Old Fraspika

The true birth of Fraspika can be traced back as far as 800s, when the powerful Fraspois tribe assumed dominance over a large swath of land between the Ravieau and Whiscuex river following the collapse of West Oleandron, though this cannot be called a real nation. The early Fraspois were mainly focused in fighting against the Eastern, or Espatrasian Confederation, a collection of tribes resisting Fraspois dominance. In 841 SC, the Fraspois were outmaneuvered and fell from power for several decades. During the later decades of the 800s, however, the stalemate resumed, setting the Fraspois and their smaller tributaries against the powerful tribes of Espatrasia.

In 800 SC, the Fremedhian peoples had long been engaged in raids against Oleandron, but it would not be until the Fraspois when they saw much success. In fact, the Fraspois found the raids so easy and the female surplus (due to war) so plentiful that their boasts attracted raids from the whole Fremedhian population, which is what began the conflicts between Espatrasia and Fraspika in the first place.

During the time of the Great Stalemate (850-1010) the Fraspois were active in raiding, amassing a considerable amount of wealth and looting far and wide. The Fraspois are noted for have raided as far west as to have come into contact with the elves living in Blazennia, as they are documented in elven records from the time, but they mainly focused their raids upon the states of Casyrian and Soulpixt, both of whom had yet to recover from their 50 year war that ended in 842. The anarchic state of the countryside of these states allowed the Fraspois raiding parties to make off with large amounts of loot as well as numerous hostages, many of whom became concubines and/or slaves. Due to the descendants of slaves in Fraspois not being slaves themselves, these 'adopted Fraspois' would soon become a pervasive influence on society, leading to a slow but obvious modernization of Fraspika society. The ability of the Fraspois to raid the countryside and steal wives essentially at will also allowed them to engage in traditional polygamy without losing huge numbers of men in war, leading to a population boom. In contrast, Soulpixt and Casyrian suffered from destabilized population structures, leading to a the stabilization of their population at a very low level when compared to before the collapse of Oleandron. In fact, some outlying districts of these nations, especially in northern and eastern Soulpixt, were essentially de facto Fremedhian grazing lands by 1000, such was the scale of depopulation. In Casyrian, outlying provinces even swore fealty to the Fraspois so their people would be allowed to live in peace, and the Casyrian kings paid ransoms to prevent raids no less the 6 times during the 900s. The Fraspois also conquered what would later become Halfling Country from the local lords during the 900s, with the conquest mostly occurring between 931 and 949.

However, despite the prowess of the Fraspois and their allies in battle, they were never able to conquer either Soulpixt or Casyrian as they lacked siege experience and struggled to hold onto gains. They also suffered devastating defeats at the hands of Soulpixt's lone ally, the Enclave of Cianheart, a staunchly anti-human state and also renowned for their magical adepts. Any conquests also had to be held back due to skirmishing with Espatrasia, which would always strike to prevent their expansion. Things changed in 1010, however, when future ruler of Espastrasia, Dagobert of the Astringians made a pact with the Fraspois, finally establishing the Whiscuex as the set border between the two domains in exchange for assistance taking the reins of the confederation and a non-intervention pact between the two nations on matters concerning the other.

Things got even better for the Fraspois in 1020, when the Telgrener Bluepox erupted in the south, and soon Soulpixt and Cianheart were lain low. Though the Fraspois themselves were affected to some degree due to Elven ancestry, they suffered far less than the elven states, reliant on magic as they were. With their rear secured by the pact with Espatrasia, the armies of the Fraspois would march on Soulpixt in 1021, and within four years they had conquered the entire nation. Settling their new state a short ways upstream from the looted capital of Soulpixt, the head of the Fraspois, Charles Carlois, declared his new state to have usurped the Kingdom of Soulpixt and that it would therefore be known as the Kingdom of Fraspika. Fraspikan allies and tributaries moved into the abandoned Soulpixt countryside, forming new communities alongside the remaining elves, while largely leaving their old homeland as grazing lands. However, forging a proper kingdom would take serious work, as the Oleandais and Fremedhians needed to be brought together, cities and towns needed to be rebuilt and repopulated, and society would need to become more agricultural if they wanted to make full use of the land.

With the movement of the Fraspikan center of power to the old Soulpixt, their former core territories became peripheral and therefore relatively unimportant. Most of the powerful tribes had begun moving closer to the new capital, where they formed a powerful cadre of nobility, leaving only smaller tribes and livestock in the east. This general abandonment of the eastern border allowed the Espatrasians to break the terms of the Whiscuex pact, encroaching on Fraspikan lands. For the time being Charles I would largely ignore these encroachments and focused primarily on buildings new institutions. This included the development of a short-lived caste system which sought to organize the state between the various races. The Fremedhian tribes under the Fraspikans were instructed to set their herds to graze at abandoned pastures while the state began bringing in halflings from the hills to staff farms. Meanwhile the elves were repurposed as a bureaucratic class in order to staff the new government.

With the caste system under development, Charles prepped his armies for an invasion of Casyrian. Much like Soulpixt, Casyrian remained in poor state, unstable and depopulated. Despite a decade-long break in which the Fraspikan state rearmed and rebuilt Soulpixt, they remained unable to field a disciplined and well-equipped fighting force. Therefore, when the Fraspikan army swept into Casyrian in 1032, they were able to easily take control of the whole country, incorporating yet more people into the growing state. Despite the easy victory, nothing comes without cost, as in 1033 Charles' eldest son died in the campaign. Besides the loss of his son, these new conquests also showed the shortfalls of Charles' caste system. If humans were supposed to be herders and soldiers, this would mean taking the (probably disloyal) Casyrian population and forcing them into military service and off their land. Besides this, they would need hundreds of new herds for them to manage. This would then leave the fields untilled unless more halflings were brought in. The logistical challenges of this system immediately convinced Charles that the caste system was unfeasible and he ordered it disbanded. In its place, a feudal society would begin to develop.

Old Fraspika was the first nation on Telgren to become feudal and the way this evolved out of Charles' initial policies can be traced quite clearly. With large swaths of land essentially owned by the state but unable to be economically exploited, the Fraspois tribe as well as loyal chieftains from other tribes were granted parceled up pieces of land. In return, they swore fealty to Charles and pledged their horsemen and men of arms to military conquests. This was especially useful in newly conquered Casyrian, where important people who lacked large followings could be granted lordship over the local population and could be expected to provide revenue and (eventually) levies as they could pay Fremedhians to serve as their soldiers with the taxes from Casyrian serfs.

Although such measures prevented the sovereign from exercising full power over the people, it allowed Charles to prevent his best warriors being tied up in bureaucracy and being unable to continue fighting, and prevent them from becoming disloyal due to a lack of land grants. This feudal society was complemented by the integration of elven bureaucrats and the concubines of these men to run the lands while lords were at war. The close cooperation of the elven population of Soulpixt and the human elites would soon lead to a mixing of blood, with a the two classes melding into one within a few generations.

The creation and rollout of such a system would occupy the remaining years of Charles' life, which were otherwise filled with tournaments and courtship. Although Charles' first wife had died while he was away campaigning in Soulpixt and his eldest son died in Casyrian, he still had a number of other wives and children- though by Fraspikan law only his remaining son by his first wife, Lothaire I, was eligible to inherit the nation. Charles was tireless in arranging hundreds of matches between various nobility, including his own family, in order to tie the nation together, while implementing feudalism and landing many of these new couples.

Charles would finally die in 1056, leaving the country in a fairly stable state. Still, this was the first time that the Fraspikan succession had been put into practice, so it was only natural that a few minor rebellions erupted. During this time, Espatrasia seized the lands of eastern Fraspika, moving the border to the Ravieau. This clear violation of the truce shows Lothaire that the Espatrasians did not respect him as they had his father, which infuriated him. He therefore declared war on Espatrasia and marched east. This first test of the new feudal levies, though not without hiccups, proved effective and allowed Lothaire's armies to make some early headway against the Espatrasians. Although the war soon devolved into a stalemate, these early gains were not reversed by Espatrasia either. Finally, after several years of war, the two nations came to peace, with Espatrasia getting the upper half of Ravieau-Whisceux (modern Ambolaine) and Fraspika getting the lower half (modern Barloem). The lands in between were to be a no-man's land, but this part of the treaty was repeatedly broken by both sides. Lastly, the ruler of Espatrasia was crowned as a king, establishing the two nations as equal.

Lothaire spent the rest of his reign developing institutions and living a hedonistic life. Lothaire had a single son by his wife before setting her aside and proceeding to birth 16 siblings by his secondary wives. This type of family structure became common among the nobility, which saw political matches for the first wife, who would usually bear one or two sons if possible before she was set aside, with the nobility taking other women instead. Such a system was soon to create issues for the kingdom, as without new lands being conquered there was no source of new women to wed. With the nobility all taking on multiple wives, this meant that there was a subset of men who could not find wives, a major source of discontent.

Lothaire would not make any progress towards solving this issue, as he was part of the problem. His son, Lothaire II, made no efforts to fix the situation through reform of laws, but this was more due to laziness and not caring. However, during Lothaire II's reign, the state began expanding once more. Skirmishes with Blazennian tribes, ongoing in the west since the kingdom was first established, were escalated, calling more men to the front. In the year 1100, the Blazennian state of Fluencia was established as a march, and would function as a buffer state, but Fraspikan expansion would continue. Thanks to these constant lowscale wars, by 1140 SC Fraspika had pushed along major rivers and reached lake Linoren, crushing the Blazennian tribes. This was to be the last expansive war as the Blazennian tribes were decimated and did not have the strength to raid any more. Fraspika would also expand north as more lands came under cultivation, with the remaining herds of the nobility being moved to the Plaires Centralis.

This period after 1140 marked the zenith of Fraspika's power. During Fraspika's heyday, it was by far the most powerful nation in all of Telgren, as most of the continent remained tribal and thus could not match them whatsoever. Early proto-kingdoms such as Espatrasia were unable to match the large and wealthy Frapsikan domain, while the power of the elves was broken. Their remnant states, having low population, were totally unable to match Fraspika's economic output despite having generally higher quality goods. Unfortunately, this zenith didn't last forever, mainly due to its large size and decentralization. After 1140 Fraspika was greatly overstretched, and most of their military was tied up defending their long and porous border, especially in the north and west. The inability of Fraspika to project power and counterraid meant that the flow of slaves and goods stopped, and gave the Blazennian tribes, especially, time to recuperate. By the early 1160s, it was clear that Fraspika needed a series of reforms to fix their governmental system and societal organization. The old polygamous traditions and legal structure which had served them decently during the time when they were a tribe and times of great war were less well equipped for a proper rural and feudal society, and certainly not for one as sprawling as Fraspika.

Lothaire II's son, Lothaire III, ruler since 1129, hated his father. Having accused his father of killing his 3 brothers for years, Lothaire did his best to never interact with him, and he raised his son, Martin, away from the court. He only sired Martin in order to secure the succession, and having been absolutely enamored with elves he never really cared for his human wife. Being raised away from the harsh environment of his grandfather's court, the young man was unconcerned with matters of succession. By the time both his grandfather and father died, Martin I already had three children, and taking the throne in 1160 the nation was forced to face the possibility of being divided among three heirs, an event nobody had prepared for and which was not properly set into the legal system due to having never been used. When Martin died only four years into his reign, something nobody had expected, things were thrown into further chaos.

Because Martin I had only ruled for four years, he had little time to set succession in order. After his death, his two elder sons, Martin and Theodar, made a bargain with one another- Martin would rule from the capital of Couélion, while Theodar would rule from Oleandáis, and their borders would mirror that of Soulpixt and Casyrian. They also agreed to split up the ancestral territories belonging to the Fraspois before their conquests, with Barloem going to Theodar and Ambolaine going to Martin. The two also agreed that the Ciandrais river would be a free trade zone, that way commerce would be uninterrupted. Excluded from these discussions was the younger brother, Louis. Ten years younger, the two considered him a nonfactor, but as the son of the king he was entitled to a kingdom as well. Therefore, they "granted" him control over The Borders, a motley and patchwork unification of the Fraspikan territories within Blazennia. This left his unable to challenge the two elder brothers or even really tip the scales to favor one or the other.

Fraspikan Monarchs

• 1024-1056: Charles I (32 yrs)
• 1056-1084: Lothaire I (28 yrs )
• 1084-1129: Lothaire II (45 yrs)
• 1129-1160: Lothaire III (31 yrs)
• 1160-1164: Martin I (4 yrs)