Synopsis of the Coglapse by Basilius Drake

SYNOPSIS OF THE COGLAPSE 
CHAPTER 1: THE STATE OF THE COG
It is January, Cogmas has ended and there is hope for a year of prosperity and growth. This was the common mindset of the citizens of the Confederation of Garxijos during the new year, one short lived and fraught with dreadful irony as time went by. I am Basilius Drake, citizen of Helsia during the crisis known as the Coglapse. I write this so that those who wish to know the story of the fall of Eldham’s greatest democracy may know it and learn from it. 
It is important to note that – contrary to popular belief – the CoG was not a country. It was a collection of autonomous nations united by an identical foreign policy determined by a government which they voted on. This government was not able to interfere with matters between “states” (as they were known) unless it threatened the aforementioned foreign policy. Many within the CoG were not aware of this (a fact that still confounds me) and this led many to make foolish decisions that could have been avoided had they done research on the confederation they had joined. This will be relevant later so I ask you to remember this.
The optimism of post-cogmas times were quickly squandered by the January Upheaval, where the Imperium of Uraka attempted an invasion of the entire North East of Eldham. Emperor Neo backed down after a huge coalition was formed against him, though not before Uraki bandits wreaked havoc in roddinbrok and CoG, creating anti-Uraka sentiments that will also be relevant later. 
Helsia did not join CoG of its own volition; rather it was given to the young confederation by Ravenguard after they pulled out of the territory, having been occupying it since the Helsia-Ravenguard war. Many in Helsia were not happy about being in CoG initially, but realised it was for the best and decided to throw their lot in with the confederation. The issue was, Helsia had been partitioned by Ravenguard before being given to CoG and the Helsians were furious at this. They negotiated for months to get their homelands back (a fact the SPG would later ignore) and finally made progress with the reclamation of Caisteal in December. I witnessed this victory as I had arrived in late November. I remember the celebrations for this was not just reclamation of our homeland, but a period of huge growth for Helsia, such as the nation had not seen before nor again as I write this in late February of the New Year. 
Grander Stultum had been the powerhouse in the CoG in its early days, but Helsia quickly grew to rival them and with this growth they overtook Stultum as the old wolf’s strength began to wither. As a result Stultum and its leader became firmly anti-Helsian, believing them to have designs to conquer the entire confederation. I intend to be as unbiased as possible here but I must say – no matter how biased it may seem to some – that Helsia had no desire to take anything more than its homeland. This was the main reason for the state’s fear of Helsia and it is tragic that they believed this lie for so long. This was the state of the Confederation of Garxijos prior to the Coglapse.
CHAPTER 2: THE SWORD IS DRAWN
On the eighteenth day of January, Helsia finished construction of a great fortress outside the city of Nueva Trinidad. It had been under construction for days yet those in Nueva Trinidad did not know of its existence until the Consul Bsian announced its completion. The reason for this is something all agree on; Nueva Trinidad was an inactive state, only their founder 8888k remained active but he was very rarely on. This provided the basis for Helsia’s casus belli: Nueva Trinidad was originally a squatter base in southern Helsia but was legitimised by the other CoG states, they took large swathes of southern Helsia and acted as a reminded of Helsia’s shame. They contributed nothing to the CoG and they were a drain on upkeep. Without even possessing roads, they were a candle next to the bonfires of the other states. Above all this they held large parts of the Helsian homeland, something Helsia had negotiated for months but had received only scorn. 
This came to boiling point when Nueva Trinidad pulled out of talks in the middle of negotiating an agreement with Helsia and Gyeoul. Realising they had been toyed with and were never going to have their land returned to them, Bsian made the following announcement:
“Republic of Helsia announcement 
The Republic of Helsia has just finished a spectacular brand new fort to defend Helsia and COG against future invasions!
The glorious build consists of over 70 000 blocks, and will be a landmark in Helsia for many generations to come! 
The autonomous government of the Helsian region called "Nueva Trinidad '' that was illegally seized from Helsia, has shown unable to protect the people of the Helsian Iles during a time of crisis. Lawlessness, corruption and starvation plagues the land. The Republic of Helsia no longer recognises "Nueva Trinidad '' as an autonomous region in Helsia and will be cutting diplomatic ties with it's so-called government, and encourage all other states to do the same. All citizens of the aforementioned region are now under the protection of Helsian democracy, law and order. We wish you all a warm welcome back and will supply you with whatever you may need. 
Helsia is working tirelessly to ensure the defence and prosperity of all citizens of the COG. We encourage all other states to do the same!”
This caused uproar among other states; Nueva Trinidad made a strongly-worded response but didn’t commit much overall, Gyeoul responded by declaring war on Helsia and support for Nueva Trinidad, and the others said the same. Stultum’s announcement stands out though, as it calls in to play a fact I mentioned in chapter one:
“GRANDER STULTUM ANNOUNCEMENT 
while i have friends on both sides of this conflict, and stultum wishes for a diplomatic end to this (damn never thought id say that) we will denounce helsia for building there fort on nuevatrinidad land, and attempting to absorb them into your ever growing state. @8888k has never signed nor announced a document or treaty that says hes joined yous. now my attention turns towards the COG government. while states are fully autonomous, and have rights to do what they please, helsia has just committed an act of war against one of our states. therefore, it is the COG millitary who will have to help the defendant state, nuevatrinidad. will you, @B_sian | Defense | Helsia choose helsia, or the COG? because at this point, its one or the other. will you @Tigerben | Lore | Helsia, spill helsian blood for a mistake of helsias 
Stultum will back there friends nuevatrinidad, and in the worst case, will support them on the battlefield 
-@Zero | SPG 
-@leg ham”
You will notice that he claimed the CoG military had to help Nueva Trinidad.  As I mentioned earlier, the CoG government was not allowed to do this. Since many within the CoG were not aware of this, when the Helsians pointed this out the states dismissed this as propaganda and pointed out a clause stating states could not interfere with the autonomy of other states. This was true, but this was bypassed (ironically) by a vote they had held after Helsia occupied Nueva Trinidad. The vote was to ban inter-state warfare, thus illegalising Helsia’s actions. Unfortunately for them, the vote failed and as you know, if something isn’t illegal, then it must be legal. This was promptly ignored and they called for President Aaron to bring in the army, to which Aaron pointed out his inability to do so according to the Cogstitution. Angered by this, the states rebelled against the CoG government (something they had claimed Helsia was going to do) and declared the Socialist Provisional Government. This was the beginning of the end, what was a minor conflict between states had become a war for the survival of the Confederation as a whole.
CHAPTER 3: A WORLD ON FIRE
The Socialist Provisional Government (SPG) quickly seized control of much of the CoG’s largest cities. The government of Nueva Trinidad (now merged with Gyeoul into Valesca) fled to Yeoleum as Helsian troops seized control through the Fort of Nordlys. Aionois crucially did not denounce Helsia, nor did they express support for Nueva Trinidad during this time and stayed neutral throughout the conflict while retaining good relations with Helsia. I travelled to Garxeto to speak about the situation. I tried my best to disprove false accusations about Helsian intentions and attempted to soothe fears of a Helsian invasion of CoG. I was not able to convince many, despite help from other prominent helsian politicians. Soon the SPG overran Garxeto and seized control. 
I fled the city and returned home to Grimsgil to write letters and pamphlets and posters and all manner of things to help with averting this terrible civil war. I soon realised this wasn’t going to work and travelled to Miklagard (the Helsian capital) to help with matters there. President Aaron had stayed in Garxeto after I left, but soon realised he could not remain safe within the government buildings for long. Despite offers of military support from Helsia, Aaron decided to leave the city and take the remaining government to Miklagard. 
During the night, Leg Ham (leader of Grander Stultum) led a small strike force into Miklagard to occupy the city. The attempt was foiled quickly and Stultumite forces were driven out of the city, never to attempt another strike again. Leg Ham was able to take one screenshot before being forced back across the river and he used this in propaganda announcements to try to harm Helsian morale and boost his own. President Aaron (who had witnessed the event) shot these attempts down swiftly. 
Following this debacle, things turned into more of a standoff than an active conflict. Neither side made any attacks for the next day and limited conflict to constant arguments and began a propaganda war. This was shattered by an unlikely event: Aionios broke into civil war.  A triad of dictators rose to challenge the dominance of the city of Ycaz, and declared the Aionios Imperva. Helsia declared military support to the Government in Ycaz and vowed to help put an end to the monarchist rebels. 
The fragile peace shattered and the SPG began calling foreign powers for aid. Helsia warned them that this would mean the end of the CoG, but they ignored this. Buoyo (leader of Garxijos state) announced that Garxijos would invade Helsia in 24 hours if Helsia did not back down. This was against the very cogstitution Buoyo had created, which shocked many. The cogstitution stated that threatening other states with war was illegal (and as you’ll recall, Helsia got around this by simply declaring on the spot) and Aaron denounced buoyo in the name of the legitimate government. 
No date for the battle had been decided, and people began to worry that this would take weeks to conclude. The conflict had been raging for three days now, but this was the day the CoG’s fate was sealed.
CHAPTER 4: THE END OF AN ERA
On the twenty-second of January 2022 Serf, dictator of the SPG, declared that the SPG had seceded from the Confederation of Garxijos and was forming its own version of the CoG. Many members of the SPG were horrified and announced that they wished to remain in CoG. This created a fracture in the SPG that they never recovered from. 
Serf and Buoyo attempted to secure lands for their new confederation but they were met with too much resistance for them to manage. The SPG completely collapsed and many states simply seceded independently. Aionios (including the rebels), Stultum, Freves, Farthador, Cognia and Valesca all seceded. Only Garxijos, Pancioni and Helsia remained. Nueva Trinidad announced its surrender mere hours before this, and was annexed by Helsia. This may have influenced Serf’s decision but we do not know his thought process upon seceding from CoG. Almost immediately, Buoyo sold the remaining CoG states to Uraka (one of the nations the SPG had brought in to fight Helsia) but Helsia seceded from CoG before this could be finalised. Helsia made an alliance with Uraka and Barbossa, which the former SPG states saw as treachery. 
By the next day all but two of the former SPG states had joined the Uraki Imperium. Many claim this was not their decision, but instead their leaders sold them out against their wishes. There is no proof of this but almost all citizens of those annexed agree, so it seems likely. Of the nations of the CoG, only Cognia and Helsia remained independent. The rebels of Aionios Imperva were granted a tiny stretch of land in between Uraka and the Simulami Empire, preserving their independence. Regrettably they are weaker than ever before, and surrounded by far stronger powers. Gyeoul, briefly changed its name to Konkotsu but the next day they joined the Rathnir empire of Lunaris. Freves reorganised into the state of Korosechev. 
This, dear reader, was the fall of the CoG. I hope future democracies learn from our mistakes.
Category:Literature
Category:Traveler's Era