Laegel

The coat of arms of the Lady Laegel (and thus, by extension the House of Laegel and its members) is a green roundel in accordance with Menelmacari heraldic tradition and is charged by an Elw indentured farmer working the field by manual labour, as was a common scene during the Elfinshi era in Elwynn

For the former colony of the same name, see Station Kaamiozyr

The House of Laegel is originally a Menelmacari, now considered Elwynnese or Elfinshi house and estate which has had numerous financial dealings, especially with regard to vassalage in the Green, making it a rich house. Between 1674 and 1687, it was established in Sathrati and was attempting to secure political recognition for itself there, something that it has lacked since the end of Menelmacar two hundred years earlier. However, after Sathrati had sworn its loyalty to the Kaisership, relations between Laegel and the "tax man" became more intense, and Laegel decided to relocate to Fëanoria. In 1687, it completely left Sathrati and has, with the support of Chryse, occupied 144 square kilometres on the equator, on the eastern coast of South Fëanoria Island. An agreement with Chryse allowed it autonomy, while under the trade regime and taxation of the Chrysean government. Citizenship of Chryse was therefore extended to all members of the House of Laegel, and the House received representation on the governing body of Chryse. Following Chryse's abolition of feudalism in 1690, the colony was abolished and transferred to the UDF. Most members of the House of Laegel have sought and been given asylum in Hurmu in exchange for giving up its feudalist tendencies. The House is thus established and incorporated there as a private foundation under Hurmu law.

History

Establishment

The House was founded by Esmeralda Azbatân (1423–1483), an Elfinshi noblewoman in the court of Elentári Sirithil nos Fëanor of Menelmacar (reigned 1474–1476), in 1475 when she was given huge swaths of land in Elwynn (which the Elentári owned as Duchess of Elwynn) as a personal fiefdom. In line with Menelmacari practice, the House of Laegel ("green elf"), as Esmeralda's house was now called, would be inherited in a matrilineal manner. Men were considered brutish, animal-like, and good only for labour. Elfinshi men were a subjugated group of people. Although enjoying the riches of their Elfinshi class and nobility and a social status thereby, within the Elfinshi community, they lacked political and economic power.

The Elfinshi had embraced an ecologically aware and idyllic interpretation of the Soloralist faith and sought to structure their feudal society in a manner consistent with a return to nature whilst maintaining, for themselves, a high standard of material comfort. Regarding Menelmacar as an example of what becomes of a society perverted by a love of technology and martial power, Elwynn eschewed these values. Rejecting industry and technology in favour of sustainability. For that reason, the Elfinshi decided to make Elwynn a "reserve" built on tradition and the five quintessentialist truths. The environment would be catered for, things would be peaceful and beautiful. Everyone would sit in the tree tops and sing every day.

For the Elfinshi elite, at least, who lived in a clueless bubble of luxury and extravaganza as they sought to 'rewild' the landscape around them, in the name of the conservation of nature, of which their human subjects formed only an inconvenient part, albeit - as they conceded grudgingly - a necessary, part.

The native peoples, at this time mainly the Elw, toiled. The Elw were traditionally comprised of nomadic castes and clans; as such to be be forced to live and work in manorial estates with the 'soil grubbers' was a bitter insult to the hunters and herdsmen which fuelled resentment and animosity. The process of indenture inflicted on the Elw by the Elfinshi, saw them collectivised into settlements and made them work in agriculture regardless of their previous lack of experience, in construction and so on at the direction of Elfinshi manorial lords and ladies who ruled their beautifully crafted and fully sustainable ecolodges - that later grew to become grand treetop manors. As a consequence of the repudiation of modern technology, work was labour intensive and burdensome. These backbreaking, dangerous and slave-like conditions not only fuelled resentment against the Elfinshi but also began the process of breaking down the old tribal and caste identities of the Elw. Many Elw people died, of course as a natural result of being subjected to the living conditions attendant upon serfdom.

In 1483, Esmeralda herself succumbed to the growing anger from her own Elw servants. A group of servants, every day tasked with milking cows, with the milk, still warm, immediately brought to Esmeralda's marble tub, for there to wash her, kneed her muscles, and afterwards shower her with purfumes of the forest, finally had enough and drowned her in her bath. All servants working with the cows or in the manor were immediately killed, whether they had been part of the plot or not. Esmeralda's daughter Avramali (1456–1562) took over the manor and oversaw the land with more focus on economical profits than on luxury. She sensed, maybe prophetically some people would say long afterwards, that the end of the Elfinshi power in Elwynn would soon come, and for that she needed money and protection. About ten years earlier, the matriarchal Elfinshi power in Menelmacar had been toppled by Archetype XXIII's election to the monarchy of Menelmacar and power in the Menelmacari legislature. Although the Elfinshi elite then had fought back, causing the country to divide in two, the Menelmacari Elfinshi never regained international credibility or recognition (only having diplomatic relations, among the major powers) with Shireroth and Delvenus. Avramali employed her three sisters Misa, Romaia and Aldamel, and their husbands, to bring about a business enterprise that would be profitable even under a change of government. It was sensed that if the Elfinshi power would fade, it would do so in favour of an Elw majority.

However, the Elw began an organized campaign to gain economic and political power. The Duchess of Elwynn, Mari Greenwood (having succeeded Sirithil after her abdication in 1475), sensed this and made moved to establish an Elwynnese citizenship for all free persons in Elwynn, and funded Elwynnese folkloristic studies. Mari, herself, began to identify publically more with Elwynneseness than with Elfinshidom. As such, Mari lay the foundations for an Elwynnese national identity, separate from the Elw. Elections were held to an Elwynnese legislature. Although the legislature was largely powerless and the elections skewed to favour the Elfinshi minority elite (also excluding the indentured servants, who formed 90% of the population), the elections brought out Elw and Elwynnese national sentiments – Mari had to go, Mari's policies were bad, and Elwynn deserved better.

The Elw campaigners realized that it would be impossible to gain power peacefully through Elwynn's own institutions. With Hyperborea being given autonomy under its traditional rulers and law, the Elw sought the Hyperboreans out for their support. In 1485, Elw campaigners struck a cunning deal with the autonomous baronial government of Hyperborea whereby they would seek to change the power structures in Elwynn with making Elwynn subjugated to Hyperborea rather than the other way around. The Elwynnese authorities fought heavily against this through campaigns and lobbying (financed to a large decree by Avramali's high-yield estate), but in the end, Elwynn had to acquiesce to a Landsraad trial of assessment whereby the Elwynn lost its duchy status and became subservient to Hyperborea in 1487

Initially, Avramali and other high Elfinshi in Elwynn thought that they could keep their powers and structures, at least to a degree, while the Elw majority would after a period of time get more and more power, but Mari, to the shock of the world, abdicated the baronial throne in 1488 to the Babkhan warlord Ardashir.

Elfinshi Wars and move

With Ardashir's rise to the baronial government of Elwynn, violence immediately broke out in which Elfinshi people were seen as the culprit of all that was wrong in Elwynn – and experienced a decimation of their population through what historians later would describe as a genocide. In the midst of this, the House of Laegel was lucky that it has funds elsewhere and decided to relocate to the Yardistani island of Amity south of the Benacian continent. This island became a safe haven for many Elfinshi refugees, and its feudal institutions made it a place where profits could easily be made in managing manors, farms, factories and so on for the House of Laegel. The House of Laegel, still headed by its lady Avramali, remained on the Yardistani island until the conclusion of a peace treaty between the duchies of Yardistan and Elwynn in 1509.

Return to Elwynn and Investments there

Following that peace treaty, limited restitutions were granted to the returning Elfinshi, the House of Laegel, too. Although the House would not be allowed to return to its former land holdings nor claim any indentured servants, there were some buildings that were returned to the House as well as funds frozen in banks. Seizing on this, and using the favourable economic climate of having a state of peace, the House of Laegel invested in companies having to do with industrialization, building of infrastructure, and construction companies.

Because Elwynn now needed to rebuild after the Elfinshi Wars and the return to peace, and with migration from Babkha and Hurmu was encouraged, the population expanded and infrastructure and construction was necessary. As ever, its methods of exploiting workers were bad – but the Babkhi competitors were no worse – and as such Laegel's owned companies had a somewhat good reputation.

Elwynn remained very poor during the years 1512–1533 and experienced several seasons of famine and bad crops, mainly due to mismanagement of the farming. Laegel, not investing in agriculture per se (except for machinery and so on), made profits throughout most of these years, excepting for 1530–1534 when the Great Famine of Elwynn raged.

But in 1533, Kaiser Mors V of Shireroth, worried about the state of Elwynn placed Count Harald of Wintergleam (who also was, and remains to this day, High King of Stormark) on the ducal throne. Harald took to an immediate reform of the land-owning system and agriculture, and brought an end to the recurrent cycles of famine in 1534. From then on, food was no problem in Elwynn and the happier people would consume more.

Laegel saw in the new rulers of Elwynn – at this time known as Froyalan – an ally. The Houses of Laegel and Ettlingar Freyu (which ruled Elwynn/Froyalan and Stormark) were similar in a number of aspects. Both were feudal organized houses that sought out to maximize profits, and both houses' cultures venerated women above men. The alliance saw that Laegel's companies could get more profitable contracts in the construction industry. Things were good for Laegel throughout Harald's reign, which ended in 1542.

Throughout the next two decades, Laegel's companies continued to generate profits for the house, though not as grand profits as during Harald's reign, but enough to keep Laegel's members in a state of constant luxury. By this time, the members of the house were getting more numerous as a new generation of members were born.

Elwynnese schism

When Daniel Kalirion declared Elwynn independent in 1567, the House of Laegel remained loyal to Shireroth. After the final peace settlement in 1569 which separated Elwynn into the independent West Elwynn (Riqi Adurellion) and the Shirerithian subdivision of East Elwynn, the House of Laegel established itself in the city of Dragonskeep, working closely with first the Hyperborean authorities and later with the ducal authorities of the reestablished Shirerithian duchy of Elwynn. Abusing the feudal system of Shireroth, Laegel could maximise profits, moving now into the agricultural and mining industries. Until the Elwynnese reunification in 1600, Laegel was the largest source of GDP in East Elwynn.

However, after the Elwynnese reunification in 1600, Laegel distrusted the democratic majority in the new Elwynnese polity, and moved back to Yardistan.

Return to Elwynn

Following the accession of Noah as ruler of Elwynn, politics aligned thus that it became beneficial for the House to return to its ancestral home. It did so in 1620, with the support of the Elwynnese government. Lands were put aside for the House of Laegel in Illumination, Utasia, and Amokolia. This greatly increased the riches of the House. The House became the richest non-Storish, non-Froyalanish, and non-Vanic house in Elwynn.

Succession and Genealogy

Succession is female-preference primogeniture, with the provision that succession can only follow in the female line.

Children of a male member of the House, unless he is married to a member of the House, are not members of the house.

In the following list, male members of the house are in italics, and Ladies or Lords Lagel are in bold.

• Esmeralda (1423–1483), 1st Lady Laegel (1475–1483)
  • Avramali (1456–1562), 2nd Lady Laegel (1483–1562)
    • Pador (1472–1560)
      • Offspring not members of house
    • Micah (1474–1505)
    • Kaliandra (1479–1514).
      • Faenor (1502–1583), 3rd Lord Laegel (1562–1564)
        • Offspring not members of house
  • Misa (1458–1554)
    • Marika (1480–1575), 4th Lady Laegel (1564–1575)
      • Esmeralda II (1502–1595), 5th Lady Laegel (1575–1595)
      • Jonas (1506–1582)
        • Offspring not members of house
      • Maya (1509–1622), 6th Lady Laegel (1595–1622)
        • Marcus (1534–1624), 7th Lord Laegel (1622–1624)
          • Offspring not members of house
        • Leon (1538–1629), 8th Lord Laegel (1624–1629)
          • Offspring not members of house
  • Romaia (1460–1562)
    • Zebediah (1487–1532)
    • Michael (1490–1548)
      • Offspring not members of house
    • Mulien (1494–1583)
      • Offspring not members of house
    • Kazerine (1500–1602)
      • Malina (1520–1623)
        • Nathaniel (1544–1632)
          • Offspring not members of house
        • Andreas (1549–1641), 10th Lord Laegel (for ten days before his death)
          • Offspring not members of house
        • Aminar (1551–1641), 9th Lady Laegel (1629–1641)
      • Emelia (1522–1621)
        • Daria (1543–1634)
          • Daniel (1563–1662)
            • Offspring not members of house
        • Morane (1545–1655), 11th Lady Laegel (1641–1655)
          • Sina (1569–1582)
            • Vea Sina (1582–1667), 12th Lady Lagel (1655–1667)
              • Avranel (1612–1702), 13th Lady Laegel, (1667–1702)
                • Mastadir (1636– )
                  • Offspring not members of house
                • Zora (1638–1700)
                  • Aliande (1656–1719), 14th Lady Laegel (1702–1719)
                    • Sirithil (1699– ), 15th Lady Laegel (1719–present)
                    • Legolas (1699– )
                    • Zora (1702– )
                      • Mariina (1723– )
                  • Edona (1660– )
                    • Lira (1682– )
                    • Zevar (1684– )
                    • Michael ( 1685– )
                  • Casper (1662– )
                    • Offspring not members of house
          • Bevrom (1572– )
            • Offspring not members of house
  • Aldamel (1464–1573)

Government