Kingdom of Fescal

### Motto

La lumière du ciel dans les ténèbres. (French)Heaven's light in the darkness. (English)

### Head of State

Louis Bouetet III (Disputed with the War of Fescalian Succession) (1033)

## Description

The Kingdom of Fescal is a major kingdom located in Western Europe that borders Avilon to the West, Bunton to the South, and Bellone, Saraden, and Leigoa to the East. Fescal has had a history full of war with it's many neighbors and also has a past of failed military campaigns and failure to defend itself for many decades.

In 1033, the kingdom is led by King Louis Boutet III (Disputed with Maxime Boutet with the War of Fescalian Succession). The kingdom is built on multiple Fescal "Realms" with the monarchy positioned in Clacton, the capital.

In the 840s when the people of the Duchy of Helmond led by Mickaël Fescal who led many war campaigns against its several neighbors and by the 870s, Helmond incorporated their neighbors as royal "realms." The expanded kingdom renamed to Fescal, and centralized around the former Helmond capital, Clacton. In order top further secure their position, they went to war against their new neighbor to the South, the Kingdom of Bunton. Bunton lost and ceded its Atlantic Coastline to Fescal. By the 950s, the last few Fescal Royal Realms were incorporated into the state proper and over the course of the following decades they continued to build up their military and defenses, only to be surprise attacked by Bunton, Avilon, and Bellone over the years to maintain their own independence. This began a temporary decline for Fescal, in which the kingdom saw more losses in battle and failed defenses of their land from the constant raids and invasions, and in 1002 plans began to end the external issues once and for all. The biggest defense plan in all of Fescal history was put into the works and construction began in February 1003.

## History

### **Formation of Fescal (840s - 854)**

As the land of the former Dostiaque Empire remained fractured in Western Europe. A warlord by the name of Mickaël Fescal at the head of the Duchy of Helmond, who assumed he would become the true successor of the Dostiaque Empire. Mickaël Fescal was an ambitious man with many goals apart from being an imperial successor. He would become the greatest leader in Europe at the time. Starting in the 840s, with the advantage of a well trained army, Fescal would go on to lead many campaigns against his neighboring duchies. His own duchy continued to grow more powerful with each conquest. He had a lot of support from his men and his people, he kept morale up with rousing speeches to rally his army together against their enemies.

Fescal would continue to lead his men to victory in several wars and battle across Western Europe. More and more neighboring states found themselves conquered and incorperated into Helmond. In 849, Helmond had owned close to a quarter of the Dostiaques former lands. Next, Fescal aimed to gain a coast along the Alantic. However the Bunton Empire was in his way. Finally on August 22, 854, Helomd reorganized and renammed to Fescal, being named after Mickaël "Fescal" himeslf, with its capital in Clacton, the former capital of the Dostiaque Empire. On March 30, 887, Bunton surrendered to Fescal, giving up land along the Atlantic Ocean at long last. Mickaël would go on to rule Fescal until his death on March 1, 897 at age 74. His name went down in history of the man who build a kingdom from the ground up from a simple duchy. His reign would be passed to his son, Mickaël Fescal II.

Despite their victories, their three major neighbors: Bellone, Avilon, and Bunton vowed to hold the Fescalians back due to their aggression in past decades. As Mickaël Fescal II continued to build up the military, Avilon and Bunton invaded to cease the development. This begun their own decline now suffering from more losses. They lost minor lands to Avilon, but it was still a defeat. Each time the monarchy would attempt to rebuild its army or defenses, or even a decent fleet, Avilon and their allies would launch another invasion to disrupt the process, all to secure their independence from Fescal. This would eventually lead to an even bigger defense plan to arise in the 1000s, one to hold off any more threats.

### **New Fescalian Defense Plan (1002 - 1021)**

After countless loss againts their neighbors, multiple Fescalian scholars and architects gathered to come up with a new, improvised, and better plan for the state's defense, particularly the capital, Calcton. The two architects at the helm of the project, Aurélien Bachelot and his partner Léonard Chauveau mamaged to come up with possibly the most intricate plan. Two, thick, separate walls of pure stone bricks would be constructed around the city, each containing turrets for the archers, weaponry storages and more. A moat would be dug around the city outside both of the walls as well. Traps would be put on the final layer of the layout. Construction would continue for the next decade until 1021, when the final pieces were put into place. September 12, 1021 was the day when the wall and other defenses for the capital were complete at long last.

### **Military Focus (1030s)**

With the capital defesne wall now finished, Edmond Boutet then began to focus on his army, which was still shaken after loosing many wars already. He tasked the captain of the guard with practicing new battle tactis and formations, while tasking the blacksmiths with forging new swords, bows, arrows, axes, and shields for the army to use in future battles. Injured men were pulled from the training forts and sent home to recover, while it was made so each region would supply the state with 1,000 to 1,500 men each for the military. More forts were expected to be built along the borders of Avilon and Bunton as well to secure the more outer regions of Fescal.