Ryk av Ejznlandt

The Ryk av Ejznlandt, more commonly known as just Eisenland, was founded by a player by the name of AblazeGenie, also known as Max av Swanz-Ejznhjart, on March 7th, 2021, on a small island given to him by the Federation of Valtyrion. It's state religion is the Godteda-Kajzer. It is currently led by Ekerej(King) Kaldar av Ejznhjart.

The Ryk av Ejznlandt is a Ryk(Kingdom) within the Tengalii Ejzen Kajzerryk. It´s Capital Maxstadt is also the imperial capital of the Kajzerryk(Empire).

Seceding from Valtyrion
Shortly after the founding of Eisenland, Genie joined another Valtyrion island, Northland, in seceding from the Federation of Valtyrion. This is in part due to disagreements and grievances with alexpotter, then king of Valtyrion. After the bloodless revolution, Northland and Eisenland allied with one another, forging a relationship lasting months.

Building of Eisenburg
Post-revolution, Eisenland was in dire need of players, resources, and buildings. In this time, one MrPoothtick arrived on the island, interested in the small country. MrPoothtick went on to become an established member of the country and soon became the second-in-command of Eisenland. Through this time, many of Eisenland's other senior members, such as Ryan, Orioniter, and Pixii joined on and would go on to build up the fledgling island into a small metropolis with farms, buildings, a capitol building, bunkers, and an active playerbase. This main island is now known as Eisenburg.

Tensions Rising
Due to the proximity of Eisenland to Northland, what was originally a strong alliance turned to suspicion. This suspicion turned to spying, and soon, ties were cut, walls built, and a moat was dug between the lands of Northland and Eisenland. Through diplomacy, war was avoided, however an unavoidable tension now existed between the two small nations.

Expansion
After some time of exceptional growth, Eisenland needed to expand if it were to survive. A sharp rise of players warranted the need for more land, and as such, the nearest land mass, Northland, was viewed as necessary to avoid overpopulation in Eisenburg. After talks with Northland's leaders, as they had grown largely inactive, Eisenland officially annexed all the cities of Northland. These included Ostrova and Smallstantinople (now Kaiserhaven). With this new land, Eisenland saw even more growth, and a cultural revolution of sorts. New buildings were built, resources gathered, wealth distributed, and happy players all around. A mainland colony was started around this time, near the small nation of Kostarion.

War with Valtyrion
After the Northland annexation, Eisenland turned it's hungry eye on it's other neighbor, and past ruler, Valtyrion. Eisenland annexed the towns of Ozenia and what is now Little Rock with no resistance. The only remaining town of Valtyrion was that of Balhurst, it's capital. Diplomacy was initially attempted, and stressed. However, after having an extremely tough time dealing with their king, Eisenlandian leaders deemed Valtyrion incapable of initiating proper diplomacy, and promptly provided an ultimatum, join or die. King alexpotter chose to not submit, and within the hour, war was declared on Valtyrion. A large force comprising of nearly 20 soldiers from Eisenland and ally Skjoldrbrodir invaded the island city of Balhurst with no resistance, and proceeded to sack and loot the town. Shortly after the carnage, alexpotter yielded, and the city of Balhurst officially joined Eisenland.

An Era Ends
After a long period of peace and slow growth, a sudden message was delivered to Kaiser Ablaze from the King of Volturus on July 27th, 2021. It was an ultimatum, "ATTENTION: LEADERS OF EISENLAND, YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO RESPOND TO THIS ULTIMATUM. EITHER JOIN THE VOLTURUS KINGDOM, OR WE WILL DECLARE WAR". Immediately after receiving the blunt message, Eisenland was put into a frenzy. Eisenland was obviously not going to join these warmongers, and as such, mobilized the people and prepared for the inevitable conflict.

Promises and Treachery
After discussing with Volturus leaders, both sides agreed to duke it out in 2 days, with Volturus publicly planning on attacking the Eisenland capital, Eisenburg, from a siege camp. Shortly following this, one Eisenlandian, Industro (The Industrial King), volunteered to go undercover in Volturus. He was trusted into the country without a hitch, and shortly after his acceptance, his work began. He documented the number of soldiers available to their army and their tactics. On the day before the war was to be declared, he discovered a TNT cannon aimed directly at the Eisenlandian capitol building! With haste, Industro snapped photos of the illegal activity, and with swift action, effectively half of the Volturan soldiers were banned for two days. After this, Industro continued his spywork, and it eventually culminated into the destruction of the entire backup arsenal of Volturus.

More Promises Made, More Broken
Due to the fact that land wars take 24 hours to begin after their declaration, this caused some confusion within the Volturan leadership. The Volturans assumed that by agreeing to fight at the assigned date, that they would be declaring war on that date, while the Eisenlandians were agreeing to fight at this time. So the Eisenlandians, expecting to be declared war on at the agreed time, were confused as to why no war was declared. After 10 minutes, and some debate, the Eisenlandians went ahead and declared war on the Volturans, as Eisenland's only ally at the time, Skjoldobrodir, was expecting a fight at the designated time. A problem arose, however, in the fact that MrPoothtick was the only council member and governor of a land claim that was online at the time to declare war, and his governorship was over the small island town of Ozenia, a far cry from Eisenburg, which is where the Volturan seige camp was built and where the battle was to take place. After war was declared, Eisenland posted it's official war declaration in the announcements channel. Within 15 minutes of posting this war declaration, Eisenland was flooded with support. After expressing interest in helping the Eisenlandians, Loic of Viodoxa and 20 other Viodoxans volunteered to help. In addition to Viodoxa, members from long time ally Skjoldobrodir (who were already going to help), Solitudinem, UBSR, Tortuga, and independent mercenaries all joined the cause. Quickly, this war turned from a defensive battle to an offensive one, and plans were made to deal with Volturus.

T
After much protest from the Volturans, as they were claiming that Eisenland didn't honor the originial promise of war, and Eisenland saying the same, blood was beginning to boil. Outside of the capital of Volturus, a siege fort was built for the new coalition. Members from all member nations showed up to the fort, 40 in total, all bearing the Eisenland flag on their shields, and at 15 minutes before the fighting was to start, the force moved on the capital. However, before the official time started, trigger-happy Volturan defenders started shooting at the worst possible people to shoot at, the Tortugans. After this dire mistake on the Volturan's part, the Tortugans, all netherite-clad, flew over the battlements with their tridents, and proceeded to rain hell on the city. All the defenders were massacred, before the war even started. It was still 4 minutes to the start of the war! After seeing the carnage unfold before their eyes, and wanting to get in on the action, the rest of the coalition charged into the city. Chaos ensued. There was some griefing, lots of stealing, and killing. The defenders were unable to respawn and fight due to the fact that Industro had cunningly taken out their extra gear with his spywork, and now the Volturans were paying dearly. It was clear, Eisenland and her allies were the winners in this fight.

Eisenland on the Map
Following the sacking of New Volotra, Volturan leadership all but left the area, deserting to a new country, and leaving the land to Eisenland. Overnight, Eisenland nearly tripled in size, and was now clearly visible on the map. Eisenland had now entered the global stage on Rathnir, and combined with the friendships made with her allied nations, was no tiny island nation any longer. Through this war, the towns of Maxstadt, Fislankif, and New Volotra were added to the country of Eisenland, forming the landmass known as Arcturus.

The Creation of the 2nd CSS
After acquiring Arcturus, Eisenland began talks with other Sparwood nations in order to form the second iteration of the Confederation of Sparwood States (CSS) consisting of the UBSR, Eisenland, Akratia, Monterre, Yunaro, and Avertico on August 18, 2021. This alliance was made as a result of a shared fear of Tortugan invasion, as they had grown extremely aggressive at the time. The CSS’s fears were realized, when on August 20, Tortuga declared war on Akratia. Preparations were made by all of the CSS nations to help Akratia, however due to incredibly incompetent leadership by Akratia’s premiere, MW_Neoz, these preparations of defense were in vain. Akratia was invaded on the 24 of August, with not so much as a single CSS defender helping.

Following Akratia’s invasion, fears of Tortuga invading Eisenland became all too prevalent. And these fears were realized when Tortuga started to commit bandit raids throughout the Eisenland archipelago. In order to hastily come to a solution, the council agreed to sign off on a agreement, called the “Treaty of Eisenburg”, in which Tortuga vowed to not invade and to stop committing raids on Eisenlandian towns in exchange for total control of Eisenlandian waters, along with a huge Tortugan ship being built right in the middle of the Eisenland archipelago. It is still there to this day.

Beginnings of the FUS
To add insult to injury to the CSS, the UBSR was swallowed by Frosmyre on September 6th. And on the same day, Eisenland, Tulipia, and Yunaro all left the CSS, and create the “Free Union of Sparwood” (FUS).

The FUS was short lived too however, as on September 18th, Yunaro actually joined Eisenland as a state. This was Eisenland’s last experiment with supranational organizations, as the Sparwood region was just too unstable, and every time an organization was created, it got dissolved within a couple of weeks.

As a show of a betterment of diplomatic relations, on September 20th, 2021, Eisenland purchased a swath of mainland land from Tortuga for a hefty price, however, it proved itself to be worth it over time as new cities were built on the land in early 2022. It is now known as Teschen.

A New Government
Following the dramatic conclusion of the -4 War, Eisenland entered an era of prosperity. LittleRock’s structure and defenses were completed, the city of Balhurst, which was now under the mayorship of the famed Industro, was seeing unprecedented levels of growth in terms of buildings and player count, and the Maxstadt megacity project had begun. In conjunction with the good times, the Eisenland council, now consisting of the Kaiser, MrPoothtick, Ryan vom Dirkson, Industro, MrZayn, and Hiiro, all decided that a mixed form of democracy and monarchy was the best way to run this new Eisenland. Thus, elections were held, and Industro won the presidency, with various other members of Eisenland winning representative positions. During this golden age, Eisenlandians became rich, as new armaments factories were constructed with the sole purpose to sell weaponry to other nations, and production of raw materials industrialized in order to mass produce and sell.

The End of the Good Times
And when all was going well, disaster struck again. On September 21, 2021, Industro, the nation's president, was fed up with the rest of the government ignoring him on controversial topics, and cracked. He went rogue in the Eisenland discord, and in the confusion, Industro managed to take all of his valuables, wealth, and materials, and log off indefinitely. This series of events was a serious blow to Eisenlandian morale, funds, and weaponry, but life continued on. MrPoothtick took up the mantle of President by means of succession following his unexpected departure.

Further Divisions
MrPoothtick’s presidency was very controversial due to the nature of his installment. The various political parties at play in the nation began to bicker, and this actually resulted in some murders happening in various towns and plenty of heated arguments over how the country should be run. On September 27th, 2021, a state of emergency was declared, and all political parties forcibly disbanded. The situation continued to decline however, and on September 30th, martial law was instituted, and democracy was thrown out the window in Eisenland.

After these dramatic turn of events, the whole of Eisenland began to slow down in terms of growth, with many players going inactive. Hiiro, however, stayed hard at work, and managed to single handedly build up Maxstadt, constructing incredibly large structures like the Eisenland Capitol Building all by himself. As the scope of the Maxstadt project grew in size, more builders were assigned to work on the city to expedite the process.

The Dormant Era
Eisenland was pretty dormant both domestically and internationally for the next couple of months, with the only real noteworthy things happening during this period being construction and completion of projects already going on that were established in the past. Maxstadt continued to grow, Eisenland’s older cities were renovated, a national highway was created, and Hiiro continued to prove himself as Eisenland’s greatest member, in everything from wealth, combat, influence, dedication, and building skills.

Eisenland helps Loic's Viodoxa
Eisenlands relatively dormant state wouldn’t last long however, as on December 10th, 2021, Loic officially announced his return to Rathnir after falling from grace in Viodoxa. Loic had maintained contact with Eisenland leaders after the -4 War, and in his time of need, Eisenland decided to return the favor. Eisenland was the first nation to publicly express support for Loic’s forces, and Loic made his dramatic return on the steps of the capitol building of Maxstadt. Over the course of the long and drawn out conflict, Eisenland suffered minimal losses, besides a battle that took place in Maxstadt that caused minor damage. It wasn’t until January 28th, 2022, in which the fighting ended with resounding victory for Loic’s forces, and the war finally came to a close.

Eisenland joins the Union
Following the end of the war, Eisenland and the new Viodoxa were incredibly close, and decided to merge their countries with a union. Maxstadt was chosen as the capital of the Union, and Hiiro, due to his immeasurable work put into helping the cause and incredible skill on the battlefield, was installed in the union’s government as a Regent Archon and a military general.

New People, New Ideas
Following Eisenland's joining of the Union, labor was focused on building up towns and infrastructure over military production, as was focused during the war. This growth led to a resurgence in player's joining the nation, and eventually, they demanded to have a voice in the government. Seeing as Eisenland was in a stable environment again, the Old Guard (Kaiser AblazeGenie, MrPoothtick, Ryan vom Dirkson, Ravennn, and Hiiro) decided that it was time to swap back to a popularly elected parliament system. Industro returned to Eisenland with full honors at this time, and continued to be a top-performing member of the Eisenland people.

Parties Created and Ballots Tallied
Following the announcement of a return to democracy, quickly, two parties sprung out of the fold. The New Eisenland Party (NEP), which took on a more conservative/pro-kaiser stance, and the Democratic-Socialist Unity Front (DSU), a more left leaning and worker's oriented party. Elections were decided to be held throughout a week in March of 2022, and when the results came in, they were in sweeping favor for the New Eisenland Party. Jaxamax (NEP), was voted in as President, with the NEP sweeping all other representative positions except for the one spot that they did not contend for, Minister of the Economy. Notably, MrPoothtick (although running under the NEP), managed to win over both sides and easily won his bid for Chancellor with a whopping 84.6% of votes. In conclusion, the election finished off with the NEP gaining 7 of 9 seats in Parliament, with an independent taking one seat, and the last being delegated to a DSU member.

The Eisenlandian Exodus
On April 27th 2022, Teschen, the region in the far north of Eisenland, was given up by the IAU and given to Tortuga as a result of a trade deal. The IAU did not consult with the Eisenland government when making this decision, and as a result, the sudden displacement and destruction of 3 towns had to be done. The IAU compensated Eisenland by granting a new land mass to the far south of Eisenland to settle. The Kaiser and the displaced people's moved to this new area, and set up towns in what was known as "New Teschen". Given the size of the exodus, and the fact that the Kaiser was among the people moving to the south, Ryan vom Dirkson saw an opportunity to re-create Eisenland in the form of a completely democratic government. After the exodus was completed, Ryan instituted full democracy in what became known as "Northern Eisenland", which consisted of Arcturus and the Archipelago. The Kaiser, seeing this move as a form of treason and dissension, instituted full monarchy in New Teschen, or as it had become more popularly known as at this time, "Southern Eisenland". Communications between the North and South was slim, and tensions rose.

North vs. South
Due to the differences in ideologies and geographical divide, Northern and Southern Eisenland quickly morphed into completely different provinces despite coming from the same flag only days ago. This created intense tribalism, and fears of another civil war were heightened. Plans were drawn up, and arms raised for what was expected to be a full on clash between the North and South. Upon seeing the direction Eisenland was headed, the Kaiser, MrPoothtick, Ravennn, and Industro, plotted to reunify the nation under the Kaiser as it was in the early days. MrPoothtick and Industro resided in the North, while the Kaiser and Ravennn lived in the South. From this, the pot was boiling with 3 outcomes, civil war, intervention from the IAU, or a reunification.

Reunification Plot Begins
With the plan in place, the execution began. On May 14th, 2022, the second elections in the North were held. Reunification plotters were elected to a majority of positions in the government, with Industro getting put in as the President of the newly named "Martial Republic of Eisenland". Almost immediately after taking power in the northern government, reunification was brought to the table. With this clear desire to change the power dynamic in Eisenland, Ryan vom Dirkson and the Kaiser grew increasingly agitated at one another due to their inability to see eye to eye on how things should be ran. The Kaiser and his supporters claimed that after instilling "democracy" in the north, Ryan who was not a part of the government, oversaw many operations in the government and ran things, lending him and others to believe that it was a puppet democracy, where Ryan was a dictator in the shadows. Ryan and his supporters saw the Kaiser as an unfit ruler who could not see the plights of the nation or her people in addition to being an inactive player. With these immutable views the two parties held, things got quite heated in debates.

Réunification plot develops
There were various peace talks between poothtick and industrio who who resided in the north, and ablaze and raven who resided in the south. After long discussion, it was decided that reunification would be more effective coming form the south as a democratic led government would be easier to infiltrate. The plan was to elect those who were in apart of the reunion plan into the government. Reunification candidates were elected as planned reunification was discussed in the central government however neither side was able to see eye to eye. Afterwards, Ryan put in his notice that he was quitting Stoneworks, citing toxicity and a mental toll that the server had put on him. Following Ryan's departure, MrPoothtick was put in charge of the North, and he saw to it that reunification was solidified and figured out immediately with a plan to peacefully reunify the nation.

Eisenland Reborn
On June 6th, 2022, Eisenland was officially reunited into one province under the IAU. With it, the monarchy and council of Eisenland were reformed. The new Council consisted of The Kaiser, MrPoothtick, Industro, Ravennn, JDBPixel, Hamsterz, Flowame, SteelRexer, Pryftan, and Gustav. Following reunification, plans for the future, especially the building up of towns, infrastructure, and plans for industry were drawn up and executed. Eisenland was beginning to enter a new Golden Age, as activity started to reach a high level and pride in the nation was on the rise.

The Octavian Revolt
The Octavians, a group of people who agreed to take refuge in Southern Eisenland following their displacement, began to get fed up with the new Eisenland government and how they handled certain things, specifically squatter claims. They plotted a way to strike at Eisenland, and on June 21st, 2022, they saw their opportunity. They geared up using armaments produced by Eisenland factories, and attacked Maxstadt, killing some civilians. Quickly the Eisenland garrison activated, and provided resistance to the attackers. The Eisenlandians were losing at first, however, the tide quickly turned when the IAU military and Valondor volunteers showed up. The attackers were quickly slaughtered. Given the nature of the attack, Eisenland, the IAU military, and the Valondor volunteers all agreed to make a show of force and occupy the Octavian's city, New Octavia, which had seceded from both the IAU and Eisenland before the attack happened. With the occupation, the city was sacked, burned and looted. To this day, it is a shell of a city. All remaining Octavians were booted from Eisenland and the IAU, unless granted permission to stay from the Kaiser.

The Sacking of Maxstadt
In early July, the IAU suffered a secession, with Paradise leaving the Imperial anarchical Union. Not wanting to lose this group of people, they declared war on the secessionists. Paradise happens to be close to Maxstadt, and as such, the IAU requested that they use the city as a basing ground in order to launch the attack. Eisenland agreed, as long as the IAU could ensure it's protection. On July 14th, the war took place. The IAU military was sorely beaten, and in the process, the city of Maxstadt was sacked. Buildings were destroyed, chests were looted, and statues were torn down. It was a pitiful sight, as what was once the shining jewel of Eisenland was now in disrepair. It was so bad, that nations and groups the world over donated, specifically Paradise, Dracade, Valondor, Tortuga, Adytum, and the IAU all donated materials, tools, builders, and funds to help rebuild the city.

The Bezzingah Pact
Due to strife between the Imperial Archonal Union and many of its provinces, who felt oppressed under the rule of the Viodoxans, many nations chose to leave the Union. Eisenland, after having their capital desecrated and experiencing troubles with the IAU themselves, deemed it was time to secede as well. Eisenland and the other seceding nations formed the Bezzingah Pact, a military alliance in case of violent retribution from the IAU. The Union was too greatly weakened by the departure of so many of its provinces to do anything about the situation, and it would not be able to forcibly reintegrate those that left. This event would eventually lead to the collapse of the Imperial Archonal Union. The successor state to the IAU would rise soon afterwards, calling itself the Autokratoria of Sirradra, which immediately took to the ideals and structure of it's predecessor.

Choas in the council
Ablaze admitted the vassal of draconia into eisenland without the discussion of the council. When the council discovered that draconia had been admitted a council meeting was called. The council had disagreed with the kaisers decision, and industrio the minister of defencse frustrated left the union, followed by the leave of flowame the recruitment minister. poothtick as well had left the position as councilor.

The Betrayal of Fawkes
At the same time mid August 2022, a well known and respected player named Fawkes, who had previously been Minister of Foreign Affairs for Eisenland, resigned his post and left Eisenland. Futhermore, he falsely proclaimed that Eisenberg and the Cymru vassal Kutaiyara would be leaving with him and joining the Autokratoria of Sirradra. This resulted in a major diplomatic incident, with countless nations providing their input on the situation. Eventually in the confusion, a treaty was drawn up. Eisenburg was kept by Eisenland, however Eisenland's vassal, Kutaiyara, was handed over to Sirrandra. Kutaiyara was against this decision, and declared independence to save itself from perceived imminent doom at the hands of Sirradra. Unfortunately due to miscommunication on all sides, the deal to hand Kutaiyara over had not even been finalized, and Kutaiyara was deemed a rebel state by both sides, resulting in the forceful expulsion of the Kutaiyaran people from their lands.

The Changing of the Guard
Around the time of Fawkes betrayal, AblazeGenie, who had ruled Eisenland since its founding, stepped down as Kaiser and passed the mantle to longtime and trusted member of the nation, Gustav. He was formerly the Minister of Construction. Following this the new Kaiser would issue a decree that Eisenland shall embrace isolationism due to recent events and the fact that all of the times that Eisenland dealt with foreign nations, they never got anything truly good out of it. Shortly after the appointment of Gustav to Kaisership, a wave of inactivity swept the nation due to the summer season ending. Maxstadt was left as a ghost town and little was done in the nation from September to the end of October. However, upon the dawn of the of the winter break, activity began to increase steadily, with government calls to it's citizens being answered to continue to build the capital up.

A noteworthy accomplishment during this time would come in the form of the completion of the gargantuan towers and walls of Maxstadt by hamsterz, the newly appointed Chancellor of Eisenland.

Admission of successor states into Eisenland
Spades a leader of Valondor offered to help eisenland work out the issues they were having with the successor states. Gustav agreed due to the previous positive history Eisenland had with valandor, however spades instead of working out a positive deal for eisenland agreed to give all the successor states to Sirradra. Gustav not reading the fine print agreed to this, however Sirradra notified him of what was really happening, and he called spades out on his betrayal. Gustav eventually was able to eventually keep all the successive states back into eisenland, trading new Teschen for the old lands.

Insurrection of Sein
A group called the cactus gang resided Pixel who resised in Sein a small city in eisenland claimed to independence. This was because they were denied the ability to build a casino in the town. While at first there was great trouble getting them to agree to rejoin eisenland, a sum of money was paid to the successors, and eventually the agreed to rejoin eisenland.

Pahonja Joins Eisenland
After Tortuga betrayed the Pahonja by selling thier land to squatters without their permission. Because of this they declared independence after paying fury for their land. These Pahonjan people though it would be wise diplomatic decision to form a military alliance with eisenland. After meeting the leaders agreed to join forces becoming the Konfedratzjon Av Ejzlandt An Pahonja. At this time, gustav also pulled out of the bezzingah pact.

The creation of the Tengalii Ejzn Kajzerryk
After Avertico, as well as other nations agreed to join the nation of Konfedratzjon av Ejznlandt an Pahonja, it was decided that the name no longer represented the country as a whole, so it was decided that the nation should be reconstructed and re-created under a new nation the Tengalii Ejzn Kajzerryk. This reconstruction would make it far easier for other nations to join if they so wished.

Culture
Eisenlandians are naturally very close to the sea, and have mastered canal engineering technology to a point where they can exploit it to yield massive harvests of food products, thanks to the mineral-rich seas of Southeastern Rathnir.

Language
Though most Eisenlandians also speak traveler's tongue, Eisenland also has it's own language, Ejzndel. It developed many hundreds of years ago from the same roots as traveler's tongue, and is therefore not awfully dissimilar from it. [A WIP Ejzndel dictionary and guides can be found in the Eisenland Discord].

Due to many things being named before Ejzndel's (IRL) conception, many towns and names are not what they actually are in Ejzndel. Here are some translations of various pre-Ejzndel names:


 * Eisenland: Ejznland
 * Eisendel: Ejzndel
 * Kaiser Max "Ablaze" Swanz of Eisenland: Kajzr Max "Fuerneda" Swanz van Ejznland
 * Maxstadt: Maxsteda, (alternatively Kajzmaxsteda)
 * Kaminhagen: Kaminhagen
 * Eisenburg: Ejznkastill
 * KaiserHaven: Kajzrhagen
 * Ozenia: Uzionsteda
 * Balhurst: Balhurst
 * New Octavia: Nue-Oktavea
 * Eprius: Eperuz
 * Concurancz: Konkuranz
 * Under-Deep: Ontrdiepeda
 * Sein: Sein

Eisenland & Potatoes
The potato and Eisenland are nearly inseparable. For many years the potato and its wonderful fruit (which is actually the plant’s tuber) have shaped the culture, agriculture and traditions of Eisenland.

The History of Eisenland & the Potato
The unique history of the potato and Eisenland began a long time ago, when Eisenland as a nation did not even exist. Records don't date back to when the farmers of Balhurst, back then the capital of Valtyrion, began cultivating the potato. However, it is known that the potato made its way from Balhurst to Eisenburg, Eisenland’s first island, and gained large popularity there as an easy, cheap, and nourishing food, which would come in handy when Eisenland declared its independence from Valtyrion.

The next chapter in the potato’s rise came after the -4 War, when Eisenland obtained its most important territory in its history, the island of Arcturus. The potato grew to be practically the only thing migrants from the old islands ate and planted, because most of the island was of the desert variety, and what plots and puddles of dirt could be scrambled together were soil that couldn’t support any crop other than potatoes. This solidified the potato as Eisenland’s national crop and food, helping Eisenland through its largest periods of change.

Later when Eisenland joined the Imperial Archonal Union, the potatoes, especially the Balhurst Potato (more on that later), became one of the largest factors pulling Archonal tourists to the province. In addition to this, potato-based alcohol (vodka) became one of Eisenland’s largest export to the Union, and “potatoes” became a common exonym for Eisenlandians.

The Balhurst Potato
This is why it makes a lot of sense that the Eisenlandian national dish is the Balhurst Potato. The inhabitants of the island of Balhurst practiced an advanced secret tradition of combining potion crafting and crop cultivation to produce the island’s revered “Balhurst Potatoes”. These have been rumored to grow up to a meter in length and 3/4 of a meter in girth, and a way of cooking it, stuffed with various herbs and spices and sometimes served with fish, is considered the national dish of Eisenland. It is loved by many people and it is tradition in Eisenland to prepare large quantities of these potatoes for various occasions such as Heriamor Day and the Harvest Festival.

The Harvest Festival
The Harvest Festival is a yearly Eisenlandian autumn celebration to bring luck in the upcoming potato harvest. It is celebrated every year on the second Saturday of September, and includes various activities such as crow hunting (to teach them not to touch our taters) and eating Balhurst Potato, sometimes with potato vodka, and sometimes with beer.

The Potato Gang
The “Potato Gang” is a feared and respected group of potato cultist zealots. They hold great power over Eisenland, but it is unknown who their members are. Despite this, their goals seem to be only reinforcing Eisenland’s potato love. One day, they simply stuck a potato on a rod near every door in Eisenland, with the simple command to “touch the potato whenever you enter or leave your house”. Most people simply obey said command, as it is not a large inconvenience and not worth getting ganked by a potato gangster over.

The Canals of Eisenland
Eisenland, like every other nations, needs food. Unfortunately, most of the population is housed in a large city covering a desert island, and if it were to be left up to nature, half the population would starve. However, thanks to Eisenlandian engineering following the -4 War, this has never been a problem, all thanks to a series of canals spanning all of Arcturus.

The sea surrounding Eisenland can be very moody. This means, even before Eisenland came and occupied Arcturus, the island already had many dams and canals. However, Volturus was largely reliant on outside sources to feed its population, and in order not to hinder the economic growth Eisenland was experiencing, Kajzr Max Swanz gathered the finest engineers and scientists in the country to develop a solution to their situation.

The engineers came up with a brilliant idea: though the soil of the desert island they had just inherited wasn’t good for many crops, it could support potatoes. But these potatoes needed water. And this water could be found all around them. “But wait, you can’t use saltwater to irrigate crops!” you might say. And you would be right. The engineers and scientists thought of this problem too, and came up with a strange solution: they would extend the rivers coming out of Interland from the east and Tortuga in the west, supplying Arcturus with a steady flow of freshwater, which would then be funneled into irrigation canals and onto farms in both Maxstadt and further south. This supply of freshwater would later become the entire basis of Maxstadt’s existence, and Kaminhagen became the central node for the entire canal network.