Florentia Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 (edited) The Upper Confederation Hey boiiiiis. Since, just like the Soviet Union, I very much like planning, and that I also have way too many ideas, here is a proposal for a future expansion of my own. Of course, since this won’t happen before like one or two years, this is only so we can all talk about it, propose ideas to improve the whole setting, etc. This country being essentially a loose alliance of four different countries, I will be detailing the stats of the confederation as a whole but also of each country. I. Upper Confederation General overview : The Upper Confederation is a loose confederation of four states (Upper Kingdom, Dopicorie, Our-Lady of Anger and Shinkaigan) which was created in 1883 to resist against the threat of a Florentian invasion. The Confederation is led by the King or Queen of the Upper Kingdom and the yearly Confederal Conference is held at Fort-d’en-Haut, the capital city of the Upper Kingdom. With tensions between the states growing louder and louder, the Upper Confederation might soon become the Upper Chaos… Full & common name : Upper Confederation (Confédération-d’en-Haut) Demonym : Upper(s) (d’en-Haut(s)) Capital city : Fort-d’en-Haut (Upper Fort in Lysian) Flag : Map : Stats : Land [1] : approximately 170k km2 Economy [1] : 14,103 Population [1] : 22,190k inhabitants II. Shinkaigan Overview : Shinkaigan is a city-state, de jure democratic and de facto oligarchic, located at the very south of the Confederation. Being the Confederation’s sole sea access since 2013, Shinkaigan greatly benefited from this, forcing the other states to pay extremely high tariffs. Shinkaigan is also known for its dense brownfield land, powerful mafia, smuggling activities, corrupt political machinery and numerous foreign criminals seeking asylum in this unfortunate land, hence its nickname “Little Belleville”. Nickname which the Shinkaiganes hate, instead calling Belleville the “Big Shinkaigan”. Indeed, there is a saying out there : “What Belleville did, Shinkaigan did it first and with less.” Less what ? Well, Belleville may be corrupt and filled with organised crime, but at least it always had a functioning and stable democratic system with strong civil rights, as well as a privileged located at the delta of the Saint-Elme River. Shinkaigan has none of that : only the goods of the backward confederation goes through its ports, its democracy is flawed and its government is inefficient. Without the mafia and the oligarchs to keep a bit of order, the township would already be a failed state. Thus, Shinkaigan became the refuge of the wurld’s worst criminals, opportunists and political exiles, where everyone can succeed with enough cunning, ruthlessness and ambition. Full name : Township of Shinkaigan (Municipalité de Shinkaigan) Common name : Shinkaigan Demonym : Shinkaiganese (Shinkaiganais) Capital city : Shinkaigan Flag : Stats : Land [0] : approximately 600 km2 Economy [2] : 18,893 Population [0] : 8,003k inhabitants III. Dopicorie Overview : Dopicorie is a military dictatorship led by President-Marshal Justin Bindessan. It is a country known for its instability and military interference into politics. This instability culminated in 2012 with the coup d’etat of marshal Justin Bindessan following the victory of the liberal Unitarist Party against the populist Federalist Party. The Unitarists revolted against the Federalist dictatorship, which led to the Dopicor civil war in 2012-2015. After the victory of the Federalists, President-Marshal Bindessan proclaimed the Federal Republic of Dopicorie and then centralised it into a unitary state to prevent any dissent. Full name : Federal Republic of Dopicorie (République Fédérale de Dopicorie) Common name : Dopicorie Demonym : Dopicor(s) (Dopicore(s)) Capital city : Dopicor (formerly), Mont-Blanac (currently) Flag : Stats : Land [0] : approximately 50k km2 Economy [0] : 4,385 Population [0] : 4,012k inhabitants IV. Upper Kingdom Overview : The Upper Kingdom is an absolute monarchy led by Queen Alexandra I, a young woman known for her deranged, unstable behaviour since she saw her parents being decapitated by republican revolutionaries, in 1996, at the age of six. After the death of the King, the Kingdom was taken in charge by a regency council made of nobles who, thanks to years of mismanagement, corruption and abuses, reduced the Kingdom to ruins. After the coronation of Alexandra, the realm continued its descent into nightmare, as the royal guards ruthlessly carry the absurd decrees of their Queen, unless they want to be executed. Full & common name : Upper Kingdom (Royaume-d’en-Haut) Demonym : Upper(s) (d’en-Haut(s)) Capital city : Fort-d’en-Haut (Upper Fort in Lysian) Flag : Stats : Land [0] : approximately 60k km2 Economy [0] : 3,768 Population [0] : 5,617k inhabitants V. Our-Lady of Anger Overview : O-L. of Anger is a theocratic socialist federation of metropolises (i.e. orthodox dioceses) known for its radically egalitarian and progressive ethos, as well as its constantly high standard of living through history. It is the only stable and truly democratic country of the Confederation, and it has the highest standard of living. Inhabited by orthodox demonists, they pray not only God but also Our-Lady of Anger, commonly called Sanouha, which is the demonist interpretation of the Cashari’s Thunderbird. Because of its history, O-L. of Anger has always lived as if it was under a state of siege. Thus, every citizen regularly does military training and is expected to take arms if the Federation is being attacked. Aside from its constant vigilance, O-L. of Anger is also known for winds which, concentrated between the northern and the southern plateaus, can get very strong. There are also numerous storms coming from the north, yet they are celebrated as manifestations of Sanouha. Finally, O-L. of Anger is also known for its unique architecture designed to amplify the sound of wind. Full name : Federated Metropolises of Our-Lady of Anger (Métropolises Fédérés de Notre-Dame de la Colère) Common name : Our-Lady of Anger Demonym : Colerist(s) (Colèriste(s)) Capital city : Les Abymes Flag : Stats : Land [0] : approximately 60k km2 Economy [0] : 18,575 Population [0] : 4,558k inhabitants VI. Economy The Confederation’s economy is diverse and depends of each state. Shinkaigan’s economy rely mostly on its tariffs, banking sector (thanks to bank secrecy), shipbreaking, industry and criminal activities. Dopicorie is mostly known for their cash crop plantations (cotton, tobacco) and gold mines, though recently the government also accepted to store foreign waste to pay for the post-civil war reconstruction. The Upper Kingdom’s economy relies on gold mines and subsistence farming, but it is also known for its ornate weapons (swords, guns, etc). Finally, Our-Lady of Anger’s economy is mostly agricultural, being the breadbasket of the Confederation, even though the green energies sector has been recently booming thanks to the local strong winds. VII. History The first settlers in the region arrived from Esonice when, in 1452, a group of merchants founded the port of Shinkaigan. Trade with the natives flourished. However, tensions appeared when the Esonians attempted to settle further inland and “civilize” the natives (i.e. convert them to Shinshi faith and teach them Esonian). Because of a combination of native incursions and intervention from the Europan powers, the Esonian colonial empire fell, Shinkaigan being its only remnant as an autonomous port. In the 17th century, settlers arrived from the colony of Florentia and colonised the rest of today’s confederation, navigating through rivers to found the cities of Fort-d’en-Haut and Dopicor. In the meantime, settlers travelled to the stormy yet fertile lands of the north. These settlers mixed with the locals and adopted their custom of collectively owned land and local assemblies, while the Cashari natives were converted to the demonist faith. The whole region became known as the Upper Country (Pays-d’en-Haut) because of its plateaux and the two minor sources of the Saint-Elme River. After the Florentian independence, the Upper Country became the Upper Kingdom, led by the House of Azgly which used to govern the Marquisate of Azgly, a small region in the north-east byphean mountains, during the Ancien Régime. However, the region was sparsely populated and the Kingdom only had direct control next to the rivers, with the northern mestizos region even living as its very own state. In 1803, the Shinkaiganese merchants pushed the local Governor to adopt a constitution, establishing a liberal democratic system which will, a year later, inspire the Bellevillian Constitution of 1804. In July 1804, when Florentia threatened Esonice to give the village of Sademi as a treaty port, the port of Shinkaigan submitted to the Florentian crown in exchange for total autonomy. Shinkaigan became the first Imperial Free City of Florentia. Because of its sparse population and the smaller amount of settlers, the Upper Kingdom was generally mixed race, with only the noble slavers being strictly white. However, after a few decades, two new categories had risen : the free men of colour (“gens de couleur libre”) and the little whites (“petits blancs”). The free men of colour were children of a slaver and a slave, who were freed and given land and slaves. While not treated as white nobles, the free men of colour still held as much titles, land and slaves as their fellow nobles. The little whites were settlers who came during the 1830s Upper gold rush in the plateau, and who didn’t assimilate with the natives out of racism. They were usually bureaucrats, plantation overseers, etc, and despite the often strict racial laws of Florentia, their social status remained below the free men of colour because of their commoner status. In 1859, King Maximillien II attempted to centralise the Kingdom, which escalated into a full-blown revolt from the northern mestizos. Jumping on the occasion, the free men of colour sent an ultimatum to the Upper Crown, requesting to be recognised as equal to the white nobles. The crown refused, sparking a revolt from the southern part of the Kingdom, where most of the free men of colour were located. To avoid the collapse of the western part of the Empire, Emperor Ambroise II forced King Maximilien II to abandon its northern and southern territories, creating the Grand-Duchy of Dopicorie and the Federated Metropolises of Our-Lady of Anger, which became proper Florentian states. During the Florentian civil war, the Upper Kingdom initially supported the slaver secession but, out of fear of the possible backlash if the confederates loose, the King quickly betrayed them to side with the Emperor. In the meantime, Dopicorie and Our-Lady of Anger also sided with the Emperor, fearing the reactionary and white supremacist policies of the confederates. However, when the city of Belleville capitulated in 1883, the Upper states knew that this was over for the Empire, and they declared independence. To protect themselves from Florentia, they created the Upper Confederation. Seizing the opportunity, Shinkaigan also declared independence and joined the Confederation. After leaving the Empire, less and less goods were flowing through Shinkaigan. In 1898, in a desperate attempt to restore the reputation of the Confederation, Shinkaigan pressured Dopicorie and the Upper Kingdom to abolish slavery by refusing to trade their goods. While it damaged the Shinkaiganese economy, it completely bankrupted the slaver states and could have caused a widespread famine if Our-Lady of Anger didn’t send food supplies. After nearly a year, King Maximilien III gave in. However, Grand-Duke Faustin II didn’t concede an inch, which ultimately led to the Dopicor revolution of 1903, abolishing slavery and establishing the Republic of Dopicorie. This only shortly improved the situation for Shinkaigan, who was still suffocating because of its stubborn refusal to trade with Belleville, and thus Florentia. Thus, as the normal ways to make a living slowly disappeared, Shinkaiganese had to find alternative ways, which meant organised crime. This is how Shinkaigan rapidly became the home of the unfortunate, opportunists and criminals, with the Association of the Friends of Democracy (AFD) sweeping every election thanks to blatant electoral fraud. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, a few gains have been made regarding civil rights in the Upper Kingdom. While democracy was out of the question, the strict claw of the House of Azgly was getting less oppressive. However, everything went backward when the young King Maximilien VII crowned in 1991, inspired by the absolutist reign of Orphée I of Ocraly, attempted to build a totalitarian monarchy. He partially succeeded, but not enough to prevent republican revolutionaries from storming his palace and killing him in 1996, with his daughter Alexandra barely managing to hide from the unruly, frightening masses. After the royal guards dealt with the revolutionaries, the Upper nobility formed the Regency Council, who ruthlessly secured the rule of the monarchy. In 1999, to celebrate the centenary of the abolition of the Kingdom’s slavery, the President of Dopicorie Martin Mallard offered to the nine-year-old Queen Alexandra I the skull of Grand-Duke Faustin II of Dopicorie, which, affectionately called “my dear Faustin” by Alexandra, quickly became her best friend. In 2010, Queen Alexandra I married her cousin, Prince Léandre of Azgly, and had a son named Faustin in 2016. In 2012, after 112 years of political domination of the Federalist Party – socially conservative, nationalist and populist –, the opposing Unitarist Party – classical liberalism and laissez-faire – finally won the elections, despite the threats of the Dopicor armed forces. Marshal Justin Bindessan did a coup d’Etat, taking the title of President-Marshal. This backlashed drastically as the supporters of the Unitarist Party rose up, starting the Dopicor civil war (2012-2015). Taking advantage of the weakness of Dopicorie, Shinkaigan annexed the port of Port-Alizée, the only other sea access of the Confederation, and began increasing the tariffs to extremely high levels. In the meantime, the Kingdom also jumped on the opportunity and occupied the city of Dopicor, the capital of Dopicorie, to restore the Grand-Duchy of Dopicorie with the skull of Faustin II as its Grand-Duke. After the victory of the Federalists and the creation of the unitarist Federal Republic of Dopicorie, President-Marshal Bindessan vehemently condemned the occupations. In 2021, the Esonian CEO Kiyomi Sugiyama was fired by the corporation’s board council next to a scandal involving child labour in a poor third wurld country. Her reputation severely damaged, Kiyomi fled to Shinkaigan. In early 2025, she created her own party, the Association of the Friends of the People (AFP) and ran on a populist agenda, promising to bring back the rule of law, order and democracy to Shinkaigan. Surprising almost all foreign observers, Kiyomi was elected mayor with a thin margin, beating the AFD candidate. Inaugurated in July 2025, many foreign observers hope that she will finally clean-up Shinkaigan, though a few others have serious doubts about her real intentions… VIII. Role-play : the Upper Chaos In Shinkaigan, Kiyomi tightens her control. Through ruthless confrontation, she manages to replace the mafia with her own activities, transforming the township into her very own fiefdom. While the promises of democracy are quickly discarded, she holds true to her other promises : law and order, education, welfare, etc, are granted to the populace, making her a popular figure despite her callous methods in backdoors. In the meantime, the nobles of the Upper Kingdom, fed up after a streak of catastrophic decrees from Alexandra I, decide to plot the assassination of the Queen. When she finally dies, they announce the reconstitution of the regency council, ready to keep their grip tight unlike last time. However, not everybody agrees with another decade of oligarchic incompetence. General Valère Waleran, a “burning patriot”, does a coup d’etat. He murders the toddler King and executes the entire nobility, before proclaiming himself Lord-Protector of the Upper Empire and requesting the other states to abandon their autonomy. Obviously, they refuse, so the Upper Empire declares war on the rest of the Confederation. Dopicorie, unprepared, capitulates. Shinkaigan attempts to negociate with the Lord-Protector for autonomy, which is strictly refused. Out of desperation, Our-Lady of Anger and Shinkaigan ask the Florentian Empire for help. Florentia agrees, only under the condition that they become autonomous Florentian region. The deal being accepted, Florentia steps in and defeats the Upper Empire. The Republic of Dopicorie and the Upper Republic are created as a standard Florentian states, with Dopicor returning in Dopicor hands. PS. I forgot to ping @Esonice, Shinkaigan being his former colony. Edited September 23 by Florentia (see edit history) 8 Link to comment
Recommended Posts