Topesia

Topesia (Razarian: Topeziska, Kamenian: Топезия), often referred to by foreigners as Kamenian Razaria, is a highly contested cultural and geographic region of ethnic Razarians that is incorporated into the Duchy of Lyud, a federal subject of the Kingdom of Kamenia. It sits on the fortified border between Razaria and Kamenia. Its borders have never been formerly drawn, but it is understood to be fully encompassed by Kamenia. The region's largest city and cultural hub is Mešel.

The region is home to extreme cultural, ethnic, and political tensions between Kamenia, Razaria, and its inhabitants. A series of conflicts, known as the Topesian Wars, have been fought in the country. Razaria affirms that the territory has been a part of Razaria since time immemorial and is rightfully their territory. The position of the Kamenian government is that the territory is part of Kamenia in perpetuity and refuses to recognize Razarian claims. Many of the territory's inhabitants are likewise divided, with some preferring the democratic policies of Kamenia rather than the totalitarian, theocratic government of Razaria. A middle ground option in Kamenia is to create Topesia as its own independent autonomous community within Kamenia. The debate over the status and future of the territory is referred to as the Topesian Question.

Etymology

The name of the region comes from the tovpes, a legendary bird in Razarian folklore building structures from wood and clay, which is derived from Sepcan mythology and likely related to Karan taw-pachi, 'swallow'.

History

Vitrians first entered and settled Topesia in the 5th century and gradually displaced, assimilated or exterminated the original inhabitants, which were a mixture of Kamenian aboriginals, Sepcanic speakers and Mesians, as well as related groups. The region had become majority Razarian by the mid-8th century, and eastern Topesia was for prolonged periods of time solidly territory of unified Razarian political entities. Local chiefs began building tvrdjavas in the late 9th century and like the rest of Razaria the region began to see intermittent warfare between nobles at this time. Costeny first entered and converted a number of locals in the late 10th century, although the community was limited and most remained Tastanic; only mass conversions that began in 1116 by Boris of Topesia created a Cositene majority. Topesia was slow to be incorporated to the Empire of Razaria and was only conquered and included into the imperial heartland's administrative structure in 1224.

medieval wars and stuff

As Imperial Razaria weakened Kamenia made steady inroads to the region and annexed much of it during the Dark Decades. The Kovačović dynasty under Izjaslav II reclaimed the southern half in the Xth Topesian War, and reconquest of the region remained a goal of Kovachovid foreign policy. In the Xth Topesian War of 1852, Razaria seized all of the region taking advantage of the Republic of Kamenia's fragility and chaos. For the remainder of Kovachovid rule Topesia remained firmly Razarian until renewed Kamenian encroachment in the 1920s following political crisis unfolding in Razaria, slowly occupying and incorporating the area bit by bit into Kamenia. Branimir Kvran attempted to retake lost territories in the Xth Topesian War in 1935 but failed and lost more territory instead. There would be further Kamenian expansion during the Razarian Civil War. In the Gozar War, attempts to reclaim Topesia were overall unsuccessful; only a small strip of land occupied during the Civil War was regained by Razaria and another strip was lost.

Status and controversy

Topesia is a region around which Razarian revanchist sentiment has revolved recently, and its reclamation has been an element of Razarian state rhetoric on numerous occasions. In the area itself, economic and social inequality in part caused by the contemporary economic transformation of Kamenia has also served to further exacerbate local ethnic conflicts, and in recent years Razarian nationalist separatism in the region has became a powerful voice.