Nichollattean Empire

The Nichollattean Empire (nɪˈk-oʊl-ætˈiːən ĕm′paɪr; Old Nichollean eth'Dhalienchek'et'Nichollatt) was the post-Confederation period of the Nichollean Civilization, spanning from the death of High Sovereign Thok II (154BPCE) to the death of Rhund VII (349PCE). At its height under Hoiil Tahra in 173PCE, the Empire spanned from coastal Risonia to northern Almintonia and modern-day New Laeda, including all of Trechibut, Thyro-Taurria, and Greater Nichollea, and large portions of Surnia and Chentho-Vidonia, controlling all the world's known oceans including the Familiar, Tel, and Eisolian Seas. Its capital and namesake Nichollatt became the center for world trade, knowledge, and military, and remained as such until the collapse of the Second Nichollean Nation in 482PCE.

## Nichollattean Empire

The Empire at its greatest extent in 173PCE

### Langauges

Old Nichollean (official)
 Vesan
 Almintonian
 Chentllian

### Government

Semi-elective Confederation, effectively absolute monarchy (First Empire)
 Absolute monarchy (Second Empire)

### Governing bodies

Federal Senate
 Federal Daiosesen
 High Order

### Rulers

THE FIRST EMPIRE
 Thok II (204-154BPCE)
 Rhund II (154-90BPCE)
 Rhund III (90-60BPCE)
 Rhund IV (60-35BPCE)
 Rhund V (35BPCE-4PCE)
 Naivel III (4-24PCE)
 Drendei Ddhoshk (24PCE)

 The Rule of Five Kings
 Jurri Ddhoshken (25-37PCE)
 Fhedel (25-56PCE)
 Taiil I (37-43PCE, 50-60PCE)
 Jurri Suaden (37-68PCE)
 Shoderod (65-73PCE)

 Thok III (73-101PCE)
 Taiil II (110-130PCE)
 Taiil III (130-140PCE)
 Hoiil Tahra (147-173PCE)
 Hoiil Gharo (147-179PCE)
 Hhandurar (179PCE)
 Aeden Kkadio (179-181PCE)

 THE SECOND EMPIRE
 Naivel IV (191PCE)
 Dhharen (191-233PCE)
 Valiar (233-256PCE)
 Vhentra (256-260PCE)
 Thok IV (260-271PCE)
 Dthomik (275-295PCE)
 Dthertherdthar (295-325PCE)
 Nichol Daifidth (325-327PCE)
 Nichol (327-328PCE)
 Rhund VI (328-330PCE)
 Daaldhor (331-344PCE)
 Rhund VII (344-349PCE)

### Succeeded by

The First Nation

The Empire is divided into two periods: the First Empire (154BPCE-182PCE) and the Second Empire (191-349PCE). The Empire's predecessor, the Nichollean Confederation, stood for just shy of six hundred years until the coup by Naivel the Tyrant and murder or exile of the entire royal family in 222BPCE, which was quickly followed by a consolidation of power by the seat of Kingdom-Masters-General and eventual nullification of the Confederation's Ruling Council. The transformation into Empire came when the seat of High Sovereign, derived from the former head of state the Kingdom-Masters-General, was formalized and the High Order was integrated into the federal government in 153BPCE.

Vast territorial conquests under Thok II and Rhund II brought unknown prosperity and superiority to Nichollea and spurred a golden age known as the Time of Old Kings, which lasted until the execution of Emperor Drendei Ddhoshk in 24PCE. After the end of this line corruption, civil wars, and instability plagued the world that had come into the stewardship of the Nicholleans, coming to a head with the Third Civil War in 182-191PCE with the execution or ilimination of the entire federal government and the squabble for power by local leaders which followed. The Nichollattean Empire would hold on to its legitimacy and a plurality of its holdings for several more centuries until it broke into the Malt'exian Empire and the Second Nichollean Nation, the latter which would collapse into Fractured Nicholleaan, an ever-shifting soup of micronations and city-states, empires the size of large towns, and endless “reclamation states” asserting their succession to the Empire and trying in vain to retake the world. The Malt’exian Empire would linger on much longer, for nearly a thousand years, as an important trade power during the Middle Period, until it would finally fall to the “gunpowder empires” of the modern period and be absorbed into Hirenia and Dannebod, along with Fractured Nichollea.

## History

### The First Empire

#### End of the Confederation

By the dawn of the third century BPCE the Nichollean Confederation had proven itself as an important world power. Nichollea’s government was a unique one, controlled not by one main united power but a collection of, by that time, thirteen individual kingdoms in which kings held most of the reins. These thirteen sovereigns were intertwined by the convoluted entanglement of bureaucracy that was the Council of Kings. After the coup of Naivel the Tyrant in 222BPCE (an event that some scholars argue is the true beginning of the Empire) power became concentrated almost exclusively in the position of General Kingdom-Master (also called the Kingdom-Master-General). Most notable of this was the consolidation of a unified federal military, a standard that Nichollea had not seen since the rule of the Hanners 300 years prior. With these powers Naivel began conquests adjacent to the Confederation into Thyrian tribal lands and cemented Nichollea as an important naval power.

The Nichollean’s expansion was accelerated by the fall of other empires in the East, most notably the Penichan Empire, which left an economic and militaristic vacuum. During the reign of Thok II, the Freedom-Bearer and fabled “Father of the Empire,” Nichollea was able to expand and conquer all of Tssisalonia, Wuddonia, Taurs, and southern Dkkhoshkovettia in a matter of a few short years. Thok’s reign also saw the transformation of the federal government; kings were renamed governors (Dhomenrhetten) and told to “go home, tend to [their] own lands and live up to [their] name as Stewards.” (Thok II in his address to the federal Council). These Dhomenrhetten would select representatives to send to the ruling council, rebranded the Federal Senate, in their stead. Federal positions were done away with and brought back in various evolved forms and a full Federal Daiosesen was established. The General Kingdom-Master was separated from the Senate and rebranded the High Sovereign. The Senate would convene as it always had but act as a simple advisory of the High Sovereign, who would become the formal head of all armed forces. Rhund II brought the extramilitary organization the High Order into the fold. The High Sovereign was made head of the High Order, and the High Order was put in charge of the Senate and various military positions. Rhund also participated in various other conquests, most prominent Penicha and Trech, and rebuilt the physical and bureaucratic infrastructure of the Empire.

#### The Time of Old Kings

The Time of Old Kings, or sometimes the Time of Good Kings, was the period of the empire principally governed by the Rhundian Dynasty, and is often pointed out as the golden age if the Nichollean civilization. Spurred by the conquests of Thok II and Rhund II, most of the known world was occupied to some extent by the Nicholleans and Archaeon experienced a peace and prosperity it had not enjoyed in lifetimes. Nichollea enjoyed an economic boom that exploded the population of the capital to over 3 million, and Nichollea became the cosmopolitan center of global culture and economics.

The Time of Old Kings experienced a downturn with the early death of Naivel III, who had no heirs apparent. This led to the end of the Line of Rhund and the selection of Drendei Hothiarnen as High Sovereign. Drendei Ddhoshk, as history would come to call him, would be the first High Sovereign outside the Line of Rhund and the last of the Old Kings. He would also be the first High Sovereign that was not a wholly Nichollean or a native to Nichollea. The half-Pannedonian heir to the Dominion of Pannedonia who had never even been to Nichollea, let alone Nichollatt, was often looked down upon and scrutinized by his peers in the federal government during his brief reign — a reign that was plagued by his rampant narcissism, madness, and ineptitude. By the time he was executed a little under a year after his coronation the Empire was in a losing battle with many enemies and the capital was in chaos. This led to the year of interim senatorial rule in 24-25PCE, the first time the Senate ruled without a sovereign in centuries.

#### The Rule of Five Kings

This period of senatorial rule introduced the Senate with a taste of near absolute power, power the representatives intended to keep for themselves. During this time the workings of the federal government were overwritten and the Senate was vested with the power to elect the emperor, forgoing the laws of heirdom succession that had been in place since Rhund II. The first sovereigns elected by the Senate were the co-emperors Fhedel and Jurri the Greater, who spent most of their rule reclaiming territories lost by Drendei Ddhoshk and quelling the rebellions in Ennolia. In 37PCE Jurri the Greater died and gave his seat up to Jurri the Lesser, who was inducted alongside his friend Taiil, which Senate allowed in exchange for the federalization of Hannerratt and Weeadon.

By now the Senate was a shadow of its intended purpose. Representatives were selected now mostly by the Nichollattean oligarchy, not the dominions they supposedly represented. This led to wealth being sapped from local treasuries by Nichollatt and policies put in place that had little or nothing to do with the benefit of the dominions; therefore the addition or division of dominions only worked to inflate the ruling class in Nichollatt. The rule of Taiil, however, would prove to be more than they bargained for; in 40PCE he was charged with the defense of the Bhoshki dominions in the north, which eventually resulted in the invasion of the Empire of Chentll against the Senate's demands. The Senate branded Taiil a traitor and, pariah to his home nation, Taiil declared himself king of Chentll. Then, in a show of overt arrogance, Taiil put in a formal request to become a part of the Nichollattean Empire, which was eventually approved and Taiil was pardoned, in exchange for half of the wealth of Chentll. This ignited a rebellion against Taiil’s rule in Chentll and an invasion by Dannebod. Both were eventually put down, and Taiil was eventually promoted as such in 50PCE. After a partition of the Empire bureaucratically between Jurri and Taiil, the Senate put Taiil on trial again. He failed to show up to the trial and instead collected his most loyal men and fled. Taiil would escape into the arctic and never be seen again.

Shoderod replaced Taiil as co-emperor alongside Jurri, who took over somestic affairs while the fiercely pro-Senate Shoderod took over foreign affairs. Jurri fell in an out of treason-court for the next few years due to his complacency with Taiil, and was eventually put under house arrest until he died in 68PCE.

#### The Late First Empire

When Jurri died the Senate tried to replace him with another senator like Shoderod, but a military-man named Craeth had none of it and declared himself Jurri’s successor. Shoderod labeled him a traitor, and Craeth raised an army at Malt’chitagor. Craeth’s war was well-fought but he was no match for the collective armies of the Empire, and was nearly defeated until an uprising in Nichollatt held the City of Sovereigns hostage and demanded he be pardoned. The Senate complied and so he and Shoderod agreed to become co-emperors. However Shoderod was content with becoming Generals-Master in the West, and Craeth gave the seat of Sovereign to his son Thok instead, who was coronated as THok III at the end of 73PCE.

The rule of Thok III and his elected successors Taiil II and Taiil III was a time of relative peace and constantly churning federal bureaucratic structure, at one point two senates ruled with no leader and at other times people voted for representatives. By the 140s PCE the Senate was back to its old ways, and blocked the coronation of Taiil III's son and had him assassinated. This prompted the wealthy Dkkhoshkovhettian brothers Hoiil Tahra and Hoiil Gharo to march on the capital with their own private forces. Supported by the Nichollattean public, Tahra cut a deal with the Senate: he and his younger brother Gharo would be made co-emperors, and the Senate could continue to rule as it always had. The Senate agreed, but in the following weeks Tahra had many of the senators assassinated and the Senate reformed into a harmless body. Tahra and Gharo reinstated the rules of succession put in place by Rhund II and brought the empire to its greatest extent, occupying parts of Maretonia and even up to the coasts of New Laeda. The rule of the Brothers Hoiil brought a new, albeit brief, golden age for Nichollea, with uninterrupted peace and economic prosperity. It came to an end when Hhandurar, Gharo's closest living relative at his death, became High Sovereign in lieu of many capable generals and advisors. Hhandurar, riddled with endless health issues, died after only a few months of ruling and never even made the trek to the capital.

#### The Third Civil War

Hhandurar's death led to the constitutional crisis of 179PCE, and the eventual election of Aeden Vantes-Has, the half-blind Bhoshki Legion-Master from the north, into the High Sovereignty. The rule of Aeden Kkadio, as many contemporaries, and history, would call him, would be short-lived and brutal. The entire Senate would be murdered, an event that ignited the Third Civil War between Aeden's forces and a coalition of Dominion-Masters and other generals who sought to seize power from the madman. by 182PCE Aeden was defeated, but with his defeat the coalition fractured as each side fought the other in bids to make themselves Emperor. This fighting came to an end in 191PCE with the invasion and occupation by Adrindian hordes, and the rise of Dhharen I, who would reunite the Empire.

### The Second Empire

#### The Wars of Reclamation

The rules of Dhharen and many of his successors would be a staple of the Second Empire, and would consume much of the resources and time of the newly reformed Imperial government.