The New Miamey Federation, often just called Miamey Federation, was a wood elven alliance during the Elvish Wars. It was located primarily on the northern Shattered Continent, though it also held territory in the Northern Ocean and on the Continent.

Structure

The New Miamey Federation was ruled by a federal government, at the head of which was the Woodland Lady. She had theoretically absolute power over the government, and thus over the executive and legislative domains of the federation. In practice, she was mostly the highest military commander, while most laws and administrative decisions were made by a council known as the Miamey Diet.

The most important federal institution was the army, the Woodlands Legion. It had power over local authorities, and could notably enforce martial law whenever it wanted, commandeer resources, or draft soldiers. Much of the federal administration, such as the distribution and enforcement of the law, and the collection of taxes, was done by the army as well.

Officially, Miamey was merely a federation of elven houses, which existed out of necessity for the duration of a conflict. However, over time the federal council expanded its authority and house autonomy was restricted, until the houses were little more than administrative districts, and nobles were bureaucratic officials or integrated into the Woodlands Legion.

History

Preconditions

The wood elven House Tammanamay, the largest of all wood elven houses, had a historical alliance with the other major houses known as the Vow of the Woodland Lady: once, all these houses had rallied under the leadership of the legendary hero Miamey, who had protected them from threats through able military leadership. Since then, all these houses were sworn to join a new Woodland Lady's army, if it arose.

When the Elvish Wars broke out, House Tammanamay was one of the major participants to the federal army. But the Black Spider was only one of many threats facing the wood elven houses. Drow raiders harassed the smaller settlements on the Shattered Continent, while some rival houses had formed a coalition and were trying to invade Tammanamay's and Tynafein's territories. To deal with this, Tammanamay exercised its political influence on all wood elven houses to raise a sizeable army, the Woodlands Legion. Though this did help to protect their lands on the Shattered Continent and elsewhere, this left the smaller vassal houses vulnerable to attacks (see the Shattered Greens), and the Woodlands Legion did not have the military resources to intervene across the world. As a result, Tammanamay begged its allies - notably Mystraleth - to intervene on its behalf.

But Tammanamay was being criticized from all sides. Because of relatively lax martial traditions and house political autonomy, the Woodlands Legion was insufficiently supported by the major houses to wage its wars on multiple fronts against capable enemies, and accordingly suffered several defeats. Additionally, Tammanamay's authority to raise and command the Woodlands Legion was questioned, because it was not using the Legion to protect all wood elves.

The Lady's Growth

In order to save their authority, and keep the wood elven alliance from collapsing - which would be disastrous for everyone involved - Tammanamay had to find a better political tool. The answer was the Vow of the Woodland Lady. Because all relevant houses were honor-bound to the Vow, and the traditions of the Vow would allow far more centralization and military obligations than the Woodlands Legion did, Tammanamay decided to find a new Woodland Lady.

Tanyell Buurma'nal was a young girl of a side branch of House Buurma'nal nobility. The Buurma'nal were the most warlike house of the alliance and an important ally for Tammanay. Tanyell, the daughter of a soldier and a mage, was not an important noble, but she had made a great name for herself because of her kind heart and warrior skill. She had brought aid and food to a village struck by disease, and had successfully led armed units on several campaigns, including several against dark elves. She was now a renowned Bow Master (an officer rank) of the Woodlands Legion, and there was already talk that she was a great hero.

A unit of the Woodlands Legion.

Tammanamay decided to officially recognize the girl's status as Woodland Lady. She was given armor and a magical blade resembling legendary Miamey's, and given command of the Woodlands Legion. Once she had promised to keep the interests of the wood elven people first and foremost, the Tammanamay nobles went so far as to recognize Tanyell's sovereignty and become the first house to join the New Miamey Federation. As Tanyell began scoring victories and Buurma'nal also joined the federation, the three remaining wood elven houses in the region followed suit. The Federation was truly born.

The Woodland Lady had some success as the regent of the federation. Though at first, she focused on strengthening the Woodlands Legion and protecting the federation's borders, she soon after allied with House Mystraleth to reduce the war pressure focused more on internal matters. She considerably centralized power and elevated the status of the military; she even forced the nobilities of all five houses to recognize each other on equal footing, and to all be subject to federal military command. In essence, the Federation had become a centralized nation with a federal executive and legislative.

The Hundred Wars

War broke out with Mystraleth in 4'132, when a plot to overthrow the Woodland Lady and several other scandals were uncovered. War suddenly flamed up on all fronts, and the Woodlands Legion was heavy-pressed to defend the Federation at sea and on land, against the powerful Mystraleth forces as well as other armed neighbors. This constituted a taxing drain on the Federation's economy, which was declining anyways because it had relied on the old trade routes with the Elvish Empire. Domestic tensions slowly increased, as did the Legion's fighting ability. With the navy sunk, island after island fell away, while the Continent was long gone.

Faith in the Woodland Lady collapsed when a large army commanded by her was routed in a pitched battle against Mystraleth, which resulted in large stretches of Buurma'nal territory falling to the enemy. Protests and secession movements started, to which the Federation responded with armed force. It reached a point where there was full-on civil war inside the Federation while enemies simultaneously encroached on its borders. The federation collapsed in 3'937, and the Woodland Lady left for the feywild after she failed to defend a fortress from a rebel and Mystraleth attack.