Valahandia

Kingdom of Valahandia
786 AD–1821 AD
Flag (after 1658)
Capital		Doundain
Languages		Célas
Religion		Catholic (until 1568) Protestant (after 1568)
Demonym		Valahandian
Government		Monarchy
King
•	1351-1378	Cesan I
•	1800-1821	Murchadh II
History
•	Doundain Established	786 AD
•	Feudal Unification	1351 AD
•	Imperial Ascension	1514 AD
•	Disestablished	1821 AD
Currency		Méreg (adopted 1356)

The Kingdom of Valahandia was a medieval Liberalian feudal realm that centralized into a formal absolute monarchy in the mid-14th century and emerged as a major power in trans-Tenebric trade throughout the Age of Exploration. At its peak, the Kingdom held nearly two dozen colonies and coastal ports, primarily along the series of straits and waterways linking the south coast of Hesperida with the Promethean Sea. Despite the enormous wealth yielded by controlling these strategic ports and coastal regions, Valahandia was plagued for most of its existence by severe political instability. This was primarily brought on by inept leadership, internal power struggles, and frequent border incursions by neighboring nations. The last Monarch of Valahandia, Murchadh II, was bloodlessly removed from power during a popular uprising orchestrated by [a neighboring nation] in December 1821.

Etymology

"Valahandia," traditionally pronounced "Fall-ahn-dia," simply means "land of the enduring" in a regional dialect of Célas, which would become the kingdom's official language around 1300. Valahandians often refer to themselves as “The Enduring” in reference to the most notable trait of their mythical first king, Udaín, and his supposed perilous five-year solo journey through the frigid north Liberalian wild-lands in the late-8th century as compiled in The Saga of Udaín (circa 1195).

History

Antiquity

Archeological evidence of human settlements in the region of Liberalia that would come to be occupied by the Kingdom of Valahandia dates back to at least the neolithic era. The Eonedía people, specifically, who developed a fairly sophisticated written language in the 5th-century BC, migrated to the region from the rugged Liberalian interior in waves between 550 and 700AD. By the mid-9th century, five Eonedítie clans (the Valahns, Ceonéds, Laídire, Sumahaín, and Iasgier) had established themselves as the dominant local culture. Around this time, a series of Catholic missionaries arrived on the shores of south-central Liberalia and began converting the Eonedía people. In 928, Cheiften Craheil of the Valahns renounced his pagan ways and decreed that all his kinsmen were obligated to do the same, personally laying the cornerstone of the first Valahn Catholic monastery in 930. Similar conversions to Catholicism occurred throughout the Eonedíte world over the following decades.

Era of the Five Clans

According to legend, Udaín of Muén, a Eonedíc chieftain from northern Liberalia, settled with his clan—who would come to be known as the Valahns (alternatively: Valahans)—in the late 8th century, founding the city of Doundain in 786 AD. Other major Eonedíc clan settlements including Baltropp and Celon were founded in the years immediately following the establishment of Doundain. Although hypothetically unified in their goal of glorifying the Christian God by the 10th century, the five clans quarreled frequently (and violently) as a result of the region's lack of arable land. As a result, the region was in a constant state of militarization for most of the Eonedíc clans' early years. Most surviving architecture from the clan era bears evidence of this combat.

Over time, the need to more uniformly (and less violently) manage control of the region's finite resources led to the introduction of a rigid social hierarchy and protofeudalism. The five clans and their constituent families were gradually rearranged into five principalities headed by independent sovereign crown princes (known as a Groſstocks) and supported by their landed noblemen (Kursvards).

Mercantile Empire

From the 15th century on, Valahandia established a number of overseas colonies, primarily in Hesperida. Some were only the size of a single port city, while others, such as the Royal Colony of Iustitia, covered huge swaths of land.

Colonies

Colony	Est.	Independence	Age of Colony	Today part of
Royal Colony of Ulinaria	1417	1760	343 years	Lauchenoiria
Royal Colony of Iustitia	1529	1798	269 years	Libertas Omnium Maximus
Royal Colony in Narkim	1611	1727	116 years	Wosteaque
Royal Colony in Mariso	1544	1674	130 years	Wosteaque