Re-Estize Kingdom

Re-Estize Kingdom (リ・エスティーゼ王国) was a human nation in the New World with an estimated population of nine million and one of three nations neighboring Nazarick, until it was destroyed by the Sorcerer Kingdom. Even before this, however, the nation was already a failed state; suffering from near constant political disorder and civil unrest.

Background
The Re-Estize Kingdom, usually simply referred to as "The Kingdom," is located west of the Azerlisia Mountains, north-west of Nazarick, with an estimated population of nine million. It was one of the many nations founded following the defeat of the Evil Deities over two hundred years ago. Though one of three major human nations neighboring Nazarick, the Kingdom is currently suffering from the political disorder due to a confrontation between the Royalty and Nobility factions. The situation is quite severe, virtually dividing the country in two.

Political Intrigues
According to Gazef Stronoff, the Kingdom has been plagued by corrupt and inept nobles ever since its founding. Protected from hostile demi-human nations by natural barriers and neighboring countries, the Kingdom was relatively peaceful. However, this peace left the nation weak to corruption from within.

By the time the current king, Ramposa III, came to power the Kingdom was already suffering from extreme political corruption due to the mistakes of previous kings. Throughout his reign, he tried to reform the Kingdom, but to no avail. As the king aged, his ability to exercise his authority deteriorated and thus nobles got more say in matters. This eventually resulted in the government splitting between a Royalty Faction and a Nobility Faction. The only reason the situation didn't escalate into civil war was due to the efforts of Marquis Raeven, a patriot with connections to both sides.

In addition, there is a conflict of succession; while it has long since been time for the King to abdicate, he refuses to do so out of fear of either of his two sons, Crown Prince Barbro or Second Prince Zanac, becoming a nobility puppet. Each of these brothers also desired the throne for themselves and began a bitter rivalry over it.

Annual Wars
The peace which the Kingdom had enjoyed for so long came to an end when the Baharuth Empire declared war on them. Fortunately, the situation did not escalate into all-out war, and instead of the two nations merely engaged in small skirmishes at the Katze Plains every year. However, these annual wars took place during harvest seasons, slowing the food-production due to peasants being drafted and slowly consuming the Kingdom's strength. By the time the Kingdom realized the Empire's aim, it had already fallen into decline.

Despite the desperate situation, however, many nobles failed to grasp the true severity of it and refused to take it seriously. Some nobles are even betraying the Kingdom by leaking information to the Empire.

Criminal Underworld
Apart from all the political issues, a large criminal group named "Eight Fingers" is undermining the Kingdom from within. Several nobles and even royals are secretly in league with them, some voluntarily while others are just being manipulated. In addition, communities throughout the Kingdom also work for them, letting them use their fields to plant illegal drugs in return for the money that they need to support themselves. All of this caused their influence to become so great that they are controlling virtually the entire nation from the shadows. They also spread the Kingdom's corruption beyond its borders, worsening its relationships with other nations.

Golden Princess
Third Princess Renner attempted a structural reform of the Kingdom, an endeavor that earned her the nickname "Golden Princess." However, most of her suggestions, such as crop rotation, were shot down by the nobles, who feared any changes could become a threat to their own authority. She was at least able to abolish slavery, though there are still a lot of unofficial slaves in the criminal underworld.

The Undead King Arc
Receiving news that several border villages were being destroyed, King Ramposa III sent Gazef Stronoff and his Warrior Troop to investigate. The Warrior Troop's vice captain deduced this to be a trap set by the Nobility Faction to eliminate Gazef and weaken the Royalty Faction. He thus advised the Warrior Captain to retreat, but Gazef insisted they protect the citizens.

The troop eventually arrived at Carne Village, only to be attacked by the Slane Theocracy's Sunlight Scripture. The troop lured the Sunlight Scripture away from the village and fought them, but were overwhelmed by their magic. They were saved, however, by a mysterious magic caster named Ainz Ooal Gown, who teleported the troop to safety and proceeded to defeat the Scripture. Afterward, the troop returned to the Royal Capital.

The Dark Warrior Arc
E-Rantel, a border city and one of the Kingdom's most important regions, came under attack by the death cult Zurrernorn, who attempted to turn the entire city into the undead. However, they were stopped by a new Adventurer Group called Darkness before they could implement their scheme.

The Bloody Valkyrie Arc
E-Rantel once again faced danger when a powerful vampire was spotted near the city. In responce, the Adventurer's Guild dispatched two teams, Darkness and Kralgra, to confront it. Although Kralga was wiped out, Darkness returned victoriously and was made the Kingdom's third adamantite-ranked adventurer group.

Meanwhile, in the Royal Capital, Gazef was reporting to the king and the nobles what occurred in Carne Village. Although the King was grateful for Ainz's aid and wanted to personally meet him to extend his gratitude, several nobles were suspicious of the masked magic caster's origins and wished to capture him for interrogation.

The Men in the Kingdom Arc
& The Men in the Kingdom II Arc Princess Renner hired the adamantite Adventurer group Blue Roses as part of a campaign to rid the Kingdom of Eight Fingers. They enjoyed several early victories, with Blue Roses destroying drug transplantations of villages allied with them and the Princess' forces disabling their brothel in the Royal Capital. Their success convinced Gazef Stronoff and Marquis Raeven to aid them. The Marquis also hired Darkness as additional support. They set out to eliminate all of Eight Fingers' hideouts in the Royal Capital and once again enjoyed initial success, with the Princess' forces defeating, their security division.

Unfortunately, the mission went sour when the Royal Capital came under attack by a demon known as Jaldabaoth. In response, Princess Renner halted the Eight Fingers suppression mission and assembled a large coalition of Adventurers to fight off the demon. Momon of Darkness fought Jaldabaoth in single combat while the remaining Adventurers fought off his demon army, with the palace guards, led King Ramposa III himself, joining when they were in danger of being overrun. Meanwhile, Second Prince Zanac helped civilians evacuate. In the end, Jaldabaoth retreated when the odds were no longer in his favor.

In the aftermath of the Demonic Disturbance, Momon became a national hero. Also, because the King and Prince aided in the defense of the Royal Capital, both the Royal Faction and the latters claim to the throne had gained more support. However, their victory came at the cost of countless lives. In addition, a large portion of the city's populace and resources had been taken away by the demon army. Unbeknown to the Kingdom, however, the attack was only a distraction while Nazarick took control of Eight Fingers.

The Invaders of the Large Tomb Arc
Through it was time for the Kingdom's Annual War with the Baharuth Empire, Emperor Jircniv decided not to invade this year as the Kingdom was already in a weakened state from the "Demonic Disturbance."

The Magic Caster of Destroy Arc
During a meeting of the royalty and nobility, King Ramposa III announced that the Kingdom had received a declaration of war from the Empire and the newly founded Sorcerer Kingdom, led by Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown, demanding they cede E-Rantel. Knowing that they didn't stand a chance against Ainz, Gazef advised the king to give in to the demands, but it fell on deaf ears. The Nobility Faction, on the other hand, supported Gazef's suggestion in yet another attempt to undermine the Royalty Faction. However, in the end, it was unanimously decided to go to war after Marquis Raeven pointed out that the Empire was unlikely to stop at E-Rantel.

Around this time, the Kingdom's economic instability had begun to take its toll. According to predictions, peasants would likely start dying from starvation due to failed harvests and food shortages. Commoners also started to catch on to the Kingdom's situation, with rumors even reaching frontier villages like Carne Village.

Two months later, the Royal Army confronted the Imperial Army at the Katze Plains. An additional force, led by the Crown Prince Barbro, was sent to Carne Village to gather intel on Ainz. However, talks with the villagers turned violent and resulted in the crown prince's death at the hands of the village's demi-human inhabitants. Similarly, at the Katze Plains, the battle was over before it began as Ainz wiped out most of the Royal Army with just a single spell. In an attempt to turn the tide, Gazef challenged Ainz to single combat. Unfortunately, the Warrior Captain lost the duel along with his life.

Following the war, the Kingdom unanimously decided to cede E-Rantel to the Sorcerer Kingdom. Because the Royal Faction refused to heed Gazef's warning, they took most of the blame for the blunder. As a result, the balance of power shifted again; this time in favor of the Noble Faction. The Kingdom was now a shadow of its former power and in danger of total collapse.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
Due to the heavy casualties of the Massacre at Katze Plains, the Kingdom was left with a massive amount of orphans and widows. Moreover, many survivors were traumatized and unable to live normal lives. In response, Princess Renner build an orphanage in the royal capital to provide a home for the orphans and jobs for the widows, hoping others would follow her example.

In addition, many fathers and firstborn sons from the nobility were killed during the massacre, forcing second or third born sons to take over their family's territory. Though most of these "spares" were never properly educated on how to conduct themselves in high society and thus lack class and etiquette. Some of them also did not want to be subservient to the leaders of their factions, once again shifting the balance of power.

The loss of both Gazef Stronoff and Prince Barbro caused King Ramposa III to fall into a depression. Similarly, Marquis Raeven was among those traumatized by the massacre and retired from politics. As a result, Second Prince Zanac, now the Crown Prince, assumed command of the Royalty Faction. As he struggled to rebuild the government, his biggest concern was how to proceed with relations with the Sorcerer Kingdom. Fortunately, news that the Sorcerer Kingdom would be sending a diplomatic envoy instantly solved this issue.

As the Sorcerer Kingdom's emissary, Albedo, visited the Royal Capital, a low-ranking noble heir named Philip used the opportunity to establish a relationship with the new nation, leading to the creation of a New Faction that supports the Sorcerer Kingdom. Unbeknownst to Philip, however, Albedo had set up the whole scenario with help from Eight Fingers as part of her plan to eventually annex the Kingdom. Albedo also ordered Eight Fingers to import large amounts of food from the Kingdom to the Sorcerer Kingdom.

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom Arc
and The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom II Arc Envoys representing of the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army visited the Royal Capital to request for the Kingdom's aid in retaking the Northern Holy Kingdom from Jaldabaoth. However, everyone they approached turned them down; primarily because the Kingdom was still recovering from the massacre at Katze Plains.

The Witch of the Falling Kingdom Arc
With the founding of the New Faction, political power became split between them, the Royalty Faction, the Nobility Faction, and independents; meaning none held a majority. Meanwhile, on top of failed harvests due to the Annual Wars, the loss of the vital food-producing region of E-Rantel and a sizable chunk of their labor force in the Massacre at Katze Plains had all but guaranteed that the Kingdom would face famine in the future.

The Sorcerer Kingdom offered the Kingdom humanitarian aid, which they were in no position to refuse. However, this influx of cheap food deflated food prices, preventing nobles from making a profit from their product. This, in turn, led the New Faction to turn on their benefactors and rob the transports in hopes of wiping out their competition. As a result, the Sorcerer Kingdom once again declared war on the Kingdom.

After receiving the declaration of war, King Ramposa III called for an emergency meeting. Given the difference in military might, the Kingdom had to sue for peace. Also, despite cries to punish the New Faction, they were let off as it was assumed that they were being manipulated. Instead, when Prime Minister Albedo visited the Royal Capital, the King offered up his own life to appease the Sorcerer King. However, the emissary merely declared that the invasion would proceed in one month. Thus, the Kingdom began preparing for war.

Unbeknownst to the Kingdom, however, the date the Sorcerer Kingdom stated they would start their invasion was an elaborate ruse. While the Kingdom prepared, the Sorcerer Kingdom secretly marched their armies over the border and began conquering territories, massacring the inhabitants to prevent news from spreading. Similarly, several nobles, including Marquis Raeven, were threatened into defecting. This way, the Kingdom unknowingly lost it's eastern and northern regions, cutting the nation off from its allies and isolating the Royal Capital.

The Kingdom finally became aware of the Sorcerer Kingdom's actions after Battle of E-Naüru. Despite this though, King Ramposa III still hoped to settle the conflict diplomatically. This prompted Crown Prince Zanac to stage a coup d'état, placing his father under house arrest while he took over his duties.

Culture
The Re-Estize Kingdom was a feudal state with a hierarchical structure. At the top stands the king and the royal family. Next comes the nobility, who possess major landholdings in the kingdom, and at the bottom are the serfs.

Titles and even professions are all hereditary. Social advancement in the kingdom seems to be very unlikely as any progress made is always hindered by the nobles, who fear that such changes might endanger their power and stations. In fact, it is not uncommon for small wars to break out between the nobles themselves to protect their interests.

The Kingdom has a long, deeply rooted belief that brave, strong cavalrymen are what defines a successful warrior. As a result, many people, especially nobles, believe magic casters are neither needed nor useful. This also means that, unlike the Slane Theocracy and Baharuth Empire, the Kingdom has no centralized magic academy, forcing the rare few who do want to learn about the craft to seek out alternative sources.

As a monarchy, the eldest son usually inherits everything once the father retires. This is because if the estate should be divided among the sons, eventually nothing would be left after a few generations. Therefore, the eldest son inherits everything, the second son becomes his helper and any younger sons are forced out once the eldest takes over. In fact, parents would usually only conceive another son to act as a "spare" in case the first or second dies. Meanwhile, women seem to be used as tools to acquire marriage alliances. As for lower-class families; it is a common occurrence for them to outright abandon their children.

The Kingdom followed a Guild-Based system which means that each city has its own guild and has its own rules. One tradesman that was a master in one city would be considered a junior in another.

Religion
The Kingdom's citizens adhere to the worship of the Four Great Gods, along with a compilation of minor gods.

Education
The literacy rate among citizens of the Kingdom is very low. Usually, every soldier stationed at a checkpoint are required to read and write. Literacy is also a desideratum for adventurers where, in order to gain entry into the Adventurer's Guild, a literacy test must be taken as part of the requirement.

On average only of those born of nobility, royalty and high profit earning merchants would be provided with the necessary education.

Politics
The Re-Estize Kingdom is a feudal monarchy ruled by the king at the top, followed by the nobles ranked by their sphere of influence; commoners have no representation. Policies are decided at conferences between the King and the nobles. The king and great nobles together own 60% of the Kingdom's territory whilst the remaining 40% belong to lesser nobles.

Each noble is free to pass any rules regarding rights to enter their domain. Free travel is mostly prohibited, with citizens having to pay poll taxes or using transits. Nobles are similarly in charge of their domain's security and infrastructure. However, due to nobles usually not caring about such things, most of the Kingdom's roads are badly maintained unprotected. Princess Renner has been making strides to improve these areas. However, what little she managed to accomplish was not nearly enough.

It is also here where the main problem with the Kingdom's government comes into play: a complete lack of unity. Due to nobles having so much freedom, this makes each domain basically being a nation on its own. This resulted in a less unified Kingdom, as each domain prioritizes its own needs. Also, because nobles are ranked by their spheres of influence, it is possible for them to even challenge the king by gathering together.

The Kingdom at least keeps records on its citizens. However, these documents are usually full of mistakes and thus unreliable.

Military Strength
The Re-Estize Kingdom's military is composed mostly of militia, with its soldiers just being drafted peasants. They receive a government-issued weapon, no armor, and extremely sparse training. Only the Kingdom's so-called "elite forces," knights, and the private forces of certain nobles have received proper training.


 * Royal Army: The Kingdom's so-called army. However, it is really just a ragtag bunch of individual armies put together whenever the call to arms is issued. As a result, there is no unity; although the King is in overall command, the nobles don't necessarily have to listen to him.
 * Warrior Troop: The Kingdom's most elite force led by Warrior Captain Gazef Stronoff. During Annual Wars, Patriots will usually join this group.
 * Marquis Raeven's Adventurer Team: Marquis Raeven's private force of former orichalcum-ranked adventurers.
 * Boullope's Militia: Marquis Boullope's private force created to be a rival to the Warrior Troop.

Foreign Relations
The Re-Estize Kingdom was the most geographically secure country of all and faced almost no territorial encroachment from aggressive demi-human nations that plagued its neighbors, making it by far the most peaceful nation; relatively speaking. However, the Kingdom's seclusion from the rest of the world left it weak to stagnation from within, and its corrupttion eventually spread to other nations.

Argland Council State
The Argland Council State is the Kingdom's neighbor to the north and would ultimately end up being the nation's last remaining ally before it's downfall. Both countries acknowledged the threat posed by the Sorcerer Kingdom and attempted to form an alliance against it.

Unfortunately, talks could not be finished before the Sorcerer Kingdom declared war on the Kingdom and the idea was abandoned due to the leadership believing that the Council State wouldn't aid them since they were technically the ones who instigated the conflict. Still, one of the State's councilors, came to the Kingdom's defense, though he was ultimately unable to change the outcome.

Karnassus City-State Alliance
While the full scope of the Kingdom's relationship with the City-State Alliance is unknown, some citizens choose to migrate there before the nation's doomed conflict with the Sorcerer Kingdom.

Sorcerer Kingdom
Until the official declaration of war against the Kingdom in alliance with the Empire, both the Kingdom and Nazarick had no official relations with one another. Afterward, they became enemy states and fought against each other in the annual war which resulted in devastating losses for the Kingdom, including the death of its strongest warrior and the ceding of E-Rantel, and reducing its governance into near-total collapse.

Once the war was over, the two nations opened formal relations and tried to form a peaceful and productive cooperative relationship with one another. Some nobles are even conspiring to sell out the Kingdom with the new country in exchange for more power and control. However, many still see the Sorcerer Kingdom as a threat and keep a close watch on it while the nation recovers its strength.

Inevitably, the two nations came into conflict once again after the Kingdom's nobility allegedly attacked one of the Sorcerer Kingdom's carriages. The result was the total destruction of Re-Estize

Baharuth Empire
The Kingdom and the Empire were in a state of war. The only way their nation can resist the Empire is by drafting a greater number of troops than them. Though losses on both sides were minimal, the conflict between the two nations has only been prolonged because the Empire never fully committed the entirety of their forces to the war, instead of engaging in a war of attrition to weaken the Kingdom and later conquer it with minimal losses.

Aside from the annual war, many nobles refuse to accept Emperor Jircniv's legitimacy and refer to him as "False Emperor." This is because he acquired his position by rising through the ranks rather than birthright.

After the most recent battle at the Katze Plains, the Kingdom believes that the Empire must truly hate them to the core for calling upon the Sorcerer King to cause such a massacre. Later, after nobles attacked one of the Sorcerer Kingdom's transports, the Empire condemned the Kingdom.

Dwarf Kingdom
The Kingdom has not attempted to forge any national-level ties with the dwarves and there has been almost no contact between the two nations for over two centuries. However, the mining city of Re-Blumrushur is known to make small trade deals with the Dwarves.

When the Sorcerer Kingdom declared war with the Kingdom, the Dwarf Kingdom fully supported the nation's justification and even put their nation's seal on the official declaration document.

Slane Theocracy
Official relations between the Kingdom and the Theocracy are more or less neutral. However, some of the nobility were willing to conspire with the Theocracy to kill off Gazef Stronoff and had no problems in killing the Kingdom's citizens while doing so under covert operations.

Furthermore, there are people within the Kingdom that detest their treatment of non-human races. Despite this, the Kingdom's human civilization would have been wiped out long ago if it was not there, so they view the Theocracy as a necessary evil. According to the officials from the Theocracy, the territory around E-Rantel originally belongs to the Theocracy.

When the Kingdom's defeat during its second conflict with the Sorcerer Kingdom was all but certain, the Theocracy send it's Black Scripture to the doomed country. However, rather than provide aid, they were instead sent to recruit powerful Adventurers; offering them a new life within the Theocracy's borders. In the end, while a few refused, many others accepted the offer and migrated to the Theocracy.

Roble Holy Kingdom
It's unknown what kind of relationship that the Re-Estize Kingdom had with the Holy Kingdom. Being distant from one another, there is at least trade between the two nations. Recently, the Kingdom turned away the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army, who pleaded for help against Jaldabaoth, due to the nobles being unwilling to open another war front so soon after their defeat at the hands of the Sorcerer Kingdom.

After the Holy Kingdom liberated itself from Jaldabaoth, the Kingdom send a diplomatic envoy to attend the coronation of the new Holy King. However, they were turned away without ever even being allowed to lay eyes on the Holy King. This showed that the Kingdom's diplomatic relations with the Holy Kingdom had fallen apart and could be fatally damaged following their refusal to provide military support during Jaldabaoth’s occupation. As a result of their degraded relationship, after Re-Estize nobles attacked one of the Sorcerer Kingdom's transports of humanitarian aid for the ravaged Holy Kingdom, they condemned the Kingdom.

Dragon Kingdom
After nobles attacked one of the Sorcerer Kingdom's transports, the Dragon Kingdom condemned the Kingdom. The Kingdom's leadership believed that the reason why the Dragon Kingdom sided with the Sorcerer Kingdom was because the powerful nation simply offered more appeal compared to their relatively weak country.

Trivia

 * At some point in the past, the Kingdom and the Empire were one and the same nation before they eventually separated and became two different nations.
 * According to a Tweet from Maruyama, the total land area size of the Re-Estize kingdoms territory is equal to about half the size of modern-day France.

Gallery
Królestwo Re-Estize