Antwerpen (Kingdom)

Antwerpen is a kingdom situated in the human region of Orlayn. It is named for it's capital city, Antwerpen. It directly borders the territory of Par Swindon to the north, the ruins of Lorell to the south, and the kingdoms of Nantwich in the east, whose capital the army of Antwerpen captured, and Erast, whose city Oldham is under the effective control of Antwerpen, in the south east.

History
Antwerpen is perhaps the youngest of the kingdoms of Orlayn, being only 45 days old. In that time, it has expanded drastically from a small fishing village with less than three hundred people to a spawling kingdom ruling hundreds of thousands of people.

The history of Antwerpen begins with the history of it's current king, Roderick, who was born in Antwerpen to uncertain parents twenty-one years ago, around the age of ten he was conscripting into the army of Vllanderen, a now defunct kingdom who ruled over Antwerpen.

He was trained as an officer from a young age by an old knight in service to the kingdom. Approximately two and a half months ago, Vllanderen and Nantwich entered into a battle, the largest Roderick had ever seen, with nearly two thousand men in total in the battle.

Both armies were annihilated, with Roderick barely surviving and leaving to find his way home to Antwerpen. Along the way the city of Lostwell was taken over by the Order of the Sword, and Roderick took the former Consul of that city into his care, protecting him along with his honor guard.

They eventually found their way to Antwerpen who needed assistance in defending from an assault of wyverns, Roderick and his men saved the village from the attack and were deemed heroes. They left to handle the problem of these wyverns assaulting lands all over the world. Along the way, Roderick discovered a cache of over one hundred thousand gold pieces and sent it back with the deposed Consul Orik and his honor guard to Antwerpen, where Roderick had been made a member of the ruling council.

Orik had been sent back as Roderick's representative to the Council and, within a few weeks time, had rearranged the village into a kingdom, with Roderick as it's king, he rebuilt the village into a city, inviting the many refugees from the wars happening to join the city as citizens, quadrupling it's population.

With this population and wealth, Orik had the political sway to create an alliance with the city of Port Swindon to the north, from whom he also bought four warships.

More recently, the kingdom has entered into a war with the Order of the Sword, a multinational organization with charters in cities all across the former Jurich Empire, who has retaken the ancient and mystical power that made the Empire so powerful and is using it to reconquer all the lands the Empire once held. Ordering all their charters to rise up and take the cities they are currently in.

Antwerpen has been spared the onslaught of the Order of the Sword, at least in it's home territory, due to the diplomatic work of King Roderick himself, who worked out a deal with the Order of the Sword, prior to the outbreak of outright hostilities, for them to remove their charters from any cities owned by Roderick and his kingdom.

Military
Antwerpen's military consists of approximately three hundred regular soldiers and ten warships although, since the outbreak of war with the Order, Antwerpen has been conscripting men and women from every town and village to expand its army and prepare for battle with the vast forces of the Order.

Government
Antwerpen is currently a constitutional monarchy, with most formal power vested in the Prime Minister, Orik. Although there is also a Senate who has some minor power to override the Prime Minister.