Vazandia

Etymology
Vazandia (Wessonia or Nancosse in Acronia and some other parts of the world) is a translation of the Vazandisch word Vazandischland meaning "Land of the Vazandisch." The origins of Vazandischland come from the proto-Vazandian wadaną (verb) meaning "to wade/walk" and "samdaz" (noun) which is the ancestor of Cambrian and Vazandian "Sand." At some point the two words merged into "wadandi-samdaz" and eventually simplified to "wazand" and eventually to "vazand", meaning "those who walk on the sand" in reference to the White and Black Coasts where the early Vazandian tribes primarily settled.

History
Ancient humans were present in Vazandia at least 600,000 years ago. The first non-modern human fossil was discovered in the Mettmann Valley. Contemporarily-dated fossiles and evidence of modern humans has been found in Österschwardland, including tools, weapons, and primitive instruments.

Early Vazandic tribes
Archaeological study and references from Arlesian records and academics place the Vazandic tribes in Vazandia itself by roughly 50 BCE.

Most evidence of early settlement is found along the Framersheim, Dorner, Gral, and Gestein rivers, as well as in the Keindebaum Rift Valley in eastern Vazandia and West Ostrovia. Until roughly 40 CE, Vazandic peoples were mostly sedentary, keeping to the regions they'd settled; population expansions eventually led to migrations into nearby regions, including modern day Schwardland, Antitanca, Ausferiland, Granzery, and more.

Aside from occasional skirmishes, interaction with the Arlesians was rare until the Great Exile of Tacitinians. As thousands of Tacitinian believers traveled east from Hegemony land, they encountered and converted a number of Vazandic tribes.

By 250 CE, most Vazandic cultures had embraced Tacitinianism, and one in particular, the Sassics, brought that faith south and east to Bastarnae.

First Vazandian Empire
With the centralization of Vazandic civilization rapidly moving forward by the 4th century CE, the Holstish peoples established a kingdom near modern day Kruppstadt. By 450 CE, it was the largest local power in what is now Vazandia, and in 477 King Amalric the Conqueror crowned himself Emperor of the Vazandisch with the blessing of the Haeres at the time, Haeres Johann I.

The Empire, now referred to as the First Empire, was rather unstable from the start and went through rapid periods of territorial loss and expansion, clashing with virtually all of its neighbors at various times. By 870 CE, the Empire as Amalric had founded it was a shadow of its former self and on the ropes. Faced with invasions, economic decline, and a string of ineffective leaders, it collapsed into numerous successor states in 880.

Kingdom of Nordgral
Of the several successor states to the First Empire, the Hohenschloss dynasty's Kingdom of Nordgral (Königreich des Nordgral) was the most stable and largest. King Falko II took the reigns of the young Kingdom in 882 from his father after he was killed in a plot by senior nobles, and he immediately proceeded to totally reform the laws of the Kingdom. Much of the basis of modern Vazandian law can be traced back to the reforms of King Falko.

Slowly, Nordgral began absorbing nearby smaller Vazandian lands, growing until it was nearly the size of the First Empire.

in 1199, King Lothar II began a series of wars against his western Tennish and Schwardlander neighbors, and by 1219 he'd managed to fully subdue their lands. By this time, the Kingdom was nearly twice the size of the First Empire.

Greater Vazandian Empire
In 1221, King Lothar II died and his son, Reinhard, appealed to the Haeres for the right to proclaim himself the Emperor of the Vazandians, a title which hadn't been used since the collapse of the First Empire. The Haeres granted the request and the Greater Vazandian Empire (Größeres Vazandisches Reich) was born.

Initially an extremely strong and stable nation, the Empire made all manner of claims- that it was God's chosen defender of all Tacitinians and the Principalic Church, that all Vazandians were its rightful subjects, and more. In 1438, the Emperor even went so far as to add to his title the phrase, "Righteous and Holy Bulwark against Heathenry in all Vesperia."

This strength would not last, however, as by the 1700s the Empire was choking on its own sprawling bureaucracy and corruption, centuries of decentralization, religious division, and weak leadership. When the Five Decades War began in the 1760s, the outlook was not good for the Second Empire.

In 1795 however, a brilliant young man, Konstantin, was crowned Emperor. His rapid reforms and stabilization brought prosperity to the Empire that it hadn't seen in centuries, though this came at the cost of an escalating war against Acronia and increasing tensions across Vesperia. The same year saw the Empire purchase Verico from Lyonia.

When the Pan-Vesperian Crisis began in 1807, it was Emperor Konstantin IV and Alphonse Roquefeuille de Bergerac who faced off against one another in the previously unfathomably large-scale war. As both nations ate up territory across Vesperia while simultaneously fighting each other, almost 2 million men died.

This conflict reach its climax with the Battle of ___ in which both Konstantin and Alphonse were both killed, along with enormous portions of both of their armies, crippling the nations' war-making ability. A combination of social outrage, financial and military collapse, and lack of will to fight ended the war by the end of the year.

Virtually all of Konstantin's progress was undone in months as the Greater Vazandian Empire totally fell part- subject states declared independence, soldiers deserted, and the government collapsed.

Central Vazandian Confederation
With the Second Empire in shambles, the Hohenschloss dynasty only barely managed to hold power in their home territories, but was able to retain the Vazandian heartland from Altstadt to Kruppstadt. These cities and lands were immensely valuable, relative to their neighboring territories. Ceding some of their power to local governments in order to retain loyalty and their sovereignty, the Hohenschloss family agreed to the establishment of the Central Vazandian Confederation (Zentralvazandische Konföderation) in 1811.

Over the next few year, the family worked to rebuild their power base and strength, managing at the same time to diplomatically annex or bring into their sphere of influence a number of neighboring Vazandian territories.

It was around this time that the first overseas Vazandian colonial adventures other than Verico began, with exploratory missions to what is now Volka.

Third Vazandian Empire
1822 saw the reunification of the Confederation with Principality of Niederzollern, effectively bringing all of the Northern Vazandian lands under Hohenschloss control once again.

The next 70 years would see generally great years for Vazandia with the Empire expanding to include the Imperial Colonies of Trang and Volka, the Partition of Ostrovia with the Imperial State of Gorbatov, and a strengthening of the Hohenschloss' control on Vazandia.

By the 1880s however, an increasingly liberal society was feeling the weight of the government oppression that had become a mainstay of Vazandian society. Mark Krauss, a particularly vocal critic of the government, was even deported in 1879, along with hundreds of his students and followers.

Nearing a boiling point in 1894, one of the largest noble families in Vazandia, the Stauffenbergs, attempted to call for reforms- the result was the arrest and execution of half the family on grounds of treason, while the other half escaped to nearby Gorbatov. The next year, a coalition of liberals, democratic reformers, trade unionists, and capitalists began protests against the increasingly authoritarian government.

Violence was the only response given to the protestors, and hundreds were killed across the nation. Within says, small-scale rebellions were taking place across the country, some assisted by deserting Imperial Army troops- the Vazandian Civil War had begun.

Over the next year, every aspect of Vazandian society chose a side- the Republicans, or the Absolutists.

Republican support included liberals, unions, large portions of the Army and Navy, numerous noble houses including the Stauffenbergs, private capitalists, and the poor.

Absolutist support was primarily made of reactionaries, government-sponsored Merchant Barons, the Hohenschloss House Guard, portions of the Army and Navy, the clergy, and the officer class of the military.

Although the war was devastating, it was short- in 1899, the Absolutists surrendered. Emperor Adolf VII was executed alongside numerous members of his family, the officer class was purged, the Merchant Barons were arrested and their property confiscated, and thousands of reactionaries fled the country to escape prosecution for their roles in various war crimes.

A mid-war agreement between the Republican-aligned noble houses and the Republicans themselves know as the Great Compromise was put into effect shortly after the end of the war. As agreed, the Stauffenbergs were given the throne in exchange for the nobility and new Imperial Family agreeing to wide-ranging limitations to their rights and powers.

United Imperial Republic of Vazandia
on July 7th, 1899, the new Constitution of the Vazandians was ratified by the Imperial Republican government. Hours later, Kasper von Stauffenberg was crowned Emperor of the Vazandians.

The next years were spent rebuilding the nation, reestablishing control over the colonies, and reestablishing the Vazandian military as a regional power. An economic boom brought in enormous tax revenues that funded new modern warships, as well as the latest in arms and equipment. The reconstruction process was also an opportunity for an architectural breakthrough, and the ultra-decadent Art Deco movement took off like wildfire.

This new golden age would last right up until the beginning of the First Great War.