Empire of Aristios

The Empire of Aristios was an Eldhamite nation founded by TbsDbs in.

Kingdom of Yurki
On March 29th, 2021. Zar Olea (TbsDbs) founded a little island nation in central Rathnir called the Kingdom of Yurki with his cousin and a few friends. Zar did not have much hope for the young, and the spry island nation had only a few people. Nobody could have guessed that the Kingdom of Yurki would grow into the largest empire in History.

A man called Jelly Dan happened to come across Yurki randomly one day and was given citizenship by Zar. Jelly Dan went on to make YouTube videos about Yurki, Wize_Nifty, Brainless Potato, GucciChefBoy, and Twilight_edge all joined because they saw Jelly Dan's videos, and Yurki went from 3 - 6 population to 20 - 25.

On April 9th, 2021, Yurki joined KATO (Kushite Sea Allied Treaty Organization). It was an alliance between several small nations. There was many a reason to join a bandit group called the Ferrymen were attacking people, Bardonia was gaining more strength, and a bandit leader LinTin and his men were routinely attacking the capital of Yurki, Sybada.

Yurki was still a low-population country, and Zar kept allowing people to join the Council even though the Council was 50% of the Yurki population. The government of Yurki was also spending time on the KATO alliance, helping build up its member states and building the HQ instead of spending time on its own country.

KATO had gotten into a war with the country of Bardonia, in which a massacre ensued, the KATO forces had around 20 people, and the Bardonians had 3. The KATO forces got massacred. The battle made it clear that the KATO forces couldn’t protect themselves, let alone Yurki. With the Ferrymen being banned, Bardonia being done with KATO, and Zar building a wall around Sybada to protect the city from LinTin, it was apparent that they did not need KATO anymore.

Foundation of Aristios
Beset by war in their homeland, the Kingdom of Yurki sends forth a fleet led by King Zar Olea to seek a new home for the Yurkian people. After months at sea, they make landfall on a flat coast, and make camp for the night. When they awake, they are met by a vanguard of soldiers, and a man dressed in regal clothing. The man approaches Zar, and greets him in flawed Common, introducing himself as King Ismeni the Thirteenth of the A’merii. He explains the predicament his people face; their historic capital city, Novríum, was occupied by a coalition of their ancestral rivals the Nosterii and a band of A’merii rebels calling themselves the Novii. He makes an offer; two miles behind him is the city of Xattegat, which will house, clothe, and feed his people. In return, Zar’s army will support him in the war. Zar happily accepts, and his people move north to Xattegat.

In Xattegat, cultural exchange occurs between the Yurkians and the A’merii. The Yurkians begin to learn and eventually adopt the local language, albeit with their own dialect(this would later become modern High Aristii), and the Yurkians would convert to the faith of the A’merii, Voclarianism. The A’merii, for their part, begin to gain massive respect for Zar Olea (now Zar en Olea, in the A’merii custom).

After many months, the time finally came for the campaign to begin. Ismeni and Zar jointly lead the combined forces. After a long, bloody war, they emerge victorious. After the war, Zar hikes up to the zenith of the tallest mountain in the land, and the Voclarist shrine named Imperxíon. There, he is visited by Voclari; who tells him to unify A'ristíos under Voclari's Lordship, and in return his family would become great kings. Zar obliged, and so was Aristios founded. Novríum was renamed to Oleapolis, after Zar's great family.

Integration of Sanctus
Aristios quickly contacted multiple nearby groups and united them under the empire such as the Dwarven Nation Sanctus Vallis to their northeast who joined Aristios as a province.

Integration of Voclaria-Transcardacia
The region of Astrya was the next objective of Zar. He sent envoys and his navy to set up colonies there led by Jelly Dan. After setting up a colony he realized there were other camps in the region, loyal to Voclaria-Transcardacia. Jelly Dan tried to convince them to join but they refused. Both sides sent message to their governments and negotiations began.

The southern Kingdom of Voclaria-Transcardacia was recently weakened after another war of succession. With the rise of the Astillian House of Gerrat led by Pepe and Percocet as its rulers. Zar en Olea and the Aristii Council met with King Pepe and Percocet in the settlement of Colchester in Astrya. There Zar offered Voclaria-Transcardacia to join Aristios and be split into three provinces: Astillia, Castellum and Colchester. The Kings firstly refused but after consulting with the Patriarch of Voclarism they bent the knee immediately. Percocet was a strong and loyal follower of the faith and soon rose to the rank of Patriarch himself after resigning from politics.

Andoran-Lechjan War
In the early times of Aristios they were a part of the Western Centern Union. An alliance between Aristios, Phoenia, Anglunia, Soolia Lechja and Andor however Andor decided to declare war on Lechja to subjgate it. After Andora was defeated by the other members of the WCU (Besides Phoenia) The Andoran land was split between Anglunia, Aristios and Soolia with Aristios acquiring the Mesa biome.

The reason Aristios saught the mesa biome was because of the belief of gold deposits there but it was quickly learnt that gold-rich mesas were only a thing on Rathnir. This led to Aristios selling their colony to a new nation; Kodnor.

Integration of Iringa
The nation of Iringa was a colony of Rathnir. Not much is known but what Aristios gathered is that they invaded the lands and nearly wiped the natives out of existence. Very few settlements were left after their invasion. The primary Iringan settlement was inside the ancient city of Phaedrae. Aristios tried to contact them and offer to join but they got no response. Eventually, the Aristii army marched towards Phaedrae unopposed. The settlement was abandoned. Zar Olea announced the province of Olameronia and after mering after merging West Iringa with East Potatenburg. The rest of the lands were annexed by Sanctus.

Grand Empire of Aristios
After being sent to the Ellysian Empire to learn the ways of courting and politics at the age of 15 Zar and the rest of the Yurki people had never seen him. Otto had never stepped foot in Aristios. It was common knowledge to Zar en Olea and the rest of the Aristii that Otto had perished in the Second Coalition-Ellysian War. It was to everyone's surprise when they saw a small fleet of ships with gold and soldiers arriving in Aristios with Otto at its helm. The government hosted huge celebrations and so did the people. Everyone was glad that he had returned, however, not for the same reason. The Council of Aristios knew the truth; Aristios was falling. Wize Nifty claimed that "The Council was considering disbandment of the Empire as a whole since it could not run its huge territories and was underpopulated." This all changed with the return of Otto, however.

Imperial government
This includes the Imperial Governors, the Council and the Autokratoras himself. The Council had the power to override anyone's decision. Otto changed the system of the council and made it so anyone over the rank of Governor had a place in it, basically acting as a High Senate. Otto also set up Ministries and Grand Ministries to more effectively run the nation. He was named Grand Minister of Foreign Affairs while also holding the title of Crown Prince. Otto worked to slowly disband the Council and succeeded, by the time of his ascension to Autokratoras the Council was no more - it was considered unconstitutional.

First Aristii Senate
Before Otto, Aristios had a council and that was the only state institution. Now a Senate had also been made. The way the Senate worked was: Any town with more than 10 citizens had 1 Senator, their mayor. For every 10 citizens after that, another Senator was added to represent the city. The Senate also included the Governors, Ministers and anyone in the Council. They voted on treaties, laws and how to take action.

Aristios had a player base of around thirty players at the time which was rather low for their size. Aristios then introduced a new policy and placed Prince Otto as its leader. He overlooked the new recruitment policy which doubled the population of Aristios in a week. This allowed Aristios to slowly grow and develop to the point where it was the second/first largest nation in Eldham by August.

Interventions in Bai and Medena
Aristios, seeking to expand her influence as a now dominant player organized military support towards the Bai Federation in the War of Bjancia Destruction. This war was a success and strengthened Aristii and Bai relations for months to come.

A growing power in the southern lands was the Razuni Sultanate. Otto contacted them and informed them that he had found out about a Monarchist Coup against their smaller neighbour Medena... Aristios and the Razuni Sultanate used that to their advantage and sent Aristii and Razuni agents in the revolt. During The Medena Emergency, the Razuni Sultanate and Aristios supported the coup and eventually used the movement to annex Medena into the Razuni Sultanate.

Horse War
The ETC, Simulami and other major powers had signed an alliance with Grand Farencia, an Ellysian successor state. One of those major powers was Aristios. Due to complications and possible scheming activities from Grand Farencia, a war broke out between them and their ancient neighbour Drak Yamar. Once the war was declared the victorious side was already pre-determined. Bardonia, Simulami and all the other major powers sent support to Grand Farencia.

Aristios realized there was something suspicious going on and realized Bardonia (ETC) was working to support Farencia to destroy Dragon's Perch, the largest market in Eldham. They wanted a monopoly in the market. This went against Aristii interests who were working on creating their own company. Otto was sent to the capital of Grand Farencia and invited diplomats from both sides to end the conflict. After talking with both sides behind closed doors it was realized that this in fact was a war of Aggression from Grand Farencia and they had tricked Drak Yamar.

Aristios withdrew support and went to Drak Yamar to discuss business. Otto offered to sent Aristii Mercenaries for 500,000.00$. In addition, he also promised he would get his allies like Bai, Zamotz and other nations to withdraw. Drak Yamar accepted.

The battle arrives and Farencia is crushed. The country collapses and splits back into the founding states: Farencia and Aionios. Aionios then undergoes a coup by Fruger Ellas, an Ellysian noble who renames itself to the Kingdom of Helming. Fruger knowing Otto from his time in Ellysian politics joins Aristios as a vassal.

Attempted Invasion of Redoriv
Redoriv was the much weaker and inactive neighbor of Aristios. They had been unstable and had clashes with Aristii garrisions multiple times. Aristios, specifically Otto believed in the expansion of the Empire of Aristios, and the land of Redoriv appeared to be a prime target. At first Otto had been planning to take land from the Kingdom of Florandia under the belief that the King was unpopular. This turned out to be a correct assumption as the people of the kingdom revolted and very quickly and efficently established a new democratic government. The new leader of Redoriv, Gorzealion, recieved "The Diamonds of Life", dedicated to the Aristii god; Voclari. This was enough to unite the Aristii Senate and Otto now had a casus beli and declared war under the basis of maintaining stability, retrieving the artifact and ending the Socialist government in Redoriv.

Redoriv quickly asked for international support, Barbossa came to its aid. Aristios ignored Barbossa and talked with Redoriv and a vassalization treaty was agreed. Due to bad Barbossan-Redoriv communcations Barbossa continued to slander Aristios. It was later figured out that the leader of Redoriv was not planning on actually following the treaty and overall was giving each side a different story. Aristios eventually scraped the plan for invasion due to the diamond being returned.

Integration of Preyella and KWEC
After the withdraw from Aristii troops from Redoriv the Senate still looked for land. Aristios was starting to get overpopulated, for instance, the capital Oleapolis had become the most active claim in Aristios and had to stop inviting citizens because of the high crime rates related with certain crime groups.

On the West of Aristios stood two nations, KWEC and Preyella. KWEC was a Rathnir colony and an Aristii ally. KWEC had a dispute with the weaker nation of Preyella and announced that it annexes half its lands. Preyellan diplomats disputed this one week later. Aristios was called as the mediator of the conflict. The mediation talks led by Otto succeed and ended in a 50/50 split of the lands.

Before the treaty was signed however, Otto offered KWEC a more favorable offer: His full claims would be recognized if he joined Aristios. Zeandro, the Governor-General of KWEC agreed and Queen Lys of Preyella was shocked. The Queen of Preyella was however getting sick and old and also realized that her Kingdom had no future. She later on reached Otto en Olea and offered to join Aristios as a province, she asked that Otto would take good care of her lands and let them grow. Many nations reached out and offered to buy the land for money but Lys decided Aristios was the only one which would grow the lands well. Officially she claimed that Aristios was the highest bidder so no other leaders would be offended but with the fall of the Empire and release of the archives it has been revealed that Aristios never paid and was never supposed to pay.

Aristii Civil War
In short, a belligerent group inside of the nation grew disillusioned and discontent with the state of the Empire. Few were motivated by noble causes like democracy while some others were greedier. After the civil war Aristios became a ceremonial monarchy with Inverse as its Emperor. During the civil war, Astrya, now known as Azad, as well as the noble Abaddon and even Vento seceded. Otto was relegated to a ( 3 day) Chancellorship to help transition the nation and Inverse was the new Emperor. Slowly but surely the newly formed state transitioned to a fully democratic nation in theory which later became The Republic of Aristios.