Western Kingdom

## *Lore*

The Western Kingdom was formed shortly after Central had finished the construction of its walls and organization of its provinces. The West had the humble beginnings of being a basic set of villages along the coast that had banded together against common enemies, sea raiders, highwaymen, and so on. Despite their ailments by that of marauders, these villages did have the extreme fortune of being aligned along the major trade and naval coast, allowing for them to have extensive wealth and control. After nearly a decade of what was trade dominance over the Western Continents, the West had expanded its united powers to the south plateau, building a bridge to connect it to sea level. Thus began the start of a powerful and controlling kingdom.

The first intentions of the original settlers of this land were to unite and protect each other from marauders, but when power became involved, so did the interest of military application and wealth seekers. As they built their city among the plateau, what was once a small collection of villages evolved into a large empire full of military and trade influence. Despite how they began, however, the empire became less involved with its less fortunate civilians, actively opting out of supporting or even supplying less fortunate villages. This set a clear distinction between the two, having what could be considered as two kingdoms under one banner. A peasant king is rumored to rule over the less fortunate side of the West.

Over decades of time, the kingdom grew into what would be considered an unconquerable beast. The Central government and set-up influenced the West for the better, being able to form stronger defenses and bind a large, more controllable government system meant for wide stretches of land. The West expanded by military conquest, and as they did so, they engulfed more and more land. This leaves us here, to our current timeline.

## *Current Events*

With the recent skirmishes and battles between the Dark Knights and the Centralian rebels, in which the often despised King of the hold was dethroned by these warriors, the Western military council deemed King Conwyn unfit to rule after a skirmish took place in the fief and region of the Hollish Union. Within several hours of this attack, the military formed a siege tower and heavy raiding force to reclaim Central and annex it.

After besieging the hold and successfully taking the throne of the Central Kingdom, the temporary appointee council provided immediate aid to all citizens and refugees of the battle, halting all taxes until the kingdom was repaired. Despite a few minor instances of rebellion against the new Western lords, the annexation has been steady.

For the first time in several weeks, King Marn exited his private life and began to involve himself in the ongoing events. The king appeared manic, had lost a massive amount of weight, and was now training to be a swordsman. The Western people were relieved at this sudden change with the Kings attitude.

During the meeting with King Tavius and King Conwyn agreed on bringing peace to Trepheon, while installing a series of embassies across the land. Trade routes and western dual citizenship was opened to each kingdom. Conwyn agreed to aid the Wests military, as long as they were with peace.

King Marn, after this fortunate meeting with Conwyn, took to the East during the funeral of the Emperor. Tavius openly mocked the queen, sitting on her throne as she returned from sending off the dead emperor. After a short tension, they receded to the upper floors of the buildings, discussing military strength and political peace across the lands. The Empress agreed to let West install an embassy and open trade, as long as such was done the same. The West also provided the Eastern kingdom with several cannons for defense.

King Marn spoke to the Northern Swordsmen, and they vowed to speak to the God-King on his manner, about his people sharing the mountains. After this, civilians saw posters of a mercenary hiring men for a specific adventure, one that payed a large number and counted of danger. Upon meeting the leader of this expedition, it was revealed they were to kill the Mad King, Marn. It was explained his dangers and manic insanity, and traitorous actions to tradition.

Within the night, thirty-nine mercenaries encountered Tavius behind a large vitoric ward. One by one, he beckoned them to trial by combat, sparring three and killing four. His powerful relic, the Great Runeblade, shattered over the horn of a minotaur. This broke the ward, allowing the mercenaries to, once and for all, end the kings reign.

Soon after Tavius’ death, Corvus Juventious, the soon to be king, prepared for his crowning by storing the deceased king’s various magical belongings to be later studied. As he uncovered more and more about Tavius, he came across a chest of powerful runes. One rune in particular, Corvus took an interest in. As he held and examined the stone, he began to hear whispers. The whispers were faint at first, but rapidly raised in volume, becoming screams of how the deceased met their demise. Finally unable to bear it any longer, Corvus sprung out the window of the office, breaking his neck on the impact.

After a year or so of mediated reign between the generals and their political council, the young inheritor finally came of age to take the throne of the Western Capital. Shortly before the coronation, Central had been annihilated in a Dormian scale event, sending ripples through the political nature of the West. The coronation was put off, allowing for the new inheritor to survey the various villages, and the new kingdom rising in the wake of the Centralian excommunication.

On Coronation Day, the inheritor took his first actions as the King. Releasing the former queen Clara from custody, and pulling out of the conquest in the North. A weeks long celebration occurred, to distract those inhabiting the West while the young leader sought council.

## *Economy*

The economic stature of the West is astonishing, with a lush exchange rate and a high-paying price for Western goods, it has proven itself to be the richest of all of the kingdoms. With high trades in coffee, wine, and spices, it also dabbles in extorting the criminal blackmarket. The West profits off all business that comes through it, legitimate or not, and this advantage has lead to a massive kingdom.

Although the city is all fine and well economically, the villages are much more poor. Their buildings are derelict and the floors rot beneath them, and their roofs leak when it rains. The people here starve and die slowly. They struggle to afford the most basic of necessities. Some villages, however, thrive off of a third party. This part is rumored to be the peasant king.

## *Military*

The Western Military is one full of pride and joy for their nation. Although, with this enthusiasm comes strength and power. The West has proved its military efficient several times in the past, squashing large bandit syndicates and roving groups of mercenaries. With its fierce defense and basic offense, it's also paired with intelligent generals and a highly skilled front line. The Atilles is the most feared of the Western military, often wielding heavy two handed maces or flails and board shields. They have become known for their merciless onslaught and brutal attitude in battle.

And while the offense is formative, the defense of their city is astonishing, as they weaponize large cannons for use on their small (but formidable) navy, and on their towers.

After the Mad Kings death, and the untimely suicide of the Heir, the military made a sweep and announcement detailing that, 'The Marn bloodline is unfit to rule.'. After this, they took full control of Tavius' estate, and the Kingdom.

## *Government and Society*

Western Society is open-ended as much as its trade market is, representing its beliefs and morals. The people in West are often very inviting, welcoming, and proud of their nation, although richer inhabitants tend to be egotistical in a rather cliché manner. They do not exclude races or beings that are not human, but are strictly opposed to those who practice mancy and poor-minded beasts who stray into the Kingdom.

The West has had a poor relationship with mancers since the first king to rule the land, Raul Vevius. His time as king was short lived, and due to his rather poorly documented death, citizens in the West took to the supernatural and prosecuted the mancers who once lived there for being the reason their king had died. This soapbox mentality has become normalized in the West, leading to a large taboo to most mancers. The mancers who live within the boundaries of the kingdom are either reserved about their mancy or they have special government passes, although these have not protected them from the hatred of the Western populous.

After Raul Vevius' death, his brother, Tavius Vevius was to succeed him as a power. Tavius was a wild king, who, through his long lasting reign over the kingdom had caused a large economic mishap within the city, crashing most of the trade market and causing a short uprising. The Vevius family soon came out to turn against Tavius, causing controversy as his wife testified that he had an affair with a maiden from the Central Kingdom. She further claimed that this mistress had given birth to his bastard child Renault Marn. All of this pressure led to a second assassination, and similar to the plot against his late brother, had been just as suspicious. This created even more tension towards the mancers. The succession of the kingdom became traditional after the controversy caused and accelerated by the Vevius' family had left an uproar that they could not control, leaving the next-in-line to the throne to be Renault Marn, the bastard.

Renault was the first king to steadily focus on military expression of the kingdom, and had represented a certain independence from the rest of the kingdom’s jaws. Under his command, the West began to slowly take control of more land, leading to the size it is now. Renault is often praised as to being the best king to rule that land, having created peace with smaller villages before taking them in, being well worded, and a reasonable man overall. He had also dabbled within the trade industry, promoting the belief that protecting the assets of the West was just as vital to controlling the people of the West, which kick started the naval powers of the West. Unfortunately, his reign soon came to an end after Renault was publicly assassinated. Witnesses and documentation of the event point to a sudden fire erupting from the sky and striking Renault, causing him to burst into flames and flail about until he dropped to the ground, dead.

This leaves us to the current king and the man who inherited the throne, Tavius Marn. Tavius has been known as a megalomaniac and brusque individual, who's only claim to government control is diplomatic ability. Although, it is widely known that Tavius is a weak king, as the military Renault had worked so hard to build up was not loyal to him, creating the unique and separate distinction between the two running powers. The military had seized practically all control from the throne, leaving the generals and council of the military to lead the West in a better direction. Tavius' reign has been the longest running of the four kings, and he has been extremely fortunate to carry this title. Inside the city, citizens pay little mind to Tavius, while most of the West outside of the city consider him to be incoherent and unable to run a kingdom. Tavius Marn was revealed to be a pyromancer, a strong one. His tyrannical power came to an end at the hand of mercenaries.

There is rumor that the peasants and villages are a considerably different environment, even up to the point that there is a separate king for the land.

## *Justice and Laws*

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13EwSxYnmTgXJ1cY0uEei7D2rb7ysqm5xHIuwCIxjrwI/edit

## Fiefs

Holland

Morunia

Udekia

Naetles