Aro Confederacy

Motto: "Peace, Unity, Freedom"

The Aro Confederacy is a fictional nation within the modern-day borders of Nigeria and Cameroon on Terra.

Born out of the unification of five towns, the Aro Confederacy's economy and activity is heavily reliant as a hub of the international gold and diamond trade, keeping a healthy reserve of iron lent out to other nations as a basis for barter trade to compensate a lack of towny-dollar funds.

The Confederacy is led by the Council of the Five Tribes, the democratic governing body of the state taking much of its principles of government from the Haudenosaunee people - with a key difference being political parties vying for council membership within each town

## **History**

### **Pre-Unification**

The Aro Confederacy was meant to be created as soon as its founding fathers had joined the server. With the fall of the now-defunct "Geopolitica" server, five friends set out on a two-week-long quest to discover an active and thriving server to establish settlements.

On May 4th, 2019, the group decided to migrate to Datearth, establishing five individual towns in a hope to attract more people to their cause. At this time, Terra has become a world of immense urbanization, with players flocking to one of the two major towns rivaling each other - Berlin and Washington D.C. In an effort to capitalize on this rivalry, the five towns set out on an effort of collecting arms to sell to the world powers.

Downtime in Arochukwu, capital of the Aro Confederacy. Taken on May 8th, 2019

With this scheme in mind and well-aware of a need to provide extra incentive to buyers, the group also set out to create a mining industry to support their apparent war-profiteering. By the 11th of May, Arochukwu - the largest of these towns, had nearly $8000 in its town bank deposited after only one day of trading. By the following day, the city became the capital of the new Aro Confederacy.

### **A Lavish Founding**

With unification just having taken place, the Aro Confederacy set in motion its plans to host a founding ceremony to include all of the world powers, ensuring its neutrality and position as a world leader in trade. As these preparations had been taking place since the second day of the cities' foundings, Arochukwu already had a grand table for all the attendees, with the five council members seated in a circular table in the center.

At this center table, the first signatories of the International Free Trade Agreement would put their names onto the historic treaty to ensure free trade by merchants going to and from states at war and those at peace. However, this document was simply only a segment of the Five Tribes' founding accords. All attendees also signed agreements to guarantee the sovereignty of the nation and its colonies, and in return, the Aro people agreed never to attack another player unless attacked first.

After the signing of the agreements, the players conversed with one another whilst eating the bread and steak provided at the table for them. Particularly interesting were the conversations between the Americans and the Germans, who were currently warring with each other at the time of the ceremony. The attendees of the respective nations initially acted with threatening gestures towards one another, but after mediation by the Aro Council, talks turned much more civil.

### **A Hub of Trade and Commerce**

Despite the very gradual decline of activity on Terra before the appearance of Novus, the Aro Confederacy continued to be a revered capital for the sale of precious minerals, and with the development of Terra into a warring world, war profiteering and espionage skyrocketed within Arochukwu. The nation attracted many of those fleeing the fights of the north, and as such, the country grew to its peak of over 150 players total, over half of which were active as merchants, miners, or bureaucrats within the confederation.

As such an influx came, the Aro Confederacy decided by a vote of the council to institute a new tax system of $20 per player, upsetting many and dooming those who had become inactive. Those who stayed retained their current positions, some taking the opportunity to run for representative of their respective town.

With the opening of Novus, however, those who were nearly on the edge of leaving - which was a large majority of 30 players - flocked to the new world, settling in towns under the Phoenician banner. The Aro Confederacy continued to retain its hub status, however, it was far behind in the world in terms of population - with only 41 players left presently, half of which are active.

Novus' extreme popularity then extreme abandonment provided opportunities for players to slowly trickle into Terra, providing a sustainable amount of immigrants into the Aro Confederacy, even with the presence of toxic players such as Persisted, DiplomatSami, and KiritOK - who was located just north of the capital.

## **Geography**

One of the many dogs of Opobo - a savanna town of the Aro Confederacy

The Aro Confederacy is made up of two main biomes: savanna and rainforest (jungle). The capital, Arochukwu, is in the former category, located just north of the Nigerian jungle region, and the two smallest towns of the confederation are located in a rainforest biome.

Generally, Aro citizens have tamed wolves as companions with the occasional council member proclaiming their helicopter to be a pet.

## **Government and Politics**

The Aro Confederacy is composed of two main political parties across all of the townships: The Zulus and the Malis - both named after expansive empires that dominated the continent in the past.

### **Mali Party**

> *"One must strive for liberalism in a nation now-wrought with corruption and greed. It is our only choice, and it's not a choice I made lightly." Asperantu on the founding of the MSDP*
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The Mali Social Democratic Party is the ruling party of the Aro Confederacy, having 3 out of the 5 seats in the Council of the Five Tribes occupied by Mali-aligned representatives.

Founded on a Saturday night after a strike against the one-party state ruled by the so-called Zulus due to their militarist leanings. The Miners' Union, the founding body of the political party, gathered all members to announce the formation of the party and held its first election that same night to announce the leader. Asperantu, an avid supporter of the party's creation, was elected in an initial counting of 12 votes in a total of 27.

The following day, signs were posted on every announcement board in the five towns comprising the Aro Confederacy about the elections being held at the end of the week to select candidates for each of the towns to represent them in the Council of the Five Tribes, however, the formation did not come without opposition.

The ruling Zulus - the name given to the five leaders of the five towns that held Council representation - were initially indifferent to this formation, as their power came from the trade that flowed through the capital. When word was reached that the party was to challenge the authority of the five mayors, an immediate campaign was set about to purge the opposition. Due to the support for the Zulus and the threat they posed to exile any Mali Party member out of the confederation, many were initially supportive - by force or by will, and several people across all five towns were posted as assassins to kill the leaders of the Miners' Union and anyone else affiliated with the Mali Party.

However, with the mass-fleeing of citizens to the United States, Germany, and the various other European states, the ruling Zulus decided to partially cut back on their initial policy of murder. With personal threats of intervention by Tauses and kaaale themselves, the Council chose to finally halt their spree, and support for the Mali Social Democratic Party increated ten-fold - earning two out of the five seats in the Council just one week after its establishment on May 18th.

As of the time of writing, the Mali Party has obtained a 3-2 majority of seats in the Council of the Five Tribes. and a fierce rivalry is continuing between the Zulu Conservative Party and the Mali Social Democratic Party.