Aedwin

**The Kingdom of Aedwin** is one of three major nations on the Hales, the others being Hallengard and Lauchette. Aedwin is the newest nation of the three, being formed after the War of Daggers and the Hallenic Empire’s collapse. Despite its status as a newly formed nation, Aedwin is still capable of supporting itself, containing fertile plains and the majority of the former Hallenic navy.

## History

### Early History

Aedwin’s history starts in the southern tribes of the Hales. Two native groups existed, the Swampmen located to the North of modern-day New Steinberg, and the Dulamen located in the Sands, a desert in the middle of Aedwin. As the new Hallenic Empire expanded to the south, these groups were incorporated as part of the Empire.

These groups adopted the values and culture of their overlords, taking on things like nobility and fiefs. In addition to this, Imperials continued to move south for less harsh conditions, further compounding the shift in culture. As time advanced, the first interactions with the Lauch would be made in the developing city of Fulwood. The Lauch, initially on good terms with the Empire, began trading and marrying with the families in the Empire.

From these trades and marriages came the introduction of Andophy, which was quickly adopted by many in the South. The adoption of Andophy and other Lauch values set the northerners apart from the southerners, and the South began growing into its own distinct entity. They gained more influence in politics as the Empire’s political center moved south.

While the South flourished under Oswald’s reign, Cedric’s marked a significant downturn for them. Lauch trade was and still remains to be the backbone of the Aedwinian economy, and the fear of war caused Lauch merchants to turn away from the Empire and inwards, despite the increased taxes.

### Unrest and Intrigue

Despite many modern-day Aedwinians staying mostly loyal, many of the lords began to trend towards independence. Eventually, an alliance between most of the southern lords was brokered, though the alliance was diplomatic in nature. This went overlooked by Cedric, as the more pressing issue of retaining Lauchette as a subject took the majority of his focus.

When Lauchette was once more part of the Empire, the South’s problems seemed to subside. But with the death of Cedric and the coronation of his son Wallace, their issues flared up, worse than before. War was soon declared on Lauchette, resulting in profits from trading and taxes going down, while prices only rose. The lords involved in the council decided to hold a meeting.

At this meeting, the lords decided upon their leader: Pierre de Castellane. Pierre would represent them during their future meetings, and soon they would invite a man named Tynan Sutherland to their council. Tynan offered the nobles the South’s independence if they helped in taking down the Findlaighs. The council accepted and began readying their armies.

### The War of Daggers

Word was received shortly thereafter, and the southern armies seized the Empire’s ships while they were still in port. After the navy was secured, various forces in the port cities around the nation were captured. In Fulwood and New Steinberg, minor skirmishes broke out, resulting in losses to both sides. At that point, the war was officially on for the southerners. Independence was proclaimed by Pierre, claiming himself the King of the new state of Aedwin.

What loyalist forces remained in Aedwin moved towards the North, stopping in the farming village of Greenfields. At nightfall, the troops made their way into the town and raided it for supplies. A fight broke out between some of the civilians and the troops, and in retaliation, the troops forced all of the villagers into their houses and barred the doors. In about an hour, the town was nothing more than ash.

This outraged the Aedwinians, and a contingent lead by George McCullough marched to the city of Dunedeigh to besiege it. This was decried by the besieged as an error, as the city guards had rebelled against the Findlaighs and claimed independence. Nevertheless, the siege continued, and troops from the Aedwinian army deserted to the city's defense. Upon learning of this, McCullough sent in false deserters who set the city on fire as the main force slaughtered any who dared to flee from the flames. The fire destroyed more than a quarter of the city and led to the loss of thousands, but Dunedeigh surrendered in the end.

Aedwinian tactics during the war consisted mostly of raiding the towns on their newly claimed border along the Hainne river, leaving most of the sieges to the Sutherland forces. When Mulleburgh fell, Aedwinian forces withdrew and fell back past their borders. The war ended with a peace treaty that allowed the Aedwinians independence, though not formally.

### Independence

Pierre de Castellane took his seat as king with the old council becoming an electorate, to elect a king after his death. Pierre moved towards shoring up Aedwin’s defenses, expecting an attack from the now Sutherland-led Hallengard or the revitalized and independent Lauchette. However, Pierre wouldn’t live long after the war, leaving the council to elect his son, Geoffery.

### Reign of Geoffery de Castellane

Geoffery de Castellane's rule was met early on with conflict and domestic issues, notably that of Amalia de Memdoza, the Lauch Duchess of Blitaine, who led a punitive expedition deep into the Hallenic mainland. Initially a series of small raids largely resulting in burned structures across the Aedwinian countryside, de Memdoza soon escalated her expedition into an invasion of Caerdrys, resulting in the razing of Fort Merit. It was at this point that de Castellane rallied a retaliatory force and arranged for a hunt for de Memdoza and her armies, ultimately resulting in her capture and expulsion back to Lauchette.

In Hallengard, internal tensions had been brewing throughout this time. This reached its peak upon the passing of Tynan and Lisbeth Sutherland, the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Hallengard, respectively. With their descendant, Vasilica Sutherland, away from Hallengard at the time, a swift takeover of the royal court was launched by Adrelias. As one of his first acts as the King of Hallengard, Adrelias initiated an immediate purge of the Hallengardian council and royal courts of nearly all former nobles and advisors who held connections to the previous rule of the Sutherlands, quickly filling the positions with his own personal circle of friends, family and loyalists. These acts greatly concerned the leadership of the Kingdom of Aedwin, in large part due to the questionable legitimacy of Adrelias' rule and the question of the potential future consequences of his rulership.

This crisis would ultimately lead to the War of the Pretenders, the Kingdom of Aedwin militarily intervening on behalf of House Sutherland, beginning a full-scale conflict with Adrelias and his loyalist forces. The war reached its climax with the Siege of Hallengard, where a combined force under the direct command of King Geoffery de Castellane successfully took the capital of Mulleburgh and deposed Adrelias, the Pretender King, along with his loyalist council, and restored the Kingdom of Hallengard's rulership to the late Tynan and Lisbeth Sutherland's daughter, Queen Vasilica Sutherland. Experiencing growth and renewed prosperity shortly after the war, Fort Merit was also reconstructed, expanding its capabilities.

In the aftermath of the war, King Geoffery began to amend his policy, both with his neighbors and domestically. The Kingdom of Aedwin entered into a state of near-pacifism, with diplomacy becoming focused on avoiding conflict by any means necessary. Despite this approach, small cases of controversy began emerging between the Kingdoms of Hallengard and Aedwin, Within the coming years, a druidic Hedatist cult, known as the Order of Vertigorn's Hearth would come to establish themselves in Hallengard, often crossing the border into Aedwin to vandalize and propagate their beliefs in the predominantly Andophist region. The Kingdom of Aedwin responded largely by pacifist means, sending diplomatic envoys to discuss the matter with Hallengardian nobility, though most of these efforts failed to fully stop the druid's efforts. This would lead to a territorial controversy when men of Fort Merit set out in response to the druid's acts, conducting their own brief expedition into Hallengardian territory prior to being stopped by their forces. King Geoffery personally stepped in, easing any potential tensions and conflict, and even embroiling himself in his own personal controversy with his admittance to his support of Hedatist faith at this time, prior to returning to the Kingdom of Aedwin. Shortly after this, the Church in New Steinberg would be vandalized directly by the druids, with a Hedatist effigy set upon the altar. Once more, the Kingdom of Aedwin shied away from a collective response to the incident, avoiding any further conflict.

Eventually, King Geoffery would fall to minor illnesses and ailments later into his reign, the Kingdom itself facing general stagnation, including the disappearance of its General and the increasingly strenuous druid issue. This would ultimately lead to him to declare his own abdication in early 53 CE, passing the throne down to Count Ardvor of House Lafontaine.

### Reign of Ardvor Lafontaine

King Ardvor Lafontaine began his reign with multiple land reorganizations. Of note, King Ardvor handed his previous holding of Hightower directly to the Andophic Church. In addition, King Ardvor formally signed over Fort Merit to Caerdrys, placing them under the formal oversight of Llywelyn map Trahaearn. King Ardvor has also made steps towards opening up further economic connections between the Kingdom of Aedwin and the Kingdom of Lauchette, investing in one of the publicly financed trade expeditions of the Veneziano Estate. Even early on, King Ardvor has shown signs of seeking to reverse the previous stagnation and silent tendencies of the later rule of King Geoffery.

The death of Llywelyn map Trahaearn, the Duke of Caerdrys, at the hands of Governor Corvus Creedmore of Fort Merit early into King Ardvor's reign would prove to be the most challenging event for the King to handle. With the Duke's son missing, and his daughter, Efa, resentful of the Aedwinians for their complacency in his death and briefly hiding out of the Kingdom, the title fell into a crisis of succession. This complicated status of Caerdrys would provide for constant turmoil within the region, instigating heavy Hallengardian involvement, with Fort Merit capitalizing on the opportunity to grow their numbers and receive as much defense aid from their Aedwinian protector as possible.

    Tensions would come to a head in 54 C.E. with the looting of the Hallengardian treasury by various men of Fort Merit, resulting in an immediate expedition launched by the Hallengardians into Fort Merit in response. Hallengardian troops would begin burning the center of the small settlement within, Governor Creedmore and Commodus Bonaparte calling upon their protectors and overlord to help them. King Ardvor would agree and make a trip to the north in an attempt to negotiate, demanding reparations in a gold sum, and also demanding the Hallengardians make other assorted concessions to Aedwin. Hallengard would refuse, and relations would, ultimately, break down, also leading to the effective abdication of Duke Roland Sperhon.

The forces of the two kingdoms would immediately begin to mobilize. By early-mid 54 CE, however, the situation would drastically change. Amid rising tensions and during a troop training session, King Ardvor would be assassinated in his very own castle of the Aedwinian Kingdom. Magistrate Sanford Akerse would be appointed as the new King in his place with the support of the military.

### Reign of Sanford Akerse

Sanford Akerse's reign began in troubled waters from the very start. It would be not even halfway through his coronation when an assassin would make an attempt on his life, stabbing Akerse numerous times before being brought down himself. King Akerse, while alive, was greatly wounded, immediately being taken in by the royal physicians for treatment. In the midst of this, a large contingent of Aedwinian soldiers set out north, intent on launching their own attack against their Hallengardian foes to the north. This attack would end disastrously, the Hallengardian garrison wiping out the Aedwinian contingent in its near entirety.

Shortly after, the great mass of Hallengardian forces would rally at the gates of New Steinberg en masse, led under Rhea of Findlaigh's Respite and Declan Rossthorne. They would meet with a barely-recovered King Akerse, making their demands of him; these demands were humiliating to the New King, initially starting off with the ceding of the northern Aedwinian border territories, before escalating and extending their reach into core territories. Soon, upon the realization of just how weak Aedwin was left in its current state, demands would be escalated into enveloping even the capital region under the Hallengardians. Following tense negotiations, King Akerse would make his final, and most valiant act as King, offering over his own life in return for the amnesty of all of the soldiers beneath him. King Sanford would pass away at age 26, having ruled as King for only ~2 weeks.

### The Hallengardian Order and the New Council

With the death of King Sanford, the Kingdom of Hallengard has been left to do as it sees fit with New Steinberg, and all surrounding regions. With no named successor to King Akerse, the title of Aedwinian King has fallen into pure uncertainty, now stuck in an ever-enveloping crisis throughout the southern lands.

For the time being, however, Hallengard is currently in the process of appointing its own Council over the newly acquired capital regions, numerous policies already being put in places as life in New Steinberg is poised to be changed from the ground up.