Baron

Background

Founded by Chimaea, previously a historic nations and Halls of Memory member, now no longer deceased. Upon Chimaea's leave it seemed as though Baron was going through a slight period of stagnation, considerably lower in prevalence than what it had previously been. The region, maintained for a substantial period of time by The Kindom of El Sentiel, some hope to welcome new members. involvement in UN activity is present at current in the region, with by convention, taken a congressional vote, for the allocated of the region's delegate vote.

History

The region of Baron was originally the Empire of Baron, with Chimaea as the initial and longest-serving regional delegate. It was in this period that the region was part of the infamous Chimaean-Clock Hill War, which was the first major intra-regional war which ended in a limitted nuclear exchange between Chimaean ally Rastonia and Clock Hill ally Buttfaces (yes, that was its real name). The war started when Chimaean Air Force planes intercepted a Clock Hill spy plane and escorted it back into Clock Hill airpsace. Clock Hill then used this as a reason to launch attacks on the Chimaean-Clock Hill border, which were then repulsed by Chimaean troops. The largest Chimaean deployment of the day saw an Armed Forces presence of around 50-80, 000 troops on the border. The region was split into two factions which went to war over Clock Hill and Chimaea. The Chimaean alliance won and took control of Clock Hill, though at the greatest expense as Rastonia was crippled by the nuclear exchange and Buttfaces was completely destroyed.

This war set the scene for a Chimaean-oriented political sphere of influence throughout Baron, with Chimaea dominating the balance of powers. All of this changed, however, when Street Island, a semi-autonomous territory part of the Chimaean Commonwealth, declared independance in a violent coup and called for aid from strident critic of Chimaean policy, Potentis, and its allies. The Chimaean bloc rushed to defend Chimaea and there followed a tense standoff as Chimaean forces blockaded Street Island, forced the Street Island Nationalists out of power and reinstated the democratic government. Chimaea recieved a lot of international and intra-regional condemnation which served to weaken Chimaean influence throughout Baron.

After these events there was a long period of comparitive calm throughout Baron. There were several minor incidents and the threat of a Reich attack on Baron territory, but this passed without emerging. Eventually Chimaea, realising the danger of having no Regional Founder, organised an exodus from the Empire of Baron. Instead of resurrecting the Empire, Baron was created as another region occupying the same geographical space.

There followed a period of peace and prosperity for Baron, which ended when the majority of nations within Baron, including Chimaea, left. The Kingdom of El Sentiel adopted as a caretaker nation and eventually, after a period of desolation, Baron flourished once more. Now with 40-odd nations and a combined GDP heading into the hundreds of trillions of dollars (USD), Baron stands as a prominent force and influence in the Nationstates world.

Organisations

Following major reforms after Chimaea returned to Baron, there was an allied effort to create a combined political, humanitarian and military organisation for Baron, based on such organisations such as SATO, NATO and the UN. This was in part due to the memory of the Chimaean-Clock Hill War, which left one nation completely devastated by nuclear attack, another nation barely surviving and almost polarised and split Baron.

The initial aims of the reforms were these, sponsored by Chimaea:

1. Collective regional funding and expansion of the Chimaean Satellite Defence Grid, which was put into place when a limitted nuclear exchange during the Chimaean-Clock Hill war completely destroyed one Baron nation and crippled another. The Defence Grid has the ability to detect ballistic missile launches, compute trajectories and launch counter measures such as lasers and multiple interception missiles against a certain number of launched missiles.
2. Resurrection of the Baron Security Council, along with the Baron Intervention Taskforce for the purposes of military intervention and defence against regional enemies, as well as peacekeeping. These forces will be under rotational military command depending on the mission and member nations will need to donate personnel, equipment, supplies and so forth for a smaller active defence force which would be ready to react to any threat against Baron security.
3. Creation of Baron Aid, an independant humanitarian organisation for the rapid and effective treatment of humanitarian emergencies.
4. Creation of the Baron Monetary Fund, which would provide economic assistance to Baron nations and deliver a fair and level playing field for intra-regional trade and so forth.

After intense negotiations, the Grand House of Baron and its organisations were created.

Grand House of Baron

The Grand House of Baron is the central organisation within Baron; the general assembly of Baron nations which passes resolutions and laws Baron-wide, balancing sovereignity with regional togetherness. Each nation is represented by one Ambassador and his/her staff and each nation gets one vote. Voting is done for each resolution and the resolution needs a 2:1 majority to pass.

The Grand House of Baron is headed by the Secretary General of Baron, who is voted in by a majority of the GHOB every month from candidates put forth by all interested nations. The Secretary General does not need to be replaced every month if the GHOB vote to keep the current one in position. The Secretary General may be impeached by a resolution of the GHOB which has the backing of two other nations and 75% of the vote.

Baron Security Council

The Baron Security Council, just like the U.N. Security Council, is responsible for organising the defence of Baron, of protecting Baron interests abroad, providing peacekeepers for peacekeeping missions and so forth. The Security Council has four permanent member nations, those with the largest military capabilities.

The Baron Security Council is headed by the Chief of Staff, who's position is up for renewal by the incoming Secretary General every month. The Secretary General nominates two candidates from those put forth by interested nations, then the GHOB votes on the candidates. Whichever candidate gets the majority vote then becomes Chief of Staff.

The Chief of Staff is in charge of the Council and will nominate a Situational Commander for every mission. The Chief of Staff will also nominate three Commanders for each main branch of the Security Council, the Army, Navy and Air Force (which will include all Space tech).

Baron Intervention Taskforce

This is a historical organisation, initially created when Chimaea had the biggest influence in Baron to pro-actively provide forces for the defence of democracy and human rights. The role of the BIT has changed somewhat since then; it is not the strictly military arm of the Baron Security Council. All members contribute military forces to this, varying in size by economy and population. Command is rotational depending on immediate mission needs.

Baron Defence Grid

The space-age heralds the need for better defences. These grid of satellites can detect a nuclear launch and provide rapid counter-measures, such as laser and missile defences. All nations in Baron has access to this, and portions can be moved to other parts of the world if Baron forces are being deployed internationally. To protect the concept of Mustally Assured Destruction, the Grid can only neutralise a certain number of nuclear launches.

Baron Aid

Baron Aid is an independant humanitarian/watchdog organisation which is the chief conduit for aid and humanitarian deployments throughout Baron and the world. Baron Aid will liase with all available resources and organisations, such as the ICRC and other NGOs as well as the Security Council, and will also have reaction teams for emergencies as well as a permanent civilian staff. Baron Aid has two permanent member nations.

Baron Aid is headed by the Secretary of Aid, who's position is up for renewal by the incoming Secretary General every month. The Secretary General nominates two candidates from those put forth by interested nations, then the GHOB votes on the candidates. Whichever candidate gets the majority vote then becomes Secretary of Aid.

Baron Logistical Organisation

The Baron Logistical Organisation will be in charge of revenue, supplies and other resources that go into all other organisations/departments. It replaces the out-dated Baron Monetary Fund.

The BLO is be headed by the Secretary of the Interior, who's position is up for renewal by the incoming Secretary General every month. The Secretary General nominates two candidates from those put forth by interested nations, then the GHOB votes on the candidates. Whichever candidate gets the majority vote then becomes Secretary of the Interior.

Current affairs

Conflicts

Acta Sanctorum: The Second Baron War

The Commonwealth of Chimaea discovered that the Holy Empire of Rathanan is constructing nuclear silos capable of mass nuclear attack. Whilst the Baron Defence Grid prevents lone nuclear strikes, mass nuclear attacks (using multiple nuclear missiles) cannot be prevented. Alarmed at this threat to Baron security and Chimaean domination of the balance of power within Baron, Chimaea asked the Grand House of Baron to vote on sactions to be placed on Rathanan, based on a report released by Baron Aid detailing Rathanan human rights abuse.

Put on the defensive, Rathanan threatened Chimaea with nuclear aggression, thereby revealing the presense of nuclear weapons within the Holy Empire. With the tensions between the two nations increasing, Chimaea went ahead with the planned sanctions, creating a Naval embargo of Rathanan.

The situation escallated further when Rathanan agents secretly kidnapped the Chimaean Ambassador to the Grand House of Baron, later killing him through burning. The Commonwealth, realising what had happened and knowing the Ambassador knew sensitive information, started Operation Broken Arrow, a plan to partially invade Rathanan and destroy the majority of its nuclear arsenal, preventing them from having a mass attack capability.

It was at this juncture that Bordoria entered the situation on Rathanan's side, launching a surprise attack at Chimaea, destroying a lot of the port at East Port and Gladys Island. Chimaea condemned Bordoria and retalliated, though Bordorian propaganda claimed the immense missile attack had only wiped out one warehouse.

While the war raged within Rathanan, the war of words continued in the Grand House with both sides accusing the other of war crimes. Chimaea addressed these concerns, suggesting a Grand House Inquiry into the claims. Demands for compensation from Rathanan were firmly rebuffed, with Chimaea pledging only an increase in funding for Baron Aid.

The conflict ended with the destruction of the final insland missile silos. A major Rathanan-Bordorian offensive to recapture the coastal city of St. Cypher was used by the Chimaean forces as an opportunity to withdraw as safely as possible. The 40, 000-strong Marine and Airborne Chimaean force withdrew from St. Cypher, stage by stage, and extracted under fire from the beaches. After a brief but intense Naval skirmish, the war was over.

It had claimed the lives of 4, 300 CAF personnel, 2, 000 Royal Bordorian Armed Forces personnel and 6, 000 Rathanan military personnel. The body-count of civilian dead was correspondingly high and the war left the city of St. Cypher devastated, with other cities and communities heavily damaged.

The Baron Cold War

Flashpoint Colombia

With the hot war over, the two power blocs in Baron stand poised for hostilities, neither willing to make the first outward move. Rathanan, rebuilding its civilian and military infrastructure, launches a war of diplomacy and intelligence operations. In the Grand House of Baron, accusations and allegations are made against both sides. POW exchanges are used as political tools to gain leverage, culminating in a meeting between Emperor Calidan and Governor Bryce. The subject of Ambassador Robertson also resurfaces, adding a further tension between the leaders.

Meanwhile, Chimaean Colombia is set to conduct the first democratic elections since the rise of FARC and the ensuing Chimaean-Knootian intervention. Administrator Caton Gregorio and the new Demócrata Liberal Party is expected to win in a landslide victory and the people are set to celebrate Chimaean Colombia's new-found peace and prosperity.

However, a desperate group of geurillas led by former drug-lord Juan de Ballesteros is bent on disrupting the elections with such force that the democratic processes are curtailed and Chimaea is forced to clamp down, with the resulting international outcry. Two Rathani intelligence operatives offer their services to the group and planning begins to assassinate Chimaean Colombia's hope for an independant and secure future: Administrator Gregorio...

Active member nations

External links

• Baron organisational thread