Sapphire Sovereignty

The Sapphire Sovereignty, commonly known as The Sovereignty or Sapphi, is the last remaining pocket of the Sapphire Kingdom. They control most of southern Easor, including many of the lesser islands. Remnants of the Sapphire Kingdom, the Sovereignty retains little of the wealth or power that was afforded to the Sapphire kings. Regardless, their land holdings are the largest remaining in the Isles and they remain a powerful entity.

Warder's Rebellion
While the land was still under the control of the Knightly Orders, Warder, a surf to the Order of the Dawn, had a vision during his sleep from a being who he later named “The Other.” He came out of this vision a changed man. Inspired, he took to leading the peasants and freemen in their call for breaking with the mostly militant orders. Apparently given a gift of a silver tongue, Warder peacefully petitioned for the Order of the Dawn standing down as leaders of their holdings in southern Easor for himself.

Unwilling to bend their knee to a single surf, Warder found himself the in the centre of a war. During the early stages, the armoured and trained Knights made short work of the peasant militia. Warder in secret left the lands of the Dawn Knights and sought out their enemies in power. Returning at the head of two other Knightly Orders, the Order of the Dawn was caught by surprise and almost destroyed completely.

Warder took the fortress of the Order, Halbar, and turned it into his seat of power. Deciding he would rule for the people, he named his dynasty for the great sea itself, and made the Sapphire Throne from the spoils of war. The rest of the wealth of the Order of the Dawn was given over to one of the orders that had aided him, the Order of the Flame. Angered by this favouritism, the second Order, the Order of the Moon, denounced Warder. However, caught away from their homelands and amongst Warder’s militia and allies, they quickly suffered the same fate as the Dawn Knights.

Weary of a third betrayal and realising Warder’s manipulation, the Flame Knights quickly returned to their lands in the north of Easor to recover from the double war. Meanwhile the first Sapphire King, Warder, began the rule of his new kingdom, twice the size of what the Dawn Knight’s holdings were at the end of 235AM.

Aware that the final Order in Easor would return to take his throne, Warder established his trained army as his first act. As a second, he established a new way of rule, a feudal system. He elevated his loyalist companions to new lords and granted them control of the land, provided they not remember their origins as common folk and pay tribute to him as their king.

The Height of the Kingdom
Warder’s death in 246AM proved the strength of his words and kingdom he had built. His son, Alard, took the throne without incident. In 261AM, the kingdom suffered its first major event since its founding: The Order of the Flame’s attempt to seize the throne and thus the entirety of Easor for themselves. The Wardmen, trained first by Warder, proved match for the Knights when they met in the field near Turncrag in 261AM. The Orders had never had any true rival to their power on the battlefield except other Knight before, but the well trained Wardmen proved a match for them on the field, due largely to the Knight’s devolution of tactics. Suffering a massive defeat, the Grandmaster of the Order of the Flame bent down to the Sapphire Throne least his land be engulfed in a war he now knew he could not win. The Flame Knights were spared the fate of the previous Orders, and were integrated into the Sapphire Kingdom with one condition: its leaders were to be sent into exile. Facing exile or execution, the leaders and thus the lust for rebellion was extinguished.

The following years saw a steady expansion off Easor, integrating both Auro’s Anvil and Qael with little bloodshed. The proven stability of Throne along with its steady increase in wealth lead to more and more eccentricity amongst the ruling classes.

The War for the Sapphire Throne
In 536AM, the last Sapphire King, Gauwis the Cruel, is overthrown by a revolt lead by the Wardmen. Gauwis is executed for his crimes against his own people, and the leader of the Wardmen, General Ancis, takes control of the Sapphire Kingdom. The unruly peasantry, not truly controlled by Ancis as they were two hundred years prior by Warder, continued their revolt regardless.

The following civil war was long and bloody, but with little true result. Five years after Gauwis the Cruel’s execution, the various leaders of the civil war agreed to an uneasy peace. The different sides each would retain control of their lands and cities to with as they please, establishing the many city states of the Isles, an example quickly followed around the Sapphire Sea.

Loyalists also agreed to this pact, retaining Halbar and much of the original holdings of King Warder. Another Sapphire King forbidden by the pact, one of the surviving Lords, Tomas, took the title of Duke and restablished the Kingdom as the Sapphire Sovereignty.

Politics
The Duke and his family rule as monarchs in the Sapphire Sovereignty. The lords retain rulership of the many regions in the Sovereignty, but the once peasants are now freemen. Each citizen of the Sovereignty can petition their Lord or the Duke himself, but have no say over rulership. Ultimately, the Duke rules absolute

Geography
The area covered by the Sovereignty is the largest of any of the independent states. Confined to south and western Easor, the Sovereignty’s power extends only as far north as Narvenn and east as Taford.

Topography
Most of the Sovereignty’s holdings consist of grasslands, a good portion of which is arable land. Occasional forests punctate the land. Stretching the entirety of Easor east to west, the Sovereignty has plenty of coastline. With the Perran Ocean to the east, and the Sapphire Sea to the west. The Sovereignty has hundreds of rivers and inland bodies of water.

Climate
The Sovereignty has a temperate climate. Ranging from below freezing in the winter to hot in summer, the Sovereignty features a wide amounts of different weathers, but rarely anything of problem.

Economy
The Sovereignty has a market economy. Good amounts of natural resources exist such as lumber and ores. However it lacks valuable, unique goods which leads to a large amount of exportation of lesser or manufactured goods. Fortunately, roads built during the time of the Sapphire King allow for easy trade between the states in Easor, and Narvenn’s role as the center of these roads does lead to a large amount of produce passing into a through the Sovereignty.

Culture
The Sovereignty’s influence in the Isles (especially during its period as the Kingdom) is wide reaching. Many of the instruments common in the Isles originate from there and thus does most music. The Halls of Music in Halbar operate a guild for musicians the world over, making a defacto center to music. One of the stronger influences left however would be religion. From Warder came the Church of the Four.

Military
The Wardmen exist to this day as a professionally trained and permanently standing army, one of only three of its kind in the isles. Working as both peacekeepers and soldiers, the Wardmen continue to remain prevalent. The Sovereignty also maintains a small navy to protect its own shores from raiders and to ensure levies continue to be paid.