Aenvelinck

Aenvelinck Karalystė The Queendom of Aenvelinck Koninkryk van Aenvelinck
Flag of Flag Coat of Arms of Coat of Arms
Motto: "Quiet, but brave." "Stil, maar dapper."
Anthem: "Queen, mother and brother." "Karalienė, ma en broer."
Location of
Capital	Ieva
Largest city	Anton
Official languages	Katmiesie, Liežuvis
Ethnic groups (2015)	Katmiesie (36%) Hokotanese (32%) Anchin (20%) Other (12%)
Demonym(s)	Aenvelin
Government	Unitary parlimentary constitutional monarchy
• Karalienė	HM Valerija II
• Eerste Minister	Hon. Viltė Urbonavičius MP
Legislature	Her Majesty's Parliament
• Upper house	The Royal House
• Lower house	National Assembly
Population
• 2016 census	47,310,000
GDP (nominal)	2016 estimate
• Total	1,066,000,000,000 Karūnas
• Per capita	22,536 Karūnas
Currency	Aenvelin Karūna (ANK)
Driving side	left

The Queendom of Aenvelinck (Liežuvis: Aenvelinck Karalystė) is a nation located in the east of Meridia, along the coast of the Lenktas Jūra (Gulf of Maracaibo). It is bordered to the south by Hokotani and to the southwest by Hokuriku.

History

Prehistory and ancient history

Sources of information regarding Aenvelin life and culture prior to the late 12th century is sparse and unreliable at best; what is taken for fact is derived from a cross-analysis of archaeological findings, what few documents exist, and local folklore. The earliest evidence of Katmiesie life in the modern-day Aenvelinck area is a fossil found near the summit of Mount Bagdonas dating approximately 120,000 years old. It is believed that Katmiesie in the area were organised in tribes, where they were mostly spread across the coast with some settled in the mountains. Evidence suggests that the coastal tribes were nomadic hunter-gatherers whereas the mountain tribes were relatively more settled. It is believed that shamanistic religions dominated most of the tribes and archaeological evidence suggests religious conflict was common. At the time, Liežuvis was the common language.

Historians currently believe that sometime in the mid-10th century, the coastal tribes adopted a settled lifestyle after adopting new farming techniques from the mountain tribes. Over time, both the coastal and mountain tribes - the mountain tribes following after the coastal tribes - evolved into farm kingdoms, with the most prominent being that of the Vilhelmas family line. With the farm kingdoms and increased centralization that came with them followed a boom in technological progress, which led to the implementation of bronze equipment, further agriculture, law, and even architecture by the end of the 13th century.

At some point between 1221 and 1223 CE, the Aurelijus family was subjugated by the Vilhelmas family after a trade agreement between the two was broken. For the next 8 years, until 1231 CE, wars between family lines were common in bids for power - a period of time referred to by historians as the "Laikotarpis konfliktų" (period of conflict). The period of conflict came to an end when Emilis Vilhelmas, the Karalius (King) of the Vilhelmas line at the time finally jointed the noble families through a mix of marriage, subjugation, and intrigue. This set the course for the progression of the area. By the late 13th century, this early foundation had turned into a centralized fuedal society underneath the Vilhelmas family line. In May 1292 CE, with further development of the Aenvelin feudal system, the Vilhelmas family line turned into Namas Vilhelmas (House of Vilhemas) and the nation was named "Vilhelmo Dinastija" (Vilhelmas Dynasty); this is regarded as the event that marked the formal transition into Aenvelin's feudal era.

Feudal history

Aenvelinck's feudal period was brief, interrupted by the arrival of Batavian merchants and missionaries along the coast in the late 13th century. During this period politics, society, and agriculture saw the most attention and progression, with economics and naval ventures coming close behind. The Aenvelin Rapier is widely regarded as a symbol of the Aenvelin medieval period as it became a symbol of nobility shortly after the Ričardas Expansion. The government throughout the era was an absolute monarchy, locked strictly in a conservative feudal system.

Key events in the Aenvelin medieval period include the Ričardas Expansion (1292 to 1230), the Vygan Centralization (1298), and the Water Plague alongside the subsequent Tip Rebellion (1364 to 1373).

Ričardas Expansion (1292 to 1230)

Shortly after the events of May 1292, King Ričardas I, the head of House Vilhelmas at the time, issued a decree promising titles and holdings to leaders of armies - whether noble or common - on the condition that the company was sponsored by a noble of authority within one of the 11 houses, as it would be up to them to give them a holding later. This led to a sudden boom in mercenary companies, ranging from veterans to united peasants, who offered to pledge their allegience to Ričardas I as companies in his army. After some experimentation and discussion between the nobility, the common practice for inspecting a "common company" (bendra įmonė) became a "Rodyti Ginklų" (Show of Arms), which began with an inspection of the troops by the sponsoring noble followed by a demonstration of combat skills, concluding with a charge against the noble and his guard; while the charge was stopped as the first rank of the common company met the nobles guard and never came to blows, the tradition was established that if the noble flinches, he is bound to accept the company as his own. The show of arms is a tradition to this day, executed in the form of a parade when a new unit is being raised or transferred.

With the armies he had gathered from his decree, Ričardas I gathered all of his levies in October 1296 and marched mostly south, but also east to the very tip of the peninsula. On their way, the Dynasty Armies found several tribes that would oppose them: mostly Katmiesie, but also Anchin and Kitsune. While some voluntarily subjugated into the Vilhelmas Dynasty, most resisted where they could. Most of the tribes were subjugated with relative ease when put against the modern Dynasty Armies, although two tribes successfully fought back Ričardas' men: the Anchin Ulwazi tribe and the Katmiesie Dovydas tribe, both located to the south. Armies conquering the eastern reaches of the peninsula were summoned to join the fighting against the tribes before the tribes were subjugated. Ričardas I offered both tribal leaders positions as generals in his armies but only the Dovydas tribe accepted. The resistance put up by the Ulwazi tribe remains a symbol of Anchin pride to this day.

After the expansion, Ričardas I published a decree naming 8 of the 11 royal houses as Kunigaikštis (Dukes), free to rule their land and appoint lords underneath them on the condition they swore fealty to the King. The Houses Dominykas and Azuolas were disowned and stripped of their nobility for either poorly performing in the land claim effort, plotting against the King and his houses, or both. The House Nojus went voluntarily into exile, citing that Ričardas I was gathering too much power, and made it's own government further inland to the west. The land meant for these three houses were split between the other 8 houses as rewards.

Following the Ričardas Expansion, Klasnia entered a period of relative peace, focusing mostly on expanding its agricultural capabilities. Dukes were mostly left to their own devices, with each region governing slightly different within royal law.

Vygan Centralization (1298)

As the Vilhelmas Dynasty went further into its feudal period, religion continued to rise in prevalence. The shamanistic religion of the prior era, disjointed and shattered as it was, slowly shifted and changed over time with the introduction of new lifestyle elements and partial mergers with similar followings. The most common variant at this stage was the Vygan Faith, with a predicted 35 to 40 percent following within the populace.

In February 1298, Queen Aras II coauthored a royal decree with religious leader Raimond Viktoras of the Vygan Faith. The decree named Vyganism the state religion and reformed almost all existing religious elements within state affairs. While this was met with broad criticism and even minor rebellions, nothing worth of broad historical note came of it. Tensions between Vygans and other religious groups remained for the following approximate 130 years.

Water Plague and Tip Rebellion (1364 to 1373)

On the 2nd of February, 1364, King Linas V commissioned master shipwright Inga Simonis to build a ship that could traverse the Gulf of Maracaibo, known within the nation as the Lenktas Jūra (curved sea). In May 1367, Inga presented the ship to Linas V, who inspected it with one of his veteran sailor captains. To express his satisfaction with the vessel, Linas V had the seal of House Vilhelmas stained into the port bow, which later led to the tradition of marking the port bow with the seal of the monarch which remains practiced in modern day RAN vessels.

With the boat now in service, it set sail across the Gulf of Maracaibo in July 1367. It returned in January 1368 with only a quarter of its original crew. Across the Gulf, the sailors had contracted a plague and returned to Vilhelmas seeking aid. Not only did the sailors die within the month, but the plague - quickly named the "Vandens Mara" (water plague), swept across Vilhelmas. With a concerning number of commoners and merchants contracting the plague, a number of the Kingdom's industries struggled, although most significantly agriculture and trade. As of March 1368, the infected were being sent to the island to the east of the peninsula in a bid to get rid of the plague; the island later became known as "Mirtis Blogai" (Bane of the Ill), as they were ultimately sent to die.

In the presence of the plague, political tensions rose within the country. Nobility ruling near the tip of the peninsula were being forced to ferry the infected across to the island, increasing infection rates within their own populations. Eventually, in December 1368, the two noble houses - Irma and Kamilė - that ruled over the peninsula seceded from the Kingdom. This led to a quick declaration of war in what historians refer to now as the "Patarimas Maištas" (Tip Rebellion). The war came to an end in February 1369 with most of the war contribution coming from House Astrauckas and their forces. Linvas V rewarded House Astracukas with the land that both of the rebellious houses owned, making the house significantly more powerful than the others to the cause of significant controversy.

The plague eventually passed sometime in 1373 after the nation lost 55-60 percent of its population. Stunted in its growth by the plague, the nation settled into a stagnant state, with all of it's progression eliminated.

Modern history

Aenvelinck's modern history has been a period of intense change. In what was originally an isolationist nation, particularly after the water plague, sudden contact with several other nations - with radically different cultures and knowledge - pushed the conservative and stunted nation into rapid and volatile progression. Throughout this time, Batavian customs and language became much more prominent in Aenvelin culture, surpassing native equivalents in many areas; this led to Liežuvis becoming a more formal language whereas Katmiesie became more common.

Key events in the Aenvelin modern period include the Formation of the Klasnian Commonwealth (1486 to 1571), the Astrauckas Reformation (1847 to 1852), and the Hokotani Nationalist Revolution (1910 to 1924).

Formation of the Klasnian Commonwealth (1486 to 1571)

The events of the Klasnian Formation began in early 1486, when the first settlers from Yamataikoku arrived in southern Meridia. They occupied a large expanse of land to the Vilhelmas Dynasty's south and west, establishing their colony there. While the Vilhelmas government was cautious, especially as they had never experienced anything quite like it before, they continued to follow their isolationist policies. Diplomatic relations with the settlers and homeland Yamataikoku was strictly on a need-to basis, enough to maintain the peace and keep the settlers out of their affairs. Some border skirmishes took place although nothing significant ever came of them.

In mid-1487, when the first Batavian merchants arrived on the coast of the Gulf of Maracaibo, they were initially exiled. Tense diplomacy between Duke Bronislovas Virgilijus and the Batavian expeditionary leader, Heike Ramakers, led to the merchants being permitted to sell their wares in certain districts of the Duke's holdings. The foreign goods initially failed to sell, the dynastic people cautious of outsiders as they were, but abruptly exploded in popularity during August 1487. By the turn to 1488, King Kristupas Vilhelmas had two Batavians in his court. The many ideas, teachings, and goods of the modern Batavians sparked a renewed interest in progression while concurrently solving many of the problems the stagnant nation currently had. Influential Batavian merchants became defacto nobles in their own rights with their influence and wealth, leading to a tense state of affairs in the nation: while some adored the progression, others abhorred it, some going as far to destroy imported goods and murder foreign merchants. While this created a public outcry in its own right, it's widely agreed that this was barely the tip of the iceberg of tensions to come throughout Aenvelinck's modern history.

The Vilhelmas government set well into a course of rapid modernization. The widely available foreign teachings led to a more educated populace and the introduction of various new industries. The modernization of the military and the market happened very quickly while the modernization of the government was harshly suppressed, out of the nobles fear of disrupting the status quo. Batavian teachings in politics and world history additionally coaxed the country away from its isolationist views, inspiring interest in foreign affairs. Flashpoints and violence was common although none went as far to become outright rebellion as of yet.

Throughout 1550, the Yamataikoku Kingdom continued to strain until it eventually collapsed; with this, the settlers - shortly after reformed into the Ezo Republic - were left largely to their own devices. Come the passing of the Ketimin Revolt in 1562, leading of the reformation of the Ezo Republic into the Hokuriku Shogunate, the Muryoshiro Dynasty - modern day Hokotani - seceded from the Shogunate. The Vilhelmas and Muryoshiro dynasties fostered good relations until 1571, where King Jurgis Vilhelmas had his daughter marry the ruler of the Muryoshiro Dynasty and subjugated their dynasty as the House of Vossenhell; with this, the Muryoshiro Dynasty became the Grand Duchy of Vossenhell, granted the right to rule their land to the south of the Klasnian Peninsula underneath the Vilhelmas King. With the establishment of the dual-monarchy came the establishment of the Commonwealth of Klasnia, which is widely regarded as the period of Aenvelinck's "golden age". While this maneuver was publicly portrayed as a means to deter Shogunate invasion, King Jurgis I's journal depicts otherwise: the journal depicts what the King had learned of political intrigue from a trusted Batavian adviser, Joël Arendsen, followed by him detailing "the opportunity to gain influence without marching a single army, through the idiocy of foreign nations." This journal went on to become a widely referenced source in favor of the Hokotani Nationalist Revolution.

Astrauckas Reformation (1847 to 1852)

Throughout the majority of Aenvelinck's modern history, change has been rapid and even volatile in the earlier stages. The standard of living was a focal point of these changes throughout the 16th and 17th centuries in particular, namely due to the increased presence of democratic practices and social welfare internationally. The people of the Klasnia were quick to embrace democratic ideals to mixed reception throughout the nobility: while some houses chose to modify their practices to more closely integrate democracy, a change that was less tolerated as much as it was unregulated or ignored throughout the period of rapid change, while others remained firmly autocratic. While not the earliest house to support democratic reform, the House Astrauckas is widely agreed to be the most vocal supporter by 1832.

Hokotani Nationalist Revolution (1910 to 1924)

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Geography

Castle Astrauckas, from the east.

Aenvelinck is located to the east of Meridia, along almost the entirety of the southern coast of the Gulf of Maracaibo. The coastline itself sits low where the land gradually gets higher further inland until it reaches Mount Bagdonas and the Hokotani border; The exception to this is the Kairy mountain range in the west of Aenvelinck. Aenvelinck shares a long border with Hokotani by the border mountain ranges and rivers, and a short border with Hokuriku by the border river.

Aenvelinck largely consists of plains and shrublands, with notable features consisting of the Česnauskis forest range on the northern peninsula closer to the equator, the Kairy mountain range adjacent to the western coast of Aenvelinck, and Mount Bagdonas - with a spot height of 2910 meters (9550 feet) - at the intersection between the Hokotani and Hokuriku borders. To the far west of the nation is the Alvyda Desert, which has little civil significance but serves a large part in the nation's industrial and martial needs.

Climate

Aenvelinck's climate is largely cool and dry. The northern peninsula, with the Česnauskis forest range, is significantly warmer than its southern counterparts, and the Alvyda Desert in the far west is significantly warmer again. The average temperature along the western coast is 6 °C (43 °F) with extremes of 24.5 and −2 °C (76.1 and 28.4 °F). The northern peninsula has an average temperature of 15 °C (59 °F) with extremes of 35 and −5 °C (95 and 23 °F), and the inland ranges have an average temperature of 11 °C (52 °F) with extremes of 25.5 and −1.5 °C (77.9 and 29.3 °F). Rain, while uncommon, is much more frequent along the coastline, especially in the east of the country.

Politics & Government

Aenvelinck is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with the head of state being the Karalienė (Queen) and the head of government being the Eerste Minister (Prime Minister). While the three branches of government are largely left to their own devices underneath the executive branch and function largely as required, the Queen has the power to take "measures in time of strife", including but not limited to: absolution of any state personnel and cabinets and the ability to make overriding executive orders in the form of "royal decrees"; royal decrees can be overturned with the two-thirds support of both the legislative and judiciary branches.

The three branches consist of:

• Legislature: a bicameral parliament comprising the Queen, the Royal House, and the National Assembly.
• Executive: the Royal Council, which in practices gives legal effect to the decisions of the cabinet, comprising the prime minister and ministers of state who advise the Queen.
• Judiciary: the Royal Court of Aenvelinck and other national courts, whose judges are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Royal Council.

In recent years, the powers of the monarch has become an issue of debate among the people and in turn, within the National Assembly. Supporters of the movement call for a change to the constitution to demolish the "defacto absolute monarchy", whereas those in support call it "a necessary precaution to stop tyranny and oppression, within and without". The crown has maintained a strict 'no comment' on the issue, stating that "such is the issue of the Royal House and the National Assembly; it would be bias for anything more than this from the crown."

In the Royal House (upper house), there are 20 senators: five from each state. In the National Assembly (lower house), there are 72 electorates allocated to the states on basis of population. Elections take place every 3 years for the National Assembly and every 6 for the Royal House. The Aenvelin electoral system uses preferential voting and voting is compulsory for citizens over 18. The party with majority support in the National Assembly forms the government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister; in the instance no party has majority support, it falls to the queen to elect a prime minister. Currently, the Liberal Conservative Party holds majority government, with the Aenvelin Labor Party coming close behind.

Military

Main article: Royal Aenvelin Armed Forces

Demographics

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Languages

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Religion

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Culture

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Orders of Chivalry

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