Mergian
Introduction
Goals
I wanted to try my hand at a realistic Germanic conlang. I've seen so many typical Germanic conlangs, that I tried to get Mergian nice and unique.
History
In 410, the Gothic king Alaric I sacked Rome. That year was an astonishing victory for all Goths. However, Alaric died that same year due to a hunting accident. The Goths were left without a suitable king, and they began to fracture into petty bickering. Almost none of the tribes wanted to leave the lush Roman Empire, and neither did they want to fight the Emperor. However, the Simmeck tribe, led by their chief Wallia, decided to abandon the Roman Empire. The year that the Simmecks left, the Roman general Constantius III crushed the remaining Goths, and all that were left were the men of Wallia's armies.
Soon after, Constantius became emperor and permitted the Simmecks to live north of Moesia. They acted as the first line of defense against the Huns. They lived in relative peace, and the Romans promised to not bother them. Around 440, the invasion of the Huns forced out the Simmecks all the way to the Rhine. They formed an alliance with the Alemanni and in 451, alongside the Romans, they defeated the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Wallia died in the battle, and Theodoric rose to power.
After the battle, the Pope Leo I converted Theodoric from Arianism to Nicene Christianity. He appointed Theodoric on a holy mission, citing it to be a revelation given to him by God. The Simmecks were to be the guards of the Christendom. He told them to move north and to establish a church there, to defend Rome and the Christian world.
Theodoric agreed to follow the word of the Pope, and he moved his kingdom east. They settled on the Elbe and Warta. He also adopted the name Fīnēs Rōmae (The borders of Rome). As a thanks, the Romans sent their best architects to design places for the Simmecks to live. Eventually, the Latin name dropped and instead the Old Mergian name Rumi marga stuck. That name evolved to the word Rommerg which is where the word Mergian comes from.