The Empire of Ardenia

Overview
Also known as the Ardenian Empire, the country is to the Northeast of Ikaria. It is known for its extraordinarily strong Navy as well as exceptional cavalry. Though they seem to have been transferring troops to their Northern border recently, as well as proposing Non-Aggression Pacts with their neighbors. They used to be a vast empire, with territories including the lands of The Holy Kingdom of Istra, Shesla, The Knights of Ciron, and parts of The Empire of Ikaria, including places such as Faerlie. Its capital is Ardenia.

Beginnings
In ancient times, it was a booming nation. It developed the fastest and thus was able to dominate the land for most of the reign of humans. It is one of the oldest nations.

It's foundings are disputed, some claim that the Ardenians came from the far North and settled in present-day Ardenia (City) and quickly expanded their influence while others claim that the Ardenians came from far East, in a land of nothing but deserts and wastelands. For all of its history, it has been ruled by an Emperor in a male-dominated society, contrasting Ikaria's female-dominated society. Ardenia has the luxury of having a wide land to choose from, and thus, while the rest of the developing nations were dealing with their own crises, Ardenia was already on their path to conquest.

The first Emperor ever recorded was Emperor Ardenia, to which the country was named after.

Conquest of Shesla
Shesla before it was conquered was much the same as it is now. The people worked hard, mastered the desert, but were ultimately defeated by the overwhelming amount of Ardenian forces pouring into their country. Shesla's conquest came at a massive cost and took over two decades to fully conquer. It left Ardenia in a difficult situation in which they had to cease their major conquests for a long time.