Blackhelm Confederacy-Valkea relations
Relations between the Blackhelm Confederacy and Valkea have been conducted for centuries, extending back to the 17th century when the predecessor of the Blackhelm Confederacy, the Empire of Exponent sent the first Embassy to Valkea. Relations between the two have fluctuated over time.
Relations with the modern Blackhelm Confederacy first officially began in 1997, when the Confederacy formally established itself as the legal successor state to the Empire of Exponent. Since the establishment of the Blackhelm Confederacy, the Blackhelm Confederate government has sought to pursue closer relations with Valkea in several spheres.
History
In 1628, the Empire of Exponent sent their first official diplomatic mission to the court of Valkea. Seven years later, Exponent interfered in Valkean affairs by supporting the forces of the Catholic claimant Jari-Pekka during the War of the Valkean Succession. Follow Jari-Pekka's assassination in 1647 and the subsequent collapse of his forces, Exponential and Valkean relations remained tense.
Those hostilities boiled over into armed conflict in 1700 with the outbreak of Eidnár's War. Eidnár, a prominent leader of the Rávdnár tribes, was encouraged by Exponential administrators to sack Valkean territories in modern-day Ostrothia, provoking an armed conflict which ended in 1706 and saw Exponential settlers removed from the area of Ostrothia.
Following Valkean nuclear disarmament, Exponent and Valkea entered into the Agreement for Security and Defense Cooperation between the Exponential Empire and Valkea in 1979, which granted Imperial Exponential forces the rights to Turnu Air Base in exchange for a pledge to defend Valkean borders and sovereignty in the event of armed conflict. The same year, Juhola entered into the Hesperidesian market as a result of newfound relations between the two states.
The defense treaty was updated in 1998 as the Agreement for Security and Defense Cooperation between the Blackhelm Confederacy and Valkea, which legally transferred the rights and responsibilities from Exponent to the new Confederacy.
Economic relations
The Blackhelm Confederacy and Valkea have robust economic relations.
Diaspora
As of 2024, Valkea is home to approximately 400,000 people of Blackhelm Confederate background.
Roughly 100,000 Valkean people reside in the Blackhelm Confederacy, with large concentrations found in Paradise City, Wennavua, and Port Elizabeth. A significant ex-pat population is also present in Sancte Crucis and Sacrament