Hyrettian period of Empherias: Difference between revisions
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=== 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|'''Council of the Five''']] the following day which set out long term kingdom stability. Later that year, he drafted and instituted the '''[[1931 Bill of Unity
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 of Empherias|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 currency system|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|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).
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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
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.
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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.
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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.
Eghloris Lydekker-Hyrette died in 2044 and this is often contributed as the end of the Hyrettian period, and beginning of the [[Alamekean period of Empherias|Alamekean period]].▼
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. This was to the dismay of the opposition who felt that Gascoyne had placed the country in exactly the situation she was now trying to reverse.
By 2031, it was clear that the economic policies put forth by Gascoyne was doing little to lower the deficit and debt ever increased. The royalist core group promised that under a royalist government, measures would be put in place to separate her majesty's estate from the country's finances to protect it from economic damages before decreasing public spending immediately to focus on debt removal. However, some of the royalist base thought that maybe the Koresan war could've massively changed with a double down and mass conscription to plunder Koresan towns for cash and reparations. This damaged the royalist reparation to many council members who wanted to avoid another war for some time.
Thus, amid a period of personal dislike towards Gascoyne, but also a moment where the royalists were disliked due to a vocal minority, Gascoyne called an election on 3 May 2032. However, the Foreign Minister Lewis Sword would run for leadership against royalist Lord General Mikael Pierce. The results saw 10 abstentions but the Royalists remaining in power with 241 to 234 votes - a slim margin. Lewis Sword was thus inducted as the 14th Prime Minister. Wanting to gain quick support following this instatement, he recalled the popular ambassador Lord Henry Bell to become his Minister of Foreign Affairs.
After bouts of illness, Lewis Sword resigned as the Prime Minister on 17 July 2034 - achieving little in office besides a slim reduction in the deficit. Replacing him was Lord Spencer Cunningham-Wells. He was convinced to further the plans under Gascoyne and Sword to reduce the deficit but was constantly howled down in the council for not proving himself in an election. He was also prone to gaffes and accidentally insulted the King of Norsair in a state visit in early 2035. Following the threat of war by the 'mad prince' of Norsair, Cunningham-Wells had no choice but to raise 13,000 troops from local nobles to defend key local cities, fearing a surprise attack. By the end of his reign in 2035, the debt was worse than it had been ten years prior. Following much rumblings within both major parties, the Rijkdottir officially dissolved the council's leadership and called for a new election. The new royalist candidate, Henry Alamekas, would run.
==== The Cunningham-Wells War ====
The election on 25 May 2035 saw the total number of members go from 485 to 489. Of these, just 5 abstained while 245 voted for the Royalists, and 239 voting Rhetorist. It was again a slim margin but saw Lord Alamekas become the 15th Prime Minister. He was somewhat convinced by the arguments of many minority members that war could bring prosperity through plunder and that the insult to the government saw a great excuse made for war with Norsair. He also believed the cost put into raising the army should not be abandoned and to put on a show of force of her majesty's country and government. Therefore just a month later, Henry Alamekas declared war on Norsair.
Alamekas wanted to keep political enemies like Mikael Pierce out of the war as he could try to pull mutinies. He also wanted security that other neighbouring nations such as Koresa would not attack. As General Hearns had died the previous year, he hired the Lady General Emmelie Pearl, the Lord General Peter Wennington, and the Lord General Tyrer Wyndheim. On top of the 13,000 troops raised by his predecessor, he would raise another 24,000 troops. Pearl stationed 8,000 at the gate of the River Nyers, the main route into the nation of Norsair. Wennington would lead 12,000 troops into the closest city in Norsair to plunder it's resources, while Wyndheim would move past the town to another settlement down the river banks to meet any Norsair army. The strategy of Wyndheim first to battle, and Wennington second to plunder, become official by Alamekas.
By the time the generals reached the towns, winter was over and the Norsair army of 6,000 near the border tried to engage Wyndheim. They believed the Empheri would have a relatively small force to have travelled through winter but they were wrong. Thus ensued the Battle of Garlar - a Wyndheim victory taking few casualties. Many of the Norsair army mutinied, fled, or were injured and half of their army was lost to casualties. The 3,000 remaining Norsair soldiers retreated while Wyndheim and Wennington pushed on and plundered more. Pearl's army would do runs back and forth of the earnt materials and minerals back to safety to avoid themselves being plundered while on enemy soil. Several more battles ensued throughout the rest of 2035 and 2036 such as the Battle of Wyndheim's Hour, the Battle of Peustein, the Battle of Howertowall, the Battle of Nilent, and the Battle of Intencloeur. All of these were Empheri victories and saw them close in further and further to the Norsair capital.
The war was cut short however when on 8 September 2036, the Rijkdottir Charlotte I died of a heart attack in her palace at the age of 71. Her heir, the Prins Ristie<ref>His full name was Richard-Stewart Igor John Hyrette, but often went by Ristie or the Prins Ristie.</ref>, became Rijkse Ristie I. Alamekas wished to prepare for his coronation and wanted to tie off the war before hand and not put the king in much stress. Thus, Alamekas and his Foreign Minister Henry Campbell met in Norsair to discuss peace terms. They signed the Hulgerie Accords to end the war on 11 October 2036. This treaty allowed Empherias to keep all the riches and treasures they had plundered, secure more in the terms of reparations, and saw some bordering towns ceded to Empherias. Following the Koresan loss, this victory was huge and saw great accolades for the Prime Minister and his generals. In the council, Alamekas mockingly congratulated Cunningham-Wells on the best thing the Rhetorists have ever accomplished - a war won by the Royalists.
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== References ==
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