Aracimric tribes settled in the area that is now roughly the size of Kemedal approximately 2000 years ago; over the centuries, the Kemedalians became the dominant tribe and the others gradually disappeared by assimilation or extinction. Cruisanisation took place between 1200 and 900 years ago. Unification of the various Kemedalian Duchies lead to the first kingdom, but wars with neighbouring tribes and nations (particularly the Ansonians) caused the kingdom's boundaries to be rather flexible. In 334 BP Kemedal was ransacked and annexed by the Ansonians. A second Kemedalian kingdom was established in 305 BP, but in 224 BP Ansonia conquered it again, only to be conquered itself by the Gronk Empire 26 years later. Kemedal was incorporated in Gronk as a Duchy; in 51 AP it was elevated to Grand-Duchy, in 173 AP to Kingdom within the Empire. The year 296 AP saw the fall of the Empire and the creation of the Cooperative Commonwealth of the Union of Northern Gronk. Three years later Ansonia became independent and took Kemedal along; in 302 AP Kemedal became an independent kingdom in its own right.
The two histories of Kemedal[]
The written history of Kemedal is anecdotically renowned for its 'false start'. The Cruisanist Church sent missionaries to convert the local pagans between 1200 and 900 years ago, but they had various degrees of success as the stubborn locals kept resisting the truths of the Good Book. According to old documents that are located on various locations outside Kemedal, it was St Bernardo of Kemedal who completed the Cruisanisation of the region and his relics are said to be enshrined in the Basilica of the city of Bala, although they have never been on public display and the church hasn't granted permission to anyone to check if they're really there. Local written evidence - if it ever was there - was destroyed when a large fire burnt the Basilica's library to the ground; since the library contained all material that was ever written on Kemedalian soil at that moment, Kemedalian historians tend to joke about the country's "two histories".
With the oldest written documents destroyed, written history of Kemedal can be traced back only to 23 March 571 BP, the date written on a charter that was issued by a now unknown authority granting Arthfael ap Derog (... - 560 BP) the title of Duke of Bala and bestowing upon him considerable amounts of land in what are now the States of Bala and Corwn. His ownership of the city of Bala however was only theoretic as it was under direct control by the Church. Historians are not entirely sure if the Duchy was a newly created territory or that Arthfael ap Derog was just the heir of a previous Duke. Other Duchies existed as well in the region, although they had no written tradition to speak of yet.
Arthfael ap Derog was an educated and God fearing man who upgraded the defense systems of his lands with the financial support of the Church; in exchange Arthfael ordered the construction of a large amount of churches, many of which were integrated in the defense fortifications to save costs. Although the new fortresses were never used in Arthfael's lifetime, his son and heir Elis ap Arthfael (... - 527 BP) waged successful wars on the other Duchies and in 532 BP the Church named him primus inter pares although in practice he was all but equal to the other Dukes. Less than a year later, Elis was badly wounded in a hunting incident and spent his remaining four years in bed. The reign of the Duchies was assumed by his brother Heddwyn ap Arthfael (... - 525 BP). After his brother's death, Heddwyn negotiated with the Church and in exchange for military and financial assistance he was crowned King of Kemedal in 526 BP. He died himself under mysterious circumstances shortly after that and was succeeded by his nephew Derog ap Derog (542 - 466 BP), commonly known as king Derog I the Cunning.
(to be continued)
Independence[]
Kemedal declared independence from Ansonia on the Day of St Paul, 18 February 302, a date that is still celebrated as a national holiday. Although official preparations were made for the Royal Family to return to Kemedal, there was immediate strong republican opposition and although the republicans were a minority, the provisional government thought it best to reduce the King's powers to a mostly ceremonial role; the new constitution that was provisionally adopted by the Siambr y Taleithiau (the Kemedalian parliament) on 30 April 302 (now celebrated as Liberty Day) and formally confirmed in 303 by the first elected parliament of the independent Kemedal cemented the new situation. The opinion of King Iestyn III (who succeeded to the throne in exile in 299 after the death of his father) in this matter is officially classified, although he is rumoured to have been 'extremely forthcoming' to the idea. The King was crowned on 28 September 302. He and Queen Llinos toured the country to meet the Kemedalian people between 302 and 304.
The parliamentary elections of 303 lead to a coalition government consisting of the Monarchist Union (UBC) and the Democratic Party (PD), and headed by Tomos Kedward. The first government was remarkably stable and consistent and put in place a lot of the political and social infrastructure that the newly independent country lacked. Under defence minister Garel Rotherough the country's military was completely modernised, while trade and industry minister Morwenna Cattell lured investors to Kemedal, causing a surge of the banking, finance, and insurance industry. An important development was the use of the internet and other digital media for government purposes; in 310 around 60% of the Kemedalians used their PorDin ('Porth Dinesydd', Citizen's Portal, created in 306) to conduct their business with the government, such as buying passports or identification cards, registering births and deaths, applying for a driver's license etc., in 318 that amount has grown to around 80%.
Not everything went smoothly though: in 305 the country mourned the loss of 57 miners who got trapped underground after a mine in Llidiard partially collapsed, and the Big Power Outage of December 307 that caused the greater Aberban area to sit in the dark for almost three weeks lead to the rivision of the maintenance and security procedures of the national energy resources, while CorffMellt, the energy company responsible for the capital's electricity provision, all but went bankrupt and was subsequently nationalised. CorffMellt's CEO Daffydd Caenhion went in hiding and apparently fled the country.
310 to present[]
- Monarchy controversy following the events in Cimera.
(to be expandified)