Clashonia (Pacifica)

Kingdom of Clashonia Känygstûm Klyšonyê
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Êninge ar Mäakté Unity creates strength
Anthem: "Hytté öbyr Klyšonyê" "Today over Clashonia"
Capital and	Käarylsbode
Official languages	Clashonian
Demonym(s)	Clahsonian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• King of the Clashonians	Eckehard
• President-Minister	Pankraz Busch
• Upper house	Fêrsaamlyn
• Lower house	Läantâg
Area
•	188,519 km2 (72,788 sq mi)
Currency	Grošën

The Kingdom of Clashonia is an independent state located in eastern Cordilia. It borders Weisserstein to the north and west, Valkyria to the southwest, and Stoinia to the south. Its capital and most populous city is Carlsbad (Clashonian: Käarylsbode), with other major cities including Öostfyrt, Neystaadte, Freyböorge, Göoldynehäaben, and Williemsbode. The country has a territory of 188,519 square kilometers, making it among the 20 largest countries in the South Pacific.

History

Arrival of the Kalashonis

The Kalashonis ("Kalash" meaning "All" and "Ni(ke)" meaning "people", both coming from the old Kalashoni language) first arrived sometime in the year 4000 BCE. While their origins remain unclear and shrouded in mistery, what is known is that they most likely inhabited the areas around the Clarve river. The Kalashonis were hunter-gatherers and nomadic, moving up and down the Clarve river. They were divided into no less than 32 different clans according to the Neymannsbode Inscription, discovered in 1992.

The Merik Confederation

Sometime in 2000 BCE, 28 clans of the Kalashonis united under the leadership of an Aspar known as Voivo and created a loose, semi-nomadic confederation, known as the Merik Confederation. This loose confederation is designed to stop the bloodshed between the clans and promote peace amongst the Kalashonis. Many clans that were not a part of the Merik Confederation formed an alliance to defeat and overthrow Voivo. This started the Merik Wars, which were a series of military campaigns led by Voivo and other subsequent Aspars of the Confederation, expanding Kalashoni culture to modern-day Rhineland, Lowenia, Past, and southern Sugovia.

The Confederation flourished under the leadership of Raika the Great, which saw it reach its peak borders under his reign in the year 1200 BCE. But subsequent Aspars lost many of the territory the Confederation has gained during these periods of relatively swift expansions, and by 800 BCE, the Merik Confederation had lost large swathes of land and was thrown into the Merik Civil War, where 12 of the original 28 clans decided to rebel against Raika II. The death of Raika II in 782 BCE saw the Merik Confederation dissolved and the clans entered into a state of total anarchy. Many clans began attacking other clans, and any agreements and alliances formed were quickly terminated as the clans reenter a period of infighting and instability, which was used by the peoples in their conquered lands to rebel and liberate themselves from the Merik Confederation and its clans.

The Great Anarchy

The collapse of the Merik Confederation brought the region to a period of constant warfare, battles, and instability, known to Clashonia as the Great Anarchy. Each Kalashoni clan fought only for themselves, and many non-Kalashoni people's in the region fought against the Kalashonis to reestablish themselves as independent clans and fiefs.

Lasting for nearly 160 years, the period was considered among the most turbulent in Clashonian history. The period also saw the rise of several prominent pre-Hitsaati figures  such as Kaira the Conqueror and Aari the Bold, as well as the rise of prominent clans and fiefs such as the Luuno, the Hitsaati, the Rika, and more.

The Hitsaati Empire

The untannable situation saw one of the clans, the Hitsaati, rise into becoming a powerful player. Using cunning tactics and clever diplomacy, the Hitsaati would rose to become one of the most powerful clans of the Kalashoni under the leadership of Voika the Bravehearted in 623 BCE. Voika would unite the different clans through diplomatic and military means, uniting the clans under his leadership.

Hitsaatis plundering Ponicia

The Hitsaati would soon unite nearly the entirety of modern day Clashonia, and it would set its eyes on the breakaway states to its north. It conquered through the Celtig, Luuzo, and Nuro peoples. Following their conquest, the Hitsaatis would wage war against the Kingdom of Ponicia (modern day Waldland), turning the kingdom into a tributary state sometime in 598 BCE. The Sugovic peoples, namely the Pegathians and the Ozahians, as well as the Alan clan of the Kalashonis, viewed the Hitsaati as a threat and formed a military alliance to defend against its expansions.They would succeed in halting their advance during the Battle of Terit (in Terit, modern day Schellenburg) in 582 BCE.

The defeat in Terit marked the pint where the Hitsaatis entered a period of a slow, relative decline. It lost its territories in Pastrala to the Triangulars and saw the Ponicians declare their independence in 453 BCE.

Hitsaati civil war and collapse

The failures of the Hitsaati leadership during the Battle of Terit convinced some of the clans that the Hitsaatis have lost their mandate to lead the Kalashoni and are to be removed from power. The largest and most powerful voice in this movement were the Rikans, who were rivals to the Hitsaati before the latter's rise to power, and were suppressed by Hitsaati leadership.

The Rikans led a new coalition of clans against the Hitsaati and in 82 AD, the Hitsaati forces were ambushed by the new coalition in the areas of the Rhine. This started the Hitsaati Civil War. The war would devastate the Hitsaati Empire and leave it in tatters while the Rikans, led by its charismatic Aspar Kuivo the Conqueror, became the new force of power in the region. The Hitsaatis were defeated in 89 AD, and it's leaders agree to transfer leadership to the new coalition. This marked the end of the Hitsaati Empire.

Rikan Empire

Kuivo's successes have brought the Rikan clan as the new force of power in the region. However, the Rikans were forced to share power with its minor coalition partners, who have began to plot against Kuivo and the Rikans. In order to prevent a similar plot they themselves did, the Rikans cracked down on the other clans, forcing them to swear allegiance to Kuivo and subsequent Rikan Aspars.

This started another war in the year 91, in which the smaller clans were beaten down heavily by the Rikan forces. Kuivo would dictate the peace negotiations in 94, demanding all the tribes to fully submit to the Rikan Asparate and swear an oath of allegiance. Tribes that did not comply were massacred.

After securing domestic issues, the Rikan Empire set it's sight on the small fiefdoms that exists to its North and West. Many of the non-Kalashoni people's secured their sovereignty from Kalashoni control during the Hitsaati Civil War. Kuivo would attempt to wrestle control against these states, which forced these fiefdoms to form an alliance against the Rikan Empire. The Luuzo Confederacy would raid a Rikan caravan in 98, beginning the Great Rikan War. Rikan and coalition forces would go back-and-forth against one another for 112 years.

The Rikans successfully defeated the coalition in 210 and expanded beyond modern day Clashonia, becoming one of the regions largest and most powerful empires.

Almannic migrations and the Bannarsi Confederacy

In 800 CE, 10 Almannic tribes would migrate South from Frastinia to Pegathia, Alania, Ozahia, and the Rikan Empire, settling in the region. The Rikans were considerably hostile to the Almans, which led to the tribes living around it's borders, the Lacveci and the Bannarsi, to be constantly looted and demanded to pay tribute.

The Bannarsi, who settled in the Kreisau Mountains, were subjected to constant raids and looting. This forced the bickering Bannarsis to elect a leader, Gerbold the Brave, to lead their tribe against the Rikans in 892. The Bannarsi Confederacy and the Rikan Empire would enter a constant state of fighting, as the Bannarsis would attempt to ward off any tribute or raid the Rikans demanded onto them. The conflict lasted until the sudden collapse of the Rikan Empire in 1104.

Rikan collapse and the Despotate period

D e

General Faalk's coup d'etat and civil war

Valentyn Faalk

General Shymmaker's coup and the creation of the Second Clashonian Republic

Baldewin Shymmaker

Politics

Clashonia is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a unitary parliamentary democracy. The bicameral federal parliament is composed of the Assembly and the Landtag. The former is made up of 105 assemblymen appointed by the parliaments of the provinces. Prior to reforms in 2008, most of the Assembly's members were directly elected. The Landtag's 322 representatives are elected under a proportional voting system from multiple electoral districts. Clashonia has compulsory voting.

The King (currently Eckehard) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including the President-Minister, who has the confidence of the Landtag to form the federal government. The Council of Ministers is composed of no more than fifteen members. The judicial system is based on civil law and originates from the Klein era of the Second Republic, which was seen as the most judicially progressive period of Clashonia's judicial history.

Political culture and factionalism

Due to its tumultuous history in the post-1904 coup, Clashonian political culture has been dominated by different political factions that could trace their origins to the period. Factionalism is considered a large part of Clashonia's political culture, and has played a key role since the rise of Emil Shryber. The major parties are usually split into five main groups: the Christian Democrats, the Republicans, the Royalists, the Social Democrats, and the Unionists.

As Clashonia began democratizing in the early , the government was mostly split between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats. Originally, both groups supported maintaining the monarchy, however certain factions within these two groups began calling for the overthrow of the monarchy. Two important groups would emerge as the new leading Republican force, that being the Falke Movement, which came from the Christian Democrats, and the Redshirts, which came from the Social Democrats. These two groups would eventually merge into a single political party, the National Republican Party in 1842, with an armed paramilitary wing formed one month later, known as the Republican Guard. However, the Republicans could not agree on a form of government. Some called for a parliamentary democracy, others a unitary state, and some advocated for a federalized Union State. Things became heated when, in 1867, members who supported the Union State split from its mainstream Republican counterpart. This caused bitter strife between the two groups. By the 1900s, the Unionists have significantly more influence than the traditional Republicans, emboldening them to take action against the monarchy.

In 1904, Unionist-aligned military personnel surrounded the Royal Palace in Kaarylsbode. The king, then Willem II, was forced to abdicate and fled to Weisserstein. Members of the cabinet at the time were arrested and exiled, and on August 12, Shryber declared the creation of the Union State of Bannarsia and Transclarvia.

The civil war ended in 1952 with the rise of General Baldewin Schumacher and his Sovereign Clashonia Party, which became the new face of Republicanism in Clashonia. He would begin to cultivate a cult of personality and slowly became more authoritarian in his leadership. This caused the rise of reformist members of the SCP, which was then led by Reiner Klein. Klein would rise to power in 1961 and served for 2 terms until 1970, when he was replaced by Ulfric Sauer as the presidential candidate for the SCP. After his defeat, Klein and his supporters left the SCP in order to form a new party, the Independent Democrats.

In the 1980s, the economy began declining. Economic stagnation during the late-Klein era and the Sauer era grew discontent among the population. The military, which was already purged of any Schumacherists during the rule of both President Klein and President Sauer, had essentially become the hand of the royalist movement. With this, in 1984, a royalist-backed coup abolished the (Second) Clashonian Republic and reestablishing the monarchy. Since then, the Republicans have lost significant ground to the Royalist, Christian Democrats, and Social Democrats.

In the aftermath of the 1984 coup, a series of policies was enacted by the ruling coalition government, made up of Royalists, Christian Democrats, and Social Democrats, as well as Reiner Klein's Independent Democrats, which was targeted at the SCP to curb the party's influence in government and the wider population. Statues and monuments dedicated to the SCP were torn down, the most famous of which was the removal of the statue of General Schumacher in Carlsbad in 1988. This alienated the SCP from the other parties which pushed it to becoming an anti-establishment party before the party eventually split along faction lines, with the Schumacherists creating the Sovereign Clashonia Party- Future of Clashonia and the Sauerists creating the Sovereign Clashonia Party of the People.

Republicans

The Republican factions were formed during the tenure of the three presidents of the Second Republic. Republican supporters of General/President Schumacher, President Klein, and President Sauer constantly clash over their respective ideals. This leaves the republican factions within Clashonia's politics to be heavily divided, with internal splinters within the factions also existing. There also exists a smaller faction, supporting the ideals of the first president Krämer, known as Krämerists. Though his ideals were similar to that of Schumacher and Klein with minimal support from the Republican voter base and therefore not considered an important player within the Republican arena

Schumacherists

The Schumacherists are supporters of General/President Baldewin Schumacher. They are considered nationalists conservatives and are proponents of isolationism, a planned economy, and a large government. They also supported the integration of both the Armed Forces and the judiciary into the hands of the government, then dominated by the Sovereign Clashonia Party. Due to this, they have also been considered as far-right and proponents of a one-party state, which was tacitly supported by the SCP until the fall of Schumacher. The largest party in the Schumacherist faction is the Sovereign Clashonian Party - Future of Clashonia.

Kleinists

The Kleinists are supporters of President Reiner Klein and they are considered moderates or liberal conservatives. The Kleinists are proponents of a market economy, medium government, the separation of power between the three branches of government, limiting the power of the Armed Forces in the country's politics, modernization, de-Schumacherification, and pushed for more global integration. Under his administration, the SCP lost considerable influence in the judiciary and the military, but Klein's reforms brought economic prosperity and pushed the SCP's popularity with the public to an all-time high. Despite being proponents for global integration, the Kleinists do not support joining any power blocs during the Cold War, preferring to stay neutral in the matter. Though, due to their policies, the Kleinist period of the Second Republic is much more closely aligned with the democratic bloc. After the fall of Reiner Klein from the SCP, his supporters left the party and formed their own, known as the Independent Democrats, which is now the largest Kleinist party in politics.

Royalists

Supporters of the monarchy are fairly unified under the royalist faction of government, which had been able to unite unlike the republicans. The largest split between the royalists is the issue of the role of the monarch in governance.