Axio

Axio Akhsio
Earldom of Cadenza
1635–1721 →
Axio (dark green) and Elagesk (light green) within modern Kelonna
Capital		Veligar
Government		Self-governing colony
Earl
•	1635-68	Ganai Monrola
•	1704-21	Pirien Monrola
History
•	Elevated to earldom	1635
•	Annexed to Kelonna	1721
Area
•	1655	24,088 km2 (9,300 sq mi)
Today part of		Kelonna

Axio (Khadenz: Akhsio) was a self-governing dependency and an earldom of the Maritime Republic of Cadenza between 1635 and 1721. Its territory consisted of the island of Acsia, northwest of Kelonna, and the smaller Rinyin Island. The earldom's capital and main port was the town of Veligar, now Fyaelaport. The Cadenzan presence at Axio was, for most of its history, a thorn in the side of the Kelonnan monarchy, and it helped provoke regular conflict between Cadenza and Kelonna.

History

The colony at Axio was formally established in 1631, consisting of a small whaling station and some agriculture. By 1635 its population barely numbered one hundred, but its port had been substantially expanded to include a cannon battery and an anchorage specifically for naval vessels. As the colony was coming under increasing pressure from Kur'zheti and Kelonnan vessels, the earls of Cadenza elevated it to the status of earldom and co-opted its governor, Ganai Monrola, into their number. It grew quickly thereafter, with much of the island's level ground coming under agriculture as hundreds of colonists arrived from Cadenza.

The island became a major source of sugar for the Cadenzan empire, and the Monrola family became one of the wealthiest in the republic as it profited from harbour dues and customs. Between 1661 and 1670, under earl Ganai and his son Amziad, a palace was built at Veligar out of the family's profits. Despite its enormous economic value, Axio never held more than minor military importance for Cadenza, as three successive military expeditions to the mainland failed to seize anything larger than a coastal strip in the northeast. Torim Viqalka largely superseded Axio's position as a resupply point through the 1670s and 1680s, and the value of the diamond trade from Cadenzan Kamalbia came to outweigh the value of Acsian sugar. By 1720, the garrison at Veligar was little more than a token force, and when the island was invaded by Kelonna in 1721 the republic chose to sell the island rather than fight to keep it.