Vaeria (Nation)

Holy Vaerian Empire
Established in 0AE, the Holy Vaerian Empire is a continuation of the Second Longinian Empire, The Holy Supralan Empire, and the Vostokian Tsardom; acting as a unifying force among the three continents of the planet Vaeria (Suprala, Nostrora, and Vostokia). Under its Emperor, the nation governs itself with the use of an Imperial Diet, consisting of a Noble's Estate and a People's Assembly in a mix of feudal and democratic ideals.

Establishment of the duchy of Höchstburg in 0 AE (After Establishment)
After the downfall of the Longinian Empire through the hands of the Empire of Taiyang, the city of Höchstburg (then called: Summarcum) on the fringes of the once great empire was forced to fend for itself.

Longinian troops were long since recalled for the war effort the local population ousted their local corrupt governor and chose one of their own as their leader: Alfonsus Kumeria, better known as Alfons I. von Kumerien.

He used the disarray left behind from the Longinian withdrawal from the Supralan continent, to rally able men and marched to war, to secure lands surrounding the city and the oath of loyalty of the local peasantry.

After that point he was called Alfons I. von Kumerien, duke of Höchstburg.

Alfons I. used the prime of his life to stabilize the surroundings of Höchstburg and to return order and peace to the duchy, he needed to hunt down many deserters of the Longinian Army, who stayed behind an used the weapons to exploit villages and towns around the city of Höchstburg.

Alfons I. died several years later in 16 AE at the age of 56.

Alfons I. was succeeded by his son Alfons-Friedrich, now Alfons-Friedrich I..

Alfons-Friedrich I. and the son who succeeded him, continued Alfons’s I. work and consolidated Höchstburg, trained a military and rooted out remaining bandits in the countryside.

It wasn´t until Herman I. ascended to the throne in 50 AE that Höchstburg started to become the dominant power in Suprala.

Annexation of Kastellau in the 1st Höchstburgian-Ahrstadtian War 58 AE
Kastellau and Ahrstadt grew wary of the Höchstburgian military build-up that has been going on since Herman I. started to implement military reform, to make the raising his levies more efficient.

The war was declared in 58 AE after Kastellau and Ahrstadt formalized their alliance and decided to preemptively strike at Höchstburg in spring.

Herman’s troops were able to round up and repel the attacking army and even pushed into enemy territory.

Without defense and underprepared for a siege the city of Kastellau opened their gates, ousted the nobility, responsible for the war and formally joined Höchstburg in 60 AE.

Not willing to commit more troops to continue the push forward Herman I. and Bürgermeister Mark Uhlmann from Ahrstadt signed a formal peace agreement in 62 AE.

The Campaigns of Franz-August I. “The Great” von Kumerien 78 AE
After the Annexation of Kastellau and its territories Herman I. and his son spent their regency consolidating and solidifying their grip on the new provinces in the duchy.

In 76 AE Franz-August ascended to the throne and resumed military build-up to conquer Ahrstadt once and for all.

Franz-August I. was close friends with an Goltunheimian Merchant he used his connections to start construction of the first Höchstburgian Navy.

In 78 AE he was ready and declared war on Ahrstadt, citing unreasonable high trade tariffs as the reason. This war lasted for 8 years, unable to penetrate the walls of Ahrstadt by land, Franz-August used his new navy to blockade Ahrstadt.

The Republic of Ahrstadt surrendered in 86 AE and joined the duchy.

It was during this war, when Albionese missionaries reached Höchstburg, that Franz-August converted to the one true faith. These missionaries convinced the duke that with the blessing of the 12 true gods, he could win the war in less than a year.

Franz-August, wise as he was accepted the offer and the war was won.

In 88 AE the nobility of Höchstburg in light of the wisdom of Franz-August declared him King of Höchstburg.

In the following years the King sent out his most trusted nobles to explore the west of Suprala. They eventually reached the coast of the Continent and founded the city of Westmark, to formalize the Kingdom’s claim on the West coast.

The First Emperor Otto II. von Kumerien 179 AE
During the next century the Kingdom of Höchstburg expanded into the northern territories, converted the pagan natives and added them to the Kingdom.

During the reign of Otto II. the holy city of Albion and the High priest of Arius, the Pontifex Maximus, reached out to Otto and asked for their support. The Godless Kingdom of Regniér has attacked Albion two years earlier and has crushed the Albionese Navy, the High Priest asked all brothers in Faith for assistance, as the Kingdom of Colton was currently occupied in a war with Windfordshire, only Höchstburg remained to help.

In 177 AE the Royal Navy sailed south to liberate Albion.

After the Royal Navy pushed back the Regniérian Navy and the Royal Army relieved Albion Otto II. was crowned Emperor of Suprala on New Year's Eve 178 AE by Pontifex Maximus Regulus IV., this also meant that Albion would join the Empire.

This moment marks the creation of the Holy Supralese Empire, the Empire which would go on to conquer the world.

Otto II. went on to conquer Wenfordshire and Colton. In 186 AE he united the whole continent under Imperial Rule.

The End of the Kumerian dynasty 350 AE
In 350 AE Herman V. died in an unfortunate hunting accident without an heir.

To avoid a war amongst the nobles about who becomes the next emperor the Pontifex Maximus Aurelius II. called the first imperial Diet in Albion: An Assembly of the most powerful nobles, to represent their case before the gods.

The Diet then voted, one vote for each noble and member of the clergy present.

They voted for Karl von Richtlingen, duke of Kastellau.

Depiction of the first Imperial Diet and the coronation of Emperor Karl I.von Richtlingen (350 AE)

Era of infighting 375 AE - 550 AE
Even though Karl I. von Richtlingen was generally known as a fair and capable ruler, he never was able to fully establish his family as the rightful heirs to the Kumerian dynasty. During his own reign, this caused little trouble, as he was respected among the nobility, only after his death these troubles began to show.

Karls son, Wilhelm III. of Richtlingen was controversial among the Diet. He generally held the support of the duchies in the north of the continent, but was detested by the newer members of the empire in the south.

This friction came to a head, when after Karl I. died, Pontifex Maximus Benedictus VII. called for a new Diet to answer the question of succession.

Wilhelm III. ignored and even went so far as to call this call an insult, as he is Karls firstborn and heir and therefore it is no question who succeeds on the throne.

The nobles in the south, who came from a different culture, were not keen on more northern dominance, without their consent and did not want to wave their right to debate and even put forward their own candidates for emperor. These discussions eventually lead to the nomination and declaration (this election was held in absence of the northern duchies) of Wallace Wenford, King of Wenfordshire as the Supralan emperor.

The answer to this affront could only be war.

Depiction of the Battle of Albion (377 AE) which occured when the northern delegation arrived to make their case to the diet and was ambushed by Wendfordian forces.

The coming century was therefore plagued by civil war, as no side was able to unite enough of the continent under their banner to crush the opposition.

This was not helped when in 403 AE Westmark declared its independence under King Gustav II. Gudmundson, the King of Goltunheim, who convinced the nobility in the remote city that only his fleet could feed them, when the rest of the continent is at war with each other.

This caused both fighting emperors to declare war on Westmark and by extension Goltunheim on account of rebellion and treason on the imperial crown, though which remained a question.

The wars slowly but surely ground to a standstill, no side willing to commit troops to battles they were not sure to win. Neither emperor able to beat the Goltunheim Navy, which successfully burned down the Northerner Navy in Höchstburg during the raid of Höchstburg in 409 AE

Artist rendition of the Raid of Höchstburg in 409 AE (painted 1009 AE)

The continent split and neither side able to score victory lead King Gustav to invade Suprala in 412 AE.

His initial landing brought him to the other side of the continent to his beachhead in Westmark. from there he went inland toward Kastellau.

In 415 AE the Goltumheim forces met the northern army under Emperor Wilhelm III. von Richtlingen.

The imperial forces were beaten hard, because they suffered under malnutrition and generally low moral due to the long time of fighting at that time (45 years of war).

Wilhelm retreated inside the walls of Kastellau.

Even though Gustavs forces were victorious on the field they were inexperienced and ill equipped in siege warfare, which caused a staggeringly ineffective siege of Kastellau, which would go on for 23 years, before Gustav was forced to retreat by the southern forces, lead by Emperor Henry II. Wenford, successor to Wallace Wenford, who continued the siege for another 7 years, before Kastellau surrendered in 445 AE, Wilhelm was killed during the sacking of the city which followed.

Being the only Emperor left standing Henry Wenford went on and drove out the Goltunheim forces, recapturing the city of Westmark in the process.

In 453 AE the Holy Supralan Empire was united once again.

The rest of his regency Henry tried to mend the rifts between north and south, but was not as successful as anticipated. The resentment over the lost war ran deep in the north and in the west.

In 461 AE Henry was killed by an assassin, hired by the northern nobles in his quarters in Höchstburg. The Assassin succeeded, because the nobles were able to get the captain of the Imperial Royal Guard on their side.

His succession proved difficult, as the northern nobles were unwilling to accept a southern emperor and vice versa. This caused a gridlock in the diet, not able to finance another war and unwilling to compromise. The gridlock led to the establishment of the Imperial Regency, the Family van Haiwen was tasked with this monumental burden, with the role of overseeing the election with the Pontifex Maximus and running day to day affairs, but unable to do anything without the consent of the Diet.

The gridlock ended in 499 AE, when the southern rulers agreed to the northern candidate, Gotz von Kalle, a highly distinguished general, who was respected by all. Even though he was a minor noble from the middle area of Suprala with barely any land to call his own, his prestige and reputation left him the only candidate who was deemed non partial.

Gotz was only 25 when he was crowned, he went on to become a capable ruler, who was able to mend the worst rifts inside the empire. He died of old age at the Age of 76 and was succeeded by his son, Walter.

Era of Pestilence 650 AE- 713 AE
In 650 AE the first case of the Nostroran Pestilence was encountered in Albion on board of a merchant vessel, the plague went on to ravish the continent for the next 63 years, it made no difference between nobility and commoners and killed about 30% of the population.

Era of holy wars 780 AE- 1030 AE
With the stability on Suprala restored the Pontifex Maximus Lusentus VIII. was given the task by Arius himself to help the heathens of Regniér find the righteous path of the gods, after notifying the Emperor Herman II. von Kalle, the first holy war was declared to rid Regniér of all heathens.

After successfully conquering the Kingdom of Regniér in 803 AE, the Emperor was visited by Arius in his sleep. He was told the task is not done.

Emperor Hermann II. von Kalle declaring the 2nd holy war in Regniér 803 AE

In 805 AE the second holy war was declared against the Archduchy of Arcadié.

After their subjugation in 838 AE, the local nobles, in charge of the newly conquered territories continued the holy wars on their own, without any official imperial consent.

They expanded the Empire all the way to Sierra Galan on the western seaboard and became rich and powerful in the process.

Only in 1030 AE did this independant warmongering stop, when Emperor Alexander von Untergrab forced them to stop by decreeing only the emperor was allowed to wage war.

1st Age of conflict 1307 AE - 1579 AE
In 1289 AE the Second Longinian Empire was established. Their Emperor Augustus Karolus XXIII. Di Giardano set out to reclaim all the territories lost centuries ago. After successfully subjugating the Great Empire of Taiyang to their south, by successfully implementing gunpowder and revolutionizing warfare.

This open aggressive tenure caused the citystate of Vesperanza to join the Holy Supraln Empire in 1305 AE. In 1307 AE the 2nd Longinian Empire declared war against the holy Supralan Empire.

After initially being outgunned, outmanned and outclassed the Longinian Forces successfully conquered the Nostroran holdings of the Supralan emperor, successfully uniting Nostrora for the first time in history in 1373 AE.

This threat from Longinia however caused the Kingdom of Goltunheim and its colonies in Vostokia to join the war on the Supralan side to contain the threat.

Still the best navy in the world, the Goltunheim navy successfully beat the Longinian ships time and time again,as they were unable to keep the gunpowder dry, making their advantage useless and buying Suprala the time it needed to reform its military to this new type of Warfare.

In 1397 AE the joint Supralan-Goltunheim counteroffensive started, successfully reclaiming the western half of the continent.

In 1457 AE the Supralan forces stormed Longinia, killing the Longinian Emperor thereafter, when he tried to escape.

The imperial army storming Longinia 1457 AE

The rest of the 15th century was spent subjugating remaining Longinian strongholds and integrating into the Empire.

It was also in this period that slavery as an institution was abolished, even though Vaerian society remains divided, compensation is seen as a necessity to preserve the fragile balance between commoners and the nobiity.

Goltunheim, unable to claim any significant land victory for its own, did not get any territorial expansion out of this war, which caused no small bitterness among them.

In 1536 AE, the current Emperor Heinz van der Ejk was succeeded by the first ever female Emperor: Katharina von Kalle, heiress to the prestigious von Kalle dynasty, proved herself a wise Empress.

She was victorious in the great peasant uprising of 1559 AE, successfully putting down their rebellion. But she heard their cry for help and implemented several social and agricultural reforms, such as the right for non nobles to own land, the right to marry outside their standing and she established a court system which allowed commoners to sue their lords and ladies, if they found themselves treated unfairly, though rarely were nobles ever convicted.

Katharina died in 1579 AE at the Age of 69 from pneumonia.

The Revolution of 1618 AE
In 1618 AE the tensions between the social classes came to a head, when the lord of Rengniér was accused to let his subjects starve during a drought. This case came before the courts, but the lord was found innocent and was released. This was just one of many such cases but the obvious guilt of the lord caused the peasantry to take up arms to rebel against this injustice.

The Imperial garrison of Regniér fighting against the angry mob of peasants 1618 AE

Similar uprisings occurred in other cities as well, some like the initial one in Regniér were put down successfully, others like in Medonia, a city with a strong aristocracy who supported the revolution, fell to the Anarchists.

In the end, to avoid all out civil war the People’s Assembly was established, to give elected members of the common people a voice in the mechanisations of government inside the Empire and make the communication between the classes more accessible.

This resulted in the drafting of the Imperial Constitution.

Era of Unification 1700 AE - 1957 AE
During the 18th century AE the landscape of Vaeria saw huge changes on social level. The Empire was more stable as ever before, since the members of the commoners were able to make their grievances heard, even though the nobility could choose to ignore them, the innovation of the radio in 1763 AE saw to it, that speeches in either of the chambers in the Imperial Diet were broadcasted into the living rooms of every citizen, noble or common. This forced the nobility to remain approachable and reasonable as any extremists or absolutists ran danger of a popular uprising in their own realms.

The start of Industrialization in the late 18th century also caused the Empire to grow more connected, the people started to feel as one nation, as every citizen was forced to learn High Supralan since the early 16th century. Even though cultural differences remained in parts, the fact that every people had access to one common language and shared the same faith into the 12 gods, which kept pace with the rapid changes and reformed accordingly.

Picture of Colton during the industrialization ca. 1760

As this happened in the western hemisphere the same effect was taking place in the colonial Kingdom of Goltunheim and the Tsardom of Vostokia as well.

As the ships got ever faster and the world seemed ever smaller the Tsardom started to feel threatened of the Holy Supralan Empire.

They have butted heads with the colonies of Goltunheim before and have remained at peace with them for about a century at this point. This changed when Tsar Nicolaj XV. implemented the “Doctrine of Self Preservation”, which stated that the only way for Vostokia to stay safe from “Western Heresy” (The Tsardom practised a Monotheistic cult, which believed on the Holy Spirit of Praf) is to lock down the continent and get in control of the entire coastline.

This eventually lead to a war with Goltunheim in 1803 AE, during which the Kingdom lost its colonies in the northern parts of Vostokia.

With the Kingdom weakened the population of Goltunheim and its surrounding islands rose up in a similar manner as the peasants in 1618 AE, and wanted “equal treatment for equal people”, they eventually toppled their government in 1818 AE and established the Union of Goltunheim, the mob expropriated the nobility and shot the royal family. They called the new system of government, consisting of several councils dedicated to different parts of the industry “Councilism”.

In 1819 AE Emperor William VI. Colton, in his wisdom, declared this new way of governance a danger to the heavenly order and launched an invasion of Goltunheim two years later.

Using new weapons, invented during the last 100 years, such as machine guns, Zeppelins and Ironclad Warships, weapons of war unavailable in large quantities to the anarchic mob on Goltunheim.

This lead to the inevitable defeat and incorporation of Goltunheim into the Empire

The Imperial Navy sailing toward Goltunheim 1822 AE

Imperial troops returning order in Goltunheim 1823 AE

After total victory against Goltunheim’s peasants was achieved the world settled into a new order: East and West divided and in a constant state of rivalry and cold war.

This fragile peace endured for another century with only the occasional naval scuttle, before it would all collapse in the Great War of Unification in 1925 AE.

The remaining 19th century AE continued the positive trend of the Empire: New innovations were discovered, the economy was doing better than ever before, the nobility did their duty and supported their subjects with the introduction of healthcare, though the implementation widely differs from province to province, depending on the local noble. These differences caused the occasional local uprising, which would end in the procedural removal of the local nobles in charge by the Emperor and subsequent replacement, never in any civil war.

(It has to be acknowledged though, that some democratic and communist uprisings occurred, but they lacked widespread support and were put down.)

The Imperial Diet remained a pure formality as the Colton dynasty was doing a great job and enjoyed widespread support among the nobility and the common people.

In 1925 AE the Great War of Unification, as it was dubbed by historians, broke out.

Cause of this war were atrocities committed by Vostokian commissars who were tasked with overseeing the conversion of the former Goltunheim colonies to the Prafian faith.

As these people were brothers in faith to the Empire, Emperor James X. Colton formally declared war, after hearing of death camps, set up by Vostokian forces, to rid themselves of non believers.

The War generally is split up into 4 phases:

Phase 1: The naval War (1925 AE -1930 AE)
This phase consisted mostly of all out naval battles between the Imperial and the Tsarish Navy.

Imperial Aircraft carriers on their way to commence Air raids on Vostikia 1926 AE

Imperial Battleship “Wecklan” (Wenford class) under fire from Vostokian aircrafts 1925 AE

Imperial Flagship “Franz-August the Great” (Höchstburg class) 1928 AE

This phase ended in 1930 AE when the Imperial Navy defeated the bulk of the Tsarish Navy in the Battle of Valhall Bay, north of Visgard. This defeat opened the path to the landing of Imperial troops in Visgard.

Phase 2: Landing in Visgard 1931 AE
After the victory at Valhall bay, Imperial high command approved the landing of Imperial troops. This Landing was carried out on October 3rd 1931 AE at Visgard.

Imperial Paratroopers jumping behind enemy lines preceding the landing 1931 AE

The onloading of Imperial troops after the establishment of a beachhead 1931 AE

Phase 3: War on land 1931 AE - 1940 AE
After the successful landing at Visgard the war on land began.

The initial push south was met by little resistance and the former Goltunheim colonies celebrated the Imperial troops as liberators and were happy to join the Empire.

The offensive started to lose its momentum at the city of Al-Sharit around 1933 AE, where Imperial troops were met by fanatic resistance, ranging from suicidal frontal assaults against armored units to suicide bombers in civilian clothing. Interrogations revealed that these fanatics were members of a Vostokian special military division called the “Knights of Praf”, they believed that when they died by killing heretics, they would gain preferential treatment in the afterlife.

This kind of guerilla warfare stopped the northern offensive dead in its tracks, because advancement from Al-Sharid was deemed to risky, as the city was not pacified to a degree which would allow the supply train to run by to the frontlines.

Imperial troops therefore retreated further north to positions, which could be held.

This lead to another 2 years of stalemate, as Imperial high command refused to overextend troops to fight against fanatics.

All of this changed in 1935 AE, when a second landing near Sholgagrad succeeded

Imperial troops establishing a beachhead near Sholgagrad 1935 AE

This second front in the south forced Vostokia to allocate troops and enabled the northern front to launch a new offensive.

The southern offensive had the momentum at this point as Vostokian troops needed to arrive in the south first. They met at Soulomen in 1936 AE.

The siege of Soulomen was another example of Prafian fanaticism, even though the fighting took place in ruins bombed by the Imperial Airforce, which dominated the sky at this point, they refused to surrender. Only in 1938 AE was the Imperial Army able to pacify the city, when hunger finally forced the Vostokian defenders to surrender, after the city was fully enveloped.

Imperial troops advancing into downtown Soulomen 1938 AE

The following two years, the offensives joined up and started pushing toward the Tsarish capital city of Kolonengrad.

Phase 4: The final push 1941 AE:
After the offensive lines joined up and encircled the capital city of Kolonengrad, the Tsarish family saw the defeat on the horizon and surrendered. And the city was conquered without resistance. The Tsar and his family were subsequently brought to Höchstburg, to decide their fate. The Tsar was sentenced to death on the grounds of crimes against humanity and using civilians as cover for their fighters. This meant the war was officially over and Vostokia formally annexed in 1942 AE.

But the fighting did not stop. Many of the Prafist fanatics continued to wage a guerilla war against the occupational forces in Vostokia.

This was mostly limited to small scale skirmishes and insurgencies around the rural areas, especially around Soulomen and Al-Sharit and was handled as such by Imperial high command. This however changed, when a Prafian suicide bomber used a stolen aircraft to carry out a nuclear attack, with a bomb stolen from an Imperial Research facility in Medonia, on Sholgagrad, where the local military headquarters was located. The city was decimated and the surrounding area contaminated, it remains like this to this day.

Birds Eye view of Sholgagrad 1948 AE

After that Emperor Andrew II. Colton decreed the Prafian faith a crime against humanity, this horrific religion was hunted down and removed from this world.

In 1954 AE this faith was confirmed to be cleansed from Vaeria.

August 27th 1957 AE: The Holy Supralan Empire was reformed to the Holy Vaerian Empire to properly represent all the people living inside its borders. Emperor Andrew II. Colton is the first true ruler of all Vaeria.

Rise of a New Nobility 1960 AE - 2100 AE
After the Great War of Unification had ended and peace returned to the empire once again.

The economy grew even more, and members of the Aristocracy reached levels of wealth some nobles can only dream of. This caused a flood of newly appointed nobles, the so called “21st nobility”, as the first wealthy Industrial, a man called Walter Hunt, was raised to the rank of a baron in 2000 AE, this meant he was the first noble in history to gain the rank of nobility without martial prowess or military service, but by simply buying it.

Estimates as to how much it actually cost to convince Emperor Jonathan XI. Colton to be raised to the rank of a minor noble (Count) with a seat in the Estates Chamber, vary but generally lie in between 20,000,000,000 IMK to 100,000,000,000 IMK

(IMK=Imperial Mark as of the currency union established in 1999 AE which abolished the current system of different currencies, depending on the realm)

He was not the last commoner to become nobility, in the 21st century a total of 57 families was promoted to the rank of minor nobles (This is an important detail, as the “21st Nobility” was never raised above the rank of Count to ensure that the old nobility did not feel threatened by the newcomers), after serving several years as Grandmagister in the People’s Assembly.

Sidenote: Ranks of Nobility:
"Emperor, Empress" "Archduke, Archduchess""Duke, Duchess""Count, Countess""Baron, Baroness" This practice was abandoned in 2099 for unknown reasons by the following Emperor (Oswald III. Colton).

The money accumulated with this practice however, resulted in the first manned space faring missions as well as several public construction projects to bring Vaeria into this new millennium and the construction of the new imperial Palace (construction started in 2087 AE).

Also In the 21st century the Empire was confronted with the bill of their rapid industrial progress. The general trend of the Vaerian climate was a growing concern of the Emperor, the solution to this problem was the invention of the first Quantum Fission Reactor. Using this new type of renewable energy allowed the Empire to reach new heights in innovation, economic growth and technological progress.

An Uncertain Future 2100 AE - 2200 AE
In 2101 AE the first concept design of an FTL drive using previously unknown “paths” in the fabric of space was published by scientist Dr. Timothy De la Rosa. It remained purely theoretical until 2187 AE, when the first unmanned probe successfully used these Hyperlanes to traverse approximately 75 Light Years (LY) in less than three days.

In 2123 scientist Dr. Erwin Schweppe created a new type of Sublight engine, which made expansion inside our own star system seem possible.

In 2142 AE the first Mining installation was built and went into use two years later, it was paid for by the Imperial mining Guild, a political entity representing several special interest groups in the mining industries, which over the centuries now resembles more a conglomerate of the biggest companies.

The Imperial research guild opened their first interstellar research facility in 2158 AE.

In 2168 AE this new expansion into the solar system made military protection necessary and lead to the establishment of the Imperial Interstellar Navy, with the first three ships of the newly created “Kumerien” class corvettes launched in the next decade.

The social class divide is still an ongoing issue amongst the political establishment, if or when it escalates is a question only time can tell, but for now the situation seems stable as the Holy Constitution keeps being amended to guarantee the Heavenly Order is enforced and accepted by all.

Recently in 2199 AE Emperor Frederick VII. Colton died of old age. After the death of the love of his life in 2151 AE he never remarried and never produced an heir.

With him dies the primary lineage of the Colton dynasty, the dynasty which has ruled the Empire for over 500 years.