Liberto-Ancapistan: Difference between revisions
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During the ascendancy of Great Nizmstan, the Nivim script replaced Kisin as the primary system of writing in Basaquastan, and was modified to create the Santian script outside the Empire's borders. The spoken language of the Cemsor Valley, Classical Basaquese, also supplanted local dialects as an elite language during the period, for the first time granting Basaquastan a single linguistic identity (though Farstan was not included at the time). The several centuries of Great Nizmstani rule in Basaquastan also facilitated an unprecedented increase in international trade, with goods from as far as eastern Tagrae and Elisia being found in cities and towns alike. | During the ascendancy of Great Nizmstan, the Nivim script replaced Kisin as the primary system of writing in Basaquastan, and was modified to create the Santian script outside the Empire's borders. The spoken language of the Cemsor Valley, Classical Basaquese, also supplanted local dialects as an elite language during the period, for the first time granting Basaquastan a single linguistic identity (though Farstan was not included at the time). The several centuries of Great Nizmstani rule in Basaquastan also facilitated an unprecedented increase in international trade, with goods from as far as eastern Tagrae and Elisia being found in cities and towns alike. | ||
In the early 200s CE, three successive Shahs of Orafars, Piro-Vidama, Ariaspes, and Artaynte, united Upper Santia under a single ruler. In 240, the successful Shah Artaynte was declared 'Padishah of all Santia', establishing the beginnings of the Santian Empire. At the time, however, the new Santian state remained in a low position to Great Nizmstan, and in 244 Artaynte | In the early 200s CE, three successive Shahs of Orafars, Piro-Vidama, Ariaspes, and Artaynte, united Upper Santia under a single ruler. In 240, the successful Shah Artaynte was declared 'Padishah of all Santia', establishing the beginnings of the Santian Empire. At the time, however, the new Santian state remained in a low position to Great Nizmstan, and in 244 Artaynte visited the larger Emirate to join the League of Eshbara, an alliance formed by Abdul Aman III of Great Nizmstan to increase Nizmstani influence over Farstan and Santia. | ||
In 285, Basaquastan was shook by the violent eruption of its largest mountain, Mount Birrin. The blast, estimated at VEI 6, caused thousands of immediate deaths and wider climate effects which were far more damaging. Ash blanketed fields across southern Basaquastan, carried by wind, and the mass ejection caused a volcanic winter. These combined to cause an event known as the Long Famine, a famine effecting 3 successive harvests in Basaquastan and causing mass death and peasant rebellion. In 287, a peasant rebellion in the Cemsor Delta seized An Alqam, causing the collapse of central authority and the dissolution of the Great Nizmstanian Empire. In what became known as the Burning Sky Period, newly independent Sub-Emirs fought over the disintegrating Empire with rapidly shifting areas of control and widespread death. The Long Famine had had a lesser effect on northern Basaquastan and Upper Santia, allowing Farstan and Santia to retain control over their territories. | In 285, Basaquastan was shook by the violent eruption of its largest mountain, Mount Birrin. The blast, estimated at VEI 6, caused thousands of immediate deaths and wider climate effects which were far more damaging. Ash blanketed fields across southern Basaquastan, carried by wind, and the mass ejection caused a volcanic winter. These combined to cause an event known as the Long Famine, a famine effecting 3 successive harvests in Basaquastan and causing mass death and peasant rebellion. In 287, a peasant rebellion in the Cemsor Delta seized An Alqam, causing the collapse of central authority and the dissolution of the Great Nizmstanian Empire. In what became known as the Burning Sky Period, newly independent Sub-Emirs fought over the disintegrating Empire with rapidly shifting areas of control and widespread death. The Long Famine had had a lesser effect on northern Basaquastan and Upper Santia, allowing Farstan and Santia to retain control over their territories. | ||
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=== Santian Empire (411 – 1840)=== | === Santian Empire (411 – 1840)=== | ||
In 411, Padishah Ashur of Santia led an invasion fleet to Farstan. Tension had been building between both states over the northeast coast of Basaquastan, a key area in local trade which Farstan had annexed and placed heavy taxes on. Ashur used a petition by local elites as an excuse to begin the invasion, which ended in a series of military victories and the establishment of Santian control over the centuries-old Emirate of | In 411, Padishah Ashur of Santia led an invasion fleet to Farstan. Tension had been building between both states over the northeast coast of Basaquastan, a key area in local trade which Farstan had annexed and placed heavy taxes on. Ashur used a petition by local elites as an excuse to begin the invasion, which ended in a series of military victories and the establishment of Santian control over the centuries-old Emirate. Rather than appoint native leaders to govern its territory as was the Basaquese tradition, Santia appointed members of the Santian nobility to rule the area. This formed the foundation of the Satrap system used in the later Empire. | ||
With the expansion of Santia into Basaquastan it became increasingly tied to the region, both politically and economically. With no central Basaquese power, Santian armies invaded Sagharb in 449 and Exberia (then Uozstan) in 470, appointing Satraps to goven both areas. This expansion continued, with western Ancapistan (then Kimistan) falling in 536 and Inner Basaquastan (then the tribal Basaquese Confederation) in 564. During this period, the Santian capital Orafars became the largest city in the region, with a population of over 200,000. | |||
In 602 Santian supremacy over Basaquastan was confirmed with the invasion of the rump Emirate of Nizmstan. With Santian control extended further than ever, the Satrap system was reorganised to better prevent rebellion by placing Aliqi, Sagharb, Inner Basaquastan and Nizmstan under the control of hereditary Emirs under the suzerainty of Santia. This appeased local elites and prevented rebellion, while keeping Santian administrators in control of more accessible, economically prosperous coastal regions. Another anti-rebellion measure was the Sanctuary, an agreement between the Empire and Fifth Saint of Bowism which agreed that he would be able to preach his rapidly-spreading religion from the island of Keviroz, on the condition that Santian authority was not challenged. The last area of Basaquastan outside the fledgling Santian Empire, Libertaria, was gradually intruded on over the following century and had been entirely conquered by 720. | |||
Under the Santian Empire, Nivin was gradually replaced by the Santian script. Santian elites sent to govern the Satrapies brought with them settlers from Santia, which formed communities in most cities and large towns. The spread of the Santian language itself, as well as Santian culture, was limited by a strict legal division between Santians and Basaquastanians, the latter being barred from judicial and political roles and being tried in separate, harsher courts. Discontent with this legal inequality erupted in the 909-930 Red River Rebellion, a revolt in the Cemsor Delta by ethnic-Basaquese military garrisons which erupted into a long-running military conflict. While initially the Emirate of Nizmstan was revived as an independent state, and almost entirely ended Santian control in Basaquastan, Imperial control was saved by a series of counter-campaigns in the 920s and a large-scale reorganisation of the Santian state. From 930, legal divisions between Santians and Basaquastanians were abolished. | |||
Following the Red River Rebellion, the Santian Empire expanded outside the island of Santia and Basaquastan to become a larger regional power. Post-rebellion reforms had elevated the Padishah of Santia to a supreme authority, with full legal powers. The imperial House of Magario became the centre of a complex system of official mythology, adapting to local religious traditions but always claiming divine descent. The use of administrative slaves was also developed. FOr several hundred years the Empire was able to stamp out local rebellion and remain virtually unchallenged in the Promeridona region. | |||
Through the 1400s and 1500s, Basaquese individuals gained new prominence with the growth of slavery and piracy. New navigation techniques made long-range voyages easier, and raiding in the Tamaran and Acadian oceans made slaves cheaper and more accessible. Over time these practices, which were sponsored by the Santian state, were centralised in the control of a small number of Basaquese captains, who commanded fleets challenging the Imperial Navy. In the 1580s the growth of these captains, who became known as Sea-Beys, caused difficulty for the Empire over increasingly disruptive piracy affecting not only foreign but also Santian trade. Fleeing Santian disruption, many established cntrol overseas, and were followed by the Imperial Navy. The most prominent of these was the Beylik of Fayre in the Elisian Fayre Islands, which was conquered by Santia in 1608 after over a decade of existence. | |||
In the 1700s and 1800s, Santian power was challenged by emerging colonial and industrial powers. The Empire's borders began to contract and imperial power was hampered by growing scepticism of the Padishah's supremacy and Santia's political system. In the 1820s and 1830s this took the form of the Liberal Party, an underground republican group which sought to give Santia's National Assembly - an advisory body composed of hereditary and elected officials - sovereign power. The power of the Liberal Party was decisively broken at the expense of the monarchy in the 1833 Green Revolution, which saw Padishah Ferdinand XII abdicate and rule only as the de-facto head of a new collective leadership, the Council of State. A radical Basaquese faction of the Liberal Party, nicknamed the 'Libertarians' due to the geographic origin of much of their leadership, was dissatisfied with changes and after the Santian Empire saw several overseas rebellions rose up itself. This began the Summer Revolution, which saw southern Basaquastan break away from the Empire in the form of the Republic of Libertaria (which seized Fayre shortly afterwards) and Confederation of Ancapistan. | |||
=== Pre-Unification (1841-1955) === | |||
The Summer Revolution broke Santian power in Basaquastan and elsewhere, with virtually the entire Empire including Lower Santia and most of northern Basaquastan being abandoned by 1875. The new states in southern Basaquastan, Libertaria and Ancapistan, both pioneered liberal approaches to government. Libertaria, under the newly organised Libertarian Party, developed a centralised but restricted state with a codified constitution and parliamentary system, inspired by foreign democracies. Ancapistan was the product of compromise between the Emir of Nizmstan, local officials and liberal revolutionaries, becoming a less coherent collection of hereditary territories and city-states with only a weak central government. Both states, seeking to de-Santianise, elected to adopt the foreign latin alphabet rather than revive the now-dead Nivin. | |||
Under the control of former Padishah Ferdinand di Magario, the retreating Santia retained only a small strip of Santian-settled land known as the Varisil Strip in northern Basaquastan. Outside the Varisil strip, Santian interference and conflicting interests prevented the collection of small local states which emerged after imperial retreat did not consolidate, despite a strong movement to unite Basaquastan under a Libertaria-inspired government. | |||
The liberal Summer Revolution had attracted significant foreign interest. Hector Rand, a west Evrosian industrialist, had helped to fund the Ancapistanian portion of the revolution and in 1845 set up a company town named Port Rand. Both Ancapistan and Libertaria invited large numbers of migrants from overseas, promising freedom for minorities and economic opportunities. In the 1890s, industrialisation began to pick up in Libertaria, Ancapistan and Santia, encouraged by all three states. In Libertaria the resulting social change caused a political deadlock, eventually resulting in an insurgency in the northern city of Exberia in 1901 - the first conflict in the region since the abandonment of northern Basaquastan. The Exberian rebels successfully established an independent industrial city-state, prompting Libertaria to elect a new government and form a standing army as well as basic welfare state. In Santia, industrialisation saw a growing socialist movement which was cracked down on by Gian Pico, a member of the Council of State who established a dictatorship between 1909 and his 1923 assassination. | |||
Through the 1930s and 1940s political currents in Basaquastan and Santia put both regions in opposing paths. In the former, calls for unification to oppose foreign intervention picked up and area-based unions between Sagharb, Alanchi and Inner Basaquastan and Libertaria and Ancapistan were formed in 1840 and 1844 respectively. The latter, the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance, formed the basis for modern Liberto-Ancapistan. In Santia, a brief respite after the death of Gian Pico receded and the consolidation of Basaquastan was met with fear of the Varisil Strip's invasion. Through the 1940s a general, Urban Maasino, spearheaded the politicisation of the military and introduced a foreign-inspired form of Santian fascism which posited that security could only be ensured for Santia with massive population growth grew. | |||
After rising tension, remilitarisation and the elevation of Maasino to a de-facto head of government in Santia, the country invaded northern Basaquastan in 1955, the beginning of the Great Santian War. Initially, the small and less industrial states of the north were quickly taken under Santian rule with few casualties. Further south, however, the Santians met opposition in Exberia, and the 1952-1953 battle of Exber resulted in large-scale and atrocities. Hundreds of thouands of troops were involved on both sides and the city, partially evacuated, was almost entirely destroyed. While the Santians eventually emerged from the battle victorious, their war effort was slowed and the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance had militarised to a great enough extent to resist the following invasion. The Liberto-Ancapistanian forces would begin to push back, and as other Basaquastanian states were liberated they were invited to join the alliance. In 1954 the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance purchased a single atomic bomb from overseas, which was stolen while in transit and later mysteriously dropped on the Santian command centre in Varisil. The Santian military, already battered by years of war, quickly collapsed and in 1955 the war was ended with an unconditional surrender in the Varisil Accord. Santia was demilitarised, the Varisil Strip was annexed and the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance shortly afterwards united into Liberto-Ancapistan; a federal state with a central government based on the Libertarian model. | |||
WIP | WIP |
Revision as of 17:30, 1 February 2022
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Federal Republic of Liberto-Ancapistan Komaria Federale a Libertarya-Ancapistan | |
---|---|
Motto: "Azadî yan mirin" "Freedom or Death" | |
Anthem: "Graveyard of Conquerors" | |
Capital and largest city | Liberty City |
Official languages | Basaquese, Santian |
Recognised regional languages | Old Farstani, Fayrean, Mhertag |
Ethnic groups | Basaquastanians, Santians, Fayreans, Mhertag |
Demonym(s) | Liberto-Ancapistanian |
Government | Federal parliamentary republic |
• Chancellor | Casimir Bergen |
• Vice-Chancellor | Sabah Shamoud |
Legislature | Parliament |
Senate | |
House of Commons | |
Establishment | |
• Formation of Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance | 12th April 1944 |
• Unification of Liberto-Ancapistan | 21st March 1955 |
Area | |
• Total | 1,450,077 km2 (559,878 sq mi) |
Population | |
• 2025 estimate | 68,845,000 |
• 2018 census | 67,684,853 |
• Density | 47.48/km2 (123.0/sq mi) |
GDP (PPP) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | 3.9417 trillion Rovas |
• Per capita | 57,255 Rovas |
GDP (nominal) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | 4 trillion Rovas |
• Per capita | 58,101 Rovas |
Gini (2025) | 54.1 high |
HDI (2025) | 0.931 very high |
Currency | Fiat (LAF) |
Time zone | UTC-6 |
Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
Driving side | left |
Calling code | +55 |
ISO 3166 code | LTA |
Internet TLD | .la |
Liberto-Ancapistan (Basaquese: Libertarya-Ancapistan), officially the Federal Republic of Liberto-Ancapistan, is a transcontinental nation spanning southern Evrosia and overseas Autonomous Territories in western Evrosia, Elisia, Antartica and Takaria. Situated primarily across the islands of Promeridona and Santia, it covers an area of 1,450,077 square kilometres (559,878 sq mi) with a population of 68.8 million in 7 constituent Provinces and 3 Autonomous Territories. Liberto-Ancapistan borders the Velika Tzarska Empire, the Imperiale Arabic Union, Baccara, Hockeyyekcoh and Aether Inc. in Evrosia, Alkamistan in Takaria, Northshires in western Elisia and Cannonio as well as the Super Best Dutch Empire in Antartica. It is a member of the United Federation of Telrova. Liberto-Ancapistan is a federal parliamentary republic with its capital in Liberty City, the country's largest city and main economic centre; other major urban areas include Sades, Compacipo, Dewisburgh, Port Rand and Orafars.
Etymology
The English name Liberto-Ancapistan is an anglicisation of the Basaquese Libertarya-Ancapistan. This is derived from Liberto-Ancapistan's predecessor, the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance (Basaquese: Tifaqa Libertari-Ancapistani), which itself was derived from member states Libertaria and Ancapistan. The former's name was originally a Santian exonym, used to describe the area of Basaquastan outside the Santian Empire - a 'free land'. The latter's name, meaning 'land of the Ancapi' in classical Basaquese (also called classical Nizmstani), refers to the Ancapi, a tribe of the Kimia Culture which existed during the last centuries of the 1st millenium BCE.
History
Prehistory and Ancient Liberto-Ancapistan (before the 6th century BCE)
Archaeological evidence at Lake Mergiri indicates that modern humans have inhabited Promeridona since at least 50,000 BCE. Rock art found in the Res Hills and Sikandin Massif has been dated to 30,000 BCE and 26,000 BCE respectively.
Agriculture first emerged in Liberto-Ancapistan c. 8,500 BCE, around the Cemsor Valley in modern-day Ancapistan Province. The first crops to be domesticated, independently of other areas of agricultural development, were rice and chickpeas. In northern Basaquastan, Promeridonan wheat had been domesticated by 6,000 BCE. The development of agriculture led to the creation of increasingly large settlements. The first walled city in modern-day Liberto-Ancapistan, Rayek, dates to c. 3,500 BCE and was followed in the succeeding centuries by the emergence of several cities around the Cemsor Valley, forming the Cemsor River Civilisation. These walled cities involved stratified social classes and were ruled from at least 3,000 BCE by individual monarchs. During this period, a system of logographic writing, Kisin, developed, initially written only on bones. This was expanded to clay tablets c. 2,750 BCE. The apparent lack of large temple structures and prevalence of oracle-bones suggests that the Cemsor River Civilisation did not involve organised religion, with the localised spirit-worship of later centuries already existing in some form. In the centuries following the development of Kisin the Cemsor River Civilisation's city-states were replaced by larger hegemonic Kingdoms, with the entire Cemsor Valley being briefly united by King Akal of Cibedar in 2,400 BCE.
Between 2,100 and 1,900 BCE most cities in the Cemsor Valley were abandoned in a total civilisational collapse. The reason for this large-scale abandonment is disputed, but modern research suggests that the region underwent significant localised climate-change during the period. Decreased precipitation levels may have caused large-scale drying and desertification in the Cemsor Valley, eventually making the maintainance of large urban cities unsustainable.
Despite the collapse of the Cemsor River Civilisation, Kisin survived in smaller settlements. Areas connected by trade to the Cemsor River Civilisation, most notably western Libertaria, were less affected by drying and continued on. By middle of the 2nd millenium BCE the city of Padisra in Libertaria had grown to have a population of at least 30,000, and had become the centre of a centralised Kingdom. In north-western Basaquastan, a large number of towns containing Kalars (fortified stone towers used for grain storage) had sprung up, eventually being united under the town of Great Pesh. The hereditary leader of Great Pesh was called 'Emir', a title which would quickly spread to become the most common title of Basaquastanian monarchs. In the following centuries several other Kingdoms grew across both Basaquastan and Upper Santia, creating a widely literate interconnected ancient world.
Classical Liberto-Ancapistan (6th century BCE – 411 CE)
In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, with increasing political and social complexity elsewhere, state power within the Cemsor Valley emerged for the first time since the decline of the Cemsor River Civilisation. This took place with the formation of the Emirate of Nizmstan in 510 BCE, a polity which grew outward from the capital of An-Alqam to cover the entire Cemsor basin. Due to its high population density and many urban centres, Nizmstan was quickly established as a major power in the Basaquastan region and was responsible for the codification of a new abugida script, Nivin, created to establish a single writing system after many localised varieties of Kisin had emerged in the preceding centuries.
Between 387 and 245 BCE, the Emirate of Nizmstan conquered all of Basaquastan except for Farstan in the north-west. Adopting the name 'Emirate of Great Nizmstan', this Empire and Farstan formed the basis for the specific borders of Basaquastan used to this day. Great Nizmstan developed a system of government in which the Emirate was divided into over a dozen Sub-Emirates, ruled by appointed local leaders known as Sub-Emirs. These Sub-Emirs were responsible for raising tax and administrating their territories, but had no control over military affairs.
During the ascendancy of Great Nizmstan, the Nivim script replaced Kisin as the primary system of writing in Basaquastan, and was modified to create the Santian script outside the Empire's borders. The spoken language of the Cemsor Valley, Classical Basaquese, also supplanted local dialects as an elite language during the period, for the first time granting Basaquastan a single linguistic identity (though Farstan was not included at the time). The several centuries of Great Nizmstani rule in Basaquastan also facilitated an unprecedented increase in international trade, with goods from as far as eastern Tagrae and Elisia being found in cities and towns alike.
In the early 200s CE, three successive Shahs of Orafars, Piro-Vidama, Ariaspes, and Artaynte, united Upper Santia under a single ruler. In 240, the successful Shah Artaynte was declared 'Padishah of all Santia', establishing the beginnings of the Santian Empire. At the time, however, the new Santian state remained in a low position to Great Nizmstan, and in 244 Artaynte visited the larger Emirate to join the League of Eshbara, an alliance formed by Abdul Aman III of Great Nizmstan to increase Nizmstani influence over Farstan and Santia.
In 285, Basaquastan was shook by the violent eruption of its largest mountain, Mount Birrin. The blast, estimated at VEI 6, caused thousands of immediate deaths and wider climate effects which were far more damaging. Ash blanketed fields across southern Basaquastan, carried by wind, and the mass ejection caused a volcanic winter. These combined to cause an event known as the Long Famine, a famine effecting 3 successive harvests in Basaquastan and causing mass death and peasant rebellion. In 287, a peasant rebellion in the Cemsor Delta seized An Alqam, causing the collapse of central authority and the dissolution of the Great Nizmstanian Empire. In what became known as the Burning Sky Period, newly independent Sub-Emirs fought over the disintegrating Empire with rapidly shifting areas of control and widespread death. The Long Famine had had a lesser effect on northern Basaquastan and Upper Santia, allowing Farstan and Santia to retain control over their territories.
Santian Empire (411 – 1840)
In 411, Padishah Ashur of Santia led an invasion fleet to Farstan. Tension had been building between both states over the northeast coast of Basaquastan, a key area in local trade which Farstan had annexed and placed heavy taxes on. Ashur used a petition by local elites as an excuse to begin the invasion, which ended in a series of military victories and the establishment of Santian control over the centuries-old Emirate. Rather than appoint native leaders to govern its territory as was the Basaquese tradition, Santia appointed members of the Santian nobility to rule the area. This formed the foundation of the Satrap system used in the later Empire.
With the expansion of Santia into Basaquastan it became increasingly tied to the region, both politically and economically. With no central Basaquese power, Santian armies invaded Sagharb in 449 and Exberia (then Uozstan) in 470, appointing Satraps to goven both areas. This expansion continued, with western Ancapistan (then Kimistan) falling in 536 and Inner Basaquastan (then the tribal Basaquese Confederation) in 564. During this period, the Santian capital Orafars became the largest city in the region, with a population of over 200,000.
In 602 Santian supremacy over Basaquastan was confirmed with the invasion of the rump Emirate of Nizmstan. With Santian control extended further than ever, the Satrap system was reorganised to better prevent rebellion by placing Aliqi, Sagharb, Inner Basaquastan and Nizmstan under the control of hereditary Emirs under the suzerainty of Santia. This appeased local elites and prevented rebellion, while keeping Santian administrators in control of more accessible, economically prosperous coastal regions. Another anti-rebellion measure was the Sanctuary, an agreement between the Empire and Fifth Saint of Bowism which agreed that he would be able to preach his rapidly-spreading religion from the island of Keviroz, on the condition that Santian authority was not challenged. The last area of Basaquastan outside the fledgling Santian Empire, Libertaria, was gradually intruded on over the following century and had been entirely conquered by 720.
Under the Santian Empire, Nivin was gradually replaced by the Santian script. Santian elites sent to govern the Satrapies brought with them settlers from Santia, which formed communities in most cities and large towns. The spread of the Santian language itself, as well as Santian culture, was limited by a strict legal division between Santians and Basaquastanians, the latter being barred from judicial and political roles and being tried in separate, harsher courts. Discontent with this legal inequality erupted in the 909-930 Red River Rebellion, a revolt in the Cemsor Delta by ethnic-Basaquese military garrisons which erupted into a long-running military conflict. While initially the Emirate of Nizmstan was revived as an independent state, and almost entirely ended Santian control in Basaquastan, Imperial control was saved by a series of counter-campaigns in the 920s and a large-scale reorganisation of the Santian state. From 930, legal divisions between Santians and Basaquastanians were abolished.
Following the Red River Rebellion, the Santian Empire expanded outside the island of Santia and Basaquastan to become a larger regional power. Post-rebellion reforms had elevated the Padishah of Santia to a supreme authority, with full legal powers. The imperial House of Magario became the centre of a complex system of official mythology, adapting to local religious traditions but always claiming divine descent. The use of administrative slaves was also developed. FOr several hundred years the Empire was able to stamp out local rebellion and remain virtually unchallenged in the Promeridona region.
Through the 1400s and 1500s, Basaquese individuals gained new prominence with the growth of slavery and piracy. New navigation techniques made long-range voyages easier, and raiding in the Tamaran and Acadian oceans made slaves cheaper and more accessible. Over time these practices, which were sponsored by the Santian state, were centralised in the control of a small number of Basaquese captains, who commanded fleets challenging the Imperial Navy. In the 1580s the growth of these captains, who became known as Sea-Beys, caused difficulty for the Empire over increasingly disruptive piracy affecting not only foreign but also Santian trade. Fleeing Santian disruption, many established cntrol overseas, and were followed by the Imperial Navy. The most prominent of these was the Beylik of Fayre in the Elisian Fayre Islands, which was conquered by Santia in 1608 after over a decade of existence.
In the 1700s and 1800s, Santian power was challenged by emerging colonial and industrial powers. The Empire's borders began to contract and imperial power was hampered by growing scepticism of the Padishah's supremacy and Santia's political system. In the 1820s and 1830s this took the form of the Liberal Party, an underground republican group which sought to give Santia's National Assembly - an advisory body composed of hereditary and elected officials - sovereign power. The power of the Liberal Party was decisively broken at the expense of the monarchy in the 1833 Green Revolution, which saw Padishah Ferdinand XII abdicate and rule only as the de-facto head of a new collective leadership, the Council of State. A radical Basaquese faction of the Liberal Party, nicknamed the 'Libertarians' due to the geographic origin of much of their leadership, was dissatisfied with changes and after the Santian Empire saw several overseas rebellions rose up itself. This began the Summer Revolution, which saw southern Basaquastan break away from the Empire in the form of the Republic of Libertaria (which seized Fayre shortly afterwards) and Confederation of Ancapistan.
Pre-Unification (1841-1955)
The Summer Revolution broke Santian power in Basaquastan and elsewhere, with virtually the entire Empire including Lower Santia and most of northern Basaquastan being abandoned by 1875. The new states in southern Basaquastan, Libertaria and Ancapistan, both pioneered liberal approaches to government. Libertaria, under the newly organised Libertarian Party, developed a centralised but restricted state with a codified constitution and parliamentary system, inspired by foreign democracies. Ancapistan was the product of compromise between the Emir of Nizmstan, local officials and liberal revolutionaries, becoming a less coherent collection of hereditary territories and city-states with only a weak central government. Both states, seeking to de-Santianise, elected to adopt the foreign latin alphabet rather than revive the now-dead Nivin.
Under the control of former Padishah Ferdinand di Magario, the retreating Santia retained only a small strip of Santian-settled land known as the Varisil Strip in northern Basaquastan. Outside the Varisil strip, Santian interference and conflicting interests prevented the collection of small local states which emerged after imperial retreat did not consolidate, despite a strong movement to unite Basaquastan under a Libertaria-inspired government.
The liberal Summer Revolution had attracted significant foreign interest. Hector Rand, a west Evrosian industrialist, had helped to fund the Ancapistanian portion of the revolution and in 1845 set up a company town named Port Rand. Both Ancapistan and Libertaria invited large numbers of migrants from overseas, promising freedom for minorities and economic opportunities. In the 1890s, industrialisation began to pick up in Libertaria, Ancapistan and Santia, encouraged by all three states. In Libertaria the resulting social change caused a political deadlock, eventually resulting in an insurgency in the northern city of Exberia in 1901 - the first conflict in the region since the abandonment of northern Basaquastan. The Exberian rebels successfully established an independent industrial city-state, prompting Libertaria to elect a new government and form a standing army as well as basic welfare state. In Santia, industrialisation saw a growing socialist movement which was cracked down on by Gian Pico, a member of the Council of State who established a dictatorship between 1909 and his 1923 assassination.
Through the 1930s and 1940s political currents in Basaquastan and Santia put both regions in opposing paths. In the former, calls for unification to oppose foreign intervention picked up and area-based unions between Sagharb, Alanchi and Inner Basaquastan and Libertaria and Ancapistan were formed in 1840 and 1844 respectively. The latter, the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance, formed the basis for modern Liberto-Ancapistan. In Santia, a brief respite after the death of Gian Pico receded and the consolidation of Basaquastan was met with fear of the Varisil Strip's invasion. Through the 1940s a general, Urban Maasino, spearheaded the politicisation of the military and introduced a foreign-inspired form of Santian fascism which posited that security could only be ensured for Santia with massive population growth grew.
After rising tension, remilitarisation and the elevation of Maasino to a de-facto head of government in Santia, the country invaded northern Basaquastan in 1955, the beginning of the Great Santian War. Initially, the small and less industrial states of the north were quickly taken under Santian rule with few casualties. Further south, however, the Santians met opposition in Exberia, and the 1952-1953 battle of Exber resulted in large-scale and atrocities. Hundreds of thouands of troops were involved on both sides and the city, partially evacuated, was almost entirely destroyed. While the Santians eventually emerged from the battle victorious, their war effort was slowed and the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance had militarised to a great enough extent to resist the following invasion. The Liberto-Ancapistanian forces would begin to push back, and as other Basaquastanian states were liberated they were invited to join the alliance. In 1954 the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance purchased a single atomic bomb from overseas, which was stolen while in transit and later mysteriously dropped on the Santian command centre in Varisil. The Santian military, already battered by years of war, quickly collapsed and in 1955 the war was ended with an unconditional surrender in the Varisil Accord. Santia was demilitarised, the Varisil Strip was annexed and the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance shortly afterwards united into Liberto-Ancapistan; a federal state with a central government based on the Libertarian model.
WIP