History of Simulami

The known history of Simulami spans centuries upon centuries, even from times before the foundation, other countries, tribes and communities. But everything originated from Nieden, Rathnir. Comparatively recent is the story of the First and Second Simulami Empire, a diarchy and later monarchy, formed under the Maestro's.

Much of what is known is preserved mainly by Archivists, the so-called scholars of Simulami, who collect books and safeguard knowledge. Many were translated to Traveller's Tongue from Lexico Genus Simulamae. The common folk has little use or knowledge of the entire history, though it is well protected within Libraries and Collections alike.

Origin
The name "Simulami" comes from the solea “simul” meaning together, and “laminae” which means a flower petal showing many colors. The Simulamii's own origin as a human race is lost to time, but can be traced back to as early as the First Soleannen Empire, where two distant human tribes dwelt within northeastern Nieden: the native forest-dweller Floramii and the traveling Krobuny.

Prior to the Floramian and Krobuni conquests and subsequent establishment of their respective nations, the Floramii tribes lived near Lake Silva (Huwaldorf in Solea), while the Krobuni traveled between their native homes of the Maestro Penninsula and Val'du'nor to Jagdas or even the Kutnabad Mountains of Wahat.

The Escharian Ascension - Pre-Simulami
It was after the Escharian Ascension, when the Nieden-wide nation of Escharia had fallen and the lands became abandoned, that successor states and peoples arose from the ashes or migrated from foreign lands. Floramia was the first to be established in the north and later on, the Naho became their eastern neighbor. All went well at first, but the Spirits of the few Ascended were restless. Both countries had their own 'pagan' beliefs and religious ideas that were heretical in their glassy eyes. Raids upon raids happened on both countries in an attempt to kick them out of the continent. Only Floramia endured, albeit barely. Their isolationist and opportunistic defensive beliefs originate from these times.

To the west, in the mountains of Kutnabad, settlers of a dissolving country bearing the name Wahat went east. All of them were Krobuni and settled on the Maestro Peninsula, in the ancient, now abandoned spiritual lands of Naho. They founded the nation of Krobun, with its capital Saulot, and took up the Soleannen faith which the Spirits followed. Krobun joined the already existing Müvielle shortly afterward, which was initially a vassal and then a protectorate of the neighboring nation of Floramia. Müvielle eventually declared itself an independent state on May 3rd 2021, raising tensions between it and Floramia.

Rise and fall of Müvielle and Floramia
The tensions between the two countries were made worse by border disputes that resulted from their mutual expansionist desires, as both wanted to acquire new lands in order to deal with overpopulation, as well as expand their power and influence on a regional and international level. Eventually, the tensions between the two countries were settled following a meeting between their leaders, Cadexii and ZenoHUN, which ended with Floramia exchanging some border territories to Müvielle and the establishment of a political and military alliance on May 10th. At one point, Müvielle attempted to purchase some land from Niedea, but this deal never went through.

In mid-to-late May, both nations pursued land claims on the southern territories of Najer, with Müvielle annexing a sizable portion of Najer’s Andamooka territory and calling it the district of Aruwbar. As part of its efforts to give its claim more legitimacy, Müvielle began massive reconstruction and resettlement efforts of once-abandoned towns in the territory. Both Floramia and Müvielle were prepared to go to war to enforce and guarantee their claims, however, numerous world powers intervened and threatened to go to war on Najer's behalf including Uldarash, Bardonia, and Viodoxa. As a result, both nations backed down with their claims, and Müvielle agreed to abandon the annexed territory with the treaty of Kijaro, well aware that going to war with nations that at the time were considered superpowers was suicide.

The unification and foundation of the First Simulami Empire
It was commonplace for the two heads of nations, Cadexii and ZenoHUN, to meet to discuss regional and continental politics. After the Najer Crisis, a joke about unification between the two started on May 28th. ZenoHUN eventually considered a genuine unification, because it appeared that this was the only way to increase the influence and power of both nations. Following discussion with the rest of Müvielle, he proposed the idea to Cadexii. Following several days of discussion and negotiating between both of them and other high-ranking government officials, a constitution was drafted, and on June 3rd 2021, the Simulami Empire was born, with both Cadexii and ZenoHUN as equal sovereigns of it. One nation with two capitals, governed by an autocratic diarchy.

Colonisation of Eldham
After its founding, the nation sent expeditions under the Drako-Simulami Voyager Mining Company to the newly discovered world of Eldham, where they established colonies with settlers quickly arriving. Ultimately, it would become one of the most successful colonial ventures of any Rathnirian nation. In fact, the nation would at some point become more active in its colonies than the mainland on Rathnir.

The Soleannen Schism
Simulami's relationship to the Soleannen Church deteriorated as ZeroHUN was constantly criticized for not dissolving his own country and joining Escharia, as the church wanted all followers to be united under a single Soleannen state. Eventually, in late July, it came to a breaking point. To keep Simulami from being influenced by the church's pan-Soleannenism philosophy, Cadexii banned the Soleannen Church in the Floramian Crownland, which spread into the whole rest of the nation shortly after. ZenoHUN declared the Soleviel Church, a new branch of Soleannen- which emphasized non-Niedene identity, rejected the Church's pan-soleannen ideology, and claimed to return to the old Soleannen Empire's faith before Escharia. Starting the Soleviel Schism. At the same time, Cadexii embraced the Forulian faith, the ancient religion of the Floramii people and began spreading it among those in the crownland of Floramia. Immediately after this declaration, tensions between Simulami and Escharia escalated, with Escharia breaking its non-aggression pact and the two nations began preparing for war.

However, before any war could be declared, the sovereigns had an emergency meeting with the leader of Escharia, Herod, and stated their reasoning behind the schism including the paranoia, the lack of public support and the harassment. It quickly became apparent that Herod had a false perception of ZenoHUN and misunderstood his motivations, mistaking his actions as an attempt to gain power and influence on a national scale and within the church. After learning of this, the threat of war evaporated and the leaders became friends. In wake of the Bardonian Spring and the declaration of war by many nations against Bardonia, Simulami held a vote as to if they should join the conflict. After an overwhelming majority of the citizens voted in favour of war, Simulami joined The Third Rathnir Coalition and declared war on Bardonia on July 26th. Initially, there were fears Simulami would be forced into war with both Escharia and its vassal Arxella, since Escharia was allied with Bardonia in this war. Fortunately, Simulami's declaration of war was quickly followed by a neutral pact being made between Escharia, Arxella, and Simulami, ensuring that the continent of Niedene would not be the scene of any fighting. Sixteen Simulami soldiers fought in the Battle of New Dorasterrock, as part of the secondary division, which stormed the Senate building first, and was arguably the most successful and important division in the battle. This marked the first time Simulami participated in any international conflict.

Civil War
As the Golden Age ended, tensions between the two leaders grew more and more as disagreements between the two kept occurring. Eventually, on September 2nd, things came to a head when Cadexii stated he would separate Floramia from the rest of Simulami. While initially accepting this declaration, ZenoHUN, knowing that a large portion of the nation's population joined after the unification and saw themselves solely as Simulamii, declared a coup d'état against Cadexii. In the ensuing civil war, ZenoHUN would gain support of the vast majority of the nation's populace and allies. Cadexii fled Silva with his loyalists, and there was only one death in the whole war. Consequently, ZenoHUN became sole Imperare, and declared the Second Simulami Empire in August 2022.

Age of reforms
With Maestro ZenoHUN taking over the Simulami Empire and establishing a monarchy, he had to face the weight of ruling an autocratic multi-realm nation all on his own. During these times he made weekly reforms that lasted even to the modern day such as; establishing the Royal Regencies, new Governmental Systems, new district borders and later on after the tragic loss of the Zamotz - Skjoldrbrodir War, he had reformed the world-famous Simulami Imperial Grand Army into its current regimental and well-organized system. The Monarchy had to closely work together with the remaining Floramii's that either took neutrality or supported the Empire, so this period was defined about rebuilding and rethinking what was important and what was useless. A Grand-Capital, Nuvallen was established on the border of Floramia and Müvielle easing the differences between the two.

Sapphire Commonwealth
Due to ideas to merge between Simulami, the Emirate of Najer and the Second Empire of Plagatéa, the three of them after week-long talks brought forth the idea of a new unified north, with a collective military, high government, and shared economy, but with space for each nation to develop their own regions. Thus, the Sapphire Commonwealth was born in October 2022.

Simulami was one of the 4 major members and had the largest populations in the union with Soleviel being one of the largest religions of the Commonwealth. During these times, the Sapphire Commonwealth lost wars against Zamotz and the Eldham Entente and ultimately, due to various crises the leaders of each nation were experiencing, the Sapphire Commonwealth dissolved.Due to the quick dissolution of the Commonwealth, Simulami refused to unite or join any coalitions or large-scale alliances, as they had to take up too many roles. This was, in the eyes of Simulami, why the whole Commonwealth grew unbalanced and how Simulami lost focus as many Simulami establishments were lost. Despite these trying times, the Trajistavi and Stormgovans were integrated.

Post-Sapphire Commonwealth, Goshumá Integration
After the dissolution of the Sapphire Commonwealth, Simulami integrated some former provinces of Plagatea known as Sakura, Sakurai Tempo, Seivija and Thorn.

Simulami, now holding lands within Plagos, had repurposed the Governmental Systems and established a foundation to integrate much of the population, such as the faith of Gensinism or declaring the first Goshumá Daimyo, Tempo Yamato. However, due to population decline all around Rathnir and Eldham, the re-establishment of towns didn't go as smooth as planned.

Age of Military Participation
Despite Simulami's military growing weaker, the Imperial Grand Army could be spotted continuously defending fortifications, castles and participating in offensives by the side of allies or as foreign mercenaries. Today, it is well-known throughout the world that the large-scale organization of 20+ people at the same time could only be done with the Simulami Empire. It is because of these times that Simulami earned back its trusted/reliable status which it lost during the times of The Sapphire Commonwealth.

The Empire vassalized the Czardom of Czervoslavia, Holy Gertonian Empire and Skjoldrbrodir, protecting them from further wars. During these times the Eldham population shrunk.

The Revival of Eldham, and Imperial Growth
The monarchy had announced its intention to step away from old isolationist and non-interventionist behavior, establishing themselves as a soft-power on both the regional and worldwide stage. Followed by this foreign policy, was the construction of economic and cultural builds and events such as the Nuvallen Grand Library and the Grand Capital Tournaments. The newly announced Eldham Capital New Jellhem focused on the revival of Eldham-Simulami as the Province of Stormgova grew in prosperity.

Simulami during this period could truly call itself an Empire. Due to its multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic environment, many people from all over Rathnir and Eldham were attracted and thus joined the empire. To the south, the nation of Valreach was facing a crisis after the dissolution of the Drakaen Köntrybund. Vix, Valreach's leader at the time, wished to become a vassal of Simulami and those who were against the Köntrybund dissolution were strongly against this idea. As a reaction to this, King Vix kicked many of the high command from the Valrean government and publicly announced a Vassal deal.

As a reaction to this deal, The Kingdom of Nidaro s declared independence from Valreach. A war was fought over the town of Nidaros, which resulted in a close Loyalist Victory as the rebels would be kicked from Nidaros. Negotiations would pursue and peace was eventually reached, welcoming Valreach as a fully-autonomous vassal of Simulami.



An Empire of Nieden
After defeating the Valrean rebels, Simulami's reputation as a soft power would grow and many nations wished to be vassalized under them for protection. During this period, the empire vassalized the OPTC, Isles and Arcos, Don Fuer and Taernsbia. These vassals would boost Simulami's reputation as they would be seen as one of the most powerful nations on Rathnir during this time.

One of the most significant deals in terms of land was the Escharian Integration. This was during the Escharian civil war where the capital of Lostesrei seceded and joined Bardonia, leaving the Escharian Dukes and the Soleannen Cardinal in panic. This event led to the Treaty of Nieden, where they would join Simulami as a vassal. Following this, a separate treaty was created, the Kapio Articulum, between Simulami and Bardonia. This treaty included the signing of a military alliance and the borders of former Escharia being partitioned between Bardonia and Simulami.

After parts of Escharia were integrated, Imperare Maestro Zeno gave them autonomy and reorganized the duchies accordingly. In the West, The Kingdom of Creed was set up as a vassal under the leadership of Valerian Bellator. Istrali Varmerion would be integrated as a province with more autonomy than others within the empire with its governor being Illia I an Aesperii. Lyras-Soleari joined as a vassal, where the duchies of Escharii and Suderen merged under the leadership of The Oracle of Drakhasrei and Alexander Ansolearii. The integration of these lands would further cement Simulami's as a powerful nation willing to reach out and protect others. Some saw this move as imperialistic, as the people of Escharia had long been in a state of rivalry with those in Simulami and thus were skeptical, believing that Simulami wished to see Escharia vanquished forever. Its successes would be mirrored in Eldham, where Valreach annexed Catania, New Yoake and The Province of Arie.

Grand-Castell-Llolzhar, a nation in Sparwood, would seek aid from Simulami and offered to join as a vassal. They reached favourable terms and signed the treaty of Nuvallen.

Imperare ZenoHUN would develop and rework the Simulami Noble system, giving nobles around the empire more power and removing governors from the government, this lead to groups such as House Hrafn, House Ironhide and House Ludwig gaining more power within Simulami.

Imperial Decline and The Escharian Spring
Simulami's power however was reaching a plateau, as many of its citizens had achieved their goals. Simulami fulfilled everything Zeno wanted it to be, there was no greater ambition and no greater goal than what they had already achieved. The population of Simulami would decline, with the Imperial Grand Army losing its core values and with no regular trainings for the people, its military would weaken to 1/10th of the size it was previously.

During this decline, a group of players launched a rebellion in the UPPO known as Amberia with support from the nation of Plagos-Sparwood. This was seen as a proxy claim and declared a "One-Man republic" by the Simulami Imperare, ZenoHUN. Simulami would go on to lose two of the battles to take place in the UPPO, and took the decision to drop all their vassals in the area after they were threatened by the leadership of Plagos.

After hearing of this defeat, those in the former Escharian lands acted to secede simultaneously, with each of them leaving Simulami shortly after the wars were lost, as the leaders would often have arguments with Zeno. This rebellion was seen as a final blow to Simulami by many, with Simulami letting go of many of their vassals across both Rathnir and Eldham to avoid further conflicts. Tensions took a long time to cool. To the north, Plagos was looking at Simulami with the intention to war the nation and to the South, a newly reformed Escharia was increasing it's power.

After the creation of a new 'Triumare system' by Imperare ZenoHUN and the Regency, three people were picked for this title. Zeno and several members of the Upper Simulami Government would set sail on a voyage to find long lost Ni'Us artifacts, resigning from politics and leaving the nation to the Triumare, starting a new age for the nation.

The Age of the Triumares
Ornn Hrafn, Mishmoosh Ludwig-Aulian and West Loon-Hrafn were picked to take on the title of Triumares. At its core, they would be three separate Imperares acting as a triumvirate. They would have a joint approach to diplomacy with documents requiring the signature of all three. Ornn and Mishmoosh were assigned to take care of duties on Eldham, while West would take care of duties on Rathnir. This system was quite effective as none of the Triumares were involved on both realms and thus evenly dividing focus and resources across the nation. The Triumare system was met with some criticism by the citizens, as many could not imagine Simulami without Zeno and since the Triumares had no previous experience with external diplomacy and were thrown into the world of geopolitics blind. Nevertheless, they were lauded by the people as they had worked their way up the government and were trusted by many, having experience in running districts and certain positions. Ornn, Mishmoosh and West would be coronated in Nuvallen Cathedral. This would bring forth several symbolic changes. Firstly, the flag of Simulami would be updated to reflect three crowns instead of just one. Secondly, the throne of ZenoHUN was removed and replaced with a statue and the old crown of Simulami was put on display. Finally, three new crowns and sceptres were created for the Triumare by the finest blacksmith.

The Imperial Grand Army was reformed by Mishmoosh, and they would host trainings for the Simulami people to grow their military capabilities once again. Trainings would slowly pull in more and more people as the Triumares were paranoid of an Escharian or Plagosi invasion on their lands. These reforms slowly pushed Simulami's power back to where it was during the Valrean Civil War The nations of Dova, Fedhrekaan and Amagoria were vassalized through the work of Ornn Hrafn with the intention of restoring the Empire's size and reputation. This was all done within a very short period of time and Simulami saw its first period of growth in quite some time, giving its citizens hope for the future.

A crisis would shortly emerge on Rathnir, where a Mayor from Simulami stole 80000 worth of items from a pirate within Tortuga. This led to a war declaration on the town of Stojan, which was later supported by Mayynophobia, causing the Tortuga-Mayynophobia War. West worked on de-escalating the situation, but after the mayor refused to return any of the money, Simulami declared neutrality from the conflict.

The Second Uraki Imperium
On Eldham, a large alliance known to many known as CATO was on the rise with the goal of world domination. It contained nations such as Ashai, AWE, Anglunia, Sylvania and Redoriv. Simulami would not join this alliance and due to Zeno signing alliances with Aristios, Morladron and Atlechia before the establishment of the Triumare system, Simulami was generally disliked by this alliance.

The Triumares feared that CATO would soon open an offensive war against Simulami after a proposal of unity between Druk-Yul, Helsia, Valreach and Simulami was turned down by Devoidy, Helsia's leader, due to bad relations with CATO. Tylics, the leader of Druk-Yul and Ornn, A Triumare of Simulami began speculating that an invasion was planned to cause Helsian withdrawal.

The two leaders discussed, and soon the governments of Druk-Yul and Simulami would be onboard with their plans. They saw no other way forward than unity and out of fear and paranoia, Osria was invited to form the Second Uraki Imperium. Straight away, many nations saw Uraka as a threat and planned to war it.

Tylics Aurelian was named and coronated as "Imperator", where Ornn would take on the title of "Dominus Lexarch" and Mish would take the title "Hand of the Imperator". Since this union was largely Eldham focused, West would only be given the title of "Lexarch" in the hierarchy. Simulami would play a crucial role in Uraka, having a majority of the population under them. Ornn and Mishmoosh would create the Uraki Imperial Guard, which would be modelled after Simulami's Military. The Nobility System written and implemented by ZenoHUN would be established in other domains such as Druk-Yul and Osria.

After Dominus Primarch Shardtron made insults and threats towards the Confederation of Garxijos, they officially declared war on Uraka and gained the support of the powerful mercenary group, Hands, with the Valrean capital of Valrum being their first target.

After Imperator Tylics found out about this war, he gave Simulami and Valreach the option to leave. Upon careful discussion with Aaron and their respective governments, Simulami voted upon total withdrawal from Uraka.

Overall, participation in the Uraki Imperium would be a positive for Simulami, as they were no longer seen as a target by CATO or The Hands. Instead, Simulami would go forth and ally with several CATO members such as Ashai and Sylvania, the most powerful of the alliance. The population of The Empire would also grow during this period with several displaced Uraki citizens moving to Simulami after the destruction of their homes. Only a few weeks after Simulami's withdrawal from Uraka, Tylics Aurelian offered Druk-Yul to Simulami as a vassal due to his plans of resignation, but this never happened due to newfound motivation to grow Druk-Yul.

The Restoration of the Imperare
During the Uraki collapse, Ornn Hrafn was killed by the Simulami people in a battle due to his corruption by Ni'Us through The Flower of Celemandor. He was losing control of himself and sacrificed his freedom for eternal life. Upon the first signs of corruption, Felöks Zeno Hrafn, the grandson of Ornn through Abyss Hrafn and Stabbr Silvertounge was assigned as Ornn's personal assistant. He would look after the old man and attend government meetings. When Ornn finally died, Felöks inherited a majority of his wealth and assets including the title of Triumare, but this wouldn't last for long.

Felöks was ambitious and would prove his worth by being the most effective and efficient Triumare out of the three. The Triumare system worked very effectively in the beginning, but over time Felöks began to take on more and more responsibilities. Soon enough, high figures in the government and vassal leaders would go to him and suggest a return to the Imperare System, to which they organised a meeting to express their concerns. The Triumares, their assistants and vassal leaders gathered in a hall in the New Jellhem castle. Felöks had previously discussed his plans with the vassal leaders and assistants. It was just West and Mishmoosh that had to be convinced to give up their positions. During the meeting, each attendant spoke about why a return to the Imperare system was more advantageous for the empire. Both West and Mish agreed to these terms, the latter taking more convincing than the former.

During a feast, now often referenced as the "Feast of the Imperare", Felöks Zeno Hrafn took the central seat and asked Mish and West to stand at the front. There he announced to the world that the pair would be henceforth named Regents of Eldham and Rathnir respectfully. This stirred some confusion in the crowd, but after a short while, most people understood.

The Imperare's flag of Simulami was raised in the Empire, as her citizens saw this as a moment of unity and restoration to a monarchy.

Outside of Simulami, Escharia did not support this movement. Dukesouleater would refer to Felöks as "Just a new Zeno", which greatly upset most Escharians since there was still tension between them and the former Imperare. This went paired with plans to, in the future, invade Simulami and fullfil the ages-old dream of uniting Simulami and Escharia under Escharia leadership.

Valreach-Simulami and Government Reforms
Shortly after being declared Imperare, Felöks travelled to Valrum. There, he met up with his lifelong friend and vassal, Tyros Aulian, Imperator of Valreach, who had recently been given the title of Imperator following the death of the previous Imperator, Yorg Aulian. There, they devised a plan to get married and merge the extenal policies of Simulami and Valreach under the name and identity of Valreach-Simulami.

Felöks would officially propose at the coronation of and quickly, Valreach-Simulami was formed.

This closely linked the governments of Valreach and Simulami. It also gave Felöks more legitimacy to the Simulami throne due to Tyros being the grandson of Imperare Maestro ZenoHUN

The government of Simulami would face several reforms during this period. A Royal Court was set up as an advisory council directly for the Imperare, This consisted of people who were personally appointed by Felöks Zeno Hrafn to perform certain duties such as diplomacy, espionage and infrastructure. Regent Assistants would remain, but their job would be more internally focused and to present ideas to the Regents about how to improve their areas of interest. The "nation" of Fredonia, which had a long history of rebelling set up several towns within Simulami's borders without the approval of the government. They even attempted to sell some Simulami land to foreign nations. These new Fredonian towns began a rebellion against Andrealphus, the leader of Fredonia. Upon intervention by The Simulami Government, lead by Royal Court Member Almar Talmont, these towns within Fredonia were quickly disbanded.

The Fredonian citizens were surveyed and national rhetoric began to spread among its people. This enraged the Court and Imperare, leading to the eventual Occupation of Fredonia. During this, a member of the Fredonian council organised a coup d'etat, allowing Simulami and Escharian forces to enter Fredonia and diffuse the threat.

The Escharian Crisis
Will be filled by 29/03/2024

Nieden and The Commet
Will be filled by 39/03/2024