Difference between revisions of "Soveriegn States"

Revision as of 15:33, 28 November 2004

Soveriegn States

Flag of Soveriegn States
Motto: "A Free People Know No Limits"
[1]
Region	Excalbian Isles
Capital	Jefferson
Official Language(s)	English
Leader	President Thomas Caine
Population	Over 3 billion
Currency	The Sov (S)
NS Sunset XML

Geography and Early History

The Excalbian Isles rise from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the Northern Atlantic, southwest of Iceland and southeast of Greenland. One of the largest islands in the world, Excalbia, makes us most of the island chain’s land area. The Borodea Mountains split the island from north to south along the path of Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Highlands and foothills extend from the range to the west across much of the island. To the north of the highlands are plains and tundra; to the south are grasslands and forests. East of the mountain range, the terrain drops rapidly to foothills, pine forests and rugged coastline.

The Excalbian Isles were first settled by the Celts around the 6th century. By the early 10th century, they formed a number of stable, agrarian tribal groups, located mostly in the Southwestern grasslands and along the rugged Eastern coast.

In the late 10th century, a second wave of settlers – Norsemen – arrived from their colonies in Iceland and Greenland. While the earlier arrivals, now known as the Lowlanders, remained along the coast and in the grasslands, the Norsemen migrated into the highlands.

Despite relative isolation from Europe, occasional new arrivals continued to land on Excalbia. These included a small group of Scots, who moved into the highlands and submerged into the Norse Highlanders, and some Irish monks, who in the 12th century introduced Christianity among a small tribe of Lowlanders on the Eastern coast.

By the 13th century, the island’s social structure was well established. The Highland clans were warriors, herders and artisans and dominated the Lowland farmers. Clan warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries produced Excalbia’s first monarch, King Alsgood, who established his capital at Excalbia Castle.

By the 18th century, a number of English and Colonial merchantmen had visited Excalbia, but finding little worth trading along the coast had ignored it. In 1798, a small group of Virginia Baptist missionaries took an interest in Excalbia and booked passage on a Yankee merchant ship familiar with the islands. A storm, however, crashed the Narwhal against the Western coast. Stranded, but alive and still possessing much of their goods and supplies, the missionaries began working to convert the Lowlanders to Christianity and the crew of the merchant ship began establishing control of the local trade routes and building alliances with the local tribes.

In 1801, the newly assertive Lowlanders, backed by the missionaries and the guns of the ship’s crew, came into conflict with the Highland king, Ragarth. Low-level conflict continued until a truce in 1807, by which time the new American arrivals had reestablished contact with their homeland, bringing in new supplies for themselves and their Lowland allies. Seeing the balance of power tilting to the Lowlanders, Ragarth undertook a diplomatic mission to the Lowlanders’ new capital, Landing – the site of the Narwhal’s wreck. While in Landing, Ragarth’s son converted to Christianity and adopted the Christian name Joshua.

Joshua married the daughter of a missionary in 1808 and became king in 1809. At that point, he engineered a union between the Lowlanders and their allies and the Highland kingdom. On Christmas Day in 1810, Joshua proclaimed the Holy Empire of Excalbia, named the Alvis Miller, former Lowland governor of Landing, his Chancellor and established Christianity as its state religion. Emperor Joshua I also launched an aggressive campaign to bring modern education and knowledge to his kingdom.

Founding of the Confederation of Sovereign States

In 1817, a mixed group of American settlers and Lowlanders began demanding a republican government. In order to avoid violence, the Emperor extended a land grant to the republicans east of the Borodea Mountains and a patent to establish an autonomous republican government. The republicans accepted the grant and establish New Virginia. By 1828, a second settlement, known as Southland and dominated by extremely devout Christians, had been established. Another settlement, known as Deandra, had been founded by a group of Freedmen on an island south of Excalbia. Despite lingering racial prejudices, New Virginia, Southland and Deandra, along with the Lowland settlement of Saxmere and the Highland settlements of Alud and Trondgard, declared themselves independent states and immediately formed a Confederation of Sovereign States in 1829. The C.S.S. adopted a Constitution based on a modified version of the U.S. Constitution that created a weak central government with strong guarantees for personal liberty.

In 1856, Peter Courtland, commander of the New Virginia State Militia, was tried and convicted for treason for attempting to use the threat of military force to secure the resignation of the Governor and install himself as the new Governor. Before he could be imprisoned, Courtland, along with a number of supporters fled across the mountains to the sparsely inhabited plains of the northwest. By 1862, a number of settlements had been established in the region. Following Courtland’s death in 1870, leaders of these new settlements proclaimed the Dominion of Upper Virginia with a Constitution that, while guaranteeing individual rights and liberties, created a powerful central government.

Modern History

While the nations of Excalbia avoided World War I, they did suffer under the Great Depression. Economic collapse in the Dominion led to the rise of a socialist party that attempted a violent revolution in 1932. It was ruthlessly suppressed by General Roger Courtland, who suspended the Constitution and began authoritarian rule. The Dominion proclaimed neutrality in World War II, but both the Holy Empire and the C.S.S. backed the Allies and sent small forces to join the fight in Europe.

The Confederation of Sovereign States is prosperous and well-developed country, with a large population and a booming economy. The C.S.S., however, maintains only a small military, with the bulk of its troops serving in the militias of the various states.

The President of the Confederation is newly-elected Thomas Caine of the Liberty Party. Caine unseated former President Ilmar Alderson, also of the Liberty Party, at the party's convention. The Liberty Party is the largest bloc in the C.S.S. lower house – the House of Representatives – but holds less than a majority. A coalition of the Democratic Party and the New Liberal Party hold a narrow majority in the House. A significant bloc of opposition seats are also held by the by the Sovereignty Party. Congressman Joseph Sumners of the New Liberal Party is Speaker of the House. All four parties hold seats in the House of the States with none being able to exercise a majority.

Alliance with Knootoss and the Rumours of the Invisible Hand

President Caine's first act after inauguration was to travel to the Dutch Democratic Republic of Knootoss to sign the Knootian International Stabilisation Treaty (KIST). This has caused the Holy Empire of Excalbia to nullify the Treaty of Jefferson, a long-standing mutual defence pact between the Empire and the Confederation. Many organizations and international observers believe that the Confederation's sudden alignment with Knootoss is due to the influence of the Order of the Invisible Hand. It has long been rumoured that the Order's influence was growing among the Confederation's business leaders.