Gelenia

Gelenia, officially the Gelenian Federal Republic is a federal parliamentary republic located in western Avanor. The nation is bordered to the north the Northern Sea, to the east by Strandlaand, to the south by Caliane, and to the west by the Mithran Sea. The nation has a population of 131’988’461 people, and an area of LAND AREA square kilometers - making the nation the most densely populated on Avanor. The nation is divided into nine federal states, and has numerous dependencies throughout the world from its colonial period. Major cities in the Federation include the capital and largest city, Wellington, as well as Hamilton, Umbridge, Rowe, Endsbury, and Ascot - alongside others.

Throughout the dark ages, Gelenia had been home to numerous petty kingdoms fighting for dominance over the other. This changed with the rise of King Edwyn I, who conquered all Gelenian kingdoms and united the realm under his rule from Wellington. His line would rule Gelenia for centuries afterwards, ruling as absolute monarchs through numerous wars with Caliane to the south and the Midlands to the east. When these wars bankrupted the realm too much for the nobility to bear, they demanded the right to form the House of Lords and control the monarch's spending - becoming the first parliament. Further, the Edict of Ascot became the first document which ensured the civil rights of people in the nation during the period of the Great Reformation. As colonization brought in massive amounts of wealth to the nobility and the monarch through their holdings in Korasha, Asania and Larania, the peasants felt increasingly destitute and numerous riots and revolts were staged throughout the 1600's and 1700's. It was not until the notoriously weak King Robyn II that the Summer Revolution began, which saw the peasants unite behind popular general Olivar Royce and orator and lawyer Nathaniel Cabot, and launch a rebellion which overthrew the monarchy in 1777. Afterwards a republic was established, with Nathaniel Cabot serving as the first President. A further constitutional reform was passed in 1801 and a parliamentary democracy was founded.

Gelenia is a world Great Power, and is the world's largest and most advanced economy. The capital, Wellington, serves as a global hub of innovation, diplomacy, and finance, while other major hubs such as Endsbury, Hamilton, Rowe, and Umbridge serve to boost the economy through manufacturing, agriculture, and service industries. Gelenia is also a global leader in democratic and human rights, first having established a democracy after the Gelenian Revolution in the 1560's. After the Great War, the nation emerged as a powerful player on the world stage, and became active in worldwide organizations such as the Union of Nations, the Avanoran Union, and even formed the Gelenian Association to unite former colonial states of Gelenia. The nation maintains military bases on 5 of the world's 6 continents, and has diplomatic missions to every recognized sovereign government. It is often said that the Prime Minister of Gelenia and the Prime Minister of Caliane are the two leaders of the free world.

Prehistory
Gelenian history largely begins with the migration of the first Thanic peoples into the peninsula, likely between the 12'000s BCE and the 6000s BCE. These Thanic people were largely isolated from their brethren on the rest of the continent, and used tools made of iron and later bronze, fighting numerous wars between rival clans. According to later writers from the Avanor Imperium who visited the region, the people lived in small villages walled off from the outside, though some did live in larger towns - with important settlements and cultural sites located in cities like Leister, Rowe, Umbridge, Glimmerden on the Honeywine, and Endsbury.

During the classical period, the Imperials set up several trading posts on the peninsula, though refrained from outright colonization of the peninsula: with Gelenian clans retaining large authority of their own affairs. As such, however, Imperial standards and cultural attributes such as religion, measurement, and the written word spread into Gelenia from the city of Wellington, which acted as a major trading hub and population centre for the Gelenians and Imperials to interact in.

These Thanic peoples were largely isolated from the peoples of the rest of the continent, As the Imperium began to decline throughout 400s and 300s BCE, the troops that patrolled trade routes in Gelenia were the first to withdraw. As they did, local clan leaders were forced to begin protecting their own individual territories. This eventually led to the formation of several petty kingdoms by the 200s BCE, especially as the collapse of Imperial authority led to the clans with former urban centres within their territories to exercise heavy amounts of power. By the end of the classical period, the peninsula had broken out into war as the Gelenian clans fought one another for control over land and resources.

Low Middle Ages
The wars between the former clans raged on throughout the 100s - 400s CE. Scholars and monks living in Octriums in the countryside wrote many times about the numerous conflicts, with one writing they were "everlasting and everchanging", and that when one conflict between two minor lords would end, another would begin. By the 400s CE, the region was united into several small kingdoms: the Kingdom of Leicaster, the Kingdom of Wellington, the Kingdom of Endsbury, the Kingdom of Ascot, the Kingdom of Rowe, the Kingdom of Hamilton, and the Kingdom of the Glennshire. These small kingdoms warred with one another for dominance over the peninsula between 400 CE and 1100 CE, when the wars would finally come to a head with the war launched by King Hogar V of House Baine of Wellington. No one knows why King Hogar rode out against Endsbury in the war. Some argue it was pure ambition, while others still claim that he had fallen in love with the sister of the Endsburian King. Regardless, the war was fought, and in the fighting Hogar lost his life, leaving behind no heirs. His steward, Edwyn of House Sumter, then took up reign of Wellington, and as a skilled tactician, waged war against the other kingdoms of the peninsula, and one by one from 1104 to 1117, he conquered them all - upon which time he was crowned Edwyn I of Gelenia, ruling as the first king of the entire peninsula. His reign was a stable one, and he went about laying the foundations for a kingdom. His son, Oswyn I, was known as Oswyn the Kind, and bestowed luxuries on the arts, built up the capital of Wellington, and brought Gelenia into the Avanoran political and economic sphere, making many political adjustments to make his kingdom similar to other Avanoran kingdoms.

These changes, however, led to the Rowe War, as Queen Alys of Rowe led her people in rebellion against King Oswyn I, who was ailing. Upon hearing the news of the uprising, the King died from sickness, and his son, Edwyn II, took the throne.

High Middle Ages
Edwyn II led his armies to war in 1178, the year he came to the throne after his father's death. Queen Alys had crowned herself in Rowe's sanctum, and had marched into the Upper Midlands in the spring. Edwyn II personally routed the Rowe forces by Summersend, and began to march on Rowe itself. Alys, for her part, led her soldiers into battle as well, meeting Edwyn's forces and pushing them back to the northern Upper Midlands. The fighting stabilized, and the two forces met at the village of Tymber Mill where, in the ensuing battle, Edwyn's forces won, and Alys was captured and hanged from the town bridge, facing Rowe, as a warning to her region not to rebel again. In the years to follow the song Alys of the Tymbers became a popular folk song of the northern Gelenians. Edwyn II went about strengthening his reign by changing rules of levying armies and taxation, putting the power in the hands of the monarch in Wellington, rather than lords in the provinces. His reforms paved the way for a strong monarchy by the time of his death in 1226, whereupon Henry I took the throne. Henry I was known for his lack of calm demeanor or care for duty, and after only three years on the throne, while out on a royal procession through the Lower Midlands with his friend Oliver of Endsbury (whom many claim were secretly lovers), he was murdered by bandits. Many claim the murder was orchestrated by his younger brother, Edwyn III, who took the throne shortly after him, and had stayed behind at Wellington only because of a supposed illness.

Edwyn III is remembered by many historians as a ruler of competence. When he took the throne from his brother in 1229, Gelenia was a land of numerous systems of justice - often carried out by a Magistrate of the King, who dolled out judgements and punishments throughout the realm in the King's name, often using their own personal judgement and local custom or law in their attempts at enforcement. Edwyn III organized the provinces to each have a Duke or Duchess, who served as that region's administrator in the King's absence. He ordered them to publish written accounts of their laws and finances and report them to the monarch, to ensure that proper governance was being followed. Additionally, it was Edwyn III who appointed the first Royal Advisor, the predecessor to the Prime Minister today. Edwyn III's most controversial reform was the church tax in 1285, where he levied taxes on church properties.

Upon his death in 1291, his son, Oswyn II, had the angry faith to deal with, and soon they rose in revolt over the imposed taxes. Fighting broke out throughout the kingdom, and Oswyn was forced to utilize brutal measures in order to put down the rebellion, which lasted from 1293-1299. Despite winning the war, uprisings continued to break out in the kingdom throughout much of Oswyn's reign, and the expense of putting down the revolts and the disruption in tax revenue led to the king imposing stricter taxes on the peasantry in 1310, which led to the Peasant's Revolt in 1311-1314. This waring took its toll on the king, who died in 1319, leaving the throne to his son, Robyn I. In order to curtail the monarch's spending powers in light of the recent uprisings, the lords of the kingdom demanded Robyn provide them a parliament to have oversight over the public finances. This culminated in the Edict of Umbridge, which created the first parliament in Gelenia - the House of Lords - though its membership was only selected out of the nobility.

His rule would be rather stable until his death in 1371, when his son Oswyn III took the throne, whereupon he came into problems fighting a bad harvest and the Peasants Revolt of 1380 after a particularly bad winter. His death in 1399 brought his son Thomas I to the throne, who was passionate about histories, and encouraged the establishment of universities and kept students of the newly founded Great Reformation movement at court, angering conservatives in the House of Lords, and at court. He satisfied the lords by reforming the parliament to give them power over any spending by the monarch, and allowed them to write legislation in the King's name, though the throne retained the right to veto any legislation. His son, Prince Edwyn, was against these ideas, and upon Thomas I's death in 1428, the newly crowned Edwyn IV attempted to curtail the movement. He spent his reign constantly at conflict with parliament, and attempted to curtail their powers. He did not succeed, as the newfound power over his spending proved too great a barrier to gaining back control.

Early Modern Period
As King Edwyn IV struggled with the House of Lords for control over the kingdom's administration, followers of the Great Reformation met in secret to promote ideals of science, philosophy, law, and government. Schools and institutions which taught the Reformation, however, often found themselves facing fines, or brutal executions at the hands of Edwyn's guards. It was in this time that Edwyn became known as Edwyn the Bloody. Though, while attempting to supress the Great Movement, he welcomed its innovations in warfare technology, welcoming the cannon and musket into the Royal Army in 1439.

Exploration & Industrialization
Under Edwyn IV, explorers were sent out

Government
Gelenia is a federalized parliamentary democracy with a constitutional government. According to the constitution of Gelenia, power is divided between the nine federal states, the communes, and the federal government in Wellington. The government is divided into three separate branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive branch is chaired by the President, who serves three year terms, though they are only the ceremonial head of state - with the responsibility of appointing the Prime Minister and cabinet on the advice of the House, dissolving the House on the advice of the Prime Minister, and greeting heads of state of foreign nations. The constitution lays most executive powers in the hands of the Prime Minister, who heads cabinet and is responsible to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister has the powers of commander in chief, is the top representative of the nation in foreign affairs, drafts the federal budget, issues pardons, appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers, and sets general government policy. The Prime Minister has no term limits, and they and their cabinet are tied to elections with the House of Commons every three years.

The House of Commons is the unicameral legislature with 455 members who are elected every three years through proportional representation. According to the constitution, the House of Commons has the sole power to pass and amend legislation, declare war,