Epitchia

Epitchia, officially the Imperium of Greater Epitchia, this nation located primarily in north-western Talasi. The country has steadily risen to becoming a regional power within Talasi, having an active playerbase and constantly growing economy.
== History ==
=== Early history ===
The first Emperor of Epitchia was Zelleth I "Zells" Epitchian, a distant relative of Zells Von Burg. Having arrived in Talasi from Rathnir, he envisioned a new state based on Zells' ideas, these ideas becoming the foundation of the new Epitchian state.
In the Spring of 3 VE, the nation's capital and first city, Crestaris, was founded by Zelleth. Just north of it, the settlement of Harmonia was founded by Zelleth's friend and close advisor, Manwithnoskill. However, Crestaris and Harmonia were too close to one another, for which reason they merged. Further north, NewHarmonia was created, in the same Spring. These two cities would be the bedrock from which Epitchia would further expand, with houses being created in both cities, as well as an important XP farm in NewHarmonia.
Not long after the nation's foundation, things took a turn for the worse just south of Crestaris, in Yuttara, where a civil conflict split the nation. Zelleth intervened, supporting (among other co-leaders with him) Onkel Tom exchange for Yuttaran integration as a state of Epitchia. Not long after the announcement of Epitchian support, Yuttara joined Epitchia, the opposition being vanquished diplomatically.
=== Further expansion ===
In the Summer of 5 VE, Aurahold was created by XiphosS, serving as the nation's third core city. Aurahold would, in time, develop to be a very rich city, with a distinct architectural style due to being in a taiga. It quickly expanded, having 3 active players in the first days of the nation, which meant that the city grew very rapidly.
Zelleth continued the development of Crestaris, while Manwithnoskill handled diplomatic affairs and also did his part to develop NewHarmonia. On the foreign front, Zelleth continued the policy of diplomatic expansion by vassalizing Tsuiki-Eyon in the Autumn of 9 VE. And only after a momentary break, in the Winter of 10 VE, Nova Pikulia seceded from Azeraan to join Epitchia. The leader of Nova Pikulia, ZealotLegend, was given high ranks within in the nation, more than the ordinary integrated provincial leader. This decision was important because of the rapidly rising tensions with Azeraan, which were aggravated by Zelleth's bellicose rhetoric and by the actions of Azeraani officials. The leaked activities of an Azeraani man somewhat associated with Epitchia too (OOC: was banned child pornography) also didn't help shift public opinion at all, and much of the nation was looking forward to this conflict. Already way before the nations of the world took to organized fighting (OOC: before the war plugin was introduced), Epitchia and Azeraan were raiding each other.
=== Banning of Zelleth ===
While on a raid into enemy territory, the leaders of Azeraan were able to create a claim such as to barely fit into a category of bannable activity. As such, in the Spring of 12 VE, Zelleth was banned after the Azeraani pressed charges against him. The citizenry scrambled to take stock of the increasingly bleak situation as national officials began active talks with server staff. Eventually, it was concluded that Zelleth's ban could not be annulled, nor shortened, for which reason Zelleth abdicated, leaving the nation by necessity as uncertainty grew everywhere. The Imperial Council, the nation's then highest advisory body, quickly began voting on the new emperor, with there being 2 choices: the longtime friend and national member Manwithnoskill, or leader of Nova Pikulia and equally active and high-ranking ZealotLegend. In the end, Manwithnoskill won 7-4.
=== Manwithnoskill's reign ===
Manwithnoskill is the current and second Emperor of Epitchia, alongside Sexy_DragonMan (see below for more information). His reign saw Epitchia rise from the brink of total inactivity to new heights in all domains, all the while war grew around them, and the power of forces greater than the nation had to be juggled with shrewd diplomatic treaties and other pacts.
The state which took over Epitchia after Zelleth abdicated was one of general apathy and, in some cases, despair, with activity dropping to perhaps record lows as many members were nowhere to be seen in the nation. In spite of this difficult adversity, Manwithnoskill would not relent. He began posting more government announcements and talked with the average citizen (but also with the government), in an effort to bring back national activity, an effort which proved fruitful in time. He also negotiated a peace with Azeraan, settling on an ambiguous status of Nova Pikulia. The peace treaty helped reduce uncertainty within the nation, which was still reeling from the elimination of its head man.
The claim of NewHarmonia was given to Johnnyirish, also a longtime member of the nation, who helped create a national banking bot during Zelleth's reign, as well as create a more efficient cactus farm for Aurahold. Manwithnoskill took over Crestaris from the now absent Zelleth I.
=== National rebound ===
Manwithnoskill's actions slowly demonstrated their spoils, as the nation regained its active players and continued expanding economically (notably through the efforts of XiphosS). Epitchia was active enough to have good coordination for the Nether opening, although lack of in-game coordination and potential greed of individual members led to the general effort being only a partial success, with some killed in the Nether and their items taken. Anything from 40k to 160k in pickaxes was lost in the nether, though a notable amount of Netherite was found and hoarded. While Manwithnoskill's ability to rule was initially brought into question by some claiming he didn't have the necessary international connections, it would quickly become evident that for whatever connection he didn't have to others, he made up in other ways. 
Manwithnoskill also was able to secure the peaceful integration of the nearby and friendly Al-umam state into Epitchia, which was ruled by Hububub, who became an Imperial Governor.
Also in this period, ZealotLegend became increasingly inactive due to real-life academic events, instead consigning himself to writing the national Constitution, process which would take a long time.
=== Integration of Helsia and National Renaissance ===
Relations between the leaders of Helsia and Epitchia had been cordial for a long time, due to both the personal ties established before the Comet's arrival to Abexilas. As such, when internal chaos came to Helsia, its leader, Sexy_DragonMan, was able to convince a big amount of the population to join Epitchia, as equals. This was officialized in the Winter of 19 VE, with Sexy_DragonMan becoming co-emperor alongside Manwithnoskill, and much of Helsia, both in terms of population and territory, joined Epitchia. This was. naturally, a very important change, with ramifications in all domains: geopolitically, it made Epitchia look much stronger regionally, and led to an influx of foreign diplomats; demographically, the national population saw a notable increase, with many active players joining the nation; economically, the new towns which joined Epitchia provided a needed source of revenue for further expansion; culturally, Epitchian and Helsian cultures began intermingling, all the while remaining separate from one another; and, finally, culturally, the new players brought important perspectives of their own to the task of national governance.
The period following the union with Helsia was one of tranquility and peace, as the new population settled in the nation and relations were established between the Epitchian natives and Helsian newcomers, although there was no actual major population change in any of the towns, with the old Epitchian players staying in their old towns, and the Helsians staying in their own settlements. Nevertheless, the mix of Epitchian and Helsian methods of governance which can begin to be seen today quickly began forming due to the direct contact between the peoples. 
In the Winter of 20 VE, however, an insurrectionist plot was discovered in which the Yuttaran leader, OnkelTom, tried to garner support among the nation's old lords in order to secede from Epitchia. This plan was folded when Hububub and other conspirators (namely, Sisar) defected to the Emperor. At the end of the crisis, Onkel Tom paid an indemnity and gave up the claim to his former townsman, Skoggy Dins. Onkel Tom was allowed to remain a citizen. Moreover, Sisar left the nation entirely due to disagreements with the government.
Finally, it was uncovered somewhere around 21-22 VE that ZealotLegend has participated in the effort to get OhZelly banned, which turned public opinion about the controversial event in favor of Zelly, and against Zealot and his co-conspirators. This led to a very quick and unforeseen fall from grace of Zealot, who fell from the second highest-ranking member of government to being exiled from the nation entirely not long after the leaking of his involvement. 
=== Democratization and the Yuttaran rebellion ===
In the Summer of 22 VE, Manwithnoskill announced that a limited democracy would be introduced to Epitchia, in the form of the Lower Council, a body responsible for writing laws and generally helping the state. This coincided with a plethora of reforms, most notably the introduction of a modified version of Zealot's Constitution, which also oversaw the slight reformation of the Imperial Council (and its temporary renaming to the High Council). It is relevant to note that while the limited democracy introduced was very wall taken by the vast majority of the population, it wasn't by any means a full democracy, and the Lower Council was not given much de jure power to begin with, though, being composed of powerful and active members, it would make up for such legal deficiencies with the competency and activity of its constituents.
In the new system, the Lower Council is composed of 5 people. Each party is able to propose as many nominees as it wants to, and every citizen has 3 votes for 3 different candidates for the Council.
The first political party to form was the HUG, however, it failed to ever find momentum. The Epitchian Democratic Forum (EDF) was next founded by XiphosS, standing for the slight expansion of democracy and maintaining of freethinking and individual liberties in Epitchia while also being supportive of the monarchy. The EDF very quickly became the largest party, perhaps due to this the Epitchian Loyalist Party (ELP) being formed in reaction. It was lead by the Emperor himself and stood for a loosely-defined direct loyalism to the Emperor. Both parties continued growing in size, appealing to their own demographics. The EDF was initially seen as a radical party, as is now made clear by the ELP rhetoric in the debates. The EDF positioned itself as a vanguard against authoritarianism and economic interventionism, as well as a party of pragmatic progress, while the ELP called upon the successes of the past as a rallying point, questioning the EDF's loyalty to the Emperor. Just before the election, the Popular Front (PF) was formed by Capsain. It quickly became the most radical political block, standing for a massive expansion of democratic institutions and, in some cases, state-sponsored welfare programs, or even some sort of communism later on; at least according to anti-PF propaganda. The radical claims of this new block led to it finding many foes, with the ELP being decisively against it and the EDF now positioned itself as a liberal conservative middle-man party. As election day approached, the ELP-EDF standstill was somewhat tense (though not toxic), and there were even suggestions of an EDF-PF merger to assure victory in the election. Due to the EDF being the decisively largest party at the election's onset, it was expected that they would easily prevail. The election took place in the Fall of 26 VE.
However, the ELP ended up winning a very narrow victory, although technically both parties were tied, the Emperor deciding who got in, in spite of there not being any legislation allowing this. Eventually, the results were accepted, and XiphosS oversaw passing a bipartisan bill about settling ties in the future, while ELP council member Derpy_Mushroom passed a bipartisan bill about the selection of the Speaker of the House, the 'leader' of the Lower Council, who has some extra powers alongside their normal Lower Council attributes.
However, sometime during campaigning season, Onkel Tom was found to be again scheming with Skoggy Dins to secede alone from Epitchia, which ended up happening. The Emperor and government very quickly reacting by preparing a great amount of war resources, securing allied support in the war and at times even trying to isolate Yuttara diplomatically. Raids took place on both sides mainly on the Yuttarian side.Most attacks were led by the emperor ManWithNoSkill and the imperial advisor Hububub.Most of these attacks included MWNS,Hububub and allies on the Epitchian side and Onkel_Tom, Skoggy_Dins Broad_Marigold.As Tensions were heightening Both sides called for peace.The Epitchian-Yuttaran Peace Treaty outlined what would happen to Hutteralem.Hutteralem would be given to Subayadamm and Onkel will be given admin to the claim, after two months if the mayor of Hutteralem decides that Onkel is a good citizen that is capable to be leading Hutteralem he will be retuned Hutteralem and if not he will remain a normal citizen. 
Shortly after the events of the civil war the Speaker elections concluded with Hububub winning and becoming the First Speaker of the Lower council. 
Category:Talasi