Romania

A close ally of the United States before the Human-Vannai War, Romania now finds itself a protectorate of its successor state in the American Coalition, and represents the sole North American military presence in Europe with the advent of the European Federation. It is more famously known for the source of Vampirism, and the Pilots that hail from there now enjoy a much publicized mystique as the most exotic and eccentric of their kind.
==History==
===Pre-War===
20th century Romania seized land from neighboring Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War in 1913, and in 1914 remained neutral when the Great War broke out. On promise of land inhabited by ethnic Romanians by the Triple Entente powers, Romania entered the war against Central Powers two years later in 1916. The war went poorly for Romania as three-quarters of the country wound up being conquered by Austrian-Hungarian and German troops by early 1917. The October Revolution in Russia and its subsequent collapse forced Romania to enter into a harsh peace treaty with the Central Powers, although it did manage to claim nearby Bessarabia. Romania’s size increased further in 1918 with the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the merging of Bukovina, Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures with the Romanian kingdom. In the interwar period, various industries developed. The country transitioned to a royal dictatorship in 1938 with the establishment of a new constitution and the dissolution of all political parties.
The ceding of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland to Germany in 1938 convinced the Romanian kingdom that France and the United Kingdom were no longer capable allies, while Romania would be called upon to supply oil and agricultural products to a renewed German war effort. Germany and Romania entered into an agreement in 1939 to coordinate economic efforts, though without any guarantee to Romania’s borders. In the following years, territory that had been gained after the first World War began to be lost in 1940 with the cession of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, Northern Transylvania to Hungary, and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria. The territorial losses caused political turbulence that resulted in Romania becoming a military dictatorship with German support.
In 1943, following the Soviet victory of the Battle of Stalingrad, opposition elements within Romania began to gain strength under socialist and communist banners. In 1943, the Romanian king ordered the military dictator’s arrest and appointed politicians from these groups to form a new government. These politicians would later force the king to step down in place of a communist prime minister in 1945. Until 1958, the Soviet Union would maintain a significant military presence in Romania, and the land’s natural resources were heavily exploited by the Russians. Over the next several decades, Romania experienced harsh communist repression, which saw thousands deported, indefinitely imprisoned, indefinitely sent to forced labour camps, or simply killed by secret police squads. This generated significant resentment against the communists. A sharp increase in foreign debt from 1977 to 1981 saw the communist politician ruling Romania impose severe austerity steps that paid the debt off completely by 1989 and left the population impoverished and the economy exhausted. The resulting revolution in 1989 saw the communist leader overthrown and executed under charges of genocide by starvation.
From 1990 onward, Romania undertook gradual transition to a free market and installation of privatization, while seeking integration with the west. Romania became a member of NATO in 2004 and joined the European Union in 2007.
===Human-Vannai War===
During the Two Week War, Romania served as an alternate staging point for the United States’ operations in the defense of Europe, with American military leadership eventually taking direct command of Romanian military forces. After the Two Week War, these US elements returned to North America, and the territory was left as a precept of Hanse Behörde, which it generally ignored. Actual defense of Romania fell to native Romanians, and native Romanian Pilots. However, Romanian Hybrid Pilots soon began to exhibit strange, reclusive behavior, and withdrew from the general public. A rift began to form between the local Pilots as the effects of Strigosis became increasingly pronounced, and local Romanian Pilots found themselves pressured to accept Hybridization or leave the country.
The relationship that formed between the Romanians and their transformed Strigoi Pilots was that of wolves defending their own flock of sheep, with the Strigoi protecting the country from Vannai Puppets and Constructs in exchange for human sacrifices. Not all Strigoi agreed with this practice, but those who resisted their newfound cravings for human flesh suffered only further debilitation from their disease. Others embraced the affliction with perverse relish, hunting humans and Puppets with equal wanton.
Eventually, a compromise was reached within the Strigoi to police their own and ensure that the human population was properly protected and sufficiently harvested to ensure their own number did not suffer from the disease’ debilitating effects. Rooting themselves in the historic town of Sighișoara, Transylvania, the so-called “Vampires” came to control their territory through a mixture of fear and desideratum, consolidating their number into a single “clan” consisting of various cliques of self-styled Pilot-nobles, a fad spurred on by Strigosis’ symptoms of compulsions of vanity and haughtiness. The humans of Romania proved powerless to do anything about this, and information was tightly controlled to keep the existence of the Sighișoarans a secret from the rest of the world.
===Post-War===
This arrangement would continue until a renegade group of vampires far from Europe would cross paths with Albrecht Ryman and the mercenaries under his employ during ACC’s Operation Iron Kingdom in Zanaga, Republic of the Congo. Ryman, eager for revenge, tracked the bizarre Pilots back to Romania, eventually leading to a series of events known as the Sighisoara Incident, or, “Dracula’s Supersonic Castle”. 
With the sudden attack leaving dozens dead, including the Sighișoaran’s leader, the vampires hastily broke their self-imposed solitude and begged for rescue.
====Establishment of the Protectorate====
Although the attack ended in a quick loss for Fireteam Vertex, the vampires knew that the mercenaries would likely attack again, and attempted to contact the Phoenix Collective to request the team be called off. The PC representative Nic reached expressed doubt that the vampires could afford to pay a protection fee and recommended they contact the American Coalition directly and request they become a protectorate. The vampires released footage of the fight in the hopes of discouraging Vertex from returning, but this had the opposite effect instead of severely pissing off the pilot it featured. Four days later, the mercenary attempted a lone suicide attack, successfully obliterating Nic before attempting to go after the rest of the vampires present. To everyone’s surprise, the vampires revealed that they had somehow managed to place a crab-like Superfort beneath the city, which proceeded to carry the entire city on its back and run at unbelievable speeds towards the border while a vampire going by the callsign “Rave” begged Hanse Behörde for refuge over radio. The vampires are instead intercepted by a Hanse aircraft, who reminded Rave that they were applying to become a protectorate of the AmC.
The next day, AmC delegate finalized the terms with the Sighisoarans, and Romania became an official Protectorate of the American Coalition on 10 October 2018.
In the time since then, Romania has seen some minor development funded by the AmC and is generally regarded as a far-flung periphery. Although it has little to offer the AmC economically, it remains a strategically significant location for the AmC and the only recruiting and training ground for Darkstalkers.
==Government==
The Romanian government went underground during the Two Week War, and with the advent of the Strigoi never resurfaced. Governance fell to the Pilots, who exercised their dominance with the power that their Suits gave them. Strigoi claiming ownership of their own cities and townships did not become uncommon, and the Pilot in question ruled as an enigmatic, detached leader, leaving the actual running of these locations to whatever human representative they cared to appoint and appearing only to claim sacrifices when the need to feed arose. Governance reverted to that of isolated conclaves, with “Romania” as a nation disappearing as a result, and overall governing authority defaulting to the Sighișoaran Clan of Pilots. Leadership within the clan was determined through a variety of means, with some Pilots asserting dominance through strength in combat and others through political maneuvering. The most dominant Pilot was regarded as the Vampire Lord, whose authority was generally observed as the supreme law of the land.
After the Sighișoara Incident, Romania agreed to become a protectorate of the American Coalition in exchange for protection from further attacks from the Phoenix Collective. This decision has been regarded as being disgustingly hasty by the majority of Sighișoarans and questionably valid given the circumstances under which the agreement has occurred, but has never been openly challenged. The source of this contention has to do with the lack of qualification of the vampire that called for the negotiations to even do so, and a general suspicion of pressure being applied from the AmC on the Romanian representatives. The AmC side of the story maintains that the entire incident was an unexpected surprise, and continues to recognize the Sighișoaran clan as the legitimate government of Romania.
Regardless, the arrangement has been wholly beneficial for Romania, leaving little room for the vampires to legitimately grumble about. As the recognized government of Romania, the Sighișoarans are expected to fulfill certain minimal obligations and take an active role in returning Romania to a productive state. As part of the terms of Romania’s status, the Coalition has agreed to not interfere in the internal runnings of the nation so long as these obligations remain fulfilled. This has allowed the Sighișoarans to remain in power, and while the Romanians are not considered Coalition citizens, Romania is allowed to retain more or less complete sovereignty. However, the decidedly undemocratic rule of the Sighișoarans has caused some contention with the protectorate’s human subjects, which point out the the Pilots are generally very out of touch with the needs of their citizens, and given their propensity towards wearing black leather and capes, out of touch with reality. The vampires, being somewhat aware of this, have appointed a human Prime Minister to act as their representative, make announcements, and keep them informed of the political opinion of the land.
==Policies==
===Military===
Prior to the Human-vannai War, Romania was a close ally of the United States. As the successor state to the US, the AmC has largely continued this relationship, with one of the founding points to the establishment of the protectorate being the protection of Romania’s borders and defense of the nation against hostile foreign actions. This agreement is purely defensive and the AmC largely takes a backseat role in these matters, however. Actual military enforcement is left to the Romanians themselves, though the AmC provides training and equipment to the Romanians to facilitate this and maintains a small garrison of troops based in Camp Mihail Kogalniceanu.
===Economic===
Romania’s economy recovered from the invasion slowly due to its closed borders during the war, a trend which only began to reverse with the relaxation of these policies at the AmC’s behest, and in monetary aid. Romanian industry began to recover as a leading producer in electronics in Eastern Europe. It has been an important ally to neighboring countries without access to EuF markets in the information technology fields. Almost 1/3 of the population is employed in agriculture.
===Diplomacy===
As a protectorate, Romania has somewhat limited autonomy in that it must obey certain agreed behaviors regarding foreign governments. Romania is free to enter into alliances with other nations, but the AmC’s policy as its defender only applies if the Romanians are attacked first; in the case of Romania launching an offensive on another nation, or entering into a war on behalf of another nation, the American Coalition holds no obligation to aid Romania. Overall, although Romania is a protectorate, the AmC is generally very lax in its relationship with the European country. The Romanians themselves have a positive view of the AmC, if only because they no longer need to fear being eaten by their protectors.
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:TE Nations
Category:Europe
Category:American Coalition
Category:Vampires