Valendian Empire [AMW]

[Europe - Prussia]

Valendian Empire
Valendien Kaiserreich
Empire Valendiene

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Flag

Coat of Arms

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Motto: In varietate concordia (Latin)
"United in Diversity"

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European Valendia
Location

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Population: 165,978,018
Density: 179/km2

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Capital: Valkyr (RL Luxembourg)

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Largest City: Paris

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Official Languages: German, French
National Languages:
Dutch, Danish, Breton, Kreole, Malayan, others.

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Demonym: Valendian

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Government: Federal Constitutional Monarchy
- Emperor: Albrecht V (since 1969)
- Imperial Chancellor: Maximilian von Einzbern
- Lord Speaker: Emile de Claudel
- Lord Chief of Justice: Detlef Fleisher
Legislature:
- Landsraad (Unicameral)

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Establishment:
1120 (End of the Unification Wars)
1121 (Treaty of Liége)

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Land Area: 7,572,694.934 km²
Elevation:
Highest Point:
Zugspitze (Wessia; 2,962 m)
Lowest Point:
Zuidplaspolder (Netherlands; 7 m below sea level)

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GDP: CR$ 5,888,402 mill.
GDP per capita: CR$ 35,477.
Currency: Reichsmark (Rℳ)

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Time Zone: Central European Time (CET; UTC +1),
Others (...)
Calling code: +42
Internet TLD: .vl
ISO 3166 code: VL
Drives on the: Right

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Claim: Germany, Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Gabon,
Sao Tome & Principe, Equatorial Guinea,
Mauritius, Grand Est Region,
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region,
Hauts-de-France Region, Île-de-France Region,
Centre-Val de Loire Region, Normandy Region,
Pays de la Loire Region, Brittany Region,
Goa, Xiamen, Brunei, Sarawak State,
Sabah State, Jutland Peninsula, Comoros,
Mayotte, French Southern and
Antarctic Lands.

CHANGE LOG:
20-02-2018: Under Renovation.
The coat of arms has been changed.

Valendia, officially the Valendian Empire (Valendien Kaiserreich), is a sovereign country stretched across Central and Western Europe, which includes overseas territories in Africa and Asia. It is a federal constitutional monarchy consisting of 13 Constituent Nations, with Valkyr as the seat of Imperial authority, the so-called "Kaiserstadt" (Imperial City). It covers an area of 7,540,382.7 square kilometers with a largely temperate seasonal climate, and is bordered by the North and Baltic Seas to the north, the Gull Flag Republic to the east and the Commonwealth of Socialist Republics to the south.

Even though Valendia has two main linguistic and cultural regions (German and French) along a plethora of minor ones (Dutch, Breton, among others) the Valendian people, although predominantly German-speaking, do not form a nation in the sense of a common ethnic or linguistic identity; rather, the strong sense of identity and community is founded on a common historical background and shared values such as the knightly principles inherited by the country's founders and Valendia's unique brand of federalism.

A country founded by knights following the wishes of a dead saint, Valendia's history has been heavily marked by strife and conflict, either for power or for ideologies, with both of them often becoming involved. All of this has shaped the empire and its people, creating a very powerful and deeply ingrained militaristic culture and a fierce appreciation for concepts such as liberty and the separation of powers.

Valendia is, at its core, a land of contrasts, always walking the middle path between right-wing and left-wing ideologies: officially it’s a constitutional monarchy, but due the considerable power wielded by the emperor it cannot be truly called as such, but at the same time it cannot be called an autocracy, for there are democratic institutions and mechanisms, such as the Landsraad and the Imperial Plebiscites, that wield its own fair share of power in the name of the people and at the same time restrain the power of the emperor, thus forcing the Crown to become an impartial “Great Arbiter” of the empire.

ETYMOLOGY

The origin of the word "Valendia" has been a object of intense discussion among linguists, historians, and experts about the matter. The most accepted theory among experts is the one that postulates that the word Valendia comes from the Valendii, the Celtic tribe that dominated most of the territories of the modern empire in ancient times and unified all the tribes into the First Empire.

The word and concept of Valendia first appeared on history around the 11 century, on the books that chronicled the travels and preachings of St. Siebert of Valendia, who talked about the reunification of the old empire, but with new values in order to withstand the test of time.

Eventually, it were these messages that led to the Unification Wars and the creation of the Empire by Wessia's House of Sagëbrecht.

CONTENTS:
1- History
1.1 - History I: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages
1.2 - History II: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
2- Geography
3- Politics
4- Economy
5- Demographics
6- Culture
7- Biographies

[Europe - Prussia]

HISTORY I

From Antiquity to the Middle Ages

Before the Unification

The first settlers that would laid the foundations of the modern empire came in a series of migratory waves that lasted from the arrival of the Celts to Europe to the 1st century; the first wave of settlers were Celtic tribes that came along the Geletian hordes that were entering in Europe, which kept moving north and west instead of settling on the Saimonas, and began to settle most of the modern territory of the empire until the 900 BC.

In the 750 BC began the second migratory wave, this one composed by Germanic tribes that came from the north, through the Jutland Peninsula. They, instead of fighting the already settled Celts, began to intermingle with them, creating a people that were neither fully Celt, neither fully German. Foremost among these new tribes were the Valendii, which quickly united all the tribes into a “Tribes Confederacy”, which quickly evolved into a “First Empire” in order to combat both Rome and Geletia, an event that historiography calls the “First Founding” of the Valendian Empire.

However, the arrival of a secondary migratory wave of Germanic tribes (Franks, Saxons, Alamanni, Bavarii, Frisii, among others) from the north during the first half of the 5th century led to the quick fall of the first empire and the subsequent creation of diverse kingdoms across the territories of modern-day Valendia, with the most prominent among them being the Kingdom of the Franks in the west, which under the leadership of Charlemagne unified most of the territories of the modern empire.


The Unification Wars and Valendia’s rise

The death of Charlemagne in 811, and with it the fragmentation, decline and eventual dissolution of the Carolingian Empire, the rise of the kingdoms of France in the west and Germany in the east, the peregrination of Saint Siebert, the forefather of the Royal House of Sagëbrecht, and his preaching of unification based on the First Empire led to a rabid competition between France and Germany to see which kingdom would led the unified empire.

Meanwhile on the background the Margraviate of Wessia, a German vassal raised to the rank of Duchy in 1142, led by the Sägebrecht dynasty, began to slowly gather power, all with the aim to fulfill the preachings of St.Siebert.

The war that would lead to the unification of Valendia would not be started by France or Germany, but by Albrecht, Duke of Wessia, by declaring himself Saint-King of Wessia and his intention of unify Valendia under his dynasty in 1170, thus triggering the Fifty Years War.

The war is named after its length, which was caused by the complex web of alliances, the proxy wars fought between the kingdoms between each truce and the unstable political situation of Germany, the biggest of the three belligerent kingdoms, caused by its elective monarchy.

Wessia's eventual victory in the Fifty Years War due the decisive Battle of Tours in 1220 over France and the acquisition of the German crown by the Sagëbrecht dynasty in 1208 led to the creation of the Empire of Valendia under the Wessian Saint-Kings.

However, even though the Sagëbrecht dynasty established Wessia’s inheritance system for the Imperial Crown, and bailiwicks of the Order of the Dragon, renamed as the Valendia’s Knights of Peace, were being created through Valendia, the empire wouldn’t be truly unified until many years later, with the union of the Crown of France with the Imperial Crown.


Conflicts with the French Crown

Even though France was subjugated and added to the empire after the 50 Years War, the French nobles and the Capets, who were allowed to retain their throne in exchange of their vassalage, were still hostile to the new order and caused a series of problems to the Imperial Crown.

Examples of this behavior can be seen in the attempts of Louis IX of France to go in crusades, or the attempt of Philip IV of France to arrest and execute the leader of the French chapter of the Knights of Peace for heresy at the urging of the French Church in 1308.

However, the major conflict between the Imperial Crown and the Capets was also the last one: in 1316 the King of France Louis X died, leaving behind a daughter, a pregnant wife and a potential succession crisis; even though since the unification Wessian customs and culture, such as absolute primogeniture, were being adopted through the empire, in France agnatic succession was still practised.

Louis’ death left 4 potential candidates to the throne: a daughter named Jeanne, an unborn child and his brothers the princes Philip and Charles. Philip proposed a regency until Louis’ child was born, winning with his proposal the support of most of the nobles of the kingdom. Jeanne was a minor with few supporters within the kingdom, but after an appeal to the emperor Heinrich I she won imperial support, with the promise that Jeanne would marry one of his sons.

After diplomatic overtures failed, an army personally led by the emperor began to march towards Paris, while an army of rebel nobles led by prince Philip was assembled. Both armies finally clashed on the outskirts of Thionville in 1318, with the battle ending with an imperial victory.

Jeanne’s coronation as Queen of France fully cemented the power of the empire over France and brought its crown into the control of the Sagëbrecht dynasty; it would be under Heinrich III that the Crown of France would united with the Crown of the Empire. However, problems between French nobles and the Crown would continue until the 15th century.


The Rebellion of the Lilies

From left to right: Hildegard I of Valendia, Jeanne d'Arc, Philip of Burgundy and Otto of Saxony

As an empire that encompassed different cultures and people, the Valendian Empire was constantly beset with political intrigue and attempts of insurrection, which were answered by issuing more reprisals against the other nations of the empire in favor of Wessia, the land where the Sagëbrecht dynasty came from. This caused friction among the nobles of the empire, especially the French ones, who still resented the fact that the Sagëbrechts held the Crown of France in their power.

This situation reached a breaking point with the death of Heinrich VI in 1416. Usually, the process to elect the next emperor was fairly simple: whoever was elected King of Wessia would, by custom, not only be crowned Emperor of Valendia, but also King of Germany and France.

Upon Heinrich’s death, the ones responsible of electing the next king-emperor from the members of the Sagëbrecht dynasty, the Knights of Peace, became divided, as no candidate was capable of gathering enough support to win the Crown. It was only after three years that the knights finally reached an agreement: among all the members of the dynasty, it was Heinrich V’s daughter, princess Hildegard von Sagëbrecht, the one who was elected as Empress of Valendia.

The election of Hildegard caused outrage among the German nobility; ever since the foundation of Valendia its emperors have also been elected as Kings of Germany by custom, in accordance with Salic Law. The election of a female to the throne, coupled with the growing dissatisfaction, finally led to rebellion: in 1421 the Duke Otto of Saxony, with the support of prominent nobles, was elected King of Germany.

Simultaneously in France, Philip de Valois, Duke of Burgundy, took advantage of the situation and rose in rebellion against the Imperial Crown, with the support of French and Breton nobles, and declared himself King of France.

Beset by enemies to the north and west who were making gains (Otto captured Cologne in 1424 and Philip captured Paris in 1425 for example) and slowly marching towards the ancestral lands of the Sagëbrecht Dynasty, the situation seemed dire. However, the lack of any coordination or agreement between Otto and Philip and the internal conflicts among the rebel nobles balanced the situation on the empire’s favor.

The empire also received a huge boost in morale after a young girl who proclaimed to have received visions from God named Jeanne d’ Arc joined Hildegard. Eventually, the empire began to make gains of its own: 1427 Cologne was recaptured and in 1428 Philip’s forces were defeated while attempting to take Strasburg, thus forcing the war into a stalemate.

Jeanne's eventual capture and death at the stake at the hands of German troops, who by this point was a very popular figure through the empire, and the death of Otto in the Battle of Frankenhausen in 1429 heavily tipped the scales on the empire's favor, who quickly pressed their advantage and began to regain lost territories: by 1431 Imperial forces were rounding up the remaining rebellious German nobles, while most of the war effort was redirected towards Philip, who was holed up in Paris.

An Imperial victory near Reims and the beginning of a civil war in Brittany in 1432 worsened the situation for Philip’s cause, who decided to sue for peace, only to be rejected by Hildegard, who had the way to Paris completely open.

The war finally came to an end during the second month of the Siege of Paris, during the night of March 14, 1433, with the death of Philip and his major supporters at the hands of assassins that infiltrated the city.

With their leader and major generals dead, the remaining rebel nobles surrendered during the following weeks.


The Codex Valkyria

The Rebellion of the Lilies, as historians began to call the war between 1421 and 1433, brought great changes to the empire: the power of the emperor was greatly strengthened at the expense of the nobles, while feudalism in France and Germany began to fall into decline.

However, besides the dead and ravaged fields, the war also showed the flaws within the system that ruled the Valendia, for it was the lack of uniformity of law and customs across the empire one of the bigger factors that led to the war.

With this in mind, empress Hildegard ordered the creation of a new code of Law for the empire, unifying the different laws and customs into one system; it outlined the empire’s inheritance system, the election of the emperors of Valendia, the duties of the Knights of Peace and the permanent union of the crowns of Wessia, Germany and France with the elective imperial crown. As a especial measure, the branches of the Knights of Peace in France and Germany were given a greater degree of autonomy, resources and new names: the French branch was renamed the Order of the Western Sky, while the German branch was renamed the Order of the Eastern Sky.

The Codex is also famous for officially establishing the capital of the empire in the city-fortress of Luxembourg, which was renamed Valkyr in honor of the empress.

Named after Hildegard’s most famous nickname, the Codex Valkyria is considered the empire’s first constitution, and it would remain as such until the Glorious Revolution during the XVIII century.

[Europe - Prussia]

HISTORY II

From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

The War of the Lions

The emergence of Protestantism in 1517 brought once more conflict to the empire, through two great events: first, the conversion of the youngest son of emperor Heinrich VII, Maximilian, to the Protestant faith in 1519, and second, the Dutch Revolt of 1520, started by a group of provinces in the Low Countries against their overlord, the Duke of Anjou Francis of Valois, over economic, political and, especially, religious issues.

Heinrich's death in 1522 just worsened the situation: the electoral college was evenly divided between the protestant electos that supported Maximilian, the catholic electors that supported Heinrich’s eldest son Ludwig and a minor number of moderate electos that supported the candidacy of Heinrich’s youngest child, princess Wilhelmina, as a compromise between the factions.

The event that triggered the war was a coup d’etat attempted by Maximilian in 1523, which quickly devolved into open fighting through the city with Ludwig’s faction. Eventually both factions were forced to leave the city (Ludwig for France and Maximilian for Germany), leaving Wilhelmina as the sole master of the imperial capital.

The coronations of Maximilian in Dresden, Ludwig in Reims and Wilhelmina in Valkyr a few months later were more of a formal announcement that the war began than anything.

The conflict was quickly called “The War of the Lions” after the banners that each sibling used in battle, based on a knighthood order that supported them: Maximilian a black lion on red, Ludwig a white lion on blue and Wilhelmina a golden lion on black. The war also subsumed the Dutch Revolt of 1520, after the dutch rebels pledged their support to Maximilian, while Duke Francis began to support Ludwig as retaliation.

Of the three, Wilhelmina held the weakest position, as she had less manpower and resources, but the lack of cooperation between Ludwig and Maximilian, the support of the Knights of Peace and holding key castles and cities like the Imperial Capital ensured her position through the conflict.

Lasting 6 years, the war saw intermittent periods of relative “peace” and intense and brutal fighting, often between the forces of Ludwig and Maximilian, and some occasional skirmishes against Wilhelmina's forces. Most often than not the battles fought were with no quarters given and a great deal of soldiers and military commanders distinguished themselves either as heroes or monsters.

The deciding point of the war came in October of 1527, when both Maximilian and Ludwig were killed during a coordinated siege of Valkyr, in one of the few times they worked together. With no other members of the Dynasty capable of taking the throne, Wilhelmina was elected and crowned empress with the regnal name of Hildegard III in the spring of 1528.


The Edict of Liège

The War of the Lions not only was a bloody conflict, but also left a divided people and the Sagëbrecht Dynasty on the brink of extinction. To address these problems the newly crowned empress issued the Edict of Liège in 1530, as an amendment to the Codex Valkyria.

The edict is comprised by four texts, each one dealing with a specific issue; the first text guaranteed freedom of religion and a series of provisions to allow the movement of people within imperial territory in case of intolerance and persecution; the second text ordered the creation of two more branches of the Knights of Peace, the Orders of the Northern and Southern Sky, under the direct oversight of its parent order, unlike its more autonomous counterparts

The third text established the Landsraad, as a meeting area for the nobility, merchants, knights and other groups of interest of each nation to air their grievances in front of the throne. However, the Landsraad could only be convened on the orders of the reigning emperor.

Finally, the fourth text established a very detailed process in the event the main branch of the Sagëbrecht Dynasty became extinct or there were no members capable of taking the throne. The text laid out two cardinal rules: first, the electors would choose from among the branches of the Sagëbrecht family the next ruling dynasty and from there a normal election would occur and second, branch family members were barred from becoming electors.

Besides the four main texts, the Edict also included a series of documents dealing with a wide range of issues; of interest were two documents, which granted charters to the Hanseatic League and the Welser banking family to create the East India and West India Trading Companies, respectively.

These two companies, with different methods but with the same aim, spearheaded the eventual expansion of the Valendian empire overseas, all the way to the 18th century.


Continental expansion

The first years of Hildegard III on the throne not only saw political reforms, but also the expansion of the Valendian Empire through the continent.

While the War of the Lions was long over within the empire, on the Low Countries the war was still raging between Duke Francis and the allied Dutch Provinces, while to the north, in the Kingdom of Denmark, a civil war with religious overtones, called the Count’s Feud, broke out over the succession of the recently deceased danish king.

While neither the Low Countries or Denmark were officially part of Valendia, both were considered to be under imperial influence; besides the various ties between local and imperial nobility, since the 14th century major dutch lordships were held by imperial nobles, and the danish were major providers of mercenaries to the wars waged by the empire.

With the threat of intervention, Hildegard forced Francis and the dutch to enter in peace talks in the month of February of 1529, with the empress as mediator. After three months, the talks ended with the agreement that the dutch would join the empire, and in exchange they would be able to keep their laws, customs and religion, provided they complied with the Codex Valkyria and the Edict of Liège.

In July 26th, the dutch States-General passed the Act of Utrecht, declaring their intention to join the Valendian Empire as the United Provinces of the Netherlands and granting to Hildegard the titles of Lord Protector of the Netherlands and Duchess of Brabant, as a way to signal the relation between the dutch and the empire.

Francis did not left the negotiations empty handed however, as in exchange for his cooperation a marriage was arranged between his son and a daughter of the empress’ late brother, Ludwig Le Azure.

On the other hand, the intervention in Denmark was far less peaceful; by 1529 Denmark was divided between a catholic faction, led by the Count Christopher of Oldenburg, and a protestant faction, led by Count Christian of Holstein, who was also the late king’s son, who had been fighting for a year. Neither side was willing to lay down their arms, even at the urging of Hildegard, who threatened to carry out more drastic actions.

As the leaders of both factions were imperial nobles, Hildegard used such fact as an excuse to intervene in the Count’s Feud, sending an army to Denmark during the month of July of 1529. In one year, the major fortresses and cities in the peninsula were captured by imperial forces, alongside the leaders of the catholic and protestant factions, while leaving a bloody trail along the way.

Hendrik Van Darnus, Grandmaster of the Knights of Peace.
A decorated war hero, Hendrik was the driving force behind
many of Hildegard's policies

In August 5, 1530, the commander of the imperial forces, Grandmaster Hendrik Van Darnus, gathered the danish nobles and, similarly to what happened in the Netherlands, forced them to negotiate, with the empire as a mediator.

The negotiations lasted one year, but by the month of May of 1531 an agreement was reached: the Count of Holstein would take the throne, but in exchange they would have to abide to the laws of the Codex Valkyria and the Edict of Liège, de facto uniting Denmark with the Valendian Empire.


The rise of the Valmont Dynasty

In 1609, the emperor Maximilian II, the last member of the main branch of the Sagëbrecht dynasty, died without issue. Following the protocols laid out by the Edict of Liège, the electors gathered on Valkyr began to discuss which family branch of the Sagëbrecht dynasty would take the imperial throne.

After four years of negotiations, the french House of Valmont, descended from Ludwig Le Azure, won by a very narrow margin, with the support of the french and danish electors, the old landed aristocracy, that were hostile to the knighthood orders, the merchants of the Hanseatic League and the Catholic Church, which still wielded a great deal of influence even after the War of the Lions.

However, the election of the Valmont family was heavily opposed by the German electors, who would not accept a french ruling them, the dutch electors, who still remembered the last time a french ruled them, and the easternmost territories of Wessia, who like the German electors resisted the idea of a french emperor.

In order to avert a possible civil war, the Regent of the empire, the Grandmaster Friedrich Achilles Von Hohenzollern, gathered the electors and, after a year of negotiations, reached a compromise with them:

First, the Netherlands would become a kingdom, with a ruling dynasty of their choosing, and the titles given by the dutch to Hildegard III at the end of the War of the Lions would be returned. The Dutch States-General chose the House of Orange-Nassau, which was seen as a mere formality, as a member of that house has always been chosen as Stadholder since the formation of the Netherlands.

Second, the easternmost territories of Wessia would be separated and turned into the Principality of Bavaria, a separate polity within the empire, ruled by a dynasty chosen by the local bailiwicks of the Knights of Peace. It took three years for the bailiwicks to decide, but with the mediation of the King of Germany they elected the House of Wittelsbach, an old Bavarian family belonging to the landed aristocracy, to become the princely house of Bavaria.

Third, the crown of Germany would be separated from the Imperial crown and given to a branch of the Sagëbrecht Dynasty chosen by the German electors. And fourth, and the most important condition of the compromise, an Emperor of Valendia could be simultaneously King of France or King of Germany, but it could not hold both titles along the imperial dignity at the same time.

The german crown was eventually given to the House of Lohengramm, as they were the most senior German branch of the Sagëbrecht Dynasty.

The Hohenzollern Compromise, named after the person that headed the negotiations, was signed by all the electors in 1614. While by the time it was signed it was seen as nothing more as an addendum to the Edict of Liège, eventually it would become not only the framework by which the Valmont Dynasty would rule the empire for the next 180 years, but also one of the main reasons of their fall.


The Age of Intrigues

The empire whose throne the Valmont Dynasty inherited was peaceful and rich, but their power war undermined, being effectively reduced to France and Wessia, due the opposition to the new dynasty and the political favors that had to be paid. The first Valmont emperor, Louis II, quietly secured his power through political machinations and centralization measures; the move of the Imperial Court from Valkyr to Paris is one of the most famous of these.

Louis’ ceaseless plots and intrigues earned him the nickname “The Spider”, and pretty much set the tone for the rest of the reign of the Valmont Dynasty; the constant plots and murders between the members of the dynasty, especially when an emperor was elected, led historians to call this time “The Age of Intrigues”.

Unlike his more conservative antecesors, the third emperor of the dynasty, Louis IV, began an extremely aggressive policy of concentration and expansion of royal power, by compiling nobles to live in his royal residences where he could closely watch them, the most famous of these being the Palace of Versailles, and waging wars against the neighbors of the empire which, most often than not, ended with inconclusive results and little gains.

Louis IV of Valendia. Loved and reviled equally,
his supporters called him the "Sun Emperor",
while his enemies called him "The Demon of Versailles"

Louis’ reign was not only filled with war however; as a very generous patron of the arts, artists, artisans, philosophers and scientists were attracted to his various palaces, triggering a golden age which lasted until Louis’ death. It also greatly benefited the Valmont Dynasty, as Louis’ forceful personality pretty much stopped the plots between each family member.

However, with Louis’ death, everything came crashing down; old grudges among the members of the Valmont family were revived, staining the following 30 years in blood red. 15 emperors sat on the throne during those 30 years, each one of them having their reigns cut short by convoluted plots and assassinations.

Only with the election of the 17-year old Isabelle d’Valmont in 1746 the years of blood ended, only because, unlike her predecessors, the young empress ordered the capture and execution of her political opponents, securing the throne and reducing the Valmont family into a scant few numbers in the process.


The Glorious Revolution

The reign of the new empress had rocky start, but it quickly blossomed into a second golden age, which was seen as a continuation of the reign of Louis IV; palaces, monuments and paintings were commissioned, old buildings were improved and great philosophers gathered on imperial palaces, all the while Isabelle ruled as an autocrat over more than half of the empire.

However, by 1795 the situation was completely different: economic debt, economic mismanagement, an antiquated tax system, a drought that severely affected the agriculture on the western side of the empire, the ideas spread by the Enlightenment which called for an end to the autocratic rule of the Valmonts and the deterioration of Isabelle’s health severely affected the empire’s stability.

The situation for the imperial dynasty was very dire too: 30 years of infighting plus the purge ordered by Isabelle left the Valmonts with very few numbers, to the point that by 1795 the was only one person capable of taking the throne, Isabelle’s grandson the 15 year old Louis, who was considered weak-willed and very easy to influence; not someone who would be elected under any circumstances.

Before falling ill, Isabelle arranged the marriage of her grandson with the princess Maria Antonia of Bavaria and named him ruling Prince of Brittany, in order to show to the electors his capabilities as a ruler. She also tried to name him co-emperor, like the franks of old did, but the move not only drew the immediate opposition of the electors, but also resulted in the Landsraad being convened against her wishes in 1790.

On November 10, 1796, Isabelle finally succumbed to her illness and passed away. Her ministers, instead of convening the Electoral College, plotted with the landed nobility and proceed to recognize Prince Louis as the legitimate Emperor of Valendia, under the assumption that the landed nobility were true representatives of the imperial states, all with the objective of keeping the current system intact.

This move caused a series of events across the entire empire:

The Electoral College, gathered with the Landsraad on Valkyr, not only repudiated the move of the nobility, but also declared the Valmont Dynasty extinct, and declared that the branch of the Sagëbrecht Dynasty that would take throne would be Germany’s House of Lohengramm, with its head, Reinhard von Lohengramm, King of Germany, becoming the dynasty’s first emperor.

The Landsraad declaration of Reinhard Von Lohengramm as Emperor of Valendia

A believer of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, the new emperor ordered to his ministers and the Landsraad the redaction of a Constitution for the empire, a move that was greatly welcomed by them, who had been petitioning the creation of a constitution for years now.

The knighthood orders were also fractured by this crisis, as the Orders of the Southern and Western Sky remained loyal to the Valmonts, while the Orders of the Northern and Eastern Sky swore their loyalty to Reinhard. However, it was the pledge of support of the Knights of Peace to Reinhard’s cause the most important of all, as they were the de facto rulers of the Kingdom of Wessia.

While Denmark and the Netherlands quickly pledged their support to Reinhard, Bavaria honored their alliance with the Valmonts and began to gather their armies in order to invade Germany and distract the emperor, only to suffer that fate themselves when an army led by Klaus Von Mittermeyer, Grandmaster of the Knights of Peace, invaded Bavaria from Wessia during the first weeks of December.

On Brittany, which was under the rule of the Valmonts well before their rise to the imperial throne, a rebellion broke out in almost every town and city of the peninsula, quickly expelling or executing the few officers that were still loyal to the old regime.

France, the heart of the Valmont Dynasty, became one chaotic mess as regiments loyal to the old regime and those that rose in rebellion fought each other through the country. And in Paris, the biggest city of the empire, the people, hungry and angry, revolted and expelled the imperial garrison on the fortress of the Bastille, destroying it in the process, and declared the creation of a republic, led by radical intellectuals that wanted the end of the monarchy.

With the Bavarians pinned on their own territory, Reinhard established his base of operations on Valkyr and began to slowly clear the path towards Paris and Versailles, while helping rebelling regiments that were on the way. By mid-march Paris was put to siege, as the city was still in a chaotic state, while an army headed by Reinhard himself began to march on Versailles.

When he arrived at Versailles, Reinhard was expecting a great battle, with the enemy armies being led by Louis himself. What he got instead is the commander of the palace guards, surrendering his garrison to the emperor and informing him that the now former royal family and every noble living in Versailles was under their custody.

With the capture of Louis d’Valmont the civil war that historians would call the Glorious Revolution was pretty much over. There was still sporadic fighting through the empire, with the two major points being Bavaria and Paris. However, instead of diverting more resources to those areas, Reinhard took a diplomatic approach: Bavaria surrendered after the emperor promised the return of Maria Antonia to them, provided she spent the rest of her days in some remote Villa, while the provisional government of Paris surrendered when they were informed on the developments in Valkyr and the promise that Louis and every person that conspired to put him on the throne would be publicly executed.