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Latest revision as of 15:30, 13 August 2024
Commonwealth of Iblesia | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
| Motto: "Civility Requires Certainty." | |
| Anthem: "I Vow To Thee My Country" [1] | |
 Map of Iblesia. | |
| Capital and largest city | Kingsport |
| Official languages | Iblesian |
| Ethnic groups | 76% Human, 24% Other |
| Demonym(s) | Iblesian |
| Government | Constitutional Monarchy |
• King | Alexander III |
• Ruling House | House Canmore |
• Prime Minister | Richard T. Owens |
| Independent (Sovereign) | |
| 23th August 1606 | |
| 15th September 1606 | |
| 8th January 1622 | |
| Area | |
• | 377,973 km2 (145,936 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 1731 estimate | 12,500,000 |
• Density | 26.5/km2 (68.6/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | S17,762,500,000 |
• Per capita | S1,421 |
| Currency | Shilling (S) |
| Date format | dd.mm.yyyy |
The Commonwealth of Iblesia is a sovereign unitary state located off the eastern coast of Mathaar. Iblesia is a constitutional monarchy which operates under a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature which operates on a common law basis. The executive is led by a Prime Minister who derives their authority from the crown. The current monarch is King Alexander III of House Canmore who has reigned since 1224; and the current Prime Minister is Richard T. Owens who has been in office since 1698. The capital city of Iblesia is Kingsport which is also its largest city with a population of 2.4 million, slightly less than one quarter of the nation's total population of 12.5 million; the majority of the population are human, with significant dwarven and kanturan minorities.
Iblesia enjoys a largely temperate climate, though the northern isles fall within the subtropical zone. The Commonwealth occupies an extended archipelago off the eastern coast of Mathaar and consists of approximately fifteen islands (including islets) of which five are inhabited; the remaining ten being either too small or too inhospitable for regular human habitation. The majority of the terrain is moderate with relatively low lying hills and mountains found towards the centre of the larger islands within the chain. Within the archipelago there is one island which is substantially larger than the others; this island is known as Greater Iblesia and is divided into two procinces, Brytha and Gaela. Much of the land area of Gaela and the outlying isles are covered in dense woodland and while Brytha also once boasted extensive woodland and great deal of the island has been deforested to make way for farming and industry. In addition to the isles Iblesia currently occupies three colonies on the mainland of Mathaar.
The earliest known human inhabitants of the archipelago upon which Iblesia is located lived approximately eight thousand years ago. Prior to human migration to the isles they were largely uninhabited except for some small elven enclaves and notably the House of All Knowledge located on the lesser isle of Athena which is occupied by the Monitors. The earliest evidence of complex civilisation on the isles, with a written language and organised government dates back approximately two and a half thousand years when a series of petty kingdoms and tribal nations emerged; it was also during this time that the dwarven migration to the isles began. The isles would continue to be governed under a fractured system of tribal governance until 1 NIC when the isle of Brytha was united under the rule of the Greater Vampire Aethred of Canmore. By 1307 the isles were further united so that only two nations remained; the Kingdom of Brytha and the Kingdom of Gaela, both ruled by a vampiric monarch; a state of periodic war would continue for the next three centuries until the King of Gaela, the higher vampire Malcolm Bryce, was slain by Alexander III of Brytha, prompting the Act of Union.
Iblesia is a highly developed nation with a strong economy. The economic strength of the Commonwealth has been steadily building over the last decade with the beginning of industrialisation and urbanisation, factors which have led to a population boom and the rapid growth of urban centres. Traditionally the Iblesian economy relied upon the textile industry, primarily wool and flax products; the introduction of new production methods as well as the invention of more efficient weaving machinery have enabled the aforementioned industrialisation and have generated the capital necessary for further developments. The government's economic policy is one of wealth generation with considerable subsidies and investment available for industrialists and capitalists.
Etymology & Terminology
The Commonwealth of Iblesia takes its name from that of the ancient protector goddess Iblese who was the patron deity of the isles which now make up the nation. Originally the term Iblesia was used to refer only to the archipelago as a whole, since multiple petty kingdoms and tribal fiefs controlled the archipelago prior to the formation of the Commonwealth. The name Iblesia directly translates to "Isles of Iblese". Iblesia is referred to as a Commonwealth because of its status as a Constitutional Monarchy; according to the Bill of Rights the government "...operates on behalf of the crown for the common good of the people of Iblesia." However as a constitutional monarchy Iblesia is also technically a Kingdom and thus on certain maps and documents the name 'the Kingdom of Iblesia' is used; while the official long form is 'the Commonwealth of Iblesia' the term Kingdom has been accepted as an alternative in Iblesian constitutional law.
History
The archipelago upon which modern day Iblesia is located has been inhabited in some form for the last ten thousand years. The only natives to the archipelago appear to be the Monitors who have lived upon a single island within a structure known as the House of All Knowledge; however the Monitors have never spread their civilisation beyond the confines of this island and little is known about them even now. The earliest inhabitants to settle the isle were nomadic elves belonging to the Cheruskan culture, and these elves established numerous small coastal settlements which relied upon fishing and small scale agriculture; these early elven settlers left behind various monuments showing evidence of a sophisticated and well developed culture unique to the archipelago. The Cheruskan culture started its decline approximately eight thousand years ago with a mass migration of humans from the continent of Mathaar to the west. The migrant humans came in two waves; the first belonging to the Brythyan culture and the second to the Gaelyan cultures. Although the human settlement of Iblesia was not violent in nature the Cheruskan elves were ultimately outnumbered and through centuries of intermarriage with the human population largely ceased to be. The large kanturian minority in Iblesia is a legacy of the Cheruskan extinction, with the Kantur being descended from the ancient Cheruskans.
Pre-Unification
Prior to the arrival of humans the Isles were inhabited by the Cheruskan culture of elves, only scant evidence remains of the culture which was obliterated by war and mass human migration. Human settlement of the Isles began approximately eight thousand years ago as nomadic human sea peoples from the eastern continent of Caelan migrated across the Iskanean Ocean and began raiding. Over the following five centuries a large migration of humans occurred bringing about the Cheruskan Decline and eventually the Cheruskan Collapse. The first human settlers were led by Vampiric warlords who established themselves as kings in the newly conquered territories. Archaeological evidence suggest that other groups, not led by vampires, were wiped out over the course of the migration and by the end of the 3rd Millennia BIC the Isles were entirely ruled over by these vampiric kings.
Excavations of barrows, tomb complexes, and ancient ruins dating to the period between the 7th and 6th Millennia BIC have revealed a highly sophisticated and diverse society and suggest that the human migrants came from two distinctive cultural groups which would eventually form the nuclei of the modern Brythyan and Gaelyan cultures. The reasons for the migrations remain unclear but the more prevalent theories are based upon evidence from excavations and carvings in Caelan which imply that there was a period of great upheaval, during which the vampiric aristocracy were persecuted. If this theory is correct then it would further explain why the sea raiders and nomads who first moved west to the Isles were so prepared for war. However no written records from the time have yet been located either in Caelan or the Isles which can prove or disprove these theories.
Much of the Isles' history has been defined by the vampiric nature of their rulers and between the 6th and 3rd Millennia the cultures and societies created by the migration developed around the concept of powerful absolute monarchs. One of the most notable vampiric attributes to have impacted upon the history of the Isles and their culture has been the propensity for paranoia; the early migrant armies and their vampiric lords had a clear enemy in the Cheruskan elves, however after the Cheruskan Collapse any sense of unity rapidly declined. Vampiric paranoia thus led to the creation of a series of armed and highly militarised proto-states and resulted in mass oppression of the human populace so that the kings could maintain their power and protect themselves from their rivals. This paranoia also led to the development of a system of sovereignty which, to a degree, exists today; vampiric heredity. This system was accepted across the Isles and held that whenever a vampiric king is slain they are succeeded by the person who killed them, provided that they consumed the previous king's blood in the process.
Written records on the Isles date back to the 1st Millennia BIC, although most scholars agree that writing was developed and in use prior to this time. The oldest known extant records come from the library of the King of Brytha and were written by the direct vampiric ancestor of the current monarch, Aethred Canmore. These records describe how the traditional system of mass repression of the human populace evolved on the Isle now known as Brytha and lay out the formation of the Great Social Contract that Aethred signed with the human nobility. The Contract came about as a result of a series of uprisings which threatened to end vampiric rule in Brytha. Aethred claims to have been a human general on the side of the uprising and who succeeded in killing the vampiric king Uthwald, and consuming his blood, thus becoming a vampire himself and the legitimate king of Brytha according to the laws of vampiric heredity, and further claims that he signed the Contract willingly to preserve his nation.
Brytha was able to grow in power following Aethred's reign and unified the island of Brytha under the reign of Harald I, who created the New Iblesian Calendar (or NIC), starting the year 1 NIC on the date of his coronation as King of All-Brytha.
Unification
Iblesia was unified in 1606 with the Act of Union after the death in ritual combat of the Gaelan king, the Higher Vampire known as Malcolm Bryce, by the Brythan king Alexander Canmore. Prior to this the archipelago was controlled by a number of petty kingdoms with most only inhabiting a single island; however as society and technology advanced two major powers emerged centred around the two human cultures which had settled the isles. By 1307 the Kingdom of Gaela had successfully unified the Gaelyan culture in the northern isles while the Kingdom of Brytha had united the more numerous Brythyan culture in the southern isles. The two nations remained rivals and a state of continuous animosity between the two countries existed until 1544 when the Treaty of Knitsport was signed bringing an end to the hostilities. Tensions began to build once more in 1604 with the Brythan decision to rearm and rebuild its naval power; the Gaelyan king, Malcolm Bryce interpreted this as a preparation for war and issued a personal challenge to his rival, Alexander Canmore, in order to settle the matter of rule of the isles once and for all.
Following the unification of the isles a series of incremental reforms to the government took place. Under increasing pressure from various early capitalists and industrialist Alexander III steadily increased the authority of Parliament and of the Prime Minister, granting the latter the use of the Royal Prerogative, while increasing the number of peers in the House of Lords. Major changes to the House of Commons came in 1680 when suffrage was extended to all persons who owner property (land or a house) or who had served at least eight years in the military; in response to the vastly increased size of the electorate (it had more than tripled in size) new electoral boroughs were established with some of the larger existing boroughs being separated. The 1680 electoral reform increased the size of the Commons to 523 seats with each MP representing approximately 19,000 people. 1684 saw the official abolition of slavery, serfdom, and indentured servitude throughout Iblesia; although in practice serfdom had ended in the 16th century it had remained a legal fact which allowed the continuance of serfdom in some of the smaller isles and the manipulation of the newly democratised system of government. Under the new laws abolishing serfdom and indentured servitude the bulk of the common folk who did not meet the criteria to vote became cives sine suffragio or Citizens Without the Vote.
The current government under Prime Minister Richard T. Owens came to power in 1698 following the general election of that year. Owens and his party campaigned on a platform of national development and expansion with increased spending on education, business investments, and colonial ventures. The Liberal Party succeeded in taking the place of the Conservatives in power after a series of political scandals throughout the early 1690s which had severely weakened the party and its support base, exposing systemic corruption and embezzlement of government funds. Since taking power the Liberal Party has engaged in establishing a Ministry for Colonial Affairs with the goal of colonising parts of eastern Mathaar. Other projects include the construction of an extensive network of canals and paved roads linking major urban centres to the resources located further inland.
First Charter Colonisation
On 9th Enneada 1711 the first overseas colony belonging to Iblesia was established in New Kingsport on the coast of Nova Brytha by the East Mathaar Company (E.M.C.) which had been granted the charter to do so a month prior in Octoeada 1711. The company itself had been building up capital through a combination of international sea trade and through trading with the indigenous populations of eastern Mathaar since 1684 and already had a large fleet of ships and considerable resources with which to carry out a colonial charter; with the charter grant however came additional investment and resources that were given by the government of Iblesia under Richard T. Owens, along with permission for the E.M.C. to begin recruiting and transporting colonists and pioneers across the Iblesian sea. The E.M.C. had been anticipating the grant for some time and had already dispatched ships on 29th Octeada 1711 with colonists, troops, and resources in order to establish an initial colony. The ships arrived on 9th Enneada 1711 and of the sixteen sent twelve were deconstructed for building materials, their cannon being redeployed to defend the fledgling settlement which was dubbed New Kingsport.
Further fleets had also been dispatched by the E.M.C. to other lands further south located in the Alexander Archipelago, and to the eastern Mathaari coast on the Julian Peninsula, however these did not arrive until the 11th Enneada 1711, two days after the establishment of New Kingsport. As had been the case with the initial colonisation on Nova Brytha the majority of the ships sent were dismantled for building materials allowing for the rapid construction of fortified settlements. These fleets had successfully made landfall and established the towns of Alexanderhavn, Julianashavn, Owensburg, and New Brenburgh on 11th Enneada 1711, while two further fleets were delayed for five days and would arrive on 17th Enneada 1711 to establish Isobelville, Andrewstown, and Jamestown in a similar fashion. Under the E.M.C. plan for the establishment and organisation of the new colonies the colonial efforts were divided into three areas of control, referred to officially as Colonial Districts, each ruled by its own Governor. These colonial districts were New Iblesia, centred in Kingsport; Alexandria, centred in Alexanderhavn; and Juliana, centred in Julianashaven.
In the early stages of the colonisation effort the main focus was on establishing sustainable trading and supply ports where the indigenous people of eastern Mathaar could bring goods such as furs, pelts, tobacco, and sugarcane for trade with the settlers. Because the government was subsidising the colonisation effort the E.M.C. was able to focus upon planting crops and raising livestock meant to feed the population rather than seeking to establish cash crops; for the interim the colonial profits would be slim and largely drawn from trade with the natives. However as the settlements expanded in size and complexity the demand for additional territory and resources grew and as these demands were met it enabled the establishment of sugar, tobacco, and cotton plantations; but in meeting the demands of the growing colonies more and more settlers found themselves well outside the defensive walls of the original settlements. Additionally the steady encroachment of the E.M.C. into native lands was creating increased tensions between settlers and the native populations; by 1720 tensions had reached such a point that trade with the native populace had all but died out. A series of minor skirmishes between E.M.C. troops and native warriors in 1722 finally brought an end to any suggestion that the colonies and the native populations could co-exist peacefully.
By 1725 the new colonies of Iblesia were well established and turning a substantial profit. The end of trade with the native inhabitants had initially damaged the E.M.C.'s profits, however as the plantations they had established grew in size and started to outproduce any effort by the natives the demands for sugar, tobacco, and cotton were now being reliably met by the colonists themselves. Successive colonial governors saw no reason to pursue trade or peace with the native populations and in 1726, following a brutal raid by members of the Tuhradib native orc tribe on the Alexandria town of Stocksbride, the governor formally declared was upon the native tribes. Both of the other Colonial Districts were located on lands of their own which had been uninhabited, or which had already integrated the small native populations present and in response to the Alexandrian governor, Sir Lucas Nash's declaration of war they were able to send their own troops to help.
The end of the twenty year colonial charter loomed and in 1731 the E.M.C.; according to the terms by which the E.M.C. had been granted their charter they were required to pay back the investments, loans, subsidies, and interest given by the government by this time. Despite the ongoing Alexandrian Frontier War and the costs and losses incurred by prosecuting it the E.M.C. had been able to turn a profit; however it was not sufficient to fully cover the government investments, and so on 24th Hendeceada 1731, control of the three colonies was officially handed over to the Iblesian government. In practical terms this changed little for the colonists and settlers in the Three Colonies; the E.M.C. had operated according to Iblesian law, and the homeland was not so far distant that legal matters requiring a higher court could not be easily dealt with. On 30th Hendeceada 1731 the Iblesian parliament voted to enfranchise the colonies, granting the right to vote to colonial citizens.
The termination of the First Charter of Colonisation with the government taking control of the Three Colonies actually proved beneficial for the E.M.C. financially; they were no longer required to fund the ongoing Alexandrian Frontier War, and they still owned many of the private interests in the colonies. Additionally although they had failed to pay back the government in full, due to the interest owed, the company had turned a profit for its private shareholders and investors and so had the capital and influence to pursue a Second Charter of colonisation. In Monoeada 1732 the E.M.C. formally lobbied parliament for a second grant of colonisation so as to begin the larger scale colonisation of the Mathaari mainland.
Alexandrian Frontier War
Beginning in Trieada 1726 with the formal declaration of war on the native tribes of the region east of the Alexandrian Colonial District by Governor Lucas Nash, the Alexandrian Frontier War was a broad but rather nebulous conflict fought until 1733 with the Tuhradib tribal chieftain Uruk Mog-Udaar's surrender at Black Pine Stand after a prolonged siege of the tribal settlement there. The official casus belli' was to exact reparations for the damages caused and losses suffered by a series of native raids and skirmishes with E.M.C. troops in 1722 and to avenge the massacre at Stocksbride in which fifty three Iblesian colonists were murdered by orc warriors of the Tuhradib tribe. However the declaration of war was against all of the nearby tribes east of the Alexandrian frontier, rather than just those responsible, and because these tribes were not all united or even of the same culture any formal diplomatic communications with them were severely hindered; not only that but many innocent tribes, which had aided or traded with the E.M.C. in the past, were now being attacked.
The early stage of the Frontier War was seen as a major success. E.M.C. troops, supported by local militia forces, were able to push miles into tribal territory. This had resulted in the destruction of several tribal camps and villages, but only one major battle was fought prior to 1728, at Uhlahataar, a fortified orc encampment. The remainder of the first year and a half of war was spent patrolling vast tracts of wilderness, raiding small and largely defenceless villages, and fighting minor skirmishes with native warriors. The battle at Uhlahataar was the first decisive battle of the war; up to this point most of the engagements had been fought as ambushes, or had otherwise been too small scale for any kind of ordered battle, and although Iblesian tactics relied on organised formations and volley fire the native warriors, who were utterly unprepared and unfamiliar with gunpowder technology and metal weaponry, had generally been soundly defeated. At Uhlahataar a large E.M.C. force had besieged an orc encampment, it was the E.M.C.'s first chance at a proper conventional battle, and although the native forces defending the encampment were by now adapting to Iblesian technology and tactics they were unprepared for a siege of the kind prosecuted against them.
The E.M.C. strategy, put in place by Colonel Matthew Dawes, was to encircle the encampment, which was protected by earthworks and a palisade wall, and to bombard it with cannon and mortar fire. A fairly standard tactic by Iblesian conventions, but one that the defenders could not have anticipated as they had no experience facing artillery and were used to siege scenarios involving a drawn out battle of attrition. Within hours of the first bombardment it is estimated that sixty percent of the defending force were killed or wounded. The cannon, firing solid shot directly into the palisades turned the wooden fortifications into fragmentation bombs with the splinters of timber inflicting terrible wounds. On the second day, having bombarded Uhlahataar until his ammunition ran out, Colonel Dawes ordered the assault. E.M.C. casualties were light, the remaining defenders quickly surrendered handing the E.M.C. victory.
In an effort to end the war early Colonel Dawes released the prisoners taken at Uhlahataar on the proviso that they communicate a peace offer to their leaders. Among those released was the son of the Chieftain of Uhlahataar, Uruk Mog-Udaar, who was now himself Chieftain of his battered tribe. Although he agreed to communicate the peace offer he urged his fellow tribal chieftains to reject it. Uruk Mog-Udaar proved to be a shrewd negotiator and tactician who had spotted exploitable weaknesses in the technology and tactics employed by the E.M.C. forces and with a united force of warriors he was able to lead a warband on a highly successful guerrilla campaign against the E.M.C. Uruk Mog-Udaar understood the strength of the Iblesian artillery and ended the fruitless practice of trying to raid fortified positions, instead he focused on small skirmishes and ambushes where the slow firing muskets of the E.M.C.'s troops were at a disadvantage to the rapid firing of the orc bows. This strategy of slowly bleeding the E.M.C. was intended to force them to sue for peace at more favourable terms; Uruk Mog-Udaar wanted a promise of no further expansion into tribal lands but the E.M.C. stubbornly refused.
In 1731 the E.M.C. handed over colonial authority to the Iblesian government. Dawes was replaced with Major-General Sir Andrew A. Fitch. Fitch had studied the battle reports provided, and the tactics employed by both Dawes and Mog-Udaar and immediately began a series of changes. With ruthless efficiency the Iblesian military began to build roads into the frontier territories being fought over and established a network of forts and outposts which were practically unassailable by the native tribes with the technology they had available. Prisoners captured in attacks of native camps and villages were no longer released, instead they were relocated into camps intended to be integration centres so that the orcs could be turned into productive citizens; however endemic mismanagement of the camps would inadvertently lead to the spread of disease and the perpetration of severe abuses by camp guards. Major-General Fitch was undeterred and unconcerned by the reports from the camps however and continued on, pressing his forces further east into the Mathaari frontier, sending prisoners back east to camps, until the tribes were so depleted that they were unable to even feed themselves.
Major-General Fitch finally accepted the surrender of Mog-Udaar in 1733. The Iblesian government agreed to release the orc population from the camps, but forced citizenship upon them, forcing them to become farmers, labourers, and runners for the colonial authorities in exchange for an end to hostilities and the formal acceptance of the tribal religions and traditions. Mog-Udaar had little choice but to accept; his people were starving or dying from disease in camps; peace promised their release and food. Major-General Fitch was decorated for his successes and placed in charge of the integration efforts in 1734. The Iblesian government hoped to rapidly boost the population and productivity of the colonies by integrating the orc natives into Iblesian society.
Second Charter Charter Colonisation
Following the conclusion of the First Alexandrian Frontier War the government in Kingsport sought to issue a second colonial charter for an inland push beyond the borders of the existing colonial districts; due to the experience of the East Mathaar Company, as well as the high revenues the company was bringing in even after handing over control to the Commonwealth, the E.M.C. was once again granted a colonial charter. The Second Charter was specifically aimed towards expanding the borders of the existing colonial districts, allowing New Iblesia's border to link up with that of Alexandria along the coast, and allowing all three districts to push outward into unclaimed inland territories following the lines of the Julianna, James, and Alexander rivers.
As early as 1730, before the end of the First Alexandrian Frontier War, Iblesian scouting parties and surveyors had mapped out the areas inland, and had succeeded in tracking the James to its source. The reports returned by army scouts and surveyors indicated a vast span of land with a similarly temperate climate and vast resources. The continuous need for timber to fuel Iblesia's growing economy and colonies was sufficient to convince many MPs in Kingsport of the need to expand further east, however the tipping point came with the discovery of rich coal deposits in Alexandria in 1733, as the war drew to a close. As a critical resource coal was in high demand and given the similar lay of the land further inland it was surmised by planners and politicians that additional coal reserves might be secured by settling these areas. For its part the E.M.C. played up the claims of vast mineral wealth, and targeted propaganda towards the native orc population which had been forcibly integrated.
The Second Charter was issued in late 1733 with the full approval of Alexander III, and the E.M.C.'s new chairman, Isaac Dawkins, was given express permission to employ as much of the orc population as possible in breaking in the new frontier. With the financial backing of the government, as well as private investors, and the Colonial Districts the E.M.C. built three fleets of new river boats and outfitted large inland ranging parties. The bulk of the manual labour was being given to the subjugated orc population, providing them with a steady source of income and the means by which to purchase food and supplies in an alien culture and economy. Regardless of attempts by Dawkins to ensure that the orc workforce was paid fairly in practice conditions were appalling, poverty and disease were rampant, and tensions between the large contingent of orc workers and the human Iblesian workers grew to the point where armed guards had to be stationed around the work camps.
The initial stages of the Second Charter Colonisation were split into two main focuses; the overland expansion, and the river expansion. The fleets of river boats constructed by the E.M.C. ferried soldiers and settlers deep into the interior where they established fortified settlements along the banks of the river; this would then allow the overland parties places to stop between major works projects, and also allowed for the defence of the newly secured lands against native incursions. The river settlements would be supplied by boat until they became self sufficient, or until the overland work crews reached them. The goal of the overland work teams was to construct a series of roads to facilitate the movement of settlers into the interior; these work teams were also intended to be settlers themselves once the new frontier was established in the west. Linking the new river settlements with overland roads would be a secondary priority.
While the plans for the Second Charter Colonisation were extensive and detailed in practice the process was not so easy. The rates of attrition among the orc labourers were high and the provision of basic services to them was limited. Although nominally equal within Iblesian society these orc labourers were poorly treated and lacked the education that their Iblesian counterparts had received; equal pay was not sufficient to balance the educational and cultural imbalances and the practice of overcharging orc labourers for goods and services became endemic. Additional problems arose from the cultural and societal unfamiliarity of the orcs, the concept of money was new to them and money management a hard learned skill that most lacked; not only that but their exposure to new diseases brought by the human settlers meant that many orc families were spending much more money of subsistence than their human counterparts.
Nevertheless rapid advances were made. Isaac Dawkins, though a fervent egalitarian who wanted to integrate the orc population fully, was not above ruthlessness when it came to managing the E.M.C.'s affairs. Generous bonuses were available to worksmasters who met or exceeded their set targets, and harsh punishments were meted out to those who failed or shirked. This in turn led to a top down escalation of brutality. The orc labourers, who had little understanding of their rights and position within the society which had conquered them, were often flogged in order to ensure compliance and productivity. This practice of torturous punishment would continue until 1737 when a government inquest uncovered the extent of the E.M.C.'s abuses. Dawkins was able to shift the blame to his subordinates and retained his position, but the results of the inquest began a systematic purge of the middle management within the company.
The E.M.C. purges mostly affected those middle managers who were found to be 'inefficient' rather than those guilty of particular abuse and mistreatment, however it did have the positive effect of increasing upward economic and social mobility for the labourforce, the majority of whom were orcs. By 1740 the majority (some 57%) of the E.M.C.'s foremen and middle managers were orcs. This did not greatly improve the living conditions of the bulk of the workforce, though the brutality that had characterised the majority of the Second Charter Colonisation effort was all but eliminated.
Despite fortifying their new settlements the E.M.C. did not make the fortification of individual plantations or farms a requirement. One of the main ways in which the E.M.C. covered its costs throughout the Second Charter Colonisation was to sell or rent plots of land cheaply to independent labourers or businessmen, meaning that they could essentially convert frontier and undeveloped land into developed and productive farmland and plantations, without having to pay for the process themselves. The financial incentives given to new settlers were also significant because the new colonial frontiers were exempt from tax and because the E.M.C. was in a position to sell off vast tracts of land cheaply. The effect of this was another native uprising which began in 1735 with a series of raids by native orc tribes on undefended frontier farms and plantations, these raids would eventually spark the Second Alexandrian Frontier War.
Second Alexandrian Frontier War
The Second Alexandrian Frontier War, also known as Dawkins' War, was fought between 1735 and 1741 between the E.M.C. and a loose confederation of orc tribes belonging to the Khluntuk cultural group. The E.M.C. was headed by Isaac Dawkins for the duration of the war, however the military operations carried out were overseen by Colonel Sir Arthur Lowes. The Khluntuk Confederation was led by High Chieftain Dur-Lub Noordin until 1739 when he surrendered to E.M.C. forces at Fort Vickes, and by Warchief Paash-Al Nadiil until his death at the Battle of Three Rivers in 1741. The E.M.C. deployed approximately 24,000 front line troops during the campaign against Khluntuk forces estimated to number around 50,0000 to 75,000. The war was notable for the brutality displayed on both sides after Noordin's surrender in 1739, at which point the No Surrender No Integration policy was adopted by Lowes.
The opening stages of the war were fought around frontier farms, factor compounds, and plantations in Tetraeada 1735. Small Khluntuk warbands and raiding parties began an insurgency within E.M.C. claimed territory in response to the westward expansion of Iblesian settlement in Mathaar, and initiated a campaign focuesed upon raiding the unfortified farms and settlements that had been privately established. Several minor clashes between E.M.C. troops and isolated Khluntuk warrior bands had occurred prior to 1735, however these skirmishes were informal and often only happened when the native Khluntuk refused to retreat before the E.M.C.'s expansion efforts. A series of twelve raids in Pentaeada 1735 forced the E.M.C. to formally declare war upon the Khluntuk and switch their operations to a war footing. Under pressure from the government in Kingsport the E.M.C. mobilised a force of 10,000 company regulars and 14,000 varied militia and irregulars with the goal of evicting the Khluntuk from E.M.C. claimed land and destroying their capacity for armed resistance.
Colonel Sir Arthur Lowes began his campaign in Hexeada 1735 by establishing a string of fortified outposts along the Line of Furthest Extent, the de jure border between E.M.C. territory and Khluntuk land. Most of these outposts were initially garrisoned by Lowes' militia forces, however as the war progressed they were handed over to local private militias, freeing up manpower. Throughout 1735 and early 1736 Lowes had his forces dig in and establish defences, not just along the LoFE but also around individual farms and plantations, furthermore he armed the civilian populace so that they could hold these defences in the event of a raid. The main E.M.C. controlled settlements were already fortified and garrisoned and were all but unassailable, meaning that Lowes had a constant line of supply and manpower; once the outposts had been completed his armies could respond quickly to attacks, and had several nearby safe locations to retreat to in the event of defeat.
The arming of private farmers and settlers was a controversial decision, but one which turned the war decisively in favour of the E.M.C. forces early on. The warbands still hiding inside E.M.C. territory were now cut off from supply; regular patrols made foraging difficult, and the new defensive works around the majority of farms and settlements made raiding for supply much more hazardous. By the end of 1736 the insurgency had petered out and the majority of the remaining warbands had retreated beyond the Line of Furthest Extent. A series of pitched battles followed throughout 1737 and 1738 which saw the disciplined, musket armed soldiers of the E.M.C. facing tribal orcish warriors who were mostly armed with war clubs and self bows; though the Khluntuk had an advantage in manoeuvrability (their cavalry being far more nimble than Lowes') the lack of armour and artillery decided most battles before they had begun. During the two year period from 1737 until Dur-Lub Noordin's surrender in 1739, an estimated 30,000 Khluntuk warriors were killed in battle. Finally on 12th Dodecaeada 1739 Dur-Lub Noordin led a force of 5,000 warriors in a last ditch attack on Lowes' stronghold and Fort Vickes; only 474 of Dur-Lub Noordin's warriors survived and the High Chieftain formally surrendered.
The six months following Dur-Lub Noordin's surrender saw a lull in the fighting; many of the civilians within Noordin's tribes crossed the Line of Furthest Extent into captivity with the E.M.C.'s so-called Integration Camps, so that they could be filtered into the workforce further down the line. However Warchief Paash-Al Nadiil was disgusted by Noordin's surrender and led a band of 4,000 warriors deep into E.M.C. territory. For the next two years Nadiil would wage a guerrilla campaign against the Iblesian settlements within E.M.C. territory; Nadiil managed to conceal his movements and only ever struck a target with overwhelming numbers, shying away from larger engagements with fortified troops. However in Quinteada 1740 a clear pattern to Nadiil's attacks emerged which allowed Lowes to predict where and when the Khluntuk would strike and spent the remainder of the year constantly harassing the orc force. Finally Nadiil was brought to battle in Trieada 1741 as Three Rivers; by this time he had only 2,300 warriors left and was ambushed by two forces of approximately 2,000 E.M.C. regulars each after he had attacked a 1,000 strong force of militia. Surrounded Nadiil's forces fought to the last man, making a desperate last stand which earned both Nadiil and the Khluntuk enormous respect from the wider Iblesian populace.
Nadiil's death signalled the end of the Second Alexandrian Frontier War, and the end of Lowes' No Surrender No Integration policy. From the time of Nadiil's first attacks the E.M.C. had operated under this policy, which dictated that any Khluntuk encountered by the E.M.C.'s soldiers, be they warriors or civilians, were to be asked to surrender otherwise they were to be given no quarter. While this was intended as a means of rounding up the remaining Khluntuk who drifted into E.M.C. territory many field commanders used the policy to justify massacres of Khluntuk villages and nomads. The long term effect of this relatively short lived policy was the near decimation of the Khluntuk culture, and the almost total eradication of their warrior caste and traditions.
First Turco-Iblesian War
The First Turco-Iblesian War began in Octeada 1741. The Turcan Confederation was a group or native orc tribes separate from those already subjugated by the E.M.C. and Commonwealth; prior to Iblesian expansion in the region they had been a disparate collection of tribes united by language and culture, however as Iblesian settlers moved westward they rapidly unified in an effort to prevent the further westward expansion of the Iblesian Commonwealth. Meanwhile within Iblesian territory the orcish population were facing societal and economic issues of their own. These orcs who had assimilated either by force or willingly had been given various options when they had been granted equal status to humans within the Commonwealth, either they could become homesteaders working E.M.C. land, labourers in the employ of the E.M.C., or they could accept a small monetary grant and try to make their own way. This attempt at integration instead created deep divides within the orcish community based upon these initial decisions. Ultimately three groups would develop, the impoverished homesteaders, the more affluent labourers, and a small group of highly successful businessmen who had used their grants to make investments or set up their own small businesses.
The E.M.C. had received a charter authorising them to control a span of territory which ended at a line known as the Line of Furthest Extent. Legally speaking the E.M.C. had no legal right to advance beyond this point; however a combination of factors meant that many Iblesian citizens moved across the Line of Furthest Extent following the Second Alexandrian Frontier War. In the case of the orcish community the majority of those crossing the line were homesteaders; this was because as the E.M.C. had advanced they had moved the orcish homesteaders from one plot of land to another, steadily forcing them onto the peripheries of their territory. Essentially this meant that by the time an orcish homesteader family had developed the land to a point that it was usable for farming or ranching, they would be forced off that land into a new plot of undeveloped land closer to the frontier while new homesteaders (who paid the E.M.C. for the land rights) moved into their old land. Many orcish homesteaders simply gave up relying upon the E.M.C. and the land grant scheme and started to cross the Line of Furthest Extent so that they could stake a claim to land not under the jurisdiction of the Company.
Tensions between the E.M.C. and the Turcan started almost immediately; the Turcan had seen what had happened to the orcish tribes that had previously stood in the way of Iblesian expansion and were determined not to suffer the same fate. A confederation of tribes quickly formed with an organised government that proved highly effective in preparing to resist Iblesian expansion. Through independent traders the Turcan acquired muskets and good steel, they learned how to make basic black powder and cast lead shot, and they hired foreign mercenaries to train their warriors; the result was that the Turcan were able to field an army which incorporated the ferocity and fanaticism of their traditional warriors with the training and weapons of soldiers. Though these hybrid troops were not as disciplined, and their weapons less reliable, than Iblesian troops they had a significant advantage once they closed with the enemy. So when Iblesian settlers began encroaching on Turcan lands the Turcan leadership demanded that the Commonwealth recognise them as a sovereign state and stop what they considered to be an invasion of their land.
The Iblesian government and E.M.C. both received a copy of the Turcan demands and both decided to ignore it out of hand. The Iblesian government was not prepared to recognise native sovereignty, and reasoned that even a written reply could be seen as a form of legitimacy, thus they ignored the request out of hand. The E.M.C.'s reasons for ignoring the demands are rather more shrouded, from documents now made public it is known that the demands were discussed by the Company's executive board, however the minutes of these meetings have never been made public. Whatever the case when the Turcan received no reply of any kind they began to mobilise for war; they even sent a formal declaration of war to the E.M.C. and Commonwealth, though again both messages were ignored.
Thus in Octeada 1741 the war began with a Turcan assault on the settlement of Zurgashville, an orc homesteader town established illegally beyond the Line of Furthest Extent. Although the town lay outside E.M.C. jurisdiction and was well outside their territory the town was essentially operating like any other Company run settlement and had its own Company offices. It did not however have a permanent garrison of E.M.C. troops and so when word of the approaching Turcan army came the town was only able to muster a militia force which mostly consisted of orc homesteaders armed with muskets, spears, and farming tools. The town itself was not fortified, however the Company offices had their own compound which made them suitable for defence. Those unable to fight or flee were moved into the offices and they became the focus for the defence of the town. Basic lines of fortification were dug and the Postmaster's Office and Temple were also garrisoned with militia. Ultimately the militia were able to withstand the siege for two months, until they were relieved by a column of E.M.C. troops who had been hurriedly deployed to protect Company assets in the town.
Despite many similar attacks and raids the Turcan were largely unsuccessful in driving off Iblesian settlers from their settlements. In large part this was down to the Turcan lack of field artillery that could be used to assault the defences upon which the settlers relied; such cannons that they did have were made from wood and as a result were wildly unreliable. However in the field they were far more successful; the hybrid troops fielded by the Turcan were just as effective in the dense woodlands as they were on open ground, and when defending they excelled at a fighting retreated. The E.M.C. found themselves unable to win a decisive victory against the Turcan forces and though they attempted to implement the tactics of Fitch and Lowes in previous conflicts this was hampered by the fact that the E.M.C. were not permitted to build permanent settlements of fortifications beyond the LoFE and by growing unrest within the territories they already controlled. Locating Turcan settlements and strongholds proved difficult too as many had already been relocated far from the LoFE, and all had been carefully built to allow the civilian populace to escape unnoticed while the warriors remained to hold for as long as they could.
By 1743 the unrest and divisions between the three orcish social groups within E.M.C. territory and the illegal settlements had reached a breaking point. The wealthy orc businessmen looked down on the labourers and homesteaders, thinking them stupid and uncivilised; the labourers looked down on the homesteaders but resented the wealth and easy living of the businessmen; and the homesteaders resent both groups for their affluence and the fact that the fruits of their labours were not constantly being handed to someone else. The businessmen and labourers considered themselves to be integrated Iblesians, and saw the homesteaders as savages and so when the homesteaders rose up in protest against their treatment by the E.M.C. things quickly became bloody. The orc businessmen hired armed guards to protect their interests, while the E.M.C. started using the orc labourers to forcibly end the protests. In the new year of 1744 the tide of protests had turned into a widespread revolt; homesteaders were being beaten and in some cases murdered by E.M.C. soldiers and labourers, meanwhile resentment towards the orc businessmen grew to the point that gangs of labourers, armed by the E.M.C. to put down homesteader revolts, turned on the businessmen and their guards. What resulted was a massacre which destablised the entire area and weakened the E.M.C.'s ability to fight a war with the Turcan on its borders.
Finally in Enneada 1744 the E.M.C. reluctantly requested government intervention. The Iblesian government agreed to intervene on the condition that command of all armed E.M.C. personnel be handed over to the Army; this included the armed labourers and hired thugs the E.M.C. had employed to put down the homesteader revolts. The government acted with brutal efficiency, putting the war effort against the Turcan in a holding pattern so they could focus of ending the unrest within their own borders. The orc labourers who had been armed were given the choice to form temporary militia units and fight on the front lines against the Turcan or disarm, those who refused faced court martial and possible execution. As Royal Army soldiers started to move into E.M.C. controlled territory they systematically disarmed the or pressganged the thugs hired by the orc businessmen. Finally the leader of the Army forces within E.M.C. territory met with the chief representatives of the homesteaders and laid out an ultimatum; end the revolts and protests voluntarily or have them put down by organised musket fire.
The military approach ultimately pleased no-one but none of the orc factions were well enough equipped or numerous enough to resist the full weight of the Royal Army Bluecoats; and none really wished to become rebels against the Iblesian Commonwealth. Protesting against the E.M.C. was one thing, but treason was quite another and the Army commander, Colonel Sir James Alquist, made it clear how treason would be dealt with. Meanwhile the government began putting pressure on the E.M.C. to end the practice of shifting homesteaders outwards so that once the war was over the situation could be defused.
By the end of 1744 the Iblesian Royal Army was in position just behind the front lines; E.M.C. troops, supported by militias from the illegal settlements, and the various pressganged troublemakers, held the front. This months long period of constant defence on the part of the Iblesian forces had the effect that the Turcan feared, quite rightly, a massive buildup of troops; they also reasoned however that if they were holding back from an attack then maybe their resources were not as extensive as they had believes. Under the assumption that a swift and decisive attack could sap Iblesian resources and prevent an assault the Turcan army had advanced and engaged the Iblesian troops on the front lines in a series of large pitched battles. The decision cost the Turcan dearly; while their hybrid troops were highly versatile and excellent in rough and shifting terrain, in a pitched battle, line against line, they found themselves outgunned and lacking the discipline to match the Iblesians shot for shot. It was here that the weaknesses in the Turcan army began to show, their muskets were either aged and well used imports, or poorly fashioned copies; their shot consisted mostly of homemade powder and roundish stones; and their training and equipment was not sufficient to allow the three shots a minute that the E.M.C. troops managed.
Battle of Sonton
The continuous run of military defeats throughout 1744 resulted in the formal surrender of several Turcan war leaders and their armies over the course of the year. The Battle of Sonton was the last attempt by the Turcan to go on the offensive, with a large scale attack on the illegal settlement of Sonton. A force of approximately 45,000 Turcan warriors advanced on the town and were met by a force of 5,000 regular troops supported by approximately 10,000 mixed irregulars (mostly militia and E.M.C. troops). The Iblesian force was commanded by Lt.Col. James Pritchard, advised by the E.M.C. commander Major Thomas Lloyd. The Turcan force was led by Ur-Og Na'shak. The 5,000 regulars under Lt.Col. Pritchard's command were mostly infantry with a small contingent of lancers, due to the rapidity of their deployment in Sonton's defence he lacked Royal Army artillery and had to rely instead upon Major Lloyd's E.M.C. light artillery which mostly consisted of mortars and light field guns; furthermore the bulk of the Iblesian cavalry were also irregulars drawn from the E.M.C. and equipped as skirmishers rather than regular charge cavalry. Na'shak by contrast had only a handful of older heavy field guns which had been captured at various points throughout the war and were in varying states of repair, and of his 45,000 troops approximately 15,000 were mounted in some way.
The battle began in the early hours of the morning when a Turcan mounted raiding party attempted to overwhelm an Iblesian artillery redoubt; the first shots were fired at 0620 as the E.M.C. fusiliers, supported by the Sonton Militia 3rd Battalion, tried desperately to repel the attack. By 0650 the Turcan cavalry, forced to dismount in order to assault the fortified redoubt directly, had been pushed out of the earthworks around the redoubt and the alarm had been raised calling the bulk of the Iblesian force to stand ready for attack. The second assault began at 0720 as Turcan light and skirmish cavalry advanced and attempted to flank the Iblesian positions; however in the early morning fog the cavalry misjudged how far they had advanced and ended up riding blindly into an open killing field where they were cut down by dug in elements of the E.M.C. 5th Infantry Brigade on the western flank. The eastern flank fared better and despite moderate casualties managed to retreat in good order while under fire from the fusiliers and light field guns of the E.M.C. 3rd Artillery Brigade.
The main attack came at 0830 when the morning fog had cleared. Turcan infantry advanced rapidly on the Iblesian positions, attempting to negate the range advantage of the more reliable Iblesian muskets (the average range of a massed volley was about 300 meters for the Iblesian troops, whereas the Turcan averaged at about 220). As the Turcan infantry made a push the captured heavy guns engaged the western artillery redoubt from a position well outside the Iblesian artillery's range and facing continuous attack by infantry and artillery the Battery Commander requested relief. Pritchard sent Major Lloyd with the E.M.C. 17th (Skirmish) Cavalry Brigade to the extreme flanks, hoping to skirt around the battlefield and engage the Turcan guns from the side. Pritchard was confident that the centre and eastern fronts of his army could hold, and observed that the Turcan infantry were struggling to advance past the initial killing fields in front of his hastily dug earthworks.
At approximately 0945 the Turcan guns stopped firing on the western redoubt as Lloyd and his cavalry attacked the batteries. With Na'shak observing the battle from a position well ahead of the captured artillery and most of his forces engaged elsewhere it seems that he was unaware of the attack until his own battery started firing upon his forces from the rear. In the general confusion which followed Lloyd capitalised on the situation to charge what he believed to be Na'shak and his command party from the rear, it proved instead to be a reserve cavalry force, however the men Lloyd had left behind to man the captured gun had managed to correctly identify Na'shak's position and began firing upon it directly. It is unclear exactly when or how Na'shak was killed but by 1030 the Turcan army was in disarray. Na'shak's second in command Gob-Nur Luk'seg managed to rally the remaining Turcan forces and re-establish some kind of order and the final assault began at 1100 with a massed infantry and cavalry charge. At 1120 Pritchard ordered the field guns to stop firing and had the fusiliers defending the redoubts advance to join the regular infantry in the front line earthworks.
Luk'seg was positioned on the eastern flank and so was unaware that the Turcan battery had been taken. He was however aware of Lloyd's cavalry attacking his forces from a flanking position to the west, and dispatched a force of elite Turcan cavalry, known as the Companions, to try and force a retreat. By the time the Companions made it to Lloyd's position they found that the Iblesian cavalry were already pulling back, having nearly exhausted their supply of shot and powder (Lloyd's troops were mounted pistoliers and relied primarily on their firearms, with their swords more of a backup weapon), the head of the Companions, unsure of whether or not he should pursue the retreating Iblesian cavalry reordered his men into formation and prepared to receive new orders. During this time, as they reformed and prepared to move, the captured battery managed to sight in and fired on the Companions, after some confusion the Companions then charged towards the battery thinking that it was in fact an Iblesian flanking force, and were all but destroyed as they unknowingly charged directly down the battery's line of sight.
As far as Luk'seg was aware his battery was still engaging the enemy and the Companions were engaging the Iblesian cavalry as the advance on the western flank suddenly surged forwards. Assuming that his counter strategy had been successful he decided to commit his remaining reserves as well as his own retinue. Pritchard's forward observers kept their commander informed of the enemy's movements, and knowing that the full force of the Turcan army was attempting to taken his fortified position, Pritchard ordered the mortars to fire. Up to this point he had kept the mortars silent; these were only light mortars with a limited range and he had ordered them carefully pre-sighted on key positions just beyond his front line, he also knew that the mortars were short of shot and powder as only a third of their supplies had reached Sonton in time for the battle. Now that the Turcan forces were committed in full, and the infantry were tightly packed together Pritchard judged that this was the best opportunity to use the mortars to maximum effect. The earlier orders to the artillery crews to cease firing, as well as the redeployment of the fusiliers, had been intended to make the Turcan commanders believe that the Iblesian guns were either out of ammunition, or had been destroyed; the result was that the Turcan infantry went in completely unprepared for a bombardment.
Pritchard was later quoted as saying of this final stage of the battle; "To their credit the Turcan soldiery stood and took fire with as much discipline as I would expect from any Iblesian infantryman, even with their comrades falling on either side of them they calmly knelt, fired, reloaded, and advanced. If they had not been let down by a crudeness of strategy or technology they might easily have defeated us." The battle was over by 1300 as the remaining Turcan soldiers laid down their arms and Gob-Nur Luk'seg approached under a white flag. Believing that Lloyd's cavalry and the captured battery were in fact another Iblesian army surrounding them Luk'seg had ordered his men to surrender rather than try to flee.
First Cotton War
The First Cotton War began in 1745 when the Aramanthine Caliphate and its allies the Levanid Emirates declared war on Iblesia over a growing trading dispute. In the decades prior to the declaration of war, as Iblesia had expanded its colonial holdings in Mathaar, the Commonwealth had started to mass produce cotton based textiles as well as raw cotton, a product which the Caliphate and Emirates had a traditional monopoly over in Samitesian markets. This monopoly was much hated by many Samitesian nations, however demand for cotton goods remained high, despite the high prices demanded. But by 1742 Iblesian Cotton production had become sufficient to allow the Commonwealth to break the cotton monopoly and substantially undercut Aramanthine and Levanid cotton merchants. The resulting crash in the value of Aramanthine cotton severely harmed both the Aramanthine and Levanid economies ultimately leading to an attempted coup by merchant factions seeking to overthrow the Caliph. Once the coup attempt had been put down unrest continued to grow as the Aramanthine and Levanid economies continued to struggle.
In Ekaeada 1745 the Caliph formally issued an ultimatum demanding that the Commonwealth either cease trading in cotton within Samitesian markets, or agreed to join the cotton monopoly and sell their goods at a jointly agreed price. The ultimatum was flatly rejected and in Dyoaeda 1745 the Caliph formally declared war and mobilised his naval forces. The Aramanthine war goal was simple, to force the Iblesian Commonwealth to agree to terms they would target Iblesian shipping in two places, first in the eastern Iskanean Ocean where they would target shipments of cotton, and then to the south in the sea lanes leading to Ynos where they were to target the tea trade. Tea was a luxury in extremely high demand in Iblesia and it was well known how valuable it was, and how much money could be lost with so little lost, the Caliph's admirals hoped that the Iblesian shipping lanes would prove sufficiently weak.
The approach to the conflict by the Caliphate and its allies was to inflict maximum economic damage upon the Iblesians, to ensure that the cost of exporting cotton outweighed the gains, as such their focus was on naval raids on shipping and the seizure of merchant vessels. The Caliphate's military leaders did not believe that they would be able to mount a full scale military action against the Iblesian homeland or colonies, they were simply too far away and they lacked allies in Samitesia who might provide their fleets and soldiers succour and resupply. By contrast the Iblesians were quite prepared to respond in force and strike against the Aramanthine homeland thanks to their leasing of naval bases in Lyria. An early attack by the Caliphate navy on the naval bases in Lyria backfired and served to draw Lyria into the war.
Geography
The majority of the Commonwealth of Iblesia lies within the northern temperate zone and consists of thirty seven islands and islets of which fifteen are inhabited. The southernmost part of the island chain falls within the northern semi-arid zone. The temperate isles within Iblesia have a generally wet and cool climate with rainfall and fog being consistent throughout the year. The largest island, Greater Iblesia, features low lying mountains and hills towards the centre which steadily gives way to dense woodland. The coastal areas typically consist of rolling countryside and rocky moorland which provide ideal ground for agriculture and pastoral farming. The smaller islands within the archipelago are generally rockier and densely wooded with granite cliffs featuring limited bays and havens.
Brytha is the largest province within the Iblesian archipelago and is also the mildest in terms of terrain and climate. The coastal regions feature low lying grasslands and large areas of deciduous woodland which give way to densely wooded hills and uplands further inland. The majority of the provinc's fresh water supply is source from rivers which start as springs in these uplands. Lakes of varying size are not uncommon, many fed by the consistent annual rainfall which is a defining feature in the island's climate. Toward the centre of Brytha can be found a line of low lying mountains. The majority of the island's largest urban centres, including the capital Kingsport, are located along the coast and many take advantage of river estuaries, or in the case of the capital, broad natural harbours. Kingsport is also the largest city in the Commonwealth with a population of over 2 million.
Gaela is the second largest province and lies on an island northeast of Brytha across the Border and Southcairn STrait. Gaela's climate is cooler and wetter than that of Brytha, in part due to its position further north, but also due to its elevation. Although Gaela features low lying coastal fens and moorland inland this terrain rapidly gives way to sharp inclines, rocky hills and crags, and mountainous interior regions. The island's landscape is defined by a series of glens and lochs which rest in the uplands within the mountainous interior. The average elevation in Gaela is significantly higher above sea level than Brytha. The largest city in the province is Brenburgh with a population of approximately 720,000.
Administrative Divisions
The Commonwealth of Iblesia consists of two principle administrative divisions, known as the Home Provinces and the Colonial Provinces. The Home Provinces are more often referred to as 'The Isles', and is comprised of the two Kingdoms which were joined to form the Commonwealth in 1606 NIC, Brytha and Gaela. The Colonial Provinces meanwhile and often referred to as 'The Mathaar' or 'The Continental Provinces', and is comprised of four Colonial Mandates (Alexandria, Iblesian Turcaria, Julianna, and New Iblesia), and one Incorporated State controlled by the East Mathaar Company (E.M.C.). Each type of province confers a specific title to its Viceroy (or in the case of the Isles, the Monarch); the Kingdoms of the Isles grant the incumbent monarch the title 'King of Brytha and Gaela, Lord of the Isles', while the Viceroy of each Colonial Mandate gains the title 'Lord'.
In practical terms the individual provinces of the Commonwealth (with the exception of the E.M.C.) have very limited autonomy. The Colonial Provinces must answer to the Colonial Office of the government in Kingsport, while the Home Provinces answer directly to the Prime Minister. The Provinces themselves are not directly represented in Parliament, rather representatives from the subdivisions of the provinces are elected to serve as MPs and have no obligation to support their local Viceroy. Each province, regardless of whether or not it is a Home or Colonial province, is divided into a number of administrative subdivisions which are functionally far more autonomous and powerful within the scope of provincial politics than the provinces are on a national level.
Provincial Subdivisions
The subdivisions within each provinces are drawn upon traditional lines and based upon the approximate extent of an individual landowner's holdings. Before the evolution of Iblesia's constitutional monarchy the kingdoms of Brytha and Gaela were ruled through the feudal system, with the monarchs granting lands and titles to hereditary noblemen in exchange for fealty and homage. Thus many modern provincial subdivisions within the Isles line up directly with the territorial demesne of a single titled noble; by contrast in the Colonial Provinces the boundaries are drawn not from the traditional demesne of a noble, but of the extent of the founding landowner's holdings.
On the Isles provincial subdivisions have a mixture of names, based upon the status of the noble family whose demesne the land was, thus there are a multitude of Duchies, Earldoms, Counties, and Baronies all of which in the modern context hold equal status within the nation. With the colonisation of Eastern Mathaar however ancient feudal titles could not be applies to new subdivisions with ennobling large numbers of landowners; instead the government opted to apply the general term County to the provincial subdivisions within the Colonial Provinces. This custom soon entered the vernacular and now all subdivisions, both on the Isles and in Mathaar, are collectively referred to as Counties.
Colonial Mandates
Colonial Mandates are those overseas holdings of the Commonwealth which are administered through the Colonial Office of the Iblesian government rather than a Charter Company such as the E.M.C., or directly by the Prime Minister. At present there are four Colonial Mandates; Alexandria, Iblesian Turcaria, Julianna, and New Iblesia. These Mandates are located on the continental mainland of Mathaar and as such have a more continental climate than the isles which is largely drier and warmer.
Alexandria
The Colonial Mandate of Alexandria is named after the current Iblesian monarch Alexander III and was the second of the three First Charter Colonies to be established. It is the largest in territorial extent and populous and also has the highest GDP and GDP per capita of the First Charter Colonies. The colonial capital of Alexandria is Alexanderhavn, which has a population of 92,000, and is the site of the East Mathaar Company headquarters. The city of Alexanderhavn is located in a natural harbour beside the coastal cliffs and mountains of the Alexander Range. Originally densely forested as the city expanded many of the forests immediately surrounding the city were felled. The wider territories of Alexandria consist of rolling uplands which are densely forested; recent surveys of these uplands have revealed rich coal deposits.
The climate in Alexandria is temperate, but generally warmer and drier than that of the isles, this means that crops such as tobacco, sugar cane, and cotton grow well in the lower lying areas of the Colonial Mandate. Tobacco is a plant native to this region of Mathaar and was a rare luxury until the colonisation of Alexandria.
The inland regions of Alexandria are very densely wooded with largely deciduous trees including Alexandrian Oak, a similar and related genus of the Iblesian Oak found in the isles. These wooded regions made up the majority of the conflict zones during the First Alexandrian Border War. The rough and broken terrain found here as well as the untamed nature of the woodlands are credited as being a significant factor in stalling the E.M.C.'s military advances in the region which made fielding large orderly armies relying upon volley shot and line tactics difficult.
Julianna
The Colonial Mandate of Julianna is named after the current wife of the Iblesian monarch, Julianna of Frosthavn, and was the third of the three First Charter Colonies to be established. It is the second largest in terms of territorial extent, but the smallest in terms of overall population. The colonial capital of Julianna is Juliannashavn, which has a population 42,000, and is the site of the Iblesian Colonial Marines Headquarters. The city of Juliannashavn is located in a large bay surrounded by flat open countryside, next to the estuary of the Julianna river. Much of the land of Julianna is low lying and relatively even, with high soil fertility, making the colonial mandate the most agrarian of the First Charter Colonies with much of the land now turned to the farming of food crops.
The climate in Julianna is temperate and cooler than that of Alexandria, however much drier than the isles. This climate makes Julianna ideal for the cultivation of wheat and oats and has resulted in the colonial mandate becoming the main source of food for the colonies as a whole. Small scale efforts to begin cotton planting have begun.
New Iblesia
The Colonial Mandate of New Iblesia is named after the Iblesian Commonwealth, it was the first of the First Charter Colonies to be established. New Iblesia has the second largest economy and population of the three colonies but the smallest total land area. The colonial capital of New Iblesia is New Kingsport, which has a population of 63,000, it is the best developed of the colonial cities, having been carefully planned out and built some distance away from the initial settlement. The city is based on the estuary of the Noe river along the north bank; the estuary itself is deep and wide allowing for river and ocean going traffic to pass through. New Iblesia's main sources of income upon its initial establishment were sugar and cotton, however as rich seams of coal and iron were found very soon after the colony's establishment the economic focus has since switched to mining and heavy industry.
The climate in New Iblesia is on a par with that of the isles, somewhat cooler and damper than the other colonial mandates.
Colonies
Under Iblesian Law a Colony is defined as "...a frontier territory under the control of a non-government entity prior to its incorporation into the Commonwealth." At this time only the East Mathaar Company has received a charter allowing them to create Colonies and is currently executing their third such charter, having recently secured the Alexandrian Frontier beyond the edge of the Alexandrian Colonial District. The status of Colony implies that there are few large and developed settlements and that the land as a whole remains largely undeveloped or unmanaged. In the case of the Alexandrian Frontier this means vast expanses of dense evergreen forest over rolling hills with numerous rivers and tributaries criss-crossing the landscape.
Major Cities
The largest city in Iblesia by a significant margin is Kingsport, located on the south western coast of Brytha. It has a population of approximately 2 million people, making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The large size of Kingsport is due to its location as a vital trade hub, its close proximity to vital mineral resources, its proximity to some of the most fertile farmland in the country, and its status as a modern industrialised city. By design all paved roads on the mainland lead to Kingsport, thus it is a major transport nexus and is the most easily reached urban centre for urban migration.
Historically Kingsport was a heavily fortified settlement, with an imposing castle and curtain walls which still surround the Old City, however rapid expansion in the 17th century led to a vast and unregulated sprawl, which in turn led to rampant disease, crime, and poverty. A major fire in 1664 destroyed the majority of the 'New City', and the entire urban area was extensively rebuilt along a predefined plan. Many buildings and districts which survived the fire would be demolished to make way for a new street plan, with clearly delineated districts and much broader thoroughfares. The construction of buildings from wood, and the use of thatch for roofing, was made illegal, as was the dumping of refuse in the streets. The government of the day invested vast sums of money in the new urban infrastructure and the reconstruction of Kingsport also contributed to the growth of a new class of wealthy commoners - mostly those who had organised construction companies.
During the reconstruction of Kingsport the city's geographical boundaries were vastly expanded. Additional space was required to allow for the new wide thoroughfares, and for the canals which would connect the harbour to other cities and towns inland; the city planners had also included a number of areas designated as public parks. This expansion of the city's footprint meant that several existing towns and villages were swallowed up and incorporated into Kingsport as semi-autonomous boroughs, and set a precedent legally speaking for the expansion of urban areas into surrounding land and settlements.
Politics
The Commonwealth of Iblesia is a constitutional monarchy governed by a parliamentary system. Parliament is a bicameral institution consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Commons consists of 700 elected MPs (Members of Parliament) each of whom represents a constituency of roughly 18,000 people, however only approximately 8% of the total population are eligible to vote in Commons Elections. The Lords consists of 1,025 PRs (Peers of the Realm) who represent the aristocracy and are appointed rather than elected. Under the Iblesian system Parliament is held to be the supreme branch of government with the power to overrule the executive and judicial branches; however the Royal Grant of 1622 states that the Monarch may overrule even Parliament - in practice however this has never happened since the Royal Grant was ratified. The executive branch of government is nominally headed by the Monarch, Alexander III, who in theory acts as Head of State and Government, but in practice is only a ceremonial Head of State; the Head of Government is the Prime Minister, Richard T. Owens. The judiciary follows a tiered system with the Lords-Justiciar, a panel of thirteen judges, presiding over the highest continuously operating law court in the Commonwealth; in theory the highest court is actually the Court of Exceptional Purpose, which is presided over by the Monarch, however in practice this court has never been convened since the Royal Grant of 1622.
The political system which governs Iblesia has evolved over time and is the result of a merging of various legal and governmental systems. The core feature of the Iblesian constitution is the concept of Common Law which it has inherited from the Brythan cultural ideas surrounding justice and fairness. Prior to the Act of Union in 1606 Iblesia consisted of two Kingdoms, Brytha and Gaela and each had their own systems of law and governance, however once the nations were joined to form the Commonwealth Brythan law was imposed and the majority of Gaela's legal traditions died out. In very basic terms the Brythan legal tradition was that everyone regardless of status or rank had certain rights, even the peasantry, and the idea of elected officials and jury trials runs back as far as the 7th century when communities elected the leader of local law enforcement in the form of the Sheriff, and a representative who served as a go between for peasants and nobility (Reeves). These traditions evolved to the point that by 1300 the majority of government officials were elected and the nobility served more of an economic and advisory role than a governmental one.
Parliament
Parliament is a bicameral legislative body which exercises power over all other branches of government, save for the Monarch. As a body Parliament has the power to elect Prime Ministers, enact legislation, and review judicial decisions. Traditionally the Monarch has appointed judges however under the current system this power rests with Parliament. Parliament consists of two parts, collectively known as the Houses of Parliament, which convene at the Courts Palatine in the Kingsport; individually the Houses are referred to as the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The House of Commons has 700 elected MPs (Members of Parliament), each of whom represent approximately 18,000 people. MPs are elected on a constituency basis through a First Past the Post system every six years, wherein the candidate who receives the most votes wins outright, regardless of the proportion of the vote they received. Most MPs run as representatives of one of three main political parties; the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and the Reformist Party. Belonging to a party is not a requirement in order to run for election as an MP, however independent candidates are rarely able to muster sufficient votes to win in practice; several other minor parties do exists, notably the Two Kingdoms Party and the Luddite Party, but these parties seldom win more than a couple of seats between them. In order to run for election as an MP a person must be aged 25 or older, own land totalling at least four square miles or which is valued at S450 per square mile, and have the means to pay a S50 electoral deposit which winning candidates have reimbursed. In order to vote in Commons elections a person must be a full citizen of the Commonwealth, be aged 18 or older, and own land or have a provable annual income of S1,200 or more; in total this includes approximately 8% of the total population, though in some constituencies this figure drops as low as 0.4%.
The House of Lords has 1,025 PRs (Peers of the Realm). PRs are appointed directly by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister and may also be dismissed by the Monarch on the advice of the Lords-Justiciar, unless dismissed prematurely PRs serve for life and by tradition their next of kin inherits their seat. Originally any nobleman who held the rank of Baron or higher and who owned land was considered to be a PR and was entitled to sit in the House of Lords, however as the constitutional laws of Iblesia solidified and were in many cases codified over the course of the 17th century, tradition was overruled in favour of a more structured and defined system. In 1728 however the Lords Reform Act was passed which changed the way in which PRs were appointed; although PRs must still belong to the landed nobility they no longer need to be Barons, and though being a part of the landed aristocracy is a requirement it does not automatically mean that a person becomes a PR. The new system of appointment means that existing PRs continue to serve for life or until dismissed by the Monarch, however appointments are no longer influence by heredity; instead 1,025 Nominal Baronies have been created, titled Baronies which hold no land but which entitle the holder to a seat in the Lords. Nominal Baronies cannot be inherited and when a Nominal Baron dies their title reverts to the state and a new PR is granted the title. Adoption of this new system is gradual and of the 1,025 Nominal Baronies, only 221 are currently occupied, the remaining 804 PRs are those appointed under the old system.
As a collective Parliament is responsible for electing the Prime Minister. Any MP or PR may declare their candidacy, however each political party may only field a single candidate. Prime Ministerial candidates must be aged 30 or older, however beyond being an MP or PR, there are no other requirements. Every six years Prime Ministerial elections are held, these take place six months after Parliamentary Elections for the Commons, and there are no term limits. The current Prime Minister is the Right Honourable Richard T. Owens MP who belongs to the Liberal Party; though the Liberal Party holds the required majority in the Commons political parties seldom hold a singular majority in the Lords, as such he was elected by absolute majority of the Commons and plurality of the Lords. Richard T. Owens has held the position since 1698 and is the second longest serving Prime Minister to serve consecutive terms of office, at 53 years totalling just over eight terms.
Of the two houses of Parliament the Commons are held to be the senior house, and in the event that the Lords block or veto a bill which has been approved by the Commons the Commons may, by a two thirds majority, bypass the Lords and send the bill for Royal Assent. In practice this rarely happens as bills which are successful in the Commons are usually passed by the Lords. New legislation can be proposed either by one of the Parliamentary Committees, groups of MPs and PRs assigned to specific areas of policy, or through a Parliamentary Petition. For a bill to be proposed by committee it must first be proposed by a member of that committee, depending upon the importance of the committee in question these typically range in membership from ten to thirty MPs or PRs, only once the wording of the bill has been approved by a plurality of the committee will it go before Parliament for debate. For a bill to be proposed by petition it must be proposed independently by an MP or PR, or group thereof, who are not from a related committee. Once proposed those proposing the bill must attain the signatures of at least twenty percent of each House in order for it to move forward for debate. Most bills are placed before the Commons before going to the Lords, if the Lords make proposed amendments the bill returns to the Commons for debate and while the Lords may do this indefinitely the Commons may choose to ignore the Lords' amendments and bypass them by a two thirds majority vote. The complete process that legislation must go through in order to reach the debate stage, let alone be voted upon, is a long and complex one and the various rules and regulations regarding the passage of laws and how they are shaped are labyrinthine at best with no singular code or law governing the entire process.
Parliament also has the power to appoint, dismiss, demote, and promote judges and magistrates. There are strict requirements placed upon candidates for the positions of judge or magistrate which are primarily educational in nature; at the most basic level all magistrates must have a university degree covering at least five areas of law, and must have six years' experience working as either a lawyer, legal clerk, or counsel. Judges meanwhile require a Masters Degree in a specific area of law, have been a magistrate for at least six years, and have no criminal record of any kind. There are further requirements for promotion to specific courts and judicial ranks within the judiciary that Parliament must consider and creating a list of candidates is usually handled by the Justice Office, while the appointments themselves are handled by the Judicial Appointments Committee. While judicial decisions made by the courts cannot be retroactively overturned by Parliament, it can pardon any convicted criminal - a pardon however does not erase the offence from a person's criminal record, only the Monarch has that power.
Executive
The Executive is the collective term for the Prime Minister and their cabinet. The Prime Minister is charged with the day to day affairs of state and with setting national policy.
The position of Prime Minister evolved from the old Privy Council position of First Lord of the Treasury, a position which was traditionally the most powerful on the Privy Council aside from the reigning Monarch as they controlled the national finances. As the governmental structure developed and became more democratic, with the King largely retiring from the day to day affairs of state power was increasingly devolved to members of the Privy Council. With the formalisation of the electoral system came a change in how the Privy Council operated and since its members were no longer selected and appointed by the monarch the name changed to the Executive, and the titles of the individual members were also changed to fit the new system of government. In place of Privy Councillors and Courtly Lords the Executive was made up of Ministers, the word taken from a shortening of the word Administrator; this is because initially the ministers served more as elected bureaucrats, managing a specific office within the civil service.
When referring to a Minister by their specific title they are referred to as a Secretary of State, another holdover from the early perception of elected bureaucracy, so the Minister in charge of foreign policy is the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Minister in charge of the Military is the Secretary of State for War and so on. The bureaucratic bodies that each Minister has at their disposal for the purposes of advice and the execution of policy are referred to collectively as the Civil Service and individually as the Offices. The Civil Service is a largely independent body with Ministers only able to define funding allocations and rubber stamp promotions; the internal management of the Civil Service is generally a matter for the senior civil servants. According to the Iblesian political philosopher and legal scholar, Lord Alfred Calverston, "The Civil Service is a tool... ...the instrument with which a Minister executes his policies. But much like the carpenter he does not shape or make his own tools but rather relies upon the toolsmith to do it for him, such is the relationship between Minister and Civil Servant." So the Office of the Civil Service responsible for Foreign Affairs would be the Foreign Office, while the Office working with the Secretary of State for War would be the War Office.
Where institutional names are concerned naming conventions are inconsistent and a result of centuries of evolution, only recently has any sort of standardisation for ease of understanding been attempted. Although there is a Treasury Office within the Civil Service the old Chancellery, which manged the treasury under monarchical rule, still exists as the Office of the Chancellery; many of their responsibilities overlap and interlock. For example the Secretary of State for the Treasury is the head of the Treasury Office, yet the Office of the Chancellery is one of several Offices which come under the Prime Minister's direct control; and while the Treasury Office is responsible for advising the Secretary of State for the Treasury with regards to taxation rates, it as the Office of the Chancellery which is responsible for instructing the various tax collectors and regional offices on what taxes to collect and in what manner. If a Minister wishes to increase their Office's share of the budget they must go through the Treasury Office, but if they require funds to pay for stationary and administrative costs they must apply to the Office of the Chancellery.
The Prime Minister is no longer the sole controller of the Treasury and Budget since they must delegate the Treasury Office to a Minister, however they continue to control a number of small but critical Offices within the Civil Service including the Office of the Chancellery, the Diplomatic Office (not to be confused with the Foreign Office), and the Office of Bureaucratic Procurement. Without these small and individually insignificant departments of the Civil Service the other Offices are unable to function and this is how the Prime Minister retains their executive authority. In principle all Ministers are equals, though the Prime Minister has the power to appoint and subsequently fire Ministers, with the exception of the Deputy Prime Minister, at will; however in practice the Prime Minister operates a Primus Inter Pares or "First Among Equals".
Collectively the Ministers as individuals form a body known as the Cabinet and the members of the cabinet meet twice a week to discuss matters of state and establish policy. While some portions of the cabinet meetings are heavily controlled in terms of protocol and structure the majority of the time spent is less constrained, with individual Ministers forming agreements with one another and negotiating political alliances. It is widely acknowledged and accepted by all branches of government that Cabinet intrigue is cutthroat by nature, and such is the political culture of Iblesia that this is seen as a good thing. Because each Minister's portfolio is largely defined by tradition and convention rather than by statute oftentimes their areas of authority and responsibility overlap, in such cases it is up to the Prime Minister to decide to whom the greater share of authority is granted, thus creating a careful balance of power within the Cabinet. During the terms of less assertive Prime Ministers members of the Cabinet have been able to circumvent the Prime Minister's power to shift these boundaries by making power alliances and agreements amongst themselves.
Once a week the Prime Minister stands before Parliament, the Commons in the morning and the Lords in the afternoon, and takes questions from the MPs and PRs. Then in the evening the Prime Minister will meet with the monarch to discuss matters of state, to receive instructions from them, and to offer them advice. In principle the monarch is only meant to issue instructions to the Prime Minister in times of dire need, in practice it is unclear whether or not this is the case as transcripts and minutes of their meetings are not kept. No Prime Minister has ever discussed what takes place during their weekly meetings with the monarch, even after their term of office, and so the precise relationship between the two is difficult to ascertain. Due to executive activity within the Prime Minister's office during the time schedules for meetings with the monarch from time to time, it can be assumed that these meetings do not always take very long, if they happen to begin with. The appearance of cooperation is maintained however.
The Monarchy
Although the nation is primarily led by the Prime Minister and their ministers, with Parliament forming the legislative branch, the Monarchy still holds a great deal of power over Iblesian politics. The Royal Grant gave powers to the elected government which were derived from the powers of the Monarch, and provision remains for the Monarch to exercise these devolved powers personally. Historically both Brytha and Gaela were ruled under a system of feudal monarchy, however in Brytha the idea of a representative body had evolved alongside the monarch, though it never gained sufficient authority to challenge their power. The Monarch is also considered to wield absolute temporal power over the Commonwealth, meaning that if they wished they could completely disregard the constitutional government, however since the Royal Grant in 1622, this has never happened.
The current Monarch is King Alexander III of House Canmore. Unusually the Monarchy of Iblesia is not hereditary in the traditional sense, but operates under a system of personal conquest. This is because the reigning Monarch is, and always has been, a Higher Vampire, and the position of Monarch transfers to the person who killed the incumbent. Because the act of slaying a Higher Vampire turns the slayer into a High Vampire, absorbing their victim's power and memories (and the memories of all the Higher Vampires prior in that line), the act also transfers to position of Monarch with it, with immediate effect. This is a law that has been held sacrosanct in the Isles, every petty kingdom located in the Isles was traditionally ruled by its own Monarch who was a Higher Vampire, and when the Monarch of one killed the Monarch of another the two entities merged. This system continued right up until 1606 when Alexander III of Brytha killed King Malcolm II of Gaela and all the Isles were united; there has been no transfer of power from one Monarch to another since then and so in theory the practice continues.
Judiciary
Iblesia's legal system is founded upon the principle of Common Law, the idea that precedent is as valuable to lawmaking as legislation. Judges are expected not just to enforce the laws but also interpret them and provide rulings where gaps exist in statute. Whilst Parliament is considered to be supreme and can overrule Judicial precedent and even replace it with new legislation the senior justices of the Judiciary are empowered to interpret the laws Parliament creates to a wide degree and can effectively make law themselves based upon legum mente or 'legislative intent'.
The nominal head of Iblesia's judicial system is the monarch who presides over the Court of Exceptional Purpose, however in practical terms supreme judicial authority resides with the Lords-Justiciar who collectively form the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has the final say on matters of law and is the final court in the chain of appeals, though few appeals cases ever reach them. Only two individuals are able to overturn rulings made by the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister and the Monarch, both of whom can also 'Excuse' those found guilty. Any ruling made or upheld by the Supreme Court is considered to be a matter of re vera lex ('law in fact'), that is to say that it is considered to be an immutable point of law until either Parliament or a future Supreme Court decision overrules it; in many cases, such as the laws relating to Murder and Manslaughter, the courts enforce the law on the basis of re vera lex alone because Parliament considers the Supreme Court's definitions in regards to these offences to be sufficient. Many of the more fundamental criminal offences are illegal due to re vera lex rather than Parliamentary statute.
The judiciary of Iblesia operates on a parallel tiered system which is divided into three branches; criminal, civil, and state. At the very top of all three branches presides the Supreme Court. The criminal branch consists of (from lowest to highest rank) the Magistrates, the Common Court, the Crown Court, and the Court of Criminal Appeal. The civil branch consists of (from lowest to highest rank) the Parish Court, the County Court, the High Court, and the Court of Civil Appeal. The state branch consists of the Superior Court. Judges from each branch may only make rulings and establish precedent on the basis of their area of law, so a Crown Court judge could not establish precedent for a civil matter; this concept becomes somewhat confused with regards to the Courts of Appeal and the Superior Court, since many of the judges who sit on the bench for these courts serve across all three, and the Superior Court especially is even more of an exception as it can rule on any matter that is heard.
The criminal courts are the busiest of the three branches and as such the processes are much more structured. All new cases are heard before the local Magistrates, and if the matter is simple enough to resolve then it will be tried in the Magistrates, however the Magistrates are only empowered to determine guilt or innocence and are not granted sentencing powers. For matters which cannot be resolved in the Magistrates it is the job of the Magistrates to determine in which more senior court the case will be heard. Generally speaking any crime which may be punished with three years of more in prison, or a fine of more that 10 shillings must be passed on to a more senior court. Cases which are tried before the Magistrates automatically go to the Common Court for sentencing. Cases in which the defendant pleads guilty never proceed further than the Magistrates except for sentencing. Unlike the Common and Crown courts in the criminal branch the Magistrates does not include a jury but a panel of three Magistrates who collectively decide upon the outcome; a Magistrate is effectively a Judge in training and they are assisted by a Legal Clerk. Whether a case ends up being tried in the Common or Crown court is determined by the status of the defendant and the severity of the crime. All criminal appeals are dealt with by the next highest court in the chain, so matters handled by the Magistrates are appealed in the Common Court and matters handled by the Common Court are appealed in the Crown Court and so on. The Court of Criminal Appeal exists purely to rule upon complex appeals and appeals against appeal decisions, additionally it exists to solidify into established legal precedent the rulings of lower courts.
The civil courts mainly handle matters of compensation and fines and cannot issue prison sentences; in the event that a civil court finds evidence of criminal wrongdoing then the matter is passed tot he equivalent criminal court. Small scale claims and civil matters are handled in the Parish Courts, presided over by a panel of three Civil Magistrates, however if the claimant and the defendant are not from the same parish the matter is automatically handed up tot he County Court, unless the parties are in different counties in which case the matter goes to the High Court. Otherwise the court in which a matter is heard is determined by the importance of the case and the potential sums of money involved. None of the civil courts utilise a jury, and only rarely rely upon more than one judge beyond the Parish level.
The state branch is an anomaly within the legal system of Iblesia. It is a holdover from the feudal era and originally existed as a body to try nobles who had broken their feudal oaths to their liege and to try those who failed to pay homage, it also determined matters of disputed succession and birthright, as well as the legitimising of illegitimate children. In the modern era it exists primarily to interpret laws passed by Parliament and provide clarification on the meaning of these laws without needing to pass the matter directly to the Supreme Court. Additionally the Superior Court hears matters of alleged grand treason.
Military
Main article Iblesian Armed Forces
The armed forces of Iblesia are controlled centrally from the Admiralty and Commissariat, both of which are based in Kingsport. However certain companies, most notably the East Mathaar Company, may receive a charter permitting them to raise their own troops for the purposes of colonial defence and the protection of trading routes. The armed forces consist of the Royal Navy and the Royal Army; both of which are independent from one another and are managed by their own governmental departments and receive their own budget directly from the treasury. The official Commander-in-Chief of both the navy and the army is the reigning monarch, currently Alexander III, however in practice they are managed by the Secretaries of State for the Navy and Army respectively. The highest ranking military officers are the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, and the Commissar-Marshal of the Army.
Demographics
Culture
Economy
The Commonwealth has an early industrial economy based primarily upon resource extraction and goods manufacture, supplemented by financial services and stock trading. Iblesia is widely considered to be undergoing a period of rapid industrialisation as the economy moves from manual industry over to steam and water powered manufacture. Recent technological developments include auto-looms, large scale steel manufacture, mass metal casting, and replaceable parts, all of which are shifting Iblesia towards mass production manufacture. State investment and incentives is industrial endeavours are common, with the government actively trading in bonds on the national stock market, the most notable example of government investment is the E.M.C. which regularly issues bonds which are purchased by the government. The agricultural sector has been shrinking as working class families increasingly migrate into urban centres in search of better paying work, the result has been substantial government investment and involvement in agriculture which has led to an agrarian revolution, switching from manual to machine driven farming practices.
Industry
Iblesia is currently one of the nations at the forefront of the Third Industrial Revolution, having successfully developed the use of practical steam powered engines. Although water powered mills had existed since the end of the Second Industrial Revolution, large scale mass industrialisation is only now fully taking hold. However industrialisation has yet to move past the more traditional areas of manufacture in the Iblesian economy; for example new industrial machinery facilitates the mass production of fabric, but has yet to be used as a means to manufacture things impossible to create without such machinery. The textile industry is by far the largest within Iblesia's manufacturing sector, with brickmaking, and metalworking following behind. The principle buyers for Iblesian textiles are in the east, specifically among the nations of Samitesia, in particular Trodenheim, Artesia, Iryllia, and Promethia. The main textile exports of Iblesia are Wool, Cotton, and Linen.
Resources
The rapid economic development of Iblesia over the last 150 years has consumed vast amounts of its natural resources and the need for new resources was ultimately what led to the colonisation efforts in Mathaar. The Isles themselves were rich in mineral resources such as iron, copper, and tin, as well as to a lesser extent silver; however extensive mining as well as the rising cost of labour has caused the industry to decline, with many mine owners investing in new ventures in the colonial territories. Now the primary resources mined on the isles are coal and silver, rich deposits of which still remain. The Isles' forests have likewise suffered as a result of economic exploitation; timber is a critical component in many of the Commonwealth's growth industries and the nation's shipyards consume vast quantities of valuable Iblesian Oak. Recent initiatives have started to encourage the replanting and establishment of oak forests and oak 'farming' has become a growth industry with the government and ship building companies paying for oak to be grown simply to ensure a continued supply.
The climate of Iblesia as a whole is temperate and damp, this makes the land suitable for large scale farming, with major crops of wheat, oats, barley, turnips, and beets, forming the bulk of the nations agricultural product. The recent introduction of the potato from Mathaar, and easily mass farmed carrots have helped to diversify the agricultural sector and as a result these are growth products, however they still only account for a small percentage of the Isles' overall agricultural output. In addition to cereal and vegetable farming the cultivation of fruits such as apples, pears, plums, and various berries make up a substantial proportion of the nation's food supply and fruit derivative products (such as cider) are common exports. Pastoral farming is more prominent on Gaela and in the upland regions of the Brythan interior where sheep farming is preferred due to the thinner and rockier soil; the farming of cattle or pigs is rare as neither feature heavily in Iblesian cuisine, however as more land opens up in Mathaar a growth in cattle ranching for leather has been seen. Sheep continue to be the predominant form of livestock farmed however as sheep's milk is preferred to cows, their wool fuels the nation's textile industry, and their meat can be easily preserved.
Coal and dried peat production has been increasing rapidly over the last two decades as the nation's industries and homes switch over to these fuel sources. Previously wood had been burned but now that wood is a more valuable commodity on the Isles and fuel timber has to be imported from the colonies, it has fallen into disfavour as a fuel source. Charcoal production is a major source of revenue in the colonies where wood is more plentiful, but the types of wood available are less in demand.
The colonial territories on the Mathaar continental mainland now provide the vast bulk of the Commonwealth's raw materials. The timber industry in particular is undergoing a period of economic growth as vast areas of land are being cleared for farming and other purposes. Evergreen trees such as pine are far more common in the colonies and such wood is in high demand as a cheap building material and fuel. However merchant interests including the national bank both theorise that the timber industry will peak in profitability within the next ten years as greater demand for mineral resources takes over. The timber produced in the colonies is ideal for the construction of merchant shipping and frontier settlements, but in the long run settlers will start moving over to more permanent building materials such as stone. Timber reserves in the colonial territories are already starting to dwindle which in turn is impacting on the fur trapping trade.
| Resource | Item Type | Details | Exports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | Mineral | Iron mining has been taking place in Iblesia for a little over one thousand years, however only in the last century has large scale iron mining been the norm. Open cast and deep vein mines have been constructed in mineral rich areas to extract valuable iron ore. The rapid growth of the iron mining sector has been credited to the need for iron nails in ship building, and the need for steel for construction and manufacture. The development of techniques allowing for the mass production of purified iron and refined steel has further strengthened the iron mining industry which many parts of the northern and central mainland forming distinct mining communities. | Yes |
| Copper | Mineral | Copper production has risen sharply since the discovery of more advanced copper extraction and ore refining technologies. The Iblesian Isles never developed large scale copper mining, or experienced a true Bronze Age as many other regions did, due to the availability of iron. With the discovery of tin deposits copper mining has grown as demand for copper and copper alloys such as bronze and brass has increased. | Yes |
Exports
Iblesia is a major export power in Aenodh largely due to its location in the western Iskanean Ocean. The Commonwealth maintains a large navy which allows it to protect its length shipping lanes and merchant fleets, and the Commonwealth serves as one of only two gateways into the New World (the other being Cartulia). The Commonwealth's principle exports are textiles, processed and manufactured in the factories of Brytha and Gaela. After Iblesia's acquisition of colonial holdings in the New World a new source of cotton was introduced to the global market effectively allowing the Commonwealth to undercut merchants from the Aramanthine Caliphate and Ynos, breaking their ancient monopoly, resulting in the First Cotton War in 1745.
Access to the New World has also enabled the trade of other goods such as tobacco, furs, sugar, coffee, and cocoa among others, with vast plantations being established making the Mathaari colonies extremely important to the Iskanean Trading Circle. Secure trade routes bring the raw produce of these plantations over to the Isles where it is processed by the growing industrial sector, it is then packaged and transported east to Samitesia to be sold in the ports of Trodenheim, Iryllia, and Chancierne. The high demand for these new luxuries allowed the creation of various large merchant companies and refined certain aspects of the economy to allow for large scale trade, and placed Iblesia in a position to generate considerable capital.
The refinement of trading practices and economic law in Iblesia led to the evolution of a new form of business in the form of Limited Companies, institutions which generate a reported profit which is split between owners and shareholders, and the failure of which its owners are protected from. With these Limited Companies came the idea of branding, advertising, and trademarking to a mass audience. Many of Iblesia's more refined manufactured goods are now traded under brand names in prepackaged quantities, a prime example being tobacco products, rather than selling processed tobacco leaves in quantity more and more trading ventures are trading in prepackaged and rolled cigars and cigarettes.
Imports
Although the Commonwealth currently enjoys a significant trade surplus, there are still various goods that the nation needs to import. Tea is of particular note here, the demand for tea in Iblesia is very high and at present the only sources of tea are found in Ynos. The Iblesian tea trade is a massive drain on the country's capital income due to the high costs involved in purchasing and transporting it in sufficient quantity. During the First Cotton War when the Aramanthine Caliphate began raiding Iblesian trade routes into Ynos costs rose sharply resulting in substantial losses and even bankruptcy for some companies specialising in the importation of tea.
Other goods, including foodstuffs are also imported in large quantities in order to make up for the food production deficit that is slowly growing as more and more rural labourers move to the industrial centres. About 37% of the total food imported into Iblesia comes from its Mathaari colonies, with the remaining 63% largely coming from Samitesia. Government estimates indicate that by 1800 the Commonwealth will need to import approximately 54% of the food its people will consume, or otherwise find new ways to further boost food production. Similar estimates state that by 1800 the proportions will have shifted so that around 60% of food imports will come from Mathaar.
Economic History
At the point of unification in 1606 the Commonwealth's economy was an inconsistent one. Brytha and Gaela both had their own currencies and financial institutions and it would take more than a decade for the two economies to integrate as one. Brytha had followed the principles of modernisation and land reforms, abolishing serfdom and introducing a stratified national currency based upon silver; however Gaela had a much more feudal economy in which wealth was largely based on land and agriculture. The 17th century saw a period of rapid technological and economic development, spurred on by the invention of mass steel production and a rush in shipbuilding.
When Gaela and Brytha joined the Gaelan treasury, as well as the personal wealth of the Gaelan monarch, fell under the direct control of Alexander III. Rather than fold this new wealth into the existing treasury Alexander opted to use it to pay for vast nationwide infrastructural projects, most notably the construction of roads and investment in mining and timbering ventures. As a result of this investment a new class started to form in Iblesian society, a class of self made men, mostly foremen, architects, and engineers, who had benefited most from the available capital, and who had started up their own companies to better organise the labour force. This in turn reformed the working classes who up to that point had largely been agricultural labourers, into an industrial working class more centred around mining, timbering, and construction.
Initially technological advancements were aimed at improving the efficiency and output of existing industries. The wool trade had made Brytha very wealthy, and the capital generated from the trade in textiles was largely responsible for Brytha's economic superiority over Gaela in the Isles. Wool was an easily produced product and the weaving industry was well developed, though still largely based on cottage industry. As demand for wool grew technology started to advance and new more efficient manual looms were soon invented, eventually however even these manual looms were unable to keep up with demand spurring on the development of automated machine looms. The first machine looms were water and wind powered, using large waterwheels or windmills to drive the mechanisms, however in 1714 renowned Klytokene, Julianne Labelle, developed the first power loom that operated without the need for wind or water power. The Labelle Engine use a series of magically enhanced devices which amplified manual input allowing a team of four people to operate a capstan which in turn ran the loom. Labelle's invention was not as efficient or as large as the water or wind powered looms, but it proved the viability of the concept of power looms that did not rely upon entirely natural forces for power. Refinement of the idea eventually led to the development of a steam powered loom in 1740 by another Klytokene, Arcturus Keating.
The proven viability of various powered machines in the production of textile products soon led to the application of similar concepts to other areas of the nation's economy. Machine driven mining efforts made early strip mining possible, and made open pit mining practical once more. The development of stationary powersaws allowed timber to be cut to shape and size with precision far more quickly than was possible with handsaws. This sudden surge in the production of raw materials lowered costs and drove down wages, while at the same time raising unemployment, but it also came at a time when these raw materials could be processed and refined far more quickly. The mass production of iron and steel became possible for the first time and metalworking was no longer confined to small manual forges.
By 1750 the introduction of powered machines, the availability of raw materials, and the development of new metalworking processes colluded to cause the creation and invention of the factory in Iblesia. For the first time industrial and manufacturing processes were concentrated into a single small area where dozens of unskilled labourers could achieve in a day what would take highly skilled craftsmen weeks, at a fraction of the cost. During this time many traditional crafts fell into decline, upsetting the rural economy and driving more of the population into the major cities seeking work. The 1735 Poor Laws also allowed the government to deport debtors, vagrants, and the unemployed, to the colonies and created a system of indentured servitude; many skilled craftsmen chose to sign a contract to work for the E.M.C. even though the promised pay was less than they were used to, just in order to ensure that their families could travel with them to the colonies.