Riverheim

Riverheim, officially the Grand Jarldom of Riverheim, is a province of Sylvania. It is situated on the continent of Leifmyrr, straddling the strait between the North and South Diana Sea. Riverheim shares land borders with Saisei Rohkia to its east and Axolon, Falkreach, and Eleanor to the west.

The lands that are now Riverheim are thought to have been continuously inhabited by animals since the early Cuiciloan period, and by sentient species since the settling of Eldham.

Colonies of Tortuga
Upon the discovery of Eldham across the ocean, many nations of Rathnir were interested in staking a claim over the newfound territory. Of these nations, was the Pirate Empire of Tortuga which set up colonies surrounding the North Diana Sea. The colonies were ran, effectively, as city states and control over them was enforced through the administrative capital of Blackrock, present-day Lenivsk, led by the Captain Ezlioth.

Riverheim was founded by Sorbito and former citizens from Skjoldrbrodir who had moved to the Tortugan colonies. With the permission from Ezlioth, he founded his town between the city of Manganien and the town of Stationsburg in the summer of 86 TE.

2 years later, the colonies were plunged into crisis as the larger neighboring city of Manganien had unilaterally declared its independence from Tortuga. The news shocked many of the loyalist citizens of Riverheim but Tortuga managed to crush the rebellion and force the rebels out. The ruins of Manganien were given to Riverheim to develop and the town doubled in size.

Dissolution of the Colonies
After Tortuga lost the Valorant War, the Tortugan colonies began to stagnate. The northern territories, most notably the city of Hafenstadt, were sold to Rodinnbrok and the two southernmost islands were sold to Wofingrad. Following the retirement of TheSexyCanadian, Pirate Lord of Tortuga, many Tortugain territories were given the option for independence, including the Eldham Colony of Tortuga, which had now been reduced to its present-day borders. Riverheim accepted this offer. Ezlioth then gave Sorbito the remaining control over the colony to form into a new nation. And so in the winter of 110 TE, independence was declared under the name of Riverheim.

Nationhood
In the beginning, Riverheim seemed to be off to a positive start as an independent nation, with activity high and the establishment of friendly relations with southern neighbour, Sylvania, getting along smoothly. However, activity crashed once the Grand Jarl, Sorbito, disappeared indefinitely and did not return.

This was made worse for Riverheim when the Uraki Imperium delivered its infamous ultimatum to the North-East of Eldham,of which Riverheim was a part, to either be annexed by Uraka or face war and invasion. The ultimatum caused great panic among the nations affected resulting in the formation of the Great Coalition. Due to Sorbito's unexpected absence in a time of great strife, the leadership hurried the creation of a regency led by the scholar, Snish. Fortunately for Riverheim, Uraka withdrew the ultimatum 2 years later, before a single battle had been fought, claiming that the King had gone mad.

Not too long after the events of the January Upheaval, the regent Snish, also disappeared suddenly. This forced the leadership to elect yet another Grand Jarl to lead Riverheim. They unanimously elected Speen the Wanderer to the position after he gave a speech.

Province of Sylvania
By the winter of 123 TE, relations between Riverheim and Sylvania had become exceptionally amicable. As a result of this, Imperial Archon Sir Lad offered Speen to merge their two nations, although there was some opposition from the Riverheim leadership towards the merger, Speen was eventually convinced by Eddax101 to go through with the agreement. Riverheim was made a Grand Duchy of Sylvania soon after. Speen then retired as Grand Jarl within the year and chose Eddax101 to be his successor.

As a Grand Duchy within the Imperial Archonate of Sylvania, Riverheim maintained complete control over its domestic policy and gained the full protection of Sylvania's military. The province was granted one imperial senator to represent it in government and the Grand Duke was also given the power to step in for foreign policy when needed.