Costalan

State of the Military Frontier Stáit an Críoch Míleata (Fefsen) Estát ar Clíoq Milatat (Costalani Fefsen)
Flag Margan Knot Coat of arms
Motto: None official
Anthem:  X Woe to the Tyrants File:Woe to the Tyrants.mp3
Location of Costalan in dark green Location of Costalan in dark green
Capital	Citadel Azur
Largest city	Venecry
Official languages	None officiala
Ethnic groups	67.5% Fefsen 32.5% Non-Fefsen 6.6% Pureblood Humans 6.3% Dwarves 4.7% Pureblood Elves 3.3% Tieflings 2.0% Kemonomimis 9.6% Others
Religion	47.0% Abhailism 40.2% Alterna-Exemplarian Adharthb 39.6% Unaffiliated
Demonym(s)	Costalani Frontierfolk (informal)
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional directorial republic
• Marshals of State	Rilaq Dormeir Haviere-Alejaron Luz Jessenia Daunartagan Anja Danspeir Caron Queardar
• Steward of the Social Pact	Íose Al-Gaeh
Legislature	People's High Government Junta
History
• Salted Coast Military Frontier established	549
• Loránd's War	1651-1654
• Independence proclaimed	18 September 1651
• Great Dyscephaly	9th March 1668
• Ortheiad Memorandum	20th April 1979
Population
• Q3 2023 estimate	21,517,045
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$571.4 billion
• Per capita	$26,559
Gini (2021)	34.2 medium
SDI (2020)	0.889 very high
Currency	Costalani feineroí (ƒ) (CFR)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+459
Internet TLD	.cl
Although Fefsen is the primary vernacular of most Costalanis, it is not legally recognized as such. All Costalani federal constituents maintain no restriction on use of their residents' other parent tongues. Few (around 10% of membership) are actually practicing members of the Adharth.

Costalan (Fefsen: Cóstalan), formally referred to in diplomacy as the State of the Military Frontier (Fefsen: Stáit an Críoch Míleata; Costalani Fefsen: Estát ar Clíoq Milatat), is a country located in southeastern Novaris. The country's landmass comprises mainly of the coastal lowlands and grassland plains south of the Transabhaile Mountains and on the eastern shore of the X Sea, historically known literally as the Salted Coast. Clockwise from its metropole, it is bordered by Thalor and Mirhaime to the north, and Antora to the east; Ostretheia lies a short distance south from country's coastline, while Tretrid is located across the sea to the west. It covers an area of X square kilometers (Xsq mi) and has a population of 21.5 million people. The Costalani variant of Fefsen, otherwise shared with Mirhaime and Thalor, is the most commonly used everyday language and the de facto language of government and media. The capital city is Citadel Azur, hosting the Costalani legislature, executive, and most branches of its government, while the much younger Venecry is the largest city in the country. Other notable urban areas include Citadel Cairrig, [[]], [[]], [[]], and [[]].

The Salted Coast has been inhabited since at least the twenty-first millennium BCE by a combination of indigenous dwarves, ursines, and a branch of the human and elven progenitors of the Fefsen. Following developments in the rest of eastern Novaris, these differing groups began to coalesce around a common language beginning in the early Metal Ages, and formed what is now known as the proto-Costalani. They, however, continued to remain individually distinct, eventually diverging into a myriad of steppe polities, coastal emporia, and hinterland tribes. Abhailism arrived in the Salted Coast from Trinteria some time between the fifth and third century BCE, of which whose proselytization of much of the borderland tribes attracted Ymirodraeth's interest to the region. After attempts to further consolidate the Salted Coast by Juksakka and later the Immartijans failed to achieve lasting unity, the proto-Costalani entered into a long stagnation in the face of bitter competition with Trinteria. The ultimate culmination came in the sixth century CE, when the subjugation of neighboring Teifi brought the Trinterians to violence with the Salted Coast, and led to it being invaded by forces under Aeron Cairrig in 537 CE. The Salted Coast finally succumbed to Cairrig after nearly a decade of campaigning, but proved resilient enough against Trinteria's efforts to secure a favorable peace which included significant deferment to the local power structures and Trinterian non-interference in internal politics. In exchange, the disparate proto-Costalani polities accepted consolidation under the Salted Coast Military Frontier, its quasi-parliament, the High Government Junta, hosted in the site of what would become Citadel Azur.

Strategically positioned on the farthest fringes of the Trinterian empire, the military frontier was developed an important defensive lodgement as well as the foremost entrepot in Trinteria's foreign trade. This commercial importance reached its apex during the heydays of the Trinterian treasure fleet - a series of global sea voyages chartering new trade routes partially financed by the Salted Coast - the returning knowledge and wealth of which propelled Salted Coast mercantilism to a global scale spanning almost every major continent, and whose complexity and lucrativeness necessitated the Fefsenistic world's first unified trading and customs system. The region in its modern form took shape around the time of the 16th and 17th centuries Wars of Trinterian Succession, whose devastation and sheer length widened the gulf between Ymirodraeth and the Salted Coast. Spurred by the collapse of the Commonwealth during the Second Succession War, the High Government Junta confirmed its secession in 1654 before repelling a Mirhaimian invasion immediately afterwards. The nascent country was soon embroiled in political tug-of-war between the urban bourgeois, their allies in the peasantry, and the hinterland nobility, leading to the latter's political liquidation in the ensuing Great Dysccephaly. The 1668 Costalani constitution ensured that the rights of the nobility would be significantly curtailed and codified the Enlightenment-driven humanist, republican, and centralizing currents which would come to influence Costalan.

Modern Costalan is a liberal democracy founded on the principles of plurality, equity, and laicity, led by a council of five heads of state-cum-cabinet appointed from within a democratically-elected legislature, itself composed of representatives from the country's 17 cantonments. It is a developed country boasting high standards of living and a highly-integrated, highly-developed market economy built on high tech manufacturing and services, indicative from its favorable global rankings in terms of social welfare, infrastructure, educational standards, and exotechnological innovation. Costalan is a member of the International Forum, [[]], [[]], and Comlathas. Although formerly a long-time rival of Mirhaime and Thalor and political paramour of Tretrid, the recent move towards reconciliation, officially made state policy following the Ortheaid Memorandum, has done much to reintegrate Costalan into the Trintersphere and lessen the country's reliance on Tretridian diplomatic support.

As a result of extensive cross-cultural mixing and high immigrant intake in the last few centuries, Costalan is today a diverse and multicultural country. This, combined with the region's historical preeminence as a center for art, science, and, most prominently, popular culture, has led to those Costalani cultural artefacts and media being disproportionately featured in the rest of the Trintersphere and other parts of the world.

Etymology

The diacritic-less Staynish word Costalan comes from a Staynishized, shortened portmanteau of Cósta Salan, the literal Fefsen name for the Salted Coast, which was then retroactively adopted by the Costalani government as the country's official name.

Reflective of the formerly fragmented nature of its politics, the country originally had neither a long-form nor, before the adoption of Costalan, a short-form name. It was simply referred to by the name of its legislature, the High Government Junta, for much of its history. The diplomatic name State of the Military Frontier was chosen upon Costalan's entry into the International Forum for foreign use, but is currently not recognized by the Costalan as its official long-form name.