Federal Republic of Radea (WIP)

The Federal Republic of Radea, commonly called Radea, is a GOVERNMENT TYPE in Lira. It is bordered on the north by OTHER-NATION, on the south by OTHER-NATION, by the east by OTHER-NATION and on the west by OTHER-NATION. Radea covers LAND AREA square kilometers and has has an estimated population of 70,631,854. Radea comprises of NUMBER SUBDIVISIONS and NUMBER TERRITORIES.

Radea is a developed mixed-economy nation, which transformed into a Republic in the late 19th century. The country economically focuses on import-export manufacturing, such as refined petroleum, reinforced steel, home appliances, and footwear. The Federal Republic is renowned for its precise conscription system, its bustling, organized ports, and its logistics processes.

Etymology

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The standard way to refer to a citizen of Radea is as a "Radean."

History

The Great Migration
Around 400 CE, due to a series of harsh winters and territorial expansion of larger tribal peoples, the proto-Radean civilization migrated across the Liran continent from east to west. This proto-culture were called Gostans, an iron-age civilization that relied heavily on metals and stones for their society to denote power and authority. Over the next two decades, the Gostans, through what can only be described as a migratory invasion, traveled westward through Liran nations and were either bribed to leave, forced by climate, or by the sword. Eventually, they hit the southern coast of Lira, after settling within the borders of the Kingdom of Taber, near the mouth of the many rivers. The Taberites had a monarchical system, not quite feudal but would develop into it. Utilizing the new arrivals raw manpower, they drew upon the natural talents of the Gostans to mine resources, hiring Gostan warriors as mercenaries, and settling the Gostans on unused land, which was often not highly sought for and generated poor harvest. Over the next century, tensions between the Gostans and the Taberite masters led to a series of clashes that ultimately led to the sacking of Olen, the capital city of Taber. A period of fractured rule continued from that point, with Taberites and the Gostans inter-breeding and living in the remnants of the Taberite kingdom. Mimicking their former masters, the Gostans, through local conflicts and marriage pacts, were able to crown Kings in the Taberite fashion, forming various successor states. The largest of which was the Kingdom of Radea, named for the many rivers that flowed through the land.

Feudal Kingdom Era
It was through many centuries that the Radean national identity began to form, even though political boundaries remained. The successor states of the Kingdom of Taber fought mostly over land and sometimes over blood feuds. The choicest dales and fertile river lands were often the battlefields for terrible wars, which was a continuation of Gostan culture. Prior to their migration, fertile land was considered rare and exceedingly valuable and so the natural desire for land was augmented by this fact. While the nobility and monarchs feuded, the common folk, the mixture of Taberite and Gostan cultures, helped birth a new national identity. The peasants and the limited merchant classes suffered the same seasons, travelled the same lands, and share the myths and bed time stories. For centuries, the duchies and kingdoms fought wars, sought marriages, and made peace, causing some independent states to vanish and some to grow beyond their original borders. Always, though, if a foreign invader came to bite a chunk out of the territory, many set aside their squabbles to defend their ancestral lands.

Ultimately, the modern borders of Radea were finally united, even just nominally, during the mid-14th century, as the largest feudal kingdom was able to claim vassalage from the smaller states, both for economic and security reasons. It would not be until the 16th century that the modern nation state of Radea could be considered truly united, as it took the ideals of the Liran Renaissance, along with the technology and administrative advances that came with it, to bring the national idea to the fore of politics.
Ultimately though, the Kingdom of Radea remained an autocratic monarchy, relying on noble families and their personal armies to uphold the balance of power, but the monarchy also used the power struggles of the various noble houses to ensure continued reign. The longest reigning monarchy family was the House of Loire, a cadet branch of the original founding House of Kendlan. Nobility were granted lands for their loyalty against pretenders, service in war, or through underhanded schemes like blackmail. Ultimately, the ideal was to support the current ruling class and to maintain repression of peasant classes and enforce economic cooperation. For many centuries, this was not a serious burden, despite the spawning of cities due to advances in trade and the passing of laws that kept entire families limited to the lands of their feudal lord. The ideals of democracy were staved off, though other concepts of science and development were embraced carefully. For well into the 18th century, Radea remained a bastion of monarchial autocracy.

The Radean Civil War
Like many other nations of the same period, the Industrial Revolution began a massive shift in the Kingdom of Radea. The small stream of people moving to the cities turned into a torrent as industrial demand for factory workers grew. Due to the many rivers of the Kingdom, water-wheel powered factories sprung up, which focused mostly on grinding wheat and barley, but soon advanced into textiles and other simple manufacturing. With the introduction of more complex steam power, factories were able to be located away from rivers and drastically changed the demographic make-up of Radea. Farmers and villagers that were not tied by law to the lands of the Nobility, were able to work steady jobs in the cities, bringing other businesses and ultimately forming growing cities. These cities were often outside the traditional fiefs of the nobility and monarchy, and even those that were inside the fiefs were hard to govern for a ruling family. In order to effectively tax and administration these modern cities and regions, the Monarchy established new areas called States that were controlled by governors, positions of power that were not inherited by birth. This allowed for a merit-based system to form for the title, above noble birth, which caused friction with the nobility. The ultimate mass-production of steel, made from the iron and tin that are plentiful in Radea, was the economic tipping point that began the shift of power from the nobility to the states.
The noble families, seeing their power slipping, began to try and crack down on the economic power of the states, escalating into military conflict. The ruling King attempted to mediate peace, but ultimately was coup'd by his second son, an ardent feudalist. The conflict was long and brutal, lasting from 1866-1871, resulting in the victory of the States. What was left of the fiefdoms and the monarchy, which had superior discipline but lacked the numbers and suffered immensely in combat attrition, were swept away and reorganized into states. The states, under threat and without recognition from the international community, formed the Radean Republic, which was led by an elected President and the Governors. Not entirely a democratic state, but the old laws keeping workers to noble lands and others were removed.

Colonial Expansion Period
The civil war had caused further expansion of factories and necessity required greater organizational demands, ultimately helping form a more coherent state apparatus. Factories sprung up during the war to build greater amounts of uniforms, munitions, and guns. Resources were martialed on a scale unseen before. The thirst for this industry grew and to prevent economic trouble on the horizon, the Radean government looked for resources overseas. It had not achieved recognition from many important nations that held vital resources and thus had to seek them out on their own. The largest colony, which still remains a territory of Radea, was the north shore of the Meridiq. The territory was called Oran and remains so to this day. Oran was once the capital territory of a much larger Radean colonial empire on the continent, which started around the 1830s CE as Radean founded trading posts sprung up along the coast, but remained outside government control for the most part. Through their own means, however, independent traders and merchants, sometimes using money, charters, or mercenaries, pushed further along the coast and inland, either displacing or subjecting the local peoples there. It wasn’t until after the Civil War that government supported and focused colonial endeavors became an area of interest.
Although the colonies of Meridiq were mostly to be exclusive merchant zones, supplying the local and colonial populations with manufactured goods from the mainland, other areas around the globe hosted colonial regions, though of smaller size. The colonial regions were not given representation in the Republic, but remained a sub-class of subjects. To handle suppression or local conflicts, the Radean Foreign Legion was created, both to carry on the tradition of the independent mercenaries and militias that defended the territories for much of their growth and to act extra-governmental enforcers. The territories grew in population but lacked any type of major economic benefit until the discovery of oil was found in Oran. This “black gold” was found in plentiful fields that still operate to this day and remain the biggest reason as to why Radea has not fully departed Meridiq.

The Reduction
Eventually, after a century of colonial rule, many of the colonies peacefully or violently broke away from the Radean Republic. It began in the most far-flung and neglected colonies, which saw either peaceful resistance or violent uprising, with mixed results of suppression or complete withdraw. As nationalism and desire for national determination grew, the Radean nation was faced with growing dissent among their holdings overseas. Even in their most populous and supported colony of Oran, the inhabitants were chaffing due to lack of control over their own governance.
The ultimate decision was the introduction of a popularly elected National Assembly, which made the legislative body of Radea bicameral. This coincided with the official re-naming of the country to the Federal Republic of Radea, recognizing the federal system that had been introduced to pacify what was left of the colonial holdings of the country. The rest of the colonies, besides the vital Oran, either diplomatically wrangled their freedom from this juncture or declared independence via threat of arms. By this point, public opinion for conflict had turned against holding onto colonies and thus were allowed to depart. The RFL returned to their training lands of Oran where they continue to operate today.

Modern Era
Modern day Radea remains a nation in transition, heavily industrial but looking toward the future. Due to the nature of importing raw materials and parts from their colonies, as well as abroad, and then exporting finished goods to the world, the economy of the nation remains very much the same. The fuel economy relies primarily on gasoline and oil, being a few years behind other neighbors who have transitioned to green technology. However, due to the strong export and import nature of the country, the southern ports remain some of the busiest and most profitable in Lira, if not competitive in the world at large. Having turned its back on colonialism, the Federal Republic maintains a stout defense of free trade in the world along with freedom of the seas. Without such protections, the very economic fabric of Radea would be in jeopardy.

Geography

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Demographics

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