Ottonia
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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 |
| Eleanor Hendrsunn III | |
| Establishment | |
• Establishment of the Ottonian Empire | 792 CE |
| April 17th, 1811 | |
| September 21st, 1872 | |
| January 1st, 1950 | |
| 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.
Geography
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
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.
The Warring Kingdoms Period
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
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.
To address this, Kraag used his last act as commander-in-chief of the UFA to petition the Moet in Skarrsboro for a conference to be held in order to draw up a new governing charter for, hopefully, all of Ottonia (eventually). This was granted, and held as the Conference of Innsboro, beginning late in 1943 and running well into 1944. Presided over by the wartime leader of the Dunnmaar Autonomous Republic, Harald Baaltrsunn, the conference succeeded in drafting and, in early 1945, ratifying the New Foundation of Ottonia. The eight republics would only need a few months to ratify the document themselves, mostly satisfied with the compromises made to a central authority balanced by extensive self-governance permitted to the Republics themselves. More controversial, although ultimately not enough to significantly delay passage, was a key provision of the New Foundation: a declaration that the concentration of wealth in the hands of private individuals was antithetical to the democratic ideals of the Eight Republics, accompanied by an explicit ban on individual private ownership of economic apparatus. In practice, this meant that all businesses and ventures would have to be either small, family affairs, cooperatively owned, or enterprises organized through a government entity of the appropriate level, effectively constitutionally-locking North Ottonia into being a democratic socialist state.
Ottonian Cold War (1943 - 1998)
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, the federal monarchy persisted, increasingly coopting a capitalist system to secure the wealth and authority of the royal and aristocratic classes. 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.
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
The FOR is a federalized democratic republic. The country is divided into the nine Constituent Republics. In addition, there is also the Federal Capital District, colloquially referred to as Innia. 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
Folksmoot
Federal High Court
Civil Service
Ottonian Federal Defense Service
Federalism
Constituent Republics
Regional Autonomy
Lower Levels of Organization
Prefectures
Municipalities
Political Parties
See Also:
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
Architecture
Cuisine
Education
Family Structures
Fashion
Holidays
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.