Tribloom and Toastytop Mondoregion
| Tribloom and Toastytop Mondoregion | |||
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| Hymn: Mondolied | |||
| Headquarters | Ermingander Village | ||
| Official language(s) | Istvanistani | ||
| Type | Cross-border region | ||
| Leaders | |||
| - Prince | Mondo Etzeterra | ||
| - Chair of DICTAT | Gerard Spooner Petra Skuryova-Spooner | ||
| - Main assembly | DICTAT | ||
| Establishment | 1735 AN | ||
| Membership |
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| Organisation website | |||
| Organisation forum | |||
Abrek Lieutenancy The Tribloom and Toastytop Mondoregion is a cross-border region comprising the Mondosphere constituent state of Northbloom and the northern Kalgachi lieutenancies of Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis. It is named for the three surviving portions of the former principality of Highbloom- Northbloom, Southbloom (Abrek) and Westbloom (Katarsis)- and the neighbouring province of Toastytop (Jollity).
History
During the Minarborian era, Northbloom, Abrek and Katarsis had been part of the Principality of Highbloom, the personal demesne of the Princess Royal, Octavia Rossheim. After the collapse of Minarboria around 1649 AN, the latter two had become incorporated within Kalgachia, while the former had emerged by 1660 AN as an independent statelet under the leadership of Princess Octavia's posthumous offspring, Mondo Etzeterra.
In the wake of Operation Penitent, Mondo established a benign protectorate over Abrek and the neighbouring lieutenancy of Jollity, the latter corresponding to the old Minarborian province of Toastytop; Katarsis meanwhile remained under local administration as part of the so-called "Free Zone", that part of the Garden as yet unoccupied by the Benacian Union or Mondosphere. Amid growing tensions between the Benacian Union and Shireroth, the former opted to liquidate the Free Zone in 1730 AN, and Katarsis was subsequently incorporated within the Mondosphere occupation zone.
For the first time in nearly eighty years, the greater part of the former Principality of Highbloom was under a common administration, and as the situation in Benacia continued to deteriorate, unofficial efforts to strengthen cooperation across the region began to gather pace. Ermingander Village was keenly aware that the outbreak of a shooting war between Shireroth and the Benacian Union- as now seemed increasingly plausible- would leave Northbloom dangerously isolated, while for their part, many Kalgachi were increasingly concerned that they would inevitably be drawn into the expected conflict by their Benacian protectors. In 1732 AN, the militaries of Northbloom, Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis combined to form the Tribloom Defence Force; three years later, the Domestic Integration Council for Tribloom and Toastytop (DICTAT) was established to coordinate policy between Ermingander Village and the three lieutenancies, an act that heralded the formal foundation of the Tribloom and Toastytop Region.
A separate path
It soon became apparent that DICTAT possessed an agenda beyond facilitating greater economic efficiency. The initial changes seemed innocuous enough: using the surrounding conflict as a pretext, the import and export of foodstuffs to the remainder of Kalgachia was limited, and certain portions of the Oktavyan Code relating to Kalgachi's ethnic policy were "temporarily" suspended. However, perhaps emboldened by the lack of response from Oktavyan, the council subsequently took steps to secure a more dominant position within Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis; although the authority of the Perfecti was not directly challenged, their ability to exercise it within the region was curtailed, as DICTAT progressively assumed control over various state functions. Recognising the vital role of the church within Kalgachi society, in early 1736 AN DICTAT prevailed upon the Resectors of the three lieutenancies to convene a separate synod, the Holy Synod of the Church of Kalgachia within Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis. By admitting a representative of this new synod to the council, DICTAT sought to co-opt the local church chthonarchy, further undercutting Oktavyan's effective control.
Reaction to these developments was surprisingly muted. With few means of coercion remaining to them and with their other protector, the Benacian Union, focused on its life-or-death struggle against Shireroth, the Council of Perfecti opted to remain silent. Also strangely silent was Mondo; although it is unthinkable that DICTAT would have knowingly acted contrary to the will of Fort Ermingander, the normally amiable lich seemed largely indifferent to the machinations of his minions.
The rift deepens
The impact of these changes had hitherto been largely confined to the lower levels[1] of political society, causing comparatively few ripples among the wider populace. All this was to change when the resectors of the Holy Synod of the Church of Kalgachia within Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis- apparently without the prior approval of DICTAT- took the unexpected step of pronouncing Mondo a Ketherist salvator in late 1736 AN. This seismic act, which at a stroke threatened to upend the controversial decisions of the Third Extraordinary Grand Council, presented DICTAT with a considerable problem. By intervening in doctrinal matters, the resectors of Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis had explicitly challenged the authority of the Perfecti. The latter would be compelled to respond: a public breach with Oktavyan was now inevitable.
Practically overnight, Kalgachi society divided into two camps: Mondoists and anti-Mondoists. Whilst the former depicted Mondo as a chthonically-dwelling[2] agent of the Garden Ketheric who had saved a failing Kalgachia from total domination by the Benacian Union, the latter condemned the lich for allying with those same archonic forces to dismember the country in its time of need. Recognising that the damage had already been done, DICTAT decided to come out fighting: the TBDF was ordered to suppress the Prefects- Oktavyan's last remaining means of coercion within the region- and secure the frontiers of the three lieutenancies against future infiltration.
The Mondovision Generation and the Highbloomian reawakening
In the lieutenancies of Abrek and Jollity, the mid 1730s saw the rise to adulthood of a generation unable to remember a time before Operation Penitent. Having been raised under the mostly-benevolent Northbloomian occupation, this so-called "Mondovision Generation" was considerably more cosmopolitan in outlook than their parents and grandparents, and had increasingly come to reject many of the traditional values of Kalgachi society. Support for Mondo was strong within this demographic cohort, with many young people seeing the quirky lich as a beacon of modernity and their best chance for a brighter future. Even in Katarsis, which had remained largely free of occupying forces for a further thirteen years, there was little residual support for a distant and unaccountable regime in Oktavyan that had so rapidly succumbed to invasion and occupation.
The same period also witnessed a reawakening of Highbloomian consciousness in neighbouring Northbloom, where the local populace had long resented being treated as "infuriatingly rustic" country bumpkins by their southern neighbours. Emphasising their common ethnicity and shared history under Minarboria, there were calls for Abrek and Katarsis to secede from Kalgachia and join with Northbloom in a reunited Principality of Highbloom. Although initially confined to Ermingander Village, the movement quickly spread across Northbloom, and was even embraced by a section of the "Mondovision Generation" south of the border, who saw it as an opportunity to escape the stifling parochialism of Kalgachia and join the wider Mondosphere.
Government
Although the three lieutenancies remain de jure subject to the Kalgachi government in Oktavyan, de facto authority is increasingly represented by the Domestic Integration Council for Tribloom and Toastytop (DICTAT). This body was originally comprised of:
- The Mayor of Ermingander Village;
- The Lord Lieutenant of Abrek;
- The Deputy Lord Lieutenants of Jollity and Katarsis;
- The Deputy Director of Public Works for Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis;
- The Deputy Director of Labour and Economic Planning for Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis;
- The Deputy Director of Health and Public Welfare for Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis;
- The Chief of the Tribloom Defence Force Combined Staff;
- The Vice-chancellor of Ermingander Village University.
The council is co-chaired by the mayor of Ermingander Village, Sir Gerard Spooner, and the lord lieutenant of Abrek, Baroness Skuryova, who is the former's sister-in-law. Jollity and Katarsis are both represented by deputy lord lieutenants, standing in for Lord Toastypops (perpetual Lord Lieutenant of Jollity) and Mondo (acting Lord Lieutenant of Katarsis since 1735 AN), who have yet to attend in person.
In 1736 AN, the Resector of Abrek joined the council, representing the newly-established Holy Synod of the Church of Kalgachia within Abrek, Jollity and Katarsis.
