Lauchette

**The Empire of Lauchette** is an island nation, set on Latora, to the south east of The Hales. It was formerly known as The Kingdom of Latora, and The Kingdom of Lauchette before The Great Divide.

## History

The word "Lauchette" has been around for longer than the nation was, in The Kingdom of Egrilia, It was used to describe territories where a minority of people made up the majority, on the island of Latora; often referring to camps as well as small towns. Originating from the word "Lauch", a word to describe non-egrilian Latorans and "-ette", an Egrilian suffix, meaning "Small land of". The first time it was used to describe a larger territory was during The Lauch Uprising, when numerous Latoran tribes united to overthrow their oppressors.

After the rebellion, Egrilia was reformed into The Kingdom of Latora, now holding the name of the island, elevating every Latoran clansmen from slave to citizen. While it was a personal union between the now united Latoran clans and Egrilia, only "Pure Egrilians" could've been nobles, meaning that any royals who intermarried would be stripped of their status, as well as their Egrilian nationality in the eyes of the pure bloods. This encouraged Egrilians to keep their bloodlines clear, even promoting incestuous marriages in numerous parts of the Kingdom. Meanwhile the Lauch numbers started increasing rapidly as the conditions were now better, however they kept the culture of having multiple children.

To slow down the decrease of the Egrilian nationality, King Huebert Von Wickten attempted to re-establish The Kingdom of Egrilia, igniting The Latoran Civil War. It was the most devastating war in the history of the island, however in the end Lauchette came out on top, replacing the Egrilian monarchy with their own, establishing The Kingdom of Lauchette. Jehan Gaubert, the first king of the new nation, wanted to ensure that the Egrilians won't attempt to overthrow the kingdom, introducing numerous fear tactics, which would shape the Lauch war traditions, and inspire numerous generals to mimic his strategies. It is worth knowing that the Egrilians still had more autonomy in the new kingdom than the Lauch previously did.

As Lauchette started to discover it's neighboring islands, they abandoned their Latoran isolationism in favor of increasing their trades. The biggest source of their income was The Hale Empire, as it held nearly four times as many mineral caves as their southern neighbors did. They managed to further increase their gains when an epidemic broke out in The Hales, as they gain some of the southern mines in exchange of medical technology and aid. Due to their history of being enslaved by the Egrilians, the King decided to install a settlement, rather than forcing the natives to mine. Although the Halesmen didn't prevent Pierre Harbor from being constructed, only a few decades later, The Hale Empire invaded the Lauch settlement only, as they were upset with the increasing Lauch population, causing The First Lauch Conquest of The Hales.

Lauchette has annexed nearly one third of The Hales, forcing the northern part into vassalization, founding The Kingdom of Hallengard. Elevating their status to an Empire. Smaller raids and assaults on the Pierre Harbor became common, but Lauchette trusted the settlers to be able to handle them, however Hallengard eventually managed to take over the settlement, forcing the two nations into another war.

While the empire won the war, numerous nobles blamed the previous monarch's decision to grant too much autonomy for Hallengard. Lauchette has annexed the entirety of The Hales into the reformed Pierre Harbor, now called Aedwin-De-Steinberg and renewed their oversea policy, based on that of Egrilia. The term "True Lauch" was promoted to separate Latorans from those who lived on The Hales, and the settlement had it's autonomy decreased. This brought an end to major Hallengardian raids, and eventually the emperor separated the Hallengard from Aedwin, roughly halving The Hales.

Conquering Hallengard meant that Lauchette was now closer to another empire than ever before. The Winterlands was a federal empire which remained neutral for all of Lauchette's wars. Although the rivalry was clear the southern empire saw it's northern counterpart as a potential ally, nevertheless The Winterlands refused to alliance offer, as well as any attempt to arranged marriages. Lauchette wouldn't try again until years later, when Kayl Winters, the heir died, leaving his younger sister High-princess Stephana Winters in the line of succession. Prince Lorens Gaubert of Lauchette attended his funeral, against the advice of the nobles and his father. The prince stayed a few more weeks on the island, being a guest at the Portam Palace, before asking the emperor's permission to marry Stephana. Even though Emperor Markas Winters originally appreciated the prince's presence, he took the request as an excuse to strip his house from the throne. The emperor exiled Lorens from his empire. The young prince tried his best to explain that he truly fell in love with his daughter, but to no avail, enraged by Emperor Markas's ignorance, Lorens threatened war unless he let him marry his daughter, but he refused once again. While the Winterlander Emperor wasn't sure if Lauchette would invade, he knew that the southern shores couldn't defend his empire from a Lauch invasion, leaving him no choice but to declare war on Lauchette, starting The White War.

Although Lauchette had the upper hand, having occupied the small, southern kingdoms of The Winterlands, they decided to sign a white peace treaty with the northern empire, as Aedwin declared itself independent, and the Latoran empire wouldn't have been able to fight on two fronts. This rebellion would be remembered as The Great Divide, which stripped Lauchette from all of its oversea territories and shrinking their status down to a kingdom.

Lauchette has recognized the independence of both kingdoms and seem to be neutral for now, but many theorize that they are just waiting for the opportunity to re-establish their dominance over The Hales. A handful of diplomats have been sent, though none seem to accomplish any major goals whilst within the Hales.

## Recent Events

The southern kingdom warned Aedwin not to attack the free brotherhood in The War of Weak Kings or they would join on the opposite side, their former province accepted their demands, signing the treaty. However the agreement was ignored and Aedwin continued to harass the Hallengardian rebels. After almost half a century of peace between Lauchette and The Hales, they rose their army and set fleet to the island again, besieging Aedwin.

Once the war was over, Lauchette has reinserted their claims over their former settlement and annexed Aedwin into the kingdom, and shortly after declared the empire to be reborn. Not wanting to repeat their previous mistakes, in the second Lauch Empire, Aedwin was granted statehood, granting them more autonomy than previously. The Lauch Council elected, an Ascadian duke, Siegnoir Rosengram as their first Warden, who managed to decrease the Aedwinian unrest, but ultimately left the island, denouncing Lauchette and surrendering the throne to Vince Simmons.

The Lauch commanders, with the support of the Council organized a plan to hastily assault Aedwin and recapture the state before the influence of the rebels increase any further, however Emperor Lorens Gaubert, against the advise of his council, ordered the cancellation the invasion, as he wanted "no more bloodshed". Instead he requested a smaller diplomatic party to be sent, in order to peacefully convince the rebels to surrender. This action little to no change on The Hales, however the Emperor's infamy grew.

Ascad's withdrawal from the alliance caused many Lauch lords to label the Ascadians as traitors and cowards, often drawing attention to their retreat during the Siege of Hallengard, others blame Emperor Lorens for not upkeeping a better relationship with the Lauchette's allies. The empire took no military actions towards the eastern kingdom. Albeit they did rearrange their navy, no longer defending the trade route between the two nations, instead the military ships now form a blockade to deny Aedwinian ships access to the east in the north-west and south of the island.

In 50 NA, at the age of 67, Emperor Lorens died under suspicious circumstances. The monarch was assassinated and mutilated in his bedroom. His stomach was cut open and a message was written onto the wall with his blood; "Freedom for Aedwin". Although the murderer was never found, the event has enraged numerous lords of the empire. The Lauch council, and the newly crowned monarch.

Unlike his uncle, Lambertus was always a combative member of the Lauch court, so once he was crowned, he very quickly put the blame of not only Lorens' death, but Ascad's withdrawal from the alliance on the empire's lack of military actions taken against the Rebels, which he saw as damaging to the nation's prestige. The new monarch also invested heavily of in the empire's war based researches, at the expense of trading. While most lords previously openly opposed the idea, under Lorens, his death has changed their attitude.

Emperor Lambertus is very clearly preparing for the nation for battle.

## The Lauch Council

After the death of Simmonet Gaubert, his eldest son, Lorens was crowned king of Lauchette. Being seen as the main reason for The White War, and eventually The Great Divide, many saw the young king as the sole reason for Lauchette's decline in power. It didn't take too long for the Lauch nobles to seek another form of leadership.

Inspired by the new rapidly growing Reformist faction of The Winterlands, a similar group formed in Latora, seeking to turn the Kingdom into a noble republic. The opposition was mainly made up of the Gaubert dynasty and their supporters. While tensions were rising, but neither sides wanted to engage in open warfare, fearing that the kingdom may break up further, similarly to how it happened in The Winterlands.

After negotiations, Lauchette was reformed into an Administrative Monarchy, where although the King would still be able to replace and deny members, a group of Lauch nobles, dukes and lords would form The Lauch Council, which serves as advisory and regency for the king, with the ability to make diplomatical decisions.