Corduroy

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**Corduroy**, officially the Republic of Corduroy, (Cor. Repûbuic des Cordon) is a unitary constitutional parliamentary republic located in Central Enshelm, situated South of Zardegy and Southeast of Ruheg, North of Lezodos and Fergoria, and West of Volghevsky. Corduroy is also bordered by the Rohen Sea to the West. Corduroy spans 784,398 square kilometers, with a population of 64.8 million Cordiens. Thus, Corduroy is the fourth largest nation in Enshelm in both population and area. The capital and largest city of Corduroy is Aldemont, and the official language is Cordien, although there are a number of recognized regional languages such as Lexir, spoken in the province of Elexum, and Farzien, spoken in the independent city of Faraiz in the Northeast and surrounding areas. The climate of Corduroy is continental, and as such is generally temperate, with long, warm summers, and brief, cool winters.

## History

The nation of Corduroy originates from the loosely defined region of Cortriium, originally a Northern region and later a client state of the Altriied Empire. Cortriium is derived from the Altriied word for common - corrum - the 'common realm'. Cortriium became a self-governing client state of Altriium around ~425 BE, when Clodes the Excellent became the first 'King of Cortriium.' Prior to that, Cortriium had 'High Prefects' appointed by the ruling Altriied Emperor, although the office was generally hereditary, making it an unofficial monarchy.

The people of Cortriium originally spoke a dialect of Alteric, the official language of the Altriied Empire. However, by 700 BE, had developed their own mutually intelligible language - Old Cordien, which was viewed as the 'language of the common people', although Altriied would remain the 'prestige' language of the upper and merchant classes as well as the literary language for centuries.

After the reign of King Julianos (Julien) I of House Emerex ended in 433 BE, the throne of Cortriium was left vacant, as he had no heirs. The Altriied monarchy instated a new, more cooperative monarchy that was thought to be less likely to vie for full independence from the Empire. House Dovaiim was formed under Cloedos (Clodes) the Excellent in 425 BE.

During this time, ruling monarchs of House Dovaiim, although loyal to the Altriied Empire ostensibly, began intermarrying with members of the Argen Kingdom, the main political rival of Altriium. This resulted in two Argens sitting on the throne of Cortriium, Ludvet the Elder from 385-83 BE and his son, Ludvet the Younger from 383-72BE.

After the death of Julianos (Julien) IV in 342 BE, both of his sons, Caal Esset (Calyst) the Steadfast, a supporter of the Altriied Empire, and Aecaibaro (Ceibart) III, a supporter of Cortriium sovereignty, contended for the throne, leading to the *Fratum aud Proxo* (*Fraterien aux-Proc*), or the 'War of Brothers', later referred to as the Cortriium Civil War. The war ended in 340 BE with Calyst the Steadfast on the throne. He died two years later and was succeeded by his nephew, Florideos (Floren) the Stupid.

During the reign of Floren, the the Cortriium was invaded by Argewald in 336 BE. After four years of conflict, the Empire of Altriium was pressured to cede Cortriium to the Kingdom of Argewald in exchange for peace, as they were already embroiled in conflict with the Kingdom of Morvenia to the East.

Thus, the Argen-Cortriium Empire was formed, ruled by the co-monarchy of Edwin II of Argewald and Mardem the Great, first cousin of Floren the Stupid, of Cortriium.

### Argen-Cortriium Empire

By 270 BE, the Argen-Cortriium Empire comprised most of modern day Argewald, Ruheg, the Western half of Zardegy, and the majority of Corduroy.

In the early second century BE, the Argen-Cortriium Empire began annexing the independent Lezek city states bordering Altriium to the Southwest. The Seventy Years' War ensued between Argen-Cortriium and Altriium over control of the the Lezek Peninsula, ending with the Otherien Accords of 90 BE, granting Argen-Cortriium control over most of modern day Lezodos.

After a brief peace between the Argen-Cortriium Empire and Altriium, a series of conflicts ensued which were ostensibly religiously motivated, but in reality had many other contributing factors, primarily influence over the city of Solster, a city regarded for both its religious and strategic significance. It is not known exactly what started the first of the conflicts between the two empires, although common thought has it that Aegelda, an Argen administrator of Solster, refused to allow a group of Altriied priests to enter a municipal building.

After four separate but related wars between Argen-Cortriium and Altriium from 78 BE to 1 BE, the Everten Concordat was signed in 1 BE in Everten, ending not only the conflict, but dissolving both empires into several smaller nation states. One such state was the Cortriium Kingdom, which was now separate from the Kingdom of Argewald.

### Cortriium Kingdom

The Cortriium Kingdom was formed after the dissolution of the co-monarchy of the Argen-Cortriium Empire in 1 BE. Although Cortriium was a newly sovereign kingdom, Marius III remained King and the regime remained largely unchanged. However, territories such as the Duchy of Velux (Veleguis) and the March of Faemegn (Femaign), which formerly belonged to Cortriium during the union with Argewald, were now independent.

In accordance with the Everten Concordat, Marius III declared the Sanctum of Cyren (old Cor. Sancetuum aux Csere) as the official religion of Cortriium, although other religions were sanctioned by the Kingdom.

Marius III's great-granddaughter, Catella I, however, would later became notorious for enforcing the Sanctum of Cyren as the only legitimate spirituality of the Cortriium Kingdom, going so far as to outright remove any symbolism of the other Divines and persecuting their followers, earning her the nickname 'the Malevolent'. This trend continued for four more generations and caused quite a lot of tension within the infant Kingdom, until in 165 AE, a civil war between those loyal to the King at the time - Lucen II, known as the 'Supremacists' for their belief in Cyric supremacy, and those who wanted Cortriium to be more spiritually inclusive, known as the 'Trainquilists' led by Vernon III. Of course, there were many other contributing factors to the conflict - for example, the Supremacists wanted to continue to use Altriied as the sole language of literature and government, but the Tranquilists wanted to standardize Old Cordien and introduce it as the primary language.

The conflict lasted from 165 AE until 188 AE, after both sides had claimed the throne multiple times. In 189 AE, the monarchy was abolished and replaced by an administrative council of noblemen and women known as the Council of Seven (Old Cor. Septemn Par-Councel literally 'Seven Member Council"), which governed for the next 80 years.

During this time, several wars between the Cortriium Kingdom and the rapidly expanding Kingdom of Merizea took place, in which Cordien borders gradually dwindled - and in 368 AE, the capital of Cortriium - Julex - was captured by Merizean armies. Merizea had already captured and transformed Valuix into a vassal state some 50 years earlier, leaving Faemegn as the only remaining independent Cordien nation.

### Age of Faemegn (Femaign)

Following the vassalization of the Cortriium Kingdom by Merizea, the Kingdom of Faemegn, formerly the Duchy of Faemegn, having successfully fended off Merizean attempts of conquest, began expanding and flourishing. The language of Old Cordien continued to develop, and, in 324 AE, the Second and Third Books of the Vreloth were translated into Cordien for the first time. From the late 3rd century until the early 7th century is referred to in Cordien history as the 'Age of Faemegn'.

During this Faemegn expanded their borders, conquering parts of modern day Western Volghevsky and Southern Zardogey, even gaining territory from Merizea which formerly belonged to the Cortriium Kingdom.

In 445, the Kingdom of Faemegn formed a union with the Kaeldors, a Zardic kingdom which lasted only until 459-466, but nevertheless greatly increased contact between Faemegn and the various Zardic petty kingdoms and duchies of the time.

In 566, under the leadership of Theo the Strong-Willed, the region of Valuix declared its independence from the Kingdom of Merizea.

## Politics and Government

Corduroy is a unitary parliamentary republic, with most of the power being concentrated in the bicameral Parliament (*Cor.* Parlement), divided into the upper house, the Senate (*Cor.* Sènat) and the lower house, the People's Assembly (Assembel des Personnes). The head-of-government is the Premier, where most of the executive power rests. The head-of-state is the popularly elected President, who assumes largely ceremonial roles with certain foreign affair and administrative privileges.

The Senate consists of 200 Senators, 100 of which are elected by municipal and regional governments, 50 of which being appointed by the People's Assembly, and 50 of which are selected from the various departments of the government via a predetermined selection system. The People's Assembly consists of 565 members, all popularly elected via a single-transferrable vote. The party or coalition with the largest number of seats in the People's Assembly forms a government, which then elects a Premier. The People's Consul is a special office that is elected by the opposition party or coalition.

Currently, the Parliament is controlled by the Republican Circle coalition (*Cor.*Cirqe Repubuicex), consisting of the Cyric Democrats (Democratons d'Cyrique), along with the right-wing Cordien Social Union (Union-Sociele Cordè) and the centre-right Liberty Together! (*Cor.* Libertie, Conjoint!), comprising 288 of the 565 seats in the People's Assembly, one of the narrowest majorities in the government's history.

The Federated Left (*Cor.* Fedrée Holle) makes up the opposition in the Parliament, consisting of the social democratic Popular Movement (*Cor.* Activé des Populon), the liberal Commoners' Party (*Cor.* Parti Plebiar) and the Eastern League (*Cor.* Lige desl Estt). The Communist Group (*Cor.* Communise Groupe) is independent, although has previously formed coalitions with other left wing parties.