Esperada

---

Esperada, along with Vaniway and Connatia, was one of the 'Great Conquerors' of The War of a Hundred Kings. Esperada's conquest is most famous in the Lion War, playing the then kingdoms of Leone and Steier against each other until it could slide in to snatch up Leone and with it, gain control of the Vatican. In response, King Riyan cede a large part of Leone to the church before surrendering the rest to Esperada. Esperada was prevented from achieving its full ambition, but still managed to conquer one of it's strongest rivals.

• Esperada has three distinct areas, separated into duchies.
  • The opulent, beautiful lands of Madeira.
  • Goa, which culturally is much closer to Vaniway.
  • The hot, humid lands of Leone, which mixes of the two.
• Esperada has the third strongest navy in the region.
• Esperada has more armies and infrastructure than its naval rivals
• Spanish and Latin American influences are stronger in the south and the east. Indian influences are stronger in the north.
• Leone took on more of Madeira's stylings once conquered. Goa didn't change as much.
• Leone was the strongest country to fall at the end of the Aistorian Warring State period.
• Leone is ruled over by the Cruz family so of course it's more developed than anywhere else.
• Madeira has a lot of bored aristocracy hanging out and throwing parties, where Leone, while now peaceful, still has a lot more military cultural undertones.
• Leone is historically very religious and aligned with the church. Even as it "modernizes", most of it's progressiveness is put in religious terms.
• Madeira is indifferent. It wanted the Vatican for the power, not religion.
  • Various Belarose monarchs have been very religious or not religious at all.
  • In contrast with the Cruz family where if someone isn't religious, they sure try to not show it. (Hi Naomi)

Regions

There are three main regions of Esperada, The Madeiran Peninsula and the duchies of Leone and Goa.

Madeira

The peninsula of Esperada. Was probably the Kingdom of Madeira -- or perhaps several kingdoms, until Esperada was formed.

• Madeira tends to be cooler and drier than Leone (or well, at least the populated, southern part of Leone).
• As Esperada on the offensive for many many many decades, the east most interior "original" part of the region hasn't seen much war. Much of eastern Madeira is newer, beautiful buildings, built to show wealth. The neck of the peninsula is far more fortified.
• Madeira is rocky and has poor coasts. There aren't many good harbors.
• These rocky beaches on the eastern shore helped protect those parts of Madeira from naval invasions.
• Madeira also has a lot of military airships, though most in the modern era have been semi-decommissioned and put into storage.
  • Armored, military airships take a lot of magical labor to keep powered up to generate the necessary lift, so they tend to only be used when there is a need.
  • This helped Madeira pacify Leone's navy.
  • Now all ships, sea or air, are owned and controlled by the royal family directly.
• Madeira is a bit more "Classically European" than the rest of Esperada.
  • Fancy court culture among the Eastern Madeirans, who are the ones who have seen the least war.

Notable Families

House Belarose

The Belarose are the royal family of Esperada. They have been in declining number for years as the family has gotten more and more protective over it's bloodline. It's capital -- and the capital of Esperada as a whole, is Bela Alta

As of 414 ACE there is a very old King, Alejandro Belarose, and his two twin soul linked androgynous children, Abel and Adele.

• Alejandro is kinda a dick, but as he gets old he gets kinda senile and laid back.
• The Queen has probably been dead for a good bit. Maybe she died from complications due to the weird twins?
  • This seems like it'd be some messed up old man reproducing and making weird freaky children.
• The twins are opposite sex identical twins.
  • The twins are, like Beth or Loni, kinda stuck in liminal soul space from their link.
  • They have PEAK creepy identical twin "We're like the same person" syndrome because they kinda are just one soul.
  • As time goes on they have an increasingly disconnected view of reality.
  • The twins cross dress a lot. You often can't tell which is which based on how they dress.
  • Sometimes they both present the same.
  • They are the Twin Princes, even though one of them is technically a Princess.
  • Despite having the creepy hot twin trope, they don't have the whole twin love thing okay.
  • They'd more likely say, take a single romantic partner together.
  • Both want to be King at the same time.

Leone

One of the last great Aistorian countries to fall. The most populous parts of Leone are hot and humid, with mild winters but absolutely brutal summers. Northern Leone can cool off quite a bit, being very mountainous. The capital of Leone is Vannaleona.

• As opposed to Madeira, Leone has great coasts!
• Had a huge navy until Esperada conquered them and took it.
• While the Erraldoi river is huge and important and goes to the Vatican, the Rio Almada is actually probably the most important river and is probably how all the farm produce gets shipped around.
• Leone shows more of it's militant history
  • While many beautiful cities, Leone's military structures are old, simple, and pragmatic.
  • Nobility is comparatively more relaxed than in Madeira. Less pomp, less ceremony, less fancy etiquette.
  • Not that there aren't those things, just.. more pragmatic. The goal is to maintain the social hierarchy while building loyalty and comradery.
  • That said, the Cruz's history of appealing more to the church as time has gone on as held to some fancy ritual church stuff.
• Leone is modernizing fast. Vannaleona almost looks like parts of modern Venice, just these ancient beautiful buildings with modern designer brand stores tacked on.
• Due to the size and height of the mountains, Leone rivers flood during the spring. This is used to produce a lot of water heavy crops
  • Rice is a big one!
  • Cranberries and sugarcane! Lot of sweets!
  • Other staples like Water Chestnuts and Water Spinach and stuff.
  • A lot of Leone has a lot of access to good fish and Vannaleona in particular has access to excellent crustaceans.

Leone has at least two major counties, Valido and Galera.

• The north west region, Valido, is closer, culturally to Goa, which is similar to Leone, but with much more Vaniway-esque influences.
  • It's capital is San Victoria
  • It's one of the least populous parts of Esperada.
• Galera represents some of Esperada's best coastlines and harbors.
  • It's capital is Monteiro

Notable Families

House Cruz

Better covered on their own page but in general...

• After being defeated by Esperada, Leone became a duchy.
  • The defeated King Riyan (Then 'Riyan the Uncrowned') never became Duke. He passed that honor to his son.
• The Cruzs are generally well liked, as far as nobility goes.
  • Though a lot of people do sometimes suggest they've gone soft.
  • Though their general trend toward "more pandering to the church" has lead to a lot of more... orthodoxly religious people who support the current trends of the house.
  • Leone has always been like vaguely religious but dudes like King Riyan were into God in that kinda weird vague barbarian way.
  • Trevor and Naomi are outliers and are kinda the fault of Victoria coming from a very militant family.
• As for Victoria, she was hated on a lot when she married Edwin for being a lowly hick daughter of an obscure baron, but as time turns outrage into tradition, she's kinda embraced for being a very classically Leone-esque woman, taking to the culture well.
• People also loved to dig at Naomi who would get into trouble, be found to be acting improper, and who was taken to more "modern" styling and culture.
  • Of course, Naomi is around to but the Lion back in Leone.
• Oh yeah they have the weird "vos" article that is some weird pidgin left over from some fucky language stuff. It only exists in northern Esperada and a lot of families who have had it have dropped it. It's seen as kind of old fashion, which, depending on the family, is seen as a pro or a con.

House Spada

The county of Valido is controlled by the Spada family.

• The Spada use the "vos" article like the Cruzs.
• San Victoria is a big religious city, but the Spadas are not as devote as as the Cruzs.
• San Victoria is the only city on the map there but that might not be where the Spada are?
• San Victoria is almost a way to influence the religious outlook on the region.
• Currently the only named Spada is Irene vos Spada, wife to Horace vos Cruz, uncle of Naomi.

The current count is unnamed.

House Ivrea

The long line of countesses that govern Galera from the beautiful city of Monteiro.

• The Ivrea family have one of those weird magi-genetic quirks and it makes them have LOTS of girls
• All five historically named Ivrea members have been women.
• Galera has been governed by a countess ever since Valentina vos Cruz set the precedence that senior women can inherit over younger men.
• Before that, the Ivrea probably had LOTS of kids to get a boy.
• Dropped the "vos".
• Has, for many generations, put their coat on an oval shield.
  • It's softer to appear less militant. The Ivrea family has leaned into it's femme-y appearances and seemingly gentle disposition.
  • ... The Ivrea women are, historically when pushed, actually just as militant as anyone else.
  • Due to how busy they are, they seem to tend to have kids pretty late?
  • It's fucked up but they're all hot.

Gabrijela Ivrea

• Gorgeous old lady
• Countess at the time of Prologue and Tower in the Sky
• Dies in 419 ACE

Deborah Ivrea

• Much more relevant to RP past Tower in the Sky
• Beautiful, flirty older woman.
• Cunning and savvy. Good at getting what she wants in a seemingly effortless and friendly way.
• Totally not afraid to get deep into some real shit.
• Strongly sapphically leaning bisexual.
  • Married a gay noble to kinda beard for each others.
  • From the outside there were probably rumors about them being swingers or something.
  • Did it only as much as they needed to get a kid.
  • Genuinely good friends and partners.
• Important part in RP for getting Naomi to rebel against the Twins.
• Ends up dating the widowed Victoria.

Dorothea Ivrea

• Deborah's daughter, five years younger than Naomi.
  • Probably a childhood semi-friend.
• Totally named this because I'm pretty sure Karami mixed Deborah up with that Fire Emblem character and the name fits the family naming pattern.
• Maybe a more fighty girl? Hmmm...

House Garza

House of a minor Leonese Count. From around Valido. In RP, Naomi broke the Duke's son's arm in a duel due to insults directed at Ashara.

Goa

Goa is another former independent region that now exists as a duchy of Esperada.

• Milder weather through most of the region than Leone, but not as nice as Madeira.
• Has stronger connections to Vaniway.
  • More Southeast Asia and Indian influences. Leone has similar old world descendants, but not the same culture.
  • Still deeply influenced by the latent european influence of the area.
  • Goa also didn't have the period that Leone had where the Cruzs tried to take on more Madeiran customs and names.
• While Goa and Leone were historically at odds, over time their closer culture has made both of them progressively closer with each other than Madeira.
  • Goa wasn't just eaten by Esperada, Leone took chunks out of it too, so the beef used to be real, but it was way long ago.
  • Probably helps that Goa got a lot of land back from Leone when Leone surrendered to Esperada.
  • Valido might be a sore spot still.
  • This has probably been something more paranoid Madeiran nobles have worried about and the Belarose family has probably tried in the past to play the two duchies off each other.

Goa contains the march of Sundhra, which was a key region for fighting off Esperada's invasions from Madeira.

Notable Families

House Roy

The Roys are the noble house of Goa, now serving as dukes.

• Actually an indian surname!
  • Said closer to Rai or King.
  • Goa also has the vos article all over the place, so you have names like Indari vos Roy (the wife of Duke Edward the First)
• Despite the meaning of the name, Goa fell to pieces under pressure from Leone and Esperada and the Roy claim to royalty carries about as much weight as any other random micro country during the War of a Hundred Kings.
  • Despite better relationships between Goa and Leone, the Roys probably get annoyed with the Cruzs a lot for acting more important despite their similar rank.
  • This of course varies from generation to generation, but even if the modern Cruzs are pretty chill and low key, "The Cruz carry themselves as above the Roy" is an idea that comes up again and again.

House Shankar

Noble house of Sundhra.

• Sundhra being a march should make it outside of Goa, but it's considered part of Goa for historic reasons.
• The Marquess of Sundhra TECHNICALLY doesn't have to answer to the Duke of Goa... but in practice they does.
• Sundhra's status as a march is kinda more historic anyways as Goa and Madeira don't really have a real border.
  • ... Though this might come up eventually.

Baptiste Shankar

Marquess around 420 ACE-ish mark. A bit older than Ashara, kinda modern outlook on politics and ethics. Chill.

Related Articles

Aistorian Holidays and Festivals

The Twin Cities of Vannaleona and Stenin

Regions of Esperada

---

Return to Aistoria
Categories: Geography