History of Wingarde

Eustachius of Mittenwald, c. 1090

FIGURES: Eustachius of Mittenwald (882-?)

• 913 AD: Monk Eustachius of Mittenwald finds early Christian scrolls, centuries old, in a cave in the Bavarian Alps. He spends years deciphering them, and eventually comes to the conclusion they describe the Holy Grail's resting place in a temple on “the paradisiac island where the sun rises”.
• 938: A very rich vein of silver is discovered at the Rammelsberg in Saxony, and provide the newly-founded Holy Roman Empire with a vast amount of wealth.
• 944, August: Eustachius' translation of the Mittenwald Holy Grail scrolls reach Emperor Otto I, who becomes obsessed with finding the sacred artifact to further secure his place in history.
• 967, February: After years of fruitless searching around Europe, following contrived interpretations of the Grail scrolls, Emperor Otto I decides to follow the most obvious interpretation and announces his intention to organize and launch an enormous naval expedition to the Far East, terra incognita at that time.
  • March: Otto I convinces Pope John XIII to aid in the funding of the expedition, promising to build a glorious city in God's name wherever the Holy Grail's found.
• 970, July: King Edgar I of England lends his support to the holy quest, expecting the discovery of the Grail to help the consolidation of the kingdom.
• 983, September 17: The lengthy preparation of the biggest expedition ever conceived is finally over. Boasting thousands of souls (settlers, soldiers and experts in every field) and an untold amount of ships, the huge fleet casts off from Genoa, Italy, and begins its seemingly insurmountable journey.
• 983-991: The gargantuan expedition endures a voyage of thousands of kilometres, along the coasts of Africa, the Arabic Peninsula and parts of Southeast Asia. Storms and occasional confrontations with foreign ships slowly but surely eat away at the fleet.
• Late 991: Upon passing by the territories of the Khmer Empire, a series of particularly strong storms batter the exhausted expedition, throwing it off-course a number of times. When the calm returns, land's nowhere in sight, and the vessels have no option but to sail forward.
• Early 992: Landfall. Archipelago christened Wingarde after the daughter of the leader of the expedition, Maximilian von Reinhardt. The girl had been swept overboard and drowned during one of the later storms that battered the fleet.
  • Hügelville is settled.

FIGURES: Maximilian von Reinhardt (960-1006?)

• Dismantlement of most of the surviving fleet for building materials.
• Dispersion across the largest islands, founding of many major towns.
• A population boom ensues once the settlers take root.
• 12th century: Light conflicts lead to the creation of landed titles for a Wingardian nobility that had arisen from a mixture of highborn ancestry and excercises of meritocracy:
  • Duchy of Stromburg: counties of Westmark, Kaltenbach, Unterwald, and Ernstfeld. It would later be elevated to Grand Duchy, when Stromburg became the capital state of the Sovereign Empire.
  • Duchy of Ravensheim: counties of Sterlingen, Kipperset and Berenlitz. It would later be renamed to Principality, as the imperial crown prince would traditionally receive the title of Prince of Ravensheim.
  • Duchy of Wernover: counties of Wern-Nordland, Rotenheim and Hinterford.
  • Duchy of Ostbaden: counties of Ostland, Edelberg and Prinzmarsch.
  • Duchy of Hilmentz: counties of Trissen, Sachsmark, Chadswick and Birknau-Gersten.
  • County of Seestadt: baronies of Opalsee and Wesburg. Under the Empire, this territory would earn the name of Imperial County (Reichsgrafschaft) for being the only land of such denomination independent of any duke.

FIGURES: Lucretia von Salzbach, (Queen, 1446-1484), Alphonse von Stromburg (Kaiser, 1443-1493)

• 13th century: The first serious quests to find the Holy Grail, the target of the original expedition, are organized. They get effectively nowhere.
• 15th century: Foreign (yet relatively local) power ENEMYEMPIRE invades the archipelago from the northwest and experiences initial success, crippling or outright destroying several of the tiny territorial navies in the process.
• 1484: The enemy captures and sacks Stromburg. The city burns for days. Failing to escape the seat of government (castle), Queen Lucretia is slain. This event would be the subject of a painting by a very famous Wingardian artist at a later time.
  • Rather than be defeated piecemeal, the various dominions form an increasingly comprehensive alliance against the attackers.
  • After a considerable amount of fighting, ENEMYEMPIRE's invaders are pushed back to the sea.
• 1486: Alphonse von Stromburg, a particularly charismatic nobleman and general, manages to consolidate the alliance instead of dissolving it as it was originally intended. The Sovereign Empire of Wingarde is founded, with him as the first Kaiser. His celebrated speech is crowned with the famous quote, “Let there be unity among us!”

FIGURES: Alphonse II (Kaiser, 1460-1518), Brunnhilde the Great (Kaiserin, 1552-1625), Archibald Wilfried Graf von Gessler (Admiral, 1843-1915), Konrad II (Kaiser, 1832-1919)

• 1470s-1490s: Wingarde reaches out to the island nations of Southeast Asia to establish trade relations, now being able to reach important hubs due to improvements in ship design and port access agreements with countries like Zampa, in exchange for protection.
• 1492: Wingardian colonists settle the Lucretian Islands, west of the Archipelago, having christened the land after the late Queen. The colonization effort begins in the southern portion of the chain with the founding of Port Wilbert, deemed the capital of the Empire's first major colony abroad. The city's name comes from the original explorer of the islands, Nicholas Wilbert, whose forces would become the core of the Lucretian colonial army.
• 1493: Alphonse I dies, and it's up to his son, Alphonse II, to continue the labour of solidification of the base of the newly-born Empire. He does so through skilled political maneuvering, the most famous example being the strategic marriages of his prodigious offspring. Such arrangements would create the necessary strong roots across the territories to keep the nation together.
• 16th century: Contact with Europe is re-established thanks to traders and explorers on both sides. Massive influx and exchange of culture and knowledge as well as minor migrations.
  • ENEMYEMPIRE, still suffering the consequences of the failed invasion of Wingarde and further destabilized by the arrival of ambitious Europeans, crumbles and breaks down into separate territories across Southeast Asia. One of them is known as Sichang.
• February 1521: The expedition of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan is caught in a storm which fortuitously deviates his ships, causing them to overshoot Wingarde Archipelago.
• 1569-1625: The Brunnhildean period, the lengthy reign of Kaiserin Brunnhilde the Great, widely considered the nation's most illustrious leader to this day, commands over a time of intense cultural and intellectual advancement.
• 17th-18th century: An increasingly powerful and imperialistic Wingarde extends its influence across parts of Asia and especially Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, the Empire's interests manage to reach the Indian subcontinent, East Africa and even the Americas through the decades.
• 1720s: Encouraged by the ideas of the Enlightenment, disgruntled nobles desiring more autonomy from the imperial crown subvert certain military units and use their wealth to procure the services of mercenary regiments, sparking the civil conflict later deemed the Lippenberg Rebellion, after the dissident leader Alexander Graf von Lippenberg. His initial success in the northeastern portions of the Archipelago led Lippenberg to believe he could topple the imperial regime and establish an oligarchic, aristocratic republic, less centralized than the current monarchic system. However, once the Imperial Army rallied to stop his rebel forces, the resulting reversal drained his coffers, and he was faced with mass desertions which sealed his fate. He would be tried as traitor and executed before the year's end. His uprising would still lead to reforms and some steps towards the decentralization of imperial power, aimed at preventing similar revolts in the future.
• 1739: The Eugenian Reforms launched by Kaiser Eugen initiate a process of administrative streamlining and reorganization of the imperial bureaucracy, revitalizing its original efficiency and weeding out a considerable amount of corruption from the system.
• 1799: The island known as Île-de-Bancs, located in the South Atlantic, is acquired from France for 100,000 Geldmark and trade benefits. It is subsequently renamed Alvenheim. As part of its initial wave of fortification, the star-shaped fort Geierschanze would be constructed on the elevated southeast of the island.
• 19th century: Industrialization takes the nation by storm, and its rapidity and practically non-existent regulation ravages the archipelago's delicate ecology, irreparably so in some areas. Recovery would take over a century, made possible only through environment-minded policy that would become tradition.
• 1811: In the wake of the French Revolution, the Falkenschau Reforms lead Wingarde's transition from absolute to constitutional, parliamentary monarchy. Another highlight, consequence of the same series of social changes, is the abolition of slavery across the Empire.
• 1830s-1840s: A short series of colonial conflicts are fought between Wingarde and Spain, over INSERTNAME, a chain of islands closer to continental Southeast Asia. Once under the Empire's control, the naval installations built there would expand the action radius of the Imperial Navy.
• 1840s: Through a full blockade and a decisive land battle, A protectorate is established on INSERTNAME2, an otherwise uncivilized nation not far north of Australia.
• 1863: The Litzau Botanical Gardens are erected in Stromburg. Named after their designer and architect, Joseph von Litzau, these majestic green reserves would contain and display a large number of species of trees, plants and shrubbery from all over the globe.
• 1890s: Largely naval conflict involving pre-dreadnoughts, probably in the Pacific. Admiral Gessler commands the Imperial War Fleet.
• 1901: Radical nationalist demonstrations spurred by the Nationale Volkspartei advocate a more aggressive, expansionist agenda. However, the population's mostly swayed away from those ideas when Konrad II gives a series of powerful speeches about the dangers of intolerance and the responsibility that comes with power such as Wingarde's.
• 1904, December 11: The Treaty of the States is signed. Kaiser Konrad II abdicates and begins the country's intermediary process towards a representative democracy. The nation's temporarily governed by the elected Transitional Assembly while the new government is organized.

FIGURES: Hermann Jakob (President, 1966- )

• 1905, April 29: The Federal Constitution, the heavily modified successor of the Imperial Constitution, is completed and favourably received by the Transitional Assembly.
  • August 15: The Imperial Parliament reforms into the Federal Congress as the legislative arm of the government and ratifies the new Constitution.
  • December 11: The organization into a federal republic is finalized, the Transitional Assembly is dissolved, the Constitution becomes effective, and Karl Wilhelm Kleinmann is elected the 1st President of the Democratic States of Wingarde.
• 1964, October 10: Several aircraft-building companies merge and form the Wingarde Aerospace Corporation.
• 1980s: Businesses, particularly those in the automotive manufacturing sector, flourish under the Bernard Schlosser Administration thanks to considerable government incentives and subsidies.
• 1989: Sichang-related crisis. Cause undefined, probably naval.
• 1995-1996: Crisis in MIDEASTALLY. Cause undefined, likely oil-related.
• 2000: Wingarde is home to 380 million people in the eve of the 21st century.
• 2002: Crisis in AFRICANALLY due to aggressive, unstable neighbours.
• 2013: Alexia Daecher is elected the first female President of Wingarde, and first female head of state since Kaiserin Brunnhilde II.