Aedwin

**The Kingdom of Aedwin** is one of the two nations of The Hales, besides Hallengard. It was formerly known as Pierre Harbor, City of Pierre, City of Aedwin, (This era is also known as Lauch Aedwin) before The Great Divide.

## History

Pierre Harbor was founded as Lauch a mining and trade settlement. However, Hallengardians eventually grew unsatisfied with the increasing number of settlers and attempted to reconquer it, which eventually caused The First Conquest. While it was recaptured, the smaller Hallengardian raids continued, as the Lauch forces lacked the men, leadership and the morale to hold their ground against the larger northern army, resulting in many desertions. The lack of supplies and Lauchette's negligence of the settlement even caused some regiments to join Hallengard's forces, further increasing their numbers.

In hopes of increasing the spirit and the manpower of the settlement, Lauchette had a castle built and surrounded the harbor with tall stone walls. Aedwin-De-Steinberg, a general of Lauchette was placed as the first governor of the newly found city of Pierre. The governor often hanged deserters as well as his prisoners, in front of the smallfolk, then had the corpses thrown into the sea. He was also infamous torturing and mutilating Hallengardian captives before sending them back, as a warning. His fear tactics deemed to be effective, as the number of Hallengardian raids decreased drastically. Aedwin-De-Steinberg was respected by his people, but deeply feared and despised by his northern neighbours, which eventually lead Braun Tarbor, the king of Hallengard to order an assault on the city of Pierre, claiming the life of the governor.

Hallengardian legends state that he was captured in the castle the king of Hallengard decapitated him, while Aedwinian historians claim that he died on the frontlines. His acts for the city inspired the people to name the castle after him, which eventually lead to the renaming of the entire city. After the assault, Hallengard temporarily occupied and plundered the city, blocking the exportation of any resources, which escalated into The Second Conquest.

After the war, the entire Kingdom of Hallengard was conquered by Lauchette and annexed into Aedwin, further enlarging the empire's territory. The union between the two provinces resulted in the partial merging of the two peoples, which motivated the Lauch to start using the phrases "Aedwinian" and "True Lauch" to separate the descendants of the settlers from those who lived on the main land, as they were seen as inferior. This generated rivalry between  The Hales and the Lauch empire, eventually even provoking numerous noble houses to pick up arms against the empire, however these rebellions were short lived.

During The White War, The Hales was the main war zone, especially the northern end, which faced constant Winterlander invasions. As the war dragged out for years, many farm lands and small towns were torched to the ground, as The Winterlands would damage the territory they knew they couldn't hold for long. Both Aedwinian and Hallengardian forces were fighting on the front lines, mostly being responsible for assaults, while the Lauch would usually be reserved for reinforcements. Near the end of the war, Lauchette had the upper hand, as the main land was mostly untouched, besides a few failed invasion, while The Hales was war beaten and The Winterlands couldn't afford the men to keep up the war, having to depend on mercenaries.

After a truce, governor Edmund Warde advised the emperor of Lauchette to just offer peace, as Aedwin was in ruins and it's soldiers didn't want to be forced onto the cold environment of The Winterlands.. The call was dismissed, sending even more Aedwinians to invasions they wouldn't return from. The governor declared independence from the empire, igniting The Great Divide, forcing Lauchette to sign a white peace treaty with The Winterlands, giving the war it's name.

The war started off by Aedwin sinking the Lauch ships in it's port and sending a call to arms to Hallengard, promising the kingdom freedom of the empire. This was dismissed by Kedran Herrenhold, the king of Hallengard, as he wanted to join Lauchette's side in the war, however many of the royals in Hallengard disagreed with the decision, splitting the nation onto Loyalist Hallengard and Free Hallengard. While Aedwin was able to successfully fight off the Lauch invasions, Free Hallengard was stuck in a stalemate with their loyalist counterpart. Once Aedwin achieved naval superiority, Edmund, now named a king, decided to ride north to aid Free Hallengard. The siege was successful and Hallengard was reunited. However the victory was short lived as the king of Aedwin has been assassinated by the remaining Loyalist soldiers. The crown fell to his younger brother, Perich Warde. The Hales organised a mass naval invasion of Lauchette and most of the ships successfully landed on Lauch shores starting the siege. Seeing how recapturing the west was nearly impossible a treaty was signed and Lauchette oficially lost the war, shrinking it's status back to kingdom.

However, this wasn't the end of conflicts for Aedwin and Hallengard, Perich demanded justice for the death of his brother, as Kodran wasn't executed. Gorge Haberford refused to kill him, as he was promised he'd live if surrendered. While it never escalated into war, the bitterness and rivalry between the two nations increased.

The server takes place 40 years after these events.