Valknyria

Half elf fencer of valkny by shabazik-d6xw8p4 — A Half Elf, half-human Fencer from the Kingdom of Valkny during the Third War of the Power

Valknyria, Valkny was a human-elven kingdom in the Akresh Archipelago, south to the island of Liohn, between the continents of Ushaenor and Aels, to the west of Botania and east of the islands of Florenia.

The Half Elf, Maritime Nation[]

Differing Names[]

Valknyria has long had an appellation as 'the Half Elf Islands', or the 'Akesh Archipelago of Sea Elves', 'Land of the Half Elf Pirates' and other such colorful or often denigrating terms. Obviously, the elven population on the islands and their role in the islands were the key to these names.

Seafarer Nation[]

These names are reflective of a powerful maritime tradition that existed in one form or another as long as the islands were inhabited as a function of being settled and due to fishing. Certainly, this would be enhanced in later periods, due to the arrival and colonization efforts of the High elves of the Empire of Whide Axis making the islands a natural resupply point and 'staging area' for colonization efforts in Aels and Zarhuy, and beyond. A role it would serve for centuries. Additionally, the islands later splitting into four separate political entities kept the populations savvy in terms of having some naval capabilities. The four main islands were large enough to maintain themselves, but too small for there to be an interior for elites to lose sight of the bounties and threats of the sea.

Arrival of Humans[]

The early Humans that arrived on the islands would profoundly effect the islands as the acceptance of humans would make the islands a dual race society that would long persist. Humans on the islands would be both a boon and bane to the elves who lived there, and one source for the seemingly unending chaos of revolution and racial and ethnic tensions on the islands in its long history. But the humans who lived on their islands would protect the elves from other humans and islands' elves would long remain as a major component of the population and the politics of Valknyria where their fellows in other High Elf colonies would most often be conquered and quickly absorbed by the nascent human nations of the main lands.

Nation of Half Elves[]

Valknyria became the center of a myth of being a nation of an evenly mixed Half Elf race. This is not accurate, and such a thing is only known to have taken place on a national scale once--in the genesis of the Im'Salanos people. Valknyria, was never a truly integrated society, but it did have humans and elves in its nation cooperating to general purposes, most frequently in maritime pursuits, and coming together for mutual defense.

Of course, over two millennia of two races two cultures living near each other, with the elves not being pushed out or greatly reduced in numbers, there was indeed a very strong 'third component' of half elves of various degrees of mixed people living in both human and elf societies. Valknyria most certainly did have a large population of 'half elves' in the sense of being humans with some elven blood; but the nation was certainly never composed entirely of elves and half elves as many outsiders popularly believed. As elsewhere, humans would long become the dominant race, but the process and degree of assimilation of the elves was greatly reduced and slowed relative to almost any other relationship between the peoples.

Rather than a 'Nation of Half Elves', Valknyria might be better thought of as 'Half a Nation of Elves', which it successfully remained for much of its history.

History of the Kingdom of Valknyria

Pre-Valknyrian period: The Four Kingdoms of Akresh and the humans, 900 b.a.H - 517 a.a.H[]

This island was first settled by Draak Harg, dragon-men, being later visited by dark elves traders of Lantania, who settled some colonies in their shores.

However, near the end of the Middle Elfic age, the 900 before the Apparition of Humanity (b.a.H), High Elves from the Empire of the Whide Axis invaded the island, settling there and founding the Four Kingdoms of Akresh.

From Akresh and Novanliohn will be directed much of the operations of imperialism and colonialism of the High Elves in Aels, due their strategic position between Northern Ushaenor and Aels.

Already during the Early Human Age or the Age of Invasions, during the V century, while the high elven kingdoms and colonies of Zarhuy and Aels began to fall against the Kanov and human invaders, the four Kingdoms of Akresh where divided by internal struggles and wars: because of that, they were in a poor state, when arrived the first Momb, the "People of the Seas", to the archipelago.

The People of the seas, the Momb, was a human proto-nation, one of the many descendants of the first humans of Eden and the Seven Cities, who wandering during the dark age that followed the destruction of the first human civilization, were from the first to came to Aels, advancing and settling in Iperto, Dudland, Lug and Botania in the first decades of the V century.

They arrived to Akresh at the 430 year after the Apparition of Humanity (a.a.H). This group of human Mombs that arrived found themselves shipwrecked on the archipelago, with little to no skills to survive.

But fortunately for them, they encountered the indigenous inhabitants of the island to be peaceful and helpful to them, maybe fearing the news of what they have heard of the human invasions in the eastern continents, or that some one of the four local elven kingdoms would try to use them against each other.

These elves took pity on the powerless humans and taught them how to farm, hunt and tend to cattle, as well as many important survival skills, skills that the humans learned intently.

And for nearly 78 years the humans and elves of the archipelago lived peacefully, although the each side kept close to their own.

That was, until other humans came to conquer the island, and war began.

At the 508 a.a.H, as a second group of Mombs from the Sea of Worms of Lug arrived, and it was here that the humans of Akresh proved their worth to the elves, stubbornly holding every piece of land, they would not allow anyone to take their lands.

The Mombs of Keuta conquered first the northern island of Litia, and from there, they launched their raids and attacks on the rest of the archipelago, weakening and attacking repeatedly.

From the ranks of humans of Akresh rose one man, Argos Ravenblood, who proved himself an incredible general and leader, and knowing that alone, they and the four elven kingdoms would fall, he sought the elven kings and queens, and convinced them in forming an alliance of elves and men to beat back the invaders of the east.

Finally, at the 512 a.a.H the Mombs of Lug where repelled from the main islands, being taken back Litia at the 513 a.a.H, and repelling a second and third waves of invaders -from Botania and Gorbegea- at the 515 a.a.H and 516 a.a.H.

In the end the invaders were defeated, and the elves and men of Akresh decided to forge a united kingdom between the four elven kingdoms and the humans of Akresh, founding at the 517 a.a.H the Kingdom of Valknyria, and chose Argos as their king.

Early: The Kingdom of Valknyria, 517 a.a.H - 1757 a.a.H[]

Valknyria, although a peaceful kingdom, due to its key strategic position was as well a very coditiated province, having to repel successive invasions of High elves from the Whide Axis -who claimed that the creation of a mixed human-elf kingdom was a betrayal against the Empire, calling them mockingly the elves of Vaknyria as "grey elves", because they say they were decadent elves, serving a human king. Aside from the Whide Axis, they faced various attempts of humans from Aels: of the sea-faring peoples, the Mombs, or latter as well city states of Uslen and the Dumian Empire.

Because of this, Valknyria needed to become a very militarized society and state, training and preparing any and all the elves and humans, male and female, to defend their homeland.

The Valknyrian army was renowned for their discipline and unbreakable morale, for the citizens all believed in the defense of their lands and people to be the greatest of virtues.

But it was at sea that the Valknyrians would truly shine, due to the fact that they lived in an archipelago of islands, they always required a fleet of ships to travel and defend their lands, and because of this, the Valknyrians became experts at naval warfare and construction, and many invasions failed before even landing troops on the islands of the atoll.

Religion[]

The kingdom of Valknyria didn't have an official religion, having an extensive polytheist pantheon and diverse deities.
Their pantheon revolved around the great Goddess Valkaria -some suppose it was originally a human tradition, later adopted by the elves- and the so called “Aspect gods” who were the manifestations of the goddess.
The aspect gods were separated into three groups of triads, the gods of light -Tyrion, Sigmar, Gaia- represent the positive sides of the Goddess, the gods of shadow -Garrosh, Teveron, Urm- represent the darker side of the Goddess, and then there are the neutral gods -Ishelda, Omniassius and other deity that was later banned from the pantheon, being deleted his or her name, destroyed the statues and the inscriptions of temples and scrolls during the VIII century, maybe due some religious strife, though the reason is unknown for sure.

Religious Wars[]

Valknyria tried to be a neutral country that traded actively with other nations, but due to their times this wasn't maybe the wiser option.

Aside from the raids of Mombs and High Elven attempts, the larger wars were at the 780 a.a.H they faced an invasion of Jathes, a powerful city state of Uslen who managed to siege during 4 years the capitol, Vaalgard, as the invaders took as an opportunity a succession crisis in Valknyria, and a the 1.150 a.a.H., they had to face a serious invasion of the Dumian Empire, which ended with a brief occupation of the eastern islands.

At the 1289 a.a.H, the Vakkustas fought a holy war against them due religious agitation of Vakkusta prophets within Valknyria, which ended in several temples burned and the Vakkusta prophets exiled, which sparked the war against the Empire of the Holy Cow, and at the 1.550 a.a.H, when the Dark Legion tried to annex the island.

However, during the Dark Age of Demons, the might of the Vaknyrian kingdom was disappearing:

The humans had become the predominant ethnic group, and each time became more and more tense the relations between human and elves, while there was a large population of indeterminate origins, half elves, 'quarter elves', 'quarter humans' and more.

The situation worsened with the king Argos XIII the Crazy (1746-1757 a.a.h), who overthrew the old institutions that granted equal representation to elves and humans, ruling alone in the throne without council.

He declared then as only accepted religion the Valknyrian religion, but changing it as he declared himself the supreme god, changing the nature of the aspects to demons of the Dark Legion.
Then, he began to pursuit "heretics and pagans", everybody who didn't followed his visions, torturing and executing them in terrible manners, sacrificing them in the honor of their god -himself-. He prosecuted especially Jews and Christians.

After that, Argos XIII decided to invade and try to conquer the island of Novaliohn of the north, massing the armies and navies of Valknyria for the invasion:

While his armies persecuted the ones who didn't worship the demons in Valknyria, and persecuted and killed elves in Novaliohn, a rebellion begun:

at the 1.757 a.a.H, Argos XIII the Crazy, besieged in his Palace, started himself a fire that consumed him, the whole royal family, the court, his followers and the nobles. That was the end of the first Kingdom of Valknyria.

Middle Period: (1757 - 2165 a.a.H.)[]

Akresh and the Four Kingdoms, 1757 - 1825 a.a.H[]

After the rebellion and fall of the Mad King of Valknyria, the human rebels proclaimed the foundation of Akresh, converting to Christianity, while the elves re-founded again the four kingdoms, and immediately a civil war begun between these factions, until the 1.825 a.a.H, when the Southern Dumian Empire under Tinian II, arrived and conquered the archipelago, who one more time will begin to live in an era of invasions, and of successive kingdoms -elven, human and human-elven- who sometimes tried to reclaim their Valknyrian history.

Southern Dumian Occupation[]

From 1825 a.a.H the forces of Emperor Tinian II will conquer and occupy Akresh, and one after another, the four elven kingdoms.

Akresh archipelago will be occupied from 1825 to the 2003 a.a.H, when due another political intrigue at the Southern Dumian Imperial palace and coup d'etat meant that the governor of the island pledged himself to the last usurper Tikinikos, sending the garrison of the island and ships to fight in the last Unlic civil war.

Akresh[]

The rebellion of a Southern Dumian general, to overthrow the Emperor in Uslen, gave the opportunity to the humans of the archipelago to proclaim their independence from Uslen.

With the Unlic garrison weakened, and tired of the chaos of the successive civil wars that shook the Empire, the local Akreshi rebelled, and the humans one more time proclaimed the independence of the Second kingdom of Akresh, being made some compromises between the elven and human population of the archipelago, ruled by human kings, but with a court of human and elven nobles.

They will fight a war against Sargos, before taking part in the First War of the Power.

However the situation quickly become unstable, as during the Unlic rule the Akreshi had learned the ways of political intrigues and assassinations of the Southern Dumian Empire, and with an usurper on the throne -Isai I, the son of the deposed and brutally assassinated king, Prince Joole asked for help from Sargos to retake his father's kingdom, beginning the Akresh-Sargos War, that will last from 2014 to 2022 a.a.H. In this war, the Akreshi and their usurper, backed by the grey elves and his loyal humans, defeated the newly created Sargonic fleets, having defended his island, but being unable to land a sizeable force in the Aelian shores, the Akreshi actions were limited to coastal raids.

From this war that ended in a stalemate, the Usurper Isai began what will be a tradition of Akresh: to become pirates and raiders of the sea, raiding both the northwestern Aelian shores, and as well the easternmost islands of Ushaenor, dependent on the Whide Axis -the reason why these would be finally unpopulated, to escape from Akreshi pirate raids- and the lands of the Sukkes. For about a century, until the 2100's, Akresh will be a terror of the seas, fighting and often defeating the navies of Huncle, Sargos, La Cruz, Tardos and Botania, and as well of the Whide Axis, becoming a sea power in which the kings of Akresh were elected by successive coups and intrigues.

Piracy and the Empire of Whide Axis backs Elven Control[]

This situation will last until their last raids against the Whide Axis decided the High Elven empire to send a navy to suppress the Akresh, defeating them and putting a new elven usurper on the throne, backed by High Elven swords, between the 2120 to the 2165.

Eventually, a human uprising supported by Sargos will overthrow the elven rule of Valkny.

In 2165, the humans regained control when yet other civil war in Akresh will change their kings: the Whide Axis was forced back to Ushaenor, leaving Akresh, but the fleets of Akresh, fear of the northern seas, wouldn't come back to their previous glory and range.

Later Period: (2165 - 2838 a.a.H.)[]

First War of the Power[]

Therefore, during the First War of the Power (2203-2223 a.a.H) at first Akresh didn't get itself involved, until around the 2206 they noticed how all the human kingdoms of the northwest of Aels had fallen, and worried, they began to try to support and fund rebels against the Dark Legion, becoming later key in supporting the massing and transport of the Army of the Venerable Empire of the Whide Axis to Aels, in the 2209 a.a.H.

Neo-Valknyrian elven state[]

After the First War of the Power, the High elves of Whide Axis supported the gray elves of the Archipelago of Akresh.

However after the war, while Akresh and the Whide Axis were allied, as the high elven forces returned to Ushaenor the High elves took the opportunity to support a Grey elven revolt in Akresh, being created the Neo-Valknyrian state, member of the Whide Axis Empire, at the 2226 a.a.H.

But, as the High elven interests dropped in Aels, so was the case as well of the Akresh Archipelago, and by the 2273, a human rebellion -funded by Sargos under Martin the Conqueror, who commanded as well his men in the followings battles- overthrew the high elven government.

Second kingdom of Valknyria[]

A second human-elven kingdom in Valknyria.

However, to try to reach some stability and avoid once more time the cycle of rebellions, will be created the Second Kingdom of Valknyria, that will last from 2273 to the 2514 a.a.H.

Akresh, as part of the Holy Sargonic Empire[]

The Second kingdom of Valknyria, under pressure of Christian humans and pro-Sargonic factions, entered in the Holy Sargonic Empire, remaining within it until the War of the Three Emperors, first supporting Camilo VIII The Apostate, before being conquered by Carlos Alfonso IV (2586-2601 a.a.H). With the war within the Holy Sargonic Empire which was falling apart, the population of Akresh will proclaim one more time independence of the Third Kingdom of Valkynira at 2625 a.a.H.

Third kingdom of Valknyria[]

After the wars of Camilo VIII The Apostate, and the Sukkes invasion, there will be proclaimed a third human-elf kingdom of Valknyria in 2625 a.a.H.

Valknyria will play an active role during the Third War of the Power, though as a minor power, that would be fortunate enough to survive the Cataclysm, remaining independent until the 2838 a.a.H, when it was finally conquered by Nicolia.