Kingdom of Vaskja

## Vaskja

A monarchy in the Westerlands, ruled by King Nikola Lazsarev, his coat of arms, three silver crescents on a field of blue.

The kingdom's borders run along the eastern bank of the Ida river, to the Wrynova River in the south and the ridge of the Aral Highlands in the east. Vaskja was formed after the Western War and is a stub of the Old Kingdom of Vaskja, which was once the dominant power in the west until it fell to the Golden Horde.

## Culture

Vaskjan culture has an abnormally strong sense of social justice, owing to the creation of its first constitution, the Nomocanon, written in 1219. Vaskjans strongly believe in the equality of all people regardless of their financial or social status and that no one should own more than another.

## Economy

Vaskja is the largest and finest suppliers of vodka in the world. They also export tin, but otherwise, the Vaskjan economy is fairly week and based on local agriculture.

## History

### Early History

The fortress of Totieska was constructed in the 9th century along the Vaskjan Gorge, from where the Kingdom of Vaskja was established and by 976, it had become a powerful force in the central Westerlands, threatening Magiore and Corvians alike. The Vaskjans ruled several important trade cities, such a Cassow, Prezsow, and Lecova, and began to expand rapidly, conquering the coast along the Bay of Crabs. In the 1030’s John II Coenoose failed to hold the north against Corveaux. Totieska was burned and the capital of Vaskja was moved to Skadar, and John II had its last commander, Krito, severely punished for the loss.

Exploiting Vaskja’s loss and a switch of thrones, Stefan Aljevic, who held the title of Governor of Anon, Tytograd, and Kotar, led a rebellion to renounce Vaskja rule in 1034. He took Oswiezim and Vaskja retaliated by sending in troops from Skadar and capturing Stefan, who was taken prisoner to Bardiov. He managed to escape and began a guerrilla resistance from the bogs and marshlands. He defeated several Vaskjan expeditions and liberated most of the west coast. A rebellion in Cassow in 1038 worked in Stefan’s favour by diverting attention from his lands, allowing him to expand his rule East and even take the Vaskjan city of Skadar.

In 1042, yet another Vaskja attack of several of their vassals, led by Lutovid of Totieska, was defeated. Stefan overthrew Lutovid and placed the region entirely under his control to form the state of Wichau.

Between 1043 and 1080, Wichau managed to foster good relations with Vaskja, thanks to King Mikhail, but his son Bodin, who was half-Corvian, betrayed his father’s promises to aid Vaskja in war when the Corvians invaded in 1081-85, possibly as part of a pre-conceived plan with Corveaux. Unfortunately for Bodin, Vaskja won and in 1090, Bodin was punished for his impudence and the City of Labusa was ceded to the Kingdom.

### Reign of King Falka

In 1091 or 1092, King Falka of Vaskja ascended the throne and began raiding Magioran territory in the vicinity of Cassow, the Maegar initially being unable to take counter-measures as they were fighting invading Vichin.

After defeating the Vichinians, the King of Magiore sent an army, which was quickly defeated by Falka in 1092. The King then mobilized a much larger army, led by himself, and marched on Vaskja and Falka sent envoys, seeking peace, which the King quickly accepted as further problems arose at home. Immediately after his departure, Falka broke the treaty and began to expand into Magiore. In 1095, the King of Magiore marched out to meet Falka again. This time, he was forced to give up twenty hostages, including his cousin and second son.

Following Bodin of Wichau’s death in 1101, Falka forged an alliance with Koczopar, the exiled brother of Bronislaw, Bodin’s nephew, who had been arrested by Bodin’s Corvian wife, Joaquina, fearing Bronislaw would seize power before her young children could take the throne. The takeover was a success, but Koczopar had a falling out with his ally, Vulkan of Arsa, and after his death, Falka installed another brother of Bronislaw and succeeded in making Wichau a vassal state of Vaskja.

### Revolt of the Brother Princes

In 1160, the Vaskjan brothers Oros and Desza led a Corvian-sponsored revolt against King Manuel of Vaskja, who was a cousin of the former Prince of Corveaux and had plans to claim the Corvian throne. The conflict became known as the Revolt of the Brother Princes, which become one of the most brutal civil wars in Westerland history.

In 1204, after King Manuel's death, his eldest son, Sam, a suspected lover of the late Oros, renounced his rule to become a monk and turned his effort to spreading the Cister Cartian church among his people, leaving his two younger brothers, Stefan and Vulkan, to fight for the throne. The Cister Cartian church already had ambitions to gain influence in the West and the youngest brother, Stefan, used these circumstances to obtain the recognition of kingship from the Pontiff, thereby becoming King in 1217. Sam became the first Vaskjan bishop in 1219 and in the same year, he published the first Constitution of Vaskja, a compilation of civil law based on Cister Cartian law.

### Fall of the Kingdom

After the Corvian invasion of 1240, the Kings of Vaskja became increasingly dependant on Magiore to aid against the Golden Horde. However, their new ties with Magiore played a decisive role as King Oros was succeeded by his son Dragomir, whose wife was a Magioran princess. In 1282, when he abdicated in favour of his younger brother Milutin, King Ladislaw IV of Magiore gifted Dragomir lands in south-eastern Magiore, which for the first time came under Vaskjan rule. In 1284, the capital of Vaskja was moved to Skadar.

Under King Milutin, Vaskja grew strong despite having to occasionally fight wars on three different fronts. Milutin was an apt diplomat, employing diplomatic and dynastic marriages and was married five times. After coming into power, he started lengthy attacks on the Golden Horde, but failed two campaigns which eventually cost him Totieska, and much of the northern part of Vaskja in 1242. Its central geo-political position on important commercial routes between the Bay of Crabs and Central Magnia, combined with Vaskjan flourishing mining and trade resources, made it an obvious target for the Horde.

After putting extensive pressure on the Valonian League, Milutin obtained territorial gains in a peace treaty sealed in 1299. However, all his new territorial gains were lost between 1310-1330, in a civil strife between his bastard son Oros, who was unhappy with his father’s favouritism towards his legitimate younger brother Konstantin. When Milutin died without leaving a testament, civil war erupted between Oros, Konstantin, and their cousin Vladislav. Oros ended up victorious and was crowned Oros IV George in 1331.

He ruled until 1355, whereafter his son, Oros the Weak ascended, only to die in 1360, after a four-year war that resulted in the fall of the Kingdom and the subjugation under the Golden Horde.

### The Western War

After the fall of the Golden Horde in 1420, Vichin conquered the Vaksjan lands and divided its previous territories to make them part of several new duchies, a division which caused much ire between the cultural and national differing groups studently forced to live under the same ruler and during the Western War, several peasant militias rose up in the region to lead gorrilla attacks against the Vichin armies marching to quell to rebellion in Osweizim.

After the war, King Nikola was crowned in Skadar in an attempt to restore the Vaskjan Kingdom. Nikola had to fight not to be annexed by the rising power of new King Robert Angevin of Magiore until he was officially recognized by Corveaux. In the end, he had to content himself with a realm much smaller than the realm his ancestor's ruled during the 14th century.

## Administrative Divisions

Vaskja is divided into four counties, each ruled by an Elector Count, democratically chosen by the local eligible landowners:

* **Prester,** ruled by Forley Prester from Novyenna.
* **Podrin Field,** ruled by Tara Dinn from Mireem.
* **Vladibor,** ruled by Jablanica Karst from Labusa.
* **West Podrin,** ruled by Aneyon Natusa from Visigierd