Elzarike

Flag of Elzarike

**Elzarrike** is a nation of the world Uruldu based on the continent of Haturel.

## History

Not much is known of the people who lived in the Elzarike region before the Empire of Urdulu arrived around the year 12,000 BCE. The region was colonised and the local tribal people assimilated or killed. The whole continent was formed into a province called Akrinis. Following the collapse of the Urdulu Empire the province of Akrinis became an independent kingdom ruled by a mayoral council. Around the year 8560 BCE a dispute within the mayors council over right to tax the rich port city of Hanvis, turned into a civil war. The war was fought by 2 main factions. The Filini faction who supported the mayoral council, and the Brezeri faction who supported a local trader named Marin Brezeri. The fighting grew into a large scale civil war that saw the destruction of Akrinis.

### Post Civil War

The civil war lasted for at least 5 generations following the collapse of Akrinis. The people living in modern day Elzarike were forced into a tribal society with petty kings creating their own small kingdoms. These tribes were known as the Elzar, Bourzari, Fareilli, Torhaz and Ponzaril. These tribes were broken up into smaller clans who mainly consisted of families of people. Each tribe ruled a different portion of modern day Elzarike and lived very different lifestyles.

### The Tribes and Unification

Although the tribes were very different in many ways they all shared similarities. Each tribe followed their own version of Volfenism. The tribes also held many cultural similarities, such as the belief that the land was to be respected, to kill anyone who is unarmed is a great sin and that loyalty is the highest virtue.

#### The Elzar

The Elzar were the smallest and northernmost tribe of Elzarike. The Elzar had the smallest population but were considered fierce warriors and warmongers by the other tribes.

#### The Bourzari

The Bourzari were a naval focused tribe who were known to fish along the Alzeri river. Many of the tribes gave the Bouzari the title of 'Arwach', meaning 'guard', as they were the ones who held back the Elzar from the other tribes.

#### The Fareilli

The Fareilli lived in the mountains of southern Elzarrike. They were an isolationist tribe as they seen no reason to leave their sacred mountain home.

#### The Torhaz

The Torhaz lived in a large spruce forest in the center of Elzarike. The Torhaz were masters of guerilla warfare due to the difficulty of traversing their woodland home.

#### The Ponzeri

The Ponzeri were semi-nomadic warriors who inhabited the southern planes. They were famed for their cavalry and speed.

### The Unification Wars

The unification wars were a series of wars fought between the year 980 EC (Elzarike Calendar) to 1040 EC. The wars began when Kazier Oton Elz Kong gathered his warriors and prepared for his 6th invasion of the Bouzari Territory. But as his army marched, he received a message from Kaizer Batu Pon Eryaz asking for his help in fighting his Torhaz rivals. After much consideration, Kaizer Oton agreed and began his march towards the Fareilli Mountains. The Fareilli agreed to grant passage over their mountains in exchange for tribute from Kazier Oton. After nearly 1 month of constant marching through dangerous and freezing conditions the Elzar army linked up with their Ponzeri allies to the south.

#### The Conquest of Torhaz

Initial attempts to enter the Torhaz woods proved futile. The Torhaz had laid traps all along the border and proved their mastery of hit and run attacks. Eventually Kaizer Oton made the decision to march his army back over the Fareilli mountains to attack the Torhaz from the north well the Ponzeri attacked from the south. This tactic worked as the Torhaz had the second smallest population out of all the tribes and had the fewest warriors. They simply used traps and the woods to trick their enemies into believing they were more populous than previously thought. The kingdom of Torhaz was conquered and split into 3 seperate kingdoms; in the south, the Ponzeri were given a small section of the Torhaz territory to rule over. The Elzar set up a puppet state in the north of the Torhaz woods and installed a loyal Elzar commander as the king. Finally, the remaining Torhaz lands were forced to sign a humiliating treaty forcing them to limit their military size. The war lasted from 980 EC to 982 EC.

#### The Conquest of Bouzari

With victory secured, Kazier Oton Elz Kong returned home to gather his forces for a new campaign against the Bouzari. But during the march back to Azerbron, a group of Torhaz assassins attacked the caravan and killed Oton (982 EC). Otons son, Altan Elz Uraz was then crowned Kaizer. Kazier Altan then trained and equipped his army for 2 more years before beginning his assault across the River Alzar and into Bouzari territory. The initial assaults across the river Alzar proved dificult due to the indelible number of border forts built by both sides. TBC

### Modern History

Elzarrike's official modern history begins with them agreeing to join the Haturel Union with the nations of Tustarica, Connwich, Hanvis, and Entran. It developed good relations with the nearby countries, and an era of relative prosperity began.

#### Gaining Allies

Four days later, Connwich left Haturel and created a new alliance with Entran, giving Elzarrike the oppurtunity to join, which they heartily accepted, however the Kaizer of the time, Adal Bou König, worried this might lead to war with the Haturel Union. During the negotiations, the Kaizer got a letter from the Tsar of Rhezitsa, asking for an alliance aswell. Adal wasn't sure how to respond, as he was already in two alliances that might come into conflict with one another, so he requested that the offer change to a nonaggression pact instead. Tsar Jolomir accepted, and relations between the two rose.

#### The Disbanding of Haturel

On the 19th of June, The Haturel union was disbanded by Hanvis, leaving Elzarrike with fewer allies. The Kaizer, however, breathed a quiet sigh of relief, as this meant that the Connwich Agreement and Haturel Union wouldn't go to war, which would've left him with a very difficult choice between which to side with during the war. After this event, better relations between Elzarrike and the newly formed Onythien Kingdoms were pursued.

#### Joining the Kingdoms

After this, Elzarrike received an offer to join the Onythien Kingdoms from Sczr Bloodrun. However, the Kaizer was away at the time. So he prepared negotiations between Elzarrike and Onythiea which took place on June 25th. During the negotiations, Hanz Von Ravenmark offered to take Adal König's role of Kaizer, as it had been giving him a lot of responsibility that he just wasn't ready for. Adal accepted, but as his last act, chose to join the Onythien Kingdoms, so that, if Elzarrike decided to secede from the Kingdoms, that Hanz would be the Kaizer.

## Government

The Elzarrike governing system functions similar to the Holy Roman Empire’s system of governing. Town leaders and people promoted by the Kaiser form a group called the Krazn Hel. Each of these members has a say in the voting of the next Kaiser, and represents one of the former tribes of Elzarrike (see above). The Kaiser rules for life, and can pass laws for the country. If all members of the Krazn Hel vote against, the law will not pass. Members of the Krazn Hel can also put forward laws, but they must have the approval of ⅔ of the Krazn Hel and the support of the Kaiser. The Kaiser is not allowed to have children, and the next Kaiser is not allowed to be a relative of the old Kaiser. Before the Kaiser dies, he can put one rule for the election of the next Kaiser.

## Religion

The religion founded by Otto von Ravenmark and Adal Konig is called Volferism. They believe that the sun and the moon are actually giant wolves racing across the sky. The sun is called Sarvan, and represents power, loyalty and honour. The moon is called Malon, and represents order, obedience, and strength. Volfernists believe that when one dies, their soul becomes a star. Some especially powerful stars are made into constellations. These stars have the honour of hunting with Sarvan and Malon in the Great Hunting Grounds, which Volfernists believe is the sky. They hunt as a great pack, led by Sarvan and Malon. Sometimes they miss their targets, and their arrows fall down to Uruldu in the form of lightning and meteors.

## Culture

Elzarrike's culture depends heavily on which tribe the person is from. Despite vigorous Elzar attempts to assimilate the tribes, each tribe has its own differing culture. The main cultural agreement between the groups is that, to differentiate between the groups is that all middle names of the tribe are the first three letters of the tribes name (e.g Adal Bou Konig)

#### The Bourzari

The Bourzari tribe culture has slightly differing beliefs in Volfernism. They believe that Malon is also the god of the sea, while Sarvan is the god of the land. Because of this, they worshiped Malon a bit more than Sarvan, being a naval centered nation, but they agreed that Sarvan still had equal power.

The Bourzari defensive policy involved holding enemies off at rivers or oceans. This is one of the main reasons the Battle of the Bloody River happened, was because the Bourzari refused to back off. This is also why the Bourzari capital held out for nearly 10 years, because their capital, Vetidijen, was built around and, in some cases, on the lake.

The Bourzari loved the sea. They would spend every free moment on a boat or ship, fishing, colonizing (attempting to), or just showing off their superior navy to the Elzar, who didn't care much for the sea in comparison.