@ayzrules lemme finish these bitchass finals and i'll send in a CS

Wip

Character Sheet [+]

Edwin Drakewine of the Britannian Imperium

"Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance." -Heinrich Heine

Name
――――――――――

Edwin Harold Drakewine

Title
――――――――――

Basilieus/King of Anatolia, Doux/Duke/Emir of Anatolia, Shahzadeh/Prince of Blood/Crown Prince, the Little Crosses, among others

Age
――――――――――

17

Gender
――――――――――

Male

Sexuality
――――――――――

Heterosexual

Appearance
――――――――――

Edwin stands at a 6', slightly shorter than his 6'1 father; He is not exceptionally strong though he is physically fit, courtesy of his training with the household guard, as is tradition for the heir. He has inherited the typical brown hair and eyes of the Drakewine family. His hair refused to be made neat and by this point he has pretty much given up on ever taming it, much to his fathers chagrin. Outside of occasions, he typically dresses 'smart casual', never dressing too casually. On special occasions however, such as when away on important affairs, he wears full military dress as is customary for male members of royal family, who typically have positions within the military. The bright colours of his uniform stand in stark contrast to his usually dull clothing and he has a strong air of authority around him on these occasions.
He has a deep scar along the back of his right hand that was caused by an accident while learning to ride a bike as a child, and has a small scar along his right shoulder which was caused by a fencing accident

Personality
――――――――――

Edwin is a scholarly man, as is the tradition of the British Emperor. He frequently visits the Imperial Library which spans many texts, with thousands of gigabytes worth of electronic documents filed. He has spent excessive amounts of time in this place, enjoying books and reading more than most.
Edwin was raised as a "true emperor of the Dominion", taught not to give in to the demands of others. Edwin has taken this somewhat to heart; He typically stands his ground firmly in arguments and negotiations. He is willing to concede defeat should his point be proven wrong in debate and is willing to forge agreements if need be, but typically he doesn't budge.
He is motivated primarily by his desire to be a great leader; Britannia has a very impressive history with many stand out Emperors and Empresses... And like any great nation, it also has a lot of mostly forgotten rulers. Edwin would far prefer to be the former.
Beneath this apparent confidence however, lies a fearful teenager. He is almost self loathing, thinking of himself as being incompetent and weak. This doubt drives him to overcompensate at everything his does; nothing he does is ever good enough, it always fall short of what he was aiming for. Truth be told, even when he achieves a goal, he always finds something wrong with the way he did it.

Likes + Dislikes
――――――――――

Likes:
Books
Order
History
Drawing
Outsmarting or impressing other people
Puzzles
Politics

Dislikes:
Alcohol
Cowards
Disorder

Fears:
Being publically humiliated
Death
Heights
Failing at his duty as the future emperor
Being forgotten

Biography
――――――――――

Heir to the throne of Britannia, the 'Kingdom of Heaven', Edwin's training began practically from the day he was born. His childhood was dominated by his royal status; Order and structure were the name of the game, the schedule being very much the same for the majority of his childhood. What free time he did have was often spent with the same few people, palace life being what it was.
His father was kept away by the demands of running the monolithic empire its self and his mother had died giving birth to his sister when he was only 6. It was inevitable that the boy would find a parental figure in his tutors, namely one Richard. Richard was the captain of His Majesty's Household Guard and came from a long and distinct noble family that had many ties with the Drakewines. He doubled as the boys tutor for politics. It was Richard who gave Edwin the confidence he lacked, who taught him how to hold his own in an argument, who actually taught him about the value of responsibility rather than simply commanding him to take it, and showed the world to him.
And taught him languages. So. Many. Languages. Aside from knowing foreign languages for diplomatic reasons, it was considered prudent for the Emperor to know all the major official languages of the realm. This would be fine in a state with, say, two or three… But in a state which has two dozen and no less than 3 official scripts…

FC + Color Code
――――――――――

Color Code: red | FC:

Theme Song
――――――――――

(optional)
[url=insert here]Name of Song - Artist[/url]
_{A Few Lyrics here}

Betrothed To
――――――――――

(TBD if you don't know yet; N/A if not betrothed. can be edited later)

Other
――――――――――

(add anything you want; fun aesthetic-y stuff, pets, fun facts, etc)

Kingdom Sheet (OPTIONAL BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) [+]

The Most Heavenly Britannian Imperial Dominions

"Rock, not Sand."

Kingdom Name
――――――――――

The Empire of Britannia, Britannia, the Heavenly Kingdoms, the Drakewine Empire

King and Queen
――――――――――

www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/files/2014/…
His Divine and Imperial Majesty Harold IV of House Drakewine, Emperor and Sovereign, Bretwalda, Shahanshah/King of Kings/Malik Al-Amlak/Sulṭānü's-Selāṭīn, Lord of the Four Corners, King of England, Jerusalem, Sultan of Syria and Malik Arabia, Duke of Mercia, York, Jerusalem and Emir of Damascus, Amir al-Mu'minin and Protector of the Faith (among other honourary titles...)

Kingdom Colors
――――――――――

Red and White

What the Kingdom is Known For
――――――――――

Aside from its vast material wealth and even baster tracts of land, the Britannic empire is perhaps best known for not being in the least bit Britannic. The British Isles lay some thousand miles away from its capital of Jerusalem, and are not frequently graced by the touch of the monarch who nominally controls it but rather ruled by subordinates. The language known as English (Britannic) would to us in reality be almost completely indistinguishable from modern English. Even its claim to be 'Christian' is a blatant lie.
Unfortunately, what is true about its reputation rarely gets much better. It is an Empire known for throwing its weight around when it benefits from it and is historically something of a warmonger, having swallowed country after country and only stopped expanding once, frankly, it was such a bureaucratic disaster that controlling its own territory and absurd population was a nightmare.
Stereotyped as a lazy, bureaucratic mess of an empire and in fairness there is some truth to this stereotype. The Brittanic system requires almost every legal document translated into many different languages which all stand as co-official. Still, the modern era has lessened this burden substantially and despite this, the stereotype remains.
Other stereotypes, bozzarely, range from seeing them as religious zealots to seeing them as very tolerant. A confusing state of affairs, to be sure, brought on by the plethora of different cultures and Religions that have to coexist within its borders. Traditionally, 'Britannic Christianity' was privileged but never forced upon the population, which created 'soft' pressure for conversion, particularly along economic routes, rather than 'hard' pressure of swordpoint conversions. While these privileges were abolished legally, the socially privileged status of the religion has not been and it still permeates the cultural zeitgeist of the Britannic Dominion deeply and even by its very name it is a deeply spiritual nation. The best efforts of the Liberal Party go to routing out this social privilege and continuing to reform Britannia into a secular society... Which has naturally put many of its traditionalists and Nationalists on edge, seeing the very identity of their country under threat.

Recent Kingdom History
――――――――――

"Our Kingdom is belov'd of God. A proud boast but true all the same." -Harold Drakewine

History [+]

The Empire of Britannia is a long standing empire that spans vast tracts of land. Theirs is a proud history, filled with military conquests and great defences against the odds, littered with great heroes such as Ealdwulf the Hammer ("Protector of the Faith", the monarch responsible for many of the initial holy wars against the Caliphates in the middle east, Ealdwulf had a remarkable record of defeating enemies with greater numbers than he.) Harold the Conqueror ("Lord of the Three Empires", the first British King to claim land in India. Despite the title, Harold did not really conquer much territory when compared to other kings) and Catheryn the Wise (The queen who outwitted the Byzantine Emperor and put the final nail in the coffin of the Byzantine Empire, managed to end the near constant stream of rebellions within Arabia. Despite this, she is probably best known for winning a theological argument with the Pope in order to secure her daughter a divorce from an abusive Polish duke, a story which became immortalised in folktales.)

The Empire has its origins in the crusades of the late 1000's. The English king Eadwulf Drakewine, already an accomplished military commander responsible for the defeat of the Norman invasion, joined Pope Innocent VII's crusade to reclaim Jerusalem. For their efforts in the crusades, the English monarchy was rewarded with the Crown of Jerusalem. The English, however, must have half wished they had never received it; Almost annually, the Muslim caliphs called Jihads against the occupying English, forcing vast amounts to be spent on maintenance of the holy land. The English fought continually during this period, and Eadwulf never set foot back in his home country again in his life. Despite some offensive territorial gains during this period, the English may have been pushed out entirely were it not for a second crusade; The Seljuk had seized Anatolia from the Byzantines, and the Christian world was once again up in arms. Once more, the English sprung into action and half bankrupted their treasury hiring mercenaries to sail to Anatolia and fight alongside them. Still, they were rewarded greatly for their efforts, with Eadwulf being made King of Anatolia and earning the title 'Protector of the Faith'. With their powerbase in the east effectively doubled, the English escalated their military offensives and began a series of holy wars against primarily the Muslim kingdoms but later against even orthodox Christianity. Over the course of 180 years, the English would expand further and further throughout the region at the point of a sword.

"I should rather have a heathen come from the east to lead the people justly than that you should govern them poorly." - Eadwulf the Hammer to his son.

The Empire of Britannia its self formed in the 1100's. The English armies back home had fought metre by bloody metre under the command of the Heir and had seized control of Scotland and Wales. With Great Britain entirely under their control, they officially formed the empire. With a few well placed bribes, the majority of the Irish lords swore allegiance to the new Britannian Crown, bought and sold for English gold. Only Connacht resisted all efforts. In 1103, it would be invaded and seized by the British; The count was deposed and the second son of a duke from England was installed in his place.
By 1250, the British controlled an immense volume of land; The Byzantines had slowly been whittled down by the British and their Croatian allies until the British had finally seized total control of Asia Minor and the western coastlands of the black sea in 1213, bringing the British border to that of Lustania. The Islamic world was slowly but surely giving way to Catholicism. The Seljuk and Fatimid were all but destroyed following the final major holy wars in 1233 and 1239 respectively. In 1242, the college of cardinals was over half British, though by 1261 the British presence in the college of Cardinals had shrunk dramatically. The British crossed blades with almost every neighbouring nation at some point during this period.

"Like the King of Babylon, you are the man who shook the Earth and made Kingdoms tremble, and so I deliver you to hell." - Emperor Henry III

The years 1267-1294 were very calm by comparison; The ruler, Ealdulf, was a far less ambitious man than his predecessors and was more than content with what he had. It was only once his grandson ascended to the throne in 1294 that British expansion was again a reality; It was in this period of time that the British began to acquire sections of India; Most of these were only held for a few years at a time, though Punjab was taken by British forces in 1301 and remains held to this very day.
From the years 1337-1363 the Empire entered a period of decline under Henry IV, a controversial monarch who was completely unsuited to the burdens of leadership. He rarely made public appearances and he was generally a weak willed man who was easily manipulated by the nobles on his court. Slowly but surely, the selfish machinations of the nobility eroded away the integrity of the empire, and by Henry's death it had fractured into many parts.
Henry's son, Richard II, was likewise a poor ruler. The new king, however, caught pneumonia two years into his reign and died. Had Richard continued to rule, many believe the Empire would have declined further still. Whatever the case, fourteen year old queen Edith inherited a nightmarish scenario when she came to the throne. By the time of her death some five decades later, the Empire had been mostly reunited; The remaining two independent duchies would be absorbed back into the empire around the year 1426.

"Never fear, Duke; I think my victory here calls for a release, not a punishment. Sir Thaddeus, release his treacherous head from his body." - Empress Edith at the end of Baghdad Reconquest, 1387

The colonialism that arose after this time proved to be a relatively lucrative venture for the Empire; the world was changing rapidly and Britannia flowed with the tides. Britannia spread its flags across the Indian ocean and established a vast colonial empire in Indonesia, Australia and later Africa and through to the Americas. Though most major territories in the Americas have long since vanished, with the only remnants of the colonialism in the Americas being a handful of islands in the Bahamas and some territory in northern south America, the expansion east and south has been more permanent, with Britannia retaining control over many of these territories as well as Australia by proxy (It is technically its own independent Kingdom, but its monarchs are from a cadet branch of the Drakewine family and typically acquiesce to their demands) and from there exercising considerable influence over the surrounding islands.

In the modern day, the Empire is a titanic first world country; Its vast supplies of oil, trade links with the Indians and mercantile dominance of the Indian ocean and the Suez canal have made it immensely rich. These in turn fund the nations education system and it's healthcare and social programs, as well as funding their behemoth of a military; military spending is high, as they nation has a lot of territory to cover and many trade roots to protect. The nation broken down into many different administrative districts along ancient county and ducal lines, in an attempt to manage its vast size and population. This was an ongoing process over many decades; Earlier attempts at breaking the empire down into more manageable chunks created several de jure independent kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Australia, for all intents and purposes puppets of the Crown. With the advent of the internet and near instant communication, the empire has become far more manageable and efficient, a far cry from its 19th century counter part which was characterised by common breakdowns of communication (A common joke claimed that entire countries were lost during filing); though said problem has been fixed, it nonetheless caused considerable damaged the prestige of the nation and even now the stereotype of British bureaucratic inefficiency persists. Taxation has likewise become far more efficient, helping to solve many of the nations economic crises. Ultimately, the Empire has entered something of a golden age - and there is a wariness from some of Britannia's neighbours that the Wyvern might breath fire once more

By this time the Empires state religion had fused into some strange bastard child of Christianity and Islam. In 1429, Arabic was adopted as the script of the Empire and in time the language developed into what is commonly referred to as “Anglo-Arabic” or “English (Britannian)”. Likewise, governing a multi-ethnic , multi-lingual and multi-cultural empire with many competing Religions required a degree of cosmopolitanism. While pressure to convert to ‘Britannic Christianity’ was omnipresent in the form of tax exemptions such as the Jizya (one of the many elements this alleged Christianity outright plagerised from Islam as it adapted to better fit the regjon) and other incentives, the Empire tolerated minority Religions and allowed (and, indeed, on some creations promoted) the construction of sites of worship for other faiths. While periods of heightened religious oppression (and conversely, more egalitarian religious policies) would wax and wane throughout the existence of the empire, it was not until 1982 that Britannia finally did away with the last of the special exemptions for Britannic Christians.

This unique history and the bizzare descendence of Britannic Christianity... A word which should be used very loosely(Indeed, Muhammed holds the rather weird distinction as a ‘Saint Prophet, Mouthpiece of Allah’... A decidedly very non-Christian viewpoint) has of course spawned jokes amongst those of other faiths that Britannic Christianity is neither Britannic nor Christian. Its fellow ‘Christians’ never accepted it as anything even approaching Christianity - and conversely, it is not anything approaching Islam. Yet it held enough distinctions and draws of both faiths to allow it to convert and dominate much of Britannic Eastern territory, acting much like Christianity had towards the Pagan faiths and absorbing festivals as its own. Rather amusingly, this has resulted in Britannic Christianity countries having some of the most public holidays of any country, commonly stereotyping Britannians as being lazy.

Emperor Harold notices one of his lights is dead and asks it be replaced. The next day, he sees it is still dead and asks once more. On the third day, the Emperor is furious upon seeing that the light is still dead. In annoyance, he turns to ask his chamberlain "Really, how many of my bureaucrats does it take to change one lightbulb?"
The chamberlain clears his throat and states awkwardly "Well, we're still waiting on the lightbulb, your grace." - A common Britannic joke

Other
――――――――――

(add anything you want)

*lurking again*

Suggestion: make pairings that you know won't work, for the pleasure (and drama!) of breaking them later.

Mila Ford [+]

Mila Ford of Krieg-Königreich

"Let us bring equality, justice, and peace for all. Not just the politicians and the world leaders, we all need to contribute. Me. You. It is our duty." -Malala Yousafzai

💎𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮
――――――――――

Mila Petra Ford

💎𝓣𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮
――――――――――

Princess

💎𝓐𝓰𝓮
――――――――――

16

💎𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻
――――――――――

Female

💎𝓢𝓮𝔁𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂
――――――――――

Heterosexual

💎𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮
――――――――――

Mila is one of those girls who, just like a certain song says, smiles at the ground and it ain't hard to tell she doesn't know she's beautiful. And her smile itself puts a warm feeling in anyone it's directed at. Smooth dirty blonde hair, deep blues eyes, and nearly flawless skin are key features of Mila's. Standing at an unimposing 5'5" Mila is often overlooked when standing with her taller siblings and parents. She probably just didn't get the height gene from her father. One thing she did get from him is the ability to frighten someone with a single glare. Mila has given a new meaning to the 'death glare'.

💎𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂
――――――――――

• Protective • Charitable • Intimidating •

Where Leon is the perfect image of their father with the gentle nature of their mother, Mila could be considered the perfect image of their mother with the forcefulness of their father. It would not be uncommon to see Mila out of the castle, with an obnoxious amount of guards following not of her desire, spending time with the locals and hearing their beliefs and opinions. She believes that the people are the most important part of any kingdom. Especially the children. Even if she isn't to rule this land one day. She will make sure that the peoples voice is heard.

💎𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 + 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼
――――――――――

• Spending time with people, anyone really doesn't matter who
• Piano
• Literature
• Learning about culture
• That feeling when you're teaching someone something and you see it click in their head

• Jewelry/Makeup/Fancy Dresses
• Fighting
• Not being able to help the people more
• Being told she can't
• The thought of being married off to someone

💎𝓑𝓲𝓸𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝔂
――――――――――

Since Leon was the firstborn, King Herrick's attention was largely focused on him. Due to this, Mila had a lot more freedom to do as she pleased. Because of this she somewhat kinda maybe just a little bit became a spoiled little brat. Yeah. Who knew that growing up as a princess with no one caring much of what you did besides your mother would cause one to be a little bratty. King Herrick didn't really bother too much with her as she wasn't causing issues for him or the kingdom. Leon couldn't step out of line and do anything or risk their father getting upset with the both of them for distractions. Poor Queen Adelisa just couldn't get the girl to listen.

A silver spoon in mouth since birth and no consequences for her actions were a bad combination. Well, this lasted until she was about twelve with no signs of any change coming. That is until Mila and a few friends went horseback riding together. Leon and his best friend, Bartram, had come along as well. Largely because the young preteen had developed a crush on Bartram so she convinced Leon to come along knowing his friend would follow. She tried flirting with him and he turned her down. Long story short she got angry and upset. Mila yelled at him insulting him and then darted off on her horse.

She sped off so fast that no one was able to catch up to her. When the horse stopped she had found herself in the woods. She didn't know where she was and a storm was starting up. In the distance, a lightning bolt struck scaring the horse causing it to rear up. Mila fell off and the horse bolted. Lost, cold, and alone Mila started getting scared. She soon started panicking but, vaguely remembering what she was told to do if she got lost, Mila stuck next to a tree which gave her some shelter.

For nearly two hours had passed and Mila was still alone freaking out. The rain is letting up and she hears a wolf howl. Mila tenses up and then she hears a twig snap a few feet away. The young girl screams only to be stopped by none other than Bartram. When she sees him she launches into a hug saying she's sorry and begging him to help her. He tells her she doesn't even need to ask and that it's just the right thing to do. He leads her out of the woods and she's eventually taken back home. That night she didn't get much sleep mulling over his words. She thought about what he meant and how it felt to have someone help her just because it was the right thing to do and not because she was the princess. Over time, as well as through the oh so perfectly timed teachings of Queen Adelisa, Mila began trying to live her life based on what was right.

💎𝓕𝓒 + 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻 𝓒𝓸𝓭𝓮
――――――――――

Color code is FFA500 and face claim is Lisa Vicari

💎𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓮 𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰
――――――――――

This Is Me - Kesha
_{When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me}

💎𝓑𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓣𝓸
――――――――――

N/A

Character Sheet [+]

Edwin Drakewine of the Britannian Imperium

"Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance." -Heinrich Heine

Name
――――――――――

Edwin Harold Drakewine

Title
――――――――――

Basilieus/King of Anatolia, Doux/Duke/Emir of Anatolia, Shahzadeh/Prince of Blood/Crown Prince, the Little Crosses, among others

Age
――――――――――

17

Gender
――――――――――

Male

Sexuality
――――――――――

Heterosexual

Appearance
――――――――――

Edwin stands at a 6', slightly shorter than his 6'1 father; He is not exceptionally strong though he is physically fit, courtesy of his training with the household guard, as is tradition for the heir. He has inherited the typical brown hair and eyes of the Drakewine family. His hair refused to be made neat and by this point he has pretty much given up on ever taming it, much to his fathers chagrin. Outside of occasions, he typically dresses 'smart casual', never dressing too casually. On special occasions however, such as when away on important affairs, he wears full military dress as is customary for male members of royal family, who typically have positions within the military. The bright colours of his uniform stand in stark contrast to his usually dull clothing and he has a strong air of authority around him on these occasions.
He has a deep scar along the back of his right hand that was caused by an accident while learning to ride a bike as a child, and has a small scar along his right shoulder which was caused by a fencing accident

Personality
――――――――――

Edwin is a scholarly man, as is the tradition of the British Emperor. He frequently visits the Imperial Library which spans many texts, with thousands of gigabytes worth of electronic documents filed. He has spent excessive amounts of time in this place, enjoying books and reading more than most.
Edwin was raised as a "true emperor of the Dominion", taught not to give in to the demands of others. Edwin has taken this somewhat to heart; He typically stands his ground firmly in arguments and negotiations. He is willing to concede defeat should his point be proven wrong in debate and is willing to forge agreements if need be, but typically he doesn't budge.
He is motivated primarily by his desire to be a great leader; Britannia has a very impressive history with many stand out Emperors and Empresses... And like any great nation, it also has a lot of mostly forgotten rulers. Edwin would far prefer to be the former.
Beneath this apparent confidence however, lies a fearful teenager. He is almost self loathing, thinking of himself as being incompetent and weak. This doubt drives him to overcompensate at everything his does; nothing he does is ever good enough, it always fall short of what he was aiming for. Truth be told, even when he achieves a goal, he always finds something wrong with the way he did it.

Likes + Dislikes
――――――――――

Likes:
Books
Order
History
Drawing
Outsmarting or impressing other people
Puzzles
Politics

Dislikes:
Alcohol
Cowards
Disorder

Fears:
Being publically humiliated
Death
Heights
Failing at his duty as the future emperor
Being forgotten

Biography
――――――――――

Heir to the throne of Britannia, the 'Kingdom of Heaven', Edwin's training began practically from the day he was born. His childhood was dominated by his royal status; Order and structure were the name of the game, the schedule being very much the same for the majority of his childhood. What free time he did have was often spent with the same few people, palace life being what it was.
His father was kept away by the demands of running the monolithic empire its self and his mother had died giving birth to his sister when he was only 6. It was inevitable that the boy would find a parental figure in his tutors, namely one Richard. Richard was the captain of His Majesty's Household Guard and came from a long and distinct noble family that had many ties with the Drakewines. He doubled as the boys tutor for politics. It was Richard who gave Edwin the confidence he lacked, who taught him how to hold his own in an argument, who actually taught him about the value of responsibility rather than simply commanding him to take it, and showed the world to him.
And taught him languages. So. Many. Languages. Aside from knowing foreign languages for diplomatic reasons, it was considered prudent for the Emperor to know all the major official languages of the realm. This would be fine in a state with, say, two or three… But in a state which has two dozen and no less than 3 official scripts…

FC + Color Code
――――――――――

Color Code: red

Betrothed To
――――――――――

Dom

Other
――――――――――

(add anything you want; fun aesthetic-y stuff, pets, fun facts, etc)

Kingdom Sheet (OPTIONAL BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) [+]

The Most Heavenly Britannian Imperial Dominions

"Rock, not Sand."

Kingdom Name
――――――――――

The Empire of Britannia, Britannia, the Heavenly Kingdoms, the Drakewine Empire

King and Queen
――――――――――

www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/files/2014/…
His Divine and Imperial Majesty Harold IV of House Drakewine, Emperor and Sovereign, Bretwalda, Shahanshah/King of Kings/Malik Al-Amlak/Sulṭānü's-Selāṭīn, Lord of the Four Corners, King of England, Jerusalem, Sultan of Syria and Malik Arabia, Duke of Mercia, York, Jerusalem and Emir of Damascus, Amir al-Mu'minin and Protector of the Faith (among other honourary titles...)

Kingdom Colors
――――――――――

Red and White

What the Kingdom is Known For
――――――――――

Aside from its vast material wealth and even baster tracts of land, the Britannic empire is perhaps best known for not being in the least bit Britannic. The British Isles lay some thousand miles away from its capital of Jerusalem, and are not frequently graced by the touch of the monarch who nominally controls it but rather ruled by subordinates. The language known as English (Britannic) would to us in reality be almost completely indistinguishable from modern English. Even its claim to be 'Christian' is a blatant lie.
Unfortunately, what is true about its reputation rarely gets much better. It is an Empire known for throwing its weight around when it benefits from it and is historically something of a warmonger, having swallowed country after country and only stopped expanding once, frankly, it was such a bureaucratic disaster that controlling its own territory and absurd population was a nightmare.
Stereotyped as a lazy, bureaucratic mess of an empire and in fairness there is some truth to this stereotype. The Brittanic system requires almost every legal document translated into many different languages which all stand as co-official. Still, the modern era has lessened this burden substantially and despite this, the stereotype remains.
Other stereotypes, bozzarely, range from seeing them as religious zealots to seeing them as very tolerant. A confusing state of affairs, to be sure, brought on by the plethora of different cultures and Religions that have to coexist within its borders. Traditionally, 'Britannic Christianity' was privileged but never forced upon the population, which created 'soft' pressure for conversion, particularly along economic routes, rather than 'hard' pressure of swordpoint conversions. While these privileges were abolished legally, the socially privileged status of the religion has not been and it still permeates the cultural zeitgeist of the Britannic Dominion deeply and even by its very name it is a deeply spiritual nation. The best efforts of the Liberal Party go to routing out this social privilege and continuing to reform Britannia into a secular society... Which has naturally put many of its traditionalists and Nationalists on edge, seeing the very identity of their country under threat.

Recent Kingdom History
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"Our Kingdom is belov'd of God. A proud boast but true all the same." -Harold Drakewine

History [+]

The Empire of Britannia is a long standing empire that spans vast tracts of land. Theirs is a proud history, filled with military conquests and great defences against the odds, littered with great heroes such as Ealdwulf the Hammer ("Protector of the Faith", the monarch responsible for many of the initial holy wars against the Caliphates in the middle east, Ealdwulf had a remarkable record of defeating enemies with greater numbers than he.) Harold the Conqueror ("Lord of the Three Empires", the first British King to claim land in India. Despite the title, Harold did not really conquer much territory when compared to other kings) and Catheryn the Wise (The queen who outwitted the Byzantine Emperor and put the final nail in the coffin of the Byzantine Empire, managed to end the near constant stream of rebellions within Arabia. Despite this, she is probably best known for winning a theological argument with the Pope in order to secure her daughter a divorce from an abusive Polish duke, a story which became immortalised in folktales.)

The Empire has its origins in the crusades of the late 1000's. The English king Eadwulf Drakewine, already an accomplished military commander responsible for the defeat of the Norman invasion, joined Pope Innocent VII's crusade to reclaim Jerusalem. For their efforts in the crusades, the English monarchy was rewarded with the Crown of Jerusalem. The English, however, must have half wished they had never received it; Almost annually, the Muslim caliphs called Jihads against the occupying English, forcing vast amounts to be spent on maintenance of the holy land. The English fought continually during this period, and Eadwulf never set foot back in his home country again in his life. Despite some offensive territorial gains during this period, the English may have been pushed out entirely were it not for a second crusade; The Seljuk had seized Anatolia from the Byzantines, and the Christian world was once again up in arms. Once more, the English sprung into action and half bankrupted their treasury hiring mercenaries to sail to Anatolia and fight alongside them. Still, they were rewarded greatly for their efforts, with Eadwulf being made King of Anatolia and earning the title 'Protector of the Faith'. With their powerbase in the east effectively doubled, the English escalated their military offensives and began a series of holy wars against primarily the Muslim kingdoms but later against even orthodox Christianity. Over the course of 180 years, the English would expand further and further throughout the region at the point of a sword.

"I should rather have a heathen come from the east to lead the people justly than that you should govern them poorly." - Eadwulf the Hammer to his son.

The Empire of Britannia its self formed in the 1100's. The English armies back home had fought metre by bloody metre under the command of the Heir and had seized control of Scotland and Wales. With Great Britain entirely under their control, they officially formed the empire. With a few well placed bribes, the majority of the Irish lords swore allegiance to the new Britannian Crown, bought and sold for English gold. Only Connacht resisted all efforts. In 1103, it would be invaded and seized by the British; The count was deposed and the second son of a duke from England was installed in his place.
By 1250, the British controlled an immense volume of land; The Byzantines had slowly been whittled down by the British and their Croatian allies until the British had finally seized total control of Asia Minor and the western coastlands of the black sea in 1213, bringing the British border to that of Lustania. The Islamic world was slowly but surely giving way to Catholicism. The Seljuk and Fatimid were all but destroyed following the final major holy wars in 1233 and 1239 respectively. In 1242, the college of cardinals was over half British, though by 1261 the British presence in the college of Cardinals had shrunk dramatically. The British crossed blades with almost every neighbouring nation at some point during this period.

"Like the King of Babylon, you are the man who shook the Earth and made Kingdoms tremble, and so I deliver you to hell." - Emperor Henry III

The years 1267-1294 were very calm by comparison; The ruler, Ealdulf, was a far less ambitious man than his predecessors and was more than content with what he had. It was only once his grandson ascended to the throne in 1294 that British expansion was again a reality; It was in this period of time that the British began to acquire sections of India; Most of these were only held for a few years at a time, though Punjab was taken by British forces in 1301 and remains held to this very day.
From the years 1337-1363 the Empire entered a period of decline under Henry IV, a controversial monarch who was completely unsuited to the burdens of leadership. He rarely made public appearances and he was generally a weak willed man who was easily manipulated by the nobles on his court. Slowly but surely, the selfish machinations of the nobility eroded away the integrity of the empire, and by Henry's death it had fractured into many parts.
Henry's son, Richard II, was likewise a poor ruler. The new king, however, caught pneumonia two years into his reign and died. Had Richard continued to rule, many believe the Empire would have declined further still. Whatever the case, fourteen year old queen Edith inherited a nightmarish scenario when she came to the throne. By the time of her death some five decades later, the Empire had been mostly reunited; The remaining two independent duchies would be absorbed back into the empire around the year 1426.

"Never fear, Duke; I think my victory here calls for a release, not a punishment. Sir Thaddeus, release his treacherous head from his body." - Empress Edith at the end of Baghdad Reconquest, 1387

The colonialism that arose after this time proved to be a relatively lucrative venture for the Empire; the world was changing rapidly and Britannia flowed with the tides. Britannia spread its flags across the Indian ocean and established a vast colonial empire in Indonesia, Australia and later Africa and through to the Americas. Though most major territories in the Americas have long since vanished, with the only remnants of the colonialism in the Americas being a handful of islands in the Bahamas and some territory in northern south America, the expansion east and south has been more permanent, with Britannia retaining control over many of these territories as well as Australia by proxy (It is technically its own independent Kingdom, but its monarchs are from a cadet branch of the Drakewine family and typically acquiesce to their demands) and from there exercising considerable influence over the surrounding islands.

In the modern day, the Empire is a titanic first world country; Its vast supplies of oil, trade links with the Indians and mercantile dominance of the Indian ocean and the Suez canal have made it immensely rich. These in turn fund the nations education system and it's healthcare and social programs, as well as funding their behemoth of a military; military spending is high, as they nation has a lot of territory to cover and many trade roots to protect. The nation broken down into many different administrative districts along ancient county and ducal lines, in an attempt to manage its vast size and population. This was an ongoing process over many decades; Earlier attempts at breaking the empire down into more manageable chunks created several de jure independent kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Australia, for all intents and purposes puppets of the Crown. With the advent of the internet and near instant communication, the empire has become far more manageable and efficient, a far cry from its 19th century counter part which was characterised by common breakdowns of communication (A common joke claimed that entire countries were lost during filing); though said problem has been fixed, it nonetheless caused considerable damaged the prestige of the nation and even now the stereotype of British bureaucratic inefficiency persists. Taxation has likewise become far more efficient, helping to solve many of the nations economic crises. Ultimately, the Empire has entered something of a golden age - and there is a wariness from some of Britannia's neighbours that the Wyvern might breath fire once more

By this time the Empires state religion had fused into some strange bastard child of Christianity and Islam. In 1429, Arabic was adopted as the script of the Empire and in time the language developed into what is commonly referred to as “Anglo-Arabic” or “English (Britannian)”. Likewise, governing a multi-ethnic , multi-lingual and multi-cultural empire with many competing Religions required a degree of cosmopolitanism. While pressure to convert to ‘Britannic Christianity’ was omnipresent in the form of tax exemptions such as the Jizya (one of the many elements this alleged Christianity outright plagerised from Islam as it adapted to better fit the regjon) and other incentives, the Empire tolerated minority Religions and allowed (and, indeed, on some creations promoted) the construction of sites of worship for other faiths. While periods of heightened religious oppression (and conversely, more egalitarian religious policies) would wax and wane throughout the existence of the empire, it was not until 1982 that Britannia finally did away with the last of the special exemptions for Britannic Christians.

This unique history and the bizzare descendence of Britannic Christianity... A word which should be used very loosely(Indeed, Muhammed holds the rather weird distinction as a ‘Saint Prophet, Mouthpiece of Allah’... A decidedly very non-Christian viewpoint) has of course spawned jokes amongst those of other faiths that Britannic Christianity is neither Britannic nor Christian. Its fellow ‘Christians’ never accepted it as anything even approaching Christianity - and conversely, it is not anything approaching Islam. Yet it held enough distinctions and draws of both faiths to allow it to convert and dominate much of Britannic Eastern territory, acting much like Christianity had towards the Pagan faiths and absorbing festivals as its own. Rather amusingly, this has resulted in Britannic Christianity countries having some of the most public holidays of any country, commonly stereotyping Britannians as being lazy.

Emperor Harold notices one of his lights is dead and asks it be replaced. The next day, he sees it is still dead and asks once more. On the third day, the Emperor is furious upon seeing that the light is still dead. In annoyance, he turns to ask his chamberlain "Really, how many of my bureaucrats does it take to change one lightbulb?"
The chamberlain clears his throat and states awkwardly "Well, we're still waiting on the lightbulb, your grace." - A common Britannic joke

Other
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(add anything you want)