This thread is primarily for hashing out mutual, sweeping history with @Zagora and @Elfríki off of Discord and onto the forums for more ease of access etc.
Elfríki Summary (Slavic Competition): I see Józefania having a very, very contentious history with the Elfríki Federation from mutual inception up to the end of the Great War, based first and foremost on the spat between Catholicism and Orthodoxy over who's the true OG Christian sect and who's the dirty heretic, and influence over the Slavs (the Zalonarussians in Elfriki, the Polesians and Ruthenians in Józefania). There probably wouldn't be quite as many on-again off-again wars as with Ebria, but two big ones that immediately come to mind will be detailed a bit more later: The Deluge and the Great War.
Ebria Summary (Catholic & Tiburan Competition): This is a bit trickier than with Zagora for simple geographic reasons, but initial discussions with Ovi have provided some very interesting ideas. First: the rivalry could be born from Józefania (and/or its immediate predecessors, the Vistulanie) declaring themselves a Third Tibur, supplanting the Pelasgians (aka notByzantines) and touting its Apostolic honoraries, much to the immense irritation of the Ebrians who would instead see themselves as the true, best Catholics outside of Tibur. Second: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had a cultural thing called
The Deluge, 1648 to 1666: This would be one of the big wars that defines the relations between these three nations, and Józefania especially. Drawing from the real life
Ebria, meanwhile, is trickier given the geography, but Ovi suggested that the Ebrians essentially fund the creation of a massive mercenary army made up of Italiotes, Germans, French, Pelasgians, Ebrians, even Vistulans, Livonians, Ruthenians, and Polesians and has a sort of proto-filibuster episode invading Józefania to the west, simultaneous with the Elfriki invasion to the east. I suggested they combine this with bribing a massive amount of nobles within the commonwealth to abuse the Liberum Veto and sabotage the commonwealth as much as possible, bringing Józefania to its knees. However, Ebria's heavy-handed two-pronged assault, combined with the existential threat of being wiped off the map from both fronts, rallies the Józefanie in a sort of porto-nationalism, and through the efforts of some to-be-named King, they rally and win enough decisive victories against both the mercenaries and Elfriki, exploiting weaknesses such as problems at home for the latter, and the nature of mercenary armies going pillaging and plundering and otherwise being uncontrollable due to a lack of payment from the Ebrians, because it turns out investing in mercenaries AND traitor nobles is ridiculously expensive, and the commonwealth beats back both fronts and survives. As a result, the Liberum Veto is abolished, Polesia and Ruthenia are raised to coequal status (perhaps midway through the war in 1659), and Józefania becomes more of a unitary state with federal aspects as a direct result of the war.
The Great War, 1950-1953: This one I don't have AS much information on, but I expect this to be the last big war between Elfríki and Józefania, and will be yet another conflict involving Ebria trying to destabilize and otherwise knock Józefania down a peg. The war itself is extremely bloody and ultimately inconclusive, and it establishes a final peace between Elfríki and Józefania, and will include the Christmas Truces and soldier fraternization of what you'd expect from the RL Great War but in the 50s.
The Last War, 1980-1985: This is the last big war between Ebria and Józefania, where a Greek-style military Junta in Ebria attacks Józefania in a bid to shore up support that's otherwise been flagging domestically, and it becomes a primarily naval conflict and involve the overseas Józefanie territory of Aresura, a conflict that results in Ebria's defeat and overthrow of the junta and restoration of the monarchy. This brings about the Millennial Peace, a treaty that officially ends the Millennial War and starts a very, very, very awkward rapprochement between Ebria and Józefania in the face of a much graver existential threat in the Averinish Directorate (and to an extent the 2nd Azilian Republic), which also provides a catalyst for the creation of a notNATO for all the constitutional monarchies.
There is so, so, so much that still needs to be filled in here, including more wars, details to the wars listed above, changes to these wars, etc., but I wanted to get the ball rolling at the very least so we can start building off this base and create something extremely intricate and defining for all our nations, and to invite other nations who are interested in meddling in our historical shenanigans to propose their own involvement. This could even provide a blueprint for other regional historical collaborative narratives, and even a reference for future historical RP fleshing out some of these wars (I would, for instance, love to RP out the Deluge).
~Jose
Elfríki Summary (Slavic Competition): I see Józefania having a very, very contentious history with the Elfríki Federation from mutual inception up to the end of the Great War, based first and foremost on the spat between Catholicism and Orthodoxy over who's the true OG Christian sect and who's the dirty heretic, and influence over the Slavs (the Zalonarussians in Elfriki, the Polesians and Ruthenians in Józefania). There probably wouldn't be quite as many on-again off-again wars as with Ebria, but two big ones that immediately come to mind will be detailed a bit more later: The Deluge and the Great War.
Ebria Summary (Catholic & Tiburan Competition): This is a bit trickier than with Zagora for simple geographic reasons, but initial discussions with Ovi have provided some very interesting ideas. First: the rivalry could be born from Józefania (and/or its immediate predecessors, the Vistulanie) declaring themselves a Third Tibur, supplanting the Pelasgians (aka notByzantines) and touting its Apostolic honoraries, much to the immense irritation of the Ebrians who would instead see themselves as the true, best Catholics outside of Tibur. Second: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had a cultural thing called
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, where per Wikipedia: "it formed a central aspect of the Commonwealth social elites’ culture and society. At its core was the unifying belief that the people of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth descended from the ancient
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, the legendary invaders of contemporary Polish and Roman lands in antiquity." In this case, Józefania would swap that out for Tiburanism, a sort of odd cosplaying as the true successors to the Tiburan Empire with the Pelasgians going the way of the Byzantines and being Orthodox etc., which provides Ebria reason to be truly hateful of Józefania for being a bunch of dirty barbarian Slavs cosplaying as Tiburans while the Ebrians themselves were part of the Empire and a core aspect to boot. Thirdly, there could be an ongoing competition in notItaly over influence of the area, somewhat similar to the Guelphs vs Ghibellines, and/or France & the Holy Roman Empire competing over influence over the various Italian city-states, etc. This would require any future Italian nation there to incorporate this history, MAYBE an NPC (though that's not strictly necessary), definitely a lot of wars trying to secure Papal favor etc.The Deluge, 1648 to 1666: This would be one of the big wars that defines the relations between these three nations, and Józefania especially. Drawing from the real life
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, the Elfriki and Ebrians would stand in for the Russians and Swedes respectively, and nearly overrun Józefania entirely, coming quite close to wiping it off the map. The Elfriki involvement would be easy enough to explain, attempting to essentially conquer and incorporate the Polesians and Ruthenians into their realm in some form of proto-Pan-Slavism Orthodox-style, and their withdrawal could coincide with either outside forces (like Islamist Jihadists akin to the Crimean Tartars) providing a greater distraction or internal conflict (civil war and/or succession crisis), though that would require some significant changes to history that I hope Zalo would be open to.Ebria, meanwhile, is trickier given the geography, but Ovi suggested that the Ebrians essentially fund the creation of a massive mercenary army made up of Italiotes, Germans, French, Pelasgians, Ebrians, even Vistulans, Livonians, Ruthenians, and Polesians and has a sort of proto-filibuster episode invading Józefania to the west, simultaneous with the Elfriki invasion to the east. I suggested they combine this with bribing a massive amount of nobles within the commonwealth to abuse the Liberum Veto and sabotage the commonwealth as much as possible, bringing Józefania to its knees. However, Ebria's heavy-handed two-pronged assault, combined with the existential threat of being wiped off the map from both fronts, rallies the Józefanie in a sort of porto-nationalism, and through the efforts of some to-be-named King, they rally and win enough decisive victories against both the mercenaries and Elfriki, exploiting weaknesses such as problems at home for the latter, and the nature of mercenary armies going pillaging and plundering and otherwise being uncontrollable due to a lack of payment from the Ebrians, because it turns out investing in mercenaries AND traitor nobles is ridiculously expensive, and the commonwealth beats back both fronts and survives. As a result, the Liberum Veto is abolished, Polesia and Ruthenia are raised to coequal status (perhaps midway through the war in 1659), and Józefania becomes more of a unitary state with federal aspects as a direct result of the war.
The Great War, 1950-1953: This one I don't have AS much information on, but I expect this to be the last big war between Elfríki and Józefania, and will be yet another conflict involving Ebria trying to destabilize and otherwise knock Józefania down a peg. The war itself is extremely bloody and ultimately inconclusive, and it establishes a final peace between Elfríki and Józefania, and will include the Christmas Truces and soldier fraternization of what you'd expect from the RL Great War but in the 50s.
The Last War, 1980-1985: This is the last big war between Ebria and Józefania, where a Greek-style military Junta in Ebria attacks Józefania in a bid to shore up support that's otherwise been flagging domestically, and it becomes a primarily naval conflict and involve the overseas Józefanie territory of Aresura, a conflict that results in Ebria's defeat and overthrow of the junta and restoration of the monarchy. This brings about the Millennial Peace, a treaty that officially ends the Millennial War and starts a very, very, very awkward rapprochement between Ebria and Józefania in the face of a much graver existential threat in the Averinish Directorate (and to an extent the 2nd Azilian Republic), which also provides a catalyst for the creation of a notNATO for all the constitutional monarchies.
There is so, so, so much that still needs to be filled in here, including more wars, details to the wars listed above, changes to these wars, etc., but I wanted to get the ball rolling at the very least so we can start building off this base and create something extremely intricate and defining for all our nations, and to invite other nations who are interested in meddling in our historical shenanigans to propose their own involvement. This could even provide a blueprint for other regional historical collaborative narratives, and even a reference for future historical RP fleshing out some of these wars (I would, for instance, love to RP out the Deluge).
~Jose
