Sebaeria

Sebaeria (pronounced seb-AIR-ia), officially called the Commonwealth of Sebaeria or the Commonwealth, is a "minor power" set in North-west Europa, between the Theocratic Pentacameral Monarchy of Lamilaria to the south, the Glorious Empire of Drendarion to the east, and both the Royal Empire of Kingsminster and the Kingdom of Norway-Denmark across the North Sea.

Sebaeria is a social democratic commonwealth, ruled by a Chancellor, who is elected for an undetermined term, in coordination with a General Assembly rather than a monarch. The Capital city is Ostya.

Sebaeria's population numbers around 44 million, with a sizable portion living in the cities of Ostya (9 million), Tyssa (7 million), and Carda (6 million).

Sebaeria, along with Lamilaria and the Cisalpine States, is a founding member of the West European Coalition.

Early History
While other nations of Nova Europa were developing and consolidating their power, Sebaeria was a deeply divided territory, the people spread across a collection of factions, clans, and tribes that were in a state of endemic warfare.

After centuries of fighting, three fiefdoms emerged: the Kingdom of Ostya, the Kingdom of Tyssa, and the Principality of Pysor. War between the three domains was just as ceaseless as before, ultimately prompting the nobles to overthrow them. This lead to a time of uneasy peace between the nobles, with short, incredibly violent conflicts breaking out between two factions.

This warfare slowly whittled the number of noble territories until only 24 remained, aside from the independent cities of Ostya, Tyssa, and Carda, whose status as major trade centers allowed them to maintain their independence from the feuding nobles.

As time wore on, the culture of the three cities was changed. As their wealth increased, they saw less of a need for feuding between families, as that would ultimately run counter to their economic, and therefore political, interests. The wealthier families also began to voluntarily open and develop social welfare programs, at first for an increase in political power over their rivals, but this argument slowly lost use as it became the social mores for those with extra to give what they could to those without. As time passed, the people in the three independent cities began to wonder why their fellow countrymen were being denied the same benefits as they were given. Thus, the League of Independent Cities was formed, with the intention of uniting the entire region for the sake of bringing peace, stability, and justice to Sebaeria. The nobles would not go quietly, however, and war was all but assured.

Civil War
On Ventus 13th, 1989, a coalition of nobles attacked the LIC. This sparked the bloodiest infighting the people of Sebaeria had seen thus far in their history. The LIC controlled vast resources through their trade networks, and they used these networks to bring in tins of weapons and supplies; in addition, their volunteer soldiers saw their mission as a moral imperative. In contrast, the nobles were using outdated weapons, experienced widespread supply shortages, and had to force their soldiers to fight, sometimes by threatening their families, in other cases by spreading massive amounts of propaganda against the LIC. Slowly, the LIC gained control of the north, then the coastal counties, until by 2007, only two counties in the southernmost parts of the area remained outside LIC control.

The final operation, called Operation Final Strike, was met with immediate and fierce resistance by the residents of the area, something the LIC had not been expecting. The people of these remote counties had not been as exposed to the Cities' influence, and as such were much more ingrained in the feudal system than the outlying counties. The result was a long, bloody offensive by LIC forces, most often not gaining anymore than a few meters a day.

By 2013, the LIC had finally brought the entire region under their control, but civil disturbances in the Southern Counties was rampant. It took the LIC forcefully stationing thousands of troops in the area to pacify it enough to begin organizing a country.

Road to Commonwealth
The leaders of the Independent Cities, in conjunction with the elected representatives of the 24 Counties, met in Ostya in 2013 to begin drafting a constitution, however no formal draft could be agreed on by the delegates. In desperation, the assembled representatives issued a series of referendums to the people, electing to get a functioning government in place without a constitution, but based on the results of the referenda.

In 2015, the Commonwealth government was formed, with Torin Aureli, a young up-and-comer in the LIC, being selected as the first Chancellor. On Estus 19, 2015, the Commonwealth of Sebaeria was officially sanctioned as an organized power on the Regional stage.

The Commonwealth's first year was a tumultuous one. In Gramen of 2015, Sebaeria followed Lamilaria into war against the breakaway Dainish Federative Socialist Republic. In Pinguis, a group calling themselves the Sebaerian Liberation Army destroyed the polders of Tulis, flooding the entire County and putting thousands at risk of life and limb.

The Mad Nord War
Sebaeria's first real test as a nation came on Gramen 9, 2016, when Mikael "the Mad Nord" Geir launched an unprovoked attack on the Commonwealth. The small Sebaerian military was caught completely off-guard and outnumbered, and the military was forced to fall back, trading space for time to set up defensive positions and abandoning millions of civilians when the Nords landed in Tyssa, the second largest and second most important city in the Commonwealth. The loss of Tyssa was a severe embarassment to the Sebaerian military and a deep wound to national pride. But the Lamilarians ordered a million soldiers and one of their naval flotillas to support the reeling Sebaerian military, allowing for a counterattack in the south, and ultimately the Liberation of Tyssa.

In the North, however, the situation was not as positive. The Nordic forces were driving on Ostya and sweeping through the northern Counties. In order to buy time, the military breached the polders and flooded the area to the north of Ostya, wiping out several Nordic units and forcing the rest to flee to ships. These evacuation ships were swiftly hit by airstrikes, as the military was becoming desperate to delay and reduce the Nordic ability to operate in Sebaerian territory. As the second defensive line at Acturia was ordered to fall back, the Air Force began to indiscriminately drop cluster bombs on anyone who wasn't a confirmed ally. If the third attempt to hold back the advancing Nords failed, the Military would have been forced to take what they refuse to call anything other than "drastic measures."

Fortunately, Geir was assassinated by Lamilarian-funded resistance groups, and Empereor Baisu II offered a ceasefire and began to withdraw his forces. Several months later, on Caedo 6, 2016, he and Chancellor Aureli signed a peace treaty to formally end the war.

Post-Mad Nord Sebaeria
In the wake of the Mad Nord War, Sebaeria has initiated a series of sweeping military and public-works projects. First was the drastic increase in the military to more adequately defend the Commonwealth from another threat. Second was the foundation of the Sebearian Militia as a supplement to the military in times of crisis. Third was the implementation of the Strategic Maritime Aquisition and Defense Network (SMAD), a network of hydrophone sensors and CAPTOR naval mines. Fourth was the procurement of the SCS Kaede, the former ILAC Charles de Gaulle, from Lamilaria. But the biggest project was the Rhine Delta Power and Flood Control System (Delta Works), a massive collection of dams, dykes, and hydrogenerator plants placed in the Rhine Delta region around Tyssa.

Military of Sebaeria
The Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Sebaeria fall under the command of the Chancellor in his role as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. There are five branches:
 * The Sebaerian National Guard (SNG) - Defends the Commonwealth from Land-based threats.


 * The Sebaerian Navy (SN) - Defends the Commonwealth from Sea-based threats.


 * The Sebaerian Air Force (SAF) - Defends the Commonwealth from Aerial threats, as well as Land and Sea-based threats.


 * The Korps Commandotroepen (KCT) - Defends the Capital City, Protects the Chancellor and any visiting Heads of State, Special Operations.


 * The Sebaerian Research and Development Division (SRDD) - Research and develop new technologies for military applications.