Nationstates Name: Camelone
Faction Name: Kingdom of Niagara, Heir of Rome
Faction Type: Kingdom
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Governing Ideology: Senatorial Feudalism
Leader(s): King Edward Alfredson Roma
Territorial Claims: Niagara and Orleans County, New York
Population: 5,500
Armed Population: The Great Cohort, 770 soldiers organized into 7 Centuries
Technology Level: High Metal Age
History: The early days of the Kingdom of Niagara comes not from the region itself but instead stems down south in what was once Pennsylvania. There, born to a man and wife of great learning, was the illustrious founder of the kingdom to be born and raised in the old Free Hold of Clinton to grow and learn the art of literacy, faith, law, and engineering. It is said Alfred the Indomitable surpassed all his peers in matters of intellect and nothing but the frailty of his youthful body kept him back, yet Providence was with young Alfred for one day he found his weak lungs filled with air and his heart full of energy to his delight. With health restored the young Alfred accompanied the other young men through their initiation process of scavenging the old ruins for anything of value. After almost a year of searching Alfred grew frustrated and struck out on his own going to the ruins Pittsburgh despite the dangers in the search for something which would propel him to the heights of popularity and allow him to undertake a cushy and comfortable future of law and order. At first things did not go well, Alfred nearly died several times but eventually he made his way to an abandoned technology company, sneaking in he found what he had been searching for an exo-skeleton. With this in hand, equipped with the necessary materials Alfred knew he would become presider over his community in no time.
Leaving the city turned out to be more difficult than entering and again Alfred found himself in danger, deciding to take shelter in an old museum he happened across the old exhibits of Rome throughout its history. Alfred had always been intrigued by this history, he heard about it every now and then back home but never truly envisaged the glory of it until he saw those paintings, sculptures, and exhibits so much so that he took the clothing off of several of the mannequins as his own. His mind filled with thoughts of glory and imperium he turned his back on the thoughts of going home instead diving deeper into the books until he states that he saw a vision from God to go north and establish his kingdom along the mighty falls. That was when Alfred left the ruins of Pittsburgh as Alfred Roma the landless king, 2111 AD.
Through his travels north Alfred created a small following behind him, the King of Metal, with rumors of his strength, intellect, and charisma drawing a small army around him. It was with this army, the 1st Century, that he subdued Niagara with in 2120 AD and had himself crowned King Alfred Indomitable Roma with his reign established he set about writing a law code, a system of government, restructuring the Christian pastors into a hierarchy with himself as the High Presider and stamping out heresy, and organizing what would become the Great Cohort and the Licensing Colleges. The reign of King Alfred Indomitable was a Golden Age for Niagara with the rebirth of formalized education, both in regards to the Church Schools and the founding of the Royal Niagara Academy and Library, and the security of a strong military force and the rule of law. By 2156 AD the Kingdom of Niagara was a flourishing realm with a functioning court system, economy, military, and educational apparatus but alas it was also the year King Alfred breathed his last. It is said at the same moment King Alfred breathed his last his fabled suit of armor would move no more, now taking residence in the relic room of the royal palace.
The reign of King Moses Alfredson Roma was one of maintenance, he continued as both King and High Presider of the Niagara Church the policies of his father. From 2156 AD to his death in 2184 AD King Moses expanded the realm and the size of the Great Cohort, incorporating what was known as Orleans County into the kingdom. His was a conservative and steady reign, continued patronage to the Church and education as well as keeping a tight leash on the Licensing Colleges he also continued his fathers policy of sending scouts throughout the ruins of libraries, schools, and university's to collect any information they could gather and send it to the Royal Academy for its copying and archiving.
From 2184 AD to 2201 AD the reign of King Eric Alfredson Roma was one of reform and internal development he relinquished control of High Presider back to the clergymen but retained the right as King to settle matters of organizational dispute and call Grand Synods. An additional reform was the establishment of the Assembly of Sheriffs as a lower house to the Senate and the granting of seats on the Senate to the Licensing Colleges ruffling the feathers of the landed gentry, which was smoothed over by an expansion of the Great Cohort and investment into new weaponry such as a standardized black powder musket.
King Edward Alfredson Roma is the most recent of the Roma dynasty and he has great dreams for the Kingdom of Niagara, he sees himself as the great agent of the Prophecy of Alfred. By his hand shall Niagara become a glorious kingdom, a realm of law, prosperity, justice, learning, and most of all strength. King Edward knows that aggression is needed and from early in his reign has he been wining and dining the Senators and College Masters, influential Sheriffs and Presiders, to be granted the funds and support necessary for great expansion. He has secured the loyalty of the Great Cohort by promises of his land and the Church with the prospect of new believers. The Kingdom of Niagara will march onward till wherever the banners fly people will know the might of the folk of Alfred.
Culture: Niagara's culture derives much from quasi-Roman influences due to Alfred's influence and the imposition of this culture upon the people of Niagara, though beyond that it is mostly an agrarian culture with a strong combination of quasi-Romanism, Christianity, and upstate survivalism. Education, skill, endurance, and piety/virtue are the four main pillars of Niagara thought and it is believed that the citizen and realm are woven together so if the citizen lacks it so to will the realm. This has propelled the propagation of learning, militia training, and religious revivalism throughout the kingdom for if even one pillar is weakened then the entire realm can crumble and no citizen can allow that to happen.
This leads directly to the class structure of Niagara at the top sits the King and his family, then is the Senators who are large landowners or wealthy families and/or prominent military families though just because one is from a Senatorial family does not guarantee ones placement on the Senate, underneath them are the Yeomen who are small self-sufficient farmers or high ranking members of the Licensing Colleges as there is a great degree of mobility between the Citizens and the Yeomen. It is generally from the Yeomen that Sheriffs are elected by the Citizens who are the lowest of the recognized orders. Freemen are unrecognized foreigners or conquered people and can not apply for membership into the Licensing Colleges or take a clan or branch name.
Naming conventions in Niagara follow loosely the old Roman style of a personal name, a tribe or clan name, and a branch name generally the tribe or clan name would take the name or title+name of a distinguished person in their family's history. Women take the man's name unless specified otherwise which has happened but is generally an exception and not the rule.
The Licensing Colleges are organizations of craftsmen who quality control their respective crafts, currently these include Metalworking, Carpentry, Law, Medicine, Engineering, and Bookmakers. There are subdivisions within the Licensing Colleges and it is not unheard of for some masters of a College to have mastery in a few of the subdivisions and lower levels in the remaining. They hold substantial economic power but their creation and authority extend directly from the throne, without which they would hold no official powers. This is what separates a Licensing College from a Craft Company.
The Church of Niagara is very orthodox and dogmatic Church, since its formalization in 2123 AD the three Creeds and a codified Prayer Book has been established along with the Niagara Confession. Worship wise it focuses on Holy Communion every Sunday with revival and prayer meetings every day of the week, Sunday's hold a very reserved and subdued atmosphere while every other service is filled with energy and excitement with itinerant and circuit preachers talking about the Word of God, the true official canon which has been unchanged since the Collapse. Organizationally the Church has the laity, then the elders who act as deacons and caretakers of the church and community, then pastors who administer the Sacraments and preach, above them is the preacher who is given free reign to roam wherever they wish to preach, and finally is the presiders who oversee a geographical area and administrate it by Sacraments, preaching, and administration. The High Presider is the first among equals and the head of the Church of Niagara. The Church runs all of the schools, minus the Royal Academy, and is the center of community life and community welfare.
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ID TAG 1997 (DO NOT REMOVE)
