Trebai Ascendancy

"I pledge my allegiance to the Ascendancy, and to the glory of all beneath her shining rays..." - From the nationalist poem Ascend by Curto the Elder

The Trebai Ascendancy was a major government that replaced the High Kingdom of Beurum after The Twenty-Year War.

Born out of the chaos of the Twenty Year War, the government controlled more lands than nearly any of its predecessors, only rivaling some Makovai and Taran claims from before the First Era. Starting with the lands formerly held by the High Kingdom of Beurum, the hardened military forces of the fledgling empire quickly took control of the neighboring Alois Confederation and Rowenia. However, lands under the control of the Ascendancy were generally held more loosely than its largest predecessors. Most individual groups were allowed to keep their own governments, so long as they pledged allegiance to their new emperor.

History

Because of its gradual expansionist policy following the Imperial War, and because of their trade agreements with the Sunlit Isles, the High Kingdom of Beurum was the most powerful single political entity on the continent by the mid-Fourth Era. Growing concerns of an approaching war with Makovai-led dwarves in and around the kingdom prompted calls for defensive agreements with the Alois Confederacy, Rowenia, and Eripea. With the exception of Eripea, these agreements were gradually made, somewhat uniting the countries. Additionally, the High Kingdom had experienced changes in its government in the centuries preceding the war that foreshadowed the rise of an empire. Control of the military shifted from the High Ruler to the elected assemblies, particularly those elected by elites. Because of this, the military became a significant and powerful political force, more under the control of individual nobles than the ruler. Two separate coup attempts before the war failed. At the beginning of the war, lower assemblies were quickly suspended by the military, in an effort for greater efficiency. Propaganda efforts by the elites controlling the armed forces stressed the move as the only way to match the speed of dwarven forces. As the war dragged on, Arda III, growing older and with no living heirs, gave the kingdom to the God Hayuk in a climactic religious event. The military, claiming to be the chosen force of Hayuk, quickly took control. Following the war, elites closely affiliated with the military quickly consolidated their power in the Alois Confederacy and Rowenia. They moved to establish more complete control over these new territories while simultaneously ensuring control over the outlying regions of the Old Kingdom. The Alois Confederacy, exhausted by the war due to their lack of support from the Sunlit Isles, was unable to mount a sufficient defense against their conquerors, while the leaders of Rowenia gave their land to the kingdom by treaty. Following these acquisitions, the Trebai Ascendancy was quickly established. To legitimize their power, Ascendancy leaders, under the leadership of Imperator Walther I, a former Grand General of the old kingdom's military, gave generous benefits to local rulers while keeping them within their authority. Additionally, the Ascendancy demanded heavy reparations from the recently defeated dwarven tribes. As part of the controversial Greenfall Ordinances, Ascendancy soldiers were occasionally permitted to conduct raids on dwarven settlements for the purposes of reclaiming wealth lost during the war. But the Ascendancy faced a major problem: despite their efforts, they could not pay back corporations based in the Sunlit Isles, predominantly the Sunlit Isles Trading Company, for their purchases from the war. Unable to levy higher taxes on imperial citizens for fear of revolution, the Ascendancy agreed to the Treaty of Theolia, which quietly but significantly increased Daphnea influence within the imperial government.

Technological Level

The Ascendancy sought a monopoly on the use of magic, which had advanced significantly during the Twenty-Year War. As such, the practice of most magical arts were banned throughout the Trebai Ascendancy.