Kingdom of Ustavet

The Kingdom of Ustavet was led by a Hainish general and primarily populated by Kivishta moderates in the South, but was ruled out of Gennorholn. The Holy Land of Ustav was now in a substantial position of power - quite a historical anomaly - and immediately set to work rebuilding itself. The Southern lands paid heavily for this effort, which was icing on the cake for many Gennorans that silently resented the Southland's fifty years of standing by while Gennorholn burned. But the new regime was not all sunshine and roses for locals either - the new Hainish elite that redistributed the land gave much of the rural interior to themselves. These aristocrats began essentially en-serfing the local populace; Ustavet was envisioned as a second Hain, with all the baggage that entailed. Map of Ustavet, c 1800   From 1740 to 1902, Ustavet held together. But it never really managed to sway over local elites or project power over its whole territory. Corruption, factionalism, and bad government slowly ate away at the Kingdom's authority. A succession crisis and brief civil war in 1870 made everything far worse. The royal family devoured itself in a storm of intrigue and coups, and support from the actual Kingdom of Hain dwindled. In 1902, the Southlands rose in rebellion and it was not long before Ustavet had collapsed into six pieces. Gennorholn did well in the resulting partition, and is in many ways the successor state to Ustave (Hainish aristocracy and wild factionalism included). But, for all the evils one can say of Ustavet, they were a blessing for many in Gennorholn and enabled what prosperity exists there today.   Ustavet was not a popular or stable regime, but it was a tolerable replacement for the radical Kivish. Money was funneled from Verzavek to the Northern region of Gennorholn, which provoked a great deal of inter-regional rivalry and discontent. The government was aggressively feudal, and arbitrarily either elevated or destroyed the major landowners families based on perceived Kivish collaboration (but more rooted in personal connections and politics among the Hainish aristocracy). The government was corrupt and largely allowed its feudal landlords to act with absolute freedom, and even went as far as to try and re-introduce serfdom. The ruling families from Hain fought among themselves and broke the country apart in a civil war from 1870 to 1874. Verzavek used this opportunity to drift away into self-government, and Hainish support for Ustavet dwindled. In the 1870s and 1880s, a new Empire of Kizen began dipping its toes into local politics, supporting Verzaven merchants and Kivishta priests through trade subsidies and arms deals. The Ustavet elites tried to reassert themselves in the 1880s and 1890s, but they lacked the wealth or stability to really pull Verzavek back to them. The royal family finally decided to rebuild Verzavek from the ground up in 1902 through mass land redistribution and refeudalization, but Verzaven elites rebelled. The mountain kingdoms, sick of Hainish serfdom, followed suit, and the Kingdom of Ustavet entered its death throes. Kizen sent in military and financial support, and the matter was settled in 1904 with a partition of Ustavet. Verzavek was independent once more, though financially tied to Kizen.