Lushyodorstag

Kingdom of the Lushs Lushyodorstag
823 - 1913
Flag Coat of arms
Historical Lushyodor Kingdom in dark green, the Medenzag in green, and territorial expansions after the Ikonkivoyra in light green
Religion	Docetic Nazarism Alban Nazarism
Government	Monarchy
Lushyodor Korran
• 820 - 840	Garza III
• 1881–1913 (last)	Ansmar II
History
• Baptism of Gerza III	823
• Drevstranese Civil War	1913
Preceded by Succeeded by Lushyod Chiefdom Drevstran

The Lushyodorstag or Kingdom of the Lushs was one of the two Lush kingdoms that came from the partition of king Gerza I retinues. It was historically centered around the mountaineous region known as the Furodommark, even if with time it came to encompass all of modern southeastern Drevstran. While originally less wealthy than its eastern counterpart, and often considered to be a backwater, impoverished, region, The Lushyodorstag slowly emerged as one of the most important states in Eastern Belisaria following the Ikonkivoyra. It was notably one of the centers of the Eastern Renaissance (sometime nicknamed the "Alban Renaissance"), and one of the first state in the world to follow a policy of religious tolerance, with the first Edict of toleration published in 1259.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Lushyodorstag was known as the "Land of All the Heresies", being in its majority of Docetic confession, but also with important Emendatic and Orthodox Iconoclast communities. It was also considered to be a country of pirates and raiders, it's easily defensible borders, central position in Eastern Belisaria, poor natural ressources, and exclusion from both the Fabrian and Orthodox worlds that bordered it making it a privilegied origin for raiders, pirates, and mercenaries.

In 1690, Farza IV, king of the Lushyodors, inherited both the Principality of Yugstran and the Duchy of the Drev. But since these titles were part of [X] who refused to a see a foreign heretic in charge of these principalities, the Lushyodorstag began a long war to press their monarch's claim. Farza successfuly became the new Prince of Yugstran and Duke of the Drev after he defeated [X] armies in battle and converted to Orthodox Christianity, ending the war and uniting all three titles in a personal union known as the Triple Crown. The Lushyodorstag would continue as a constituent principality of what became known as Drevstran, until the beginning of the Drevstranese Civil War in 1913.

History

Ikonkivoyra

When its neighbor, the Kingdom of the Drev, began to implode because of internal turmoils and religious tensions, the Lushyodors took the opportunity to occupy bordering regions which had always been sources of contentions between the two states. They notably occupied the narrow pass known as the "Drev Gate" in 1023, but would lose it a decade later to the armies of the Sevromark. The two states would face regularly in the Sevro-Lush Wars, where the Lushyods would prove unable to push into the territories of the Sevromark, but where the newly created Iconoclast kingdom would also be unable, or unwilling, to follow through with its victory and contest the control of the Medenzag from their ennemies, as they were more concerned with the Duchy of Yugstran. The last of these conflicts ended in 1156 with the signature of a Treaty that fixed the border between the two states and forced the Lushyods to pay a small tribute to its neighbor. This peace would prove to be longlasting, and Lushyods mercenaries would serve in the Sevromark millitary during its last military campaigns and desesperate defense against the Neo-Bayarids.

Gothic Wars

Despite the Lushyod colonisation of the Medenzag, the control of this rich and fertile region would be permanently contested by the Kingdom of Azdraï. Following the peace treaty between the Lushyodorstag and the Sevromark and sensing the weakness of its southern neighbor, King Theodoric II invaded the Medenzag and the Mren Valley. Thourough the following century of conflicts, the Goths ended up taking over most of the north of the river valley, and even twice reached the Furodomark.

It's only with the end of the Ikonkivoyra that the Lushyods began to restructurate their military and their society, with the help of Iconoclasts generals and scholars who fled the Neo-Bayarids to find protection in the Lushyodorstag. Saul I, at the head of this reformed military, launched a devastating invasion that took the entirety of the Mren Valley from the Goths in 1293. A second campaign in 1294 culminated with the conquest of the Gothic capital, and three others between 1295 and 1298 finished all resistance in the Highlands. The collapse of the Azdraï state was complete in 1297, with the death of Euric in battle.

Emendatic Wars

The Ostrozavan column on march

The Emendatic Wars began as a serie of insurections and rebellions in the Azdrheg, generally led by Emendatic ermits and monks who promoted the idea of a united Alban world. This pan-Emendatic ideology spread following the successes of the Ostrozavan Wars of expansions which turned the Grand Duke of Ostrozava into a viable candidate for the rulership of the entire Emendatic world in the eyes of those who wished the return of an idealized Tervingia. While the insurection began in the Azdrheg, it ended up being mostly subdued there, as the violent repression was led mostly by local Gothic rulers who enjoyed privileges and high status under the distant Lushyod ruleship. The idea of a Tervingian revival however, became especially popular in the Alban Pentapolis, in part because it's urban elite was being courted by Grand Duke Roland II, who desired the five cities for their political and religious symbolism, as well as their economical importance. Using piracy from the Lushyodorstag as his casus belli, Roland II landed in the Pentapolis in 1318 after a costly naval warfare against the small fleets of Lushyods privateers, but with the help of local sympathizers who opened the gates from the inside the Ostrozavan ended up taking Barbellon without a fight. What followed was a massacre of Docetic christians and Lushyods in all five of the cities, known as the Barbellon Vespers.

The arrival of the Ostrozavans worsened the Azdrheg insurection, as more and more tribes and clans had to take a side in the ongoing war. Both side ended up with large numbers of Gothic Auxilliaries as the fighting in the Azdhreg devolved into raids and counter-raids, with militias or warband waging campaigns of terrors in territories held by the opposing faction. Confident in the future of the expedition, Roland II returned to Ostrozava, leaving the direction of the campaign to his son, Gabriel Valek. While the Ostrozavan Prince was able to decisively support his Gothic sympathizers in the Azdrheg and make important gains in the Medenzag, the Lushyods slowed down the Ostrozavans through guerilla tactics and piracy, disturbing their supply lines and limiting their range of action. In mid-1319 Gabriel's forces finally reached the Mren river and met the Lushyod king Saul "Komor" the First at the Mrenford. The Ostrozavans won, but couldn't push further south and were forced to camp nearby to rest and reorganize.

Last stand of Prince Gabriel, at the Second Battle of Barbellon

The main Ostrozavan force now pinned, the finest troops at the Lushyodorstag disposal, their permanent forces of horse archers and heavy knights, flanked the invaders by using their naval forces to land far behind their lines. They defeated the urban militias in battle, and then used various tactics and subterfuge to avoid long sieges. Marred by a harsh winter, Prince Gabriel only reached the Pentapolis in 1320. Meanwhile, the Lushyod cavalry had spent the season in the Azdrheg, helping their Gothic allies in quelling the insurection. When the two forces met in battle in the fields before Barbellon, the Lushyods now had large contingent of Azdrheg axemen and skirmishers. It's one of such warriors who would end up killing Prince Gabriel during the Ostrozavan route, an event that would have dramatic repercussion back in the Voivodarate, leading directly to the First War of Succession.

With Gabriel's death and Duke Roland's madness, no official peace treaty could be signed but the war de facto ended in 1320. Anti-insurection campaign and purge of the elements who led the Barbellon Vespers would continue in the following year.

Eastern Renaissance

Drawing of Frigyen II, famous for his Idoloclasts beliefs that pushed him to refuse to be in the presence of a cross or to be painted in royal regalia.

The Emendatic Wars were the end of the idea of a potentially united Emendatic World, but the Lushyodorstag remained divided on religious and, de-facto, ethnic lines. As tensions dwindled in the aftermath of the wars, the Gerzaïd Dynasty, rather than potentially rekindled the flames of a Emendatic insurrection, promulgated numerous Edict of Toleration guaranteeing the protection of all Christian institutions in their country. While the structures of the Docetic Church and of the Emendatic Monasteries had already been fully developed, the Lushyod Court reformed the system so that all that was would be required to open a school on Royal Lands was a doctorate. This reform ensured the creation of a strong, heterodox, theologic tradition. Diverging interpretations and canons became so common from school to school that Lushyod Copists began to write down each book of the Bible independently, allowing for "modular" construction of Bibles.

While there was an explosion of Single-generation Sects as historians call them, the religious tolerance of the Gerzaïds also strengthened the Docetic and the Alban Emendatic Churches ideologically, with many scholars and theologians free to express their ideas and publish their commentaries of the holy texts. But to subdue the problem of the permanent confusion on which texts are canons, and which should not be taken into account, the Docetic and Alban Churches met in 1405 with the patronage of King Lazar V, in an oecumenical council in Pyrovegy. This first inter-faith council successfully produced the first Oecumenical Bible, known as the Bible of Pyrovegy, that was quickly adopted by both churches and spread all around Lake Kulpanitsa.

The climate of religious tolerance was also favored by the diminishing political tensions between Ostrozava and the Lushyodorstag. The High Voivodar's regent, Duke Zigmund Dobrovodsky of Litovia, notably promoted a policy of peace and free trade between the two states. A policy that was reciprocated by the Lushyod king Lazar V. Zigmund Laska, after the Council of Pyrovegy, notably allowed Docetic missionaries to establish schools in Ostrozava, especially in the Fabrian South. Meanwhile, the Lushyodorstag slowly restored the privileges most Emendatic Monasteries had before the Emendatic Wars and even financed the reconstruction of many that had been destroyed during the repression of the Azdrheg rebellion. With the coming-of-age of the Ostrozavan ruler, the governments on both side of the Lake began tractation in view of a matrimonial and political alliance. Once again, Žigmund Láska was the main negociator on the Ostrozavan side, while the aging Larza V sent multiple embassies to Karsko while Zigmund Laska met the Lushyod King personally in 1408. The Grand Duke Aurel Valek was himself favorable to the alliance and the following year, he married Princess Anika, grand-daughter of the Lushyod King. The Matrimonial Alliance and the political and dynastic treaties surrounding it became known as the Compact of the Lake. Lazar V died in 1410, and was succeded by his son, Frigyen II, now the godfather of the Grand Duke of Ostrozava.

A famous example of Drevstranese Naturalism, "The Ermit" by Alexander Lakowitz

Artistically, the Eastern Renaissance in Drevstran was a period of remarkable growth, carried in part by the Drevstranese Naturalism movement. The Naturalists seeked to apply Aniconists ideals to non-religious works, painting natural scenes, landscapes, still-life, and other situation. Alexander Lakowitz is the most famous artist from that period, reknown for his melancholic paintings and dramatic yet calm rendition of everyday scenes, such as in A Pack of Dogs on the Hunt, or Crescent Moon over a Frozen Lake. Drevstraneses Naturalists like Lakowitz relied a lot on the unsaid and subtle indications to tell a greater story without actually showing it or revealing too many details. While Lakowitz and most of the famous Naturalists painted with painstakingly details only to emphasize the insignifiance or conspuous absence of the central theme, a new current emerged later that would, on the contrary, seek to display images and themes with the least details possible, only to keep their core or essence. This Drevstranese Neo-Essentiallism, resurected from the works of previous artists back during the golden age of the Sevromark, would also become greatly popular among the elites of the Lushyodorstag and birth many famous artists such as Amadeus Czajski or Bulsko Varem. This quest of the simplicity without falling into the simplistic would be a motor of the second half of the Eastern Renaissance in Drevstran.

Military

Before settling down in the Furodommark and along the Drev, The Lushyods had been a warlike people, with every adult free mpan obliged to fight. They had been exclusively horsemen, and their culture reflected the importance of this animal. They had been reknown for their horse archers, as well as their use of stratagems regularly ambushing their ennemies or feigning retreats. They were especially dreaded for their night assaults. All Lushyods were armed with a sabre, a spear, and a bow.

When they became sedentary, the Lushyods continued to raise horses for military purposes.

Culture

Even before the Eastern Renaissance, the Lushyodorstag was a center of culture and religious study. It's architecture, arts, and literature spread beyond the borders of the Lushyodorstag into Ostrozava and the Tümen Kingdom, which influenced back the Lushyod society. Important cultural and spiritual centers included the Barbellon for the Emendatic world and Pyrovegy, main Seat of the Docetic Church.

Architecture

Cities in the Furodommark initially resembled huge encampments, encircled by trenches, earth mounds, and other artificial or natural protections. In the largest settlements, such as Farovaros, Inner Cities were separated from the rest of the towns by stone walls constructed with large carved blocks. In the case of Fovaros, the capital of the Kingdom, the Inner city harboured the Royal palace, the Churches, and the nobles residences. Other towns mimicking Farovaros' urbanism also displayed this physical separation between the Inner and Outer city. With time, this spatial separation became more complex, with separate neighbourhoods for the nobility, craftsmen, merchants, and foreigners. Plumbing also appeared relatively quickly in Lushyod cities, bringing water directly from the nearby mountains. They were made either of masonry or of clay pipes.

During the early Lushyodorstag, many valleys and areas of the Furodommark had no town to speak of. Instead, the Lushyods built fortified palaces in difficult-to-access locations. These fortified residences served as administrative centers, noble residences, public markets, and wartime refuges for the nearby villages.

After the adoption of Christianity, intensive construction of churches and monasteries began throughout the country. This construction was only rarely funded by the state and were more generally allowed by donations from the wealthy.