The House of Valerius

Originally a minor collection of glass-blowers and physicians on the southern coast, the House of Valerius rose to prominence during the Great Resource Famine a century ago. While other nations resorted to primitive bayonets and cavalry charges, the Valerians invested in the Alchemical Revolution. They successfully industrialized the production of synthetic nitrates and chlorine compounds, making themselves indispensable to every modern army. When the Great War broke out, they realized that direct involvement would deplete their coffers. Instead, they retreated behind their fortified peninsula, transformed into a 'Neutral Manufacturer,' and began the sophisticated process of undermining their neighbors through financial and chemical means. Their entry into the Vordenburg proxy war was a calculated maneuver to seize the Aetherite mines of the northern territories without ever declaring a formal state of war against the Kaiser.