[Expansion] Stedoria: Gadutea/Gaduteän

[Stedoria]

Howdy; today I present to you the following proposal for the island/country/state/whatever-the-heck to be reserved for later (and nefarious) annexation that I plan to do by means of roleplay, which, should this be accepted, I plan to do during this coming summer. If it ends up rejected/postponed/whatever then I still plan to do it at some later, unspecified date in the future because expansion is yummy. The main reason, besides just expanding my nation, is sort-of two-ish reasons.

Firstly, I want to use this expansion/roleplay to further explain and expand Stedoria's ideology, Gemotamism (https://iiwiki.us/wiki/Gemotamism) (essentially Baathism but for Germanic/Dolch-ish nations, with a few changes). In real life, Baathism emerged in Iraq and Syria (through a political split though so they hated each other (as countries do lol)); however, currently Gemotamism only exists within Stedoria, which makes it seem like a Stedorian thing only, which is not the case. By doing this, it'll help, to some extent, to sort-of show that it's an international thing (in Dolchic/Germanic-based (insert based meme) countries).

Secondly, I want Stedoria to drift further into authoritarianism and make a few enemies along the way (enemies always make for fun stories and roleplay). By authoritarianism, I'm not talking about one-party state North Korea levels, but rather something like Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc; not straight up dictatorships, but very sus (flawed) democracies. Now to the victim- I mean country.

Free State of Gadutea - Libatat Gaduteäna - Freestaat Dorschsee

The blue stands for the island of Gadutea itself, that is, it being surrounded by water. The yellow and red stand for the island's Stedorian heritage, yellow and red being Stedoria's flag when it was under the monarchy, which Stedoria was when Gadutea became independent, and the the three stars stand for the three counties/districts/adiministrative units of the island.

Here's the island's location.

History

Essentially, Gadutea has remained an important part of Stedoria since Stedoria became independent in the mid 1500s. The island's inhabitants however differ from Stedoria's inhabitants; until it was captured by Stedoria, Gadutea remained a realm of Dolchland proper. The island's main purpose was to serve as a penal colony for Dolchland's criminal, dissidents, etc., basically Dolchland's Australia without the shrimp on the barbie. Owing to this however, a moderately sized garrison was stationed on the island to ensure those pesky prisoners didn't get up to no good and start making trouble in the neighbourhood. When Stedoria decided that being part of Dolchland wasn't fun anymore and decided to become independent, the island fell under Stedoria's control (I haven't determined the exact history of Stedoria's independence, but it involved a war for sure, nevertheless it isn't too important for the island's history).

Anyways, everyone was living happily ever after (except for those filthy peasants). The island's position made it a good area for fishing, specifically cod (which I hope is in this area of Eurth. Also where the name comes from), but other than that, the Stedorian royal government sort-of just forgot about them and left them to their own devices, kinda like when you have too many provinces in Europa Universalis 4 or something. This harmony suddenly was shattered by the First Stedorian Revolution, and, like France, the monarchy was abolished, and bunch of crazy Jacobins (they still need a proper name) took over, and started removing lots of heads from people they found rather disagreable. Gadutea didn't really like this that much, so during the chaos, they declared a counter revolution and took in what was left of the Kelvön dynasty, starting basically a War in the Vendée type conflict. The republicans never managed to capture the island, however, because it turns out absolute monarch neighbours don't like republics. The republicans managed to hold out however until 1801, in which they were defeated and the Kelvöns got their shiny palaces back, though this time as constitutional monarchs. 

Everyone lived happily ever after again, and during the time of the industrial revolution and modernisation of the late 1800s, Gadutea was chosen as location for Stedoria's shipbuilding ventures, and would remain the main location of Stedoria's fleet until it was established as an independent state.

This however, came crashing down not during the First Argic War, but during the Second Argic War, because the sequal is always worse than the prequal. (Although the lore isn't properly established for the Second Argic War, these are the plans for when we build the lore/story for the war). Stedoria wasn't exactly doing well, and the economy doesn't really like shortages and inflation, and, as it turns out, neither do the military or the people. As such, a coup d'état occured in 1971 (https://iiwiki.us/wiki/1971_Stedorian_coup_d'état), and the new military government decided that it was a bit tired of war and opted to get out of the war as quick as possible. As a part of this peace treaty, Gadutea, the important naval base and shipbuilding island, was to be established as an independent republican free state under the protection of (I need a powerful democratic country here, applications open) to ensure that Stedoria wouldn't try to invade it back.

After the military junta was removed and the monarchy re-established in 1980, Stedorians were too busy killing each other in a civil war to care about the island, also resulting in a fair bit of refugees heading to Gadutea. Anyways, this war decided to end in 1994 after monarchist forces won. They started to set their sights on the island, but again (powerful democratic country) was a fairly big obstacle.

After the Second electric bogaloo Stedorian Revolution, Stedoria still has its sights on the island; as explained next, the Gemotamist government in Gadutea openly desires reunification with Stedoria, whilst liberals, conservatives, social democrats, and those pacifist types prefer the status quo, and far-right and far-left movements generally support unification.

Government

Basically, Gadutea was your average run-of-the-mill (if that's how you say it) liberal-democracy post independence, being controlled by your average centre/centre-left/centre-right governments. This however, changed after the civil war ended; what was left of the Gemotamist rebels and leaders fled to Gadutea (again still protected) and established a Dolchic Socialist Gemotam Party (https://iiwiki.us/wiki/Dolchic_Socialist_Gemotam_Party) regional branch there. Since this party was fine with participating in elections, (democratic protecting power) didn't really care. In the meantime, the Gemotam Party emerged as a stronger political force each election since it was basically that edgy political alternative for political nihilists and kool kids. In the early 2000s, the Gemotam Party was in coalition governments as a junior partner, by the mid 2000s, the dominant partner, by the Second Stedorian Revolution, a majority. Essentially now, they've started to become a bit authoritarian, though not Stedoria levels. Think of Hungary under Orban as a close analogy.

The Plan

The plan is basically Crimea 2015 (referendum) and Chile 1973 (coup) in a blender (i.e. horrifying). I plan for it to occur over a few months.

1. Presidental elections are coming, and the opposition does what Hungary did in 2022 and decides to unite, though they still remain split into 3 main groups - your liberal-conservative-moderates, your far-left opposition, and your far-right opposition.
2. The election happens, the liberal opposition wins, but it's like Chile's 1970 presidental election where the president-elect wins with only like 30 something percent of the vote.
3. The president is sworn in and starts governing, or at least tries to. Basically he fights with parliament and the judiciary like Allende did and political turmoil is through the roof, even making the far-left and far-right prefer the Gemotamists to the moderates.
4. Gadutea's military (Gemotamist-leaning thanks to the ideology's militarism and Stedorian exiles) launches a military coup, with the help of Stedoria's secret service and declares parliament dissolved, elections invalidated, and the consitution suspended. The Gemotamists, far-left, and far-right all support the coup, so although major protests happen, they don't change anything.
5. Very hastily in order to stop (democratic protecting power), a referendum is held to reunify with Stedoria. The moderate opposition urges a boycott while Gemotamists, far-left, and far-right groups support a yes vote.
6. The referendum passes by a massive margin thanks to the boycott, and Gadutea unilaterally withdraws from (treaty from Second Argic War that established Gadutea) and joins Stedoria, which Stedoria happily accepts and incorporates Gadutea as an autonomous province, like Alzia.
7. (Democratic power) and allies aren't too happy to say the least, and demand independence be restored. Stedoria of course refuses and states (treaty) is no longer valid. Basically a Crimea plays out where threats are made, some sanctions, but nothing is actually reversed. Whilst economic damage occurs, it is politically seen as a victory within Stedoria of Gemotamism.

Stats

Area obviously is just whatever the size of the island is.

Population is quite small, about 300,000 thousand.

Economically, the island is probably richer than Stedoria thanks to investments, economic liberalism, and use as a tax haven. However, this has been decreasing thanks to the Gemotamists, and by the time the coup happens, the damage is already done, so the economic stats are about the same as Stedoria. (GDP per capita at the time of unification is about $12,000; the coup causes a major and rapid economic crisis before unification.)

I'm fine with changing any of these stats, so if you think they should be lower or higher, just say so. I'm more so interested in the territory and roleplay, so population and economic stats aren't too big of a deal to me.

And of course, please ask any other questions/concerns pertaining to this scenario.

Also, if this ends up being refused for the time being, I'd like request that this is postponed so when an expansion is ready for me, I can use this scenario.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Stedoria (see edit history)

[Seylos]

Throw it into RP. I personally approve of this, good work.

 

And as a neighbor, if there is anything I contribute let me know.

[Fubukino]

As a moderator, I like what I see and I am genuinely excited to see where this goes. I approve of this expansion!

[Xio]

Just repeating what the admin and mod said above, all looks good, approved.

Just one question @Stedoria: would this plan occur over a single RP thread or multiple, and do you expect to do anything with the nation outside of the thread(s)?
This is so I can determine if this should be a reserved area or an expansion NPC.

[Stedoria]

4 hours ago, Xio said:

Just repeating what the admin and mod said above, all looks good, approved.

Just one question @Stedoria: would this plan occur over a single RP thread or multiple, and do you expect to do anything with the nation outside of the thread(s)?
This is so I can determine if this should be a reserved area or an expansion NPC.

I plan for it to occur within one thread, similar to Baltica's civil war. There will be a few new stories in my media/news thread, but the rp and situation itself will happen in its own thread.

[Stedoria]

Also, I still require a democratic power to act as the nation that has been watching over Gadutea.

Like I said before, the protecting power must be democratic, and closer to Gadutea would be preferred, but it isn't a requirement.

[Delamaria]

On 4/6/2022 at 2:25 PM, Stedoria said:

Also, I still require a democratic power to act as the nation that has been watching over Gadutea.

Like I said before, the protecting power must be democratic, and closer to Gadutea would be preferred, but it isn't a requirement.

I’d say @Seylos and Delamaria could fill that position, being in the same region and with the navies the way they are it would be possible to exert some influence in the region outside of diplomatic channels.

[Stedoria]

1 hour ago, Delamaria said:

I’d say @Seylos and Delamaria could fill that position, being in the same region and with the navies the way they are it would be possible to exert some influence in the region outside of diplomatic channels.

That works fine for me; I think two countries acting as a protector could make it more interesting.

[Seylos]

On top of this Seylos is probably a bit more distracted at the moment than Delamaria. Be a good way for Delamaria to have some more "regional power points" if you will haha. But I'm for both of us.