Alvia

Alvia, officially the Alvian Protectorate, is a country located in the Kentralian Ocean. The country is an island northwest of the continent Alus, sharing maritime borders with Merzia, Pelessia and Ivoria through the Ivoric Strait. Alvian territory includes the entirety of the Alvian Isles with the exception of the Isle of Merzia, and holds dominion over the largest empire in Austrusi history, with colonies in the Kolistikas and Southland. It is the fourth most populous country in the world, with an estimated 45,000,000 inhabitants.

The Alvian Protectorate is a constitutional dictatorship and a parliamentary democracy, though defines itself as a self-coined 'Protectorate Democracy': a republican evolution of North Pelessic democracy once espoused before the formation of Pelessia and Ivoria. The current Protector is Hendrick Whitton, who has reigned since his election by the House of Peers in 1331. Alvia's capital and largest city is Gracinium; other major urban areas include Whaplode, Tusadooring, Hanchester and Peninsupol.

The first civilisation to settle on the island were the Tarisan Elves around 20,000 years ago. Alder Favarian, Callonettan and Early Marabellan culture developed on this island until it came under Domirian rule around 400ADD, after which the Alvian Isles came under the name of Elvius Provincae, based on the name of its native population. The vast majority of Domirian settlers were Ivorian, bringing with them their North Pelessic culture and language which had been considerably untouched by their Eastman masters. Following the Domirian Collapse, the then-Valkorion of Elvius Provincae, Severus Vidus, expelled the Elven population and began an era known by scholars of Alvian history as The Anarchy. This one-hundred year period ended with the invasion and annexation of the Alvian Isles by the young United Kingdom of Ivoria and the Strait Isles.

Under Ivoric overlordship, Alvia was the lesser partner within the Ivoria-Elvius Empire. During this time, the Alvian Isles was considered one of the most valuable regions in the world due to its close proximity to Merzia, granting Ivoria-Elvius access to the Special Relationship in trade and magical education in exchange for conventional defence. This fact allowed the Empire to be considered the de facto superpower of the Dark Age and the Discovery Age. In 620PDD, Meathean immigrant Siegfried Grey instigated the Alvian Revolution and became the First Protector of the short-lived Alvian Republic. After his death in 720PDD, the merchant families of the island chose to elect one of themselves rather than allow the Alvian public do so. Upon the election of Yaxley Hoxton, the Alvian Protectorate formally came into being.

Over the course of six-hundred years, the Alvian Protectorate quickly became the most-influential colonial power, subjugating approximately a quarter of the globe under its imperial flag and even establishing the Protector as the Sovereign of Avery's Isle.

Elven Origins
The Tarisan Elves originally settled in the South Canton of Alvia approximately 20,000 years ago, around the same time in which the Merisian Scriptures claim that the Triumvirate Races first arrived on Austrus. For 19,500 years, the Tarisan Elves formed cultures and languages in isolation from the many interactions made between the various Terran and Dwarven ethnic groups on the Alusi mainland. These purely Elven elements would go on to form the basis of modern Alusi Elven peoples. Domirian explorer Octavius Septimus Clorus discovered the island circa 480ADD, utilising rudimentary arcane methods to strengthen his ship so that it may withstand the overwhelming force of tides brought about by Clorus' and Vidus' gravitational influences. He was followed by Valkorion Julius Pius Pilate circa 475ADD, who led a multitiude of Domirian Legions to dominate the island. Chief trading towns like Gracinium, Tusadooring and Whaplode were conquered and roads were built over the course of weeks thanks to Domirian mages.

Domirian Alvia
By 400ADD, almost all of the Alvian Isles came under the control of Domirian forces. It was around this time that the Merzians revealed themselves to Valkorion the Honourable and began trade with the Empire. Within a decade, the newly-organised Elvius Provincae was considered the most valuable territory in Domiria, second only to Domir City itself. However, this would only cause issue for the Empire in the centuries to come. By the time of the Domirian Collapse, almost a dozen Imperators had ruled from Gracinium or Capitolia Superior in Ivorius Provincae, as the Merzians consistently requested meetings with them, often granting them great favours and gifts such as life extension, lessons of the Arcane, or basic exemplars of the Automata. The people of Elvius Provincae held a drastically different culture from their Domirian overlords and many did not speak the Imperial tongue, instead speaking a developed dialect of North Pelessic now known as Old Ivores -- a tongue still spoken by the people of the United Kingdom of Ivoria and the Strait Isles today. When the Empire finally fell, the Alvian Isles did not experience anywhere near the chaos that those of the mainland did. Instead, an uneventful Anarchy occurred as a result of Valkorion Severus Vidus' dangerous insanity. Most of the Domirian nobility left the Alvian Isles alongside the Elves, settling in Meathe.

The Anarchy
Many of the merchant families of the House of Peers can trace the source of their wealth to the time of The Anarchy, a time in which the regions of Elvius Provincae separated into twenty-two petty states and vied for control through trade and investment. During this century-long period, only a dozen wars were fought; all of which concluded within the same Moon they were declared. The richest citystates: Gracinium, Whaplode, Tusadooring and Peninsupol, usually held their surrounding states in their respective spheres of influence and rarely contested one another's expansions. It is believed that a proto-corporatist entity would have formed of these anarcho-capitalist states if the Ivorians had not invaded in 104PDD.

Ivoria-Elvius
The subjugation of the Alvian people proved a difficult task for the Ivoric royals, who had expected to have been welcomed with open arms thanks to the two countries' shared culture. However, the Alvians had long formed their own customs, language and image. Whereas the Ivorians were a traditionalist, highly conservative society that relied on feudal serfdom to operate smoothly, the Alvians had formed their own 'vulgar' dialect -- Alvian Ivores -- and did not consider themselves a kingdom. The Ivorians attempted to remove the 'impure' influences of Alvian isolation and educate the people of 'proper' Ivores and struck down any dissent through the construction of local castles and martial law that had not been seen on the island since the time of the Domirian Empire. For just over five-hundred years, Ivoria-Elvius was considered to be the successor to the old empire, until the High Merr in Merzia (the head of the Merisian Faith) granted the title to the Holy Pelessian Empire in 453PDD to prevent a Pelessian invasion of Ivoria.