Das Reich

The Land, the Nation, the People. Das Reich was a confederation of nations within the Normarc and Plodnan Valley on the continent of Drashe, incorporating hundreds of semi-independent estates under the rule of the Grand Duke. The confederation lasted from its foundation in 378 BC by a group of duchies in Normarc to its annexation in 476 PC by the Teluna Empire.

During the height of the confederation's power it was comprised of the Normarc, the Plodnan Valley, the Southern Marshes, and intermittently the southern reaches of the Kinblade Peninsula and the Kalnordt. During the later period of its rule only the territories of the Normarc and the Plodnan Valley remained, with the Kinblade Peninsula and the Kalnordt retaken by Rethiln, and the Southern Marshes falling to the Corsair Kings. Though formally full members of the Reichs College, the Plodnan Valley duchies were ignored in the election for Grand Duke and maintained only nominal influence within the confederation. The extent of Das Reich's borders did not noticeably change between the Treaty of the Marcline when Rethiln regained the Kinblade Peninsula and the Kalnordt, and the confederation's annexation.

In 378 BC, Adrian Sieger as High Priest of Valeos crowned Bertrada I Grand Duke within her capital city of Elrit, following her consolidation of power within the Ducal Council of Normarc in the decades prior. Having expanded her rule beyond the realm of Elrit through her marriage to the Duke Klein and placed her children upon the thrones of the remaining duchies, Bertrada I was called the Mother of the Normarc, and the most powerful monarch of Vireth at that time. Considered the First Among Equals of the Dukes of the Normarc, and her children holding all the seats of the council, her reign was legitimized by the Church of Valeos through her coronation as Grand Duke. After her reign, the crown would pass to her grandson Carl I of Marcast through the election of the Ducal Council, cementing the process of election for all future Grand Dukes. The Grand Duke was, in principle, elected from among any of the noble houses within the confederation, but was always from among the most powerful of the Normarcan Duchies. Following the nation's annexation by the Teluna Empire in 476 PC the Imperial Diet was established, reorganizing the election of the Grand Duke into a legitimate semi-democratic system - truly from among any of the noble houses within its lands - and the incumbent into the Imperial Governor of the province.

The term "Das Reich" stems from local nomenclature for the whole of their society, The Land/The People/The Nation. Considering themselves a single part of an immense whole across their entire confederation, Das Reich was coined as the official name of their nation shortly following the coronation of Bertrada I, who appreciated the simplicity and wholesome quality of the name. Das Reich would last as the name for the region until its annexation, at which point the provinces would be referred to separately by their proper titles, despite being governed by the same office.

The nation was never wholly centralized as was the Teluna Empire, the Kingdom of Rethiln, the Dweonine Holds, or the Alvoran Wodes - Instead, hundreds of semi-independent duchies, counties, city-states, and church lands formed as the Estates, as well as wholly independent minor noble families answerable directly to the Grand Duke. The power of the Grand Duke was considerable, but limited in comparison to monarchs of neighboring lands, still constrained by the rights of the Reichs College. While all of the various Estates were answerable to the Grand Duke, they still maintained de-facto independence within their own domains.

Camilia I dissolved Das Reich entirely following the annexation of its lands by her father, Verinas II, and incorporated the territories under the system of Imperial Provinces, formally separating Normarc and the Plodnan Valley, and then further splitting each in half, to four separate provinces. The Empress also reformed the title of Grand Duke as the Imperial Governor of each individual province, elected by the noble houses of each from among their own number. This system is said to have established in practice what had been true in the hearts of the people, removing absolute power from a handful of duchies and expanding it to the whole.