Royal Vicariates of Fhainnlannachaeran

The Vicariates of Fhainnlannachaeran were administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Fhainnlannachaeran (modern Faneria), based largely on the old borders of the princedoms and free cities of pre-Royal Fhainnin homelands. Each was ruled by a Vicar; nominally a prince within his own lands, each reported to the King with various levels of loyalty depending on time, distance, and the individual kings and Vicars as well as local political considerations. The power of the Vicariates waxed and waned dramatically over the course of their existences, and several were folded into each other or created from whole cloth over the centuries.

Organization and Role

Vicarial Powers

Prior to Second Prince's War: levy taxes, knight people, elect the king, effectively had power to make laws, could judge cases unilaterally (check how this ties with the election of Barheln, Wydd-Martainns, and then Suthar-Martainns, the last of which defeated the elected antiking); essentially feudal elector vassals, with the capital vicariate being the King's direct property and usually run by an appointed Vicar-Regent

After Second War: lost rights to levy taxes directly, collected still until 1870 with centralized mint and bank; *effectively* became rubber stamp for kingly succession, could originally still judge cases unilaterally but later were restricted to overseeing civil disputes with a few checks; lost the power to raise their own vassal armies, had to get king to rubber-stamp appointment of their immediate vassal lords

List of Vicariates

Caption

Vicariate	Capital City/Fort	Formed	Discontinued	Fate	Modern Province	Notes
Askarata	Kurikila	1487	1548	Folded into Srathlann after Kurikilan Crusade	Srathlann
Ceann a Haibne	Port na Comhgall	1423	1912	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Haibnelann
Ceann a Rhydwel	Oirthidún	1822	1907	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Rhydwellann	Title created from whole cloth to make a capital province
Ceann a Torr	Luidún	1401	1907	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Turlann
Cebhin	Cebhin Dún	1506	1908	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Fhainnholdt
Cheatharnaich	Meadhainnigh	1398	1730	Folded into Vicariate of Connsmonan	Connsmonan
Connsmonan	Connsmonandún	1398	1907	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Connsmonan
Dunlann	Lansgadh	1847	1907	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Dunlann	Formed from parts of other, larger Vicariates which had been sketchy
Fhainnholdt	Dúnfhainn	1405	1908	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Fhainnholdt, Connsmonan
Gleathan	Mult Dúnbaile	1471	1601	Split into Glean Bean and Glean Teilt	Gleathan
Glean Bean	Igar Dún	1601	1914	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Gleathan
Glean Teilt	Mult Dúnbaile	1601	1914	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Gleathan
Gwynmyr	Gwyn Dún	1474	1909	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Gwynmyr
Itheachan	Cirit Braigh	1399	1423	Folded into Vicariate of Connsmonan	Connsmonan
Luinn	Luinn Dún	1656	1910	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Fhainnholdt
Lyukquar Astaigh	Cirit Torr	1712	1914	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Lyukquar
Lyukquar Oirthir	Port na Habhainnsk	1781	1915	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Lyukquar
Lyukquar Searastaigh	No Formal Capital	1714	1914	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Lyukquar
Mhartainnvail	Teindún	1398	1907	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Mhartainnvail	Royal Capital; governed directly by the Rih or appointed governor rather than a Vicar
New Aenglia	Ransford	1463	1888	Taken by Fiannria following Fourth Kin War	n/a
Northern Vrael	No Formal Capital	1595	1913	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Vrael
Southern Vrael	Cirit Mull	1544	1914	Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Vrael
Srathlann	Sethsport	1475		Dismantled in 1906 Civil War	Srathlann

History

First Princes' War

Main Article: First Prince's War

1519-1545: First Princes' War: vicars end up victorious after a few kings (Caerls Màrtainn, Bronwyn Màrtainn, Rhys Wydd-Màrtainn) worth of fighting, and for their victory they end up with the authority to elect the King similar to the HLE's collegial electorate

the king who lost the war though continues on until 1557 and then he dies and his son presses hereditary claim, and while the vicars do elect him they say "shit let's not make a habit of this" he reigns and the same thing happens on his (Cledwyn Wydd-Màrtainn) death maybe 1570 or so except the vicars refuse and the second vicarial(?) war begins

Second Prince's War

Main Article: Second Prince's War

1571-1583: Second Prince's War:  this second one is very bloody and just an overall mess, whole dynastic noble local families are wiped out, at least one king (Conan Wydd-Màrtainn, Ruaridh Sutharlan, Banrih (Queen) Cailean Suthar-Màrtainn) of fhanrrenenoit4hlwtf is killed in battle; it ends in a brokered peace; the king's election will continue, but the vicars will also be elected by local nobles, and since so many local families died, the right to appoint new local nobility reverts to the King (Donan Sutharlan-Màrtainn), who begins to solely grant lifetime peerages, i.e., no hereditary succession for the local holdings. typically he will continue to appoint from one family, but they now remain local to the crown - while the king could appoint hereditary nobility, none do because that's a stupid move, and so the local nobles (appointed by the king) begin electing as vicar basically anyone the king wants to keep their power in the family - this allows titles to be sold by the crown, too

Royal Era Proper

this system continues until the 1690s when the kings (Sean Suthar-Màrtainn) begin to realize hey, we can just buy off the still remaining hereditary local lords

External conflicts and relative stability here

by 1760 or so something like, i don't know,  87% of eligible nobility voting for the vicar have been appointed by the king (Cywir Suthar-Màrtainn). so what you have in place is kind of a centralist monarchy with a nominal election system that is really just trading favors with prominent families

so the Vicariate, once a powerful institution, is basically a succession rubber stamp by that 1760 date - essentially reduced from local princes to appointed governors

This is all about on track with what I'm thinking, as by 1775 there should be no more direct ties between officers and their noble status, at least in terms of laws banning commoners or reserving positions. in practice most officers will still be educated nobles

in the 1850s or so there should be a pretty large reform movement saying yes, the monarchy is great, but we should expand who can vote for the vicar besides local royal appointees - every property owning male, perhaps. which obviously every royalist says no to, but this idea of a "Liberal Vicariate" basically becomes a major political fixation and for a couple years it's "yes, but what if the vicariate also had power to do X", "yes, but what if they could also do Y, have oversight of Z, etc" - The main rub being nobody could agree on exactly how to work out what the vicars or a theoretical representative government (at the time still a fringe movement) would work in particular, as you'd have constitutional monarchists mixing with radicals and even a few revanchist wanting the old vicar's crown electorate back, but the liberal vicariate idea remains the "respectable" liberal opposition idea

the 1860s and 70s saw a dramatic rise in lower class and middle class movements. i don't know if you're familiar with how the french revolution went down ca 1787/1788, but convening the estates general was viewed as a panacea, a solution to all problems, but consequently meant different things to different people

As you'd have constitutional monarchists mixing with radicals and even a few revanchist wanting the old vicar's crown electorate back. here the liberal vicariate is that idea, and a lot of self interested rich locals could say "what if we just made it like how it was in the 1500s"

Fhainnin Civil War and End of the Vicariates

1906, one of the reformist factions finally managed to blow up the king (Ruaridh Sutharlan) and a couple key throne supporters at once, which kicked off a civil war between socialist, monarchist, and republican factions

with the republicans and socialist allying and said socialists immediately getting shanked in the back

maybe the direct reason for the bombing of the king in 1906 is

after a year and a half of major tumult, riots, etc, he finally decides to concede but only on the original point of landed male suffrage for the vicars

and when the vicars get together and say "we would like to also have authority over X, Y, and Z"

he says no

which is the breaking point for most radicals