Lassitern
04-09-2006, 23:54
<A History of Lassitern>
<Central Europe, 495AD>
At this time, the roaming tribes of central Europe were still at war with each other despite the attempts of the Roman Empire to civilize and stabilize the region. Siegmund, the young leader of one the many Alemanni warbands, was in a tricky situation. Pressure from the Romans to the south and from the other Alemanni tribes forced Siegmund to look elsewhere for land and resources. So it was that he looked west, towards the lands of the Franks.
With the coming of spring the following year, Siegmund led his own forces, as well as those from other warbands, across the Rhine, and into Frankish lands. The attack was a disaster, and the Franks routed the Alemanni tribesmen, butchering them in their thousands. By 505AD, the tribes had been forced back way into their own lands, and were fighting a desperate rear-guard action. During an epic last stand battle in 536, Siegmund fell, slain whilst defending his wife against a hoard of Frankish mercenaries. His tribe crumbled, and the Franks asserted their control over the entire region. Siegmund’s wife fled with his surviving children, and the scattered remnants of the Alemanni tribes.
The tribes settled, and began life anew under the yoke of the Franks, eking out an existence off the barren lands they were forced to live on. And so it continued for almost a century, until in 628AD, a child was born to the descendants of Siegmund. He had brilliant blue eyes, and when it grew, blond hair much like his distant ancestors. As he grew, he met a stranger, wearing brown robes, with a shaved head, who carried with him stories of man from the East, the son of God. Sigmund, as the boy was named upon his twelfth birthday, unwittingly became a believer, and the first Christian Alemanni. He preached to his family and friends, slowly converting the farmers and lumberjacks of his home village. It wasn’t long before they sought him for advice, and his strength of conviction saw him take control of village affairs.
As with all things, despite the bad feelings towards the Franks from the locals, no one acted. It took on spark to ignite the touch paper. The spark came when Sigmund’s parents were killed during an argument with the local Frankish landowner. The boy, now a 23-year old man, returned home to find the landowner and his bodyguard burning his house and dead parents. Something in the peaceful Christian snapped, and he along with two other friends killed every Frank in the party. Tales tell of the epic struggle, but in fact it was over in no time, Sigmund wielding his felling axe with ruthless abandon, smashing skulls and lopping off arms like twigs. He killed the landowner with his bare hands, tearing out the man’s throat. Once the fight finished, he immediately dropped to his knees and prayed for his parents, and, strangely, the souls of the men he had just killed.
Knowing the landowners friends and family would seek retribution, Sigmund gathered the tribe, and headed north, carrying all their possessions, seeking out the vast Northern Lake he had been told of by the monk he met as a young boy. The journey occurred during the harsh winter, and many of the older villagers died, but Sigmund knew he had to lead the rest to safety, and the safest place was across the water. On reaching a Frankish village on what is now the Belgian coast, Sigmund lay about the place, killing hundreds of villagers. The rest were given the choice of joining him on his holy mission, or dying like their friends. Unsurprisingly, they converted on the spot, and so it was that Sigmund acquired the boats and sailors he would need to cross the Lake, and find sanctuary.
During the crossing, storms blew the flotilla off course, and sank many boats. Scattered, exhausted, and nearing the end of their sanity, so it was that the boats came across a vast island in the middle of the endless waters. Waves crashed and broke over her cliffs and beaches, but otherwise it appeared deserted. The boats made landfall a few hours later, and Sigmund claimed the place in the name of the Alemanni, naming it for his father, Lassiter. The villagers rapidly cleared a vast tract of forest, and built a thriving community, with the fertile soil easily supporting their needs, and the local forest teeming with boar and deer to hunt. The boats were broken down, and rebuilt smaller, then used to scout the islands perimeter and gather fish. So it continued, with the people of Lassitern prospering under Sigmund’s rule. He married one of the converted Frankish village girls, and started his own family.
Strange occurrences began around this time, with animals being found dead, fences burnt, and before long, people beginning to disappear. Things came to a head one day when the sound of drums broke the quiet of a summer’s dawn. Sigmund and the villagers awoke to find that a vast group of strange folk were covering the slopes inland from the village. After nearly an hour of weird chanting and singing, the group suddenly broke into a dead run towards the village, still chanting, whooping, and screaming. Sigmund had already gathered the men of the town together, and they stood, a thin line between the savages and their family and homes. The two forces clashed with a brutal savagery. On one side, the strange savages, wearing skins of animals and carrying clubs and crude spears, on the other the Lassiterns, bearing scythes and axes, fighting for the lives.
The battle raged for nearly an hour, but when the smoke cleared, Sigmund stood over the body of a large native dressed in a full bear skin, carrying a blue sword the never seemed to break. Despite cuts to his arms and legs, Sigmund’s blue eyes stilled burned brightly, and once again, he dropped to his knees and prayed. Those around him followed suit. After ten minutes of prayer, he stood, and looked out into the forest. His thoughts now were of expansion, and like his namesake, he moved west. Gathering the bravest and best of his warriors, Sigmund butchered his way across the island, smashing local villages and destroying the native civilization, forcing them into a full rout towards the western part of the island. Behind him, the townsfolk spread rapidly, taking large tracts of land and setting up new villages near the islands plentiful resources. A decade after that first battle, the island was purged, and the people of Lassitern named Sigmund their Kaiser. Lassitern was at last at peace.
<The forming of the Holy Kindom>
In the years following the takeover of the island, the Lassiterns boomed in population, with new townships springing up all over, and the expansion of the original settlement, renamed Danzig, until it was recognized as the capital. It was here that King Sigmund III began construction of a grand palace, which was replaced and rebuilt until it truly matched the glory of Sigmund I’s achievements. The kingdom grew, and continued to prosper. Finding plenty of resources in the island’s mountains, the people developed steel-working processes, and without knowing it, matched the technological developments of Europe during the Industrial Evolution. Without the need for weapons, the country developed its own economy drastically, and so it continued until one fateful day in the mid-1900s, when a strange ship with smoke pouring from its funnels steamed into view. It had no fishing equipment on board, just a series of strange protuberances. A smaller craft, about the size of a small fishing scull, was launched, and men in long grey coats came ashore, speaking a language very similar to their own Alemanni dialect. It took only a few days for the strangers to convey their message, and the Alemanni began to learn of modern Europe and the changes of the last millennia. The men told them of the emergence of a glorious country called Germany, and the Third Reich that would rule the old country for a thousand years, with the blessing of God and all that was holy.
The Kriegsmarine officers realized the value of food, wood, and metal supplies from the isolated island, and exchanged valuable secrets of warfare with the locals. For three years, the Lassiterns regularly exchanged surplus goods for gold and secrets, slowly beginning to build their own steel ships and weapons. When news reached them of the downfall of their first allies, the Lassitern King ordered that any survivors be granted instant citizenship if they could reach Lassitern ships in the English Channel. Whilst the Russians and Americans fought over the rocket and nuclear scientists, the Lassiterns gained the knowledge of some of the finest minds in the German marine and aeronautical engineering industries.
Over the next fifty years, the country diverted more and more funds into its armed forces, building more and more advanced aircraft, ships, and weapons, always relying on quality over quantity. Capitalizing on the success gained threw getting hold of the German scientists, the Lassitern government made approaches to some of the finest minds in science, and with their help, continued to improve their own technological knowledge. So it came to be that the country, now with a population of over five million people, decided to end its isolation, and make itself known to the world.
<Open Transmission>
To: Chiefs of the Countries of the World
From: King Harald VI
**AutoTranslator started**
Good day, World Leaders.
My name is Harald Alman. I am the crown ruler of the Holy Kindom of Lassitern. We are a small country that was maintained complete isolation from your violent world for our entire existence. But now we have ended that isolation, and intend to become known as a world power, and begin trading with your own countries, for the benefits of everyone in this world.
Regards,
King Harald Alman VI,
Ruler of the Holy Kingdom of Lassitern
<Central Europe, 495AD>
At this time, the roaming tribes of central Europe were still at war with each other despite the attempts of the Roman Empire to civilize and stabilize the region. Siegmund, the young leader of one the many Alemanni warbands, was in a tricky situation. Pressure from the Romans to the south and from the other Alemanni tribes forced Siegmund to look elsewhere for land and resources. So it was that he looked west, towards the lands of the Franks.
With the coming of spring the following year, Siegmund led his own forces, as well as those from other warbands, across the Rhine, and into Frankish lands. The attack was a disaster, and the Franks routed the Alemanni tribesmen, butchering them in their thousands. By 505AD, the tribes had been forced back way into their own lands, and were fighting a desperate rear-guard action. During an epic last stand battle in 536, Siegmund fell, slain whilst defending his wife against a hoard of Frankish mercenaries. His tribe crumbled, and the Franks asserted their control over the entire region. Siegmund’s wife fled with his surviving children, and the scattered remnants of the Alemanni tribes.
The tribes settled, and began life anew under the yoke of the Franks, eking out an existence off the barren lands they were forced to live on. And so it continued for almost a century, until in 628AD, a child was born to the descendants of Siegmund. He had brilliant blue eyes, and when it grew, blond hair much like his distant ancestors. As he grew, he met a stranger, wearing brown robes, with a shaved head, who carried with him stories of man from the East, the son of God. Sigmund, as the boy was named upon his twelfth birthday, unwittingly became a believer, and the first Christian Alemanni. He preached to his family and friends, slowly converting the farmers and lumberjacks of his home village. It wasn’t long before they sought him for advice, and his strength of conviction saw him take control of village affairs.
As with all things, despite the bad feelings towards the Franks from the locals, no one acted. It took on spark to ignite the touch paper. The spark came when Sigmund’s parents were killed during an argument with the local Frankish landowner. The boy, now a 23-year old man, returned home to find the landowner and his bodyguard burning his house and dead parents. Something in the peaceful Christian snapped, and he along with two other friends killed every Frank in the party. Tales tell of the epic struggle, but in fact it was over in no time, Sigmund wielding his felling axe with ruthless abandon, smashing skulls and lopping off arms like twigs. He killed the landowner with his bare hands, tearing out the man’s throat. Once the fight finished, he immediately dropped to his knees and prayed for his parents, and, strangely, the souls of the men he had just killed.
Knowing the landowners friends and family would seek retribution, Sigmund gathered the tribe, and headed north, carrying all their possessions, seeking out the vast Northern Lake he had been told of by the monk he met as a young boy. The journey occurred during the harsh winter, and many of the older villagers died, but Sigmund knew he had to lead the rest to safety, and the safest place was across the water. On reaching a Frankish village on what is now the Belgian coast, Sigmund lay about the place, killing hundreds of villagers. The rest were given the choice of joining him on his holy mission, or dying like their friends. Unsurprisingly, they converted on the spot, and so it was that Sigmund acquired the boats and sailors he would need to cross the Lake, and find sanctuary.
During the crossing, storms blew the flotilla off course, and sank many boats. Scattered, exhausted, and nearing the end of their sanity, so it was that the boats came across a vast island in the middle of the endless waters. Waves crashed and broke over her cliffs and beaches, but otherwise it appeared deserted. The boats made landfall a few hours later, and Sigmund claimed the place in the name of the Alemanni, naming it for his father, Lassiter. The villagers rapidly cleared a vast tract of forest, and built a thriving community, with the fertile soil easily supporting their needs, and the local forest teeming with boar and deer to hunt. The boats were broken down, and rebuilt smaller, then used to scout the islands perimeter and gather fish. So it continued, with the people of Lassitern prospering under Sigmund’s rule. He married one of the converted Frankish village girls, and started his own family.
Strange occurrences began around this time, with animals being found dead, fences burnt, and before long, people beginning to disappear. Things came to a head one day when the sound of drums broke the quiet of a summer’s dawn. Sigmund and the villagers awoke to find that a vast group of strange folk were covering the slopes inland from the village. After nearly an hour of weird chanting and singing, the group suddenly broke into a dead run towards the village, still chanting, whooping, and screaming. Sigmund had already gathered the men of the town together, and they stood, a thin line between the savages and their family and homes. The two forces clashed with a brutal savagery. On one side, the strange savages, wearing skins of animals and carrying clubs and crude spears, on the other the Lassiterns, bearing scythes and axes, fighting for the lives.
The battle raged for nearly an hour, but when the smoke cleared, Sigmund stood over the body of a large native dressed in a full bear skin, carrying a blue sword the never seemed to break. Despite cuts to his arms and legs, Sigmund’s blue eyes stilled burned brightly, and once again, he dropped to his knees and prayed. Those around him followed suit. After ten minutes of prayer, he stood, and looked out into the forest. His thoughts now were of expansion, and like his namesake, he moved west. Gathering the bravest and best of his warriors, Sigmund butchered his way across the island, smashing local villages and destroying the native civilization, forcing them into a full rout towards the western part of the island. Behind him, the townsfolk spread rapidly, taking large tracts of land and setting up new villages near the islands plentiful resources. A decade after that first battle, the island was purged, and the people of Lassitern named Sigmund their Kaiser. Lassitern was at last at peace.
<The forming of the Holy Kindom>
In the years following the takeover of the island, the Lassiterns boomed in population, with new townships springing up all over, and the expansion of the original settlement, renamed Danzig, until it was recognized as the capital. It was here that King Sigmund III began construction of a grand palace, which was replaced and rebuilt until it truly matched the glory of Sigmund I’s achievements. The kingdom grew, and continued to prosper. Finding plenty of resources in the island’s mountains, the people developed steel-working processes, and without knowing it, matched the technological developments of Europe during the Industrial Evolution. Without the need for weapons, the country developed its own economy drastically, and so it continued until one fateful day in the mid-1900s, when a strange ship with smoke pouring from its funnels steamed into view. It had no fishing equipment on board, just a series of strange protuberances. A smaller craft, about the size of a small fishing scull, was launched, and men in long grey coats came ashore, speaking a language very similar to their own Alemanni dialect. It took only a few days for the strangers to convey their message, and the Alemanni began to learn of modern Europe and the changes of the last millennia. The men told them of the emergence of a glorious country called Germany, and the Third Reich that would rule the old country for a thousand years, with the blessing of God and all that was holy.
The Kriegsmarine officers realized the value of food, wood, and metal supplies from the isolated island, and exchanged valuable secrets of warfare with the locals. For three years, the Lassiterns regularly exchanged surplus goods for gold and secrets, slowly beginning to build their own steel ships and weapons. When news reached them of the downfall of their first allies, the Lassitern King ordered that any survivors be granted instant citizenship if they could reach Lassitern ships in the English Channel. Whilst the Russians and Americans fought over the rocket and nuclear scientists, the Lassiterns gained the knowledge of some of the finest minds in the German marine and aeronautical engineering industries.
Over the next fifty years, the country diverted more and more funds into its armed forces, building more and more advanced aircraft, ships, and weapons, always relying on quality over quantity. Capitalizing on the success gained threw getting hold of the German scientists, the Lassitern government made approaches to some of the finest minds in science, and with their help, continued to improve their own technological knowledge. So it came to be that the country, now with a population of over five million people, decided to end its isolation, and make itself known to the world.
<Open Transmission>
To: Chiefs of the Countries of the World
From: King Harald VI
**AutoTranslator started**
Good day, World Leaders.
My name is Harald Alman. I am the crown ruler of the Holy Kindom of Lassitern. We are a small country that was maintained complete isolation from your violent world for our entire existence. But now we have ended that isolation, and intend to become known as a world power, and begin trading with your own countries, for the benefits of everyone in this world.
Regards,
King Harald Alman VI,
Ruler of the Holy Kingdom of Lassitern