Duchy of Cislaronia

Banner of the Duchy of Cislaronia, featuring the Sunbird of Laronia

Anachronistic map of the Duchy of Cislaronia at its greatest extent

The **Duchy of Cislaronia** (*Principatus Cislaroniae*, meaning "lands this side of the Laron"), also called the **Duchy of Laronia** after the Third Sundering, was a state along the left-bank Laron River from 771 to 1337. It was the cultural predecessor of the modern Republic of Laronia and Quesi Region.

## History

### Early history

The region was conquered by Alexios Megas in 771, who called it *Cislaronia* ("the lands this side of the Laron") in contrast to *Translaronia* ("the lands beyond the Laron"). The territory of Cislaronia was home to various human, orc, and elf communities, as well as being home to the Quesi people.

After Alexios's death, it rebelled against Ionian rule in the so-called Great Laronian Revolt, which was ultimately unsuccessful. After the war, Alexios the Younger increased his authority in the "lands this side of the Laron" by building additional roads connecting it to the Kanorian lands, beginning a policy wherein the Despots sought to divide their two Laronian duchies against each other. These cross-river divisions came to a head in the Third Sundering, when Translaronia successfully won its independence from the Despotate while Cislaronia remained neutral.

From here on, Translaronia gradually fell apart and lost its "Laronian" character, with individual cities and districts developing their own unique identities (most notably Jabeyrack and Davanpor). This left Cislaronia as the undisputed center of Laronian culture.

### Jabeyracki intrusions

In the early 11th century, the Jabeyracki Republic made numerous efforts to settle and colonize the coast of Cislaronia, establishing ports like Nebarack and Verack. These commercial cities were given special legal status within the Despotate of Ionia and protected in exchange for perpetual neutrality with Jabeyrack. Furthermore, by protecting this coastal trade network, the Despot of Ionia forced Jabeyrack's rivals to use other methods to weaken the Jabeyracki state - which triggered the Amarvic War.

### Loss of loyalty

Though it preserved peace between Ionia and Jabeyrack, lodging Jabeyracki settlements in Cislaronia appeared to devalue local communities and history, breeding distrust between the despotic government and the (Cis)Laronians. The Cislaronians sided against the reigning Despot in the Fourth and Fifth (Great) Sunderings as a consequence.

### Fall and aftermath

The Duchy of Cislaronia was occupied by Michael Calano during the Great Sundering in 1337, at which point it was split into several integrated provinces of Polgan. Some of these provinces were conquered by Airolia in the early 1500s. These provinces came to be controlled by the Haerig and Vogt princely houses in 1749 through a legal settlement, who controlled them through a "divide and conquer" scheme until they united in 1792, reestablishing a "Laronian" identity. This united Laronian state persisted under Airolian feudal rule until the 1886 Land Reform Acts, when it became a non-feudal *Konfödeländer*.

Airolian Laronia continued to exist until its occupation and dissolution by the Polmarian Triumvirate. The subsequent Cataclysm flooded and ruined much Laronian infrastructure, making it particularly vulnerable to foreign domination, which eventually arrived in the form of the Karostain Empire.

The Karostainian wars in Helinska ravaged Laronia, and the territory was passed from one overlord to the next: BISDA, then Imperial Kanoria. A Laronian resistance movement aganst Imperial Kanoria sprung up in the 1950s, which culminated in the Imperial Conference of 1972 and finally established an independent Republic of Laronia.