Tsardom of Khastarmak

(Please note that the nation of Khastarmak was written long after these events happened, and was written for the purpose of expanding on the ancient history of the Kingdom of Caeli.)

Founding
Legend tells that the beginning of the Tsardom lay on the Island of  Khastarmak, or Ein Bahel as it is now known.

The first tsar of Khastarmak, Alexei of  the house of Romanaiv, was said to have divine blood. Said to be the son of the God of war, Vairntov. himself And it was thus that he began his rise to prominence. Forced from mainland ummarnu, Alexei sailed with a loyal entourage containing great valorous warriors.

Many of his warriors died defending the rear guard as Alexei  and his entourage boarded the ships, the Enemy hot on his heels. This would lay the foundations for a warrior culture as the Warriors of Alexei valiantly sacrificed themselves in a charge against the enemy.

This having happened Alexei with the few surviving warriors he had left, left port to sail. Eventually he landed on the Island of Khastarmak, which was then a much greater island that now. Golden fields stretched the island, untainted by human ity. The island  created by the gods themselves. The land was adorned with great trees and was showered by the warmth of the sun. It was here that the sons of Vairntov began their empire.

And therefore, Delivered from slavery and subjugation by the gods, Alexei began his Tsardom. In the early days of the Tsardom they came in conflict with a tribe that inhabited a smaller island off the coast.

The two came very close to war, however after the armies began to approach eacother, Alexei called to his counterpart on the other said and cried “Brother, would you see this field soaked with all of our blood? Would you see all of our wives widowed and our children fatherless?”  And so the two agreed to meet to make a deal. After tense negotiations the two sides agreed to form a new Tsardom together. With this the Tsardom of Khastarmak began it’s expansion and development of the capital.

Early expansion
The Tsardom expanded to cover the  entirety of the island of Khastarmak and the new city prospered on the paradise the gods had granted them. The city  thrived under Alexei and the people rejoiced. However nothing can last  forever, as  despite the prosperity of the Tsardom jealousy grew.

One man named Vlaskid looked upon the Tsardom Alexei had built and imagined the crown of Khastarmak upon his own head. And so, in a betrayal of everything it means to be  a Khastar he plotted to kill Alexei in his sleep and claim the crown for himself.

He very nearly succeeded, however Alexei woke before he was able to kill him. A fierce battle ensued where Alexei  managed to slay Vlaskid but was mortally wounded himself. Soon Alexei died, leaving the Tsardom to his son, Valaskirin.

However despite this the Tsardom continued to rise under Valaskirin’s reign. A deeply ambitious man, it was under his reign that the grand port of Khastarmak would be built. The army of Khastarmak was expanded and reformed into a professional force that was the pride of Khastarmak. The strongly martial culture of Khastarmak was strengthened then as Valaskirin began to look beyond the Island. And so Valaskrin began the construction of the Grand Khastar fleet. So that Khastarmak could begin to fulfil it’s destiny of becoming a great power.

The Fistifarin War
Soon an opportunity would present itself to the ever ambitious Valaskarin. The ruler of the nearby Federation of Fistifar was a Vengefull and Borish man. He had a short temper and was utterly convinced of his own superiority. And so he one day came to demand tribute from the growing nation of Khastarmak. The request was worded demandingly and threateningly. The response was short and equally hostile.

“To the Feracion of Fistifar.

Take your damned tribute with yourself into hell.”

To the Fistifarin, such an insult could not go ignored. Therefore the Feracion issued a declaration of war unto the Tsardom of  Khastarmak. All expected a swift victory for the Feracion, but all underestimated the resolve and fierceness of the Khastar. When the Fistifarin made landfall upon the Island of Khastarmak they were met with the full force of the Khastar. In the Ensuing battle the Khastar drove the Fistifarin back to the sea.

In the ensuing years  the Fistifarin and the Khastar fought a total war against eachother for the survival of their nations. The battles were great and fierce and every victory was bitter. Slowly, island by island, the Khastar began to push back against the Fistifarin. The Fistifarin employed a scorched earth policy to deny the Khastar every advantage of what they took but the Khastar pushed onwards. Eventually, after 14 years of war, The Khastar fleet landed on the home of the Fistifarin, Faliack.

The battle that ensued was bitter, fierce and great. The Fistifarin fought for every house, for every square of the city with the pure will of the Khastar pushing them onwards.Eventually, after the Fistifarin forces were utterly destroyed in the battle, the Khastar conquered the city and ended the war. And so the Khastar were at heights never before seen, They had at last achieved hegemony over their region. The age of the Khastar had begun.

The Phoenix war
After this, the slow and steady expansion of the Tsardom continued for decades over the reign of multiple tsars. The Tsardom flourished  and entered a golden age. Eventually it expanded to cover all of what is now southern Caeli, expanding into modern Berkan, lusarii and nearon. It was also around this time that the Khastar assumed the tradtion of dragon riding from the relatives in the Valaerys family.

However, as always, nothing lasts forever as on one occasion the Succession of the Tsardom became disputed. Upon the death of the tsar the crown would have passed to their daughter, Anastasia, as the sole child of the late Tsar but her cousin, Romaskiv, disputed her claim to the throne on the grounds of her gender. Romaskiv demanded that Anastasia cede the throne to him.

The new Tsarina, Anastasia, was a fair woman of towering intellect. Filled with the ambition of her ancestors, she was prepared to do anything to defend her crown. The rival Tsar, Romaskiv, was a man of equal cunning and determination, but was however left an ungrateful and prejudiced man by his childhood. The Tsarina flatly refused his demand and so Romaskiv rallied his armies and seized control of the city of  Vraskin and demanded that the lords of the Tsardom join him in his endeavour for the throne.

Many did, seeing an opportunity to expand their power. The prominent houses of Vaiskid, Hirsky and Aspertiv flocked to the banners of Romaskiv while the houses of Vinkrair and Failk rallied to fight for the Tsarina. Thus began the Phoenix war, so named for the black and white phoenixes emblazoned upon the coat of arms of each side to identify themselves.

To say the war was destructive would be a great understatement. The war tore families and friendships alike apart and brought great devastation to all who endured it. The war was short and vicious and involved many dragons- leading to most of the Khastar dragons dying out. Fire swept the great cities of Khastarmak and ruin was set upon many of the illustrious houses of the Tsardom. The war raged on on for a few years before the armies of Romaskiv marched upon the Island of Khastarmak itself. It appears that the city would be subject to mass destruction and terror indeed.

However as Romaskiv marched to the city he was challenged to a duel by Anastasia. He accepted glady, thinking that as a woman Anastasia would be beaten easily. However Romaskaiv was not prepared for the fact that Anastasia had been training in combat for months while Romaskiv did nothing, confident in his abilities.

Thus when the duel came it was fierce indeed and it seemed that Romaskiv’s strength might overcome Anastasia’s skill after all, but just as Romaskiv attempted to land a killing blow he stopped suddenly, and looked down to see a rapier in his heart. Thus  Romaskiv fell and Anastasia was victorious.

The death of Romaskiv left his forces in disarray. Anastasia’s army swiftly destroyed the remaining forces of Romaskiv and thus ended the war. However not everything was so good. The Tsardom was devastated and very few of the dragons that the House of Romanaiv owned were still alive. The fact was that despite Anastasia’s victory in the civil war the rise of the Tsardom of Khastarmak had come to a devastating halt.

In the aftermath of the war Anastasia was left with a devastated Tsardom and for the rest of her life fought against the wolves at the door. But the war had devastated her Tsardom and after her death the Tsardom lost a great amount of land. The forces of the Tsardom largely abandoned the northern parts of the Tsardom in addition to the Tsardom’s Mainland possessions on Ummarnu. The Tsardom was left to lick its wounds.

The Tsardom strikes back
Yet all was not yet lost. 2 decades after the Phoenix war a new man came to power. A man commited to restoring the power of Khastarmak. A man called Alexei the second of the House of Romanaiv.

Alexei the second was an ambitious and determined man. He seeked to reconquer the lost lands  of Khastarmak and restore the golden age of the Tsardom. His reign began with a massive expansion of the army and the fortification of the border regions, turning islands into strongholds. He also conducted a purge within the Tsardom to remove any disloyal elements in order to prevent a second coming of the Pheonix war.

And with that done, his eye turned to outside of the Tsardom. He began by launching an invasion of some of the Islands that had broken away from the Tsardom following the Pheonix war. With the reinvigorated navy  this would prove an easy campaign as most  islands were reconquered quickly sparing some  that had come under the control of northerners. Then Alexei the second began the greatest campaign of his life, The Vhanar campaign.

The Vhanar Campaign
The Vhanar campaign was the invasion of mainland Ummarnu, mainly in what is now the Dukedom of Berkan. The campaign got off to a promising start. Wherever the Khastar forces engaged the enemy they won easily, most of the time.

However things began to go sour. The Vhanar controlled a very large land that had to be conquered and made great use of that. They put into use fabian tactics to wear out the Khastar forces and ensured that the Khastar were forced into lengthy sieges that bogged them down.

Simultaneously, to the north a rival state, Invhir was continuously testing the border. It seemed that a repeat of the aftermath of the Pheonix war was imminent but Alexei was determined not to let that happen.

Alexei drew up reinforcements from the heartland, all that he could get, and marched north in secret. He launched a surprise attack, driving into Invhir and simultaneously redoubled his efforts in the Vhanar campaign, reinforcing his troops there.

It seemed at first that Alexei’s plan would work and the Vhanar would be destroyed. The Vhanar were beaten back and put on the brink. However it was at this moment when Alexei is believed to have made one of his greatest mistakes.

Instead of finishing of the Vhanar, he turned north with the majority of his army and began to make plans, though he did temporarily return to Khastarmak, something that turned out to be misfortunate indeed. Alexei made plans to destroy the Invhir, to conquer the Northerners and the south. It seemed as if a second rise for  Khastarmak was imminent. Everything seemed perfect. Then it all came crashing down.

The Curse of Anastasia
At the height of his power, Alexei was struck by an unparalleled disaster. A hurricane hit the city of Khastarmak, devastating the city in seconds. The government of the Tsardom was decapitated in an instant, Alexei only surviving by a miracle despite being in the city.

The disaster left the Tsardom reeling and it didn’t only have  an effect at home. In addition to the effects of the hurricane the treasury of the Tsardom was empty and it was becoming difficult to pay the soldiers- what soldiers they could get given there was a shortage of men for the army.

The Hurricane was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back for the Khastar army in Vhanar. The depleted Khastar forces, worn down by years of war and siege without pay and dwindling rations, finally broke under the pressure and the Vhanar were able to sweep in. The Khastar were barely able to keep the large ports on the west of the peninsula.

Simultaneously the Invhir and the Hefscar (southerners) threatened the borders, the Invhir eagerly looking to reclaim territory. Additionally, the Kaelin (northerners) unified at last. An expansionist people adept at shipbuilding and naval warfare, they were a new threat to Khastarmak’s  power.

It seemed as if a curse had been laid upon the Khastar, that whenever they seemed close to great victory and glory they would be struck by an unimaginable disaster. The walls came crashing down as all the plans laid by Alexei fell apart. Alexei’s last years would be filled with extreme stress and despair as all he had built would all be swept away in only 22 years after he died. And it would all be because of one major threat  from the north. The Kaelin.

The Kaelin War
Soon after the Hurricane Alexei died. His successor was not an ambitious man. His successor was not a intelligent or diligent man. His successor was… ordinary. He didn’t have any of the great aspects of Alexei. He was in no position to pick up the pieces and save the Tsardom. This would not bode well, as soon one if not the most damaging war in the history of Khastarmak was to occur. The Khastar-Kaelin (sometimes and ever more commonly spelt Caelin.) war.

This would come as in a catastrophic diplomatic blunder, the Tsar of  Khastarmak would continuously act boorishly and aggressively, eventually provoking tbe Kaelin into war. The fact is that the Tsardom never stood a chance. It hadn’t recovered from the extremely expensive wars of Alexei’s reign and the exhaustive wars he performed, decimating the army. The Kaelin swept into northern Khastarmak, taking islands one by one with their superior navy.

The Khastar fought valiantly to defeat them, but in the end they had no fight left in themselves. Their prayers went unheard and they could do nothing to stop the Kaelin advance and the Kaelin quickly conquered all of the Khastar holdings in the north. Unlike the Khastar however, the Kaelin were far better at administrating their territories they owned and much of the territories did not consider themselves Khastar to start with and often felt much more of a cultural affinity with the Kaelin.

A prominent island that they captured was that of Naiacinor. A major holding of the Khastar and greatly important in all matters of  the Tsardom it’s loss was second only to Khastarmak itself in that the Khastar could not bear losing it. The Kaelin would soon rename it to the City of Novatress and it was there that the Khastar fell from dominance and the Kaelin began to rise in their place. Soon after the Naiacinor fell theKhastar were forced to sign a humiliating peace.

The Khastar were forced to accept  that they would never be dominant again. They had failed in their goal. Here the vultures began to circle. The kingdom of Spicar (the successor to the Hefscar.) took numerous islands in the south in a fait accompli. Numerous neighbouring nations continued to pick on the corpse of the Tsardom for decades.

The fall of the Tsardom
Finally it would come to the last Tsar, Hercimar. A vengeful, boorish and promiscuous man Hercimar would deal the final blow to the Tsardom through his arrogance. He launched multiple punitive wars against his neighbours, multiple of which he couldn’t win, however he captured many prisoners. These prisoners would live terrible, brutal lives. They would become little more than slaves in fact.

Legend tells that this angered the gods who ordered Hercimar to end the slavery of the prisoners and release them. Seven times did Hercimar refuse their demands. Seven times did the Gods punish him for his pride. They called down hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, all manners of disasters and plagues. The effects of this were catastrophic. Khastarmak was reduced to a fraction of itself and saw unparalleled devastation, though they spared the Slaves.

But Still Hercimar refused. He cursed for the gods for what they had done. However he eventually folded. On the eighth time the Gods sent their demands he accepted and let his prisoners free. He looked over his city and felt hatred like none other. He forsook the gods in that hour and withdrew into what was left of his palace to wallow in his hatred.

It was then that the the newly founded kingdom of Kaelia (the successor to Kaelin after a revolt by the barons.) decided to finish of their rivals in the Khastar. Thus they declared war on the Tsardom for a final time and fell upon the Khastar, who now barely controlled Khastarmak and a few adjacent islands.

Here the Khastar prepared their final stand against the northerners. They would fight for every inch, no matter the cost. They would never surrender. So it was. The battle began with a grand show of force by the Kaeli as they used their newly invented cannons to pound the shore of Khastarmak. This was followed by a naval invasion of the island as the Kaeli fought street by street as Khastarmak began to burn. They were aided greatly by their navy, a tradition that would carry on in the successors of Kaelia.

As Kaeli forces drew close to the palace, Hercimar sat writing his last words. Finishing his writing he wrote “Ist Veikar ein bahel?” (“Is this to be my grave?”) with the words “Ein bahel” eventually becoming the widely known name of the island.

Shortly after thos the Kaeli conquered the palace, killing Hercimar and destroying Khastarmak, though some of Hercimar’s descendants survived. The lands of the Tsardom of Khastarmak would be absorbed by the kingdom of Kaelia.