Empire of Cornwall

The Empire of Cornwall is a sovereign nation that exists in the Trouble in Britain timeline. Located in the area of Great Britain known as the West Country, it comprises of the former counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the City of Bristol. The country borders the Republic of Hampshire to the east, and shares a border with the Federation of the Severn to its northeastern edge. By sea, it borders the English Channel throughout its Southern Coastline, the Atlantic Ocean to the country's western coast; Bideford Bay to the northwest and the Bristol Channel along the province of Exmoor.

Cornwall was founded on July 20th, 2026 with an event known as "The Railway Valkyrie", when nationalist Britons teamed up with Cornish nationalists, and took over the three main stations in South West England, before quickly moving in to take over the remaining lines. Cornwall aims for a militaristic state, and President George Eustice believes that as Cornwall is surrounded by foreign threats, he has to rule the country with an iron fist, which he does. They are bitter rivals with the USSE, who are led by Jeremy Hunt.

## History

Before the Empire of Cornwall even existed, Cornwall already had a distinct identity as part of the wider Gaelic culture, in contrast to the English culture, which decended from the wider Germanic culture found in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. The county was also iconic for its easy to remember geographic location, being the tip of the West Country Peninsula, and as a result, the county is frequently misquoted to include all of the Southwest, including Devon and less commonly, Dorset and Somerset.

With the inflation and economic crisis gripping the United Kingdom in the mid-2020's, the effects inevitably reached the West Country, who saw their own local economies suffer due to the rising train prices, leading to less people coming to the West Country beaches for holidays. Many people living in the West Country, particularly Cornish citizens believed that a strong man is needed to lead the country, and if not, they do it themselves. It would all come down to the latter when on July 20th, 2026, nationalist rebels disguised as passengers arrived from Paddington and Birmingham New Streeet on hijacked trains, then got their knives out, before storming Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St. Davids around midnoon on that summer day.

After capturing ammunition and rifiles from defecting soldiers and by brute force, the rebels quickly moved across the rail network using hijacked trains and defecting drivers alike. The major transport chokepoint at Newton Abbot fell at around 4pm, with the main town on the North Coast, Barnstaple quickly following suit at 4:15pm. Almost all of Somerset fell by 6pm with the fall of Frome, and across the other side, Cornwall quickly fell to the rebel forces, as Penzance at the tip of Cornwall also fell by 8pm. It is around this time when George Eustice, MP for Cambourne and Redruth and a member of Boris Johnson's cabinet was spotted by the nationalists in Redruth, and he was quickly taken into custody. After securing most of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Bristol, the nationalists declared the formation of the Empire of Cornwall at 10pm, to the screams and cheers of the rebels in Plymouth.

The next day, the rebels questioned Eustice about his loyalty to this new country, though Eustice later declared that he is a Cornish nationalist through and through at around 1pm from a broadcast, and revoked his spot in the Boris Cabinet. What happened next is unknown, and nobody is sure if Eustice was forced to be the new leader or not, but what we do know is that at some point during the talk, the rebel leader offered Eustice the chance to be the Supreme Leader of Cornwall, which he clearly accepted, as he was announced as the new leader of the nation on July 22nd, with Jacob Rees-Mogg as his second-in-command on the same day. Later on in the evening, Eustice announced the creation of the British Blackshirts, who, as Eustice claimed, will "began the spread of the National Reclaimation of Great Britain". In reality, the British Blackshirts, or BB, acts as a secret police and paramilitary group under the control of Rees-Mogg, who became the Secretary of the British Blackshirts. In essence, the BB are basically the British SS.

In the first days after the creation of the Empire, there were protests and on occasion riots, which were crushed by the BB. The BB later reorganized themselves into 12 regional groups, and began a massive purge to send anti-government dissedents to the new Safety Camps. In August, Cornwall began building a wall across the northern border of the City of Bristol, in order to prevent people from escaping to the newly independent states of Severn or Hampshire. GWR was nationalised, as mainline services resumed from Bristol to Penzance by October, all the while the North Devon Main Line started to being constructed from Tiverton Parkway, in an attempt to bring the isolated region closer to the country.

Now, as 2027 dawns, Cornwall faces enemies from all sides due to their facsist stances. The BB under Rees-Mogg is now getting more and more powerful, and can easily topple Eustice's moderate government. The future of Cornwall, and Britain lies uncertain as the BB and the Government battles out for influence.