Ladinium

The landmass of Ladinium

Heightmap of Ladinium

## Landmass

Ladinium has many different climate regions from the tropical North, desert and hot Center, frigid South, and temperate Riverlands. In the far north lies the Terra Medio Mari and the Straights of Emporio a land of temperate to tropical weather along with the Island of Nowy Polska lying north-east of German North Ladinium. Passing Hindia and into Natal with the massive mountain range that separates them from the desert lands of the Berzer Zebras. Then to the east of them is the temperate and dry Mangor plains. On the West coast lays the fertile, temperate, and wet Riverlands. West and South are the Changeling Isles. South of them is the Mountainous Island of Hippogriffia. And on the Southern coast is the Colder Zebrinkian Gulf nations, a diverse land of Zebras, Thestrals, Penguins, Griffons, and Kirin.

## History

### Pre-Man History

Ladinium was originally populated by Zebras and is the only landmass to have Zebras as a native population. The Diamond Dog and Hippogriff races are known to have originated from this land as well. In the far north and areas around the Terra Medio Mari are the Deer. The Deer used to populate the entire north of Ladinium. They have been reduced to the nations of Hindia, Bendal, Natal, and parts of German North Ladinium. It is unknown when the first Ponies arrived on the continent but it is estimated that it occurred sometime from 1300BC and 1000BC. (for perspective that would be about 300BC to 0AD IRL) As the years went on the Ponies began to populate the Western regions of Ladinium stretching from Cappadocia to the Thetstrils. With the Diamond dogs and Hippogriffs population their respective areas in Diamond Mount and Mount Aris. Eventually the Mangor Empire began to rise as a massive power in the Zebra controlled areas and grew to be a threat to the ponies that lived in the Riverlands. The many groups that lay in these areas eventually banded together and formed the River coalition a formal alliance. If one member of the alliance was attacked then the rest would come to their aid. The many nations, kingdoms, empire, and duchies fought with each other they never looked to the lands that lay north of them.

### The New Arrivals

To the north of Ladinium lay the lands of America and Griffonia. Lands that were populated by Humans, Griffons, and Changelings with many cultures and groups. In the year 692 the Byzantines encountered the Northern areas of Ladinium and began to trade goods with the Deer. As the years passed on with information and trade between the three landmasses continued eventually a ship of Polish traders landed on the Island of Shir Linka in 712. When they landed on the island they founded the city of Nowy Warsaw on the mouth of the Oskavichi River. This was the first of many new colonies and settlements that were to be founded. The Poles began to invest into the island and renamed it to Nowy Polska. They used the Island as a naval, military, and trading base that they could use to project power in the region.

### Mass Colonization

#### Northern Ladinium

By 748 the first Byzantine colony had been established in what is now the city of Pelcis. Located on the Eastern side of the Straights of Emporio. The Polish also founded the city of Lwow located on the Northern tip of New Breadia. The Byzantines began to explore the Northern areas of the Western side of the Straights of Emporio deeming the East not worth the risk of the Deer living in the mountains. They set up new settlements including Golai, Oerythialai, and New Constantinople. With the formation of the United States and the fall of Poland in 755 the Americans moved to seize Nowy Polska and the Polish colonies. In 757 America moved to seize Nowy Polska and the colonies in New Breadia. The Polish were able to hold onto control of Nowy Polska due to a guerilla war and the lack of holding onto an area that gave them little to no benefit. However the Americans did seize Lwow and the surrounding areas from which they founded the colony of New Breadia and began to settle the land and areas around it.

With America starting to colonize New Breadia the Byzantines began to amp up their efforts in New Byzantium and began to expand down the coast into what is now Cappadocia. Along with these two many Germans having heard of the new lands began colonial efforts in 762, new trading and settling companies began setting up tradeing posts and towns in North Ladinium and in South East Ladinium. The Central Kingdom began to organize the colonies into German North Ladinium and German South East Ladinium with the North being infamous for its treatment to the native Deer population and the South for its peaceful attitudes to the Zebras and isolationist Kirin.

#### Hindian Wars

With the Byzantines, Germans, and Americans expanding inland they began to encounter the Deer populated lands of the Mudal Empire. The Germans founded the town of Serach on the Eastern side of the Maler Isthmus and founded Sulheim on the opposite side. With them they were able to open up trade routes into the Terra Medio Mari that weren't controlled by the Byzantines. The Germans expanded into the Norden Peninsula and taking control of the lands stretching from Byzantine controlled Atokamnos to Rasbach. With these expansions they encountered the Mudal Empire a Deer nation located stretching from Diamond Mount to New Wasserbrot but was dealing with instability and religious tensions. The Byzantines began to march down the coast line of Cappadocia defeating a massive Mudal army at the battle of Goles. After the defeat the Americans began to push into New Breadia capturing the town of Warnat which they renamed to New Wasserbrot and began to build it up into an administrative and trade capital. With the Mudal Empire falling apart on their Western flank the Byzantines were able to push into Cappadocia and founded the city of Cappadoncia located at the mouth of the river Crafton. From this new base of operations the Byzantines began to send out forces and settlers to the Maltian Islands. These relatively unpopulated Islands were easy prey for the Byzantine Empire and they quickly took them setting up the port of Valleta.

#### Southern Ladinium

Mean while in the South of Ladinium German ships had begun to trade with the local Zebras and had founded a small fort on the river Witnausen and they named it New Munich. In these areas the majority of settlers were Catholics at first with minor amounts of Protestants also settling into the area. This colony unlike the Northern one was much more peaceful at it's start and only occupied the coasts stretching from Mangor to the Kirinian border. They would trade with the locals and would export native luxury goods that weren't seen in America or Griffonia. When the Kirin began their 200 years of Isolationism the trade with them was massively cut off or destroyed all together. Coupled with a new competitor arriving in the area the economy of South East Ladinium began to stagnate.

The new competitor that had arrived in the area were the Griffons who had seized land to the West of Krinia and began to colonize and subjugate the Mangorian client states in the area. The first major city the founded was Featherston on the river Geiterbach that proved to be a major naval base and port. the Griffons unlike the Germans began a large expansion into the Mangorian Client states with them falling only 10 years into the campaign. With these nations subjegated the Griffons set up the colonies of Sud Ladinium and Rowingia. The ladder of which would be famous for it's apartheid state and treatment of the local Zebra population to the benefit of the Griffons. The area was lucrative to Griffonia for their production of diamonds, other gemstones, and rare metals. With these major resources desperately needed the government in Griffenheim began to enforce their rule in the areas and began setting up an aristocratic class of Griffons who would rule the colonies. This was found to slowly fester anger from the Griffons and the native Zebras.

### Rise of Zeslam and the Coptic Church

#### Zeslam

Before 782 the main two religions of the Zebras of the Khedian Sect and the Mpanja Beliefs had begun to falter under these new groups that had begun to arrive. Things began to come to ahead when in 782 a zebra in Maba claimed to have seen a vision from a god named Zalla about the one true faith he was instructed to spread his faith as far and wide as possible. He was hunted down by authorities but was able to escape and began to spread his religion throughout Maly, the Darrian State, and northern Bratil. With it reaching as far as the Taleru Government and into a third of the Berzer Kingdom. This new religion was a massive source of instability to the government in Mangor that had already been ruling a overextended and massive empire and now had a large internal threat they needed to keep down if they wished to survive.

#### Coptic Church

To add insult to injury only 4 years later in 786 the teachings of a Orthodox priest began to spread into Mangor. This was different from traditional Orthodoxy as it had a native zebra flare to it then the normal Byzantine blend. It began to spread throughout the empire being pushed by the Germans and Americans. This new Christian sect known as the Coptic Christian Church began to spread throughout eastern Mangor and into the Eastern parts of the Berzer Kingdom. With the traditional religions faltering away and with the new religions which were hostile to each other things just began to crack at the seems even further. Things were not helped in the following years when in 788 the Empire would be shaken to its core.

### Fall of Mangor

#### German Migration

By 788 rising tensions with the Americans and Germans had begun to flare up. With the German government losing large amounts of ground to the ever growing Griffonian Empire many people began to flee to the Ladinium colonies to avoid the Griffon invasions. Of those who left to Ladinium one was a group of ships that left the port of Gimmelstomp attempting to head to New Munich but they never arrived and the fate of them is still wondered about. With Northern Ladinium fully taking control of the peninsula people left to the South in hopes of finding work in the industrial and merchant industries. With large amounts of people arriving into the South the amount of room they held was limited and people began to cross the border into the Mangor Empire. This created tensions with the Humans there not wanting to be part of the Zebra Mangor Empire and the peace became more fragile.

#### American invasion

With the tensions rising in the South and national stability falling faster than a stone in water the Americans saw a chance to take some land off of the Mangorians and began an invasion. This invasion has been known as the Burning Fields War known for the mass burning of cities and farming fields leading to a famine and destruction of the food supply. In 799 American forces crossed the border of New Breadia into Mangor. They began a quick movement into the already weakened Empire. The Mangorians attempted a defense at Shisuta to the north of Nande. There they were able to hold out for 32 days until their fort caught on fire and the entire garrison was burned alive. The Americans continued their advance into Mangor taking Nande and pushing to the river Sherbury. In Febuary of 801 the Americans took the town of Adwe and were able to cross the Sherbury and push towards Mangor itself. A desperate defense at Womoro by the Mangorians was futile as their army of 50,000 Deer was defeated by the American army of 28,000 commanded by a young general named Franklin Autumn. With this defeat the Americans shot straight for Mangor and the imperial palace where the Emperor slept.

Before reaching the imperial city of Mangor the Americans burned most of Kakogio, after this they arrived at the walls of Mango. The Deer attempted to hold out in their imperial city to stop the Americans under general Autumn. The Emperor even declared he would not leave his city and fight to keep it held. His family on the other hand were evacuated to the city of Naleke. The Americans surrounded the city and began the great siege. Artillery shells hit the walls day and night. General Autumn ordered that the city must fall and the Emperor taken prisoner. For 183 days the city of under siege and for 183 days they city was bombarded. Once the city fell the general ordered the city burned. And that the great Mangor Hwok was destroyed, the great religious and Imperial center. A temple representing the greatness of Mangor and its power.

With the capital seized and the emperor captured in his palace found hiding behind his throne cowering in fear. He was taken out to the square where general Autumn was waiting for him. The general proclaimed. "Your emperor has been captured as a coward and did not die with his men. But, don't worry your 'majesty'. I will end all of this for you." And with those words he shot the Emperor. Historians say that was the moment the Mangor Empire finally died.

With the fall of Mangor and the death of the late emperor the empire could no longer hold itself together. The young son of the previous emperor was only 12 by the time of his father's untimely death. Being unable to rule his mother took over as regent and desperately attempted to leverage the chaos. Her first act was to make peace with the Americans and Germans. To this respect she was able to sign a deal with the Germans to ceded large amounts of land in the south to them being able to leverage her way out of paying reparations' and materials to them. As for the Americans this was found to be much harder. The Americans wished to establish a massive colonial empire that would spread throughout Mangor.

While the government attempted to make peace with the Americans they continued to push into the plains and were heading to Naleke, the provincial capital of the empire, in order to take captive the Queen regent and her son. When the American army reached the city of Natug they were not expecting a quickly formed Mangor army blocking their path. General Autumn was absent from the battle that day and his subordinate the young and inexperienced colonel MazzArthur was put in charge of the men. It is believed that the absence of general Autumn caused the Americas to lose that battle. After his loss MazzArthur declared he would never fail against such a weaker foe.

#### German invasion

Upon the fall of Mangor in late 801 the the Germans invaded the Southern frontier as to acquire, as they called it, "living space" so that they many German migrants would have a place to settle and found business. They found little to no opposition while they pushed into the interior with only minor local militias attempting to stall their advance in hopes of an Imperial army to come and rescue them. With the German forces marching into the Mangor frontier the Empire began to falter even in those areas that had not been effected by the war began to erupt into Chaos.

#### Breakaways

The victory of Natug was short lived as, in the west of the empire, the region of Maly went into armed revolt against the non-Zeslam Mangorians. The revolt did not spread very far and was not highly supported but because the Mangorians were already severely stretching thin they could not put them down.

## Nations

### North

Bendal

Deutsche Nord Ladinium

Hindia

Kingdom of Cappadocia

Maltia

New Breadia

New Byzantium

The Commonwealth of Nowy Polska

### East

Deutsche Sud-Ost Ladinium

Kirinian Empire

Rowingia

The Mangor Central Congress

The Mangor Commune

The Mangor Empire

### West

Changeling Isles

Hippogriffia

The River Federation

West Thetstril

### Center

Berzer Kingdom

Darrian State

Kingdom of Natal

### South

Diocese of Zebrinka

East Thetstril

Iport Trade League

Kingdom of Maly

Republic of Sud Ladinium

The Ping League

The Taleru Government