History of Vegno
The history of Vegno covers a fairly large period, conventionally divided in two by Vegnese historians: before and after the declaration of independence of the Vegno constituent assembly and the consequent formation of the Republic of Vegno.
The territories currently belonging to the Republic of Vegno, are located in the north-east area of Apollonia and have seen, in the course of the history of Micras, a succession of very heterogeneous domains over time, with even large periods of small independent settlements without a government central.
The city that most of all, throughout history, has played a fundamental role in the territory is certainly the city of Port of Sails (Vegnian: "Porto di Vele"), which for years represented a key port of the Kingdom of Toketi, one of the most important kingdoms in the panorama of Apollonia, except then falling into disrepair with the fall of the same, and only recently being re-evaluated in the Vegnese landscape thanks to its history.
History before the Vegnese Republic
The first domains
From 1477 AN until about 1527 AN, the data found by the Vegnese historians are too few and lacking to be able to establish a truly sure storyline of the dominions over the Vegnese territories.
What is currently assumed is that in these early years a series of independent kingdoms and republics followed one another, headed above all by the Crandan Republic, later annexed to the Duchy of Arminy.
The Crandan Republic is thought to have been able to unify the territories north of Apollonia with the present Vegnean territories in the northeast, resulting in a major territorial expansion on the continent.
Later the Crandan Republic was annexed into the duchy of Arminy, which was actually a confederation created as a result of a merger between several Germanic-themed nations, including Cranda, Northworthy, Hurmu and Slobovia. After the country collapsed, probably in the early 1500s, its lands were gifted to several nations, including Lac Glacei, Stormark, Shireroth, Gotzborg, the Grand Commonwealth, Alexandria and the Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth. Much of these land claims were abandoned by their respective heirs soon after succession, and the Vegnese territories were merged into the High Realm of Stormark until the 1520s.
Under Stormark's reign, some cities in the northeast grew and developed as never before, forming part of a large kingdom that also included territories on the Keltian continent. In particular, the city of Port of Sails began, precisely in these years, its development which will then lead it to be one of the most important in the panorama; in fact, thanks to its strategic position, together with the Keltian Datret, it was a fundamental stop in the maritime routes through the Strait of Pearls.
However, the domain of the Stormark ceased around 1530, when they were abandoned by the rulers, to instead see the subsequent birth of perhaps the most important domain in the history of the Vegnese territories: the Kingdom of Toketi.
From the Toketi conquest to the Gralan Empire
The domain that has undoubtedly represented the most important piece of history is that of the Kingdom of Toketi, which settled in these areas around the years 1530-1534 AN, making it officially one of the most important on the continent.
Some Tokish artifacts found by Vegnese historians affirm the foundation of the city in 1537 AN by the Kingdom of Toketi and its King Liam conToketi I; other previous finds, however, already demonstrate its existence under the rule of Stormark, failing to date the actual birth of the city so precisely. However, the fact is certain that under the Toketi dominion the city experienced one of its moments of maximum splendour, also acquiring a notable religious importance given by the construction in 1545 AN of the Temple of Reynardine.
Later in 1544 AN, the kingdom of Toketi united with Novatainia and Relaram, to form the Confederacy of Gralus, which later became, in 1551 AN, officially the Gralan Empire, one of the largest and most important nations on Micras.
Under the Gralan Empire, the territories that would later become Vegnese territory would know their period of maximum importance. The empire continued to exert its influence on these territories for a very long time, however still belonging, both culturally and politically, to the province of Toketi.
However, the fall of the Gralan Empire occurred in 1615 AN, and after more than 70 years of rule first as a confederation and then as an Empire, the Tokish territories became independent again and again under the Tokish Kingdom, which then resumed its independence and full control over these areas.
The final fall of the Tokish influence and the Republic of Freeland
However, the new independence of the Kingdom of Toketi was not long-lasting because, in 1627 AN, the kingdom underwent the last sharp political shock, which led to the definitive fall of the sovereign, without the establishment of a new government. The territories, currently Vegnese, in the north-east of Apollonia were thus left to themselves, where each city individually organized its own way of living and self-governing.
However, Port of Sails was re-conquered by the High Realm of Stormark, which had already held this area between 1500 and 1520 AN, returning to govern this city until its definitive fall. The areas to the north were not reconquered by the kingdom, only to be subsequently occupied by the Republic of Freeland in 1654 AN.
It placed its capital in Viten (later "Sancrus"), on the island of Falange, and gave birth to what are still today the largest Vegnese cities: especially Glavat (now "Mhazar") and Klomina ( now "Agropl"). The Polish influence still remains today in some areas of the Vegnese territory, however confined above all to the island of Falange, where the capital Viten was located, and to that of Falangetta, where the city of Extremum is located today.
During 1685 and 1687 AN however both respectively the High Realm of Stormark, leaving the once prosperous and important city of Port of Sails semi-abandoned, and also the Republic of Freeland fell. The territories of Vegno were then abandoned to individual settlements by any central government for a good 19 years when, in 1706 AN, the declaration of independence of the Republic of Vegno was officially made.
Wars of Independence
Background
Soon after the collapse of the Republic of Freeland in 1687 AN, ideologies of a possible re-unification of the country by individual city initiatives began to spread across the territory. The feeling of feeling part of the same country was common to all the inhabitants, having always been united under a single flag throughout their history. However, what was changing during the last years of the 1600s was the desire to take over the dominion and the upper hand by the individual communities in the respective settlements that had arisen following the fall of the central government.
The cities that had organized themselves better autonomously with their own mini-government were certainly those that had already had their relevance in the past: the former capital Viten, Glavat and the smaller Klomina. A minority of Gaian origins (the future Vegnesi), however, had quickly organized themselves well in a settlement on the sea, not far from Glavat: Cossa. This gaian minority, however, soon began to attract the attention of many ex-polishes from nearby cities, who asked for many years to be able to move and settle there, due to the considerable growth of the city in a short time. The remarkable growth of Cossa in the last years of the 1600s had been made possible by a very stable restricted council, made up of 7 members, and by a population that had always been in the minority eager for revenge and independence from the old, now decayed government. Especially the maritime activity and the considerable arrivals of population from nearby cities made the city of Cossa, in a short time, the most populous and important city in the area.
With the growth of the population, the desire for a new unification of the country also grew in the city, at the dawn of the 1700s, this time under the leadership of the old Gaian minority, by now autonomously defined as Vegnese, a term deriving from the ancient stories of Gaian settlers who founded a kingdom on these shores (cf. Etymology)
At the beginning of 1700 AN the economic resources of Cossa were thus diverted to the constitution of an important army, with the aim of unifying the country under the same vegnese flag.
First War of Independence
The three-year period 1700-1703 AN was decisive for the unification of Vegno. In the first months of 1700 An the 7 members of the council of Cossa entered into an alliance with the government of Glavat, the second largest city in the continental area of the country, thanks to which both now had the largest military force and population in the territory . However, the stipulated agreements, from subsequent testimonies and finds, are said to have been in reality a real blackmail by the city of Cossa, with the governor of Glavat forced to accept what in reality was a real surrender in order not to create damage to its citizens and thus guarantee them an important weight in the subsequent unitary state. In fact, through these agreements the governor of Glavat undertook to give unconditional support to Cossa and the 7 members of the council, to change the name of the city to the Vegnian "Mhazar" and to renounce any claim to power over the subsequent state.
Thus began the first Vegnese war of independence, also called Operation Cormorant or Securing of the Nation by the Vegnese government, where the cities of Cossa and Mhazar waged war on the cities of the continent to unify and annex them to a single central state.The minor settlements gave in without a fight and many of them were even happy to declare themselves again a truly independent state; in most cases, in fact, this first war of independence was nothing more than a peaceful occupation of the territory and small settlements in the nation.
The only real battles were actually only two: the battle of South Coast and the one of Klomina. In fact, these only two cities tried to offer a poor resistance to the Vegnese troops advancing on the territory, without however succeeding and declaring their surrender after 3 days for Klomina and after 4 for the newborn Murgione.
The first Vegnese war of independence thus saw its end in 1703 AN, with the conquest, both peaceful and not, by the troops of Cossa and Mhazar of the continental territories of the ex-republic of Freeland.
Second War of Independence
The second war of independence takes place in the course of the year 1704 AN, very close to the end of the first one, so much so that many Vegnese historians tend to define it as a single war of independence, although officially they are still defined as distinct one on the other.
The forces at play by the governments of the continental cities of Vegno are in fact always the same leftovers from the first war and this time the objective was to conquer and secure the city of Viten, on the island of Falange.
The former capital of the Republic of Freeland was clearly the most powerful and populous city of the former republic but, thanks to the fact of being located on an island compared to the other continental territories or also due to wrong decisions, it had remained totally foreign in the first war of independence and had absolutely no interest either in participating in it, or in presenting itself as a real alternative to the Vegnese conquest. This failure to intervene is, for many historians and experts, the real misstep of the city of Viten during the Vegnese independence, since, if it had intervened from the beginning, many believe that it alone would have had the strength to reunify the whole country under the old Polish majority.
The real beginning of the war came with the landing of the Vegnese troops on the island of Falange and the assault on the former capital, totally unexpected by the local leaders. This mistake on the part of the local governors, of considering themselves outsiders and totally ignoring what was happening on the continent, was their condemnation: the city was in fact completely conquered in just two days, with a single strong resistance near the former palace government of the Republic of Freeland.
The conquest of the city was carried out as peacefully as possible, with the few firefights limited to the Polish guard militias present at the entrances; the only strong act of the vegnese army was the total destruction of the government building of the capital, which was razed to the ground by the army, as a signal of the definitive fall of what little remained of the previous republic of Freeland.
With the subsequent landing and the peaceful occupation of the islands of Falangina and Falangetta, the second war of independence ended at the end of 1704 AN, which now saw the definitively decided territory of Vegno re-unified under the flag of the Cormorant.
The First Republic (1706-1716 AN)
The declaration of independence and the Constitution
After the end of the wars of independence, the declaration of independence of the Republic of Vegno was finally drawn up on an official and international level.
The capital of the new state obviously became Cossa there the 7 members of the Council of Cossa, now officially the 7 founding fathers of the republic, formed the first provisional government, with the constitution of the first Constituent Assembly, which officially had the task of drafting the first "Costituzione del Vegno" (Constitution of Vegno).
The Constitution of the Republic of Vegno was officially promulgated in late 1705 AN and it is the fundamental law of the State, which occupies the top of the hierarchy of sources in the legal system of the Republic: it is composed of 12 articles written and published by the Seven Founding Fathers of the Constituent Assembly of Vegno. The seven members of the constituent assembly were, at the time, the most important offices of the Republic of Vegno, pending the appointment of an official President and a Prime Minister; these members were: Shalva Mancuso, Mickey Lange Levati, Antonio Visciglia, Luca Zarrella, Marco Unno, Haldi Rinaldi and Peppe Freeda.
On the basis of the constitution, the formation of a semi-presidential republic with direct election of the people was established and the first elections were already scheduled for the following year, 1706 AN.
First elections and the National Unity Government
The first political elections of the vegno republic were held in 1706 AN and saw the division of the 7 founding fathers of the constitution into 4 parties with different political ideologies, 4 of them applying for the role of first President of the Republic. Luca Zarrella founded his party Forza Vegno, with a centre-right ideology, while more extremists were Mickey Lange Levati and Marco M. Unno, who founded the Vegnese nationalist party, with far more right-wing and nationalist extremist ideologies. Antonio Visciglia and Haldi Rinaldi reunited in the Partito Democratico Costituzionale, instead espousing a more moderate ideology of the center, shifted slightly to the left, while the last member of the constituent assembly, Peppe Freeda, based his political ideas on environmentalism, animalism and feminism.
However, the results of the first parliamentary elections gave a rather fragmented image of the country, with no party capable of governing independently, while Antonio Visciglia was elected as the first President of the Republic, in a run-off with Mickey Lange Levati. Visciglia, markedly moderate in line, tried to involve all members of parliament in a large government of national unity, which would give a strong image of stability after the declaration of independence. Visciglia's proposal was well received by all parliamentarians and party leaders, albeit with some disagreements with the more ideologically distant Partito Nazionalista Vegnese.
Thus the first vegnese government was formed, with Luca Zarrella, leader of the second most voted party, who was appointed by the President as Prime Minister , forming the Zarrella I Cabinet.
The great stability of the first government of national unity allowed Vegno to pass a whole series of laws in great autonomy and security, considerably increasing the economic strength of the country in the first years and at the same time developing remarkable international relations with other nations.
In fact, the first maneuvers on which the first government concentrated were establishing relations and treaties with the nearby nations of Lac Glacei and Angsax (which would later merge into Lac Glacei itself) and ratifying the entry of Vegno within the Micras Treaty Organization. Also important were the measures in the energy sector, where they saw the adoption of nuclear power, with the construction of the first nuclear reactor and the allocation of funds for the construction of the largest suspension bridge in the nation: the Strait of Vegno Bridge.
1707 internal lands Annexation Referedum
Another very important event during the first vegnese legislature is certainly the annexation of the territories between Vegno and Lac Glacei. Initially during the declaration of independence these territories were left out of the vegnese claim as buffer states with the large neighbors of Lac Glacei and Angsax, not being yet the internationally recognized Vegnese republic. The situation changed after the treaties with these latter neighboring states: a mutual relationship of recognition and friendship was guaranteed thanks to these agreements and the internal territories thus had the possibility of requesting the Vegnese government to become part of the republic.
The formal decision was taken in 1707 AN, when the government's motion to carry out a referendum within the major settlements between Vegno and the states of Lac Glacei and Angsax was voted unanimously within the Assemblea Nazionale.
The referendum was officially held in mid-1707 and, when asked whether it wanted to become part of the Vegno republic, the YES obtained 78% of the votes, with a victory by an important margin. Local reactions to the proclamation of the result were important, with notable marches in the largest cities just annexed to the republic; however, there was no shortage of small protest movements, clearly coming from the minority of the population, which nevertheless created many inconveniences to the voting operations and led to subsequent clashes with the Vegnese police, who intervened to enforce public order.
The large result of the referendum, together with demographic and economic growth in the country, further increased popular trust in the current political class which, among the last measures of the first legislature, approved, thanks to an absolute majority in parliament exceeding 2/3 of the total, a change of constitution. The number of parliaments was, in fact, increased from 100 to 150, with the motivation of a wider popular base given by the annexation referendum, thus giving, according to the government, greater representation to the popular will now increased in number.
The "Moderates" Era
At the end of the first legislature, the political panorama of the vegnese Republic was quite fragmented: in the first elections, the popular will was heterogeneously distributed among the various parties, which had agreed on a government of national unity. However, at the dawn of the new elections of 1709, this scenario appeared quite improbable for the second legislature; the tensions between the moderate forces and the Partito Nazionalista Vegnese had gradually increased during the first government, reaching a peak during the electoral campaign for the new elections. The outgoing president Visciglia had in fact abruptly vetoed the latest bills of the PNV, creating discontent among the 30 "black" parliamentarians (cf. party color), in particular with their spokesman Marco Unno.
Furthermore, for the first time, the Partito Indipendentista Vegnese, born of a few dissidents from the annexation referendum, and the Partito Comunista, Vegno's first real far-left party, also presented themselves in these elections.
The parliamentary composition that emerged from these elections was, once again, quite fragmented with the need on the part of Luca Zarrella, elected President of the Republic for the first time, and his Forza Vegno party, the first force in the country, to look for allies for the formation of the second government. The consultations started immediately after the inauguration of the new parliamentarians and essentially two frameworks were envisaged: a possible right-wing alliance by Forza Vegno with the extremists of the PNV, which however was hardly feasible given that the numbers would not have allowed him to have the majority , or seek an agreement with the moderate forces of Shalva Mancuso and his Partito Popolare Vegnese, the country's second force, and with the outgoing president Visciglia. The agreement between Zarrella, Mancuso and Visciglia saw the light a few days after the start of the consultations, with the officialization of the new government, with Mancuso Prime Minister, who took the canonical oath the following week.
The Mancuso I Cabinet was therefore a government of broad understanding with all the moderate forces of the country, effectively excluding the extremists of the PNV and the Partito Comunista.
The most important event was certainly the vote on the second change of constitution in republican history, where the parliament, with an absolute majority and therefore also involving the PNV and the Partito Comunista, approved the extension of the legislatures from 3 to 5 years, to guarantee greater political solidity for the country and give greater room for maneuver to the individual governments in office.
With the end of the second legislature, political and government relations did not change for the elections of 1714, where the outgoing parties in government of Forza Vegno and the Partito Popolare Vegnese presented themselves jointly in alliance, while on the opposite side the PNV had made an agreement with I Verdi. the ex-president Visciglia, who was instead defeated in the previous elections, and with a clear decrease in consensus, decided to ally himself with the Partito Comunista in the centre-left alliance; this agreement saw the end shortly after the electoral results when Zarrella and Forza Vegno emerged victorious from the elections, with the Partito Democratico Costituzionale losing thousands of votes against the allies of the Partito Comunista. Shalva Mancuso's Partito Popolare Vegnese was still second strength, even after two years it will be discovered that these results were falsified to the detriment of a PNV which was instead in clear growth in consensus in the country.
The government that took office again following these elections again counted on the same majority as the previous one, albeit with a lower parliamentary base, but still sufficient to guarantee it a majority. Mancuso was appointed Prime Minister again in what would later be the last government of the so-called "Era of the Moderates", with the end of which, Vegnese historians canonically sanction the end of the "First Republic".
