Medieval History of Flatstone

For Premodern History of Flatstone, see Premodern History of Flatstone.

For Modern History of Flatstone, see Modern History of Flatstone.

The modern history of Flatstone can be traced as far back as the year 1089, when Ejek Vedotin would make his legendary rise to power and unify the nation under a theocratic government for the first time in history. Records that go further into the past 1089 exist, although they are extremely rare. For history predating the year 1089, see the Premodern History of Flatstone. For history dating after the year 1700, see the Modern History of Flatstone It is believed that the modern Stonish peoples that occupy the archipelago today arrived in Flatstone by boat sometime around three to four thousand years ago, and have dominated it culturally since. There is no evidence that there were any inhabitants of the islands prior to this migration.

Flatstone in it's modern state came into fruition after the First and Second Stonish War of Unification, during which the term "Flatstone" became popularly and was regularly used. Prior to this, the archipelago was most commonly referred to as "Ivilia", which was a coined term in-use since before 1089 to describe premodern Flatstone and it's proto-Ivili speaking inhabitants prior to the language split.

Chapter I: Ejek Vedotins War

Ejek Vedotins Declining Health

The lifeless corpse of Crown Bishop Ejek Vedotin on his deathbed in 1144.

One hundred years years of peaceful rule over the archipelago allowed for the gradual spread and implementation of Geology, the religion originally introduced to the nation by Ejek himself. However, in 1141 the Crown Bishop's health took a serious turn for the worse, having contracted what historians believe to be Tuberculosis. For three years, doctors nation-wide would visit the crown bishop in a desperate attempt to revitalize Ejeks worsening health, to no avail. After a variety of methods and dozens of miracle cures, Ejek Vedotin would pass away in 1144, leaving his short-lived kingdom without a true successor. Over the next ten years, the nation would manage to keep itself partially intact with the help of priests that had banded together to form a "regency council" to act as the ruling government while a qualified successor could be chosen. However, the corruption that had developed amongst the members of the clergy had severely worsened following the death of Ejek and thus no true successor would ever be found. Instead, the stability of the order would only continue to worsen, eventually leading to the dissolution of the order and the recreation of the Taverkny Clan, and shortly after the South Ivili Clan as well. The remaining territory possessed by the order fragmented after the regency council disbanded and fled in hiding, leaving the Northern Ivili Clan in pieces and without an heir. Over the course of fifty years, the various clans would engage in various skirmishes with each-other to no avail, eventually leading to an universal ceasefire in 1195.

Birth of Andesen Von Stone

Andesen Von Stone was born just one year before the ceasefire. He had been born into an isolated farmhouse somewhere in Suntugā, supposedly growing up with his mother and potentially his father, although it should be noted that his mother was believed to have been widowed. Not a lot is known about Andesens childhood and his progression into adulthood, but what is certain is that Von Stone was a name that he gave to himself, and his original last name is unknown. It is likely that Andesen taught himself archery and swordsmanship at a young age, as by the time the First War of Unification broke out in 1211 his performance in battle and leadership was of high standards. Andesen left for the capital of Vedotī at age fourteen in order to find work and make money, however rather then starting a farm of his own or participating as an architect, Andesen would be quick to find his way into the politics of Northern Ivili, establishing himself as the self-proclaimed successor of Ejek Vedotin at the age of 17 and taking after his beliefs and accomplishments, using religion as a tool to seize and maintain power through authoritarian means. By the time he was 18, the civil war was in full swing and Andesen had couped the remnants of Northern Ivili in the same fashion as Ejek Vedotin had a century prior.

Chapter II: Wars of Unification

First Stonish War of Unification

Annexation of the Northern Islands Kosīdosugā

Andesen had successfully managed to reconquer all of the lands controlled by Ejek Vedotin after his death; however, he was not yet ready to put his ambitions to rest. In mid-late 1232, only a few months after his Northern Ivili victory over the rest of the archipelago, Andesens health began to quickly decline. The reason as to why this happened is unknown, however it is believed that it came with age and it is entirely possible that it was the biproduct of an unknown medical condition possessed by the newly-crowned king. Autopsies preformed on the remains of the king found traces of TB (or Tuberculosis), leading many to believe that it was his cause of death. Despite this, Andesen would not end up passing until 1237, many years after the end of the First Stonish War of Unification. The Ou Clan had been in a constant state of decline for the past three centuries, gradually losing it's cultural territory in the south and many of it's islands in the Kosīdosugā archipelago to the Southern Ivili Clan. Flatstone had inherited all of the lands conquered by the Southern Ivili as well as their claims in it's treaty of surrender, allowing Andesen, who possessed an army much larger then that of the Ou, to enforce the claims established by the Southern Ivili on the northern Kosīdosugā islands. The two islands would subsequently be occupied and annexed with little to no resistance by the army of the Ou clan, which had received warning of the occupation prior to the arrival of Andesens army.

Expulsion of the Ou Peoples

Just five days after the decision to occupy the northern Kosīdosugā islands was finalized, Andesen published a rough-draft of a plan to forcefully migrate and/or expel the Ou minorities living on and around the southern coast of Poşotī and the northern Kosīdosugā out of Stonish-controlled lands into the few islands still controlled by the Ou Clan. While Kristen Ou was initially hesitant to accept this demand, his freedom of choice was short-lived as Andesen threatened military occupation if he were to decline. The expulsion of the Ou peoples that inhabited southern Poşotī was an uncalled-for cultural catastrophe that still scars the south of Flatstone to this day. What remains of the Ou Clan remains politically and culturally isolated from the rest of Flatstone to this day, often encouraging various paramilitary organizations throughout the Ou Clan to take military action against the Kingdom of Flatstone in the name of secession; an idea that is considered by many to be extremist in nature.

Second Stonish War of Unification

Ou Submission and Incorporation into the Kingdom

The humiliating defeat that the Ou sustained in Kumonlān resulted in the nations capitulation to the Stonish army shortly after, as the Ou possessed no other cities of considerable size, and they no longer had a fleet capable of standing up to that of the Stonish. A treaty was drafted by Andesen Von Stone on January 1st of 1235 after one year of a Stonish occupation in Kumonlān. The treaty was signed by Kristen Ou of the Ou Clan, officially acknowledging the Ou's surrender and annexation into the greater Kingdom of Flatstone. This included Ou claims on the Mīdlosugā islands that had been discovered by Ou merchants during the First Stonish War of Unification. The southern Kosīdosugā and the Mīdlosugā islands would be organized into a subdivision, becoming their own province under the Stonish Crown where the Ou people were granted a great deal of autonomy, receiving the right to implement their own laws, maintain their own language, and most importantly, decide the fate of religion throughout the Ou clan.

Geologist Schism

In the December of 1237, king Andesen Von Stone of Flatstone would pass away, leaving his recently united kingdom in the hands of his son, Ejek Von Stone. However, Ejeks inauguration would not take place until five months after the death of his father, giving a small amount of wiggle-room where Stonish absolutism was not enforced. The Ou Clan used this opportunity to go violate religious laws that had been put into place by Andesen Von Stone, as he was no longer around to enforce them. Geologism, Flatstones largest and official religion, was largely practiced throughout the Kosīdosugā islands. However, the Ou believed that Geologism was preventing them from using the autonomy that had been granted to them to the fullest effect. To counter this, Kristen Ou's successor decided that the only way to solve this religious predicament was to separate the Geologist followers in the lands of the Ou Clan from the Geologist followers in the lands of the rest of Flatstone. The Geologist church would be split into two when the Ou King negotiated with the local Əɉōm in Ou territory, convincing them to split from the Geologist faith and instead enforce their own denomination of the Geologist faith, known as Vecism. This Geologist split would divide the religion in two until 2022, when king Dag Von Stone would reunite the two religions using the absolute power granted to him at birth by his predecessor.  

Chapter III: The Northern Doctrine (1269-1325)

The Şungokāgo (Meaning "Reconstruction") was a period in Stonish History following the conclusion of the Stonish Wars of Unification. Starting during the reign of Stonish King Ejek Von Stone, it marks the beginning of the nations transition from an isolated, religiously-dominated archipelago to a Southern-Sunadic naval hegemon. Additionally, the Şungokāgo includes the colonization of the Şotīgābon and Mīdlosugā archipelagos, further reinforcing the nations plans for a position as a navally-dominant superpower in the region for the short period of time that it was capable of achieving it.

Construction of the Vedotī Imperial Palace (1236-1243)

Throughout the seven years that it took to construct the imperial palace, a variety of methods were used to compensate for the lack of sufficient human labour. The most notable of these methods was slavery, a practice that has been universally frowned upon within the nation of Flatstone since it's creation in the 1230's. However, this was an exception, as completing the construction of the palace was deemed urgent by Ejek Von Stone, the King of Flatstone at the time of the palace's construction, and at the time there was an abundance of Taverkny and Ou soldiers that had been captured by the Northern Ivili army during the reunification wars. Ejek Von Stone finalized the decision to use slave labour to speed up the process of construction, enlisting upwards of three-hundred prisoners of war to participate in the palace's construction in 1238, two years into the palace's construction. The sacrifice of these men is honored with a memorial that was placed outside of the entrance of the imperial palace for all to see.

Settlements in Şotīgābon (1270-1275)

The first recorded discovery of the Şotīgābon archipelago in Stonish history was in 1270, when Stonish merchants accidentally stumbled upon the island during a voyage to the Neil Canal. However, the first official settlement of the island wouldn't occur until 1273, when Ejek Von Stone funded an expedition to the island that he allowed one of his volunteering officers to supervise. Ejek himself would not arrive in Şotīgābon until 1275, when he would remain on the island for two months before returning to Vedotī. After this, Ejek Von Stone would have little to do with the development of the Stonish colony, as he was preoccupied with the economic recovery of the nation from it's two wars of reunification, as well as Ou settlement of the Mīdlosugā. The islands would be placed under the jurisdiction of Stonish admiral Gert Koch, an officer that had served during the second reunification war, who would remain as the governor until his death in 1291.

Chapter IV: Invasions of Hoterallia

First Stonish Invasion of Hoterallia

Outbreak of War

An increase in activity by Stonish merchants in the Neil Strait resulted in a variety of small skirmishes between Stonish and Hoterallian naval craft. This eventually lead to the Stonish king, Andesen I, delivering a letter to the Hoterallian Emperor Gon-Suda himself, demanding that these interferences cease, otherwise facing war. Two letters were sent, both of which were discarded as Hoterallia had no way of translating the Stonish language properly and were thus unable to read the letters, leading to war between the two nations.

Post-War Recovery

The war between the two nations had initially started after King Andesen I of Flatstone delivered an ultimatum to the Hosu Taichimate, demanding that Hoterallia cease naval activity in the Neil Strait, theoretically putting an end to Hoterallian interference with Stonish trade running through the Neil Strait and surrounding bodies of water.

The ultimatum, written by Andesen I himself and delivered to Emperor Gon-Suda by Stonish emissaries, contained the following;

In spite of recent events, it has come to my attention that Hoterallia has decided to undermine my merchants, the very same merchants that just months ago I had sent to maintain my kingdoms trade through the Neil Strait. I've decided to take this as an insult, as for you to believe that you can so subtly interfere with the distribution of my faith and resources without facing the consequences is absurd. Cease this obnoxious interference or face war, a war that once I have won will result in the loss of both your sad excuse for a navy and coastline.

These warnings were ignored by Emperor Gon-Suda, as Hoterallia failed to properly translate the Stonish alphabet and discarded the message. However, in 1326 another message was dispatched regarding the lack of Hoterallian response.

Your failure to recognize my demands I find quite incompetent. You've had multiple chances, and thus I will be granting no more. Consider this final message greatly, as your response will be the deciding factor when it comes to war between our two nations in this day and age. You have six months to produce a response and deliver it to me, otherwise my armies will depart and your capital will be burned.

This second message, although received by Emperor Gon-Suda, was once again discarded as it couldn't be properly translated. Following this, Andesen I declared war on Hoterallia, dispatching his armies and navies to the Şotīgābon islands.

Empty Period (1335-1370)

The Second Kopen Uprising

1337-1342

Second Stonish Invasion of Hoterallia

Coming Soon