The Story of Souls: A Sweboz AAR

[Olaf Blackeyes]

And now a special treat for everyone.

A political history of Germania.
The Early Years
By Prof. Val Herbing
University of Ohio c.1987
The early years of the Kingdom of Germania were not easy. For most of the time until the Event, this land was a patchwork of tribal kingdoms and feuding tribes and clans. Heruwulfaz, or the Great Battle Wolf, took his tribe, the Sueni, or in their tongue Swebozez, to the "heights" of power in the mid 260s and early 250s. Even so the tribes did not become "one" until well after his death in 241BC at the hands of the Romans. This event so enraged the tribes that they marched as one to Rome itself and sacked it, as Brennus of old once did. Even though they never did fully defeat the Romans the war set them on the path to "unity".
This "unity" however was still one of tribes to a ruler and not one of a people to a ruler. This coupled with the early Germania tradition of splitting ones holdings amongst ALL of ones sons made this state at best a loose confederacy of tribes. This tradition continued for many generations, allowing for gradual Roman rather than German domination of Gaul and other parts of Europe. This was due to near constant civil war and successor wars amongst the family of the Royal Tribe of the Germans. When the current High King died there was a dividing of the tribes amongst his most powerful children. In many cases this resulted in war and bloodshed, but in a few the younger or less powerful siblings allowed the highest amongst them to take the throne. However with war a near constant the People of Germania began to look for a better way to establish rules of inheritance. The most obvious solution was, of course, to have fewer children. However this was also dangerous due to the unpredictability of life in the forests of ancient Germania. In a few cases the royal line had to be passed down the female part because the sons had all died off or been killed. While dangerous this policy also allowed more female participation in the the political process, a major part of which was fighting and killing stuff. By the year 50AD It was common to see the daughters of the previous High King take the challenges for the throne as well as his sons, including female warriors in the line of battle.
The Year 59AD saw a significant shift in the equation however. The Teutons and the Cimbrii tried to overthrow the rule of the Royal Tribe. When this plot failed the current High King did something no other had ever dared consider to do, he Outlawed both of the tribes. Not wanting to be killed for their lands and goods of course the tribes banded together and migrated out of the forests. This began a cycle where when the new High King/Queen was crowned they Outlawed many of their former rivals, in some cases entire tribes. This sparked a period of migration among the displaced tribes.
The greatest, and final, of these migrations was after the attempted overthrow of the High King Ashruz in 360AD. This combined with the Hunnic incursions inspired almost 2/3s of the German tribes to migrate to safer and greener pastures. The previous invasions had usually been destroy or absorbed by a massively strong Roman Empire. However by this time the Empire had been broken in half, the Greek East and the Latin West. In addition to that The Eastern Empire was a hodgepodge of Greeks, Semitics, Persians, and various steppe peoples. So many of the tribes went for the weakest provinces of the weakened Empire. The Saxons, Angles and Jutes invaded Britain, the Alemmanii, tried to hit Northern Italy but were repulsed. However the biggest upset came when the Goths obliterated three full legions of the Eastern Empire at Adrianople in 378AD and killed the Emperor Valens. The utter chaos that was left in the wake of this battle allowed for nearly all of the German tribes to migrate into the Eastern Empire and take a HUGE part of it. The Goths continued until they hit Egypt, the Lombard's took Syria, the Alemmanii took the eastern Balkans and, in a very bold, but successful move, the Vandals stole a Roman fleet and invaded North Africa. The Roman garrisons there, having faced nothing but Berber tribes for centuries, were shocked and quickly destroyed by the Vandals.
The next 6 years were consumed by the utter chaos and insanity of the Hunnic Wars. The Germans played a pivotal role in those wars. After it was over, the Germans crowned a new High Queen, Mezthenalza. The reason it went over so smoothly was the fact that the Huns had killed all of her other family during the wars. However once again a tribe tried to overthrow her. This time it was the Franks, one of the most powerful, if not THE most powerful tribe at that time. They were defeated however and decided to migrate as well. They invaded much of northern and central Gaul, which had been effectively depopulated by the Huns. However the Romans defeated and subjugated the Franx in a great battle with their subjects of the Armorican tribe of Celts. After this disaster, Queen Mezthenalza decided to do away with many of the old traditions, including the tradition of splitting up your family estates amongst all of your heirs. She decreed it illegal to do so and establish a new tradition, passing all of your lands and family to your Eldest born or eldest surviving child. After this the internal conflicts nearly ceased amongst the Tribes of Germania. However due to so many previous wars and conflicts the lands of Germania would take a LONG time to recover. By the years just prior to the event, however, Germania was once again a fully fledged power in its own right. Of course, like so many others, all of this changed with the Event.