Province of Palus

Banner of Palus (city and province).

The **Province of Palus** is a province of the Thornian Empire, a former province of Great Thornia, and a former member state of the now-defunct League of Palus. Its territory covers the Palus swamps, wedged between Septia to its west and the Province of Elysia to its east. The province effectively functions as a "federal" territory, with no one sub-imperial government or institution holding sway over it. Its capital, Palus, is the de jure capital of the Thornian Empire.

It is the cradle of modern Thornian civilisation and its capital spearheaded an urbanisation movement that allowed post-Umic culture to spread across the eastern half of the world and evolve beyond its Umic roots.

The province was once the wealthiest territories in the world, but numerous events in Thornian and world history slowly chipped away at its wealth. The founding of new power centres in Elysia, Volovna, Petrodis, and Cataracta meant that the city lost most of its political prestige. The numerous regimes that shifted the capital back-and-forth between Palus and a new city also gradually moved more and more of the capital's treasury out of the province. The increased fiscal decentralisation of the Thornian colonial empire also meant that the banks of Palus had less of a say on how local governments could invest their funds. The Bank of Palus effectively lost a large sum of iron ingots in the East Tyavyli debt crisis. The Siege of Palus also saw Trabovonian rebels sack the city and loot the Former Presidential Palace.

## History

The territory had been a province of Great Thornia in the past, especially during Thornia's membership in the League of Palus. When Great Thornia left the League in early April 2020, Palus became a nominally independent republic.

It returned to being a province of Great Thornia at the end of April 2020, whilst retaining its membership in the League. In August 2020, the province was completely annexed by the neighbouring Province of Elysia whilst its capital regained the status of capital of the League of Palus.

The chaos of the ensuing back-to-back conflicts of the Pillager Wars, the Thornian Civil War, and the War of the Three Regions made it unclear what the territory of Palus was to the rapid succession of governments and regimes that took over the Thornian world. The National Assembly, a rump institution of Great Thornia, effectively continued to rule the island and the urbanised parts of the swamp from 2021 until the Siege of Palus in early 2023.

In the aftermath of the 13 March Proclamation (the restoration and elevation of the Thornian monarchy), the province was formally re-established and granted self-rule. The former National Assembly was formally renamed to the Council of Palus. The province is the only province where all executive power is vested in a legislative body, where all Thornian citizens could exercise their democratic rights, and the only province (so far) where public housing is open to all citizens (though it requires a vote in the Council of Palus to gain residency). The City of Palus retained its de jure status as the empire's capital, though true military and economic power is concentrated in the capital cities of the Lands of the Crown of Thornia, or in Cataracta, the capital of the Lands of the Regency of Umia.