Catalan Rule of Vassfforcia
Vassfforcia la Serenísima was founded after the Catalan nobles met the Forsians in year 1105 AD as a commercial outpost in the Heartland by order of Count Ramón Berenguer III and the permission of the Forsian king Ardelatrix II with the name Port du Bas Força (Port of Lower Fors). The outpost flourished to the point that in 1311 the King of Aragón and Count of Barcelona gave Vassfforcia the title of Consolat Comercial de Vassfforcia (Commercial Consulate of Vassfforcia).
The Barcelonan Crisis on the second half of the 15th century caused by the Black Death, the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, famines, revolutions and a general loss of power within the Mediterranean caused Barcelona to lose its power over the Consulate, thus for the first time the Xunta General de Vassfforcia (General Council of Vassfforcia) gathered as the Grand Senate and proclaimed Vassfforcian independence and the foundation of the Most Serene Republic of Vassfforcia on August 17th 1478.
Contents
The Conquests
During the nearly 400 years of Barcelonan domination, the springing Vassfforcian nobility began the conquest of Northern Dohendor and the foundation of new cities.
Joan d'Ayicq's Expedition
The first expedition of this kind was led by Don Joan d’Ayicq in 1121 and was a colonization expedition intended to increase Catalan presence to the east and strengthen the alliance with the Forsians. However, when he arrived to Fors he discovered that the Forsians were very weak and decided to conquer the kingdom, which proved easy. D’Ayicq and his expedition crossed the Montauran Mountains, where he climbed the Mount Ayicq (and gave it his name), and after taking the city of Forseglech founded the city of Montaura (Mont Aura, Mount of Gold) on the same year. For this, the Xunta General gave him the title of Viscount of Mont Ayicq and Montaura and his name was changed to Viscount Joan de Mont Ayicq y Montaura being him the first of the House of the Montajìque.
Alfonso Mádasi's Expedition
Sixty years later, in 1179 the second expansion expedition was led by the Vassfforcian noble Don Alfonso Mádasi. He led an army to conquer Northern Dohendor, because they have been having problems with them since the foundation of Vassfforcia. Mádasi laid siege upon the port-city of Gafrlonçaya and after destroying it founded over the ruins the city of Istania. However, in spite of his success, his army wasn’t able to cross Lathenruth River and conquer the rest of the kingdom. Nevertheless, the Xunta General gave him the title of Marquis of West Vassfforcia (Umperia and Vilnia).
Francesco Buchani's Expedition
Only ten years after that, another expedition, this time led by Don Francesco Buchani, Don Andrea Giocco and Mádasi attacked the remnants of the kingdom of Bolgerdor. First they camped near Lake Azur, on the Mount Sulfur, where some years later the House of the Buchani founded the city of Çulfía (today Zulfía). They had a successful campaign and fought the last battle against the Bolger outside the walls of their city, Soyélbolcq’bólder, which was ransacked and destroyed by the victorious Vassfforcian troops. After the war, the Mark of West Vassfforcia became the Principality of Umperia, the Viscounty of Montaura the Duchy of Montaura and the newly conquered territories became the Mark of Vassfforcia Interior. The Xunta General gave this Marquis to the Buchani as their patriarch Don Francesco Buchani was killed during the Battle of Soyélbolcq’bólder.
Andrea Giocco's Expedition
Angered Giocco continued his personal campaign farther south and conquered the Dohen northernmost province of Plaat, causing the first of many wars against Dohendor. He rapidly conquered the territory and founded the cities of Silaldia and Fortenia for his House and achieved the noble title of Marquis of Vassfforcia do Sul. But the next spring, the Dohen came down from the mountains for the first time and attacked the new Vassfforcian forts, especially Silaldia and Fortenia. Tradition says that the resistance of the city (in spite that Andrea was killed) was miraculous; as a priest had a vision in which an angel -or the Holy Spirit according to some authors- told him that for the Vassfforcian to win the battle they shall change the strapped standards for one with the cross. They did it, and even if it was a miracle or not, still today Vassfforcian flag has the cross and the city resisted until a month later, when an army led by the other families was able to come and save the city. After the war, the other families also adopted the new flag as a war and sea standard and when the independence was declared the version used on the sea on that time became the national flag. After the war, the Giocco were forced to share power in their territory with all other families (Montajìque, Buchani, Mádasi and Berenguer).
The Arrival of the Cathars
At the beginning of the 13th century, Barcelona lost two important battles against the French, the Battle of Muret on 1213 and the Battle of Toulouse on 1218, with which their alliance with Languedoc and the Cathars was defeated. Many Cathars ran away to Barcelona, but as the Pope had declared Catharism the perfect heresy they weren’t received. But Don Fernand Montajìque, the Vassfforcian envoy to Barcelona, helped the Cathars escape from Europe to Vassfforcia for nearly twenty years. In Vassfforcia, he then organized expeditions to Hälvendil, where evangelization was being successful, after asking the Hälven Queen, Gwudicq Cataline Hälvenböçin to let the Cathars move to her Queendom. She accepted, and the Cathars traveled to today Tirritidivá. However, the attitude toward the Cathars taken by Fernand was criticized by the Montajìque patriarch who expelled him, his helpers and their heirs from the family, so they were forced to move along the Cathars to Hälvendil. There, the queen gave them the County of Tirritidivá, thus the House of the Montajìque do Sul was founded on 1242.
Dohendor and Vassfforcia
The wars against Dohendor continued. There were times when the Vassfforcian were winning and others when the Dohen seemed to be coming victorious. The Dohen took Silaldia, Fortenia and even Zulfía in 1236 and 1238 but the Vassfforcians besieged the city of Dohendor from 1243 to 47, until they surrendered the province of Plaat to Vassfforcia. During the next century an uneasy peace, full of problems, was kept between Dohendor and Vassfforcia and Hälvendil in the other side.
The Vassfforcians tried to evangelize Dohendor, but the missionaries either disappeared mysteriously within Dohen territory or were openly sacrificed by the druids, so Vassfforcians stopped the evangelization campaign.
On 1351, after Vassfforcia had become a Commercial Consulate and the geographical distribution was reordered: the Principality of Umperia and the Duchy of Montaura stayed as they were. However the Marks of Vassfforcia Interior and Southern Vassfforcia became the Principality of Vassfforcia and were given to the Buchani. Thus, the Giocco saw themselves once more without territories, and besieged the only Dohen port, Ffilsbüs (today Filibustenia) causing war to spring once more between the two countries. This war was won by the Dohen and the eastern part of Vassfforcia (today Ibportia and southern Progreso) including the Giocco city of Fortenia were given back to Dohendor and were named Rhûnplaat.
Years later, in 1401, the next generation of Giocco attacked Dohendor again, but this time they were successful. They captured Rhûnplaat and forced the Dohen to sign a treaty by laying siege to the second Dohen city, Rhûnorodtal. In this way, the Giocco recovered their city and were able to conquer Ffilsbüs which name was changed to Filibustenia. After that, the Xunta General gave them the so long lured territories on the form of the Mark of Ibportia.
During the rest of the century there were four more wars with Dohendor, on 1405, form 1427 to 32, from 1448 to 69 and from 1478 to 1502. Those wars didn’t move the boundaries between the countries, but were resource consuming and the war was finished in 1502 not because peace was achieved, but because both countries were on bankruptcy.
