Beelzenia

Beelzenia, traditionally called the Beelzenian Empire, The Country Born of the Moon or the Red Country, and later the Kingdom of Beelzenia, was a state in the Bolganio continent's Evillious region. Growing into the largest imperial power after the Magic Kingdom Levianta's destruction, it slowly lost momentum and broke apart over the centuries, becoming overshadowed by the growing Kingdom of Lucifenia.

Early History
Following the destruction of the Magic Kingdom Levianta, the Red Shoe Army and their descendants rapidly expanded the new Beelzenian Empire across the Evillious region through military expansionism; it became known as the "country born of the moon". During their campaigns, the Empire invaded the fractured Tasan Empire and eventually conquered both Re Tasan and Ra Tasan. The imperial family then appointed the Gastolle Dukes to reign over the new Retasan province.

Afterwards, the Empire began focusing on maintaining its vast territories, ceasing its wars with other countries. Despite this policy of garnering alliances or neutral relationships, barbarians from the Eastern region became a recurring problem as well as minor revolts within Beelzenia itself. During the period, Emperor Justea established a police organization to maintain security within the massive Empire. In EC 131, riots broke out in the Retasan province before being quelled.

Venomania Event
Later on, Prince Martius Beelzenia was married to Princess Yufina Marlon to strengthen ties between the empire and the Kingdom of Marlon. In EC 136, the Empire grew concerned when a growing number of women vanished within the Asmodean region. The dilemma became an international incident after both Queen Yufina and Princess Maylis had also disappeared and the Empire hired Elluka Clockworker to assist in the investigation. After the perpetrator, Duke Sateriasis Venomania, was killed by Karchess Crim in EC 137, the Empire began a manhunt to arrest the Count for murdering one of the Five Dukes.

Asmodean Civil War
In EC 139, Karchess staged a coup on the Marlon government and, with the support of the nobles, successfully overthrew King Martius. Later, the Beelzenian Imperial Family began to criticize the appointed Donald Dukes and got into a quarrel with its head. As a result, the Asmodean province began to campaign for and later win its independence in EC 212, separating from Beelzenia and forming its own nation. During the civil conflict, Duke Gastolle was killed.

Conchita Disappearance
Following the death of Duke Gastolle, the Retasan province was divided into the eastern "Re Tasan" and western "Tasan" provinces; as a result, Marquis Tetippea Conchita was appointed a Duke and given reign over the eastern half, renamed the Conchita province by Duke Tasute Conchita. Following the winter of EC 305, a harsh famine swept through the Empire. Due to his poor administration over his territory, Duke Muzuri Conchita was stripped of his authority the following year and the Conchita province was governed by the imperial family.

Due to the constant food shortages plaguing Beelzenia, Banica Conchita traveled to foreign countries in January of EC 316. Upon her return, she introduced many new cuisines to the nation and helped alleviate the shortage. At some point, Marlon entered a war with its neighboring Lioness and Beelzenia supported its ally. In the years following EC 323, sightings of monsters across the Conchita province began to appear; around the same time, the Empire lost contact with Duke Banica and Empress Juno deployed the Beelzenian military towards her mansion around EC 325.

In response, an undead horde swarmed across the province, causing civil unrest, and the individual towns broke down into their own governments to defend against the threat. In June of that year, rumors spread throughout the Empire that Banica had resorted to cannibalism. In response, Empress Juno hired Elluka Clockworker to help investigate the situation. In July, the apostate castle was raided and found mysteriously empty. Determining Conchita had fled, the Empire ended Elluka's investigation.

Decline
After the Corpse Soldiers were defeated and order restored to the province, Beelzenia entered a prolonged war with Asmodean. Lasting for decades, Beelzenia became exhausted from its military campaigns and agreed to a ceasefire, bringing an end to the conflict by EC 399. Afterwards, the d'Autriche duke of the Lucifenia province campaigned for independence throughout his territory. In EC 399, Beelzenia's Lucifenia declared independence from the empire, creating the Kingdom of Lucifenia. As time progressed, Beelzenia continued to decline.

In the early EC 470s, the Kingdom of Lucifenia invaded the weakened Beelzenia. As the war dragged on, the empire lost much of its territory. In EC 490, the Gula plague exploded in its southern territories and suffered another invasion from Lucifenia. With the plague killing King Arth in EC 491, the Kingdom eventually made peace with the Empire and ended the fighting. As a result of the epidemic, many graveyards were constructed to bury the infected dead.

In EC 501, the Empire accepted the Lucifenian Resistance into their borders after their defeat at Retasan Fortress. Following the Kingdom of Marlon's order to release the fugitives into their custody, the empire refused and incorporated the soldiers into the Beelzenian Imperial army. Four years later, Beelzenia was invaded by Marlon from their annexed Lucifenian territory. Soon after, the army retaliated and captured Retasan from the Marlon forces. Over a month later, Marlon and Beelzenia made peace and the hostilities ended.

Reorganization
After some negotiation with the Freezis Foundation, the Evillious nations all agreed to the establishment of the World Police organization in EC 573. Following the discovery of Maistia in EC 592, Beelzenia established trade with the foreign continent. During the EC 610s, the imperial government destabilized and the empire collapsed in EC 620. In EC 820, Beelzenia reorganized itself as the Kingdom of Beelzenia and began rapidly industrializing.

World War
After the formation of the Union State of Evillious in EC 878, Beelzenia's relationship with Asmodean improved over the centuries due to being non-members of the USE. Later on, a zombie epidemic broke out across Evillious, affecting Beelzenia. In January of EC 982, Beelzenia sought an alliance with Elphegort to check on Lucifenia, ostensibly wanting to join forces against the zombie epidemic.

In response, Lucifenia called for the USE to invade Beelzenia, causing it to request help from Asmodean. The USE later consented to Beelzenia's alliance with Elphegort. After the outbreak of the Evillious War later that year, Beelzenia declared war on Lucifenia, Marlon and Levianta. Later on in EC 993, Beelzenia entered an alliance with Jakoku and Elphegort, becoming engulfed in the latter's war with the USE.

World's End
In EC 999, Beelzenia was completely decimated by Punishment. Following the end of the Third Period and its subsequent merging with the Hellish Yard, Banica Conchita created an illusion of her mansion in Gasto as her residence.

Power Structure
Developing into a massive imperial power, the Beelzenian Empire developed into an autocracy, ruled by the emperor who held absolute power. Below the emperor were his heirs, the princes and princesses who were assigned jurisdiction over the empire's affairs and were tasked with helping to manage the enormous nation.

Below them were the Five Dukes, powerful lords who managed the militaries and economies of their individual province. Below the dukes were the marquises and then the earls, aristocrats charged with ruling the emperor's and duke's territories in his or her stead.

Beneath each earl were the barons, who controlled small areas of territory and acted as the aides to the higher ranks of nobility, some serving the Beelzenian Imperial Family. Each position within the government was subject to a hereditary line-of-succession with the firstborn male usually inheriting the position and title; in cases where no legitimate heir existed, the closest female heir was selected instead. Following the empire's collapse, Beelzenia eventually established itself as a united Kingdom.

Military
The Beelzenian Imperial Army was divided between each province, commanded by the province's duke. Because of this, the dukes had an enormous amount of freedom within their territory and were able to enforce the empire's laws and improve its military as they saw fit. However, the system's level of freedom gave the military more loyalty to the province's leader rather than the emperor, with some nobles able to act on their own and even rebel against the empire without a military court martial or insurrection.

The military's strength and dominance in Evillious slowly dwindled over time, downsizing until the military could barely protect the nation's shrunken borders, forced to incorporate foreigners into their ranks. The imperial uniform consisted of red, layered armor over a tunic. Beelzenian soldiers were typically trained to wield swords or spears in combat.

Economy
The Beelzenian Empire adopted the feudal system, with peasants of an earl's territory required to farm the fields for the nation's agriculture. In exchange, it is assumed the peasants were given a moderate fee or permitted to live on the land they worked and take a small portion of the harvest. The city of Rucolebeni grew into a wine orchard after the creation of Blood Grave, with the legendary wine being developed and sold as a high-quality drink throughout all of Evillious from the city.

Because it covered a large geographic area, the Empire had a variety of livestock bred and traded across regions, including pigs and horses. The Empire did not have a large fishing industry, partially because the Crescent Moon Sea was impossible to fish, theorized to be infertile. Following the discovery of Maistia, Beelzenia began importing crops from the continent, including the coffee bean, and developed a popular brand of coffee to sell internationally. While part of the Beelzenian Empire, Asmodean had been a cornerstone of trade for the Empire with its neighbors.

Society and Culture
Beelzenian society was largely divided and segregated between its social classes and even its regions. Because of its massive size, areas within its borders were left to the devices of the dukes, leading to a strong social identity between provinces rather than the empire as a whole. Over time, these social divides lead to the empire's fragmentation, with Asmodean and later Lucifenia breaking off and establishing their own nations.

Beelzenians were characteristically identified by having red or brown hair and similarly colored eyes. However, because the empire encompassed such a large area, it was composed of many different races and ethnicities and was largely tolerant of them, showing no apparent signs of discrimination. After the Lucifenian Expansion War, relations between the Empire and the Kingdom of Lucifenia soured and the nations were constantly in tenuous harmony. Although regarded as the "Red Country", Beelzenia's moniker wasn't due to its population's indigenous race.

At first, the empire was uneducated in culinary affairs, lacking a diversity in their meals and food. With the expeditions of Banica Conchita, the Beelzenian diet greatly expanded and her actions were an enormous contribution to influence their food culture, developing the famed Blood Grave with the help of the farmers.

Similarly, tales of Banica's rumored cannibalism and mysterious disappearance made her an item of folklore and legend, creating the story of the Vampiress Vanika Conchita, the "Evil Food Eater". As part of the legend, first recorded by author Sanan Noi, Vanika reanimated the dead to be her servants and would wither and die if she did not drink human blood for three days.

As a whole, Beelzenian nobles favored the western clothing designs already present in Evillious, though its eastern territory of Asmodean was more aligned with fashion from the East. After allying itself with Marlon in the 2nd century EC, several aspects of Marlon culture began to enter Beelzenian society including Marlon fashion, which became stylish during the era.

Levin was the main religion practiced in Beelzenia, with graveyards constructed due to its practices across the region, and churches existing as far as its Lucifenia region. However, because of its association with demon worship, the Behemo sect was not tolerated within the nation. Each of the Five Dukes could bestow a title of nobility based upon their family name to a commoner, recognizing them for their actions or place within the province.

Geography and Climate
Beelzenia was a southern region of Evillious, located directly below Lucifenia and Asmodean. At its height, the empire controlled two-thirds of the Evillious region, encompassing a diverse field of landscapes from Asmodean's deserts and mountains to Lucifenia's fields and grasslands. Its geography made it a suitable habitat for a variety of animals such as the demilamb, shadow moon, tasan and baemu pigs.

After losing much of its territories over the years, the ailing empire was comprised of only the areas immediately around the Imperial City, keeping outposts along its borders with Lucifenia to protect what remained and stretching to its limits southward at its ocean. From its eastern sea, the moon could be seen just above its horizon, earning it its alias as "the country born of the moon". Beelzenia has a warmer climate when compared to Marlon.

Imperial City
The second capital city of Beelzenia, near its eastern sea. In the wake of Beelzenia's wars with Asmodean and Lucifenia, the capital was moved from Rucolebeni to the Imperial City. Its most prominent location was the Beelzenian Imperial Palace.

Rucolebeni
The original capital of the Beelzenian Empire. It was located east of Re Tasan. The city was part of the Beelzenias region. In the wake of Beelzenia's wars with Asmodean and Lucifenia, the capital was moved from Rucolebeni to the Imperial City. It had a thriving wine economy, with vast grapevine fields across its rural land and numerous liquor stores on the city streets. The path from its north-east gate led directly to the Imperial City. It was the first city invaded by Marlon in EC 505.

'' Main Article: Rucolebeni''

Langley Unit Garrison
The command post for the Langley Unit. It was located in an abandoned village north-west of Rucolebeni and west of Retasan, near the border with the Kingdom of Lucifenia. The former village chief's home was used as the garrison's headquarters and the mage Gumillia's home was located nearby.

Beelzenias
The central region in the Beelzenian Empire. It originally spanned from Rucolebeni to the Babul Desert, later incorporating the southern Conchita province as part of its territory following Duke Banica's disappearance. The region was governed by the Beelzenian Imperial Family directly. Its most prominent location was the capital city of Rucolebeni. Following the Kingdom of Lucifenia's conquest in the late fifth century EC, much of Beelzenias' territory was lost.

Grabia
The south-eastern province of the Beelzenian Empire. It was located east of the Imperial City and Conchita province along the Crescent Moon Sea. The province was governed by the Dukes of the Oruhari Family since the empire's foundation. Its most prominent location was the city of Grabia and the Oruhari Mansion; the territory was famous for its tomato-eating competition.

Crescent Moon Sea
An ocean within the Grabia province along Beelzenia's southern and eastern shores. It was encaspulated by land on three sides. The sea was inadequate for fishing with an unnaturally vivid and clear blue water, speculated to lack the fertility to suport an underwater ecosystem. Its blue hue was famed for making the white-walls of Grabia's coastal homes all the more prominent.

Retasan Province
The southern province of the Beelzenian Empire during its height. It was located south of the Beelzenias region and west of the Grabia province. The province was governed by the Dukes of the Gastolle Family. Its most prominent locations were Gasto and Re Tasan. Following the death of the last Gastolle Duke, the province was divided into the Tasan and Re Tasan provinces.

Conchita Province
The southern province of the Beelzenian Empire. It was located south of the Beelzenias region, west of the Grabia province, and east of the Tasan province. The territory was comprised of the eastern part of the original Retasan province, dubbed the "Re Tasan" province prior to being renamed by Duke Tasute Conchita. The province was governed by the Dukes of the Conchita Family. Its most important locations were Gasto and Re Tasan. After the disappearance of Duke Banica, the territory was incorporated into the Beelzenias region.

Gasto
A city in the Beelzenian Empire at the foot of a mountain. It was located south of Rucolebeni and west of the town of Grabia. The city was originally part of the Retasan province prior to being made part of the Conchita province after the death of the last Duke of the Gastolle Family and later became part of the Beelzenias region in the wake of Duke Banica Conchita's disappearance. The city was later abandoned and fell into ruin. Its most prominent location was the Conchita Mansion.

 Main Article: Gasto

Re Tasan
A star-shaped fortress city in the Beelzenian Empire. It was located west of Rucolebeni and east of the Lavolle Mountains. The city was originally part of the Retasan province prior to being made part of the Conchita province after the death of the last Duke of the Gastolle Family and later became part of the Beelzenias region in the wake of Duke Banica Conchita's disappearance. In the wake of Beelzenia's wars with Asmodean and Lucifenia, Re Tasan became one of Beelzenia's major cities. It was later lost to the Kingdom of Lucifenia toward the end of the fifth century EC, renamed "Retasan", and later recaptured from Marlon in EC 505. 

 Main Article: Retasan

Tasan Province
The south-western province of the Beelzenian Empire. It was located west of the Conchita province. The territory was comprised of the western part of the original Retasan province. The province was rich with Tasan pigs and rumored to be the location of the fabled Baemu.

Demilamb Province
The western province of the Beelzenian Empire during its height. It was located south of Lucifenia. The province was governed by the Dukes of the Demilamb Family. Its most prominent location was the town of Demilamb. The territory was presumably lost to the Kingdom of Lucifenia toward the end of the fifth century EC and renamed Temilamb.

Lucifenia
The north-western province of the Beelzenian Empire during its height. It was located west of Asmodean and north of the Demilamb province. The province was governed by the Dukes of the d'Autriche Family. The territory was lost in EC 399 with the foundation of the Kingdom of Lucifenia.

'' Main Article: Lucifenia''

Asmodean
The north-eastern province of the Beelzenian Empire during its height. It was located east of Lucifenia and stretched down to the Babul desert. The province was originally governed by the Dukes of the Venomania family and later the Donald family following the death of Duke Sateriasis Venomania. The territory was a center of trade and important military standpoint in the Empire. Its most prominent location was Lasaland. The province was lost with Asmodean's independence in EC 212.

'' Main Article: Asmodean''

Conceptualization and Origin

 * The Beelzenian Empire is inspired by the real world Roman Empire; several of the events in Beelzenia's history mirror the Roman Empire's decline and subsequent invasions by foreign nations.
 * One of the Five Dukes, Banica Conchita, shares characteristics with Vlad the Impaler of Romania; Romania was annexed as part of the Roman Empire at the turn of the second century AD.
 * Its history and culture also shares influences with the real world country of Spain.
 * Its name is based on Beelzebub, the patron demon of Gluttony.

Curiosities

 * Beelzenia's characteristic presence of cemeteries along with its connection to Gluttony and Banica Conchita reference the Master of the Graveyard.