Ionian Hotel War

The Ionian Hotel War was a rivalry of two prominent hotels in the Ionian Plateau of Urcea during the 19th century. Taking place during the Aedanicad, the two hotels - the Velucian Palace and Hotel Julius - serve as both a historical episode and a symbol for the prosperity enjoyed in Urcea during the period. Both hotels were located within three miles of each other in the province of South Ionia, occupying the same mountain ridge.

Velucian Palace and beginning of the rivalry

The Velucian Palace's direct predecessor - the Mountain View Inn - was a small boarding house constructed by Thomas Romo in 1767, sitting prominently among the Ionian Mountains and offering unrivaled views as well as . Romo, a War of the Caroline Succession veteran who had received privilegiata status for his service in the war, bought the land rights from the local Ionian clan and began to use his social status to promote his new boarding house to fellow privilegiata in Urceopolis. After several years of middling success on attracting all-summer guests, the Mountain View Inn became extremely successful by the mid-1790s. The Second Caroline War lead to a temporary halt to business as the Ionian area became contested during the conflict, but memories of the Mountain View Inn lead to it becoming somewhat legendary in Urceopolitan social circles during the conflict. By the end of the war, Romo had a backlog of hundreds of prominent Urceopolitans looking to book time at the Mountain View Inn. The small, eighteen-room boarding house was quickly outgrown by interest. Accordingly, Romo began plans to construct a new hotel directly adjoining the Mountain View - the Velucian Palace, a hotel named for House de Weluta who originated in the Ionian region. Construction began in 1810 and was complete by 1814. Romo died in 1811 and left the work to his son, Cill Romo.

Painting of the first Velucian Palace, constructed 1815. It was a popular destination and subject for Urcean Romantic era artists.

The first Velucian Palace opened its doors for summer 1815 and had 189 rooms. The hotel was immediately successful, drawing large crowds of well-off privilegiata who were willing to make the long trek from across the Valley to stay in the mountains. The hotel remained popular and broke into the optimate demographic, who were among the few who were able to afford long journeys and summer-long stays in the Ionians. Unlike many of the privilegiata, however, individual optimates never became fixtures at the hotel, using their first and second stays to establish rapport in the area before building their own luxury homes not far from the hotel. In the early part of the 19th century, the Velucian served as the center of "Ionian society" as many well-born Urceopolitans continued their social interactions in the region during the summer.

The elevating railway, constructed in 1857. The first Velucian Palace can be partially seen at the top of the ridge.

The Velucian, and the Ionian region in general, were revolutionized by the introduction of the railroad, with a line running from Roekdorse to Cálfeld finished in 1833 with connections throughout the Valley. Not only was the many-day journey from Urceopolis to the Velucian reduced to a relatively speedy and luxurious train ride followed by a five hour stagecoach ride to the hotel, but the creation of the railroad throughout Urcea lead to railroad magnates - often privilegiata - becoming increasingly common at the Velucian. The appearance of new magnates from a multitude of industry due to the railroad and industrial revolution lead to new generations of guests at the hotel beginning in the 1830s as many optimates no longer found the Ionians fashionable, in part due to the presence of the "new people". Around this time, Cill Romo died and passed on ownership of the hotel to Thomas Romo II. An expansion to 300 rooms was completed in 1844 to accommodate for increased interest. One of the new magnates who became a fixture of the hotel in the 1830s and 1840s was Julius Dragh, a railroad magnate who greatly treasured the Ionians. On 18 August 1849, Dragh and his family were leaving a stagecoach in-front of the hotel when a valet inadvertently escorted his wife into a puddle of mud. Infuriated, Dragh dressed down the valet and took his complaints up the chain of management to Thomas Romo II himself. Romo was sympathetic but refused to issue a refund for the season, Dragh's demand, and after more than an hour of arguing an exasperated Romo allegedly told Dragh to "build your own hotel and manage it how you like". Dragh would immediately leave the hotel foregoing the remaining weeks of his stay, but on the journey back noticed a lake in the mountains fairly close to the Velucian with excellent views. Upon returning to Urceopolis, Dragh began gathering investors and announced he would construct his own hotel in the Ionians - the Hotel Julius - which would outclass the Velucian. Construction began that year and was completed in 1851, beginning the Hotel War and rivalry between Romo and Dragh families.

The 1850s saw significant competition between the two hotels. As many railroad magnates began to leave the Velucian for the more comfortable Julius, the relatively old and outdated Velucan experienced decline during the decade. Several gimmicks and marketing tricks began to be used by both sides in order to promote their hotels, but the most famous of the era - the elevating railroad - was built in 1857. The elevating railroad, a narrow-gauge line running directly up the cliff faces of the Ionian Mountains, significantly decreased the time required to reach the Velucian, improving its fortunes and making it available to middle-class privilegiata for the very first time. Accordingly, the Velucian took on the reputation of being the "people's resort" during this period, though its summer rates still far exceeded the income potential for a small majority of Urceans. The first Velucian Palace burned down in the winter of 1860 with no casualties as it was empty due to it being the off-season. While the Romo family alleged the rival Dragh family of destroying the building, most historians and contemporaries believed it to be a consequence of the dry winter that year and an accident, most likely a dropped lantern. While a setback, the destruction breathed new life into the Velucian with the construction of the luxurious second Velucian Palace, completed in 1864. Attempting to maintain the reputation of the Velucian as the "people's" destination, the second Velucian forewent the steel and stone approach of the Julius for another wooden building, this one extremely large in scope. Dwarfing both the first Velucian and the Julius, the second Velucian opened with more than 500 rooms. Dismissing the lake-orientation of the Julius as a gimmick, the second Velucian marketed itself as affordable and with completely unrivaled views. For the remainder of its existence, the Velucian continued to compete with the Julius by means of volume. An additional wing, connected by gangplank, was built in 1880.

The second Velucian Palace in 1882.

It is widely claimed that the popular Ænglish dish, freedom fries, were first invented and served at the Velucian's dining room for lunch on 19 June 1870 as a result of a shortage of potatoes. The story has been disputed by some cuisine historians.

Hotel Julius

Julius Dragh, following his perceived slight at the hands of Thomas Romo II in 1849, constructed the Hotel Julius which opened in 1851, sitting less than three miles away from the Velucian Palace. More modern than the first Velucian and featuring almost 350 rooms and modern amenities, the Julius was built around a lake and has a mountain view, albeit one less dramatic than the Velucian. Dragh built most of the hotel from a stone exterior with newly available steel framing, intending for it to be built to last. The Julius, supposedly named for Saint Julius I but clearly named for Dragh, made much of the recreational opportunities afforded by the lake and surrounding areas. The Julius was touted as the "hotel of health" for the grounds and lake, and Dragh regularly stated that the lake had healing properties. The Julius was outdone in terms of volume of rooms by the construction of the second Velucian Palace in the 1860s, and following this Dragh became interested in implementing as many new novelties, innovations, and luxuries as possible. A telegraph line was erected up to the hotel from both directions of the Ionian mountains by Dragh in 1868, leading to a rather humiliating requirement for the Romo family to pay Dragh in order to use his telegraph station for messages going to and from the Velucian.

The Hotel Julius in 2023.

As the rivalry continued to grow in the 1870s, the Hotel Julius erected what many considered to be an engineering feat. By means of a complicated, byzantine rail network running down the backslope of several mountains and threw passes cleared by dynamite, the Julius managed to establish a rail line running east through the Ionian Mountains down to Transionia, opening the hotel to customers from that area as well as from Dericania. Accordingly, throughout the latter half of the rivalry, the Julius played host to many Deric nobles or their retainers and courtiers, enhancing the general prestige of the hotel.

Attempting to compete with the Velucian on even terms, Dragh constructed several additional wings of the hotel, one of which burned down in 1887. The northern wing, which still is present on the building today, was constructed by Dragh during this perio in 1872. Dragh died in 1874 and left ownership of the hotel to his son, Myhal Dragh, who would manage the hotel for decades to come.

End of the rivalry

With increasing political instability in Urcea, the two Ionian hotels reached peak attendance and interest in 1887 as many people preferred to escape the crowded, divisive corridors of Urceopolis for mountain air, after which year both hotels went into deep decline after 1889 and the death of Aedanicus VIII. Unrest in the Ionian Plateau against the new Crown Regency lead to the perception that travel into the area was unsafe, with both hotels becoming unprofitable for the first time in 1892. The '97 Rising lead to a collapse of the Ionian tourist industry, and both hotels announced they would not be opening for the 1898 season, although they assured longtime customers that the halt would be temporary. During the Rising, both hotels were taken over by forces loyal to House de Weluta, serving as joint headquarters and barracks to local legitimist forces. The telegraph and transportation lines erected for the convenience of guests now made the two hotels central hubs for legitimist forces in the entire Ionian Highland area. In 1899, a fire began at the Velucian Palace which burnt the almost entirely wooden hotel to the ground in less than an hour, killing almost eighty Legitimist commanders and soldiers. Legitimist command stated that the building had caught fire due to arson by pro-FitxRex raiders, but most historians believe the fire was an accident.

Though the war ended in 1902, significant economic disruption and elimination of the old class system lead to a stagnant recovery period which was eliminated by the Great Depression beginning in the late 1900s. The hotel industry rebounded somewhat in the 1920s, but the Second Great War lead to most economic excesses being curtailed as a wartime expediency. The Julius's transionian railway was scrapped for wartime resources during the conflict. Easily available commercial air travel significantly reduced the appeal and fashionability of the Ionian vacation scene as newer, more exotic overseas vacation destinations were available after the war ended in 1943. Although most of the great hotels of the late 19th century were out of business or gone by 1960, the Hotel Julius remained, its reputation alone making it the lone beneficiary of industry consolidation. By 1985, the Julius began to see an uptick in interest, and major renovations in the 1990s restored its mass appeal as well as original art and structure, making it a widely sought after destination. The hotel serves as a popular conference destination for groups from across Urcea and also serves as the typical location for Damselalia contests for South Ionia.

Legacy

The Ionian Hotel War is viewed as both a consequence and a driver of the golden age of tourism in the Ionian Plateau that took place in the 19th century. Accordingly, the Hotel War left lasting cultural and economic impacts on the Highlands. While the rivalry itself ended, the Hotel Julius continues to be a popular and fashionable destination in the 21st century. Skiing and other popular tourist activities remain a cornerstone of the region.

Local businesses and residents often took association with a particular hotel as a source of pride. For a number of reasons poorly understood by historians by popularly canonized in myth, the Hotel Julius is strongly associated with the Holchester Horsemen while the Velucian Palace is historically associated with the Beldra Mariners, both Urcean baseball teams of the Continental Baseball Conference. Fans of both teams make annual "pilgrimages" to the Hotel Julius and former site of the Velucian Palace which are typically tongue-in-cheek affairs which resemble tailgating. The Hotel Julius once discouraged such events but has now prioritized Holchester fans on the annual Horsemen Weekend. The rivalry series between the two teams are known as "tourist turfwar".

The Hotel War not only served as a rivalry between two prominent, fashionable destinations, but came to represent the prosperity of the Aedanicad and was subsequently romanticized, the conflict and locations serving as important backdrop in many pieces of Urcean fiction. The Hotel War era remains a popular time period in which modern period piece films are set.