Regnum Drakaes

The Regnum Drakaes (pronounced Reg-num Dray-kay-es), otherwise known as Drakaes and formally known as the Drakesland Autarchy was a nation located in the world of Drysjian (named Eldham by the natives), founded by fleeing refugees, political dissidents, and settlers from Rathnir two centuries before the New World was first officially discovered by Athaz the Traveler. It was ruled by the Fourth Autarch, Arnin Hanicai, before it's collapse.

Lore
The origins of Drakaes can be traced back to the great Period of Unrest. For centuries the great powers of Rathnir had fought each other for sovereignty over their already tired and devastated lands, their fleets making the oceans red with the blood of countless hundreds and their armies marching in the tracks of countless wars. Political and religious turmoil and repression was at an all time high, with the destruction of the Moon, the Third Barbarian Rally, and numerous civil and national-level wars. During this period, hundreds if not thousands of political dissidents escaping these wars fled the major Rathnir nations to the so-called "Empire" of the White Raven, a nation located on a floating island. They were joined by numerous former bandits, outcasts and exiles, political radicals and revolutionaries, religious leaders, and refugees mainly arriving from Huitica, Bardonia, and the Aurlûnor Velande.

When originally discovered by the humble and charismatic fisherman Thomas Drake over two centuries ago, Drakesland was nothing more than a story being played on the streets of White Raven. The first encounter of the man who would later bear his name in the new land took place, as all great encounters must, by accident. The boat Drake worked on was thrown off course by an unimaginable storm of proportions never seen before on Rathnir. Having miraculously survived the hurricane, the fisherman found himself in a mysterious and beautiful land half a world away from his destination.

By the grace of no one but himself, Thomas Drake returned to the empire with stories from this distant land, but as they were only tales told by only a mere fisherman, the discovery went unnoticed by most, being treated only as the jokes and foolishness of a madman. However, a select group of adventurers, seeing the situation in that region of the world deteriorating and revolted by the injustices of their homeland, embraced Drake's ideas. With just two years of the accidental adventure of this humble fisherman, hundreds of settlers from all over the world braved the sea in search of the legendary land. Refugees, adventurers, sages and fools made up the great expedition, all carrying the same dream of the now-deceased Thomas Drake. After countless challenges, the expedition would find a point inside a mighty river where they would finally realize their ambitions. And so, the great High City of Aurica was forged from the pages of a humble fisherman's diary, and the Drakesland Autarchy, precursor to the great Regnum Drakaes, was founded.

Server History
What would become the Regnum Drakaes began on 5/25/2021, when the server moderators of Stoneworks announced the opening of New Rathnir, a new server connected lore-wise to Rathnir that would be opened up to new nations and players. Immediately following this announcement the player Scrivis promptly created a small discord server for the potential colonization of the new world. By advertiusing heavily in his home nation of New-Awm, Scrivis was able to gain a sizable playerbase that would help support his colonization effort. After it was announced that colonization of New Rathnir would be barred for seven days, it was decided that the "Great Expedition" would be reorganized into the Drakesland Autarchy.

The First Drakaen Period Of Expansion
The city of Aurica was finally founded on 5/29/2021, where Drakian explorers managed to make land fall on a massive peninsula. Over the next few weeks, the newly-formed Drakesland Autarchy would expand heavily, colonizing deserts, mesas, and tundra. This rapid expansion was further fueled by the founding of the city of Nidaros and the integration of the city of Al'Safir. However, the Drakian expansion eventually ran into massive border disputes with neightboring nations, as multiple diplomatic and military conflicts broke out with the Kingdom of Weshire and the Kingdom of Limuria. Luckily, (with the exception of the Weshire dispute) all of these conflicts were eventually solved.

The first military conflict for Drakesland came in the form of the First Coalition-Elysian War, which was a conflict between Drakesland and a nearby group of nations allied against the expansionist Ellysian Empire. Victory came swiftly, and Drakesland proceeded to expand further. With the discovery of a new peninsula located to the north, Drakian explorers ventured to explore the new area, quickly discovering and naming the newly-found Vircon Straits. However, their initial landfall was met with hostility, when the small barbarian nation of Andlira came to demand that Drakesland leave their territory.

The Andliran War of Subjugation
Main Article: The Andliran War of Subjugation

The Andliran War of Subjugation came about due to multiple diplomatic conflicts over Andliran and Drakian land claims. Andlira demanded that Drakesland vacate it's claimed territory completely, while Drakesland threatened Andlira with war if they did not either join Andlira or leave Drakesland for another place to settle in. The diplomatic crisis eventually came to a head when the Drakesland Autarchy declared war on Andlira in order to evict them from Drakian territorial claims. The resulting war ended in Drakian victory, and forced Andlira to leave for a neighboring nation.

Immediately after the end of the war, the Autarch declared the reformation of the Drakesland Autarchy the Regnum Drakaes due to their newly acquired territories. The reformation was caused in part due to Drakian territorial gains and a budding meta desire to give Drakesland a more original and unique look. A new Drakaen flag was unveiled after this declaration, and thus the Drakesland Autarchy was no more.

Continued Tensions and the Second Drakaen Period of Expansion
The Regnum Drakaes would receive a massive amount of new territory to manage when the nation of Patatas officially disbanded their territories and invited the Regnum Drakaes to annex their land. The deal was quickly accepted, and the citizens of Patatas quickly joined the Regnum Drakaes as full-fledged citizens. The former lands of Patatas would come to be known as the Taterlands or Tättenlandes in Drakaeshlange, and the city of Latinzi da Gotla was quickly founded by the Drakaen citizen Eugene_The_Rat in order to solidify Drakaen territorial control.

While Drakaes quickly consolidated it's new territories and put to rest it's internal affairs, tensions were quickly heating up with the Ellysian Empire. Ever since the Ellysian's defeat in the First Coalition-Ellysian War, the Ellysian Empire had undergone a period of massive expansion, taking over much of Northeast Rathnir. Many prospering nations and cities were conquered by Ellysia and their leader, Valerion. Valerion, whom was regarded by many to be rude, bigoted, and unfit for leadership, sealed his fate when he insulted the notorious bandit ViewedMarquis, calling her "a man pretending to be a girl". This resulted in the nations of the First Coalition coming together once more along with Viewed and LilyPrism in order to absolutely crush the Ellysian Empire.

While an attempt was made to peacefully resolve the Ellysian conflict with the Treaty of Aurica, the rulers of the Ellysian Empire rejected it out of hand when the new leader, Thas Ellas, overthrew Valerion and rejected the treaty. To make matters worse, it was revealed that Valerion was an alt of Thas, meaning that any changes previously made in the Treaty of Aurica were ineffective. Thus the Coalition was forced to take up arms against the Ellysian Empire, with the leader of the Regnum Drakaes, Arnin Hanicai, promising to break the people of Ellysia over and over again until they were "nothing but thralls to the Drakaen Realm".

The Second Coalition-Ellysian War
Main Article: The Second Coalition-Ellysian War

The Second Coalition-Ellysian War began and ended on June 20th, 2021, when Drakaen forces in conjunction with the Coalition laid siege to the city of Norinsbad. After taking and ravaging the city, the force proceeded to lay waste to the nearby cities of Taernsby and Atta. In order to finally crush Ellysia for good, Atta was laid siege to a second time that day, taking and looting the city once more. The complete lack of Ellysian willingness to defend their own territory left an undisputed victory in the hands of the Second Coalition resulting in the immediate undebatable division and dissolution of the Ellysian Empire as per the terms of the Treaty of Aurica.

Ellysia was split into five zones of occupation, with the Regnum Drakaes taking ownership of the fifth zone. Eventually, the nations of Raven Guard and Rodinbork would be born from the ashes of Ellysia.

The Taernsbian Princely State and Drakaen Stagnation
Soon after the fall of Ellysia, the Regnum Drakaes turned it's head towards the small nation of the Taernsbian Sultanate. Riding high on power and glory, Drakaen diplomats threatened war on the orders of Arnin Hanicai, eventually forcing Taernsbia to submit as a Princely State, a vassal nation in all but name. This, however would be the last major territorial acquisition of Drakaes.

Drakaes's top-down totalitarian system was beginning to break down. It's territories were too far-flung to manage, and the Senate had become nothing more than a rubber-stamp institution. This resulted in neglect spreading throughout the Drakaen Empire, leading to internal unrest and a growing toxicity problem. The Regnum Drakaes had effectively stagnated, even with the acquisition of Taernsbia and eventually the Princely State of New Yorke.

This would all eventually lead up to the Drakaen-Barbossa Crisis.

The Drakaen-Barbossa Crisis
Main Article: The Drakaen-Barbossa Crisis

The Drakaen-Barbossa diplomatic and military crisis began when the pirate nation of Barbossa, seeing the decrepit state of Drakaes, decided to take advantage of it's current military weakness and managed to set up a small city located near Drakaen core territory, called Roklavia. Under the guise of an independence movement, Roklavia declared their indepedence and immediately called on Barbossa to defend them. This angered the Autarch, Arnin Hanicai, and he decided to call in the many allies and favors he had gained during the massive Coalition Wars to crush this rebellion and put Barbossa in their place.

This, unfortunately led to Drakaes's totalitarian system finally collapsing completely. The rebellious Princely State of Taernsbia declared independence, forced Drakaen troops out, and secured gurentees from Barbossa. This was compounded by Drakaes's allies unwillingness to send their troops to help Drakaes crush this rebellion. With the nation of Skjoldrbrodir supporting Barbossa and The Forge and Drak Yamar, allies of Drakaes, declaring neutrality, Drakaes was forced to acknowledge the independence of Taernsbia, Roklavia, and the city-state of Kei.

End of the Regnum Drakaes
With Drakaes humiliated on the world stage, the Autarch desperately sought out a means of reforming the Regnum Drakaes. He eventually found his answer in the influential preacher Ilnur Almirion, who sought the reformation of the Regnum Drakaes as a more efficient entity. Given sweeping power over Drakaes, the new Drakaen Concordat, the governing law of Drakaes was written, heavily reforming the collapsing empire and saving it from destruction.

However, Ilnur Almirion had completely different ideological viewpoints compared to Arnin. Instead of believing in a path of total world domination through the conquest and absolute subjugation of nations in order to create the theorized Final Society, Ilnur sought to create a peaceful, democratic way of government comparable to the Huitica Federation. This, of course, was anathema to Arnin and several of his close friends, who were the products of generational suffering and fear caused by the Rathnirian Exile and the constant threat of Huitica invasion of the White Raven.

Unfortunately for Arnin, sickness had caught up to him. With his influence waning, the Drakaen Senate proceeded to ally with Ilnur and assist him with the creation of the Drakaen Concordat, the sucessor state to the old Regnum Drakaes. Arnin Hanicai would eventually die a broken man, who had built an empire and seen it fall within his own lifetime. With Arnin's death, Tiffany Foernya-Canalopin ascended to the position of Autarch, and reformed the Regnum Drakaes into the democratic Drakaen Concordat, putting an end to the ambitions of the radical Regnum Drakaes.

Culture
Drakaen culture as a whole is one of the most unique and defining characteristics of the Regnum Drakaes. The origin of the Drakaen people and it's culture can be traced back to the arrival of the Rathnirian Exiles in the world of Drysjian. The Exiles were a mishmash of many different ethnicities and peoples united in one common purpose; to escape the religious and cultural persecution occurring in Rathnir. The long, treacherous journey to what they would call Drysjian was enshrined in Drakaen national mythology, and the many hardships and setbacks the Exiles face would eventually define Drakaen culture as a whole.

Language
Drakaen Standard, known as Drakaeshlange in the Regnum Drakaes, is the primary language of the Drakaen people. Drakaeshlange is a creole derived from the many languages that the Exiles once spoke; if one looks carefully, you can see traces of Huitican and Theios at it's base level, while the grammatical structure of Drakaeshlange takes influence from Aurlûnoren. Drakaeshlange also takes influence from the many languages encountered by the Exiles when they fought against the many barbarian and savage tribes located in Drysjian.

Due to the incorporation of potentially hundreds of Rathnir and Eldham languages into Drakaeshlange, it is almost indecipherable to Eldham natives and half-understandable to Rathnirians.

Religion
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of the Drakaen people is their radical streak of anti-clericalism, which has resulted in the Regnum Drakaes becoming one of the only Atheist states in both Rathnir and Eldham. This is due to the original Drakesland Autarchy adopting Vareism, a philosophy that rejects the existence of divine beings, as it's state philosophy. Vareism is the only belief in Drakaes that can conceivably be compared to a religion, due to religious persecution of any belief that doesn't conform to Vareist principles.

Conflicts And Military History

 * The First Coalition-Ellysian War
 * The Andliran War of Subjugation
 * The Second Coalition-Ellysian War