Minachia (Elparia)

The Empire of Caero-Minachia Imperium Caero-Minachiae
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Senatus Populusque Caero-Minachiae" ("The Senate and People of Caero-Minachia")
Anthem: Evigila, Minachiane! ("Awaken, Minachian!")
Capital and largest city	Velitrae
Official languages	Latin
Recognised regional languages	Caeriana
Ethnic groups	47% Latin 21% Slavic 12% mixed 8% Magyar 2% Vanya 2% Kephalarian 8% other
Religion	84% Christianity —71.4% Apostolicism —9.2% Orthodox —3.4% Protestant 12% no religion 2% Judaism 2% other
Demonym(s)	Minachian
Government	Unitary constitutional monarchy
• Emperor	Octavius IV
• Prime Minister	Joannes Norbanusb
• President of the Senate	Isabella Esanu
• First Tribune of the Assembly	Philippus Hosidius
Legislature	Senate, Assembly of the Peoplec
Establishment from Minachia and Caeria
• Unification of the kingdoms of Minachia and Caeria	November 1, 1116
• Foundation of the Empire	March 25, 1145
• Dissolution of the Empire	January 1, 1956
• Reunification	May 13, 2015
• Accession of Octavius IV	June 5, 2015
Population
• 2023 estimate	189.70 million (7th)
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	14.569 trillion TSD (2nd)
• Per capita	76,801 TSD (4th)
HDI	.927 very high
Currency	Denarius (CMD)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy Anno Domini (AD)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+40
Internet TLD	.mi, .ca
Fully recognized only in the Caerian provinces, with limited use by the national government. Norbanus announced his intention to resign on January 5, 2023. Since then, he has governed in a caretaker capacity. The Senate and the Assembly are wholly separate bodies, not houses of the same legislature. When they do meet together in times of great importance, they are referred to as the "General Courts."

The Empire of Caero-Minachia (/kɛɹoʊ-mɪnækiə/, Latin: Caero-Minachia /kero-minakia/, Caerian: Cero-Minachia /tʃero-minakia/), officially the Empire of the Senate and People of Caero-Minachia (Latin: Imperium Senatus Populique Caero-Minachiae, Caerian: Imperiul Senatului și Poporului Cero-Minachiei), commonly called Minachia, is a country primarily located in Remus, being made up of fourteen provinces, two client kingdoms, and one autonomous episcopal territory. It shares land borders with Trimainia and Lyonia to the west and north-west, with Galica to the north, and with Greater Vanya to the north-east, and has a maritime border with Santomare to the south and south-west. Its population is estimated to be over 189 million, making it the second-largest country in Remus and the seventh overall. Its capital is the city Velitrae, with other important cities including Hevitia (the principal financial center), Stropsava (the historical capital of Caeria), Portus Caesaris (the nation's busiest port), and Aurelia (the capital of the global Apostolic Church).

Etymology

The name for Minachia comes from the original Kephalarian name for the country, Μιναχήριον (Minachérion). The origin of this name is unclear, but many speculate that it comes from the name of a local pre-Indo-European tribe, the Menaks. The origin of Caeria's name has historically been tied to the family name of its first king, Izydor Karas, though this etymology has been disputed. The names were hyphenized upon the founding of the Empire in the twelfth century.

History

Ancient History

Caero-Minachia is among the most ancient and historically relevant nations in the world of Elparia. The first ancestors of Caero-Minachia formed around the 10th century BC, when the city of Velitrae was founded by a group of Latin tribes in a swamp along the River Eridanus in what is now Minachia in southwest Remus. The city became a prominent city-state and trading center, and it adopted a pseudo-republican government, with a legislature of aristocrats known as Senators (which would later become the modern Senate), several assemblies of commoners with suffrage for free men, and elected magistrates, chief among them being the two consuls who effectively ruled the city.

Over several centuries Velitrae steadily expanded, absorbing several other city states, and by the 2nd century BC Velitrae was the capital of the moderately powerful Republic of Minachia. Soon however, Minachia came under the influence of the expanding Kephalarian Empire and became a client state until AD 148, when Kephalaria disintegrated due to a succession crisis, and the Republic was again able to assert its independence. The dominion of Kephalaria had a major influence on early Minachian culture, such as the introduction of the Kephalarian dialect as a language of prestige and the borrowing of several of its words into Minachian Latin. There were also reforms to the Minachian pantheon to mirror the Kephalarian state religion, and the adoption of various customs and forms of art and architecture which have now, ironically, become distinctive to Minachian culture itself. This time also saw the introduction of Christianity from Selaria by the apostles St. Andrew and St. Peter, the former of whom established the Church in Velitrae while the latter led efforts in Aurelia, an important center of Kephalarian power and trade which would soon become a major patriarchate. This was made possible Kephalaria’s extensive trade routes and seaborne empire and led to the faith becoming a large minority in the Republic.

Post-Kephalarian Minachia became a strong regional power, seeking to unite the Latinate peoples under a single state as it continually expanded and absorbed neighboring cities. During this time, Minachia would suffer various crises including barbarian invasions, slave revolts, and civil unrest, resulting in temporary “dictators” being appointed by the Senate to lead the Republic in place of typical civil authorities. This mechanism of national security eventually led to the “Despotic Era” starting in the 2nd century AD, wherein various strongmen seized powers in times of panic to assert their own political control, resulting in multiple coups d’état, civil wars, and the erosion of republican institutions. In the year 535, after his defense of Velitrae from a large force of barbarians, the general and politician Atticus Maenius (known as “the Great” or “the Defender”) was proclaimed as “King of Minachia” by his army and subsequently coerced the Senate to accept this declaration, thus starting the Regnal Period of the nation’s history. This time saw the Minachian government become more monarchical and feudal as it transitioned to the middle ages; it also began the Maenius line of rulers, from which the modern emperors still claim descent.

Moreover, the 4th century also saw the total Christianization of Minachia during an event recalled in the “Legend of the Blue Cross.” In this legend, during a period of immense persecution of Christians by both the government and the civilian population, Minachia suffered a grave defeat during its campaign to conquer Illyria. In response, a mob of pagan Velitrenes began rioting, and eventually stormed a hill outside the city where Christians were known to assemble to hear their bishop preach, blaming the Christians’ refusal to pray or sacrifice to the Minachian gods for the defeat. The mob seized the bishop, dragged him down to the central forum, and stoned him to death. In his dying breath, the bishop cursed the city, promising God’s judgment upon it.

Several days later, Velitrae was struck by a storm of epic proportions, lasting for several days as the Eridanus flooded for one of the few times in recorded history and as lightning caused fires throughout the city. On the third day, a parting in the clouds formed in the shape of a cross, revealing the blue sky above, and the voice of God announced His oneness and His judgment. Distressed, the citizens decided to seek help from the Christians themselves, who had congregated outside the city on the hill, unmoved by the storm. The consuls themselves begged the bishop’s successor for mercy, who then heard their confession on behalf of the whole city. As he finished saying the words of absolution, the rain began to let up and the storm clouds passed away.

With the floodwaters receding, the consuls became the first among a great many citizens baptized that day and in the coming weeks, while pagan priests were disgraced and driven from the city. Minachia soon adopted Christianity as its official religion, and the blue cross which appeared that day became one of the most enduring symbols of Velitrae and the rest of the Republic. While the legend has come under historical criticism, the fact remains that Minachia swiftly became a large and dominant Christian state.

Meanwhile, the 6th and 7th centuries saw the migration of Slavic peoples from northeastern Remus down to what is now Caeria, to the northeast of Minachia. The various groups and tribes formed a collection of states including several petty kingdoms under the leadership of warlords known as “voivodes,” as well as a handful of small republics in parallel with Minachia to the west, who feuded among themselves while also combating the encroachment of Minachian legions. These tribes would themselves be Christianized as part of the efforts of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and their disciples in the 9th century, before being united by Izydor Karas in 923 to form the Kingdom of Caeria.

Medieval History

The Regnal Period is widely considered to be a “dark age” in Minachia’s history. The once-great institutions of the Republic were eroded away further than they had been during the Despotic Era, with the Senate being reduced to a mere advisory council to the king while elected magistrates were largely relegated to running the city of Velitrae. Moreover, the kings saw it fit to divide and distribute territory and lordships to their friends and lieutenants, establishing a feudal system across the land. These feudal lords and their own vassals often became a law unto themselves while the king attended to wars or to his personal domain, ruling in tyranny over those who had formerly been protected by the laws of the Republic. Proper citizenship was relegated only to the upper class of patricians, which had indeed existed during the Republic but with relative equality to the common people, while lower plebeians were reduced to slaves in all but name in many parts of the country as serfdom took hold.

Furthermore, the neighboring kingdoms of Minachia and Caeria came into continuous conflict with each other after the latter’s formation over their competing land claims, leading to centuries of deadlock and attritional warfare on each nation’s frontier. With the middle ages also came lawlessness on the seas, with both Minachia and Caeria’s coasts being subject to raids from Nordic and Slavic pirates from distant lands. The period also saw the slowing of Minachia’s technological and cultural progress, a lack of expansion besides the completion of border conquests along Caeria, and a general loss of touch with the previous prestige and glory the country held, even in antiquity. The city of Velitrae itself fell into disrepair as it was neglected by kings who preferred to hold an itinerant court. These issues would increase the discontent of the Minachian people, which came to a head after the unification of the kingdoms.

There was also a series of internal conflicts in Minachia during this time. The city of Aurelia, which by now was a major center for the Apostolic Church and generally considered pre-eminent over other patriarchates, asserted its authority over the king’s rule and began in the late 800s to carve out a “State of the Church” independent from him and his lords, while also threatening several kings with excommunication over their desire to control the affairs of the Church within their lands. This would lead to many years of tension between the temporal and spiritual authorities even as Minachia began to emerge as a primary Christian power. Moreover, in 1014, the city of Santomare, a colony established in a southern archipelago by Minachians in the mid-fifth century, which had for centuries been the furthest outpost of the nation and a key source of trade revenue and foreign goods, asserted its own independence as a “Serene Republic,” defying the king’s attempts to appoint a governor over the land. The kingdom was more or less left helpless in this affair, as it lacked a significant navy with which to invade Santomare and was preoccupied with the wars with Caeria.

The tide of history in Minachia changed forever in the 12th century. In the year 1108, King Hadrian III of Minachia led an invasion of Caeria, nearly reaching the capital of Stropsava before being killed in battle, at which his army faltered and fell back. Hadrian left behind no sons, but while Minachian law did not allow for a queen regnant, his eldest daughter, Anna, led an effort to finally absorb Caeria and avenge her father. Rallying the forces of her vassals and allies, Lady Anna waged a brutal 7-year campaign against the Caerians to force their final capitulation. The young queen negotiated an alliance with Santomare, recognizing the Serene Republic’s sovereignty in exchange for being able to use its fleet to blockade and assault Caeria’s major ports, while also paying off sea raiders with promises of gold, land, and grants of amnesty in exchange for bolstering Minachian forces and attacking Caerian cities by way of rivers. This would lead to the unprecedented Raid on Stropsava, the Caerian capital, in 1114, where the city was ransacked from the inside and King Ivan was forced to flee northwards even as legions marched to intercept him.

In 1115, Anna called for an armistice and gave Ivan a final ultimatum to either surrender unconditionally or be destroyed. Facing bankruptcy and a conspiracy by his remaining vassals to overthrow him (including his young son and heir, who had been rumored to be in secret correspondence with Anna for years), the king capitulated, abdicating in favor of his heir. In a surprise act of mercy, Anna, rather than executing or imprisoning Ivan, instead sent him into exile in Santomare, where his remaining family would become influential in local politics.

In the aftermath, Anna and Casimir, the new King of Caeria, were married, and through legal maneuvering Casimir was adopted into the Maenius family and allowed to inherit the Minachian crown, after which the pair ruled the two kingdoms in personal union. Their rule marked the beginning of a golden age and a reclamation of things lost during the Regnal Period, as the two countries faced real peace for the first time in many years. Queen Anna was particularly interested in political and economic reforms and initiated the process of deconstructing feudalism and restoring republican institutions. In 1120, after several peasant revolts along with her growing distaste for the nation’s nobility (which had resisted her efforts in the war with Caeria and caused the prolonging of the conflict), Anna issued the Edict of the Orders, which re-gave certain rights to serfs in Caero-Minachia, restored the citizenship of non-serf plebeians, and reduced some legal privileges of the patrician class. This event is largely credited with initiating the “Struggle of the People,” an intermittent civil conflict and societal transformation that would end feudalism by the mid-14th century.

Moreover, Anna also restored the Senate to its former prominence and set the foundations for local representation within it, while also organizing popular assemblies and the election of certain public officials in direct opposition to the power of the nobility. Anna also commissioned the first large-scale public works since the downfall of the Republic, renovating many parts of Velitrae and other cities, establishing a permanent court in the capital, and building new infrastructure including royal highways and aqueducts. While Anna’s reforms were met with opposition by the patricians, she was beloved by nearly all plebeians and she and her husband had taken measures to purge the Caerian nobility and seize their fiefs, making it very difficult for them to realistically resist them. Indeed, the royal couple also laid the groundwork for a new system of nobility in Minachia, as they preferred to grant titles and offices out of merit rather than noble birth and avoided giving permanent grants of land even to their closest allies.

Eventually, Anna and Casimir would die, and were succeeded by their son Hadrian. King Hadrian IV followed in his parents’ footsteps, and in 1145 decided to renounce the title of “king” entirely, taking on the old title of “imperator,” or Emperor, used in the days of the Republic as a supreme honor to a general; no longer would the monarch be just the overlord over a pyramid of landowners, but instead would be “the protector of the Republic and the people,” serving as the supreme embodiment of the state. Emperor Hadrian also took steps to show the sources of his right to rule: he had an assembly of common people proclaim him as their sole Lord and Emperor, and then, showing his deference to God, recognized the legitimacy and authority of the State of the Church and had himself coronated by the Patriarch of Aurelia. He then formally united the two nations under a single banner: the Empire of Caero-Minachia, the expanded realm of a restored Republic at whose head was a noble, august Emperor.

Imperial History

Early Imperial History

The Empire began to expand rapidly after the unification of the kingdoms. In the 13th century, the Empire marched steadily northwards, annexing and assimilating the barbarian tribes of the mountainous countries of Lyonia and Galica before establishing a frontier region with what is now Corusconia. The Empire would eventually establish significant fortifications along the river Lupia and the Südwald mountains (which now divide Corusconia from Tussenria, Lyonia, and Galica) in order to defend its colonies from the hostile Corusseatic and Araesseatic states. The Empire would also expand westward towards the territory of the fledgling kingdom of Trimainia, which the Empire brought under its wing as the first of many federated states, a practice which would allow it to expand its territory and influence without much bloodshed while also maintaining popular native governments.

Similarly to Trimainia, in the mid-13th century Santomare would again come under Minachian influence as the Empire expanded its naval power and began to inhibit the Serene Republic’s ability to trade freely. Seeing the writing on the wall, the Doge, Teodoro Paladino, swore allegiance to the Emperor, trading a portion of his navy and autonomy in exchange for allowing Santomare to operate underneath Minachia, which would lead to the city-state becoming exorbitantly wealthy as it liaised between exotic lands and the aristocrats of Minachia in addition to establishing trade posts and colonies as far as the seas stretched. This was also helped by the fact that, at the same time, the Empire began to put down the numerous groups of pirates and vikings that had marauded the coasts of Remus for centuries, opening up large-scale trade overseas. However, these groups did not take kindly to having their livelihoods ripped away, and were particularly enraged by the perceived betrayal of Minachia after Anna had used many of them in her war with Caeria, and the Empire would soon face the first major threat to its expanding supremacy on the continent.

In 1247, following the unifications of Höllefjord and Aesidia, the homeland of many of these raiders, the vikings rallied together and set off for a large-scale surprise attack on Caero-Minachia; however, Imperial forces under the command of Emperor Tiberius Alexius were able to mobilize quickly when the invasion force landed at Aurelia and sacked the city. The Battle of Aurelia saw seven legions of Caero-Minachian soldiers surround the city while a fleet blockaded the port and used Kephalarian sea fire to emblaze any ships that tried to escape. The vikings were forced to surrender, but rather than imprison or execute them, the Emperor offered them a deal: the vikings would swear themselves into the Emperor’s personal service and convert to Christianity in exchange for amnesty and a chance to settle in Minachia. Most readily accepted and became known as the Sverians (a name derived from their word for “sworn”), and their elite Cohorts (including the Emperor’s personal bodyguard) persist to this day. The defeat of the Invasion of 1247 spelled the end for the Viking Age in Minachia, further solidified the Empire as a dominant power, and began the tradition of Höllefjordish, Aesidians, and other foreigners seeking gold and glory through service to the Empire.

Utilizing his new, highly skilled (and often vicious) troops, Tiberius Alexius accelerated the Empire’s conquests, sailing across the Gulf of Vanya to begin the annexation of the home of the ancient Kephalarian Empire. By 1261, the Empire had swept through the capital of Ionia and was crossing the Reman Isthmus when they came to the border of the Konzaskan Empire. The Minachia advance force engaged with the Konzaskans (believing that the Emperor’s intent was to continue forward), but after a brief, bloody fight Tiberius ordered their retreat and called for a parley with the Konzaskans. Tiberius, while recorded as having future plans for conquering Konzask, decided that his attention was better focused on his existing territories, and so signed a treaty with Konzask establishing the empires’ mutual border along the center of the isthmus. This event would define their relations for centuries to come, as an uneasy peace came into being, with both states eying each others’ territory but ultimately unwilling to risk a large-scale conflict for potentially little gain.

The Emperor then returned to the west, shoring up his gains in Kephalaria before beginning to move northwards into what is now Molonia and Herzoland. The Conquest of Kephalaria is widely considered to mark the beginning of the transition from the early Empire to its middle stages; the reclamation of the ancient land began a cultural renaissance in Minachia that would shape its image over the centuries, while the growing prestige of emperors like Tiberius Alexius began the transition of the state from what was more or less a semantic change for the Kingdom of Minachia to a proper empire, the beginnings of a modern global power. Tiberius Alexius was the first emperor to adopt the honorific “Augustus,” meaning “Venerable,” beginning the increasing grandiosity with which the emperors would conduct themselves, ascending to an almost divine status the monarch became not a simple lord over his subjects, but their protector and advocate against the wiles of malicious feudal masters, untrustworthy politicians, and corrupt bureaucrats.

After the defeat of the Invasion of 1247, where the Apostolic Church’s center in Aurelia was nearly destroyed but rescued by the actions of the Emperor, the Church would increasingly come under the influence of the Minachian state. By this time, the Patriarch of Aurelia (now known by the title “pope”) was regarded as a “primus inter pares” of all the Christian patriarchs. However, under Minachian influence the pontiff would begin to assume an even greater role, establishing himself as the worldwide spiritual head of Christendom, while also conveniently recognizing the Minachian Emperor as a monarch by the will of God, established as a temporal suzerain over other Christian kings. This shift in the structure of the Church and its relationship with the Empire would come to a head in 1282, where after a particularly elaborate and exceedingly ostentatious coronation ceremony for Tiberius’s successor at which the pope presided, a disastrous ecumenical council was called in Aurelia which saw nearly half of the attending bishops (nearly all of them from “eastern” churches, particularly in Konzask) declare the Aurelian Patriarchate to be anathema over the pope’s submission to the Empire and over other doctrinal issues. Thus began the Great Schism between the Apostolic and Orthodox churches, which would be yet another flashpoint for tensions between Minachia and Konzask.

Government and politics

Government

The Empire of Caero-Minachia is a constitutional monarchy under the Emperor. The Emperor is both head of state and co-head of government with his prime minister (officially the Consul, Master of Offices, and President of the Council of Ministers), who is formally appointed at the Emperor’s discretion but is usually nominated and then approved by the Assembly of the People. The Imperial Government is the nation's main body for day-to-day governance, and consists of the Emperor, the prime minister, their respective support offices, and the several government ministries along with their administrator. The most important ministries are the Imperial Treasury (headed by the procurator-general), the Ministry of Defense (headed by the minister of defense), the Ministry of Public Security (headed by the minister of public security), the Bureau of Justice (headed by the grand chancellor), and the Bureau of Foreign Affairs (headed by the minister of foreign affairs). The heads of the various ministries collectively make up the Council of Ministers, with the prime minister as its chairman under the Emperor, which exercises the primary daily powers of government; the Council itself is also part of the Imperial Consistorium, the Emperor’s privy council consisting of the cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, permanent secretaries, officials of the Imperial Household, and various other advisors.

Minachia’s primary legislature is the Senate, a body consisting of 175 senators elected from constituencies and a number of ex officio and appointed senators, including government ministers, provincial governors, and several clergymen. The Senate holds the power to create laws, confirm appointments, set foreign policy, and to administer the provinces. However, all laws must be signed by the Emperor, who holds the right to veto. There is also another legislature, the Assembly of the People, consisting of 600 elected deputies, which holds the right to veto any action by the government, Emperor, or Senate with a two-thirds majority, the right to present the Emperor with candidates for the premiership and to approve that and other appointments, the right to be consulted on certain acts such as treaties, budgets, changes to the tax code, and declarations of war, and the right to impeach imperial officials; the presidency of the Assembly, consisting of ten Tribunes, also functions as a sort of committee of ombundsmen to protect public interests and prosecute in trials of impeachment.

Elections for the Senate occur every five years, while elections for the Assembly occur every two years.

Administrative Divisions

The country is divided into fifteen provinces, which in turn are divided into civil dioceses and then into municipalities and rural districts. The provinces are granted substantial autonomy by the Senate, and they are each governed by an appointed governor and an elected legislature and provincial council. In the eleven “metropolitan” provinces which make up the bulk of Minachia’s territories, the governor’s role is limited as elected officials take more precedence in administering each province, while in the four “frontier” provinces (Galeria Intermontes, St. Valentine, St. Gregory, and the Arctic Territory), the governor (usually a military officer) takes more of an important role because of these provinces’ strategic importance.

The Empire also holds stewardship over three autonomous territories. The first is the city-state of Aurelia, Minachia's last remaining episcopal territory, which is governed by the Bishop of Aurelia, who is also the supreme pontiff of the Apostolic Church. The others are the kingdoms of Pontikos and Navicalia, which are internally autonomous tributaries north of Kemet and in the Ionian Ocean, respectively, each governed by a local client king and a minor imperial representative. In the latter two cases, the Imperial Government mostly just handles foreign relations and defense for the islands while maintaining local law and government, while it takes a greater role in the former due to its location in metropolitan Minachia.

Politics

There are seven major political parties in Minachia: The Optimates, officially The Optimates - Party for the Mos Majorum, a right-wing party which stands primarily for conservatism, traditionalism, clericalism, and monarchism; the Christian Solidarity Union, a center-right party which supports Christian democracy, centrism, liberal-conservatism, and federalism; the Fatherland Movement, a nationalist, monarchist, statist, and right-wing populist party; the Liberal-Social Party, a center-left party that stands for liberalism, social democracy, secularism, and constitutionalism; Alternative for the Republic, a libertarian, classical liberal, anti-establishmentarian, and republican party; the Social Proletarian Party, a left-wing party which supports social democracy, democratic socialism, progressivism, republicanism, and left-wing populism; and the Green Party, which stands for stands for environmentalism, ecopolitics, social democracy, and progressivism.

Economy

The Minachian economy is among the largest and most developed of the world. The nation’s economy is a large part service-based, with its tourism industry being among the largest in the world (barely beaten out by Olympia, Santomare, and Treka), as millions of people the world over flock to see Minachia’s beaches, mountains, countrysides, art, and historical sites; the banking industry is also large in Minachia, particularly in the financial capital of Hevitia. The Minachian economy also has a large manufacturing sector, with an emphasis on motor vehicles, machinery, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and arms manufacturing; the country also has a relative abundance of natural resources, with iron, steel, coal, and minerals making up a portion of its exports.

Some of the largest and most well-known Minachian corporations include the CNH oil company, the Credit Hevitia banking/finance group, the Dacia automobile company, and the Leonardus defense and aerospace company.

Agriculture

Agriculturally, Minachia is the largest exporter of wine, grapes, and olives and olive oil. The Empire also produces large amounts of grains, meat, dairy products, and fruits and vegetables, as well as various seafood products, including fish, calamari, and caviar.