Difference between revisions of "History of Gunnlandia"

Revision as of 03:22, 7 July 2005

Gunnish history is traditionally divided into fifteen segments. All are discussed here, as well as the continually developing events surrounding the Second Revolution. This is covered in the sixteenth segment.

History of the Kingdom of Gunnlandia

The nordic invader kings (813-917)

The Gunnish nation was forged in 813, when Gunnar the Conqueror (whom some historians argue is the nation's namesake), an invading Nordic jarl from the North, united the Celtic clans over the course of two years. With their powerful longbows and diciplined martial culture, Gunnar and his invaders easily overcame most of the peaceful shepherds of the country. The most stubborn and hardest to overcome were the Dalmyr, the natives of present-day Dalmyre, and the only natives with a stable feudal government. For more than one hundred years, Gunnar and his progeny ruled from their seat at Kald Thwaite, unchallenged except for a breif usurpation by Torfinn Kingslayer, the supposed murderer of his predecessor Magnus II. Over time, the Invader Kings converted to Christianity, which had slowly invaded the country in a more passive way than the Northmen.

The Kingdom of Fergus (917-1058)

In 917, infighting within the small Nordic feudal elite between the descendants of Torfinn and those of his successor Sweyn I weakened the nobles. Also significant was their loss of military and technical superiority, as more and more Celts had joined the warrior classes. One of these new Celtic nobles, Fergus the Great, the illegitimate grandson of Torfinn Kingslayer, claimed the throne and led a revolt against the Invader Kings. Ultimately, he overcame almost all of the nation except for the far east, where today Nordic place names are more pronounced than typical, Celtic-Gunnish place-names. Fergus established a line of kings that reigned until 1058. The last of the dethroned Invader Kings, Gunnar the Fox, led a rebellion as late as 1021, when King Kentigern the Wise negotiated and granted his family domain in the barren central Highlands of the country. They would eventually become known as Clan Gunn, and though they lost many of their Nordic traditions to the Celtic customs of their neighbors and spouses, they have continued to keep a striking Nordic resemblance.

The Gunn Ascendancy; the nation and monarchy are born (1058-1290)

After two and a half centuries of miscegenation between Norsemen and Celts, a Gunnish race had finally been born. The first of this race to ascend the throne was Alexander "Half-Breed", who usurped the throne from Malcolm II in 1058. Malcolm's father, Rhydderch, had allowed the nobles of his kingdom to gain more power. The most powerful of these families was the Gunn family, descendants of the old Invader Kings. Alexander Half-Breed's father, Constantine the Elder, forced the daughter of Rhydderch to marry him. Though the Church never recognized the marriage, it allowed Alexander to claim some kind of kingship. Though, because his claim was not definite, Alexander convinced the various nobles of the most prominent families, or Clans, to elect him. The cheiftains, as they were called, became the first thrains and tanistry was established. Thus, the new monarchy was formed.

Margaret and John: Tanistry challenged in the First Clan War (1290-1296)

The Line of Alexander stretched from 1058 until 1290. During this time, the Council of Thrains had been reduced to nominal importance, and was so insignificant that it was not called into session to elect Constantine in 1214 or Donald in 1249, who were so powerful they just assumed the throne. But Donald had only one child, a daughter, Margaret, who took the throne without the Thrains' permission when Donald died in 1286. In that same year, John MacIntyre, the second-most powerful noble began an insurrection to remove Margaret, ashamed the country would be lead by a woman, who he perceived as weak. The Thrains sided with John, and he was named king in 1292, ending the Line of Alexander. John died soon afterwards from wounds he suffered at the Battle of Kilmarnock, which decided the war.

Hereditary monarchy restored (1296-1406)

Robert II, nicknamed "The Restorer", rose up against John's son Edward I in 1296, and defeated him and the Thrains in less than three months with a decisive victory, again at Kilmarnock. Here, Robert commissioned a castle which is still the seat of the Gunn family today.

MacIntyre domination and the Second Clan War (1406-1513)

Peace had never been fully restored, especially after the MacIntyres came to dominate the Thrains' council through a mixture of intimidation and bribery. In 1406, the nation was ripe for revolt after the death of the tyrannical James I. The Gunns hardly contested the election of Edward II, a MacIntyre, to the throne. The Second Clan War began when his son Edmund claimed the throne as his hereditary right in 1437. It lasted, on and off, through his reign and the reign of his son Thomas. Finally, in 1488 the MacIntyres and Gunns, both exhausted from war, compromised and elected a MacAllister, Richard. The war began anew under Richard's tyrannical rule, in which he attempted to restore the hereditary monarchy for his own house. Now, the MacIntyres united behind the Gunns, but only after a crushing defeat at their own fortress at the Battle of the Kilburn High. A victory against the MacAllisters was never truly won, but Alexander III, a Gunn, was elected by the Thrains in 1513 with only token MacAllister resistance.

The Golden Age (1513-1653)

Tanistry was re-established, but the Gunns so thoroughly dominated the Council that they orchestrated the election of a single woman, Mary the Chaste, and later her nephew James II. In 1653, the Thrains bloodlessly revolted against this state of affairs and elected Patrick from the small clan Cameron.

The MacLeish Wars (1653-1714)

Owen the Knave, the first and only MacLeish monarch, usurped the throne in 1658 after allegedly killing Patrick and taking advantage of the weak monarchy. A two year war was fought between the MacLeishes and the Camerons, who were supported half-heartedly by the Gunns and MacIntyres. Stephen I, a Cameron, took the throne by force from Owen in 1660, and no clans protested when the Council was not called to elect either him or his son Stephen II in 1685. Both increased the power of the monarchy, so much that in 1689 James III, a Gunn clansmen from the family Strathclyde, contracted dissident MacLeish noblemen, who had been expelled from the Council, to kill Stephen II. They did so, and James III claimed the throne, was elected by the Council, and re-instated the MacLeish cheiftains to the Thrains' Council.

Democracy (1714-1837))

The new line of Gunn kings peacefully changed hands in a hereditary fashion from the Strathclyde family to the Ferguson family. Alexandra was elected in 1714 by the Thrains' Council, but they rebelled against her only a year after her election. Intermittent war was fought until Alexandra's death in 1727, when her son Robert IV, now of the Wyllie family, took the throne and introduced sweeping changes to the country. He abolished the Thrains' Council which had elected him, and created an elected Congress in its place which was to meet at least once a year. He also raised the MacLeod family to noble status, something unprecedented since Alexander III created the Thrains' council in 1058. The MacLeods became a clan for Gunnishmen who were not previously born into a particular outgrowth of a noble family, and thus broke down class barriers. His reforms brought years of stability and House Wyllie ruled continuously until 1865.

Peter the Great and the Autocratic Kings (1837-1863)

Under James IV (ascended in 1801), James V (ascended in 1820), and Elizabeth (ascended in 1830), the Congress grew into a truly powerful institution dominated by the Conservative Party, which was controlled by the highland clans. Opposition parties like the Whigs, Republicans, Liberals, and Socialists did not gain much power until the Industrial Revolution which began to re-shape the nation beginning in the reign of Robert V in 1837. Seeing new political instability, Robert increased the power of the kingship. He used these powers with restraint, but his son, Peter II, saw things quite differently. Peter, with the help of large businesses and the new middle class, began actively supporting the urbanization and industrialization of the country to the chagrin of the other Clans. But it was not the clans that had the power to revolt against him, but instead an urban rebellion beginning in Congress began to beat the drums of war.

Gunnish Monarchs

• Gunnar the Conqueror
• Magnus I
• Ragnvald
• Magnus II Stronghands
• Torfinn Kingslayer
• Sweyn I
• Knut the Bold
• Sweyn II
• Fergus the Great
• Kenneth I
• Donald the Brute
• Arthgal
• Kenneth II
• Eochaid the Great
• Eoghain
• Dubh
• Kentigern the Wise
• Malcolm I
• Rhydderch the Fool
• Malcolm II
• Alexander the Half-Breed
• Duncan I
• Fergus II
• William Ironfist
• Duncan II
• Andrew I
• Robert I
• Constantine
• Donald
• Margaret
• John
• Edward I
• Robert (II) the Restorer
• Andrew II
• Robert IV
• James the Fool
• Edward II
• Edmund
• Thomas
• Richard the Cruel
• Andrew III
• Fergus III
• Mary the Chaste
• James II
• Patrick the Unlucky
• Owen the Knave
• Stephen I
• Stephen II
• James (III) the Ruthless
• Donald III
• Mary II
• Robert III
• Alexandra
• Robert IV
• Peter I
• James IV
• James V
• Elizabeth
• Robert V
• Peter (II) the Great
• Catherine
• Andrew IV
• James VI

Republican history of Gunnlandia

The civil war and republican rule (1863-1929)

The Republican Party was elected to a majority on an anti-monarchist platform in 1861, primarily in opposition to Peter II's policies. Facing a rebellion and the collapse of the economy he had worked so hard to build, Peter II abdicated in 1863 in favor of his daughter Catherine in order to appease the Republicans from inciting war. But the increasingly hard-line Republicans deposed Catherine anyway in 1865 and executed both her and her father. Gunnish democracy was off to a bloody start, as would be the trend for the rest of its history.

Fascist takeover (1929-2000)

When the Global Depression hit Gunnlandia in 1929, Gunnishmen had been becoming aware through the media and other outlets that their country was backward and poor. The younger generation yearned for an optimistic political voice that affirmed the Gunnish people and would take a strong hand in the economy. They found it in the Fascist Party, later renamed the National Workingmens' Party, which won a majority in Congress in 1932. After decades of weak government with no clear executive, they elevated the Chancellor of Congress to become the clear military leader. Democratic institutions, with no clear mandates other than the legacy of Robert IV, eventually proved to be fragile. The fascists came to dominate every element of Gunnish society, surpressing the Church and all movements for reform and change.

The first revolution (2000)

In 2000, various anarchist groups conspiring with labor organizations launched a nationwide General Strike that soon turned violent. Robert Wynne, an opposition statesman in Congress, acheived national fame when guerilla radio stations broadcasted his calls for revolution. Wynne led revolutionaries against the tyrannical government in Wyndhaven, despite threats from government death squads who killed his wife and infant daughter in an attempt to intimidate him. His actions brought him national fame, that helped his Libertarian Party win majorities and him to win the First Citizenship in elections in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

A fragile federation (2001-2004)

For two years after the revolution, Gunnlandia was a loose federation. A Constitution in 2002 put the previouslyde facto Federal Congress in charge officially, headed by the First Citizen. But warfare across Europe led voters to affirm Robert Wynne's realpolitik approach to his libertarianism. The economy, fully liberalized, skyrocketed as businesses flocked to the new nation and found a strong industrial and agricultural base already constructed by the fascists. Soon, Gunnish troops could be found in Shahlep after the Israel-Palestine crisis, and the Islamic Republic eventually became part of the Federation. A legal attempt to bring Catherine's grandson King Andrew IV, a Tallcrest of Clan Gunn, to the throne was short-lived after the nation's antistatist paranoia took over when the King tried to quell riots in Wyndhaven.

Statism revisited (2004-2005)

Capitollium became the new capital of a multinational state in early 2005. Confident voters elected a statist coalition under Patrick Fallon in the 2005 elections. Meanwhile, the Church organized a quiet but short-lived putsch to return the nation to a Christian, pacifist libertarianism, and the Patriarch of Gunnlandia was given a voice in government. When it became apparent that Fallon's government was propogating human rights abuses particularly of children conscripted into the military in a shadowy scenario, this, coupled with outrageous government appointments, primed the catridge of public opinion for a second revolution.

The second revolution (2005-)

This time, Edward MacIntyre, an opposition politician, led the fight and Fallon lost his majority in the Federal Congress. After he unsuccessfully tried to disband it during riots in Wyndhaven, most of the Congress left for MacIntyre's home city of Kilburn. There, it elected James VI, a Wyllie from Clan Gunn, king, to unite the country behind a single leader. Robert Wynne returned from Erlangen-Ansbach, where he had married, to lead the Libertarian Party, whose numbers had swelled. With the aid of James Starke, a moderate military officer who had served under Wynne but whom the statists attempted to murder, the revolution succeeded in bringing in a new government, the Free Republic of Capitollium.