Erinian Commonwealth

The Commonwealth of Erinia is a sovereign federal state that encompasses much of the Western world. It is one of the Four Great Powers and a member of the Council of Four, considered by some to be the premier of the four. As the first Perius power, Erinia has in the recent centuries past stood far above other powers in terms of economic, militaristic and technological strength.

The Commonealth's government is meant to be a blend of Erinia's two predecessor states, the Kingdom of Erinia and the Three Republics. Founded during the Democratic War by Kaysar, who served as its first Grand Protector, who sought to bring more control and stability while also preserving the enlightened liberty of the republic. The Commonwealth's territory is divided into republics, provinces, sub-provinces and districts which are promised varying degrees of autonomy. The citizens of the Commonwealth are granted various personal freedoms such as the right to stand for political offices including for one of the 800 seats in the Erinian Parliament. However many powers rest in the hands of the Protectorate, a 50 seat council of men handpicked by the Grand Protector, the Chosen Autocrat of Erinia. These policies of limited freedom under the guidance of a supreme dictator whose powers are checked by the parliament has been the leading political philosophy of Erinia for the past 360 years.

The Current Grand Protector of the Commonwealth is Sergey Augustein.

Founding
Erinia first began as a colony of the Arostrian Empire. It was founded at the mouth of the Peron River, both a fertile land and an important trade route. The city's founding on September 1st is celebrated widely in the Western World as the passage of a new year. According to national historians such as Barson Wrill, the Erinians arrived in a land infested with enemies and fought them all off with little to no help from the empire. Wrill and other patriots emphasize that Erinia developed mostly on her own, isolated from the rest of the empire by hordes of barbarian nulian tribes. Although newer evidence has suggested that there were considerable imperial investments into Erinia as it occupied a highly desirable geographical position. In 36 AF, Erinia was one of the most important and prosperous Arostrian cities in Western Dovania.

Free City
In 37 AF, an army of deserters sacked the imperial capital of Geraldia. As the Arostrian Empire began to collapse, the Erinians found themselves truly on their own. With seemingly no other option, the city declared its independence from the empire, with hundreds of other arostrian colonies in western Dovania doing the same. The city became a city-state and is most commonly referred to as the Free City of Erinia during this period. It was ruled by the same city council that had governed it during its colonial times, which many erinians disliked intensely. They saw the council as being weak, corrupt and an outdated remainder from the colonial days. No clear basis on how new members ascended to the council were created, and reform was bogged down by disagreement on what type of government Erinia should strive towards. However, one member of the council named Karl Nikesiac became very popular among the city's masses after he issued infrastructure projects a plenty out of his own pockets. He argued for emulation of Erin the Great's policy of a strong centralized monarchy, but many argued that this was exactly what brought down the Empire in the first place. A political standstill lasted for two years, until the city itself was attacked.

Battle of Erinia
After the imperial collapse came the Great Chaos, a period marked by endless and intense conflict raging across the continent for nearly half a century. Early during the chaos, Erinia, along with many other cities in Haven Bay, was attacked numerous times by nulian raiders. Numerous cities were devastated, but Erinia relied on her strong walls and managed to repel nearly all attacks. That was until in 39 AF when a large army of Siape Nulians attacked and breached the walls of the city. Hope seemed lost until Karl Nikesiac and his adopted son Frederik Hilkinberg rallied the people to defend their city. The defenders managed to form up at the city square, but any man could see they were no match for the Nulian barbarians. When morale has all but collapsed, Karl Nikesiac picked up a sword himself and despite his old age ran towards the Nulian horde in a fit of suicidal bravery, where he was cut down and killed. This sight of their most beloved leader sacrificing himself for the good of the city inspired the masses, who began to pick up whatever they could to use as weapons against the Nulians. Under the leadership of Frederik Hilkinberg, the defenders managed push back the Nulians one street at a time until they were finally outside the walls. Terrified of this city's zealous defenders, the Nulians turned back with what loot they had and headed south for their homelands. It was later said that the tribes got into a conflict over the loot and wiped each other out before ever reaching their homeland. With the battle over, Frederik and the defenders were free to grieve for the man who had selflessly saved their city. Karl Nikesiac was declared "father of the city" and Frederik positioned himself as his direct successor.

The Kingdom
Frederik Hilkinberg was in a supremely popular position following the battle of Erinia. He himself had claimed that the spirit of Erin the Great himself possessed him whenever he entered battle, which drew in even more awe from the masses as Erin was nearly worshipped as a god. With seemingly no one coming even close to challenging him, Frederik Hilkinberg declared the abolishment of the city council and took for himself the title of king, the same one Erin himself had taken centuries earlier. However, Frederik decided that an absolute monarchy like the Empire wouldn't be the right path. For one, it was extremely unpopular among the nobility and a portion of the masses, and history had shown that such a state was prone to instability if any disqualified individuals got in power. To that end, Frederik decided to compromise and establish a 100 member parliament that would share some of the executive powers of the state. Although this decision disgruntled some of the absolutists, it altogether made Frederik even more popular, all but ensuring a stable first reign for the Kingdom of Erinia.

Initial expansion and Succession
The early reign of Frederik Hilkinberg was largely spent repairing and improving the city. After a few years, the stability and prosperity of Erinia became famous in Western Dovania, attracting a wave of migrants to the city. As booming trade brought in lucrative commerce, Frederik invested by building a number of colonies outside the city, initiating the kingdom's first territorial expansions. To protect the citizens located outside the walls, Frederik created a well-trained militia army, that could quickly mobilize in times of danger and see to other crafts and industries while at peace. The army fought in no major wars during Frederik's stable reign, only clearing off hostile tribes and raiding parties.

King Frederik died in 68 AF, after 29 years on the throne. His reign took Erinia from a confused and ruined city to a rising regional power. Frederik's original succession plan was for his son Benjamin to succeed him, but he had died in a hunting accident in 65 AF. Believing his own death to be close and his grandson too young to rule, Frederik opted to follow in his old master Karl Nikesiac's footsteps and adopt a capable man to be his heir. Thus Frederik was succeeded by Gabriel Victman, a prominent noble who had shown himself as a capable commander and a charismatic leader. Although many expected Gabriel to be a more aggressive and expansionist king than Frederik, he surprised everyone by initially maintaining Frederik's peace, attracting even more migrants to the kingdom. Gabriel also semi-formalized the worship of Erin the Great, making him the state deity in all but name. But underneath his pious and pacifistic exterior, Gabriel was in reality cultivating a society for war. He attracted migrants to the city to fill the ranks of his armies, and promoted religion to give his warriors a higher cause to fight for. This is what Gabriel himself wrote in his secret diary that wasn't discovered until 400 years later. It is unknown who he was going to attack with his army, for Gabriel would die in 79 AF from a heart attack. His successor would be Dalen Hilkinberg, King Frederik's grandson, who was now of age to rule. Dalen initially had in mind to emulate his grandfather's peaceful and prospeous reign, a notion soon to be shattered by the Siape Wars.

Siape Wars
Since the battle of Erinia in 39 AF, the Siape tribes south of Erinia had remained disunited and weak. They themselves had come under attack from other Nulian tribes during the Great Chaos, leaving their numbers dwindled. The northernmost tribe called the Sohngg, had a dispute with a group of Erinian settlers on their border, ending with the Sohngg slaughtering all the settlers. Thus began the first Siape War, with Erinia invading the Sohngg in response to the slaughter. Very little is documented about the war, except that progress for the Erinians was slow as it took them five years to fully subdue the Sohngg. After eventually emerging victorious in the first Siape War, the erinians gained a great deal of new land conquered slaves. This course of events greatly alarmed the other Siape tribes, of which the strongest three decided to form an alliance against Erinia. In

Conquest of Haven Bay
Emerging victorious from the Siape Wars, Erinia had greatly increased her land and wealth, but she wasn't quite yet satisfied. The nobility of Erinia had for long considered Haven Bay and all its surrounding lands to be theirs by right, and so drew their plans to expand the kingdom even further. A dominant strategy for this conquest was sending colonists into enemy territory, and when they would eventually get attacked they would consider it a provocation and use it as a rightful reason to go to war, ending in the annexation of the lands. In the years 149-165, this strategy worked near perfectly for the Erinians

Demographics
The entire population of the Erinian Commonwealth, including the colonies and Aneprals, is 189.000.000, making it the second most populous nation in the world behind the Holy Kingdom of Casary. The vast state is comprised of a great number of differing, ethnicities, classes, religious groups and more.

Citizens and Aneprals
There are around 120.000.000 citizens, including 8.000.000 colonial citizens in the commonwealth. Being a citizen means that you can enjoy various personal rights granted by the Commoral Seal. This includes freedom to stand for political office, freedom of movement within the republics and the freedom of expression.