United Bayronite Shires

Official Name: United Bayronite Shires

Founded: 1066

Form of Government: Monarchy

Head of State: Queen Marjorie the Second

Population Level: High

Society Structure: Urban

Technological Level: Above average

Background: The modern Bayronite nation is one long unaccustomed to the fractious struggle for survival that has been the nature of Erethian life over the last generation. Before the start of the Civilized Era, and for a thousand years hence, dozens of tribes lived in the Shirelands. In times of armies built from multiple clans pulled together by charismatic warlords, influence and the chance to begin a true civilization were the goals of these bloody conflicts. But these nascent kingdoms always collapsed, and most times skirmishes over hunting grounds or wife-raids were the norm.

Founding: In the mid-11th century, rumors spread across the Shirelands of a boy warrior leading a band of orphan children in thievery and raiding. Though gatherings of orphans were not uncommon, and thieving an understandable pursuit (though one still punished with great severity once they were caught), the idea of children raiding the holds of grown men held the notice of the people. As reports of more raids trickled into the various tribal camps, the boy became something of a legend: fresh-faced as any youth, with the thick red curls of a boy, yet over six feet tall and already with the power to cleave a head in two with one swing of his blade.

None knew the boy's ancestry, whether he hailed from a great or minor tribe, whether his father had been a famed warrior or a perhaps a powerful blacksmith, or if he was simply a freak of the womb. Some claimed him a lost child from across the sea, forced to war with no way to make a home in the Shirelands, while the inevitable superstitious rumors pegged him a vengeful spirit sent to lead his band in the name of all children wronged by the wars of their ancestors.

What they did know was that his child army moved swiftly enough to avoid reprisals, and with enough caution to ensure none were aware of their next targets. He also showed an uncanny knowledge of how to strike the weakness of a camp's defenses, even when camps began to erect basic walls- a tremendous workload for the nomadic or partially nomadic Shire clans. His ability to discern these weaknesses flummoxed clan leaders who joined in an attempt to strategize against the boy; it was as if he called to the spirits of the land and they returned to him with all the answers he sought.

Until, that is, they realized the victimized camps had children turn up missing at some point since the start of the boy's raids. Convinced at once the boy was guilty not just of theft, but kidnapping, the clan leaders vowed full war; but it did not take them long to understand their children had come under the romantic sway of the boy's story, and willingly run off to join him.

By this time word had spread that a small western clan called the Bayrons, for reasons unknown, had chosen to throw in their lot with the boy rather than simply be pillaged; in return, he adopted their crest as his own. Now the boy had both a banner and a base of operations, a dangerous situation to allow any bandit leader, yet he also had many of their children under his roof. Plans of war versus negotiation were argued long and loud across the Shirelands, but the key clan leaders finally chose to talk.

A small armed group with numerous parents of missing children ventured to the boy's newly-built hold. They offered him terms: Release any non-orphaned children and he would be left in peace for one year. The boy, strong-chinned and powerful but hardly scarred from battle, brought out all the runaways and lined them up before the group. "Here," he said, "you can see they are healthy." The parents began rushing forward, but stopped as the boy held up his hand.

"But I ask you this. Why would a happy child risk so much to join me? And why would I disrespect their wishes by now turning them away at the behest of those they sought to leave? I will allow any who choose to return, of their own will, to do so. But all may stay if they wish."

A cry went up from the crowd of parents, but none dared cross the boy's command. Some children did choose to rejoin their families. Most, however, returned to the hold, leaving their people confused, saddened, and in many cases enraged. But the boy disregarded all threats and went back to his village, reminding the militia commander that even if he did not believe every child there was now a warrior, the men who had pledged their swords to the boy certainly were.

For six years the village of Bayron grew, becoming one of the more permanent installations in the Shirelands. Surrounding fields were turned to farmland in greater quantities than most clans could hold, but between a few small clans being subdued and brought into the fold, and the maturation of the adolescent raiders, widespread holdings were no great challenge to maintain. In fact, Bayron's adult population expanded so quickly the boy was able to maintain constant raids on surrounding tribes, as any good Shire clan would do, despite the increased security needed at home.

This fact eventually drew the attention of eastern leaders, who determined they could no longer allow the boy to build his power. Their runaway children were now grown and responsible for their own decisions; though it would technically pit clan members against each other, it was decided any living willingly under the boy's leadership were of Bayron blood and no longer subject to clan protection. Thus the assorted clans began assembling their armies.

Of course, in this time the boy had grown into his full manhood and staked his claim as arguably the finest warrior in the Shirelands. He fought with brutality and great tactical intelligence, and his strategic brilliance did not end at the borders of the battlefield; knowing the clans would return once he grew too dangerous, he began to create more strongholds. Once Bayron, now a fully-walled town, had reached self-sufficiency, he sent raids to take over other camps rather than plunder them, and gathered more tribes to his banner. In this way he began not just the first, but also the second, third, and fourth permanent settlements in the Shirelands before the idea of great clan army had even been born.

With this base of support, and no enemies left to his west, the boy-turned-man was ready to guide his forces east at the first intelligence of war brewing against him. For three days they marched and rode across the fields, until they found a weakly constructed barricade and a plethora of tribesmen with brave expressions on their faces and terror in their eyes. This burgeoning leader rode his horse up to them, the constantly reforged chains of his armor flashing in the cold sun, and said:

"I am Norman. Will you join me, or do battle?"

The men took one look at Norman's arrayed forces, kicked down their barricades, and welcomed him through. {C Though legend holds Norman (soon dubbed Conquering King Norman) ran roughshod through the Shirelands, slaying all who opposed him, in reality the unification of the Shires proved extremely anti-climactic. Almost no one chose to stand rival to Norman's constantly expanding forces. At each encounter with an initially hostile adversary, the young commander rode within shouting distance of his would-be enemy and repeated his question: "Will you join me, or do battle?" Only Dundain, a powerful warrior who had gathered a dozen medium and large eastern clans under his own banner, responded with battle.

Though Norman wished to challenge Dundain to single combat and take no risk with the lives of his men, his advisers suggested that allowing his army to win a battle, even via overwhelming numbers, would give them a sense of true invincibility and assure no further challenges to his power. The advisers' words proved true; Dundain was cut down within the day, few other casualties were reported, and Norman's men became convinced of their ability to vanquish any foe.

No further vanquishing was needed, however. The two most significant clans remaining, the Airdric and the Brayans, negotiated a certain level of freedom in their home territories in exchange for fealty, but fealty was given all the same. In 1066 C.E., the United Bayronite Shires were born, and have existed in one form or another to this day.

(Side note: For reasons never explained, once the Shirelands were united, Norman retired to a small hold on the eastern shore with his closest companion, leaving peacetime rule in the hands of his adopted Bayronite clan. In his honor, all Bayronite kings going forward agreed to take his name as a patronymic upon ascending to the crown. Thus, Conquering King Norman and King Norman the First are two different people.

Pre-Melt: The history of the early UBS was rife with the basic issues of a young society- maintaining consistent law and order, plus food security for a nation quickly shifting to living in permanent towns and villages, with a fully agricultural base of food production. Dealings with other nations began, mainly trade with feudal holdings to the west (in what would become Nantes) and the squabbling factions of the Rhozanni Oligarchy to the south. A significant land mass to the north was occasionally explored, but most expeditions never returned, and the few that did never reported actually reaching land.

Occasional kings set across the channel into Nantian lands, seeking to expand their territory, but the Nantians were superb stonesmiths and had long built heavily-defended keeps capable of holding massive armies at bay. On three separate occasions a Bayronite king ordered siege weaponry developed with an eye towards gaining a foothold in Nantian lands; in each instance the king was dead within two years and his successor ordered the project shut down. No adequate explanation for this apparent cause and effect has ever been found.

Eventually, the nation was beset by internal issues. Designed as a patriarchal monarchy, the succession was thrown into disarray in 1544 for the first time when King Norman the Fourteenth fathered three daughters and no sons. His widow, Queen Effie, had gathered a not-unsubstantial amount of goodwill from the people and support amongst the most powerful mayors and clan leaders in the UBS, and attempted to leverage this into naming her eldest daughter, Suzanne, heir to the throne, with herself as the honorary Queen Mother. Great battles played out in the court over this, but within a year Effie won out and installed her daughter as ruler of the land, ending not only the tradition of kings but also of "Norman" being taken as the ruler's name.

The most damaging aspect of this change, however, was the splitting of Airdrie into its own nation. According to treaties signed by the original Norman, Airdrie and Bray were responsible for maintaining one-quarter of the nation's armed forces. When Queen Suzanne the First came to power, Airdrie's leaders withdrew every last soldier. Suzanne immediately turned to reconquer the territory and force them to rejoin, until Brayan leaders also began threatening to secede.without certain concessions. Nor would they allow their soldiers to attack Airdrie until their demands were settled, knowing full well that half a Bayronite army stood no chance of invading the difficult Airdric highlands. By the time the Brayans were happy, of course, the Airdric were well-ensconced in their hills, likely to hold out even against an army triple its size. Queen Suzanne wrote off Airdrie as "the loss of thinly-grazed sheepland, nothing more," and vowed to prove the UBS stronger without them.

Unfortunately for Suzanne's grandson, King William the First, he was to oversee the loss of something much more valuable. In 1598, Brayan leaders determined concessions made by Queen Suzanne were no longer sufficient to maintain their loyalty and, given the territory's status as critical Bayronite farmland, demanded a great deal more. William did not care for this and felt he would correct his grandmother's error by crushing the Brayan opposition permanently, especially given the low-lying fields and generally much poorer defensive geography than Airdrie.

However, William led an army as a king; that is to say, with great demands and little skill. After three years of building his forces for what he perceived as a victory march across Bray, William led the first charge past the border and stumbled directly into an ambush. Most of his guard was slain, and he was taken captive. Within a day he had ransomed Bray for his life, and returned home to rule what remained of the UBS as an utterly ineffective leader for the next fifteen years, until his death in 1616. Upon ascension to the throne, William's son Trevor sought to win Bray back through diplomacy, but the Brayans had become increasingly settled as a nation and there was nothing to discuss.

The loss of both Airdrie and Bray left a deep sense of impotence on the national psyche. King Trevor chose to alleviate this by finally making full-fledged expeditions into the northlands. As before, several expeditions were lost before one managed to return with news of the mainland. They described a land dark with unnatural shadow and the noises of terrible beasts roaring in the night. That expedition had lasted only one night on the beach, but it was enough for Trevor to dedicate a spree of ship-building to carry would-be colonists and part of his army as protection. Eventually the Bayronites cut their way into the heart of the territory, planting flags everywhere they could. Small tribes of natives existed in scattered pockets throughout the land, though not for long after the Bayronites found them. Outpost after outpost was laid down, with larger ones becoming trading hubs and eventually towns in control of outposts for a radius of several miles. Years into the colonization process, multiple governorships were handed out relating to the locations of these main hubs; these were considered states within the greater colony. Thus, in 1642, King Trevor dubbed the main entry in his legacy the Antonian States, after the legend of the explorer Antonio, who had reportedly landed on the shore of Conquering King Norman's hold after crossing the great eastern ocean in a simple canoe.

For one hundred years the Antonian colony added tremendous wealth to the UBS coffers. Friction arose between the UBS and Nantes in the early 18th century, when the UBS encountered a small but rapidly expanding Nantian presence on the southwestern edge of the colony's landmass, replete with flags of their own. Because the Bayronites held the huge majority of the territory, and the Nantians were only able to press outside of the southwestern hills with straggling bands of poachers and smugglers, this remained a source of friction for decades without evolving into all-out war. However, the advent of steam technology around this period left the UBS rulers of the early 1700s concerned about potential Nantian shenanigans in and around the entire Antonian landmass.

Once again, internal strife disrupted hostilities with Nantes. In the early 1740s, communication with the Antonian States fell to a minimum. What messages survived the journey to UBS shores were increasingly rife with gibberish sentences, and eventually bizarre and unknown words. Nantian diplomats visited the Bayronite capital with similar communicaes, demanding answers as to why their people on the landmass were inundated with equally bizarre messages from the Bayronite colonists, though the Nantians themselves were not apparently affected by whatever had gripped the Bayronites' minds. By 1747 investigative crews started traveling over, followed by rescue teams when the investigators did not return. Within a few years all communication from the States had ceased, and in 1753 Queen Annette the First signed an official decree writing off the colony as a complete loss.

For the next century-plus, the Bayronites kept to their own shores. They maintained relatively peaceful relations with all neighbors, trading new steam technologies and generally achieving a measure of shared prosperity. Even official contact with the Antonian colony resumed in the early 19th century, though the colony had formed its own nation and relations, though not hostile, remained cool. This peace lasted through the beginning stages of the Melt.

Melt: The slow initial rise in ocean levels were little more than a curiosity in the UBS. Port towns maintained watch on the seas, but as even these tended to be built along hills several yards above sea level, with only docks at the shore, the rising ocean caused mostly logistical hassles rather than outright destruction.

However, in 1871 the low-lying borderlands between the UBS and Bray were threatened, including the heart of the Brayan farmlands. Within a year half the agricultural base in Bray had been saturated by the encroaching sea. As a great deal of the UBS' food supply was imported from Bray, this caused a spike in food prices and near-panic among the populace. With radio reports worldwide coming in of similar disasters either being threatened or in progress, King Edward the Third sent diplomats to each of Ereth's major governments with a Humanitarian Covenent, seeking to create a unified front against the rapaciousness and abuse so frequent in times of calamity. All except the Qomian government agree to the basic concept of cooperation in helping every nation survive the environmental shift.

When the Melt's critical period began in 1876, by most measures the UBS-dominated area survived better than the majority of the world. All the neighboring countries- the UBS, Airdrie, Bray, and Nantes- consisted in large part of lands over a half-mile above sea level, allowing minimal disruption to the populace (aside from the obliteration of all ports). The most damaging loss- Bray's rich farmland- had been overcome before the true Melt, and approximately eighty percent of the leftover combined farmland of those four nations remained out of reach of the surging waters. The separation of Airdrie and especially Bray into their own islands, and the widened gap between the UBS and Nantes, became transportation hassles but did not displace a huge percentage of the populace.

Moreover, the great majority of the UBS army and air force remained intact. As commanded by young Queen Marjorie the Second in 1884, once the Melt appeared to have reached its apex, these forces were put to work bringing succor to more widely damaged areas of the world. As such, most of them were overseas at the start of the Great War.

Great War: The Bayronites and their neighbors were the first to witness the type of diplomatic row this new world would spawn, when the Messinians and the Rhozannis to their south debated ownership of a deep-sea coal mine that had once sat nestled along the border of the two nations. Queen Marjorie sent ambassadors and negotiators to attempt a peaceful compromise, but the situation devolved rapidly. When naval skirmishes began only three months after the initial argument, Marjorie withdrew all diplomatic efforts and allowed the countries to wage the war they clearly intended to fight.

Despite the UBS' considerable military strength and value as an ally, Marjorie deftly kept the country out of major combat operations. Calculating the strongest position available to her people would be as an unbroken power at the end of a war that had expanded to most of the globe, the queen worked to enhance the Bayronite position in the world by continuing to ship relief supplies to the most badly devastated areas not in the midst of direct warfare. For the most part this diplomatic effort succeeded, though the occasional pirating of relief supplies by another country's forces brought renewed calls to respond with force against the aggressor. But Marjorie held firm against these demands.

The most noteworthy domestic occurrence during the war was the arrival of Roy Falco, head of the AeroKnights corporation. Seeing the UBS as the hub of Ereth's only peaceful region, as well as the nation of his birth, Falco made every attempt to impress the queen with the lucrative potential of allowing his company to do business in her country. Factories greater than any the country knew would employ her people at good wages, crafting AeroKnight products for worldwide use. But this, too, Majrorie rejected as a method of becoming involved in the war. AeroKnights Inc. began as a mercenary operation, and no doubt had enemies- possibly enemies that would be hostile to her for accepting them onto her land, and destroy her plans for becoming the premier post-war power through diplomacy.

Post-War to Present: Unfortunately for Marjorie, her plans did not quite reach fruition. Over the last half of the war, Falco's AeroKnights became both the pre-eminent mercenary group and arms supplier to all nations able to afford their services. Based in neighboring Nantes- a decision by the Nantian government which has ruined UBS/Nantian relations to this day- Falco himself became the most dominant player on the world political stage with the signing of the AeroKnight Armistice by thirty-nine nations, setting up the ARI as the main form of post-war diplomatic resolution. Without the war weariness of other nations to draw upon as a way to help negotiate solutions with some benefit for the UBS, Marjorie was left with the options of rejecting the Armistice- in effect saying she would prefer the world in a state of perpetual war- or signing and placing herself as one amongst equals, in a world under the stewardship of a mercenary contractor whose business offer she purposely rejected half a decade before.

Fifteen years of ARI competition have passed since the signing of the Armistice. Queen Marjorie is in her late sixties, mostly healthy but showing signs of her age, and has not yet signed the document.

She is "still considering all options".