Name: The Confederation of Sovereign Cooperatives, or 'CSC'.
Demonym: 'Cesian', referring to the confederation itself, and derived from the acronymical pronunciation of the state's initialism. Each Sovereign Cooperative within the confederation has its own demonym as well: 'Mar' for Maraust, for example.
Description: The primary partner of the CSC, both in regards to population and economic output, is Maraust.
Maraust is a nation whose history is measured in millenia. It is home to countless ancient historical sites, and has seen the rise and fall of a hundred empires and a thousand distinct cultures and ethnicities. Numerous religions, too, have been worshipped in and then cast out of Mar society, their immense temples adding to the imposing walls and fortresses built by the kingdoms of old, forging the Mar a rich and diverse cultural heritage.
Historically seen more so as a continent of numerous nations rather than a single nation unto itself, Maraust has spent the vast majority of its storied history disunited, fractured into various city-states and regional kingdoms, and often subjected to various degrees of foreign domination. The Mar had little to no sense of self, identifying with whichever dynasty they lived under or whichever foreign empire they were subjected to, rather than seeing themselves as a coherent people. It was only the rise of a new leader, Magada, and a new ideology of ethnic cooperation and shared wealth that the Mar began to been seen as and identify as one.
Magada and his 'Unity and Cooperation' movement began as a simple collection of educated Mar, peacefully protesting the authority of the Mar kings, and denouncing the brutality of the foreign empires that sought to carve portions of Maraust for themselves. Magada and the other Cooperation intellectuals were mostly Tsharr, an ethnic group in Maraust focused around Tsharrsta, a Resian colony. As the ideas of the Unity movement began to take hold among the Tsharr, the industrialists in Tsharrsta increasingly saw Magada and Unity as a threat. Violent repression occurred, and in one infamous instance, immortalized as "The King's Retort", an attempt by Resian authorities on Magada's life led to the death of many of Unity's leadership. Crucially, however, Magada himself escaped unscathed, and a massive riot in Tsharrsta's capital following the attempt on Magada's life bought Unity and Cooperation international attention.
The King's Retort and the chaos of its aftermath saw support for Magada increase in the areas of Maraust outside Tsharrsta. The dynastic holdings of the ancient noble families and arbitrary borders set up by foreign empires made the Mar feel as though attempts were being made to tear Maraust apart. Peaceful demonstrations in support of Unity began, and were tolerated, outside Tsharrsta. The pacifism of these displays of opposition left many of Magada's strongest supporters from outside Tsharrsta unsatisfied, however. Men from the far away corners of Maraust migrated to Tsharrsta, eager to join the cause directly rather than simply announce their support from afar. The militancy of these new non-Tshharr arrivals, combined with the need to show more ethnic inclusiveness in Unity, compelled the creation of a militant wing for the Unity and Cooperation organization: the Union Militia.
Although inexperienced in war and poorly equipped, Unity had numbers on its side. Most Mar supported the movement's aims, and the extreme overpopulation of Maraust made it next to impossible for a popular rebellion to be quelled. As kings fell and Maraust became more and more violent and chaotic, the incentive for colonial powers to maintain their interests in Maraust withered. The Union Militia's guerilla activities made combating the movement difficult, and the people's discontent made maintaining the occupation of colonies in Maraust unprofitable. Finally, on August 15th, 1922, Magada declared victory for the Union Militia. In a grand ceremony in Ghazvon, Maraust's largest city and newly appointed capital, the former kingdoms and city-states that comprised Maraust for its entire history were merged together for the first time into one state: The Sovereign Cooperative of Mar.
Magada's Sovereign Cooperative was quick to make drastic changes to Mar society. The holdings of the deposed kings and fleeing colonialists became property of the state. Maraust, once a highly divided land, was split into administrative divisions which included highly diverse ethnic communities. The cultural divisions between the people began to lessen, the standard Mar language rapidly turning from the nation's lingua franca to the predominant mother tongue of the great majority of the population. Large scale collectivization and redistribution of wealth ensued, and the proceeds of Mar labour went towards state-run industrial and infrastructural mega-projects, which helped to tie together the previously geographically disparate regions of Maraust. The Union Militia was made Maraust's official military force, and all other localized colonial militias and police forces were abolished and outlawed, their membership and resources transferred to the Union Militia. All throughout Maraust's urban centres, massive factories began to rise, their assembly lines quickly manned with a mixture of former farmers, displaced by technological progress, and former vagabonds, pressed into employment by a government with no patience for the lazy.
Magada reigned as undisputed ruler of Maraust for nearly two decades. His reforms, though heavy-handed and questionably just, were a genuine improvement to the lives of most Mar, and saw him retain wide-reaching popularity as the people's saviour. Magada's emphasis on military strength combined Maraust's large population quickly resulted in the Union Militia becoming the world's largest army. A constant strive for modernity saw Maraust at the cutting edge of new technologies—but also saw her discard much of the principles of her ancient history. The pluralistic faiths of the Mar were all but outlawed, repressed by the Union government as instruments of division. Historic temples and fortresses, reminders of the tyranny of old, were demolished, cold steel monuments to modernity and statues of the heroes of the revolution built in their place. The linguistic minorities of Maraust, including Magada's own Tsharrsta, followed Magada and adopted the common Mar tongue: a former lingua franca that found itself replacing entirely the other, less important languages of Maraust, giving the nation much needed cultural unity. The most important aspect of Magada's leadership, however, and the aspect which threatened the world's great powers most, was his ideological proselytism. Magada actively supported communist movements abroad, sometimes even offering direct military assistance on the part of the Union Militia. These activities, though often limited by reality to rhetoric, nonetheless made Magada a reviled figure among the ruling class of foreign nations.
((Maraust participation in the Great War and formation of CSC to be settled.))
Government: Militarist Socialist Single-Party State, under the Unity and Cooperation party.
Head of State: Uzak Vytus, President of the Confederation Committee of the Confederation of Sovereign Cooperatives.
National AnthemEconomy: Magada's reforms during the twenties and thirties transformed Maraust from a predominantly agricultural backwater to the world's pre-eminent manufacturing centre. Major cities in Maraust and all throughout the CSC are highly industrialized and developed; massive factories support rapid economic growth, towering apartment complexes provide living space for the ever-growing population, and state of the art public transportation facilitates quick and dependable movement of people to and fro.
Besides its industrial excellence, the CSC also enjoys relatively bountiful natural resources. Common minerals such as iron and copper can be found in abundance, and even rare materials such as platinum and uranium are mined and processed in the CSC. Maraust is even home to a large oil deposit, which has spawned extraction and petro-chemical industries to help make the CSC more self-sufficient.
National Religion: None. Cesians are given theoretical freedom of conscience, and religious practice is permitted, but the state employs a wide range of measures designed to discourage religiosity.
Population: The Confederation of Sovereign Cooperatives is the world's most populace sovereign state, home to over 430,000,000 citizens.
Geography: To be decided.
Demographics: TBA
Notable Locations: TBA
Regime PersonalitiesTBA
InstitutionsConfederation Committee; The CSC's equivalent of a national parliament. Comprised of a mixture of elected representatives from different factions of the Unity and Cooperation party, high-ranking public officials and leaders of industry, the Confederation Committee holds responsibility for all matters determined to be of importance to the entire CSC. All legal and military policy is subject to Confederation Committee veto. The Confederation Committee is also the source of financing for all other regional and municipal level governments—every last bit of wealth that passes through the CSC passes through the Confederation Committee, and it is the committee members that determines the allotment of such funding to devolved governments. The President of the Confederation Committee, decided by secret ballot among the Committee members, serves as the CSC's head of state and head of government, as well as its primary figurehead for relations abroad.
More TBA
Military NumbersWIP
Active Duty Component Total:Army:Navy:Air Force:Other:
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