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[Prydania]

The Kingdom of Prydania's Two Capitals
by Prydania

The City of Beaconsviði
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Population: 2,057,737
The City of Beaconsviði is the capital of the Kingdom of Prydania. Its status as the capital dates back to Vortgyn Loðbrók's conquest of the Bayardi lands in 1029. The newly crowned King Vortgyn I chose the city as his capital to better administer the Bayrdi lands, leaving the castle of Stormurholmr to his son Tobias to rule as Grand Thane.

Archaeology in Beaconsviði reveals human habitation dating to the Stone Age. The city of Bakenveld grew up as a Bayardi settlement, described in Bayardi sources as a "beacon" on the "field by the sea."
The city's port and proximity to the Ryon River made Bakenveld a wealthy trading centre, allowing it to assert its independence from the control of the coalescing Bayardi Kingdom.
The city was governed by a council of wealthy tradesmen and nobles who appointed a Marshal to oversee the city's safety and military defences. The tenure of a Marshal was inconsistent. Some Marshals served for life, others served for a decade, some more, some less. It appears as if the Marshal's ability to hold their post depended on their ability to maintain the favour of the Council who appointed them.

Absalon Rosk was the Marshal of Bakenveld during the arrival of Goyanean and Ceretian Monks to northern Craviter in the mid 900s. Absalon's conversion to Messianism roughly corresponds to the date that Kaldor Loðbrók of Stormurholmr converted.
Absalon's conversion was in line with a broader conversion of the Bakenveld populace. He began a building project to construct a castle in the heart of the city along the Ryon River. Absalonkastali- Absalon's Castle- was mostly completed by the early 1000s. Soon thereafter the Courantist Church canonized Absalon.

In 1014 Vortgyn Loðbrók of Stormurholmr raised a host and landed in Austurland, the eastern part of the land the Bayadri called Prydein. The Nordic name revealed its nature. The Austurland had been settled by viking clans loyal to the Loðbróks, who held sway from the island of Stormurholmr. All of whom had come in the mid-late 800s as they fled from Oswald the Conqueror in their home of Andrenne.

Vortgyn Loðbrók, at the age of 16, looked to re-assert Loðbrók control of the viking lands. Some clans, such as the Eiderwigs, came loyally when Vortgyn called. Others resisted. Vortgyn was not afraid to wage war and he eventually bent the resistant viking clans to his will, earning him the title Lord Protector of Austurland.
Vortgyn's ambition, however, wasn't merely to reassert Loðbrók control over the viking clans of Heorot. He wanted to conquer all of Prydein, or Prydansk as his people called it in their tongue. Vortgyn led a unified army of the viking clans against the Bayardi Kingdom. The war this started lasted until 1029, when the Bayardi King Bram's host was defeated by Vortgyn's host at the Loðbrók outpost of Stormurhöfn.

Vortgyn marched on Bakenveld and issued his demands. Bakenveld would retain its independent character in his new Kingdom if they accepted him as King. The city Council agreed, granting Vortgyn and his heirs the office of Marshal in perpetuity. Vortgyn decided to make the city his capital as it provided an ideal position to administer the newly won Bayardi lands. He was crowned King of Prydania by the Bishop of Sarum on Christmas Day 1029 in Bakenveld. In time Bakenveld became Beaconsviði as the Nordic Makari language supplanted the Bayardi language. Vortgyn took up residence in Absalonkastali, which grew to become Absalonhöll (Absalon's Palace) as it was built up over the following centuries.
To this day the Court of the Prydanian Crown is referred to as the Court of St. Absalon despite the Bayardi nature of the namesake.

Beaconsviði did retain its own distinct autonomy within the unified Kingdom of Prydania. Prydanian Kings continued to hold the title Marshal of Beaconsviði and the city Council continued to administer the city independent of the rest of the Kingdom. The city even maintains a special member of Parliament that is allowed to opt it out of select types of legislation.

The city has remained the capital through the many changes to Prydania's political situation as well. It remained the nominal capital of both Prydanian subdivisions during the UKAG era where Prydanian Kings reigned locally under the UKAG Grand Emperor and High King. And it remained the capital during the Syndicalist Republic era.

The capture of Beaconsviði marked the end of the Prydanian Civil War in the summer of 2017. The city was badly damaged as a result of the battle, though it was built up relatively quickly thanks to foreign aid and concentrated construction projects. The city has not yet fully recovered from the war or the battle that ended it, but the more overt damage has been cleaned up, infrastructure is improving, and the city's streets have begun to bustle once more.

The City of Stormurholmr
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Population: 116,323
Stormurholmr, or Tempest Holm in Mercanti, actually refers to two places. The first is the island of Tempest Holm, sitting in the Auburn Channel between Prydania and Dax. The second is the actual city of Tempest Holm, the location of the castle Stormurkastala (Tempest Keep). The island of Tempest Holm contains a few townships, but we will be focusing on the actual city of Stormurholmr and the Stormurkastala building.

Stormurholmr is named as such because Hróarr Loðbrók, exiled lord of the Andrennian petty kingdom of Heorot, is said to have found the island in a storm after fighting his way along the northern coast of what is now Prydania. Hróarr's followers settled in the eastern regions of what is now Prydania, battling the native Aed Kaene for dominance and eventually prevailing. Most viking clans who followed Hróarr settled on the eastern mainland to the west, an area that would become known as Austurland, or on the island to Dax to the west of Stormurholmr. Hróarr, however, oversaw the construction of the castle Stormurkastala on Stormurholmr. The new castle served as the seat of Loðbrók power following the loss of Heorot to Oswald the Conqueror in Andrenne. A town began to grow up around the castle in short order.

Loðbrók lords continued to hold the title King of Heorot in defiance of Oswald, pairing the title with Grand Thane of Stormurholmr. The most notable of these lords before Vortgyn was Kaldor Loðbrók who, in 956, converted to Messianism, culminating the conversion of the vikings in what is now Prydania.

Vortgyn Loðbrók was crowned King of Heorot and Grand Thane of Stormurholmr in 1014, at the age of sixteen. Vortgyn was not content to reign from his family's island outpost, nor was he content with the title of King of a kingdom his family no longer ruled. He landed in the Austurland in 1014, calling the banners of the viking lords that dotted the eastern reaches of the land the native Bayardi called Prieden. A name the vikings turned into "Prydansk."
Some lords came, others defied him. The Loðbróks before Vorgtyn had grown complacent and some viking lords on the mainland scoffed at the idea of answering the call to an unproven sixteen year old boy. Vortgyn, however, was ready to meet them in battle. He gathered his host of those who answered his call and made war on the defiant viking clans and lords, subduing them to the will of Stormurholmr once more. Vortgyn then had himself named Lord Protector of Austurland. By specifying "Austurland" Vortgyn declared that he had designs on the west- ie the rest of Prydansk. The war with the Bayardi Kingdom that followed lasted over a decade. Finally, in 1029, the Bayardi were crushed. Vortgyn had himself crowned King of Prydania and chose to rule from Bakenveld (later to become known as Beaconsviði as the Nordic name took prominence) to better control the Bayardi holdings.

Choosing to rule from Bakenveld rather than Stormurholmr caught many of his closest Thanes off guard. Still, Vortgyn assured them that Austurland would not be neglected. He named his son Tobias Grand Thane of Stormurholmr. This began the tradition of the reigning monarch of Prydania granting the title to their heir, usually a first born son.

Stormurholmr remained a quiet town on a forested island outpost until the formation of UKAG in the 1640s. Erik VI of Prydania recognized that the newly unified Andrennian-Goyanean empire would attempt to subdue all Nordic outposts. Already the Kanadas were beginning to resist. Erik VI, to save his crown, submitted peacefully to UKAG, even surrendering the title King of Heorot. In return he and his heirs would rule Prydania under the Grand Emperor and High King of UKAG.
The arrangement, however, angered the Prydanian settlers on the island east of Stormurholmr, a collection of settlements known as Dax. These settlements declared their independence of the Prydanian and UKAG crowns, forming the Samtök Reykja Fullvalda Dax, or Confederate States of Sovereign Dax. The revolutionaries attempted to add Stormurholmr, however the local insurrection initiated against the Crown was stopped by General Aage Duus, commander of the local Royal Prydanian Army regiment on the island and de facto ruler while Grand Thane Harald (later King Harald III) was still in his childhood.

Stormurholmr was thrown into chaos in 2002. The Syndicalists were weakest in the east of Prydania, and never fully controlled the island of Stormurholmr, though they did secure the city for a period of five years from 2002-2007. One of the FNU's first real victories was to force the Syndicalist government in Stormurholmr to abandon the city and castle, leaving the island in FNU hands for the rest of the Civil War. Some contemplated having the twelve year old Prince Tobias crowned as King at Stormurkastala, though it was decided that any coronation would have to come in the event of Syndicalist defeat.

Stormurholmr remains quiet now that the Civil War is over, the eastern-most Prydanian territory. Its symbolic importance remains, however.