Lumont, Holy Imperium
Past. Founded nearly five hundred years ago by His Imperial Majesty Aurele I Paraflamel, the kingdom of Lumont spent the next three hundred years becoming an empire, one conquest or annexation at a time. Now covering much of the western half of the Hespran continent and controlling passage from the Arantaean Sea into the Haeklanic Ocean, the Lumont Empire regards itself as heir to the legacy of Monum—the ancient empire that once encircled the Arantaean like a serpent.
Just over a century ago, Lumont's border first abutted the expanding empire of Aslakis—a draconic nation sprawling from the bones of East Monum to the southwestern reaches of Anolia, along the eastern edge of the Arantaean. In the decades since, as Aslakis consolidated its strength after an internal civil war, the two empires have warily tested each other's defenses—Lumont hungering for Aslakis's Anolian trade routes, and Aslakis envying Lumont's access to the Haeklanic Ocean.
Eight years ago, shortly after the twenty-six-year-old Emperor Aurele IV took the throne from his late father (over the corpses of a half-dozen siblings and cousins), a young gold dragon by the name of Parlakanat—the second son of a minor Aslakian governor, and a member of Aslakis's highest draconic caste—flew across the border, then incinerated and plundered the small hinterland village of Saint Clarine.
When news of Saint Clarine's fate reached Lumont's capital, Emperor Aurele—determined to seal his right to his father's legacy and crush any skeptics of his strength—commanded General Marcel Favrus to dispatch an elite unit of the Knights of the Golden Order to capture the dragon and bring it alive to the capital to face justice. Following his transport to Lumont's capital, the emperor had him muzzled and crucified in the city square before the city's populace.
With news of Parlakanat's desecration ringing through the skies, Aslakis dispatched a platoon of draconic warriors to incinerate the province of Roudloux that once held Saint Clarine, village by village, and town by town, and ending with the provincial seat. It took four days for the dragons to reduce the entire province to ash. Lumont declared war less than a week later.
Present. Lumont's war effort is not going well. Although General Favrus has vowed that the "overgrown lizards" will be brought to hell by the winter solstice, Aslakis's forces have made steady inroads into Lumontish territory, though their progress has stalled in recent years. Today, Saint Marten and its control of the Berghidiene Mountains form one of the keystones ensuring Lumont's defense. If the city were to fall, Aslakis's offensive would be empowered anew, opening a clear line to Lumont's heartlands and capital.