Manzland

Manzland (Manz Lo'Oi: Manzoto, Losa Lo'Oi: Kolsoto, Kolsson language: Zalemsara) was a controversial self-declared federal republic located on the southern edge of the Serronan continent - generally considered to be part of Lausá. It is the homeland of the Manz people, the nation being born from a Manz nationalist movement that gained its independence on February 24th, 2022, after seceding from the United Socialist States of Eldham. This secession was conducted following a referendum among mayors of Manz-dominated cities.

The Manz ethnic group was forged following migration of Lo'Oix settlers from the USSE into the Autonomous State of Kolssonafell following a die-off of the Kolsson people. Most Manz today are of mixed Lo'Oix and Kolsson heritage - sometimes mixed with other foreign groups largely descendant of mercenaries which settled the region following the Great Serronan War.

Kolsson history and settlement
The area later claimed by the government of Manzland was previously known as Kolssonafell and was inhabited by a tribe of people known as Kolssons for thousands of years, being one of two human ethnic groups in Lausá. Manzland draws its roots from Kolssonafell and the Kolsson people.

A series of tribal wars among the Kolsson people would result in the rise of the Jarldom of Kolssonafell, as led by warlord and pan-Kolsson nationalist Drake Erik Nielsen. The Kolsson people went through a golden-age of development and culture following the establishment of the Jarldom.

As a consequence of attempted agricultural reforms and the newfound presence of Rathnirian disease, famine would rupture the region of Kolssonafell and result in one of the largest drops in population recorded in any nation's history. Some believe that one of the diseases that may have expanded through the region may be related to Neihernspried; which ruptured in the USSE early in its history around the time of Chelovek Serebra the Older's term as General Secretary.

Kolssonafell shortly prior to this Dark Age had joined the USSE as an Autonomous State and had a locally led Kolsson government. The federal government in conjunction with the local Kolsson government attempted to encourage immigration from Lo'Oix settlers into Kolssonafell to resuscitate the local population. This was done with the intent of these settlers integrating with Kolssons, but the population regardless continued to plummet due to poor birth rates among these Lo'Oix settlers.

Manzig settlement and Manz ethnogenesis
After Kolssonafell was integrated into the U.S.S.E, Kazkayan Lo'Oix settlers were sent to populate the new state of the union. Included among these colonists was Mandes aka "Boneman"; who helped a man by the name of NaVium establish the cities of Saint Nilsburg and Manzig.

The city of Manzig in particular would become the beating heart of Manzland and the Manz people, who quickly became fiercely nationalistic and took up most government positions of the Autonomous State of Kolssonafell in its late history. While the area around Manzig has been populated in some form or another for hundreds of years by Kolsson nomads, the first permanent settlement was a small port and guildhouse set up by pirates as a safe harbor for raiding expeditions to the East.

These settlements existed on the River Zeim, with a large lake being formed off the river known as the 'Zalemsund' by the Kolssons. The river today has been split in two and the Zalemsund, which was one of the largest lakes in the entire region, today is entirely drained and covered. This process of draining the lake and splitting the River Zeim was conducted by the Vulperium during the later Furry War.

After rebuilding the old guildhouse and building new homesteads and apartments for settlers, Manzig rapidly grew thanks to the influx of immigrants, giving the city a vibrant mix of odd characters from across Lo'Oix culture, heavily drawing from the architecture of both early Kazkaya and Laria.

Among the notable settlers who made their start in life at Manzig included Ursa Cornaro, a cheesemaker and financial capitalist, who founded another settlement in Kolssonafell known as Aleria and was a former Deputy Secretary in the United Socialist States of Eldham. He gained a hated reputation within the USSE and was seen as a traitor; to the extent that his head was placed in a National Museum alongside "nasty" remarks.

Other notable settlers included the likes of Fredrich Reidinia, a Rathnirian refugee and noted Unitist Socialist writer who was opposed to the growing Xeroism within the USSE and Lavender Star, a Batu peasant and former slave who joined Reidinia in creating anti-Xeroist political theory. Both have a reputation as Unitists.

The city after initial settlement quickly grew to become the military hub of the USSE - boasting a large Collesseum that was used to train the People's Army of the United Socialist States of Eldham and an unparalleled market district. Very little of these original structures exist today and were destroyed by Vulpinians during the Furry War to replace much of Manzig with large fortifications. Unfortunately, for most of the city's existence, houses or even tenement apartments weren't really a thing. For several months, every member of the city lived under an old abandoned mine in the Guildhouse, coloquially dubbed "The Craphole" by locals - as opposed to its official name of 'The Pit'.

Thanks to the ceaseless work of its citizens and Larian Architects, Manzig quickly emerged as a major city in the U.S.S.E and the continent, widely recognized as one of the more impressive cities of the region. It had become an effective port city as Manzig existed directly on the Zalemsund lake - the lake itself an expansion off the River Zeim which spread from modern Adalor/Pergamos all the way to Rattican settlements at the end of the Leiran peninsula.

Manzland
As Manzig grew more and more populated, it's residents spread into the neighboring lands, either integrating into the depopulated existing cities of Kolssonafell or creating new cities all together such as Aleria and Astranza. Since many of these settlements came about from direct colonization or repopulation efforts from the city of Manzig, these settlements became extremely close knit, with the local populations of respective settlements often being close friends with one another from their time together as neighbors in Manzig.

A sense of national identity and ethnogenesis began to birth among the settlers, who began to call themselves Manz - the name being derivative of the city of Manzig. These Manz-dominated cities found themselves friendly towards one another and began to preach the idea of a nationalist identity over unity through class and humanity as was the party line of the Communist Party of the CPUSSE. This nationalist movement was also heavily founded through capital and international banking, despite the USSE having a socialist economy and strongly be opposed to banking, the fact that Kolssonafell was an Autonomous State meant that they were little touched.

While there are many Socialists in Manzland, they adhered to a reformist movement in opposition to the hardline 'Xeroism' that was typical among more than 75% of the USSE and the members of its Communist Party. Numerous people in Manzland were indifferent about Socialism all together, particularly the financiers and businessman that quickly found rich livelihoods in the city.

Already dissatisfied with what proponents of Manz nationalism considered incompetence of the behalf of the Communist Party, a pirate invasion, today called the Red Wars, which was brought about by infuriation that communists had popularity in the Confederation of Garxijos created a deep urgency to jump off the sinking ship of state. Despite the fact that Kolssonafell (not yet called Manzland in formality) made up more than half of the People's Army at this time, Manz nationalists chose to take advantage of the war to declare independence, which left the ability of the USSE to fight the Red Wars severely diminished.

Quietly and without public consultation of their constituents, the Mayors of Manzig, Astranza, Aleria and Saint Nilsburg drew up a constitution and set about establishing a government for what they called Manzland. This created a tense week of negotiations where the USSE federal government accused the Manz nationalists of circumventing socialist ideas to promote their financial interests and committing acts of ethnic cleansing against the Kolssons and where the Manz nationalists accused the USSE is disrespecting the ethnic interests of the newly found Manz people. As a means to avoid outright civil war, the USSE agreed to let the self-declared Manzland act as an independent government, cementing Manzland as a nation-state for the first time in history.

Manzland declared its independence on the 24th of February 2022, a day known commonly among the Manz people as 'Liberty day'.

Decreases in activity and eventual Duchyship
While for several months the newly found Manzland enjoyed complete independence from the USSE, it eventually saw an immense drop in activity with the government increasingly becoming centralized over time as a consequence of this lack of activity. Construction in Manzig ceased outright about a month or two after the formation of Manzland, prior to this it was a quickly growing city.

Ultimately, with the birth of the Imperium and the eventual creation of the Union with the Red Banner's Rebellion, the already now-small Manz leadership became incredibly fearful that the USSE now had the opportunity to retaliate by annexing Manzland and re-forming Kolssonafell. This fear and arguable paranoia eventually led to the start of the Furry War and Manzland forming the Duchy of Manzland and becoming a client state under the Vulperium. This decision to join the Vulperium ultimately decreased activity in the government even further and the nation was on a spiral and with the Furry War being declared, eventually much of Manzland, including the near entirety of the capital in Manzig, was destroyed by Vulpinian military strategists in attempt to make the city 'defendable'. This included, but was not limited to, the complete draining of the Zalemsund, the complete destruction of much of the city's downtown, the splitting of the River Zeim, the destruction of the entirety of North Manzig, the destruction of the Manzig Colosseum, and more. The only surviving literary relics from Manzig were brought to the Academy that existed East of the city and many of its archives have since been disseminated, destroyed, or luckily carefully maintained.

Manzland's ultimate destruction came with the end of the Furry War, all captured territories being given to the then-declared Territory of Kolssonafell which was disputed solely by the Vulperium in its client government in the form of the Duchy of Manzland. Multiple cities including the entirety of Saint Nilsburg and Astranza found themselves vehemently opposed to the Manz government at this time, to the point that Saint Nilsburg joined the USSE as the first city of the newly found Territory of Kolssonafell, Saint Nilsburg being transformed into a gigantic fort to prevent Manz attack. Despite this, most of the old Saint Nilsburg and Kolssonafell City infrastructure remained, albeit surrounded by destructive terraforming and walls.

Government structure
Manzland was a self-declared federative republic made up of many by and large independent towns. While these towns have to adhere to the constitution and the justice code of the federal government, they are by and large allowed to operate how they please. This has led to radically different city character in Manzland, with regions adhering to Lavenderist Socialism and others adhering to capitalism/feudalism, all within in the same nation. The Lavenderist and corporate interests of the Manz settlers dismantled the socialist economy that existed in the region prior to the foundation of Manzland in favor of one dominated by banking interests and weapons manufacturing.

Every town in Manzland sent delegates to the House of Lords, the main political body of the Nation. Lords are traditionally leaders of their respective towns and can be voted out of office if more than 50% of their town gives a vote of no confidence. The executive branch of Manzland is made up of the office of “Manz”. The Manz has the complete authority to exercise the power of the executive branch, being able to appoint advisors to help wield his power. The Manz is voted in every 4 weeks after a popular election. This structure was often critiqued by enemies of the Manz state as being undemocratic, particularly the legislative body in the form of the House of Lords.

Cultural Activites
The confusing and rich culture of the Manz people is best described as a blend of Kolsson and Lo'Oix pirate traditions.

Popular Manz pastimes include:


 * Fishing.
 * Sailing.
 * Poetry.
 * Excessive drinking during inopportune times of the day.
 * Misidentifying the Alerian Bear Statue as a rat.
 * Fleeing the Alerian mob which will inevitably form after your perhaps not so accidental mistake.
 * Gardening.

National Anthem
To be sung to the tune of: "Rule Britannia"

When Manzland fi-i-irst, at Tim’s command,

Aro-o-o-ose from out the crimson pain,

Arose, arose, arose from out the crimson pain,

This was the charter, the charter of the land,

And Bone man’s a-a-angels sang this strain:

'Rise Manzland! Rise Manzland Brave and Free!'

Manz shall never, never, ever, shall be slaves.

'Rise Manzland! Rise Manzland Brave and Free!'

Manz shall never, never, ever, shall be slaves.

The Manz, no-o-o-o-ot so based as thee,

Must i-i-i-i-in their turn, to cr–iin–nge fall,

Must in their turn, to-o cri-inge fall,

While thou shall flourish, shall flourish Brave and Free,

The dread and e-e-e-e-nvy of them all.

'Rise Manzland! Rise Manzland Brave and Free!'

Manz shall never, never, ever, shall be slaves.

'Rise Manzland! Rise Manzland Brave and Free!'

Manz shall never, never, ever, shall be slaves.

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