretiots and Ruskland-Preubenr quickly became allies, an agreement made in mutual hate of the Aren.