Lume is the ancient Elven city founded by the Blue Elves during the Elven journey to the Blessed Realm. It was the point where the Elves embarked on their seaward journey across the Jadess. Some of the Elves, upon seeing the mighty Jadess held back for fear of its vast majesty. Some tarried because they became enamored with its dangerous beauty. The Valar, Ulmo, Father of the Sea, took these elves as his children. That is why they became known as the Blue Elves, for they were dedicated and destined for the sea. They swore to hold an eternal vigil at Lume and await even until the last of the Elves who wished to return the Blessed Realm. It is said that if they lose sight of this pledge the sea will reclaim their city (something their enemies daily pray for), but if they keep their promised vigil, then Ulmo, himself will return and bring them to the Blessed Realm. Over time this ancient settlement grew from a mere fishing village to a might city and maritime power. It was also one of the disembarkation points for the Noldar Exiles from the Blessed Realm, whom quickly conquered the Blue Elven native population. Gil-Galad was a prominent chieftain among these Noldar Exiles and rose to be the first King of Lume, and is largely considered the first Blue Elven King, even though he was ethnically a Noldar and under the Curse of Ulmo, the Protector the Blue Elves.
Military Organization[]
Blue Elven Fleet: The national navy of the Lume. Financed by the state, commanded by the Seagraves, staffed by Blue Elves, and owing allegience directly to the Ocean Throne. The Blue Fleet forms the formidable backbone of the fighting, raiding, and trading empire of Lume. Each Seagrave commands an armada. This is a national, professional navy, marine corps, nautical engineer corps, and merchant marine.
Tributary Fleets: Fleets in of subjugated realms and protectorates of Lume. They fight as tributary forces along side the Blue Fleet. However, they make up most of Lume's maritime capacity. These fleets are levied from the Break, Gray Haves, and the Civitae. These are similar to provential constript naval levies.
Marcher Lords and the Baronry: This is a seasonal militia drawn from the feudal hierarcy of the Marches and Hinterlands. It is also the main land force of Lume.
Sylvan Guard: This is a mercenary corps of Sylvan Elves recruited into the personal service of the Ocean Throne. They act as his personal body guard, escort, defend the city of Lume and royal domains, and form the backbone of any royal army.The Ocean Throne also employs them as a counterweight to unruly feudal lords on the Marches.
Lumerian Merchant Guild: A private trading company which holds a near royal monopoly on seatrade within Lumerian holdings and trade dependencies. This private organization, run by the Council of Merchants, with heavy royal interests invested, has developed a paramilitary structure. It is a force unto itself; an opaque, multinational organization that operates across boundaries and races. However, since the Ocean Throne owns a controling stake, its buisness and Lumerian warfare have developed a cozy commerial-martial complex.
Blue Hand Band: A notorious free company of Blue Elves, which originated during the dynastic wars between Lorica-Waerd and Lume. The Blue Hand Band is currently employed the by the Lumerian Merchant Guild to provide security at all Guild enclaves, factories, and properties in foreign states and dependencies. The Band is employed, essential as the private army of the Guild. It has swiftly grown in size and income from the Guilds incursions into Shacklebreak Isles and the Trammelings . They have also profited from the unheavel caused by reeving across the borders with Southern coastal dependencies of Lorica-Waerd.
Sea Guard: This is functions as the feudal army of marines levied from the lower houses of the Sea Lords. They form the elite fighting force of the Blue Fleet's marine corps, but stand apart because of their noble birth and knightly status and training.
Twelve Protectors: A society of twelve paladins selected to protect Ocean Throne and the Privy Council of Lume. They are responsible for the immediate corporeal sanctity of the Blue King, the Dolphin Prince, and the Lords Protector of the Privy Council. They are addressed as "Sirs Protector." They are hand-selected from the knightly classes of the March and Sea Lords. They swear an oath of loyalty directly to House Breakspear, forsaking all other oaths. If their charge is assassinated, they are often banished by the Ocean Throne until they have avenged their charge. Once appointed, they serve for life, until retirement. When a new king is seated upon the Ocean Throne, they are often reconfirmed in service, but sometimes retired. If the Ocean Throne is assassinated, they are often executed by the next King, or banished.
Ruling House: Breakspear[]
The Ruling house of Breakspear claims an indirect descent from the founding Blue Elven House, founded by the First King of Lume, Gil-Galad, the legendary Noldarin Chieftain and one of the Fatherless. With the quick exhaustion of Gil-Galad's near-kin in the chaotic wars that followed the founding of Lume and the collapse of Noldarin power, the House Starspear was succeeded by the far-kin House Breakspear, so named for when its tempestuous founder, King Thermondias snapped the Starspear, itself, over the head of one of his conquered chieftains who refused to do him public homage. House Breakspear has ruled Lume in (at least for Elvenkind) a long succession of kings: four all told. The first, Thermondias Breakspear, himself, was credited with making Lume a well-fortified port city during his reign (143 years). He focused most of his energy on subjugating the surrounding hinterland and bringing various far-kin clans to heel--or rather crushing them under heel. Although, Gil-Galad is credited as the first true Blue King and the father of the Blue Elves, real credit should go to Thermondias for creating a true Blue Elven Kingdom with its capital at Lume. He his conquests were mainly inland, largely neglecting the sea. However, he subjected and disbanded all Blue Elven far-kin clans. By the end of his rein, the clan system had largely been eradicated among the Blue Elves--though kinship was to die hard. He is responsible for redistributing power to the March Lords, a new class of nobility, which he elevated above clan chieftains. This created an aristocracy based on landrights and feudal obligations, rather than kinship connections. He was generous in his support for these March Lords as the took up their claims and subjugated denizens of their fiefdoms. Just as Gil-Galad, Thermondias was slain at the command of a great Blue Elven host which had marched to the aid of the Noldarin Princes further in-land, dying under the tide of Darkspawn. However, Lume was spared the ravages of the Wars with the North. It did not escape the ravages of civil war which followed the vacuum of power left by Breakspear's death. His seven sons, rose up, supported by the Marcher Lords and fought a brutal war against an indigienous horde of Celdsi, Grey Elven and Blue Elven Clans under the direction of the resurgent chieftains. In the century of civil war the followed, Lume was beseiged many time, but never breached. It was during this time that it, developed its first sea fleet in order to stay supplied via its allies from the Gray Havens (Lord Ciridan) to the South. It was also during this time that the tradition of Grand Dukes was established. This was system that was contrived at the proposal of the Marcher Lords to settle the occupancy of the throne. Each of Breakspear's Seven Sons was given honorary title, Grand Duke and given various adminstrative responsibilities throughout the kingdom, however, their power base was within Lume and its hinterland, not the marches where the Marcher Lords reigned. By the end of the civil war, only two Grand Duke remained, for the other five had died commanding various armies of Marcher Lords, Blue Elves, and Grey Elven mercenaries. Armandias Breaksepar, the eldest of the two surving Grand Dukes was installed on the Ocean Throne and began long and legendary reign. During his peaceful reign (567 years) Lume increased in power and prestiege. It was during this time that it came to prominence as a merchantile and marine powerhouse. The power of the Blue Elven chieftains had been shattered by the calamitous civil war, never again to remerge. The Blue Elven were one nation now, with the Ocean Throne at their head. The Grey Elven clans were brought to heel and redistributed among the Marcher Lords, breaking the back of their ethnic leadership. The Sylvan Elves, who had intervened in the interegent violence to a disasterous effect, retreated deep into Greenwood the Great, permanently abandoning all of their claims along the Jadess Coast the Marcher Lords eager to gobble them up and defend them on behalf of the Ocean Throne. Armandias's reign came to an abrupt end with the appearance of the conquering Horizon fleet. He died under mysterious circumstances, at the time attributed to Horizon Warlocks (though more likely in a palace coup by his Grand Dukes in an effort to save the city). When the dust settled, Shorzanias Breakspear, eldest son of Armandias, sat on the Ocean Throne and Lume and all of its dominions were tributary to the Horizon Empire, whose capital on the Jadess Coast was centered at Rosenwaeric. Shorzanias Breakspear is remembered as a capitulator and Rosen Sychophant, but he left and indellible legacy and used his alliance with his overlords to a lasting effect. With the aid of Rosen power (both martial and magical) he reconquered the Gray Elves of the Jadess Coast, with the obvious exception of the Lord Ciridan in his might strongholds protecting the twin patria of the Gray Havens. He also dealth a crusing blow to the newly organized political beast, Sylvestra, by slaughtering its invading army, taking the Sylvan King prisoner and selling him back for a criminally steep ransom, and commanding the most brigandeer of his Marcher Lords to slash and burn large tracts of Greenwood the Great in preperation for the organization of 40 new Marcher fiefs.It was during this time, under the patronage of Horizon that Shorzanias build the Great Blue Fleet and turned Lume into the maritime power that is still is today. He reigned through the glimmer of glory that was the Horizon of the East, it's collapse, and the subsequent anarchy that followed. He was named a Watcher by the last Horizon Viceroy in the East. The Viceroy's power collapsed under incursions from the Noldar sweeping down from the north and also a epidemic of revolts by hundreds of civil communes within Horizon-controlled cities across the Jadess Coast. In the bewildering centuries that led up to the decline of the Horizon in the East, Shorzanias reasserted his title as the Blue King and like other Watchers up and down the Coast, eventually expelled the last presence of the Horizon and kept "Watch" across the sea for the sake of legitimacy, and the powerful legacy the Horizon Empire left behind. Sherzanias lived to see the rise of the independent states of the Jadess Coast and survived the attacks of the Horizon League and its predecessor the Rosen League, as well as the resurgent Sylvan Kingdom of Sylvestra. He met his end, dying at sea in a skirmish with Lorican Privateers, while on his way to attend the marriage of his eldest son to the only daughter of Lord Ciridan of the Gray Havens. The current occupant of the Ocean Throne, Herazodias Breakspear, was the bereaved son whose marriage was unattended. He used his new alliance with the Gray Havens to reassert the Blue Elven kingship of the Ocean Throne and declared war on the new seapower of Lorica-Waerd. After a ruinous war a sea in which multiple Lorican, Lumerian, Haven,and Rosenwaeri fleets gifted tens of thousands of sailors and marines to the abode of Ulmo at the bottom of the Jadess, Lume recognized the independence of Lorica-Waerd and Rosenwaeric (along with all of their claims). In return, his kingship was recognized, Ciridan paid him tribute and the Break accepted a Lumerian garrison as a protectorate of the Ocean Throne.
Heraldic Symbols[]
Starspear: The broken spear of Gil-Galad, first king of Lume
Crest: The broken silver spear, tipped with a star, on a field of ocean blue waves
Lumerian Hierarchy[]
Royalty
'The Ocean Throne: Son of the Noldar, Breaker of the Starspear, King of the Blue Elves, Lord of Lume, the Break, and Haven, P'rotector of the Gray and Sky Kin. The King of Lume is referred to, impassively as the Ocean Throne and colloquially by those he has subjected as the Blue King. He reigns from his capital city of Lume and controls much of the Middle Jadess Coast. His kingdom is one the strongest seapowers known to the Jadess after the colapse of the Horizon Empire. The Ocean Throne predates the founding of the Horizon Empire. Legend has it that the empire was founded by the great Noldar Chieftain, Gil-Galad, himself. He was credited as one of the Fatherless who made the sojourn from Culuvien to the Blessed Realm and then sought exile among the Noldar. During the chaos that followed the collapse of Noldarin power on the mainland, Gil-Galad is said to have founded the city of Lume as an independent principality on the Jadess Coast. He still wields the Starspear of Gil-Galad as one of the symbols of his office. However, the spear was broken by one of the earliest Blue Kings, Thermondias Breakspear. Legend has it, that Breakspear snapped it over the head of a supplicant Noldarin chief that refused to render him homage. It became a symbol of the force with which the Ocean Throne justified its subjection of new territories throughout its long history. Vassals of the Ocean Throne, whose fiefs were not historically granted at the largesse of the Ocean Throne, must recieve a blow to the head with the Starspear as ritual of their investiture upon confirmation of their noble title.
Dolphin Prince: The eldest son of the Ocean Throne, once he is crowned and elevated to royalty. By Blue Elven law he is the only Lumerian prince, and therefore the only candidate for the throne. He also acts as second in command to the Ocean Throne in all matters of state and war. And is an integral part of the government, holding his own lands on the Marches of Greenwood the Great, which it is his task to defend against incursion from the Green Elves.
Grand Dukes: Other sons of the Ocean Throne. They are often granted large Marcher Fiefdoms along the border with Greenwood the Great or given Viceroyship in subject cities.
Arch Dukes: Brothers or Uncles to the Ocean Throne. They are paid high honor, giving a generous pension by the Ocean Throne, as well as public commissions of great importance to keep them productive, useful, and faithful to the Ocean Throne. When a new King is raised, many Grand Dukes are called from their Marcher holdings to do homage, and be reinstituted as Arch Dukes. The highest honor an Arch Duke can receive is to be elevated to the Grand Council, which acts as agents, legates, envoys, and deputees of the Sea Throne, or the Privy Council which takes care of the Ocean Throne's governmance.
Duke: A title of nobility bestowed on the scions of House Breakspear, whom are not of public office or feudal holding. They are the sons of Grand and Arch Dukes, usually employed in the governance of towns and civil adminstration of courts in the provinces and subjected states.
Sea Lords
Blue Viceroy: The lords who rule the Break and Haven on behalf of the Ocean Throne. One is Lord Ciridan of Haven (a concession which still embitters the Royal House of Breakspear), the other is the Grand Duke Gil-Galad II, son of the Ocean Throne.
Seagraves: The Seagraves are masters of the Blue Elven Fleet. They have the command of an Admiral, but the standing of a Margrave at court. They are normally selfmade lords, respected by their men and also by the Dukes and Marcher Lords, because they tend to be fielded from the lower scions and minor branches of these two power blocks of Blue Elven society.
Marcher Lords
Margraves: These are middling lords who hold land in fief to the Ocean Throne or a Grand Duke. Although their name suggests that most live on the frontier, most live in the rich coast lands within the Hinterland of Lume, as the March, the border between Lume and Sylvestra has moved aggressively inland over the centuries.
Barons: These are the petty lordlings and fiefholders that answer to the Margraves of the Coast, Hinterland, March, and Greenwood. They are usually powerful enough to command a retinue of knights, seargants, men-at-arms, or a combination. They owe direct fealty to their Margrave, and are insulated from the wrath of the Ocean Throne by the protection of their lord.
Reeves: Local magistrates and officials appointed by the Ocean Throne to penatrate the feudal isolation of the baronies. These officials are not hereditary, but are appointed in Lume to bring the King's justice, order, and laws to the unruly baronry and to "assist" the Margraves in carrying out the Ocean Throne's wishes. The personage of a Reeve is sacrosanct, and not even the most upstart of the Baronry would dare violate it.
Lords Merchant
Grandmasters: The Lumerian Merchants Guild is has monopoly on Lumerian sea trade, at the behest and interest of the Ocean Throne. The Grandmasters are executive council of the Lumerian Merchants Guild, they are appointed by the Ocean Throne from among the Lords Guilder for a term of five years and have a seat on the Grand Council.
Lords Guilder: A national body of elected merchant guild members which assembles once every three years to take up matters of important to Lumerian trade and commerce. The Ocean Throne has given it large powers to propose and advise on these issues. Each chapter of the guild selects an alderman to attend as a delegate.
Aldermen: The local masters of a Lumerian Merchant Guild Chapterhouse
Dominions of Lume[]
City of Lume: Capital City of the Blue Elven Kingdom of Lume
Portus: The large metropolis that has sprung up around the safeharbor where the Blue Elven Fleet lays at anchor. A great center of trade, industry, and war
The Break: The Sky Elven Protectorate, ruled by the Blue Viceroy
The Civitae: A series of coastal Blue Elven cities powerful in maritime trade and war
'The Gray Havens: Haven and 'Mithlond: Gray Elven Tributaries ruled by Lord Ciridan the Shipwright
Lumerian Coastal Provinces: The rich farmland controlled by Blue Elven Baronry owing direct fealty to the Ocean Throne.
Lumerian Hinterland: A land of low, rich riverlands, and rolling grasslands controlled by Blue Elven Baronry owing fealty to the Grand Dukes of Lume or the Ocean Throne, itself.
Lumerian March: A large expanse of rolling farmland, vineyards, and orchards under the control of the Marcher Lords and their feudal baronry.
Lumerian Greenwood: Farmland reclaimed from the primordial forest Greenwood the Great, land colonized by the Blue Elves and ruled over by the Grand Dukes and the bravest of the Marcher Lords. To accept title here, guarantees entrance into a ghost war with the local Celdsi and continuous incursions from the Green Elves of Sylvestra.
