[hider=Republic of Malechia][b]Name of Nation:[/b] [Republic of] Malechia
[b]Nation Banner:[/b]
[img]http://flag-designer.appspot.com/gwtflags/SvgFileService?d=2&c1=3&c2=1&c3=1&o=7&c4=3&s=14&c5=1[/img]
[b]Main Races Description:[/b]
- Malechian: The descendants of seafaring people hailing from the mainland who colonized what are now the headlands of Morulia and Sebria about 800 years ago. The Malechians are a fair-skinned people with a characteristically slender build and more gracile facial features. The majority race of the nation, especially the densely-populated western provinces.
- Artakhian: The descendants of native populations who crossed the Straits of Lidea from the south into the east of modern Malechia. The Artakhians are a hardy people, with bold facial features and thick, curly black hair. Artakhians are the majority race of the Artakhia Autonomous District and comprise a sizeable fraction of Belora's and Lidea's population.
[b]Location:[/b] Because the map resolution was nowhere near high enough for my liking:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/JgoywgO.png[/img]
[b]National History:[/b] Malechian textbooks usually mark the origin of the nation 800 years ago, when seafaring peoples from the mainland established the first of the Early Morulian societies, named after the peninsula now known as Morulia where they initially settled. The Morulians found their new home quite agreeable, and Morulian settlements spread across Malechia's jagged western coast from North Morulia to the Cape of Mosea.

The Morulians were not alone in their new homeland. As their settlements spread eastward, the Morulians came into contact with the Artakh kingdoms, which had arrived in Malechia at least 700 years before and had come to dominate eastern Malechia up to the Artakh Range. Conflict between the Morulian societies and the Artakh kingdoms would rage on and off for the next 600 years.

200 years ago, the Morulian city states were unified as a single Malechian kingdom under Ranizas I of Morulia. In order to distract his new dukes from their subjugation, Ranizas began a series of forays into the Artakh dominions. Over the next century, Malechian conquests spread the borders of the kingdom ever eastward until the modern borders of Malechia had been filled.

However, domination of the entire subcontinent was not enough to sate the hunger of Malechia's lords. Emperor Ranizas IV was ready to expand Malechia to the south, and extend his rule across the continent. A large, well-equipped army crossed the anemic Straits of Lidea into Lamakhazan - a newly-consolidated nation directly to the south of Malechia. The Lamakhazan armies were not prepared to face such a large and modern army, and their forces were quickly routed. The Lamakhazans, an indigenous culture closely-related to the conquered Artakhians, found eager allies in the subjugated Artakh peoples within Malechia. The Lamakhazans used asymmetric warfare to great effect; grinding the Malechian invasion down in a bloody quagmire, while arming and inciting Artakhian separatists within Malechia's borders. Malechia's army was never truly beaten, but the Lamakhazans had succeeded in destroying the will of the Malechian people. After more than a decade of war and terror plots carried out by Artakh separatists, the Malechian people could tolerate no more. A rally in the capital protesting the ongoing war reached critical mass one day; much of the municipal law enforcement refused to snuff the angry mobs, and the Secret Police - for reasons that are not understood to this day - also failed to act to curb the demonstration. The seething protesters battered their way into the Emperor's Palace and cast a cowering Ranizas IV from the window of his own bedroom.

Following the Emperor's death, the Malechian Republic was declared, and the interim president negotiated peace with Lamakhazan. In hopes of quelling the chronic unrest and violence festering within the unruly region, Artakhia Province was declared an autonomous district, with special privileges and powers not shared with the other provinces.

It has been fifty-eight years since the Malechian Republic was founded. The modern government - hastily cobbled together in the days following the death of Ranizas IV by a people with no tradition of democracy - is a shambles. Malechians today have little faith in their elected officials as political deadlock and corruption are the order of the day. Even now, there is a growing segment of the informed population that wishes for the return of the monarchy - or at least, hopes for someone with some gall to take charge of the country as the kings and emperors of the previous century did. But those who wish for a more autocratic leadership would be wise to be careful for what they wish for, as they just might get it before too long.

[b]Technology:[/b] Generally near future technology. Civilian technology would be easily recognized by real-life people - smart phones, internet, and other satellite-dependent technologies are commonplace in larger cities. Malechia launched its first satellite into orbit twenty years ago.
[b]Colonies on Different Planets:[/b] N/A
[b]Demographics:[/b] 
65% Malechian
20% Artakh
8% Beloran
7% Other[/hider]