Commonwealth of Socialist Realms

Banner of the Commonwealth and the Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party.

All territories of the Commonwealth in light purple.

### Government

Confederation under one-party domination *(de jure)*Federal constitutional socialist monarchy *(de facto)*

### Founding

* 5 April 2020 (founding of the Commonwealth)
* 11 April 2020 (dissolution of the First Commonwealth)
* 13 April 2020 (founding of the Second Commonwealth)

The **Commonwealth of Socialist Realms (CSR)** was a union of socialist states under the rule of the Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party and its affiliates. Its member states included Great Thornia and the Palus Socialist Republic.

Its governments ran in ideological opposition to that of the League of Palus. It was initially founded as a socialist successor to the League, but was dissolved before being revived as a new, separate union of socialist states.

It was dissolved after Great Thornia annexed Palus (again), thus making the Commonwealth a defunct organisation.

## History

### Background

#### The League's transition away from autocracy

The League of Palus had been facing a slow decline starting from the end of 2019. Despite having new, well-defined institutions it faltered as the new regime passed hands from Clarence to Wey Yao. Though he has been universally seen as a measured and competent leader, the League's system of government was previously dominated by Clarence who reformed it from the former Holy States into the League. Unlike Clarence, Wey Yao sought to allow for a separation of powers between the institutions. The position of Hegemon was largely ceremonial on its own, and not having direct control of other institutions saw the League (as a whole) stagnate.

#### A weak federation and the Pillager War

Weihan's Dark Realm of Han seceded from the League while Clarence went on the establish the Crown of Great Thornia (with portions of his lands seceding to become what is now Aphthonis). Most military resources almost immediately went away to the Dark Realm whilst Great Thornia's resources went mostly to its re-emerging empire. The East Tyavyli debt crisis saw Tyavyli continue to largely ignore its debts to the League. Even though the Crown of Great Thornia intervened to remind them of their obligations, the League government's efforts to negotiate faltered.

In March 2020, Great Thornia made an agreement with Xandu to help develop its cities, which led to Thornian architects, botanists, and a limited portion of the Royal Iron Guard to temporarily settle in Shanjing to help develop it. The city was coincidentally attacked by pillager armies during the Thornian residency, thus bringing Xandu into the Pillager War. The Royal Iron Guard was victorious in the Battle of Shanjing, and renamed itself to the Federal Guard, claiming it was now a League institution (though it remained under the control of Great Thornia).

### Short-lived revolutionary Commonwealth

By April 2020, the Crown of Great Thornia ultimately realised that the League was no longer actively working to defend its territories against pillagers, nor was it doing anything about the debt crisis. The Crown thus decided to end the monarchy in Great Thornia proper and support its government in succeeding that of the League. The new government declared the formation of the Commonwealth of the Shires (regarded as a provisional name), later shortened to just the Commonwealth.

#### Governmental and territorial changes

The League's federal system was thrown out in favour of a unitary republic that gave even more power to the former Citizen's Assembly (renamed to the Congress). Mining and agricultural rights have been granted to all citizens across all territories of the Commonwealth.

Old state borders were ripped up in favour of dividing the country in half into two shires: the Shanjing Shire and the Palus Bay Shire. The new government decided to continue Wey Yao's policy of ceding territory deemed too difficult to defend by creating an entirely new puppet state, the Meridian Empire, out of the southern third of the League's territory. Other territories were ceded to the Dark Realm and Aphthonis.

* Internal border changes:
	+ Southern Xandu, southern Septia, southern Cataracta, and northern Umia have been merged into the Shanjing Shire.
	+ Palus Urbem, northern Cataracta, Goruid south of the Neck, and northern Septia have been merged into the Palus Bay Shire.
* Extraterritorial changes:
	+ Northern Xandu (the northern mountain ranges) is recognised as part of the Dark Realm of Han.
	+ Great Thornia's Meridia region, the Coral Islands, and southern Umia have been reorganised into the puppet state of the Meridian Empire.
	+ Galinisia and the area north of the Neck of Goruid (around the Rai River) has been ceded to the Kingdom of Aphthonis.

### Rule of the Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party (10 April 2020 - Present)

On 10 April 2020, the Crown of Great Thornia was dissolved in Aphthonis and a socialist republic was declared. The Crown's institutions quickly moved on to establish the Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party, and also replaced the military junta in the Commonwealth with that of a party-run bureaucracy.

The Commonwealth was dissolved on 11 April 2020 after it was decided that the socialist revolution would be isolated to Great Thornia and to have it secede from the League. The founding of the Palus Socialist Republic in 12 April 2020 within the League saw the need to have affiliated socialist states coordinated by a common overarching state. Hence, on 13 April the second Commonwealth was established as the 'Commonwealth of Socialist Republics'.

The foreign economic projects of Great Thornia have largely been taken up by the Commonwealth. Development aid in Xandu remains an important priority, and helping with the development of Tyavyli (only recently ceasing to be considered an enemy state).

On 24 April, the entire Commonwealth became an international free-entry zone. It also formally announced that one could apply for residency permits and even citizenship (with no restrictions on dual-citizenship).

On 29 April, Great Thornia's monarchy resumed its rule over the state, albeit in tandem with the NRSP (of which it controls heavily). This saw the Commonwealth replace the word 'republics' in its name with 'realms'.

## Government

The government of the Commonwealth is made up of the leaders of its states, though at the moment the leader of the NRSP is the leader of all constituent states. The Commonwealth government's main purpose is to coordinate funding between the states, much like the Crown of Great Thornia did during the personal union era. Foreign affairs are dominated by Great Thornia (as it is the only state with a military).