Samsonite Empire

Summary
The Samsonite Empire is considered to be synonymous with the Kingdom of the Samsonites, however, the Empire's foundation occurred de-facto in 277 AS, when The Samsonites invaded Aurelia (now Lycurgia), destroying their capital city and the Imperial regalia, making the Samsonite throne the most powerful on Elgenea both militarily and symbolically. Since that date, all Samsonite Monarchs have been called Kaiser (even after the Imperial Dissolution in 1955), and the various offices of the Government typically have the prefix "Imperial-Royal," in references to both the Kingdom and Empire of the Samsonites.

Naming & Demonyms
The nation is often also referred to as "Samsonia," however the demonym "Samsonian" has fallen out of favour since the Samsonite Civil War, as it carries ethnonationalist connotations related to the Samsonite Nationalist Party, which argued that non-ethnic Samsonians were to blame for much of the nation's failures in the First World War. Today, all citizens are called "Samsonites" regardless of the previous religious connotations of the word, and members of the various Churches of the Bannerlord are called "Samsonists."

History
The Empire's nearly 2000-year-long history is marked by several significant changes in structure, as well as a constant waxing and waning of Religious significance in its foreign policy and governance. Because the Samsonling Dynasty is treaty as having great religious importance due to their relation to the Great Bannerlord, Samson the Great, the Kaiser has typically been expected to act as a Religious official. This responsibility was abdicated by Kaiser Laurentz III, in the wake of various abuses of that power by his ancestors.

In 1644, the Empire was faced with a major Succession Crisis, which threatened to cause its dissolution. Laurentz III declared no heir in his will. Law dictated that his eldest son should have taken the throne. However, the Nobility supported his youngest son, Laurentz IV. After a two-year conflict, Laurentz IV took the throne, but only under the concession that Nobles be prohibited from keeping standing armies or levying their citizens.

War of Intrigue (1724-1727)
Less than a century later, in 1694, the Kingdom of Lycurgia, formerly ruled by Lysander II (A puppet of the Samsonlings), was killed in trial by combat by an Outlander marauder, by the name of Andor Andravis. Andravis then took the throne of Lycurgia himself, much to the alarm of the aging Kaiser Samson XII. Samson XII, unfortunately, grew very ill during this time and his heir Samson XIII was still too young for him to start a war that he would potentially have to pass on to his successor. So Andravis was permitted to lead the Lycurgans, for the time being. When Samson XIII took the throne in 1706, Andravis had begun restructuring Lycurgia, and alarmingly had started building his own standing armies. Samson XIII opposed this, but Samsonia's armies themselves were not ready for the task of fighting a war on Elgenea. So, Samson XIII feigned an alliance with Andravis under the pretense that both nations would invade the Slavic Confederacy to their south. Andravis agreed and took this as a sign that the Samsonites had acknowledged Lycurgan independence.

Meanwhile, Samson XIII arranged an alliance with the Chief of Karlilych, Dagor the Elder, who was the head of the Slavic Confederacy. They planned to keep this alliance secret until the first battle of the war, where the two forces would ambush Andravis's armies, to crush their advance into Translavia and hopefully weaken them enough for the Samsonite forces to retake Lycurgia themselves. At the Battle of Kladdek, when this trap was sprung, a very different turn of events occurred. Slavic Forces, still clinging to Medieval methods of combat, were slaughtered by Lycurgan fire while Samsonite Artillery was unable to acquire useful positioning to repel the Lycurgan infantry. Samsonite Imperial-Royal Cavaliers, however, dealt crushing blows to Lycurgan artillery, which postponed the Lycurgan advance into Translavia.

The War of Intrigue, as it came to be known, never came back to Northern Elgenea as the Samsonites had hoped, and instead remained bogged down in the Swamps and Bogs of Central Translavia, a climate incredibly alien to the Samsonite forces there, who frequently fell ill. At the final battle, the Siege of Karlilych, Samsonite and Slavic forces were able to ward off Lycurgan Sappers multiple times, but eventually exhausted their ammunition, prompting the Samsonite Marshal and much of the Infantry to withdraw from the City. The Cavaliers, and their general, Arnold von Dürkich, remained in the city and held out until the unexpected arrival of Samson XIII himself and a contingent of Reinforcements, including his own Mounted Guard, which broke through much of the Lycurgan forces in the North.

Shortly after their arrival, however, they were betrayed by the forces of Myaroszan chief Zarko Polyakov, who made a secret pact with Lycurgan Marshal E. L. Dorne to attack the Samsonite medical tents in the middle of the night in exchange for the ensured independence of his tribe. This betrayal caused the Samsonites to conduct a total withdrawal from Karlilych back to Samsonia, believing that the Slavs had betrayed them and that an invasion of their homeland would be imminent.

The War of Intrigue concluded in 1727, with the official independence of Lycurgia, now called Sasagia by Andravis, as well as the cession of Grunnerberg county from Samsonia, and the Kladdek, Mangate, Duzina, Karlilych, and Slohul tribes from the Slavic Confederacy. This greatly threw off the balance of power in Elgenea, prompting Samson XIII to dedicate the rest of his reign to reasserting Samsonite dominance on the world stage. At this point, Samsonia began its mass-colonisation spree, as the Crown began investing in thousands of colonial companies, which settled across Polania and Danelia, and especially in Norus, which was eventually found to be coal-rich, making it a critical province for Samsonia by the time the Industrial Revolution arrived at the end of his reign.

Following the reign of Samson XIII, Samsonia began greatly expanding its Navy to compete with the Esloran Republic, who dominated the oceans between Samsonia and Draecia. Additionally, they began greatly investing in the development of military technologies, culminating with the Exclusivity agreement between the Samsonite Government and Lothricsling Foundries (Now Lothricsling Industries), in 1788.

The Empire officially dissolved as a political entity in 1955, after the Samsonite Civil War and the resulting 2nd World War, as part of the practice of decolonisation among the Western powers. There is no official distinction between the two governments, however, meaning that all Samsonite Laws and offices still exist today, including the title of Kaiser, which serves as the chief diplomatic representative of the state to the World Congress.