User:Acronis2/sandbox

This page or section is not canon and should not be considered part of current TEP Evolved RP.

This page (or section) is a work in progress by its author(s) and should not be considered final.

Republic of Viquelle çe’Republicce ge Viquelle
Flag Arms
Motto: çe’Viquelle zalé Trapuopé (Viquellan) "Viquelle will Rise"
Anthem: "çai’Zuolle meg çai’Silan" (Viquellan) "The River and the Sky"
A map of Viquelle, in yellow, with Ostrucia (blue) to the east and Phoenixia (red) to the west.
Capital	Tuotaçelai
Largest city	Sulabuorai
Official languages	Viquellan Alkari
Ethnic groups (2022)	Elf 56% Symph 19% Human 11% Cava 8% All others 6%
Religion (2022)	Church of Xaethos 68% Akronism 15% Native faiths 11% Ademarism 6%
Demonym(s)	Viquellan
Government	Unitary semi-presidential parliamentary republic
• President	Giavelu Jasepogu
• Premier	Marai Lusetogai
Legislature	National Assembly
Independence  from Alksearia, 1806
• Colonized by Alksearia	1744 CE
• First Republic independence	12 Oct 1806
• First Viquellan Civil War	10 May 1858—25 Sept 1864
• Kingdom of Viquelle established	25 Sept 1864
• Second Republic declared	13 Aug 1910
• Restoration of Monarchy	12 June 1942—6 Jan 1987
• Second Viquellan Civil War	6 Jan 1987—21 April 2022
• Third Republic established	22 April 2022
Area
• Total	779,067.15 km2 (300,799.51 sq mi)
Population
• 2022 estimate	84,218,102
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$44,214,503,550
• Per capita	$525
Currency	Viquellan Ducat (₡) (VQD)
Time zone	UTC +02:00
Driving side	right
Calling code	+846
Internet TLD	.vq

The Republic of Viquelle is a landlocked country located on Yasteria Minor, bordering the countries of Phoenixia and Ostrucia. The country is named after the Viquelle River and consists of most of its watershed. Viquelle has been inhabited by several different species for hundreds of thousands of years and contains several sites of archaeological significance to research on the ancient migrations of humans, elves, and symphs. In the modern day, Viquelle is a multi-ethnic, multi-species country that is highly diverse in both sapient and non-sapient life; the Viquelle Rainforest has one of the highest rates of biodiversity on Urth.

Initially colonized by Alksearia in the mid-18th century, the history of Viquelle has regularly seen inter-ethnic conflict and political instability. The country has fought two civil wars, the most recent of which lasted 35 years and ended in 2022. Due to this political upheaval, Viquelle is significantly underdeveloped and impoverished despite its relative wealth of mineral and other resources. With a GDP per capita (nominal) of SHD $525, Viquelle has one of the least productive economies on the planet. As of 2020, 64.1% of the population earned less than SHD $1 a day, an internationally recognized definition of poverty. Tropical diseases such as malaria, various types of Flavavirus infections, and scabies, as well as foodborne illnesses, remain significant public health risks. A lack of infrastructure and public corruption also contribute to the country's level of poverty.

History

Evidence of habitation by sapients in Viquelle goes back hundreds of thousands of years. Some theories believe that Viquelle was along the first migration routes modern humans took out of Arcturia. Prehistoric elves and symphs migrating south from Yasteria reached Viquelle at approximately the same time. Society in the Viquelle River basin was predominately hunter-gatherer for all of prehistory into early history; the first settled, permanent farming villages in the country—primarily in the north and east—date to approximately 1000-1200 CE. In approximately 1540, a large city was established at what is today Sulabuorai that contained several large ritual temple complexes and stone walls quarried from rock in the far northwest of the country. At the time of Alkari arrival in 1740, an estimated 75,000—100,000 people lived in the city, which according to contemporary Alkari records, the natives named "Zullabora."

The Alkari referred to the city of Zullabora as the "capital" of the Viquellan people, though at the time no unified Viquellan state existed. Zullabora was only the largest and most powerful one of dozens of city-states and petty-kingdoms along the Viquelle River at the time, and many more people still lived in tribes in the dense interior jungle. While Zullabora was known to exercise at least some sway over its neighbors, collecting tribute and waging war with nearby rulers, in reality it had essentially no control over the region outside of what is today south-central Viquelle. In the north, Esidonai was the seat of a far older polity called the Kingdom of Esidu, while Produonu in the east was strong enough to resist several waves of invasion attempts from Zullabora that were recorded between 1400 and 1600. Nevertheless, the Alkari generally insisted on negotiating exclusively with Zullabora, which generated a significant amount of economic and political power for the city.

Alkari colonization

In 1744, the Alkari government convinced King Giogioré of Zullabora to sign the Treaty of Zullabora, written by Alkari officials to arrange for Zullabora to come under Alkari control through a tributary relationship in which the King of Zullabora would "owe fealty to the Alkari monarch" and require that he pay annual tribute in "gold, gemstones, or other treasures." In return, Alksearia would agree to defend Zullabora and aid them against their enemies. The Treaty of Zullabora formed the constitutional basis for Alkari-Viquellan relations, but in recent years scholars have started to scrutinize its lawfulness; some argue that it was not made clear by Alkari officials to King Giogioré of what, exactly, he was signing, and that the King of Zullabora was under the impression he was only paying the Alkari as mercenaries and not signing over sovereignty of his city-state. Nevertheless, Giogioré died only three weeks after the treaty was signed, of circumstances that were considered suspicious even at the time—it was and still is widely believed, though not confirmed, that the Alkari had him poisoned. Zullabora would instead be governed by an Alkari Viceroy with the title of "Prince-King of Zullabora."

With Alkari military assistance—leveraging their significantly more advanced military technology, not least of all firearms—Zullabora easily defeated the eastern coalition of Produonu within months of having signed the treaty, and a war of less than four months in 1745 conquered the ancient Kingdom of Esidu in the north. While there were a number of smaller petty-states or tribes in the far northwest of the country, and would always be significant resistance from the tribes of the rainforest interior, Zullaboran (and thus Alkari) domination over the Viquelle River basin was solidified by 1747. However, it was difficult to maintain control in the country for the sole reason that, with hardly any roads anywhere in the country, it was difficult and slow to get from one place to another. The first major Alkari project was to expand the city of Zullabora and make it a "proper, modern burgh," and then to build a network of roads between the major cities. For this, they undertook a massive campaign of forced labor from prisoners—both Alkari and Viquellan convicts—to build both projects.

Zullabora quickly expanded and industrialized. The Alkari had a policy of paying more for infrastructure projects in the realms of the local leaders they liked better, which meant that early industrialization spread in the Viquelle River basin through a system of patronage. While this policy did lead to some cities seeing significant development, it was done unequally across the region and pitted local leaders against each other. There began to be conflict among the various chiefdoms, tribes, and petty kingdoms that still de facto existed within what the Alkari called Viquelle. In 1801, a group of leaders rebelled against Zullaboran administration, which caused Alksearia to have to answer its obligations and come to Zullabora's defense. Over the course of five years, several rebellions broke out among various groups within Viquelle, and eventually the costs of defending it became too high. Alksearia agreed to grant independence to Viquelle on the condition that it assume the vast majority of Alkari debt incurred in the territory in the Treaty of Alcarbora in 1806.

First Republic

From its outset, the First Republic was highly opposed to Alksearia in general. Among its first priorities was removing all Alkari soldiers and government officials from the country, and it refused to exchange representatives with Alksearia in any capacity. The political class of the First Republic tended to be dominated by three major factions: the nobility of the former Kingdom of Esidu, in the north, who held the most military power; merchant and business interests from the east, who had the cash flow to pay the Republic's debts; and the ethnic Alkari royalists, who still lived all across the country (especially in the west) and who sought a return to friendly relations with Alksearia or even a return to vassal status. The Republic's government was frequently hamstrung by an inability to form consensus among the factions. While the drafters of the Treaty of Alcarbora had envisioned the Parliamentarians to serve in a collegial, fraternal manner, the factions quickly crystallized into entrenched interests and then opposing forces. Modern military equipment had made its way to most of the river basin by the First Republic era, meaning that the historically wealthy regions had less of an advantage.