History of Artaburro

The Principality of Artaburro is considered by all to be a rather recent entry in the history of Artograch, and is deemed an anomaly in many ways - a country being created by a certain group of people who felt persecuted in their home countries.

The history of Artaburro as we know it begins with the Exodus of the Half-Breeds, when a large number of Half-Elves, as well as Humans, Wood Elves and High Elves with Half-Elven children made up their mind to leave their home countries in a co-ordinated effort, and create a new country for themselves, picking present-day Artaburro as its location. Prior to that event, Artaburro was inhabited by Goblins who spoke the Koblin language, whose endonym gave rise to the exonym Goblins are referred to by.

Goblin Artaburro
Prior to the Exodus of the Half-Breeds, Artaburro was inhabited by goblins. These goblins lived the life of sedentary farmers, animal-herders and hunters, as opposed to their eastern brethren who relied mostly on semi-nomadic animal-herding and trade. These Artaburran Goblins may have also inhabited parts of Froturn and Dragoc prior to the Proto-Elven invasion.

In the aftermath of the Proto-Elven invasions, the Goblin race on Continental Artograch was split in two: the Koblin-speaking Goblins of Artaburro, and the Kobold-speaking Goblins of the rest of the continent, especially Brutang, Neressa and parts of Etrand. This isolation did not seem to have had a particularly negative impact on the lifestyle of the Artaburran Goblins, who still occasionally received wandering merchants from the rest of Artograch, when ever said merchants could travel safely.

It is unknown why did the Proto-Elves have no interest in Artaburro as a territory, but this lack of interest merely delayed the demise of Artaburran Goblins by two millenia. Even before the Exodus of the Half-Breeds, both Dragoc and Froturn had interest in conquering or colonizing Artaburro, but neither of the two were eager to fight an all-out war, so they resorted on proxy wars between the Goblin tribes, trying to vassalize the winner. The Goblins, not being stupid, realized what was going on, and made attempts to turn Dragoc and Froturn against each other to preserve their independence.

In the end, Dragoc and Froturn remained at peace, while Goblin Artaburro too remained independent of these two powers.

The Exodus
The Demonic Invasions of Artograch upset the existing social order in many ways. Prior to the cataclysmic event we call the Demonic Invasions of Artograch, race-mixing was considered a serious taboo, even between the otherwise related Humans and Elves. Half-Elves were subjects to ostracism, bullying and ridicule in both Elven and Human societies, and their parents were too subjected to much scorn. During the Demonic Invasions, when large number of people were forced to flee their homes in favor of refugee camps, cramped cities or forts, this taboo effectively broke down. This especially went for those who actually did fighting against the demons, many of them developing romantic feelings for their comrades of the opposite sex, regardless of race.

In the end, the Demonic Invasions saw a boom in the Half-Elven population accross Artograch. As the demons disappeared, the social norms came back, and these people became subjects to scorn again. In the end, a charismatic Etrandish-born Half-Elf named Taina Lynd - herself a veteran of the Demonic Invasions - decided to orchestrate a co-ordinated effort to create a homeland for the persecuted Half-Elves. It took her at least five years to finish contacting all the other well-known Half-Elven self-proclaimed leaders within Etrand, Froturn and Dragoc, and convincing them to go along her plan.

Before 270 AEKE, a rather large group of Half-Elven Warriors and Battlemages - most of them veterans of the Demonic Invasions - made their way to present-day Artaburro, a land contested between Froturn and Dragoc, inhabited by disorganized Goblin tribes. Camps were made, and a signal was sent to invite all Half-Elves (even the underage ones) and their parents to a new state, the state of Artaburro. Taina was crowned the Princess of this new Principality of Artaburro, and she would lead the army to clear the land of its Goblin inhabitants.

By the end of the year 270, much of the previous Goblin inhabitants of Artaburro were exterminated, massacred. Any possible survivors must have fled to inhospitable areas, where the conditions killed them later on.

A New State
Having secured the land of Artaburro for themselves, the Half-Elves celebrated their victory, but not all was well. Taina's activities alerted the authorities of both Froturn and Dragoc, two great powers that previously waged cold wars and proxy wars over this piece of land, now occupied by a state without recognition. Neither King Jaen of Dragoc nor King Euvalus of Froturn were too keen on recognizing the Principality of Artaburro as a legitimate state, as whoever recognized them first would display weakness and effectively give the other one the right to attack, conquer or vassalize Artaburro.

As a gesture towards both countries, Taina - herself a Titanist - made both the Church of Titanius and the Cult of Nature recognized religions of Artaburro, and forbade missionaries from converting each other. She also made the Wood Elven language the official language of Artaburro, but used the High Elven alphabet. In an effort to gain recognition from both sides, she took the initiative and called both leaders to the negotiating table. She even went as far as to invite King Cuthbert I of Etrand, so he could help to alleviate some of the pressure.

One could say that the negotiations were a success - Etrand recognized Artaburro without hesitation and offered to inform all Half-Elves living in Etrand and their parents of Artaburro's existence, so they can migrate. Both Froturn and Dragoc were reluctant to recognize Artaburro, but in the end decided to accept Artaburro's existence and follow Etrand's example. Afterwards, Princess Taina signed the Yanus Protocol, the Titanist Hierophant authorized the creation of a crown for Taina - King Jaen of Dragoc did the same, gifting a coronet to Taina. The two crowns were merged later on.

What followed the negotiations was celebration of the principality's official foundation, and then the construction of three towns: Alta Gon, Yaara Linde and Kelu e Taure. Out of these, Alta Gon ended up becoming Artaburro's capital.

Shuttlecock Politics
Even though Artaburro was recognized by both Dragoc and Froturn, if it wasn't for the fact that Artograchian states had no desire to go to war with each other after the devastation of the Demonic Invasions, Artaburro would have become a target for either of the two countries. Officially, Artaburro joined the triple-aliance between Etrand, Froturn and Dragoc, turning it into a quadriple alliance - unofficially, there were still some tensions between the Artaburro-Froturn-Dragoc triangle, forcing Artaburro to adopt a well-known kind of foreign policy known as the "shuttlecock policy": to protect her independence from the two great powers - of which both were eager to vassalize Artaburro - Artaburro decided to adopt a policy of constantly swinging back and forth between Dragoc and Froturn. This policy was there from the very start, which partially explains why Artaburro is a predominentaly Titanist country whose inhabitants speak Wood Elven.

The following centuries saw a Golden Age of Trade and Arts, as well as ecumenism between the Church of Titanius and Cult of Nature. Artaburro benefited from both heavily. As attitudes towards mixing between Elves and Humans became more relaxed, Artaburro was being seen less as a kingdom of exiles, and more as a regular country like Etrand, Froturn and Dragoc.

A New Threat
Eventually, this aforementioned Golden Age of Ecumenism started to rot away by the 8th century. Dragoc under the rule of Queen Cairi of Dragoc began sending missionaries into predominentaly Titanist countries. Artaburro continued to have a strict no-missionary policy, mandating both Titanists and Naturalists to remain with the religion they were born with till the day they died. This meant tensions between Dragoc and Artaburro, as Cairi could not use her druids to spread her influence in Artaburro.

The quadriple aliance saw a revival under the rule of Prince Borró of Artaburro, albeit it was not his work: the credit goes to King Bryant I of Etrand, who was a personal friend of Prince Borró of Artaburro, Queen Cairi of Dragoc and King Cael'mus of Froturn. Borró was assured that the peace between all the powers would last, and that the quadriple aliance would stand together... But it was not so.

After the death of King Bryant of Etrand. King Cairbré I of Etrand openly challenged Cairi, expelled her missionaries, which immediately kickstarted a cold war between Etrand and Dragoc. It appeared that Froturn took Dragoc's side. This prompted the ruler of Artaburro at the time, Prince Saran to seek an alliance with Etrand to protect her independence from the Dragoc-Froturn duo - a royal marriage between Cairbré and Saran's sister Muyian. It is said that both Saran and Cairbré predicted that a civil war would eventually break out in Froturn - which it did, albeit after the death of both monarchs - and were planning a joint Etrandish-Artaburran pre-emptive invasion of Froturn, but scrapped the plans due to concerns of Dragoci intervention that would have turned the war around completely. Nevertheless, to protect from a potential Froturnish or Dragoci invasion, Artaburro did build escape tunnels with Etrandish aid, so that key materials and personnel may be evacuated in case of an invasion.

Under the rule of the currently-reigning Princess Gina, as a result of the infamous Carolus Conspiracy of 804, relations temporarily turned sour between Artaburro and Etrand. They were normalized only in 809, when the Froturnish Civil War - the one that her father and her aunt's husband predicted - threatened Artaburro. Gina decided to personally front her army and be on the lookout for a potential Froturnish invasion. Fortunately, there was no Froturnish invasion in the end, but plenty of refugees - politicians escaping from the wrath of King Cael'mus. This led to the normalization of relations between Etrand and Artaburro, as Gina sought to emulate her father by developing close ties with Etrand in order to protect Artaburro's independence.

Artaburro continues to be an important ally of Etrand, and have tensions with both Dragoc and Froturn.