Friholm

Friholm is a small nation located in western Sparwood, with the capital city built around a gulf next to the Sea of Astyllea. Next to the capital city, consisting of Friholm_City and Kringal at the moment, there is a smaller town to the South of the nation; Rosa.

Featured Photos
[Old Photos, from July/August of 2021]

=Friholm= The Dogedom is not just known for its beautiful medieval city, but also for the serenity and relaxation its citizens enjoy. Those who live in the city are well-connected, everyone knows everyone, and are open to just enjoying life.

"We live in a very contemporary state of time."

- — Vandoro

"I don't think we do [have any issues]. Pretty stable community"

- — HorudenMC

Etymology
The name Friholm is Swedish, and directly translates to "Free Peninsula".

This is to signify the sovereignty and independence of Friholm. It also describes Friholm's standing as a port due to its geological situation, while emphasizing the focus of Friholm's free market.

Additionally, the name reflects Friholm's in-lore history. as its people moved to the location and established the town as a bid for economic and diplomatic freedom from their original lands.

Pre-History
"Friholmians have tried to sail on land, but have found that it is "Impractical""

- — Prapic1, a 1st Generation Friholmian

There is a reason Friholm has never endured, or ever fought its own war. That is because of the sacrifices it had to make to rich peace in the first place. Our past is that of horrendous suffering, bloody pain, eternal warfare, and grave trauma. All of which paid off in the end to create eternal peace.

The Frivatten Era
[Beginning of the Civil Unrest Period-Into The Period of Peace]

With records from ancient Yimmu-Audal manuscript and what oral tradition could be recorded, we trace its origins to the near end of the Factions Period (Late December, 2020), when the Shattered Sea first was flooded with traders, smugglers, and sea kings. During this golden age of black-market trading, merchants enjoyed great prosperity and material luxury, as this sea was far away from the monitorization of the great empires to the south. Yet, as a catalyst of the thieving and smuggling in the seas reaching its zenith, the great southern power of Vioxdoxa sent their grand armadas all the way north to hunt down criminals and fugitives, thus disrupting the Shattered Sea business and dis-employing dozens of merchants. The greatest casualty was the Harlot of Vattnet, a literal house on a ship, which used to sustain itself off of the illegal trade of blue crystal rum. It’s leader, Captain crimBlood, offered the merchants new opportunities for pirating if they sailed to the Rough Sea with their ships. Many accepted, and thus the Captain brought dozens of sailors to travel across land and sea. During this journey, starving and carrying luggage, ships, and animals became a huge issue. Bandits and pirates would attack them. In these desperate times, crimBlood supposedly choked a goose who let loose a golden egg. When he consumed this golden egg, crimBlood brawled everyone on board, at once, and won. He drowned fighting a giant rock turtle, lost his shit and rage quitted. Another person was elected captain, Jimmyjim12, had to make his crew cross over land into the Astyllean Sea, but drank too much coffee and sped into a Azurian castle. He was then kidnapped by a local Azurian noble, but was rescued by a mate, called RicKAMor. RicKAMor was a prominent, charismatic barter who quickly established herself as a better leader than Jimmyjim, who was voted out by the crew in favor of RicKAMor. The new captain traveled the seas for a day, but was then chased by the Azurian fleet, whose host wanted to forcibly take Jimmyjim as a husband. However, RicKAMor maneuvered into a laggy storm, preventing the Azurian fleet from capturing Jimmyjim, but several mates lost their lives, demoralizing the crew. RicKAMor found the whole ordeal to be too stressful for her, and resigned. The most reasonable of the crew, Flunk, who didn’t want to be leader nevertheless took up the role of captain to save them all. He believed sailing all the way to the Rough Sea was too risky and landed his crew in where Friholm is now on the 8th of May, which is what is now “Friland Day”.

The Era of Struggle
[May 8th- May 25th]

The history of this period is complex and long to go into, but to summarize it:

Flunk ordered the Frilanders to strip the wood from the ships to set up temporary huts to shield themselves from the harsh monsoon rains. The Frilanders ended up being raided constantly by Tortugan pirates, and Flunk had the richest guy, named Userman, find help. Userman hired a mercenary group of “Runes”, skilled viking warriors, to protect the settlement. As Userman built up the village, one of the Runes, named Agent, led a decisive victory in the “Battle of The Free Plains' ' against the last of the Tortugan pirates. Afterwards, Userman was too stressed and had his son, Profilman, to take over while he left the game. Profilman was good friends with Agent and had him lead the Runes to overthrow Flunk for doing nothing. Profil removed the title of captain, borrowed the local Sparewood title of “Doge”, declaring the “City-State of Friholm”, announcing the voyage over and that this would be their permanent “Holm”. No one questioned Profil’s new-found authority since the Frilanders had no issue with Profil and Agent protecting them. The Friholmians were now free from threats, turmoil, and chaos as long as he was in power. Thus, ended the Era of Captains and the Dogedom was founded.

Founding, Independance and the First Doge
Friholm was founded on 23 May 2021 by Profilman as the Doge and AgentL00 as the Consul. Initially a member of the United Kingdoms of Western Sparwood, Friholm broke from the nation following The West Sparwood Crisis and proclaimed itself an independent city-state — declaring its neutrality in any upcoming conflict. Friholm officially became free on the 7th June 2021. As Friholm could not yet defend itself, talks began regarding Friholm joining the nation of Viodoxa as a Free City. These talks would ultimately fail as Viodoxa would collapse due a coup d'état on 19th June 2021. On the 9th June, Friholm entered a military alliance with Tortuga.

The First Council
[20th July — 22nd August]

Friholm started as a purely oligarchic state, with Profilman, Agent, and Prapic acting as a triumverate. However, on 19th July it was announced that a democratically elected council would be instated. On the 23rd of July 2021, the prospective candidates of this first council election took part in an official debate concerning Friholm's future. The debate was mainly focused on foreign policy and taxation. Voting began at 18:00 CET on the 24th of July 2021, with voting ending at 11:00 CET the next day. The results determined that Draco Furno, Wassel, and Vandoro would be the new council members. The guild seats would go to AdamSmith, TMaterial, and later, Micted.

Funded by Prapic, Friholm purchased the end of the Friholmian peninsula from Tortuga. Shortly after, Friholm joined them in the Allium-Coalition War, honoring their alliance. In the aftermath of this war, more land was purchased from the defeated Bardonia. This deal — funded by Prapic, Landsmin and Wassel — effectively quadrupled the size of Friholm's domain.

After the second national assembly — during which the first district was officially declared finished — TMaterial finished the construction of a temporary hippodrome and hosted the first horse race in Friholm's history; drawing in nobles from Uldarash, Tortuga, and many other nations to race/watch.

On 12th August, the first Constitution of Friholm was adopted. This bill outlined the government and laws of Friholm and the rights of citizens.

During this time, the government of the neighbouring city of Kringal collapsed. On 13th August, the city's remaining leadership agreed to join with Friholm, being absorbed as a new district.

The Second Council and the first Viceroy
[August 22nd- September 17th]

The second election saw Wassel and DracoFurno re-elected, and introduced Illegal and Starwars as new council members. AdamSmith and TMaterial would be guild leaders.

A good portion of Friholm's leadership and citizenship went inactive due to schooling returning to many people's lives. Among the casualties was Profil, Agent, and some council members. As such, Profil decided to hand Wassel, a very active member in Friholm, the role of acting-Doge/Viceroy to manage Friholm.

The rest of this councilship oversaw no noticable changes both domestically and externally.

The Third Council
[September 26th- October 31st]

The third election had Starwars, Trix, and Ryowan be the new council members, whilst AdamSmith and TMaterial returned as guild leaders.

Wassel, overseeing the continued construction of the rich district, announced a building day to resume progress.

This Council ended as Friholm emerged victorious from the Halloween Event, in which our lands became a great battleground against the demons of both hell and night.

The Fourth Council
[October 31st- November 21st]

The fourth election found Trix, Ryowan, Starwars, and TMaterial to be the new council members.

Friholm saw the creation of a defensive pact with Aldovir, the second alliance next to Tortuga.

Many in Friholm got married; most notably the Viceroy, Wassel, married the Chancellor/Princess of Tulipia, Sami. Whilst not a political marriage, it incidentally brought the two great nations closer together.

A third national assembly was held in efforts to reform Friholm's constitution. The constitution was then amended in order to expand and reconstruct the legal system.

The Fifth Council and the Second doge
[November 28th-December 27th]

The fifth election saw Trix, starwars, and TMaterial as council members. The Doge announced the construction of a grand new keep in the highlands east of Friholm. The corination of Wassel was held infront of the still unfinished Grand keep, a rather unruly and unorganized affair that was saved by alcohol and games.

The Sixth Council
[December 27th-January 30th]

The sixth council consisted of Trix,starwars18098 and TMaterial. During the time of the Sixth Council Friholm officially participated in two wars of which the most significant was the Loria-Borhammar War where Friholm joined Borhammer against Loria. The less important of the two conflicts that Friholm participated in during this time was the Second Lionorian revolt on the side of Tortuga. A grand endeavor to revitalize the district of Kringal was undertaken by MojangWasMyIdea.

The Seventh Council
[January 30th- ]

This is the story of the grand city state of Friholm, so far...

Founding
"Our fore-fathers were merchants who settled down in what is now Friholm in an attempt to avoid a fear that trade regulations might grow in Rathnir. Their flotillas of trading ships were disassembled, and the timber was used to found the first settlement in Friholm."

- — Profilman

Initially the town was set up with each family as equals, the autocracy was abolished as the founding of a new settlement acted as an equalizer, and a rudimentary parliamentary system was set up. Profilman's ancestors quickly rose to power in parliament, gaining a fast majority, allowing the family to pursue a military coup. The family consolidated power quickly and established themselves as the new monarchy. It is the system they created that presides in Friholm to this day.

Friholm was established on the basic values of keeping the peace, and giving opportunity to everyone to pursue what they love freely, whilst being protected and uninterrupted from outside threats. Such focuses that people love to do are building, writing, and roleplaying.

Politics
Friholm's Government is a Constitutional Autocracy, lead by a Doge. Much of Friholm's politics is inspired by, and is in part based on, Renaissance-era Venice.

The first Doge of Friholm — Profilman — reigned from 25th May 2021 to 1st December 2021. Profilman stepped down and was succeeded by former Viceroy Wassel, whose coronation took place on 4th December.

Most decisions are made by an elected council. Originally, there were 6 seats on the council; three for guild leaders, and three for representatives democratically elected by citizens. However, guilds eventually became inactive and so the positions granted to guilds were removed.

Since the founding of the council, a National Assembly has been hosted at least once a month. Here, citizens can engage in open debate and question members of the council regarding policy and current events.

Culture
Around 1676 years before the present day ancestors of Friholm inhabited the bay in flimsy wooden housing and seafaring ambitions of discovering a large landmass unknown to the rest of the world (which at the time to their knowledge only included themselves). this ambition was quashed in quite an unfortunate way. The tale of the ancients begins in the Gulf of Friholm an expands west to a few small islands.

As the ancients discovered small islands to the west they created an idea they named Terra Alteniquia which was a concept that a large landmass to the west existed and when they found the large island they first called the Proto-Avari tribes Alteniquians being convinced this was their concept. But as encounters between the tribes and the ancients grew the Proto-Avari demanded that they call them Avari and insisted that one of their explorers had once saw a coast line to the North-West of the island and that this coastline was the beginning of Terra Alteniquia. Relations increased between the two groups and the ancients had started importing food from the Proto-Avari and contracted many diseases from the Avari dish of Lamb stew where uncooked lamb was placed in boiled water and stirred for one minute. The uncooked meat meant that the ancients contracted many diseases from the food that the Avari through natural selection had grown immune to. After 1 year of the growing relations the ancients decided to undertake the voyage the Terra Alteniquia. The ship successfully made the voyage but the crew didn't. they had died from the disease contracted from the Avari and Scurvy from the fact that the ancients had started leaving behind fruit dishes for meat dishes meant they ended up with low Vitamin C causing them to die on the voyage. The people of the gulf eagerly awaited the return of the voyagers but as they never did hope was lost and 58 years later the ancient tribe of the gulf went mostly extinct and the survivors migrated east to leave their legacy behind.

The only surviving relics of this era is the boat that crashed on the shores of Alteniquia and was restored to its former state by the descendants of those who built it hundreds of years ago and a map produced by the lead voyager the day before his expedition. Modern Friholmians returned to this peninsula and found the boat across the sea and was returned to them by the people of Astyllea and reconstructed by the community.

Religion
Friholm maintains freedom of religion. Currently, there is no one religion followed by the majority of the citizens of Friholm.

The Legend of the Cursed Walkers
Told by the Orange Poet

In the newly founded port of Friholm, there lies a tale that would change the city forever. The Azurian fleet, who were chasing the first Frilenders, was defeated in an epic battle, inside a crimson storm. The survivors arrived to the land while the others sank into the violent waves. The Frilenders, ordered by Captain Flunk, started the construction of the famous port. when they were finally done, the merchants were plenty, the people were happy, and with the blessing of bliss, the city grew larger and wealthy. However, the dead Azurians were not done. The storm was a weird one, reviving those who drowned inside his grasp. The many corpses stood up and started walking, deep down on the abyss floor.

The moon shining is white light, The Azurian's walker, Friholm in sight, begun walking. Three merchant ships were docked in the port, three merchant ships, dormant they laid, two massive and one small, three merchant ship, that would have seen better days. One of the captains went to return to his home, but it was no more, only a wrecked vessel was left. He tried calling his crew, but there was only silence, another captain came and wore the same expression. The last captain was dead, a death that a sea lover would never wished, on a cursed port. They alerted the guards but they came too late. The Azurian's were there, in the city, their bloody hands, and with their eyes drowned in fear.

Guards started to attack these ghouls, but with no success, there were already deceased. Half of the guards died in minutes, no Azurians fell. They started to roam the city streets, the people, inside their homes, shook and preyed that their doors do not budge. Nonetheless, the walkers were not there for them, their presence in this world was only justified by the existence of their prey. Jimmy Jim, the future husband of an Azcurian noble. The chase was for him, and they will succeed. But they did not know, that he left many moons ago. he was gone, and the walkers was stuck, cursed to wander near the port. They left the streets and the massacres to sleep in the bay. Boats were destroyed, lives were taking, thinking to be Jimmy Jim's. But they still Wait, waiting for the spouse to return.

Geography
A flat cityscape, with a slight hill and incline to the west, surrounded by water. There it a small tributary that divides the city in-two; with the port on one side, and the wealthier market on the other.

Location
The City of Friholm is located in southeastern Rathnir, in the western portion of the continent of Sparwood. The nation is bordered by Tortuga to the south and west, Tulipia and Tovarisha to the north, and Kingdom of Avaria to the east. Since 11th August 2021, the annexed nation of Kringal has been directly administered as a district of Friholm.

Alliances
Currently, Friholm is allied with the Free States of Tortuga, Aldovir, and is in a non-aggression pact with Xemalatau.

The military alliance with Tortuga was signed by Ezlioth, the Captain of Blackrock; and Profilman, the Doge of Friholm. The military alliance saw both sovereignties pledging military aid in times of need, and promising not to attack or betray the other, upon a condition of a one time delivery of bread to Tortuga from Friholm.