Sarlatova

Basic Information
Sarlatova is a region located in the northeastern region of sparwood. the region is home to two settlements, that being the City of Sarlatovy, and the Fort town of Pevnost. The region was founded on November 27th, 2021 by RiskyFisk. the Region borders Fjellheim on the East, South, and West, and borders Kartek in the North. The name "Sarlatova" comes from the Czech/Slovak word for Scarlet (Sarlatovy).

Founding
Sarlatova was officially founded in its current form by RiskyFisk, Cricketses and SmashyCrash on November 27th, 2021, before then being an unrecognized nation claimed by that of Frostmyre (who had allowed the three leaders to settle the area but not declare independence), and afterwards Sisilik. While Frostmyre allowed the formation of the city of Sarlatova after the three paid for the land utilizing their enchanted book trade, the Republic of Sisilik did not recognize the claims of Sarlatova, yet was disinterested with pressing the claim.

Empire of the Scarlet Islands
The Empire of the Scarlet Islands was founded by RiskyFisk on November 13th, 2021 originally in Aurlunor Velande, not realizing that the area had already been claimed. after discovering the illegal settlement, Velande threatened a military intervention in the region, forcing the three settlers to directly integrate into the empire. after a week, the three settlers were forced to evacuate the area, as the leaders of Velande just didn't want anyone settling in that region.

Settlement
RiskyFisk, SmashyCrash, and Cricketses, after being kicked from their settlement, temporally moved to the site of a business that RiskyFisk owned near the center of the world, the Melon Market. As all three still wanted to set up their own settlement, they decided to attempt to make a deal with multiple nations for said lands. while they tried to contact multiple larger nations, they made a living off of selling enchanted books at spawn along with selling melons at their shop. after being denied multiple times by larger nations, they were accepted by the leadership of Frostmyre for a small plot of land on their northern frontier.

Chaos Era
after paying off the settlement and claims, Cricketses, RiskyFisk, and SmashyCrash moved to the settlement to start building the area. when arriving the leader of Frostmyre and a few other bandits attacked their camp, calling off the deal and telling them to leave the lands. This prompted SmashyCrash to start building up a defensive wall on the largest hill in the state, while the other two attempted to negotiate. while negotiation was occurring the bandits then stated that the entire attack was a prank meant to make the settlers accustomed to the region. while spooked, the three settlers accepted it as a prank. afterwards, RiskyFisk returned to their old settlement to collect wood for the new city, he was stopped by a patrolling member of Aurlunor Venlande, who stated the area was protected forest. RiskyFisk managed to run away and escape with the wood, before returning to the city.

the State went through many name changes in it's early development, as it was originally called "The Empire of the Scarlet Sky", but was changed due to it's status as a city state and not an empire. when RiskyFisk handed temporary ownership over to SmashyCrash, who renamed the state "Sarlat'nebe". Risky suggested that the name be changed to "the Scarlet Sky Federation", however SmashCrash disagreed on the name due to it not representing the nation. after much negotiation, they both decided on the less detailed but more recognizable "Sarlatova".

Reformist Era
As more people, other than the original three, started to join the small city state through advertisements, conflict started to emerge. the many newer player did not like the idea of an oligarchic state telling them what to do, especially ThatOneeGuy1, who actively went against and debated with RiskyFisk about his policy. In late December of 2021 Risky and his cabinet decided, without any thought of debating with the population about the issue, to declare war on a much larger nation to the north of them in the hopes of gaining better relations with Kartek. The Šarlatován Independence Party protested this decision heavily, which lead to a back and fourth between Risky and ThatOneeGuy1. However, instead of a negative outcome occurring from the incident, Risky instead gave into public demand and announced the formation of a new Republic. starting elections took place the next day, with newcomer McBabwe taking first place and reforming the government into a more efficient and stable system.

McBabwe, however, soon became disinterested in the state, and started to pursue his own claims in Eldham, even suggestion to the Sarlatovan Parliament to join in his conquest of a few islands in West Eldham, or even make a union with them as a subsidiary. Small reforms were made during this time period, with the Republican system being officially confirmed in a state Constitution, along with the passing of laws denouncing the formation of "protected lands" due to the lack of development space. Large development did occur during McBabwe's rule, however, including the development of a massive new shopping area and apartment complex, a large library, and the expansion of a pre-Sarlatovan wheat farm.

With the coming of the next elections, McBabwe, who at the time was gauged to loose the election to a coalition of reformists under Panzer_36, ThatOneeGuy, and Snekko Hekko, announced the election would take a week, starting on a Monday. The coalition was outraged, and started scheming to launch a coup against McBabwe, even going as far as to kick him out of the town. Due to mounting pressure, McBabwe folded and gave in, decreasing the election length from 7 days, to 24 hours. a new canadate, admovic from Lunaris, was elected during the elections, and started breakneck reforms and renovations to Sarlatova. he allowed for the creation of a new factory complex for industry, along with a even newer library, due to the last one being too small. he made closer ties with Lunaris and Kartek, and negotiated with neighbors for trade deals for materials and blocks for projects. however, his alignment to Lunaris over Sarlatova eventually lead to him restarting negotiations with Fjellheim for re-integration, after the state started pressing it's claims in the region.

In negotiations, admovic sold out Sarlatova in return for building materials and manpower, which outraged the Coalition, and lead to an internal power struggle against the leading government. In the end, admovic stepped down from office, leading to McBabwe taking over as Prime Minister and signing the deal with Fjellheim. tired of the Coalition and with nothing to loose, McBabwe exiled it's leader, ThatOneeGuy1, and made him a traitor to the state. the Coalition, in tern, launched a planned coup against his government, overthrowing him, taking all his gear, and throwing him from the nation. ThatOneeGuy was made acting Prime Minister, with Snekko Hekko as his second in command, and was forced by threat of war to accept the deal with Fjellheim, which gave Sarlatova rights to materials, more manpower, and help in future projects. interestingly, no official deal was ever signed, and the main Fjell negotiator, Mr. Fister, never remembered ever making a deal in the first place.

Kartek Era/Inactive Era
the fall to Fjellheim was a blow to activity, with the 20-ish active players dropping to 5 at most. both ThatOneeGuy and Snekko Hekko remained active thought most of the period, with Panzer_36 being semi-active. During the few months after the annexation, reforms crawled to a stop, but development continued at breakneck pace for the town of Sarlatovy, which saw the building of a new cathedral along with the expansion of other smaller parts of the downtown. Sarlatova was very disconnected with Fjellheim, and never really integrated to them, mostly due to their annexation into Kartek and the difference between the native Fjellheim culture and the Sarlatovy Culture. along with this, Sarlatova remained mostly neutral during the Kartek civil war, and never saw any combat on their own lands, due to a mix of contact and appeasement with Fjellheim and Kartek leaders.

However, an accident occurred when the Archbishop of the local religion, Phoenixism, was confused by orders to update claims for the city, and declared "independence". After an argument with the Prime minister of Fjellheim at the time, Boar, the idea of Fjell retaliation took hold. Fearing exilement or even execution, Snekko ran from the nation in secret, shocking ThatOneeGuy, and crippling the activity of Sarlatova drastically. While Sarlatova survived the war, it became inactive for almost 2 months, leading to the Fjellheim government to even take away it's special statuses in a bid to integrate it.

The Revanchist Era
after months of inactivity, Snekko returned to Sarlatova, feeling it safe enough as not to get punishment. After minor celebration, the former founder, RiskyFisk, who had left months ago to his private island in Lunaris, returned aswell. This, along with greater activity from Panzer_36, saw a great revanchism within the people of Sarlatova, who started a campaign for Sarlatovan Autonomy and Independence. the Sarlatovan government decentralized, and was only really implemented in name only, with all citizens having equal say in decision making from that point on. a massive new construction project was taken on, with an underground sport center being built, along with new underground housing, shops, and infrastructure to make way for new populations. With ThatOneeGuy1 in Fjell parliament, representation for Sarlatova increased drastically, however, multiple parties started to support formal cultural integration of Sarlatova, and even went as far as to go after Sarlatovan Autonomy. to counter this anti-Sarlatovan mindset, Sarlatova became a partner and sponsor of the Fjellheim Nationalist Party; a conservitive reformist party who supported Sarlatovan Autonomy. The Keeper of the State, Mr. Fister, during an argument with ThatOneeGuy1 for not keeping his promises to Sarlatova, denounced ever signing a deal with Sarlatova, and actively admitted he had no wish to fulfil anything he had promised. in retaliation, the Sarlatovan government denounced the treaty aswell, stating that if the deal never went through, then Sarlatova never joined Fjellheim in the first place. while this claim is substantial, the Sarlatovan people decided to use the argument to re-negotiate their union deal with Fjellheim, with goals of using their higher status and growing population as leverage to push for more autonomy.

The Era of Revolution
After the election of July 1st, 2022, saw the successful acceptance of the Nationalist Party into power in Fjellheim, a falling out occurred between the Leader of Sarlatova at the time, ThatOneeGuy1, and the Nationalist leadership. After the election, 2nd in command of the Nationalist Party, Dex, started calling for the forced removal of Fjellheim democracy and the other parties in parliament, something that the Sarlatovan members of the party degreed with heavily. Along with that, the constant sidelining of Sarlatovan representation led to the eventual pull of Sarlatovan support for the party entirely. In response, the Nationalist Fjellheim government denounced Sarlatova as a Squatter nation, threatening to burn down their homeland unless they signed a new treaty. Unable to stand up to Fjellheim, Sarlatova was forced to sign a humiliating treaty stripping Sarlatova of all of it's rights and relegating it to a ghetto state.

Even with this, the government of Sarlatova resisted, opting to ignore the treaty and hole a barbeque event that secretly housed the current leader of Sarlatova dressed as her Uncle, when she should have been in a one week-long exile as the treaty stated. during the Barbeque, the Nationalists forcefully adopted a new Constitution that guaranteed them permanent powers in Fjellheim, which caused massive uproar from the citizens of Fjellheim. the people Sarlatova at the time joined the leaders of the counter party to the Nationalists, the Unitists, in drafting and ultimatum to the Nationalists. while denied, the subsequent threat of civil war and Ecclesian threats tp the Nationalists lead to the suicide of the Nationalist leadership, putting the Unitists into power. after much negotiations, the Unitist government of Fjellheim and the Sarlatovan government came to an agreement securing the later total independence. after 5 months of union with Fjellheim, Sarlatova was once again free.

The 2nd Oligarchic Era
after the release of Sarlatova, the government leaders secured themselves as permanent fixtures of the government. The states started massive internal urbanization and expansion, using the lands given to them from Fjellheim during independence negotiations to build up norther defenses with the creation of the fort town of Pevnost. Along with that, the signing of the first official written constitution in Sarlatovan history centralized the government and secured the people rights bound by the constitution. new relations with former Viodoxia provinces, such as Istanboulder and Eisenland supported further Sarlatovan independence from the sphere of Fjellheim.

1st Oligarchic Era
while designed by its Cheif Magistrates RiskyFisk to be "as free as possible", the state still lingered under its original members as a non-representative Oligarchy. All citizens under the state had to gain permission for building permits within the state, along with permission to destroy structures. the Oligarchy allowed free travel for all citizens, with any person allowed to leave or transit through the nation whenever they pleased. while this law was said to be in place to keep the state "free", it is more possible that the law is in place so that bandits (who used the undeveloped region to transit between Frosmyre and northern Rathnir) were able to move through the area without prosecution, in a hope to keep the area more or less raid-free. While their were no elections within the state, the "Šarlatová Independence Party" ran as the only active political organization in the nation. the Party, run by ThatOneeGuy1, is a Conservative Democratic Republican party that supports more open interactions between the civilians and the government, along with a balance of internal politics and external dealings. While the SIP are primarily in support of the government leadership, it was more openly against the structure of the government, and called out the non-democratic nature of the state on multiple occasions.

Republican Era
with RiskyFisk stepping down from full powers, a new Republic was formed from the Oligarchy's ashes. lead by McBabwe with ThatOneeGuy1 as Minister of State, the new government is much more effective overall in dealing with internal and external situations. with this, However, RiskyFisk stills holds a major amount of sway in government affairs even with him not in a government position, even going as far as to make multiple treaty's on behalf of the state to gain more personal lands for himself.

The state has a neutral foreign policy, with limited relations between its neighbors of Mudrok and Sisilik. the only nation with good and active relations is Frosmyre (under Huitican Union), due to their former dealings with the buying and funding of the state. Sarlatova has actively antagonistic relations with Aurlunor Venlande after their leadership's past dealings with them. Political leader of the SIP, ThatOneGuy1, is active and attempting to secure better relations with Mudrok and Kartek, while also calling for a web of alliances against the "growing threat" of Sisilik. as it stands, however, the diplomatic status of Sarlatova stays as it did when the state first formed.

Decentralized Era
With the return of many of the prominent figures of Sarlatovan history, and the arrival of many new faces, the government was unofficially dissolved, with a sort of Oligarchic Anarchy being formed. While ThatOneeGuy1 and Snekko Hekko retained now permanent positions due to a lack of want or need to have elections, all citizens gained equal right to decide new laws and development. Fort Sarlatova situation, the system works well enough.

2nd Oligarchic Era
The system of the former era's under Fjellheim where subsequently reformed and federalized with the acceptance of the Sarlatova Papers, a constitution that secured a Democratic Oligarchy for Fjellheim. While multiple figures gained large amounts of permanent power, the citizenry was given the sole power to vote for the acceptance of bills, checking the power of the newly formed "Officers of the Commons"

Relations (in depth)
Fjellheim: As the most connected state to Sarlatova, Fjellheim has multiple agreements with Sarlatova. Due to being the former holder of Sarlatova, Fjellheim still holds fairly decent relations with Sarlatova, along with a Nonaggression pact, a Duel-Citizenry agreement, and a Defense Pact. While relations are mostly good, multiple citizens in Sarlatova have goals of moving away from Fjellheim and becoming more independent or even closer with Kartek and their allies.

Ecclesia: While not having any permanent agreements with Ecclesia, Sarlatova's friendship with the citizen Skellz has lead to good relations between the two countries, including a de facto defense agreement with the Ecclesian leadership. many citizens look up to Ecclesia for their power and military ability, so public opinion is high for their relations.

Lunaris: While being a former Friend of the Lunaris government and holding good relations at the present, the pro-Fjellheim side of the Sarlatovan government still denounces the idea of full alliance with the state of Lunaris, while other parts demand as such. the issue of Lunaris-Sarlatovan relations splits down the middle of Sarlatovan opinion, leading to only mild agreement of non-aggression between the two nations.

Istanboulder: In an attempt to bolster relations with overseas nations, especially in former Viodoxan territories, a pact of Nonaggression was secured between them and Sarlatova. Friendly relations are seen between the two nations, and some parts of the Sarlatovan government even wish to expand relations with them further.

Regionate of Plagatéa: Technical cultural ties between Sarlatova and Plagatéa with a possible (unknown) historical connection has led to suggestions of better relations between the two governments, such as economic agreements or even a defense agreement.

Archduchy of Azuria: With more materials for Urbanization needed, negotiations have been ongoing to complete a trade agreement between the two states. For now, Azuria is considered to be Sarlatova's "Best Friend", keeping relations fairly good.

Culture
The culture of Sarlatova is based off of Czech and Slovak language with it's own independent mindset. most if not all members of the Sarlatovan culture are highly patriotic about their independent culture and the fact that they are "not Fjelli". In architecture, a mix between classic Gothic castles and cathedrals blend with a very pro-urbanization design of their cities. due to the size of their homelands, Sarlatovan architects usually attempt to squeeze the most amount of use out of a space as possible, while not wasting resources. Overall, Sarlatovans are a proud people for almost all aspects of their lives, who put the glory of their nation before their personal desires. This causes great unity in the Sarlatovan culture, which keeps their people and nation in a constant state of peace.

Most "pure Sarlatovans" of majority or complete ancestors, or who have fully converted to the culture of Sarlatova, are more likely to be an original member than many "half Sarlatovans", who make up the majority of the more recent population, but still share many of the culture's ideas.

Geography
The geography of the region is most prominently defined by a large birch/oak forest, with sparse plains and tundra along the borders. the nation is situated around and completely surrounds "Lake Scarlet" in its center, which splits the east and west sides of the state. the nation's capital, named "Sarlatovy", happens to be situated along the hilly part of the nation. This area also holds that Nation's tallest point, known locally as "Fort Hill".

Religion
while not having and official state religion, the head leadership of the nation follow under the Religion of Phoenixism.