Lolaapalen-Madalik Commonwealth

The Lolaapalen-Madalik Commonwealth, commonly known as The Commonwealth or simply Lolaapalen, is a country that sits within the Middle North and Great North regions of [the continent]. A Majority of the Commonwealth's lands are situated along the North Shore and surrounding lowlands. Much of the nation's industry is based on the textile and mineral trade facilitated by the Commonwealth-based Saattue League. The Commonwealth is currently led by King Benedikti Soini-Vasiliauskas.

The Commonwealth was founded in [Insert year 145 years ago] with the Union of Refala following the marriage of King Havilan Soini and Grand Duchess Leontyna Vasiliauskas, which merged the Kingdom of Lolaapalen and the Grand Duchy of Madalik-Povrosa into a single unified state.

## History

#### Pre-Kingdom Period

The earliest written records of inhabitance in the commonwealth were recounted by Thesomedian scholar Taricontus of Dossa in his work "Historiam," written in 390. Taricontus called the people "the Lapidomii," named after the people's usage of stone in their construction as opposed to the simple tents or wooden houses of surrounding cultures. Taricontus also suggested the Lapidomii be called "Fureii," after the Thesomedian word for Thieves, proposing that the stone structures were once part of an Thesomedian colony.

Over the next few centuries, Thesomedian Pantheonic missionaries would travel to the territories of the Lapidomii, spreading the Imperial religion and replacing the original Pagan practices. Of these were the Pantheonic Saints Leris and Theosian, who, in the process of evangelizing many of the lands of the modern Commonwealth and eastward, devised an alphabet for the Lapidomii and surrounding tribes based off of the Thesomedian alphabet.

#### The Varsilian Kingdom

In year 625, the Lapidomii, under the lead of King Varsilas the Great, underwent a large number of military campaigns against adjacent tribes and kingdoms, expanding Lapidomii control over the region far beyond its previous extents. Over the next decades of his reign, Varsilas would forge an alliance with King Havrasi of the Madalik. Varsilas would assist Havrasi in his conquest of the Kingdom of Povros, leaving almost the entire territory of Povros to the Madalik, save for a small section of fertile farmland adjacent to the Lapidomii territory.

Using the alliance which he had formed with the Madalik, Varsilas would set his sights on Thesomedia and their vast stores of wealth and farmland. Over the next decade, Varsilas and Havrasi would undergo yearly military campaigns and raids against Thesomedia, whittling down their defenses until Varsilas' death in 692 during the Siege of Caceta. The city would be taken by the remaining Lapidomii and Madalik forces, and Varsilas' only surviving son, Androv the Pious, would be named King of the Lapidomii in the city's temple.

Androv would prove slightly less successful in his campaigning than his father, losing the battles of Stone Crest in 694 and the Taredian Forest 695. However, he would claim a decisive victory in 697 against Thesomedian forces, forcing the signing of the Treaty of Colonia which would finally cede many of the territories south of the Mägas Range to the Varsilian Kingdom.

Over the next two decades, Androv's reign would be uneventful, maintaining what was left of the empire built by his father. In 715, Androv would die from complications resulting from a lung tumor, splitting the Varsilian Kingdom between his two sons Sedrik the Successor and Havras the Lolaap.

#### The Many Kingdoms Period

After the death of Androv the Pious, the Western Region of the former Varsilian Kingdom of the Lapidomii, called Lolaapa, had been granted to Havras, forming the Kingdom of Lolaapalen, while the Eastern regions, holding the major port town of Refalkula, which is modern day Refala, and Varsilian castle of Refal, was granted to Sedrik, along with the De Jure title of King of the Lapidomii which had been held by Androv and Varsilas, earning Sedrik the epithet The Successor.

For the next few decades following the split of the Varsilian Kingdom, the Lolaapalen and Varsilian Lapidomii kingdoms would remain at official peace. However, a rivalry between the two states continued to boil, eventually spilling over in 765 when King Havras, aged 79, launched a surprise raid on the former Thesomedian mining town of Salatium in the Varsilian Lapidomii side of the Löunna Pass. King Sedrik would retaliate, with neither kingdom giving any ground until both Sedrik and Havras had passed, whereupon their kingdoms were split among their own children. The surprise assault, however, would end up sparking a period of near-incessant war in the region for the next four hundred years, as the kingdoms continued to shatter into smaller, more volatile fiefdoms through several generations of Partible Inheritance. During this time, as well, many of the original territories acquired under King Varsilas the Great had been lost to outside invasion or marriage, including the city of Colonia, having been named to Kolni after centuries of Lapidomii rule.

It was until year 1040 where the Many Kingdoms period began to arc to a close. At the death of King Havras VII, also called Havras the Wise, it was declared in his will that any and all estates of the then rather small Lolaapmi crown would be granted to only the firstborn son, beginning the age of Lolaapmi Primogeniture. Over the next century and a half, the descendants of Havras the Wise would subjugate and marry into more and more territory under the Lolaapmi Crown. During this time, however, the vastly shrunken Varsilian Lapidomii Kingdom would enact their own form of Primogeniture following the death of King Desarli in 1090.

#### The Two Kingdoms Period

Eventually, the Lolaapmi and Varsilian Lapidomii kingdoms would reach a stalemate around year 1320, having subjugated all of the surrounding fiefdoms and petty kingdoms, though considerably smaller than when first split between Havras I and Sedrik I. The two nations would trade blows every once in a while over the next two centuries, but for the most part would spend much of their resources scraping up the broken pieces of their ancient kingdoms. They both would reach their extent, at the Mägas Mountain range along the southern border of the modern day commonwealth.

The stalemate would end, as a military alliance was struck between the Grand Duchy of Madalik-Povrosa and the Lolaapmi kingdom when the Kingdom of the Darusche to the south attacked the Grand Duchy by sailing around the Mägas range and burning farmland as they marched eastward through Madalik-Povrosan territory. The Lolaapmi king Soini responded to the Madalik call for aid, winning the decisive battle of Vorod Field by capturing the Daruscher king Harald the Bald and maintaining the status quo. Utilizing the military alliance, however, Soini would wage war once again against the Varsilian Lapidomii kingdom, then led by King Sedrik IX. The combined Madalik and Lolaapmi force tore through the countryside, burning and raiding villages, but Sedrik IX refused to encounter the armies, knowing it would ensure defeat, earning him the epithet The Stubborn. This stubbornness, however, would result in the Siege of Refal Castle, where a Lolaapmi infiltrator opened the castle gates from inside. Sedrik IX was captured, ceding the territories of the Varsilian Lapidomii to King Soini of Lolaapalen in 1332. Sedrik IX would live the rest of his life in pseudo-captivity, bound to the Refal Castle donjon. Sedrik IX would die at King Soini's hands after Sedrik insulted Soini's wife and mother in a drunken stupor. A similarly inebriated Soini stabbed Sedrik with his dinner knife and threw him out of the donjon's window.

#### The Sonian Kingdom

With the end of the Two Kingdoms period, the Lolaapmi Kingdom under King Soini would enter a period of relative peace for the next four hundred years. The Sonian Kingdom, named so after the dynasty founded by King Soini, would spark a golden age of cultural advancement for the Lolaapmi. During this time, the Saattue League would form in the city of Serkä, banding together several cities along the Löuna River.