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Teutonic King

Vine-Regent of Dorwinion
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Dec 8, 2012
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"Let no one speak of Theodoro without mentioning three things, our founder, our wealth, and our love of wine" ~ Hlothhere of Cherson, First Historian of Theodoro c.a. 950 A.D.

Chapter One - Before the Beginning

Few things in this world are as potent on the minds of men as glory, save for maybe wealth and power. However, for one interesting nation, glory, wealth, and power, all played second fiddle to the most deified of drinks, Wine. Be it Spiced, Red, White, it mattered not, for the glory of the nation of Theodoro came from their wines, and the powerful families that made them, which, by extension, then ran the country. This is a tale unlike any other for a maritime republic, this is a tale of the Vintner Republic of Theodoro.

First, you might ask, 'What exactly is a Vintner Republic', followed quickly by the question of 'How did this even work'? To which I say, patience my friend, all in good time. For you see, a Vintner Republic such as this does not merely spring out of the ground, but comes from decades of governing practices, and a certain panache for the finer things in life. However, before we jump into the glory days of the Vintner Republic, we must first talk about the days leading up to the establishment of this Maritime nation, which has its humble roots on the island of Rügen, in the Baltic Sea. There, on this island, we find ourselves with the founder of this nation, Thankmar 'The Fox'.

The Fox of Rugen.png


Thankmar didn't come to power in the usual way. To be more accurate, he was a conquer. The island of Rügen was actually held by a local Pomeranian chief. This chief, who was merely one of many, had come into power after he was elected by the local Eldership of Rügen, as the successor to the previous ruler. They lived a relatively peaceful life, acting as simple traders along the coast, and were wholly unprepared when an invasion of about 700 Saxons, lead by Thankmar, arrived on their shores. While the native Pomeranian Eldership put up a resistance, it was flaccid at best, and was easily swept aside by the more militaristic forces of Thankmar.

Thus, in the year 749 A.D., Thankmar 'The Fox' became lord of Rügen. While it is sure that the ruler-ship of Rügen was a notch in his belt, it was far from perfect. The island, while great for defensively, and a good staging ground for raiding, was not the richest of lands. Farming was relatively poor, and the local Pomeranian peoples were less than happy with a Germanic lord. In order to keep down any possible uprising by the locals, Thankmar invited a number of local Saxons from the kingdom of Saxony to settle the island. This effectively displaced the native Pomeranian peoples, and made the island Saxon in every way.

It took some time, but over a period of ten years, the island was shored up, the tribal settlement was grown, and men were recruited into the military. Now during this time, raids by Germanic peoples weren't uncommon. From the Saxon Kingdom, under the Theodricing dynasty, to the Danes, and the Norse, all were raiders. They conquered, looted, and overall made life for many of the great kings of Europe a hassle. While the raids were small, they were usually nothing to scoff at, as those raids could reach as far south as the Alexandria, or as far east as the Iranian Steppe.

It was during one of these raids that Thankmar found his way to the Crimea. There, at the Black Sea Peninsula, 'The Fox' of Rügen found a taste for the finer things in life. While on a raid in Crimea, Thankmar's raiders stumbled upon a coastal vineyard. While it was modest in size, it produced a fine wine that Thankmar, and his raiders, found to their liking. Desiring more of this wine, Thankmar's raiders plundered vineyard after vineyard for bottles of wine. They ended up gathering roughly twenty different types of wine, from around forty separate vineyards. The vintners themselves appeared happy to give away bottles of wine if it would keep the raiders from attacking their lands. Thus, on their first ever voyage to the Black Sea, Thankmar's Raiders returned to Rügen with a hoard of wine, which he then shared with the rest of the island.

This wine, which was unlike anything they had in Rügen sparked an extreme interest in the peoples of Rügen, and they demanded more. Unfortunately the knowledge of viticulture, and oenology, were still with the vintners in Crimea, and required Thankmar, and his raiders, to travel down the rivers once more, in search of more wine. However this lead to a problem, the more wine they would bring back, the more the people demanded it, requiring them to go back raiding, or in some cases trading, for more. As it turns out, the regular returns to Crimea established a small trade route, called the Wine Road, as Saxon raiders would travel south to Crimea to get more wine. This trade, which grew into an offshoot of the amber trade from the Baltic, brought an absurd amount of prestige, and wealth, to the small island of Rügen. Using this wealth, Thankmar began conquering some lands around him, to not only shore up the defenses of the island from attack, but to expand Saxon influence over more of the Baltic Coast.

All of this went well, and for a few years, things were actually peaceful. However this changed when trade shipments of wine suddenly stopped coming in. We are unsure why this breakdown in trade happened, but it is believed that the cause was two fold. At the time when trade stopped, Wine shipments had been diverted by the Byzantine Emperor into the heartlands of Anatolia, and abroad, to strengthen the trading power of the Emperor. To make matters worse, the Baltic Amber, which had once freely flowed through Rügen in trade, had been stopped by a local tribe of Lithuanians who, seeing the wealth that Rügen was gaining at their expense, decided to cut supply until the price of amber rose, allowing them to make more money. This lack of trade angered the people of Rügen, who had been used to the luxuries they had started to have, and the demand for these luxuries only grew as the supplies were cut off. Disappointed by the lack of trade, and unwilling to simply let things be, Thankmar began an ambitions project to not only secure the wine trade, but to make sure that the trade of wine never again faltered.

Black Sea Claims.png


Seeing the relatively weak control of the nomadic lands, Thankmar sent a brilliant, and quite frankly silver-tongued, diplomat to the lands of Crimea. This diplomat, a Pomeranian by the name of Wratislaw z Rujani, worked swiftly, and within a matter of four years, had managed to claim all the lands of the Khazar Horde within Crimea. With these claims made, and the people of Rügen nearly up in arms for the luxury goods they had grown accustomed to, Thankmar launched a large invasion of Crimea. Sadly not much can be said of this first war. While it was certainly large, with roughly seven thousand Saxon soldiers fighting about five thousand Khazar men, there aren't any solid records of the event. The most we hear about it is a simple one off mention in a Byzantine History book about some Germanic peoples fighting the Khazars of Crimea.

In truth, the likelihood of an actual war between the tribal chiefdom of Rügen and the Khazar horde is slim at best. The more likely situation is that the Saxons simply decided to move, with thousands of them loading onto ships, and sailing south to Crimea. Which does seem to be the case, as shortly after this "Crimean War" occurred, the lands of Crimea were swiftly populated by Saxon settlers from the north. From what we can tell, the Saxons merely settled the land and paid off the local Khazar hordes to simply move away. In either case, the lands of the Crimea, which had Gothic settlements being lorded over by Khazars, changed control to Saxon leadership. Shortly after this, Thankmar moved his capital from Rügen to Crimea, in order to better oversee the management of these lands, leaving the island of Rügen under control of a local Saxon Chief.

This move, which was unusual to say the least, brought with it a number of boons, such as better control over the Wine Road. However those boons also came with setbacks, such as constant threat from Khazar raiders from the north, and Byzantine demands for tribute. In spite of these concerns, the actual profits that could be made were too great of an opportunity to pass up by Thankmar, which many of his people agreed with. With a solid control of north-south trade, and an ability to tax ships heading on that route, the Crimean Saxons once again saw an influx of cash.

Using the vast wealth, Thankmar was able to swiftly begin upgrading the tribal villages within Crimea into proper towns and forts. While this didn't stop Khazar raids, it did reduce the impact of such raids on the lands, and allowed for them to easily repair any damage done. Yet, like the Norse who would later invade the British Isles, the Saxons of Crimea wanted more, they not only wanted to control the North-South trade of the Wine Road, but also the East-West trade of the Silk Road running through the Khazar lands. Thus, once again, Thankmar called upon the skills of the diplomat Wratislaw z Rujani. By this time Wratislaw z Rujani was a well known diplomat, having spend much of his time spreading good things about Thankmar, and the Saxons to courts all throughout Europe, if only to keep them from attacking the small nation. Heeding his lords command, Wratislaw swiftly returned to the Crimea and began fabricating claims for the lands of Korchev, and Tmutarakan.

As strange as it seems, the claiming of these lands was even easier than Crimea. While the Khazars lorded over the lands themselves, the people who lived there, the Goths, were more than happy to accept another Germanic as their sovereign, even if they were a heathen, anything to rid themselves of the Khazar yoke. Surprised about this sudden change of face, and more than pleased, Wratislaw swiftly fabricated claims the lands for his lord, and returned with good news. Thankmar, for his part, seemed to be ecstatic at hearing the news as he ordered a celebration to the All-Father for a full week as thanks, and granted Wratislaw his own tract of land. After the week of celebrations concluded, Thankmar declared his next war for Crimea. Unlike the prior "conflict", this one seems to have been an actual war as, there is solid proof of battle on the Pontic Steppes, with the battle of Tana being the largest of them all.

Expanding the Azov Dominion.png


On the twenty-fifth of August, 782, the armies of High Chief Thankmar marched on the lands of Korchev and Tmutarakan. Normally, the heavy infantry of the Saxons would be a detriment to warfare on the Steppes, however thanks to the wealth garnered by trade, Thankmar had enough money to hire out Turkish mercenaries from the Steppe, and match the Khazars blow for blow. This can be best seen in the battle of Tana, where a contingent of five thousand Turkish Mercenaries fought alongside the Saxon Heavy Infantry to defeat an equally sized army of Khazar Nomads. To clarify, the Khazars and the Turks matched each other in size and strength, with the Saxons arriving later on to support the Turkish front. As, in truth, the battle prior to the arrival of the Saxons looked like it might be a loss.

Great Battle of Tana.png


While Theodoro propaganda will say that the battle was a clear victory, with the Saxon forces quickly overrunning the Khazar Hordes, in truth the Turkish Mercenaries were near defeat when the Saxons arrived. The Turks, while certainly skilled in mounted combat, proved incapable of besting the Khazars, who had spent more time in the saddle, and studying the lands they lived on, proved able to use the terrain to their advantage. It was when the Turkish mercenaries seemed on the verge of defeat, that a hundred Saxon ships arrived, and unloaded nearly ten thousand Saxon warriors and cavalry. Clad in Heavy Leather armor, and wielding everything from long spears and shields, to massive Dane Axes, they fell upon the Khazars, forcing them to retreat, and winning the day for the Saxon cause. It was due in large part to this battle, that the Khazar Khagan issued a declaration of surrender to Thankmar, and expanded the lands of Crimea. As it was, on the 17th of February, 783, in the Khazar encampment in Azov, the Treaty of Crimea was signed, and the Saxon dominion expanded once more.

Victory over the Horde.png


However all was not well within the High Chiefdom of Rügen, for while victory as assured, and glory brought once more to the Saxon peoples, the war had cost them dearly. The capital of Crimea had been sacked not once, not twice, but three times. The cost of the Turkish mercenaries nearly bankrupted the nation, and what gains were achieved barely covered the cost of rebuilding the tribal cities of Crimea. This was a difficult time for the Crimean Saxons, and things were only made worse as the Byzantines returned again demanding more tribute. These things began to wear on Thankmar, and he was beginning to lose hope in his ambitions. However this changed when his wife, and lover, Hermesind came to the royal court, carrying a bottle of one of the famous wines that had been brought back from a raid nearly twenty years prior. While we don't know the exact words spoken, according to legend Hermesind convinced Thankmar that their woes could be solved with wine. Just like how they came to the Crimea to gain better control of the Wine Road, they should take control of the wine itself. Whether this is true or not, shortly after the Byzantines came demanding more payment, the Crimean Saxons suddenly had the means to pay them.

What we do know is that the Gothic Vintners, who had, until then chafed under Khazar Taxation and were forced to send what little they could make to the Khazar Khans to the East, under Saxon rule, much of the wealth they could accrue was able to remain with them, allowing them to reinvest in their vineyards and expand their wine production. With this new found wealth, they were happy to support Thankmar in his needs, and used the money they had to help pay off the tribute to the Byzantines. This planted another idea in Thankmar's head, that the Vineyards should be run by the Saxons. The idea of landed nobility wasn't unusual, as the Franks were quite accustomed to the idea of Nobles having land and taxing those who lived on it. Yet the ability to not only control the land, but gain the wealth of it for yourself, that was something wholly unusual, as much of the taxes gathered by the lower nobility went to the King. As Thankmar pondered this, the idea began to grow and flourish in his mind, the idea that, maybe, you could have a nation run by a council of nobles, who make money for themselves and the state.

It should be noted that, while Thankmar's ideas were unique to the Saxons, they weren't unique in the world. Maritime Republics had existed for centuries by that point, and places like Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa, Venice, and Riga, were already well established as Mercantile Trade Hubs. What set Thankmar's idea apart was an idea that Landed Nobility need not be removed from the mercantile process, but rather can facilitate it. Perhaps it didn't require a pure merchant class, nor a pure nobility class, to run a nation, but a combination of the two, Mercantile Nobles, who were men of the land, and could grow a crop just as well as they could sell a product. However two major roadblocks still stood in Thankmar's way. First, and most importantly, the Saxon peoples of Crimea, who had become accustomed to the finer things in life would not enjoy the upset of suddenly having those things taken away in exchange for Landed Nobles who controlled the trade of goods. Second was the Byzantine Empire who, up to that point, had consistently demanded tribute from the Saxons, and were a constant threat just on the border as they owned both Theodosia, and Cherson.

While Thankmar pondered the first problem, he once again called upon the skills of Wratislaw to begin fabricating claims on the Byzantine lands of Crimea. In the midst of his quandary, an idea occurred to him. In the past, the Saxon Lords had sent out raiding parties to pillage lands, and in the process would bring back wealth and prestige. So, with the fanfare of a people going to war, Thankmar sent out hundreds of raids all across the Black Sea, and into the Baltic, to pillage, plunder, and bring glory to the Crimean Saxons. This proved to be wildly successful, as each raid returned with hundreds of pounds of gold, silver, and other precious goods. In so doing with prosperity of Crimea, and the other Saxon lands, grew. This, in turn, drew in more traders and merchants, who sought Saxon goods and wares. All of these things compounded to return wealth to the war scarred lands of Crimea, and encourage more Saxons from the Baltic to settle in these newly conquered lands.

After a few years of this, the wealth of the Crimean Saxons was so great that many had homes with thralls all to themselves. It is said that 'A Saxon may be poor, but he is still richer than the common man in Byzantium'. This influx of wealth brought something else with it, a desire to move, and change. Up till now, many of the Saxon peoples, in both Crimea and the Baltic, had been living in little more than thatched roof huts. However now, Saxons began building proper homes and buildings made of stone. The wealth and power of the Saxon peoples grew so much that the Goths they ruled over, some of which were moderately wealthy in their own right, began copying Saxon culture and customs. Much to the pleasure of Thankmar, these new Saxo-Goths were more than happy to share their vintner techniques with the local Saxon leadership, when plied with money by Thankmar. This, combined with the buying up of a few key vineyards within Crimea, Korchev, and Tmutarakan, gave Thankmar just enough leverage to begin handing out these vineyards to the most worthy Saxons. It should be noted that worth in this sense was changed from just pure honor, to meaning those who had the best skill for business, and were the fastest to pick up on the viticulture techniques of the Goths. With vast hoards of wealth gained from raiding, and certain skilled Saxons as vintners, Thankmar's plans were coming to fruition, all of this, all of his ideas and consoltations with local merchants, had lead up to one point. Yet one obstacle still stood in his path, the Byzantine Crimea. An obstacle that would soon be overcome, for not a year after he had placed Saxon lords in positions of power, did the ever crafty Wratislaw return with claims on the lands of Cherson, and Theodosia. It was this moment that Thankmar knew to strike. The Byzantines, while strong, were only able to muster twelve thousand men to battle. Large numbers to be sure, but Thankmar had wealth on his side, as well as Saxons eager for battle. So, with one last, ambitious push, Thankmar declared war on the Byzantine Empire, to claim all of Crimea for the Saxons.

A War For Home.png


On the 26th of September, 789, seven years after the last conflict with any major nation, an army of twelve thousand Saxons, Turkish Mercenaries, and Khazar Opportunists, marched into the Byzantine lands. They were promised loot, glory, and wealth beyond reckoning, well they were promised that at least. Sadly very little of that could be gained, as the war for Crimea was less than a year long. When the war started on the 26th of September, it had ended by June 1st of the following year. Apparently, while the Byzantines were keen on extracting tribute from the Saxons whenever they could, they weren't so keen on keeping the Crimean lands, which were far away from the bureaucratic apparatuses of the Byzantine Heartland. It is true that the Byzantines made a show of force, and brought nearly twelve thousand men to bare against the Saxons, but after the first battle was lost they simply surrendered. From what we can gather, the Byzantines were depleted, having just fought a war for Armenia against the Uqyalid Dynasty, as well as having recently wrested control of Cecilia from another Muslim dynasty. Suffice to say, the Byzantines were unwilling to fight a long, protracted, war against an equally powerful opponent who wanted lands that, quite frankly, they just didn't care about keeping.

A Home Secured.png


With the surprising success against the Byzantines, and the Wine Rich lands of the Crimea fully under his control, Thankmar moved his capital to the wealthy province of Cherson, and began final preparations. First, in order to ingratiate himself to the local Orthodox Goths, he converted to Orthodoxy. While this surprised many Saxons, who were happily Asatru, they eventually converted as well. In Saxon tradition, religion is a matter of the individual, not the state, so most didn't care, but they did often follow the trends that would allow them better acceptance in society. After converting, Thankmar made another key choice, he established his new capital not in the high walled fortress of Cherson, but rather the City of Theodoro, a bustling metropolis of commerce, and cultures. It is here, in Theodoro, that Thankmar announced the creation of a new nation, the nation of Theodoro, and it is here that he declared a new type of government, a Mercantile Republic that didn't care for someones money, or power, but merely their skill at making wine, and how well they could sell it to others. Thus it was, after thirty years of planning, conquest, and shrewd business practices, that the Saxon Vintner-Republic of Theodoro was established, and began spreading their wine, and culture, to all corners of the world.

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There is something seriously Dionysian about this :)
 
Sounds interesting!

Subbed!