Imperial Federation

The Imperial Federation of Ralgon, Nixtorm, and Tar-Palantir
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: For God and Empire
Anthem: Anchors Aweigh
Map versions	???
Capital	Gondolin (executive, administrative) Glacier City (religious, legislative)
Largest city	Glacier City, SAR
Official language(s)	Ralgonese (official) Standard (official; regional)
Official religion(s)	Draconic (revolves around a pantheon consisting of eleven gods)
Demonym	Imperial
- Adjective	Imperial; Ralgonese Adrestian; Drag'osian
Government	Executive Monarchy
- Emperor	Anari'on I (formerly called Masamune of Adrestia)
- Viceroy	Nikamura Hawkins, Grand Duke of Gondolin
- Legislature	Imperial Senate
Establishment	Winter, 228 AN (traditional) October 23rd, 1665 AN (as Ralgon on MCS map) May, 1706 AN (as the Imperial Federation)
Area
Population	204,174,665 (1705 AN, est)
Active population	1
Currency	Imperial Guilder (£)
Calendar	Norton Calendar (secular) Draconic Calendar (religious)
Time zone(s)	CMT+8 to +10:30 (Keltia) CMT-10:30 (Cibola)
Mains electricity	100 V at 50 Hz
Driving side	left
Track gauge	1500 mm (freight) 1000 mm (passenger; urban)
National website	Category Page User Page
National forum	Old Forum
National animal	leviathan
National food	crocodile meat
National drink	Menelmacari whiskey
National tree	Al-Hamra sequoia
Abbreviation	IFD

The Imperial Federation of Ralgon, Nixtorm, and Tar-Palantir, known better as The Imperial Federation, is a set of Imperialist, unified, sovereign states that coalesced in 1706 AN following the Ralgon War of Succession. It composes of the Kingdom of Adrestia, founded in 1675 AN, and the Kingdom of Drag'os, which has existed as a unified polity since the Holy Ralgon Empire completed its unification under a single, centralized government in c. 1655 AN. Its first ruler is Masamune of House Adrestia, crowned as Emperor Anari'on at the age of 5 AN years in 1706, shortly before their complete victory in a succession struggle over the Imperial Crown, after the death of its holder, Ralgon Emperor Shiro I the year prior. The Empire is governed under the tenets of Draconic Humanism, a combined religion and political ideology, which forms the basis of rule in the twin realms.

The new Imperial Federation has, in addition to recent gains elsewhere, reclaimed the entirety of Ralgon's former territory, and made additional, significant gains abroad in naval bases outside of their traditional sphere of activity in the Great Western Sea. The Imperial Federation consists of several distinct geographic divisions of various importance: States, Dominions, and Territories. States tend to have their own Dominions, and Dominions their own Territories, with dependent districts belonging entirely within their parent unit. From most to least important of such independent divisions, the Empire consists of the Ralgonese states of Adrestia, and Drag'os, which have imperial status. Independent Dominions include Nixtorm and Tar-Palantir, located near their respective suzerain states, possess Princely status. The other free-standing territories with Senate representation include Al Hamra (which includes New Scarterra), Nova Victoria, and Bomei Island. Devil's Island has home rule, but lacks representation in the Senate due to its nature as a penal colony and military base. These territories make up a vast, consolidated maritime empire that has reached the zenith of its power, influence, and geographical size.

The new Imperial Federation's government was formed from a union of the victorious factions. Ralgon is the unified Adrestia and Drag'os territories, with Glacier City holding equal status as Gondolin as one of the Imperial Federation's two imperial cities. Most the empire's territories are directly formed around these two polities. Nixtorm, now a large territory, remained loyal and sent troops to fight, and was awarded its own place in the new Imperial Senate. The same happened with Scarterra, the northern half of which was repatriated to Ralgon following a major land swap with Calbion that restored all of its former territories, along with the Badlands and the freeport region of Duro. The infant government applied to join the Raspur Pact, due to the very strong influence of Draconic Humanism and National humanism within its highest ranks, while relations with neighboring Calbion have continued to significantly warm under the new government, after years of animosity following the terrorist attack on Glacier City at the hands of the Iron Company in 1673 AN.

Until recently, the Imperial Federation had land borders with Calbion in both Keltia and on Drag'os Island off the northern coast of mainland Cibola, until an agreement was struck with the Prince's government to consolidate their respective holdings. The move, while it gave up the empire north of the Strait of Haifa, was a profound domestic victory as it represented the complete restoration of lands lost for decades to war, natural disasters, and political chaos. The Imperial Federation's only land borders are along the mostly-empty frontiers of Nixtorm on Keltia with the Bassarid Empire, and in South Island with a tiny exclave of the Benacian Union. Although the Imperial Federation shares maritime borders with many other MCS countries on its peripheries, it currently retains no hostile relations. The Imperial Federation is, as of late 1706, a member of the Raspur Pact.

Etymology

The Imperial Federation of Ralgon, Nixtorm, and Tar-Palantir takes its name as a collective of older polities that have made up the modern empire since approximately 1665 AN, when it was first included as Ralgon on the MCS map.

Ralgonese Peoples

The Ralgon name comes from a combination of "Ral," the name of the people which originated in what is now Stormhold, and "gon" which denotes a people, or a sense of belonging in the ancient Ralgonese language. The homeland of the Ralgonese peoples is a territory called Stormhold, itself located on Drag'os, a large island territory that dominates northern Cibola. As for Drag'os itself, it takes its name after the fire god worshipped in the Draconic religion. According to local mythology, it was a reincarnation of Drag'os who founded the first Ralgon state in Stormhold, which itself takes its name from an early ruler who preferred to worship Glaur'on, the god of water, wisdom, and storms.

After the unification of the Ralgonese and ethnically related nations on Drag'os in 1655, Nobunag'an IV of Ralgon commissioned expeditions to colonize a group of islands near Keltia to expand the empire's territory in case of further natural disasters at home, a near-daily occurrence on Drag'os. Adrestia itself was named after one of the early great saints of the Draconic Church, and like the Ralgonese on Drag'os, Adrestia came to likewise rule over the entirety of its own region. It is from the two Ralgonese peoples that the Imperial Federation draws its present strength, authority, and legitimacy over its other dominions across the Great Western Ocean.

Other Dominions

Nixtorm's history is almost as old as Ralgon was, and the origins of its formerly tribal name are now lost to history. It is thought that Nixtorm was a primordial word for the people of the Stormlands, due to the wet climate on Drag'os's eastern seaboard. These peoples took the name with them when they relocated to southeast Keltia following the first Ralgon Civil War in 1685. They retained loyalty to their Ralgonese cousins to the present day.

Tar-Palantir is an island named after the ancient Menelmacari traditions, some of which Tar-Palantir's colonizers have begun to revive in recent years. The island's namesake was a ruler of the Ralgonese state of Stormhold, and served as one of the founders of what would form the core of modern Drag'osian government until the recent Ralgon War of Succession in 1705-1707 AN.

History

Ralgon Period (1655 AN - 1705 AN)

The Imperial Federation claims to be the sole, direct successor to the Holy Ralgon Empire, known shortly as Ralgon, which was a quasi-feudal empire that has existed since 228 AN and remained closed to the world until c. 1655 AN. The Ralgon Empire has heavily influenced and/or governed the entire island of Dragos (known to the wider world as "El Dorado") for the last two centuries. After having consolidated diplomatic control of most of the island, the Ralgon Empire developed some of the world's most advanced science, engineering, and medicine, which it used to briefly take over the island. This golden age was not to last, though. From 1680 AN to 1700 AN the central Ralgon government lost most of its hinterlands and frontiers, as well as over half its heartland in Drag'os in quick succession to a series of cataclysmic events, some of which led to such political disasters as the Ralgon Civil War and the Cibolan Reconquista. Due to this series of military and political disasters, the central government also slowly lost its grip on its colonies, which continued to grow rapidly in size and population, sometimes at their mother country's expense.

Power struggles at home and endless wars were wages abroad in a desperate effort for the Empire to hold onto its remaining authority, but to little avail. These wars continued until the Holy Ralgon Empire's final recognized Emperor, Shiro I of Ralgon, formally declared that he would bequeath his crown in an otherwise illegal act to the Prince of Adrestia upon his death. This managed to stave off the undead in northern Cibola and the various rebelling clans and tribes remaining in the newly created in The Green now surrounding Ralgon on all sides. The central government barely continued to hold authority under this agreement until shortly after the unexpected illness and death of Emperor Shiro to a very rare and aggressive form of cancer in 1704 AN. In a state of confusion and caught unprepared against this sudden development, the central government found itself leaderless and Adrestia with only a child on the throne. In the power struggle that immediately followed, the central government rallied around the Imperial Senate. In a closed-door ceremony, the majority of the Dragosian-based Senators deliberately excluded their more powerful colonies and nominated their own candidate in Prince Draegar Ral. This immediately triggered a civil conflict wherein pro-Adrestian and pro-Senate forces vied for control over imperial authority. While the pro-Adrestian faction remained mostly united throughout the war, the pro-Senate faction divided almost immediately due to the dubious circumstances behind both contenders' claim to the Imperial Throne, with Glacier City's defection to Adrestian interests and a following political purge in the city proving the trigger for the civil war to begin.

After the defection of Glacier City, much of Dragon's Reach, Nova Victoria, and the massive naval infrastructure that all of these provided, the war quickly proved to be one-sided in favor of the now-powerful maritime empire the Ralgons had originally built abroad. The new government of the Empire took shape out of these factions, with Glacier City taking pre-eminent authority over Drag'os due to Stormhold's desire to remain pro-Senate. The island's heavily defensible terrain rapidly lead to a slow grind in the land war for Adrestian naval forces, which weren't used to fighting wars deep inland. The pro-Adrestian military forces grossly underperformed in mainland Cibola, where the remainders of the pro-Draeg'ar Senate eventually relocated, and in deep inland parts of Drag'os and the mountainous frontiers deep inside of the recently conquered Tar-Palantir island territories. However, the front was extremely one-sided for Adrestian forces inland, and the lines formed along the interiors of the empire's Cibolan territories as fighting dragged to a stalemate along the few remaining active fronts. The Ralgon War of Succession lasted nearly two years, until the Holy Ralgon Empire finally fell to pro-Adrestian forces, whose diplomats and troops went on to win political victories. The near-total military victory at home, following the complete restoration by diplomacy of former Ralgonese territories in the heartland, finally crushed what little determination organized Senate resistance had left to fight.

Geography

Geographically, the Imperial Federation occupies virtually all of South Island (now called Adrestia), as well as the nearby island chains. Additionally, it possesses significant holdings in Nixtorm, itself situated on the southeast corner of mainland Keltia. The other half of the Empire is located in Northern Cibola, with the entirety of the island once known as San Martin now called Drag'os. Additionally, Drag'os's umbrella covers the entirety of Tar-Palantir, the other large island to the north of Cibola. Its other territory on Cibola consists of the exclave territory of Nova Victoria nearby, and Bomei Island off the South Cibolan. The Imperial Federation also maintains a penal colony and naval base on faraway Devil's Island, located off the coast of Western Corum. These territories contribute to a newly global empire that supplanted Ralgon after its violent, two-year Ralgon War of Succession that finally concluded in the final days of 1706 AN.