Miercurea

> *"Miercureans sometimes do forgive... but they surely don't forget." - Emperor Boleslav VII*
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**Empire of Miercurea -** a monarchy state, located in the Eastern Europe. The country controls both the Western and Eastern Pomerania, Silesia, Lesser and Greater Poland, Kraków and parts of Slovakia. Miercurea shares its borders with Czechia, Szedenien Empire, Berun and Rus.

## Empire of Miercurea

### Population

~52 million

Before the 966, the lands of the modern Miercurea was divided between many warring tribes. No written source about these dark times was found, except the vague chronicle of Latnian priest Thietmar, who mentions the Miercurean tribes as *"the unyielding, barbaric and uncivilized men, yet brave and intelligent".* In AD 815 he attempted to convert them, with no, or little success.

In the late 800's, Latnian Empire begun regular raids on Miercurean tribes. This threat forced Miercurean warlords to stop fighting between them, and in AD 902, they organized a meeting in the village of Jarocin. They agreed to form an alliance against the common enemy and they gave the leadership of their armies to the legendary Count Odon. According to the legend, he commanded the force of 30 thousand troops and 600 horsemen.

Both armies, Latnian and Miercurean, met near the town of Cedynia in the East Pomerania. Initially, Odon was overwhelmed by the sight of enemy army, but his son Odonic and warrior wife Nawoja gave him strength to endure this sight. The legend says that after the short speech to his people, an attack begun.

Latnians, having strength in numbers, had the upper hand in the initial confrontation. Lightly armoured Miercurean infantry was no match against the heavy knights and Odon had to withdraw his armies. Fierce battle not only brought Miercurean numbers down, but also exhausted the Latnian knights, therefore both sides decided to cease fighting to give people a moment to rest.

Odon had no intent on keeping that truce for long. He chose the bravest, the most skilled warriors of his army and ordered them to disturb the Latnians in their sleep. His strategy resulted in the breakthrough - on the next day Latnians were too tired to wear full-plate armour and they came on the battlefield as lightly protected as Miercureans. Attacking from the hill, Odon had the higher ground and a place to use the cavalry in its full stregth. These advantages gave him the upper hand over Latnian knights.

But Odon was too confident. He went into the bloodiest part of the battlefield and was quickly surrounded by Latnians. He was wounded numerous times and was about to die, when his heraldic white eagle on his tunic broke off and flew away, to call his son and wife to help. They did their best to reach him, but it was too late - Odon was dying. Nawoja, enraged by her husband's death, went into killing rage and brutally slaughtered every Latnian she caught in the glimpse of her eye. She was ultimately stopped by a spear to her heart, even then she managed to kill the one who got her.

Dying father with his last breath gave the son his last order - defend the country, keep the people safe from the misery of war. Odonic solemnly promised he will fulfill his father's dying wish. After the battle, Odonic released the prisoners and formed a truce with the Latnians.

Odonic and his offspring ruled the newly formed Kingdom of Miercurea for decades, assimilating more and more land, until the Bolesław I Wise baptized himself in 966 and assumed the title of Emperor.

### Medieval times:

During the reign of Henryk III Rich in the XIV century, the Empire established the trade contract with Szedenians. Miercurea, owning the ports on the Baltic coast, served as the storage hub for Szedenian copper. Miercureans allowed the export of this resource through their ports, in exchange for 30% of income. In addition to this, Miercurea, being an agrarian state, gained large sums of money from the wheat export.

This age of prosperity resulted in the cultural development of the major cities. In Kraków, wooden houses were replaced by stone, and later brick hovels. The Wawel castle was fortified and it was the first royal residence in the world, where the sewage system was introduced. Henryk III built numerous castles along the realm's borders, calling it "Eagle's Nests' Trail". Many medieval artistic works were of Miercurean origin. More and more people learned how to read and write.

The decline begun with the degeneration of the aristocracy. Feeling overconfident, the richest magnates came to the realization, that in the times of such prosperity, the realm does not require an emperor anymore. They plotted against the next successing rulers and in the 1622, the Count Andrzej Lubomirski openly opposed the Emperor Karol II the Indulgent, when he suggested the tax rise to the lords. It wouldn't be that much of a problem, if Lubomirski didn't publically insult the Emperor. Yet he did, and was immediately seized and imprisoned. Karol, adequately to his nickname, didn't want Lubomirski to stay in the prison for too long, so after the week he forgave the magnate this insult and released him. Unfortunately, Andrzej Lubomirski didn't appreciate this attempt of reconcilement. He brought several other magnates and established a confederation against the Emperor.

This uprising shook the realm. Rebel forces overwhelmed surprised royalists and seized the major cities of Miko, Płock, Wizna, Gniezno and several lesser towns. The Emperor died of a heart attack and was succeeded by his niece, Bolesław IV the Bloody. He called the loyal aristocracy to war and in addition to this, hired several thousands of elite heavy cavalry mercenaries. The result was obvious - the rebels were quickly defeated, the leaders arrested, convicted of treason and sentenced to death by dismemberment. The sentence was carried out before both the commoners and aristocracy.

Even though the Emperor defeated the strongest uprising, several others also occured, impoverishing the country and treasury even more. After 60 years of constant fighting, Miercurea for the first time had to take a loan from the Koheiwa, in order to pay off the mercenaries.

At the worst time imaginable, the Rus Kingdom had united and started to look for easy territorial gains. King Rjurik's eyes stopped at Miercurea. Rus troops crossed the border on Friday the 13th February 1683. This was the beginning of the Sixty-Year War.

## Sixty-Year War:

Rus troops entered the Miercurea and immediately started pillaging every riches they found. Many beautiful manors were demolished, farms burned down and people enslaved and sent deep into the Rus. Impoverished, weakened by years of uprisings and drowning in debts Miercurea had little chance to respond to invasion effectively. The Emperor Bolesław V the Bold called every Miercurean, not only the aristocracy, but the commoners as well, to help defend the realm. Unfortunately, commoners were not interested in taking part in the war, as long as Emperor won't guarantee their privileges. That's when the June Act was announced - according to the bill, all peasants were appropriated and declared a citizen of Miercurea. This move gave the Emperor wide popularity in the peasantry and ultimately ended the feudal age in the realm.

But even with the large numbers of soldiers, the fight against the Rus was not concluded. During the following years, both warring states desperately looked for allies. Ultimately, two allianced were formed: European Pact including Miercurea, Berun and Szedenian Empire, and Eastern Coalition - Rus and Vladland.

Both alliances came to the same reason - in order to defeat the enemy once and for all, a giant, decisive battle is needed. A special period in the war begun, between the February and March 1742, called The Thaw. Neither of the sides ordered an assault, or an attack on any of the enemies' forces or towns. Instead, espionage was widely used both by Rusians and Miercureans. All contestants wanted to know, how big are the enemy forces, what type are they, when do they embark, where do they stop... Finally, after the several weeks of preparations, both sides were ready. Their spies alarmed them about the enemy movement and both armies met at the Klushino village in 14 April 1742.

The result of this battle was the victory of the Pact. It was achieved by heavy losses though. Emperor Kazimierz IV had no strength to further continue the campaign against Rus and thus, the truce was signed. In the 22nd October 1743 both rulers - Kazimierz IV and Rjurik's grandson - Jaromir II met in the Smoleńsk to discuss the terms of peace. They settled on giving back the provinces conquered during the war and not interfering with each others' internal affairs.

## Post-war and XIX century:

Kazimierz IV the Unyielding died three months after the treaty. He was succeeded by his son, Henryk V the Builder. He achieved this nickname by literally rebuilding Miercurea almost from the scratch. It was time for the restoration of the once lost majesty. Not only he poured large sums from his own private wealth to bring back the beauty of demolished cities, but also he put much effort on reforming the state itself. He founded schools, universities, the first Educational Committee was created, he also took care of the war orphans by founding the Imperial Orphanages in the major cities of the realm.

Henryk V wasn't necessarily interested in diplomacy. He gave the task of managing the international relations to his trusted chancellor - Stanisław Płocki. The chancellor turned out to be the elite negotiator and soon the treasury was filled with the income from profitable trade contracts. In order to protect the Miercurea from the Rusian aggression in the future, Płocki arranged a mutual agreements between the Miercurean neighbors, called the *Cordiality Acts.* They determined, that if the Miercurea will be invaded by Rus once again all of its allies will be obligated to respond with every possible way of helping the Empire.

And so the years went. Realm was flourishing yet again, people gained wealth, glorified their good rulers... And then came the age of strife - the Industrial Revolution. Europe was industrialized quickly and Miercurea wasn't far behind. Wealthy investors built factories all over the country. But the social situation was bad - in order to maximize the production, factory owners hired even children. This work was dangerous, many workers died because of machine malfunctions, others fell ill after spending years working in an unhealthy environment. They started to demand their rights and thus, the socialism was born. At first it was only the small movement, but it was getting popular with each passing week. In 1848 an idea of communism was born - an idea of the classless, equal society ruled by the Emperor dedicated to his people and their good and wealth. It immediately gained the large popularity all over the Europe.

Emperor Bolesław VI the Commoner tried to comfort the people. In 1871 he reformed the government into the parliamentary monarchy, where the Parliament would unite the representants of all social classes - workers, burgeoise and priests. It was met with country-wide appeal. The very first act the Parliament voted was the Constitution of Miercurea on 3rd May 1872. It secured the 8-hour work day and forbid the hiring of children.

Bolesław VI died on 12 January 1889. He was succeeded by his son, Kazimierz V Sad.

## 1st Nordic War:

In the second half of XIX century, a more radical communist ideology emerged. Its creators used the popular communism to boost up the discontent of people towards the Rjurikovich dynasty and towards the Miercurea. They claimed that Miercureans gave Rusians the humiliating defeat, for which now they must get revenge. The uprising broke out, the weak Rjurikid dynasty was overwhelmed and imprisoned in their residence in Katyn'. They put their own candidate on the throne, who assumed the name of Katherine IV.

She ordered all people to start working towards the militarization of the Rus. Her cabinet managed to form an alliances with Novingard, which granted Rus access to the valuable coal and iron resources, and Vladland. Rusians quickly bult up a large army and by the end of 1914 they were ready for war.

Kazimierz V didn't fall behind the Rusian scheming. *Cordial Acts* were still in effect, he also tried to turn the Koheiwa to his side, to no avail unfortunately. He declared military buildup, the Parliament passed the bill of universal military service. Soon Miercurea had one of the strongest and modern army on the continent, counting up to 2,5 million troops grouped in 227 divisions.

Miercurean intelligence perfectly knew about Rusian plans, due to their code being decrypted by Miercureans. The Emperor could easily determine where the attack will occur and gather additional forces there. At the same time he didn't want to warn Rusians about his knowledge, therefore he kept divisions several tens of kilometers behind the border, so that they won't be detected.

He also knew about Rusian alliance with Novingard and Vladland, but assumed they won't participate in the attack, at least in the initial phase.

### The beginning of the war:

Rus attacked in the night from 25th to 26th December 1914. They crossed the border carefully watched by Miercurean recon planes flying on low engine speed so that they won't be heard. The first unit to meet with the enemy was 22nd Świętokrzyska Infantry Division. The skirmish was quick, but fierce. Miercureans didn't lose many, but Rusians had to withdraw, leaving many dead and wounded behind.

In the first two years, all skirmishes looked like that. Single divisions crossing the border and withdrawing after a short fight. This was basically the psychical struggle between two rulers - who will lose his wits first and order a full offensive?

Both rulers, Kazimierz V and Katherine IV perfectly knew that if they order an assault on a full scale, the enemy will use the country to his advantage, commencing a deep defence tactics. Neither would have risked that.

It wasn't them who lost their reason first. It was the Novingards, who got sick of these hide and seek. They launched the large-scale invasion along the whole Baltic coast with the force of almost 100 divisions. Kazimierz had to dismantle the Eastern front to suppress the Novingardians. Additional 40 divisions from Berun and Szedenian Empire helped in fending off the aggressor.

Seeing the weakening of the Miercurean front, Katherine ordered an offensive. The sea of cannon fodder fell on the surprised Miercurean troops and the front went back by nearly 50 kilometers.

### The Trench War and Rusian breakthrough:

After the initial phase, the conflict stalled. Both sides have dug the long trench line, reaching the Carpathians on the south and the Baltic in the north. The alliances hoped for enemy to run out of supplies and manpower. Miercureans were superior in technology, but Rusians had the strength in numbers. Slowly, Miercurean troops started losing their morale and were more and more exhausted with every passing day. Not even the invention of rocket artillery by Miercurean engineer Mikołaj Teszycki in 1916 could change the course of war.

The dissent in the army was slowly rising. In the November 1917, 12th Silesian Infantry Division refused the attack order on enemy lines. Their commander had no clue what to do with the mutiny, so he did nothing. This precedence allowed other units to disobey the orders as well. The desertion skyrocketed and Rusian army started to gain advantage on the front. Their progress was becoming faster and in the April 1918 they reached the outskirts of Miko. Seeing that this war is impossible to win, the Emperor Kazimierz V asked for peace.

### Peace treaty and the current state condition:

The peace was signed on 11 November 1918 in Lublin. Miercurea had to cede the Volhynia, Minsk, Vilnius and several other provinces to Rus, pay the large contribution, also the army was reduced to 100'000 troops, no Imperial fleet or air forces was allowed. Having no other choice, Kazimierz V Sad agreed to the demands and abdicated two days later. The throne was passed on his son, Bolesław VII.

The Miercurea was now in ruins. The contribution not only emptied the treasury, but also forced Miercurea to take loans abroad. The economical crisis after the war crippled the remains of Miercurean industry and left many citizens in the near-death poverty. People wanted revenge for the Rusian humiliation. Bolesław VII, knowing that the society need an ideology to survive the hard times, did nothing to suppress that nationalism. Rusian minority was discriminated and even killed, as people organized the countless pogroms. As of the early 20's the Emperor focused on reforming the economy and industry, trying to rebuild and modernize the cities and factories.