Ottonia

Ottonia
Flag
Motto: "Liberty, Equality, and Solidarity!"
Anthem: "Onward, Ottonia!"
Capital	Ottonia City (Ceremonial) Innsboro (Administrative)
Largest city	Onneria
Official languages	Allamunnic
Recognised national languages	Allamunnic, Eonese, Kanketa, Corvaean, Skraeli, Kamryker
Ethnic groups	Allamunnae, Eonese, Kanketans, Corvae, Skraelings, Kamrykers
Demonym(s)	Ottonian
Government	Federal Socialist Multiparty-Democratic Republic
• Premier	Junn Andrsunn
• Chancellor of the Folksmoot	Eleanor Hendrsunn III
Establishment
• Establishment of the Ottonian Empire	792 CE
• Pan-Ottonian Alliance	April 17th, 1811
• Treaty of Ottonia	September 21st, 1872
• Partition of Ottonia	January 1st, 1950
• Ottonian Reunification	May 2nd, 2022
Population
• 2022 estimate	85,443,652
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	2.156 trillion
• Per capita	approx. USD$25,231
Currency	Otomark (OMø)
Time zone	West Belisarian
Calling code	+44

Ottonia, officially The Federation of Ottonian Republics, is a country on the northwestern edge of the continent of Belisaria. Between the 1922 Partition of Ottonia and May of 2022, it was colloquially referred to as North Ottonia. Following the collapse of South Ottonia in March of 2022, the FOR became the sole sovereign government on the Ottonian mainland, and the former South Ottonian states of Staalmark and Onneria were formally admitted as Constituent Republics of Ottonia on May 2nd, 2022.

Ottonia is a federalized democratic presidential republic, with some technocratic elements. Economically, Ottonia adheres to a model of market socialism, which utilizes a mix of public and state ownership of enterprises alongside employee-owned and cooperatively-owned enterprises within a market system used to allocate goods and services. Although classification varies among political scientists throughout the world, those within the FOR typically categorize it as a democratic socialist state.

Etymology

The area currently known as Ottonia is known by several names; Ottonia is the most commonly used name in an international and official context. The name comes from the Ottonian Empire, the name for the conquered realm of Otto the Invincible and his descendents, although there is no evidence to suggest the area was known by its inhabitants as such contemporaneously.

There are references in near-contemporary literature to "Skoflynd", a reference to the dense forests that covered the area, although whether this term referred to most or all of what is now Ottonia, or merely a single region within it, is disputed. In addition, much of the area was once referred to by contemporary Latin sources as "Allamunnica" in reference to the Allamunnic peoples that had invaded the area in the 7th century CE.

The area's current name, The Federation of Ottonian Republics relegates "Ottonia" to a descriptor of the regions once included in the Ottonian empire, deemphasizing the historical state and focusing instead on the constituent states that compose the modern country, each of which is at least nominally semiautonomous. This is partially due to the larger historical extent of the Ottonian empire potentially carrying implications of territorial claims to countries outside the modern Federation (notably neighboring Erishland and Sudemark).

Geography

Main article: Geography of Ottonia

Ottonia is comprised of a few broad regions. In the northwestern coast, across two peninsulae including the Republics of Tyrrslynd, Dunnmaar, and Jormundea, is the Jormundsea region, a wet, hilly, cool area that receives a great deal of moisture and from the Salacian Ocean. To the east is the Boreian Coast of Ottonia, which sees the Republics of Skraelingia and Kamryk, as well as the northern reaches of Corvaea. Directly south is the more mountainous Corvaean Highlands, which largely cover both Corvaea and Ostmark, and then the Bluwaald Mountains, which include the eponymous republic and parts of Corvaea and Staalmark. Further south and into the interior lay the Ottonian Riverlands, which largely include the republics of Meuse and Staalmark, as well as parts of Haelynd and Onneria. Finally, to the west, and directly south of the Jormundean region, lays the Ottonian Salacian Coast region, a warmer part of the country that also contains some of its most densely-populated areas.

History

Main article: History of Ottonia

Prehistory & Antiquity

During the centuries immediately before and after the turn of the Common Era, the area was inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples (Corvae in the north and east, Eoni in the south and west). In the late first century of the common era, forces of the Latin Empire encroached into the area, reaching Sudmark, the modern Union of Ottonia, and parts of Torrslynd, incorporated as the provinces of Eona Superior and Eona Inferior. The Latin presence in the area grew weaker in the 4th Century CE as the Germanic-speaking Allamunnae migrated into the area, partially subjugating and partially displacing the Latin and Celtic-speaking peoples. By the dawn of the 6th Century CE, Latin authority in the area had evaporated, and the area was ruled by an assortment of Allamunnic, Corvaik, and Eoni-speaking petty states.

The Ottonian Empire

Christian missionaries in the south of modern Ottonia were fairly effective in converting a large share of the population entering the 8th century CE, and a local ruler named Otto, who had established a hegemony over much of what is now the state of Onneria in the Union of Ottonia, began a series of conquests aimed at spreading Christianity to the pagan inhabitants of the area. By the time Otto died in 831 CE, the modern areas of all five modern states were within his empire. Although Otto's eldest son Theodurik and his direct descendants attempted to continue to rule the massive realm, territory to the east began to break away almost immediately. By the time Theodurik's last direct heir died in 1159 CE, the empire had functionally ceased to exist. The area would be dominated by a large number of states over the next several centuries.

Nationalism & Unification

See Also: Nationalism in Ottonia

In the 1700s, seeking safety against outside threats, several of these states began to ally with one another, culminating in 1811 with the foundation of the Pan-Ottonian Alliance. In addition, the alliance as well as a general revival of the arts and history of the Empire caused a swell of pan-Ottonian nationalism over the course of the century. Key in this trend was the development over the ensuing half-century following the establishment of the POA, the central body of the Alliance grew in power, causing fear of several of the sovereign members of the alliance that a take-over might be attempted.

In an attempt to head off this threat, constituent states dispatched forces to the central city of Ottonia to disperse a proposed multinational force being formed to serve the entire alliance. The Siege of Ottonia kicked off the Ottonian Wars of Unification which would finally conclude in 1872 with the signing of the Treaty of Ottonia which established the Ottonian Federation under a central republican government over the various constituent states which by and large kept their monarchies at the state level.

The Ottonian Civil War (1918 - 1922)

This state of affairs would last until 1918, when an alliance of the ruling families of Ottonia's constituent monarchies attempted a coup to overthrow the central government and replace it with a pan-Ottonian dynasty. This resulted in the Ottonian Civil War, which concluded in 1921 with the partition of the country into a republican north and monarchist south.

Interwar Years (1922 - 1935)

The OFR was essentially a continuation of the federal government of the Ottonian Federation, and this meant that it also inherited most of the Federation's problems. Chief among these was the continued social and political dominance of the Allamunnic-speaking elite, a general inclination to prioritize the desires of industrialists and merchants, and overly-rigid attempts at central governance that had already aided the Royalist cause. As a result, the years following the Partition were hardly tranquil, as the OFR was increasingly racked by both regional separatist groups in Eona, Cantia, Kamryk, and Corvaea, as well as labor agitation in its larger cities. Dunnmaar in particular became a hotbed for the nascent Universal Labor Front, and blood was often spilled in confrontations between organized labor and police forces, most notably in Dunnmaar, Torsfeld, Abiles, Ubyeu, Spaal, Corvik, and Udunsfurd, but with smaller confrontations occurring in other cities and towns. The Federal Army began to develop a serious problem with desertion and morale plummeted.

The Great Ottonian War

Perhaps sensing an opportunity, in 1935 South Ottonia invaded the North, in conjunction with their Ghantish allies, sparking the Great Ottonian War. The initial invasion was quite successful, with the federal leadership in the imperial capital of Ottonia being largely captured in short order and with coalition troops rolling through most of the western half of the country. In the sudden leadership and power vacuum created by the decapitation of the OFR's government, North Ottonia functionally fragmented into multiple self-governing republics, with Cantia, Kamryk, the Bluwaalds, Ostmark, and Skraelingia managing to coordinate with the remains of the Federal Army well enough to grind the Royalist advance to a halt. Meanwhile, regional authorities in Jormundea and Eona were forced to organize more discretely, helming resistance efforts against the invaders. Through most of 1936, these disparate forces were able to coordinate adequately to prevent significant further advances by the Royalists and Ghantish, but it became increasingly clear that the disparate North Ottonian Republics could not separately drive out the invaders.

In September of 1936, a meeting of regional governments convened in Skarrsboro, and those present signed the Skarrsboro Accord, in which the eight republics (Jormundea, Eona, Dunnmaar, Skraelingia, Cantia, Kamryk, Bluwaald, and Ostmark) agreed to subordinate their war efforts to a central authority once more, under the overall leadership of Federal Army General Otto Kraag. Over the next three years, Kraag would oversee the new United Front forces as they pushed the Southerners back to their original borders, relegated the Ghantish to an increasingly small beachhead on the country's western coast, and finally began their own counterinvasion that saw them seize a significant tract of Staalmark from the Royalists, as well as attempting their own push towards the Royalist capital of San Mikel. Although timely intervention by Latin and Arthuristan forces compelled the Northerners to withdraw to the territory they were already in the process of consolidating in 1941. After seeing off a counterinvasion attempt, the fighting largely quieted down, both sides largely exhausted. Although there would be intermittant skirmishes until the [[Treaty of [City] (1943)]], the worst of the fighting had concluded by the end of 1941, with most of Belisaria largely accepting that the partitioning of Ottonia would be the state of affairs for the foreseeable future.

The Recovery and Reorganization

Main article: The Northern Revolution (Ottonia)

With the formal end of hostilities in 1943, Kraag issued orders disbanding the United Front Army and resigned his position as Commander-in-Chief of the North Ottonian forces. However, this left the North in limbo; with the destruction of the imperial city government, all that really remained of the Federation's government was the eight republic governments, coordinating through the Skarrsboro Accord. Though the North had maintained its independence and even pushed back against the Royalist Southerners, it had been a close-fought thing and it was clear that the North would not survive divided into eight independent states.

Initially the solution provided was a resumption of the Ottonia City government in 1943. Thanks to flaws in the original Unification Charter, the center-right Ottonian National Party was able to eke out a substantial legislative majority from a electoral plurality, but the task of Reconstruction proved to be larger than they were able to handle, and corruption in the mid-1940's saw the effects of rebuilding efforts often fail to reach the general public. By 1946 it was clear that major reforms were needed to course-correct the northern Ottonian Republic, and to that end a group of political parties, local councils, provincial governments, and public intellectuals convened in Skarrsboro to draft a new constitution, presided over by the retired former Commander-in-Chief Otto Kraag, who ended up being the only ONP representative present at the convention.

The resulting document, a new constitution called the New Foundation For Ottonia, was, in early 1947, ratified by the convention with the intention of it being taken to the Moet and made the law of the land, superceding the Unification Charter in any place where the two conflicted. However, the ONP recognized that the New Foundation would largely reduce them to a political minority, and they refused to ratify the document, instead collaborating with members of the Radical Liberal Party to draft an alternate constitution, which they quickly pushed through the Moet. Outraged, the members of the Convention and the ratifiers of the New Foundation created a aegis organization called the Popular Front to advance the New Foundation and the ideals of a more democratic society. The ONP directed security forces to crack down on the Popular Front, only to find military forces divided and the general public showing out in solidarity against the Ottonia City government. Through late 1947 the situation deteriorated until the August 1st 1947 strike that ground the country to a screeching halt and prompted the ONP to authorize lethal force to disperse protestors and break picket lines. This caused the military and even many security forces to fragment along ideological lines, and many units disobeyed orders, either standing down entirely or limiting themselves to less-lethal violence. By 1948 a low-intensity civil war had developed, and as cities began falling one by one to Popular Front forces over the course of the year, the ONP became increasingly autocratic, prompting the defection of the RLP to the Popular Front and accelerating their losses. By early 1949, the ONP's government was largely confined to Ottonia City and was increasingly beleagured, prompting most members of the Moet, the President, and the Cabinet to flee to Drevstran. Once Popular Fronters entered the old imperial capital, it was only a matter of weeks before the New Foundation was properly ratified, set to take effect on January 1, 1950.

Rearmament and the Highlands War

The separated nations took different paths to rebuilding following the end of the Revolution. Although rationing occurred in both nations, outside aid to both saw this state of affairs end by the late 1950's.

In the south, while the monarchy persisted, its power was displaced in 1944 by a soft coup of military officials, led by Kaarlus Klaussunn, who took over as Regent-General and de facto head of government, to embark on an aggressive rearmament program with an eye to avenging the close loss in the Great Ottonian War and erasing North Ottonia from the map once and for all. He was assisted in this by the partisans of the now-fallen Yisraeli Azoulay regime, who Klaussunn had assisted in rearming themselves during Operation Bamidbar.

Meanwhile, in the north, a democratic government was established by the New Foundation of Ottonia, which also mandated a market socialist economy in which all businesses would be owned by the public, either through state ownership, employee ownership, or public ownership of equity to prevent the runaway economic (and ensuing political) inequalities that had helped create the conditions that caused the revolution. Through a mix of central planning and the rebound of private, cooperative enterprise in the early 1950's under a new government, the Northern state's fortunes improved significantly in a relatively short time, although there was still work to be done.

All of this saw a build-up of tensions, focused specifically on the restive mountain region of Bluwaald, which although long a hotbed of the Ottonian labor movement, had fallen under the sway of the monarchist South in 1936. A protracted insurgency was being fought in the Bluwaalds against the Klaussunn regime, and it became clear fairly quickly that the Northern government was aiding the rebels. Using this as a pretext, Klaussunn ordered an invasion of the north, with an eye to replicating the UKO's 1935 successes.

The resulting conflict, known as the Winter War of 1954 or more commonly as the Highlands War, was the last hot conflict between North Ottonia and South Ottonia, in which the Klaussunn regime's forces marched through the Bluwaalds to attack central North Ottonia. A thoroughly-veteran, reorganized, and newly-motivated Federal Army awaited them, assisted by Bluwaalder partisans, and the invasion was a total disaster. The Royal Army lost multiple divisions to encirclement and either mass surrender or total annihilation, their supply lines were continuously harried and disrupted, and troops often enough surrendered simply in the hopes of being spared reprisal from Bluwaalder insurgents or starvation. In March 1955 a humiliated Klaussunn resigned in disgrace and the new Royal Government sued for peace, ceding the Bluwaald region to North Ottonia and fixing the borders that would hold until 2022 in the Treaty of Andersboro.

Ottonian Cold War (1955 - 1998)

The two successor states settled into a cold war relationship with a heavily militarized border and minimal diplomatic contact, maintaining only enough contact to prevent the resumption of hostilities. This persisted into the 1970's when The Unity & Reconciliation movement (which formed political parties in both countries) helped to push for talks between the countries. Although reunification did not result, a period of détente followed, and the countries have since partially normalized relations.

Reunification

See Also: Ottonian Reunification

On March 4th, 2022, a strike at an automotive plant in Onneria prompted the dispatch of South Ottonian army forces to disperse assembling strikers. Unofficially accompanied by the Invictist militia group Yellow Lance, the attempt to disperse the rally by the striking workers erupted into violence following gunshots. Attempts to suppress the gathering escalated to a violent battle which left 74 people dead, including 8 soldiers and 16 militiamen. Fuelled by widespread anger at South Ottonia's long-term issues with wealth inequality, state violence, and a society formally segregated by class, other rallies and protests flared up across the country. Many other cities saw violence spread to them, often egged on by Invictist militias. Worker-backed militias, often affiliated with the Universal Labor Federation, organized resisters and led to the seizure of multiple city halls even as several army units became torn by incohesion, with many units confining themselves to barracks in an effort to avoid the fighting.

By March 12th, with the South Ottonian Army proving increasingly unreliable in the face of overwhelming public pressure, the government had largely turned to police and militia units, who visited particularly-bloody violence against protestors and often drawing grisly relatiation from workers militias. Attempts to use armored vehicles against resisters was increasingly countered, often quite effectively, with dynamite and IEDs and barricaded streets. On March 14th in Staalburg, 16 members of Yellow Lance were found hanging in the Old Town's Central Plaza, the subjects of extrajudicial execution. The scene was soon repeated in other cities, and the morale collapse of Yellow Lance and other Invictist groups sealed the fate of the royalist government in continental South Ottonia. By March 17th, most of the high command and the remaining loyal elements of the Royal Army, much of the South Ottonian aristocracy and business elite, and the remaining cohesive elements of the loyalist militias, had fled into exile on the Draakurr Archipelago, which had remained largely untouched by the violence. Provisional governments in Onneria and Staalburg proclaimed the Onnerian Social Republic and the Folksrepublik uf Staalmark, and moved quickly to request admittance to the Federation as Constituent Republics.

Politics

Main article: Government of Ottonia

The FOR is a federalized democratic republic. The country is divided into the fifteen Constituent Republics, plus a special autonomous capital zone known as the Federal Capital District, encompassing the cities of Roan and Ottonia City. In most matters of daily administration, the Republics and FCD are de facto autonomous; most taxation, infrastructure, and general domestic policy is handled by the Republics, with the Federal government mostly acting to coordinate between the republics and serve as a standardizing and stabilizing influence.

Foreign policy is the exclusive domain of the Federal government. The Ottonian Federal Defense Service is under the overall command of the Premier, who is also required to sign bills passed through the Folksmoot. The Folksmoot is the national legislature, directly elected by the inhabitants of each constituent republic, proportionally-allocated by population.

The bounds, rights, and responsabilities of both the federal government in Innsboro and the Constituent Republics are laid out in the New Foundation of Ottonia, passed and ratified in 1949 in the wake of the Ottonian Revolution and the Great Northern War.

Federal Government

Premiership

Main article: Head of State of Ottonia

Folksmoot

Main articles: Folksmoot (Ottonia) and Folksmoot

Federal High Court

Main article: High Court of Ottonia

Civil Service

Main article: Civil Service in Ottonia

Ottonian Federal Defense Service

Main article: Ottonian Federal Defense Service

Federalism

Constituent Republics

Main article: Constituent Republics of Ottonia

Political Parties

See Also:

Main article: Party Systems of Ottonia

The Ottonian political process is conducive to the simultaneous existance of several political parties with electoral significance at both the federal and regional levels. Although the number and type of parties has undergone significant changes multiple times throughout the country's history, currently there are four major parties at the federal level, which generally operate in alliance with local and regional parties.

• The Alliance of Democratic Parties (ADP)
• Ottonian Labor Front (OLF)
• United People's Party (UPP)
• Radical Liberal Party (RLP)

Culture

Cuisine

Main article: Food in Ottonia

Education

Main article: Education in Ottonia

Holidays

Main article: Holidays in Ottonia

Language

Several languages are considered endemic to modern Ottonia. The first and most widely-spoken is Allamunnic, which is spoken throughout the country and in its standard form used for official documents and correspondance. It is closely related to Arthuristan Anglic, and the nature of the relationship between the two (whether Allamunnic is in fact a distinct language or simply forms part of a dialectical continuum with Arthuristan Anglic) is controversial among academics.

The second set of languages (or single language with accompanying dialects) is the Eonese language. Eonese is a hybrid of the Corvaik language found further north and Latin, and Eonese speakers are found primarily in the country's interior, particularly northwest, central, north central, and south central Ottonia. Eonese is frequently known as a first language alongside Allamunnic; people who are born and raised in the region of Eona frequently grow up speaking both. Less-widely spoken in the country's southeast is the related language of Kanketa, although this language is considered endangered due to the Allamunnicist policies of the United Kingdom of Ottonia.

Other languages are Corvaik (a Keldian language found almost exclusively in the country's far north, including the far Northwest and Northeast), Skraeli (spoken primarily in the northern region of Skraelingia), and Kamryker (found in the Kamryk region in Ottonia's northeast). The latter two are considered to be somewhat closely-related to Allamunnic.

In addition, enclaves of Audonian and Sudesh-speakers are found in the country's south.

Religion

The Ottonian realm is primarily divided between three religious movements: two Sarpetic faiths in the form of the Honorian Church and Corsanguinism, and the religion of Reytled, a faith endemic to Ottonia, inspired and influenced by faiths indigenous to the area prior to the introduction of the Sarpetic faiths to the area. the Honorian Church is notably the majority faith in the south of the country, while Reytled makes up a majority in the rest, with Corsanguinism forming a significant minority, centered primarily in Eona, Bluwaald, and Tyrrslynd.

Sports

Main article: Sport in Ottonia