Grand Duchy of Karelia

The Grand Duchy of Karelia (Suomi: Karjalan suurherttuakunta, Deutsch: Großherzogtum Karelien, Slavski: Velikoye knyazhestvo Karel'skoye) is a semi-feudal state located in the western Archipelago. Comprising the majority of Suomi-speaking regions, the Grand Duchy controls much of the trade between the western and eastern portions of the Archipelago, as well as controlling immediate access to the southwestern ocean. Established in 497 AFE by Kauku I Karjalainen, its 300 year existence has been dominated by the trading and capture of slaves, with slow modernisation taking place as many nobles hold on to Karelian seafaring and raiding tradition. The current Grand Duke is Niklas III Karjalainen, who took power in 747 AFE, and holds his court at Viipuri.

Founding
The state was officially established by Kauku I Karjalainen in 497, then the Kreivi of Viipuri and Duke of Siensaari, when he conquered the island of Saaremaa and declared himself "Grand Duke of All Karelia and the Saaremaa". He only held this title for two years, however, as he died in 499. During his short reign, he was able to successfully incorporate the islands of Muhu and Ruhnu, but died before his planned conquest of Hiiumaa. His son and successor, Taavi I Saaristolainen, carried this out, and further consolidated the state's territory.

The subsequent successors, Kauku II and Kauku III, continued a steady expansion, with Livonia being incorporated into the Grand Duchy in 549. Both Grand Dukes continued to sponsor raids against the state's neighbors, from the Germans, Slavs and Balts to the south, the Serks to the west, the Norse to the east, and even to Calasia in the far north. The state itself still remained fairly primitive, largely relying on control of the slave trade to sustain itself.

Kingdom and King Eerik's War
In 588, Kauku III Saaristolainen was killed in a raid against a faction of Norsemen at the age of 33. He remained unmarried up until his death, and as such, left no immediate heir, passing the throne onto his cousin, Kreivi Eerik of Viipuri. The 22-year old Eerik timidly accepted the title of Grand Duke, and was easily manipulated by the Karelian nobility in the early years of his reign. An attempted assassination in 592 changed this, and Eerik turned paranoid. He began to force his will and gained for himself more power, declaring himself King of Karelia and the Saaremaa in 596.

Fearing not just his own nobility, but outsiders as well, the now-King Eerik gathered an army of 6,000 men and launched a mass invasion of the Norse islands to the east in 597, beginning what became known as King Eerik's War. Despite initial Karelian success, most of the Norse chieftains were able to successfully gather a counter-army, and a combined fleet defeat the Karelian navy at the Battle of Söder Strait in 599. From this point, the Norse began their own raids on the Karelian islands, but were eventually beaten back themselves by 604. Infighting among both the Norse and Karelian factions was intense, but neither side wished to back down, for the sake of dignity.

A stalemate existed for a period of three years before the Norse Prince Stig negotiated an alliance with the Serkir, who launched an invasion of the Saaremaa Archipelago. Saaremaa's capital of Valjala was besieged in 608, but the Norse and Serkir were eventually beaten back through the use of Bolenesian fire. Fighting continued and many islands changed hands several times in the span of a few years, but the fleet of Serkir was finally destroyed during the Battle of the Võru Coast, a disastrous defeat for the westerners, who lost three-quarters of their fleet.

With the Serkir effectively out of the war, Eerik once again called for raids against both Serkland and the Norse. It was in 615, though, that his neck was pierced by a crossbow bolt in leading a raid against a Norse colony. The Karelian nobility, seeing that the Serkir were now constructing a new fleet, quickly seized the opportunity and ended the war. The Serkir demanded certain trade rights in exchange for peace, while the Norse requested only to receive the body of the slain Karelian king. The terms of both were agreed to, and Eerik's corpse was ritually sacrificed and burnt, with the ashes being jarred and placed in the longhouse on Garðarshólmi.

Economic Struggle
(Detail economic downturn due to massive influx of slaves from Dravenis's raids)

Religion
The patron god of Karelia is Ukko, god of weather and the protector of the island. Turisas and Ilmarinen, gods of war and craftsmanship respectively, are also popularly worshipped, especially in the islands. Ilmarinen is particularly important in Karelian sea culture, as all sailors are compelled by his worship to investigate any shipwrecks in the hopes that one day the Sampo, a mythical artifact created by Ilmarinen, might be located.

The inhabitants of Saaremaa and Karelia have, in the past, called holy wars against rival groups. A ristiretki often compelled many to join in ad hoc campaigns against the target. The first ristiretki in decades was recently called against the Zoroastrians of Joutomaa (or Serkland), and has led to the widespread enslavement of the population. This most recent war is being referred to as the Rukousristeily.

Calendar
The Suomenvuotta is the official calendar used in the Grand Duchy of Karelia and its subordinate states. It is based on the creation of the world in Suomenusko, and can be calculated by adding 7217 years to the current date in the common calendar AFE.

Demographics
The vast majority of the Grand Duchy's population is Suomi, but smaller groups include members of various Germanic tribes, as well as the inhabitants of Siensaari, many of whom work to maintain the language and tradition of their Imperial ancestors. Other exclaves include the Boyars, descendants of Slavic nobility who fled their cities when they were razed by rival Germanic, Baltic, and Slavic tribes. Several Cumans and Tatars who have served as mercenaries for the Grand Duchy have been invited to live in its borders, and many have thus brought their families with.