The Republic of Lebennin

The Republic of Lebennin
The southern square of Linhir, as seen during an early construction period.
General Information
Government Type	Federal Republic
Current Ruler(s)	Zeradash, CrazyShark178 (Senators)
The flag of the Northern Holds and the Republic, Luna under the three jewels of the faction (Linhir, Emyn Arnen and the City of Towers).
Claimed Lands	The two Holds of the Republic (color distribution).
The claimed lands of the Republic as well as the official cities and builds (constructed, under construction and under design alike) The roads (made and planned) as well as the roleplay sea trade routes appear on the map as well.
Capital	Linhir
Population	22 (total, active and inactive)
NPCs	Lebennin and Gondor NPCs

The Republic of Lebennin is an independent and semi-canonical, with Lebennin being a fiefdom in lore, faction primarily based within Lebennin, although they also have a presence in both Pelargir and Ithilien. Lebennin split from Gondor and became an independent realm in the June of 2017, having grown since in both members, prosperity, and land.

This faction was created in order to focus on building, relaxing, serving as a vacation from real life, and playing casually, and welcomes every player into the faction with open arms as long as they are willing to cooperate and stay active.

Owned Land and Cities

The Republic owns the entire biome of Lebennin, the southern regions of Ithilien, and a small part of Lamedon north of Linhir, it is also divided in 2 different Holds: The Northern Holds and Linhir. Each hold provides a senator to the Council and has at least 1 major settlement; though the number of holds varies depending on the situation of the faction, 2 or 3 holds are usually the expected number. The region of Lebennin is extremely lush and fertile, ripe with forests of varying density and wide fields where the majority of the factions settlements take root. Swampland, often temporary, can also be found as a result of the rains that pelt Lebennin during the wet season, keeping the ground green, which in turn refreshes the soil and serves as an excellent base for any form of crop or vegetation, making famine rare.

The Northern Holds

''The city where all began, the throneless capital, the old forgotten tower of Itharim now rises glorious and shiny up to the skies'' -Forgotten book from the Great Library.

Banner of the Northern Holds.

The Northern Holds are a combination of the eldest regions of the faction: Itharim, Dawnport, and the City of Towers; it was expanded after the former Gondorian, Tarixxiv, put the Emyn Arnen in the hands of lebennin. All of these holds were assimilated with administrative purposes. The current Senator of this hold is CrazyShark178.

Roleplay-wise, it is the most populated region of the faction. Despite the importance of the major settlements, the cities and builds here are relatively small, but this is made up for in quantity, and the terrain is generally occupied by farmlands, excluding forest regions, unstable hills, and swampland, though the latter may receive farming during the aforementioned wet season. Many of the core locations were planned builds later cast aside to make resources for Linhir and other larger places like Andaros and Emyn Arnen, but the region still holds an important treasury and it was once the hub of the Republic until Linhir became the capital. The biggest city is currently The City of Towers, a great stronghold created as a shelter long ago. We can distinguish 4 major places:

Itharim, capital of the Northern Holds, famous for its hoards of diamonds and athelas, serves beneath the banner of Senator Zerdash, it is the oldest and once densest city of the republic, and as a result of its age was capital of the whole faction until Linhir neared completion, whereupon the throne shifted over to it. Built and expanded during wartime with their once overlords, it has become a symbol to the faction and of what it represents in addition to being easily accessible by new members. The region Itharim oversees is well know for red wine, fed and nurtured by the Five Fair Streams.

The city of Itharim, current capital of the Northern Holds.

Dawnport was also a relatively important city. Shrouded with history, Dawnport, built by Bublica, became the central harbor of the faction for a short while. The city shines a dimmer light than it did during its prime, but it is still worth a visit and, unsurprisingly, can be quite comfortable to the worn visitor. The city is quite isolated, which in addition to begetting a long journey, serves as a high apple to reach for should troubled waters flow the streams once more. Following the claiming of Emyn Arnen, Dawnport sees the occasional trade, a great relief to its inhabitants.

Luna's Hold is located in the north-west of the region. It was originally a hold on itself ruled by Andsnow, but recently it got assimilated into the major group. Probably the most interesting of all the regions, it consists of a total of 3 settlements, from which the most important is Luna's City, also known as The City of Towers. That city was originally created as a fortress where most of the faction was evacuated during the war against Gondor. After the conflict ended, the city started growing and now an insane net of tunnels and chambers surround an entire mountain range, and in the center a valley with the city itself lays waiting for times of need. The city is ruled by Zeradash, who is the main builder. The City of Towers is rightfully one of the cultural centers of the faction; with features like the Great Library and all the secrets, rooms and elements that are present in the underground, the city is one of the jewels of all Lebennin and it is built and guarded proudly by the highest ranks of the Lunar Army. Luna's is also known because it keeps the main faction storages, since the war against Gondor, the underground rooms got filled with war equipment, materials, ores, precious stones and coin in order to spend them on faction trades and other matters.

Emyn Arnen was a region created very recently, as Tarixxiv gave Zeradash said waypoint and he incorporated it into the faction for new lore and build projects. The land is very unforgiving, and even now the Lunar Army is fighting against the orc raiding parties and hosts that have camped there for a long time, harassing the remaining Gondorian havens and entering the rest of the regions. It has a total of 4 build projects planned for a long period of time, but the waypoint itself does have a fortress which was given to Zeradash, so the land has been secured by the Army.

Minas Arnen, seat of power of Lebennin in Ithilien, surrounded by the local fauna.

The currently built settlements of the Holds are:

• Itharim: Capital of the Hold and first capital of the Republic. It is also the oldest city of the faction and hosts the Northern Treasury.
• Backwater Village: A small peaceful village focused on lumberworks. Located east of Itharim, its purpose is merely decorative and roleplay related.
• Dawnport: Ancient capital of a hold with its name, it was the main harbor of the faction until Linhir and half of Pelargir were claimed.
• Luna's city (The city of Towers): Former capital of its own hold and a roleplay focused city. It is probably the richest city of the Republic because of the huge underground storages, combined with the need of an intense trade system, the city is prepared for major disaster, with one of the headquarters of the Lunar Army and provisional senatorial rooms in case a major conflict arrives.
• Rivercross city: A big town located on the southern end of the hold. The city is under construction and shows the level of expansion the faction has been achieving. Since Andsnow was elected Senator in June 2018, the city is probably going to become major soon.
• Fort Vinchini: A fort located east of the Pelargir border. This fortress was originally intended to be a defensive fortification designed to guard any threat coming from the south into the Northern Holds. The fortress itself, though under construction, is planned to wrap around a bay that connects to the Anduin. The build is currently being constructed by CrazyShark178 & RoboWolf1132.
• Minas Arnen: This location in Ithilien was given to the faction in Summer 2018; because of that, the construction of the place hasnt been completed. Minas Arnen is the fortress that was previously owned by Tarixxiv, located near the Emyn Arnen waypoint. The fortress was improved drastically after it was given to Zeradash, and now the entire region is under contruction, so Minas Arnen works as the central seat of south Ithilien and a massive military settlement. The fortress itself has suffered several orc raids but it stood strong under the watch of the Lunar Army.
• Redwall: A small keep located on top of a hill, overlooking two farming villages and the central plains of the hold. Even though the build doesnt shine for its complexity, its solid fortifications will surely stand the passing of time thanks to the newest designs shared by Linhir's engineers.

Linhir

''Wait, what? Who in the name of the White Tree gave those damn rebels the city?!'' -Angbor, Lord of Lamedon, after receiving the news about the reconstruction of Linhir.

Linhir's official banner.

The region of Linhir is a source of pride for the Republic. As a part of the old treaty with Gondor and the intention of reviving Lebennin and its beauty, Zeradash took the rights on the waypoint and made the construction of Linhir a priority. The hold was specifically created to have borders with both the Mouths of Anduin (Mordoran Dominion) and Dol Amroth, and it is formed by various settlements; being Linhir a huge city and taking a big chunk of the hold. The current owner of all the building projects is Zeradash, who is leading most of the faction's construction program. This hold is becoming the core of the faction, and in June 2018 it was chosen as the Capital of the Republic. The current Senator is Zeradash.

As an interesting fact, Linhir was the only official waypoint owned by the faction until the adquisition of Emyn Arnen. Another element is that, due to the lack of information about this city, some models were taken from other cities like Lothric (Dark Souls series), but the main shape and layout of the city is the same as the one that can be found in books and other titles with a shift of 90 degrees due to the river positioning. The city focuses on the coastal presence as well as an impressive flax industry. In Spring 2019, The Plains were incorporated into this hold due to the lack of population and the fact that only two senators are currently needed in the faction.The current visible locations are:

• Linhir (city and shire): Capital of the hold and the Republic, and an impressive city under construction. With a size compareable to Minas Tirith, it has already become one of the biggest cities in all of Middle Earth. Linhir is a massive location; it holds the faction guilds, embassies, political centre and also hosts the Lebennin Armada and one of the two headquarters of the Lunar Army. The city is also evolving into a flourishing location with the intervention of the flax industry and the huge amount of wheat fields around the core city, combined with the silver mines and lumber production in the nearby towns and villages. There are 4 villages (Dead Rest, Bymarket, Hillbourgh and Roadstead) and another town (Newport) considered to be part of the shire as well.
• Uinur: Uinur is a large generated village that is planned to become an interesting point of the landscape. The village will be improved over time and a big cathedral/fortress will be constructed soon. Uirun wasnt planned to be claimed or built, but it was ravaged by players and that forced Zeradash into establishing a build project, as he tries to make Lebennin a beautiful and homing region.
• Farstead: A small under construction port located at the northern end of Tolfalas. The town has only roleplay purposes, serves as a stop for many merchants... and some marines with other intentions.
• Linhir's Gardens: The Gardens are a group of decorative villages, paths and gardens filled with all kind of plants and materials. Located on the road east of Linhir, it is being created and expanded by many players of the Republic, only to play and relax together while building.
• Greencoast: A small town located in the southern end of the hold, it serves as a stopping point for all the factional sea routes and trading galleys.
• Imphleth: An island located on the Bay of Belfalas; this island controlled the faction's salt production until it was discovered in other territories. Due to its small size, the island and the group of villages located there are ruled from the capital unless it grows in importance.
• Andaros: A town under design close to the Pelargir biome by the main road. This city was originally designed by CrazyShark178, but the lack of time because of real gave put the terraforming to a temporary halt. The town was previously meant to be the capital of The Plains until the hold was annexed.

Minor Settlements in the faction

• The Northern Bastion: A secret fortress Located in the Forodwaith Mountains. It was a productive mine of precious stones; however, this resource has been found in different locations such as the City of Towers, so the bastion has fallen into decadence.
• The Eastern Guard: A small white fortress built in Mordor, by the road between Minas Morgul and Barad-Dûr; meant as an agression to Mordor and an outpost in case of invasion. Few soldiers inhabit that place for obvious reasons.
• The Streams: This build project had only decorative purposes and was drawn to beautify the biome. The Streams are a series of 4 fortresses that protect the birth of each stream that the Republic claims. The names of the fortresses are Stone, Snow, Water and Earth; from East to West. Their names represent the key components that made the Lebennin biome such a thriving one. Currently, both Stone and Snow are under construction.

Recruitment and Members

To secure the activity of the faction (specially because of the casual factor) now there are certain requirements to join the Republic; right now, you must have at least +75 alignment with Gondor in the server and you must have been active for some days before getting acess to any city and its public property, there are also some basic requirements:

• The new member must know and respect the rules of the server.
• The new member must cooperate, offer a helping hand and avoid actions which affect other members or the faction negatively.

To become a citizen the recruit must ask the appropriate ruler. After being accepted, that player needs to go to a certain hold and join as a citizen to get acess to said hold's capital: after that, the player becomes an official member of the faction and is automatically welcome in any city or location owned by the Republic. One of the things to note is that a player usually gets acess to the majority of a city after being accepted, so the faction is very serious while treating griefs or other illegal situations. The Republic does not allow dual citizenship with any other faction.

Ranks and groups 

The faction has currently 4 different ranks:

• Citizen: the requirements to enter are shown above.
• Knight/Defender: Both of them are ranks of the Lunar Army, a voluntary group whose players swear to defend the well being of the Republic. These players lose some freedom and are forced to obey the senator's orders (fighting during wartime and working during peacetime). The defender swears to protect the lands of Lebennin, which would force him to enter the war in case of invasion, while the Knight is in charge of defensive and offensive matters at the same time. It's the first step in order to become a ruler.
• Senator: In charge of a main city, the senator is responsible for the recluitment, building, expanding and all the matters that affect the city and its hold. However, the ruler is not allowed to impose any order to a member (unless he is a member of the army at his service during peace time), otherwhise he could be removed from his rank and even the faction. To become a senator, a player must have proven an extreme loyalty and availability in case of any emergency, so that when a vote is called he obtains the majority.

We can also distinguish two main groups related with internal decisions:

• The High Council:  A group formed by every senator as well as the Lunar Commander (or the Son of the Thunder) ; they decide matters like war, trade, relations with other factions and strategies. Every individual votes only once, even if a senator rules more than one hold or if he is also the Lunar Commander because of any circumstancy.
• The Assembly: A group formed by every member of the faction, they decide all matters and vote for any action that could affect the cities or members of the community. Every player has the same vote as long as they are full members of the Republic, and this group is in charge of voting Senators in and out.

Military ranks:

One of the Lunar Squadrons standing in formation in Linhir.

The military ranks were designed by the Lunar Army for a better coordination in terms of war and military actions. The decisions taken by the high ranks are independent from the High Council; however, the Council is responsible of allowing the intervention of the Lunar Army. The Different ranks are listed below.

• Lunar Commander: The main leader of the army, coordinator of every action taken during a war and responsible for them. In case of war he is free to give war-related orders, but he must report every decision to the Council periodically to ensure a fair use of his power, even if the commander is a member himself. The current commander is Zeradash.

• Soldier: Every Defender or Knight is considered a soldier in the army; if they receive orders in war time, they must be obeyed unless it results impossible because of real life circumstances.
• Agent: This rank is absolutely private, it's members were only known by the Lunar Commander and they were the official spies of the faction. They didnt appear as members anywhere and apparently had no connection with Lebennin. They were mostly used for intel. or infiltration, although few members had this rank. This rank dissapeared due to the Council's current policies

Members

This is a list of all the public members of the Republic:

• Zeradash: Founder, Lunar Commander, Senator of Linhir.
• CrazyShark178: Senator of the Northern Holds.
• Zurisadai: Founder and citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Bublica: Knight of the Northern Hold.
• B_LastDragon: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Tarixxiv: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Ninja_Mickey: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Voetball: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Beaniemaster2004: Citizen of Linhir.
• Andsnow11: Knight of Linhir.
• GijsvanDuijn: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• NukeRubberDucky: Defender of The Plains.
• Dramoth: Defender of The Plains.
• LockeryOW: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Robowolf1132: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• ArcadeAsgard: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• BryanPikachu: Citizen of the Northern Holds.
• Colodorado8: Recruit.

Rules

The Republic follows basic rules that are easy to respect and only require to be friendly:

1. As a member of the faction, you must help other members if they ask for itand you must also be respectful with everybody. This includes giving resources and even money, the Republic's treasuries (and the senators who run them) have the obligation to give small amounts of coin to players if they are asked and the player in question needs them.
2. As the cities have public storages, you are free to give or take whatever you want, however, if the item is valuable or there's a high amount of stuff, you must warn with a signpost and replace in a short period of time, otherwise it will be considered a theft and reported. It is completely forbidden to take items from a player's house without permission.
3. As the Republic recently approved a trading system, trade between members is forbidden and it is mandatory to help other members for free; trading goods from the public warehouses without the region's senator permission or for your own profit will be considered theft and reported.

Diplomacy

The rules of the Republic themselves forbid any hostilities against the Free Peoples. Note that the following list shows the attitude of the Republic towards other factions, it may not be mutual. Non mentioned factions are inmediately considered neutral, they may not be listed because of a lack of communication. Lebennin is generally friendly with every faction unless there is a natural tendency for conflict or it has been recently attacked by said faction.

Friendly Factions:

• The Shire
• Rohan
• Arnor
• Lothlórien
• Every Dwarven kingdom
• Tauredain
• Dorwinion
• High Elves
• Wood Elves
• Umbar
• Astrasi Empire
• Avari
• Woodmen
• Moredain
• Gondor
• The Khaganate of the East
• Angmar

Neutral Factions:

• Dale (put because of raids on Linhir, It will be moved to friendly in June 2019 if the situation stays peacefull)
• Mordor

Hostile Factions:

(Kill on sight in case of entering the territory)

Due to the current neutrality of the faction in the ongoing events, the Republic is not hostile against any faction, and allows trade and relations with every player in the server.

The Black List:

This list shows all the players who caused serious damage to the Republic. No matter the current state of the player, he will be always remembered for his/her crimes. The list is the following one:

Noone is currently on the Black List :D

Roleplay History

*WARNING, REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOT A LORE FACTION AND THAT SOME OF THE ACTUAL HISTORY HAS BEEN EXHALTED (SPECIALLY THE ORIGINS) IN ORDER TO KEEP THE ROLEPLAY EXPERIENCE*

The Republic was founded by a group of refugees who were searching for a new life after the fall of Pelargir during an orc invasion. A big group of people followed the road north until they started being ravaged by orc batallions. In such a dire situation, the refugees decided to stay inside of an old forgotten tower, Itharim, and defend themselves there.

Some time passed and those people started building a city around the keep they had used to defeat the orcs, but the invasions went on and a group of citizens decided to march east in search of building a safe settlement by the river. That settlement would be named Dawnport, because the arrival took place while the Sun rose and was being reflected on the waters of the Anduin. The cities grew and a new feeling started growing, mainly because of the lack of help that was received by Gondor, which would only be increased by the arrival of more refugees, this time coming from the north and pushed out of their homes by Gondor itself. After some time, two humans who led the construction of the new city of Itharim, Zeradash and Zurisadai, began the preparations to create a new group of city-states from the new colonies, independent of Gondor.

At first, negotiations took place with Gondor, but after some time and the reject of the Gondorian Lords, the recently coronated king Tarixxiv ordered raids and assaults against Itharim, and so the war began. As the gondorians had more power and the cities were under construction, Zeradash stopped every building project and ordered the evacuation of Itharim to the White mountains, where The City of Towers (The Grey Fortress back then) was being built as a secret fortress by then.

After some weeks of only psycological aggresion, Gondor and the Confederacy of Lebennin signed a treaty that declared it an official faction and stopped every Gondorian agression (as well as the allies' who supported them and inquired the Confederacy). Soon after the war, Zurisadai dissapeared and some rumors were spread about betrayal and worse crimes against the Free Peoples. The Confederacy was then settled and the administrators were set to rule the different city-states.

Since then, the projects were resumed and the Confederacy grew, up to a point that some citizens from Dawnport decided to sail from its harbor to The Sea in order to find new lands and colonize them, far away from the Gondorian territory and troubles. However, the colony fell into decay and now its villages and castle show the shade of the former project that was once planned. That destiny was shared with the Northern Bastion, which was almost abandoned after the mines became less profitable and important sources of gems were found in the City of Towers.

In December 2017, the Confederacy managed to get the rights on Linhir and started creating the fourth region, but at the same time the faction got surrounded by two Gondorian wars (the civil war in Dol Amroth and the Mordoran invasion) that caused a lot of tension between the administrators. A few days later, Tarrixiv, king of Gondor, stepped down; and the Confederacy started a big reforming project which was finally approved the 24th of December, creating the Republic of Lebennin; yet the new alliance petition wasnt answered by Gondor, and it left the faction in a state of tension.

In January 2018, after some hard times related to a temporal decay of Gondor, the Republic tried to seize Lebennin as a safety measure against the expansion of the Mordoran Dominion and the Principality of Dol Amroth, which resulted in the restoration of the relationship with Gondor and the expansion of the territory to the entire biome, including half of Pelargir and a chunk of Lamedon surrounding Linhir; all included in the Alliance of the Fair Streams. After a massive investment made by the faction, both the cities of Linhir and Pelargir were ready for construction, cities that would become the cores of the faction, but that needed a lot of work.

Lebennin grew and flourished while new members came to populate the land and help with the construction of Linhir and Pelargir. With the total neutrality and global spirit, the leaders used the autharchy in the most efficient way possible, spending most of the faction's resources in minor settlements, gardens, ships and of course the major cities in order to populate the land and convert the biome into a great, prosperous country.

In June 2018, after celebrating the First Anniversary of the faction, a new period of elections and reforms was called. By the end of the month, Bublica had stepped down and Andsnow11 was elected Senator of Luna's Holds by the faction members; at the same time, the Northern Holds were created, a Trade System was established and Linhir became the capital of the faction. A few days after the main reforms had been approved, Luna's Holds was incorporated into the Northern Holds, giving Andsnow11 control over the most populated territory of the faction.

By the end of July 2018, Zeradash was given the Emyn Arnen waypoint and builds. As he is tied to the faction, he made a project to claim a territory of Ithilien in such a way that the trade routes could be made by sea and that the land was not isolated. As that included an expansion from the biome of the waypoint, that caused a massive conflict with Gondor, the previous owner; but after a series of negociations the problem seemed to be sorted out and a total of 3 builds (in addition to the waypoint) were included on the map and starting having drawings while the Lunar Army occupied the land and started pushing the orcs away from the biome. The negociations with Gondor spoke about compensation for the land that would be taken.

The problem was not sorted out however. The negociations were eventually cut by the end of August, and as a result, Gondor removed the Alliance of the Fair streams with the Republic of Lebennin, as Zeradash had broken the border agreement contained in it. The most significant event was the removal of Lebennin from Pelargir, which led the entire massive project and almost 8 months of real life time spent on Pelargir to lay wasted. As an answer, most of Southern Ithilien was claimed sortly afterwards and Zeradash swore that he would not intervene in server politics anymore while he was a senator, all while promishing no further relations with Gondor unless the king were restored or the Council members changed entirely (as the initial Gondorian response towards Lebennin had been the same). Lebennin entered in dark times after the loss of one of the major workplaces it had and the reduction of the activity due to the university/highschool/work resuming in real life. That didn't stop the faction from building the dozens of remaining projects though, and so the faction stood strong. In order to use all of the designs planned for Pelargir; CrazyShark178 designed the city of Andaros with the main elements that had been made for the harbor city, but on a minor scale and a different location; that city would be declared the capital of the new hold, The Plains, that came as a substitute for Pelargir's hold.

The rest of the year continued without any major event. Linhir kept growing, and eventually more than 50 builds were built inside the walls, together with the harbor. At the same time, Andaros and The Plains were declared inactive due to the growing lack of available members (irl speaking, mostly because of university and work) but the construction of the two main waypoints of the faction was continuous. Emyn Arnen grew and a great fortress now guarded the waypoint, while smaller projects of villages, castles and even decorative cities were improved and sometimes finished. By 2019, the faction had done absolutely nothing new, other than building, trading and gathering resources. Diplomatic relations were not affected by this period of isolation (except for the ones with Gondor) but Zeradash, now the only active leader, insisted on staying away from any kind of faction politics in the server, as the toxicity problems seemed constant to him and he wanted to keep Lebennin and its people away from all of that.

By Spring 2019 Lebennin had more cities and history, with the capital being totally fuctional but still under construction and the election of CrazyShark178 as Senator of the Northern Holds, replacing Andsnow, together with the total unification of The Plains as a part of Linhir. Lebennin started a recruitment campaign and kept building and trading, for the peace an prosperity that was about to last two years was in fact due to all of that.