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[b]GRAND PROTECTORATE OF LITHLA[/b]


[b]Nation History (1919-2036)[/b]: Established in 1919 following the assassination of Empress Lilith V and her two sons, the Grand Protectorate of Lithla was established first as a regency, to facilitate the selection of a new monarch from among the Noble Lithlan Houses. Competing rivalries and an ever shifting bloc of Regency Councillors bought out by the noble houses brought about a deadlock in the Regency Council and no progress of any sort being made in regards to the election of the Monarchy. As a result, the Protectorate was plagued with unrest that culminated in the election of a Grand Regent, ruling as a stand-in monarch until the Regency Council could come to a decision.

In 1982, tensions broke out between the Aldabetans and the Lithlans, with the annexation of the neutral state of Ryuvia on the southern shore of Lake Tannyl. A brief war was fought along the Tannyl River that ended with a ceasefire and the creation of a Ryuvian Republic under joint Aldabetan and Lithlan control.
In 2026, Aldabetan influence in Ryuvia reached its peak with the election of the pro-Aldabetan Alosrin Yinmyar. Under Yinmyar’s presidency, Ryuvia drifted ever closer to the Aldabetan camp, culminating in a petition for annexation in 2032. 

Following the outbreak of the Void War, Lithla quickly threw its lot in with the Cindorayi, dispatching over 100 000 soldiers supported by 2000 tanks, 10 000 cavalrymen and 80 flights of bombers to overwhelm the Aldabetan lines across the Tannyl River. What was expected to be a quick push across the river soon turned into a stalemate, as both sides entrenched themselves in hastily built bunkers and trench lines on the west bank and turned the front into a slow meatgrinder. The tide turned in July of 2036, with the launch of a Lithlan laser-satellite into the lower atmosphere of Nova Mondial, carving a hole into the trench lines of the Aldabetans and allowing Lithlan armored divisions to punch through and establish a new front line 20 kilometres from the Aldabetan capital of Lakeside. 

The shedding of Lithlan blood over the Tannyl River proved to be in vain however, as the Cindorayi broke their promises to the Protectorate, ceding them only the eastern bank of the Tannyl River, and thus only half of the territory of the former Ryuvian Republic that was offered in exchange for Lithlan participation. The broken promises of the Cindorayi led to a downward spiral in relations, one that continues to cloud the political atmosphere of Lithla.

[b]Nation Characteristics[/b]: Nominally an absolute monarchy, the Grand Protectorate can best be described as a constitutional dictatorship. A Grand Regent is elected by the will of the Regency Council to preside over the governance of the state for life, with power over the military, appointment of ministers, foreign affairs and economic matters. As of the year 2056, the Protectorate has been in regency for over a century, leading to some foreign commentators to dub it as ‘The Eternal Regency’. 

Owing to the nation’s extensive time as a feudal empire before transitioning into an absolute monarchy in comparison with its neighbours, Lithla maintains loyalty, honour and fidelity as its most important tenets. In Lithlan culture, the lowest of non-noble society are those who fail to atleast make an attempt to honour their agreements. Serfdom too remains a common practice in Lithla, though it is massively different from what it was in the past. Legally, Lithlans can still sign a contract of indentured servitude, or be placed in serfdom for an outstanding debt, but aristocratic families no longer desire to chain their own people to the fields and the mines when automation and machinery perform much better. In addition to that, Lithlan indentured servants or serfs are still allowed considerable freedom of movement and are only obligated to serve their lords for 10 months per year, with the serfs being freed for a period of two months before returning to serfdom the following year.

Lithla’s economy is primarily focused on high quality heavy industry, employing 41% of the workforce and making up around 55% of the country’s GDP, whereas agriculture, retail, tourism and space exploration make up 4%, 19%, 10% and 12% of the economy respectively. 

[b]Initial Population[/b]: 45 million; Concentrated on the coast of Lake Tannyl, the east bank of the River Tannyl and the vast plains in between the lake and the Kaina Mountains that make up the Protectorate’s eastern borders. 

[b]Species[/b]: Lithlans
[b]Characteristics[/b]: Humanoid and slender, often reaching up to 6 feet tall. Lithlans have uniquely pointed ears and slanted eyes. A unique feature of the Lithlans is their unnaturally long lifespans, with the average lifespan of a Lithlan edging 800 years. However, their long lifespans come with an unusually short fertility period in comparison. A Lithlan is only fertile for a period of 150 years, from the age of 75 to 225, which when coupled with a slow gestation period of 6 years, leads to a slower rate of growth than most other races. Lithlans also possess heightened reflexes and instincts, often able to sense danger and manuever faster than most other species.

[b]Side chosen in the Void War[/b]: Cindorayi
[b]Technological Level[/b]: Near-Cindorayi.

Owing to the small but elite full-time military that rarely numbers more than 400 000 active personnel, the Protectorate has always maintained a focus on superior technology to make up for its deficiency in numbers. As a result of their alliance with the Cindorayi, (despite a slight debacle over Western Ryuvia) the Protectorate fields a state-of-the-art Atmospheric Laser Bombardment Satellite, an improvement over the one that devastated Aldabetan lines in the Void War. Whilst Lithla lacks some of the Cindorayi’s advancements in technology such as a space-elevator or railguns, the Protectorate makes up for it in other ways, being the pioneers of bullet-resistant polymer body suits that have become near-standard issue to its military forces. One peculiarity of Lithlan technology however, is the near absence of armored tank divisions in the years following the Void War. Instead, Lithla began fielding elite cavalry in the age of the automatic rifle. Utilizing the same bullet-resistant polymer as the ones used in infantry equipment, Lithla has practically brought about a revival of the cavalry charge as their famed Ouroboric Knights ride once more, unabated by machine gun fire.

[b]Space Presence[/b]: Small. 

Whilst Lithla maintains a small colony on Lunoi with a population of around ten thousand, the majority of Lithlan Space Exploration efforts have been focused on Europia, and even then, only a small research outpost of some two hundred permanent residents has been established.

[b]Special Resources[/b]: [b]Osmolian Gems[/b]

While Lithla has benefitted little from their presence on Lunoi and Europia, the Kaina Mountains on Lithla’s eastern border are rich in Osmolian Gems, capable of amplifying the intensity of light passing through it by up to 100 times, which has seen massive application in Lithla's atmospheric laser-bombardment satellite as well as in the laser technology developed by the Cindorayi.