Lyakon

* Current Flag
* Illyrian Flag

**Lyakon**, officially known as **The Kingdom of Lyakon** and formerly known as **Illyria**, is a kingdom located in the center of Lyarik's island of Erzarva and borders Azuren to the east after being split to create a border to display Lyakon's independence from their rule. Despite being connected to Azuren via the border, they are one of the kingdoms who do not recognize themselves being apart of the Five Kingdoms due to being a separate country and unassociated with any of the kingdoms, with the exceptions being Leiden and Etherin.

The Lyakonian-Azurian border is connected by the forbidden forest that leads to western Leiden that is both heavily sectored and guarded daily due to Lyakonian defectors attempting to escape. Formed by the Astrada clan during the Azurian-Illyrian War, the kingdom quickly rose to power after using several war tactics against Azuren, leading to their technology to become more advanced than the kingdoms located within Azuren.

The kingdom is separated into three divisions: The first division, Ilya, one of the wealthiest, highly urbanized divisions where the main kingdom (sometimes called the capital) is located, The second division, Lysa, the middle class division that is also highly urbanized and wealthy, and the third division, Isaya, the third class.

The economy of Lyakon is the second largest due to their exports of natural resources and fishing, along with gold and copper exports that help assist nations that are in need of an alliance. Due to their exporting of goods, they have been seen as the bread basket of all the nations.

Despite both Illya and Lysa being highly developed, the island of Isaya's development is very low due to poverty and a lack of jobs in the area. Without much funding, both sectors do not have proper education or jobs many could get as they are often left to starve and to fend for themselves. Human rights issues in Lyakon further grow because of their use of child soldiers and the extreme abuse towards them.

## History

### Early History

The island once known as Ezaka was inhabited by modern human over 50,000 years ago, mainly nomads known as the Orikans, an indigenous group to the southern isles of Itara, the southernmost island in Ezaka. As they were frequent travelers, they started to settle in the more northern and central parts of the island, having their own tribes and civilizations near rivers and damp land masses before settling in all parts of the island. Because of their consistent and constant traveling, their population started to increase and started to reside in one area.

### Tribal settelment

After the significant increase in population, ports and trading started to open, trading with Alasas, now apart of modern day Soraya, and the then Shia tribe apart of Azuren. Many Orikans started to adopt the traditions of other cultures and learned about their societies, giving them inspiration to set societal norms. The Alokans started to spread their religion to the many people that inhabited the island, practicing their faiths and adopting their beliefs. They adopted the Misteric Demonian language, leaving them with the name of Lyarik as a country.

The states of Isokas and Atheks were two large ports that frequently traded with neighboring kingdoms and civilizations, mainly spices, herbs and animals such as chickens, cows and sometimes cats to prevent a rat invasion. Ezaka was also full of natural resources, making it one of the main powers in trading at the time because of their stock of copper and uranium. The central part of the island was mainly abundant in gun powder, leading to Lyarik having modern firearms and many other goods that they had traded with.

However, after the dismantlement of the tribes in Azuren, they became a fully functioning nation and started to request trading with them frequently. Though they were willing to lend a hand, they realized they did not have enough trading supplies to fuel other kingdoms and civilizations and sent them less supplies than they expected in order to conserve more supplies for other kingdoms. It then started to cause tension between Azuren and Lyarik, though it was only minor, it caused a large strain on their relationship. As soon as Rosalina Asaki assumed the throne, she began demanding for resources in order to expand on the infrastructure. though Lyarik was adamant about exchanging resources, they did so if they also start exchanging their resources, much to their disdain and did so anyway.

### Azurian Colonization

Azuren took over Lyarik after finding out about its other natural resources. By the next year, all of their islands were subsequently under their firm control, and Lyarik was then named Illyria to symbolize their presence on the island and their power over them. Though the rule was indirect at first and only took them over for the resources, Azuren would later on have direct control and begin stationing army bases on there to prevent any rebellions. Most citizens were forced to work under Rosalina's rule and many were placed in forced labor or in the army unwillingly.

During Azuren's colonial rule, the major clans at the time were starting to negotiate about land and natural resources, nearly depleting the natural resources and leaving the people to starve. Because of their colonial rule, the people had started massive uprisings in order to remove Azuren off of the island, which was, at the time, controlled by the Roserita clan, a powerful noble family that often negotiated in colonization and one of the more powerful families at the time. Because of resources being depleted, the thriving economy depleted for Lyarik while the economy in Azuren flourished.

During their colonial period, Azurian culture was brought over to the island, including their attire, language and religion, being forced to adapt to their new traditions and were prohibited from practicing their faiths, let alone wear their cultural attire. Because of the violence they would face from the soldiers if they did not comply, they were unable to start an uprising because of the firm grip the Roserita clan, who ruled Azuren at the time, had over their colonies.

As time progressed, the Roserita clan was weakening and major uprisings were occurring, pleading and fighting for their independence from their rule. The other tribes within Azuren also pleaded with the Roseritas to make them an independent nation and kingdom, but refused because of their natural resources. Sick of their land being exploited for natural resources, the people had managed to gain the technology in order to rebel against the Roserita's rule.

### Astrada Clan Formation

As the uprisings grew, the Roserita clan was losing some of it's colonies due to depletion of resources and being exploited for forced labor and resources. The Astrada tribe, now known more commonly as the Astrada Clan, had formed and managed to claim most of the northern islands and partial of the central islands, confirming them as the countries new leader who promised to gain independence from the Roserita's rule. The Astrada clan was one of the many original native tribes that had lived on the island and desired independence like the other natives had desired and requested for: Their request was mostly refused because of the resources they had, such as oil and uranium.

The Astrada's were the main starters of the rebellions and were subsequently appointed the leaders of parts of the islands they managed to claim back, resulting in the Roseritan army attempting to claim the land back. However, because of Lyarik's abundance in gunpowder, the Roseritan army failed. Because of their refusal of liberation, the Astrada's marched forth and declared war on Azuren.

### Azurian-Lyakonian War & Independence

After the war was declared, other native tribes began to unite to fight off the Roseritas in order to liberate their country of Lyarik. The rebellion rose and begun fighting the Roseritan soldiers, claiming back most territory that was once theirs and started to reclaim what was once theirs. Rosalina, the queen of Azuren at the time, forced more soldiers to fight within the front lines, but were defeated due to the Lyakonian soldiers strategic location and geography. Being natives on an archipelago, they were able to swiftly outnumber them because of their strategic locations. Many other tribes gave them their support and started to aid them so they could gain their independence quicker. Though, the Roseritan soldiers started to reclaim parts of their land and began taking initiative to kill off as many of the Astrada's as possible. Though, because of the geographic location, the Roserita's were outsmarted and were quickly removed off of the island, securing their independence. Eventually, she was overthrown and died via being bombed.

### Rise to power

After the war, Lyarik had established their kingdom and slowly started to climb up the ranks and recovered from the and became a nationwide power because of their quick advancement after independence. Many individuals had started to immigrate in order to have a more sustainable life. Most migrants came from parts of Azuren, such as Etherin and Leiden at the time, and they started to build homes and sustain themselves. Businesses begun to flourish and jobs had begun to open up for everyone, including hybrid creatures that many other kingdoms did not accept.

The citizens enjoyed equal amounts of freedom under king Cassius' rule and were able to travel to Azuren and to other countries like Soraya freely. As the citizens enjoyed their freedom, Azuren was attempting to fix their relationship in order to form an alliance with Lyakon. Though, things had still remained sour, but Azuren would still help and assist them as reparation for the damage they had caused and issued a formal apology to the kingdom for their misdemeanors and hoping to mend their disputes in the future

Even though Azuren had apologized to them formally, their feud was still fresh and soured by the minute. They did provide assistance and Lyakon accepted it, but they still did not want to be associated with them because of their actions. Despite their souring relationship, the people had lived freely and had little to no restrictions whatsoever. Being abundant in natural resources, Lyakon's economy started to flourish after opening up about the idea of trading with other kingdoms. Because of their immense uranium and gun powder stock, Lyakon was at some point called the gun powder kingdom.

Lyakon was a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, where the king would not make the decisions alone and had a parliament in order to help him and to not allow him to have full rule. This proved to be useful because of how the citizens had equal freedom, including demons, a very rare occurrence for the time. After the war between humans and demons, demons were frowned upon in Azuren, but were seen as good in Lyakon because of how they recognized them as human and not what the taboos and bad omens said.

Because of the size of the Astrada Clan and their careful teaching methods, they were against absolutism and the discrimination of demons and other hybrids. Their lineage was praised for being one of the most "authentic" because of their perceptions and life views. Their society was also seen as progressive, with women being able to own property, have access to inheritance and wills and even working in the army, another rare occurrence for the time.

### Banishment of Caius Astrada

Despite all of Lyakon's praise for being one of the freest kingdoms, one of their major scandals was banishing Caius Astrada, one of the older sons next in line to the throne. Because of his authoritarian mindset and his distaste towards demons, the Astrada Clan did not want him ruling because he would impose a tyrannical rule upon the kingdom, much to their disdain. He also attempted murdering one of his brothers because of it, causing his family to concern gravely for him and seeing him as a danger. As a result, he was removed from the lineage and banished, but still having a strong claim to the throne. As Caius served as a general for Etherin's army, he was easily influenced by the politics that surround it about authoritarianism and dictatorship. The family had no choice but to banish him because of how much of a threat he imposed on the kingdom; Though they still loved and cherished him, they did not have any other resolution and made his claim to the throne illegitimate.

As he was banished, Caius was angered by being abandoned by his own family. In an act of revenge had decided to plan an overthrow, where he and many of Etherin's soldiers started to prepare a coup d'état that would overthrow his brother from the throne and make him next in line. While planning, Caius started to coordinate how they would get rid of his brother from the throne and he will be the next ruler via usurping the throne. Since Silas was crowned king recently, Caius found this as a weak point and began preparing for the coup, unbeknownst to Silas and his wife, Blanca, who was also once betrothed to Caius, but later on picked Silas as her fiancee.

### Overthrow of Silas Astrada

In the following years, Lyakon would still be a relatively peaceful kingdom under Silas and his wife's rule, known as the last year of the once peaceful and prosperous kingdom it once was because of it's second economic boom and the population starting to increase. Lyakon's relationship with Azuren begun to flourish after securing many trade deals and managed to fix their relationship with one another and creating a strong alliance.

However, in the early hours of the evening, Caius' had invaded the castle and quickly seized Silas at knifepoint, along with several Etheric soldiers surrounding him with firearms. Caius attempts to convince him to step down from power in order to come out alive, but Silas refused, saying he would not allow his ideals to flood their kingdom. in a fit of rage, Caius killed Silas via a bullet wound to the throat, killing him instantly. He would eventually force his widowed wife, Blanca Asaka, to marry him, to which she committed suicide a year after the coup.