Kingdom of Bóinbile

Image

Etching of the Palace of Bóinbile

Coat of Arms

Location

Size

44,175 mi² (114,413 km²)

Founded

151 ME

Capital and Largest City

Bóinbile

Goverment

Type	Absolute monarchy
Dynasty	Suir Dynasty
Current Monarch	Safren Suir

Regions

Central Gosterra • Goirleach Islands

Native Races

Gostaldi

Population

1,750,000

Administrative Divisions

Murbal • Uiniac • Uirsiriar • Goirleach Islands

Introduction

The Kingdom of Bóinbile is an absolute monarchy in Gosterra, on the northwestern coast of Méniail. It holds the northern and central part of Central Gosterra and the Goirleach Islands, and is divided into four duchies. It was founded in 151 ME, when Bóinbile united central and southern Gosterra, and it was the only human state in the region until 645 ME, when its southern duchies broke away as the Heialdyn Stratocracy. Its capital is Bóinbile. It is ruled by the Suir Dynasty, and the current monarch is Safren Suir. It has about 1,750,000 inhabitants, most of them Gostaldi.

History

Founding

From about 90 ME the settlements of Gosterra gathered into a number of small kingdoms. Bóinbile was founded on the Odhan in 125 ME. Its ruling house brought the neighboring kingdoms under its rule by conquest and alliance, and in 151 ME it united central and southern Gosterra as the Kingdom of Bóinbile. The royal houses of the former kingdoms became the ducal houses of the new state. The Goirleach Islands, settled since 115 ME, joined the Kingdom as a duchy in the same year.

Until 640 ME the Kingdom had six duchies: Murbal, Uiniac and Uirsiriar in the center, Baddaen and Fenu in the south, and the Goirleach Islands.

Emigration

Settlers from the Kingdom sailed down the coast to Balúrail in 201 ME and founded colonial towns there. In 289 ME those towns declared independence as the League of Balúrail; the Kingdom, distant and occupied with problems at home, let them go peacefully. In 300 ME settlers from the Kingdom, the ancestors of the Arânzeni, crossed the Bogh Mountains into Khamria, and around 400 ME others sailed to Arezilur, where they became the Berturracioi. By the 400s ME the speech of the southern duchies had become a separate language, Heiosdyn.

War of the Southern Duchies

In 640 ME a republican movement seeking a parliamentary government rose against the Crown. Its support was strongest in the southern duchies, with some in the city of Baddaen and in the center, and the wealth and power of Baddaen, which rivaled the capital's, deepened the divide. The northern duchies and the Goirleach Islands, whose ducal houses were old and powerful, stood with the Crown, as did the Yeparchist clergy. The war stalled, the republican parties divided over whether to make peace, and the Free People's Army took control of the southern side. The peace treaty of 645 ME set the border on the Eals River. The Duchies of Baddaen and Fenu passed to the new Heialdyn Stratocracy, which divided Fenu into the provinces of Enis and the South Coast.

Modern period

Since the war the Kingdom and the Stratocracy have been rivals but have kept the peace. Trade agreements and agreements on border crossings followed the treaty, and the border is open. The railway from Bóinbile to Uirsiriar opened in 856 ME and was joined to the Stratocracy's lines in 863 ME. Safren Suir came to the throne as a child in 840 ME and reigned under a regency until about 849 ME.

Geography

The mainland of the Kingdom covers 42,747 mi² (110,714 km²). It runs from Mount Croan and the Yeege Peninsula in the north to the Eals River in the south, with the sea to the west. To the northeast the Aráinia Mountains separate it from Aráinia, and to the east the Bogh Mountains separate it from Khamria. It is a green country of farmland, lakes and forested hills, with a cliffed coast broken by bays.

The Odhan is the principal river; it flows west past Bóinbile and reaches the sea at Glibhe on Raos' Bay. Other rivers include the Malobh and the Bálg, and the Eals marks the border with the Stratocracy. The largest lakes are Lake Uirssiais on the border, Lake Leagh at Reas and Lake Duinear in Murbal. The Scairiof Hills cross the center, and the forests include the Uiniac, Grang and Meallum forests.

The Goirleach Islands lie 281 miles (452 km) off the northwestern coast and cover 1,428 mi² (3,699 km²).

Climate

The climate is oceanic, with mild winters, cool to warm summers and frequent rain. Fog is common on the coast, and the islands are windier and wetter than the mainland.

Goverment and Politics

The Kingdom is an absolute monarchy: all authority rests with the monarch. A council of the four dukes advises the monarch but has no power of its own. The Suir Dynasty holds the throne, and Safren Suir has reigned since 840 ME.

Each duchy is held by a hereditary ducal house and governed from its capital: Murbal from Cloimheal, Uiniac from Eistirigh, Uirsiriar from Uirsiriar, and the Goirleach Islands from Iorsuidhir.

The Yeparchist faith of Tefar is the state religion, and its clergy are closely tied to the Crown.

The Kingdom keeps an army and a navy. Fort Mys, Fort Múnd and Fort Cealrus guard the coast and the approaches to the capital, and Fort Calain guards the Goirleach Islands. Relations with the Heialdyn Stratocracy rest on the peace treaty of 645 ME and the trade and border agreements that followed it.

Economy

The farmland supports cattle, sheep and grain, and wool and weaving are major trades. Fishing, shipbuilding and sea trade are major industries. The chief ports are Glibhe and Muanal, and Bóinbile is a river port on the Odhan. The Goirleach Islands export wool and fish.

The main railway runs south from Bóinbile through Eistirigh, Reas and Uirsiriar and continues into the Stratocracy. Gosterra is the largest trading partner of the League of Balúrail.

Demographics

The Kingdom has about 1,750,000 inhabitants, about 40 per square mile (15 per km²): about 1,735,000 on the mainland and 15,000 on the Goirleach Islands.

The largest cities are Bóinbile (about 210,000), Glibhe (120,000) and Uirsiriar (85,000). Iorsuidhir (6,000) is the only city on the islands.

Most inhabitants are Gostaldi and speak Gostaldi. The Yeparchist branch of Tefar is the main religion.

Culture

Central Gosterra is the heartland of Gostaldi culture and the seat of its monarchy. Wool and weaving are long-established crafts. The islanders are known for their attachment to tradition and to the Crown.

Native Spirits

No Ascendant Spirit has its house within the Kingdom. Gostaldi culture is closely associated with Emerioa, the Ascendant Spirit of emotions, whose house, the House of Emerioa, lies in the Mona Forest in the Stratocracy's province of Enis. Ettal, the spirit of cliffs and shores, lives in Yeege.