A History of the Haelmar Union.
A comprehensive attempt at me trying to fit everything together. It meant that I had to rewrite a lot of my old stuff, but hey.
The distant lands north of the Obello lie two great powers; the Haelmarians and the Laurians. Both have warred for centuries. Both have dominated the lands, and stretch their long armoured arms wide over the wild sea, as they do over the warring states of Bermian. Yet unlike its rival, Haelmar does not consist of one kingdom; but of three. The warlords of the North, the hunters of the Berthe forests and the Burghers of the Haelmarian towns all owe fealty to the King of Haelmar; the heir of the crowns of the three great powers that now form the Haelmar Union.
The lands which are now fertile and bristle with productivity used to be cold, barren and empty. There was no common union of states, only loose collections of Nordic peoples who battled over the lands and mountains for supremacy. By the Fifth Century the beginnings of a city built on an outcrop overlooking a natural harbour was being built by a people calling themselves the Haelmarians. They began to expand to become the dominant power in the nearby region. The Skrenin Mountains were the locations of great silver and iron mines.
By the Eighth Century Haelmar had exerted its grip up the Haelmarian Peninsula to the lands of the Berthe. Relations were good and friendly between the two, despite the fact that fifty years earlier, Magnus III had pushed so far up that the capital, Närke, was stuck in Haelmarian-controlled territory until the Treaty of Halsborg made Haelmar push back from the Berthe capital but still gain more land than they used to.
However, Haelmar had attracted the attention of the Laurians, who were equally prosperous at the time. Haelmarian ships had raided Laurian ports during a large famine in 632, and had continued doing on-and-off. Lauria sent an army of 14,000 men in 759 under Infante Juan to the coasts of Haelmar. It landed in the Fransaborg Fjord and marched towards Haelmar. The Haelmarians sent 13,000 men under the Crown Prince Iohann to deal with the invaders. This number was bolstered by the arrival of Nord and Berthe Allies lead by the Jarl Furgilforson. Haelmar defeated the Laurians in a mighty battle by the River Hyrmadon (some say this was caused by a promise, made by Iohann, that the troops would win a mountain of cheese should they win), and a truce was drawn by the two royals.
Magnus III died later that year and Iohann, the "Blade of Hyrmadon" and the "Lion of Haelmar", became Iohann, King of Haelmar, one of the most illustrious (and arguably, the only illustrious king) kings of Haelmar, which was in part due to the all-important cheese ceremony, which gave birth to suitineV's Hyrmadon, the Royal Cheese. While it broke almost all the laws of suitineV, it was said to be the cheese that made the greatest of Haelmar's kings great. It also began the short-lived though important Hyrmadon era.
He rebuilt the economy via heavy taxation upon the wealthy. This, while being good for the Royal Treasury also meant that the nobles were dissatisfied. Two broke away and began to rebel. Iohann dealt with the rebellion swiftly, defeating a force of 10,000 in 762 at Pelendale Ridge. Afterwards, he formed the Haelmarian Militia to deal with such problems and the Light Division under Captain Gutenviem, which originally comprised of the Haelmarian and Berthe skirmishers which were so pivotal during the Battle of the Hyrmadon River.
Five years later, Iohann was asked to intervene when Berthe broke into civil-war by the regent of the young king. He dealt with the rebels, but decided to keep the throne of Berthe warm and thus became King of Berthe. To assert his claim, he went to the windswept crag where suitineV made his home. There, after a ceremony, the Elder of Cheese Elders, Forkbyrd, had a vision and declared that suitineV wished that Iohann became King of Berthe and High Jarl of the Nords, and control the Nordic peoples. He was crowned at the stone seat where suitineV drew up his laws the next day.
Ten years later, after he exerted control over Berthe and the Nords, Iohann went into Bermianese territory. A coalition of the local lords failed to deal with the Haelmarians, and they were defeated at Mount Ferathonian. Fransaborg, the major town of the region, surrendered afterwards in July 772. A counter attack was defeated at the Siege of Fort Carolus and Haelmarian control was secured. Iohann then put down a rebellion in the Nordic lands around Liveby two years later, but during the Battle of Taynag he suffered a severe arrow wound to face and was a critical condition until a combination of the Royal Surgeon, the Generals, the troops, alcohol and the Royal Cheese, brought him around.
In 780, a large force of Nords, coming over the mountains, utterly defeated two Haelmarian Earls at the Tebsvar River, who despite having 20,000 men, were outnumbered over 2-1. Iohann rallied a force to engage them at the Vanguard Fjord, where a small Haelmarian force had defeated another Nord Invasion, although smaller than this one, two centuries previously. For five days, the two sides slugged it out on the frozen fjord, turning the ice to red. Thousands died. In a Pyrrhic victory, Iohann had stopped the Nord invasions forever. After a cripping defeat, of the strong force of 40,000 which existed after the Battle of Tebsvar River, which was bolstered by reinforcements to reach this number, 1,000 returned home, according to Haelmarian accounts. Many were captured or were missing. The Nords built up their forces and never disturbed Haelmar again. Haelmar lost many men too; apparently 10,000 were confirmed dead; countless were missing, and at least 5,000 fled. This was a severe loss of men for the nation and Iohann had a month of mourning for the dead. The last day of the battle became a day of remembrance for all Haelmarians ever since.
Iohann I, Iohann the Great, the Blade of Hyrmadon, the Lion of Haelmar died in 794, ending the Hyrmadon Era.
After his death, Haelmarian fortunes plummeted. His son, Carl III, was allergic to suitineV's Hyrmadon, and Haelmar was defeated at the Battle of Cape Grahalgarth, and forced to pay tribute to Lauria. Berthe and Nordland had split after Iohann's death and now separated themselves from Haelmar. This tribute continued until 1045, when Carl V did not pay and Haelmar fought back. It was eventually resolved when the famed King Gustav II, after a long and brutal campaign in the autumn of 1245, defeated the Laurians at the Battle of Arsdentein, where the heir to the Laurian throne was killed by a cheese fired from a cannon. Both sides agreed on a peace treaty and no major wars broke out between Haelmar and Lauria.
As it was useless to attack Bermian after the war, Gustav chose to colonise the isles off Haelmar. The city of Jaemtland was founded on the largest island; its natural harbour became the main base of Haelmar's Obello fleet. There Haelmarian ships would stock up upon leaving the country before setting off to the lands of the Dual Monarchy or the Swadian ports. Haelmar prospered during this period of peace; its army built up and drilled to perfection. The stone city of the Obello became a major trading port and for a while you could buy goods from all over Calradia there.
By the time of the reign of Carl IV, the heir to the Nordic Throne, Ragnar, fled to Berthe. His father had led the Nords, including the descendants of those who invaded Haelmar in 780, in an attempt to recapture Nord lands in Calradia, There he married into the House of Berthe and thus was formed the House of Berthe-Nord. Sixty years later, the heir of that house, a sixteen year old girl, married the King of Haelmar, Magnus VI, who was also sixteen. He attempted to form the Haelmar Union but failed and later died in battle while intervening in the Bermianese Wars at the Battle of Ravenhearth. The Haelmarian Army had been badly mauled after that battle, and was in no state to continue the war.
Margaret, Magnus' daughter, became Queen of Haelmar, Berthe and Nord. She took an isolationist and pacifistic approach to foreign policy, as Magnus' war had crippled the Haelmarian economy. In 1430 she was crowned in Haelmar as the Queen of the Haelmar Union, and the Haelmar Union was formed. However, this approach was not very popular among the generals and the nobles. The Doge of the Eridanian Republic, a former ally, had been usurped after Magnus' death and the current Doge was an ally of Lauria and considered to be a useful buffer-state by the newly crowned King Ferdinand, of the House of Loeher, which had risen to power only two centuries previously.
In 1462, while Margaret was ill, Haelmarian tacticians chose to deal with a threat on their borders; the Zena campaign commenced, and ended with the Battle of Zena, during which commenced Rickardson's Charge, famous as a show of the skill of the Haelmarian cavalry and as a show of the stupidity of the Laurians, who failed to react quickly enough. The Haelmarian military secretly rearmed. Every week men would dig around in waste pits in the city and in the countryside for manure. Charcoal burners became more rich as secret buyers bought charcoal in large quantities. In the cellars of forts and in the basements of barracks, men made ground gunpowder to make it finer. In Berthe, hunters trained young men at shooting practice. Guns were smuggled from Swadia and the Imperial State for examination in the University. Blacksmiths delayed the forging of statues to forge field cannon.
With Margaret becoming increasingly ill, the Count of Fernstaag, the descendant of Iohann I's chancellor, proposed that Iohann Eirik, the Crown Prince, should be declared Regent. In the Assembly, the elder statesmen and the nobility clamored in protest; the yeomen replied as they shouted in defence of the decision. Only the Elder of the Cheese Elders could restore order. Both sides agreed on a week's decision making on whether to support this. It was inconclusive.
In 1496, Margaret was incapacitated by a stroke and fell into a semi-comatose state. Again, the Count of Fernstaag again proposed that Iohann become Regent of Haelmar. Again, the nobles and the populace contested over this; a month was given for each faction to decide on whether to support this decision. In the tea-houses and pubs of the cities, intellectuals discussed and argued over the tables. Iohann was known to strongly oppose Margaret's foreign policy; it was argued that if Haelmar went to war then all would be ruined, while some argued that if Haelmar did not go to war it would become a vassal of Lauria. Eventually, what turned the tables was the involvement of the Burghers, who, like the Cheese Elders, had abstained previously. Iohann was made Regent.
Iohann swore to avenge the defeats and humiliations of Haelmar and readied the Haelmarian Expeditionary Force. To disguise this, Iohann annexed Eridania and the Bermianese Wars began again. While many traditionalist nobles disagreed with this, there was little doubt that Iohann was now the de facto head of the Union; behind him now stood the highly trained and efficient Haelmarian Army. The slow advisors in favour of pacifism were kicked out and replaced by equally experienced men capable of thinking of other ideas and who could deal with a nation gearing for war. Men in favour of reformation became candidates for the Royal Council. The strength of the Haelmarian Military was tested again with a Laurian invasion from Eridania and the Siege of Fransaborg. The Laurians were repelled after several months of bitter winter combat.
Now, the formerly secret rearmament became public and went at full speed. Recruitment rates went up as young men went to the recruitment offices. In the Nordlands men took the swords and axes from above the hearth as they went off to join the battalions mustering in the Town Squares. In Berthe the hunters emerged from the forests with their rifles to enlist. The Jarl Furgilforson grinned upon hearing the news in his great hall. Gutenviem mustered his division at its barracks in Hyrmadon. The ideas of reformers were now integrated into the drill books. The Burghers urged their workers to maximise production to keep up with the Chancellor's plans. In 1500 the HEF set sail across the Obello, under the Crown Prince's banner, for Calradia.