Archduchy of Coenia

The Archduchy of Coenia is an archduchy within Theios-Essukdal, encompassing the area of its direct predecessor, the Archduchy of Reyllea, minus the island of Rhodia. It is lead by its Caeron, Bowph Elernel of New Lardburg, and is home to the Coenian, Lardburgian and Reyllead culture groups.

History
The Kingdom of Reyllea stood for ages south of Theios-Essukdal and remained within its general sphere of influence, but autonomous in both its rule and customs. The Reyllead culture remained supreme, and cities rose as important events took place both within and around the kingdom. However, when the Lardburgians arrived here and settled on the Eastern coast, all they found was a shell of what was once a regional powerhouse.

The Kingdom was eventually inherited by Mistic Audalad, who then passed it to StoryStudio Audalad, who then gave it to Kerplis Elernel, a Lardburgian local, upon his death. Kerplis reformed the kingdom, moving the capital from the half-ruined Roscella into his new provincial city, New Lardburg. As his reigned continued from mid-April to late May, the Kingdom became more and more like the original Lardburg, with almost no people of Reyllead culture remaining in it when Kerplis, who was at this point in charge of the Lardburgians for 1 real life year, decided to step down and retire.

The Grand Gathering of Lardburg
Soon after Kerplis decided step down, all Lardburgian commoners and nobles gathered outside of the gates of the ancient city of Old Lardburg to choose a new Caeron from their ranks.

After speeches from Kerplis, and the legendary Lant Elernel himself, the procession moved to the Grand Altar of the Old gods, where they urged the holy Blue Flower to return the greatest of Lardburgians, the Eternal Caeron Bivoy the Lard, back to the moral plane of existence. After a terrible lightning strike, in the spot where the sacrifice stood before, the spirit of Bivoy materialised in flesh, and explained to the attending Lardburgians that they must elect their new Caeron directly.

In the old chapel of Lantstein, built by Kerplis and Lant in early 2019, the crowd gathered and voted for who their next Caeron would be. There were two candidates: The incredibly wealthy and conservative Lord Petrolinek, who promised no taxes and free public infrastructure to be funded from his massive fortune, and the up and coming Bowph, who helped Kerplis with building New Lardburg, and unlike Petrolinek, was part of the Stoneworks community.

With a close vote of 6:5, Bowph won the election, forever changing Lardburgian history and shaping up the future of Reyllea. He was soon crowned the Caeron of Lardburg and Reyllea by Bivoy the Lard himself, who then finally ascended forever from the corporeal plains, and chose Null as his Steward.

With this new ruler being the first Lardburgian to not come from the ancestral home of Servrik, but be born in Rathnir itself, a new era was upon both the Lardburgians and Reyllea as a whole. Mistic, the Ningal of Theios-Essukdal, reformed the Archduchy of Reyllea into the Archduchy of Coenia, meaning Home, by separating the mainly Lardburgian mainland from the Pontaniedian island of Rhodia, making it a Free County. Lardburg was named the capital of Coenia, and the Caeron, previously just ruling over the Lardburgians, now began ruling over the Reylleans as well, forming the Coenian identity, which replaced the original Lardburgian culture for most original Lardburgians.

Structure
The government of Coenia combines the meritocratic feudal system of Theios-Essukdal with the Clan-based Elective monarchy of Lardburg. The position of Caeron is elected by the Lords of Lardburg, the powerful families which originally ruled over Lardburg. The Caeron answers to the Ningal, but maintains a degree of autonomy with their decisions. A Caeron rules for life, but may decide to step down, or be dethroned with a majority vote by the Council of Lords.

The Caeron may designate Counts, who may then grant city charters to new Sahrads, just like in the system of mainland Theios-Essukdal, with the addition that the council of lords may veto any decisions they largely dislike. This system is in place to keep the fragile balance of power in check, and to ensure the Caeron does not become an authoritarian, autocratic ruler. The Archduchy is split into two counties, the County of Kongleon and the County of Rosecella. The Sahrad of Lardburg has a special place in the system of government, since they are also usually the Steward of the Caeron.

The capital city of the Archduchy is Lardburg, made up of the boroughs of the Old Town and Moncheir, which was previously a separate settlement, with Lantstein (previously Laychestershire) being the capital of the county of Kongleon. The Caeron rules from the old keep in Lardburg.

For more information on how the Lardburgian elective system works, check out the Lardburgian wiki page.

Language
The official languages of Coenia are Audalad, which was brought into Reyllea with the arrival of StoryStudio, and retained some importance, and Lardburgian, spoken by the majority of the population. The Reyllead dialect of Lardburgian is however so different from the Old Lardburgian language, that while there are some similarities, the two languages are not mutually intelligible. Some members of the old nobility still speak Old Lardburgian as their primary language.

Culture
The Coenian culture makes up the majority of the inhabitants of Coenia, as many of those who originally self-identified as Reyllead or Lardburgian decided to convert after the grand gathering, but a small minority of both groups still exists. For example, Kerplis, the predecessor to Caeron Bowph, still claims himself to be Lardburgian. The Pontaniedian culture, which was previously somewhat prominent along the eastern coast, has almost completely disappeared from the realm, small remains of the original culture however still remain, mostly seen in the Coenian architectural style.

The Architecture of Coenia is best exemplified by the cities of Icanscella and Lardburg. Icanscella, mainly the part formerly known as Rosecella, is an example of the old Reyllead architecture, which still remains somewhat prominent in the southern parts of Coenia. Lardburg, on the other hand, is built in the style of the Carnian renaissance, following the ancient principles of the architecture of the long lost city of Carn, which was the predecessor to Lardburg.

The greatest of the Lardburgian clans, house Elernel, are the de facto rulers of Coenia. Other powerful clans, like house Ravensrock-Elernel, or house Bloodystone, retain significant influence and sway through extra votes in the electoral system.

Religion
The official religion of Coenia is Theiosism, a form of Sakrelism and the state religion of Theios-Essukdal. A lot of the old lardburgian settlers still however worship their pagan deitities in secret, and efforts to fully convert the population both peacefully and with aggression have been deemed unsuccessful. The old lardburgian people mainly worship the Blue Flower, interpreted by some to be a deity, by others just a proxy of a much more powerful deity. The symbolism of the blue flower, however, is very significant to Lardburgian and Coenian culture, even to those who worship Theios, so much so that it has been placed on the flag of the Archduchy.