Fictian Empire

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 * For the country before 1899, see Kingdom of Fictia

The Fictian Empire was a modern Imperial Absolute Monarchy based from the island of Occidentalis Minor. The Empire was at its peak composed of multiple territories in the Occidental and Oriental Oceans connected by ship and the central government, including most of Occidentalis Minor, some surrounding minor islands, and the Exarchates of Australis and Frigida.

Originally founded in January of 1889, the Fictian Empire was a continuation of the much older Kingdom of Fictia that existed on the northern half of Occidentalis Island. The modern Empire was originally founded in response to when colonial expeditions from various countries East re-discovered the island and Kingdom, which had been in a state of isolation for decades. King George LXXVI, to prevent his state from becoming another colonial territory, proclaimed the Fictian Empire and made himself into Emperor George I. Adopting a rapid modernization policy, the nascent Empire rapidly militarized and became somewhat powerful and advanced thanks to foreign gifts. After participating in a few wars on the side of the winning coalitions and sending out expeditions to colonize new land, the Empire began to rapidly strengthen in both population and military strength and was in position to become a major power-until the Scourge came around. However, after the Scourge, albeit George I's death, the Empire quickly recovered and assumed its status as a dominant world power. The state's expansion quickly made it a world superpower with territories scattered across the globe, and although many of these were briefly lost in World War I. Fictia's victory only boosted the state's strength. The Imperial Civil War soon after, between George II and George III, halted the state's strengthening, but it would remain a superpower afterwards until the regent Michael Basileus seized power from Emperor George IV, turned the Empire into a republic, and merged with Universia, Praenuntium, and Eleutheria to create the Great Universal Empire.

Except for Australis and Canciona, which were in hot deserts, and the Frigida and Imo Mundi which were cold polar deserts, much of the Fictian Empire was located in a tropical wet climate. The Empire was a dominant producer of zinc, timber, lead, iron, hydrogen and fish, among a ton of other different goods, during its existence.

Etymology
The Fictian Empire's name is based off of the common regional name of Fictia given to the northern half of Occidentalis, which itself comes from the Ficts who have dominated the land since 200. The origin of the term "Ficts" for the settlers of northern Occidentalis at that time is unknown, but may have originated from neighboring peoples as originally labeling them as unimportant enough to be "fictitious".

History

 * See also: Kingdom of Fictia

Pre-Imperial History (200-1899)
Fictia first appeared as a separate, distinct region around 200, when the Ficts emerged in world history and conquered Occidentalis Minor and the Okhostian Isles. The Okhostian territory was lost relatively quickly, but the Occidentalis Minor territory survived as numerous fractured chiefdoms that would only be united in a conquest led by the disenfranchised sons of Emperor Chungumagne, the final ruler of The Empire. This conquest united Occidentalis Minor and founded the Kingdom of Fictia, which rapidly grew in influence and power during the Chungulingian and Basilean dynasties to encompass all of Occidentalis Minor and Canciona, plus some parts of Mediterrae and the Okhostian Isles. However, this influence rapidly waned during the Infirmid dynasty and the succeeding Electoral Era to the point that Occidentalis Minor became re-divided and Fictia became tributary to the reborn South Cnut Empire.

After unrest grew in the Kingdom, the Cnuts sacked Capital City and placed the Ambactian Dynasty, who kept the state tributary until its deposition at the collapse of the South Cnut Empire. This dynasty was followed by the Iocosian Dynasty, which tried to rebuild the Kingdom from Cnutian occupation and almost succeeded until their deposition by King George I. George I undid all of his predecessors' success, completely dismantled the military for wealth, and put the Kingdom into a state of world isolation and weakness that would last until 1899. After him, most monarchs of his Georgian Dynasty no longer cared for the government until King George LXXV won a civil war and reasserted Royal power over the state. His son and successor, King George LXXVI, also took the reigns of his Kingdom and sensibly undoing isolation once foreign eastern powers re-discovered Occidentalis Minor. After weaker powers on the islands began being colonized by these eastern powers, panic emerged that Fictia would be next. To increase his prestige and try to avoid annexation, King George quickly declared himself to be Emperor George I, founding the Fictian Empire.

Earliest Years:
At the time of the declaration of George as Emperor, the so-called "Empire" was restricted to the Northern half of Occidentalis Minor and was in a very weakened state from the abuse of the early and mid-Georgian Dynasty. Fortunately for Fictia, no one felt like annexing the tiny Empire, and multiple states including the Solis Federation, PRA, and W.C.C. instead all offered generous aid that helped Fictia to catch up with the rest of the world. Due to the fact that most goodwill and promise for the future came from Socii Mundial, at the time the world's strongest alliance, the Fictian Empire joined it. This would prove to be an excellent decision since it began a new era of strength for Fictia after centuries of weakness.

The Empire had no access to any food but 30,000 tons of fish in its earliest days, even though it had a population of 4.6 million people, and so it was rather dependent on other countries for a time. Fortunately, the state had deposits of zinc, an extremely rare resource, to negotiate food for relatively low prices. Still, the state of food production provoked tensions with the PRA, who had a colony producing a prosperous 50,000 tons of crops a year bordering the Empire. When tensions between the PRA and other Socii members became hostile due to the PRA's annexation of lands from Eleutheria, the Fictian Empire declared war on them and joined the Socii vs. PRA War. The Empire convinced the PRA to quickly evacuate Occidentalis Minor by threatening to invade their colony with their entire population (ironically armed with rifles purchased from the PRA). After this brief battle-less "war", the Empire would no longer be dependent on foreign aid for food sources.

Soon after this war, Fictian expeditions sent for colonization re-discovered some forgotten, but historically critical, islands to the North and South of Occidentalis Minor, in addition to Australis. Since Australis was very distant from the core Empire, the Exarchate of Australis was founded to administer the land acquired on that continent, with William Aegrus chosen to be the first Exarch of the colony. Ironically after the state's earlier dependency, these new lands bore unbelievably plentiful crop and fish sources which gave the Empire unconsumably large quantities of fish yearly, let alone the crops. These lands, and the 3 quarters of Occidentalis Minor now occupied by the Empire, strengthened the state's population, economy, and military, making it a middle and still rapidly rising power, and its growing international strength and reputation was demonstrated during the 1904 Capital City Olympics.

In addition to all of this, the Fictian Empire would earn a 25% share of the important Universal Market for sending Emperor George I's son David Basileus to help re-design it. This share still exists today and David holds the office of "Head of Research and Development" for the Market.

The Scourge Era:
As much as the Empire was prospering, a brief troubled era began soon after the Olympics. The Scourge, a fungal plague that turned some of its victims into zombie-like creatures, spread throughout the Solis Federation, devastating it and resulting in the state losing control over much of its core territory. Since Solis had been a strong ally in the past, the Empire contributed aid by trying to send 1 million soldiers to their homeland through New Carthage, but they refused to let them enter. Instead, they were moved to Solis's Valan Colony, where they proved to be needed and more effective, and remained there until the final Scourgii in the colony was eradicated. Military aid was also lent to the RCM, who had recently allied with the Empire under Isabella Gamba II, and Fictian forces likewise fought the Scourge to extinction there. The Empire overall lost 750,000 victims to the plague, mostly from fighting Scourgii rather than the Scourge itself, and recieved about 1 million refugees from other countries, who were all kept on the southernmost islands of Occidentalis Minor.

Additionally, during the Scourge George I died and was succeeded by his son, Emperor George II. Fortunately, he didn't perish from the Scourge and the new Emperor proved to be as able of a leader as George I was.

Right after the Scourge, the Empire also got involved in the 1st PRA Civil War on the side of the Monarchist-Nationalist Coalition by sending 1 million soldiers, who seemed to be Socii-friendly and the better party for Fictian interests. The MNC captured Spirova with ease thanks to the support, but then left Socii and formed the anti-Socii Spirova Accords, and so this war proved to be another loss for the Empire.

On the other hand, some positive events also occurred during the latter part of this era. The Empire gifted a northern island, Insula Draco, to refugees from the northern RCM fleeing Scourge Men attacks, who formed New Canciona there. This new state would go on to take a sizable part of Occidentalis Major and become a Fictian ally. Also, King Hakalieu Basileus-Ranoluv and the Ranoluv dynasty in power of the RCM abdicated the throne to his cousin, Hakalieu Basileus IV, a member of the Georgian Dynasty, bringing the states into very close relations and leading to the Empire earning a 25% share and free use of the RCM Canal upon its purchase from the PRA, solving a critical problem by allowing people to travel between the core Fictian territories and Exarchate of Australis without paying tax.

Post-Scourge:
After the Scourge was eradicated, the Empire resumed its rapid growth. When Fictian expeditions discovered Occidentalis Major and penetrated inland Australis, it gained extremely rich sources of rare materials like iron that were unrivaled by any other country (except Humerland). With this, and the ridiculous amount of timber the Empire was producing (also like Humerland), the military would continue to expand and the Empire granted 100k tons of free timber to nearly every new nation, increasing its international prestige further.

In 1910, more Fictian expeditions colonized a large part of Nova Basza, which became part of the Exarchate of Australis, and discovered the northern tip of Borealis which promptly became the new Exarchate of Frigida. Resources from both of these strengthened the Empire further.

This era would be short lived, however, as newly-formed opponents of the Empire like CoSS and older foes such as the PRA created the Spirova Accords, an alliance with the goal of destroying Socii Mundial. Although the W.C.C. and the Fictian Empire together dismantled the alliance in late 1909, it reformed in 1910 and the Solis Federation, hegemon of Socii, was destroyed after a Spirova-backed coup and became the Confederate States of Solis who promptly joined Spirova. Although the Empire took over the leadership of Socii, its rather low population put it into a tight spot as war began.

World War I
Main article: WWI

War between Socii and Spirova broke out in late 1910, when Valan unsuccessfully tried to invade the PRA's Borealis colony. Soon afterwards, the Empire declared war on Spirova, which resulted in it promptly losing its rich Occidentalis Major colony. However, the Republica de Canciones Molestas's Ranoluv dynasty elected to take back control of the RCM at this point, and then surprisingly left Socii to join Spirova to "balance world power". They took the Exarchate of Frigida (which had only existed for 2 months), and resulted in the Empire losing over 5 million of its population, which somewhat crippled the Fictian Empire for the rest of the war. Nonetheless, the Fictians managed to repel multiple assaults on the Exarchate of Australis and other areas, and commited groups of 2 million troops to unsuccessful battles like the first RCM invasion.

However, the Empire's leadership in Socii meant it still had some power, and the rest of the alliance fought on. Humerland loaned a high number of artillery to the Empire, which helped it significantly repel invasions in Australis and Occidentalis Minor and warmed relations between the two. After a few months, the Empire and W.C.C. came up with "Operation Golden Rule", in which Socii would abruptly conscript 2/3 of its population and invade all of the major Spirova members 1-by-1 with a gigantic army. Although the Empire could only commit 2 million separate soldiers to each of these assaults to prevent underpopulation, they all proved effective, and the PRA and RCM were soon both defeated or surrendered. COSS also went bankrupt, and Spirova was dissolved. The war was over.

In the aftermath, the Empire got 3 million captured civilians back and earned part of the former RCM, which boosted its population significantly. The state would no longer face a significant recruiting problem during future wars.

The Imperial Civil War
Although war was briefly over, decisions made during the World War would soon restart conflict. Soon after the Empire's initial losses, George II began to act cowardly toward the war. He decided to order a new Imperial capital of Constantinople to be built on Basza Nova (which was at the time thought to be on the edge of the world), and fled there to avoid having to coordinate the entire war. He decided instead to split the empire into two halves for easier administration: the Western Fictian Empire, which was the Occidentalis Minor territories, was given to a prominent general who became known as George III to rule from Capital City, while George II retained Australis and Basza Nova territories as the Eastern Fictian Empire. George II would nominally be the chief soverign over both halves of the Empire and defend Australis, but George III would do all the strategizing for critical battles. This arrangement worked relatively well during the war thanks to George III's military skill.

When the War was over, however, unrest began. Much of the Western Empire's population, including George III considered George II as a traitorous coward for fleeing at the middle of a desperate situation to a luxurious and safe new capital. As a result, when George II demanded George III abdicate to reunite the Empire, he refused and instead raised 2 million troops to invade Australis and depose George II, along with his Homaric artillery. For his own defense, George II also raised 1.5 million troops, but pulled his artillery inland for the battle. George III soon set sail with his forces to Australis.

A few months later, George III landed on Australis in the Eastern Fictian Empire with no difficulty since all coastal defenses had mysteriously been removed. Once George III marched inland to meet George II in battle, the reason why became apparent however. The Eastern emperor had positioned all of his artillery to fire directly where George III was in the opposing army. However, the Western emperor had the exact same strategy and positioned the artillery he brought to fire on George II. As a result, both emperors perished in the battle and it was a stalemate. The war was over and both armies returned to their homes however possible.

In the aftermath, George II's nephew was crowned Emperor as George IV. Since he was only 13 at his accession, his uncle Michael Basileus was chosen to rule as regent, though.

Transition To a Republic (1911-1913):
Following the destruction of two wars, the Fictian Empire was reunited and rejuvenated with new territory and a higher population, which ushered in another era of rapid strengthening. After the war, Michael decreed that all ethnic groups should recieve equal rights, and major naval expansions began to make the Fictian Navy world-class. During this time, the Empire also purchased Valan's Occidentalis Minor colony from them and took part in a war against Avaconia with Okhostia.

All of these advances made Michael Basileus wildly popular among the public, which made him consider eliminating George IV permanently from politics and allowing himself to rule as long as possible. Choosing not to usurp the throne from the young emperor, he instead executed a coup by using his regency power to end the absolute monarchy by stripping the emperor and regent of all power and instead form a republic. The office of emperor would still exist, but be purely ceremonial and bear no power. The first election, which was held almost immediately, elected Michael as the first Fictian President and gave him almost all of the Emperor's former power.

Michael's coup, demoting the position of Emperor to irrelevancy, is considered to have marked the end of the Fictian Empire. Almost immediately afterwards, secret negotiations between Michael and the governments of Universia, Praenuntium, and Eleutheria resulted in the four countries merging under a new constitution to create the Great Universal Empire. The former empire under the new republican government has been a member of the GUE as the State of Fictia to this day.

Geography:
Strewn in territories around the world, the Empire had varied geography. its core territories on Occidentalis Minor encompassed the clear majority of the island, where there was generally a temperate forest cover and mid-latitude weather conditions. There was also a mountain range that shielded the large island on the north and south The same is true for the former Insula Draco and two southern islands Fictia controlled, except Draco was colder and the two southern ones warmer. At its Occidentalis Major territory, a tropical rainforest with a very wet climate existed, bordered on two sides by mountain ranges. It was also fed by a major river running through the territory, known locally as the Grande River.

Australis and Canciona, being distant from other Imperial territories, had quite the different climate however. Although their coasts got some light precipitation, much of its inland territories featured hot desert with rain only a few times a year. Some fascinating rock formations exist in the mountain ranges scattered on both continents' deserts, too. Frigida similarly was a freezing cold tundra with almost constant snowstorms plaguing its area. Its western portion was filled with rugged mountains, and the east frozen steppes.

Provinces of the Fictian Empire at its peak, from south to north by region, include:

Occidentalis Minor:


 * Equetaria (Insula Equos and southern Insula Fraus)
 * Occidentalis Australis (Fictian land due west of the Universia colony)
 * Amurrhinia Colonia (the rest of the former PRA Occidentalis colony)
 * Occidentalis Medietas (Land between a T3 resource shared with Valan and a T4)
 * Montania (northern mountain range, including much of the northern coast, and Insula Draco)
 * Google Translatia (much of the northeastern coast, inclusing Capital City and Insula Borealis)

Occidentalis Major:

Canciona:
 * Desembocadura (southern mouth of the Grande River and nearby land)
 * Bosquia (much of the eastern coast)
 * Mojado (a portion of inland wetlands).
 * Del Interior (land between the northern and western mountain borders)


 * Cantalopu con Azucar (inland desert)
 * Costa de Langostas (coastal regions)

Crab Rave Islands and New Zealandia:


 * Non-utilia (Fictian Crab Rave Islands)
 * Finis (Fictian New Zealandic Islands)

Imo Mundi:


 * Cur hic habitare vis (full territory)

Australis (administered by the Exarchate of Australis):

Australis Proper:

Nova Basza
 * Australa (most of southwestern peninsula)
 * Taediosa (zone of desert bordered by Deltasraki, the ocean, and mountains)
 * Austeria (an inland desert bordered by mountains)
 * Tanti Mihi (small area bordered by Humerland and Deltasraki)


 * Ostia (western isthmus and peninsula)
 * New Zealandia (eastern peninsula and two small southern islands)
 * Volans Avis (the remaining Australian east coast).

Borealis (administered by the Exarchate of Frigida):


 * Magna Frigida (eastern hinterland)
 * Aliquantum Utilis (western mountain range and coast)
 * Insuli Frigidum (the western small islands)

Government
The Fictian Empire is an Absolute Monarchy, and so the sitting senior Emperor has absolute authority and power to make, change, and enforce laws, although exercisable power may sometimes be given to prominent aristocrats in some circumstances. To enforce the monarch's authority each province of the entire Empire is administered by a Governor, a Emperor-appointed officer tasked with enforcing laws throughout the province. However, at some regions distant from the Capital City, an "Exarch" may be appointed, who is appointed to govern the provinces of a fraction of the Empire in the name of the Emperor. In practice, this makes the Exarch into a very powerful, but still subordinate ruler who must must answer to the Emperor. The two Exarchates to exist were the Exarchate of Australis and the Exarchate of Frigida, both of which still exist today under the rule of the succeeding State of Fictia

Succession to the Imperial office was determined in the will of the previous Emperor, and was typically hereditary as a result. However, this wasn't always the case, and if an Emperor's will is dubious or a person was strong enough the succession could have been challenged with relative ease.

Each province was governed by a local official who answered to and completed the Emperor or Exarch's requests in their area, usually through the use of lesser officials appointed by the governor.

Influence:
The Fictian Empire had a relatively powerful zone of global influence, especially for how small its population was. With 25% shares of the Universal Market and the RCM Canal before WWI, the Empire had a relatively large share of two of the most critical world organizations and unrestricted access to a key canal. Even after WWI, the Empire had continued free access to the canal under W.C.C. control. Additionally, as the chair of Socii Mundial from WWI to its dissolution, the Empire projected its power further through aiding numerous allies scattered around the globe.

Foreign Relations
The Fictian Empire was a formal member and chair of Socii Mundial, but externally also featured a unique foreign policy system inspired by that used by the W.C.C., in which all countries are assigned a number relating to how good their relations are. Early in its lifetime, the Empire had poorer relations with Homaric Alliance members, but later gained significantly better relations with these powers when the state realized the members of the Spirova Accords were the real threat.

Demographics:
When the Empire originated its entire ethnicity was almost Fictian, a race from mixed descendants of the Ficts and Valanians from The Empire. As the state expanded, they remained a primary ethnic group, but other groups like the Cancionans gained significant internal populations too. At the end of the Empire, here is the approximate ethnic makeup:

-30% Fictian

-25% Cancionan

-15% Cnutian

-10% Unknown Borealians

-5% Australians

-5% Nilo-Gordasian

-5% Touleecois

-3% Valanians

-1% Solisians

-1% Okhostians

Culture:


The Empire featured a very rich culture. Among other things, its residents greatly enjoy dance music. For that reason, the National Anthem has been a catchy dance tune since 1909, although before that it was a Middle C on a piano being played EXACTLY 13 times. A failure to properly play the anthem led to declarations of treason and imprisonments, however, and so was chosen to be abolished eventually to prevent Fictian jails from filling up with bad musicians instead of criminals.

The main yearly Fictian festival happened on the birthday of the current Emperor, when work of any kind was canceled for everyone. Most in Occidentalis Minor attended an Imperial chariot race held on this day which was only popular because it offered unlimited free food and drinks to all attendes. Ironically, most Fictians hated the sport. Other major festivals included Unity Day during which local militias would march through cities to celebrate when King Chungus II conquered Occidentalis Minor and founded the old Kingdom of Fictia, and Christmas to celebrate the most common national religion. The latter holiday featured an extremely odd tradition in which Fictians would cut down evergreen trees to bring into their house, and then place countless wrapped parcels under them to give to other people later. Since most of the core Empire didn't have evergreen trees, they were usually imported from Frigida or an outlying Occidentalis Minor island.

The Empire also allowed some festivals from non-Fictian peoples, like those of Great Star Lobsterism in the former RCM, but most of these were restricted to areas they were celebrated in before the Empire conquered them.

External Basis:
The state is somewhat similar to and based off that of the Eastern Roman Empire (aka Byzantine Empire), albeit one with much more general success and significantly modernized. A few similarities are:

Of course, the Roman Empire actually only occurred on earth, a fictional planet.
 * Rule by an Emperor with absolute power, albeit with some squabbling amongst nobles for the position or their own political influence.
 * The word "Basileus" being used to refer to a royal (The Emperor himself in the Byzantine state, the Imperial family in the Fictian Empire).
 * An Exarchate existing to administer distant land (In the Byzantine Empire, the Exarchate of Africa and Exarchate of Ravenna, in Fictia the Exarchates of Australis and Frigida.
 * Christianity as a main religion.
 * Numerous historical civil wars.
 * Was a remnant from from a larger and critical historical empire (the Roman Empire for the Byzantines, The Empire for the Fictians)
 * A monarch named Justinian brought both states to a historical peak.
 * The usage of a black chi rho in front of a white background as a flag.
 * A dynasty of only 4 ruling Emperors revitalized a state near-collapse to last at least 2 extra centuries (Laskirid Dynasty of Nicaea Byzantine, late Georgian Dynasty Fictia).

See Also:

 * List of Fictian Emperors
 * Kingdom of Fictia
 * Exarchate of Australis