[b]Great confederation of the Imperial and Republican realms of Vinculi
Grande confédération des états Impériaux et Républicain de Vinculi
Großen Konföderation der kaiserlichen und republikanischen Reiche Vinculus
Gran confederación de los reinos imperiales y republicanos de Vinculi
Grote confederatie van de Keizer en Republikeinse rijken van Vinculus
Grande confederazione dei regni imperiali e repubblicani del Vinculi[/b]

OR! The GCV, Confederates, Vinculi, etc...


Flag: 
[img]http://orig14.deviantart.net/1b5f/f/2013/112/b/3/the_sanctum_of_the_radiant_gardens_flag_by_wilji1090-d62mvyd.jpg[/img]

[hider=Government and Economy]

[b]Type of Government[/b]: 
The confederation officially has very little power since all its decision are non-binding and are followed only voluntarily, but while on paper it is a virtually useless act of good will, its inner working are a sophisticated web of intrigue, blackmail, debts and intimidation that allow Vinculi to more or less work in the same direction.


[b]Head(s) of Government[/b]:
-Emperor Julien II of the Enlightened Empire of Marianne
-Primarch Hellion of the realm of Drakosir
-Antemarch Krubus of the United States of Ergozir
-President Andre Riviel of the republic of Elysium
-Lord Chancellor Fabian van Ryneveld of Laslö
-King Blanchi of Veluca
-Prince Kowalski of Jagellion
-Stadholder Karl von Guno of Zubern


[b]Economy[/b]:
The economy varies from country to country and the federation is known to be hypocritical with its trade, giving advantages to certain nations regarding certain things to be competitive with foreign trade. Overall, it follows a doctrine of Laissez-faire capitalism along with the 'invisible hand of the state' intervening from time to time. Behind the curtain however, it is cronyism where the leaders grease the wheel of a well established military-industrial complex in exchange for other forms of returns.

[/hider]

[hider=History, Demographics and Culture]

[b]Primary Species[/b]:
-Humans (48%, rising)
-Gnomes (12%, rising)
-Dwarves (15%, declining)
-Draconians (20%, steady)
-Others (4.98%, declining)
-Dragons (0.02%, declining)

[b]Population[/b]:
129,187,000

[b]Culture[/b]:
While all have different elements to them, Vinculi culture seems to be slowly evolving together and merging, forming what philosophers call the 'Zeitgeist', the 'Spirit of our time' if you prefer. It puts incredible emphasis on social darwinism, that people somehow get what they deserve and that anything socialist would just help freeloaders. They are overall extremely enterprising and ready to risk everything on the most insane of adventures, or to live under a bridge to somehow make money of a genius creation and some would think this would make them eager to leave their resource depleted country to immigrate some place else, this is not the case because they are becoming increasingly xenophobic. Understandable since the governments like to blame everyone else for their current situations, blame the socialists for wanting to destroy them, blame the elves for the colonial disasters... All in all, how the Confederation work is simple: You are in direct competition with your fellow worker until another company wants to crush yours, then suddenly you'll work with him without a problem. Likewise, all countries within the Confederation compete with one another until a foreign problem arises, causing nations that seemed on the brink of war to mobilize and fight together to the bitter end.


[b]Realm of Drakozir[/b]
For centuries, Drakozir was a decentralized feudal realm united under the Primarch only based on the idea that the Primarch was the biggest and meanest dragon around that could beat to a pulp anyone that refused to follow it, it was only after the formation of centralized human realms 200 years ago that seeing the change, the dragons began to go against their enormous egos and unite for the notion of a greater good. The inhabitants of Drakozir are mainly Draconians, lizardmen claiming kinship to the prestigious wyrms above them, but there are also many humans who's ancestors were slaves or subjugated that still live there. Martial duty is considered the highest calling of a Draconian and even in civil duty, one's worth is often determined as to what it can provide for the warrior elite of the nation. It is a nation based on the right of the strong to trample that of others, this also means there is very little sympathy to be found for the meek and indeed, it is considered polite for anyone working the medical field to offer a misery killing to anyone that is maimed or crippled enough to prevent living normally.

DRAGONS: The idea of military life being the best of life is especially true for dragons, who judge each other's worth around their physical abilities and lineage. This historical tendency to want to breed the strongest possible offspring and wipe out the weak bloodlines has however led to some bad cases of inbreeding. Dragons so muscular and with scales so imposing they are unable to fly are not all that uncommon, although they are often seen as freaks. While dragons have historically been violent creature, one of the essential trait for dragons to have is, in a paradox, self control. It is easy for dragons to completely destroy a marble floor just by clenching their claws, start a city wide fire or rampage through hundreds of people in a fit of rage and while Dragons are considered above punishment such as prison or death, they must still pay for the damage and losing control even once can place one in a blacklist of mentally weak individuals.

[b]The Federal Counties of Zubern[/b]
Long considered an exile ground for the weak drakes of Drakozir to hide rather than being canibalized by one of the fire breathing titan outside of the mountain range, the willingness of the dragons to abandon their old ways contributed to make this country one of the earliest form of democracy in Vinculi, dragons establishing themselves as feudal lords and voting for laws together. It was spared a lot of the unrest during the socialist revolutions but at the cost of officially removing draconic rule over politics by giving the right to vote to every intelligent being residing the counties. As the dragons had generally been fair and benevolent however, business went on. Of all countries in the Confederation, Zubern probably has the most collectivist attitude of them all, although this is seen more in the form of 'Good neighbor' agreements among the citizens as well as a tendency to give everyone a chance rather than strict economic policies.

DRAGONS: Zubernite dragons are for the vast part the weak and the failed of Drakozir. Indeed, physical success, while still important, is hardly the sole mark of success for dragons. For where the Drakans value honor at the cost of dueling and killing your mentor to take his place, Zubernites value loyalty, honesty and remembering the good someone did to you... as well as the bad. As dragons are naturally inclined to dominate, dragons will generally try and start ventures, small or big, but most of the time remember their mentors and colleagues from before, trying not to undercut them or at least, give them a warning and play fair. The reverse is also true, Zubernite dragons can be bitter to the point of refusing to ally with an enemy at the cost of their lives.

[b]The Empire of Marianne[/b]
The prime power in Vinculi for centuries, it has a tradition of knighthood and courteous chivalry and even today, people aim to be good, although sometimes this comes hand in hand with an annoying 'Holier than thou' rhetoric they apply to others and each others. Indeed, Marians can be some of the most patronizing individuals in the world and unsurprisingly, their words are rarely backed by actions to help others, encouraging them to 'Help themselves' rather. This tradition has been further corrupted by the belief that those who are good are also those who are fortunate and somehow deserving of what they have, thus making a lot of people in the Empire extremely superficial, forcing even the low income working poor to have some class since omnipresent unemployment asks that people have many interviews and making the lives of ugly people a nightmare.

[b]United States of Greater Ergozir[/b]
IMPERIAL CULTURE: Vastly inferior in numbers than other cultures, the Draconians and humans that form this culture, which was the center of Ergozir when it was an empire, finds itself divided between the old 'Benevolent Ruler' culture where they see themselves as victims of the burden of civilization, having to make other minorities leave their savage and primitive ways and the new 'Defensive' culture where they believe that working in a democracy is impossible since savages outnumber them so greatly. In particular, the former is often synonym of well entrenched elites that have yet to feel the cultural shift as they have well paid jobs with benefits, while the later are the youth and poor, that saw their prospects for the future endangered by democratic laws forcing multiculturalism on them.

PROVINCIAL CULTURE: The majority of Ergozir's population if formed from minorities gained during previous invasions more than centuries ago and that failed to assimilate in the empire. Most other countries had such minorities at some point but their genocided or absorbed them. Ergozir didn't have the will or the ability to do that, which left a 'flourishing' culture of barbarians that have nothing in common with their northern overlord. With the new democratic system in place following the revolutions 13 years ago, minorities become the dominant political forces... but the only thing uniting them is their resentment for their previous overlords who still hold key industrial positions.

DRAGONS: Ergozir is ruled by the Antemarch, line of dragon that formed its own empire away from the Primarch in Drakozir. Those who weren't important enough to have a position within the 'New Order' of democracy have fled north, leaving only an elite that both despise the Antemarch, but at the same time are dependent on him to keep their lives of luxury going.

[b]Duchy of Laslö[/b]
'The Supreme Being made the world... but Laslen made Laslö.' Entrepreneurship is what makes a Laslen Laslen, and here people have seen a unique 'Democratization of Capitalism' where the little people invest in companies and ventures as to diminish individual risks, and have done so for centuries. Until recently, Laslan working tradition had developed around finances and artisan work where there was no competition to be found since their only colonies had several spice monopolies, insuring their exports gave their money a ridiculously high value, making exporting anything but spices or something they were the only producer of impossible. They are not bitter for the lost of their colonies as they see this ruin as the possibility for new found prosperity and have begun to enthusiastically going for new ventures. This state is mainly populated by gnomes, but there are many people from many creeds that come here, as the ambient xenophobia in Vinculi seems not to be present here.

[b]Kingdom of Veluca[/b]
Veluca is living a many decade long reality check about having lose their power as the prime colonial power of the world. Their monumental empire brought this tiny nation never ending wealth of gold and other precious metal, but they found that this mainly financed the industrialization of other countries around them as it was cheaper to buy from others and now... now they have nothing but old monuments to their former glory. They are paying the price for their shortsightedness and the king, 13 years ago, decided to focus the revolutionary fervor and hate of his people toward the outside and the foreigners who took everything from them. All in all, Velucan culture is dominated by nostalgic romantism of war and conquest of territories beyond the sea to exploit and plunder the wealth of far away land, looking at others to blame for their misery.

[b]Principality of Jagellion[/b]
Its popular culture is constantly being propped up to counter a the rising popularity of returning to Kataylabinsk as an option rather than being a puppet regime to dragons in the west. This renaissance of nationalism long suppressed makes Jagellonians less prone to accept Vinculi unity and especially the crushing superiority of foreign industry, its people giving the extra money to Jagellian industrialists to have local products. In the military, the soldiers believe the bombastic claim that Jagellion alone can face Kataylabinsk, making them unwilling to work with other forces from Vinculi.

[b]Republic of Elysium[/b]
Elysium was until 13 years ago the longest standing empire in the known world, having stood for thousands of years, unyielding despite dragons invading when they were barbarians, the Marian knights taking over as defenders of the faith and so forth. The revolutions however placed a final stake in the heart of the Empire. No one really believed it was possible for the legions to be defeated and so the old peasantry is either uncertain or uncaring about this change. An emperor, a president, what does it change at the end of the day? As long as the taxes aren't too high and their sons aren't called to war too often it's the same for everyone. As such, despite being a democracy, the republic as an abysmally low participation rates to elections and, at the same time, increasing reactionary unrest every time the president does something the people doesn't approve of, as historically walking up to the emperor's palace with tens of thousands of people demanding change was the only way to get them.

[b]Religious and Other Beliefs[/b]:
While extremely religious a place less than a century ago, Vinculians now mostly forget about religion unless it's a holiday. Nowhere is this more visible than in Draxmark where dragons used to be seen as gods, but now are more of huge lizards that are smarter than most people and jack off thinking of gold.

[b]History[/b]:
WIP
Each nation used to have its own prestige and colonies before they got their might obliterated war after war, their individual population too small, industries lacking of all resources and their militaries forced to stay behind to make sure another tiny nation wouldn't invade while it was at war with a foreigner. After a nearly catastrophic global revolution almost made them part of the PRK, the old countries formed a temporary alliance to stabilize everything, rebuild and make sure this revolution business was over for good. Afterward this simply kind of stuck. People of power (Considerably helped my mercantile interest of the industrial giants) agreed that war among themselves was going to be their end if they were to continue down the path they were going. Arguably, it was too late: Vinculi is deprived of almost all resources and lost all its colonies to foreign powers, but it was still left with some things, like a vast military and industries that alone were admirable and together are now crushingly powerful... as long as they were able to feed it raw material somehow.

[/hider]

[hider=Geography, Agriculture and Industry]

[b]Territories[/b]:
[img]http://oi67.tinypic.com/350npkn.jpg[/img]

[b]Cities, Bases, etc.[/b]:

[b]Climate[/b]:
Temperate to Cold, 4 seasons.

[b]Agriculture[/b]:
Could possibly be capable of self sufficient if most of its resources weren't dedicated to animal feeding crops and the production of vast quantities of meat destined to domestic use. Vinculan are some of the world's biggest meat eaters and dragons have a purely carnivorous diet, the largest ones eating herds of cows every week.

[b]Industry[/b]:
Machine parts, chemicals, weapons, automobiles, ships... there is barely a thing in which Vinculi can't outproduce other nations... as long as it has the raw materials to process. Lack of resources is indeed a frequent problem, even in time of peace since other nations simply can't send resources fast enough. Money however is rarely what is lacking (Especially since unemployment makes hiring super cheap) and many factories have multiple gear and tools available to quickly shift production to something else if what they are currently making can't be produced anymore.

[b]Main Imports[/b]:
Iron, coal, steel, petroleum products, wood, natural gas, rocks, sulfur, ANYTHING you can sell in term of raw material they will probably buy if you can export enough at a cost low enough for the business to be competitive.

[b]Main Exports[/b]:
Cars, clothing (Luxurious or mass produced), airplanes, small arms, artillery, air ships, planes, submarines, military ships, civilian ships, processed chemicals, ball bearings, machinery, trains, zeppelins... if there is a demand, someone somewhere has factory floor he's willing to convert to produce your goods. The prices are pretty average, but the quality is good and above all, they can produce whatever the quantity you want in record times (Unless there is a shortage).

Another important thing would be the service industry. Indeed, dragons have always had a large pool of wealth through the ages and the few that discovered 'Loans with interests' have become insanely wealthy through the centuries and have made sure to be able to insure complete and total discretion on banking matters and have expended their influence to any country that contains individuals looking to put money away from the tax collector, no matter if their government approves or not.

[/hider]

[hider=Military]



[/hider]