Eisenreich

Größeres Eisenreich Eisenland
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Suum cuique To each, his own
Anthem: [1] "Glory to the Empire"
Location of the Eisenreich Location of the Eisenreich
Capital	Eisenwald
Largest city	Salzstreif
Official languages	Ermanic and Sorbian
Demonym(s)	Eisener
Government
• Kaiser	Kaiser Konrad V
• Chancellor	Chancellor Josefine von Ritter
• Heir Apparent	Felix von Hohenhoff
Legislature	Lantag
• Upper house	Reichsrat
• Lower house	Kaiserliche Versammlung
Establishment
• Ermanic Unification	238
• Mirror War	677
• Imperial Coronation	917
• Great Revolution	1623
• Imperial Reformation	1843
Population
• 2020 census	120,000,000
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$5.1 Trillion
• Per capita	$40,800
Gini (2020)	30.7 medium
HDI (2020)	.880 very high
Currency	E Eisener Imperial Mark (EIM)
Date format	yyyy-mm-dd (official) dd-mm-yyyy (common use)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+05
ISO 3166 code	ER; TER
Internet TLD	.er

Eisenreich, officially the Greater Iron Empire, is a large Hebrian nation of 120 million people located on a TBD land area along with overseas Imperial Departments. To the nation's immediate south is the Twin Duchies with whom the Empire has enjoyed relative peace for nearly seven centuries. Currently the Empire is considered a Superpower in Regnum politics and serves as the leader of the Eisenpakt bloc of monarchist and nationalist governing nations. The Eisenreich is a successor state to the Reich der Einheit Empire of Oneness which was technically the second empire to make up the area that is the Eisenreich today.

History

First Ermanic Empire

The First Ermanic Empire as it is known today has its roots in the roots of the northern tribelands and the southern territories which belonged to the !NotRomanEmpire for several centuries. During the First and Second Centuries of the Common Era, the lands of the Ermani tribes along the northern plains and coasts began to feel great changes as cultural innovations bled into their lands through trade with the !NotRomanEmpire. The loose tribal confederation that had sprung up to resist !Roman occupation and ultimately succeeded in keeping Ermania out of the !NotRomanEmpire morphed into a group of petty realms as imperial influence receded. In their absence the Sorbian peoples embarked on a great campaign of unification of the Ermani peoples under their banner. King Leutpold I Batavin was able to bring the majority of the Ermanic peoples under his banner in a series of conflicts in the Third Century and by 238 had succeeded in his initial goal. The First Ermanic Empire was proclaimed and King Leutpold established the Batavine Dynasty which would rule without interruption until the First Empire's collapse during the Dark Centuries in the Fifth Century.

The First Empire was centered on the small village turned city Halle and during the First Empire's reign the village went from 5,000 people to a prosperous 150,000. The city today boasts its lineage back to the First Empire and is the place at which all Kaisers of the Eisenreich pay homage in the form of a pilgrimage after the death of their predecessor. The First Empire's Golden Age is attributed to its vast salt and amber wealth that was traded with neighboring states. During the Fifth Century a succession dispute known only as the Scorned Interregnum erupted after the death of Kaiser Leopold II which saw the city of Halle completely burned and the records kept there carted off and the vast majority were never recovered. A series of three Emperors claimed to reign in this Interregnum but it would be Conrad I Anhauser who would emerge successfully from his seat of power at Altenburg and would restore authority to the ailing empire. Unfortunately internal and external pressures had mounted in the Interregnum and would come to a head when Conrad died just ten years later without having been able to fully achieve reunification. The Empire formally was dissolved by the Diet of Altenburg in 580.

Dark Centuries

Following the Interregnum and the general collapse of Imperial Authority under the Batavin dynasty, the First Ermanic Empire was dissolved by majority vote of the Regnal Electors at the Diet of Altenburg in 580 of the Common Era. Between 580 and 917 of the Common Era, the territories of the Ermanic Peoples were disunited and constant warfare was commonplace. The absence of a strong central authority had led to great strife and a seemingly never ending dark cloud hung over the identity of the people. The general life expectancy, local economies and the orderly society that had been established under the Batavine was gone and a wandering era had begun. Adding salt to the wound a major conflict known as the Mirror War broke out between two of the strongest Kingdoms in 677 and would last as an off again, on again conflict for thirty years until 707.

The Mirror War

In 677 the King Markus von Einhalle of the Kingdom of Batavia had betrothed his daughter to his arch-rival the King Arnulf von Meer of the Kingdom of Louvain but on her way to Louvstadt her entourage was attacked and killed. The Princess Josephine was beheaded and her father immediately assumed the worst and thus ordered an attack against King Arnulf. Within just weeks the entirety of the old Ermanic Empire was consumed in the conflagration that had erupted. Though historians today debate whether Markus or Arnulf were behind the death of the Princess, the truth was never discovered as both men died before the end of the conflict and none close to them ever confirmed if either had been behind the event that had started the conflict.

Both the Kingdom of Batavia and the Kingdom of Louvain were leaders of alliances that had formed for mutual protection. The economic and military might both Kingdoms enjoyed allowed them to flex their muscle and influence the smaller Kingdoms and Petty States around them. Batavia struck first and was able to take several border cities and castles in the months after the Princess' death. Fearing that mobilization of his allies would take too long King Arnulf of Louvain challenged King Markus to single combat as was an ancient custom from the First Empire. The two met in the neutral Free City of Iserlohn where they dueled. Unfortunately King Arnulf had tricks up his sleeve and though he was able to strike down King Markus, the latter's heir and successor, Prince Wilhelm refused to accept the terms and continued the war on the grounds that Arnulf had poisoned Markus through the wine they shared before the battle. Though a weak and relatively unsupported claim, an attendant dropped dead from poison within an hour seemingly confirming the now King Wilhelm von Einhalle's thoughts.

The War would heat up and major battles would be fought most notably at Marl, Lünen and Rothenburg. Joining Batavia were the Kingdoms of Perlen, Speerhalten and the Duchies of Bernstein, Würze and Fluss der Glätte. Joining Louvain was the Kingdom of Toussaint, Duchies of Aster and Bergmeer and the Freie Städte Republik (Free Cities Republic). The powers outside the conflict had varied influence on the matter and some would lend mercenaries, supplies or finances to the warring factions which certainly prolonged the war. King Arnulf of Louvain would be killed in the Battle of Marl in 685 and his successor Arnulf II would be slain at the hands of assassins sent by King Wilhelm of Batavia in 691. King Wilhelm was killed by his wife after the death of their son at the Battle of Rothenburg in 700. It would be in 705 that King Wilhelm Louis I von Einhalle and King Rudolf I von Meer at the behest of the !PopeName would finally sit down and begin the arduous task of ending the war and what had become a blood feud between the Kingdoms. Finally in 707 the two agreed that King Wilhelm Louis' son Geoffrey and King Rudolf's daughter Hildegarde would be wed and the two Kingdoms would be united through their offspring.