History
Loundres has been inhabited by the native Londer (think cornish) people since recorded history. Written history begins in the year 56 AD, when the majority of the nation was unified under Petroc the Great. Petroc introduced the first written form of the Londer language, using the hebrew alphabet to do so. He and his court converted to judaism for a short amount of time, however his attempts to introduce the jewish religion to his realm failed, and all attempts by his son were quickly given up. After Petroc’s death, his chiefdom shattered into pieces, and the nation went back to a mess of petty chiefdoms.
The nation was only firmly united 400 years later, when the tribe of Branok the Elder swept across the land in an orgy of conquest, uniting all the Londer people for the first time. Branok attempted to solidify his control over the region by forcibly integrating the various sects of the pagan faiths (the original religion of the Londer people) and proclaiming himself Son of Lichten, and thus the rightful ruler of the world, but his attempts failed spectacularly, and he was soon ousted from his throne by angry rebels.
His son, Cadan the Good, rose to the throne, and attempted to revert his father’s changes to the nation’s faith. His attempts made him a popular lord, and an era of stability settled over Loundres, experiencing a golden age of culture, art and worship. Many of Loundres’ most famous artefacts come from this era. However, that peace was shattered when Cadan’s Chiefdom was attacked by an invading force, which (though repelled) brought bloody ruin over the people. Cadan died of an infection caused by an arrow shot through his leg.
The region experienced relatively generic history from that point on for around 700 years. Lords rose to the throne, died and so forth. But the history of Loundres was changed forever in 1208, when a wandering traveller walked into the Chiefdom. There, he sought an audience with the Lord of the Region, Edern the Convert, and confessed that he was there to attempt to convert the Londer people to the good word of his god he called Christ. Edern, a doubtful and cynical man, simply laughed in the man’s faith, and challenged him to prove his faith. The traveller was stoned by the Edern’s court, yet the stones left no mark on the man. He was told to sleep in a bed of hot coals, yet woke the next morning with not a mark on him. The soles of his feet were cut, and he was made to dance in a pit of salt, yet he uttered not one cry of pain. Edern became fearful of the man’s faith and supernatural ability, and dragged him before his court in chains. There, he denounced the man’s faith, swearing that he, chosen of Lichten, would never convert to his “Christian” faith, and ordered him banished from his lands.
Edern spent the next decade tossing and turning in bed from fear, however he gradually forgot about the man and his divine protection. Till one day, when riding through a forest, alone and on a hunt for a bear, his horse tripped over a rock, breaking its leg and Edern’s too. The horse died slowly in great pain, for Edern was unable to drag himself over to put it out of its misery. As night set in, Edern knew that the creatures of the night would pounce on and devour him, and he trembled in fear. He had no gods to pray to, for the god of Licten, lord of Bears, would not bless the unsuccessful hunter. In his desperation, he remembered the traveller and his God, who had so terrified him over a decade ago. In desperation and forlorn hope, he prayed to the Lord for deliverance, but none came. Cursing the names of all the gods, Lichteni or not, he prepared himself for death, and drifted off to sleep.
He was awoken by a growl, and opened his eyes to see a bear eyeing him from afar. He knew his death would be imminent, for Lichten himself had come to devour him alive. The bear circled, overtly cautious for one of its kind, until eventually it lunged. Edern closed his eyes, hoping that the first bite would kill him so he would not be eaten alive. He felt a spray of blood, warm and coppery, but felt no pain. He was alive, yet he felt no pain?
He opened his eyes, and the bear stared back. Yet the eyes were flat and dead, like a doll’s. No life dwelt in them, none of the savage rage that all bears possessed. Only silence. And underneath the bear, sword buried in its chest, was the traveller that Edern had banished so long ago. And Edern wept grew tears then, and he knew the Good Word. Despite the pain he had put the traveller through, despite the insults and curses he had flung at his God, despite his promise never to convert, the man who loved God loved him enough to risk his life to save him.
Edern returned to his court a changed man. No more was he vain and cynical, but he was zealous and compassionate. He built church after church within Loundres, praising God for every stone placed. He devoted his soul into the word of God, sharing it with his people. He elevated the Chiefdom from what it was to a Kingdom under God, spending lavishly on his people’s happiness out of his own pockets. Christianity took a while to settle over Loundres,though paganism never quite gave up .
The Kingdom stayed pretty neatly as it was for half a century, the only conflict being over who was the true King between claimants that would often end quickly.
However, in 1789, revolution shook the nation as, outraged by the King’s failure to effectively manage the nation’s funds resulting in a popular revolution against him. The king’s castle was seized, and the royal family was banished. The First Republic of Loundres was declared, and a democratic constitution was written up and adopted by all parts of the nation.
The people thought themselves free, however in 1801, just over two decades later, General Kea, head of the army, lead an coup on the Presidential Palace, seizing power in an event that would become known as the Officer’s Coup. A dictatorship was established, with the constitution abolished. The Second Republic of Loundres was declared, though the democratic institutions of its former self had been erased.
However, in 1828, soldiers fired on a student protest in the capital city. They were protesting the corruption of the government, its lack of democracy and the power the army wielded. What started out as a peaceful protest erupted into violence as protesters armed themselves and fired back on the army. Despite the odds, the students, joined by city goers who sympathised with their cause, managed to drive out the army, and seized control of the central city. The city remained divided for about a month, until the army finally crushed the student’s forces and masacreed their supporters. Outraged at the brutal acts of the army, revolutionary fervour leapt like wildfire across the nation. Arms were taken up, and the state was quickly overwhelmed. The Second Republic was abolished, and the Third Republic was declared, the constitution of the First Republic modified and used.
In 1848, a man by the name of Jorji Mawgan was born to a peasant family in the country. He worked in an orchard, till, at the age of 18, he claimed to have received visions from God and from John the Baptist. The visions told him that the established Christian canon was a lie, Christ was not a son of God, that was a lie invented by those who claimed to follow him to gain their own power. Then John the Baptist ordered he write down what he was dictated to, recording what he was told in the “Tekst”, a book that combines the true events of John the Baptist’s life; the revelations Jorji received; the Teachings of God; and all interwoven with subtle moral messages on how to live your life. Jorji was ordered to spread this word and truth to all the people of the world, and so he set out.
He took the name of John, in respect for the Baptist who had set out the path he would walk. He left home with only a stick and the clothes on his back, preaching to all who would listen about the new faith he brought with him. He called his faith the Avowansow, and those that followed it Konfessoren. He amassed a small following, before being jailed by the Third Republic. He preached from jail, and was released, preaching to all he could.
He died in 1901, but not before he had gathered a congregation of several thousand, mostly in the south. He was on a hill, next to an oak tree, which is now where John’s Cathedral sits. The new head of the Avowansow Church, Jago Austell organised waves of missionaries to convert the people, but it was only in 1948, in the eighth wave, where it started to catch on. By 1958, the amount of practising Konfessoren had doubled, and by 1968 that number had increased ten fold. By 1991, over half the population had converted, with almost everyone in the south being a convert, and tensions were rising between the more Secular dominant north and Avowansow dominated south.
Increasing pressure between the two religious groups grew exacerbated in 2001, when the Third Republic’s senate banned religious organisations from having political parties. Despite tensions rising, the Republic looked to be fine. However in 2001, the head of the Avowansow church died, and Enyon, a zealot, was raised to the position. In 2005, he revealed a revelation that clarified that though it was wrong for a Konfessor to harm another Konfessor, it was not a sin to harm or even kill an unbeliever. In 2015, he began to buy arms for the Church. He continued his critique of the Republic throughout, pointing out how hell awaited them for the sins they committed but never confessed to.