Guttuli Protectorate
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| Guttuli Protectorate | |||
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| Motto: tzohet ïusamn pull together | |||
| Anthem: Froa at min Sȝod A Lord for my Nation | |||
| Map versions | n/a | ||
| Capital | Lachlan
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| Official language(s) | Præta | ||
| Official religion(s) | Cedrism | ||
| Demonym | Guttulinak, Guttulinin | ||
| - Adjective | Guttulinese | ||
| Government | Special Autonomous Region of the Benacian Union | ||
| - First Consul | Lors Bakker-Kalirion | ||
| - Lord Protector | Ernst Murhin | ||
| - Legislature | Protectorate Council | ||
| Establishment | 2.XII.1755 AN
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| Time zone(s) | CMT-7
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| Abbreviation | GP, GU, GUT | ||
The Guttuli Protectorate, sometimes known as the New Protectorate, was the former Shirerithian territory of the Duchy of the Guttuli under the administration of the Benacian Union following the Shiro-Benacian War.
Government
Nominally, the New Protectorate, whilst shorn of ideological fervour, would share many of the characteristics which defined its predecessor at the top level.
Garrison
The BUDF garrison in the protectorate is formed around the 6th Combined Arms Army under the command of the Frainan Hohmin Roderic Gallas. In spite of comprising on paper of three corps (X Uihmanz, XXI Uihmanz, and XXXI Uihmanz), the garrison in 1759 AN amounted to a degraded militia, confined to Lachlan, Musica, Gaton, and a number of airfields, periodically replenished by drafts of purchased apprentices delivered by sea to Musica from the Unified Governorates.
Security Forces & Auxiliaries
History
The Old Guttuli Protectorate was unable to secure membership of any international organizations, due to its controversial nature.
Despite this complication, it successfully signed several treaties in its early years. Most significant among these were its treaty with the Kingdom of Ransenar in late 1673 AN (ratified in 1674) to establish a mutually-agreed border, with the Republic of Alduria in mid-1674 AN to export military hardware and advisors for the Aldurian military, and with Francia. This last relationship became increasingly strong until that of Francia's disintegration with the Amokolian and Batavian revolutions.
Guttuli had exceptionally bad relations with the Raspur Pact (despite a treaty with one of its members), resulting in a trade ban. This forced the Guttuli Protectorate to participate more directly in the global black market than one would expect from an internationally-recognized state, as well as providing a stronger escort for trade vessels operating in the Central Sea. Relations with Drak-Modan remained especially tense from 1672 AN onwards, when the Guttuli Protectorate took control of the Lowbrook Region on Drak-Modan's eastern border and fortified it.
Until 1687 AN, after the fall of the Protectorate and the declaration of the Duchy of the Guttuli, the Guttulinese region began to undergo a period of reconstruction, intended to uproot the ideological and material harm that the Old Guttuli Protectorate had inflicted upon the Guttuli.
Benacian conquest and integration
The Guttuli Front became a focal point of the Shiro-Benacian War as the Benacian Union sought a decisive victory amidst setbacks and only minor victories elsewhere. By 1737 AN, the Shirerithian campaign into the Unified Governorates had stalled due to growing internal turmoil within the Imperial Republic.
The rise of the Revolutionary Committee in Shirekeep, led by Steward Erasmo Laegel, destabilized Shirerithian governance. The revolutionaries, while holding nominal control, were unable to maintain the cohesion of the empire. The Dominions, particularly Greater Kildare, reduced their support, supplying only the bare minimum to sustain the war effort. This shortfall was especially pronounced on the Guttuli Front, where desertions and equipment shortages became rampant. Reports emerged of Shirerithian soldiers resorting to arming themselves with farm tools, emblematic of the dire situation.
Sensing an opportunity, Benacian forces launched a large-scale offensive into Guttuli in early 1738 AN. The Imperial Forces, caught off guard and critically undersupplied, were unable to mount an effective defense. Within a month, Benacian troops had captured most major cities east of the Elwynn River. In Mesior, a desperate fight ensued as Shirerithian forces sought to cover the evacuation of civilians. Despite the chaos, a miraculous evacuation effort using pleasure boats allowed approximately 80,000 soldiers and 2 million civilians to escape to Nosovorensk, an island stronghold off the coast. This operation, while successful, left much of Far Guttuli under Benacian control.
The Benacian advance westward continued with ruthless efficiency. By late 1738 AN, Shirerithian reinforcements along the western banks of the Elwynn River were overwhelmed, and the Benacians drove Imperial forces out of Near Guttuli. The only exception was the city of Lichport, located near the border of the Duchy of Modan, where Shirerithian forces established a tenuous defensive line. The once-thriving city of Musika, already devastated by nuclear strikes earlier in the war, fell with minimal resistance but not before the Imperial Forces transfered all vital material from the Musica Naval Arsenal to Raynor Point. Meanwhile, Nosovorensk, fortified by the Imperial Navy, became the last significant Shirerithian stronghold in Coastal Guttuli, holding out against relentless Benacian pressure.
The Benacian successes on the Guttuli Front dealt a crippling blow to the Shirerithian revolutionary regime. The fall of major cities and the loss of Far and Near Guttuli exposed the revolutionaries' inability to manage the war, further eroding their legitimacy (already unpopular due to their Bloody Cleansing). By 1739 AN, this failure contributed to the ousting of the revolutionary government. The rise of Yukio, appointed as the new monarch after the abdication of Kaiseress Salome, marked the restoration of imperial authority and renewed Shirerithian resolve in the war. However, by 1740 AN, the Benacian victories had solidified their position in Guttuli, creating a new eastern front.
The Commission for the Integration of the Guttuli, established in 1746 AN was a special commission appointed by the Congress of Chryse to oversee the integration of the Guttuli, conquered from Shireroth in one of the rare victories of the Shiro-Benacian War into the Benacian Union.
Consideration was given to the direct annexation of the Far Guttuli (east bank) into Ransenar, and its subsequent unification with North Lunaris to recreate the historical realm of Lunaris, whilst the Near Guttuli (west bank) was mooted as a special administrative territory available for all surviving realms and institutions of the Union-State to exploit according to their own designs.
In contrast to the long-term project of the reunification of Far Guttuli and North Lunaris under the comparatively stable and firm oversight of the Ransenari, the continuation of Near Guttuli as an autonomous was an altogether more fraught affair.
To begin with, the occupation authorities found it expedient to revive the institutions and trappings of the Old Protectorate as a point of contrast to the interval of restored Imperial rule between 1685 and 1738. Happily, they were able to discover a living bearer of the Murhin surname in the region of Gatonia, one with claims to the scorched earth and ruins which comprised the estate of his forebear.
Installed as Lord Protector in 1752, Ernst Murhin, found himself the titular lord of a domain of anarchy where ESB residents, Humanist bailiffs, cashiered officers of the BUDF, and variously discharged and abandoned personnel from Benacia Command were all engaged in carving out their own petty domains. Worst of all Murhin discovered how little his power counted for when set against the ambitions of the BUDF garrison commander in Lachlan, who seemingly regarded the Guttuli as his own domain.
