Hyrettian period of Empherias

The Hyrettian period was the era of Empherias history between 1931 and 2044.

Rule of Louis III
The period began with the coronation of Rijkse Louis III on 1 February 1931. He set forth an agenda to the Council of the Five the following day which set out long term kingdom stability. Later that year, he drafted and instituted the Bill of Unity with seventeen county nobles where they swore loyalty to both the Rijkse, his heirs and the nation as a whole. Two nobles outside of the council: Lord Eduardine Bykat and Lord Diodiér Hines were to create a written codified constitution to detail the laws of the nation. Once the document was complete, the king was unhappy with their work and so both were executed on Damnation Day, 4 March 1932. He then worked in close partnership with a member of his council, foreign policy expert Lord Gauvin of Wilsby, to formulate a new more conservative and reactionary constitution which was implemented into common law on 1 May 1934. Following the deaths of Lord Bykat and Lord Hines, their successors in the region were unhappy with the tyrannical rule of the new king and were pressed to remove him from power. Lord Ellison Bykat, Lord Mikael Hines and Lord Pritchett-Simone of Kampret formed the Anti-Tyrannical League and raised individuals armies of 2000, 1000 and 450 militia respectively. On 12 November 1932, they marched into the capital, Esthullen, where they confronted 200 expertly trained Royal Guards in the northern district instigating the Battle of Gateshullen-Aude. The result was a victory for the government as they only had 77 casualties, with just 12 dying compared to the rebels who suffered some 1527 casualties and a large 805 deaths. Lord Bykat was captured during the battle and executed the following year on 1 February 1933. Lord Hines and Lord Kampret managed to flee to neighbouring Kingdom of Norsair. The three lord's lands were seized by the government who held it as crown land until 1940 when it was redistributed to neighbouring dukes and lords.

The constitution was initially planned to allow for larger freedoms which some thought would raise the happiness of many in the kingdoms and therefore be less likely to rebel. However, the second constitution written by the king himself aimed to be more conservative and repressive in nature. They also wanted a more aggressive foreign policy and expansion of Empherias culture. First, a key point of the constitution would clear up succession laws to allow for both genders to have equal rights to succession to be followed in birth order and it also allowed for the Rijkse to override the succession if a superior heir is founded. Another law would see the creation of city authorities which would give more powers to local governments for large cities (although the governments would be formed by pro-monarchist and conservative leaders). New taxes were levied while others removed to ensure less tax paid by upper class nobles. This caused some unrest, but there was no major protests.

Palak-Empherias War of 1940
In March 1939, Rijkse Louis III paid a visit to a large area bordering Palakkinen and appeared insulting to the majority Palak audience. He left the area but many protests erupted over the attitude of the regional government and the treatment of Palaks. The royal guards were sent in to quell the protests, but ultimately found links that the Palakkinen government were supplying the rebels with aid. Rijkse Louis III was furious and ordered an immediate invasion into Palakkinen, commencing the Palak-Empherias War of 1940 which lasted until 1943. This war would ultimately seen the king's downfall as he died during the Battle of Grapeshot North on 8 June 1943. His son, Pippin, would be coronated as Rijkse Pippin I at age 22 in a quick turnaround of 31 August 1943. Under the advice of Lord Waldegrave, Pippin signed a white peace with Palakkinen and attended the Waldegrave Accords (1943) to discuss Palakkinen's abstention from Empherias politics and to settle many border disputes. These accords fell through but set the precedent of future diplomatic conventions.

Rule of Pippin I
Pippin was eager not to remain in Esthullen and sit on constant bureaucracy. He feared that the Accords that fell through would ultimately lead to a second war with Palakkinen and so instructed Lord Hasse of Rommes to create a professional country army and appointed him Minister of War in 1945. As the senior most Minister, many consider him to be the first Prime Minister of Empherias. He created a cabinet of war planners and began formulating War Plan PK. Pippin also wanted to reform the system of currency in Empherias and introduced the niket-kalata-foragli system of currency. He also formed the foundations that would eventually become the Bank of Empherias. Pippin was keen to create a larger government than before and so created the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs to represent the nation abroad and appoint diplomats and ambassadors. In 1949, the Rijkse appointed Lord James Mayweather to this post to help improving relations with neighbouring countries. Mayweather secured an alliance with Norsair in 1953, set up the Vreimer Accords (1955) which settled disputes with Ahitereira, and secured that Koresa would not block off river access to the oceans in the Wilsby Accords (1956).

Despite the successes made by Pippin, Mayweather and Rommes, there were numerous conflicts during Pippin's resign. Small border conflicts between the Norsair Army and Empherias Royal Guards take place in 1960 and 1962. This was followed by the War of the Taverns (1963-1965) between Empherias and Norsair. The war ended in no major changes besides war reparations being made to Empherias and a prestige boost following their great victory at the Battle of the Seven Swords. Pippin I died of a heart attack in 1968 at the age of 47 and his successor was his eldest son, Louis who was coronated on 1 March 1969 as Rijkse Louis IV (aged 29).

Rule of Louis IV and James I
Louis IV was more disinterested with politics than his father and so delegated more powers to Lord Mayweather in the High Powers Act 1969. This would effectively see Mayweather become the head of the Council of the Five and would institute some reforms such as higher pay for government officials, an increase in general taxation, and an increase to the number of the council from five to eight. Following a brief argument with Mayweather however in early 1970, Louis IV became sick of the "arrogant fool running the country" and so abdicated in favour of his brother, coronated Rijkse James I.

James was just 28 years old and had great ideas for change. He moved quickly to shut down any of Mayweather's extra powers and took back the previously enacted increases to power. He did however keep the increased membership of the council and personally increased it further to ten members, appointing his sister Elisabeth as the first woman and his best friend Igor Kastova as the last two lords. However, before he could change much about the nation, he died in October 1972 of cholera. Neither Louis or James had any children, leaving the throne to their sister, who was coronated as Rijkdottir Elisabeth I at age 25.

Rule of Elisabeth I
Elisabeth's rule oversaw the evolution of the council into the Council of the Elite. This would be made up of an unspecified amount of powerful lords and nobles and experts in certain fields. The first iteration of which, opened in 1973, would have 226 members from all over the country and included all former members of the old council - excluding Mayweather. Despite opening in 1973, the first full session only took place in 1976 with subsequent sessions in 1980, 1985 and 1991 which saw dwindling membership and attendance. Mayweather, upset over his exclusion from the new council, wanted to lead an opposition group but died of a sudden brain aneurism in January 1974. His son, known as Kildare Mayweather the Successor, was then appointed during the session in 1976 as a worthy successor to Mayweather's estate. Henry Cecil, an expert in finances, was awarded the title of Leader of the Elite Council and many argue this, alongside the aforementioned Lord Hasse of Rommes, are reasonable de-facto Prime Ministers during the age.

Elisabeth's reign also oversaw three major conflicts. The First Weskynn War began in 1979 following border disputes and led to no major military battles besides the Siege of Korfberg. The war was concluded in 1981 and saw the Prince of Weskynn, Albert Korensky, agree to marry Elisabeth's younger sister Emmelie. The second conflict, the Palak-Empherias War of 1985, lasted until 1992 and saw over ten thousand casualties for both sides. A major offensive was conducted by Elisabeth's Minister of War, Lord Massey of Proynest, near the Palak border which captured key border towns. During a second offensive inwards in 1986, the Empherian troops were halted in their advance at the Battle of Fellrock where a large amount of casualties were inflicted on both sides. Both sides mostly camped in to discuss peace negotiations after the bloody battle in 1987 and 1988. The lack of settlement led to the Third Offensive and the Second Battle of Fellrock in 1989, which saw further casualties but a success by the Palaks to repel an attack. A final major offensive took place for Empherias to try and retake lost lands and make a last ditched effort to rush to the Palak capital in late 1991. The offensive failed and saw the devastating Battle of Triple Fields where both armies' supply lines were cut due to harsh weather and attempts at encirclements and many died of starvation or guerrilla tactics.

Hearing news of the Empherias failures and with the death of Princess Emmelie of Empherias, the former Prince, now King of Weskynn Albert Korensky saw it fit to invade Empherias from the west - beginning the Second Weskynn War. The war saw just one military encounter with few royal guards at the Battle of Demswick which saw a stalemate with many troops not having much morale. Furthermore, the announcement of a peace deal and end to the war with Palakkinen in March 1992 allowed greater attention to be put on Weskynn. Prince Albert henceforth declared his interest in a peace deal - a white peace - in July 1992. Despite these conflicts, and a few military and domestic reforms, Elisabeth achieved little and died of smallpox in 1994 with no children.

Rule of Charlotte I
The successor to Elisabeth was unclear. All children of the line had died out, with the last of the siblings Emmelie dying before her mother. Their dead uncle, Prins Edward, did have two surviving children who were next in line: Eghloris and Marie. Eghloris, despite having the best qualifications of the two, declined the role due to ill health eventually dying in 1997. This left Marie who was disinterested and therefore gave the role to her eldest daughter Charlotte, crowning her Rijkdottir in November 1994, aged 29.

Because of her young age, she didn't want the royal family trying to influence her and so she delegated more power to the Council of the Elite where she had many friends. She officially established the position of Prime Minister in September 1995 to be elected within the Council to lead and directly advise the monarch. However, Charlotte was promoting and campaigning for her good friend Lord Montgomery of Aalsmeer, who was eventually elected in late September to the position with 217 votes in favour, and 30 votes against his appointment. This newfound ability pleased the council as it allowed them to exercise more authority, and pleased the monarch as she could spend less time working and travelling. Lord Oswald Ignesse, who had been the de-facto Prime Minister prior to this, was appointed as Lord Aalsmeer's Deputy Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister and the Rijkdottir celebrated the passing into the 21st century with huge celebrations across the country. Meanwhile in Weskynn, the New Millenia Revolts took place seeing the current king deposed and his son, an eleven year boy, placed in charge. The Minister of War Lord Fraser Saunders, 3rd Viscount of Mertens believed it was a great time to invade Weskynn seeing national chaos - beginning the Millennium War. It saw 17,000 Empheri troops move into eastern Weskynn towns although many lacked the moral necessary and many Weskynn soldiers fought hard despite the internal divisions. Thus, after just 8 weeks of warfare, the Minister of War was dismissed and the war closed.

Lord Aalsmeer was responsible for a lot of reform concerning the government. He would transfer the Council of the Elite's core membership by appointing a further 196 members to reach a total of 443. He gave more power to the executive (i.e government positions) and set precedents on the powers the legislature had. One such implementation was the Code of Conduct for the council which gave a punishment for misleading the house or other such offences such as discourtesy or dismissal from government. One such would be Lord Saunders' dismissal from government but retaining his seat in the Council. Due to the creation of a clear government within the council, an opposition was created to oppose and scrutinise the government's ideas. Furthermore, the council split ideologically into different groups of political parties. the Prime Minister founded and lead the 'The Royalist Institution on behalf of Her Majesty's Wishes', informally known as the Royalists, in May 2005. This party, the government, was composed of a grand total of 314 seats within the council. Prominent member of the council, Lady Viktoria Gascoyne, in response formed and lead the 'Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition to the rhetoric of the Royalist Institution', informally known as the Rhetorists, in November 2005. This party was composed of just 96 council members. 33 members sat crossbench on neither side of the debate officially.

The Council was dissolved temporarily in June 2007 for recess over the winter as usual, but did not return in September due to an illness of the Prime Minister. Lady Viktoria Gascoyne advocated to the Rijkdottir to open the council without Lord Aalsmeer's approval but this did not happen. The Council reopened in January 2009 following the Prime Minister's long recovery but he seemed less passionate than prior. In March 2009, he announced his resignation due to throat cancer. This opened the first real challenger to the Prime Minister's position. The precedent was unclear on who would succeed him so the Leader of the Opposition, Lady Viktoria Gascoyne, was designated as the Prime Minister immediately. She formed the first Rhetorist government soon after. Many royalists challenged her but had yet to select a new leader. A large leadership ballot opened in September 2009 with over 40 members. Their new leader was selected officially on 3 April 2010 as Lord Beaumont Ives.

Prime Minister Gascoyne did not resign upon the selection of a new leader of the Royalists. In response, Lord Ives issued a motion of no confidence in Her Majesty's government. This would seeff a council-wide vote to reaffirm the government. On the motion of confidence in the government, there were 16 abstentions, 260 ayes, and 167 noes. This government defeat saw Gascoyne issue her resignation to the Rijkdottir and saw Lord Beaumont Ives form a new Royalist government. Lord Ives' main legacy is his strengthening of precedent and laws to do with the conduct of the council, the moving of the council to a permanent building, and the 2012 Peasant Revolts. Ultimately he died on 5 October 2013. His reign saw 3 hereditary council lines die out, leaving just 440 members of the council. As the leadership election for a new Royalist leader heated up again in 2014, the Lady Gascoyne returned as Prime Minister temporarily She would remain, overseeing a general hike in taxation for the poor and some reform to the council, until the Royalist chose their new leader, Lord Alistair of Wilsworth, on 24 December 2014. This time, Gascoyne promptly resigned and gave the position to Lord Wilsworth.

Lord Wilsworth established the Councillary elections to reaffirm a Prime Minister to take place every three years with all council members voting for a political party. The first of these elections would take place on 1 May 2017, one year early, on request of the Prime Minister. Lady Gascoyne represented the Rhetorists and the opposition. During the 2017 elections, there were 25 abstentions, 202 for the Rhetorists, and 213 for the Royalists - Lord Wilsworth was re-elected on a rocky basis, not even a majority. The elections taking place on 1 May 2020 would see just 3 abstentions, 218 votes for the Rhetorists, and 219 votes for the Royalists. This spelled huge trouble for Wilsworth who decided to gain popular support by starting a war. He marched 20,000 soldiers into the Tbekien territory in the Tbekien Conquest. Wilsworth would capture their capture city and murder their king. This was not seen as exactly the most popular thing as plenty of Empheri soldiers died during it's occupation. The 2021 Peasant Revolts thus occurred. During an uprising from the Tbeks, Lord Wilsworth was fatally wounded and would die on 1 December 2021.

Lady Gascoyne was re-appointed as Prime Minister by the Rijkdottir during this time and would lead the country into the 2022 elections. In the mean time, the Royalists quickly scrambled and selected candidate Lord Morrissey Alamekas just a day before voting began. During her time as acting minister, Gascoyne did not do anything as to not disrupt the mandate of the people. With an experienced face at the helm, Lady Gascoyne, versus newcomer and literal unknown face of one day Alamekas, it was clear who would win. With just one abstention, 104 voted for the Royalists while the remaining 335 voted in favour of the Rhetorists and Lady Gascoyne. She would controversially not end Tbekien occupation, but would add a member to the government from Tbek ancestry to manage the territory separately from the rest of Empherias. She would issue state pensions to any Empheri soldiers who fought in the war with Tbekien, as well as introducing a scheme available for top elite officers and planners, and those soldiers who achieved medals of honour from any war.

Lady Gascoyne continued pretty much with the status quo nationally. She renamed her party to the simple Rhetorist Party of Values, going by RPV or the Rhetorists. She would introduce 59 new members to the council, while 14 lines died out and thus it's membership hit 485 people. During the budget reading on 28 April 2024, the Rhetorists introduced a tariff on importing a rare material from Koresa due to a rising cost in government spending and thus the budget was unpopular with many council members. The budget went to vote on 30 April 2024 and received 202 ayes and 283 noes - a devastating result. Therefore, Gascoyne dissolved the council on 5 May in order for new elections to take place. Following Alamekas' blunder, he resigned his leadership in 2023 leading to newcomer Lord Horatio Lowe to lead the Royalists into the 2024 election. The Royalists barely won, getting 224 votes against 215, with 46 abstentions. With this victory, though not a flat out majority, the veteran PM then decided to go to Koresa directly to negotiate with their government. However, he would become ill on 1 September, just weeks before the delegation was set to go and therefore he selected fellow Royalist MCE Lord Wilfred Bartholomew, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to lead the delegation instead. Meanwhile, whilst at home, the Deputy Prime Minister Lord Avery Montague would take over the duties of the office of Prime Minister for three months whilst Lord Lowe recovered. At the end of the year, Lowe would make an address to the council on his plans for the year 2025 where he did not commit to lowering the budget deficit. The following year, Rijkdottir Charlotte began building a large palace for her family, known as the Lottie Chateau, which would cost an exorbitant amount of money the nation did not have.

The delegation to Koresa returned on 1 February 2025 having signed the Bartholomew Accords which committed Empherias to not introduce any tariffs on Koresan goods for 20 years. Lady Gascoyne opposed this heavily in the council and protested that the house did not have a vote on the matter. Lowe said that he didn't care and that the government had total say on foreign matters. Meanwhile, Horatio Lowe went on various trips to Wynnoa to inspect the growing settlements there. He famously nitpicked the building proposals in the inner-heart of the city to a large extent, often over ruling local barons and construction experts on what should be constructed. Lord Lowe once again got very sick in early 2026, but recovered after a few weeks, with Lord Montague filling in for him yet again. 2026 saw rising tensions with the Kingdom of Vreitrijk to the northwest and therefore the government ordered the Minister of War Lord Kersley Mulligan to raise 20,000 troops and put them in the area. However, Lord Lowe once again had a string of bad illnesses towards the end of the year. He was convinced that he could recover, and so did his cabinet after his many illnesses of the past, but ultimately died on 7 October 2026.

Lady Gascoyne once again took this opportunity to become Prime Minister, as appointed by Rijkdottir Charlotte I. She promised to hold an election the following year while convincing the council that she could deal with the ever increasing budget deficit and tackle the national debt. She also would begin the process of calming relations with Vreitrijk by sending her newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lewis Sword, to the nation with a delegation. The election in 2027 took place on 5 May and would see the Rhetorists win, with 242 voting for her government, and 227 against - and 16 abstentions. By June 2027, the delegation with Sword had returned with good news of greater relations. The key and famous Ambassador, Lord Henry Bell, was moved to Vreitrijk with a new embassy from Koresa. Gascoyne was committed to her tariff agenda to solve the deficit crisis and so repealed the Bartholomew Accords, imposing new tariffs on Koresa.

The blatant disregard of diplomatic procedure from Empherias saw the Koresans angry, with less business and trade possible now and their key line of communication in the ambassador being moved away. Koresa declared war on Empherias on 29 July 2027, invoking the Tariff War. Luckily, Gascoyne kept the 20,000 troops near Vreitrijk and moved them quickly to the Koresan border. By September, both sides have amassed soldier near the town of Byst in Empherias. The town was help by the Empheri troops, but the Lord General Mikael Pierce pulled out 6,000 troops to decide neighbouring town Tyrs across the river Tyrs. He left Lord General Rhys Hearns to defend the Byst town against 30,000 Koresan troops - leading to an Empheri defeat in the Battle of Byst. Quickly, Hearns built bridges across the river to meet Pierce at Tyrs and successfully did so, seeing Koresa capture Byst. With just 17,500 troops in Tyrs against a 29,000 strong Koresan army, they weren't looking great for chances. Because of the distance between the town and the river, the army was split with Pierce taking 10,000 troops at Tyrs, and Hearns defending with 7,500 at the river. However, the 29,000 strong Koresan army kept just 4,000 troops in Byst while moving the remaining 25 thousand north. This army, led by the Koresan General, moved south ambushing Tyrs directly.

General Hearns wanted to cross the river with his 7.5k to attack the 4k left at Byst, but was unaware of the numbers and was sensing that the Koresans could be reinforcing the town any day now or had hidden units luring them into a trap. He also felt attacking over the river would lead to more Empheri casualties. He was unaware of any attack on Tyrs. The 25k Koresan troops attacked Tyrs, easily defeating the 10k Empheri troops. Tyrs was also captured. Now, with a pincer attack, Hearns' army was completely captured with General Hearns being hung for treason in the Koresan capital weeks later. The remaining troops, low in number at 7,000 led by Pierce moved to the River Tweight and neighbouring towns while they appealed for peace. As such, seeing the significant casualties and death of her general, Lady Gascoyne and her Foreign Minister Lewis Sword would meet with Koresa on 7 March 2028 to sign the Treaty of Querença. This treaty would cede the town of Byst and the land up until the River Tyrs to Koresa. The government of Empherias would also promise not to impose any tariffs on the country without meeting the Koresan government first.

Lady Gascoyne would return the council on 1 June being ridiculed by the Royalists claiming that she almost threatened the throne of her majesty, and the status of the nation by igniting this pointless war. She would promise the council that she would appeal to the Koresan government for the returns on land for money and would show off the '2028 Economic Plan' to massively decrease the deficit and get the debt down. Her plan included a temporary increase to the tax of salt during the winter when the temperatures are much cooler. This would begin immediately on 19 June and would end on the 22 September. Furthermore, the kingdom would begin to grow cash crops in larger amounts to sell to neighbouring nations and would allow for greater caloric yields and leaving other food types like fish available to sell in masses to countries like Kaaradynn who have a lot less waterway connections.

Many council members decided to go with the Prime Minister on this proposal to give her one last chance at proving her worthiness following her blunder in foreign relations. However, some of the vocal minority spoke out and demanded another election. The Royalists selected former Lord General Mikael Pierce as their leader who resented Gascoyne for her loss in the war - although many blamed Pierce for his tactics of war. After a year and a half of posturing, the Prime Minister finally called for an election to take place on 15 November 2029. This election saw the Rhetorist's support increase to 283 against 198 royalists - with just 4 abstentions. Therefore, Gascoyne carried on with her efforts of economic recovery.

Henry Alamekas appointed as Deputy Prime Minister
Due to the ill health of the Prime Minister, primarily his memory forgetness and lack of ability to remove him from power, Henry Alamekas was appointed as a deputy to basically do the job for him. He was officially appointed by vote of the Council of the Elite in 2027. Alamekas had previously been appointed a knighthood in 2020 and was a good friend of both the Rijkdottir and Prime Minister as a member of his father's estate. He often preferred to go by his full family name rather than names of the land he owned.

Eghloris Lydekker-Hyrette died in 2044 and this is often contributed as the end of the Hyrettian period, and beginning of the Alamekean period.