Republic of Floren

Floren was first founded by the elven Empire of Oleandron, as a fort situated at the mouth of the river of Floren. The city was named for the meadows of flowers which once carpeted the floodplains of the river Floren. Although most of these meadows have long since been replaced by farms and towns, small sections remain and the floral business remains a small but influential part of the city's economy. Because it sits in a wide plain, Floren never had the winegrowing industry of the other future Alcediner cities, and therefore lacked the major elven elite of other cities, with humans coming to control a large part of the city even before the collapse of Oleandron. After Oleandron fell, they declared a republic, but it was not to last.

Floren was one of the staunchest foes of the rising Kingdom of Sunþiruda, which would eventually emerge victorious and take the city in 933. However, continuing their conciliatory policy, Floren's elites were largely left alone and emerged as political leaders of the Alcediner population. This made the city the center of anti-Sunþirudan political leaders, and when the nation fell into civil war Floren declared independence with little fuss. The city would soon begin expansion, and with the hinterland largely occupied by wild Erleting tribes, they elected to invade the city of Espiro, which was soon integrated into the republic. Espiro had been a major city during the pre-Sunþirudan period, but gradually lost its place to Floren after independence was regained. Although Espiro was well-defended, the Floreni use of Erleting mercenaries allowed them to overwhelm the Espiran troops and seize the city, although the city was then looted by these forces. Still, despite the damage done to Espiro, Floreni integration of Espiro, completed in 1102, gave the city its second port, allowing Floren to increase the volume which flowed into the republic.

Floren would soon expand its influence further when conflict broke out in the now-neighboring city of Insulana. Insulana, which supported Floren during the war since they were a former subject of Espiro, would soon fall under the sway of Floren, becoming a satellite. This state of affairs was unacceptable to many, and led to increasing clashes between pro and anti-Floreni factions in that city. In 1126, it was revealed that these anti-Floreni were working with the Tyranid of Piscodia, prompting a bloody reprisal by the Insulanan Tyranid. However, this led to war with Piscodia, which sent forces to aid their allies in the city. Of course, Piscodian intervention prompted Floren to send their own forces to the city, which soon became a battlefield. In the end, Piscodia was forced to retire to the headlands, installing their own puppet Tyranid in the coastal village of Amioni. This "Amioni Tyranid" woudl be opposed by a Floreni puppet in the city proper. However, after several years of skirmishes and low-intensity warfare, things remained inconclusive, and a peace treaty was signed in 1135.

At this point, the city of Floren was still a republic, and though its various Gens held extreme power over the city, there was no one Gens which held all the power. However, this would soon change, as the eruption of conflicts between two factions soon led to a collapse in the institutions of the republic. These factions, known as the Tulip and the Rose, would engage in political and sometimes physical combat within both Floren and Espiro, with some even spilling over into Insulana. The first stage of the conflict was won by the Rose faction, who secured a shaky hold over the city and elevated the Utione Gens as the city's first Tyranids in 1141. In 1142, the old Giriþiudan Gens was deposed by Floren and replaced with the Floreni Gens Ittidore, as part of a wartime promise by Gens Utione. This led to the exile of the Giriþiudans, who secured a marriage with their rivals in the headlands in 1149. With the legitimacy of the Floreni half of Insula seriously harmed by this move, it gave Piscodia additional claim to the city, and that nation heavily favored the reconciliation of the two former rivals. Then, with both gens behind them, Piscodia attacked Floren in 1153, but this war also ended inconclusively.

The war with Piscadia seriouisly weakened the power of the Rose faction, and by 1152 the city of Espiro was under the control of the Tulips, who saw briefly revived fortunes before a Rose-led crackdown led to their hold on Espiro being taken by force. This move, however, worried many of the Rose faction's supporting Gens, who began pulling support from the Rose in favor of a new faction, the Lavender. The Lavender faction would bide its time, knowing that the Utione and the other two Gens granted city governorship held all the cards. By the 1180s, the Lavender faction had gained the support of the city's merchants and struck at the Rose faction, taking the city of Floren in 1188. the new ruling Gens, the d'Intido, called for Espiro and Insulana to support them and break their ties to the Utione, which both refused out of hand due to the dishonor. Though in Espiro the Tulip faction resurfaced and led a pro-Lavender coup, the Ittidore remained defiant. This move led to a declaration by the d'Intido of a house feud with the Ittidore, and they soon attempted to seize the city. This, however, failed, and when Piscodia and the two previously exiled gens backed the Ittidore, Floren had no choice but to go to war or lose face. Naturally, they chose war, during which Insulana slipped both from their grasp and from Piscodia.

This whole debacle would prove just as devastating to the d'intido as it had for the Utione, and the city soon dissolved into chaos, which led to a republican restoration by 1200. This new republic could not be said to be the most robust, however, as over the next several centuries the city saw intermittent control by various gens, separated by periods of reinforced republicanism whenever the ruling gens failed. During this period, various gens made vast amounts of wealth expanding their domains into land formerly occupied by Erleting- but this was a risky endeavor as many of these farms would be raided and entire noble families bankrupted. The system, in fact, toppled several banking clans during the 1330s, leading to the centralization of the banking system under the previously minor bank of the Gens Aghiatti. the Aghiatti head of the family at the time, Vielo, seemed to have a supernatural ability to predict what investments to make, to such an extent that if a venture couldn't secure loans from him they would often collapse on their own as the backers lost faith. It has been suggested that Vielo may have possessed a remarkable magical foresight, and that he actually laid out the plan that later helped his gens rise to prominence.

From 1355 to 1393, Floren was under the control of the Principality of Mediolene, at the time a kingdom. This occupation was exploited by the Aghiatti in order to gain more control over the city's economy, but the gens remained prominent agitators for independence. Nonetheless, they were not allowed to lead the armies which rebelled against Mediolene, as it was thought this would bring them more glory. When the armies were defeated instead of securing victory, the Aghiatti benefitted, though the city suffered as its was forced to rely on troops from other cities fighting Mediolene to liberate their lands, which were often looted (and Tridunai even occupied parts of the border for almost 4 centuries, though skirmishes occured throughout the years).

Gens Aghiatti would soon come to control most of the nation's monetary supply, and in the early 1400s, despite the bank no longer being as well run as under Vielo, the gens was able to pool enough wealth to form their own mint, which would later produce the Aghiatti, a prominent coin that replaced most others all along the Alcediner coast. Throughout the 1400s, the Aghiatti family patronized works of art and music, comissioning churches and helped spread the Blazennian faith in the city thanks to their ties with the Empire. These ties were very strategic, as external allies would often borrow money from them as well as increase the prestige of the Aghiatti name. With Aghiatti control over the city's economy and religion, the Gens was able to manipulate things such that they became the Tyrani. Their properties soon expanded all across the inland territories, and a new city was built using funds of the state, which favored the family. This led to the deposition of the first Aghiatti Tyranid, who ruled between 1515 and 1548. Still, the family would see their rule restored by 1589, when the restored republic was forced to appoint an Aghiatti 'minister' to oversee its debt repayment to the family. Instead of the debt, the Aghiatti would take informal control over the city. This informal control lasted for another two decades before the brash new head of the gens pulled strings to elect himself as leader, in 1603.

The Aghiatti would remain in control of the city until the head of the gens disappeared in 1663 as he led an expedition to find gold in the hills (the mints were running out of sources). However, after another few generations, their rule would be restored and this time it would last for almost three centuries. Luc the Magnificent was the first of this new group of Tyrani, ruling as the city's prince, and with his reign seeing the discovery of gold in the mountains and the largest extent of Floren on Telgren. A short war with Tridunai in 1775 saw the restoration of the borderlands occupied by that city since the Mediolener occupation as well as the loss of all Tridunai lands west of their city, plus the destruction of their banking industry. Though future rulers would see some small loss of borderlands, the Principality was compensated with the colonization of Ifyrial. The Aghiatti, however, never made themselves important in the overseas economy, and would see their control slowly slip, year by year. Things would continue passably for years, but with the Telgren Time of Troubles hitting the continent in the 1930s, the fortunes of the gens finally collapsed. As more and more debtors could not pay, the family's money, invested in a thousand minor projects and major ventures, dried up. They would turn to minting far more of the Aghiatti coins by the 1940s to stave off their own bankruptcy. This caused inflation and worsened the economy further, leading to protests by weavers.

Then came the Erleting. Throughout the 1950s, Floren was one of the main targets of their attacks. While the towns and farms in the countryside saw huge suffering and Aghiatti saw their source of gold dry up with occupation, the army held the line. Serving on back pay in many cases, and shouldering it because of the harsh reality of the war, the soldiers trusted in the Aghiatti to see them paid postwar. But the Aghiatti were broke, and at this point debasing their own coins to stay afloat. The discovery that the Aghiatti were not only the cause of the city's inflation but the culprit for the debased currency was finally made in 1966, and the gens palaces were soon torn to shreds by an angry mob. The city was briefly ruled by a free commune of peasants, but when they couldn't pay the soldiers either the petty merchant families stepped in to restore order, cutting a deal with the remaining powerful gens to bring peace to the city in 1969. Yet the task of the state wasn't done. Despite Floren reconquering all their land by 1965, it was totally devastated, and several smaller towns had established their own communes, which took until 1975 to recapture.

In the past 25 years, the city has seen a lot of change. Poor peasant have seen their wages rise thanks to the huge loss in population. A new coin has been minted, though in many places the old Aghiatti coin still circulates. trade has restarted, and the cloth industries have seen themselves rise once more as old clothes, scavened from the dead after the wars, break down and as the population rapidly expands. Floren's young new republic hopes to learn from the past and prevent another gens Aghiatti from taking over, but that's easier said than done- and the council of merchants has done little but entrench their guilds.