Enclave of Evenswon

The Fjallan plateau was first colonized by elves during the existence of the Empire of Oleandron, and it was a prosperous region of the empire which was settled in particular by middle class elves moving away from the cities during the long decline of the empire. After the fall of the empire, the Fjallan region was part of West Oleandron, where it technically formed the core of the west's elven lands. However, these elves did not wish to fight for the restoration of the Empire, as it had been overthrown by humans. Henceforth, in 777, the Bastellíon Uprsing began, pitting elf against humans. Initially, much of the fighting took place along the Fjallan cliffs, but after the Fjallan halflings themselves declared independence in 784, the elves backed them against the corpse of the west. This would be proven moot after the fall of the west in 788 and the establishment of the Free City of Isileum. However, Bastellíon was a very unstable, republican state, which still had major issues with Erleting raiders threating from the east. After a catastrophic defeat in 795, Bastellíon collapsed into various small communes, and the Erleting pushed the border further into the woods. This fractured landscape would allow the Sunþirudans to easily conquer the western communes in the valley of Valerier in 806 before moving into the plateau and crushing the other communes by 811.

Despite their defeat by the Sunþirudans, the elves would be ambivalent at worst to the new state, with many in the east seeing them as saviors from the Erleting, since Sunþiruda also swept across and subjugated them. Those who didn't were just tired of war, and supported Sunþiruda as long as they weren't personally under attack. This ambivalent attitude become more favorable after Sunþiruda's second ruler, Wildimar, defeated the remaining Erleting on the plateau and made them pay tribute in order to secure more funds, which helped with the economies of the communes. He also granted increased privileges to the elven towns in exchange for greater taxes, especially on their luxury goods, which the elves were willing to pay for increased autonomy. After reaching this accord, smaller towns of Giriþiudans began popping up on the frontier, and a few mixed settlements arose as well.

In 944, two twin brothers invaded Fjalla with an army of 40,000 Giriþiudans. Their forces were shortly joined by several rebellious nobles and their entourages, raising the number to over 50,000s. With the Sunþirudan army on the back foot, the elven lands were lost, and would never be recovered. After the war, the new Kingdom of Widuþia ruled the Fjallan highlands, with the unrecognized Kingdom of the Valley holding Valerier. However, the new kingdom was unstable, and Sunþiruda had also been greatly weakened by the conflict, leading to a crumbling of order. Although the two kingdoms experience a brief period of strength during the years 1011-1019 when Wiwick I ruled as the regent of Widuþia as well as king of Sunþiruda, after Wiwick's reign, Sunþiruda fell into civil war and would not recover. This left Widuþia as a weakened state with few allies and a population that was distrustful due to their instability. Widuþia would suffer reversals over the next few decades, with their capital sacked by recently freed Erleting marches in 1031 and a costly defense against the invaders from Valerier draining their resources during the later 1030s. When another Erleting host raided the halfling lands in 1042, Widuþia was unable to defend them, and the resulting devastation was immense. This also marked the facto independence of the majority of the halflings, as the Widuþians never projected power into the south again, aside from the westernmost lands of Berron.

The remainder of Widuþia's existence was short and tragic, as they lasted just 30 more years. In 1049, a new Erleting warlord seized the eastern marches once more, pushing the border back to, roughly, what it had been in the later 790s. Having crossed the border hills, they continued to threaten the core of Widuþia, with most elves feeling that the Widuþians were not able to protect them at all. This would begin the Faílion War, so named for the various skirmishes and battles which occurred along the river, marking the border between the rebels and the government. With most elves refusing conscription during this war, Widuþia was unable to emerge victorious, but the rebels were similarly unable to gain a foothold in the east. Thus, the war was left in a stalemate by 1060. Widuþia's crumbling state managed to survive for another decade, but when, in 1069, the king died heirless and the nobles began fighting over the throne, the elven territories united to claim their own state- Evenswon. The remnants of Widuþia, mainly confined to Giriþiudan-majority towns, each backing their own claimant, survived just a few more years before Evenswon finished them off (Berron quietly seceded during this time).

Thus, by 1073, elven rule was restored to what it had been in 806, before the Giriþiudans entered the plateau. However, the lands were now split not between various small communes, but between two nations- the militaristic Faílion rebels and the more conciliatory Evenswon, whose rebellion saw little bloodshed. Evenswon would now be, ironically, the ones engaged in warfare, while Faílion remained peaceful, as Evenswon needed to deal with the constant Erleting raids threatening their frontier. This proved doable, but tough, as Evenswon leaned on the soldiering tactics of the Giriþiudans and learned to once more become proficient in archery, providing a strong contingent of archers with a smaller amount of Giriþiudans as frontline soldiers. Although the wars with the Erleting would last over a century due to their general power at the time, by 1213 the hilly eastern borders were firmly under their control, and the Erleting were reduced to a small pale of settlement in the hills and valleys further east. Evenswon would later become embroiled in conflict with Valerier, helping to topple the Giriþiudan state there and replacing it with a Telrai and Elvish-dominated state. After a prolonged period of peace, Evenswon would enter into conflict with Faílion over border disagreements caused by changes in the Faílion river's course since the 1060s. This was a war that Faílion could not hope to win, and the state was integrated into Evenswon following a short war, lasting between 1516 and 1519.

This would be the last real war fought by Evenswon for nearly 5 centuries, during which time the state was focused on craftsmanship and not war. Raids by Giriþiudans across the Giriþiudan Mountains and by the Erleting across the border marches proved to be more and more concerning as the 20th century began, but this was a mere forethought for what was to come. With the toppling of the nation of Miþwa by the Konuger of Jøkath in the late 1900s, Evenswon was caught by a wave of refugees and raiders from that nation, all fleeting south. The resulting war saw Evenswon emerge victorious, but left them drained and unable to move onto the offensive. It also left the eastern marches lightly defended, easy prey for the rising nation of Cavrasta, which, upon securing control over the eastern hills, moved into the Evenswon borders, which was successful thanks to the crisis in the north.

In the year 2000, Evenswon continues to have issues with Cavrasta's raids, while also still sorting out the refugees from the eastern marches and the Giriþiudans in the north. This has put significant strain on the government as well as ignited a desire in many Evenswone that they must go out and expand their state into these raiders in order to stop this from ever happening again.

Evenswon has quite a robust population for an elven country, counting about 400,000 people within its borders, of whom roughly 310,000 are either elves or eldritch. Of the remaining population, about 35,000 are halflings in the south, and the other 55,000 are Giriþiudans. These Giriþiudans are split between approximately 25,000 who have lived in Evenswon for centuries and 30,000 refugees