Copan Federation

The Confederation of Copán La Confederaćion de Copán
Motto: "Union, Libertad,y Valor" "Union, Liberty, and Honor"
Capital	Ume Crucés
Largest city	Santa Miguel
Official languages	Alpanian Hestaican Copanian
Ethnic groups	Commixtus - 53.8% Copanian- 20.6% Alpanian- 12.5% Tapatean- 6.8% Hellenic- 6.5% Other- 1.1%
Religion	Alpanian Catholic- 57.7% Duelno- 41.1% Other- 1.1%
Demonym(s)	Copanian
Government	Parliamentary Monarchy Hereditary Monarchy
• Rex/Regina	Hazelia VII
Legislature	Diet of Copa
• Upper house	College of Commons College of Chiefs
• Lower house	College of Elders College of the Cities
Population
• 1936 estimate	6,000,000
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	90 billion USD 1960
• Per capita	600 per capita
Currency	Aureus, Sestertius, Denarius
Driving side	right

Etymology

The name Copán (Kō-pán) derives from the name of the Copatan Empire, a once prosperous empire that dominated the entirety of what is now the Copán Federation, as well as the Southern portion of Vespera and parts of Northern Aestia. The name Copatan refers to the collective native name for the sky deity (Cupataino), the most important god in the native plethora of gods and goddesses. The Copatan Empire, which according to legend, was founded by a child of Cupataino and a mortal woman, and it was believed that the rulers who came after it were entitled by divine right to rule, with some even claiming to be the reincarnation of Cupataino himself. Linguistic shortcuts gradually shortened the name to be what it is today, with the literal translation being “The Sun People”.

History

Early Settlement(10,000-3,000 BC)

Archeological evidence points to humans living in the area of the Copán Federation at least, in 10,000 BC. These people are noted for the first initial use of obsidian as a mainstay implement to their tools, as well as the carving of simple rafts and canoes to take advantage of the ample reserves of fish stock in the region. These Proto-Maizan peoples have been identified, based on genetic testing, to have originally discovered the territory as part of an expedition from a seafaring people that existed sometime around this period. This is evidenced by the creation myth of said people, which mentions a floating island out at sea from whence the first humans were crafted and set to sea by the gods. The distance of the expeditions, as well as the number of them, ensured the Proto-Maizen people developed a distinct cultural identity and made communication with their relatives much, much harder. There is evidence that trade between the Proto-Maizen people and their seafaring brethren occurred, but on a limited scale. Not much else is known about the Proto-Maizec people or their culture, as most structures and artifacts made by them did not survive the test of time. We do know that they buried their dead in burial mounds, distinguished presumably by family names, along with their material possessions.

Maizec Period (3,000-1,000 BC)

This period saw the first organized tribes begin to form. This coincided with the discovery of agriculture, which enabled populations to settle around arable lands. This period is hallmarked by the domestication of animals and plants, as well as the first usages of copper and other metals, though it mainly played a religious role, with the casting of statues. The Maizec People, the successors of the Proto-Maizec, are credited with the development of sophisticated obsidian tools, as well as the development of complex tribe structures. While the written language wasn’t invented at the time, scribes used an intricate system of recording beads to meticulously record many aspects of the kingdoms, including auspicious dates, transactions, and other bureaucratic systems. Religion and Philosophy in the Maizec period remained mostly under the grip of what can be the considered the clerical caste, which was surprisingly progressive in comparison to other regions of the world around the time: women were considered equal to men, though slavery was a common occurrence in the Maizec kingdoms, even in the most progressive of these kingdoms. More often than not, slavery wasn’t generational and often slaves bought their freedom, freeing them from acquired debts: they were indentured servants, in practice, and considered part of the nuclear family. Great philosophers at the time, such as Cuscok the Wise, wandered around the Maizec Kingdoms telling oral stories both for entertainment value, and to provide advice for the less fortunate in the region. The Maizec period however, was a period of consolidation of power, and a complex web of foreign relations between the kingdoms sprang up from it. However, this was tempered by occasional conferences held in a neutral and symbolic territory: in what is now modern day Ilopango, the various chiefs of these kingdoms would meet whenever conflict would begin to flare up and bring up issues concerning the involved parties. Large scale conflicts happened fairly rarely, but when they did, the fighting was often done by warrior families and conscripted militias. Professional Standing armies were non existent all throughout this period, but war consisted mostly of raiding border villages, not attacking cities.

Atalan Period (1,000-500 BC)

The Atalan Period was one of surprising unity amongst the tribes: This was spurred on by the word of the prophet Atalaya, who presented the case of officially forming a confederation of nations to balance the power of the rising empires to the north and south of them. The Atalan Confederation, as it was called, leveraged their combined might to repel the encroaching Aputuzil nomad raiders, and the subsequent Apotul’ili Empire, which formed as a result of those raiders. It was during this troubled time that a series of mudbrick and stone defensive fortifications dotted the borders to the northern and southern borders. Archeological evidence also points to the construction of wooden structures as well. These projects demonstrated an exceptional ability of the Atalan Confederation to command resources. It was also at this time that sophisticated arts such as featherworking, came to be common practices amongst a seemingly advanced society. At the Federation’s extent, it controlled parts of Vespera in addition to what is now Ceruela. Written records appear to have replaced bead records around this time: scribes utilized clay and a kit of styluses to create a plethora of written works, which increased overall innovation and societal production in the Federation. However, the internal workings of the confederation were left greatly open to interpretation, which often culminated in societal factionalism over matters such as division of political powers.

Cutat Period (500-100 BC)

This period is one of great turmoil for the earlier Atalan Confederation, and marks a turning point for the expanse of the confederation. Lack of internal reform and rampant corruption coincided with a series of natural disasters that forced people to start abandoning the larger urban centers around 300 BC. Pressure from the North and South and increasingly low support for the confederation’s existence culminated in a series of civil wars and foreign raids, which saw the disintegration of the Rellan territories and the succession of the Vesperan territories into several smaller states. However, in the latter centuries, control was restablished under the emergence of the Cutat tribe as a central authority, which effectively killed confederation in favor of an empire, which temporarily stabilized under a series of solid rulers. But still, the insurmountable issues with the economy would be a running issue that these rulers failed to repair, ending in the fall of the Cutat just as soon as they came.

Dark Age (0-400 AD)

The Dark Age was a time after the fall of the Cutat Empire where people reverted to a more simplistic and regional way of life, more often than not remaining within close proximity to their home villages. Innovation in regards to culture and art stagnated, reserved for only the regional warlords who could afford to pay for such expensive luxuries. The old forms of writing virtually disappeared with the collapse of the empire, with only a small caste of scribes desperately clinging onto the art, and it’s through their efforts that many classical works of the Atalan Confederation survived to the present day. Not much else is known about this period, due to the lack of reliable records describing the period, but it is one where the discovery of more advanced metallurgic equipment and technologies propagated the birth of bronze and iron in the region, primarily as a means to rapidly equip soldiers with superior weapons.

Copatan Period (400-900 AD)

The Dark Age came to an end around 400 BC, after a outbreak of a yet unknown disease (it is suspected that it may have been a form of opportunistic infection) broke down the edges of the feudalistic systems that had been in place for hundreds of years: while in the short term, nobles weren’t so much effected by the plague, as they could avoid contact with the outside world, in the long term it forced an upheaval in the social norms. The sudden lack of a workforce created competition for available, healthy serfs, which were needed to man the fields and provide manpower for the army. This coincided with a tread of wealth equality as lords were forced to pay serfs higher wages to maintain their estates, and trade routes were made much safer to protect precious cargo in a time of stinginess. It has convinced the fiefdoms that they needed to work together in order to support their own interests, and it manifested as a tighter confederation, known as the Copán Federation which addressed the issues that plagued the first one.