Rulers of Novar Ohan
There has been a vast number of rulers across the the continent of Novar Ohan. Listed below are some of the more prominent:
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Kings of Oriental Ruthenia
The Kingdom of Oriental Ruthenia was founded in modern day Agua in 1655 by boyars and peasants fleeing from power struggles and Mongols in the lands of the Rus.
King Ivan Drakharn (1655-1690)
Founder of the Kingdom, formerly Kniaz of Lykengrad-Upon-The-Don. His son was Josif Drakharn.
Radimir Drakharn (1718-1722)
His rule and that of his immediate predescessor were marked only for the collapse of his kingdom under the weight of further immigration from Russia and the arrival of large colonies of the French, Spanish and Portuguese, who brought with them the Catholic faith. This immigration led to the formation of the Principality of Roan and the Duchy of Arquis, and a growing European population at the modern site of Port Agua. In addition, dynastic struggles in East Asia and the failure of Chinese rebellion against the Manchu led to some members of the Ming Court, their retainers, and some sympathisers fleeing to the uncivilised northlands of Novar Ohan (known to the Chinese for centuries, but rarely visited) and the foundation of The Serene Court of Yun Al-Tai in approximately 1690.
Under this pressure, the Kingdom would eventually collapse, and central authority in Agua moved up the coast to Roslin-By-the-Sea, with the eventual supercession of the old authorities by Portuguese Merchants who called the marshy territory 'Terra de água', from which the present name has appeared.
First Internecine Conflict
In 1750, the remnants of the Oriental Ruthenian Kingdom (headed by King Akim Drakharn) launched an attack upon the independent Grand Duchy of Agua (at the time under Grand Duke Afonso Emannuel II). This war would eventually pull into its orbit Prince Mikhail Chyornyev of Roan, Emperor Bao-Dong of Yun Al-Tai and Archduke Simon d'Arquis I of Arquis. The conflict lasted for 5 years, with the Grand Coalition's superior numbers being driven back by Afonso and Mikhail's superior armaments. In 1755 the Bishop of Tarniqin (then only a minor provincial town noted solely for its Cathedral) forced a peace between the Christian rulers, to which Bao-Dong also willing acceded.
Under the terms of the peace, the current political situation was recognised, with the Drakharn family being granted nominal primacy over the other established families in the south, and Bao-Dong's complete rule over the north, even at the expense of the newly forming European outposts in the region of Fort Altara and Novy Archangelsk.
Ming Bao-Dong, Eastern Ming Emperor of Yun Al-Tai (1722-1757)
Unusually for an Altaran ruler, Bao-Dong is well-known in the lands of the south. One of the more respected figures of Divine History, his likeness can be found in halls of power from his old capital, the city of Al-Tai (modern day Altaioc), through to the Houses of Parliament in Tarniqin. Remembered primarily as a cultured, gentle man with an abiding interest in spiritualism, Bao-Dong was renowned in his time as a patron of the sensual arts.
Being determined to maintain his Empire's independence from the squabbling Europeans to the south, Bao-Dong first ended his family's emnity with the Manchu Rulers of China by forever renouncing any claim to the throne in Nanjing. He then engaged in a massive armament scheme across the northern passes of the Stony Mountains, a project which he completed in 1732 after his overseers drove hundreds of Altarans and natives to their demise. Entering the war on the part of the ORK, his men played no part in combat in the south, instead concentrating on capturing and breaking the migrant populations in Novy Archangelsk and Fort Altara.
The Emperor being a practicing Buddhist, initially the Bishop of Tarniqin had decided to unite the South to attack and destroy Yun Al-Tai. When the two men met, however, Bishop Louis was so impressed that he was to write in his journals: "A heathen, but a cultured and intelligent heathen. He expressed much interest in the teachings of the true faith, and demonstrated to his own satisfaction (but not to mine) that the practices of Buddhism were not diametrically opposed to those of the Lord. From this opinion, it is but a short step to recognising and correcting his own folly, and embracing the true beliefs with which he shall ascend to Heaven." It was this high opinion that led to the Bishop proposing that Bao-Dong be confirmed in his overlordship of modern Altara, in the hope that continued contact with 'civilisation' would convince the Emperor and his court to renounce Buddhism and join the ranks of Christian kings.
Whether this was to be will never be known, for just two short years after the peace Bao-Dong was assassinated by a fanatical Jesuit and the Serene Court of Al-Tai collapsed into anarchy.
Mikhail Chyornyev, Prince of Roan (1710-1762)
When the Chyornyev family established itself in Roan in 1703 with fellow colonists, no thought of rule had yet occured to them. Certainly Alexander I had little in mind besides running his own estates at Chyornograd (the estates still stand, currently run by the 'distaff' branch of the family, which in actual fact is the closer in pure bloodline to Alexander I). However, his son Mikhail had other ideas. In one short year he had, with Aguan help, made himself master of the dry lands between the Mountains of Sorrow and the marshes of Terra de Água, setting up his capital at the desert fort of Roan.
His friendship with the Grand Duke led to him counter-invading the territories of King Akim, his Legions devastating much of the eastern sections of Agua to an extent that it took twenty years for the city of Far Novgorod to recover. Unfortunately, such an attack weakened the homeguard and when the armies of Simon I marched south, they reached Roan itself before being blunted by the homeguard. Thus, while Roan's borders to the west increased at the peace conference to include Tarnaqin and Far Novgorod, it was chased from the foothills of the Rose Mountains and lost the cities of Tyrell and Maronberg.
This, however, was to be the only time that the territories of Roan and Arquis clashed, and the alliance secured the following year by the marriage of Daniil I to Lady Anabelle d'Arquis, and the conversion of Mikhail and his stalwarts to Catholicism, has never been broken. To this day, the d'Arquises are the closest allies of the Chyornyev family, and vice versa.
Simon d'Arquis I, Archduke of Arquis (1695-1759)
When Simon's father Pierre, the second son of a minor noble from Brittany, moved to Arquis in the second inflow of immigrants, the mountainous region already had a leader in the form of a Gascon, whose name has been lost to history through the great fires of 1840 (possible candidates include Donato of Toulouse and a Lord Amiel). Simon married into this family, and took the title of Archduke as the territory of his land increased. When the war began, he led his own forces directly south, defeating Roanian garrisons but maintaining honour throughout the battles.
Simon married twice, and his first wife bore no children. His second wife, who was half his age, gave birth to his only son, Leopold I, just an hour before his death.
In recent years attempts have been made by the d'Arquis family to have Simon I beatified for his support of the Roman Catholic Church and his effective creation of the Imperial Patriarchate. The movement has gained little traction.
Alfonso Emmanuel, Grand Duke of Terra de Água (???? - 1762)
Little is now known of this shadow figure or his family, after Alexander IV (Alexander Tyomny; Alexander Duellist), Prince of Roan and Steward of the Imperium declared the Emmanuels 'Anathema', destroying them and blotting out their memory for unspecified crimes. What we do know is that Alfonso had risen to the top of Terra de Água's nebulous political system following the suspicious deaths of his older brother and sister. Having ascended to the Duchal Chair, he declared complete independence from the Oriental Ruthenian Kingdom, and set about building up his armed forces with the intention of siezing Roslin.
Akim's preemptive attack upset his calculatons, forcing Alfonso to call upon indebted friends and allies to aid him. One of his mercenary captains was a little known 'Oliver Deuchamp', who would later rise to great heights indeed.
Akim Drakharn, King of Oriental Ruthenia (1705 - 1759)
The last King of Oriental Ruthenia, Akim was the fallen son of great ancestors. Keenly aware of this failing, he conceived great schemes to rebuild his family's fortunes. Firstly, he began arrogating to himself the title of 'King of Novar Ohan', proclaiming that he was the real font of all power across the south and north. In order to avoid a conflict, his counterparts politely accepted this fiction.
He then struggled to build together a coalition to destroy what he viewed as the 'rebels' in Port Agua, who had refused his demands for tribute and taxes. However, his men were products of a lost time and they easily fell beneath the rifles of the Roanian attackers.
At the end, the Bishop of Tarnaqin settled the question, restoring Akim to his pre-eminent position amongst the dynasts in the south. However, he was incapable of enforcing his rulings and spent the rest of his reign on the defensive with his neighbours, who consistently attempted to press at his borders. He died, unmourned and alone, in Roslin, acutely aware that his line died with him.
Collapse of Oriental Ruthenia; War of Falling Stars
Despite the political 'successes' of Akim Drakharn, the family was on its last legs. The legitimite heir to the throne of Oriental Ruthenia had died in a skirmish at EastPoint, leaving a young woman (Princess Ekaterina) as the only member of the next generation of Drakharns. When Akim died, the other noble houses began preparing for war to sieze the Hierarchy. In 1764, Terra De Água and Roan, allied once more, launched an assault upon Oriental Ruthenia's demoralised Legions.
In the North, the warring nations fell before the assaults of the merchants of WhiteHarbour, led by Thomas Morrison, first Merchant-Lord of the city. Morrison's forces linked up with those of Prelate Yakim and Novy Archangelsk, who had driven north up the narrow length of land and set up his own territory, in 1767. The Last Empire of the Ming fell back to its old capital of Al-Tai and the surrounding districts, never to regain its old political strength.
In the south, Oriental Ruthenia trembled before the unyielding, if slow, advance of the Roanians and Aguans, with their old allies in Arquis unwilling to provide any assistance without the hand of Princess Ekaterina for the Archduke, a five year old Leopold I. The Legions, pushed back into the territory immediately around Roslin and Petrograd, managed to set up a stalemate, but could only hold the enemy for a brief time. The KOR seemed destined for collapse, and Novar Ohan doomed to balkanisation, when an adventurer by the name of Olivier DeuChamp came to court and took control of the government and military. Olivier quickly retrained and supplied the Ruthenian Legions, and went on the offensive against the approaching armies in 1768. His revitalised forces smashed the armies of Mikhail and Alfonso in a series of battles at the very gates of Roslin. The Oriental Ruthenians marched onwards, defeating the weak defensive forces the other two states had retained, and in 1770 Roan and Agua came to terms with the conquerers.
The Chyornyevs and Emmanuels experienced a sudden government change, with Lady Isabella taking the throne in Port Agua and Damien I becoming Prince in the Stronghold. The two nations, with Leopold's guardians signing for Arquis, swore allegiance to the flag of Oriental Ruthenia in the Great Cathedral of Tarnaqin. Olivier himself would take the hand of Ekaterina Drekgard, and the name of Basil Drakharn in order to cement himself as ruler of Novar Ohan's south.
It was also at this time that the native name of Novar Ohan was first applied to the united nations in the south.
Basil Drakharn, By the Grace of God King of Oriental Ruthenia, Terra de Água and Roan.(1717 (?)-1780)
For the first five years of his reign, Basil I consolidated his power in the south. In order to set himself at the centre of his new reign, the apparati of governance were removed to the town of Tarnaqin, and construction began on the Blue Palace (now the location of the Combined Imperial Duma) and the Ekaterina House (now the summer residence of the Imperial Family). At this time, the surviving courtiers of the House of Ming came to the South and declared their allegiance to this new Emperor, requesting only that he free the people of Al-Tai from the Merchant Houses.
The First Empire
In 1775, Basil's armies launched an assault upon Novy Archangelsk through the passes of Arquis. The mercenaries of that port city folded before the assault, and the Prelate was deposed by the Mayor's Council. In exchange for retaining their 'Ancient Liberties', the Mayor and the Chief Burghers swore allegiance to 'The Empire of Novar Ohan and its Master, Basil Drakharn'.
Shorn of their allies to the south, WhiteHarbour quickly came to terms and abandoned its conquests from the earlier war, returning its focus to trading with the Shield and the British Colonies in the West of North America. At the same time, a policy of relentless proselytation on the part of the Catholic priests and the nobles led to the temporary destruction of the Orthodox Church of Oriental Ruthenia and the formation of the United Patriarchate of Novar Ohan. The new Patriarch, Dionysius I, resolved that an Empire needed an Emperor, and on November 27th, 1777, in the Cathedral of Saint Michael, Olivier Deuchamp was crowned in the presence of God and the Saints 'Basil Drakharn, Tsar of Agua and Roan, Tsar of Arquis and Altara, Tsar of the Free Cities. Protector of the Faith, God's Representative on Earth, Supreme Autocrat of All Novar Ohan'.
Upon his death in 1780, his son Basil II invaded the Native Kindoms in the Sunset Isles and founded Novar Ohan's first colony at the site of modern-day Alexeigrad. In 1800, Ivan Drakharn formed the first General Duma. In 1801, Ivan Drakharn shut down the first General Duma and executed its attendants for reasons one witness described as 'waspish'.. In the Napoleonic Wars, Theodric I (perpetuating the idea of direct descent from the original Drakharns) took the part of the British and provided cash and arms to his distant royal brother the Tsar of Russia.
Theodric I died in 1812, leaving the dynasty tottering. His son, a haemophiliac and an adventurer, had been shot with a poison arrow while leading an expedition into the jungles. The Imperial Diadem passed to a cousin, the weak and sympathetic Adrian I Drakharn.
During Adrian's rule, the other noble families began to regain more and more control in their old territories and forcibly brought the Tsar to the conference table, creating the House of Peers (the first legislative body in the Divine Imperium, and the current House of Review.) Even this would fail to satisfy Grand Duke Pierre Darquis, who refused any further cooperation with imperial demands until Adrian divorced his Oriental Ruthenian wife and married Isabelle Darquis, who had already been promised to Prince Nikolai Chyornyev. This breach of trust led to Nikolai withdrawing his own services.
