Patraja

Patraja, officially the Confederated Republic of Patraja and Her Constituent Provinces, is a country positioned in the south of Sarpedon, neighbored by Cartadania and Volonia, and by unoccupied land to the west. Its natural borders are mainly defined by the Pelian Channel and its offshoot minor rivers, with the river Iunctus running through the northern capital of Patraja, Karneja.

Patraja has been a member of the League of Nations since 1979, and is currently led by President Marija Torenvoa of the Confederal People's Congress. Patraja has generally been located to the far-southern portions of Sarpedon, continually occupied and resistant to various invasions until eventual full-time independence in 1883. As of the 2028 National Census, Patraja has a population of 38 million people, and a national Gross Domestic Product of 4 billion Vitaes.

Patraja is considered to have been founded as a conceptual area by the Latinic General Marcus Patrinius during an expedition to the South of the continent, wherein the general seceded from his kingdom to the north and formed his own Kingdom of Patraea. The artificially-constructed state soon fell to rampaging Slavic invasions to the nearby east, but the name had endured after the general's death in battle as the title of a local region in the area.

After the Latinic Migration to the south of the continent, the region saw continued years of local tribal battle, but the first founding of what could be considered as a similar comparative to modern-day Patraja were the Zanaeslav Agreements, or the Union of Peace, which lasted from 312 BC to 289 BC, and acted as a peace and customs agreement between many southern Slavic and Latinic tribes after decades of turmoil. In late 289, the Agreements were disrupted by continued pillaging from a secondary wave of Latinic migration. It was also during this time where many of the northernmost provinces began to be characterized as more Latin than Slavic, and where cultural tensions reached their peak in Patraja.

A second era of peace, and a formal nation, was created in 260 BC, when local tribal leader Anaeron had expertly maneuvered around his wartime opponents to gain the vast majority of deeply-Patrajan lands. The first formally-created Kingdom of Patarija lasted from 260 BC to 190 BC, and created a First Golden Age of Patraja, wherein the pagan kingdom formed most of what people consider as classical Patrajan culture. During this time, a semi-formal northern border and a rudimentary-but-rigid border control system stopped any serious migrations in and out of the nation. From this came an accidental mixing of cultures, of Slavic and Latinic, into one Patrajan nation. The Patrajan language was thought to have evolved this time, from a mixture of Astari-Slavish and Dominian-Latin - the two most prevalent language groups in the nation at the time. King Anaeron passed on his crown to his son, Maxin, in 235 BC. Maxin died an early death, and handed rule after a short interlude period of violence to his 17-year old son, Proktrii.

In 190 BC, the three-generational royal family of Patraja were overthrown by a mob after the Rape of Mariana by Proktrii. Mariana was a famed civil servant, and a rare woman of the state at the time, and was held up as a martyr of the masses as reason to abolish the current royal family. By the time of the end of the chaos, however, so many had declared themselves leader or co-king that mass confusion was abound. In particular, an old myth says that a local villager attempted to make his goat the Chancellor to the King. From 190 BC to 188-187 BC, tribal disunity essentially tore the Kingdom of Patarija into pieces.

After unrest, and several wars, many tribal leaders came together to form the Patrajan Republic of Peoples. Though not the actual name of the state, as no official name was given, the term "Patraja" first entered usage at this stage, mostly as a synonym for "The People within Patarija," whilst the actual regional name persisted to be Patarija. This union of peoples was seen as the first democratic enclave of the southern portion of the continent, and slowly expanded from 187 BC to 180 BC to envelop the whole of the formerly-royal lands, whether through negotiation or forced annexation. Notably, the term Konsal, or the anglicized Consul, entered into use in the Republic around this time, mostly referring to a figurehead-leader of a gathering of tribes. At many moments in the Republic, there were multiple Konsal's representing different tribes - and at other times, there was one that seemed to represent them all.

The Patrajan Republic of Peoples lasted until the Second Kingdom's founding in 70 BC, and is considered the official start of the formal Middle Antiquarian histories of Patraja.

Etymology
The word "Patraja" is a word that's been famously kept good track of. Whether through the bureaucratic and obscure leanings of the Patrajan culture, or by coincidental knowledge, much is known about the term. The first ancestor of the word is thought to descend from the Latinic general Marcus Patrinius, who founded the short-lived Kingdom of Patraea. Since that point, many refer to the more Slavic word of Patarija as a generally-kept local euphemism for the region in which the kingdom used to reside in. Patarija had kept regular use as the name of the local region, and then the nation, for centuries afterward, with "Patraja" first materializing in the first republican governments of the nation as a term to refer to peoples within the region of Patarija. Since that point, the two words had gradually fused together into a simple "Patraja". After Christianization and a full Latinization of the nation's etymological terms since the founding of Christianity, Patraja had seen a primary use. In 45 AC, "Patraja" was recognized as the legal name of the nation within the Third Kingdom.

History
Patraja has generally been considered a black sheep of the Sarpedonian continent, continually attempting and failing to unify into one national state. With a famed history of both republicanism and monarchism, as well as experimental forms of governance and confederacy, Patraja has had an equal mixture of eras of development and unification along with eras of chaos and invasion.

Latin Migration and the Zanaeslav Union [??? BC - 260 BC]
Patraja was originally settled as a Latin-Slavic warground after the collapse of the short-lived Kingdom of Patraea. In this melting pot of aggressive warring areas and mixing tribes, the unique Latinic-Slavic culture of Patraja first emerged in peace during the Zanaeslav Agreements, or the Union of Peace, which lasted from 312 BC to 289 BC. This tribal agreement of union and confederacy was a general peace and customs agreement and began the first sightings of a unique Patrajan culture, with an increase in migration and intermixing between the native Slavic and immigrating Latin peoples. The northern sections of Patraja in particular, though sharing a distinctly-Latin lean, were the first to unify into what was considered a true Patrajan nation. This area, perhaps in accordance to this, also partook very little in the chaos that followed after the collapse of the Agreements. Through various Latin, or perhaps Slavic, provocations unknown to historians at this time, the Agreements collapsed into tribal anarchy once more, lasting from 289 BC to 260 BC. Not much is known about the early history of the Latins and Slavs within the southern Sarpedonian continent, and even less is known about the various details leading up to the first signs of organization, but after 260 BC, more clear signs of both Patrajan culture and governance emerge.

The First Kingdom
In 260 BC, the Patrajan tribal anarchy seemed to have come to a halt for the last time in history. A tribal chief, likely from a northern section of the region, named Anaeron, managed to gain control over the former-Union tribal lands through a mixture of bribery and war. Many attribute this seemingly-quick and absurdly-large endeavor to the man's cutthroat political strategies, though not much is known. After the conquest of most of the preliminary areas of what is considered Patraja minor today, Anaeron formed the Kingdom of Patarija, which he ruled from 260 BC until his death in 235 BC. This period of time began what is generally referred to as the First Golden Age of Patraja, where the actual culture of classical Patrajan as many know it today was formed. With a rudimentary-but-secure border preventing further Latin migrations from disorganizing local Slavic groups, King Anaeoron promoted a vast amount of cultural interludes between the populations. Many historians today consider this to be one of the earliest observations of intentional eugenic actions and laws. Indeed, at the height of the push for cultural integration in 245 BC, a new set of decrees generally referred to by historians as the Marriages of Culture Laws, King Anaeron passed orders of a minimum number of inter-cultural marriages to be reached per year. At the height of these demands, an inter-cultural marriage rate of 15% was often demanded. Many historians accuse this action, along with other strange acts of tyranny, such as the ill-funded Anaeoronic Walls, as proof of a declining mental state in the first King in his later years. King Anaeron from old age and passed on his Kingdom in the first peaceful transition of power in Patraja towards his son, Maxin. King Maxin very much followed in his father's footsteps, continuing the First Golden Age of cultural integration and nation-building. In 230 BC, as an early act in his rule, he centralized the rule of the Kingdom by forcefully merging various bordering tribes into singular Dukjels - precursors to Late Antiquarian and Medieval duchies - to be ruled by one man instead of many. Because of this strategy, the Maxinian legal system had a much better implementation than the Anaeoronic systems, and various laws were passed. In 228 BC, shortly after the completion of the reorganization of the Kingdom, Maxin ordered the relocation of resources from the Anaeoronic Walls to the new Maxinian Walls to the north, which were completed within three years of their start. These walls were highly effective, if crude, methods of keeping out persisting Latinic migrations. King Maxin died in early death in 210 BC due to wounds sustained in battle after a regular conflict with western tribal leaders, and passed away with no apparent heir. After an interlude period of near-anarchy in the Kingdom, a nephew named Proktrii was found as an heir to Maxin.

Taking the throne at only 17 years old, Proktrii instantly showed an exhibition for being the opposite of his predecessors. Raised in a Latin home, the new king always showed a favor to the Latinic settlers of the north of the nation, and even instituted controversial amendments to the Marriages of Culture Laws that favored Latin-headed marriages. This new court culture of clear bias and a more reckless attitude also led to a reported distraction from state affairs and a new focus on the benefits to the king. The remnants of the first royal castle of Patraja, unearthed for the first time in 2022 AC, show signs of construction around the period that would confirm that Proktrii nearly quadrupled the size of his primary realm during a very short period of time. According to rare eyewitness accounts of the time, such as those in the Tablets of Warenus, a visitor from the neighboring southern islands, the court culture of King Proktrii regularly engaged in more salacious and dramatic affairs such as orgies and drama than before. Though sexual exploits were of no surprise in any court at the time, many say that the situation in the Kingdom of Patarija took an even more extreme turn. By all evidence, King Proktrii exhibited a much looser and less focused rule than his uncle, and an unclear moral code that exhibited itself for the first, and last, time in public in 190 BC.

Collapse of the First Kingdom
In 190 BC, King Proktrii raped a publicly-lauded courtier and administrator today known as being called Mariana. The Rape of Mariana by Proktrii was soon shown to the public by an unknown source, leading to widespread outrage and a martyrization of Mariana by the common classes of the kingdom. Within the year, mobs had regularly gathered, and force was being used on them when it was able. At the end of 190 BC, one of these mobs successfully stormed the royal castle and killed King Proktrii. The lineage of Anaeron is thought to have ended here, though some evidence of illegitimate children involving Proktrii still remain. From the years of 190 to 188-187 BC, the nation of Patarija descended into chaos once more. As chaos increased, historical records decreased, almost to the standards of the larger anarchy of the Latin Migration period. What is known, however, is that the conflicts of this time were much more massive and exhaustive than before. Whereas previous boons of conquest were individual tribes, the creation of a Kingdom of Patarija had shown to local leaders that an entire nation could be won, or simply claimed, through conquest. Because of this, many battles were essentially fought to the death, and the local area of the former royal family was in a course of constant contention. It had seemed that whoever held the former royal realms could declare themselves King at any time. During this 2-3 year period, some reports say that there were about a dozen self-declared Kings of Patarija, with some existing at the same time as one another. After years of exhaustive conflict, which ravaged and opened up the nation to a variety of foreign intrusions, some form an armistice was reportedly agreed upon in 188-187 BC. From here, a small confederation of tribes informally referred to as the Patrajan Republic of Peoples was formed out of mainly-northern and central areas of the nation, dead-bent on a seemingly-impossible goal of a reunion of the Patrajan people. Whether this Republic of Peoples was a confederation of pragmatic manipulation by a few important leaders, or a genuinely-idealistic national union, is unknown. However, most historians tentatively describe this as the first era of democracy within Patraja.

Establishment and Consolidation of the Republic of Peoples
From 188-187 BC to 180 BC, this Republic took up essentially all of the former-Patarijan lands belonging to the Kingdom. The most notable battle, taking place in the west in 181 BC, often referred to as the turning point of Patrajans as a people, was ironically held against a massive and unknown group of western invaders, famous at the time for a wish to expand fully into the devastated Patrajan areas. The current identity of the invasion force is either unknown or conflicting. Despite an outnumbered force, the Republic of Peoples successfully defended itself, taking heavy casualties but effectively dissuading a secondary invasion attempt due to the fierceness of the defense. The western border in which this battle took place is often referred to as the Western Reaches of Antiquarian and Medieval Patraja, though that western border has since increased past those bounds. From 180 BC to 70 BC, Patraja existed as a slowly-unifying loose Republic, governed mainly by individual Konsals (an Old Patrajan term for Consul) which united various tribes under a single speakers banner. At most times in the Republic, there were a variety of Konsals competing for influence. During other, rarer times, particularly during conflict, there was a singular Konsal of all tribes, thought to be the national figurehead-leader of the time. Realistically, however, no national leadership ever rose forth until the Voting Measures of 145 BC.

In 145 BC, perhaps to increase influence from populist figures, a Konsal named Untaerin demanded a direct-voting system for Konsal selections, and a more organized, formalized system of national leadership. Nearly all Patrajan locales agreed, and the Republic reformed to select about eight Konsals at one time. Each was selected to represent a selected number of tribes, and each served a simple tenure of one year. During emergency periods, a popular vote was often taken to empower the Konsalar gathering, often to allow them to elect one leader from amongst themselves - though this event was only thought to have taken place once during the Republic of Peoples' history. This structure of government would remain virtually unchanged until the One Konsal Reforms of 90 BC.

In 135 BC, plague arrived to Patraja for the first recorded time. Different diseases had swamped the nation, particularly in the minor eastern marshes, but all historical factors indicate that this plague was mostly caused from minor offensives from western invaders. The foreign nature of the plague has often been theorized to have been able to be traced to an off-continent area, probably spread by regular and migration and trade to the west. Modern virologists and bacteriologists, in consultation with the Institute of Patrajan National History, have concluded that the most approximate area of the plagues origins were somewhere around modern-day Takkata Loa. The foreign nature of the plague is said to have contributed to the largest drop-off in proportional Patrajan population in history. From 135 to about 119 BC, a period of mass plague death enveloped the country. In 125 BC, the Konsalar gathering elected former military leader Opirus as Dictator-Konsal, an essentially-unconstrained position, to deal with the issue. In response, Konsal Opirus began one of the largest anti-viral mass-culling campaigns of ancient history, supposedly killing and then burning the corpses of up to several thousand infected peoples. From 124 BC towards the end of the plague in 119 BC, this seemed to have a noticeable effect. After the end of plague period, Konsal Opirus resigned from his position as both dictator and Konsal, spending the rest of his days as a farmer.

The Republic of Peoples functioned in relative normality afterwards, most notable expanding to its largest extent at around 100 BC, taking up around 90% of the current area of the nation of Patraja. In 90 BC, in response to quickly-centralizing neighboring nations, the Republic of Peoples gathered the Konsals once more to unanimously reform the Republic once more. The system formed in what is not referred to as the One Konsal Reforms of 90 BC is best described today as an administrated presidential dictatorship. Every two years, the Konsals of each regional tribality elected a singular leader from amongst their own, with their own directly-administrated lands as well as legal influence over the entirety of the nation. This system of electing a single Konsal as near-dictator, but without bestowing the official and full-fledged title of Dictator-Konsal, is often cited for two vital future influences. Firstly, it is from this system of a layered administrational system that many historians believe began Patraja's transition towards feudal-medieval structures, and what ensured their future success with the notoriously slow-moving Patrajan culture. Secondly, it is theorized that the Republic's downfall, taking place only 20 years after these reforms, was largely caused by the imbalance of power set up in the new structure. Though some attempt at both elections and counter-weights with an administrational system over the lead Konsal was made, it proved to not be enough to both centralize and preserve the Republic of Peoples.

In 70 BC, a rogue Konsal named Patrinus was elected and declared the new continuation of the first Kingdom of Patarija. Though not much is known about the strangely-swift and smooth process of this action, many scholars argue that a rudimentary system of legal proofs was used by Patrinus to declare the Kingdom a non-dead entity. Whether this was through the production of a newly-deceased heir or some obscure transitional document from the First Kingdom to the Republic of Peoples is unknown. In whatever direction this supposed proof took form, the Konsal's actions flew by the antiquated enforcement systems in an easy manner. Some reports of the time indicate a pro-republican rebellion or two, but all were put down quite easily. The new King Patrinus had redeclared the Kingdom of Patarija successfully - for the sake of simplification and de-facto notation, however, this kingdom shall be referred to as the Second Kingdom of Patarija. King Patrinus had declared himself king at only the age of 35.

The Second Kingdom
With a new kingdom thoroughly secured by 69 BC, King Patrinus made himself known as one of the greater late-pagan medieval kings quite quickly. With a quickly-centralizing rank of loyal Konsals (still called so for the sake of both continuity and tradition), Patrinus was quick to preserve some precedent of the Republic of Peoples through a religious manner. Forming the office of Repraesentativic Deoricom, or the "Representative of the Gods", Patrinus effectively tied local Patrajan religiosity to the state and monarchy itself through an essentially-decorative title bestowed upon one of the Konsals through an elected assembly of all nobles. Despite the relatively-small impact the actual title had on politics, however, it strengthened the pagan character of the nation immensely, and found itself as a useful office that transitioned even past the christianization of the nation. In 66 BC, King Patrinus also made moves to quell local unrest, and to further bring the nation to a more modern, developed stage, constructing vast amount of roads and establishing what was at the time called "an untold amount" of tax offices, sheriff's buildings, and royal armories and barracks across the nation. It seemed that within a single decade, the previously-rural and decentralized nation of Patraja was becoming a late antiquity-era gold standard for how to run a nearly-feudal society. Already, the Konsal's workload was beginning to be too heavy to bear - particularly with royalist-ordered expansions - and Konsal's were already delegating powers to new Konsalis Minorisae, or "small" and "minor" Konsal's. This system, as told by Professor Markin Totravki at the Institute of Patrajan National History, was "essentially medievally-monarchical in its structure and enforcement, republican in naming and tradition, and deeply ancient in religiosity and worship." A unique system, it would seem, that paid dividends.

In the first war since the Republic of Peoples' defense against western invaders, the regime of King Patrinus and his self-dubbed House of Kennonia was undoubtedly legitimized for the last time in the man's rule. Taking place in the year 62 BC, the newly-reformed systems of the kingdom were put to the test by a first-time invasion from the Northeastern Greeks, whose colonies in the area had already sprung into full-grown, expanding fiefdoms. An altercation between one relatively large section of those united fiefdoms, supposedly instigated by King Patrinus himself, sent Patraja into war against the Greeks. In 62 BC, Patraja itself had its borders violated for the first time in decades. However, the lack of initial defense was not necessarily a mistake; overwhelmed with the size of their new conquest, the lack of supplies, and the shockingly-minor scavenging that could be done even on minor towns, the Greeks seemed both stressed and out of their step after even a dozen kilometers into the nation. Nearly 50 kilometers in, and reports of starvation became as numerous in fatalities as the number of stranded Patrajan soldiers killed. In this situation, nearly a month after the start of the war and with no large battle, King Patrinus made his mark as a devastating and environment tactician.

With the countryside known to half the soldiers like the backs of their hands, the King attacked the large Greek force in multi-staged prongs of battle. Whilst the Greeks had been spent fighting lone wolf units and attempting to find a capital that, at the time, did not exist in anything but ceremonial naming, King Patrinus had been gathering as many men as humanly possible. With the new year over, and 61 BC beginning, the freezing Greeks in the north were attacked by the well-rested Southern Patrajans, and the acclimated Northern Patrajans. The overrun of Greek units was disastrous, and has been one of the deciding plays of history that essentially barred any Greek or Hellenic-descendent ancestry from advancing to the south of Sarpedon. The victory celebrations of a war won in less than a year supposedly took place across a period of time longer than the war itself. King Patrinus had won the only war of his reign in such a manner that it justified the rule of the House of Kennonia for centuries to come.

King Patrinus ruled with both an iron fist and an adoration from his populace for decades more. By the end of his reign, Patraja wasn't to the standards of the top late antiquarian nations, but was certainly a notable one. King Patrinus died at age 60 from a natural wound sustained during practice and, supposedly, a clinically-malnourished infection to a broken left leg, in 45 BC. His grandson, Avinnic, was put into place as King at age 19 instead of Patrinus' son, Teterin, for his notable talent in both military and administrational capability. Teterin, for all the training done under his father during his Konsalar and royal years, was sent into a supposed rage, and jailed by his own son. The exact death date of Teterin, son of Patrinus, is unknown, as it was said that King Avinnic had ordered the man to be fed and given water once a week, and to be further forgotten by all past that point. Noted for his ruthless rule, Avinnic's sentence on his own father hours after his coronation outlined his intentions for the kingdom clearly and fully.

In 44 BC, Avinnic was elected, possibly through a mixture of bribery and threats, to be the Representative to the Gods, holding within him both a royal power and a divine representation - at least to the people of Patraja. Ironically, despite the bombastic introduction of King Avinnic of House Kennonia, not much is known about his reign. It was said, by all means, to be a more ruthless, profitable continuation of the rule of Patrinus, lacking in any war but deep in slave-made expansions to infrastructure and resources. In 37 BC, despite the advantages of the lack of a capital, King Avinnic ordered the abandonment of the previous ceremonial capital, Initerij, to the building location of a newer, grander capital to the south, not far from the current-day Karneja. Its name was Karinnja, and its foundation was considered the essential start of the current city of Karneja. The capital reportedly finished early construction in 30 BC, and would be occupied by monarchs of Patraja until the eventual annexation and division of the nation in 829 AC.

At age 40, in 24 BC, King Avinnic passed what was officially called the Religious Enforcement Articles. As Representative to the Gods, Avinnic had essentially reformed the previously-ceremonial institution to a genuine enforcement and regulatory force in charge of religion within Patraja. With representatives sent to each Konsal, even the Minor Konsals, the influence of the new office could not be understated. This de-facto change in religious enforcement was made de-jure in 24 BC with the articles. Within the year, severe punishment, even burnings at stakes, occurred in the name of a centralizing Patrajan religion. Though some Konsals notably wrote in uncovered private journals of their disdain for the practice, from the "peak years" of the articles, from 24 BC to 14 BC, the religion of Patraja had been strengthened in its loyalty to the monarchy and to the king. A new Royal Cult of Kennonia was emerging, seeing the Second Kingdom as the essential, perfected incarnation of Patraja as a nation. Compared to the state of the Republic of Peoples, this wasn't essentially hard to see as being believable, but crucial errors were made in the isolationist policy of Avinnic's severe zealousness, and the country's stalwart attitude; it had become unfathomably unpopular. Moreso with the nations influenced by the newly-forming proto-religion of Jesus Christ.

Anti-Christian Persecutions
In 0 BC/0 AC, the death and reported rebirth of Christ had a massive impact on the world. The aging King Avinnic, aged 64, first heard of the news of the formation of several organized sects around the man weeks after it became known. According to reports captured even by servants of the man, the king was flown into a blind rage. Whether or not King Avinnic knew the potential impact of a new, uniform, international religion on his religiously-centralized and defined governance was unknown, but his actions after seemed to be ones of a man in a rage to keep the crown. Hours after the reports of an essentially-united religious front of Christians, King Avinnic drafted the Second Articles of Religion, banning Christianity from the state and populace to degree unknown even to the first Articles' enforcement. Hundreds were killed until the death of King Avinnic at age 70, in the year 6 AC. Continuing with the supposed tradition of the House of Kennonia, Avinnic gave the Second Kingdom of Patarija to his zealous grandson over his own, son. The new King Valerijin is known as the final king of a pagan Kingdom of Patarija. Despite the infrastructure set up by his grandfather and his own continued zealous fights against Christianity, King Valerijin received continued reports of spreading Christian thought from the years of 6-16 AC. Punishments were doled out, but all that was done was to force Christians underground.

Christian Revolution
The most particular spread of Christianity occurred in Western port-towns across the Pelian Channel, where word from neighboring continents and nations spread quickly. Things escalated in 18 AC as a public and unafraid Church of Patrajan Christians was declared in the same western regions. Though officially a collection of believers, the armament and clearly-defined boundaries of the CPC made it more of a proto-statist entity in direct opposition to the pagan Second Kingdom. In 19 AC, as the CPC spread in both number and territory across the western coasts, King Valerijin declared unofficial war against what he notably described as "a pretended-area of spineless heretics." The CPC's organization and near-statehood, meanwhile, made it more of a proto-crusader state than a defensive commission of churches. Led by several local theological rulers, it can perhaps also be described as one of the first Christian theologically-based governments. The Christianization of Patraja, taking place between 0 AC and 92 AC, therefore almost directly correlated with the Churchhood-Royalist War, taking place from 19 AC to 32 AC. Patraja's Christianization, as described by foreign historical specialist Matthew Welling, was "a religious war of total conversion and total victory, rather than a spread of ideas...Patraja's origins as a nation of Latinic religiosity and Slavic toughness perhaps even started out...after the total war for religion so early in its history." The war between the semi-organized confederacy of Churches, self-interested and believing Konsals, and minor unloyal leaders, against the Second Kingdom, took place between 19 AC and 32 AC, and enveloped all of Patraja. However, at the end of it all, and through heroic and villainous actions on both sides, Christian proto-crusaders had won against the Second Kingdom, through a combination of early guerilla tactics, infighting and indecision within the Second Kingdom, along with foreign support from Christians of more peaceful and converted areas. In 32 AC, Christian forced made their way into Karinnja and declared the city theirs. King Valerijin fought on for a reported two more months, even adopting a guerilla leaders' tactics of constant movement and lack of centralized force for a while, but was soon captured on a route to the North - presumably on his way to escape to the more pagan-friendly Greek areas against which his great-great grandfather had fought years ago. The plan of the king is unknown; whether he simply sought to go into exile or to summon up support didn't matter to the newly-consolidating Christian forces.

The Third Kingdom
In 32 AC, former King Valerijin was brought to a tribunal of rebel Konsals, Minor Konsals, vital Christian leaders, and several theologians, and was given a choice of either death at the cross, or to renounce, repent, and spend the rest of his days within a rotating list of dungeons. Valerijin chose the former, and was burnt in public days later to a crowd of thousands. After the essential collapse of the leadership of the Second Kingdom, the swearing of loyalty and conversion of several Konsal's from the old regime, the Church of Patrajan Christians as it was known from 18 AC collapsed in on itself. Though the country was stable, with a semi-functioning provisional government only really capable of meager tax collection and border enforcement, decisions had to be made quickly about the formation of a new Christian state. It was not, according to sources, just a matter of creating a strong state, but a matter of the conversion of the whole nation. Patraja, at its core countryside, was still a deeply-pagan nation, and revolts in an adapted guerilla-style from those areas would not bode well for the organization of a new state. Some from the time, including a local self-proclaimed Cardinal Parin, argued that "if action is not taken within the year, we will be in a slow-war against the pagans for another century." Action was, however, taken. After much deliberation, the Church and local authorities had agreed upon a creation of a new kingdom, for the sake of continuity with the positional traditions of the Patrajan state, and to conform to the expectations of the public. The transformation of Patraja to a fully-theologian state was briefly considered, but quickly shot down by the wishes of former Konsals to keep their centuries-old powers over regional affairs. In 33 AC, the public was informed of the creation of the Kingdom of Patraja - the first use of the now-modern term for the nation. Though the name is different, the title of the Third Kingdom will be used for brevities sake. Weeks later, the public was told news of the selection of a new King; a relatively obscure war hero whose original name, in one way or another, is unknown to this day. The man took the moniker of King Paul I of the Kingdom of Patraja, and was coronated in late 33 AC. The third, Christian kingdom of the Patrajans had begun.

The first order of affairs for King Paul was the reinstatement of Patrajan bureaucracy. Though many Konsal's had defected to the Christian forces during the war, most from the old regime had been either imprisoned or executed, or had fled into exile. Though the constant offerings of a larger division of affairs to the remaining Konsal's was, to Paul, an "appealing offer in its simplicity and ease," warnings of the deposition of the unknown king had made him essentially reorganize the unoccupied territories. Tempted to undermine the centuries-old and pagan-originated title and office of "Konsal," these new territories were not given to new Konsal's, but to new Barons, Counts, and Dukes, following the common naming trends of the time. This was, in a mild and unspoken way, deeply upsetting the old guard of the nation, who saw the majority of Patrajan territory divided into fiefdoms that did not resemble their own. Though Christians themselves, the Konsal's still seemed equally religiously-dedicated to the state traditions observed in Patraja since the Republic of Peoples. A Konsalar rebellion, or at least mass friction, was to be expected within the nation - but not soon.

The second and perhaps most-vital order of affairs for the new kingdom was the Christianization of Patraja. Though nearly all major cities and towns were vastly Christian by this point, whether through force or genuine mass conversion, the countryside remained a staunch pagan area of resistance. The temptation to King Paul I was, once more, presented as an easy religious war of persecution. However, a softer approach was taken. The newly-refurbished tax system was put to work; pagans were taxed at higher rates, for more actions, and across more areas. The deployment of standing minor armies were used; pagans were often drafted into low-level positions, possibly to simply die in battle if needed, but constantly surrounded by pastors. A campaign of effortless propaganda was also put into place; Patraja had Christian conversion missions be sent into its own territory. This strategy of the use of soft power rather than military persecution paid off in dividends, but not entirely in Paul I's life. This new formation of soft power was observed by Paul's descendants, Paul II and Constian I, until the eventual conversion of Patraja ended in about 92 AC. This "soft conversion," with seemingly no true beginning or end, was brought to end by King Constian I at his deathbed in 103 AC, where most laws against paganism were allowed to be conveniently forgotten, and all missions of conversion slowly defunded and stopped by his successor, his nephew, Paul III. Anti-pagan persecution and missions still occurred, naturally, and the practice of Patrajan pagan religion itself continued even to this day, but by the start of the 2nd Century, the religious conflict of Patraja was allowed to be quietly forgotten and shelved to history in what was then often called "The times before God."

From the 2nd century until the 3rd, the Kingdom of Patraja stood at a slow consolidation and improvement; according to many historians, it marks the start of the Silver Age of Patraja, a period of continued reconciliation with the nation's place in international relations, along with coping with the realities of a changing world and quickly-developing technologies. The one thing of note within Patraja were developing court politics from the 100s to the 200s. As the nation grew at a steady territorial rate of about 1.2% a year on average, administration became a difficult reality of divisions within divisions within divisions. Minor fiefdoms were either legally abolished, or de-facto eliminated from relevance, unless they swore bounds to a local ruler. That local ruler, too, swore bounds to a Duke, who in turn swore bounds to the King. The old practices of the more direct Konsalar system and the new medieval system would rub against one another on multiple occasions, though the latter would always be more favored by the king, barring the more traditionalist and offhanded King Amanirin.

Religious and Political Isolation in Sarpedonia
Christianizing from an equally-violent and smooth revolution shortly after the death of Christ wasn't just unusual at the time - it was improbable, particularly in the region of Sarpedonia, which stayed largely pagan for centuries after Patraja had become a de-jure Christian state. Not only did this quick revolution ensure that pagan impact stayed a minor-but-long-lasting covert, rural affair in Patraja, it also ensured that the Christian-ruled state would remain generally isolated nation in the continent of Sarpedonia. In general, this period of politico-religious isolation from Patraja is thought to have lasted from the official formation of the Third Kingdom of Patraja in 33 AC to about 850 AC, when it was estimated Christianity gained an official and complete upper hand in Sarpedonia. This isolation in Patraja has also often been divided once more into two sub-periods, known as the Rural and International Isolation of 33 AC - 525 AC and the International Isolation of 525 AC - 850 AC, corresponding to Patraja's era of urban and suburban Christian life compared to pagan rural life, and Patraja's full Christianization at around the beginning of the 6th century, respectively.

Latinic Wars
In 212 AC, one of the most vital periods of Patrajan history began, which was the beginning of the defense and attack against, and eventual failure to, the Northern Latin Imperial States. This conflict is currently referred to as the Latinic Wars. Though not unified in anything but language, the Northern Latins of Sarpedon, descendants of a shared ancestor with Patrajans, Early Northern Sarpedonian Latins, held a claim to what was, in essence, Latin-conquered and mixed lands, formerly belonging to Slavs. Though the division between Slav and Latin had been irrelevant for centuries within Patraja, northern war chiefs and ironically-named Consules were more than happy to find relations between the peoples as justification of annexation. This pattern began in 212 AC, with the attack from the Consulate of Tibernis, a neighboring Latin nation to northwest of Patraja. This war, fought between the Consul Augustin and the Saint King Paul V, found the smaller Tibernis utilizing hit-and-run tactics to flank the then-heavy and costly-equipped Patrajan armored troops from all angles. The war was an inevitable victory for Patraja, and a suicidal rush by the Consulate, but revealed a major strategic disaster for Patrajan troops. Soon after the end of the war in 215 AC, the larger Duchy of Amarkon, a Greek state, also attacked Patraja, perfecting Tibernis' tactics against the now-exhausted heavy Patrajan infantry. Though not officially involved in the Latinic Wars, the Greeks contributed greatly to a general retreat which the wounded Consulate quickly joined in with, grabbing up a number of lands. Changing his strategy, Paul V essentially disbanded a number of armored units and reserved the metal plating to be re-adapted onto horses. Accompanying these horses and the small armored units was a selection of previously-armored men and peasant conscripts, all trained to a speedy and quick defense and movement strategy. Amarkon and Tibernis didn't get far within Patraja before needing to await supply lines to arrive, giving them time to prepare for an expected armored attack. In 216 AC, after the dawn of the new year, King Paul V himself approached with an army supposedly number over five thousand men in the described organizations, catching both enemies off-guard. Despite the combined attack of Greeks and Latins, the two groups never held strict communication, and during the carnage-filled battles that ensued, that weakness was exploited; Paul V notably ran the enemies into one another, forcing a fight with Patrajan troops arriving head-on at a third angle towards the two armies, catching them at a side-angle with nowhere to run. According to reports from the modern-day Archeological Society of Volonia, wherein the battle took place, the number of skeletal remnants from the rumored field of battle is consistent to an enemy casualty rate of about 72%. The invading forces were routed, and Patraja overran the entirety of the Consulate of Tibernis, annexing the whole region and notably taking in several hundred Latin slaves. The Duchy of Amarkon formed a separate peace with Patraja, retaining all territory but being forced to pay a yearly sum to Patraja for continued peace. Paul V was given sainthood by the Patrajan Church after the conclusion of the war against the pagan Latins and the Greeks. Ironically, it was the Latins that were destroyed in the area, and the Greeks that were kept independent, but the extent of political affairs was made so that this was more of a relations victory for the Church, rather than a literal one. Saint King Paul V spent the rest of his life essentially consolidating the quickly-acquired Latin area and attempting to calm the populace into subjugation, even allowing them the keeping of a Consular system, though under a new leader loyal to him. With several Konsalar territories shrinking, the lone Consulate structure found itself with quick friends among the more antiquity-minded states within Patraja.

in 235 AC, Paul V died and was succeeded by his son, Mikael I, notable for a new form of crusade; an administrational crusade. Disgusted by the decades of flatfooted responses to the what he viewed as ancient, tired, and pagan-like political entities within Patraja, he sought to eliminate all presences of the old regimes from within the state. It was Mikael I who renamed the capital from Karinnja to Karneja - though this was not the same city or location known as today, but a name translated from the more ancient Latinic texts to the then-modern Patrajan tongue. Karinnja in Latinic-Slavic Patrajan essentially meant "Holy City of Gods," whilst the reinterpreted Karneja, in Medieval Patrajan, was more likely to be interpreted as "City of God." This hardline move made on the third day of Mikael I's reign was seen as emblematic of what was to come for the young ruler.

In 240 AC, Mikael I's war on Consulates and Konsal's became official, as he demanded the reorganization of the Konsalate of Mardin to the standards of medieval organization, along with access to the land for his own troops to expunge what was believed to be a pagans stronghold somewhere within Mardin's countryside. This anti-pagan push, not seen since the middle of the 2nd century, was noted in a fearful manner by Konsalar authorities, many of whom were shielding old pagan temples for both historical and political reasons. King Mikael I's request was denied on both counts, but the King entered the Konsal's territory anyway. Unprepared and caught by the surprise of a seemingly-disrespectful move by the king, the young 11 year old Konsal and his regency ordered the mobilization of troops against the King himself. This marked the start of the Patrajan Anti-Konsalar Wars - a small escapade of anti-pagan and anti-antiquarian battles and depositions that took place within the larger Latinic Wars. Tying the Anti-Konsalar Wars to the Latinic Wars is a controversial study topic within historical circles today, but it is generally accepted by historical study that the Konsal's and Consulate received much aid from Latinic tribes and states in their battles against their liege. Even still, King Mikael won the one battle of the first part of the so-called Anti-Konsalar Wars easily, and deposed the Konsal and reformed the Konsalate himself for a number of years, before handing control to his nephew, Duke Annus, in 243 AC.

As his last major act before his death, King Mikael I officially abolished the office of Repraesentativic Deoricom, Representative to the Gods - or God himself, as it stood at the time, in 253 AC. Though the position had been unoccupied since the end of the Second Kingdom, it had remained allowed within the formation within the Third due to the non-political nature of it. However, Mikael I saw this as another pagan bring-over from the old regimes, and entirely annihiliated the unoccupied post, automatically announcing the transferral of national religious authority not to himself, but to the Bishop of Karneja, Rekilinos. King Mikael I, already considered for Sainthood as his father had been before him, suddenly died in 255 AC along with his son, whose name remains unknown to scholars, under a suspicious circumstance of a raider attack from the north. The heir apparent was Duke Annus, who had been given the Duchy of Mardin by his uncle years prior. The new King Annus is thought to have been a middling and conniving King, mostly confined to the halls of the castle and not much more, delegating his duties to either his wife or his chancellors. There had reports, as well, that King Annus himself was mentally impaired for years past his coronation. A resumption of the Anti-Konsalar Wars began with the great-grandson of King Annus, King Ukrin, who had demanded the end of the Consulate of The Latins within Patraja in 332 AC and was, as before, denied by the territorial and permanently-occupied Latin tribes. Once more, as his many-greats uncle had before him, King Ukrin invaded the Latins to the north, but found much more difficulty with the war. In this, the Anti-Konsalar Wars and the Latinic Wars temporarily merge; seeing their brothers in danger, and a rival power to the south in danger of gaining more hold over a Latin region, the northern Latin Kingdom of Maiora declared war upon Patraja, and joined in union with the Consulate. What had started as a small put-down conflict for King Ukrin had turned into an all-out war; one that Patraja was not prepared for. The smaller and differently-equipped army of Patraja in the north, out of their league for the size of the situation, attempted a retreat southward to gather more troops in more favorable territory. However, the Latin kingdoms and consulates had learned from their previous blunder, and essentially ran through the Patrajans with quicker, armored horses and light infantry that far-outnumbered the troops. In a flash of only two months, the entire northern legion-group of Patraja was wiped out, and Patraja's century-old conquest of neighboring northern Latins was lost in battle, along with additional territory. The Battle of Latinia, as it was called by the Latins, was a completely shameful defeat for Patraja, and contained perhaps the worst military blunder in the nations early medieval history. Multiple smaller battles occurred, wherein Patraja won but one, and remained demoralized and burnt-out in the rest. In 335 AC, King Ukrin accepted a humiliating peace treaty where the conquests of 212 AC were all entirely reversed. An attempt was made to salvage the Consulate of Tibernis as a partially-loyal pseudo-state, but it seemed lost forever, made dependent on the Kingdom of Maiora after the war. Even worse, small additional swathes of Northern Patraja were added to the Kingdom of Maiora, shrinking Patraja to its smallest size since Saint King Paul V's conquests. The steady income of gold from the Greek Duchy of Amarkon was also cut off by order of the Kingdom of Maiora, and to the ecstatic agreement of Amarkon's leader. In absolute shame, King Ukrin became the first king in Patrajan history to abdicate, a mere 4 months after the peace was formed. In his place, the crown was claimed not even by the man's direct son, then-aged only 7, but by his cousin, and direct descendent of the early-dead King Mikael I, Count Josep III. King Josep III ordered himself crowned on the northern border, facing ardently towards the Greeks and Latins. During the ceremony, wherein the crown was presented by the Bishop of Karneja, Josip III declared a "period of national religious revival" in response to the loss, labelling the pagan Latins as heretics. Four days later, Josip III was ordained as a Saint by the same Bishop of Karneja, in what is supposed to be due to a deal made between the King to restore the Consulate as a theology in exchange for religious support.

From 335 AC to about 345 AC, Patraja was built up once more, refocused into reliance on its southern regions, rather than the more-fertile and open northern plains. Planners and national coordinators of the time, often referred to as the "economics of the Patrajan medieval period," gained such an influence in the King's court during this period that there were a record number of secret societies, both found and never found, formed from the wealth and success of the planners. The most famous one, the Coordinators League of Stonemasons, still exists today as a closed club. It was initially founded as a united front of individual stonemasons and national planners to coordinate on the building of churches, refineries, and other buildings.

In 346 AC, Josip III declared war on the Consulate of Tibernis and its master-state, the Kingdom of Maiora, along with, unrelatedly, the Duchy of Amarkon, then-called the Duchies of Amarkis, after a recent regime change. Josip III's goals were as lofty as his promises of religious revival on his crowning a decade prior; he wished to occupy the entirety of all three entities. To say that this level of conquest unusual for the time would be to put it lightly, and many historians, including Professor Markin Totravki from the Institute of Patrajan National History, agree that this likely was not the actual goal of Josip III, but a rallying-cry for the nation to get behind. The monumental loss of King Ukrin was still felt, after all, very recently and within the generation that was then fighting for Patraja. "All the young men that had been given swords for an essential continuation of the war," explains Totravki, "were mostly children who had heard terrible news of the defeat of the undefeatable Christian kingdom a mere decade prior...it was necessary to tell them this conquest was different and was not a repetition of [the] failed war a decade before that."

As Josip III personally led troops across the border and straight to Tibernis, the Kingdom of Maiora symbolically protested the war upon deployment of their troops, even burning a recreation of Saint King Paul V before official movement from the capital. In response, King Josip III dedicated the first battle, the Battle of Tibernio, to Paul V, and won it handily, capturing the capital of the Consulate. After the war's end, Tibernio was renamed to Paulinios, in honor of Paul V. Many writings within the court of Josip III note the mans brazen pettiness in both religious in foreign affairs, and his treatment of medieval-era proto-public relations shows this quite easily.

After the victory in Tibernis, Josip III got involved in several minor battles, wherein he took what was reported as three arrow shots to various parts of the body, all of which miraculously did not cause serious injury or posthumous infection. One arrow even landed inches from puncturing the mans ribcage and entering his lungs. However, this set of injuries still forced the king to stay behind, camped out in the captured and supposedly-safely occupied city of Tibernis. Several months of minor battles and captures of towns followed the king's stay in Tibernis, led by his commanders, until Josip III rejoined the armies for a final battle against the Kingdom of Maiora in the far-northern current Valley of Anavila. Slightly outnumbered, with stretched-but-stable supply lines, and deep in enemy territory, the battle looked dicey for both sides involved upon its commencement on November 4th, 347 AC, to its end at the early mornings of November 5th. The battle itself lasted two days, with the first being focused on a Patrajan defense against a surprise Maiorian attack from the peak of the hills, and the second on a Patrajan counter-offensive which decisively ended the battle. Patrajan victory was acquired, but at great cost, with nearly a third of the armies lost in the battle. King Josip III's armies stayed behind at the north, regrouping and resupplying from local villages, along with importing additional troops from Patraja to replenish its numbers.

After the end of the year, on February 5th, 348 AC, the Patrajan armies went northward once more, encountering minor resistance on the way to the Maioran capital. Thoroughly overstretched and with stretching supply lines, the Patrajan armies found great difficulty in advancing too far forward. On several occasions, the armies also received resistance from local Latin and pagan populations, leading to the deaths of a handful of soldiers. In retaliation, several far-northern towns, at this point considered non-annexable by the shrinking peace plans of Josip III, were burnt and burglarized by stray units along the roads to the north. At around June of that year, the advance essentially stopped, with the Patrajan king considering setting up a perimeter across the southern entrances and valleys to trap any incoming armies. This strategy of a smaller, skilled force setting up a perimeter, and then sending out quick envoys to trap in the incoming force using surrounding perimeter troops, would prove relatively effective, and would be copied as a tactic by many Patrajan leaders, last being seen in the 19th century.

This tactic extended the war for a dragging year, and in July, 349 AC, the Maioran kingdom finally relented and asked for a peace, in exchange for only minor amounts of territorial punishment. In response, Josip III asked for a larger peace sum for the next decade to be paid by the kingdom as compensation for victory. The war ended with the re-annexation of the Consulate of Tibernis, then-renamed to the Duchy of Paulinios, same after its newly-named capital, and gifted to a cousin of the king.

Northern Latin Imperial Occupation, The Occupied Duchies, and Minor Independence Periods [829 AC - ]
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