Gascony

'''This article pertains to the human nation that occupied the regions surrounding the Gascon River from 1322 to 1766. You may be looking for the Gascon Knights organization, or for the geographic area around the Gascon River.'''

Gascony was the first human nation to be formed after the establishment of Haleglar a century and a half previous. The area was initially settled by Halglaran people after a vast area of land around the Gascon River was given to Haleglar per the Treaty of Digared. By 1322, Gascony had a population of 10,000 people. In that year, it broke away from Haleglar and became an independent nation, though it was immediately forced to give up most of its land for a while and retreat to the cities of Teberida and Lovour in the wake of the First Goblin War. Once that threat passed, Gascony quickly reclaimed all it's lost land and went about building a strong nation. In 1342 it began its invasion of Hajirron, but the conquering of that nation proved a long and difficult matter, and it took thirty years and over a dozen campaigns to finally eliminate all resistance. In 1385, it waged a failed war against Aloveon. However, in 1411 the remaining Elves in the Seered Mountains were assaulted by Gascony and the ancient city of Mosmurin reduced to ruin.

During this time, Gascony developed into a nation run by a war-oriented government and an emperor appointed by the Council of Generals. It was also around this time that the Gascon Knights, an elite troop of five hundred, and later one thousand, soldiers was formed. It is likely that Gascony would have continued conquering west into Aloveon and Illiscron and east into Svienra and the Seered Mountains had a new threat not emerged on the southern border in the form of a newly established goblin nation; Teneo-Morvania. The Gascon armies immediately moved to counter this new enemy, but they had discovered it too late and the nation had become too vast, across too barren terrain for the Gascon Knights to be able to subdue it eventually. This led to a decline in Gascon military prowess further north, and its conquests in the Seered Mountains were lost to Haleglar, as was Hajirron after a brutal war in 1442-1445.

In the following centuries, many more wars were had between Gascony and the Goblins. Emperor Dastion's War (i.e. the Second Goblin War) in 1512-1516 saw the pillaging of Trionni and the razing of Artarro, but ultimately the Gascon Knights held firm at Trizon and the goblin army was diverted primarily into Haleglar. The First Morvanian War in 1588 and 1589 was a major Gascon campaign against Teneo-Morvania that drove the Goblins into the Miphtar Mountains but did not altogether eliminate them. In the Second Morvanian War (aka the Third Goblin War), the Knights allowed a Goblin Army to cross the River, again at Trionni, and invade Haleglar, allowing a Gascon army to destroy the undefended cities in Teneo-Morvania. After this, the goblins were thought to no longer be a threat and Gascon attention returned to internal matters, as well as to Haleglar.

In 1672, Aloveon was invaded and the nation destroyed, though only to be taken by Haleglar in 1696. An invasion of Ectriaa failed in 1708-1709. The Gascon Knights, frustrated at the government's inability to win a war, overthrew the Council of Generals and set up a new emperor, Tagal Dytessian in 1728. However, there was a great deal of resistance against Dytessian's rule and Gascon soldiers never did set forth beyond their borders again, even withdrawing from the Divori River in 1757. In 1766, an attempted alliance was made with Alikanaktor to defeat Haleglar, but Gascony was betrayed and all of its major cities completely destroyed. After that, the nation was effectively no more and its lands would be claimed by Haleglar.

Information
Created: 1322

Dismantled: 1766, by Garzogl in the Fourth Goblin War.

Capital: Gasconland (Teberida)

Government: Oligarchy; Council of Generals (1388-1728), Dictatorship (1728-1766)

Population: 47,000 (1512), 167,000 (1656), 315,000 (1766).

Major Cities: Gasconland, Trizon, Lovour, Haigon, Fazovedir, Edevera