Westclavia

Flag of Westclavia

## Military

### Chain of Command

High Marshal and the National Council (executive) the Senate, the National Council, and the National Assembly (legislative) the Supreme Court (judicial) and Chief of Staff (military)

### Navy

Biegsigliere

**Westclavia**, officially the *Monarchia Federale di Westclavia e il suo Consiglio Nazionale* (en. **Federal Monarchy of Westclavia and her National Council**), is a country in Hellannia. Situated in the center of the continent, it consists of a large mainland and 3 small islands off its coast, of which the entire nation being categorized under 3 main federal provinces (Dachs, Kraghammer, and the Hinterlands). It is considered as the smallest country in mainland Hellannia.

## Geography

Westclavia is situated in Central Hellannia as her smallest country. Westclavia covers approximately 640,000 square kilometers in area with a wide open coast opening to an oceanic strait leading to the Greater Terran Union and Kyaing Dong. Westclavia borders the Neverlands (now Aazeal) to the northwest and Gensokyo to the east.

Being in an area south close to the polar regions, Westclavia's climate is mainly cold arid, with some taigas and tundras around the center of Hellannia. As such, coniferous forests are quite common and animals especially mammals with thick fur, hair, or insulating skin are very common, such as ibexes, bears, and wolves. Westclavia does not boast tropical white sand beaches, rather gravel-rid coastlines which make for a beautiful bayside scenery. Westclavia is also on the hilly and mountainous side, with the megalithic City of Kraghammer originally being built atop 7 hills.

## History

### **Prehistoric Period**

Early evidence of human settlement in Westclavia was found in the outskirts of a farming village in 1923, now Lionstinople. The evidence included a human skull which was confirmed to be around 120,000 years old buried with a dog's skeleton of the same age. Deformed yet evidently carved sharp stones were found as well dating to at least 21,000 years ago, possible being used for spears or weapons for hunting.

What is known is that Hellannians originated from south Terra, migrating from southwest of what is now the GTU to the northwest of what is now The Neverlands via land bridges or less likely, sailing. From there, Hellannians would quickly occupy the continent with people originating from Gensokyo becoming seafarers due to their island origin. That leads to a conclusion that Dorfplatzers (green-eyed southerners in North Terra) formerly originated from Gensokyo or Hellannia in general.

### **Mesolithic Age and The Bronze Age**

#### *Mesolithic Age*

Hellannians that would settle in Westclavia were known to be fierce and unforgiving, building a reputation that would be a mixture of fear and hatred among fellow tribes. Early Westclavians, or Krags, would then pioneer the creation of many primitive weapons of war such as hatchets, throwing spears (javelins), and the more intricate stone mace, which was created towards the end of the Mesolithic.

#### *Bronze Age*

After a minor war between two tribes, an oath of peace and a pact of allegiance was agreed upon by both. Later, these two tribes merged into the early Krag Kingdom, settling in a village atop two hills, which they named "Malleus Krąg" in old Krag, which would translate to Hammer Krag (lit.) or Kraghammer. The size and power of the early Krag Kingdom intimidated many in the region, leading to multiple wars and conquering of territory.

##### Westclavian Bronze Tale

"*While a slave and his master were cleaning after a village celebration, they found that the rocks, which happened to be rich in copper and tin were filled with a strange brown material with some gloss. They tinkered with the material, trying to harvest multiple rocks and heating them in fire, then later breaking them to harvest the material. These bronze nuggets were said to have been seen in the wares of other tribes.*

*When the tribe was occupied by the Great Wave (a colloquial of the old Krag Kingdom), the Kingdom further advanced, studied, and researched on this material. Once they had learned to harness bronze, they began to forge their tools after it. Sickles, hoes, hatchets, throwing axes, spears, and their most popular Old Krag bronze shields. As time went on, they began to forge helmets, greaves, and armor made out of bronze."*

### **Old Krag Kingdoms & Pre-Classical Era**

The Old Krag Kingdom is a mysterious civilization that continues to baffle researchers to this day. Old Krag Kingdom inhabitants, who were called Kryeans, were theorized to have been the first to adopt the process of irrigation in agriculture. Unearthings and discoveries have concluded that the old Krag Kingdom was not a singular entity existing in Hellannia, but rather a group of states headed by a King.

What is known about these ancient Krag politics is that these Kings were said to have gathered into one large temple (theorized to be the Arthuric Ruins unearthed in 1932) and formed the "Council of Kings". It is said that these Kingdoms were actually united under the "King of Kings" and "The Grand Army" which conquered ancient Hellannia. Multiple large structures known as palaces found with large courtyards, paintings, artifacts, armories, and thousands of rooms and large hallways were theorized to be the centers of these states.

The language used by the Old Krags, "Kryean" is mysterious mostly due to the fact that to this day, it was never completely deciphered. However due to the complexity of this language, it is safe to assume that the old Krags were a highly advanced and developed ancient society, with evidence of advanced irrigation systems, ports, vast farmlands, large cities, temples and structures believing in The Covenant of Abraham, and most especially their military capability, being one of the first to harness the power of bronze and conquer less advanced and less organized tribes to the south.

Eventually, the Old Krag Kingdoms fell due to instability regarding unity. Despite having a massive military, it is theorized that upkeep simply could not withstand the great proportions of their forces, and before they even managed to master the art of sailing to create a navy, Generals and politicians were already fighting for power in the states. This was all stimulated by their failure to conquer what was then the ancient Entians to the northwest, who were smaller, but had an equal level of military force.

### **Helio Clan and the Rise of the Krag Empire**

Some few decades after the fall of the Old Krag Kingdoms, the Helio Clan, a clan descended from Kryean nobility founded a small village atop a hill called Krag, which is now Kraghammer. The village of Krag prospered quickly, and due to the great influence of the Helio clan among the disunited Kryean communities, it later grew to become a small city atop a hill. During these times, the first head of the Helio clan and later the first emperor of the Krag Empire, **Betelgeuse Helio**, created a centralized government system based on a ruling family which would later be called the Helio system, named after the clan.

As the influence of the Helio clan grew, so did the city. The Helio clan slowly mustered up a force made up of veterans from the Kryean Grand Army, and named it the Helio Red Guard, the progenitors of what would later become an elite royal guard, the Guardia Rex. They were a small military force personally commanded by Betelgeuse Helio, tasked to defend, expand, and keep order within the Helio clan's settlements. After conquering, buying, and persuading a few settlements into their clan, Betelgeuse Helio, the wise emperor, founded the Krag Empire.

After the founding of the Krag Empire, plenty of similar Kryean settlements and factions had their eyes on it. Within a month of its creation, the Krag Empire became the largest of these Kryean factions. The Krag Empire quickly prospered under the rule of the wise Betelgeuse Helio, and soon the citizens were distinctly recognized as Krags rather than Kryean. The Helio clan's immense wealth and education also allowed them to formulate plenty of systems on their own, becoming one of the greatest ruling families in history for their contribution to Hellannian society. This included a new language system largely based off Kryean, but was more decipherable as it contained bits and pieces of old Entian language, similar to modern Westclavian.

The rise of the Krag Empire brought about turbulence in the realms outside it. Stray raiders, organized factions, small groups began to lay waste to the outer cities of the Empire. To counter this, the Helio Red Guard was expanded to the Krag Legions, a larger military system with the emperor at the top as the Commander in Chief. The Krag Legions were separated into 10 division-like assignments, called Legions, which also had further subdivisions such as Centuries. At the head of each Legion was a Legatus, and each Legatus had equal authority except for the Primus Legatus, the overseer head of the council of Legati, who was elected by all 10 Legati among themselves in a democracy-like voting system. The Primus Legatus directly answered to the Commander in Chief and was practically the head of the Krag Legions. A new Primus Legatus would be elected every five years.

The creation of the Krag Legions halted the small-scale raiding on the outskirts of the Empire, although this was practically more attributed to their intimidation factor rather than that of their actual combat skill. In reality, the legionnaires, or the soldiers of the Krag Legions, were loosely trained and unprepared, disorganized, and insubordinates who simply joined for the salary. It would take a few years for the raiding factions to see the truth in this, and soon, one of the greatest hurdles the young Krag Empire had ever encountered was about to begin.