00 ♙ history
in progress
So, once upon a time, sometime in the 1300s, two small villages appeared in the hinterlands of the Alps, Schaan and Vaduz. Roughly about the same time, a wee little girl appeared in the area around the villages--a queer little thing, if anyone really paid attention. Though she had no parents or any known family, she seemed to fair well enough, hiding in the forest and mountains. Most of the villagers tended not to mind her, beyond a few questions here and there. With the fact that she never aged, not to mention that her eyes looked kinda soulless, most took her for some sort of spirit.
But her other neighbors knew better, though they rarely interacted with her. To the east was Austria, who she--Vaduz, being called for the more important of the two villages--occasionally saw, peeking at him from tiny crevices she could fit in, and he seemed... well, he didn't raid her house very often, so that was a good sign. She technically lived in Swabia's house at the time, but Swabia for the most part just ignored her. And then there was Switzerland (nevermind that he's not Switzerland yet, that's just easier to type), who had made a hobby in pulling her hair and stealing whatever food she had managed to scrounge up.
And then Swabia either died and/or lost most of his power and influence during the Swabian War, and Switzerland burned down Vaduz's only castle, which was a bit more than the normal hair pulling. Ouch. Anyway, things just sort of continued to go downhill for Vaduz during the Reformation--though Protestantism never really got a foothold in Vaduz itself, the instability caused one of the worst witch hunts in any German speaking countries--out of a population of 3000, 300 people were executed for crimes of witchcraft. Vaduz got thrown in a couple of fires; it hurt, left some pretty bad scarring on her bum and thighs that is still there. Her neighbor's strife only caused her more troubles; Austrian soldiers were stationed in the villages in order to help stave off the chaos in the Grisons territory nearby, and and then Sweden invaded during the Thirty Years War. In order to stave off the mass destruction of the villages, the people of Vaduz and Schaan were forced to pay the Swedish army 8000 talers. Needless to say, the people didn't have that kind of money. Between these chaotic events and the villages having passed from noble to noble, it was bankrupt financially, and there was no way any local nobility could save or protect Vaduz.
And so, enter the noble family of Liechtenstein. This was a family of cunning, wealthy, and very well-connected people; considered one of the closest allies of the Habsburgs, and according to some, the closest. The family originated from Austria, but had moved their base of power to Moravia after having been invited by local authorities. Why? Because they had money. This was essentially the same reason why Schaan and Vaduz were offered to the Liechtenstein family--it would not only pay off the debt of the current owners, but also offer the Liechtenstein family the one thing that they didn't have: the title of prince. In 1712, the land was officially transferred to the family, and the princely family became even more useful. Vaduz--now called Liechtenstein was rather unofficially handed over to Austria
in progress