Antienam

The Republic of Antienam
Flag
Motto: "In Nomine Patris, Et Filii, Et Spiritus Sancti." "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit"
Anthem: Name of the Spirit
Status	Independent state
Capital	Konstantinoupole
Largest city	Oured
Official languages	Vulgar Latin
Recognised national languages	English
Ethnic groups	50.4% Latin 30.6% Helenic 18.0% Other
Religion	93% Christian 6% Other Religion 1% No Religion
Demonym(s)	Antienamese
Government	Democracy
Gini	29.5 low
HDI	0.789 high
Currency	Danarii (DNI)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+39
Internet TLD	.ani

Antienam, also referred to as the Republic of Antienam, is a nation located in the North-East region of Ardentia. Antienam borders multiple nations, on the east coast it borders the nations of Atraland, on the southern borders, it borders both the nations of Etrius and Solingarch. The Republic of Antienam is home to the compassionate and most devoted to both their nation and national religion. Antienam is known for it's beautiful architecture and buildings, an amazing example would be both it's well preserved marble-statues during the nations early ages and the many historic buildings that had been preserved from it's antiquity periods. One historic building would be the Church of Sancta Sophia, the massive church going back to the 1st Century.

Antienam is widely known for having it's national religion, being Christianity, many scholars debate whether the nation either follows Traditional Catholicism or Orthodoxy, but it's generally accepted that the nation follows main-line Christianity. Christianity was introduced by an Apostle of Christ <TBA> by the year of 55 a.E, then becoming the nation's national religion by the end of 66 a.E.

Other than religion, Antienam experienced many events throughout it's history, from it's founding at 753 a.C to present day a.E. In a bit of irony, Antienam's early history is often shrouded in mystery, even the origins of the first leader. It's widely accepted by scholars and historians that the early known history of Antienam was subsequently burnt during the Great Fire of Konstantinoupole in the first century, engulfing many of it's history before the first century.

History

It's important to understand that for the next section of history, is based on legends surrounding it's very first leaders. Not all scholars and historians agree that this is how history went for Antienam, rather they agree that this is the only piece of history that goes along the lines of the actual story. Starting from the 19th century, many great explorers and historians are still uncovering Antienam's history, only up to 2007 did they discover the Patmos Scrolls which despite being a massive archeological find that benefitted the history of Antienam, is still missing the early pieces of Antienamese History.

Early History

The Legend

According to Legend, Pantaleon and Ferminius were both twins of an unnamed woman who, was working within a religious order and abstained from having children. One day during a regular event within the order, they suddenly were raided by a tribe, who ransacked their town and committed atrocities onto the people. Their leader, who was a king, found and decided to make sure the woman bear his child. The woman never agreed but was forced to do so against her own will, where she gave birth to both to Pantaleon and Ferminius. A year later, the king, realizing that his children could grow up and murder him, decides to murder the woman he impregnated against her own will, and make sure the twins drown by the river, which by today, is still unknown.

The tribal soldiers hired by the king, soon find the woman unguarded with her children, and soon brought her to the river and decapitated her before subsequently dropping her head to the river, letting both the head and it's body bleed into the water. Unfortunately for the soldiers it made the job harder for them to drown the twins as they could not tell where they were due to the blood of the river. Unbeknownst to the soldiers the twins were long gone as they were carried by the river, to which after trying to find for so long, concluded they would've died from the current alone, and left the scene.

Meanwhile Pantaleon and Ferminius were luckily saved by a Shepherd, who saw the two frantically trying to swim, to which they were brought to their shelter presumably near modern day Konstantinoupole. The two would later be fed by the Shepherd's family. According to many religious scholars and a portion of historians who were keen in listening to legend, they all believed this shepherd was either a guardian Angel sent by the Lord, a shepherd who was appointed by him or was the lord himself. Whatever it may be, they agree this was one of the earliest known reference to Antienamese Christianity as a whole. Meanwhile, the soldiers who had murdered the woman, reported back to the king that they had killed both the woman and their children, to which the king rewarded them with Gold and Silver.

Pantaleon and Ferminius

Pantaleon and Ferminius would later grow up to be very capable warriors, often being on good terms. And soon when they were 18, gathered enough men to slaughter the monster that had murdered their own mother, by the late 770-760(?) gathered enough men and went on to do an act of vengeance. The king by this point, had grown old and corrupt, but when they heard that two people was coming to get him, without even realizing who they were, decided to gather his own men. The two met at battle outside of the king's town, which would later be called Battle of the Wills, the King's men outnumbered the brothers by 2:1, and yet by sheer luck, the brothers won the decisive battle. The King died after falling off his horse and drowning by a river, connected to the original river where the woman of the brothers had originally died.

After the battle had ended, Pantaleon and Ferminius would liberate the king's territory, and soon enough, by 753 a.C form their own country.

Establishment of the Kingdom

Pantaleon and Ferminius would found Antienam by the year of 753 a.C, but under a kingdom. Despite being on good terms, this moment marked the tipping point between the brother's relationship, and that now Pantaleon grew a massive disdain towards his brother Ferminius, who had also grown to be an absolute womanizer. Antienam was founded where the city of Konstantinoupole would soon be located. The first act that Pantaleon would do was to fortify the walls of the city, where in later years would be rebuilt into the Great Walls of Konstantinoupole.

Pantaleon would do most of the work, establishing many trading outposts outside of the kingdom, creating many farms, and creating a working class system similar to the modern day working class. Ferminius meanwhile took great interest with women, to which Pantaleon would see as blasphemy.

For a decade, the city would soon be a filled with various people, farmers, colonists, refugees and many others. Pantaleon by the end of the decade would create the very first army, researchers, scholars and historians alike estimate their army consisted of 500-900 recruits, equipped with the great ancestor of the famous Helenic Helmets. However, despite the advances in helmet technology, things could not be the same for their main armor, being just a simple plate over the chest and a large tunic that extends towards the knees. It was either that, or a copy of Helena’s armors, which were pretty rare in use. With the Antienamese pioneering a form of "shield warfare" using the famous Scutum shields and short swords. It's important to understand that despite this, the army was heavily outnumbered, but their training made up for their strength. Pantaleon trained the army rigorously according to ancient sources.

The Kingdom spanned a few miles away of where modern day Konstantinouple would be, however, it would not be long before Antienam had to face threats inland.

The Latin Wars

The Latin wars were a series of wars between the Kingdom of Antienam, and three nearby nations that are now provinces in modern day Antienam. Those were, the Picenum to the south, the Decamnites to the north-east and the nation of Helena. Lasting from 748 a.C to 743 a.C, this war was the first time Antienam would experience warfare since it's creation as a kingdom. The first war was the Decamnites War (748 a.C - 747 a.C), with the second being a war between Antienam and Helena (747 a.C - 744 a.C) and the war against Picenum (744 a.C - 743 a.C)

The war between the Decamnites broke out by accident, when a small force of Decamnites mistakenly identified an Antienamese settlement for a barbaric tribe. They were quick to bloodshed and plundering whatever they could find. This event would be called the Sack of the Town of Umbral, the town of Umbra would be located within modern day Strategopoulos. This shocked both the brothers, who by this point, were fed up putting up laws for the Kingdom. Despite their early defeat, Antienam was quick on the offensive, charging head first against the Decamnites. The war would ultimately shift to the Antienamese side due to how vengeful they were and ultimately, after dozen so battles. The Decamnites would surrender and be incorporated by the Kingdom. However it wouldn't be too long before Antienam would have to fight Helena.

The war between Antienam and Helena was all because of Ferminius addiction to women, as he felt just having one wife wasn't enough. And so, with a legion of men, he marched to a nearby town held by Helena, and sacked all it's women to being his slaves. Pantaleon was obviously infuriated he had provoked another war after finishing a war on their own terms. At the time, Helena was led by a female, whom sources refer to as "Souvella", and when news were brought to her, she was furious. She had gotten Helena out of a civil war and was now also facing another war, but with no alternatives, decided to go on the offensive against Antienam.

Murder of Ferminius

By the time news had gotten that the Empress of Helena had declared war against the Kingdom of Antienam, Ferminius was ready to face Helenic forces at the nearby mountain, near the capital of Helena. Pantaleon had earlier sent word that Ferminius should hold out until he was able to negotiate a ceasefire. However to the dismay of Pantaleon, Ferminius never got word of that Ferminius had heard read his letter, Pantaleon immediately raced towards the encampment.

A fierce battle commenced at night, by this time the season was winter. the Antienamese forces led by Ferminius, were besieged by a large Helenic force, no matter how hard Ferminius could muster his troops to keep defending, the winter season showed to Ferminius that his forces were no match against a well-trained Helenic legion. So in one last effort, Ferminius ordered all his troops to march out and charge in a brutal battle.

Legend has it that, by the time Pantaleon was riding his horse on a mountain trail, he could see the battle unfurl down the mountain. Knowing there was little to no hope of saving Ferminius' forces, he abandoned him to his own wrongdoing. When the battle was finished, Ferminius was the only one that survived, and subsequently was brought to a place similar to a hippodrome. There he was shown to the crowd, where he was humilated and beaten by the locals and some Helenic troops. Legend says that the Empress walked out of her seat and approached Ferminius and challenged him to a gladiatorial fight between him and Souvella. He reluctantly agreed.

The fight began, both of them were wearing nothing but just their own weaponry, which were short-bladed swords. Historians and scholars alike had debated for quite some time how long the battle had lasted, but many agree it was a short battle, in which Souvella killed Ferminius instantly and beheaded him. Showing his head around the crowd before asking one of her advisors to send this head to Pantaleon.

Subsequent Events

Pantaleon, whom by this point, was busy bolstering up his Kingdom's troops in a war between Helena. By the time Pantaleon recieved Ferminius' head, the war had grinded to a stalemate, with both sides doing no further actions. Pantaleon, upon seeing his brother's head, remarked that "There could be many ways we could've been my brother, and yet you chosen this path for lust. No matter if you and I were a leader, history will mark you as [if not] one of the ugliest marks our [nation] has yet to offer." Before properly burying his brother's head.

Subsequently, Pantaleon orders his new and reformed army to march out to Helena and face a war they didn't want. Dozens of battles would occur, before finally Antienam marched at the capital of Helena, unlike his brother, Ferminius, who would obviously ransack the capital. Pantaleon drew a line on how similar he and his brother could be, and simply enforced the army to be in good moral and hearts when entering a capital. Pantaleon would arrive at the palace of Souvella, which is still present in modern times. There he saw Souvella, waiting at her throne, Legend has it that Pantaleon greeted her properly and asked that Helena would be incorporated into the Kingdom, with no further repercussions needed.

Souvella saw this as an opportunity she guranteed wouldn't see if Ferminius was the leader of Antienam. And so agreed, Souvella kept her power (although as a regional governor) and was allowed to visit anywhere even in Pantaleon's place. The people were shocked to see how nicely Antienam treated their nation, unlike how Ferminius treated them first.

End of the Latin Wars

By the end of 743 a.C, Antienam had secured it's place once more, after dealing with another war in which Pantaleon was provoked by Picenum. The Kingdom was able to rest firm, while Pantaleon sat back and wrote new laws to bury the old ones. And by 740 a.C, Pantaleon established the very first lineages of senates. The reason he created the senates were simple, he didn't know what to do so he created a system in which he could hear from others, others who were representatives of various regions the Kingdom had owned, including Helena, in which was represented by Souvella.

Another thing to point out is when the Helenic war ended, Pantaleon ended up having good terms with Souvella, to the point many historians declared the two as lovers in the most unlikely of times. In which as history would point up, the two would have an affair with each other, and bore children.

Death and Succession

Pantaleon and Souvella would enjoy much time with each other, before eventually in a turn of events, the two would die at the same day for reasons unknown. The senate, hearing about this, declared the second King to rule Antienam, however historians are still finding evidences on who the names of the kings were, but it's generally accepted that Antienam would just have seven kings. With the final two being absolute tyrants and be the undoing of the kingdom, and the begining of the republic.

Transition to a Republic

The transition to a republic, meant the disposal of the title of kings. So the senate agreed to create a two-consuls role, where two people will be elected by popular vote. However, their rule would only last a year before two new heads have to be elected. But despite this, the transition to a republic was hard, as soon enough Antienam would have to deal with the series of wars that would put a mark on the nation.