Rubek Alliance
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 Contemporary image depicting Rubek engaging Urallians at the Battle of Volodyagrad | ||||||
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Background
The Rubek Alliance was a union of several local powers in the Loraniya Region (now more commonly known as the Region of PEEL) against the presence of the Urallian Empire. The Empire was already in decline by this time, and after many centuries of Urallian domination in the area, many of the indigenous people of Loraniya were keen to force the Urallians from their lands once and for all, in case the situation in the Urallian Homelands stabilised, and the Imperials were able to maintain their stranglehold. Less than a combined front, the Alliance was more an agreement between various different peoples that they would put aside their differences (which were often many) and join forces against Urallia. There was a huge wave of confidence following the long-fought-for expulsion of Urallian forces from the island nation of Tweekona (now Tweeklandia) and the large-scale riddance of Urallian colonists from Rolandiya (now the New European Continent) by the Hun'kura. Tuets to the north had fought a bitter and continuous war against the Urallians, and it was the King of the Spiphland Tuets, Rubek III that championed the idea of an Alliance, and thus gave it its name.
The Alliance allowed the armies of Slimmoa (now Slimmy) and Spiphland (Spifflandia) to come together more easily, and fight against the Urallian legions on the coast of the Elzar Strait, and for the Navies of Al Mayata, Persei, Hun'kura, Villand and Tweekona, for example, to join forces to take on the mighty Urallian Navy, with greater confidence and impunity. The Alliance scored many victories against the withering Urallian armies, navies and allies (for example of the Vellas people and the Kingdom of Ritiya - two groups considered won over - or "spoilt" - by Urallian civilisation and culture), and reduced the actual territory of the Urallians to but a fraction of its original extent. However, if the goal was to completely remove the Urallian presence, then the Alliance ultimately failed.
After the death of King Rubek in 148 CE, the Alliance began to lose momentum. The Urallian Empire had all but collapsed by this time, and so the fear of Urallian resurgence was diminished. However even before Rubek had died, there were signs that the Alliance was not completely sound. Al Mayata had launched an invasion of Vostok Island – the largest island of the Zedoliev landmass, but found itself without the support it was promised and was forced to leave. The Vellas had sued for peace, and the Urallian people in Gukkalev were shortly going to make peace with their neighbours. Zedoliev itself had found inspired leadership in Bukharin who not only saw off Al Mayata in a blistering campaign, but quickly organised what was left of Zedoliev into a near impenetrable land.
Rubek’s generation left weary heirs – only the Villand Tuets really continued any sizable actions against the remaining Urallians, usually with very little gained. Hun’kura sat on the sidelines then quickly lost interest in the war involving their Allies Richnya against Ritiya. Most of the other powers involved recognised that with the Urallians technically out of their hair, there was very little reason to concern themselves with moping up the “hopeless” remains. Worst was to come when in 188 CE, Hun’kura was invaded by former partners, the Sarechi. In 205 CE, the then leader of Zedoliev, Imperatka Anya, persuaded King Gref II of Villand to discuss peace. A deal was struck, and in 207, Anya struck a similar deal with Al Mayata – who had been at ceasefire with Zedoliev for several decades anyway. Rubek’s Alliance was finally made obsolete and while never officially disbanded, it finally died the day the region made piece with the last of the Urallians.
Rubek’s Legacy
It could be said that even though the region lost interest in conflict with Zedoljev, it did not rule-out former Rubek nations honouring old alliances when the situation arose. Sadly for the ailing King Gref, little did he know that Zedoliev would effectively disintegrate after the death of Anya. His son Emer I, recognised the opportunity to bury the Urallians once and for all, and launched various raids into the now many Kingdoms of former Zedoliev. However, that plan backfired before Emer was able to draw enough support from the surrounding countries as former Zedoliev rallied under the banner of Tsar Gagarin. Gagarin turned Zedoliev into a fighting force, which lead to the defeat and death of Emer at the Third Battle of Toragrad. Unfortunately this setback discouraged future Villiyan Kings from repeating similar attempts when Zedoliev again disintegrated.
Villiya (as Villand was now known) would have one more crack at Zedoliev. After the second Civil War, Tsarina Elanor I declared the reformation of a single state – Zedoljev – the “Modern State” as it exists today. The Villiyan King, Hermann V, decided that a strong Zedoljev was too dangerous, and so decided to cripple it as much as possible while it was still weak. Unfortunately, his army was completely decimated in the Second battle of Kviznya by the Tsarina’s Asseniya army. This weakened Villiya, and in a surprise move, Vellas invaded the country, seeking to reclaim ancient territory. This lead to the start of the Elzar War, where old Rubek comrades Nurdbotia, Slimmy and Spifflandia joined Villiya by declaring war on old Rubek enemies, Zedoljev and Vellas. Ultimately, that too failed, as Vellas was able to keep the land it took, despite some original Vellas land to the north being captured by Villiyans who effectively swapped sides of the Elzar Strait. The Vellas barrier protected Zedoljev from any further land attack from the north for hundreds of years. That was not before Nurdbotia deciding to attempt to conquer Vellas and Villiya, which caused every other country involved in the war to turn on them. But their resolve was very strong, and they remained there for several hundred years. In that time, the free people of Vellas and Villiya agreed to join forces, declaring the nation of Vellas-Villiya, or Wells-Ville as it became known in the Nurdbotian Empire.
The Rubek legacy would have one last cry in the Zedoljan Socialist Revolution where much of Zedoljev’s neighbours, including Wells-Ville this time – but not including Nurdbotia whose example it could be said Zedoljev was only following – declared war on the Zedoljan Red Army (later to be known as the People’s Army of Zedoljev) who were fighting against the Zedoljan National Army in a bloody civil war. However, it could be said that it was only coincidence that such a pattern of the same nations fighting against the descendants of the Urallians kept appearing, as in this case it could have been much easier to point out that these nations were Capitalist, and were very much against the idea of a Communist government taking over the centre of the region – especially as this was the second Revolution in a decade, and they were worried how far it would go. But, this attempt also failed, as Zedoljev did successfully become a Socialist nation, as it remains today.
Summary
The consistent failure of the Rubek Alliance and its followers can sometimes be put down to the strength of Zedoljev and her people, but in truth perhaps it better reflects the sad fact that in the region of PEEL, countries often went to war on a whim and got bored just as easily. That and factors changed very quickly; plague, famine, internal strife – these are other characteristics of the history of the region, and can be said to have halted various countries in their tracks, preventing them from committing themselves to various decisions and ventures.
