Xalahad

(OOC Note: This is heavily under construction and little to no unique NS content is here, and probably won't be for some time.)

(Holy crap update, April 21, 2005. Yes, Xalahad's going to be re-restarted.)

'Early' History

(Section under construction)

The Holy Empire of Xalahad began 'life' as Armensia. There wasn't anything of note until around eight years ago, when the Order of Arselia formed, its High Priestess a woman named Nanami Pryde, who hailed from a province called Xalahad. The story behind her ascension is detailed elsewhere, it is too long for the scope of the document (and at least some details are nessecary, for she was twelve when she became High-priestess).

It was about seven years ago when the Monarch of Armensia, a man by the name of Ragnori the VIII began persecuting the Order of Arselia. Things weren't too bad until members of the Arselian clergy began to 'dissapear'. Nanami managed to evade this for some time, but eventually was captured as well.

Enter Kevin Pryde, her elder brother, and half of a set of twins. At that time a strapping young lad of fourteen, he had developed unease once the persecutions began, but was only thrown into action when his sister was taken. It's been said many times during history that if the people were stirred by one voice, they would do anything. Kevin had this sort of voice, and still being a young child, he did not have a lot of the morals that came along with it. After giving a rousing speech to an assembled crowd, he managed to form a small army, which immediatly went underground. People from all over Armensia gathered to join this army, but it was the nature of the country's rumor mill that they did not know they were following a fourteen year old boy until it was 'too late'.

Kevin bided his time, waiting and buying arms. A year later, he struck hard and fast, attacking a prison camp where he liberated his sister and around two thousand Arselian followers, plus evidence that people have been secretly killed. The fact that they were all still alive touched off rebellions all over Armensia. Where once people were afraid that their friends and family were killed, now there were people who knew that they were going to be killed. Kevin's army went from twenty two thousand soldiers (plus support and other stuff), grew to more than ten times it's number.

At this point the newly christened Xalahadi Army went back underground. Unable to ignore the string of rebellious elements, Ragnori began to crack down on these elements, often going further than he should have, and occasionally jailed or executed innocent people, often without any form of due process. Despite many pleas to strike now, the most verbal of these being his twin sister Jennifer, Kevin chose to wait, and decided to set plans in motion.

A year later, the neighboring country of Elemnia began to invade Armensia. Ragnori responded by creating a Non-agression pact with their southern border with Yuneri, and sending the bulk of his army to the northern front. This kept Elemnia from gaining territory. Ragnori, in the fifth month of war, decided to visit the northern front. On his way, he visited a small town. It was mostly abandonded, but there were still populated areas.

It was also the main base of the Xalahadi army.

Kevin was suprised one morning to find Ragnori literally on his front doorstep (He was using a hotel as a base of operations at the time). It's obvious what happened next.

Kevin quickly sent a message to the northern front saying that, yes, he had the King of Armensia, and yes, his survival depended on how far Elemnia drove into the country. This was obviously a lie, and everyone involved knew it. Kevin, however, delayed executing Ragnori and went underground a third time ('Editor's' Note: It's widely believed that he did so a third time, even though he was already underground at this point in time, he was still on his second when this happened.), this time literally.

Inside a ramshackle collection of hastily dug caves, Kevin waited and watched, sending a message to the capital that stated that even though they had plans to execute Ragnori, they have not yet and there was still a chance that they could spring him out. He also gave them a copy of the message he sent to the northern front.

The nobles in the capital fretted. Their King was captured by 'filthy' rebels. However, Kevin wasn't too clear on the location of where Ragnori was. This soon became a bad thing for the nobles of the country, after a failed airstrike near the Xalahadi position missed the king. The Xalahadi turned around and began to sound much more wounded than they were in reality. This did not fool the nobles in the capital, but Kevin had his people continue the wounded animal scream anyway.

A few months passed. Suddenly, one friday afternoon in the dead of Winter, the Xalahadi army emerged, and stalked a blizzard southwards towards the capital. Watching the battle in the northern part of the nation, Kevin couldn't help but notice that the battle had calmed down. Unable to airstrike the approaching army due to their proximity to the storms, the nobles could only watch as the large army moved in to battle their small garrison force. The battle itself was short and brutal. Deprived of their larger forces, the nobles were quickly surrounded in their meeting house, and Kevin had two of his larger soldiers wave Ragnori at them from across the street. Once again, the Xalahadi screamed and toted larger casulties than they took, even though they did take substantial damage, it was not the large 'my army is shattered' amount that he wanted to state. Once again, the public wasn't all that fooled.

Eventually, after a month of two of sieging the offices, the nobles finally surrendered. Without much in the way of public support, Ragnori, still in Xalahadi custody, finally surrendered himself.

On the northern front, reports began to filter in of groups surrendering to the invading force. His first act as national leader was to organize a peace treaty with the north. Grumbling, the Elemnian forces began to walk away, releasing prisoners and material. This happened far too easily for the more sharper of the Armensian population. Kevin, on the other hand, was far too casual about the battle.

Before finalizing changes, the three members of the Pryde family gave Ragnori two choices. He could face the blade, or he could be exiled as long as he never showed signs of wanting to destroy the new Xalahadian country. This was a short lived exile when Ragnori accepted, then screamed 'I'll come back, don't you worry!' within twenty minutes. They decided that it wasn't worth the risk, and executed him anyway. They offered a similar deal to the rest of his family, only it was exile /or/ members of this society. They wisely chose to assimilate.

Recent History

With internal and external threats destroyed, the new 'King' Kevin Pryde decided on a few changes. First off, to quell the fears that they'd traded one oppressive regime for another, the nobility were sacked, their assets seized. They were replaced by cutting up districts into provinces, and each province would have an elected leader. This leader would last as long as their domain wanted. Some domains set term limits, some domains kept people for life until impeachment. This suited the young leader fine.

His second task was to absorb the former Armensian province into the smaller Xalahad province, and rename the country the 'Holy Empire of Xalahad'. The Xalahad part was a no-brainer. The Holy Empire part occured for two reasons. The first reason was that 'it sounded cool at the time'. The second reason Kevin wasn't clear about at the time, but would be obvious later. In response to the 'Holy Empire' declaration, the populace saw fit to declare him the 'Revolutionary Emperor'. No one is sure why, exactly, since the official title was 'King'. Perhaps because the people were embittered, perhaps the people were amused by this declaration. Who knows.

His third task was to put his twin sister, Jennifer Pryde, on the throne instead of him. This stunned the people, as they barely knew his sister existed. Given the power she needed, she began to imprint her own mark on the country.

First, she retained her brother for a dual Foriegn Relations/Commander in Chief role. Most of the military, even among the former Armensian army, respected the kid. She wanted to keep someone they respected on the top, and he served that purpose well.

Second, she put her sister, Nanami the High Priestess, as the Empire's 'Public Relations' front. Nanami knew she didn't have much in the way of power to affect the people, but she was content with that much. Her job was to mostly keep the populace content and to answer their problems if they had any.

Jennifer, on the urgings of her brother, didn't declare a national religion, but declared every religion free to worship as long as it did not harm others. This did not please Nanami, who wanted to have her religion the state religion.

(Still under construction)

Personalities

(Still under construction)

Kevin Pryde, the former King/Emperor of the Holy Empire, still wields a great deal of that power, if only through respect and his lax presence. Because of a lax treatment towards his military, his troops tend to like him more than most high brass. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, there were a few times during the War that he could have done better, but he at least keeps tabs on the world around him. Having organized a large scale rebellion and the conquering of two smaller countries, Kevin knows his way around the block. Other than that, he has no qualities worth mentioning.

Lately, however, he's been followed (to him, it's more like 'stalked') by four women sent by his sister the Priestess for bodyguard purposes. Not too sure as to why his sister would send four women to bodyguard him as opposed to men or a mixture of genders, he has entertained the thought of sending four of the largest, burliest men in his army to safeguard the main temple in the capital of Xalahad.

Jennifer Pryde, the new Queen of the Holy Empire of Xalahad, is a quiet individual. This could be in part of her reluctance to get involved in fights between her two siblings.

Nanami Pryde, their younger sister, is a very bitter woman now that she's turned eighteen and is still the High Priestess of the country's largest religion.