Alexandria Rose, the Founder of Sylvania. Some beings rise through power through being born into nobility. Others have to scratch and claw their way to gain it. A combination of both these things along with a little luck led Alexandria to gain a wonderful husband and supreme control over the island she named Sylvania.
Alexandria arrived in Sylvania as a rich merchant, heir to a trading empire that traversed throughout Venice and the Baltic Seas. It was the beginning of a new age. The New World had been discovered and Sylvania was one of the very few islands to serve as a port-city between the old world and the new. It was a perfect place to start her business and make oodles of money. As people began to stop in Sylvania and decide to stay, falling in love with the island’s beauty and deciding to stay there instead of finishing their trip to the new world, the population of the island started to grow.
They were people with no allegiances, just looking for friendly neighbors to enjoy their own lives. And for a while, they received just that with Alexandria’s guiding hand making sure to provide for all their provisions. Having been one of the first colonists to the island and a rich trading empire at her command, she enjoyed a near monopoly of the island that no one could dare pierce. If you needed anything whether building materials, boats, fishing poles, or fruit….Alexandria was the one to go after. It was through these methods that Alexandria expanded her wealth. It was something that ran through her family. She knew how to make wealth and grow it endlessly~
And what was more, her prices were fair. This female merchant with a cold, logical gaze knew the best way to gain the hearts of the people was to build their trust….and Alexandria was wise enough to know that gouging them with unfair prices they could not pay was not the way to do it. And as time went on, the population of the island grew, and all looked towards Alexandria for the essentials of their basic survival….it became clear just how powerful of a position that Alexandria had. It was true what they say when the amount of power you wield depends on the money you hold in your wallet. It wasn’t a surprise that when feelings of nationalism started rising up and Sylvania’s first election coming on that the merchant was elected as the first governor of the island.
Never was Alexandria satisfied. She continued to spread her power, desiring an even greater control over her citizen’s lives. She organized the first parliament of Sylvania by appointing talented people to powerful positions, gaining a large wealth of knowledge to serve at her disposal. She put her vast wealth to work, building strong fortifications and raising an army to protect her borders. From a relatively small island, a powerful nation arose….strengthened by a constant flow of immigrants and a bountiful trade as ships constantly sailed from the old world into the new.
But beyond that, Alexandria was faced with a problem. Her position, newly gained, was very fragile. If she irritated the people without just cause, she would be voted out of office and quickly become disgraced. If she bid her time too long, she risked a newly-risen political opponent trying their hand at knocking the big cheese off her pedestal. The game of politics was a long and complicated book, quite an irritating read to say the least. Alexandria wanted to skip that book and grab absolute power, but she knew that without proper conditions she could just as easily face a revolution and be overthrown.
And so Alexandria got lucky~ When the Nords invaded to try to overthrow her nation, she declared martial law and organized her army. Sylvania had faced its first crisis….and it provided the perfect opportunity to seize total control. The details are long and frivolous, but by utilizing heavy defensive tactics that wore the much larger and better-trained invading army down….she forced them to surrender. The Nordic Warlord, Agrias Rose, was brought before Alexandria expecting to have his head chopped off and his head carried throughout the land as a sign to what happens when he messes with Sylvania.
Instead…Alexandria married him to inherit his ancient claims to the Kingdom of Norway. Agrias’s older brother had taken over Norway in his absence, declaring himself the true heir to the Kingdom of his father. Agrias had nowhere to go and a large army that Alexandria sought to absorb. It was death by her hand....or marriage with benefits. It's not hard to see which side he chose.
With two large armies joined together in holy matrimony and her popularity at it’s highest height since Sylvania’s founding, Alexandria had everything she needed to declare the land an absolute monarchy, promising to rule over her kingdom justly as long as she lived. With Agrias as King, Alexandria as Queen, and young enough to provide the Kingdom with plenty of heirs, the stage was set for a new Empire to rise from the depths of the Pacific.
Even now, her calculating gaze ventures onward past the island and its borders. The entire world is laid out to her like an oyster and she has a vast army at her command. Should she turn her gaze East, the New World presents a wonderful land of opportunity just waiting for her to sink her fingers into it. Should she look Westward…the Kingdom of Norway is ripe for the taking and thanks to her husband she has the means to press a claim to it and claim it as her own. The rest of Europe is a strong land filled with many different monarchies and republics, impenetrable to attack from out of the blue. But with the right conditions....she might be able to force a concession favorable to her crown here and there~
Oh! And
Victoria_Rose happened sometime after the Kingdom’s founding. That’s wonderful too isn’t it?
