Hespera

Although not the strongest power of the north, Hespera remains a powerful nation - and one that Dolahiir, the dominant power, will not invade without serious forethought. Hespera is an imperial nation, and is also home to the largest port on Korahis; the protectorate-city of Legassa. It is located in North Korahis, east of Dolahiir, north of Kalysta, south of Bechet and northeast of Rosalia. It has a population of almost 200,000,000, of which a quarter live in the cities of Hespera. Hespera was founded in 362 by the Emperor Hesperus.

History
Founded in 362 by the Emperor Hesperus - who also gave his name to his newfound nation - Hespera was, from day one, destined to be a powerful nation. Hesperus had led his settlers all the way from Nethia; sailed across the South and North Tehellic Oceans, landed in Dolahiir - which had just been formed - and travelled eastwards to what is now the Imperial Province. Once there, he declared that day would be remembered as the beginning of a legend, and his settlers began work on their homes at an assuming spot, about eighty miles south of the River Tigrade. In 363, Hesperus was now the ruler of his own city-state; the Imperial City. It didn't take Hesperus long to began reaching out to tiny settlements around the Imperial City, and bring them into the Hesperan fold. By 370, Hesperus had the entirety of the modern-day Imperial Province as well as the Vardia Marshes to the Southeast and Aquilus to the South; bringing the cities of Vardia City, Tordius City and Andrica under his control. In 371, Hesperus faced his first major battle at Sicarium - a fortress northwest of the Imperial City. Arrayed against him were a marauding horde of Orcs and other greenskins that had been defeated at Bechet, but cut off from Magadagik; they had therefore fled further southwards, and finally entered Hesperan land.

Click on the link to read more about the Battle of Sicarium.

After the Battle, Hesperus advanced further to the northwest, and took the city of Damatrium - the major city in the Greyreaches, and thus, took the Greyreaches themselves. He never advanced over the Greyreach Mountains, and since Hesperus took Damatrium, the Greyreaches have been the northwestern border of Hespera.

In 375, Hesperus returned to campaigning in the south, taking Udrea Province, Lasium and the Vallan Plains in quick succession. By the dawning of 376, Hesperus controlled a sizeable amount of land - and at the time, was in control of the second largest kingdom in North and South Korahis. In what would be his last expansion, Hesperus took Corsia in 378. So by the time of his death in 380, Hespera controlled the provinces of the Greyreaches, Imperial Province, Vallan Plains, Corsia, Vardia Marshes, Aquilus, Udrea and Lasium.

His successor, Emperor Demetrian, was the first to make contact with the city of Legassa - a city around ninety miles north, on the mouth of the River Tigrade. Legassa was a sprawling Port at the time of contact, and had never seen the need to expand - but it possessed a vast navy; something that Hesperus had never seen the need to build while he was in power. Demetrian attempted to cow the Legassans into submission by surrounding their city, but they merely shut their gates and used the vast reserves within the city to hold out. He then attempted to send diplomats, but the Legassans refused them entry. Finally, he ordered the shipwrights in Lasium to build a navy for Hespera. By 382, the Hesperans had almost three hundred ships to the Legassan thousand - Demetrian sailed the three hundred ships up to Legassa from Lasium, and attempted to burn the entire Legassan fleet while it was in harbour.

Unfortunately for Demetrian, only one hundred Legassan ships were in the harbour. The other nine-hundred were anchored further north; and as Demetrian's ships attempted to sail into the harbour to begin their conquest of Legassa, the other nine hundred sailed down and utterly annihilated the Hesperan fleet. Demetrian survived, but he realised that Legassa was - for the time being - impenetrable.

Ignoring Legassa, Demetrian headed further north and took Phemusia's Cradle - a vast wasteland area that was covered in lava and ash, due to the constant explosions of the volcano Phemusia. Still, his scouts located a city called Physorium. Demetrian took the city and quickly vacated the Cradle, just in time to see Phemusia spout out the largest eruption since 94 - and annihilate Physorium. In 391, Demetrian ordered a new city to be built on the coast of the Cradle - knowing that the soil there was perfect for farming. He named it after his wife, and the new city became known as Cassandrium. He sent one of his generals, Proteus, to the northwest of Phemusia, and he himself continued heading northeast.

Proteus entered the Tigrade Floodflats to the city of Tigrium, and bartered with its leaders to join the Empire. They eventually gave in. Proteus was about to return to Demetrian when scouts from Tigrium returned. Tigrium's leaders spoke of an army approaching - an army far larger than what Tigrium had. Proteus - honouring the agreements they had made with each other - stayed in Tigrium with the Third Legion. During midday on the second day of Spring in 392, the approaching army arrived. Unknown to Proteus, they were led by Sarm the Invincible - a Dolahiiran General. This was to be the first of many times that Hespera and Dolahiir would fight.

Click on the link to read more about the Battle of Tigrium.

Demetrian advanced northeast and took the Mercha Lowlands and the city-state of Tarida, after a prolonged battle with the Taridan forces.

Click on the link to read more about the Battle of Tarida.

In the Autumn of 395, Demetrian took the Kalimar Moorlands, and in doing so, created modern Hespera. Demetrian ruled Hespera peacefully until his death in 420. His successor, Emperor Caspius, was faced with problems on his coronation. On his very first day of being the Emperor, word came in from Lasium and the Vardia Marshes that a huge fleet had been spotted. Caspius - ruling an Empire with no navy - had few options. Legassa was still unresponsive, and there was no way to reach the ships before they got to the shore. So Caspius ordered that wooden fortifications were to be built all along the eastern shore of Lasium and Vardia. On the second day of his rule, the ships came within a mile of the shoreline. On the third day, they hit the shoreline, and disembarked thousands of well-equipped Thurin troops. This was the first invasion attempt that Thurin would make on the continent of North Korahis. At Vardia, the Hesperans held off the Thurins and burnt their ships - but the Sixth Legion at Lasium was overrun and destroyed.

Click on the link to read more about the Battle of Vardia.

Click on the link to read more about the First Battle of Lasium and the Second Battle of Lasium.

During the Thurin Invasion, the Dolahiirans attempted to take the province of Corsia. The Tenth Legion - newly formed - was to fight its first battle against a veteran Dolahiiran army at Corsia. They won, narrowly, and since that day, the Tenth Legion has become the bane of the Dolahiirans.

Click on the link to read more about the Battle of Corsia.

After both the Thurin and Dolahiiran Invasion, Caspius sent envoys to their neighbours in the north and south - Bechet and Kalysta, respectively. The Bechetians were happy to accept an alliance, but the Kalystans required more persuasion. Caspius himself rode to Diamond Tower in the Crystal City, and there, he spoke with King Tyon VI about the need of an alliance. Caspius promised that if Kalysta's southern neighbours were to invade, that Hespera would send aid, as long as Kalysta would send aid if Dolahiir invaded Hespera.

In 428, Dolahiir invaded with its entire army - almost ten million men against the twenty Legions of Hespera - each with five thousand men. Bechet upheld its side of the alliance, and sent its army - almost fifty-thousand, and Kalysta sent its army, almost two-hundred thousand. Altogether, the three nations had three-hundred and fifty-thousand men against ten million. Kalysta and Bechet both sent envoys out to their allies, and Hespera sent messages to Rosalia.

For full details on the First Dolahiiran Invasion of Hespera, click here.

After the Invasion, Caspius ruled a peaceful Hespera until his death in 456. His successor, Emperor Madrisia, ruled in peace too until his death in 510. The successor of Madrisia was a man named Sirmius who played a vital role in Hesperan history.

Sirmius's reign was not marked by any major wars, nor any breakthroughs in magic or science. It was the Treaty of Madorium that Sirmius was so famous for. Signed in 540, the Treaty made the City-State of Legassa a Protectorate of Hespera; finally giving the Empire a means to defend itself at sea. While Legassa had always had the buffer of Hespera anyway, it now had guaranteed protection against attacks from the land. Although Sirmius died in 560, he was to go down a legend - vaunted amongst the Hesperan people as much as Hesperus, Demetrian, Scipio, Caspius, Dominus, Casalorius or Scorax.

Hespera remained peaceful through the reigns of the Emperor's Torgusta, Ladarian, Vadarus, Garius and Castor - from 560 until 801. In that time, more cities sprung up throughout Hespera, the alliance vetween Hespera, Rosalia, Kalysta and Bechet became stronger and Hespera became richer from the massive food exports it provided. However, the reign of Emperor Scipio marked a dark side to Hespera's History. For it was during the reign of Scipio that the Empire came closest to falling. In the year of 803 - two years into Scipio's reign - all travel from Rosalia and Kalysta ceased. Intrigued, Scipio sent emissaries to find out the reason. They never returned. Now more than curious, Scipio sent the Second and Third Legions to the Rosalian Border, and the Eighth and Tenth Legions to the Kalystan Border. A week after the Legions had left, an envoy from Bechet arrived, and Scipio discovered that an assassin had attempted to kill the Bechetian King, and that Scipio was probably the next target.

The envoy turned out to be correct, and within a month, an assassin attempted to kill Scipio while he slept - however, Scipio overpowered the assassin and killed him with his own dagger. That night, he engineered a plot with his closest advisors and generals to make it seem as if he had died. He hid within his castle - never leaving, and his son, Tatius, took over in the meantime. Eventually, the plotters behind the assassination came out. Scipio was expecting the Dolahiirans - but it was not; from across the sea, from the continent of Asanica, the Dagonians were manipulating events in North Korahis to bring down the major nations. Kalysta and Rosalia were already in peril; their leaders dead and their coastal cities overrun by Dagonian soldiers and their Fiendish allies. In the first month of 804, Dagonians attempted to land on the east coast of Hespera; they did not expect the Legassan fleet, though, and the Dagonians were forced into a rout.

After this, the Legassans sailed northwards to destroy the Dagonian invasion fleet about to land at Bechet, while Emperor Scipio came out, took back the mantle of the Emperor and led his armies southwards to Kalysta. There, he rallied the remnants of the Kalystan army and drove the Dagonian forces into the sea. Taking his new Kalystan troops, he entered Rosalia and did the same - utterly destroying the Dagonian armies.

For full details on the Hesperan campaigns in Kalysta and Rosalia, click here and here, respectively.

In 810, when T'loth the Feeble organised the Goblin Tribes of the Greyreach Mountains, it was Scipio who led the First Legion into combat with the Tribes - and personally slew T'loth. In 812, Scipio led a campaign against the Thurin - in revenge for the invasion of 420. He sailed down directly across the Atlaric to Thurin, and once there, burnt down three Thurin cities; Odai, Gawai and Nobu City. He lost, approximately, ten thousand men and killed, in return, almost two million Thurin soldiers - not counting civilians. After this, the Thurin would notably avoid Hespera in their invasions of North Korahis. In 820, Scipio was challenged in single-combat by the Dolahiiran General Vantiago. The duel was made famous by the fact that Scipio killed Vantiago not with a weapon - but with a single punch. In 832, an ancient temple to the God Infinitio was discovered in the Kalimar Moorlands - one of only three such Temples discovered. In 833, a fleet of Corcyran Corsairs attempted to raid Legassa, but were destroyed - utterly - by the Legassan Navy.

Then, in 847, during the first Green Storm, Hesperan fought against Khrull for the first and only time.

The campaign against Khrull's first Green Storm is long, read more about it here.