A Brief History of Alkaria by Cologne von Rothschild

From Valwiki

Contents 1 OOC Details 1.1 Explaination of the document itself 1.2 IC availibility of the document 2 The Work Itself 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Ancient City State Era 2.3 The First Reich: Kierkereich (20AY-333AY) 2.4 The First Alkarian Civil War (333-345) 2.5 The Three States Period (346-575) 2.6 The Alkario-Orcish War (580-666) 2.7 The Second Reich: The Magireich (666-800) 2.8 The Second Alkarian Civil War: "The Hundred Years' War" (800-900) 2.9 Brief Turmoil Period (900-950) 2.10 The Third Reich: Volksreich (950-1100) 2.11 The Fourth Reich: Königsreich (1100-1174) 2.12 The Tarsonian Revolution (1174-1183) 2.13 The AlkarenRepublik (1184-1208) 2.14 The Four Years' War (1208-1212) 2.15 The Neo-AlkarRepublik (1212-1215) 2.16 The Alkarian Depression (1216-1222)

OOC Details

Explaination of the document itself

A Brief History of Alkaria is a work created ICly by Alkarian Chancellor Cologne von Rothschild documenting the history of Alkaria from it's earliest recorded origins to the Federation. Unfortunately, von Rothschild didn't continue into the history of the Federation itself, however, this history contains important pre-Federation information that is no longer availiable due to the disaster brought with the Flood.

IC availibility of the document

This work consists of several volumes, making it somewhat cumbersome to carry around, but many Alkarians, as well as non-Alkarians, own a copy of this work.

The Work Itself

Introduction

I wrote this several years ago, and I decided to publish it for Alkarians, and the rest of the world to read. Most especially, to be used in Wolfenhauer's new university, and in the Great Library, as Wolfenhauer has asked me.

Its also important to remember that this history doesn't cover contemporary Alkarian history, for I have been rather ignorant in what has been going on in Alkaria now of days. However, Chancellor Lochschmidt has agreed to hiring several scholars to study and compile contemporary Alkarian history. I am also aware that SFJ Wolfenhauer is working on translating ancient Alkarian scriptures, and compiling ancient pre-Theocractic history, which will most definatly be interesting to read. I've also organized my chronicle per year so as to make it easier to read.

A note on the dating: these are in Alkarian years (AY), and there is approximately a 423 year difference between Valikorlia continental dating. The period before this time is known as Before Alkarian Years (BAY).

Märzein, 1244 Cologne von Rothschild

(Note about Alkarian years: Each month IRL equals one Alkarian year.) AY=Alkarian Year BAY=Before Alkarian Years

Ancient City State Era

Pre-500BAY - Knowledge of whether Alkarians immigrated from somewhere, or were somehow born on the continent of Alkaria remains purely in speculation. The truth is, we don't know where we have come from, and this is the job of the philosophers to dabble on this question. We do know, however, that during this time tribal warfare waged across Alkaria.

500-300BAY - Some tribes begin to ally and call pacts between eachother. Ontop of this, advants in farming lead to the first early civilized settlements develope in Alkaria. Amoung those most successfully established are Marzein and Dorthstrong.

300-280BAY - The gigantic barbarian tribe rages across Alkaria, suveerly destroying Marzein and Dorthstrong. The barbarian tribes eventually begin to attack eachother.

280-250BAY - The Rothsleimian barbarian tribes begin to settle in the east, and create a heavily militaristic society. Marzein and Dorthstrong also begin to rebuild and struggle to keep barbarians out of their lands. The two cities also create a military agreement to fight off the barbarians.

250-150BAY - The city states experience relative peace during this time, though barbarians continiously try to invaid the cities. Marzein undergoes a cultural boom, while Dorthstrong becomes a business center, and Rothsleim remains a dedicated militaristic state. During this time, Mazeinian polytheistic religion begins to influence the rest of the Alkarian world.

150-138BAY - Rothsleim invaids Dorthstrong and attempts to conquire Marzein, but fails due to the Marzeinian utilization of what is colloqually known as "magic".

138-70BAY - A sudden rise in barbarian invaisions causes an overbearing amount of strain for the Rothsleimians. Ontop of that, rebellions rage in both Dorthstrong and Rothsleim itself, resulting in an overthrowing of the previous Rothsleimian government. However, the new Rothsleim is essentially the same as the old. Marzein at this time begins to aid in the Dorthstrong reconstruction.

70BAY-20AY - The Monotheist school in Marzein begins to have profound influence on culture and religion. Marzeinians begin to believe that it is their duty to convert the entire continent to Monotheism and unify the continent under both one god, and one government. With the aid of powerful mages, soldiers, and priests, Marzein successfully unifies the continent under a Monotheocratic style government.

The First Reich: Kierkereich (20AY-333AY)

20-100 - The Church begins to establish a strict pious society in Alkaria. A continental inquisition is enforced, and millions of dissidents are killed for not wanting to convert. By 100AY, just about all of Alkaria is Monotheist.

100-300 - Alkaria begins to experience another cultural boom, however, this cultural boom is strictly moderated by the Church. Economic and social prosperity also begins in Alkaria. Technological improvements to the military help make non-magic using soldiers more effective. More people also begin to populate the cities thanks to a boost in agricultural technology.

250 - 320 - "Golden" Period in the first Reich Pope Ulbrecht I's rise to power. His reign was characterized by an economic boom, and relative stability. This period is also considered to be the high point in classical Alkarian culture.

320 - Pope Ulbrecht I dies, Pope Lothar II takes over the Church.

320-325 - Pope Lothar II's administration is not at all even remotely nearly as successful as Pope Ulbrecht's. The economy begins to plummit due to irresponsible spending, the quality of living is decreased and people are generally unhappy.

326-328 - A mysterious plague hits the main Alkarian cities, and the population is reduced to half. Pope Lothar II was later blaimed for decreasing the sanitation levels, which furthered people's anger. Several rebellion groups begin to form and conspire against the Pope's rule.

330 - Massive riots and rebellions in Rothsleim and Dorthstrong erupt, and the military is ordered to restore order at any cost, including killing totally innocent civilians. After these riots were put down, however many of the soldiers who participated in these realized that the very military they were apart of had also killed many of their families. Many soldiers, and several high ranking officers quit the army to join the resistence groups.

333 - Pope Lothar II was finally assassinated by Sorceress Metternich resulting in a total civil war. Shortly thereafter, the Sorceress was killed by the Paladins.

The First Alkarian Civil War (333-345)

333 - Every city erupted in total civil war, and the Church had no way to properly quell these, since the military was also fighting against itself. However, the only thing that prevented the Church from being invaided was the use of the Paladins. - Various resistence groups were only able to go so far as to take control over certain quarters of cities, since there were often several resistence groups in each city fighting against other resistence groups. The Paladins, however, were able to maintain strong control over the city-quarter of Dorthstrong that held the Church.

336 - Nationalist rebels take control over Rothsleim, declaring the Kingdom of Rothsleim, and begin executing dissidents.

337 - Many Paladins begin to feel betrayed about how no decisions are being made by the Church to actually quell the rebellions and how much of their finest troops are being wasted on merely protecting the head Church. Approxmiately 75% of Paladins left their post and the entire city one night out of frustration with the Church. The next morning, the Church was overun by 4 different resistence parties, killing almost everyone in the head Church.

339 - The Rothsleimians enter Dorthstrong in an attempt to sieze the city admist it's chaos. - the Paladins join the Kingdom of Rothsleim in it's fight to restore order to Dorthstrong.

340 - Dorthstrong annexed by Rothsleim with the aid of Paladin magic. Marzein is still in absolute civil chaos.

342 - Rothsleimian armies begin attack Marzein with the aid of the Paladins. - The Paladins begin to argue with eachother about whether it was justified for them to abandon the Church, and whether it is justified for them to aid Rothsleim. The Paladins finally split into two groups: the White Knights, who believe they shouldn't have abandoned the Church, and who believe that Rothsleim has malevolent intentions, and the Black Knights, who believe they should have abandoned the Church and should aid Rothsleim. - The WKs destroy the entire Rothsleimian force in Marzein, and parts of Dorthstrong, while the BKs refuse to fight their fellow brothers.

343 - WKs destroy a majority of the Rothsleimian presence in Dorthstrong and advance to Rothsleim with the support of many Dorthstrongians and Marzeinians. The Battle of the Grey, which is considered by most historians to be the bloodest battle in Alkarian history, took place in this year. As the armies were advancing, the BKs unleashed powerful magic spells on the in-comming armies, and advance with their Rothsleimian allies. This battle raged on, destroying much of the city of Rothsleim, and resulted in over half a million casualties. The ultimate outcome was that the non-Paladin soldiers, regardless of the side, began to kill the elite Paladins. The battle ended in a draw, and the remains of the Paladins left the battle field willingly, and both sides later landed up committing suicide out of shame.

343-345 - With significently less people in Alkaria alive, order was able to be established in the city states. Peoples were willing to work together to help rebuild their state after witnessing a the horrors at the Battle of the Grey. New forms of governments emerged in the Alkarian city states: Marzein became a republic, Dorthstrong a parlimentry monarchy, and Rothsleim an absolute monarchy.

The Three States Period (346-575)

346 - A treaty was signed between all three states stating that they should never have such a brutal war with eachother and to try to settle conflicts relativally more peacefully.

346-400 - The states begin to re-establish trade routes with eachother. They also begin to explore the rest of the continent, and the surrounding seas for riches.

400-435 - Dorthstrong and Rothsleim begin establishing colonies in southern territories and surrounding islands for resource consumption. Several small skirmishes between the two states take place, but nothing very significent or escalating.

410-470 - Marzein begins to develope relativally sophisticated technology and trades these technologies to the other two states. During this time, technology in Alkaria rapidly increases: (1) The ability to alter the terrain allows for massive impregnable fortresses, the developement of artifically created dams, hills and cliffs to make it harder for infantry cross, and battlements for ranged units; (2) the creation of small, yet extremely manuverable boats made boarding of other ships much easier; (3) new mining/forging technology allowed for more steel to be made in less time, because of this, sophisticated weaponry and armours were rather plentiful. The rise of true feudalism and true chivalry begins to form and dominate societies amoung the three states.

460-480 - Rothsleim and Dorthstrong expand more southward and engage in several inter-colonial clashs. The most significent of these clashes happend in 480, when Rothsleim realized that Dorthstrong discovered extremely precious metels and gems in several caves. This was the first major battle in the Three States Period that actually utilized the technology of the time.

480-482 - Rothsleimian armies begin to take other Dorthstrong colonies in the South, and begin to utilize the resources to create a more powerful military. Dorthstrong is infuriated that their colonies were being annexed by Rothsleim and gathers troops from the remaining colonies in the south take a stratigically located colony, invaids, but the invasion was a disaster. In 482, Dorthstrong realized that they had no real upper-hand against Rothsleim, and secretly funds pirates and other saboteurs to destroy the trade routes between Marzein and Rothsleim. It was believed that by halting the trade with Marzein and Rothsleim that Rothsleim would no longer be able to advance technologically or economically since Marzein was Rothsleim's only major trading partner at this point.

482-510 - No major acts of war take place during this time, however, during this time Dorthstronrg began to suffer economically, and sold much of their colonies to Rothsleim and Marzein. The Dorthstrongian parliment, and the people of Dorthstrong began to demand finances from King Strangaard I. The King sent a few brigades to explore the most southern part of Alkaria that had never been explored before in hopes of finding a new resource, or a surplus of one that can improve the economy. In 491, Marzein's military was officially larger and more powerful than Dorthstrong's.

510-520 - Dorthstorngian explorers discover precious metals in a caves enhabbited by mysterious unhuman creates known as Orcs. The explorers were able to enslave the Orcs, and use them to mine. The Dorthstrong economy slowly begins to stabilize.

520 - Rothsleim invaids these Dorthstrong colonies to the south with a small army, but is unsuccessful for the reason of this: even though the Dorthstrong troops were relativally ill-equiped, they utilized the Orcs, who had just about no armour or no swords, to fight off the Rothsleimian troops. King Strangaard recieved the news, and ordered the training of Orcs in hand-to-hand combat, to be used in the front lines, and to retake their colonies that had been previously annexed.

520-535 - Dorthstrong begins to rely heavily in the Orcs in their military. They set their military up so that the Orcs were offensive and defensive ground infantry, while the true human Dorthstrongians were mounted knights and long-bowmen. Military proliferation secretly continues throughout this timeperiod.

535-545 - Dorthstrong, with it's enourmus army, conquires about 65% of the Southern colonies and establishes several well-placed fortresses in these areas. They be sure not to attack any Marzeinian colonies. Meanwhile, Marzein stays neutral in this conflict, but sells weapons and armour to both sides of this conflict, and becomes an extremely wealthy state.

550 - Rothsleim tries to counter Dorthstrong's attack in the south, but fails to do so and retreats. They later try to invaid the Dorthstrongian state itself, but ends in a stalemate.

555-565 - Rothsleim hires Marzeinian elite mage brigade, and uses them to send telepathic messages the Orcs, since there was no method of actual mind control back these days. These messages consisted of propaganda that would cause the Orcs to band together, hate Dorthstrong, and eventually rise up against Dorthstrong. This was actually rather effective, and the more intelligent orcs were able to organize secret Orcish conspiracy groups. Rothsleim begins to secretly aid the Orcs in their conspiracy against the humans, by teaching them how to use horses, bows, and by supplying them with weapons and armour

570 - The Orcish representitive in the Dorthstrong Parliment was assassinated, and the Orcs believes it was done by Dorthstrong official orders. The Orcs begin their revolution against Dorthstrong, starting with mutiny in the army, and later, the miner and farmer revolts. These revolts were actually very successfull.

571 - Rothsleim invaids the Southern colonies, and find themselves fighting the very Orcs they had trained. The Orcs slaughtered these Rothsleimian armies, and began to feel anti-human sentiment. The Orcs then take control over Dorthstrong and mobilize it entirely for war.

575 - The Orcs destroy the Dorthstrong colonies which they now own, feeling it was possessed because it causes termendious amounts of greed amoung humans. Rothsleim also tries to utilize the elite mage brigade they had hired to try to stop the madness, but was ineffective.

The Alkario-Orcish War (580-666)

580 - The Orcs invaid the remaining Rothsleim colonies with success and little casualties.

582 - Rothsleim bombards Dorthstrong with catpults and ballistas and later invaids Dorthstrong with an enourmus army. There were a lot of casualties on the part of Rothsleim, but Dorthstrong was taken, and the Orcs fled Dorthstrong, in huge hoards, to Marzein, where they invaided and took half of the city.

590 - Rothsleim sends troops to Marzein and helps retake the city. Most Orcs, however, retreated south.

591-592 - Rothsleim and Marzein invaid Dorthstrong with enourmous armies and retake the city. The three states are joined together in an alliance against the Orcs, and quickly prepare themselves to fight and regain the Southern colonies from the Orcs.

593-600 - The Orcs send several small unorganized armies to attack Alkaria. Though these armies did significent damage to structure and property, they werne't successfull in gaining any land. The Alkarian also begin to construct an enourmous wall, as well as some fortresses, to keep the Orcs out.

600 - Resources in Alkaria begin to become more and more scarce. Many of the leaders felt that it was time to invaid, and take back their colonies.

600-630 - The invasion begins on two fronts: one from the north, and the other from the east, by sea. These massive invasions were extremely successful in shrinking the amount of land the Orcs had control over, but was not sufficent enough to destroy the Orcish "empire". Nor were they able to take control over the mines that had important resources that could be used for war.

631 - Alkaria was running out of both men and resources, and felt that they should use this time to train elite mages and sorcerers to conquire the rest of the Orcs. The reason why they didn't use mages in the first place was because mages were too vulnerable to the longbow, and because the only way to effectivly use mages are if there are a lot of men guarding the mages. The problem that would occur after that has to do with the clumsiness and indiscrimenibility of magic spells: effective magic spells would often kill the enemy's troops as well as their own allied troops. This was discussed amoung the leaders, and they decided that they would follow through with utilizing mages and large armies. However, they felt that they should create a seperate army brigade for people willing to sacrifice themselves for this stratagy.

632-635 - This "suicide" brigade actually attracted a lot of noble men and even women willing to sacrifice themselves. This brigade was able to attain just over 10 000 troops, and was deployed to the northern front. This elite mage brigade was also being trained, and became known simply as the 'Templars of Alkaria'.

635 - The Battle of the Greens: the suicide brigade advanced, while the other troops fell back. The Templars began to use some of their most powerful spells against the Orcs. Though the plan worked well, there were not enough troops in the suicide brigade to satisfy this stratagy. The non-suicide troops actually began to move, willfully, up to the front lines and aid the Templars and the suicide brigade. This worked phenomenally, and shortly thereafter, troops from the south-eastern front began to emerge and destroyed the reimaining Orcs in the area. All that was left, now, was retaking the colonies and killing any remaining orcs

635-665 - The next 30 years were characterized by mass murdering the remaining Orcs, and reestablishing the colonies; both which were extremely successful. The Templars during this time began to be dominated by strong political views, and believed that the notion of a national republic would do nothing but cause anarchy, since there already was a large amount of turmoil developing within the states. It was percieved that although they had been able to band together to fight off the Orcs, much of the problems and rivalry between the states didn't fade away, but were merely put on hold. The Grand Vizier and his Templars began to conspire a coup against the current government.

666 - Before the troops came home, the Templars began to kill a large number of troop, and threaten the remaining ones to join them in their coup.

The Second Reich: The Magireich (666-800)

667 - Just as the large batch of troops began to come home, fighting erupted throughout all three states. This civil war only lasted a few months, and the new Templar-controled government seized power with relative ease. Immidiately, dissidents and people with the slightest suspicion of being against the government were killed on the spot.

668-700 - Massive Societal changes take place: (1) the economy is centralized to Dorthstrong, (2) culture revolves around the Templars and freethinking is outlawed, (3) magic is utilized to its fullest potential and allows for such a grasp of tyranny over the people.

700-730 - The Magireich expands south to gain more resources and to fight off the rebels who fled during the major changes. The Magireich conqures the islands to the south as well. The leaders of the Magireich during this time also begin to restrict magic to the military and other high ranking officials. Plebian magic users are purged and hanged in pubic, including physicians who use magic to heal people. Alkarians who could not use magic became known as "Oberflächlich" or "superficials". Social conditions in Alkaria were extremely poor, but effective.

735 - Several underground organizations aimed at subversing the Magireich form with success.

740 - Rebels attack the Magireich castle killing a few guards and injuiring many others. Though it was a rather pathetic attack, the Magireich decided to increase martial law in the cities and towns, and entirely clamp down on anything deemed subversive. The Magireich, at this point, seems nearly invinsible.

800 - The Grand Vizier Leibfiche von Odendorf, who was probabley the most powerful Grand Vizier during the whole Magireich period, dies of old age. Though he did name a successor, many people within the government felt that another man should be the Grand Vizier. The high-ranking government was essentially split, and within a week both sides of the government began to use military force against eachother. Because of this conflict, there were significently less guards. Within about a month of this quirrel, underground movements of the plebians formed extremely quickly. These rebels would steal weapons from guards and arm themselves for when the time is righ to stage an uprising. Meanwhile, the government splits into several different factions, struggling for support. The elite faction of the military, the Totenritteren or "Death Knights" begins to commit mutiny against the government.

The Second Alkarian Civil War: "The Hundred Years' War" (800-900)

801 - The Totenritteren and the regular military engage in a series of clashes in various cities. Later this year, the Totenritteren realize that they cannot control the military, and decide to slaughter them, and any other government dissidents. Many of the survivors of the military survivors of this conflict decide to join the rebels in revenge. The Rebels begin to arm and train themselves for their attempted coup, and are now.

802 - The Totenritteren take control over the government, but essentially have no power over the people. The rebels begin to swarm the Totenritteren in an angry rabble. This is actually rather successful, and every Totenritteren was beaten and hanged in public. Shortly thereafter, the most powerful of the rebel leaders, Georg Hossenhaufen, made a powerful speech amoung the masses denouncing magical tyranny, and arguing that the history of Alkarian conflict was based around those who who were tyrannized by magical force. He then declares that ever magic user must be systematically destroyed by whatever means, in order to ensure unity amongst Alkaria. Approximately 70% of Alkarians were magic-less thanks to the efforts taken by the Magicreich to ensure that no plebian may have access to magical knowledge. But what makes this civil war the most deadly than any other conflict in Alkarian history is that 5-8 magic users can destroy 100 "superificals" with a few magic spells. The other reason why this conflict is the most deadly, is because this is also one of the first wars in history that totally disregarded civilians: you were either a magic user, or a superficial.

803-813 - Oddly enough, the superficials were sucessful in their campaigns, largely because the magic users weren't able to access the full extents of their magic ability, simply because they weren't knowledgeable enough. But 813 marked a turning point in the war: a few magic-using soldiers stumbled upon ancient graves from the first Reich period and discovered powerful spells that were used during the first Alkarian civil war.

813-845 - These powerful spells prooved extremely and utterly effective in the campaign, though they were direly destructive. The magic users would destroy entire cities and villages, misfigure the land, obliterate forests. The superficials were somewhat helpless, but the development of the long-crossbow aided greatly to the superficials, since they began to have a chance at killing mages.

840-900 - Although the long-crossbow, at this point, became quite useful to the superificals, it was not enough to match the strength of the magic-users. Once again, several soldiers, but this time on the superficial's side, discovered ancient graves containing amuletes and instructions that will help the superficials absorb magic, and therefore overcome magic. This was very difficult to do, but nontheless was developed upon and used to aid the superficials. By the end of 880, it was clear that the superficials were going to win this war.

Brief Turmoil Period (900-950)

900-915 - Alkarians reconstruct their cities and towns. The state of the 'official' government is unclear, but that seems somewhat irrelivent considering the current agenda of Alkaria. During this time, two political parties form who hope to organize some sort of a complex government: the People's Party, of whom were egalitarian libertarians who believed Alkaria should be run by the people, and the Aristocratic Party, who believed that Alkaria should have a strong aristocracy to boost effiency and maintain contorl, and should by the ruled by a few wisemen in a council or parliament. Many people also felt a desperate need for religion for emotional support, and thus the old Alkarian monotheism was ressurected. But the Church of this religion was no were near as powerful as it was was, and will never be as powerful.

915-920 - Alkarians were split amongst ideas of which should rule their nation. In some states, certain political platforms/parties were more popular than in others. In Rothsleim, the Aristocratic party was popular, while in Mercution, the People's party was popular. Dorthstrong was split, and eventually the two parties there merged to create a platform similar to what Alkaria has nowadays. It was clear, at this point, that Alkaria could not be unified, and all states declared their own government. Social structures were organized at this point depending on the political philosophy popular in a specific state.

920-945 - Rothsleim's government became the most successful of these states, because of their emphasis on controling resources in the south, and in developing an extremely strong military. Dorthstrong became a city of merchants and developed a strong economy, while Marzein became a center of culture and technology. It was during this time that engineers in Marzein developed the first repeating crossbow, but unlike the contemporary LSCB series weapons, this repeating crossbow was not handheld. It was a stationary machine which could be mobilized with the aid of 2 horses, and was literally fed with a belt of crossbow bolts. During this time, any relativally educated person would realize that tensions between the states were rising. However, these tensions were not enough for the states to engage in tensions similar to the Three States period of Alkarian history.

945-950 - Mysterious invaiders from the south invaid Alkarian colonies. These invaiders had relativally sophisticated technology: they had large swords, armour, bow-and-arrows, and even a few small siege machines like ballistas. They also happened to posses relativally strong magic, but nothing nearly to the extent of the strength of the Alkarian magic users 50 years before. There is much debate amongst scholars as to who these invaiders were, even their race is in speculation. Many believe they were apart of a nation, others believe they were random sophisticated barbarians. The existence of these invaider's magic is what scared the Alkarians into a unified front. This was an extremely brief war, since many of the veterans from the old civil war helped the generals formulate stratagies to attack these invaiders. The war was extremely successful: both in defeating the invaiders, and in unifying Alkaria. At the end of this war, leaders met in Dorthstrong to discuss a unification. The leaders agreed on Dorthstrong's aristocratic republic system of government.

The Third Reich: Volksreich (950-1100)

950-1100 - Alkaria experiences a major economic, social, military and cultural boom. During this time many important Alkarian philosophers who influenced modern day Alkarian society were active. Mathematicians and physicists began attempting to explain the world in scientific terms. Archetects develop such important buildings such as the Knesset, and the Chancellor's Palace, and various other beautiful buildings. Sabres, rapiers, and other light swords are perfected, as well as the crossbow. Larger, more complex ships are developed, and the Alkarian navy is established perminently. The rise of literacy and education amongst the general middle to upper class creates a more sophisticated society and as a result, writers, poets, novelist and dramatists also flurish under this time. These is also an emphasis on exploring the seas surrounding Alkaria. Although Alkaria flourished during this timeperiod, by the 1090s, the government was in brief turmoil due to a lack of general interest in the government. A Stralmoncht family from Rothsleim was able to gain control of the government within 10 years, due to their ability to bribe and play the political game well.

The Fourth Reich: Königsreich (1100-1174)

1100-1150 - The Stralmonchts are able to cease control over the government, the military, and even the universities without the use of military force. It was the corruption in these institutions that allowed them to gain control over Alkaria, but they were no real tyrant. Their level of control wasen't anywhere near the Magireich's, and was even a bit weaker than the Kierkereich. Their policies were rather slack, and they never really persecuted dissidents to a larger extent. Culture was still rather strong, especially considering the fact that the Stralmonchts enjoyed large palaces, extravagent fountains, museams, and plays written to glamourize them.

1150-1160 - The King dies in 1151, and his son, Lothan, takes control over the Reich. The new king, however, is perhaps the most vain and self-centered of the entire famly. He had often done stupid political moves out of pure self-centeredness, and was quick to anger the public. There were also two main extremist parties formed at this time: The Macht party, who believed in a strong military dictatorship and the need to revive Alkaria's collective superiority, and the Volk party, who wanted to return the government to what it was before the Stralmoncht family took over.

1160-1170 - Sabotages on the King's prized posessions by both of these organizes mentioned above causes the King to declare a state of martial law. The King eventually began to tyrannize his use of martial law, and began to wrongfully convict high ranking officials of plotting against him, of which many of them were executed.

1168 - A protest was organized by the Academic communities of Alkaria against the King's tyranny of power. This protest was a mere rally to the Knesset, and the intentions were non-violent. Shortly thereafter, the King ordered in the army to execute the protesters, but the generals of the particular regiments disagreed with the King's orders, and instead made sure the rabble didn't sabotage the Knesset. The King was furious at the army's decision, and sent in his royal guard to kill much of the protesters. This had some obvious reprocussions on the people of Alkaria-there was now much support for the underground movements. 1170-1173 - The Macht party and the Volk party sign a truce, and begin co-operativly working against the King. The new allianced-party was called the "AlkarWiderstand" or "Alkarian Resistence". During this time, there was a significent increase in those who joined the movement. However, many people joined the AlkarWiderstand just for the sake of rebelling against the king, and not for the sake of an political ideals.

The Tarsonian Revolution (1174-1183)

1174 - The revolution officially begins with the sabotage of one of the King's recently built palaces. At this point the King declares a war against all peoples not on the side of him. He later begins to investigate the military, and finds that approximately 60% of the military, including many of the officers and generals, were actually recently-joined members of the AlkarWiderstand. Shortly thereafter, these dissident militarymen officially join the the AlkarWiderstand, and composed the bulk of the the organization's military force.

1174-1179 - Most of the King's men surrender, and the King is finally captured and hanged by the stairs of the Knesset. The revolution against the Königsreich is over, but the question of government still remains.

1180 - A crises faced the establishment of government: was Alkaria to return to the tenants of the Volksreich, or were they to become a strong, bold, and militaristic civilizaiton? A majority of Alkarians in the AlkarWiderstand did not concern themselves with political ideologies, and merely wanted a return to peace. Only 20% of the main resistence groups were actually members of either of these two parties. There were frequent clashes between the two sides in mostly Dorthstrong and Marzein.

1181-1182 - Kaußen Tarsonisch, or as one would say in the Valikorlian tongue, "Cèvin Tarsonus", began to gives speechs to the general Alkarian public about national greatness, cultural greatness and arouse their interest in organizing a government. Tarsonus was a young officer in the Alkarian army, who had joined the Macht party and the Volks party from the very beginning of the two's foundations, and found himself unsatisfied with both parties. He formed his own political party, the "Alkarian Party", and within a year he had over 100 000 members! He was able to organize his own military faction, and was actually able to persaude many of the people from both the Macht party and the Volks party to join his party.. though many of them joined his party because they realized how successful it would be.

1183 - Tarsonus' party ceases official power in all three states with relative ease. Now, there are a few reasons for Tarsonus' easy take over of Alkaria: first, is that the vast majority of Alkarian people demanded some sort of a good government. Tarsonus was able to gain public opinion through his speeches and rallys, and was even backed by the aristocracy of Alkaria for his promise to maintain an aristocratic social structure as it had been during the Volksreich (which both the Volksparty and the Machtpartry failed to do). Another reason is because the general populous saw the other two parties as far too extreme and quixotic for Alkaria. Tarsonus also promised a better military, more money to be placed into cultural institutions, and better social qualities, and this seemed to suffice for the people of Alkaria. Tarsonus' only problem was facing the extremists of the two main parties, in which both parties did clash with Tarsonus' armies in the streets. Tarsonus was able to dissolve both of these factions and establish a strong new order in Alkaria.

The AlkarenRepublik (1184-1208)

1184 - The first parliamentry session takes place, and Tarsonus is voted as the Chancellor of Alkaria. Tarsonus, later this year, gives himself the title of Emperor, and declares a parlimentry-monarchy. Much of Alkaria was surprisingly accepting of this, but a few people in the Knesset were upset at this. Tarsonus also had the financial backing of the aristocracy, the support of the military, and the support of the general people.

1184-1200 - Alkaria is rebuilt after the revolution. There is a stronger sense of nationalism amoung the people, and therefore more devotion to the state. Grownig Alkarian apathy and dislike of religion gave Tarsonus the proper prerequisits for declaring Alkaria and atheistic state without fear of losing his support. The economy, the military, and Alkarian culture reaches a level of that during the Volksreich. Tarsonus hires a former Machtparty member, and officer in the Koningsreich army, Gustav von Lochschmidt, to revamp the military to contemporary standards. Tarsonus also places emphasis on the construction of a navy, building-up the colonies in the south, and creating a powerful economic complex to aid the proliferation of the military. The Academia of Alkaria is strongly encouraged to increase technological and scientific research, and the results were more efficient machinary that gave birth to the factory. Crossbows, swords, books, and other goods could now be produced in large quantities to arm the military. The construction of a grand navy also boosted the economy by providing more jobs to Alkarians in need of work

1200-1205 - Explorer Captain Wilhelm Georg von Nirenstein breaks the 1200 years of recorded Alkarian isolaton by discovering the continent of Valikorlia, and the other nations that surround it. Alkaria is seen with utter suspicion by foreigners, though some nations such as Empyria are rather interested by the Alkarian presence. Tarsonus tours the continent and brings presents to the leaders and begins to establish trade route between the nations. By the end of this 5 year period, Alkaria has reached recognizable status within the context of Valikorlian diplomacy. Nations generally contain mixed feelings towards Alkaria, however. Some saw Alkaria as a threat to their civilization, while others say Alkaria as a beneficial trade partner.

1206 - The first military engagement between a Valikorlian nation and Alkaria is between Alkaria and Athedian rogues. Although these were merely rogues, it became clear to Alkaria that the Athedians were not very accepting of Alkaria.

1207 - Alkaria creates the colony of Charter Port on mainland Valikorlia, to act as a protocal between mainland Alkaria and Valikorlia. This port actually became very controversial, especially between Alkarian and Valikorlian Kingdom relations.

The Four Years' War (1208-1212)

1208-1211 - Tarsonus begins to suffer from some sort of a major illness. He appoints former supreme judicator, Gotschdorf von Menusteinberg as Emperor of Alkaria. Menusteinberg's new policy was to spend more money on the economy than on the military. Many scholars, and even I myself, believe that this decision was largely based on the growing power of the aristocracy within Alkaria. As a result, military funds begin to lack, and the first major military conflict ends in a disaster. Alkaria's Charter Port is overrun by Valikorlian, Athedian, and Empyrian forces, and consequentally, were able to invaid mainland Alkaria by 1210.

1211 - Former Emperor Cèvin Tarsonus was decapitated by Athedian forces on the steps of the Knesset. A few days before this, however, he writes the piece of poetry that would eventually become Alkaria's national anthem, and writes his autobiography.. both of which were untouched by Athedian soldiers.

1212 - As the Valikorlian and Athedian armies left Alkaria, control was given to Empyria. Empyria, however, was unable to maintain power over angry Alkarians, and the Alkarian underground was able to regain control of mainland Alkaria.

The Neo-AlkarRepublik (1212-1215)

1212 - Alkaria is re-organized, and the government is reformed. Many senators blaim giving the Emperor more power than the Chancellor to be the main cause of the Four Years' War. Therefore, the Chancellor, and the parliament, are given far more power than before. Alkarian elections are held, and I had won the elections with an 80% victory.

1212-1214 - Alkarians were not only furious over the utter loss of the Four Years' war, but were eager to avenge their former fallen brothers and sisters. I then proceeded to rebuild the Alkarian military-industrial complex, which was not as difficult as one would imagen, since most of the actual buildings and structures were left undamaged during the war. The Alkarian navy itself was also, ironically, left unharmed, though most of the ships did require massive upgrades to wage good navy battles against foreign navies.

1214 - Alkaria regains Charter Port through military force from Empyria. Empyria's response was an empty threat.

Athedio-Alkarian war, 1214 - The King of Athedia, Sky Trefywynd, attempts to invaid Charter Port, but fails. Alkaria immidately counter invaids, pushing Athedians back inside of Athedia. A quick military pact is drafted between Alkaria and Valikorlia, where they both invaid Athedia: Valikorlia invaids by the seas, and Alkaria invaids through a magical "warpgate" created by Tarus Rubeus. The Alkarians capture several prisoners and execute many of them as a message to Athedia. Valikorlia then allows King Trefywynd to maintain his power over Athedia, but will be closely monitored. 1215 - I drafted a treaty between Alkaria and Athedia, but Trefywynd rejected it. He is later pressured by many nations, and his own people to quit, and he later steps down, leaving Athedia in chaos. The already growing Athedian underground attempts to cease control over the nation through various coups directed at scattard organizations. I therefore was bent on securing a good, strong pro-Alkarian leader within Athedia, and declared that the former high wizard Giemer D'Lorea will become the ruler of Athedia. We establish a peace treaty between our two nations, but there is a growing resistence between the people of Athedia and Giemer's government. Therefore, the Athedian resistance parties merge and engage in minor skirmishes with governmental troops. Giemer and I, however, were able to crush the Athedian rebels, and persaude the Athedians that Alkaria geniunly wanted peace with the Athedians. This war prooved the revivification of Alkarian power to the nations of Valikorlia. - King Daes of Lerhyn feels that his nation would be safer in Alkarian hands than in his own, and therefore gives Alkaria soverign control over Lerhyn. I later felt, however, that it was not within Alkaria's best interest to have soverign control over Lerhyn, since there was a lot of unneccisary controversy over King Daes' decision. - An alliance known as the "Entente" forms between Alkaria, Athedia, Valikorlia and Empyria. This seemed to have angered non-entente nations, such as Dalmar and Taron. These two nations eventually form an alliance and begin to fund the Lerhynian underground, in an attempt to overthrow the pro-Entente regime. Tensions were evidentally extremely high. The War of 1216 - As skirmishes in Lerhyn became increasingly more frequent and deadlier, Dalmar and Taron had brought in military forces to aid the Lerhynian underground. I had immidiately dispatched Alkarian troops to aid the government forces of Lerhyn. The other Entente members followed, and were able to decimate the Dalmar and Taron forces, who were pushed back into their homeland. Nation leaders later met in Athedia to discuss a treaty that would end this conflict. Eventually, negotiations would dissolve the Entente and conseqentally, Alkaria's power. Tensions between Alkaria and the other nations grew, largly over the disputed territory of Charter Port. The negotations failed to bring any treaty, and former Entente forces leave Taron and Dalmar.

1215-1216 - I decided to hold an election, because I was rather weary and tired of being a Chancellor. Jacob Jaaksen, a former Alkarian officer, became the Chancellor of Alkaria. Much his brief leadership was a disaster largely because of the mistakes that were made earlier that year. Alkarian presence, including both military and economic presence, leaves the continent of Valikorlia, and flees back to Alkaria. Alkaria re-enters a state of isolation and a new economic depression.

The Alkarian Depression (1216-1222)

1216-1222 - Practically ever aspect of Alkarian life is affected by the depression: many large businesses were forced to bankruptcy, and the federal government lost its power. The three main Alkarian states create their own local government, and declare the AlkarRepublik dead. Ironically, Emperor Menusteinberg also dies, but of an illness. Riots occur every few months within all of the states. The main problem with these three states is that their socio-economic systems were dependent on the state being unified, since not all states had the same resources, and some states had more of an industry and less of another. The states, however, eventually learned to manage their economies within the states themselves, and brought themselves out of this economic depression. The economeis, however, was not nearly as powerful as they once were.

1220-1222 - Various wealthy aristocratic families attempt to influence their state governments into strongly considering a new federalist government. In 1222, several important leaders of the various states, other influential people and I agree on a reunification of Alkaria, which was very successful in it's implimentation. The new government was essentially the same thing as the AlkarRepublik that Tarsonus created, however, a monarchy did not exist. Executive power was purely the right of the Knesset.

1222 - The Federated Dominions of Alkaria is declared.