Jiarengrad

The Kingdom of Jiarengrad or Jiarengrad is a member nation of the Azerath Nations. Jiarengrad is one of the kingdoms founded by a God-King, Vulkenrad the Conqueror and is best known for being the first Dynasty Nation of the Azerath Nations. The kingdom sits in the lowland basin, surrounded by mountains and cliffs.

The Tribal Era
The tribes that inhabited the lowlands basin region that Jiarengrad currently inhabits were split culturally with their border being Dwelmer's Rock. There were two small tribes that lived west of Dwelmer's Rock and they were culturally isolated from the rest of the tribes like the tribes on the Vulhein Mesa. East of Dwelmer's Rock were tribes that were incorporated into the "peaceful tribes" alliance and some that were not. This caused the region to be especially prone to warfare which remained an issue after the God-King's arrived.

Vulkenrad was put in charge of the lower basin region where he tried to unite the tribes in the east for it guaranteed him more land. He was not successful as most of the tribe's were still under long standing feuds. Vulkenrad was successful in uniting the western tribes as they were already allies.

The Barbaric War
In preparation for defense against the Barbarian Tribes which would become the Barbaric War, Vulkenrad tried to recruit as much tribesmen as possible but experienced much resistance. The tribes to the west were faithful to Vulkenrad, however, due to their isolation, the tribes never experienced abuse from the Barbaric Tribes thus they had no reason to fight against them. The eastern tribes shared the same experience, being the most northern tribes in the Azerath region, they rarely dealt with abuse from the Barbaric Tribes. Warfare between neighboring tribes caused more death and destruction in the region than the Barbaric Tribes so the tribesmen wanted to focus their forces on fighting their enemies.

The peaceful tribes of the eastern region were more willing to dedicate forces to Vulkenrad's army but they strictly did not want to fight alongside their enemies. This was a problem for Vulkenrad, for there were more tribes that were not part of the peaceful alliance than were. Due to the non-peaceful tribes lack of loyalty and the peaceful tribe's resistance to work with the non-peaceful tribes, the entire region was a mess.

With the fear of a barbarian attack on the horizon, Vulkenrad decided to borrow troops from Parmethious, merge them with the troops of the peaceful tribes and conquer the non-peaceful tribes. Although this risked valuable soldiers needed for defense of the northern Azerath region, Vulkenrad needed support from as many tribesmen as possible in his territory. The invasion and conquering only took a day but it ended up reducing the number of valuable soldiers within the non-peaceful tribes. Nevertheless, Vulkenrad flexed his strength and the tribesmen of the non-peaceful tribes got the message. The conquering also inadvertently sent a message to the western tribes who subsequently joined Vulkenrad's army without resistance.

When the Barbarian War finally started, Vulkenrad still faced issues with his army. Although he forced the alliance of tribes that have been enemies for much of their history, they still did not get along with each other. The Barbarian War concluded with a victory for the God-Kings, much of it due to Vulkenrad's army, but it painted a grim picture of a future kingdom to Vulkenrad.

Formation of a kingdom
Due to Vulkenrad's troubles with getting the tribes in his territory to cooperate, he was very pessimistic to the idea of forming a kingdom from his tribes. His brothers agreed, other than Draemor, whose tribes were already in a strong alliance and culturally similar.

Although Vulkenrad was pessimistic about the idea publicly, privately he was working out ways to form his kingdom that would make it stable. He decided to unite the western tribes into a kingdom and keep the eastern tribes as a territory until they got along better. This idea was not completely ideal to Vulkenrad who was worried that the eastern territory might be taken by someone else and he would be out of a lot of land. Due to this worry, Vulkenrad held off establishing a kingdom.

Shorty later, Draemor was given his title and he established the Kingdom of Vulharenjiard. This made Vulkenrad excited because he could monitor Vulharenjiard closely and see if unifying his western tribes would be worth the trouble. So he spent the next couple of years monitoring the state of Vulharenjiard.

After a couple of years, Vulkenrad was satisfied with the stability of his brother's kingdom so he decided to finally create his own by unifying the western tribes and establishing the Kingdom of Burmethia. Almost as quick as Burmethia was established, the eastern tribes got together and established the Kingdom of Bulvishire, much to the annoyance of Vulkenrad. He ended up deciding to not engage the new kingdom and focus on building the one he established.

Conquering the Kingdom of Bulvishire
Many years after Burmethia was established and the other God-Kings established their kingdoms, Vulkenrad had never forgot about Bulvishire. Dwelmer's Rock was part of Bulvishire's land and they had just finished constructing a palace atop it. Vulkenrad was gathering his forces together and sending spies in to see the state of Bulvishire's army.

According to intelligence from his spies, Bulvishire had a massive army but it was very unorganized. Parmethious the Lustful also knew this and was gathering forces to take the land for himself. It was clear to Vulkenrad that he had to act quickly, so he launched his invasion of Bulvishire early. Vulkenrad's intelligence was right and his smaller army easily pushed through Bulvishire's defenses. Learning from his mistake of slaughtering well-needed soldiers when he invaded the non-peaceful tribes, Vulkenrad was very careful in making sure that he did not kill more of the enemy than he needed to. Due to the rush of launching the invasion before Vascova, Vulkenrad had very little plans of attack. His Generals listened to his orders of not slaughtering the enemy but this ended up causing the invasion to stall and Bulvishire's forces to regroup. Vulkenrad was still in fear of Vascova interfering so he had to draw up plans quick as his forces dug in. Six months after the invasion kicked off, Vulkenrad threw his plans into action only for the sheer number of Bulvishirian soldiers to knock them down. Despite the invasion lasting longer than expected and the Bulvishirian Army putting up a good fight, Vulkenrad's forces were slowly pushing through with each passing attack. Finally, after seven months of inching past Dwelmer's Rock, Vulkenrad's army had finally reached the edge of the Bulvishire's city. At this point Bulvishire's defenses were still strong in numbers but unorganized and tired due to the lack of capable leadership. Vulkenrad took this time to encircle is army around the city and make his way up to the palace on Dwelmer's Rock.

A small force with Vulkenrad accompanying them ascended the staircase to the top of Dwelmer's Rock. They met no resistance due to Bulvishire's king, King Fuudious, sending his body guards to the front so they went inside and kidnapped the king. Since Dwelmer's Rock overlooked the front line, Vulkenrad, with a knife to King Fuudious' throat, demanded the Bulvishire Army to surrender unconditionally and if this was not met, the king would die and the city would be torched. The Bulvishire Army quickly surrendered and Vulkenrad took the king back into his palace and murdered him. Finally Vulkenrad had all of his territory and he earned his title.

 Empire 

After conquering Bulvishire, Vulkenrad the Conqueror held the biggest army in the Azerath region. He spent many years training up his forces and then used his forces to conquer lands in the former Morthanian territory. Soon, Burmethia was the largest and most powerful nation, with almost the entire export market being from Burmethia.

The other nations in the Azerath region were worried about Vulkenrad the Conqueror's intentions, fearing that he would turn his forces against them. Due to this fear, the other nations began building up their armies, mostly by making military service mandatory for every male over the age of 16. However, despite their fears, Vulkenrad the Conqueror never launched invasions on any of the the Azerath nations or their territories, choosing instead to swoop around. When Vulkenrad the Conqueror died, Burmethia had claimed territory as far north as the Forbidden Forest and as far east as Haasperosia.

The Dynasty Treaty
A century after the founding of the kingdoms, Burmethia was the most powerful kingdom in the land. Due to the new lands that the kingdom conquered, Burmethia had an abundance of resources that completely sustained Burmethia's population. There was plenty of surplus on resources which Burmethia exported to the other kingdoms. While Burmethia's economy was at its peak, this was not true for Vuharenjiard, which was experiencing a great economic collapse. Although Burmethia could supply Vulharenjiard with enough resources to end their economic collapse, Vulkenrad the Conqueror was not going to do such a thing without getting something in return.

Vulkenrad the Conqueror spent the last century being very careful to not intimidate his fellow brothers. This is why, whenever he conquered lands, if one of his brother's kingdoms already had territory in it, he would not touch it. His reason for being so careful was because although he could easily invade his brother's kingdoms and territories, he would pay the price with his life. Conquering tribes and uninhabited land was safe for it posed no threat, however, if he decided to conquer just one of his brother's kingdom, an alliance to depose him was inevitable.

Seeing two kingdoms in economic collapse, Vulkenrad the Conqueror decided to take this opportunity to get as much perks and profit out of the situation as possible. He did this by drafting the Dynasty Treaty, which promised economic security, free trade, freedom of movement, as well as other perks but guaranteed extensive perks to the Dynasty Nation. Being the draftee of the treaty, Vulkenrad the Conqueror elected his kingdom to be the Dynasty Nation. Vulkenrad the Conqueror was guaranteed the support from Vulharenjiard for their economic situation was too close to collapse to debate. Support from the other kingdoms, however, was uncertain.

When Vulkenrad the Conqueror finally put forward the Dynasty Treaty, it was clear to the other kings that this treaty heavily favored Burmethia. Vulharenjiard and Baasvonclad signed the treaty as Vulkenrad the Conqueror predicted but Vascova was hesitant. Although they wanted to debate parts of the treaty that unfairly favored Burmethia, it was clear that shutting down the treaty meant the collapse of Vulharenjiard. It was brought up that financial aid could be given by Vascova, which was the richest kingdom at the time but this idea was unsustainable for the long term as supporting two kingdom's economies would be too much for Vascova. So, Vascova signed the treaty, ratifying it and ending the Predynasty Era.

Burmethia would reap the benefits from the treaty until 1D 354 when Vulharenjiard became the Dynasty Nation and the Dynasty Treaty was revised into the Azerath Treaty.

The Conquering of 1D 094
Shortly after the death of Vulkenrad the Conqueror in 1D 094, his son, Prince Morduus, was preparing to take the throne. After the funeral, Prince Morduus went back to the palace where he saw flames coming from the city below. At the time, he did not know that an invasion had begun.

Below in the city, the son of the Prince of Allia, located just northeast of Burmethia, was leading his men through Burmethia's city. The man's name was Mitius III and he was the bastard child of Vulkenrad the Conqueror. Mitius' mother was raped by Vulkenrad the Conqueror during the invasion of their principality and she became pregnant with Mitius as a result. Mitius claimed that he didn't invade Burmethia as an act of revenge but rather jumped on a opportunity. Historians debate whether he was telling the truth but it is accepted that Mitius did invade at the right time.

Due to Vulkenrad the Conqueror's funeral, which was a multi-day event, Burmethia's army was drastically reduced in the city. Mitius took this opportunity to slip his small army into the city and begin invading the kingdom from the inside. Due to the circumstances, Burmethia's defending army was caught off guard and too late to stop the havoc being raged inside the city. Mitius quickly did what Vulkenrad the Conqueror did in the Conquering of Belvishire and broke into the palace,kidnapped Prince Morduus and held the prince at knife point at the edge of the cliff while delivering his commands to the Burmethian Army below. The Burmethian Army surrendered and Mitius called off the destruction of the city. Then he pushed the Prince off the cliff, killing him and ascended the throne as King Mitius III.

The next day King Mitius changed the name of the kingdom from Burmethia to Jiarengrad and began implementing reforms. The act of reformation to many broken systems within the kingdom and increasing civilian involvement in the government quickly made King Mitius III popular. He implemented The Voice Act which let average citizens put forward laws and bills that the king would review and perhaps put into law. He also began reducing Jiarengrad's territories since they became expensive to maintain and protect, which was bleeding Jiarengrad taxpayers dry.

Modern Era
Today, Jiarengrad is back down to the size it was before it started conquering lands. Jiarengrad still holds the title of having the most powerful military and the best special forces in the Azerath Nations.

Jiarengrad's economy is stable with exports mainly being iron ore and coal. Jiarengrad's biggest import is food, such as wheat and livestock due to Jiarengrad's temperate climate and lack of farmland.

Government
Jiarengrad is an absolute monarchy with the king being a descendant of Vulkenrad the Conqueror.

The government has a system called "The People's Voice" where citizens can establish a bill, send it up to the king where he can ratify it. The king is not bound to the popularity of the bill and can easily veto the bill if he chooses, however, it is common for the king to ratify bills that are popular with the people.

The government also has a system where people can vote on bills that will be sent to the Dynasty Nation to perhaps become a universal law.

Military
Jiarengrad has an army called The Royal Jiarengradian Army, which is currently the most powerful army in the Azerath Nations. The army is split into defensive and offensive roles in which a soldier will switch between every year. The minimum age to join is 16 and it is strictly voluntary. Due to Jiarengrad's glorification of serving, most young men will enlist.

Jiarengrad also has a special forces unit named the Knights of the Red Shield. This unit serves as the royal family's bodyguards but it also carries out strategic and secret missions. The Knights of the Red Shield are best known today for working with Authorania's special forces to invade Presmotopia during the Blood River War which subsequently won the war.

Foreign Relations
Jiarengrad rarely engages in foreign relations due to their hostility. However, the nation does use their massive army to give protection to smaller nations in need, although this often comes with a hefty price-tag.

Jiarengrad does engage in trade with foreign nations, often exporting iron and coal for food.

Banner
Jiarengrad's banner is red with a black diagonal stripe and a sun with an orange ring. The red is the kingdom's official color, the black diagonal stripe represents Jiarengrad's power and the sun with the orange ring represents Vulkenrad the Conqueror.

The banner was first established shortly before the invasion of Morthania, as all of the Azerath nations were developing their banners at this time so they could tell which army belonged to who in battle. However, the original banner designed by Vulkenrad the Conqueror, was only red with a black diagonal stripe going down to the right. The banner was changed to include the sun after Vulkenrad the Conqueror died and the diagonal stripe was mirrored after King Mitius III ascended the throne. King Mitius III originally proposed to remove the sun but was met with so much backlash that he decided to keep it on.

Ethnic Groups
Jiarengrad consists mainly of Humans with a Superior Elf minority. Today, Jiarengrad is one of the most oppressive Azerath Nation to the Elven race which is why Non-Superior Elves and Goblins do not live in Jiarengrad.

Religion
Jiarengrad practices God-King Worship and does not have any other religion within its borders. This is because Jiarengrad has an active law barring other religions from being worshiped within its borders. There has been active protests to this law as of recent but the government still strictly stands by the law.

Geography
Jiarengrad occupies the lower basin of the Azerath region. There is an altitude difference between the western side and eastern side, which is split by Dwelmer's Rock. This created a separation between the east and west culturally that dates back to the Tribal Era. To the north, Jiarengrad is surrounded by cliffs, to the west she is split from Vulharenjiard by a river and to the south she borders Vascova.

Climate
Jiarengrad's weather is regularly cold with snow being common especially in the winter months. Jiarengrad also experiences snow in the summer months due to her altitude. The eastern region of Jiarengrad is often a warmer due to their altitude being lower.

Below is a table documenting the average temperature in Fahrenheit for each month in Jiarengrad as of 6D 235 :