Great Xio

Empire of Great Xio
Flag
Map of Great Xio
File:Location of Great Xio on Eurth.png Location of Great Xio on Eurth
Capital and largest city	Phaxwe
Ethnic groups	Xi People, Syrbotae
Government
Population
• 2021 census	8,800,000
GDP (PPP)	2021 estimate
• Per capita	$18,500

Great Xio, officially the Empire of Great Xio and sometimes abbreviated to Xio, is an island country in Western Aurelia on Eurth. Its closest neighbouring countries are the Mitō to the southeast, Sunset Sea Islands to the west and Andalla in the northwest. The political and economic capital, Phaxwe ("South Capital"), is located on the largest island.

Xio is ruled by a monarch under an authoritarian democracy. Its ethnic groups, known collectively as the Xi People or the Syrbotae, can trace their lineage back to the original Azanian colonists of the New Wurld and Aurelia, before the arrival of the !Amerindians.

Geography

Capital: Phaxwe, on the southern coast of the largest island.

(WIP. Climate: Varying levels of aridity and humidity through general possesses an above-temperate temperature similar to southern Spain / southern China / coastal North Africa.)

History

(WIP. An ancient dormant state made up of ethnic groups that can trace their lineage to the first migratory people into the new wurld that rose and fell repeatedly across its largest islands, occasionally spreading out to cause trouble or to trade with its neighbours. In the modern times, it has unified the fragmented Syrbotic groups (Syrbotic being the collection of ethnic groups the Xi people - the main ethnic group on the largest island - belong to) and has continued to further centralise the empire.)

Great Xio is an ancient state, dating back to around 300 BCE with the Aroman settlers first arrived to Aurelia, when a group of people called the Xi in the east of the largest island (Xio) began to work with the new Aroman settlers across the Gulf of Auriel and learned how to use their more advance boats. Using their new boats they were able to subjugate the island of Xio, and throughout the centuries occasionally annex their neighbouring islands as tributaries to form Great Xio. Over time, the Xi culture spread across Xio and into its neighbouring islands, growing the core territories of the empire. The Empire eventually adopted the writing system from the Kirvina, their original one slowly being reduced down to only being used for religious purposes.

Great Xio also became more democratic as Mitoan mercantile democracy became popular within the empire and its tributaries as the merchant classes grew in power which eventually led to the formation of guilds, wherein cities, groups of smaller communities, or individuals with specific jobs in a defined area would establish a guild which acted as a local democratically-elected government sending representatives to the aristocracy that ruled over that particular province/island. These guilds would continue to grow in power as they also began to take over local economics and only send annual/monthly tributes to the capital. Worried about the growing power of the guilds and the rise of colonial ambitions by outsiders (such as the purchase of Kaseka by Seylos from a local coalition of guilds) their powers became formalised and limited by a new increasingly centralised government.

The new centralised government of Great Xio along with the introduction of modern military tactics and weaponry meant the empire could push back against colonists and even expand further into its neighbouring islands. The empire also took on several western inspired reforms and eventually rebranded itself as a 'civilisation state' destined to 'control all Xi people'. By the 1900s, the empire was at its modern day borders, not including its easternmost island off the Aurelian coastline. Across the 2010s, the empire became increasingly socially authoritarian - especially on the Xio island - as technology began to be used to control the population (such as mandatory government-made smartphone apps). The last island to be incorporated into the empire was in 2018 when Great Xio forced the monarchical confederacy on the island to be annexed through political and military needs which deeply soured its relations with its neighbours, forcing Xio to give the island autonomy and not accept the guild-base democracy that was used in the rest of the empire.

Politics

Government

The empire's government can be divided into 3 parts: the guilds, the aristocracy, and the central government. Almost all parts of Great Xio are under guilds (except for autonomous islands) which act as local democratically-elected governments and banks to some extent. Several guilds are managed by Aristocrats, usually in the form of a monarch and their council. Aristocrats project the power of the central government onto the guilds and are often the ones most scrutinised by the central government if issues arise. Local political freedoms are high, though the increasing lack of social freedoms are starting to cause tension.

Policy

In the modern day, Great Xio government wishes to further centralise its power over the guilds and aristocracy (especially over the eastern island) as well as grow its mid-level manufacturing economy, pulling away from its currently mining-based economy as a means of raising the standards of living across its non-Xio islands to reduce poverty and political tension. The empire also wants to curb Seylosian influence in its nation through Kaseka whilst not upsetting the Seylosians - a major trading partner. There are also calls from within the nation for the government to become less socially controlling due to recent rises in technocratic authoritarianism.

Economy

The economy is primarily split between the high-end manufacturing, tourism, and IT services of the island of Xio and the capital versus the primary sector commercial mining and refining of the non-Xio islands which also frequently practise subsistence farming. The average per capita income is $18,500, though this is deceivingly high, as income inequality is staggeringly bad for the empire. The economy is primarily state capitalism on the national level, though much freer on the local level.

Culture

(WIP. The culture is built from the ground up, but takes some inspiration from Mesoamerica, Eastern Asia, Minoan & Ancient Greece, Singapore, and Medieval Europe.)