Diversity is our strength, unity is our foundation.
—Lord-Protector Adelian Keldrick failing to coin a motto for Arcuvium
The Protectorate of Arcuvium, also known as the Arcuvan Protectorate, the Keldrick Protectorate, or the Rainbow Realm, was a government located within the Ethereal Demesnes and Ethereal Empire which governed the world Arcuvium and its assorted interstellar territories. Despite remaining one of the most peaceful, tranquil governances of the entire Ethereal Demesnes for millennia, the Protectorate maintained one of the region's larger military forces until the Ruusan Reformation, along with a rivalry against the Grand Duchy of Cinnericium.
Initially founded as one of the earliest Demesnes following the disappearance of the Ethereal Empire, the Protectorate of Arcuvium's ruling family, the House of Keldrick, quickly became one of the most renowned in the region. While lagging behind their three primary political and military opponents, the Kingdom of Luctanem, the Noctoren Imperium and the Grand Duchy of Cinnericium, the Protectorate's government and society had one stand-out quality; they embraced and encouraged diversity and difference long before their peers, an approach which in fact played a significant role in the transition of Ethereal culture to be one which, on the whole, similarly embraced and encouraged diversity.
For a number of centuries, the Protectorate's military maintained one of the Demesnes' largest starfighter carrier forces. While their main rivals built battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and the like with great efficiency, the Protectorate based its naval strategy on starfighter supremacy. As a result, they were able to leverage their relatively smaller number of line warships and troops to sufficient effect to remain largely independent for millennia, until finally, at around the same time as their main rivals at Cinnericium, the Protectorate could no longer compete with Luctanem or Noctorem for political, military or economic power.
While the Grand Duchy fell into Noctorem's sphere of influence, the Protectorate readily aligned itself with Luctanem, seeing them as much more kindred spirits than the Noctorens likely ever would be. As a result, when the Keldrick bloodline split, with one branch of the main line becoming lost in the greater galaxy for centuries, the other married into and was inherited by Luctanem's House of Valdayn. It was only following the restoration of the Ethereal Empire during the Galactic Civil War that King Arius Valdayn of Luctanem returned the throne of Arcuvium to its last remaining legal heir, Kara Keldrick, who became the new Lady-Protector.