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Eswen Lore
Born from the fires of civil war, Eswen was once known as the kingdom of Altair, ruled by the tyrant king Lucious Jager. The nation of Altair had ruled with a cruel and merciless fist, seeking to gain power and crush its foes before its might at any cost. This led to the people of Altair being abused and used as tools, nothing more than pawns for the nobility to string along. Within this oppressive kingdom lived a young soul named Rupert Godfrey, a common man born to a family of carpenters. Since a child, he had witnessed many of his fellow citizens mistreated and abused, being drained dry of a coin, thrown out of their homes, forced to sleep on the streets, beaten and jailed for unfair charges, and even dragged away to join Altair's armies. It was a cruel and unfair rule he lived in.
As years went by and Rupert continued to watch the cruel abuse of his people firsthand, he would soon reach his breaking point at the age of 19 when the neighboring kingdom of Chiren erupted in a brutal civil war, dragging several other kingdoms into the fighting, including his own. A mass forced recruiting washed across all of Altair, taking the young and old away from their homes to fight in a war that was not their own. When the time came for the recruiters to come to his family his father refused for his sons to be taken away to war. For such a display of refusal, Rupert's father was struck down before the entire town to see, used as an example for those who resisted. Enraged and heartbroken for his loving father's unfair death, Rupert lashed out at the soldiers who had killed his father and killed the officer who ordered his death. This show of defiance lit a fire within his fellow villagers, encouraging them to take up whatever arms they could muster and fight back. From there Rupert would go on and raise a rebellion of their own within Altair.
As the rebellion progressed word of these rebels and their young leader spread like wildfire not just through Altair, but to the other nations of the West. More souls flocked to his cause and even set off a chained reaction within several of the other neighboring kingdoms who were unhappy with their current rulers, uprisings sprouting from kingdom to kingdom until half the western side was engulfed in a frenzy of civil wars. It was a bloody time for humanity that has still yet to fully heal to this day.
Six long years passed, the fighting only growing more brutal and desperate until finally, Rupert's great rebel army marched onto the very last fortress ruled by the Tyrant king of Altair. King Lucious refused to leave his throne, claiming he would throw every last man woman, and child that lived behind his walls into the “filth that dared defy him”. It was this promise that finally broke the will of the last loyal soldiers in his ranks. Wishing to protect their families from the mad king's defiance against Rupert, the king's soldiers opened the gates and bound the king in chains. The final battle of the Altair uprising would shed no blood that day, all on both sides having grown too tired of killing their countrymen to continue. With King Lucious finally defeated the civil war in Altair would come to an end. Surrounding their nation, however, the many kingdoms locked in their civil wars would suffer a few years longer before the last rebellion in Chiren was snuffed out by its original rulers. A few nations had succeeded like Rupert and his armies, overthrowing their oppressors, but many met a similar, if not worse fate than the Chiren rebellion.
The fate of King Lucious Jager had ended with him locked away in the capital's dungeon where he would take his own life from the madness of defeat that took hold of him. Rupert would go on to take the role of the king himself, his ideals and goals for the future having grown in the past six years of war. As he was crowned King Rupert spoke to the people, promising that his rule would not be an easy one, but one where the people and land would flourish and thrive. Not only did he make this promise but declared that there will be a great change in not only their kingdom but throughout all of the West and Melveir itself. Before he took the throne Rupert pledged to open their land to the world and all who would accept it as their home, promising safety for all races, religions, and cultures and shedding the kingdom of the name Altair, renaming it to Eswen as a show of taking the first step to change.
As most of the West slowly began to mend its wounds from the bloody fighting, news of this new kingdom rising in Altair's ashes spread across the West. Many scoffed and laughed at the young king's promises, thinking little of it being a boy's foolish dreams. Other larger nations however seemed to have mixed reactions. Some were intrigued by the idea of allowing the other races to enter the West as settlers, and some were outraged that anyone would allow such a thing to taint the Western nations, but one Kingdom that towered above all in the West cast a cautious eye upon this new Kingdom. The Papal States of Wriehin.
Being the home of humanity's strongest of faith and largest of armies, Wriehin saw these new kings' actions as a potential threat that could infect the West with heretical ideals. Many of Wriehin's figures of power urged Pope Julius the Fourth, Patriarch of the faith to brand the newly founded Kingdom of Eswen as a land of heathens and allow the church's armies to wipe them from the map. Before a final decision could be made a representative of Eswen had arrived at Wrehins capital, one of Rupert's most trusted of companions having been sent the day the Tyrant King Lucious had been captured. The young King Rupert knew his goals for the future would threaten the strongest of nations in the West, so he entrusted his most trusted friend, Diliana Callrow, to represent Eswen before the church before it took action.
As Diliana stood before the Grand Pope and the Church of the Divine, she ensured that Eswen would not be a threat to the faith and that King Rupert would be a loyal subject of the church when the time came. Days of promises and debates passed on, seeming endless until finally, Saint Julius came to a decision. Along with the promise of remaining a loyal subject of the church, Saint Julius ordered that a grand church be built and regularly attended by the people. To ensure this a trusted member of the faith would be stationed at said church and send yearly updates of Eswen's situation. If any sign of defiance or heresy is to be seen amongst the human population of Eswen, then it would become an enemy of the West and an enemy of God. Diliana would have no other choice but to accept these terms.
After receiving the blessing of the church and completing the demands of the Pope, King Rupert would begin reaching out to the other races and allies, sending diplomats in all directions of Eswen. Among the fellow human kingdoms in the West, he would gather a handful of allied nations that were sympathetic and interested in his goals. To the north, his diplomats would speak with both the Beastmen and Dwraven leaders, offering land and safety for those who voluntarily made the journey to settle in Eswen. The same offer would be made to the Elves and Fae to the East. Many representatives who interacted with the Dark Elves or Southern tribes were lost, only a handful returning claiming any talks were a lost cause.
After a year of rebuilding and extending a hand of invitation to the other races, the first settlers from the Northern Dwarven kingdoms arrived. Some of Eswen’s people were still hesitant of allowing the other races to settle on their land, but with the aid of Dwarven's engineering and crafting skills that helped progress the rebuilding of Eswen, many had begun to warm up to the idea. After the Dwarves, the Elves, and Fae arrived, many of them were of youthful ages and curious about the world outside the great forest. The Fae’s magical abilities far surpassed humanity's magic, bringing life back to the countryside withering farms, and restoring destroyed woods brunt from the wood. The Elves, though many of them young compared to others, were perfect additions to Eswen’s armies, training its soldiers and helping guard the borders against danger. Finally, the Beastmen were the last to settle within Eswen.
With these five races finally together under one banner, Eswen would go on to grow as a nation, building up its land, defending its borders, and thriving as one. Four decades have passed since the birth of Eswen and both it and the people continue to grow. Allies not only from the West but North and East now contribute to its growth through a steady line of trade. King Rupert still rules at the age of 65, unquestioned and beloved by his people. The past of Eswen has been filled with blood and fire, but its future seems bright and hopeful for all. Along its borders to the South and South East however creep ever closer, a threat yet to be seen that will soon be cast over all of Malveir.
