Kingdom of Reynes
Kingdom of Reynes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 834 BME–342 BME | |||||||||
 Layout of Reynes in 400 BME | |||||||||
| Common languages | Rasnan | ||||||||
| Religion | Reynesan Religion | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Reynesan | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 834–799 BME | Velthur Tarquinisa Valashna | ||||||||
• 343–342 BME | Soteris Lupicinus Valashna | ||||||||
| Historical era | Casaterran Iron Age | ||||||||
| 834 BME | |||||||||
| 342 BME | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Serenoro | ||||||||
The Kingdom of Reynes is an early period of Reynesan history in which the city and surrounding territory were ruled by a monarchy. The majority of modern understanding of their time period comes from preserved secondary histories, namely from Senator Callipho Gellius's The Histories dated 120 BME and by Eligius Iovius incompleted works known as the History and Legend of Reynes which he stopped working on with of the end of his life in 21 ME. The kingdom's founding myth has it established in 834 BME near the Savio river on Carti Hill and the Kingdom period ends with the overthrow of the Reynesan monarchy during the Culling of the 101.
History
Origin and Etymology (840-834 BME)
Archaeological evidence shows that permanent human settlement around the city of Reynes had been ongoing since at least 1200 BME, however the mythical foundation of the Kingdom is given to be 834 BME, a date repeated in most historical references due to its importance in Reynesan Religion. In the mythical founding of the city is said to have been by its first king, Velthur Tarquinisa Valashna, who named the city after his beloved son, Reynes Velthurla Valashna was killed fighting a barbarian tribe in roughly 840 BME.
In the foundational mythos, Velthur Tarquinisa Valashna lead a band of exiles from the city of Sabernus, modern day Saberno, after being kicked out from the city by the King Piste. Velthur followed the Savio river up stream and into the heartland of Serenium. The exiles stopped for a night and, after giving sacrifice to the gods Tinia, Nethuns, and Horta gave Velthur a vision as he slept of the land they were to settle. Reportedly at this time a band of bandits and barbarians attacked the exiles and in the fighting, Velthur's son Reynes Velthurla Valashna was killed. Velthur and his followers continued on their journey and after some time came to the land that Velthur had seen in his vision. It seems they may have attempted to settle at certain points along the river, but were driven off by local kingdoms or tribes.
In 834 BME they came to a ford in the Savio river and settled on the Carti Hill for protection. Velthur immediately set on constructing a wooden palisade around the hill. The small city would slowly grow over the years as it attracted numbers of colonists from other cities, looking to start a new life. Its position downstream from the wealthy coastline cities allowed it to tax trade goods coming from settlements around the Larius Lake to the coastal cities, including Sabernus.
Reynes as a City-State (833-742 BME)
For nearly a century after Reynes saw itself expand and absorb smaller villages either through political pressure or military conquest. This allowed Reynes to expand its sphere of influence and establish itself as a small, but solid city-state. With the death of King Velthur in 812 BME, the kingdom managed to practice peaceful hereditary succession for some years. Either by adopting a son or by blood relation, the king would ensure peaceful transfer of power by selecting his heir years in advance. This would be an ongoing and until the murder of the last of the Valashna dynasty in 742 BME by a noble seeking to sieze the throne for himself.
The Year of Three Kings (742 BME)
In 742 BME, the sitting king Larza Clantila Valashna and his family was murdered in a plot orchestrated by Appius Liburnius Candidianus, a nobleman who attempted to seize the throne for himself. He was opposed however by a number of rival noblemen who attempted to put their own heir forward, Lar Vesuvius Casca. Along with this, the many lower-status citizens and disenfranchised residents supported their own king, the lower nobleman Kaeso Fulvius Trogus who promised certain reforms in favor of the lower plebeian classes.
Conflict broke out very quickly, as the three factions began open fighting between mobs of the various factions in the streets of Reynes. Appius Candidianus and his small faction was quickly overwhelmed, with Appis being murdered in an alley by a gang of bandits only a month after his attempted usurpation.
The two factions, now split between the Plebeians and Kaeso Trogus and the elite Equites with Lar Casca initially attempted a kind of joint-rule between the two. However Trogus attempted to push a law allowing more political and economic freedom to the villages that were governed by the small city-state. This would threaten the economic status of the Equites class, who were the principal landowners. Casca gathered a levy of men and marched on Trogus’ home killing him and his family. The plebeians broke into open revolt and parts of the city were torched by the rioters, however Lar Casca, now with his position cemented and no real rivals to his power, brought in mercenaries to assist the levy troops to crush the revolt. By the end of the year the city would be again at peace.
Subjuction (743-532 BME)
The political and economic situation in Reynes was greatly compromised following the civil war. This brought the attention of the nearby Confederation of Lucania which saw an opportunity to subjugate the city-state. King Postumianus organized a large army and marched on Reynes and besieged it. King Casca did not attempt to meet the Lucanians in open battle, and instead surrendered his city to Postumianus.
For the next 200 years the city-state would be a subject of the Confederation, it would be allowed to retain a king, but overall sovereignty would be in the hands of the Lucanian king. The city-state would become more powerful economically even as it was a puppet kingdom, the city rapidly becoming a vital trade hub. This would lead to the city building some of the first of its roads which would come to link much of the ancient world together.
The prosperity would last until the mid-6th century BME, when the Confederation of Lucania would be soundly defeated by the Ruso-Dorian Empire. When the Empire arrived in central Serenium, the king at the time saw an opening to attain his cities independance again and attempted to make a deal with the two kings of the Ruso-Dorian Empire. A deal was reached and Reynes broke away from the Confederation and fought alongside the Empire. However when the Confederation was defeated, the two kings turned their army on Reynes and defeated it in a series of devastating battles.