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Major Crimson Graphics and Test Thread

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

1929-1938 Ramsay MacDonald: (Labour minority, Later National Majority, National Labour )
1929 Labour - 287 def Stanley Baldwin (Conservative - 260), David Lloyd George (Liberal - 59)
1931 National - 554: 470 Con -13 NatLab-35 NatLib- 32 Lib
def Arthur Henderson (Labour- 52)
1935 National - 399: 306 Con -34 NatLab-26 NatLib def Clement Attlee (Popular Front - 198: 170 Lab, 22 Lib, 6 IndLab)

1938-1940 Sir Samuel Hoare: (National Majority, Conservative)

1940-1949 Clement Attlee: (Popular Front Majority, Labour)
1940 Popular Front - 362: 299 Lab-13 IndLab-35 ComW def Sir Samuel Hoare (National Alliance - 198: 170 Lab, 6 IndLab)
1945 Popular Front - 411: 308 Lab-29 IndLab-40 ComW-12 Rad def Sir Samuel Hoare (National Alliance - 198: 170 Lab, 22 Lib, 6 IndLab)


Key:

National Alliance:

Britain's favourite pragmatists. A broadly centre-right affair defined by very little other than the status quo and, increasingly, a moderate form of isolationism. United first by the Great Depression, the NA stuck together as the main opposition to intervention in the German Civil War and later start to form an almost cohesive ideology centered around moderation, technology, social conservatism and centralization. Nowadays seen as reliable and steady hands on the wheel but a little dusty and, ironically, weak on foreign policy. The Tories and later unionists have been leaders almost by default but, when the Alliance was made official in 1950 and let the combined membership (with influence from MPs of course) elect a leader from any of the various parties. Most recently, Ed Davey of the National Liberals.

Conservative - The good (?) old Tories, Britain's main right of centre party. Puts increasing emphasis on the "centre" but until the disasterous 1971 election, following their refusal to enter the Second World War, most old Tory MPs are removed from Parliament or defect to the catch all, "National" party. The remainder form the Unionists in an attempt to continue the Tory legacy. It is largely a failure.
National Labour
National Liberal
Moderate
National
Unionist


Popular Front:

Labour
Independent Labour
Common Wealth

Women's Equality
Ecology
Radical


Liberal League:

Liberal
Home Rule
Progressive
 
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English

Pale was the wounded knight that bore the rowan shield
Loud and cruel were the raven's cries that feasted on the field

Saying "Beck water, cold and clear, will never clean your wound
There's none but the maid of the winding mere can make thee hale and soond"

"So course well, my brindled hounds, and fetch me the mountain hare
Who's coat is as grey as the west water, or as white as the lily fair"

Who said, "Green moss and heather bands will never staunch the flood
There's none but the Witch of the West-Mer-Lands can save thy dear life's blood

So turn, turn your stallion's head, 'til his red mane flies in the wind
And the rider of the moon goes by and the bright star falls behind"

And clear was the paley moon when his shadow passed him by
Below the hills were the brightest stars when he heard the owlet cry

Saying, "Why do you ride this way, and wherefore came you here?"
"I seek the Witch of the West-Mer-Lands that dwells by the winding mere"

"Then fly free your good grey hawk, to gather the goldenrod
And face your horse into the clouds above yon gay green wood

And it's weary by the Ullswater and the misty brake fern way
'Til through't the cleft in the Kirkstane Pass, the winding water lay"

He said, "Lie down, my brindled hound, and rest ye, my good grey hawk
And thee, my steed, may graze thy fill, for I must dismount and walk

But come when you hear my horn and answer swift the call
For I fear ere the sun will rise this morn ye will serve me best of all"

And it's down to the water's brim, he's borne the rowan shield
And the goldenrod he has cast in to see what the lake might yield

And wet rose she from the lake, and fast and fleet went she
One half the form of a maiden fair with a jet black mare's body

And loud, long and shrill he blew, 'til his steed was by his side
High overhead the grey hawk flew and swiftly did he ride

Saying, "Course well, my brindled hound, and fetch me the jet black mare
Stoop and strike, my good grey hawk, and bring me the maiden fair"

She said, "Pray, sheathe thy silvery sword, lay down thy rowan shield
For I see by the briney blood that flows, you've been wounded in the field"

And she stood in a gown of the velvet blue, bound round with a silver chain
And she's kissed his pale lips once and twice and three times, round again

And she's bound his wounde with the goldenrod, full fast in her arms he lay
And he has risen hale and soond with the sun high in the day

And she said, "Ride with your brindled hound at heel, and your good grey hawk in hand
There's none can harm the knight who's lain with the Witch of the West-Mer-Lands"



Aenglisk

Blat wa þe wunisk corl þæt bearan þe cwic-beám skilde,
Hulde og grimm wa þe hræfn's skut se eted i þe felde,

Seian "Felv wætn, keald og skir, wyllan ne vask ger wund,
þaer i ne but þe wif af þe winding mere cunn hǣlan þee og sun"

"Renne fæst, myn stedefæst hund, und hente me þe dun-hara"
Mid a cotte af grey as the west water, or as white as the lily fair"

Who said, "Green moss and heather bands will never staunch the flood
There's none but the Witch of the West-Mer-Lands can save thy dear life's blood

So turn, turn your stallion's head, 'til his red mane flies in the wind
And the rider of the moon goes by and the bright star falls behind"

And clear was the paley moon when his shadow passed him by
Below the hills were the brightest stars when he heard the owlet cry

Saying, "Why do you ride this way, and wherefore came you here?"
"I seek the Witch of the West-Mer-Lands that dwells by the winding mere"

"Then fly free your good grey hawk, to gather the goldenrod
And face your horse into the clouds above yon gay green wood

And it's weary by the Ullswater and the misty brake fern way
'Til through't the cleft in the Kirkstane Pass, the winding water lay"

He said, "Lie down, my brindled hound, and rest ye, my good grey hawk
And thee, my steed, may graze thy fill, for I must dismount and walk

But come when you hear my horn and answer swift the call
For I fear ere the sun will rise this morn ye will serve me best of all"

And it's down to the water's brim, he's borne the rowan shield
And the goldenrod he has cast in to see what the lake might yield

And wet rose she from the lake, and fast and fleet went she
One half the form of a maiden fair with a jet black mare's body

And loud, long and shrill he blew, 'til his steed was by his side
High overhead the grey hawk flew and swiftly did he ride

Saying, "Course well, my brindled hound, and fetch me the jet black mare
Stoop and strike, my good grey hawk, and bring me the maiden fair"

She said, "Pray, sheathe thy silvery sword, lay down thy rowan shield
For I see by the briney blood that flows, you've been wounded in the field"

And she stood in a gown of the velvet blue, bound round with a silver chain
And she's kissed his pale lips once and twice and three times, round again

And she's bound his wounde with the goldenrod, full fast in her arms he lay
And he has risen hale and soond with the sun high in the day

And she said, "Ride with your brindled hound at heel, and your good grey hawk in hand
There's none can harm the knight who's lain with the Witch of the West-Mer-Lands"
 
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750 Years of Aenglund
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We are now, to my great shock, three quarters of the way through our history of Ænglund and, once again, I hope here to take a quick break. Since the last retrospective like this, we have come two and a half centuries and covered the total transformation not only of Ænglund but of the world. This summary, in three parts, allows me to collect my thoughts on the history so far, allows you to get a reminder of how things stand and lets newer readers (or would be readers) glance into just what we've covered. As well as an Abridged History in Part I, Part II will cover life in Bryten in 1816 and Part III will look further afield, covering the world at large.







Part I: An Abridged History


The history of the Ænglisk is complex, filling massive tomes and bursting with tales. For our purposes though, I hope to deliver a brief summary. From its founding in 863, “Anglaland” had been a minor Kingdom - modern Ænglisk history truthfully only beginning in 1066 with the Hardrada Conquest of Ænglund. Between 1066 and 1566, there are broadly seven Eras of Ænglisk History that we have covered so far; the Hardrada Era, the Wyrmcrieg, the Aldraic Years and the Early Northron Era, the Magnusine Era, the Stratocracy, the Revolution and the Edmundian Era. None of that is set in stone, of course, and all periodisation is doomed to simplification and cliche. I hope, however, these labels help make three-quarters of a millenia that bit easier to understand.




Pre-Conquest "Anglaland"
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Alfred the Great - the first and best of the Anglisc Kings.



The first recorded inhabitants of what is now Ænglund were various Celtic tribes with those in Ænglund itself mainly being of the Brythonic branch which would in time be limited to Wales and Britany in France. Conquered by the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD, Britannia remained a stable if rather frontier province until the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century. It is here that the Ænglisk (or at this point, Alglisc) first appear. These settlers primarily travelled from three regions in what is now northern Germany and Western Denmark; Saxony, Anglia and Jutland. The Saxons, Angles and Jutes appear to have been initially invited by Roman authorities as mercenaries and to serve as a buffer against Pictish invaders. Soon, however, these Germanic tribes overthrew their roman masters and established seven great Kingdoms known as the heptarchy. The early Anglisc were first identified as “Angul-Seaxan” but mostly self identified by their new realms, ie Mercian, Wessexian, Northumbrian, ect. Slowly, however, a united “Anglisc” identity developed, particularly in response to successive invasions and raids from fearsome Northmen, distant cousins of the Anglisc, from the 8th century onwards. Whilst all of northern europe would come to accept christianity in time, the Anglisc had been converted by the start of the 8th century whilst it would take until the early 11th for traditional norse faiths to die out in Scandinavia. From this point, the Anglisc and Norse began to mingle culturally and politically, with the Norse conquest of the North East leading to the establishment of the so called “Danelaw”. The Anglisc were finally united in 863 by Alfred “the Great” of Wessex, usually recognised as the first King of the Anglisc. He defeated an invading “Great Heathen Army” and established the Wessex Dynasty which ruled on and off for the next 200 years. This period from 863-1066 is recognised as the pre-Conquest Era.

In this interval a few major events occurred; most notably the Danish Conquest of Ænglund in 1013 followed by the more important rise of “Cnut the Great” of the House of Denmark in 1016. Though of Danish descent, Cnut was first made King of Ænglund and from here conquered Denmark and Norway, establishing for the first time a “North Sea Empire”. After Cnut’s death in 1035, the House of Wessex soon returned to the throne until, in 1066, Edward the Confessor died without a clear heir. Two major claimants emerged, plus a minor candidate from Normany, to contest the throne. Harold Godwinson, de facto leader of an important Saxon dynasty, claimed the throne as Harald II but was defeated in Battle by the veteran mercenary, warrior and now King of Norway, Harald Hardrada. It is here, with a Norwegian King over Ænglund and more settlement from the North occurring, that modern Ænglisk and indeed modern Ænglund occurred.
[/JUSTIFY]



The Hardrada Era
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Following a mighty Conquest in 1066, Ænglund was ruled for two decades by a series of Hardrada Kings. Building and then collapsing the impressive “Sigmundian System”, they were crusaders, conquerors, builders and more. In Spain and the Holy Land, they were the “Sword Arm of the Church”, whilst in Denmark and Norway, they laid the groundwork for later Empires. Cementing Norse rule over Ænglund, they transformed the Anglisc into the Ænglisk and defined this new nation as a devout, warrior people. [/JUSTIFY]

The Hardrada Era is roughly syonymous with the Early and High Middle Eras in Ænglund and though they had no chivalrous knights of the European type, their mightly Huscarls are distinctive and this era of crusade, sword-swinging combat, peasant labour and noble monarchs has been recorded and adapted into hundreds of film, television and video game adaptations.


Read a summary of the Hardrada Monarchs below.

Hardrada, literally meaning “Hard Ruler”, is a very apt name for its initial holder though less so for the dynasty and eras which later took his name. Harald “the Conqueror” III (Hardrada, 1066-1079) was born in Norway and was a tried and tested warrior. He attempted many times to reunite the lands of the North Sea Empire but only succeeded in capturing the crowns of Ænglund and Norway, both of which he took by the sword. His conquest of Ænglund, though historically significant and leading to an era of national colonisation and cultural growth, seemed par for the course at the time. Hardrada was far from the first northman to subjugate Ænglund, nor the first to unite it with another realm, and despite some resistance from the defeated Godwin Dynasty, Ænglund came to accept its new sovereign with only limited resistance. Once the realm was pacified, however, Hardrada proved only a decent King. His invasion of Denmark was an embarrassing failure though he did succeed in formalising Ænglund’s Royal Huscarls who, in one form or another, would remain at the heart of the Ænglisk military for centuries. He took an Ænglisk wife following the death of his first wife in 1067, and took this opportunity to marry Aldgyth of Mercia - widow of the late Harold Godwinson. Their marriage however, did not produce the next Ænglisk King.

Sigmund “Lawgiver” (Hardrada, 1079-1121) was Norwegian born but took well to his adopted land and, whilst his older brother Magnus became King of Norway, Sigmund was chosen as King of Ænglund before his fathers death. As one can infer from his name, Sigmund was the monarch who established the “Sigmundian Legalism”, a system of courts and laws which greatly modernised and improved the confused and ancient Ænglisk systems of the age. He kept Ænglund out of the First Crusade, which resulted in a great victory for Christendom, and instead focused on stabilisation and culture. Sigmund successfully warred on and defeated the border Welsh Kingdoms, settled warrior Huscarls in the border territories and set the stage for future conquest. Finally he established the “Hardrada Chronicle”, an official royal history which remains a core historical source on the period to this day. His son would prove a rather different figure.

“Saint” Sverre I (Hardrada, 1121-1129) was the proto-typical crusader King. He is barely remembered for his work on the home front, instead for his journey to Spain where he warred on the Alhmohad Caliphate and, more than even any of the Spanish Kings, was responsible for many great victories against the Moorish. The Spanish Crusade resulted in the Christian conquest of over a third of Iberia and established a longstanding relationship with the Spanish Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. Sverre was eventually martyred, killed by arrowfire during the otherwise successful capture of Cordoba. This, combined with the supposed miracle of his ghosts appearance at the later Battle of Montoro and a pious scheme of church building at home, saw Sverre granted Catholic Sainthood a few decades later. He remains the only King of Ænglund to achieve this status.

Cnut “the Kind” II (Hardrada, 1129-1140) is in some ways a mirror of his father and in others a truly unique figure in Ænglisk history. Cnut began his reign with the conquest of Wales which demonstrated his famous stategic capacity. Renowned for his perhaps simple manners and his compassion towards the commonfolk, his biggest gift to history was an impressive string of victories in the Second Crusade, where he repeatedly turned by Arab invasions of the holy land. Returning home from the crusade, however, Cnut found that his reforms to help the common serf had infuriated the Ænglisk noble classes who rose up to depose him. Though this revolt would eventually be put down, Cnut was assassinated and it fell to his brother, prince Haakon, to crush the traitorous rising.

In the wake of his father’s tragic death, it surprises many that Magnus “the Ancient” (Hardrada, 1140-1199) oversaw as long and stable a rule as he did. Consolidating Hardrada rule once more, Magnus oversaw further legal reforms and introduced a legal philosophy which posited 1066 as a “trial by combat” in which Hardrada legalism triumphed over Anglisc petty rule. It is also here that the Norse-Anglisc fusion language, what we now know as Ænglisk, began to become truly widespread. Though the two Kingdoms had been friendly since the start of the Hardrada Period, Magnus sealed the “Alliance of Albion” between Ænglund and Scotland, leading to centuries of peace and good will between Britain’s great kingdoms. Magnus further expanded and formalised the Royal Court. He also oversaw victories in the Wendish Crusade, leading to the establishment of the Principality of Pomerania under his uncle Haakon, and even more impressively, victory in the Third Crusade, leading to his son Magnus taking the throne of Egypt, now the Kingdom of Alexandria. At home, he was instrumental in building the impressive Hall of Saint Sverre - an island cathedral only reachable at low tide. More than all of this, however, Magnus may have been the first Hardrada King really treated as “Ænglisk”. The motto of the Kingdom of Ænglund, I Glory in the Name, comes from his famous statement “I Glory in the Name of Ænglund” and his adoption of the White-Dragon-on-Red banner would see it become the core symbol of Ænglund in the years to come.

Erik (Hardrada-Rauther, 1199-1214) was a rather shortlived and often overlooked monarch. Known to some as “the Unlikely”, his three older brothers were killed or handed far off crusader Kingdoms and Erik was rather unprepared for the role of sovereign. This left him paranoid and illtempered throughout his reign and may have contributed to the chaos that followed. He had many achievements though, more than just introducing the “Eriks Setter”, now one of the most popular dog breeds in Ænglund. It was Erik who finallised the establishment of Ænglisk dominion over Wales and deepened the alliance with Scotland, transforming it from convenient political match to personal, familial and gregarious. Most importantly, it was Erik who finally achieved an Ænglisk conquest of Ireland. Claiming the title “High King of Ireland”, he invaded the emerald isle over several years and convincingly defeated its most powerful petty Kings, establishing himself as sovereign. By this period, however, Ænglund had come to a great crossroads. In addition to the ancient “Witenagemot”, a council of leading Ænglisk Lords and bishops, several other national councils had cropped up. Sigmund created the more exclusive “Cyningsgemot” whilst Magnus introduced the three-tiered “Parlemant” of Cap-Hat-Biretta estates. They feuded over powers, rights and seniority and caused a great mess of privileges and demands, leaving the once simple and clear system of “Sigmundian law” messy, controversial and often confused. When Erik died of an unknown illness, in a paranoid spirit accusing anyone and everyone of his murder, these three Councils all disagreed over the future of the Crown. Parliament supported installing a cousin or brother whilst the Witan demanded the return of their own right to appoint a King. Erik’s son, Edmund, took the throne but would not hold it for long.


The Wyrmcrieg
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For a century, Ænglund fought not to conquer or crusade but simply to squabble, as the once mighty and united House of Hardrada split in two. Though the Wyrmcrieg did not truly begin until 1231, most historians put its origin point in 1216 where, after only two years of rule, the child-King Edmund III was deposed by his uncle, Harald IV, which caused a permanent split in the royal dynasty and divided the nation in two. Supporters of the deposed Edmund fled with him overseas and began plotting a return. Thanks to his Welsh mother, Edmund soon became known as the “Red Dragon”, thanks to the Red Dragon remaining the main symbol of the Welsh people. This contrasted with Harald, Ænglisk to the bone, who went by the symbol of the “White Dragon”. From this point onwards, the House of Hardrada is split the Reds (Rauthers, those of Edmund’s line) and the Whites (Hwitrs, those of Harald’s line). For three generations, they will fight each other in a series of bloody conflicts known as the Dragon’s War, the “Wyrmcrieg”. Kings were forced into exile, only to return. Motifs of the exiled boy King or the revenging prince are seen time and time again as the nation sunk into cycles of Invasion and bitter strife.

Read a summary of the Wyrmcrieg Monarchs below. It is worth mentioning that all of these Kings and Queens identified as "Hardradas" but to make it clear which branch of the family they belong to, we have simply marked them as Hwitr or Rauther.

Harald IV (Hwitr, 1216-1231) proved to be quite the conqueror and, though often viewed only through the lens of the civil war he caused, laid the groundwork for the formation of the Second North Sea Empire more than any other man. He warred briefly in Ireland, restoring some recognition to his claim to be “High King of Ireland”. Further, Harald loaned out some of his Huscarls as the “Company of the White Dragon”, a royally chartered mercenary company which served in France and Spain. Finally, in 1222 he intervened in the so called “Norwegian Anarchy”, a century long civil war, and claimed the throne as his own. Losing his eye in Battle, he gained the fearsome title “Harald Ironeye” and is considered by some to be the last great viking King. His death in 1231 was unexpected, drowning returning from Norway to Ænglund, and gave the Rauther Exiles the chance they needed to return. Harald Ironeye’s son, Haakon I was crowned only briefly before the “Red Invasion of 1231” successfully took the Ænglisk capital and Haakon was forced into exile.

Edmund III (Rauther, 1214-1216, 1231-1241) was rather the inverse of his predecessor. A proud and effective warrior, he was however a romantic soul. Since 1222, Edmund had run a court in Exile in Occitania and Spain and had hired a great mercenary army to reclaim his home. Marrying an Occitan noblewoman, he forged a strong alliance with the County of Tolouse and used their support to provide cavalry for his 1231 invasion of Ænglund. Crushing the Hwitrs at the Battle of Witcancaester, he was returned to the throne with much pomp and circumstance. Edmund’s huge funding for the arts and his own contributions to poetry and art triggered a period of romantic artistic outpouring known as the “Ænglisk Bloom”. His infamous affair with the Queen of France has gone down in history with a sickening number of popular film adaptations and he was known for having many other lovers beyond this. Edmund restored many traditional liberties of the Anglisc nobility and won their support, as well as that of the Welsh, which became key to defending his rule. He brought with him sweeping European cultural influences and his court was famous for its romantic intrigues, impressive poetry, prolific theatre and groundbreaking music. A cultural wonder, he did however isolate the growing merchant class and to some extent the church, as his reliance on the nobility and miriad affairs ruffled a few feathers. Mere months before his death, Edmund once again proved his might as a warrior by fending off a White Invasion in 1240, only to die of an unexpected illness in 1241. He is recorded by history as a chivalrous, romantic and borderline continental King - though more likely to be remember as “that one that slept with the Queen of France” than for his impressive civic and military achivements.

Einar (Rauther, 1241-1244) is perhaps the most forgettable of all Ænglund’s Kings. Deposed as a boy, like his father before him, Einar fled back to France but failed to secure the alliances needed to retake his throne. Slipping into alcoholism and depression, he festered abroad and amounted to little. His name is occasionally left out of the history books entirely.

Haaakon I (Hwitr, 1244-1271) was every bit his fathers son and returned to Ænglund in glory. Haakon had remained King of Norway and even, in 1239, conquered Denmark. He was the first man since Cnut the Great to reunite all three North Sea Kingdoms and now was elevated to become master of the North Sea. Haakon used his Great Norwegian army (combined with local support) to overthrow the unpopular boy-king Einar and restore Hwitr rule in Ænglund in the White Invasion of 1244. Haakon was the first post conquest King to adopt the title “Emperor of the North Sea” though this remained unofficial, symbolic and without legal weight for a century to come. His attempts to establish a standing navy and to repair the Ænglisk economy were only partly successful and he was, in truth, a much better general than he was a peacetime leader. He crushed several minor rebellions in Rauther-supporting regions of Ænglund and particularly in their Welsh heartlands, before raising new taxes and reforming the “Feohrann” to improve the economic situation of the realm. He died in 1271, butchered whilst travelling his Kingdom by unknown assassins. Despite this murder, he had a strong succession set up and it appeared the Hwitrs had won a final victory in the war.

Harald V (Hwitr, 1271-1275) was Haakon’s son and the shortest reignin of all the Hwitr Kings. He worked hard to restore the prosperity of Ænglund which had eroded disastrously over the course of the Wyrmcrieg. The purchase of administrative office (abolished by his successors) was a double edged sword, bringing in money and elevating lower nobility and middle classes into government, but effectively creating state sanctioned corruption. The “Imperial Census” was more of a universal success, as was the expansion of Ænglund’s roads and ports. An attempted invasion of Scotland ended in disaster at the Battle of Berwick, though a rebellion in Denmark was suppressed. Most importantly, it was Harald who received Papal permission to style himself as “Emperor” and from this point the title finally appears on legal documents. Seemingly set for many years, having secured a new peace, the young and healthy King was beaten and stabbed to death by common poachers during a hunt. This death left the door open for Rauther intervention. Harald V only had one child, a daughter, and the conservative House of Hwitr was split over this succession, many rejecting her and turning to cousins or even throwing in with the Rauthers. With the succession decidedly unclear and no coronation achieved, the exiled Rauthers once more returned in style.

Ethelreda (Rauther, 1275-1292) followed on from a forgotten and failure of a father to reclaim the throne. Marrying into the distant Pomeranian Branch of the House of Hardrada, her children retained the royal dynasty and she claimed extra legitimacy from this. Both the Heahcarl (leader of the Huscarls) and the Cap Estate of Parliament backed the invitation of Ethelreda to take the throne, returning in a bloodless coup. She married her son, Edmund, to Brigitte Hwitr and so reunited the two distant branches of the dynasty; this new royal couple were known as the “Aldraics” (meaning all Dragons or united Dragons) which soon became the dynasty name. As Queen, Ethelreda quickly secured the peace of the realm and began making reforms. She introduced women’s tourneys and began to practise swordplay, triggering a long spanning cultural undercurrent of women warriors. Most importantly, she moved to establish a new constitutional settlement. Imagining a “Crown State” or “Kroneric”, this proto-Absolutism relied on a centralised, powerful monarchy in which the state and monarch were one and the same, a massive break from the pseudo-constitutionalist reforms made by her predecessors. The Crown State relied on her abolishing the three competing Councils of State (the Witan, Cyningesgemot and Parliament) and replacing them with the purely advisory, bicameral “Flottecortes”. The Witan, particularly, did not take kindly to this - seeing it as unabashed tyranny and the attempt of an effectively foreign Queen (Ethelreda had been born and raised on the Continent) to trample the rights of the Ænglisk. They rose in rebellion, killing Ethelreda’s husband on the battlefield and defeating her armies time and time again. This crisis was compounded when the King of Sweden, a distant cousin who adopted the Hwitr claim to the throne and had already conquered Denmark, invaded. With the whole nation falling apart, Ethelreda made the drastic move to abdicate to her son, hoping he could repel the invaders, crush the rebels and establish the Crown State once and for all.


The War of Three Kings

The final stage of the Wyrmcrieg is known as the “War of Three Kings”. The revolting Witenagemot had crowned a scion of the ancient royal Anglisc House of Wessex, a man who took the name Alfred II (Wessex, Disputed). The King of Sweden, Harald of the House of Folkung, was next in line if you followed the official Hwitr line of succession and now with a Danish-Swedish army, moved to capture the capital. Finally, Ethelreda’s son Edmund was crowned in Witcancaester as Edmund IV. These three men all seemed inches away from victory at various points and one can only imagine the divergence in Ænglisk history that might have occurred if another victor had emerged.

Alfred was the first to be knocked out. A cunning ruler and charming populist, he rallied anti-Scandinavian sympathies among the southern Ænglisk communities who remained the least “norsified”. These Anglisc populations supported a King who spoke “real” Anglisc and wanted the foreign yoke of the Hardradas and their cousins gone forever. Alfred used this sentiments to raise armies from the lower nobility and peasantry and subjected his foes to a gruelling guerrilla war. Though cunning and victorious in several battles, he was eventually overwhelmed and killed by Harald VI’s forces at the decisive Battle of Bracknell which ended in the final dissolution of the Witenagemot and seemed rife to end the war.

By August 1293, it appeared that Harald VI (Folkung-Hwitr, Disputed) was to be the next King of Ænglund. After months of dragged out war in the brush, he had captued and killed the rebel “King” Alfred. Further, the capital of Witcancaester had fallen to him and he sat in the Ænglisk royal palace having defeated Edmund twice on the Battlefield. The young Aldraic King, however, was not to be captured and fled to Wales, raising local forces (notably longbowmen) and bringing in more foreign mercenaries from the continent. After several close Battles and embarrassing defeats, Edmund finally scored a decisive victory over Harald at the Battle of Wycum and, with the HRE invading Denmark, Harald was overwhelmed. The two men signed a treaty; Harald would keep Sweden, Denmark and eastern Norway whilst Edmund was crowned King of Ænglund and Norway. With this, the Wyrmcrieg finally ended - the two lines of the family reunited, the last vestiges of Anglisc rebellion crushed and, for the first time, a foreign invader from Scandinavia was seen off. It was the final, decisive end of the Viking Age and Ænglund was now a strong, independent nation. In the coming decades and centuries, that strength and pride would be greatly deepened.
[/JUSTIFY]


The Aldraic Era
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Coming out of the disastrous and crushing civil war, Ænglund was then ruled by a string of powerful, semi-absolutist monarchs. This was a period of economic growth, overseas discovery, further military victories and national consolidation. Arguably the “height” of Ænglund as a nation, before it was subsumed into the North Sea Empire, it saw only victories before evolving into something somewhat softer, if more civilised.

Great discoveries and explorations took place during this time, as well as significant religious and imperial conflicts. The nation grew with a string of successful wars and a handful of unsuccessful ones. An age of war fought far overseas and of Monarchs almost unchallenged in their domestic authority. Some romanticize this as an era of Late Medieval Chivalry and glory, others damn it as a time of tyranny and bloodthirsty conquest. Mostly ruled by the post-Wyrmcrieg "Aldraic" dynasty, after Queen Caitlin the cadet branch of "Aldraic-Kane" is established but the two houses are generally regarded as simply the Early and Late Aldraic Monarchs.

Read the list of Aldraic Monarchs below.


Edmund IV (Aldraic, 1292-1319) was the first King of the Crownstate Era. Completing his mothers proposed reforms, he used the recent victory in the war (which had decimated the manpower and wealth of many Earls and Lords) to centralise power in the capital. The Flottecortes was established as the sole legislative body in the nation and limited to a purely advisory role. He expanded the civil service and began an era of proto-absolutism which would last for over a century. “Aldraic” was confirmed as the dynastic name, the now famous “University of Yorvik” was opened in Ænglund’s great northern city, and was generally known as a strong reformer who cemented Ænglund as a powerful, stable nation.

Sigurd (Aldraic, 1319-1339) was a peaceable King and cemented the post-war establishment his father had introduced. Marrying a Scottish Princess, Caitlin, the royal couple reinforced the Alliance of Albion and went down as one of the most successful and caring royal marriages in history. Beyond this Sigurd cracked down on corruption, particularly in the guilds, and worked to restore the nation’s reputation abroad - which had been ruined by decades of infighting and chaos. He controversially turned inwards, breaking the alliances with French and Spanish lords which had been so key to the victory of his ancestors in the Wyrmcrieg, and moving away from his distant cousins ruling in Germany and Egypt. He conquered parts of eastern Ireland but was unable to fully subdue the island before his death. A sometimes forgotten King, Sigurd helped reinforce the achievements of his father and set the stage for his infamous daughter.

Caitlin (Aldraic, 1339-1364) was Ænglund’s second Queen Regnant and would prove a controversial one. A teenager at her ascention, she rejected all traditional expectations of women and served on the battlefield throughout her life, trained with a sword from a young age and commanding men in her brutal invasions of Ireland. Nicknamed the “Third Son of Sigurd”, she married a popular but minor Norwegian Lord to create the House of Aldraic-Kane, shoring up her relations with Norway and having a massive family (despite a tense marriage), giving birth to 11 children. Caitlin saw Ænglund through the Black Death and, though ravaged by this terrible disease, her harsh measures limited its worst aspects. She is of course most well known for her “Crusade” in Ireland, which succeeded in conquering huge swathes of the country before she was excommunicated for her brutality and cruelty exerpted upon the conquered and, shortly after, she was slain in battle. Infamous and unmistakable, modern depictions of her vary from “Feminist Icon” to “Genocidal Maniac”, with her unlikely family and the Black Death backdrop only adding to the hardcore reputation. Her reign is a popular setting for films, TV shows and video games.

Arthur “II” (Aldraic-Kane, 1364-1406) was the inverse of his mother. Though facing a brief coup and civil war at the start of his reign, he saw a half century of peace and prosperity. Arthur embraced his namesake, building a massive ship “the Prydwen” and sending sailors out to discover what we of course known as Avalon. One of the great explorer Kings, it is for this discovery he is mostly remembered - naming a continent will tend to stick in people’s minds. Arthur further achieved Ænglisk rule over Iceland and, soon after, Greenland. He cemented the royal position, absorbing the powerful Earldom of Wessex into the crown estates, and guided Ænglund through rocky religious waters, as the recently reunited “Chalcedonian Church” first began to splinter.

Osbald “the Unlikely” (Aldraic-Kane, 1406-1423) was another powerful King and reformer. Born to a third son of a third “son”, he was seen as auspicious and embarked on many reforms, creating Europe’s oldest postal system, “the Royal Service”, and dispatching fishermen to the recently discovered islands of Avalon - which he claimed as “Lord of Avalon”. This was the beginning of the Empire beyond Europe, as fishermen temporarily and then permanently set up shop on Wealdholm. As the Chalcedonian Faith fully collapsed into the “Schismatic Crusade”, Osbald led Ænglund to support the Church. He led his armies with brutal efficiency against the Hussite “heretics”, crushing several armies and committing atrocities throughout Boheia. As effective as he was controversial, he restored Ænglund to the position of “Sword Arm of the Church” and revived its reputation as a crusading force to be reckoned with.

Cnut III (Aldraic-Kane, 1423-1451) was a more modern King. He married Iseult, princess of the recently reorganised New Irish Kingdom, hoping to shore up the western bank of Ænglund’s holdings. Known as “the Drake”, he built the now famous Skardborg Arsenal and used it to support his “First Northern War”, crushing Sweden and restoring Ænglund’s position in Scandinavia. He invested heavily in growing Norway’s defences and economy which proved essential in the Second Northern War which ended in an even more conclusive victory than the first. Securing all of Norway, parts of Sweden and Denmark and claiming control over the Danish Sound, he was undeniably the dominant ruler of the North Sea and once more restored the informal “North Sea Empire”.

Cead (Aldraic-Kane, 1451-1462) ruled only for a decade and though he struggled to found a proper royal navy, he succeeded in abolishing the declining institution of serfdom. He led Ænglund once more to the aid of the Church, repulsing an Islamic invasion of Italy and securing the Principality of Calabria for a distant cousin. Most importantly, he took the title “Kasere” or “Cæsar”, meaning Emperor, and fully established the North Sea Empire as a genuine polity, existing in law, over the Kingdoms of Ænglund and Norway. He is recognised as the first true Emperor of the North Sea and received Papal support in this claim. Finally, he reinforced the new colony of Wealdholm, encouraging its settlement and laying the groundwork for more sweeping colonisation of the New World. Dying childless, Cead threw Ænglund into a brief interregnum which soon came to be dominated by a “Guardian Council”, led de facto by King Alexander IV of Scotland, which chose between many distant cousins on who would be the next King of Ænglund.
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THE INTERREGNUM lasted only for few months from 1462-1463, as the lack of sons, brothers or even notable first cousins left the succession in severe doubt. It is often listed as a transition point between eras or put randomly into one of the two that sandwich it. In short, Ænglund was ruled by the royal bureacracy and by committee as the Guardian Council simply allowed things to tick along, ensuring the realm was defended and stable with they chose a monarch. They passed no laws and issued no edicts of note but it is worth remembering that for almost a year, Ænglund and Norway had no King and were instead ruled by a council of equals.


The Early Northron Era
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With the death of the last Aldraic monarch in 1462, an unbroken line from Harald Hardrada was finally broken after almost four centuries. In the coming years, Scotland was added to the North Sea Empire which now became a power in of itself, not merely an extension of Ænglund. This period, defined by its Socttish and French ruling dynasties, was one of reformation and reflection. Imperial, overseas victories were balanced with a series of crushing defeats in European wars whilst the absolutist Crown State was replaced first with an “Empire of Enlightenment” and then with a more modern, administrative monarchy.

Coming out of the middle ages, Ænglund began to look beyond Europe, to the opportunity of the West and the riches of the East. They clashed more with the Swedes, now an established rival, and repeatedly with the Holy Roman Emperor. They developed their own faith and their own, stronger institutions and for the first time shaped not only Europe but Avalon, Brasil, Asia and even Africa. The Osbaldines, a great chain of the Spice Isles destined to be the crown in Bryten's Imperial crown, was added to the Empire and various reforms were made which laid the foundations for the development of later political advances. The period came to a dramatic end, ousted by a seemingly loyal ally of the throne and plunging Ænglund once more into years of difficult succession conflict.

Read about the Comyn-Bourbon Monarchs below.


Malcolm (Comyn, 1462-1522) was the Crown-Prince of Scotland when his father successfully won him the throne of Ænglund. A trusted diplomat and statesman, he was popular throughout Britain but forced to appease the Norwegians who initiallly rejected his rule. After the death of his father, Malcolm brought Scotland into the Empire for the first time, taking it to a historic height. Despite victories against the Holy Roman Empire, he was crushed by the Swedes in the Third Northern War and, with the Treaty of Hamburg, was forced to sign over many territories conquered by his predecessors - though he kept Norway. Far from a failure however, Malcolm massively expanded colonies in the New World, ruled to the incredible age of 100 (unheard of and arguably the first verified man to do so in history) and, in his later years, oversaw an incredible technological and cultural revolution which brought Ænglund into a mini-golden age known as the “Empire of Enlightenment”. Tolerance and knowledge spread through the land, before his eventual death in 1522.

Tiffany (Comyn, 1522-1544) was another unlikely monarch. A great-grandaughter of her predecessor, she was marked out from previous Queens by her timid and demure nature. A sharp thinker and a patron of the arts, Tiffany worked hard to continue the “Empire of Enlightenment” and sponsored many great playwrights, scientists and philosophers. In one of history’s great diplomatic realignments, she famously married Phillipe, Dauphin and eventual King of France, bringing the Bourbon Dynasty onto the Ænglisk throne. Tiffany also greatly expanded the Imperial State, founding the powerful Imperial Council and expanding the bureaucracy. Her agents founded and expanded new world colonies and created a standing Imperial Army, curtailing the power of the increasingly corrupt Huscarls. Her unexpected death in tragic circumstances pushed her son to the fore and drove Europe into disastrous war.

Osbald II (Bourbon, 1544-1570) is inevitably defined by the War of Atlantic Succession. One of the first “General European Wars”, it pitted the North Sea Empire, parts of France and Hungary against the sweeping and powerful “League of Flensberg”. Though winning great victories in Norway and Germany, Ænglund and her allies were eventually crushed and exhausted by their fair more numerous foes. Ceding France, several Carribean colonies and more land in eastern Norway, Osbald saw Ænglund into one of its worst defeats in Ænglisk history. He had been a talented general however and soon proved a talented politician, papering over the cracks to salvage the Empire from collapse. Osbald guided Ænglund through a terrible famine (the Cruel Hunger or Grimmsult) and defeated the peasant “Lanyon Rebellion”. Further, he expanded the Empire with the lucrative Brasillian colony of Steorholt, several Indian ocean port holdings and the exotic island of Mindanao - whose island chain soon were renamed the “Osbaldics” in his name. Finally, driven by Papal opposition in the War of Atlantic Succesion, Osbald broke Ænglund and the Empire’s ties with Rome. Establishing the protestant, Lollard-inspired “Church of the North Sea”, he was the de facto creator of “Atlanticist Christianity” which quickly settled to become a powerful state church and genuinely well regarded faith. A transformative man, Osbald saw Ænglund to incredible heights and shameful lows. A few years before his death, he oversaw celebrations to mark 500 years since the Hardrada Conquest - the birth of modern Ænglund.

Harald VI (Bourbon, 1570-1583) is remembered as one of the most controversial leaders in Brytisk history. The last Catholic monarch of Ænglund, he fought hard to allign the nation once more as the sword arm of the church and embarked on an invasion of Norway in an attemtp to return it fully to the fold, rather than the autonomous association it had been granted a decade prior. His brutal Northron Inquisition cracked down on schismatic christians and he alligned the Atlanticist Church once more to Rome. Under equally devout First Minister Morgenstirne, Harald VI led a government that was entirely uncompromising on his own divine authority. Harald massively reformed the Imperial Navy, expanding its fleets and reforming its gunnery. His war in Norway soon expanded into the Fifth Northern War, one front of the so-called "European Civil War", which saw the whole continent caught up in a religious and political conflict unlike any in centuries. Harald had a few more surprises up his sleeve, such as establishing formal relations with the Inca and expanding in the Osbaldines. By 1583, however, his unpopular war and tyrannical Inquisition had driven the nation into a fury. Scotland rose in revolt, all over the Empire minor rebellions and rejections of authority shook even the most loyal of Harald's servants. He was butchered by his own men while on campaign, assassinated by soldiers he thought loyal and replaced with a more acceptable sovreign.

Tiffany II (Bourbon, 1583-1616) replaced her brother as monarch with support of a broad segment of society, helped in large part by schismatics and military reformers like Johan Thrælton. Handling the "Great Crisis", the collapse of order that followed Harald VI's somewhat disastrous reign, putting down the Scottish Revolt with a sharp military response, exiling the hated minister Morgenstirne. Marrying a distant cousin, she kept the Bourbon line strong (implications of incest aside), and passed laws in the Flottecortes, Colloquim and Caesarting excluding Catholics from the line of succession. She swapped Norway for the Swedish colony of Kuba and recieved massive gold indemnities from the Swedish colony of Gylleon, which boyed the economy for years to come. She added Sulawesi to the Osbaldines and shipped criminals to the Avalonian colonies, boosting the rate of settlement. Her reign saw the brief Ænglisk conquest of Kahokia (albeit by a rogue military officer, not on her orders), the greatest Skraeling realm in Avalon, before it collapsed into a string of smaller realms. Most importantly in the long run; she abolished the old position of Earl Chancellor and replaced it with the title "Grand Executor", a new head of state that would define Brytisk politics in the coming centuries. She built the Redbrick Hall to house the Caesarting and the Hwitrhof as a royal palace before dying unexpectedly at the age of 51. Perhaps the most important monarch of the Bourbon era, in some ways, she oversaw massive shifts in how Bryten was governed and how its government was run.

Cnut IV (Bourbon, 1616-1620) was a strange one; remembered more for his dramatic exit from the stage and for what followed him than on his own merits. A decent King by most measures, he conquered the French Empire in Bravalon and added both St Louis (occasionally St Lewis in the Ænglisk reading) and the Windswept Isles to Ænglund's domains. At home Cnut attempted to drain the fens, reforming the economy of Eastern Ænglund, but was faced with violent resistance by the locals. Similarly he pushed for the enclosure and sale of common land which led to the equally violent Warwykskire Rising, put down harshly by the Imperial Army. Finally, he founded the "Atlantiskselkap", Bryten's first national bank. He was unexpectedly killed after only four years on the throne after an experimental cannon, the humbly named Caesarcannon, exploded and blew him to bits. Replaced, briefly, with his young son Sigmund, the family soon faced a palace coup, sending young Sigmund into exile and bringing a dramatic end to the Comyn-Bourbon period.






The Magnusine Era
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Following the shocking death of Cnut IV in a terrible accident, his Heahcarl, Morcar Tostig took advantage of questions over the succession to convene a "Guardian Council" and declare himself sovreign as Magnus II, seizing control of the state and passing a series of radical reforms. Introducing effectively an early constitutional government, the House of Tostig would never sit easy on the throne. His heirs in the House of Tostig and allies ("the Pragmatists") fought a string of wars against the House of Bourbon and their friends ("the Legitimists") . After years of back-and-forth and both sides trading their perspective on absolutism vs constitutionalism, the fighting was ended by the merger of the competing families into the Tostig-Byrbens.

Alongside this struggle for the throne, it was an era of colonial expansion, shocking religious extremism and the earliest hints of the Steam Revolution. Despite the turmult of the era, it was a time of advancement, political flourishing and courtly intrigue. Well liked as a setting for historical drama, it is remembered better than many periods as an exciting, promising time. Through the three Tostig Kings (Magnus II, III and IV) the period gets its name, though commited Legitimists reject this title and the Diarchy, technically a distinct era, is usually lumped in for ease.

Read about the Magnusine Monarchs below.



Magnus II (Tostig, 1620-1653) burst into power with a cunning scheme, encouraging those cynical that the infant King was too young to rule with any stability and whipping up mobs to "invite" him to take the throne. Legitimatised by a Guardianship Council, the young Sigmund fled into exile and in his absence Magnus was able to reform the country top to bottom. Introducing the historic "Universal Charter of Liberties", he outlined the rights of the people of Ænglund in full. The Caesarting was empowered and he moved to abolish the Ænglisk and Scottish local legislatures. This attempt failed, resulting in the "Dual Rebellions" one of which was crushed easily, the other required a negotiated ending. The resultant "Strathclyde Plot" tried to blow King and Caesarting to kingdom-come but resulted only in mauling Magnus' hand. Now less restrained by local authorities, Magnus centralised politics whilst democratising and streamlining the government. He spurred a class of "New Men", middle-ranked fellows who were now educated and brought into political prominence for the first time. The nobility again took a major blow as the gentry stepped into the business of government. The Imperial Army was heavily reformed to be more meritocratic, introducing their first military academy at Snottingham and adopting the distinctive blue-and-gold uniforms of the era. He formally renamed the union from the "North Sea Empire" to the Northron Empire and it is by this term I shall refer to the country from now on. Overseas, Magnus reformed colonial governance with new counties and colonial assemblies, and founded the Royal West African Company to further and govern the slave trade (a grim mark against him by modern sensibilities). His reign was capped off by the rise of the Enochites, the Masked Men, a strange christian sect whose descendetnts are still somewhat prominent in Avalon today. Magnus II was one of the most impactful monarchs of the 17th century; ending one era, instituting another and establishing the constitutional foundations of the Brytisk government.

Magnus III (Tostig, 1653-1678) followed his father in name but not really in spirit. Whilst Magnus II's aggressive control of government resulted in reform, even liberalisation, III embarked on a quest to assume supreme power and undo the permissive nature of the Atlanticist Church. The authority of the Caesarting was greatly limited and Magnus avoided calling it where he could, instead relying on his sacred authority as King. Having crushed the Enochite Rising in Lunden, Magnus embarked on the "Magnusine Reforms" of the faith, stripping out many Lollard elements and replacing them with Episcopalian norms, naming himself "Patriarch of the Church". This resulted in the breakaway Folkskirk, a truly Lollard branch of christianity. He also oversaw the last major witchtrials in Brytisk history and outlined his theocratic, hardline ideology in a pamphlet still read by politics students today; "the Way of Kings". All throughout his reign, however, he was dogged by legitimist plots and, eventually, invasion. From 1670 until his death, Magnus fought against the Bourbon claimants to the throne, first in the skirmish heavy "Low War" and then in the brutal, dramatic "High War". Holding on to southern Scotland and northern Ænglund, he resisted the Legitimist advance and even saw his foe, Sigmund II, slain, but weeks later succumbed to pneumonia.

Sigmund II (Bourbon, 1620-1675 [Claimant]) is a bit of a historical headache. Recognised by Legitimists and even successive Kings as a legitimate monarch, he never actually sat the throne. Having grown up in Germany, the boy King became a man in exile, taking a German wife and earning the support of the ambitious Empire for his return to power. Landing in the south in 1670, he fought a tough path forwards, pledging to restore the Caesarting and the autonomy of the church in the Great Conference of Oxnafort. He had gained serious momentum through 1676-77, after years of sluggish fighting, and could have reclaimed the throne there and then if he had not been struckdown in battle. With both Sigmund and Magnus dead, the crown tumbled to their children who all the world expected to squabble over it.

Magnus IV (Tostig, 1678-1709) and Astrid (Bourbon, 1675-1737) defied the expectations of their contemporaries and, after a few months of fighting, made a mad gamble. What started as a sarcastic suggestion on the Legitimist side rapidly gained support, at the Warwyk Peace Conference, the War of Northern Succession ended just as the Wyrmcrieg had - the final two claimants married. Adapting to peace was difficult but the two soon learned to handle dual rule, or the Diarchy as it soon became known. The royal couple bickered and schemed against one another, and the Diarchy was defined by spys, affairs, plots and scandals. They restored Magnus II's Universal Charter of Liberty and began to lean on the Grand Executor in the day to day governance of the state. Two political parties, the Queen's Men and King's Men, traded power during this period. Their children (probably not Magnus' offspring, poor chap) took the dynasty name "Tostig-Byrben", adopting the Ænglisk spelling of "Bourbon". Magnus was a populist, founding schools and earning a reputation as the "People's Emperor", building the Imperial Library in Lunden and restoring areas that had been damaged throughout the War of Succession. He also founded the Merdreng, the Northron Empire's first marines. Following his death in 1709, Astrid ruled alone. The "Queen's Years" saw a continuation of what had come before, for the most part, instituting a new Imperial Census and accruing quite the list of romantic partners, spies and confidants - her letters going down in history as particularly salacious. She leant heavily on trusted Executor, Earl Lockrona, and granted him many new powers - another step towards codifying the Executor as "Head of Government". Throughout this six decade period, technology, colonies and the economy all developed at a pace. Astrid's reign was bookended by the Unarfoþe, the "unwork", effectively a massive labour strike resulting from a dispute between the Huscarl military caste and the powerful economic guilds. Astrid left this crisis to her heir but little did she know that in this economic dispute lay the seeds of a new period of tyranny. After 62 years on the throne, she joined Magnus in hell in 1737.



The Stratocracy
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Perhaps most infamous period of Brytisk history, for five decades the country was ruled not by Kings, Nobles or elected assemblies but by the Huscarls. The warrior caste dated back to the Anglisc years, where they had first been household servants of noble lords, over time become retainer warriors, then a dedicated soldiery and finally a special class with vested interests and particular legal rights. By the time King Sebastian passed on, the huscarls had assumed enough power that their elected leader, the Heahcarl, had more temporal power than either King or Caesarting.

Characterised by some as a Kleptocracy, the period was one of strict law-and-order, imperial and military expansion and various administrative reforms. Bryten got her first formalised cabinet, a modernised military structure, a more competitive and forward thinking economy, at the cost of constitutional laws and the liberties that came with them. The Stratocracy was a turmultous time and each successive Heahcarl, bar perhaps the last, centralised power and pushed a harsh agenda, slowly alienating first the Legislature, then the Colonies and finally the people resulting in violent revolution.

Read about the Stratocracy Monarchs below.



Sebastian (Tostig-Byrben, 1737-1754) is almost singlehandedly responsible for establishing the Stratocracy, something which hasn't been wonderful for his historical reputation. Determined to resolve the Unarfoþe by breaking the backs of the Guilds, he banned many, exiled their members to the colonies, brought the Huscarls into government and established new "Crown Guilds" to replace the lost industries. This permanently destroyed the guild system in Bryten (it would return in the future but in a fundamentally weakened form), crashed the economy and created a new group of wealthy, talented exiles in the colony. In the long term, this led to serious economic development at home and abroad but for Sebastian's reign, the Northron economy was hollowed out. What money remained he sank into the construction of the Svaerthof, the Black Palace, a massive complex and one of the most impressive palaces in Europe - built out of black sandstone. His reign saw the emergence of "Teague" and "Lilid" political factions who remained relevant for the rest of the century. Sebastian was, to his credit, a great patron of the arts and a famous breeder of horses. His reign also saw the foundation of the (shortlived) colony of Nyswerd in Oceania and the addition of Java to the Osbdalines. However, these achievement cannot overshadow his main legacy; a string of embarassing bankruptcies and the collapse of the Atlanticskelskap, replaced with the new Brytisk Caesarisk Banken. Leaving a broken economy, a fancy palace and a rising military dictatorship to his son, Sebastian suffered a heart attack and died in 1754.

Magnus V "Pompey" (Tostig-Byrben, 1754-1767) resisted the shift towards dictatorship that began under his father but was effectively powerless to stop it. His attempt to appoint two Executors, one Huscarl Teague and one civillian Lilid, ended in disaster as neither recognised the other's legitimacy. Under Heahcarls Einar Rasmussen and Johan Wyndham, the Heahcarls went from dominating military and foreign affairs to achieving total control over the government. In 1766 the vote was restricted to Huscarls alone. Magnus was far from all failure however; he repealed the restrictions on guild and invited the Guildsmen to return from exile, boosting the economy and kickstarting a new age of competition in the market. His reign saw technological marvels, such as the invention of the first battery (the "Morgan Jar") and the discovery of lyfleh. Magnus also sold claimed but effectively uncolonisable land to Sweden and Batavia for a hefty fee, shoring up the budget, as well as flogging Nyswerd to the Occitan. As the world entered the Axungyears, the "Years of Questions", several colonial revolts were put down in Brasil and (most brutally) in Avalon. Magnus V kept Bryten out of the brutal War of Wendish Succession and was starting to get a grip on power when he worked himself to death in 1767, handing power over to his only son.

Osbald III (Tostig-Byrben, 1767-1772) was the King most defined by the "high" stratocracy. Wedded to a Heretoga (general)'s daughter, he effectively accepted the Huscarls' domination of true political affairs. He instead distracted himself with sports, popularising Wickol - now a national passtime - and preparing for a grand world tour. In part this was to seek allies but it also allowed him to escape from the watchful eye of his new Heahcarl, Magnusson. His reign also saw the Sixth (and so far final) Northern War waged against Sweden, though Osbald was opposed, which resulted in the independence of the Kingdoms of Norway and Jutland, under Northron protection, as well as the collapse of the Swedish Empire and establishment of the pseudo-republican "Dual Realm" of Denmark-Sweden. Just as Osbald departed for his epic tour of Europe, the old Rhomanian Empire fell to revolution. The King did not concern himself with this however; touring Germany, Gaul and Iberia, making genuine friends and living genuinely free. He never returned from this trip, however, lost at sea in 1772.

Edmund V (Tostig-Byrben, 1772-1785) was but a teenager when he took the throne. The little 14 year old tried, as his grandfather had, to throw off the shackles of Stratocracy and, like his grandfather, failed (for now). His personal faction, the "Caesarcarls" were isolated and purged by the Fylkirids. His plan to dispatch Heahcarl Magnusson to the new world to put down the rapidly escalating revolts brewing in the colonies also failed and saw the young King isolated yet further. As the minor revolts in the new world escalated into the Great Colonial Conflict, Edmund remained marginalised (though he was vindicated by Magnusson's fall). The rise of the Marshal-Executor Canute Haakonsson Aldraic-Kane and the total focus of the Huscarls on the Bravalonian conflict, allowing Edmund to assume control over Bryten's forces in the Hellenic Revolutionary War. He helped to contain (though not reverse) the revolutionaries and expanded Bryten's influence over the near east. Edmund took a common woman, Eileen, to wife and earned much controversy for it, tarnishing his initial popularity and returned to a more private role to begin his family. As the 1780s rolled on, however, and Aldraic-Kane established his "Totalist" dictatorship, declaring himself "Marshal-Executor", Edmund was forced to return to the fore of national affairs. When the Great Colonial Conflict was lost and the Totalist government collapsed in on itself, Edmund and his subjects were thrown into the tempestuous waters of the Brytisk Revolution. Buffeted by reactionaries, reformists and radicals chipping away at him from all angles, it would take the greatest skill for Edmund to guide his Kingdom through the Revolution without losing his head.

And, with control over the Empire passing from Kings to soldiers, it's important to list their Heahcarls below.


Einar Rasmussen (Fylkirid, 1761-1765) was far from the first Heahcarl, nor was he the first Heahcarl during the Stratocracy. He was, however, the first Heahcarl to exercise broad, executive control over the Brytisk government. Rasmussen had organised the Fylkirids, the first party in Bryten to actively pursue Stratocracy, and pushed out more moderate Teagues to monopolise power. He imposed a spoils system, filling the bureacracy with allies and cronies, creating many sinecures and stuffing the Lafordshus with Huscarl allies. He served as both Executor and then Heahcarl, surrendering the first title in 1763 before passing away in 1765.

Johan Wyndham (Fylkirid, 1765-1768) replaced Rasmussen, having served as Executor during the later years of his Heahcarlship. He had been a loyal servant to his predecessor but soon eclipsed him in many ways. It was he who excluded non-Huscarls from any position of authority over the military and foreign affairs, he who passed the Electoral Rolls and Rights Act to restrict the vote to Huscarls alone, he who rebuilt the Navy to match the size of Bryten's Iberian foes. Wyndham was one of the few Heahcarls who really tried to sell the commonfolk on the idea and, with the death of King Osbald III, Wyndham also handed over power to a young protege, Johannes Magnusson.

Johannes Magnusson (Fylkirid, 1768-1775) was a reformer and a moderniser from day one, though certainly an autocrat. He formalised the cabinet of the nation into the Executive Council, steamlining ministerial roles, establishing the Grand Executor as appointable by and accountable to the Heahcarl. He ballooned the size of the Lafordshus with his Fylkirid appointees and pushed the Sixth Northern War against his sovreign's wishes. Victorious in that conquest, he permanently hobbled Bryten's old rival in Sweden. Magnusson was responsible for the division of Denmark and the establishment of the Kingdom of Jutland, as well as securing Brytisk suzerenity over Norway. He preached to the peasantry that the Huscarls were their protectors and tried to paint the stratocracy as a new, just regime, protecting the little people against tyrants and Kings. The Heahcarl also did what he could to reform governance of the colonies, though the instinctively Lilid colonials were flighty and afeared of any Huscarl meddling and several revolts soon cropped up. He successfully wethered the rise of Edmund V, outmaneuvering the Caesarcarl faction, resisting efforts to be sent to Avalon and maintaining his stranglehold on politics. Magnusson invited colonial representatives into the Northron Caesarting but this was massively controversial and escalating tensions between Avalonian reformists and Brytisk conservatives resulted in the murder of one of the Avalonian representatives. This outrageous act pushed the colonies into outright revolution as one by one the Avalonian and Brasilian colonies aborgated their ties with the motherland and declared independence. With the Empire crashing down around him, Magnusson was forced to resign his position, handing power over to a new successor who might be able to bring the new world back under the control of the old.

Cnut Aldraic-Kane (Totalist, 1775-1783) is not remembered so much as "a Heahcarl" but as "the" Marshal-Executor. Elected by the Supreme War Council after Magnusson departed, he set about with a new strategy for putting down the colonies. Agressively assaulting the coasts, he succeeded somewhat in recapturing Avalon (though Steorholt, now Mesopotamia, was never to be recovered). He allowed the King to handle the Greek Crisis and put everything into retaking the new world, making major breakthroughs in 1777, as loyalist movements surged and the Northron Army bested the rebels again and again. Emboldened by these victories, Aldraic-Kane embarked on a massive militarisation of all elements of Brytisk society. Declaring a Totalcrieg, a Total War, he merged the titles Heahcarl and Executor and, as "Marshal-Executor" transfered immense amounts of authority onto himself. His plans for the economy were either revolutionary or insane, depending on how polite one was being, and involved a total dedication of every man, woman and child to the war effort. These policies were rather unpopular indeed and rapidly shifted from broadly supporting the war to opposing it with every fibre of their being, protesting this tyrant who locked up the King and forced their husbands into military service, their sons into slavery, all in the cause of a foolish Huscarl War. Cities and Mayors began openly resisting his authority and, even as he rolled powers back, he was forced to turn to the "National Lilids" for legislative support. As the war effort collapsed and the Empire was forced to make peace, however, order in Bryten continued to crumble. With a decent compromise peace reached, much of the Empire had still been lost and, with revolution boiling over at home, Aldraic-Kane killed himself, rather than admit defeat. As his brains scattered across the sands of the North Sea, the Empire was jolted from national disorder into full blown revolution.



The Revolution
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The shortest period we're considering here, the exact dates of the Brytisk Revolution are hard to nail down but most put it as between the Death of Aldraic-Kane on July 8th 1782 and ending in either March or June 1785. This three year period saw the violent purge of the Huscarl class, the rise of increasingly radical governments, reforms to the church, the economy, the voting system, the abolition of the slave trade and the touted introduction of universal manhood suffrage. By the close of 1785 some of this would have been reversed but more was kept. The Stratocracy was broken and done away with, the Huscarls as a class were abolished entirely and a new, firmly constitutional order was established. Under the leadership of Caesar Edmund V and Executor Roald Lind (as well as the martyred reformist Heahcarl, Aston Cromwell), Bryten entered into a new age of stable, representative government.



The Edmundian Era/The Restoration/The Constitutional Era
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After the Revolution, Bryten's "Lindite Consensus" ruled for the rest of Caesar Edmund V's reign. Under a string of likeminded Executors, the Empire pursued a cautiously reformist path forwards. Poor Laws were introduced and then reinforced to protect the less fortunate, the an alliance known as the "Ententa" was formed with the Gallic powers (and later broken) and relations with the former colonies were thawed. The economy opened up and innovative land taxes both enriched the government and led to land redistribution. Steam power, long kept at bay, burst onto the scene in the competitive and innovative post-Revolutionary economy, as Ænglund became one of Europe's most important sources of coal. After a bitter debate, slavery was abolished throughout most of the Empire and a new police force (the Ricsfyrd) was introduced.

All this success ignores, of course, the great dual crises of the era. Bryten overcame a brutal global plague known as the Red Death that killed more than one-in-ten and studiously avoided the resultant string of massive continental conflicts known as the "Plague Wars". This meant betraying the Ententa alliance sealed with France and the United Kingdom, who failed to halt the growth of Magdeburg's power. This allowed for the imposition of German heregmony on the continent and now, as of 1816, 750 years after the Haradrada Conquest, Ænglund and Bryten stare down a daunting new world.
 
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