Great Aerah

Great Aerah (Suton: Magna Imperium Aerahcum; Aerahwut-Gezwut: Großartige Aeraschwinsüchle), occasionally but unofficially referred to as the Grand Empire of Aerah, was a multi-ethnic country in Western and Central Cleotacith that developed during the Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Ten Years War. The largest Kingdom of the empire was the Kingdom of Hurtzenberg, though it also included the neighboring Kingdom of Westfuren, plus numerous other Kingdoms and duchies, and soon after the Empire of Lehu was added. However, while by the 1300s the Empire was still in theory composed of three major blocks – Lehu, Hurtzenberg, and Von Righ – in practice, the links between these blocks had become so unsubstantial that only the Kingdom of Hurtzenberg remained, nearly all the Lehu kingdoms for instance unconnected to the Empire. The external borders of the Empire did not change noticeably from the Aerah-Valcavich Alliance, to the dissolution of the Empire. By then, it largely contained only Aerahwut-Gezwut speaking territories, plus the Kingdom of Westfuren. At the conclusion of the Ten Years War in 1806, most of what was left of Great Aerah was included in the Coalition Puppet of Aerah.

On 18 November 1016, Leonard I was crowned Emperor, reviving the title in Western Cleotacith, more than four centuries after the fall of the Empire of Nimskraus in the year 530. Many historians believed that the title of Emperor really derived from the Emperor of Caesulia, hinting at of course Emperor Gaius Aerahcus.

The exact term “Great Aerah” was not used until the 16th century, before which the empire was referred to variously as Imperii Ex Altera Nimscrasum (“Second Empire of Nimskraus”) but the Emperor's legitimacy always rested on the concept of legatum ex Nimscrasum, that he held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Nimskraus. The dynastic office of the Aerahwut Emperor was traditionally elective through the mostly Aerahwut Lord-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire; they would elect one of their peers as “King of Nimskraus” to be crowned emperor by the Arch-Bishop.

Emperor Francis III abdicated the throne on 2 May 1806 following the defeat at the battle of the River Coresco.