Kingdom of Corveaux

## Corveaux

A monarchy in north-western Magnia, along the coast of the Levanthian Sea and, north of the Slatina river and west of the Lowan Mountains. It is ruled by King Louis Dampierre, his coat of arms, quartered: a field of fleur-de-lis on black, with a red and black border, a bendy of black and gold split with a red lion on black, bordered in red; a golden shield at its center bearing the royal black raven.

It is the most powerful Kingdom in Magnia with a thriving economy and powerful military lead by some of the most skilled commanders in the world. King Louis is known as Louis the Undefeated, and for good reason.

## Economy

Corveaux is the largest supplier of silver in Magnia. So vast is their wealth, that the silver Argent has become a standard trade coin in most countries along with the Valonian Duke. Their other main exports are wool, furs, cudbear used for purple dyes, iron, and tin.

## Culture

Corvians are predominately Menkhu. Most of the land is vast forests and fields with small village and hamlet communities, surrounding a select few extremely wealthy cities. Unlike most Magnian states, Corveaux is predominately monocultural, which has lead to a strong sense national identity and pride.

## History

### Early history:

In the 9th century, Thyssen made great efforts to carve a trade route to the Levanthian Sea. A warlord named Esgerad emerged from the Lowan Mountains and began to make his way down the Nirou River through the wild tribal lands of the West. They settled in the port town of modern day Risseaux in 859, but in 862, the Menkhu tribes rebelled against the Thanes, driving them back and refusing to pay them further tribute.

An attempt to form their own government quickly failed, however, as the tribes had no laws of their own and soon began to fight one another. Esgerad returned with his siblings, Sina and Truor and the three retook the area, establishing themselves in Risseaux and Napier. Before Esgerad died in 879, he declared his close friend Louis would be Prince Regent for his young son, Amor, but in 882, Louis set himself up has sole ruler, defeated Sina and Truor in combat, and began imposing tribute over the Menkhu tribes. The new state prospered due to its formidable route between Thyssen and the Levanthian Sea, and its abundant supply of fur, honey, and slaves.

Following his death in 945, Louis' wife ruled as regent until their daughter Damienne reached maturity and initiated a rapid expansion of her territory. By the end of her reign, she had carved out the largest state in Magnia and when her son took the throne in 972, it was officially recognized as a Principality.

### Golden Age

For the next two centuries, the descendants of Damienne dominated the region. The zenith of the state's power came during the reigns of Collina the Great and Louis IV the Wise. Collina became prince of Corveaux when her father, Louis III died in 1082, but she was forced to flee to Thyssen in 1186 after her half-brother Robert murdered their brother and took control of Corveaux. Soon after, Collina assembled an army with help from her relative Earl Sigmund Haggierd of Thyssen and returned to reconquer the land. Her reign was long and prosperous and art and litterature flourished.

After her death in 1129, Louis IV became Prince. Eager to improve relations with the rest of Magnia, Louis made several powerful marriage pacts with the Vaskjans, the Maegar, and Vichin. He developed the first Menkhu code of law and was responsible for modernizing the Menkhu faith by establishing a clergy. He also established the country's first schools and halted an Urubuhl invasion of Magnia in 1054, prompting him to send his grand admiral Sean-Claude Delacour to Skahaz. This, however, turned out to be a massive failure. The Corvian fleet was burned by Solomon the Lion, a loss Corveaux never recovered from, and Sean-Claude was stripped of his titles and forced to live the rest of his life in a small keep in the Corvian countryside.

### Disintegration

At the end of Louis' reign, the northern Principality of Vardis warred with Corveaux for control over the Levanthian sea ports of the north and in 1178, they occupied Liasonne. Three of Louis' sons first allied together, but soon found themselves fighting each other. At the same time, an uprising took place in Risseaux, led by Menkhu traditionalists contesting the establishment of an organized church power. Prince Jehanne fled to Vichin to call for aid. She returned three years later, plunging the state into centuries of warfare. Her successor, Louis V, called for the first grand council in 1207 to find an understanding amongst the fighting sides, and although he did not find a solution, he certainly managed to forestall the dynastic fighting.

The last ruler to maintain a united state was his son, Louis VI. In the late 1230s, high society, social justice, and Corvian culture was flourishing, leading to great national pride among its people. In an attempt to unite the trifling counts of Corveaux, Louis VI took advantage of the country's nationalism to launch the Corvian Invasion of Central Magnia and the Westerlands, a conflict of magnitude hitherto unseen in Magnia.

However, after his untimely death in 1242, Corveaux fell into a recession and rapid decline. The bulk of the royal army was forced to retreat, but unable to return to their homeland and many, led by Anton Nagy, settled in Cassow to form the Golden Horde. The Corvian Invasion and the growing threat of the Horde brought a shift in Magnian trade routes that accelerated the decline of Corveaux. A succession crisis broke out in the country and in March of 1279, a coalition of native counts, led by Count Andrey Bojourné of Collina, sacked Risseaux, but they quickly fell to infighting.

### The Interregnum

By the end of the 13th century, the Corvian state had fragmented into roughly 12 different principalities. In central Corveaux, the Principality of Sannes emerged around the town of Rostou, but was quickly supplanted by the neighouring areas around Montress and Collina, which eventually merged together. The combined Principality of Collina-Montress asserted itself as the dominant power in the region and in 1289, Prince Andrey Bojourné sacked Rostou and installed his younger brother, who was responsible for the construction of the three white ringed walls around the city, which later gave it the name Trois Anneaux, and later Troisanne. In 1296, during invations of the Golden Horde, the Principality moved its capital from Collina to Troisanne.

In the southwest, the Principality of Callis developed trade relations with the Horde. In 1299, Prince Louis VII Sicart of Callis united his realm with the Principality of Volinebourg and in 1302, he conquered Risseaux and assumed the title of Prince of Corveaux. In the north, the Republic of Vardis was prospering off of their trade routes from Thyssen and because of their control of Liasonne, they could deny Risseaux access to the Nirou River, and Trouisanne access to the sea. They also avoided foreign invasions by agreeing to pay tribute to the Golden Horde.

### The Kingdom of Corveaux

#### Establishment of the Crown

When the Golden Horde invaded Corveaux in the late 13th century, Troisanne was still a tiny city within the principality of Collina-Montress. Martin I, the youngest son of Andrey Bojourné, began to expand his territory down the Nirou River by seizing Liasonne and securing access to the Levanthian Sea. By his death in 1313, his son, Louis IX, controlled the entire river basin of the Nirou and expanded westward, taking Risseaux from the Prince of Callis. He then allied with the the Golden Horde and married Anton Nagy's sister. Anton allowed Louis to claim the title of Prince of Napier, which allowed him to interfere in the affairs and trade of the Republic of Vardis in the north.

Louis' successor, Thomas I, managed to retain his power by closely cooperating with the Golden Horde. In 1327, Prince Louis X of Callis marched on Napier, but their army was defeated by the joint forces of Napier, Collina-Montress, and the Horde. Thomas sacked the infamously rich Château and used his spoils to purchase land in other principalities. In 1329, Thomas was crowned the first King of Corveaux in a coronation ceremony of lesser princes and counts in Troisanne.

#### Hannequin I Dampierre

Attempts to subdue the remaining Corveaux caused several clashes between Thomas' successors and the expanding Republic of Vardis. The Princess of Vardis allied herself by marriage to the Princess of Callis and together, flanking the Corvian state, they undertook three expeditions against Troisanne in 1368, 1370, and 1372, but failed to gain new territories, due to a violent outbreak of the Weeping Plague. Prince Louis XIII was only nine when his parents died of the plague and his title as King slipped into the hands of a distant relative, Hannequin Dampierre of Napier.

Sorrounded by Vardis and Callis, Hannequin allied himself with the church of the Menkhu faith and posed as a champion of Menkhus to unite the lands in their struggle against the Golden Horde. He defeated several important commanders and finally killed the Second Emperor at the Battle of Cassow Fields in 1380. Although Hannequin failed to take Cassow, he became a national hero. Word of the Battle spread to the West and to Vichin, where people began to believe in their ability to end the Horde's iron grip on western Magnia.

#### Marié Dampierre

In 1389, Hannequin passed the throne to his daughter Marié, who continued the policies of her father. Her reign was marked by continuous expansion. She annexed Callis in 1392 while a succession crisis was tearing its dynasty apart, and married the son of the princess of Vardis, claiming the land after her death in 1398, effectively uniting all of Corveaux under one crown. During her peaceful years, Corveaux saw a great cultural revival and economic boom and silver argents bearing her face nearly doubled in price from the previous argent coins.

### Reign of King Louis XIV Dampierre

#### The Great Feudal War

The long peacetime under Marié took a turn with the ascension of her sixteen-year-old son, Louis XIV in 1411. Before long, his aunt Audrey began to advance her claim to the throne. A bitter conflict called the Great Feudal War, erupted and rocked the country for nine years before Louis managed to triumph over his enemies in 1420 and become the uncontested ruler of Corveaux, earning him the title 'The Undefeated'. The following year, the Golden Horde finally fell to Vichin forces during the Golden War, ending two centuries of terror, and Louis was left free to pursue internal consolidation of his realm.

#### The Western War

A growing fear of the encroaching Kingdom of Vichin spread within Corveaux. After the Golden War, King Florence II of Vichin and Carinthia had annexed the Westerlands and forced Thyssen, who had allied with the Golden Horde, to surrender as well, forming a state that surpassed Corveaux in size and power, and surrounded them to the south and east. It would only be a matter of time, before Vichin would attempt to absorb Corveaux.

In 1428, when the Vichinian protectorate of Angran, roughly encompassing most of modern-day Edierne, revolted against King Florence's pro-Cister Cartian proclamations, King Louis saw an opportunity to strike without declaring direct war on Vichin. He rushed to the aid of the tiny province and began to muster skirmish forces.

However, his cousin Gean Dampierre disobeyed direct orders and marched to reclaim his mother's ancestral castle near Heath. On the 13th of August, the day after Gean crossed into Vichinian territory, a mysterious event known as the Doom of Deepwater took place only twenty kilometres from his forces. Vichin was certain of Corvian involvement and the incident become the casus belli for the devastating Western War between Vichin and Corveaux, which ended the following year in a bloody stalemate at the Battle of Bull's Run, whereafter a frail ceasefire was struck. Louis was forced to return to Troisanne, his resources depleted, and failed to gain any foothold in the West, as he had planned.

## Administrative Divisions

The Kingdom of Corveaux is divided into 8 provinces, ruled by Elector Count, who each possesses one vote which is used to determine the next King. The provinces are:

* Sannes, ruled by Mathias Bojourné.
* Risseaux, ruled by Marienne Gilot.
* Liasonne, ruled by Jehanette Loyelle Deniste.
* Volinebourg, ruled by Jacob Gamelette.
* Collina-Montress, ruled by Guilmar Bojourné.
* Callis, ruled by Ysabel Chrestienne.
* Poulent, ruled by Ludwick Godefroy Valois.
* Vardis, ruled by Amelie Gerdass.

Each province is divided into many smaller baronies, each ruled by a baron, which is the only inheritable title in Corveaux. Elector Counts are are elected by their provincial barons and the King is elected by the counts. Although the Corvian code of law constitutes that any count can be elected as King, the precedence is to elect a member of the royal family of Dampierre.