History of Aivinto-Serdemia

The history of Aivintis encompasses the history of the territory of the modern nation-state of Aivintis as well as that of the Aivintian and Lerasian people and the areas they inhabited and ruled, historically. The beginning of Aivintian history is not the first instance of Aivintis as a unified country, or even as a polity, but rather in the migration of the Aivintii, Casten, and Marnacii peoples from the north. Aivintian history starts here, and is divided into seven distinct eras, each correlating to a major "regime." These eras are the Lerasian Era, which covers early cultures and the Lerasian Empire, the Independent Kingdoms Era, which begins with the fall of the Lerasian Empire and covers a period of small Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Aivintis, which begins with King Martin Dale and covers the rule of the Dale dynasty, the Aivintian Ascendancy, which begins with the assassination of Geoffrey Dale and covers the rule of the Aeternus, the Order of Enlightenment, which begins with the Stuart Rebellion and covers the Stuart Monarchy in Aivintis, the Aivintian Empire, which begins with the rule of Thaddeus Stuart and covers the formation and existence of the Aivintian Empire, and Modern History, which begins with the August Coup d'etat and covers the current regime.

Lerasian Era

Early Cultures

Indigenous hunter-gatherers first appeared in Aivintis over 10,000 years ago as they followed prey south to Serdemia and beyond. These people, labelled Proto-Castenians by historians, eventually settled in the northern parts of what is now Aivintis. The southernmost tip of their civilization reached to modern day Castenor. Early civilization for the Proto-Castenians was defined by the development of agriculture and early society, including the oldest coins seen in Aivintis. South of the Proto-Castenians, the Marnacii people had arrived via mass-migration, searching for uninhabited land to settle. The Aivintii, or Proto-Aivintians, were the last to arrive, migrating to Aivintis later than both the Proto-Castenians and the Marnacii. This migration pushed the Proto-Serdemic people to the north and the Proto-Castenians to the south. While the early Serdemic civilization was strong enough to survive the displacement caused by the settlement of the Aivintii, the Proto-Castenians were not, and their decline continued until the advent of the Lerasian Empire. City-States of the Aivintii and Proto-Castenian peoples mostly evolved into the modern cities - Castenor, Derrim, Teronia, Hagen, and Warris all evolved out of these cities, and Redmondburg out of one of the Castenian villages. Marnacian cities, however, turned into smaller cities and towns in the modern age, rather than growing to their full size. Norwich, Adelslin, and Chesterfield are the only notable examples of modern cities originally founded by the Marnacii.

Lerasian Empire

The Lerasian Empire began with the founding of the great Aivintian city Asluagh. Founded by a prophet of Lerasi, the Aivintii god, Asluagh was a holy city, and its farms were the most fertile in Aivintis. The ruler of Asluagh took the name of Lerasi as a replacement of his own, and as a title akin to Emperor or King. In this, Asluagh's ruler became a mortal incarnation of Lerasi. Asluagh grew quickly, eventually surpassing the other city-states of the Aivintii people, and began the first chronicle of history in Aivintis.

Aivintian Ascendancy

Shortly after his victory, the Aeternus declared the establishment of the Ascendancy of Aivintis, and began working to strengthen his power and reform the government into the new glorious state he promised, one which would “reign Ad Aeternum.” The Aeternus led the nation as a Supreme Leader of sorts, with absolute power over the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of the government. He relied on temporary Ministers and Advisors to administer or assist administration of certain aspects of government, often choosing prominent generals or Aeternist priests to accomplish this task. The nation was built on loyalty and devotion to the Aeternus.

Order of Enlightenment

After Theodore Stuart's death, Sascha Stuart ascended to the throne, at the age of 16. Under her rule, her father's advisors assumed a sort of de facto regency of the nation. The most notable of these advisors were Nicholas Reignold and Alfred Hennessey, who soon became Sascha's most trusted advisors and the most powerful people in Aivintis. Both were Ordermasters of the Order of Enlightenment, a rising religious philosophy that took advantage of the power vacuum left behind by the near-destruction of the Aeternist cult. In the first few years of Queen Sascha's rule, therefore, many laws and royal decrees were passed that benefitted the Order's rise to power. By the time Sascha Stuart reached 18, the Order of Enlightenment was the state religion, and she was firmly its puppet queen.

Once Sascha Stuart reached the age of 18, she immediately announced the creation of an Enlightened Order, beginning a series of reforms that would transform the Constitutional Monarchy into a Religious Oligarchy. First, the religious ideals of the Order were imposed on the citizens of Aivintis, with an emphasis on suppressing other religions. No other religion was allowed to publicly preach, practice, or recruit. All churches, and numerous religious assets, were seized by the state and sold to supplement the government's budget. Religious holidays were wiped out from the calendar. Finally, the Parliament was disbanded, with former members either being recruited as advisors into the Magistrate Council - the new lawmaking body - or imprisoned to prevent opposition to the Order's rule.

The government of the Free Enlightened Order of the Kingdom of Aivintis, as it called itself, was ruled by the Magistrate Council. The core of this council were the Magisters. There was an Economic Magister, who managed finances and the government's relationship with its economy, at home and abroad; The Military Magister, who ruled the military and police; the Foreign Affairs Magister, who handled international matters; the Internal Affairs Magister, who would deal with all areas of governance that did not fall under the others; and the Queen-Magister, Sascha Stuart, who remained as a figurehead.

The borders of the nation remained mostly closed, with foreign affairs only conducted in the Foreign Affairs Capitol, Maven, as well as Frosthollow and Bricaster. The ports and airports of these cities remained open to few, and served as the Foreign Magister's sphere of influence. Economically, the new state was laissez-faire capitalist, but there were some mercantilist policies, especially later in the century as the nation began to industrialize. Militarily, the nation was powerful, with highly trained soldiers equipped with only the most modern of equipment. Both the military and the police were instrumental in maintaining order and security in the new nation, especially in the area of suppressing Aeternists and other political rivals. The Internal Affairs Magister had the least glamourous sphere of influence, but definitely the most wide-ranged, encompassing many areas of national and local governance.