Elwynn

Imperial Dominion of Elwynn
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: Elwynn prevails!
Map versions	The Imperial Dominion of Elwynn is shown in green within Shireroth (dark grey) and the Benacian Republic (light grey)
Capital	New Eliria
Largest city	Fieldburg, Araxion, Azshara
Official language(s)	Elw, Istvanistani, Cimmerian, Elfinshi
Official religion(s)	Cedrism, BOOMism, Icebearianism
Demonym	Elwynnese
- Adjective	Elwynnese
Government	Imperial Dominion
- Prince	Claudius Verion
- Steward	Victoria Lewis
- Legislature	Council of Eliria (advisory)
Establishment	1452 (as Duchy of Elwynn)
Population	16,341,949 (1697 cenus)
Currency	Elwynnese mark
Time zone(s)	CMT-8
National animal	White Stag, Hangover Owl
National food	Desert Berries
National drink	Tea
Abbreviation	ELW

This page is about the current Imperial Dominion of Elwynn, for previous incarnations of Elwynn, see Elwynn (disambiguation).

The Imperial Dominion of Elwynn, better known as Elwynn, and until 1758 known as the Upper Elwynn, also known as Northern Elwynn, or, simply, The North, is a Feudal and Imperial autonomous part of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth. The traditional counties referred to in the name of the autonomous republic are Agnesia, Araxion, Cape Farewell, Eliria, Fieldburg Iserdia, and Cimmeria. The borders between the counties are not determined by law and are largely regional identities with some overlap.

Geography

See also Islands of Elwynn

The land of Elwynn is dominated largely by the Blue and White Elwynn rivers, and the Northern Reaches (stretching from Wintergleam in the east, to Cape Farewell in the North, and borders Amokolia in the West. To the south lies the Prefecture of Alalehzamin.

Northern Reaches

The Northern Reaches, constituting the northern-most coastline of Elwynn (Cape Farewell and Illumination) stretching from Vattnaland in the west to the Cimmerian islands in the east, are cold and humid. As they are low-lying, they are however shielded from the winds from the continent's inner highlands. The local wildlife consists mainly of marine mammals (such as seal, polar bear, walrus, narwhal, whales) along the coast, some of which in the sea and on land, as well as penguins, and flying migratory birds. Despite the harsh climate, thanks to Hyperborean hotspot technology throughout the past two centuries (drilling below the crust to create tiny controlled hotspot volcanoes for energy and heat), the area has hosted a larger than expected population. The far east of the Northern Reaches have a forest, the Phoenix Forest, created in the late 1400s, by Halluci refugees, using the hotspot technology. The Phoenix Forest is famous for a protected habitat of the hangover owl (Strigida crapula). The hangover owl's behaviour is special because of its fervent, loud and bizarre nightly activity, while in day-time the bird is often seen walking (almost penguin-like) on the ground from tree to tree, looking for quick high-energy foods such as nuts.

The inland Cape Farewell and northern Illumination have some glaciers of note.

Cimmeria

A subregion of the Northern Reaches is Cimmeria, a group of five rocky volcanic islands. Thanks to hot springs (geysir), they are warmer than their latitude would otherwise indicate. A few endemic species in the fauna, little mammal life outside livestock.

Agnesia

Agnesia and covers the north-eastern parts of continental Elwynn, and these regions' climate and geography also include the Asantelian region. Historically formed by receding ice from the last ice age, as well as glaciers, the Agnesian coast houses numerous fjords, the greatest of which is the Vijayanagara Fjord. While northern Agnesia is rocky, the central parts (around Dragonskeep) are covered in pine forests. The southern parts, bordering on the New Eliria area, have fertile grounds, where grazing occurs, as well as some agriculture in the form of potatoes, wheat, rye, and vegetables.

Iserdia

Iserdia's name comes from an expression in a Nordic vernacular dialect, Íseirdia-la-Vraulalennir, meaning "tundra and barren lands". This is an accurate description. The inland of Elwynn, North of the Elwynn rivers' mouths is mostly barren, cold, with permafrost, tundra, and taiga. The land is suitable in parts for the growing of the hardy Leng cabbage, but little else besides flourishes there.

Araxion and Utasia

Araxion and Utasia are lush and fertile. However, they are on a higher ground than northern Elluenuueq, so there are glaciers in the north of these areas. They experience hot summers and cold winters. In Araxion there is some forest (cultivated, for the purposes of timber), while Utasia has more agriculture. The fishing cat is found along the river Elwynn.

History

For the main article, covering the full history of Elwynn, see History of Elwynn

The history of Elwynn is fundamentally a product of its geography. The land between the East and West Elwynn rivers formed a frontier between the agricultural south and the hunter-herdsman cultures of the Far Reaches. South of this climatic divide permanent settlements, agriculture and organised polities emerged, while the north remained the domain of nomadic hunters and pastoralists. This frontier shaped Elwynnese history for centuries, delaying the development of permanent political structures and leaving the region characterised by migration, tribal organisation and continual upheaval.

According to tradition, the origins of Elwynn lie at Araxion, where the god Utas brought the goddess Elwynn and raised the Tower of Araxion to protect her. Whether legend or memory of prehistoric settlement, Araxion became the ancestral homeland of the proto-Elw. From here the Elli expanded across northern Benacia, first as hunter-gatherers and later as pastoralists, eventually giving rise to the many Elw tribes that dominated the north and later challenged the early Shirerithian Empire.

Early Elw society centred upon villages clustered around ritual long-houses aligned symbolically with the Tower of Araxion. The Elli were principally goatherds who supplemented their livelihoods through hunting, foraging and trade with neighbouring agricultural peoples. Increasing food surpluses supported specialist craftsmen, miners, blacksmiths and potters, while religious life revolved around shamans conducting rituals separated from the community by the symbolic barrier of the long-house sanctuary. Society appears to have been comparatively egalitarian, with leadership based more upon ability than hereditary privilege.

As the Elw expanded beyond Araxion they encountered the Eraiseraislâi, a forest people in which women occupied an unusually prominent position. Competition for hunting grounds gradually escalated into the Wars of the Cauldron, fought over the mythical Cauldron of Tammuz. Believed to embody regeneration, fertility and the renewal of life, possession of the Cauldron became central to the religious and political authority of both peoples. The conflict became one of the defining traditions of early Elwynnese mythology.

During the sixth century AN, the Elfinshi war leader Elu Verion led the defence of Elwynn against repeated Cimmerian incursions along the northern coast. In later centuries Treesian missionaries gradually introduced their faith into Elwynn, laying religious foundations that would long outlive the old animist traditions.

The decisive turning point came with the Shirerithian conquest. Beginning in 1356, the Kaisers gradually subdued Elwynn despite determined resistance from the Elw and Elfinshi. The suicide of the last Elu Verion in 1440 symbolised the collapse of organised resistance, and by 1444 Elwynn had been fully incorporated into the Empire. Although the Elfinshi nobility retained their lands after swearing fealty, the Duchy of Elwynn was placed under rulers appointed by the Kaiser. The destruction of much of the native warrior aristocracy ensured that later noble houses would derive largely from immigrant Hyperborean, Babkhan and Froyalanish families rather than indigenous Elw stock.

Under the Elfinshi dynasties of nos Fëanor and Greenwood, Elwynn was transformed into an ecological preserve inspired by Soloralist ideals. The ruling Elfinshi sought to create an idyllic and sustainable society while maintaining their own privileged way of life. For the native Elw this meant forced settlement, agricultural labour and indenture in a society entirely alien to their traditions as hunters and herdsmen. Labour-intensive conditions, rejection of modern technology and the hardships of serfdom produced widespread resentment, high mortality and the gradual erosion of older tribal identities.

The First Babkhan Era began in 1488 when Mari Greenwood surrendered power to Ardashir Osmani, an event later portrayed as one of the most decisive moments in Elwynnese history. The transition triggered civil war, conflict with Hyperborea and the destruction of Elfinshi political dominance. While later historians disputed Greenwood's motives, the consequences were unmistakable: Babkhan migration, industrialisation and the replacement of the old rural order with a far more dynamic but far harsher society.

The Babkhan period introduced iron works, gunpowder mills, large-scale engineering projects and intensive exploitation of Elwynn's forests. Heavy industry and infrastructure replaced much of the idyllic landscape cultivated under Elfinshi rule. At the same time war, famine and forced labour transformed society. Mortality during the conflicts reached catastrophic levels in some districts, while extensive grain exports contributed directly to the Hunger Famines of the early sixteenth century. Although the hardships undermined the legitimacy of ducal authority and produced widespread lawlessness, the period also marked the beginning of Elwynn's transition from an isolated frontier into an increasingly industrial society.

The Froyalanish Era began in 1533 with the accession of Harald of Ettlingar Freyu. Order was gradually restored, famine relief organised, grain exports prohibited and new crop varieties introduced, ending the recurring cycle of famine. Administrative reforms reorganised the realm, slavery, thraldom and indentured servitude were abolished, and eligibility for public office was formally extended to all inhabitants regardless of race or ethnicity. Institutions such as the Løgting, later Froyalanish Ancient Ways and new county structures laid the foundations of later Elwynnese government.

Political instability nevertheless returned with the Second Babkhan Era, followed by decades of frequent constitutional change, ducal succession and imperial intervention. The duchy experienced repeated reforms, revolts and reorganisations before eventually declaring independence from Shireroth in 1567. Independence was recognised two years later, after which Elwynn entered a succession of unions, constitutional experiments and political realignments with neighbouring states including Hurmu and Amokolia.

The seventeenth century witnessed some of the most radical transformations in Elwynnese history. The Coordinated State replaced traditional administration with an extensive system of bailiwicks governed through guild corporations and supervised by a highly centralised state. Guild communism, nationalisation, demonetisation and technocratic administration characterised the regime, which simultaneously faced ecological disaster, armed rebellion and persistent internal opposition. Although later writers acknowledged its effectiveness in maintaining order and responding to crisis, its authoritarian methods remained deeply controversial.

The subsequent Democratic People's Republic retained many of the preceding regime's economic policies while introducing an uncompromising Marxist constitution and militant atheism. The source characterises the republic as an unmitigated failure whose collapse paved the way for the Ayreon-Kalirion Restoration, restoring constitutional monarchy under Prince Nathaniel before authority increasingly shifted towards the Vanic monarchy.

The Vanic period profoundly reshaped Elwynnese society through new constitutional arrangements, closer integration of the Vanic Church into public life and extensive territorial reforms. Yet, in the judgement of the source, the cumulative effect of Froyalanish monarchy was to hollow out Elwdom itself. By emphasising the separateness of Elwynn's ethnic communities as part of a broader divide-and-rule strategy, successive governments weakened the shared Elwynnese identity that had survived earlier centuries of conquest and upheaval.

Following the Auspicious Occasion, Elwynn became a republic, but political instability culminated in civil war, partition and competing governments. The First Elwynnese Republic struggled with constitutional crisis, economic decline and separatism before the Second Partition divided the country between the Northern Realm and several imperial domains.

The collapse of Shirerithian authority during the Kalirion Fracture enabled Elwynn to restore its independence in 1671. Negotiations produced a federal republic balancing the interests of Congressional Elwynn in the north with the highly autonomous Alalehzamini Autonomous Republic in the south under a common Prince and Council of Eliria. Reconstruction, restoration of infrastructure and economic recovery proceeded alongside disputes over territorial expansion, the Verionist controversy and continuing efforts to define the constitutional balance between the republic's autonomous components.

History from 1672 AN to 1692 AN

Unlike its neighbours, the Alalehzamini Autonomous Republic and the Northern Commonwealth, the Congressional Counties did not have a flag or symbols of their own, choosing instead to use Elwynn's. As implied by their name, the Congressional Counties were governed by a Congress elected by the people. The Congress functioned in a parliamentarian sense, with an executive government answering to the Congress.

Before 1675, the Congressional Counties also encompassed the Northern Commonwealth. Due to the ideological differences between these two parts of Northern Elwynn, the Northern Commonwealth split. Two years later, however, the Northern Commonwealth was returned to the Congressional Counties. But in 1682, Asantelian and Wintergleam were transferred to SCAR, and in 1684, the Amokolian Republic was established, taking the counties of Automatica, Vattnaland and Mishalan with it.

Congress Elwynn was imbued with a fundamentally liberal and secular character, which was accordingly deeply ingrained in the culture and politics of the Elw majority . The refusal of the "Ayreonist" north to accept that the doctrine of multiculturalism, pursued over generations, had allowed the descendants of the Babkhi settlers of Alalehzamin to become the majority community in Elwynn (especially after the Auspicious Occasion) set the country on an inexorable path towards schism. The enfranchisement of the descendants of foreign migrants who adhered to fundamentally different moral and sectarian values had permanently shifted the electoral balance in favour of conservatism and Nationalist Humanism parties. The disparity in the rate of natural increase between the indigenous Elw and the incoming Babkhi, especially after the Froyalanish population had been removed from the mix, had seen the Ayreonist parties weaken over time, a trend that predated independence in 1672 AN and obliged the liberal elite to embrace a policy of cooperation with the Verionist Union, thereby becoming entangled in the separatist aspirations of the Northern Commonwealth's heirs and fatally compromised in the eyes of the southerners.

The federal model that was adopted by Elwynn upon its independence had been a consequence of the conscious on the part of the Provisional Government to avoid the tensions that had led to the First Elwynnese Civil War scarcely a decade after the Auspicious Occasion. That conflict, between North and South, had seen Elwynn suppressed by the Imperial Government and would perhaps, if the Kalirion Fracture had not occurred in 1672 AN led to the erasure of Elwynn's distinct cultural and historic identity. The Court of the Prince and the Council of Eliria had therefore been restricted by the provisions of the constitution, to focusing upon only those matters which pertained to the defence and security of Elwynn, relations between the autonomous republics, and dealings with foreign powers. However, the entanglement of the Ayreonist political classes with the cadres of the Verionist cause, especially prominent in Agnesia and Cimmeria meant that Upper Elwynn became unwilling host to a "home front" during the Verionian-Raspur War. Skirmishes around Fieldburg, and clashes in Eliria, between Humanist and Verionist partisans would invariably see Ayreonist politicians and activists caught up in the dragnet of state repression that would follow. For the Ayreonists it became clear that the Humanists were seeking to use the Verionist connection as a pretext to essay the destruction of the democratic opposition, while the Humanists similarly saw the Ayreonists engaged in treasonable associations with the fifth column of a foreign power. The principates of Frederik Haabye Truls (1676–1683) and his wife Kamilla Winther (1685–1695) would see an expansion of the powers of the Court of the Prince beyond the bounds set by the constitution and an increasing seep of Humanist ideology into the bureaucracy and supposedly apolitical civic institutions such as the People's Academy of Elwynn.

The proscription of the Ayreonist Independence Party in 1681 AN, enabled by the scandal of the Coldwater Company, had convinced the liberal elite that the experiment of a liberal-humanist Elwynn united under a minimalist federal system had failed. For the remainder of the decade therefore, a conspiracy began to take root in the heart of the Congress of the Upper Elwynnese Republic.

The Occupation and Reconstruction Era (1696 AN onwards)

For Benacia Command, following the atomic immolation of both the loyalist and the separatist administrations during the nightmarish days of the Scouring, there was no longer a viable administration with whom to conclude an armistice, nor indeed a reliable and functioning native administration to install in its place. Instead the obligation was to now set upon it to create a formal occupation government - a duty which fell to the Political Directorate, already well versed in the administration of the Unified Governorates of Benacia. By dint of Ardashirshahr being spared the destruction visited upon Islus and Kingsgate through a fortuitous ballistic missile interception, the pool of native collaborators who Benacia Command could call upon to flesh-out the new administration had, out of necessity, a distinctly Babkhi tint.

Whilst a formal peace was naturally impossible to conclude, it being both ideologically contrary to the Humanist ideology of the regime taking shape in Ardashirshahr and conceptually abhorrent to the irreconcilable "Free Elwynnese" survivors who had gathered in Wolfraven, the eradication of the last of the evacuation ports marked a natural termination point for the conflict. The last of these, Caligae, was captured by a combined arms assault that was conducted by the Szodanin-Uihmanz of the Black Legions as an extermination action. From this last battle of the war, pointedly, no rebel survivors, be they SDF, Home Guard, or civilian, emerged alive. It was an appropriately sanguinary note for the overly long, bitterly contested, and exceptionally brutal conflict to finally conclude - leaving Elwynn facing an uncertain future and the economic and material prospects of the entire continent of Benacia at their lowest ebb since the Kalirion Fracture twenty-five years before.

Control of access to food rations was one of the means by which the Union Defence Force enforced the semblance of authority over the newly recaptured territories. Bailiwicks in which partisan attacks and brigandry were reported could face the prospect of food embargoes lasting for a week, a fortnight, or a month, depending upon the UDF bailiwick-commandant's assessment of the severity of the transgression. In especially serious instances of defiance, the withholding of state mandated rations could be supplemented by a total prohibition of food imports into a bailiwick and policing actions by the Elwynnese Landstorm aimed at confiscating foodstuffs from farms and warehouses in the area under interdict. Within a bailiwick subject to such a stoppage, provision would only be made for those citizens who had taken up roles in the service of the UDF, the Honourable Company, or the N&H. It swiftly proved expedient and necessary to remove cooperative citizens from their communities into adjacent fortified cantonments to ensure their safety against the reprisals of their erstwhile neighbours.

Decided on the margins of the Congress of Chryse, the post-war Babkhi-dominated government of Elwynn determined that its foremost goal in reconstruction would be the removal or destruction of all industrial plants and equipment that would have any conceivable use in any future rebellion by the Elw or Amokolian peoples. Steel production was immediately outlawed in the former autonomous republics of Amokolia and Upper Elwynn and the Union Defence Force instructed to mobilise local corvée labour to support industrial disarmament. All industrial plants and equipment not destroyed by military action was to be completely dismantled and removed from the capitulated territories, or else destroyed in situ if removal was impossible. A proposal to demolish, through controlled demolitions, the mines of Amokolia and Upper Elwynn was entertained but eventually dismissed. The former rebel territories would instead be resource extraction zones, with refining processes and manufacturing would take place in the autonomous republics which had remained loyal during the conflict. Light industries, without an identifiable dual military purpose, would be permitted in an unconsolidated form at the level of the bailiwick, for the purpose of facilitating reparation payments. Economic enterprises, with preference given to those focused on activities that would facilitate reconstruction and reparation payments, would be permitted by the UDF bailiwick-commandant on a case by case basis.

The bailiwicks of Amokolia and Upper Elwynn faced a double indemnity, not only to cover the repayment to Benacia Command of the costs it had incurred in sustaining the war to reconquer the north, and its subsequent occupation, but also to make reparations to Alalehzamin and the Sovereign Confederation for the destruction of three major urban bailiwicks during the rebel counterstrike on the day of the Scouring. Naturally there would be no funding available for the four northern population centres obliterated during the initial orbital bombardment, nor for the other cities which had been subjected to conventional aerial bombardment during the war. Reconstruction was only funded to the extent that the infrastructure restored would facilitate the payment of reparations, and the cost of the reconstruction work itself would be added to the total reparations bill.

The burden of reparation payments was initially divided equally between each bailiwick, irrespective of size and ability to pay. Eventually exactions were scaled to taking forty-percent of a bailiwick's pre-war economic output.

Upper Elwynn would subsequently be restored, albeit in a truncated form, as the Governorate of Nordland within the Circuit of the General Government of the Realm of Elluenuueq.

Economy

Prior to the Second Elwynnese Civil War the Upper Elwynnese economy was largely focused on four sectors: industry, finance, service, and energy. Tourism, fishery, and forestry played a limited, but in certain areas, significant role in the economy.

Industry in Upper Elwynn was for the most part restricted to refining raw metal to fine metal. Elwynnese harbours played an important role in securing transport. The destruction of Eliria and Vijayanagara during the Scouring, an orbital bombardment and limited nuclear exchange which occurred over the course of one day in the final months of the war, was instrumental in the collapse of much of this metallurgical heavy industry. Surviving industrial plant, salvaged from the irradiated dead-zones or else captured intact in other cities following the collapse of the rebel cause, had been for the most part dismantled and shipped to the Unified Governorates of Benacia during 1696 AN–1697 AN as part of repayments made to service the war debts incurred by Elwynn for the rebellion against the Raspur Pact.

In terms of energy, Upper Elwynn once housed nuclear power stations of good quality; however these were heavily damaged during the Pact's strategic bombing campaign against the infrastructure of Upper Elwynn. Following a criticality incident in Araxion after one such raid, it was deemed prudent to hurriedly decommission the remaining nuclear reactors. The nuclear energy infrastructure of Upper Elwynn was subsequently sought and dismantled as part of the reparation payments demanded by Benacia Command from the rebel bailiwicks at the conclusion of the war. This has left Upper Elwynn, formerly a net energy producer, dependent upon the Unified Power System of Benacia for its energy needs, these being strictly rationed to prioritise reconstruction work and those forms of economic activity deemed most useful for advancing the payment of reparations. Where Upper Elwynn (and the Amokolian islands) is still able to make a contribution to the Benacian energy mix, is in the realm of thermal energy (from the hotspots under the ground). This has historically been important for ensuring the habitability of many Upper Elwynnese cities in the inhospitable Boreal regions.

Upper Elwynn, especially the Greater Eliria area, was once the financial centre of Elwynn. Banks, insurance companies, financiers, and so on, had their headquarters in Upper Elwynn – largely thanks to no-nonsense regulations and belief in the rule of law. Thrice, this belief has been placed in doubt, the first two occasions involving Verionist businesses, the Iron Company and the Coldwater Company – with Verionism gone, confidence in the Elwynnese market has recovered, with great yields to shareholders in Upper Elwynn ensuing. The final time however, which saw the Ayreonist inspired effort at secession which gave rise to the second civil war, resulted in an unprecedented capital flight, as it became clear that the rebel government was attempting to detach itself from the economic and political structures of the Raspur Pact and subsequently saw the physical destruction of the infrastructure that has sustained the financial sector, along with the greater part of Eliria itself. As such, it may be said, that the financial services sector for which Upper Elwynn was once so justly famous, has literally been burnt away.

Taxpayer funded health-care, once considered by many in Upper Elwynn to be less a benefit than a right, was abolished as one of the many efficiencies demanded to cover the cost of reparation payments to Alalehzamin and the Sovereign Confederation for damages inflicted during the war.