The Sublime Monarchy of Vaethia, commonly known as Vaethia for short, was a Lilith human state on Litchy. It was part of the Licali Federation and, starting in 77 OW, of the Cuprien Empire.

Political Structure

Vaethia was a constitutional state. Though it did not have a strong legal tradition or extensive popular participation, the structure of the national government was inscribed in a constitution - the Sublime Constitution - and was at least nominally upheld.

The monarch was hereditary and, though it was implied male heirs had a stronger claim - as the constitution was mostly drawn from political treaties inspired by pre-Orc Wars human kingdoms - daughters also saw themselves elevated to queens. The Monarch appointed a cabinet of ministers, his executive branch; he was assisted by the Chancellor, who acted as the monarch's representative and the secretary of the cabinet. The five ministers were the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Trade, the Public Minister, and the Minister of the Interior. Each in turn controlled an extensive state apparatus. In theory, the monarch could always overrule his ministers and the bureaucracy, to give orders directly several layers below to individual institutions or army units.

A flowchart representation of the government system^[1].

Armed Forces

When Vaethia was founded, three separate state structures with three separate armed forces had to be unified. Though a national army, the Vaethian Army under the Minister of Defense, could be created, it was difficult to completely strip the three regions from their armies. Thus, the Vaerian Army and the Flowland Army survived, though they were kept as a less-trained and less-equipped force in barracks in the Flowland. These armies were under the control of the ministry's Regional Commands, though in truth the armies retained considerable autonomy of their own. Thanks to this independence, they would play a major role during the National Purpose Coup of 97 OW, and thereafter the monarch made certain to keep them on a comparable footing to the Vaethian Army as a balancing factor.

The army also had an intelligence office, called the Vaethian Eye. It was commanded by a colonel and, though directly controlled by the army, it had the authority to withhold knowledge of certain operations and information from its commanding officers in a direct line to the ministry. The Eye's primary focus was on foreign threats, especially the Duchy of Henckock, but the Eye also investigated within the ranks of the army for corruption or any threats.

Foreign Influence

Vaethia was not an independent state: it was both a member of the Licali Federation and the Cuprien Empire.

Licali was a very unintrusive federation, which only imposed certain trade regulations and foreign policy restrictions and obligations. Thus, a small Licali federal building in the capital sufficed; its enforcement was purely bureaucratic.

Cuprien, meanwhile, was a much more binding alliance; the empire intended to keep its territories more or less stable, at peace, and obedient. Cuprien had an embassy in the capital and direct access to the monarch; in theory, the Queen could at any time give orders to the Vaethian monarch. To make sure Cuprien authority in the region was respected, some imperial troops were additionally stationed in the country; most often, these consisted of a few naval infantry companies in Ramshore.

History

The state of Vaethia was founded when, in 70 OW, Warlord Syron of the Vaer Dominion peacefully merged his state with two neighboring warlord's dominions, Gulliver's Reach and Flowland. He had the power to do so because Vaer was the richest of the three, with budding industrial centers and mechanized agriculture, and it had the support of neighboring Amuria. Vaethia became a constitutional monarchy with an ancient, but previously unknown political structure because Syron intended his state to have a strong national government, last a long time, and embrace the new current of Cuprien-style politics.

Four years later, Queen Lue's invasion of Litchy to bring its independent warlords' dominions under the imperial fold began. Vaethia, alongside its Armurian ally, supported the imperial camp and sent almost its entire army to fight alongside Lue's forces. As a reward after the war, Lue personally visited San Vaeth and recognized Syron as the legitimate and good ruler of Sublime Vaethia. Additionally, a stretch of land on the Ramflow was given as a reward, where the city of Luestown soon grew. Vaethia also swore fealty to both the Cuprien Empire in Royal and its subsidiary Licali Federation in Mouthtun.

In 97 OW, Syron was old and bed-ridden, his only child Vaenya was yet only 14 years old, and two plagues as well as slow economic growth tainted the monarchy's reign. A group of ruthless officers performed a coup d'état, successfully taking power - but, because of the intervention of the Faith of Vaethia and the Vaerian Army, they were forced to appoint Vaenya as the official figurehead to maintain their legitimacy. After three years of rule, she had strengthened her own position and grown the ranks of the Vaerian Army, using them to wrest the junta from power and reestablish her full authority.