Kingdom of Aquileia





Battle of the Three Kings
Little of Aquileia's history before the 8th century is known, beyond it being one of the oldest civilizations on the continent, existing long before the birth of the Griffonian Empire.

In 705 ALB, Grover I defeated the Kings of both Aquileia and Kingdom of Wingbardy, unifying the major powers of the continent under the Griffonian Empire, with Kaiser Grover I at its head.

Rebellion Against the Empire
In 785 ALB, Grover I dies and Grover II takes the throne. Grover II lacked the diplomatic skill and ability his predecessor had and as a result many expected the Griffonian Empire to fall apart. The Discrets led Aquileia in a rebellion against the Empire the day after Grover I's death, expecting many kingdoms, duchies and counties in the Empire to follow.

However, the Discrets underestimated the Empire as the Imperial Army was still incredibly powerful and Grover II while lacking in diplomatic skill, had great military ability. The rebelling forces would suffer several crushing defeats and several cities including Vyzima were burned to the ground.

With the defeats in the field and Aquileia getting destroyed. The Discrets overthrew their King who started the rebellion and sent him as a prisoner to the Griffonian Empire where he would be personally beaten to death by Grover II. Aquileia would soon rejoin the Griffonian Empire and the rebellion was over.

In order to ensure a similar disastrous rebellion would not happen again, the Discrets attempted to get a marriage alliance with Grover II. The proposal was accepted and the marriage of Grover II and Princess Giselda Discret would occur in the ruins of the Temple of Arcturius in Aquila. Giselda's diplomatic skills would help Grover II secure his reign but it would earn the eternal ire of Aquileia on the Grover dynasty.

The Aquileian Kingdom
In 964 ALB, Emperor Grover IV died of a stroke, giving the throne to a young, inexperienced, ten-years-old Grover V, a regency was then established to rule over the Griffonian Empire.

In 971 ALB, Wingbardy became the first nation to officially secede from the Empire, beginning the empire's collapse. Aquileia followed soon after. Aquileia was established as a Kingdom by King Gerad Discret. Much of the land was given to his vassals, all relatives or close friends. Initially stable, the Kingdom quickly groaned under unrest, debt, and famine.

The First Revolution
In 980, in the wake of the Griffonian Republic, griffons disgruntled with the ruling Discret dynasty, which had recently declared its independence from the crumbling Empire, launched an uprising aimed at ousting the king from power. To the surprise of many, it succeeded, and for five years, Aquileia was a republic under the leadership of Théodore Vérany. However, many subjects such as County of Greifwald and  Pomovarra broke free in the chaos and declared independence.

Life under the Republic largely improved as famine gradually decreased and the economy stabilised. Griffons today talk fondly of this "Golden Age".

The Reign of Terror
However, in 985, a group of monarchist officers and nobles led by Maréchal Albert Berthelot launched a counter-revolution which quickly defeated the republican resistance and returned the Discrets to the throne of Aquileia. What followed was later called the Reign of Terror - a wide-reaching purge of republican and democratic sympathisers. Some managed to escape to various foreign countries, including Equestria.

With the rule of King Moriset Discret still shaky, and most of the country opposed to his rule, the monarchist government had no choice but to maintain some of the newly gained rights and freedoms of the common griffon. In order to bring the Kingdom under control, the King granted more autonomy to the duchies and counties of Aquileia, placing his relatives in charge.

A Second Revolution?
Today, the King sits uneasy on his throne. The republican spirit lives on throughout the country and the King only weakly controls his vassals. The country sits on a knife edge, with various factions fighting for the outcome.

Revolutionary Factions
With various parties and groups forming an uneasy alliance against the monarchy, two main factions have came out as the leaders of the movement.

The first one is an urban-based, liberal Front des Jeunes Aquileia (Young Aquileia Front) headed by a veteran of the first revolution, Théodore Vérany.

The second party is the communist Partie Aquileian Travailleurs (Aquileilan Worker’s Party) It is split into two factions
 * The moderate faction lead by Cécile Gaudreau, wanting to implement a socialist welfare state with a mixed economy;
 * And the radical faction headed by Victor Allard - having fought in the Stalliongradian revolution, his ideology has been shaped by the thoughts of Steel Stallion and Sinister Serov, and he is determined to rapidly build a strong state in order to deal with the reactionaries once and for all.

Monarchist Faction
The strongest monarchist is of course, The King himself, ''Moriset Discret. ''Although he only weakly controls the country, that is more than can be said for anyone else, and he has a loyal core of supporters. But perhaps most importantly, he is willing to implement a Second Reign of Terror if needed.

Starting Situation
Aquileia starts as a regional power, with a very modest industry, totaling 14, with a ponypower pool of 30.58k griffons, and standing army of 12 divisions, though very well trained and experienced in combat, most notably, the Knights. The Aquileian Navy is small, only made up of 11 ships, including one Battlecruiser, along with a small air force of 90 planes on par with those of the Griffonian Empire and Wingbardy. By annexing its vassals, Aquileia can quickly become an industrial power, reaching 34 factories without additional buildings being built. The tech Aquileia possesses is also weak, barely having anything more than the regular infantry, support equipment and artillery, along with the earliest planes possible.

Threats and Opportunities

 * Griffonian Empire: A dangerous threat to the Aquileian nation, the Griffonian Empire can outmatch Aquileia in almost any way, the best course of action would be going down the Revolution path and then Harmonic one, forming an Entente against the growing Empire, or one would need to act very early, though with very crude technology, to defeat the Empire.
 * Kingdom of Wingbardy: Stronger than Aquileia in any way at the start of the game, Wingbardy possesses a faction right on the Aquileian borders, allowing easy access for an invasion, Wingbardy has the choice to wage war against Aquileia by going down the communist path. Aqueilia will also seek to regain Tarrin from County of Francistria, who starts in the Karthinian Pact with Wingbardy.
 * County of Greifwald, City of Flowena,  Pomovarra,  Free Territory of Adelart,  House Erie,  House Avian and  Township of Fezera: These nations are the Aquileian Périphérie, former Aquileian territories that had since been lost, and are the main targets of Aquileia's expansion no matter which path Aquileia goes down. All political paths will receive war goals and opportunities to core these territories once they've reached 40% Compliance. They pose little danger to Aquileia, though some of them may ally with the Empire. Other times some have the choice to cooperate with Aquileia instead.
 * Skyfall Trade Federation, Griffonian Republic: Depending on the political path taken, Skyfall and the Griffonian Republic will either be a loyal ally or a potential target for conquest.

The Second Aquileian Revolution


The Second Aquileian Revolution is the first major political event in any Aquileia playthrough. The first section of the focus tree for both the Monarchist ("The Second Reign of Terror" → "To Kill An Idea") and the Republican ("Fight For Your Freedom!" → "The Second Republic") focus trees focuses solely on managing the revolution.

Upon taking the first focus in the focus tree, ("The Second Reign of Terror" or "Fight For Your Freedom!"), a countdown of 365 days will start, and the revolution will begin when it expires. When the player takes a focus involving influencing the state of revolutionaries/monarchists in one of Aquileia's vassal states ( Barony of Pridea, Duchy of Rila,  Duchy of Vinovia, and  Marquisate of Westkeep), a corresponding decision screen showing the state of the revolutionaries in that vassal state will be unlocked. The relative monarchist and republican supports in each vassal state will be shown, alongside decisions to boost the support of the faction the player has aligned with.

The player will not have enough time to complete all focuses in the first section of their focus trees; when the revolution begins, all focuses in this section will be bypassed. As such, the player should prioritize focuses to make the revolution or counter-revolution as easy as possible.

Focuses in the revolution section grant many different bonuses, including additional friendly forces when the revolution begins, additional support to their faction in the vassal states, or for the Republicans, a chance to capture and execute King Moriset when the revolution starts. When the revolution begins, the vassal states with a majority support for the player's faction will remain on Aquileia's side, and the other vassal states will declare war on Aquileia. Winning this war will conclude the revolution and begin the next phase of the focus tree.

If the player manages to make their faction's support a majority in all four vassal states, then the revolution/counterrevolution will be immediately completed, averting the war and immediately progressing the player to the next phase of their focus tree.

L'Ordre Nouveau


All Aquileian political paths, aside from Théodore Vérany's path, share decisions to establish puppet states across Griffonia, should Aquileia conquer these territories. However, not all political paths grant war goals on all Griffonian territories, so manual war justification is needed for a continental conquest in these paths.

For all political paths aside from Théodore Vérany's path, the decision Proclaim The Empire's Defeat will be unlocked in this tab after annexing all of the Herzland region. The decision unlocks the post-Herzland focus tree of the player's political path, and will release a puppet Herzland state in the Herzland region, though some political paths will keep some Herzland territories for Aquilisation.

For Théodore Vérany, Vérany is a pan-Griffonian Republican in the vein of Alexander Kemerskai, and his equivalent decision to unlock the post-Herzland focus tree is instead named Hoist the Tricoluor. Being a pan-Griffonian, he also won't set up any regional Griffon puppet states.

Aquilisation & Herzland Blues


Vivienne and Rodier's political paths can unlock Aquilisation decisions to convert non-Aquileian parts of Griffonia into the Aquileian culture and core these territories.

Every state will need to go through three separate phases, while this proccess is taking effect you will lose political power so it may be worth saving up to do multiple states at once.

The Tarrin Situation
The region of Tarrin, currently owned by the County of Francistria, is a historically Aquileian region that was claimed and later annexed by Francistria during the Aquileian Revolution of 980. By 1007, the region is rife with Republican Tarrin separatists, who are seeking to secede from Francistria, create the independent Republic of Tarrin, and possibly rejoin a Republican Aquileia.

Should Tarrin separatists declare independence on its own, it may join Aquileia willingly, or declare war on Aquileia if Tarrin is Republican but Aquileia is Monarchist.

If Tarrin does not secede, all political paths in Aquileia will receive the option to demand Tarrin from Francistria; should the demand be refused, Aquileia will be able to launch a series of border wars to reclaim them, which may escalate into an all-out war between Francistria (and likely the Karthinian Pact) and Aquileia.

National Focus
The Aquileian Focus Tree consists of four trees at game start: the mutually exclusive monarchist and republican political trees (The Second Reign of Terror and Fight For Your Freedom!), an industrial tree (Finish the Coltbert Reforms), and a military tree (Aquileian Remilitarisation).

At the start of the game, only the political trees are unlocked. The industrial tree is unlocked when the Second Aquileian Revolution has finished. The military tree is unlocked if the Second Aquileian Revolution has begun or if it has finished through decisions.

The Second Reign of Terror (Non-Aligned)
The first section of the focus tree is the counter-revolution focus tree, as described in the gameplay section. Once the Revolution is defeated, you will be able to complete To Kill an Idea and progress with the rest of the tree.

Shortly after the Revolution has been crushed King Moriset will be assassinated and in his place his prodigious daughter, now Queen Vivienne Discret, will start her rule.

The rest of the tree will have you consolidate the Discret's hold on Aquileia and start to modernize the country. Integrate the Loyalists will have you attempt to peacefully annex the vassals which remained loyal to you during the Revolution, however, it is possible for them to refuse annexation and declare war on you.

Teach the People will over multiple years slowly raise the Literacy of Aquileia until it reaches Negligible levels. Other notable focuses are Académie Royale Des Sciences which will give you a Research Slot, Régiments de Mage which will unlock the support Mage Company, also The Beginnings of an Army and Grande Armeé which will give you increased Recruitable Population''.

The central branch of the tree will grant war goals to reclaim and reintegrate the Périphérie and demand for Tarrin (see ).

The Final Showdown can only be taken once all other focuses have been completed and either someone has united the Herzland (typically the Griffonian Empire) or it is the year of 1012. It'll give you war goals over all of the territory of the Herzland.

Vive L'Impératrice!


After winning the war for the Herzland and taking the decision Proclaim the Empire's Defeat, the post-Herzland focus tree will be loaded. The Herzland puppet will be released, though Aquileia will keep the initial cores of the Grand Duchy of Feathisia and  Greifenmarschen.

The leftmost branch of this tree will deal with the so called Herzland Blues. Upon obtaining the new focuses, you will also receive a National Spirit with that name, it represents the resistance against Aquileia on the territories which you've kept for yourself. Through this branch you will be able to annex Skyfall Trade Federation and slowly Aquilinise the newly conquered territories, changing the name of the cities and states themselves. Once each state has gone through the 3 stage process of Aquilisation, you will be able to get cores on all of them and the National Spirit will be removed.

The two central branches are internally focused and will see you expanding the power on the crown, centralizing religious, administrative and monetary powers on Aquileia as well as extracting more resources from your puppets. A few of the focuses will also raise Compliance and lower Resistance on the newly acquired states, they will be skipped if you have completed the Aquilisation process. A few other notable focuses are The Romau Concordat which will give you the state of Romau, The Armée Glorieuse which will give you a further increase in Recruitable Population and A Spouse for an Empress which will allow Vivienne to seek out a partner.

The rightmost branch focuses on the rest of the continent and will give you a series of decisions that will see you declare war on most of Griffonia (the exceptions being Commonwealth of New Mareland, the  Dread League and the  Arcturian Order). You will also have the option to release various puppets all over the continent via the L'Ordre Nouveau decisions.

Fight For Your Freedom! (Harmony/Communism/Non-Aligned/Supremacy)
The first section of the focus tree is the revolution focus tree, as described in the gameplay section. Once the revolution has triumphed, The Second Republic can be taken to progress to the rest of the focus tree.

Industrial Tree


"Finish the Coltbert Reforms" is Aquileia's economy tree, shared between all political paths. It grants positive national spirits, 1 research slot, unlocks decisions to prospect for resources and develop infrastructure, and some free factories.

Military Tree
The military tree consists of three branches: a naval branch, an army branch, and an air force branch.


 * Naval Branch

The naval branch gives standard research bonuses for most naval technologies, and a choice of naval doctrine at the start. This section partially intersects with the Industrial tree, and the shipyard development focuses on the left side require taking some of the Industrial focuses to be unlocked.

The army branch starts with a choice for a land doctrine. It follows then with the standard research bonuses towards infantry weapons, support technology, artillery and more. Some of the focuses also grant positive national spirits that improve the army's combat capabilities.
 * Army Branch

The air branch again starts with a choice for an air doctrine. Focuses in this branch of the focus tree grant air technology research bonuses, resource production for aluminium and rubber, and national spirits that improve air combat efficiency.
 * Air Branch

Staff and Designers
Political Advisers Tank Designer Ship Designer Aircraft Designer Materiel Designer Industrial Concern Theorist Chief of Army Chief of Navy Chief of Airforce Military High Command

Military Leaders
Army Commanders Naval Commanders

Industry
Without Vassals

With Vassals