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

Indigenous hunter-gatherers first appeared in Aivintis over 10,000 years ago as they followed prey south to Serdemia and beyond, migrating from an unknown civilization in the north. The Proto-Aivintii, as they came to be known, began using earthenware and similar artifacts, few of which survive to the modern day. Farming appeared somewhere around the introduction of these new technologies, when oats, barley, pigs, cattle, sheep and goats became common. The settlers of this culture spread over the fertile plains of Aivinto-Serdemia, located in between a labyrinthine web of rivers, reaching as far north as Chernopolsk and as far south as Redmondburg. On a smaller scale, various settlers landed in exclaves around the smaller network of rivers in Grandys and Nisava. The most preserved relics of the era are tombs and religious monuments. The tombs were mostly collective, and largely chambered cairns, although some were long barrows. Religious monuments were mostly stone circles, sometimes located in the center of rudimentary settlements, believed to establish a closer connection with the gods. Soon, the early settlements became gradwalls, early fortified settlements constructed as a group of wooden houses surrounded by rings of walls made of earth or wood, a palisade, and/or moats. Gradwalls were usually founded on riverbanks, but sometimes on sacred sites around existing stone circles.

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.