History of Vale

The history of Vale dates back about 12,000 years, to the end of the last ice age, with the earliest evidence of human inhabitation.

Prehistory

The earliest archaeological findings in Vale date back to the Eem interglacial period from 130,000–110,000 BC. Denmark has been inhabited since around 12,500 BC and agriculture has been evident since 3900 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age (1800–600 BC) in Vale was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings including lurs and the Sun Chariot.

During the most recent glacial period the entire Vale peninsula is under a sheet of ice. As the ice cap begins to withdraw, about 12,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers move north in pursuit of reindeer. The living survivors of the hunter-gatherers in these regions are the Eskimos, who today herd rather than hunt reindeer. Their language, Inuktitut, is unique, composed of Inuktitut syllabics.

Archaeology provides rich traces of Vale prehistory, from the neolithic period (c.2500 BC) to the Bronze Age (c.1500 BC) and into the Iron Age (c.400 BC). Objects found in tombs show strong trading links with the Roman civilization to the south. But the Valois finds also include rarities preserved by the tannin in peat bogs - among them a wooden cart and the bodies of sacrificial victims from about 2000 years ago, now in the National Museum in Lutèce. In the centuries immediately before the earliest written records, the people of this northern peninsula feature prominently in the history of their southern neighbours - through their strong inclination to move away from home in warlike mood.

Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Vale and much of North-West Europa and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron.

Antiquity

In the period of Kobol History known as Antiquity, Vale was divided into two territories, separated by the Dorne strait. The Roman established a city on the strait they called Lutetia which gave its name to present-day Lutèce. The Romans called the province of southern Vale as Herulia. Romans defeated two armies led by the kings of the Cambri and Teuton tribes, pushing futher north, east and south other Germanic tribes, winning a long but decisive campaign in Herulia. They established the Roman province with Lutetia as its capital.

The local tribess mixed with Roman settlers and eventually adopted Roman speech (Latin, from which the Valois language evolved) and Roman culture. The Roman polytheism merged with Germanic paganism into the same syncretism. In 212, the emperor Constantin I converted to Christianity. Christians, persecuted until then, increased rapidly across the entire Roman Empire. From the 250s to the 280s AD, Herulia suffered a serious crisis with its "limes" or fortified borders protecting the Empire being attacked on several occasions by barbarians. Germanic tribes, such as the Vandals, Suebi and Alans crossed the Egdor and settled in Herulia, Belgae and other parts of the collapsing Roman Empire.

At the end of the Antiquity period, ancient Herulia was conquered by the Nordic tribes, coming from the lands called Vallis (Vale in Latin). The Norsemen adopted Romanic languages, even if Roman settlements were less dense and but did so due to the massive arrival of Gallo-Romans, fleeing the Germanic settlement of Gaul, arriving in masses in Herulia, following the rumors that it hadn't fallen yet and was organizing a resistance.

Norman Age

From the 4th to the 8th century, the Valois, were known mostly as Normans. They colonised, raided, and traded in all parts of Europa. Norman explorers first discovered Iceland by accident in the 6th century, on the way towards the Faroe Islands and eventually came across Acadia, known today as Newfoundland, a commonwealth of Canada. The Normans were most active in the United Kingdoms and Northern Europa.

The earliest date given for a Norman raid is 387 AD when, according to the Celtic Chronicle, a group of men from Vallis sailed to the Isle of Portland in Dorset. There, they were mistaken for merchants by a royal official. They murdered him when he tried to get them to accompany him to the king's manor to pay a trading tax on their goods. The beginning of the Norman Age in the Celtic Isles is, however, often given as 393. It was recorded in the Celtic Chronicle that the Normans raided the important island monastery of Lindisfarne.

In 394, according to the Annals of Ulster, there was a serious attack on Lindisfarne's mother-house of Iona, which was followed in 395 by raids upon the northern coast of Ireland. From bases there, the Norsemen attacked Iona again in 402, causing great slaughter amongst the Céli Dé Brethren, and burning the abbey to the ground. The clinker-built longships used by the Valois were uniquely suited to both deep and shallow waters. They extended the reach of Norse raiders, traders and settlers along coastlines and along the major river valleys of Europa.

The end of the Norman Age is traditionally marked in England by the failed invasion attempted by the Norman king Harald III, who was defeated by Celtic King Gwilherm Botterill in 668 at the Battle of Stamford Bridge; in Ireland, the capture of Dublin by Strongbow and his Hiberno-Norman forces in 771; and 863 in Scotland by the defeat of King Hákon Hákonarson at the Battle of Largs by troops loyal to Alexander III. Scotland took its present form when it regained territory from the Norse between the 7th and the 9th centuries; the Western Isles and the Isle of Man remained under Valois authority until 866. Orkney and Shetland belonged to the 'King of Normandy' as late as 1069. In Vale, the Norman age is considered to have ended with the unification of Vale and the foundation of the Kingdom of Vale, uniting Herulia and Normandy in 894.

Two Kingdoms

Before the unification, two kingdoms distinguished themselves in the region, notably the Kingdom of Herulia and the Kingdom of Normandy.

Kingdom of Vale

Unification

The kingdom has no specific founding date. It emerged from the gradual unification of the various kingdoms of Vallis into Normandy and the personal union which followed between Normandy and Herulia in 894. The newly formed Kingdom, under King Charles V, saw the rise of reforms to improve the kingdom, fearing invasions from Germania. Charles V sought for the Valois people to unite through faith and great national projects. It was the start of nationalism in Vale and Europa, while most Europeans identified themselves through Christianity firstly.

Charles V created the position of Hand of the King, which was occupied by Edvin Falk, a Norman warrior, while Charles V himself was Herulian. The Hand of the King was the medieval form of a modern Prime Minister. Although still an absolute monarchy, it was the first time in European history a monarch willingly ceded some of his powers to an underlying. Charles V declared: "The interests of the state come first. When one gives these priority, one labours for one's own good. These advantage to the state redounds to one's glory.".

Among Charles V's great project, the uniformisation and standardisation of the Valois language was one of the most important, along with the creation of a Valois faith: Manitism. Vale has remained in political unity ever since.

Religion

Manitism is the combination of Norse, Montagnais and Eskimo mythology and local religions with Herulian Christianity and values. It was part of a syncretist unification process, avoiding a war on religions and the raids from both communities like centuries and like the inquisitions in the rest of Europa.

Despite being Herulian, Charles V was very fond of the Norman culture and traditions. He believed it would be beneficial for both people if they could learn from each other and co-operate. Charles V founded the Office of the Faith and based it in former Norman territory, in the Norman town of today's Villevieille. The Office of the Faith later became the Church of Vale. Charles V was especially influenced by his friend, the theologian and philosopher Rórdán Nolan. Nolan re-interpreted the Bible and taught his beliefs to Charles V and the Valois court. Widely opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, Charles V is assassinated by a Christian extremist in 910. His son and successor, Louis II, aged only of 19, followed his father's policies and kept Falk as Hand. He was educated by Nolan all his life and officially declared Manitism the official religion of Vale, after the official guidelines of the faith were written in Villevielle in 932.

Language

Main article: Valois language

Although most peasants in Vale spoke local dialects from the Old Norse in Normandy and from a mix of Latin and Old German in Herulia, an official language emerged in Lutèce and the Valois language became the preferred language of Europa's aristocracy and the national and sole language of Vale.

Because of its status as the language to unite Vale and to be an international language, there was a desire to regulate the Valois language. Several reforms of the Valois language worked to make it more uniform. Writer François Rabelais (b. 994) helped to shape Valois as a literary language, Rabelais' Valois is characterised by the re-introduction of Thrassian, Iberian and Latin words. Jacques Peletier du Mans (born 1017) was one of the scholars who reformed the Valois language. He improved Nicolas Chuquet's long scale system by adding names for intermediate numbers ("milliards" instead of "thousand million", etc.).

The progressive dominion exerted by Lutèce over Vale in as much as it gained political power throughout centuries, contributed to the expansion of its language at the expenses of the rest. That has affected in different degrees the territories where other languages are spoken, such as most of the lands of Vallis, Borealis, Normandy and Lacus. The consequences vary; an advanced language shift affects some regions, for example most of continental Vale's native linguistic varieties are now entirely extinct or close to extinction, whereas in other areas, such as Svalbard or the Faroe Islands, the strong link between identity, geography and local language has contributed to their better preservation.

Expansionism

Samuel de Champlain left the port of Lutèce in 904 and founded Acadia. Four years later, he founded Quebec City. From then onwards, Valois engaged in a policy of expansion in North Aegia. They continued exchanges with the Western continent: René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle travelled in the area of the Great Lakes, then on the Mississippi River. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Lemoyne de Bienville founded Louisiana, Biloxi, Mobile and New Lutece. Territories located between Quebec and the Mississippi Delta were opened up to establish Missouri and Orléans. Colonists from Normandy were among the most active Europeans in North Aegia. Lutèce and Neuilly were two of the principal slave trade ports of Vale.

Herulian map of the "known world" drawn in 906

In 960, Vale under Louis III, successfully invaded Numidia after a long campaign and declared it a Valois protectorate. It put into power a puppet governor in favor of Valois rule and Numidia was protected from the growing Arabia and Egypt in the East. Fearing the new Manitist religion and Vale as a major power, many European power allied against Vale, leading to the Great Northern War.

The Great Northern War was fought between a coalition of Russia, Germania and Saxony-Poland on one side and Vale on the other side from 1000 to 1021. It started by a coordinated attack on Vale by the coalition in 1000 and ended 1021 with the conclusion of the Treaty of Sienne and the Lutèce treaties. As a result of the war, Russia supplanted Vale as the dominant power on the Baltic Sea and became a major player in European politics.

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The Blur

The History of Vale contains a period ranging from 1120 to 1394 known as the Blur. This period of history is characterized by a lack of solid historical evidences and archives about Vale and is full of holes, smaller or larger. The Lemarque thesis suggests that a political civil war occurred during that time and Vale emerged through the ideas of enlightenment as a Republic. The Beauregard thesis proposes instead that Vale was hit by a severe plague of Black Death, like most of continental Europa, such as Germania, which has records of Valois ships with plague on board.

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Valois Empire

Main article: Valois Empire

In 1394, Napoleon Bonaparte, general of the Royal Armies, seized control of the Kingdom becoming Emperor of the Valois Empire. His reforms and ideas, called Bonapartism, became popular in Europa, which sparked declarations of war by the European monarchies against Napoleon's Empire, fearing his growing power. His armies conquered most of continental Europa, while members of the Bonaparte family were appointed as monarchs in some of the newly established kingdoms. At his death in 1428, his cousin succeeded him as Emperor, taking the name Napoleon II. Napoleon III succeeded Napoleon II in 1460. Napoleon II expanded the Vale Empire to the North and East, conquering ???. As of Napoleon III, he conquered the Baltic states and the United Kingdoms.

These victories led to the worldwide expansion of Valois imperial ideals and reforms, such as the Metric system, the Napoleonic Code and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. After the catastrophic Russian campaign, Napoleon III was defeated by the Slavs and Russians and the Valois monarchy restored. About a million Valois died during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon did have some successes: he strengthened Valois control over Numidia, established bases in Africa, began the takeover of Indochina, and opened trade with China. He facilitated a Valois company building the Suez Canal, which Germania could not stop.

Colonial Empire

Main article: Valois Colonial Empire

Civil War

Main article: Vale Civil War

In the 1510's, various organizations, including some advocating armed uprising, competed for the public's support in bringing about political change and removing the monarchy. In 1516, Louis Riel and about 80 other rebels launched a failed attempt to start a rebellion against the government. It was not until 1519 that the Riel rebellion emerged as the leading revolutionary group. By late 1519, the rebels broke out of the Nordic Mountains and launched a general popular insurrection. It was the beginning of the Vale Civil War.

The rebellion became more widespread; battles raged not only for territories but also for the allegiance of cross-sections of the population. Germania aided the Bonapartists with massive economic loans and weapons but no combat support. The Bonapartists' retreated more and more to historical Normandy.

Belatedly, the Imperial government sought to enlist popular support through internal reforms. The effort was in vain, however, because of rampant government corruption and the accompanying political and economic chaos. By late 1528 the Imperial position was bleak. The demoralized and undisciplined Imperial troops proved to be no match for the motivated and disciplined Republican militias, earlier known as the Riel Army. The Republicans were well established in the north and northwest.

Although the Bonapartists had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the long war with Russia and in-fighting among various generals. They were also losing the propaganda war to the Republicans, with a population weary of Imperial corruption and yearning for peace.

After the fighters captured Rigaud, only a few kilometres from the capital, Marois fled from Baie-Saint-Paul on 1 January 1532 to exile in Canada. Louis Riel's forces entered the capital on 8 January 1532. Between April and November, major cities passed from Bonapartist to Riel control with minimal resistance. In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Republican influence long before the cities. Finally, on 1 October 1532, Republicans founded the Republic of Vale. The remains of the Imperial forces commanded were beaten in Roquefort and were evacuated in the autumn of 1533.

Many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Valois Empire and fought in the war. A number of them – Prussia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Valois colonies – were established as sovereign states. The rest of the former Valois Empire was consolidated into the Republic of Vale shortly afterwards. Louis Riel became the provisional president and was elected a year after in the first elections of the new Republic until 1548.

Third Tiberium War

Main article: Vale in the Third Tiberium War

Revolution

Main article: Valois Revolution

The Valois Revolution was a period of intense change in the Republic of Vale in the early 1660s, characterized by the effective transition of political systems in Vale, and the rise of the Eska doctrine around Kobol. The Valois Revolution was a period of unbridled economic and social development in Vale and paralleled the Tiberium Wars. It can also be credited for the rise of a new Valois nationalism, which remains a controversial topic in modern Vale society.

Neutral Power

Invasion of Russia

1663

Invasion of Germany

1664-1665

Extrakobolian contacts

Main article: First Contact

Kobol's first contact with an alien culture, the ??? race in Bozeman, Montana on 15 November 1665 after their attention is diverted by scientist Zefram Cochrane performing humanity's first FTL flight. The anniversary of the day is celebrated in most of Kobol and called "First Contact Day".

Valois incident

The Valois incident was a diplomatic incident between Vale and the ??? race. On 17 November 1665, a ??? diplomat was arrested in Baie-Saint-Paul. The unnamed diplomat was arrested for entering illegally Valois territory, espionage, and threatening national security and Valois health, but released five months later due to international pressure. He was eventually deported back to the ??? spaceship on 22 April 1666, on Kobol Day.

End of the War

1674

World governance

Main article: United States of Kobol

Modern History

Since the end of the Tiberium Wars, the Vale governments have financed a wide variety of projects to recover the Great Data Loss of the Blur historical period. From these projects, the cultural identity of Vale has flourished once again with great discoveries, notably in music with Evangeline or La censure pour l'echafaud. The discovery of these two important political songs created a certain rivalry and tension with Canada because of the historical archivist researches that followed.

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