The City of Targen

The City of Targen is a massive group of islands, home to various underground groups and pirates. They are not part of Draivros, but are willing to work with them. For a price.

## **History**

#### **Era of Disunity**

In an unidentified time, now called the Era of Disunity by present-day Scholars, the Targen Isles were originally composed of several individual competing tribes established by sea-faring traders and colonists from far lands.

Over time, these tribes grew into citystates of varying sizes, many competing with one another for control and influence over much of the Targen isles. Contact with Draivros during the Era of Disunity was mostly limited to trade from independent merchants, due to a lack of serious naval infrastructure on Targen at the time.

#### **Rise of the Calponn**

The Era of Disunity eventually ended with the rise of the Calponn family, named so due to being the rulers of the Citystate of Calponn. Tancred Calponn, ruler of Calponn at the time, was an ambitious conqueror who sought to unite the Targen Isles in order to combat the rising Royallian influence on the Isles, seeking to keep the Isles independent of Royallian rule, even if it meant subjecting the stubborn citystates of Targen under his rule.

For 2 decades, Tancred Calponn negotiated, subverted, and conquered most of the entirety of Targen with the help of his three most-trusted advisors; Leif Thatchbeard, his childhood friend and an avid admiral; Willin Langobar, a merchant trader who was once Tancred's rival; and Takashi Toyotana, a foreign mercenary well-known for his luck and skill in battle.

As a result of his conquests, Tancred Calponn established the Kingdom of Targen, while his three advisors were granted personal territory which consisted mainly of the three islands surrounding the main island of Targen. While much of the history surrounding the aftermath of his conquests is currently unknown due to the theft of the historical records of Targen in 92 BCE, what is known is that Tancred's successors would successfully defend the Targen Isles from several Royallian invasions over the years to come.

#### **First Demonic Invasion**

By 250 BCE, the Kingdom of Targen was well-established and seen as a legitimate kingdom by many of the ancient Royallian kingdoms. However, during the First Demonic Invasion, as Draivros suffered under the attack of the First Demonic Invasion, Targen too did not go unscathed, as a Demonic Gate opened up within the land of the Langobar families.

Quickly overrunning a huge portion of the island, many refugees were forced to flee as devastation wrecked the land. Though the Kingdom of Targen managed to quickly muster a force to drive back the demons long enough for a relief force from the newly-established Alliance of Ordo to arrive and fully restore control of the Targen Isles to the Kingdom of Targen. In return, the Kingdom of Targen pledged its naval forces to the Alliance of Ordo until the Alliance fragmented after the end of the First Invasion.

#### **Era of the Three Families**

By 178 BCE, the Kingdom of Targen had taken on a mostly isolationist role, focused on internal events as the Calponn family gave more governmental responsibilities to members of the Three Families, the Thatchbeard, Langobar, and Toyotana families. During this year, King Alfred the Hedonist took his place on the Targen throne, crowned as king following the death of his father, Alfred the Sailor. More concerned with living within the palace as leisurely as possible than in running the government, he allowed for the Three Families to gain more power for themselves, having grown loyal to their families over that of the Calponn, overturning the centralization policies established by Alfred the Sailor which sought to reduce the power of the Three Families.

As such, the Three Families began manipulating the Targen court in order to become the puppet-master behind ruling-members of the Calponn families. For the next 85 years, the Calponn family steadily lost their influence in Targen, becoming little more than figureheads in the Kingdom of Targen as the Langobar, Thatchbeard, and Toyotana families controlled all of Targen from the shadows.

#### **Start of the First** **Targen-Storian War**

In 95 BCE, the Targen colony of Purtis Orbe had discovered and begun raiding the Dominon of Storia, a nation recently established by refugees of the Second Demonic Invasion. With riches pouring in from the western lands into Targen, the Thatchbeard families soon took notice and begin sending their private naval force west to conquer Storia. However, due to the military forces and many of the citizens of the Dominion of Storia consisting of veterans of the Second Demonic Invasion, the colony of Purtis Orbe was quickly overrun and occupied within less than a year.

However, despite the quick Storian victory on the Draivros mainland, the Thatchbeard families would manage to hold off the Storian forces from the sea, causing many to believe the war would be an indecisive conflict with no actual conclusion.

#### **The Last Calponn King**

The last known legitimate member of the Calponn dynasty, Edward Calponn, is assassinated by an unaffiliated Targen hit-man in 92 BCE, and with his death, the entirety of the Kingdom into chaos, as citizens take to the streets to mourn, while the Three Families convene within Targen Hall to discuss a new government going forward, their leading representatives at the time were Erik Dane-Thatchbeard, Aldric Venez-Langobar, and Tomoya Tomas Kishi-Toyotana.

At this time, many within the city were calling the Kingdom the City of Targen instead, due to their loss of the original ruling dynasty, now ruled instead by the Three Families, as well as due to the fact that much of the island had been urbanized.

During the meeting at Targen Hall, an incident would occur during which Aldric and Tomoya Tomas would leave Targen Hall and begin prepping their respective families for war against the Thatchbeards. Though scholars are unsure of what incident had occurred that would cause such a reaction, many suspect it was due to that Thatchbeard claiming to be the kings of Targen and demanding the fealty of the other two families.

#### **Targen Civil War**

92 BCE, a year of open warfare claims the lives of many of the subjects of Targen, as a four-way conflict occurs between the Three Families and Calponn pretenders. During the conflict, the Thatchbeard Families had retreated back to Thatchbeard island, as Toyotana and Langobar loyalists fought for control over Calponn island. During the conflict, the Kishi-Toyotana family, whom fought mostly on the front lines, were wiped out following the Third Battle for Targen Hall, and an incident in which the Kishi-Toyotana family palace was burned down.

As a result, the Langobar families were successful in establishing a major presence on Calponn Island. However, it was at this moment that the Thatchbeard families struck, destroying the bridge connecting Calponn and Langobar Island, which severely set the Langobar families back as the Thatchbeard navy began a blockade around Langobar Island.

The Toyotana families were the first to declare their loyalty to Erik Dane-Thatchbeard, seemingly recognizing their inability to strike the Thatchbeard families without a proper military force following the loss of the Kishi branch, though many Draivros scholars say that it is instead because the Toyotana families were plotting to rule the Throne behind the shadows.

The Langobar families, on the other hand, fought off the Thatchbeards for another year before finally coming to the bargaining table with the death of Aldric Venez-Langobar.

As victors of the Targen Civil War, the Thatchbeard families would rule Targen as kings and queens, with King Erik Dane-Thatchbeard crowning himself as the first king, while the two families were granted positions within the newly-established senate, in order to establish stability once again over the Targen Isles.

#### **End of the First Targen-Storian War**

While the Targen Civil War was ongoing, the Dominion of Storia had secretly been creating new ships. By 91 BCE, the first of these ships, the Discipulus-Class Cannon Ship, had finished development, giving the Dominion of Storia a heavy advantage against the Targen navy.

With the Targen navy suffering heavy losses in each naval battle and the instability of the Targen Civil War still affecting them, King Erik the Sea Lord would agree to sign a peace treaty with the Dominion, giving them control of the port of Purtis Orbe, as well as agreeing to restrict Targen raids on the Dominion. Though the treaty was unpopular with many within Targen, dissent was quickly squashed.

#### **Thatchbeard Rule**

Targen would prosper under Targen rule, as the Targen families focused mainly on raiding and colonizing other lands, enriching the City of Targen by exploiting the lands they colonized and enslaving locals from the lands. As a result of their policies, hostilities would continue the Dominion of Storia, with skirmishes between Storian naval fleets and Targen privateers well-known to have occurred, and another two indecisive wars fought between the two.

#### **Fourth Targen-Storian War**

Another declaration of war would be issued by the Dominion of Storia against the City of Targen in 7 BCE, with the casus belli of the City of Targen having raided Dominion land and enslaved their citizens. Unlike the previous three wars, the Fourth Targen-Storian War would end in a more decisive matter with the assistance of the Langobar Families.

Having faced the humiliation of their defeat in the Targen Civil War, the Langobar family had steadily built up followers and influence over several years, eventually even convening in secret meetings with Storian representatives to communicate and ally together against the Thatchbeard threat. Though scholars aren't sure what exactly came about during the meetings, it is widely believed that the Langobar would agree to restrict the Thatchbeard families in exchange for becoming the rulers of Targen with Storian assistance.

By 2 BCE, the Thatchbeard family had finally finished construction of a great fleet, from which the current ruler at the time, Wulfsguard Dane-Thatchbeard, proclaimed himself to be the next great conqueror after Tancred Calponn, and that he would fully conquer the entirety of Draivros in the name of the City. The resulting 3-day naval battle between the Storian-aligned fleet and the Targen fleet, mostly commonly known as the Battle of Davy Jone's Locker, saw many on both sides die, but ultimately ended in a decisive Storian victory, as the Targent Fleet was routed.During the course of the battle, the Langobar rebelled against the garrisoned Thatchbeards within the City of Targen, quickly securing Targen Hall and Calponn Island. Following the rout of the Targen fleet, the arrival of the Storian fleet quickly secured the cooperation of the remnants of the Thatchbeard Families, though a few of its members would continue to rebel and went into exile from Targen as independent pirates and/or merchants.

In the coming days, members of the Thatchbeard, Langobar, and Toyotana family met within Targen Hall, overseen by the combined Storian and Langobar military. The Targen Hall Accords were soon signed, which Eric Dane-Thatchbeard, crown-prince and one of the few survivors of the Dane-Thatchbeard family, to give up his claim to the crown of Targen to Rozen Venez-Langobar.

The Targen Hall Accords thus marked the end of the Targen-Storia wars, with the Venez-Langobar family becoming the rulers of Targen up to the present day.

## **Government**

The Government of Targen is split up among the three families, who convene within Targen Hall to discuss matters of importance. As of currently, the Langobar family controls Targen Hall as the rulers of all of Targen.

* Langobar Mafia - The Langobar family are political bargainers, and the current controllers of Targen Hall. This makes them the most powerful. While they do not have the naval might that the other two families have, they have the diplomatic finesse and leeway to stay in power. They currently watch over the Dormant Gateway in Targen as well, giving them a heavy responsibility and a strong bargaining chip.
* Thatchbeard Pirates - The previous controllers of Targen Hall, the Thatchbeard pirates have the strongest naval presence of all of Targen. Due to this, they are still heavily relied on for goods, as their ships constantly harass, plunder, and toll merchants moving through. Without them, many guess that Targen would have fallen long ago.
* Toyotana Group - Although never in direct power, the Toyotana Group are strongest in the shadows, operating the deep network of black markets across Targen. They are master assassins, and are rarely seen in operating within the open. Their large towers on the coast allow them to watch the seas for those who come and go, and they certainly keep a tab on everyone.

## **Leaders**

The leaders of the City of Targen consist of the familial heads of the three Targen Families.

## **Military**

The Targen Military is composed mainly of sailors, due to all of Targen being safe from external threats over land. However, each of the three families train their own special troops:

* The Thatchbeard Pirates specialize in elite raiders called Privateers. These infantry units are capable of both land and sea battles, allowing them to easily fight anywhere they please.
* The Toyotana Group specialize in deadly assassins named Targenmonos, who are rarely seen and rumored to have superhuman abilities, with many rumors saying they are actually demons.
* The Langobar Mafia specialize in sharpshooting rangers named Carabiniers. Special ranged units armed with stolen Storian firearm technology, which would easily kill any mortal, regardless of training and experience.

## **Geography**

   Targen is separated into four islands, controlled by the three families. The central island is Calponn island, named after the historical Calponn family that once ruled over Targen. The island to the west is named Toyotana Island, while the north-eastern island is named Thatchbeard Island, and the south-eastern island is named Langobar Island. Targen City can be considered one whole city itself, though farmland does exist in several locations, supplementing the mostly marine-life meals that most Targens eat.

Most of Targen itself is marked with tall houses meant for the commoners, with very few trees and forests existing here or there, mostly on the property of private owners who could actually afford a house.