Republic of La Rossa
Republic of La Rossa | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Map of La Rossa | |
| Capital | No Capital |
| Largest city | Padeno |
| Demonym | Rossan |
| Leaders | |
• Dux | Leo Minestrici di Mineria |
| Legislature | Advisory Council |
| Establishment | |
| before 1700 TT | |
• Republic of La Rossa | 1044 TT |
• La Denunzia | 5 PC |
• Joined the IGRS | 10-4 41 PC |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 700,000 |
| Currency | Rossan Argotto |
The Republic of La Rossa, commonly known only as La Rossa, is an island nation situated in the western Attu Archipelago. Its six constituent city-provinces have a total population of 700,000 and an area of 11,860 square kilometers. Its largest city is Padeno, standing at 210,000 citizens. The nation has no formal capital. The island's territory is marked by its mountainous terrain and long coastline. Its highest peak is Mount Montesuvia, standing at approximately 3300 units above sea level. The country's name hails from the redbell flowers endemic to the island, which have become one of its most distinct luxury exports since the clearing of the archipelago.
Largely a devolved federation, the country's six city-provinces possess a significant degree of autonomy in most matters, but elect a single shared leader, or Dux, who wields significant power. The Dux is allowed to serve an unlimited amount of two-year terms, and is accompanied by an Advisory Council of five members, who provide guidance in decision-making. Although the island's historical records have deemed it to once have been a moderately wealthy nation, the political disruptions and instability of the past decades have made for a chaotic state of affairs in the years after the Grand Calming. Its currency is the argotto. The nation's economy has been described as stagnant, with its growth often overshadowed by inflation. 18% of the population is believed to live in poverty. The country's fertility rate stands at 2.4 children per woman. The infant mortality rate lies at 21 in 1000 births. The island's population is largely irreligious, and the small bouts of religiousness on the island usually find themselves centered around immigrant communities, and a small number of converts. Although the island has received an influx of immigrants in recent years, its migration rate has shown to be a net negative, and the island's population has decreased by 6.8% over the past 10 years.
History
Early Era
The island nation's earliest recorded history traces its roots back to the Montesuvian Pottery, a collection of clay artifacts discovered near the city of Buglio, dated to approximately 3700 TT. Although such discoveries from the Early Era have remained relatively sparse, the cultural attachment to the relics and their distinctive line has influenced several contemporary art movements in the Modern Era, such as linea and Colscritto. Other notable examples from the Early Era include the ruins of Averno, thought to be the first large settlement on the island, dated to 3250 TT, and the Minerian Stone (dated 2970 TT), the island's first sign of written language. Currency, in form of pieces of silver, is thought to have fully replaced barter by the Late Early Era.
Middle Era
The period of the Early Middle Era was characterized by the rise of city-states on the island shores. Smaller towns were quickly swallowed up into the spheres of influence of the great merchant hubs. Despite being connected by land, due to its high altitude and sparse fertile land, the island's inner center, characterized by the Montesuvian mountain range, has remained mostly barren and unpopulated, and unsuitable for travel. The cities, instead, remained connected through the surrounding seas. Due to the storm that engulfed the island, the ships were forced to stay close to shore. Despite some of the inconveniences that this method of transportation posed, ships remained a reliable route for travel and intercity trade, and led to the birth of a lively shipbuilding industry, to this day considered one of the island's most important pieces of national heritage.
The mountains' rich silver deposits, however, immediately made them a valuable prize upon discovery, starting the Silver Rush of 1296 TT. Six merchant Families, forming the ruling aristocracies of the six largest cities on the island - Buglio, Salino, Mineria, Padeno, Lorma, and Tolia - were quick to establish silver mines in the mountainhills. Competition in search of riches soon turned to open conflict, as armies were raised in efforts to seize the operations of the other Families. This brutal period, characterized by bouts of violence in the dangerous, snow-covered mountaintops, brought with it many military reforms, such as army service in exchange for regular pay. Enticements made by one family were soon matched by the other five, in an effort to keep their own forces from defecting.
The period of violence discontinuously went on for decades, without much change in control. Skirmishes reportedly occurred as far as 1044 TT, until Giuseppe Giannone di Salino (1073-1029 TT), who would later come to be known as the Father of La Rossa, rose to become the head of the Salino merchant family. As would soon become apparent, he proved to be a masterful negotiatior, and over many months struck a deal with the neighboring Padeno and Buglio, upheaving the status quo of fierce competition into careful cooperation. Intercity trade between towns once again flourished, and the mining operation, no longer under threat of fire, slowly turned to greater extraction. The remaining cities laid down their arms within a few years, and reluctantly joined the city-state compact.
Modern Era
The Republic of La Rossa has for long prided itself with its Thousand-Year Democracy. Finally at peace, the heads of the Families of the six city-states sat down at a round table, seeking to find a way for the self-destructive past not to repeat itself. Struck was a deal - instead of a fragile agreement keeping the Six in amicable terms, a shared state would be born to stand over them all, military at the ready to strike against he who refuses to stay in line. Above them all, an elected Dux would be chosen by the Families to preside over them. The early republic knew no concept of universal suffrage, instead, it was only the upper merchant class, associated with the Families, and their highest associates, who received the power of vote. Giuseppe Giannone would be overwhelmingly chosen to serve the first two-year term, and would hold the position until his death, being re-elected a stunning 7 times, before dying in his palace. With rare exceptions, a tradition of lifelong Duxes was born.
Despite the new status of rule over the island, the Duke Republic would, for the most part, stay out of the way of local governance. For many years, life for many continued on as usual, and quality of life slowly, but steadily rose over the decades, bolstered by the influx of goods all across the island. In 709 TT, the island would be blessed by the invention of the printing press, the advent of widespread communication across the isola. The Families soon realized that the invention simplified business as much as it allowed for the free spread of ideas. To prevent it from reaching the wrong hands, the Dux took complete control over the production and possession of the machine. In 654 TT, under the rulership of Dux Francesco Buonestrotti di Buglio (ruled 662-652 TT), the state would centralize further, as silver coin, minted locally, and its value assessed in weight, would be replaced with paper currency, backed by silver. Divisible in parts of eight, as the old money used to be, and wishing to preserve the memory of the silver that for so long defined the island's trade, the argotto was born.
The long reign of Dux Giorgio Miglio di Padeno (ruled 228-199 TT) saw a great amount of societal progress, following the invention of the coal engine in 248 TT, during the rule of his predecessor. Innovation was swift, as machine labor soon replaced human, only to end up in need of more of it, as need for coal soared. The years following the invention saw an increase in child labor, as well as child mortality. New bodies are still being discovered in the mountains of Montesuvia. The oared vessels were replaced by coalships, capable of reliably pushing through even the worst of stormy weather at twice the speed of past vessels. 223 TT would see the opening of the first publicly-funded, mandatory schooling system. Children above the age of 8 were required to spend five years in schooling institutions learning about arithmetic, reading, and writing. Although private schooling had existed for centuries prior, the ability to afford private tutors was reserved mostly for the rich merchant class, and for a few years, factory owners. The years in the following decades all led to the rise of literacy rates, as each passing year saw one generation of old be replaced by literate youth.
The rise in literacy rates served to increase productivity as much as it led to rise of popular ideas. Due to the state monopoly on the printing press, however, their dissemination remained an impassable obstacle. Dissent, however, slowly but surely rose, pushed over the tipping point after the Piazza Rossa Massacre in 106 TT, a clash between protesters and armed forces which led to the deaths of 34 protesting students in Padeno, as well as 6 soldiers. The ensuing Spirit Revolution, as it would later become known, saw groups of radicals across the island violently seize control of several printing presses across the city-provinces. Over the course of the next several days, thousands of copies of the groups' manifesto, La Libertà, were printed. The text, 20 pages long, heavily criticized the archaic system of aristocratic rule across the island, and called for the violent overthrow of its rulers by the masses, in favor of what it called "true democratic rule". Although the participants in the uprising were all arrested or shot as the army broke through their defenses, they were never able to trace down every paper copy.
Violent demonstrations only rose in the following months, as issues integrated into the movement compounded. Besides calls for democracy and liberty, more popular still became calls for just wages and working hours. Under much public pressure, Dux Edmondo Giannone di Salino (ruled 110-106 TT) resigned mere weeks after his re-election. In his place, his nephew, Dux Michelangelo Giannone di Salino (ruled 106-92 TT), a modest sympathizer to some of the movement's popular ideas, took it upon himself to quell public discontent. A wave of democratization followed in the ensuing months, and suffrage was extended to all men possessing property, or the ability to pay the poll tax. This reform effectively extended the right to vote to about a third of the population. An Advisory Council, made up of five members, one from each of the city-provinces, excluding the one from which the Dux hails, was formed, capable of halting the Dux's actions with a 4/5ths vote.
The post-revolutionary period saw a great rise in literature and a flourishing art movement, regarded by many to be the country's artistic Rossan Golden Age. In the centuries past, artistic expression, despite being present in local communities, remained rather limited, due to the strong hold of the state over the distribution of text and print. While this hold remained firm over the course of most of the rest of the Modern Era, much greater liberty was given over print, and citizens with sufficient funds to print were allowed to use the government-owned presses, as long as they were deemed to not be dangerous or politically charged. This led to the rise of Arte Popolare, printed en-masse and widely distributed across the island. A catch-all term, Arte Popolare was home to a wide range of artistic movements, and the island's sudden focus on it allowed for the rise of a wide range of improvements in the art of print by the end of the century, such as color printing. Women's movements, despite remaining quite small, found refuge in the art movement.
Apart from artistic applications, the rise of print in many ways facilitated the work of the emerging scientific community, which developed from a field mostly dominated by amateur inventors into one that sought to create experts. The universities in each of the six cities greatly expanded in size, as entry slowly opened to the general population. The first scientific journal, La Rivista di Medicina e Tecnologia, was published in the city of Lorma, in the year 89 TT, and allowed for the collection of works of the collaborative effort of the island's scientific community. Microbodies, known for decades to amateur microscopers, were soon identified as the cause of illness. The workings behind first muccino (receiving its name from the Rossan word for cow, mucca, the blood of which were used in the original injection), discovered mostly by accident in 107 TT, were quickly being unraveled, and past misconceptions about the body's inner mechanisms were quickly being dispelled, and allowed for the development of muccinos for a wide range of diseases, lowering mortality rates, especially in children. In 16 TT, a potent microbody killer was discovered to be present in cheese mold, and has allowed for the treatment of some diseases.
La Denunzia
While the Rossan Golden Age period of wealth and prosperity lasted through the period several Duxes, an end to it was, in retrospect, for decades visible on the horizon. Few were envious of the position Dux Mario Buonestrotti di Buglio (ruled 2 TT to 5 PC) found himself in, when the task of dealing with the crisis befell him when it was announced in 1 PC that the silver reserves in Montesuvia dried up. Despite its use of paper currency, it was nonetheless backed by the country's reserves of silver, which continued to grow throughout the centuries until their sudden exhaustion. New money could not be printed, and a period of deflation and austerity soon followed, as a campaign of jewelry buybacks was established.
A destabilizing moment in the country's history, the Dux immediately vowed to send out seeking expeditions in search of unknown deposits. The initial wave of support, mobilized in hopes that an end to the woes may be established, slowly started to wane. Barely winning re-election in 3 PC, something that has happened to only a handful of previous incumbents, the Dux's unpopularity, even among the ruling class, soon became apparent, and calls against him only grew louder as the months went on. Although small, loud radical voices from the Families started to call for secession from the state compact, and similar anti-government sentiment was starting to be heard from the general populace. A higher police presence was established across the cities, and political arrests became everyday occurrences.
Violence once more erupted when the Dux was again re-elected in 5 PC. Facing loud opposition from a non-aristocrat, Giulio Falcone, the first in history to ever gain such prominence, the Dux was re-elected with razor-thin margins in an election that was widely disputed among the populace, many of whom had lost their right to vote as they sold their properties in past years. A popular movement known as La Denunzia (Rossan for "The Denunciation") marched to the streets, overflowing all six of the major cities with a sea of people. Although the military was called in order to quash dissent, it was soon overrun by the crowds. After days of rushing at the door, the Dux resigned, and the people stormed the palace. Without holding another election, Giulio Falcone was crowned Dux in Tolia, the city most hit by the recent chaos. The Advisory Council was similarly thrown out, and popular leaders from each of the cities were instead appointed. Among them was included Alessandra DeGaio, a leader of the Women's Rights Movement, and the first woman to hold such a position of power.
In many ways inspired by La Libertà, Dux Falcone (ruled 5 PC to 15 PC) promised to end the sham democracy of the past eras, and enter a new age in the island's history. A sharp progressive taxation rate was placed upon the populace, in an effort to lessen the load of the austerity measures on the poorer parts of the nation, and redistribute the wealth of the founding Families. Utilizing the same methods as the past rulers, military force was used to quash pro-aristocratic voices, many of whom retained their powerful sway even after La Denunzia. Although elections were supposed to held in 7 PC, two years after the previous ones, as is custom, the Dux used his still high popularity to show there was no reason for another to be held this year, claiming it could easily be compromised by the aristocrats of the past, as he claimed they had done previously, and that corruption still remained to be rooted out.
In 9 PC, the Second Calming suddenly swept the archipelago, and the storm that had once been the end of the world cleared to reveal an entire world waiting across the seas. Another ground-shaking development in an already destabilizing era, the Dux once more called for the postponing of the elections, as the country rattled to adjust to the big wide world around them. A commission to present the country to the world was soon established, and a flag was designed after the country's opening, to be hoisted atop of vessels as they were slowly sent out into international waters, in accordance with the tradition that the merchant ships of the six city-states once held.
Elections were finally held in 15 PC, after massive demonstrations against the once popular leader. For the first time, universal suffrage was implemented, allowing women (and many men) to vote for the first time. Ducissa Alessandra DeGaio (ruled 15 PC to 29 PC, one of the former Dux's most outspoken critics within the government, was elected. Implementing a wide range of reforms, such as dismantling the silver standard, and establishing wide forms of welfare, mostly funded by the collected past riches of the Six Families, made her an incredibly popular leader, as the wealth of many parts of the population began to rose, despite the economy remaining mostly stagnant. Due to internal chaos, the country once built on trade was unable to fully take advantage of the freshly opened markets of the world. Its leadership mostly remained internally focused, and somewhat isolated.
As inequality was equalized in the years after her reign, the stagnant economy soon proved to be a much greater issue in the public mind. The country is currently described as a struggling welfare state. After 34 years out of power, a member of the Families was once again elected. Dux Leo Minestrici di Mineria (ruling from 39 PC) found his way to the throne on the promise that the once proud merchant industry will once more be revived, to the benefit of all living in La Rossa. With a strong focus on exporting goods, for which he states there are many of, and high tariffs on imports, which he claims the self-sufficient island doesn't have much need for, his followers have enthusiastically dubbed the ideological platform mercantilismo. With cuts to taxes, and even bigger cuts to welfare, the government's budget is for the first time in years no longer running a deficit. Time will tell whether the island's economic malaise finds an end.
Geography
Legend:
Orange - 3000 m
Gold - 2000 m
Yellow - 1000 m
Green - 500 m
Teal - 250 m
With an area of 11,860 square kilometers, the island of La Rossa is the 8th largest in the Attu Archipelago, though it remains one of the least densely populated nations in the world. With the mountains of Montesuvia covering most of the inner island, with peaks reaching over 3,000m in altitude, the nation's six cities have found themselves located on the coastline along a relatively narrow strip of land of low elevation. Although the rocky coastline fashions a dry summer climate, the higher mountains regularly reach cooler temperatures, with the tallest peaks being covered with permanent ice caps, with temperatures remaining below freezing throughout the entire year.
While the higher mountains have proven to be unsuitable for growth of most crops, due to low temperatures and steep inclines, the soil covering the lowlands has proven to be quite fertile, opening the doors to a robust agricultural industry. With most of the fertile lands finding themselves within the borders of the city-province of Buglio, the region has grown to become the most prominent food producer in the nation.
Home to an endemic species of flower, the Montesuvian redbells have grown to become a beloved national symbol. Able to grow only in a narrow slice of the mountains that cover the island, the flower is extremely sensitive to climate variations, and prone to wilting under sub-optimal condition. Due to the specific conditions required for its growth, which only the mountains of Montesuvia are known to satisfy, the plant is taken as a sign of symbolic distinction from the rest of the Attu Archipelago, and is featured prominently on the nation's flag in order to evoke national pride.