Kramerian Empire

The Kramerian Empire was a confederate monarchy that, at its height, possessed territory on the island of Krameria, western Africa, the Balkans, South America, the Indonesian islands, and Southeast Asia. The Empire was originally formed on September 2, 2356 by the Republic of Krameria's passage of the Kramerian Imperial Restoration Act, and since underwent three regimes, those being that of Emperor Napoleon I of House Glisten, Emperor DeWitt of House Polski, and Emperor Adam of House Romewick.
== Fortitude Era ==
The Fortitude Era was the point in time in which the Kramerian Empire legally embodied Krameria as a whole. Additionally, most historians consider this the only time in which the "Kramerian Empire" was synonymous with the nation of Krameria, as not only did Krameria abolish the Empire following this time period, yet the Kramerian Empire did not control any part of Krameria during the Romewick Era, nor did it resemble Krameria in any cultural context. Because of this, many historians refer to the "Kramerian Empire" as the entity which existed strictly during the Fortitude Era, while calling the Empire of the Romewick Era the "Romewick Empire" or even the "Romewick Union." 
=== Saul White's Colonization ===
In 2355, Saul White was President of Krameria's "United Administrations", a collection of private entities which could enforce Kramerian law alongside the Kramerian government. In January of 2355, White commenced a campaign to take advantage of the rampant power vacuums across Africa, the Balkans, and South America. White started this campaign by leading a private expedition to secure control over African land. With the extensive funds he had, White began buying huge swathes of African coastal land. Given that the locals were undergoing a struggle, White was able to buy this land for a cheap price, thus securing his influence. Additionally, White largely provided the funding for rebuilding industry in his newly-acquired land.
Next, White turned his attention toward the Balkans. In February of 2355, the United Administrations formed an unofficial alliance with the Republic of the United Balkans to defeat President Zoran Mokhan's regime. 13 months into this endeavor, White and the United Balkan government successfully defeated Mokhan's regime on March 28, 2356. Upon doing so, they split the Balkans amongst themselves, with the Republic of the United Balkans primarily taking the north and White primarily taking the south. With this newly-integrated land, White declared himself "Sovereign of the Southern Balkans", and worked to establish a democratic government in the region.
Following this, White turned his attention toward South America. Seeing that it was dominated by various military factions, White concluded that he could use the continent's instability to his advantage. On May 2, 2356, White launched an invasion into western South America. Within 3 months, White successfully secured control over much of eastern South America. On July 3, he declared the creation of the "Sovereignty of Glisten", with himself as Sovereign. Six days following, he would use this as leverage for a proposition to Krameria.
=== Creation of the Kramerian Empire ===
On July 9, 2356, White wrote and proposed the "Kramerian Imperial Restoration Act", which would see the Republic of Krameria become the capital of a Kramerian Empire that would include Krameria and the land White had obtained in Africa, the Balkans, and South America. In exchange, the bill would name White as Emperor, and would give him total power over foreign affairs and the Kramerian Military.
In delivering his speech which advocated for the bill's passage, White stated that "As Head of State to two other nations, I'm currently obtaining a large amount of wealth. However, I can't currently justify sharing that wealth with my beloved Krameria, as that would be at the expense of the nations I'm governing. Yet if these nations were part of Krameria, using their wealth to help our nation would also help their nation." White further elaborated by saying, "Of course, these areas have their own distinct identities, so it wouldn't be fair to subject them to the governance of the Kramerian President and Congress, nor would it be right for me to force them into our government. All these nations share in common is me; so, it would provide great stability and fairness to all people involved if I manage our foreign affairs and imperial defense."
Upon presenting the bill to Congress, a majority of Congressmen would support the bill's passage. However, White only had 22 Congressmen in support. Thus, when President Arthur Townsends vetoed this bill, White intensified his campaigning. He branded Townsends as a figure who was going against Kramerian democracy, asserting in a speech that: "Who is Townsends to claim I'm subverting Kramerian democracy?! Democracy at its core is the fulfillment of the people's will. If the people choose an Emperor and an opportunity for abundant prosperity, who is HE to deny them to this?!". White followed this by noting that a majority of Congress supported the bill.
After President Townsends refused to change his decision for six weeks straight, White escalated his tactics. In a rally, he claimed "If Townsends is so insistent on going against the people, let's see if they'll let him keep his job." With that, White submitted a recall petition to commence a new Presidential election. With that, the recall referendum passed. In the resulting election, President Townsends faced Imperial-Monarchist Emerson Machiavelli. On September 1, 2356, Machiavelli defeated Townsends with 58% of the vote to Townsends's 42%. The following day, Machiavelli was inaugurated, and signed the re-passed Kramerian Imperial Restoration Act immediately upon taking office.
Upon becoming Emperor of Krameria, White changed his name to be coronated as "Napoleon I of House Glisten", creating for himself a new dynasty.
=== Internal Affairs ===
==== Republican Supreme Court Suit ====
Following the passage of the Kramerian Imperial Restoration Act, influential Republicans James Restora, Andrea Freland, Arthur Townsends, Robert Galva, Wallace Grant, and Zachariah Aprice would bring forth a Constitutional lawsuit against the Kramerian government for instituting the Kramerian Empire. Delegating power was unprecedented in Kramerian history, and it these Republicans argued that it was not Constitutional. In the buildup to this lawsuit, Emperor Napoleon alleged that the act merely established the position and its purpose, and that it was still up to the government whether or not they enact this delegation. "If the President and Congress is going to do what I will," Glisten asserted, "Then there might as well be a position to go along with my influence." To illustrate his argument, Glisten pointed to how in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister can act freely on behalf of the monarch. "If in other nations, an elected official can act on behalf of a monarch, then why can't a monarch act on behalf of elected officials here?".
Glisten's arguments would dissuade the Republicans little, as their first court date would be set for January 27, 2357. One day before the case began, however, the entire Supreme Court went missing. When this occurred, the Kramerian people's faith in Emperor Napoleon was shook, as most Kramerians suspected him to have orchestrated this for his own power...
As this occurred, President Machiavelli appointed new Justices to the Supreme Court, 8 of whom were Imperial-Monarchists. With this, the Republicans refused to proceed with the case until the original Supreme Court was returned to its rightful position. With that, legal action against the Kramerian Empire did not proceed.
When all of the original Supreme Court Justices were restored to the nation in 2360, the Republicans urged them to retake their positions. However, the remaining Supreme Court Justices who were alive reported to be heavily traumatized by their time in captivity. Thus, they willingly gave up their positions to President Machiavelli's appointees. With that, Machiavelli's court was affirmed to remain legitimate, as the Kramerian Empire was left unchallenged as legitimate.
==== Vote of No Confidence in Speaker Grant ====
Upon hearing that Congressional Speaker Wallace Grant was planning on going to the Supreme Court to see Congressional legislation overturned, Congress would be outraged. Many Imperial-Monarchists in Congress would criticize Speaker Grant for "undermining the will of the legislative body that he supposedly represents."
On January 30, 2357, Congress called, for the first time in Kramerian history, a Vote of No Confidence in their Speaker. Presiding over this vote would be Vice President Thomas Khin, who was an Imperial-Monarchist himself. During the Vote of No Confidence, Vice President Khin was reportedly very disruptive during proceedings, and even got the Congressional procedures wrong during the vote. Regardless, the Imperial-Monarchist majority insisted that he presided over the vote in accordance with what the Congressional Rules and Procedures mandated. And with their majority, the Imperial-Monarchists removed Grant from the Speakership on that day.
The following day, Congress elected Imperial-Monarchist Adeus Ling to fill Speaker Grant's place. As Congressional Speaker, Ling promised to "remain loyal to Congress" and also to "support Emperor Napoleon I in his agenda to lead Krameria to success." Although Republicans were skeptical of Speaker Ling, the Imperial-Monarchists reacted positively to his ascension; thus, he remained as Speaker for the remainder of the 119th National Congress.
==== Abolition of the Department of Herseyan Records ====
Another goal of Emperor Napoleon would be to diminish the knowledge and impact Kramerian history had on the nation. Glisten thought that knowledge of Krameria's democratic Constitution and history made him seem less legitimate, especially since Krameria had overthrown undemocratic political entities in the past. Because of this, Glisten wanted to hide as much of Krameria's past history as possible, so that he could make the Kramerian Empire seem like the nation's only legitimate government.
Upon indicating his goal to Congressional Speaker Ling, the 119th National Congress passed the "Present Krameria Act", which abolished the Department of Herseyan Records and prohibited Kramerian history from being taught in public schools and universities. On April 30, 2357, this bill passed Congress and was signed by President Machiavelli into effect.
Upon the Present Krameria Act's enactment, James Restora would be livid. In May of 2357, Restora created the "Aware Krameria Movement", which was designed to promote awareness of Kramerian history. Restora founded private libraries across the nation meant to house the its history and carry on where the Department of Herseyan Records left off. Meanwhile, members of the Aware Krameria Movement would frequently talk to Kramerians about Kramerian history on the streets, and would even enter college classrooms on random occasions to talk about Kramerian history. Seeing this, President Machiavelli signed an executive order which prohibited educational settings from allowing this to transpire.
==== Rise of DeWitt Polski ====
Upon the institution of the Kramerian Empire, a faction of Republicans opted to work within the new system, as opposed to fighting it through outside methods. One of these Republicans would be Dovania Governor DeWitt Polski, who advocated for a balance between the wants of Imperial-Monarchists (who comprised a majority of Krameria's population) and democracy. With this, Polski did not advocate for repealing the Kramerian Imperial Restoration Act, yet instead advocated for countering the Emperor's influence through the passage of other legislation when the Emperor did something the people disagreed with.
For his stances, Polski was the first individual appointed to the Lunar Estate. Upon the complete formation of the body, Polski was not only elected President of the Lunar Estate, yet also received a specific title bestowed to him by the Lunar Estate known as the "Imperial Shadow". Essentially, this was a symbolic position meant to make the empire more democratic in spirit; it was the Lunar Estate's attempt to make the Emperor only as prestigious as his opposition.
In the Midterm Election of 2358, Polski founded a new political party known as the "Moderate Party", which was rooted in Polski's goal of balance between both sides. That election, Polski was not only elected to Congress himself, but managed to secure a total of 9 seats for his new political party. Given that this broke up the Imperial-Monarchist majority, Polski secured the support of the Republicans to successfully obtain the Congressional Speakership from Adeus Ling. Out of respect for the Imperial-Monarchists sizable plurality, however, Polski appointed Ling as his Deputy Speaker.
In 2360, Polski declared his candidacy for the Kramerian Presidency. In his campaign, Polski emphasized the importance of having a President who would "work for all Kramerians", and who would balance their visions for the country. In the election, Polski won the Presidency with 54% of first choice votes, to Adeus Ling's 33%.
=== Southeast Asian Affairs ===
==== Kramerian-Indonesian War ====
Five weeks after the Supreme Court Justices went missing, the KIA reported on March 1, 2357, that 5 out of the 11 Supreme Court Justices were discovered to be kidnapped in Indonesia. With this information, Emperor Napoleon used this to brand the Indonesians as a malicious society "looking to sow division in our Kramerian unity", as Glisten put it. Emperor Napoleon elaborated by accusing Indonesia of doing a smear campaign against him specifically, noting that the disappearance of the Supreme Court Justices inflicted damage on his reputation.
Through KIA records released to the public, it was revealed that Glisten did indeed orchestrate this operation, and strategically placed his captive Justices in Indonesia for the sake of putting forth this narrative. Yet at the time, this narrative was effective. When Emperor Napoleon held a non-binding referendum on whether or not Krameria should declare war on Indonesia, 60% of the public voted in favor of doing so. Thus, on April 15, 2357, Emperor Napoleon commenced the Kramerian-Indonesian War...
Within six months, Krameria took all Indonesian islands east of Sulawesi. On October 13, Indonesia sued for peace with Krameria. Emperor Napoleon stated that he would be ok with peace if Indonesia ceded the islands of New Guinea, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. Indonesia refused this deal, saying that Krameria hadn't even reached Sumatra. In these peace negotiations, Emperor Napoleon delivered the famous quote "Not yet" in response to Indonesia's insinuation that Krameria had not captured the island.
==== Borneo Massacre ====
On November 25, 2357, Krameria set foot on the island of Borneo. Over the next fortnight, the Kramerian Army and Marine Corps wreaked havoc on the island. The military pillaged and destroyed various cities, and did not regard civilian casualties. On December 11, 2357, Indonesia surrendered, this time ceding New Guinea, Sulawesi, Borneo, and Sumatra.
==== Indonesia V. Krameria - Global Criminal Court ====
Following the Kramerian-Indonesian War, Indonesia sued the Kramerian Empire in the United States of Earth's Global Criminal Court for breaching the Pax Terra, and for massacring the people of an entire island. The Kramerian Empire defended itself by stating that Indonesia had captured its Supreme Court Justices, and that they therefore had a case for war. The court accepted this reasoning, yet additionally noted that the Kramerian Empire had committed warcrimes in its fight against Indonesia. With this, the court mandated that the Kramerian Empire pay $50 billion USD to Indonesia, yet asserted that the Kramerian Empire could keep the territory it annexed.
==== Kramerian-Thai War ====
In March of 2358, the KIA reported Krameria's six remaining Supreme Court Justices to be in Thailand. Much like the discovery of the Justices in Indonesia, later publication of KIA records reveal that this was set up by Glisten and the KIA to start another war. This goal would prove to be effective, as on March 20, 2358, the Kramerian Empire declared war on Thailand.
On July 19, 2358, the Kramerian military captured the Thai capital of Bangkok. Three days later, Thailand surrendered. From this, the Kramerian Empire annexed large swathes of Thailand's southern territory, largely relegating Thailand itself to the north.
In the peace negotiations, the Kramerian Empire additionally forced Thailand to "hand over" documents that "revealed" North Vietnam to have aided Thailand in its kidnapping operations.
==== Kramerian-Vietnam War ====
With the documents the KIA framed to be from Thailand, Emperor Napoleon approached South Vietnam on August 5, 2358 with a proposal for an alliance and joint invasion into North Vietnam. On September 1, 2358, this alliance would be formally established into law. One week later, on September 8, both the Kramerian Empire and South Vietnam invaded the north.
As the North Vietnamese used guerrilla tactics, defeating them would largely be difficult, even with South Vietnam on the Kramerian Empire's side. However, within the next two years, both nations defeated North Vietnam and forced the nation into surrender. In the peace treaty, it was decided that North Vietnam would be under joint occupation between South Vietnam and the Kramerian Empire. Essentially, South Vietnam would be able to govern North Vietnam and integrate its citizens into its nation, yet the Kramerian Empire would be able to impose taxation on the North Vietnamese people, and would have jurisdiction over North Vietnam's resources.
=== Balkan-Kramerian War ===
Upon becoming Emperor of Krameria, Glisten took measures to assume direct authority over his land in the Balkans. On September 6, 2356, Emperor Napoleon dissolved the Southern Balkan government and assumed direct authority over the territory's governance. In doing so, Glisten imposed harsh laws upon the people, as he largely silenced opposition and took resources for himself. By May of 2357, life in the Southern Balkans would largely be bleak. The people had few luxuries, as most individuals barely scraped by.
In June of 2357, former Representative David Wilebo fled to the Republic of the United Balkans, to petition their government to take action. Horrified by what Emperor Napoleon was doing, the United Balkan government declared war on the Kramerian Empire on July 21, 2357...
Initially, the United Balkans were at an advantage. The Kramerian military was busy fighting the Kramerian-Indonesian War, so its full force was not yet directed toward the Balkans. Because of this, the United Balkans took large swathes of Kramerian Imperial territory, and by August 25, 2357, they were on the verge of capturing Glistenia, the regional capital city of the Southern Balkans founded by Glisten.
Seeing that he was losing Balkan territory, Emperor Napoleon shifted his approach toward the region. Since the people in the Southern Balkans were largely being oppressed, Glisten instituted the policy which would allow them upward mobility if they joined the army. With this, many Balkan people began enlisting in droves. By September 3, 2357, the new Southern Balkan Guard had pushed back the United Balkan military. A stalemate ensued for the next 15 weeks.
However, on December 20, 2357, the Kramerian military arrived as reinforcements. By New Year's Eve, the Kramerian military captured the United Balkan capital of Timisoara, forcing the government into surrender. The Kramerian Empire annexed the Republic of the United Balkans.
=== Balkan Reconstruction ===
In January of 2358, Emperor Napoleon put forth a broadcast to the United States, stating that private American citizens were once again welcome to fund the reconstruction of the war-torn Balkans. In his campaign, Glisten emphasized how heroic the American people were, and how the rest of the world benefited from them greatly.
With this campaign, accompanied by America's Global Restoration Act, many rich Americans once again began contributing to the rebuilding of the Balkans. Emperor Napoleon additionally allowed this to improve quality of life in the Balkans. By 2363, quality of life in the Balkans was decent, thus providing a new stream of income to Glisten's empire at no expense to himself.
=== End of the Fortitude Era ===
While Emperor Napoleon had experienced political success, he reportedly had personal struggles. For leaving the United States and taking his monarchist actions, his family disowned him, as he had no spouse nor children. Because of this, Glisten's mental health was reportedly low, especially toward the end of his imperial reign. On the morning of June 10, 2364, Emperor Napoleon I of House Glisten was found dead outside Palace Glisten, as the imperial throne went vacant.
As this occurred, President DeWitt Polski signed an executive order rendering himself as the Emperor until the Solar and Lunar Estates could elect another Emperor to fill his place. Emperor DeWitt made it clear in his executive order that he would not hold the throne for a permanent time period, and that he would resign once the Estates filled the vacancy, as was prescribed if an Emperor was to die without any heirs. Additionally, because Polski was a large advocate for separation of powers, he resigned from the Kramerian Presidency upon becoming Emperor.
Since Polski led the Lunar Estate under Emperor Napoleon, it is largely considered by historians that the Lunar Estate became the Solar Estate upon his assumption of the throne, as Emperor Napoleon's Solar Estate in turn became the Lunar Estate. For the sake of clarity, however, Emperor Napoleon's Solar Estate is largely referred to as the "1st Solar Estate", whereas Emperor DeWitt's Solar Estate is referred to as the "2nd Solar Estate."
Upon Emperor DeWitt's assumption of the throne, the 1st Solar Estate would be livid, and would scramble to nominate a candidate as quickly as possible. The problem was, however, that the 2nd Solar Estate would not accept any candidate except for Emperor DeWitt. Because of this, the two Estates entered gridlock.
Meanwhile, Emperor DeWitt discovered in imperial documents the fact that Emperor Napoleon had oppressed those in the Empire's territory outside of Krameria. In North Vietnam, taxes were high, as the region was largely in poverty. Glisten reportedly instituted totalitarian policy in his lands in Africa, South America, the Indonesian islands, and mainland Southeast Asia. Emperor DeWitt even discovered that the Balkan-Kramerian War was caused by Emperor Napoleon's oppression of the southern Balkans. Horrified by this, Emperor DeWitt rolled back this oppression, and instituted democratic governments in all regions within the Kramerian Empire. He additionally made the information of Glisten's oppression public to both the Kramerian government and general public.
As Emperor Napoleon's oppression was now public knowledge, Republicans had new leverage for their cause. On June 24, 2364, James Restora proposed the "Kramerian Republic Restoration Act", which would abolish the position of Emperor, and which would restore all power to the democratically-elected government officials. Upon the bill's proposal, Congressional Speaker Adeus Ling refused to take the bill to debate, seeing the Empire as something inherently good that he would work to preserve at all costs. However, on July 1, 2364, Deputy Speaker Michael Fiefe organized a secret Congressional session, in which Congress voted on the bill. Even though a majority of Congressmen were initially Imperial-Monarchists, Emperor Napoleon's tyranny did enough damage to the imperial cause, to the point where most Kramerians were now ready to abolish it. That morning, the Kramerian Republic Restoration Act passed, and as President Danielle Gains signed the bill into law, the Kramerian Empire no longer had any place in the Republic of Krameria.
However, given that Krameria itself was not the only territory in the Kramerian Empire, the Empire itself was not abolished globally; only within Kramerian territory. Because of this, the 1st Solar Estate erupted in a panic, as on the evening of July 1, 2364, it elected Congressional Speaker Ling's American cousin, Adam Romewick, to succeed Emperor Napoleon. On July 3, Romewick stirred up rhetoric by saying that the "Empire [had] been stolen", and that "it [was] time for the people to take it back, whether the Lunar Estate [liked] it or not!". That evening, Romewick amassed a gathering of roughly 100 individuals to storm Palace Glisten and all Kramerian government buildings. As they did so, they would be met with counter fire from the Fortitude Police. To avoid the conflict from escalating, Emperor DeWitt, who was still residing in Palace Glisten at the time, met with Romewick personally, and offered him the Kramerian Empire so long as he, Adeus Ling, and the rest of the extremists left Krameria for good, in addition to keeping the democratic governments in the imperial territories. Romewick accepted this deal, and signed the "Fortitude Accords" with Emperor DeWitt that very night. With that, Adam Romewick had become the third Emperor of the Kramerian Empire, and the Kramerian Empire was abolished for good from the Republic's soil.
== Romewick Era ==
Upon being granted the Kramerian Empire, Emperor Adam would work on establishing his rule within the Empire's territory outside of Krameria. Given that the Kramerian military was no longer on the side of the Emperor, this would involve state visits to other nations to affirm his legitimacy. 
In Africa and the Balkans, this would proceed successfully. In the Indonesian islands, southern Thailand, and South America, however, Romewick's regime faced stark resistance. In southern Thailand, there was a nationalist movement to rejoin the nation Krameria annexed the territory from. Meanwhile, all Indonesian islands vied for independence, as did the territory in South America. They had just come off of years of oppression under Emperor Napoleon's regime, meaning they were not keen on serving under a new Emperor. This came to a head on July 15, 2364. A group of Thai militia took advantage of Emperor Adam's relatively weak foothold on its territory, and commenced the Southern Thai Revolution on that day.
Two weeks following the commencement of the Southern Thai Revolution, Thailand itself offered aid to the rebellion. Over the course of the next year, the Thai forces would see consistent victory over the Kramerian Empire, as on December 18, 2365, the Kramerian Empire surrendered its territory in Southeast Asia back to Thailand.
Meanwhile, other nations took advantage of the Kramerian Empire's instability. On February 15, 2365, Indonesia launched an invasion into the Kramerian Empire to take back its islands, and took back its old territory within the next year and a half. South Vietnam, meanwhile, abolished their deal with the Kramerian Empire, and began taking North Vietnam's economic resources for itself. Conflict escalated further in April of 2365, as the large-scale Romani Revolution commenced in the Balkans. By 2370, the Kramerian Empire was completely pushed out of the region, thus retaining only its land in western Africa and in South America, as both regions were too impoverished to lead any kind of revolution against Emperor Adam. 
However, Emperor Adam was also placed at the whim of the regions' respective governments, as Emperor DeWitt had ensured that both western Africa and eastern South America had republics to govern the territory. To avoid losing even more power, Emperor Adam entered into a deal with the regional governments that would see them control their respective economies, yet which would also see Emperor Adam control the Kramerian Empire's foreign affairs and military. Additionally, all of Emperor Adam's personal assets would be owned publicly by the two governments, as they would be able to regulate how Emperor Adam used them.
The three parties signed the "Compact of Imperial Unity" on March 25, 2370. With this, Emperor Adam's power over the Empire and his own personal life was, on paper, vastly reduced. However, over the course of the next three years, Romewick reportedly embezzled funds, and used them for his own personal gain. Particularly, Romewick was a heavy user of escort services. 
This was the final straw for the Kramerian Empire's remaining territories. On August 7, 2373, the "Republic of the West African Coast" declared independence from the Kramerian Empire, and sent a special task force to arrest Emperor Adam. Two months later, Emperor Adam would be put to death via torturous methods on October 5, 2373. 
With the West African Coast's declaration of independence, eastern South America served as the last vestige of the Kramerian Empire. Given its weak economy and lack of national identity, the Kramerian Empire officially dissolved on January 21, 2374, as its last remaining land was annexed by the United States of Columbia.
== Imperial Advisory Bodies ==
In addition to the position of Emperor, the Kramerian Imperial Restoration Act established two advisory councils for the Emperor, one being known as the "Solar Estate" and one being known as the "Lunar Estate." The Solar Estate would be the body which supported the Emperor, whereas the Lunar Estate would be the body which opposed him. Both councils would be composed of 15 members, all of whom would be appointed by the Emperor with the approval of the respective estate.