The Midlands

The Midlands, officially named the Federal Republic of the Midlands (Midlandic: Das Mittelländische Reich), also known by its alternative names as "The Midlandic Reich", "The Midlandic Republic", or the Avanoran Midlands, to differentiate it from the Gelenian Midlands, is a constitutional federal republic in central Avanor. The Midlands are bordered by the Northern Ocean to the north, Olgengaard and Cyrogaard to the east, Yurogaard, Morodavia, and Averra to the south, and Caliane, Aale, and Strandlaand to the west. The Midlands have a land area of LAND AREA and a population of 132'211'990 as of the 1920 census. The nation is a federal state, and as such is divided into fifteen Reichsländer, which serve as the local level of government. The federal capital and largest city is Ansberg, while other major cities include Lindenberg, Abendsberg, Oldenau, and Ostmunster.

The Midlands were originally home to a series of tribal peoples who spoke the common language of Old Midlandic. These tribes would war with one another and with the constantly invading Imperials, who attempted to exert their influence in the area until they, along with other peoples of the west, sacked the capital of the imperium and the formation of numerous kingdoms in the Midlands began. The Midlandic royal families formed the Edict of Meitzen - which established the High King and the first elements of the Reichstag began to form. Several High Kings would reform the nation, bringing the Midlanders into the Sanctumite faith and feudalism began to be implemented.

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Etymology
It is unclear to us who began using the term "the Midlands", though there are several theories in scholarly circles. The first recorded usage of the phrase we have comes from the Avanoran Imperium,

Prehistory
The Midlands have been at the centre of Avanoran geopolitics for thousands of years. As a wide open plain, which was home to numerous large and navigable rivers that flow in all directions across the continent, as well as fertile lands for farming, the nation was a prime target for ancient cultures. In its earliest era, the region was home to numerous Thanic peoples who lived in numerous small clans and tribes - though they all spoke a similar language and worshiped the same gods. They were often times at conflict with the Auene people that lived in Caliane, and several conflicts are known to have occurred between the two groups in the Loire Valley and the Emmenberg region through archeology.

When the Avanoran Imperium began spreading across the continent from the southwest in the 1000s BCE, the Midlands were a region wanted for their agricultural bounty and high population. However, despite making initial gains in the southern Midlands, even establishing the settlement of Anellium, which would one day become Ansberg, the Imperials found the Thanic tribes difficult to conquer and control, and fought several wars with them throughout the classical period. Ansberg, being the only imperial city in the region, became a centre for trade and diplomacy for the Thanes and the Imperium, with leaving it as a prime location to launch a bid for political control of the Midlands as the imperium began to collapse and Gaardic nomads moved into the region.

Early Middle Ages
The Gaardic people moved into Avanor beginning in the 400s BCE as population shifts in the far east pushed them westwards. At the forefront of their migrations were the eastern Midlands, now Olgengaard, which soon was overpopulated with Gaardic peoples. Some Midlandic legends claim that a tribal king from Ansberg named Otto the Rain King, called upon the Thanic gods to pour endless rain down on the midlands to flood the Gaardic invaders out - successfully keeping the Gaardic people in Olgengaard and further creating the many rivers and streams of the Midlands today. This legend is largely considered a fable, but the Rain King remains a popular story in the Midlands today.

As the Thanes were prevented from migrating into Caliane and the other Auene countries through several wars, as well as pushed out of the east by the incoming Gaardic peoples, a high concentration of Thanic peoples inhabited the Midlands, forming several cities, as well as many villages and hamlets along rivers and streams. Though not the region's official capital, the city of Ansberg wielded much influence in Midlandic affairs as the largest settlement around, and its ability to raise its mighty population size as a military force against its foes allowed it to secure dominance. Other cities were becoming vital centres as well: Oltenberg, Traubenfurt, Eigenberg, Emmenberg, and Uster became major centres in the region, with its princes and kings raising the peasantry of their countryside to send against one another throughout the period.

Through this warfare, the Sanctumite Church, from its base in Ansberg, began to use the chaos to tend to the needs of the poor and sick who were left to die in the fighting, earning the respect of the peasantry, who flocked to the church in droves, abandoning their Thanic beliefs. In order to keep their power, soon the nobility began yearning for the support of the Sanctum, and so the Midlands were converted to the faith in this period.

Beginning in 1040, the House of Gothe looked outwards from their city of Ansberg towards more ambitious goals - the mastery of the Midlands. Ernst I was the first Gothe king to attempt this unification, waging war in the Saargau region in 1040-1045, becoming known as Ernst the Warrior for leading his troops into battle at the vanguard, though once again the truth of this tale is unknown. His armies would be bogged down in fighting for the rest of his reign in the Usterthal, and his son, Heinrich I, would take up the fight in 1068. It would be Heinrich I who would conquer the Usterthal and move into the Emmen region, subduing it in a war between 1083-1087. The Oberland was next, as Heinrich stormed the city of Oltenberg in 1092. At this point he had claimed the majority of the modern nation for the House of Gothe, though the Rottenberg, the Grindelberg, and the Muhlenheim remained unconquered. Finally, at an old age, he died and Fredrik I took the throne in 1104. He quickly took Muhlenheim and the Grindelberg between 1104-1113, while the war in the Rottenberg was made difficult as the Gaardic soldiers from the Olgengaard came to defend it. The war lased between 1118-1125, until it too was finally subdued. Having finally forged the realm as one, Fredrik I became known as Fredrik the Great.