Galitz

Galitz is a city located within the Simulami Empire in central Nieden. The city was originally refurbished and repopulated by Valendaesu, the city’s leader and former member of the Gertonian Imperial Council. It was originally founded by Raftzi in March 2021.

Early History
Although much of Galitz’s early history has been lost, it is known that the city was the former capital of Escania, a kingdom whose former territories now reside as a duchy under the Simulami Empire.

On December 20, 2021, Valendaesu became leader of Galitz after FaBiolUs08, the leader of nearby Nikephoros, inherited the city after HaveNoFearr stepped down as leader. Around two months after inheriting the city, he gave it to Valendaesu. Over the next few days, Valendaesu worked to repopulate the city, bringing the population to 12 people. The citizens helped in the effort of rebuilding the city, thus bringing back its lost beauty. However, the events of May and early June 2022 caused almost all of the town's population, including Valendaesu, to depart. Due to the absence of the nation's leader, Kaiser Jeremy, many of Galitz's residents as well as the wider Gertonian citizenry became dissatisfied with Jeremy's lack of communication and the growing influence of the Simulami Empire. After it became apparent that Kaiser Jeremy was not returning any time soon (along with a sudden and brief announcement by Jeremy that the people of Gertonia should comply with the leader of Simulami, ZenoHUN) and the inevitability of a Simulami takeover, almost the entirety of Galitz's (and Gertonia's) population undertook a mass exodus from the nation, mostly seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, mainly the Soleannan Imperium and the newly reconstructed town of Solitude. The result of the exodus meant that there were only three official Gertonian citizens left. (This statistic is confirmed in the census results.)

Treaty of Galitz
Ultimately, the Simulami takeover of Gertonia would occur. After the new administration had taken over the running of Gertonia, the Treaty of Galitz would be signed by Simulami officials. Under the agreement, two minor vassal states were formed: the Confederacy of Fredonia and The Fallen Empire of Gertonia. Fredonia was a small semi-independent vassal state consisting solely of the town of Fredonia, which had previously longed for more autonomy within Gertonia. The Fallen Empire of Gertonia, however, was little more than a rump state making up the northern portion of former Gertonia.

Galitz, however, as with most of the other former Gertonian towns, would directly join Simulami. Galitz was central to the signing of the treaty and integration of the other towns as it was previously a hotbed for rebellious ideas against Simulami after Gertonia's initial vassalisation. Galitz remained deserted after the exodus of the Gertonians until negotiations were made by Valendaesu to regain control over it. Somewhat controversially, Valendaesu still remained deputy leader of the town of Solitude in the Imperium (a place that was central to the Escanian and later 'pretender' Raykaran revolutionaries whilst it was flooded by Gertonians) even after he regained control of Galitz. Due to his affiliation with both sides of a highly contentious issue and his relationship with Galitz's founder, Raftzi, (who led the two revolutionary movements) repopulation of Galitz would be virtually non-existent.

Galitz-Thanutabad Escharian Crisis
Almost a week had passed since the first revival of the city, and all seemed to be going well. On December 26th 2021, Valendaesu was alerted by a citizen that there was a small town being built right outside of their gates. The town being built was Thanutabad, which was considered a squatter town at this point in time. The Escharian Empire, the nation Galitz was owned by at the time, ordered the people of Thanutabad to integrate into the Empire, or they would go to war. FaBiolUs08 made many attempts to peacefully integrate it into Escharia, even signing a treaty making it official, but Thanutabad citizens did not cooperate as expected. Over the next couple of days, Thanutabad's citizens would retaliate by destroying part of Galitz’s wall and killing one of the citizens. After a few days of constant grief, FaBiolUs08 had no choice but to respond by announcing that war would begin soon. Valendaesu had numerous talks with Thanutabad’s leader, TheManAndPlan47, to try and ease the conflict and to find an outcome that would please both sides. After many of these talks, the conflict would end and Thanutabad would be peacefully integrated into Escharia. To this day, Valendaesu and TheMan remain on very good terms. This event would come to be known as the Galitz-Thanutabad Escharian Crisis.

Tymarat and Independence
After the Galitz-Thanutabad Escharian Crisis, the Empire of Escharia found itself at war with the Holy Gertonian Empire and many of its allies. Escharia wanted to annex the land that split their continent in two, Tymarat. Seeing that Tymarat was an ally of Gertonia, the Empire came to their aid, and the Escharians surrendered. The result of the Escharians' defeat was the Treaty of Jharana, which stated that Escharia could annex southern Tymarat in return for northern land that wasn’t being used. Unbeknownst to the Escharian Emperor, Valerian, and Kaiser Jeremy, both Galitz and Thanutabad were in the areas of land sold. The people of these towns were outraged by this, and there was an immediate outcry for independence. Valendaesu consulted the Galitzian city council, which held a vote for independence. The vote was in favour of independence, 4 - 2. Later that same day, Valendaesu announced Galitz’s independence, and later did TheMan for Thanutabad. While both towns were preparing for the possibility of war, Kaiser Jeremy contacted Valendaesu. After hours of talking, they both cleared up the miscommunication and misinformation. They agreed on an outcome that the people of Galitz and Thanutabad were happy with, and on January 11th, both cities were fully integrated into the Holy Gertonian Empire.

Anonymous Paper incident
In the early hours of February 12th 2022, the people of Galitz found papers at the foot of their front doors. It seemed to be a local newspaper, but nobody knew who wrote it. They talked amongst themselves, trying to figure it out, when Valendaesu noticed the commotion. When Val was informed of the situation, he confirmed that they were not the ones who wrote it. What the paper seemed to contain was false information that could possibly cause unease within Gertonia. The anonymous author was never identified.

Only ten days after the newspapers began appearing in Galitz, a radio signal began broadcasting a national emergency alert depicting a war between major empires and many of Gertonia’s allies. However, no such war was declared by any nation's leader, and no conflicts existed between Gertonia and these major empires. Today, the signal is recognised almost as a prophecy of the events that would occur afterwards, and many attempted to find the source of the signal, but all were met with no success.

Geography
Unofficially, Galitz is divided into three main sections: Inner Galitz, Outer Galitz, and the Industrial Plaza area. Inner Galitz and Outer Galitz are documented and signposted areas; however, the Industrial Plaza area lies within the western part of Galitz and is an industrial complex, containing factories alongside farms and houses. Inner Galitz is the most densely packed area of the city and contains many beautiful buildings alongside the market area and government buildings. Most of its residents live here, and this is where most of the activities take place. Outer Galitz lies outside the city walls and, although landscaped, does not contain much other than the city's armoury and a couple of churches belonging to different religions.

Architecture
Here is a list of some of the most popular spots in Galitz: Galitz Government Building, Post Office, Auction House, Market, Galitz Lighthouse, Soleannan Church, Oak Industries, Gladiator Arena, and City Walls.