This is WIP. I have placed it in the OOC so that anyone who is joining can see what I am doing before I fully post in in the character sheet. When this is finished as well as accepted, I will remove the sheet from the OOC. ============================================== [center][h2]THE HOLY GRAND REPUBLIC OF THE AUTUMNLANDS[/h2][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/70oY53F.png[/img][/center] [center][h3]Formerly, The Empire of Autumn[/h3][/center] [b]Governing Body:[/b] The Imperial Congress of His Majesty, “Not Applicable” (Parliamentarian-Revolutionary Oligarchy) [i]The Imperial Congress is the de jure head of the grand republic, made up of 153 members, previously only aristocrats and clergy but since the Great Revolution also now includes peasant commune leaders and merchants. The Imperial Congress was formerly a council that answered to the Emperor and represented the interests of 12 imperial regions (now 40 republican states, since the redistribution of land), however now is the executive power in the newly formed republic. The Imperial Congress is also currently in a transition due to the sudden changes made to the government, this ranging from the fact that it is still legally representative of a non-existent monarch (Unless you count “Emperor Chester I, the horse that was crowned emperor by the congress during the civil war in jest) to its very name, as there is currently a movement to rename itself to something more fitting, such as the People's Congress... The most important member of the Imperial Congress is Gastov Krumwater, the man credited with winning the war for the Congressists. While he does not officially act as head of state, there is much talk that he may as well be one (And may be one, once the head of state role is officially created for the republic).[/i] ============================================================================== [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3Gm7Q1Z.png[/img][/center] ============================================================================== [b]Capital & Major Settlements:[/b] -Capital: [i]Auturholm, once the Suuban Empire’s northern regional capital, now greatly expanded into a sprawling city. Once referred to as Autumntium, Auturholm only has vestiges of old Suuban culture, such as a ruined aqueduct (that leads from the city to northern territories). Auturholm sits on the northern side of the great river Augurdim that reaches west to east across nearly the entire country, the river having artificial canals cut through it to create a moat for the cities Steinkrest Citadel, the fortified seat of the now deposed and deceased emperor and now temporary seat of the Imperial Congress and thus the Grand Republic’s government. The great Strandistant church for the city was burned down during the civil war and is now a ruined carcass of stone and splintered and burned wood. [/i] -Major City, Aeterholmening: [i]The “winter city” of the Grand Republic’s far north, while smaller and less populated than the Grand Republics southern cities, Aeterholmening is famous for its rich architecture and aristocratic palaces, including the Azure Palace, the blue and marble white palace retreat of the former imperial family, still technically their residence (With its last surviving member living there under house arrest), though the Imperial Congress still debates if it should be repurposed as a public library. Aeterholmening was the last bastion of defence for the Imperials during the civil war due to being the historical birthplace of the imperial family. Imperial sympathizers and Strandistant followers have mostly been driven out when the city was overrun by Congressist forces, however some royalism still remains there. The great church of the city still stands, though its religious icons and symbols within were pillaged or burned by the assaulting forces.[/i] Ursahelt Oakholmening Osraholm WIP (Others to come) ============================================================================== Population = 12 million, mostly situated in the southern temperate region of the Grand Republic. Religion = Radical Usurprian ============================================================================== [h3]History[/h3] WIP Many Shields Era/Tribal Auturgotts & Osragelts: Suuban Imperial Era/Pax Suubanica: Chainmail Era/Strandistant Northern Holy War: Plate and Fire Era/Autumn Empire: Salt and Powder Era/The Great Revolution: ============================================================================== [h3]Cultural traits[/h3] [b]Martyr Dannis:[/b] Dannis, a former Strandistant Vicar turned heretic, the man was and still is a significant religious and cultural icon of the Usurprian Autumnlanders and perhaps the root to the all of the following events in the North. A man that preached that god is in fact became an omnipresent spiritual force that is split evenly between all people and thus all people are not only in possession of both heavenly memories and potential powers, but also equal distribution of responsibility over the mortal world. With this simple concept came the conception of the world's greatest heresies. The denial of divine right. Refuting the righteousness of feudalism. The beginning of the age of republicanism. While Martyr Dannis himself was snuffed out early on into his preaching, burned at the stake by Strandistant clerical authorities, his words and ideas spread like wildfire. Martyr Dannis posthumously led the North to eventually revolt against its own governments and now with the Grand Republic, against the entire world. [b]Radical Usurprian Egalitarianism:[/b] The (Usurprian) Autumnlanders believe that all people are inherently born equally, each divinely distributed responsibility of the world by god. While in practice this has not completely destroyed classes (The aristocrats are still above the merchants, who are still above the peasants), the Autumnlanders have created a culture that is very anachronistic with the rest of the world they reside in. Serfdom since the civil war has been abolished. Since so many aristocrats backed the defeated Strandistant Emperor (The Imperials), much of their land was taken off them and distributed into peasant communes. Many old exceptions to laws given to the aristocracy have been abolished. The Imperial Congress is no longer a rubber-stamp committee for the emperor but a genuine ruling body. That said, while the country is currently ruled by a republican government with a culture focused on egalitarianism, the country is not yet a genuine democracy, instead being a kind of oligarchy mostly dominated by rebellious (idealistic) aristocrats, Usurprian clergy and the most powerful and ambitious peasant commune leaders or merchants, having overthrown their former noble landlords as regional powerbrokers. [b]Nationalism:[/b] With the fall of feudalism and the old order comes a new method of controlling the people and maintaining control. The Grand Republic has one of the most developed sense of nationstates on the planet, with the concept of citizenship now gradually replacing serfdom, the earliest whispers of the concept of a ‘social contract’ and the obligation of citizens to wage war as conscripts rather than peasant levies. While there is no capitalism/socialism due to there being no industrial revolution, a social reformation has drastically altered the Autumnlands. Also of note with this shift is a plethora of interesting ‘modern’ concepts. The Grand Republic has only one national flag, instead of many house flags. The Grand Republic is one of the first nations (if not the first) in the world to possess a national anthem: “[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Qkzj5bStU&ab_channel=JustinDiNardo]Blessed Hymn of the Baseny Fields[/url]”. The Grand Republic is renown for its national patriotism, something that serfs and aristocrats have difficulty comprehending. [b]New World Order:[/b] Along with their nationalism, the Autumnlanders are renown for their aggressive militarism and sense of ‘manifest destiny’, the idea that it is their duty to bring the truth of god to the corrupt southerners, by any means necessary. Krumwater has promised a new age, one where the Grand Bishop will beg for forgiveness for the southern clerics filthy decadence. The northern people are prepared to wage a new kind of war. A prolonged decades long war (Which they have already been fighting for 9 years), a national war, pitting entire nations and faiths against each other, not just feuding households over things as meaningless as blood or marriages. [b]Meritocracy:[/b] The Grand Republic has also adopted a sense of meritocracy, that is to say the belief that positions in government, military and other parts of society should be selected via merit rather than blood. In practice, there is still significant nepotism and favoritism (either via blood or influence/money), however the culture and particularly military reformism have taken root enough where there are occasional incidents of nobody farmers becoming renown commanders or highly intelligent lower level aristocrats now gaining access to once restricted information controlled by the church. There is also talk of deregulating the guilds to allow skilled journeymen access to trade secrets, however said guilds fight fiercely against these attempts in the Imperial Congress. ============================================================================== [h3]Military of the Holy Grand Republic[/h3] WIP ============================================================================== [h3]Characters[/h3] [hider=Characters] Gastov ‘Lion of the Republic” Krumwater, Minister-General of the New Model Army. Krumwater is considered the true leader of the Grand Republic, even if he himself does not say as such. A foreign prince of the now non-existent Kingdom of Osraland (itself collapsing and now annexed by the Grand Republic), he launched an invasion on the Autumn Empire during its civil war as an intervention in favour of the Congressists, defeating the Imperials at the Battle of Baseny and slaying the Strandistant Emperor Arthun III. Krumwater was offered the crown, however as a staunch Usurprian egalitarian and republican declined, instead joining the Imperial Congress as a minister. Krumwater is now (in)famous across the world as a military conqueror and genius, the great usurper of monarchies and liberating hero of republicans worldwide. He has since been made Minister-General of the Army. Here, with his trusted aide-de-camps and retinue have begun designing a “New Model Army” that will march south, bringing the Strandistant and Abandonite monarchs to their knees. Emperor Chester I: Actually a white stallion and a former stead of the actual former ruler, Emperor Arthun III of House Wylester-Cottingham. Chester is not sentient or such and is simply a dumb animal. The Congress ‘elected’ Chester to replace Arthun III during the early days of the civil war as a jest, insult against monarchs in general and the technical issue of who would be emperor during this period of strife. Chester is a very friendly emperor-horse and enjoys eating carrots, he is currently in a tense succession crisis and will likely have to give up the throne soon as the monarchy is fully abolished. A good friend of Princess Astoria and adored political icon/mascot of the Grand Republic. Princess Astoria Claudia Wylester-Cottingham: The last of the Wylester-Cottingham bloodline with the death of her father Emperor Arthun III at the battle of Baseny and the execution and assassination of her brothers by the Congressists. She currently lives under house arrest in the Azure Palace, and the Imperial Congress even now hotly debates the princess's fate. Leman Carrot: Aristocrat, mathematician, amateur astronomer and military bureaucrat, Carrot is a man of vital importance to the Grand Republic due to his work on reforming the army as part of creating the New Model Army and the Citizen-Soldiery. Among his most important innovations is the (re)invention of civic conscription and the New Model Armies use of professional soldiers, a matter of extreme importance now that serfdom has been abolished, thus needing an immediate replacement for the ranks of peasant levies that make up most armies. His reorganisation of the army has seen armour and swords rapidly give way to muskets, knights give way to said citizen-soldiers and the professionalisation and conversion of the military to a meritocratic organisation. More to be added.[/hider]