Hallandren

The Hallowed city of Hallandren, or simply "Hallandren" for short, is a theocratic monarchy in Tremons, Kanahulu, led by King Gerry Taurath of the ascendent House Valrath. Composed of 8 distinct territories and 25 major cities as of adminstrative tally, it´s holdings straddle all 9 seas, although it´s authority outside of Hallandren proper is often waivering. Sparesly populated over a large surface, much of what still exists is concentrated among the northern stretches of the island of Stechpalme, and devided sharply along cultural, ethnic, and religous lines. Hallandren´s most populous city is Vythia, the defacto cultural and political capital as of the reign of Queen Kaiza Taurath, and continued under the reign of King Gerry Taurath; It is followed close by Hallangrad, Hallandren´s adminstrative capital and the first city of the 5th age by Gaspardist tradition. It was there, over the Pools of Everlife in the Hallangrad´s depths that the Caydefather´s body was burned. Hallandren, when transliterated from standardized Hallic, means "Land/City of Hallan". It´s offical, state mandated faith is the veneration of the Lavvythia, to whom the seas around Stechpalme belong in full. Hallandren was a founding member of the now-defunct Staxngrad Pact, it´s successor the Migeru-Shiyamato military pact, and the BFF (Best Friends Forever) Alliance.

Often regarded as rather antiquated in it´s traditions and insitutions by it´s contemporaries, Hallandren is perhaps best described as a nation dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age. For within the nation there exists an intense distain for change, and reluctance to innovate beyond what is necessary. This temperment is in-part the fault of it´s adminstraive caste, for whom mortal coworkers is a rather new development. For much of it´s history, Hallandren was the city of vampires, it´s mortal population often relagated to the work unmanagable by thralls or working undead. It has only been fairly recently with with the vampiric population dropping beneath 25% thanks to the upsets caused by the Vharrhiereyh (time of ) and decline of House Hallan that Hallandren has begun to pivot to a mortals for skilled labor. This is reflective in the condition of Hallandren as a whole, for it still remains home to some of the most opulent wealth and desperate poverty the world over. Its streets are delapated, and ports often antiquated, as even with the most recent changes the powers that be are often only willing to abide by the most stringent of changes necessary to allow interface with the modern world, and nothing more. Yet despite all this, the kingdom has stood the test of time. Regardless of however antiquated Hallandren´s ports may be, they are a flurry of near constant activity and trade. Regardless of however adherent the Church is to religous doctrine, their cathedral in Hallangrad is home to one of the largest collections of literature Kanahulu has the offer. Its industrial base, both in terms of manufacturing and manpower, is robust, especially so within Hallangrad itself.

Hallandren is a nation of contradictions; Of innovation and antiquated technologies; Of towering spires and crumbling archways; Of enlightened philosophy and endless depravitiy; And of disperate peoples and a doctrine of uniformity. A land out of time, perhaps, yet one that has found it´s niche in the dynamic modern day, even if it has done so in spite of rather than because of it´s many quirks. Hallandren will likely remain this recalcitrant, stubborn, and glorious place for decades to come.

History...
As a tradition distinct from religion is a relatively novel concept to Inner Hallandren. While not unheard of in the Lavvylands and Client states for people to record past events on paper, stone, or other such means of preservation, this has not been the case in Hallandren proper for some time. It is only very recently, under the ageis of the ascendent House Valrath, that the state has taken any sort of interest in transcribing the various oral traditions and retellings of Hallandren into a comphrensive, written narrative. A vast initative is underway to catalog and organize these account so as to fall in concordance with the histories of neighboring states. Although began in-part during the latter days of the Caydefather´s reign, much of the work that exists now is accredited to the decrees of Queen Kaiza Taurath, which are continued in spirit under the decrees of King Gerry Taurath. Done so as part of her overall initative to detangle House Hallan´s infulence on both church and state (and to seperate church and state from each other), the decrees of Queen Kaiza prompted the creation of both an indepedent historical society and state-sanctioned catalog for recorded works, housed in the former Cathederal to Gaspard. This has had the effect of while much of recent history is well documented (albeit with a slight bent in the ascendent House Valrath´s favor), much of anything past the destruction of house Miruvor is interpretation at best.

Early history
The island of Stechpalme was not always the mycelium barren wasteland it was. In fact, it was a lush jungle with plenty of greenery and vegetation. The north side of the island was inhabited by the Tribes of Engerdal. And the south the mole civilization of Maulvard. The two tribes were peaceful to each other but the people of Engerdal had started to throw empty carcasses and bones of animals into the ocean. The story goes that the Lavvythia became enraged that her oceans were being bloodied and polluted. So as an act of vengeance, she sent a hurricane to the coast of the island. Rumours spread, and the people began to worship Lavvy -mostly out of fear- and the early stages of the Church of Lavvythia begun. Later shrines and monuments had been constructed for her. But the King at the time Bryht Pek became envious of Lavvy's influence on the people and thought that he deserved the glory and that the people should worship him. He began to plan a ceremony to show the people of Engerdal who was their true saviour. He gathered up the population and grabbed a young cow and spoke to the crowd. He stuck a wooden pike into its chest and threw the bloody carcass into the ocean and publicly denounced Lavvy. The crowd was confused but started to clap from seeing such a bloody spectacle. Lavvy became enraged of this and overnight the green grass of Palme became purple with vengeance. The crops began to falter and the water around the island had a menacing purple hue. The once lush hills became barren and filled with carcasses of dead vegetation.

Cannibalism and divine intervention
Lavvy had poisoned the waters of Palme and chaos spread across the land mass. As food and water depleted and people began to riot. The whole community was in shambles and people began to look for Blood as an alternative to water. People out of pure desperation began killing their fellow humans and drinking their blood.

There was no humanity left only war and wasteland and the animal instinct of survival and Lavvy loved seeing the bloody spectacle. But decided to take pity on the people seeing as they still worshipped her with such passion and dedication even after causing such destruction. Lavvy sent a cloud of rain, and with that cloud hope. The cloud flew over modern day Hallangrad and the water filled the andesite ravine until a lake was formed. The ravine was lush with life and freshwater and the now council of elders took control for the time being and declared the Ravine of Everlife to be protected and conserved.

Caydefather
"Caydefather ruled Hallandren for a long time, so long that no one quite remembers life without him. He arrived to the island well after Lavvythia had unleashed her rage onto it. The people were gray and hopeless, but The Caydefather saw beauty in the land and therefore restored faith into every single soul. Using his mysterious purple liquid, he was able to heal the sick and gain a rapid following that soon worshipped him as a God. Cities were built, and for the first time in a long time, Stechpalme had taken to the seas with their new ships. Since then, Hallandren had been a peaceful paradise of freedom and prosperity." The tale of the Caydefather is a simple tale that is told quite often in Hallandren (along with the more popular version the Epic of The Caydefahter). Truthfully, the Caydefather arrived at modern day Vythia while the people were beaming with life they had stolen. It did not take long for the Caydefather to learn the truth about the people in Hallandren, and he was not willing to let it continue. His first step was to gain their trust by adopting the same craving for blood the locals had. For a year, he had to partake in the cruel practices of the Hallandren vampires. It was necessary, since he learned every little thing about them including their weaknesses.

Luckily, the Caydefather was not the only one who wanted to bring freedom to the victims of Hallandren. Vampire hunter groups were coming forward by slowly chipping away at the vampire population. At first, it was only one disappearance every couple of months. This grew into entire transportation ships being burned at night, entire families going missing, and barrels of blood being stolen. At this point, The Caydefather had been accepted into the council of Elders which ruled Hallandren and was showing leadership skills. Using his status, The Caydefather felt ready to effectively join the fight against the vampires, the only problem was he had to do it secretly.

Living a double life was not easy for The Caydefather, but he was good at it. There were no direct records of the attacks he participated in, but his journal suggests he was responsible for the deaths of 457 vampires. Throughout these attacks, The Caydefather eventually became the official king of the Hallowed City of Hallandren. During the beginning of his rule, the vampires were scared into hiding. Their windows were boarded up with iron bars, no one left their houses at night, and some even were forced to convert to drinking sheep blood since all the ships had been burned down and all the sailors were killed. There was no more production of human blood for the vampires to eat. But as always, The Caydefather saw the best in his people. For once in his life, he was able to help.

The Caydefather discovered that the mushrooms on the island secreted a beautiful and bright purple liquid. From his first taste, he knew exactly what Hallandren needed. He farmed the purple liquid and gave it out to his people. It healed the sick, restored faith into the hopeless, and his journal suggests with a certain ritual one could even rise the dead. At last, the island was finally at peace. Ships were rebuilt, more people immigrated to the island, and The Caydefather started a quite large family of his own like he once had. Unfortunately, there were still vampires on the island including The Caydefather himself who craved blood.

The Caydefather was found stabbed to death in his own chambers. No one quite knows how it happened, and it continues to remain a mystery.

Rise of Queen K'aiza Taurath & the Bonburg's Claim
Queen K'aiza is the current ruler of Hallandren since the Caydefather passed, but her rise to power was not easy. Being born as an ant from foreign lands, K'aiza had trouble fitting in with the rest of the Hallandrunes and spent her youth digging random holes and tunnels throughout Hallandren. House Taurath was also unique from the rest of the Hallandrunes as they were not humans but cows, so out of sympathy and compassion, K'aiza was adopted into House Taurath. Growing up, K'aiza spent a lot of time with the Caydefather and was eventually allowed to work under him in his government which greatly determined the Queen she became.

Funeral turned civil brawl
Tensions had built up for a while now after the two opposing claims to the throne. As sides began to form and eventually would collide at the Caydefather's Funeral. Helt at the Ravine of Everlife, in which the body of the Caydefather was placed in a mahogany coffin buoyant in the freshwater lake. In which his children would fire at the coffin causing it to sink and his soul be released. But things turned sour in which K'aiza Taurath and her brother DiiZ Taurath invited prominent members of Antisnoq to the funeral. As the procession begun, the remaining descendants of the Caydefather fired at the wooden coffin and the box sunk... Silence. The king was dead. Its time to move on K'aiza thought. She then turned to the crowd and announced her regency and that she was the true succesor. This angered Brooke Bonburg as she felt that her sister was using the funeral as a platform for her regency. They then got into a heat discussion in which ended with K'aiza accusing her own sister of murdering their father. Brooke lunged at K'aiza and thus a civil brawl ensued. Antisnoq helped Taurath forces shut down any attempt at taking power. And the Bonburgs fled. Leaving K'aiza Taurath as Queen of Hallandren...

Coronation of K'aiza Taurath
The coronation of K'aiza Taurath (Micelicious) marked a new age for Hallandren. An age of diplomacy and stability. The coronation was held at the Vythia Clocktower in Vythia and was attended by many officials across Kanahulu. K'aiza Taruath was crowned by Tom Valtier, High Priest. The Queen was rumoured to be drunk at her coronation. Perhaps due to the stress of such a large event. She thanked everyone for coming and was a peaceful ceremony which then turned into an afterparty at Vythia. Soon after, K'aiza got word of the Bonburgs secret location in Ninjago. She then sent out a legion of soldiers and demanded that they would turn over the terrorists. Yumato gave into the demands and the Bonburgs were captured. Support for the Bonburgs however still stayed strong as people didn't like the fact that K'aiza was an ant and married a foreigner from Antisnoq. So she devised a plan in which she would put an end to her sister's claim to the throne. And put an end to her sister...

The Lavvy Games
The First Lavvy Games used an altered version of The Caydefather Clock in Vythia as an arena, and the victor was a murderer named Ball. With the help of his team, Ball was able to hide throughout the entire game until there was only one other person left who he was able to easily murder due to how weak they were from the fighting.

Ball was the victor of the First Lavvy Games, and he won with the strategy of hiding while his team consisting of Gojo Gyattoru, Pillezu, Ibes, and Poxeltar Le Cake fought the other competitors to their deaths in order to save his strength until it was only him and Tim Gyattman left who he was able to snipe with a bow due to how weak Tim Gyattman had been from the fighting. Ball had been put into the games due to his extensive history on murder, kidnapping, torture, and arson. It had taken years to finally track him down and imprison him, but the games have only set him free to continue his legacy.

Tim Gyattman was the last person to die in the Lavvy Games, and was sniped by Ball. Having the most kills in the game, he was an extremely ravenous competitor who was fueled by his cannibalistic ways. He was also on a team consisting of Tims Pot and The Surgeon. Before being assassinated by Ball, Tim Gyattman had completely wiped out Ball's entire team including Gojo Gyattoru, Pillezu, Ibes, and Poxeltar Le Cake. Tim Gyattman had been in the games due to his hunger for human meat, previously being imprisoned in Scilogete for his countless murders.

Edmond Von Bonburg was the first to be killed in the First Lavvy Games, and he was stabbed to death by Pillezu as he was searching one of the chests. Edmond was put into the games with his wife Brooke Von Bonburg and son Skoopy Vop Bonburg due to their attempt to contest K'aiza Taurath's claim to the throne who had been heir at the time.

Architecture
The first 'gothic' building was the Cathedral of Culture in Hallandren's Capital Hallangrad and has since followed the grand gothic theme ever since, utilising terracotta for the roofs (purple terracota in Vythia) and having tall gothic styled apartments in Vythia to shorter yet still pointy houses in Hallangrad, However their colonies differ with a medieval style in Solutor and a more discrete style with the underground mole style in Maulvard.

The Caydefather Clocktower
The Caydefather Clocktower was built circa day 40 of Tremons in Vythia as a tribute to the Caydefather and was a massive feat of engineering and designing in order to build it. Its comprised of primarily stone and andesite and is built on a holy rocky island called Teardrop Island. Some say the Caydefather himself designed it but there is no evidence to support and is likely a rumour. Its intricate details and ginormous scale is a testament to the influence Hallandren has over Kanahulu. And is the 1st World Wonder of Tremons.