Southerton:

## Overview:

The Southerton Empire, as it is often times referred to by historians and scribes, is an island in the middle of the Eastern Sea. It served as the seat of the King and Queen during the reign of the Southerton Empire, and currently serves as the capital of the region of Southfield. It was the most influential empire in Southfield history and their culture effects the people of the region, even today.

## History:

### Ancient History:

Scribes and historians believe that the First People settled the island of Southerton in the year 73,000 BE. They supposedly landed in the lands around the current day Hillshire. They fanned out from there, going to all corners of the island and setting up seaside villages, and for years they farmed and fished. They were one single people for the entirety of the First Empire's reign, until the collapse of it.

In around 31,000 BE the people of the island begin to notice the differences in culture as you moved further and further into the island. The people of the Hill Tribes, for example farmed wheat by practicing terrace farming, where as the Southrosi tribe were a people of goat herders. The Weepers, who lived in a marshy area to the northeast of the island, worshiped their weeping willows as spirits and gods. The plains tribes worshiped the rains and weather.

So, around the year 31,000 BE, the people of the island split into different tribes and carried on separate cultures and societies. The tribes often disagreed on politics and borders, and would begin to war against each other. The Weepers eventually gained a distrust of the Southrosi and the Hill Tribes mistrusted the Long Hair tribes. However, in the year 300 BE, this would all change.

### War of Unification:

By 300 BE, one tribe had become wealthy and powerful: the Southrosi. Once a nomadic people, herding sheep, they were by then an organized people with powerful military strength. The Southrosi, unlike many of their fellow tribes of the island, did not adhere to a tribal elder, but to a ruler that they established as King. During the year 256 BE, a man by the name of Daniel gained the kingship from his father.

However he, unlike his ancestors, was not content in his small village with a sheep herding people to rule over as subjects. He dreamed of more, and often told his closest advisers of plans to expand the Southrosi to lands beyond the village. Then, five years after being named king, Daniel acted on his words. He had a team of the villages best builders go to the seashore and construct a city. One that would put the rest of the tribes to shame. One of towers and rivers and a huge palace for the royal family.

While his city was being built by the team of builders, known to history as the Great Builders, he trained his tribal people to become an army. In 248 BE, the city was complete, and the king named it Southmaria. In the throne room of the newly constructed castle, King Daniel was proclaimed King Daniel I, Lord of Southerton. He then decided that it was time to conquer the other tribes around him to grow his numbers and gain resources.

He sent out emissaries to the smaller surrounding peoples, who, seeing the danger in refusing, agreed to join the new Southerton Empire. Their warriors joined the ranks of Daniels army. But some tribes still held out against the empire. Chief among the holdouts was the Weepers. The Weepers felt they could defeat the newly formed Southrosi army and keep their lands, or at the very least repel the Southrosi from the Weepers lands.

Daniel knew a battle was coming, and he also knew that, if it did come to battle, it would ultimately decide the fate of the empire. The spring of 247 BE, the chief of the Weepers marched forth with his warriors in tow. Daniel, upon hearing this, marched his forces forwards to meet them. When the two forces finally met, they would start the first battle of the war: called The Weeping Valley. Daniel won the battle, and took control of the Weepers lands. He sent a colonization force to set up a city in the Weepers old homeland, and the people of the Weeping City were allowed to absorb into the empire

During the rest of the war, there were small battles, but none as deadly as the Weeping Valley. After the battle, Daniel went back to his castle in Southmaria. He gathered his forces again, after about two weeks at the city, and then rode off west, to conquer the tribes on the western half of the island. A week later they met a tribe called the Sorrows on an open field. This field would later be called: the field of sorrows.

The battle was short and most of the Sorrows's forces had been killed. In the end, the Sorrows's chief surrendered and was taken back to the capitol, or Southmaria. He was later executed on the steps of the royal palace.

The Long Grass tribe put up a fairly strong resistance against Southmarian forces. After a two week siege, the chief of the Long Grass tribe agreed to meet under a peace banner with King Daniel. At this meeting, the two made an agreement: the Long Grass chief would travel to Southmaria, and face Daniel in single combat in front of all of his citizens. If Daniel lost, his empire would be dissolved and the Southmarian's enslaved. If the chief lost, then the Long Grass would join the Southerton Empire. The battle commenced two weeks later, and lasted nearly an hour. By the end, the Long Grass chief laid in a puddle of blood on the sand floor of the arena. A city was then set up in the Long Grass lands.

The rest of the conquering went smoothly. The Hill Tribes felt no need to fight, after seeing the fate of the others, and agreed to be absorbed into the empire. The rest of the northwest yielded with them and King Daniel was the true ruler of Southerton.

### A Rising Empire:

The Southerton Empire, under the reign of King Daniel I, grew more advanced than any of the other civilizations around it, both economically, socially, and technologically. King Daniel ordered the Southerton Roads built across the island to connect the cities of the empire together, and boost commerce across the island. All the roads met up at Southmaria, the capitol, and branched out to the other cities.

Three years after the end of the Unification Wars, King Daniel marries Queen Emily, who was also of Southmarian, or Southrosi (after the construction of the city of Southmaria, the Southrosi took on the title of Southmarian. So the two names refer to the same people) decent. Three months after the marriage, it is announced that Queen Emily was pregnant. Nine months later: she brought forth Prince Thomas into the world. King Daniel and Queen Emily ruled the empire side by side and saw it prosper. At age 56, King Daniel I died in his sleep.

By the time of Daniel's death, the empire had made many more achievements. The people enjoyed luxuries like hot air balloon travel, huge ships that resemble today's cruise ships, and public sanitation and welfare. So it was the hope that during Prince Thomas's reign that the empire would continue to grow and prosper.

Three weeks after the funeral of King Daniel I, Prince Thomas was led into the throne room and crowned. He was declared "King Thomas, first of his name, king of Southerton". His mother looked on in pride it was said, and that night, she too died in her sleep.

King Thomas I married a woman named Ellen Donner, of Southmaria. During the reign of King Thomas, the empire began to grow. He had ordered the construction of river barges and the digging of man made rivers to deliver supplies quicker across the island. The Long Grass plains yielded a large enough surplus during the early years of his reign that they had enough food for ten years. The city of Grassmaria grew into an economic hub for the empire, and its noble families grew rich from increased trade.

Also during his reign, the empire experienced an event dubbed by historians and scribes as "The Big Boom", in which the population in the Southerton cities doubled in size. It was not uncommon to see people with five children or more during this time, and even more than that if they lived in the countryside out of the cities. It was a time of prosperity.

King Thomas and Queen Ellen also contributed to the Big Boom. They brought forth three sons into the world: Prince Gabriel, Prince Marcus, and Prince David. The royal family ruled happily for many years. Prince Gabriel was sent to squire with the Lord of the Hills, in Hillshire. There, he met the priests and priestess's of the Faith of the Two Gods. Prince Marcus was betrothed to the future Lady of the Long Grass. Prince Daniel began to train himself in arms, and entered into the armed forces, and eventually rose to General.

### A Faithful Era:

At age 60, King Thomas died, and his son, Prince Gabriel, was led into the throne room of the Royal Palace to be crowned King Gabriel I, first of his name, king of Southerton. He took to wife a woman from the Weeping City, named Aiyne Weyderling. He was the first king not to marry someone from Southmaria. Around the time of King Gabriel's coronation, the period known as the Big Boom ends and the population growth returned to normal.

King Gabriel's reign was somewhat different than that of his predecessors. Instead of filling places in his court with knights and warriors, King Gabriel filled them with followers of the Faith of the Two Gods. It was said that he spent more time at prayer or conversing with the priests than he did with his wife or tending to the needs of the realm.

According to scribes of the Capitol Citadel, Queen Aiyne was the one seated on the throne tending to the needs of the empire, whereas her husband was praying. King Gabriel did sire three sons: Prince Jason, Prince Rick, and Prince Peter, however some suggested that Queen Aiyne had fallen in love with King Gabriel's brother: Prince David and that he was the father.

If this were true, Gabriel paid it no mind, and claimed the boys as his own. He had them tutored in the ways of the faith, and declared the construction of a Great Temp (Temp is a place of Worship for the worshipers of the Faith of the Two) on the other side of the city from the palace. There, he stayed for the majority of his reign. Usually never in the palace. When the Temp was complete, King Gabriel declared that the year be established as 1 AE, or After Establishment, and all years before that be declared BE, or before establishment.

It is unknown who exactly killed King Gabriel. Scribes and historians today still cannot agree on the culprit. Some say it was Prince Jason: the king's own son. Some claim it was Queen Aiyne or Prince David that killed him to be together. But, the morning of Harvest Day, the High Priest came into the sept and found King Gabriel with his throat slashed from ear to ear.

With the news, the faith declared a funeral to be held, and his body be put on display in the Great Temp. The day after, according to custom, Prince Jason was led into the throne room to be crowned king. But, the faith refused to acknowledge Jason's claim due to one problem: Prince Jason had married another man from Grassmaria.

The Faith of the Two Gods did not allow people of the same sex to marry, but the ethnic Southmarian gods did. So, in 12 AE, Prince Jason fled the capital of Southmaria with his husband, Lord Hayden of Grassmaria, and a force of two hundred loyal guardsmen.

In the Great Temp, the Faith of the Two proclaimed Prince Rick, King Rick, the first of his name, king of Southerton. In the High House in Grassmaria, the priestess of the ethnic Southmarian gods proclaimed Prince Jason: King Jason, first of his name, King of Southerton. The War of the Faith's had begun.

### War of the Faith's:

The War of the Faith's was a conflict between two brothers for control of the Southerton Empire. One had the support of one religion, whereas the other had the support of the other religion. The two brothers went to battle the following year after their coronations after attempting to gain the support of the other states of the empire. The majority of the empire declared for King Jason, whereas most of the states around Southmaria declared for King Rick.

The war lasted for three years until King Jason was left standing. He then took the throne for himself. In the end, both faiths remained standing, but they had both lost a lot of support of the populace. In the end, the ethnic religion of the Southmarian's died off and only the Faith of the Two Gods remained.

### Southerton Expansion Period:

For years after the War of the Faith's, there was peace. The people continued to grow in numbers, and the royal family was continued and reigned over a technologically advanced empire for hundreds of years. Then, in around 455 AE, the people were becoming to populated to remain on the island. They needed to expand. So, King Gabriel III sent out a fleet of ships to the south and north to find new lands to expand onto. They found their lands, and from 450 to 490 the Southerton's sent raiding parties to attack the foreign lands and bring them into the empire.

This time of war and conquest is reffered to by historians and scribes as the *Southfield Expansion Period.* It ended with the Southertons owning all the lands of current day Southfield. Eventually, in the year 778 AE, the conquered nations of the empire rose in rebellion, and the Southfield Accords were reached.

## Current Day Southerton:

Southerton today serves as the regional capital of Southfield. In the capitol of Southmaria, the regional World Assembly Delegate holds it's official office in the World Assembly Office. Also in the capitol is the headquarters of the Southfield Economic Union, and its Southfield Economic Senate.

The people of Southmaria are independent, and adhere to the laws set forth by the King and Queen of the Southertons. The royal palace still stands today where it did hundreds of years ago in the capital. According to Southerton law, the students of their schools have to be multi lingual in at least three languages to be eligible for college education. The reason being that the headquarters of many multi national corporations are based in Southerton, and to know multiple languages means a better job opportunity in the future.

## Culture:

The Southerton's have a very diverse culture. Each state has it's own culture, but one common aspect of the Southerton's is language. All people on Southerton speak multiple languages, but they all commonly start out speaking the Southerton Tongue (called English by some).

Most people on the island now days worship the Faith of the Two, and there are Temp's in every major town and city. Most people are very outwards focused in Southfield, as they encourage young people to explore the world and visit other nations in the region.

## Military:

The Southerton Armed Forces are relatively well organized. Their biggest strength are still their roads, which cross the entire island in a network to keep troops well distributed across the island. It is traditional for the second in line to the throne to serve in the Armed Forces, but they are usually put in safe areas and kept away from fighting.

Currently, the Southerton Armed Forces are deployed in the Southern Continent, fighting the group known as the Sunset Warriors. They have been in the region for five years and are beginning to be called back to Southerton after a recent poll of the populace showed that less than 3% of the population supported the war.