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Great Union of Maroudian Republics Union Grand do Republicas Marudyene (Maroudian)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Um raiu do solu tra la tempeta (Maroudian) A ray of sunlight amid the storm
Anthem: "Lu cançu dul'avençerus" (Maroudian) "Song of the Adventurers"
Capital and largest city	Farros
Official languages	Maroudian
Recognised regional languages	Suriq Souçondiq Z
Ethnic groups	82.3% Maroyard 17.7% other
Religion	Laïcity 31% Manichaeism 27% Usilism 23% irreligous 18% Nasoreanism 1% other
Demonym(s)	Maroudian, Maroyard
Government	Federal premier-presidential constitutional republic
• President	Agostu Çama (14dF)
• Chancellor	Artur Scoç (14dF)
Legislature	Parlamento
• Upper house	Corts duli syefus
• Lower house	Corts duli deputatus
Population
• 2020 estimate	96,464,821
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	£2.683 trillion
• Per capita	£27,821
HDI	0.915 very high
Currency	Maroudian Lira (£) (MAL)
Time zone	UTC±N (WVST)
Date format	yyyy-mm-dd (CE)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+41
ISO 3166 code	MR
Internet TLD	.mr

Maroudia, officially the Great Union of Maroudian Republics (Maroudian: Union Grand do Republicas Marudyene), is a sovereign nation in southwestern Veleda. [NATIONS IT BORDERS HERE]. Maroudia also shares a close maritime border with the Greater Afthonian State to the south and the island of Drometia to the southeast. The nation's capital and largest city is Farros. Its population of 96,464,821 inhabits a land area of XKM² (Ymi²), with an average population density of Z people per square kilometer.

Following the Revolution of 1968 and an ensuing period of reforms in the 1980s, the Great Union and its democratized economy have experienced unprecedented growth. Today, Maroudia is one of the largest economies in Veleda and the world, with high levels of human development and post-industrial tertiary employment. As a large, developed state with growing influence, the Great Union is considered a regional power in global geopolitics. Maroudia is an active member of numerous international organizations, including as a founding member of the Concert of Nations, the Veledan Congress, and Z.

History

The fossil record of Maroudia indicates that the region was first settled by hominids around 1.5 million years ago. The first known hominin species to inhabit Veleda, Homo marudiensis, was discovered at the Aldaqyeza archaeological site in southern Lazafort.

Antiquity

Three major culture groups have been identified in the period pre-dating the rise of the Tolosan civilization: the !Celtiberians, the Rasnians, and Archaic Tolosans. These groups are theorized to be the indigenous cultures of their respective areas within Maroudia. These groups through the end of the Late Bronze Age and into the early Iron Age rarely ranged outside of their home areas, though their distinct cultures show evidence of distinct trade and sporadic low-level conflict with one another. This pattern was broken by the ascendancy of the Rasnians in the 7th century, whom under the paramount monarch Lars Fufetius Maximus briefly swept the area under their control. Though this control only lasted for a century and a half, it greatly impacted Maroudian culture: the city-states of Tolosa readily adopted aspects of Rasnian religion, economy, and societal values as their own, forming a sort of hybridized culture. This Middle Kingdom of Rasnian history grew and shrank, until finally fragmenting with the death of its final dynast Lars Octavius in 521 BCE. With this fragmented state of affairs, the various Rasnian successor states either adapted to the cultures of their local subjects or imposed a hybridized culture as a means of ensuring state cohesion and continued legitimacy in the face of an absent monarch.

Later, in the late 5th century BCE, the Nebrisi League arose in southern Maroudia as !Phoenicians arrived via expanding !Mediterranean trade networks. They quickly took route in the modern-day Republic of Maroudia and Vaumarca, incorporating the city-states of Tolosa to their east and north into their cultural and economic spheres of influence. Several rump Rasnian polities were absorbed during the Nebrisi conquests, though the holdouts in modern-day Cabrerìa regrouped around Lars Hernicus, beginning the Final Kingdom period of Rasnian historiography. The Tolosan city-states themselves gradually expanded their influence to the north and east under Nebrisi control in the name of mercantile expansion and frontier security. As areas of Rasnian control slowly shrank, the Final Rasnian Kingdom fell in the 320s BCE into disunited polities, which were finally absorbed into the Tolosan fold during the early Kastorian period. Throughout the period of Nebrisi dominance, the Tolosan city-states held various degrees of power; at times, the Tolosans would be subservient trading partners and vassals; at other times, they would unite and hold power as near-equals to their nominal masters. Often, Tolosan weakness versus the Nebrisi came down to internecine conflicts—Tolosa, the city considered in modern historiography as emblematic of the civilization, was only intermittently the dominant city-state of its confederation. Twice, the Tolosans united to depose Nebrisi leaders in civil conflicts, establishing their power as a force to be reckoned with while united. Nebris saw its own downfall in the 200s CE; as hegemon of the Maroudian region, Nebris faced little internal or external threat except for the ascendant Kingdom of Kastoria. The two ancient empires were rivals in a series of wars that ended in Nebris' near-total destruction in the mid-3rd century. The Kastorians took most of modern-day Maroudia as imperial provinces, while the remnants of the Nebrisi League were forced into a vassal confederacy under Kastorian supervision known to the Kastorians as Nebriseia.

Under Kastorian rule, the dominance of Tolosan culture over the Maroudian realm was assured. The Kastorian elite took great affinity to Tolosan culture, systematically patronizing the region's cultural, historical, scientific and philosophical exports in a phenomenon later termed tolosophilia. With imperial patronage, what remained of Rasnian civilization was absorbed into Tolosa with little violence.

Medieval Maroudia

Following the rapid waning of Kastorian imperial authority in the 9th century CE, the Maroudian region fell to the control of those often entrusted by the Kastorians to rule for them. In the waning years of the empire, the vassals and provinces of Maroudia had gained further and further autonomy; in the 1140s, the emperor Abas I and his son, crown prince Plades opened a military campaign to re-establish control over the region. However, the tactics and prevailing weather favored the Maroudian city-state federation under the so-called Three Uncrowned Kings of Tolosa. At the climactic Battle of the Moglian Hills in November of 1143, both Abas and Plades were captured and executed, serving as the impetus for the Three Uncrowned Kings (themselves merely elected oligarchs from the three most powerful Tolosan city-states) to launch a campaign of their own. This culminated in the Sack of Elpis in 1145, in which much of the remaining imperial family was captured; many were executed while others were married to the families of the Three in a short-lived attempt to unite Kastoria and Maroudia under one quasi-imperial polity. Regardless, the Sack spelled the decisive end of the Kastorian Empire.

Following the Sack of Elpis, the Three Uncrowned Kings set to consolidating control of Maroudia. (This time also sees the use of the term Maroudia, or la Marud, for the first time.) The First Triumvirate, as this state came to be known had dramatic impacts on the region far past its existence. The year 1186 saw the first arrival of explorers from modern-day Ozhawak, establishing a centuries-long link between the continents of Veleda and Kisciministik. Another product was the outgrowth of the Cabrerus, a group variously treated as horseback mercenaries, a social class, and quasi-ethnic group throughout the remainder of Maroudian history. Originating as the pan-Maroudian elite cavalry of the Triumvirate, the Cabreru way of life became highly militarized; often, Cabreru groups would serve various Maroudian states in exchange for autonomy and freedom to practice Nasoreanism.

By far the most powerful state of medieval Maroudia was the Duchy, and later the Kingdom of Souçond under the Rivera dynasty. Starting in the MIDXCENTURY,

Maroudian Commonwealth

Formed in the wake of the !Napoleonic Wars through schemery and dubery at the !CONGRESSOFVIENNA

Succeeded by some unification into a Maroudian State at some point? Initially ruled by warlords, probably end of the 19th to 20th century. This period was defined by a clique/Cartel of warlords until infighting almost led to a national collapse, briefly followed by dictatorial Triumvirate that saw one leader ascend eventually over the other two. From here, State probably develops Estado Novo (take your pic which one) characteristics, conservative, corporatist, anti-democratic dictatorship w/ repression of minority cultures.

By the late 20th century, the régime was beginning to show its age. Advances in industrial technology and a slowly globalizing economy proved to be challenges to which the Maroudian State could not effectively adapt. By the end of the 1950s, a period of "stagflation" began; this economic slowdown would continue to hamper Maroudia through the 1960s. This slump had begun as a result of X in YCOUNTRY, and had quickly spread across southwestern Veleda. Nations like Drometia and Afthonia were both experiencing a slowdown in growth by 1961 as the Great Squall, as it came to be known, took hold. Popular unrest followed in all three nations as their governments failed to deliver adequate hardship relief or economic remedy. Maroudia's corporatist system of "harmony" between the state, corporations and workers' groups had become particularly bureaucratic and incapable of the rapid and drastic reform seen as needed to break out of the collapse. On February 20th, 1964, the Bay of Hypatia Earthquake, registering a 8.2 on the moment magnitude scale, brought further devastation to the economically-troubled region. With an epicenter off the north coast of Drometia, the quake and ensuing tsunami led to up to 1000 casualties across Drometia, Afthonia, and Maroudia; numerous buildings were leveled or damaged, and some villages were almost completely removed. Already paralyzed by a growing fear of unrest, the Drometian and Maroudian governments proved slow to provide aid to affected populations. In Drometia, rumors began that humanitarian aid had been withheld by ethnic Afthonians; ethnic riots and pogroms began between the numerous ethnicities on the island, which the royal government proved ultimately helpless to stop. In Maroudia, ethnic minorities were beginning to organize in greater numbers during this period; their demands ranged from autonomy to full independence from the Maroudian State.

Throughout the 1960s, a group of junior officers in the Maroudian military formed a secret society known as the Red Army Movement (MER). Under the leadership of Major Lorent Episcu, MER made contact with exiled left-wing leaders such as Marcu Juglu Manés starting in 1965 in order to plan the ouster of the government in favor of a left-wing military coup. The schemes reached an international dimension one year later, when the Montfinetra Concordat was signed by Drometian, Maroudian, and Afthonian forces committing peacekeepers to quell ethnic violence on the island of Drometia. MER-affiliated conspirators were among those who were sent by the Maroudian State as peacekeepers. While violence did lessen for around two years, these operatives, as they did in Maroudia, proved instrumental in assisting the fomenting of the revolutionary "spirit of '68."

1968 Revolution

Protestors at the State University of Farros clashing with police during the revolution.

The prolonged economic downturn of the 1960s saw a revival of left-wing revolutionary ideas considered all but stamped out by the state in the preceding decade. Ideals of socialism and ethnic self-determination in this period received broad, intersectional support, in contrast to the more intellectual leftist movements of the 1940s and early 1950s. A growing and dynamic youth culture helped propel the spirit of revolution; by 1967, Maroudia was crippled by up to 289 different workers' strikes per annum, by far the most in any Veledan country. Sporadic street demonstrations turned to widespread revolt on February 14, 1968 during a Mica Miljanovic concert outside of Farros. Miljanovic, one of the most popular rock artists of all time, had long been considered a symbol of Maroudian youth protest. When local law enforcement attempted to shut down the concert, citing overcrowding, the audience fought back and overwhelmed the police as Miljanovic played his protest anthem "Red Plastic Fire." Inspired by their victory over the police, protestors took to the streets, soon joined in the following days by a general strike and sister protests in Maroudia's major cities. The MER, taken by surprise, executed a sympathetic mass mutiny on the 16th. The security police that remained loyal to the government proved insufficient to quell the popular uprising. A total of 12 protestors died as a result of the insurrection, a comparatively low number for such a successful popular revolt. On February 22nd, State Guardian Agosto Cabreres announced his resignation as head of state and handed over power to a provisional council made up of MER officers and protest luminaries such as Manés and Artur Çacreres.

Geography

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  Pontu Sant-Pau, near the historic village of Sant-Pau-em-Lega on the Lega River

• 

  Mount Ecatarina, in the glacial Reíçan mountains

• 

  A typical scene of arid vineyards in the southwest

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  A stretch of Great Inland Sea coast in the south

• 

  A typical northern hilly forest in the Republic of Vaumarca

• 

  Stretches of farmland beneath the walled town of Castra, Republic of Cabrería

Demographics

Religion

Self-identified religion in Maroudia, 2020 Census

  Manichee (31%)

  Solarian (27%)

  Irreligious (23%)

  Nasorean (18%)

  Other (1%)

State religious policy in Maroudia is governed by the principle of laïcity, which strictly secularizes public life and state affairs. No religion is allowed special treatment or preferential recognition by statue, and religious groups are expected to refrain from engaging in lobbying or attempting to influence policymaking. In return, religious groups are recognized by the government on purely legal grounds without regard for doctrine or belief. This policy, alongside a general tolerance and indifference towards other religions by Maroyards after the 1968 Revolution, has been credited with producing Maroudia's large irreligious population. Around 23% of Maroudia's population holds no religion; this group is the largest-growing religious demographic in the country.

Maroudia has historically been a religiously diverse region, and today no one faith counts the majority of the population as its adherents. Prominent religions that are recognized by the Union government include Manichaeism, Mandaeism, Usilism and some others once we develop religions.

The Manichean Church has held a strong position since arriving in Maroudia in the early 5th century CE. Due to this long history, much of which lacking a significant outside existential threat, Maroudian Manichaeism has deep and rich local traditions, as well as the intermittent seat of the westermost of the 12 apostles at Fijaç. In the modern day, the apostle (Maroudian: apóstolu) at Fijaç tentatively oversees a doctrinally-diverse Manichaean population represented by several bishops (Maroudian: episcus). These bishops themselves oversee presbyters, who manage the various groups of lay Elect in each Manichaean community. Due to the nature of the Manichaean religion, the beliefs of Maroudian Manichees often differ subtly from those of other regions.

Government and politics

Per the Grand and Sovereign Agreement, which functions as the Union's constitution, Maroudia is ruled as a representative democracy, organized as a federation of X constituent republics under an elected government in the premier-presidential style. The head of the federal government is the Chancellor, appointed by the President and entrusted to form a Cabinet. While the President is responsible for selecting a new Chancellor after new elections, they are not allowed to dismiss them; Chancellors and Cabinet members may only be removed through a successful motion of no confidence in the Parlamento, or Parliament. The system is designed with many layers of checks and balances in mind: at the federal level, power is clearly divided between the President, the executive Government, the justice system and the Parliament. Typically, the governing structures of each of the constituent republics reflects the basic structure of the federal government, though minor differences and diverse applications exist.

The legislative branch is embodied by the Parlamento, the bicameral parliament of Maroudia.

The executive branch is helmed by the President of Maroudia.

The judicial branch is comprised of the federal courts of Maroudia.

The Government is a sort of fourth branch, comprised of executive agencies underneath the Cabinet and Chancellor.

Law

As a federation, Maroudia's laws are divided into federal law, regional law (also known as republic law) and local law. These laws are drafted as civil law; major instruments of law include the Grand and Sovereign Agreement, the Maroudian Civil Code and the Code of Penal Justice, among others.

Administrative divisions

Republics and autonomous regions of the Great Union

Common Full Name	Official Full Name	Flag	Population (2020)	Capital
Republic of Cabrería	Republic of Cabrería		XMILLION	Li Molínes
Republic of Gráutel	Union of the Three Leagues of Gráutel		XMILLION	Privas
Republic of Lazafort	Republic of Lazafort		XMILLION	Fijaç
Republic of Maroudia	Grand Republic of Maroudia		XMILLION	Farros
Republic of Reíça	Union of Cantons of Reíça-Mendona		XMILLION	Monfinetra
Republic of Souçond	Republic of Souçond		XMILLION	Redés
Republic of Vaumarca	Union of Vaumarcan Workers		XMILLION	Divión

Foreign affairs

Maroudia maintains foreign relations with nearly every state in the world.

The foreign policy of Maroudia has been guided by principles of internationalism, regional cooperation, socialism and security from powers perceived as hostile such as Afthonia. As a Veledan country with a large population and economy, Maroudia holds significant sway on the continent, and through its rising power has poised itself as a regional leader and hub for diplomacy, as seen through the [LEFT-WING EU THING IT DOMINATES], the 1992 Fijaç Accords, and its hosting of !UN bodies such as the X.

Military

Military functions for the Union are performed by the Armed Forces of the Great Union (FAUG), also known colloquially as the Red Army (Maroudian: Eçército roç) or the Maroudian Red Army (Maroudian: Eçército roç marudyen). The Armed Forces are divided into two major categories, known as minor and major branches. The major branches of the Armed Forces are the Union Army, the Union Navy, the Union Air Force, and the Union Strategic Rocket Force. Minor branches typically provide ancillary services to aid the major branches; the minor branches include the Union Military Legal Corps, the Union Military Medical Corps, the Union Military Office of Comptrolling and Accounting, and the Union

Military units and other related service bodies are stationed throughout the Maroudian Union, as well as on the island of Drometia. In the case of the latter, around 8,252 troops of the Red Army are stationed within the western Dromeçan Republic. These troops' stated purpose is to augment local defense forces and protect the island from invasion by either the breakaway Drometian State to its west or their supporters, the state of Afthonia.

Culture

Street murals, both political and otherwise, are common in Maroudia.