Hallengard

**The Kingdom of Hallengard**is one of the two nations of The Hales, besides Aedwin. It was formerly known as The Hale Empire before The First Conquest. It also worth noting that the kingdom status may refer to either the depostic, which was larger in size but less advanced than it's feudal counterpart.

## History

Hallengardian myths claim that the Halesmen, their predecessor first joined to defeat the giants of the island, who lived in the caves of the mountains and often terrorized the humans. Some folklores say that the giants have been banished under the ground to hold the mountains forever, while others state that they have been exiled to the Island of Ostar, becoming the Ostari tribes overtime.

Whether or not the tale is true, the first time they were discovered by their neighbours, both Lauchette and The Winterlands noted them as a large clan-based society, ruling over The Hales. They were strong in numbers, but their technology and government were considered outdated by both of their neighbours. It was The Winterlanders who made the first contact with them, however they did not see it as valuable, the Lauch, on the other hand, were quick to establish a trade route with the clansmen, eventually taking over most of the southern caves in exchange for medical technology and aid during an epidemic, Lauchette has installed a settlement to house the miners and to export, called Pierre Harbor.

After a few decades, the clansmen rallied up against the Lauch settlers, whose numbers were increasing rapidly. Leading to the raid of the settlements, in an attempt to cut ties with Lauchette, and to recapture their southern territory, igniting The First Conquest.

The war ended shortly, with The Hale Empire losing near one-third of their territory, therefore their status as an empire. After their defeat, the Halesmen were forced into vassalisation and to reform and abandoning their old ways of a clan-based society in exchange for a more modern government, founding the Kingdom of Hallengard. They started to modernize fast. As the majority of Hallengardians still wanted to re-establish their empire, raids on the newly established Lauch settlements were very common, to prevent Lauchette from fully exploiting their southern lands. Most of these surprise attacks were successful, they even got to the point where many Lauch regiments chose to join their forces. Problems would arise when the settlement's status would be risen to that of a city-state, granting Pierre Harbor a new governor by the name of Aedwin-De-Steinberg.

The governor was formerly a cruel general, who would publicly hang and mutilate his captives to strike fear in his neighbours, which would bring an end to the Hallengardian raids. This humility would enrage the king, Braun Tarbor to order an assault, and recapture the southern parts of The Hales. The city was besieged, and their forces were quickly overrun by the Hallengardian legion, recapturing the island for themselves once again. Aedwinians say that their governor died fighting on the frontlines, however, Hallengardian historians claim that he was captured and decapitated by Tarbor himself. They wouldn't be able to hold the entirety of The Hales, as the capture of the city would mean the beginning of The Second Conquest.

Hallengard had high morale however they were unable to deffend the city, now renamed Aedwin and the Lauch forces once again conquered The Hales, temporarily annexing Hallengard into Aedwin. Only a few days after the end of the war, the king was to be publicly executed by being hanged from his castle. The Hallengardians were permitted from removing the corpse. These events not only broke the Hallengardian spirit, but lead many to accept their status as part of the empire, even starting to refer to themselves as Lauch, for this reason, Lauchette started to popularise the term "True Lauch" to distingunish themselves from those who lived on The Hales. The loyalist mindset eventually influenced Lauchette to separate the northern half of The Hales from Aedwin, and set Hallengard up as another imperial settlement.

During The White War, the Aedwinian and Hallengardian casualties were the highest, due to the fact that they were usually on the front line, as well as the forces responsible for assaults, while the Lauch army served as a reinforcment. Hallengard was a constant war zone, being the target for most Winterlander invasions before it became fully occupied. During the occupation, Markas Winters, the emperor of The Winterlands offered Hallengard independence in exchange for a military alliance, which Kedran Herrenhold dismissed. Aedwin would make a similar offer, once the war was nearing its end, as they just declared independence, but it was once again declined. Resulting in many nobles as well as peoples of Hallengard joining with Aedwin, regardless of their governor's decision, splitting the nation into two, Loyalist Hallengard and Free Hallengard.

Both Hallengards wanted to reunite and join the war between Aedwin and Lauchette, but on opposing sides this disagreement lead to The Hallengardian Civil War. While Free Hallengard had more volunteers, as the smallfolk were more willing to fight for their independence, however, the majority of the Hallengardian army was on the loyalist side, in addition, they had the castle under their control, which gave them a better strategic standing point. The rebels managed to take most towns from the loyalists, however, the siege of the castle dragged out as, Gorge Haberford wanted to minimalize casualties. Meanwhile Aedwin managed to achieve naval superiority, preventing the Lauch fleet from reaching The Hales. Edmund Warde rode north with his army to aid the rebel siege, shortly after he arrived the Hallengardian king offered to spare the lives of every loyalist who choose to surrender. Seeing how they were outnumbered and the naval support from Lauchette has ceased, the loyalists accepted their defeat, and a reunited Hallengard has joined The Great Divide, on Aedwin's side.

The joy of reuniting Hallengard was short-lived, as only a few days later Edmund was assassinated by of the remaining loyalist forces. It is uncertain if they have been ordered by Kodran, however, as he was imprisoned at that time Gorge decided not to punish him. The Aedwinian crown would fall to the younger sibling of Edmund, Perich, who at the time was still in Aedwin, preparing his troops for the invasion of Lauchette, which happened as soon as the forces arrived at the island of Ostar, the starting point. The siege would drag out for almost two months until The Hale forces captured most of Lauchette's western ports and castles. Lauchette hastily capitulated, to prevent any further plundering. They were forced to recognize the independence of Hallengard and Aedwin and their status shrunk from empire to kingdom.

Perich demanded the life of Herrenhold, which King Gorge declined, as he promised to spare the lives of any loyalists that would surrender, the Aedwinian king took this as an insult, but it never escalated into a war, however, the rivalry grew between the two kingdoms.

The server takes place 40 years after these events.