Helman

"Barres Province"

- on Helman.

General Info


The Helman Empire is the oldest Human nation in the current era, and boasts the largest infantry, specially trained from an early age, it is truly an elite military nation. Helman is a country in the northern parts of The Continent. Its lands are cold and barren, which made the lives of its citizens very harsh.

Population: Approx. 51 million

Capital: Lang Bau

Leader: Sheila Helman

Originally established as a Republic Nation, upon the enthronement of the Empress in LP0002, the government shifted to Imperialism instead.

The leader of the nation was Empress Sheila Helman, but she was only used a puppet, being the chancellor Stessel Romanov the one that held the actual power. Under the command of Stessel, the government was sank in utter corruption, and the nation's power has been reduced to half of its former glory. Even then, it still overwhelms  Leazas  in both sheer population and military forces.

During the years of Stessel's ruling, the nation greatly weakened, with many dying from hunger, diseases or the living conditions, aproximately 12 million people died in just a few years. In LP0006 a revolution took place after the exiled prince Patton Misnarge, who was deemed dead upon Empress Sheila's enthronement, returned to the country and formed the Helman Revolutionary Army with the objective of taking down Stessel. The bloody revolution took many lives, but Stessel was killed and Helman shifted back to Republicanism, with Sheila given the position of President as a result and holding real political power this time.

Political Structure
Helman was originally a National Republic, with a comittee of eight trustees that would help govern the nation with the Emperor.

As of the year LP0002, the political system has been overhauled to imperialism, the country name was changed to "Helman Empire". Many of its members either died, defected or were removed from power and, after the Helman Revolution, the nation has yet to fully re-establish this group.

Council of Eight
The Council is a group of political leaders that lead the national power along with the emperor, distributing different roles among the economical and military affairs. While it was made to avoid an absolutistic power set in one person, the group was terribly corrupted and/or incompetent in the most recent years, with the ones that were well intended being either imprisoned or abandoning the position for other reasons.

After the events of the Helman Revolution, all of its remaining members perished and the group was disbanded with the change of the political institution in the country.

Living Conditions
As Helman is primarily a military state, most of the budget goes into army maintenance and training facilities.

This means that Helman has the most poverty of the three great nations, with many people living very poor lives without food, housing or education.

Most able-bodied young men are drafted into the military and even the women are brought in to work heavy industry, wages are generally poor and most can't even support their families. Helman is also a nation notorious for having prominent sexism and discrimination towards women, who are mostly seen as inferior, especially in the military.



Despite the extreme poverty, there is actually a cache of 100 million gold in the Emperor Palace, though that is reserved for personal use by the royal family. The fact that Helman is situated in the frozen north doesn't help the situation either, crops cannot be grown and the only precious resources are rare metals.

To the west is a border to the Monster Realm but they are secured by a long Fortress called Banra Fort. The structure is mundane compared to Zeth's Maginot Line, with just a fortress made of rocks and simple catapults. However, it is secured by strong Helman soldiers, and the other side of the borders is ruled by the Hornet Faction, which is a non-aggressive moderate faction that seeks peaceful coexistance with humanity, which means Helman has yet to receive a heavy attack from the Monster Realm.

Despite all these negative points, with the reform after the Helman Revolution and the fall of Stessel from power, things will likely start to improve.

Military
The military is the biggest feature of Helman, and the most impressive. Their training facilites have helped produce some of the strongest fighters on the continent, including people like Fletcher Modell, Thoma Lipton and Minerva Margaret.

Helman is the military superpower of the continent, they have 6 unique divisions that can decimate most anyone with thousands of common soldiers.

They have an elite unit known as the "Black Knights", a clad in black iron armor, black shields and custom built blades, these units have been specially trained since infancy to become the ultimate soldiers.

Aside from the soldiers, they also have tamed or hired  monsters  in their armies, like Bambara, Dekants, and some others. They even have  Devils  working in their armies, s o well equipped battalions could even take down a  Dark Lord.

The whole Army is conformed by around 310,000 people, being almost thrice as big as  Leazas ' Army.

However, there are conflicts within the top of the Helman army, and lack of unity is felt through out the military. The disorganization and inner conflicts among the armies is one of the biggest weaknesses Helman suffers as a consequence of the  political turmoil  there is within the country.

Due to the poverty of the nation, the armor worn by the Helman soldiers are not the high grade, light yet durable steel like the ones Leazas soldiers wear. Instead, they are thick and heavy. This does not seem to be a problem as Helman soldiers tends to be very built and muscular.

After the Helman Revolution, the army was greatly weakened with the deaths of many of its top generals and many soldiers, suffering a severe restructuration.

Supreme Commander
The leader of the helman army.

Helman 1st Army
The 1st Army is the back-bone of Helman's militia. It's conformed by 50,000 elite soldiers, and was led by the experienced and veteran, Lelyukov Berkov. They are stationed and guarding the city of Micrograd. With Lelyukov's death during the Helman Revolution, Amitos Armitage became the new General.

Helman 2nd Army
The 2nd Army is the garrison formed to guard the Fort Banra from the armies of the Monster Realm.

It's conformed by a 2000 tamed monsters, 800 knights and 147,200 common soldiers, all spread all over the fort, having a total of 150,000 individuals and boasting  the largest number of soldiers among the Helman Armies. Most of its soldiers are archers or specialized in long-range weapon.

It was led by the young, yet talented, and genius marksman Aristoles Karm. Despite his outstanding talent, he perished during the Helman Revolution and was replaced by Bodu.

Helman 3rd Army
The 3rd Army is the group responsible for the defense of the Imperial City and capital of Helman, Lang Bau, guarding also the Royal Family and the Council of Eight.

It's conformed by 2000 tamed monsters, 300 knights and 27,700 soldiers, boasting a total of 30,000 individuals. It was led by Minerva Margaret, one of the strongest fighters in Helman and in The Continent. Due to the events that took place in the Helman Revolution, she perished and was replaced by Hubert Lipton, who also carries the rank of Commander in Chief of the Military.

Helman 4th Army
The 4th Army is the militia in charge of protecting the southern border of Helman, and it's spread in the cities of Volgo Z, Sudori 13 and Cossack.

It'sconformed by 500 tamed monsters, 1000 knights and 48,500 common soldiers, boasting a total of 50,000 people. It's led by Nero Chapet VII who, while not terrible, he's far from being good enough to carry the title he boasts. He was killed in the Helman Revolution and he has yet to be replaced.

Helman 5th Army
The 5th Army is a guerrilla that is not stationed in any particular location, ready to fight at any time.

It's conformed by 500 Knights and 9,500 common soldiers, making a total of 10,000 people. It's led by the country's finest swordsman and after the revolution strongest fighter, Rolex Gadras, but due to his bohemian nature, the Military Headquarters has troubles with him.

Dark Wings
Helman's top assassin's, led by Freya Idun.

Trivia

 * Helman is based heavily on the real life country of Russia, being a massive military nation with cold climate and poor farmland that relies on conquest and warfare to maintain its economy. The tendency for Helmanian men to be tall and well-built is also derived from a common stereotype about Russian men.
 * In the Rance Series, Helman is the country with the largest number of male characters by far.