by Max Barry

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Have a blessed season and enjoy the merriment while it lasts!

Attention all Novans:

Please take a moment to read this thread: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Nova_Boards/topic/5692862/1/?x=25#new

The security of the region may be a concern in this instance.

meh

HAPPY NEW YEAR NOVA!

May the coming year be one that we look fondly upon for decades to come!

Mon

Happy new year to the lot of you!

Happy New Year to you all in Nova and beyond!

Important announcement:

A matter of great urgency requires discussion within the region. Please visit this thread for more information: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Nova_Boards/topic/5737025/1/

Seasons greetings to all ye! Being Irish I've been destroying my liver over the Christmas period, hence the belated message :)

So are you guys enjoying the new economic stats? I admit that they can be pretty lulzy (my own new economic stats as an example), but it seems like they improved national economic stats by quite a bit.

Post self-deleted by Saintb.

I do like the new economy information, a huge part of that is how much better it made my nation...

Meh, mine are not exactly usable for roleplay, hence my decision to create arbitrary but realistic) economic stats and budgets years ago and annually update them for factbook purposes.

Regional Founder The Principality of Damirez ceased to exist.

DDAAMMMIIRREZZZZ!!!!!

Lamoni wrote:So are you guys enjoying the new economic stats? I admit that they can be pretty lulzy (my own new economic stats as an example), but it seems like they improved national economic stats by quite a bit.

The new stats are funky - and still self-contradictory - but an exchange rate option when comparing with other nations would be good. They should made the USD (or NSD) the game's reserve currency.

Do I have to kick Dami again? It looks like I do.

And Etoile Arcture speaks the truth.

dont really bother with the gameply side, just come up with my own stuff

and Lamoni it's nice if you answer telegrams I send you :P

The new stats have...issues. I have looked at a number of different nation accounts and it appears to be de rigeur for the top quintile of every population to be earning six-figure incomes resulting in unusually massive economies.

Post self-deleted by Lamoni.

I haven't gotten any TGs from you recently, Alfegos. I would have noticed if you sent me any TGs recently.

It would appear Lamoni that my account no longer receives TGs, or sends them out. Ffs.

I'll contact you via the normal means. Nothing too dramatic, just annoying

I've added about 2,000 words of new content to my national history over the past few days and would like to know if anybody has any thoughts on the project.

HISTORY OF THE MONAVIAN EMPIRE PART I

INTRODUCTION

This series of documents exists to provide readers with information on the Monavian Empire’s storied and illustrious history. A proper historical overview of Monavian civilization must necessarily begin by delineating its roots so that readers can enjoy a comprehensive (though not exhaustive) understanding of the people, cultures, civilizations, and events which gave rise to the Imperial Federation as it exists today. This narrative consequently follows a chronological survey format that varies in terms of pacing and concision depending on the subject matter under discussion. With the exception of Chapters I and II, all four parts of this series are written with a dominant focus on economic, political, technological, and military developments while demographic, geographic, cultural, religious, and scientific subjects usually receiving secondary treatment.

This historical narrative is divided into four volumes that correspond to successive chronological phases. Part I (Ch. I–V) concerns itself with six major topics (the era of prehistory, four eras of ancient history, and one era of medieval history). Chapter I covers prehistory (years prior to 4200 BC) and is based almost exclusively on archeology. Chapter II covers the Topolnitsa Watershed Culture and is also based very heavily on archeology. Chapter III recounts the history of Hellanea, including a brief narrative of major events and a summary of its contributions to language and culture. Chapter IV describes the origin and rise of the ancient Kingdom of Vendia, its language and culture, demographics, and other pertinent information. Chapter V covers the history of the Vendian Empire including the conquest and assimilation of Hellanea, the rise of Christianity, and the demographic impact of mass immigration.

Part II (Ch. VI–XI) describes the Monavian Empire’s medieval and early modern history. Chapter VI recounts the succession crisis that precipitated the First Vendian Civil War, the Vendian Empire’s dissolution, and the histories of its successor states prior to 718. Chapter VII describes the process by which the Claudian Dynasty established the Monavian Empire and expanded it between AD 718 and AD 944. Chapter VIII covers the First Interregnum (944–947) and explains how it was triggered by the Claudian Dynasty’s partial collapse. Chapter IX focuses on the high medieval period (947–1190), which saw the territorial expansion of the Monavian Empire under the leadership of the Stefanović Dynasty, the estrangement of Monavian Christendom from multiple claimants to the Papacy, the arrival of the Muslims after 1090, and the Second Interregnum (1190–1194). Chapter X covers the late medieval period (1194–1461) and the civil war of Celestine the Usurper (1461–1469). Chapter XI covers the restoration of the deposed Stefanović Dynasty, the establishment of the Petrović Dynasty in 1515, and the Monavian government’s political shift from the quasi-feudalism of the high medieval period to autocracy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Part III (Ch. XII–XIII) is devoted to the Monavian Empire’s early modern period. Chapter XII explains the circumstances that led to the Council of 1731, the internal reforms that resulted from the Council’s efforts to overhaul the central government and create a new national constitution, and the modernization of the central government during subsequent decades. Chapter XIII recounts the Empire’s territorial expansion during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the expeditions that various explorers launched to map and explore these regions. It also explains how the Empire’s economic development led to the abolition of slavery.

Part IV (Ch. XIV–XVI) focuses on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Chapter XIV explains how the industrialization of the Monavian economy led to both social and governmental reforms in the nineteenth century and the impact of ideological tensions between conservatives and radicals. Chapter XV recounts the Empire’s transition to modernity and the political establishment’s reactions to both progressive reforms and the societal and constitutional changes that took place during this period. Chapter XVI delineates the Empire’s intervention in the Second Vendian Civil War (1933–1947), which is also known as the Vendian Upheaval, and the ways in which the Empire’s leaders handled the conflict’s deleterious effects on their country.

Part V (Ch. XVII–XX) focuses on the period of regional instability that commenced in 1951. Chapter XVII describes the events which forced the Empire to declare armed neutrality when a general climate of instability befell many Novan states after 1950 and places special emphasis on the First Alfegan Civil War and describes its effects on the Empire’s geopolitical and strategic interests. It also recounts Monavian advances in spaceflight and space exploration, communications, and nuclear science. Chapter XVIII discusses the Imperial Federation’s reasons for retreating from involvement in regional affairs between 1982 and 2006. Chapter XIX describes the Monavian Empire’s departure from isolation and its entry into new alliances after 2007. Chapter XX summarizes the Monavian Empire’s involvement in the Corporate Alliance War, the Prevanian Civil War, and subsequent events.


CHAPTER I: MONAVIA DURING PREHISTORY
Years preceding 4200 BC

Monavian prehistory—like much of the prehistory of Nova and elsewhere—is inherently murky, chiefly due to the absence of written records from which to draw needed information. In the absence of these records, scholars have come to rely on the fruits of archeology to plumb the most remote depths of antiquity, though it should be said that archeology is by no means a panacea able to furnish them with all that they need. The earth may yield up artifacts—evidence, in other words—and some surrounding context, but it cannot provide anyone with a definitive means of interpreting this data. This being said, the narrative account that follows herein is necessarily brief compared to the narratives of later periods, but it still bears importance for the simple reason that it recounts the formative experiences that made possible the flourishing of the human species in a country that is now part of the twenty-first century world.

Monavia in the Paleolithic Era

The origins of all human populations indigenous to Monavia can be traced back approximately 40,000 years to the Paleolithic Era. The persons who inhabited the land during this time were loosely organized into bands of no more than a few dozen individuals and roamed throughout the Monavian south. The game they hunted for sustenance came primarily in the form of ungulates and wild bison, though excavations of hunting sites have also yielded a multiplicity of skeletons from smaller animals like squirrels, rabbits, and geese. Their technology was severely limited, encompassing little outside the sphere of crafting simple tools, shelters, and weapons for hunting.

Until the Mesolithic Era commenced around 15000 BC, the first native Monavians (if such a term can be used here) dwelled wherever natural structures offered them shelter. Fossils and the remnants of stone tools have been found inside caves located in the Kolovrat, Oneia, Rodna, and Vermio mountain ranges, as well as various hollows and grottos scattered throughout the prehistoric sylvan wilderness. Little evidence of sedentary living or the domestication of plants and animals exists prior to this period, and most of the achievements that took place in these spheres were accomplished at gradual paces over the course of many centuries.

Monavia in the Mesolithic and Neolithic Eras

Modern estimates of Monavia’s Mesolithic population vary considerably, with more conservative figures approaching twenty to thirty thousand individuals residing within the Empire’s current boundaries. By the time native peoples began practicing agriculture around 9000 BC, they had made forays into animal domestication and the establishment of permanent settlements. Agricultural advances resulted in the cultivation of wheat, specifically spelt (Triticum spelta) and einkorn (Triticum monococcum), along the banks of the Melas and Dorog Rivers, resulting in enough population growth to swell the size of communities into the hundreds. Remains unearthed in these areas include bones from domesticated animals, namely dogs, sheep, and goats. Some populations of nomadic hunters chose to become pastoralists and herders instead of taking up farming, and continued to wander throughout the Empire’s fertile southern grasslands for thousands of years.

The oldest examples of pottery found on Monavian soil date to eighth millennium BC, during which time sedentary farming communities began forming in Monavia’s more temperate climes. Those who lived near forested areas became proficient in carpentry, erecting wooden houses and enclosures for keeping herds of sheep and goats. Although stone was often a cumbersome medium for constructing buildings, its use was also common on riverine areas where it could be plucked out of riverbeds and in hilly terrain where it lay exposed for eventual quarrying. The use of mud bricks for building sturdy structures in the absence of sufficient stone and timber also ran parallel with the proliferation of pottery across hundreds of communities after 7000 BC. Although fossils indicate the domestication of cattle and pigs had been accomplished sometime before 6000 BC, the presence of bones from game animals indicates that hunting was still widely practiced whenever the need for additional food arose.

Monavia in the Chalcolithic Era (5600 BC–4200 BC)

Sometime around 5600 BC, the inhabitants of the once-forested regions surrounding the Kolovrat Mountains formed the first Monavian proto-cities. Each of these communities had populations of less than 2,000 individuals, but they were still considerably larger than anything that had preceded them. The people of these communities built their homes from local stone and timber while pursuing technological progress on multiple fronts. Sometime around 5400 BC they became the first people to cultivate barley (Hordeum vulgare) and common wheat (Triticum aestivum) in what is now Monavian territory and later became the first to practice metallurgy here some 200 years later, digging copper mines and mining alluvial gold, which they slowly learned to work into ornaments.

Map of territory occupied by the Kolovrat Forest Culture in 5000 BC. The forested area shown below no longer exists.

In addition to producing pottery that was more elaborate than anything previously manufactured in this country, they also developed advanced hand tools, woven baskets, ropes, and wooden boats. Considerable debate exists as to whether this society, known today as the Kolovrat Forest Culture, could be counted as a truly civilized state, but there is little doubt among scholars regarding the strength of its influence on surrounding peoples. By 4800 BC, as much as thirty percent of Monavia’s indigenous people had become fully sedentary as they established other proto-cities of comparable size in areas as far north as Modern-day Brezno and as far south as the Tirso and Lys Rivers in northern Vendia.


CHAPTER II: THE TOPOLNITSA WATERSHED CULTURE
4200 BC to 1400 BC

Demographic and Cultural Emergence (4200 BC–2900 BC)

The roots of Monavia’s second indigenous civilization emerged in a manner similar to that of the Kolovrat Forest Culture when nomadic herders who migrated throughout the Topolnitsa Watershed and its surrounding environs slowly gravitated towards the river and its tributaries some 7,000 years ago. It is likely that these herders ultimately remained close to the river to capitalize on the availability of an abundant water supply that would not disappear in years of drought. The first of these nomads to embrace a sedentary lifestyle began constructing permanent settlements along the riverbanks around 4200 BC, though their numbers did not grow very quickly. It is believed that these migrations were anything but spontaneous and took several generations to reach completion, partly due to the fact that archeologists have found some older sites located far from the river. What is known with some certainty (largely thanks to radiocarbon dating of organic materials preserved under layers of alluvial sediments) is that further settlements in the area took place over the next 800 years as more people converted from nomadic herders to sedentary agriculturalists.

The oldest settlements had become firmly established in this region sometime before 3400 BC, resulting in a series of communities that eventually gave rise to Monavia’s first indigenous civilization within the confines of the lower Toplonitsa Watershed. Modern archeologists have dubbed these people the “Topolnitsa Watershed Culture” (or “TWC” for short), mainly because its territory remained largely within the vicinity of the river after which it is named. While scholars still dispute exactly when the TWC truly became civilized, the evidence discovered thus far indicates that the TWC attained formalized social institutions as far back as the latter half of the fourth millennium BC. Although archeologists still entertain conjectures about the existence of indigenous civilized societies during earlier eras, evidence that corroborates these speculations has yet to be found. This is not to say that such evidence does not exist to await future discovery, but until proof emerges to support such claims, the consensus presently held by contemporary scholars will remain unchanged.

Newer settlements established during the next three centuries show that additional immigrants were able to join with those who had arrived earlier to form a population that may have exceeded 50,000 by 3100 BC. During this same 300-year period, the established TWC farmers produced ample stocks of food and doubled their original population, which is estimated at ten to twelve thousand. In addition to mastering the practice of agriculture, the TWC also practiced masonry, carpentry, and metalworking. Sites bearing evidence of copper mining have been dated as far back as 3230 BC and copper tools have been found at many of these early agricultural sites. Golden jewelry has been found in graves and the vicinity of religious buildings, leading many to believe that the TWC was home to a number of skilled metallurgists.

Territory occupied by the Topolnitsa Watershed Culture in 3000 BC.

These economic developments had a number of consequences, among which was the creation of the first TWC writing systems. The earliest writing systems used by the TWC consisted of pictographic symbols etched into the surfaces of clay and stone tablets. Contemporary dating methods have yielded various ages for these items, but it is known with some certainty that the first pictograms that may have eventually inspired the invention of writing in the area date to 3500 BC. In some ways, these writings are easier to understand than later scripts because the symbols often appear as literal representations of objects, rather than abstract lines or symbols that do not visually resemble the ideas or things they represent.

Expansion (2900 BC–2600 BC)

The eventual territorial growth of the TWC was driven by two major factors. The first was demographic pressure resulting from population increases fueled by growing food supplies. The other factor was technology, especially the innovations that facilitated the movement of resources. Excavations have confirmed that the TWC was the first indigenous culture to invent a functioning wheel around 2900 BC, though there is still considerable speculation about how fast the proliferation of wheel technology advanced thereafter. What has been deduced with certainty is that the use of the wheel facilitated the development of carts and other transportation systems that enabled workers to efficiently move resources across longer distances than they could with pack animals or on foot. Wheeled carts were often pulled along footpaths in the rural countryside, spurring demand for clear road surfaces. While road surfaces from this era are exceptionally rare, a few well-compacted stretches of dirt track have survived.

Other forms of commercial infrastructure that came into use at this time included wooden riverside docks, the remains of which have been discovered underwater, and stony wharves, some of which still exist today. The fact that these structures number in the scores indicates that river traffic existed in appreciable volumes and the presence of fossilized fish bones near these locations indicates the existence of a widespread fishing industry. More fish fossils have been unearthed inside the remains of mud brick storehouses, along with copper knives and fired clay tablets that were likely used as inventory records.

Newer TWC writing systems consisting of phonetic scripts first emerged around 2870 BC, though it took more than 200 years for them to fully supersede the older pictographic systems. The majority of all written material from this era was stamped or carved into soft clay tablets and then fired into pottery, but some tablets carved from soft stone have been found during the last thirty years. While an analysis of the general subject matter can be gleaned from documents on the basis of the contexts in which they are found, the TWC writing system still remains to be deciphered. It is believed that most documents unearthed inside the residential quarters of settlements consisted of short inventories of household goods and occasional notes or records. Religious structures contained repositories of recorded material, the content of which included specialized symbols not seen elsewhere—in other words, possible evidence of technical jargon used in instructions for performing rites and rituals. The writings found at the remains of public buildings include records of disputes over property and trade, legal decrees issued by the ruling authorities, and accounts of deeds performed for public benefit.

The Topolnitsa Watershed Culture at its Zenith (2600 BC–1900 BC)

The TWC had already been established as a culture for nearly two thousand years by the time it had reached its period of maturity late in the third millennium BC. Birth rates remained steady after 3300 BC while death rates gradually fell, resulting in an annual net population increase of several hundred persons. By 2600 BC the total population had reached an estimated 100,000 persons and continued growing for a while longer, only for birth rates to undergo a marked decline that increased the population’s doubling time to 130 years.

Prior to the demographic shakeup that characterized the twenty-sixth century BC the TWC economy was almost completely agrarian and its performance largely depended on the productivity of arable land that could be cultivated throughout most of the year. Mining, manufacturing, and commerce accounted for only a small fraction of the TWC’s economic activity in terms of volume, but demand for ores and the trading of manufactured goods grew concentrated within settlements and enabled artisans and craftsmen to earn enough income to form a stable middle class. The tools which these workers fashioned often improved the labor efficiency of diverse activities ranging from land clearance and plowing to construction and transportation, thus freeing additional manpower for other activities.

Territory occupied by the Topolnitsa Watershed Culture in 2500 BC.

In addition to creating organized record-keeping systems, the TWC reaped additional fruits of progress around 2600 BC when they made advances in smelting that enabled them to refine copper and tin to previously unmatched levels of purity. The exact time when the TWC first produced bronze remains a mystery, but artifacts containing crude bronze alloys have been dated as far back as 2580 BC. As the millennium wore on, higher-quality bronze goods appeared all over TWC territory, resulting in archeological finds of bells, platters, bowls, and statues produced during this period. New forging techniques later led to the development of stronger tools and deadlier weapons. By 2500 BC the cumulative impact of these improvements had almost halved the number of farmers needed to till a given unit of land, thus enabling thousands of farmers to pursue other occupations and slowing the pace of settlement across the TWC’s frontiers.

As the TWC’s geographic spread slowed, its pace of internal development quickened as growing cities gave rise to demand for more advanced infrastructure and more commodious public spaces.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Decline and Disappearance (1900 BC–1400 BC)

The collapse of the Topolnitsa Watershed Culture stands out among the falls of various extinct civilizations described in this narrative in that it provides a vivid example of the timeworn maxim “nothing lasts forever.” While the Kolovrat Forest Culture and most Hellanean cultures lasted for roughly a thousand years and the currently-existing Monavian state has stood but a little longer, the TWC was over 2,500 years old when its decline finally set in, making it the longest-lived example of an extinct civilization in northwestern Nova.

The economic conditions that sustained the TWC’s golden age for 700 years were dependent on the renewability of the culture’s agricultural resources. Centuries of erosion and mineral depletion had exacted a crushing toll on crop yields in a number of older settlements after 1900 BC and thus limited food production to levels that were too low to sustain large urban populations. When food supplies ran low in the major cities, the hungry departed for rural locales where supplies still exceeded demand, thus depopulating the culture’s principal cities and creating shortages of unskilled laborers. In turn, the shortage of unskilled workers who were employed to build and maintain urban infrastructure led to the decay of the TWC’s fortifications, monuments, roads, and harbors. Even after the population finally achieved a form of demographic equilibrium, the number of laborers who returned to the cities was far smaller than the number who left, thus precluding an economic recovery.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION


CHAPTER III: HELLANEAN CIVILIZATION IN MONAVIA
1400 BC to 368 BC

Historical Origins (1400 BC–1000 BC)

The vicissitudes of time have obliterated most of the physical remnants of Hellanean civilization and obscured all but a few traces of the portions that still survive. These facts have caused incalculable inconvenience for both archeologists and historians, often forcing them to rely on fragmentary historical accounts, mythological tales, and pure luck to discover what has been lost. Archeological excavations have revealed that the proto-Hellaneans established their first permanent settlements near the mouth of the Sangro River shortly after 1400 BC. The absence of older ruins in the vicinity of these locations has been interpreted as an indication that the proto-Hellaneans originated elsewhere and migrated to this region.

The etymological origin of the name Hellanea is the Vendian Latin corruption of elaió̱nes (Gr. Ελαιώνες), which literally means “olive groves.” According to traditional myths that still endure to the present day, the progenitors of the Hellanean nation came from a small valley filled with groves of olive trees, though the exact location of the valley has never been confirmed and remains in dispute. Genetic research has definitively confirmed that the ancestors of the various Hellanean tribes and their present-day descendants dwelled within the lower Sango Watershed for at least 400 years after their arrival. During this period, the Hellaneans remained a primarily agrarian society, cultivating wheat, barley, and vegetables along the floodplains and practicing animal husbandry on at least a dozen species. They built structures from local stone and timber harvested from the nearby forests, eventually building as many as several thousand homes and enclosures.

By 1000 BC the Hellaneans had expanded their territory eastward beyond the Vermio Mountains and colonized Augustus Island. They had already begun building towns with populations exceeding two to three thousand permanent inhabitants and erecting marketplaces where goods could be traded with regularity. New economic activities included the smelting of silver and gold in sufficient quantities to serve as semi-standardized currency, though standardized coinage did not exist there for another 600 years. Hellaneans began cultivating olives on a large scale sometime before 800 BC, though the trees were also valued for their wood as evidenced by the discovery of olivewood furnishings in the ruins of villages on Augustus Island and the southern coast of the Strait of Pilio.

Colonial Expansion and the Growth of Maritime Trade (1000 BC–300 BC)

Hellanean shipbuilding technology was limited to the creation of fishing boats that could maneuver through the continental littoral and reach nearby islands located within sight of the mainland. Accounts written by later historians state that the first efforts to explore beyond the sight of the mainland were made sometime around 780 BC. As their territory continued expanding along the northern side of the Oneia Mountains and further down the length of the Sangro River, they colonized more coastal islands and set up fishing villages along the littoral regions. Half a century later, they crossed the Strait of Pilio for the first time, reaching Florid Island and sighting the mouth of the Dorog River in the distance. Excavations of coastal settlements have turned up evidence of port facilities and storehouses that were built to hold trade goods, as well as evidence of large-scale fishing.

Within the span of an additional hundred years, the Hellaneans had sent colonists as far southward as the Tirso River and as far north as the mouths of the Melas and Dorog Rivers, where they established settlements reaching up to forty kilometers inland. By 600 BC the Hellaneans had colonized the entire coast from the mouth of the Topolnitsa River to what is today the harbor of Slobozia, the Vendian coast as far to the south as the mouth of the Lys River, and the innumerable islands of the body of water now called the Hellanian Sea. The Vermio and Oneia Mountains and the forests located between them drew in Hellanean colonists and explorers. As the breadth of their new territory became apparent, large numbers of Hellaneans migrated northward and settled throughout the Melas and Dorog Watersheds, moving farther inland with each passing year and going about their own separate ways in order to claim virgin territory in the north.

Map showing the various stages of Hellanean colonization efforts and modern cities that began as Hellanean settlements.

In the sixth and seventh centuries BC, scores of villages and numerous towns sprang up as older population centers became more crowded and families sought out unclaimed land which they could permanently settle. Like many other settlements, the five principal northern cities began as small villages which grew into towns and later blossomed into thriving cities. These urban centers eventually made up a majority of the Hellanean economy’s capacity for converting raw materials into finished goods and remained highly productive for the next several hundred years. The northern city-states also gained additional importance as venues for commercial exchanges after 600 BC and were generally able to control enough arable land in their vicinities to feed their own populations.

The first two cities in this group, Larissa and Siracusa, were both active commercial hubs. The port city of Larissa was founded near the mouth of the Dorog in 708 BC. Although the city was originally intended to serve as a farming colony, it later grew into a major commercial center with a population of at least 20,000 and played host to a thriving shipbuilding industry. The inhabitants also established facilities for smelting copper and tin ore mined in the nearby Kolovrat Mountains and later created a mint which processed silver and gold into uniform coinage. Siracusa, which was located almost twenty kilometers inland, was not a port city like Larissa but it still commanded a strategic position overlooking a chain of peninsular fishing villages. The warm, fertile landscape surrounding Siracusa provided an ideal environment for producing wine and oil in quantities large enough for export after its population of 12,000 had taken in its share of the bounty.

Unlike the port cities, Agrinio was established at the convergence of the Bodrog and Drava Rivers as a logging colony and quickly became a budding town of 7,000 in its first heyday. In addition to being a major exporter of timber, which was primarily harvested from nearby stands of oak, maple, and pine that have since disappeared, the city also functioned as a local trading zone where foreigners could purchase the output produced by its scores of carpenters. Chalcedon and Corinth were both agricultural centers. Corinth was founded in a flat expanse of fertile grassland located between the Melas and Drava Rivers, both of which were used by its people to ship their goods. Chalcedon had the distinction of being the northernmost of the cities and likely began as a farming settlement. Excavations have revealed evidence of pottery manufacturing and stone quarrying and it is known that the area yielded a fine variety of marble for some time.

Although the Hellaneans engaged in extensive explorations, they never reached the western coast of the Vendian Sea because of its extreme breadth—and because it was not fully enclosed by the continent, but rather emptied into the Hellanean Sea and thus into the open ocean, the Hellaneans had every reason to assume that their territory was located on two separate landmasses. The Hellaneans began referring to the pair of supposedly separate landmasses as “the Twins” (Gr. τα δίδυμα, Anglicized ta dídyma) and came to believe that they were the offspring of the primordial Earth (Gaia, Gr. Γαῖα). These beliefs became fixtures within traditional Hellanean mythology by the end of the fifth century BC.

The full extent of Hellanean cultural influence is still being unearthed. It can be said with certainty that they would have expanded northward along riverbanks and continued to settle inland plains where farming could take place. It is also certain, based upon what archeologists have determined and historical records have stated regarding the Hellanean economy, that this method of operation would have continued to the south as well. In theory, had there been no other populations which were formidable enough to offer the Hellanean peoples any actual resistance they would have colonized and populated the whole of the continent.

Hellanean Culture and Politics

The Hellaneans possessed a common language (albeit divided into different dialects), a shared heritage for a number of early generations, a common religion, and similar value systems, in effect creating a homogeneous culture. The Hellaneans also maintained a degree of genetic homogeneity through intermarriage and some internal migrations. Because tribal (and thus familial) relations served as the basis for the creation of settlements, and power tended to remain within ruling families, Hellanean societies became stratified—though it bears mentioning that nothing resembling caste systems ever truly evolved in these places.

As colonists established new settlements outside the boundaries of major cities, their lands fell under the dominion of their more populous neighbors. This was partly due to the fact that these settlements were established by inhabitants of the cities who had moved elsewhere to farm, hunt, fish, trade, or mine, but also because they received material benefits in exchange for accepting vassalage from the cities. While each settlement was nominally self-governing and enjoyed localized autonomy in creating institutions that could directly manage day-to-day administrative concerns, they were still markedly subordinated to the authority of the urban centers which controlled them. In some cases, local rulers held sway over their immediate surroundings and delegated authority over outlying areas to trusted subordinates. Over time this system resulted in the creation of fully sovereign city-states in which the principal city became the functional capital by default. Urban centers collected tax revenue, organized and trained military forces, stored emergency food supplies, and hosted the courts and constabularies required to maintain a semblance of law and order.

The heritability of wealth and influence tended to result in the creation of aristocratic classes of citizens and oligarchic power structures. Because political leaders often kept power between themselves and their relatives (both consanguineous and often married and adopted as well), Hellanean city-states were often de facto monarchies. Oligarchical structures sometimes emerged when monarchs willed that power was to be passed to a regency council or to several descendants who were to rule jointly. Other states such as Agrinio and Chalcedon were ruled by permanent oligarchies for extended periods. Internal political wrangling occasionally resulted in the failure of the existing political systems to function properly and conflicts of interest sometimes left chief executive positions vacant. In some cases, opportunistic individuals sought the favor and support of influential citizens or large classes of people to gain the leverage required to enter executive power vacuums instead of standing for election or seizing control by naked force. Rulers who attained their positions by utilizing these unconventional means were granted the rank of tyrant (Gr. τύραννος, Anglicized týrannos) and often governed according to authoritarian models.

The oldest Hellanean settlements had few religious structures when they were first built. Nonetheless, the presence of religious artifacts inside early domestic structures indicates that private devotional acts were commonplace from the very beginning. The Hellaneans worshiped a pantheon of pagan deities believed to command different aspects of the natural world; it had many similarities to a faith known as “Attic Greek,” which is currently practiced by approximately forty-eight percent of Prevanians, a fact that has led some scholars and historians to believe that the two religions might share a common origin. Whether the Hellanean faith is of the same origin as the Prevanian religion or a separate religious construction altogether is a subject outside the scope of this work.


CHAPTER IV: CONQUEST BY THE VENDIAN REPUBLIC
368 BC to AD 28

Origins of Vendian Civilization

The origin of the Vendians remains so murky to this day that even the etymological origin and meaning of their country’s name is still debated. Two main schools of thought dominate this discussion and both agree that the Latin place name suffix -ia was a later addition to some base word, but their agreement ends there. One school claims that the name was constructed by taking the word vendo (Lat. “I sell”) and dropping the O to add the place name suffix -ia, thus implying that the name Vendia refers to a place of trade and commerce that was populated by merchants and shopkeepers. The other school contends that the name Vendia is a corruption of Ventia, a place name referring to an area containing ventis (Lat. “winds”).

Map showing the initial stages of Vendian civilization.

When the Vendians sighted the northern side of the Strait of Pilio for the first time, the most significant natural features they observed were the Kolovrat Mountains, a chain of coastal peaks that contained countless aeries occupied by seabirds and the golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) that later became the state emblems of Vendia and its successors. They named the range Montes Avium, the Mountains of Birds, and the birds were called Mons Avium, or Mountain Birds. The Hellaneans, who were well-known in the south as traders and mariners, were naturally called Ship People (Navi Populus).

Etymologically, the country now called Monavia received its name from the mountain ships (Lat. mons navi) that the Hellaneans built from the sturdy oak trees growing on the slopes of the Kolovrat and Vermio Mountains. The ships were so named because the trees used to construct them were often carried to the coastal foothills for processing into lumber and then assembled on sites near water. The northern Hellaneans thus came to be known as the Monavi (sing. Monav), and the Vendians subsequently referred to these lands as Terra Monavia (“the Land of the Monavi”). The oldest known use of the phrase Terra Monavia has been dated to 457 BC, but most modern historians believe that it had been in use for a while before it was first recorded. Although the Vendians originally applied the name Terra Monavia to the mountainous areas inhabited by the Hellanean shipwrights, they later regarded Hellanean port cities and coastal areas as part of the Land of the Monavi over time.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Unification of Vendian City-States

Marcus III (r. 358–334 BC) reformed the Senate into a 150-member assembly which included more local officials than it previously did. The body’s membership was expanded to 200 in 313 BC and was again expanded to hold 100 additional members fifteen years later.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The Era of Republican Government (281 BCAD 28)

As the Vendian Republic expanded and conquered its neighbors it subjugated populations which followed other faiths. Immigrants brought their own customs to Vendia, increasing the richness and depth of its culture. During this time, the pagan state had adopted a policy of tolerance towards the indigenous religions of conquered neighbors, so long as they obeyed Vendian laws. Written records dated to around 300 BC contain references to contacts with foreigners following practices consistent with Judaism, serving as the oldest evidence of a Jewish presence in what is now the Monavian Empire. Excavations of settlements dated to the second century BC contain evidence that a number of large Jewish communities arose outside the Vendian Empire’s borders and grew into independent city-states states over roughly a century. Archaeological sites found near major Vendian cities still inhabited today contain evidence of Jewish immigration and assimilation into Vendian society after 270 BC. Recent discoveries made over the last thirty years include fossilized cow bones bearing tool marks consistent with Kosher methods of butchering.

The Senate assumed supreme legislative power after it overthrew the monarchy in 281 BC and reduced it to a subordinate position.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION


CHAPTER V: MONAVIA UNDER VENDIAN RULE
AD 28 to AD 454

Monarchist Resurgence (28–46)

Following the overthrow of the Vendian Republic in 28, the emperors continued allowing the Senate to legislate as it had in the past, albeit in the emperor’s name rather than its own. Emperors attained the power to rule by decree and to override senatorial decisions in all matters other than declaring war and concluding treaties. The emperor had the power to appoint and expel members, though this power was only exercised on select occasions. The Senate no longer appointed governors, but could still impeach and try them for criminal activities.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Cultural Assimilation of the Hellaneans (47–130)

The Vendians created a religion for themselves on the basis of the Hellanean religion, using the same system of deities and principles. In addition to retaining the faith of their predecessors, they adopted many other cultural facets of the Hellanean civilization.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Evolution of Vendian Cultural and Political Institutions (130–397)

In 242, the Imperial Senate created the first High Tribunal to function as a court of final appeals for most cases, though the Senate still retained sole jurisdiction over cases against elected officials. The number of justices varied, but was always an odd number to prevent the panel from being evenly divided. The emperor gave the High Tribunal power to decide whether senatorial decisions contradicted established laws and determine the eligibility of potential heirs to the throne. The emperor theoretically had the power to override the High Tribunal’s decisions, though there is no record of this action having ever taken place.

For many generations, Vendian citizens looked to the state and its gods for their protection and earthly security, yet there were many which were dissatisfied with the corrupt decadence which the imperial crown had justified by claiming divine descent and authority. Historical estimates of the time in which the first Christians arrived in Vendia place the introduction of the faith to the latter years of the first century. Evidence confirms the existence of Christian communities in the second century. While the origin of the missionaries bearing the new faith has yet to be ascertained, they quickly converted thousands of Vendians every year. The continued spread of Christianity only further supplanted the pagan order by placing the imperial power structure at a disadvantage, so the Vendian state had a lukewarm relationship with the Christians, ranging from civil toleration to outright contempt.

The growth of the church led to the need to establish centers of administration throughout Vendian territory. Bishoprics were established in Chalcedon, Cricova, Agrinio, Corinth, Dorog, Berane, and Larissa between AD 150 and 200. By the beginning of the third century, the Christian faith was the religion of one-seventh of all Vendian citizens. As the third century progressed, Christians gained additional favor as political reconciliation between the church and state began to take place. In 261, church officials challenged civil authorities when they sent a letter to the emperor Decius III (r. 253–270), demanding that all persecutions within Vendia be brought to cessation. Although Decius initially refused, he was soon forced to reverse his position in 264 after being beset by a welter of revolts and invasions in which Christian enlistees valiantly supported loyalist operations.

The first Buddhist missionaries arrived in the southernmost provinces of the Vendian Empire in 289. The missionaries established temples and monasteries along the Empire’s eastern coast, slowly moving northward and reaching Monavia within a century. They attracted small followings in Monavia, establishing themselves in places as far north as modern Theodosia. By the time the Vendian Empire collapsed there may have been as many as 1,500,000 Buddhists living in Monavia.

In 297, Antonius II (r. 287–314) reformed the Vendian judiciary by making the Senate responsible for electing the High Tribunal and giving governors the power to create provincial courts and levy special taxes to fund their operation. He also decreed new rules for protecting legal records and required civil and criminal cases to be tried by separate courts and follow different appeal procedures. Local prefects and magistrates retained their prior authority to create municipal courts. Municipal court rulings were typically appealed to provincial courts and then to the provincial governor. Any full citizen could appeal to the Senate, but this rarely happened and imperial audiences were rarer still. While the emperor’s decision was final, he could reverse it under certain circumstances.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

War and Pestilence (397–401)

If a single event can be regarded as having mortally wounding the Vendian Empire’s political cohesion, the Plague of 397 would be as good a culprit as any. Historians alive at the time of the plague wrote that it originated in the far north sometime in late 396 and had remained localized until the spring of 397, which was marked by unusually heavy rains. Contemporary medical professionals believe that the influx of rain caused a massive increase in the amount of seasonally-growing foliage that plague-bearing rodents fed upon, thus allowing the rodents to reproduce more aggressively than they normally did and speed up the reproduction and migration of the disease. Droves of proto-Slavic barbarians had been immigrating to Vendia’s northernmost border cities for generations prior to the plague, oftentimes forming substantial minority populations in the northern provinces and even becoming localized majority groups which had little incentive to assimilate themselves as their numbers kept increasing. The ethnic composition of the provinces closest to the stricken lands made them attractive destinations for refugees fleeing the disease, and thus it was that the plague first arrived on Vendian soil.

Theodosius the Old had three daughters who had been married off to other families in the early 380s and two sons named Constantios and Julian, both of whom were capable of succeeding him if the other did not. When the plague first struck in June of 397, Constantios was a healthy thirty-five-year old with a wife and an eight-year-old daughter and his younger brother was a thirty-one-year-old prince with a family of his own. Both of the emperor’s primary heirs ultimately perished before the plague ended in 401, but their resolute efforts to combat it and the invaders who followed may very well have prolonged the Empire’s life for at least one additional generation.

In October 397 Theodosius issued orders to the garrisons of all cities with more than 1,000 inhabitants to stockpile one year of necessary supplies and seal their gates as they would for a siege. By the end of the year Constantios had successfully organized quarantines of affected cities under his father’s authority and ordered any soldiers who were not engaged in policing the movement of travelers to dig graves far outside the walls of their cities so that there would be places to bury plague victims who succumbed during the coming months. While these measures ensured reprieves for several million Vendians until the following spring, they ultimately failed because the work of enforcing the quarantines required nearly all of the Empire’s legions since few of the provincial militias had sufficient discipline and numbers to do so. With matters of national security left in the hands of the provincial militias, the ranks of which were dominated by weakly-assimilated barbarians, it was only a matter of time before they found themselves unwilling to impede their cousins’ flight, even if they were infected.

As with most ancient plagues, urban outbreaks led to eruptions of mass hysteria and sent refugees fleeing from infected cities in numbers that clogged roads and hindered the movement of food supplies. The resulting incidents of scarcity triggered bouts of inflation that left the poor unable to afford the sustenance they needed to maintain their health. Thousands of hungry refugees soon assembled outside many northern towns and cities to plead for entry, occasionally seizing them by force after discovering that the local populations had access to adequate food and shelter. Eleven towns had been lost this way by February 398, leaving the Slavic warlord Videmir II of Tribi (modern Librec) an opening through which to mount an invasion of modern-day Berane, Sombor, and Chalcedon. Videmir’s chieftains mustered an attacking force of at least 30,000 men with which to attack each of the three cities and succeeded in mounting a siege against Sombor in May 398, taking the city three months later. Julian led the defense of the city with only 15,000 men under his command and managed to destroy one-fifth of Videmir’s troops before retreating to Berane and inflicting additional losses through clever rearguard actions.

The plague caught up with Videmir as he pursued Julian’s battered army southward towards Berane, but Videmir and a number of his commanders were able to recover and organize the segregation of infected troops away from the others. A number of the warriors who succumbed to the plague were promptly catapulted over the walls of Berane to infect the city, resulting in the deaths of 3,400 of Julian’s legionnaires and some 10,000 civilians by the end of the ensuing battle. Constantios later appeared with an army of 18,000 additional troops in October, thus covering the retreat of the Vendian forces as they yielded the city. Julian later fell ill from the plague on his way to Chalcedon and spent three weeks convalescing there while his brother took command of the city’s defense.

Videmir regrouped his forces after capturing Berane and waited until the plague had run its course through his ranks before marching on Chalcedon. Although he had lost 13,000 men in battle and another 21,000 to the plague, he was still able to garrison 4,000 men in each of the newly-conquered cities and assault Chalcedon’s outer walls with a force exceeding 40,000. The Vendians did not have enough troops to adequately cover the city’s entire outer perimeter, so they only held the outer walls long enough to inflict as many casualties as they could before retreating into the city. Julian later ordered a cohort of 500 cavalrymen to mount an offensive midnight raid against Videmir’s siege engines and burned most of them, so Videmir called in sappers to undermine the inner walls while waiting for his engineers to construct new artillery pieces.

Although the winter snows later froze the ground until it was too hard for sappers to work efficiently, it also slowed the plague’s advance and bought Videmir’s troops enough time to assemble new artillery with which to smash the inner walls. After renewing its assault in March 399, the barbarian army breached the northern inner gates and poured inside. Julian charged into the attacking forces and was able to seriously wound Videmir, but one of the warlord’s nephews intervened and pulled Julian to the ground so that Videmir’s son Hermeric could finish the prince off. The garrison counterattacked and drove the pair out of the city with Videmir in tow, but the barbarians refused to rout and beat back a fighting retreat until the Vendians were no longer inclined to give chase. Several days later, Videmir died from infections and was buried in Berane under Hermeric’s direction.

Constantios spent weeks overseeing the removal of rubble and the demolition of burnt-out shells so that his garrison could make room for new camps within Chalcedon’s battered outer walls. In May 399 his men were joined by an additional legion under the command of Gaius Santorius, a general who specialized in laying sieges to barbarian fortifications. Santorius assumed command of 6,000 legionnaires and 800 cavalrymen (more than one-third of Chalcedon’s garrison) and marched them towards Berane, but he only allowed 3,000 men to appear there as a distraction while his main force slunk towards Sombor. While Santorius prepared to liberate Sombor from Hermeric’s control, Constantios dispatched messengers across the land to tell refugees that the residents of Berane were hoarding supplies. Within weeks, Hermeric’s army was forced to close the city gates as 90,000 refugees closed in and tried to seize his supplies.

On May 19, 399 Santorius ordered a surprise nighttime attack against Sombor and laid siege to the city’s eastern walls. The defenders sent messengers to Hermeric to notify him of the attack, at which point he sent 1,000 men towards Sombor to serve as reinforcements. The diversionary force that Santorius left lurking around Berane slipped away during the chaotic arrival of the refugees and ambushed and destroyed Hermeric’s relief force barely twelve kilometers outside Berane’s walls, thus denying Sombor’s garrison the support it needed to continue resisting. As a result, Sombor fell to the Vendians within three weeks and Santorius was able to consolidate his position as he prepared to assail Berane. Meanwhile, the emperor summoned Constantios back to Florentia to administer relief efforts there following a series of plague outbreaks across the southern provinces.

By the time Constantios arrived in Florentia in July 399, a quarter of the city’s population had succumbed to the plague and the officials charged with disposing of the dead were overwhelmed by the volume of bodies that had to be removed every day. Efforts to segregate the infected away from others proved ineffective since many of the sick roamed around the city in search of food and medicine, even going so far as to form mobs to gain entry to restricted districts.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Terminal Decline (401–433)

With both of his sons dead, Theodosius turned to his sons-in-law as potential successors. This initially proved to be a wise move as Catalus and Leo were both accomplished statesmen with military backgrounds and held some popularity in the capital. After the plague had run its course, Leo went north to rally the survivors and organize relief efforts while Catalus remained in the south to do likewise. Their efforts were instrumental in relieving considerable suffering among the populace, yet even with the public health crisis resolved, the pair had no power to change the fate of the Vendian economy. The plague had hit cities and towns especially hard as disease tends to do in densely-populated locales, so merchants, artisans, and craftsmen suffered higher death rates than farmers living in the country. Even when the army dispersed bandits and cleared the roads so that commerce could resume, the farmers found their customer base thinned while their own ranks remained mostly intact.

As bad as the ensuing recessionary conditions were, the plague also posed a severe national security challenge to the Vendian military since it too suffered losses from combatting disease alongside the invading barbarians. Multiple settlements remained in foreign hands and an entire generation of new men would had to be raised in poverty before they became old enough to enlist in the armed forces and fill the voids left by their late fathers and uncles. In short, the Vendian Empire was in no shape to militarily resist a full-scale invasion and was unlikely to gain the strength required to do so until the 420s. Even then, there was no guaranteeing that they would be victorious.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Division and Civil War (433–454)

The Plague of 397 may have thinned the ranks of the barbarian migrants, but the demographic impact of their arrival had already crystallized generations earlier. Slavs accounted for anywhere between fifteen and twenty percent of the Empire’s overall population and formed localized majorities in the northern border provinces. Few of these immigrants had any strong incentives to assimilate themselves into Vendian society by the close of the 420s and most of their peers had ceased to view themselves as Vendians decades earlier. Linguistic and cultural barriers oftentimes drove the unassimilated foreigners to form new regional identities that were distinct from one another and provided fertile ground for ethnic nationalism to take root. All the barbarians needed to make their secession and independence possible was the right opportunity.

Theodosius the Old was far from immortal, and his declining health proved to be his undoing. On September 4, 433 the emperor died at the age of ninety-one and slipped away into eternity, leaving behind a fragile country that was ripe for collapse in spite of his best efforts to apply his considerable administrative acumen. The exact causes of his death have never been ascertained with certainty, but the symptoms described by his personal physicians lead most contemporary medical scholars to assume that he was killed by a massive stroke. The emperor’s body was hardly even cold before the inevitable succession crisis threw the Senate into a panic and left the capital mired in grief.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION


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Will have a look.

If you lot feel like lucky dips, send me a list of significant infectious diseases in your nation, alongside if you want me to tailor any med kits to your armies. I'm bored and ran out of inspiration for anything other than shipping container hospitals.

My TG might even work if loads of you TG

Post self-deleted by The State of Monavia.

Military reference tables for your reading pleasure:

MILITARY REFERENCE TABLES

This document covers topics not addressed in other military factbooks, including ranks, pay grades, readiness postures, alert scales, and similar information.

Table of Comparative General and Flag Officer Ranks

GRADE

ARMY

NAVY

MARINE CORPS

AIR FORCE

COAST GUARD

ROYAL GUARD

NATIONAL MILITIA

SPACE CORPS

O-11 (Five star)

High Marshal of the Army

High Admiral of the Navy

High Marshal of the Marine Corps

High Marshal of the Air Force

High Admiral of the Coast Guard

[No equivalent rank]

High Marshal of the National Militia

[No equivalent rank.]

O-10 (Four star)

Field Marshal

Grand Admiral

Field Marshal

Air Marshal

Grand Admiral

Marshal of the Royal Guard

Senior Marshal

[No equivalent rank.]

O-9 (Three star)

Colonel General

Admiral

Colonel General

Colonel General

Admiral

Colonel General

Marshal

High Marshal of the Space Corps

O-8 (Two star)

Major General

Vice Admiral

Major General

Major General

Vice Admiral

Major General

General

Fleet Marshal

O-7 (One star)

Captain General

Rear Admiral

Captain General

Captain General

Rear Admiral

Captain General

Commander

Corps Marshal

Table of Comparative Officer and Cadet Ranks

GRADE

ARMY

NAVY

MARINE CORPS

AIR FORCE

COAST GUARD

ROYAL GUARD

NATIONAL MILITIA

SPACE CORPS

O-6

Colonel

Commodore

Colonel

Colonel

Commodore

Colonel

Colonel

Commodore

O-5

Lieutenant Colonel

Captain

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel

Captain

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel

Captain

O-4

Major

Commander

Major

Major

Commander

Major

Major

Commander

O-3

Captain

Lieutenant

Captain

Captain

Lieutenant

Captain

Captain

Lieutenant

O-2

First Lieutenant

Sub-lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

Sub-lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

Sub-lieutenant

O-1

Second Lieutenant

Ensign

Second Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Ensign

Second Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Ensign

C-3

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

Senior Officer Cadet

C-2

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

C-1

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Junior Officer Cadet

Table of Comparative Enlisted Ranks

GRADE

ARMY

NAVY

MARINE CORPS

AIR FORCE

COAST GUARD

ROYAL GUARD

NATIONAL MILITIA

SPACE CORPS

E-9 (Special)

Sergeant Major of the Army

Chief Petty Officer of the Navy

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps

Sergeant Major of the Air Force

Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard

Color Sergeant of the Royal Guard

Color Sergeant of the National Militia

E-8

Sergeant Major

Chief Petty Officer

Sergeant Major

Sergeant Major

Chief Petty Officer

Sergeant Major

Sergeant Major

E-7

Color Sergeant

Senior Petty Officer

Color Sergeant

Senior Master Sergeant

Senior Petty Officer

Color Sergeant

Senior Color Sergeant

E-6

Senior Staff Sergeant

Petty Officer First Class

Senior Staff Sergeant

Master Sergeant

Petty Officer First Class

Senior Staff Sergeant

Color Sergeant

E-5

Staff Sergeant

Petty Officer Second Class

Staff Sergeant

Staff Sergeant

Petty Officer Second Class

Staff Sergeant

Sergeant

E-4

Sergeant

Petty Officer Third Class

Sergeant

Sergeant

Petty Officer Third Class

Sergeant

Junior Sergeant

Senior Spacer

E-3

Corporal

Leading Sailor

Corporal

Senior Aviator

Leading Sailor

Corporal

Corporal

Leading Spacer

E-2

Lance Corporal

Sailor

Lance Corporal

Aviator

Sailor

Lance Corporal

Lance Corporal

Spacer

E-1

Private

Sailor Apprentice

Marine

Junior Aviator

Sailor Apprentice

Private

Private

Junior Spacer

E-0 (Training)

Recruit

Naval Recruit

Marine Recruit

Aviator Recruit

Recruit

Guard Aspirant

Recruit

Trainee

✠ ✠ ✠ ✠

Table of Mobilization Postures

MOBILIZATION POSTURE

REFERENCE CODE

DESCRIPTION

TRIGGER

P 8

Violet

Lowest peacetime readiness level (minimum mobilization).

Absence of tensions with neighboring countries.

P 7

Indigo

Second-lowest peacetime readiness level (mobilization slightly increased above minimum).

Some possibility of tensions with neighboring countries.

P 6

Blue

Second-highest peacetime readiness level resulting in elevated mobilization of the armed forces.

Tensions arise between the Monavian Empire and other countries.

P 5

Green

Highest peacetime readiness level resulting in relatively high levels of mobilization.

A risk of war is present as a result of terrorist attack or open threats of hostility.

P 4

Yellow

Lowest wartime readiness level meriting full mobilization of conventional weapons and equipment.

Monavian entry into a formal state of belligerency.

P 3

Orange

Second-lowest wartime readiness level meriting both complete mobilization of conventional arsenals and personnel and partial mobilization of the CRBNE arsenal.

Equivalent level of mobilization by opposing belligerents.

P 2

Red

Wartime readiness level meriting complete mobilization of all CRBNE weapons, facilities, and personnel.

Involvement in a major war and concurrent threat of invasion; reciprocity expected from opposing belligerents.

P 1

Maroon

Second-highest wartime readiness level (entails full readiness of all backup facilities, civil defense shelters, and countermeasures).

Probable likelihood of a CRBNE weapon exchange, invasion of Monavian soil, or both.

P 0

Black

Highest wartime readiness level (entails evacuation of threatened personnel and territory).

Open CRBNE weapon exchange, widespread occupation of Monavian soil by hostile forces, or both.

✠ ✠ ✠ ✠

Table of Military Intelligence Reconnaissance Postures

CONDITION

CODENAME

IN EFFECT

A

Lime

When intelligence does not indicate the existence of any threats.

B

Grape

When intelligence indicates the existence of a minor threat.

C

Lemon

When intelligence indicates the existence of a moderate threat.

D

Orange

When intelligence indicates the existence of a substantial threat.

E

Cherry

During wartime.

✠ ✠ ✠ ✠

Table of Terrorism Alert Postures

ALERT POSTURE

INDICATION

Cobalt

Indicates a negligible risk of terrorist attack.

Turquoise

Indicates a slight risk of terrorist attack.

Jade

Indicates a low risk of terrorist attack.

Peridot

Indicates a moderate risk of terrorist attack.

Sulfur

Indicates a elevated risk of terrorist attack.

Amber

Indicates a high risk of terrorist attack.

Ruby

Indicates a severe risk of terrorist attack.

Garnet

Indicates a critical risk of terrorist attack.

✠ ✠ ✠ ✠

Table of Computer Network Security Conditions

POSTURE

TRIGGER

ACTIONS

CNSC 1

Computer networks are free of interference and no hostile activity is detected.

The security status and operational performance of all systems are loosely monitored.

CNSC 2

Computer networks have encountered slight interference and the risk of hostile activity is very low.

The security status and operational performance of all systems are monitored more closely than under CNSC 1.

CNSC 3

Computer networks have encountered enough interference to suggest that hostile activity is taking place or may take place.

Networks are more tightly monitored and partitioning may take place in order to make damage control more effective if the network is attacked. Data is backed up and reviews of security systems are ordered.

CNSC 4

There is a moderate risk of hostile interference or hostile activity has been confirmed but has not caused any material damage.

Data is backed up immediately, networks are partitioned and tightly monitored, unsecured connections are disconnected, and traffic is carefully watched. Alternate networks are brought online.

CNSC 5

Hostile activity poses a serious and imminent threat to the integrity of a network or whenever minor damage has already been caused.

Systems suffering damage are isolated and individually repaired whenever possible. Semi-secure connections are disconnected and all unclassified systems are brought offline if necessary.

CNSC 6

Hostile activity poses a critical threat to the overall integrity of a network by causing moderate damage to it.

Networks are partitioned and individual components are isolated from one another by means of secure gate-keeping systems. Networks suffering damage are separated and quarantined from other networks and are repaired in piecemeal fashion as all but the most essential systems are shut down.

CNSC 7

Hostile activity has resulted in severe damage to a network.

Other networks preemptively partition themselves and deploy gate-keeping systems to prevent additional damage from taking place. Infected networks suffering severe damage are shut down and quarantined in their entirety.

CNSC 8

A computer network has been compromised so severely that quarantining and other countermeasures have failed to isolate it from other networks, resulting in damage to other networks.

A decision to declare CNSC 8 mandates the complete shutdown of the compromised network.

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