Viragstag
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Kingdom of Virag Viragstag | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 830–980 | |||||||||
 Modern reconstitution of Viragstag royal banner | |||||||||
 The Lushyods dominated states in 850, with Viragstag in blue | |||||||||
| Capital | Viragzag | ||||||||
| Common languages | Lush | ||||||||
| Religion | Aletheism Alban Nazarism | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Vir Korran | |||||||||
• 830 - 855 | Haldar I | ||||||||
• 957 - 980 (last) | Bezias III | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Foundation of Viragzag | 830 | ||||||||
• Death in battle of Bezias III | 980 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
The Viragstag or Kingdom of the Lake was a medieval Lushyod state that existed in south-eastern Belisaria between the 9th and 10th centuries. It was founded in 829-830 when Havar I, a Lushyod prince from the Kingdom of the Drev led his retinue, his tribe, other adventurers, and their Ludic bondsmen on a southern migration to what is modern day Brumen. There, he founded the city of Viragzag on the northern shore of Lake Bluhen, then known by the Lushyods as Viragzod hence the name of both the city and the state. As monarch of the lake, Havar I built a strong state over Ludic, Southern Gothic, and Lushyod populations, and imposing its hegemony over what is northern Brumen.
Following the death of Havar, the kingdom entered a period of decline, locked in warfare with the southern kingdom of Waldreich and the other Gothic states while also struggling with internal conflicts between tribal lords. Back and forth of raids, counter-raids, sieges and localized battles would continue for the next 125 years until Viragzag was taken and its last king killed in battle ending Lushyod dominion over the region. The partition of Virastag among the victors and their partisans led to the creation of the modern constituent principalities of Brumen.
Background
Lake Bluhen before the Lushyods
The centuries following the departure of the Latin Empire but preceding the establishment of the Lushyodorstag is commonly known within Brumen as the War of the Three Nations. They saw long lasting low-intensity warfare between three competing powers - Sudentor, Waldreich, and Bewahren - each trying to establish their legitimacy as successor of Tervingia and hegemon of the southern Goths. Between these three forces many smaller kingdoms, generally representing only one or two tribes, were kept around as buffer states which loyalties changed depending on the balance of power, matrimonial policies, and internal struggles.
The region around Lake Bluhen was especially affected. Since the 3rd century it saw the implantation of many Ludic tribes which became locked in conflict with their Gothics predecessors. From the 6th century onward, after the dissolution of the Alban Federation under the diplomatic and military assaults of the Three States, lake Bluhen and the adjacent lands fell prey to myriads of petty warlords and tribal chieftains, none managing to maintain their power for more than one generation. As a result of this political anarchy it became derogatory known among the Three States' chroniclers as the Northern Emptiness.
The Lushyods
an Ugric people, the Lushyods were a semi-nomadic pastoralists known for their love of both horses and riverboats. They migrated southward, along what's known as the "Lakes Road". By the middle of the 8th century, Lushyod razzias into the Drev river valley changed in nature as the Lushyods began a new cycle of mass-migration, colonizing the Furodomark and the Drev River Valley. By AD 830, the tribes had begun their converstion to Nazarism, of either the Alban or Aletheic denomination, but the majority of Lushyods remained pagans with reputation as heathen pirates and raiders.
History
Establishment
Havar was the second son of the Drevkorrag Worsak I and a prince of the Lushyods. Following the custom of his people, he inherited the leadership of a tribe, the Kurt-Gharmat, who had adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle near the modern city of An Lushem, Drevstran. In 830, the Kurt-Gharmat, led by Havar, would cross the Kaspory Mountains southward into the Northern Emptiness. They subdued the territories north of Lake Bluhen and established a new capital city known as Viragzag. Being both fresh water sailors and semi-nomads pastoralists, the shores of Lake Bluhen provided the Lushyods with all the pastures and fishing they needed.
The relations between the Lushyods and the local Luds and Goths is a matter of debate depending on the interpretation of the southern sources. The superior military and organisational capacity of the Lushyods allowed them to subjugate the local tribes, although some sources claim they willingly joined the burgeoning state through treaties. Local chieftains who had not fought against Havar I were allowed to keep their positions, and the newcomers swore to protect their customs and religion in exchange of a tribute and an annual levy. Lands were taken from the defeated tribes and turned into pastures or Manors. Ludic bondsmen from the Kingdom of the Drev also migrated with their Lushyods masters, boosting the new state' manpower.
Havar rule
Under Havar I, the Viragstag grew quickly in size and in power. He notably maintained his father alliance with the Alban Lauras of the Kastory Mountains, gaining support among most of the Northern Emptiness' tribes while also establishing in his new capital of Viragzag the first Aletheic presbyter of the region.
Havar continued to lead raids against neighboring states, notably Waldreich and Bewahren who had signed an official armistice and non-aggression pact in 833 due to the growing threat of the Lushyods. In 836, Havar I defeat the King of Bewahren in battle and conquered the northern half of the Gothic state giving Viragstag sea access. Similarly, by 840, every northern tributary states of Waldreich and Sudentor had been subjugated.
In 849, Waldreich and Viragstag signed a peace treaty defining the border between the two kingdoms. The same year, the state of Sudentor agreed to pay an annual tribute to Viragstag as it was under the dual pressure of Havar I and his cousin the Lushyodorkorrag. Unchallenged, the Viragstag was free to enjoy the profits of its previous wars and raids with monumental constructions (temples, palaces) in Virazag and elsewhere, development of the manor system, construction of roads, bridges, and acqueduc... these land development projects multiplied as the Viragstag remain without ennemies as Waldreich would fall into civil war.
Second Virag-Gothic War
5 years after Havar' death in 855, the Waldreich was reformed from a tribal confederacy to a kingdom under its new monarch : Klaus the Farmer. Conflicts immediately resumed between the Gothic states and the Viragstag now led by Havar' son : Bezias I. In 862 Sudentor, encouraged by Waldreich, refused to pay tribute to the Viragstag beginning the Second Virag-Gothic War. Sudentor saw Lushyods and Ludic raiders from Viragstag battling against Docetic mercenaries and warbands from the Lushyodorstag recruited by the Goths monarchs to secure their borders, while the Kingdom of Waldreich organized its own raids northward. Ultimately neither operations were successful and the war switched eastward when a Waldreich army saved in-extremis the state of Bewahren after its ruler had been defeated in 864 in battle while trying to regain the territories lost almost three decades ago.
Bezias I (855 - 880) and his son Bezias II (890 - 908) would have to continue handling annual warfare with its southern neighbours. Their main rival would prove to be Waldreich as it had grown much stronger than the other Gothic states through successful military and administrative reforms. Bewahren, weaken by the decades of conflicts, could only allign itself on Waldreich' diplomacy and very rarely ahd the capacity to wage its own wars. Sudentor meanwhile, was often divided on who to support as it perceived both Waldreich and the Viragstag as rivals and potential mortal threats if left unchallenged. Sudentor Thing would thus often sue for peace with the Lushyods whenever the balance of power asked for it and vote for war whenever there was an opportunity.