Kingdom of Metina

## Metina

A monarchy in southern Magnia, in the region of Albaan, south of the Kotlov Mountains and along the coast of the Pagan Sea to the Valonian League in the east, Metina is ruled by Joanna Albrecht, known as Joanna the Blind, her coat of arms, quartered, a golden eagle on green, a red bull on a field of white.

Metina is a land of harsh mountains, windswept hilly plains, stony shores, and lush forests. From Grimmen and Librech, they command one of the largest standing fleets in Magnia.

## Culture

Metina is quite thinly populated compared to most of Magnia, but is known for its fierce warriors and sailors, and the Metinan people have a reputation for being hot-blooded and quick to anger. The country has strong martial traditions, both on sea and on land, where they are infamous for their light infantry. Many ballads and tales praise or warn of the skill at arms of the Metinese. The country is currently split into the regions of Korim and Metina, due to the Wincentene War, a religious conflict between two Wincentene factions, the Amandarites and the Everymen.

## Economy

The Albaan region is frequently plagued by savage storms in autumn and Metina sees quite a lot of rain, which had made the country extremely dependant on the import of grain and vegetables from more fertile nations. Their main exports are ceramics and lumber, but Metina still prospers as a market of commerce, with several thriving ports in the Pagan Sea and with the Valonian Road running through the country.

## History

### Early History

Metina was the first major state outside Chorene to emerge in Magnia, established in 822 around the lower half of the River Brea, with the unification of the local tribes. The Kingdom, then called Korim, only spanned the lowlands of modern-day Metina, around the cities of Korim and Grimmen. Sigmund I, the King of Korim, consolidated his position in Albaan by expanding the frontiers of his realm, annexing the region of the Slannek Hills to the east. The lands encompassed by the Metinan Forest, the Kotlov Mountains, and the Brea Basin was at the time settled by several Mountain clans. In 867, Sigmund prepared to conquer the highlands and led an invasion in 868. However, the clansmen forces avoided open battle and drew back into the deep forests to launch guerilla attacks. After forty days, the king had to withdraw his forces due to a lack of supplies.

In 874, Sigmund's successor Amelia I managed to reach an agreement with the mountain clans and incorporated the Metinan highlands under her dominion. When she died in 894, she was succeeded by her son Sigmund II, but his Kingdom was short-lived and started to disintegrate, because the subjugated tribes did not respect Sigmund's supremacy. Those tribal leaders who had been made margraves accepted King Arvulf of Budecha in 895 and Sigmund spent the next two years attempting to restore his rule to little success. Conflicts began to emerge between him and his younger sister Amelia II, which gave King Arvulf an opportunity to send his troops to Korim in 898. The fall of Korim was also partly aided by the establishment of Outwharf by the Thyssen clans, who begun to raid Korim lands along the Wrynova River, and according to sources utterly destroyed Korim. The Thanes allied themselves with King Arvulf and in the year 902, a large Thane army attacked and invaded Korim. Facing the threat of further Thyssen attacks, Sigmund II concluded a peace treaty with Arvulf, who had accepted the Menkhu Faith and was allowed by the Thanes to remain King of Metina, while the Korim state, in the lowlands, ceased to exist.

After Simgund II's death, his daughter Witzila swore allegiance to King Arvulf and with his aid, she and her younger brother Thadius were able to protect their realm from the Maegar forces which crushed the Thanes of Outwharf in 907. Later, the tide of battle turned and in 929 Witzila submitted to the Maegar tribal leader Harka Arrad, whereafter she was murdered by her brother Thadius. Assuming the Metinan throne in 935, Queen Oda I conquored the adjacent lands of Korim and Volynia. After a prolonged armed conflict, Siemon I of Vichin besieged a caslte owned by Oda in 972 and forced Oda to abandon her claim to Volynia. The first Menkhu bishopric was founded in Pirahn in 973, and in 995, the Kingdom of Metina was definitively consolidated when the margraves signed a treaty unifying all of Metinan and establishing a centralized rule under Queen Oda I.

### Invasion of Vichin

In 1003, when King Vladivoj died within a year of ascending the throne, the King of Vichin, Siemon II, son Eslaw the Brave, invaded Metina and ruled for 4 years before being expelled by the margraves who chose Jaromir, the grandson of Oda, as their King. Siemon II continied to pursue a policy of expansion, sowing hostility with the neighbouring countries, and in 1025, Siemon's brothers took advantage of the situation by arranging for invasions from Carinthia and Metina. Siemon was defeated, but managed to partially recover his authority.

After Siemon's death in 1034, King Jaromir invaded Vichin while the Kingdom was falling apart, capturing Thusham, and conquering Volynia and parts of Greater Vichin. The son of Jaromir, Sigmund III, supported a Vichinian rebellion against the pontiff of Vichin and in 1040, he entered Vichin with several Vichinian lords and their armed forces and cast down the Pontiff and his bishops to establish a new head of the Menkhu faith in the region, one who was more open to Metinan rule.

### Conversion to Cister Carta

In 1047, an Urubuhl conquering party, led by Zomeeri Ziyad, arrived from Benghezakhan, containing 7.000 horsemen and 50 war elephants. Crossing the Pagan Sea, they won decisive victories in 1048 when the Metinan King Sigmund III was defeated and reinforcements of an additional 5.000 men were quickly supplied. By 1054, the Urubuhls were in control of all of Albaan. Their advance into Magnia was only stopped by Prince Louis IV of Corveaux at the Battle of Peshac Bay. Benghek rule over Albaan was an era of relative religious tolerance, although widespread Urubuhl conversion took place among the Menkhu, and Albaan became part of a forming Northwest Skahazadani Empire.

At the end of the 12th century, civil disputes rose within the weakening Empire and the Urubuhl governors of Albaan were loosing ground to the Cister Cartians in the north after the loss of Stokengrad in 1085. Not long after, the Albaani Urubuhls were defeated by an alliance of the Cister Cartian military at the decisive Battle of Grimmen Field in 1201 and the Cister Cartian church officially recognized Ottokar I Albrecht as the King of Metina. By 1212, the Skahazadani had been driven from nearly all of Albaan, except for the Urubuhl Kingdom of Valona, west of Metina. Despite Metina accepting the Cister Cartian church, they failed to aid Vichin during the Corvian Invasion of 1241. Frightened by the destructive power and rapid victory of the Corvians, Ottokar I bolstered his own borders instead of helping his neighbours. He later tried to send forces to join with Vichinians marching on the besieged Kurnow, but when Corvian Field Commander Anton Nagy caught wind of their march, he rushed to beat the Vichinian forces before the two armies could meet and Ottokar retreated, too frightened to advance any further.

In 1260, Ottokar II defeated the Golden Horde in battle near the Wrynova River and denied them entry into Metina. However, from 1273, Anton Nagy began to test Ottokar's power again. At this time, he also had problems with rebellious margraves in Metina. He was abandoned by part of the Metinan nobility and died in the battle of High Field in 1278.

### The Wincentene Movement

Ottokar II was succeeded by his son King Vladislav I, who became King of Vladislav IV of Vichin in 1305, supported by the church and Charles Martel of Magiore. He married Elisabeth, the daughter of Charles Martel, and their son, Charles, became King of Metina in 1346. With strong ties to Magiore and Vichin, Charles began to strengthen the power and prestige of the Metinan kingdom. He elevated the bishopric of Pirahn to a papal state, freeing it from the jurisdiction of Vichin and the new pontiff of Metina was given the right to crown Metinan kings. He also managed to reconstruct the system of nobility and administration of the margraviates and undertook extensive building projects including a new royal castle and Charles University in Pirahn, as well as a new royal fleet. After his death in 1378, he was succeeded by his son Vladislav II.

Bishop Yan Wincentene became the first rector of Charles University in 1403 and quickly gained a reputation with his anti-hierarchical teachings. He advocated clerical purity and attacked the ideas of the wealth, corruption, sexism, and bigotry within the Cister Cartian church. He gained many followers, known as the Wincentenes, but also caused widespread controversy, only made worse by King Vladislav II, who was known to favour his Maegar family and often appointed councillors from Magiore. A growing nationalist group of the Metinan nobility, as well as the Pontiff of Metina, allied themselves with the Wincentenes, forcing King Vladislav to switch his support from the Maegar to Yan.

Yan's victory was however short-lived. He preached against the sale of tuyrine, which lost him the support of the king, who received a percentage of tuyrine sales. In 1412, Yan and his followers were suspended from Charles University and expelled from Pirahn. For two years, the Wincentenes became wandering priests and some, like Bishop Kadlec, began to rouse the bishops of the north, leading to similar movements in Vichin. In 1414, Yan was summoned to Pirahn to defend his views, where he was imprisoned and never given a chance to speak. The following year, he was condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake, sparking the Wincentene War. After Vladislav's death in 1419, Sigmund IV was made king, but repeatedly failed to gain control of his kingdom. Riots broke out in Pirahn and Wincentenes stormed into the capital. Wincentenes and Cister Cartians turned on each other, many were massacred, and many more fled or were exiled to Vichin. Sigmund IV was forced to rule his kingdom from Magiore and is instigating crusades against Metina with the support of the Maegar Cister Cartians, while the pro-Wincentene Margrave Joanna the Blind was chosen as queen in order to oppose him.

## Administrative Divisions

Metina is divided into four margraviates, each ruled by a margrave. These are:

* **Kladskow**, ruled by Adam Mansfelt from the city of Pirahn.
* **South Metina**, ruled by Eva Kolowrat from the city of Librech.
* **Korim**, ruled by Josephin Buccoy from the city of Korim
* **Raknovik**, ruled by Martin Collero from the city of Grimmen.
* **Slannek Hills,** ryled by Amanda Marslecht from the city of Flannen.

Throughout history, there has always been between 7 and 16 margraviates, but during the reign of King Charles, he greatly reduced and rationalized the power structure in the country to centralize Metinan power.