Confederacy of Ryzan

The Confederacy of Ryzan [First Tsardom of Ryzan] was a loose country of multiple autonomous nations united under one foreign policy. It was located on the continent of Syltör, west of Bardonia and the South of Norfthorn. It rapidly emerged onto the political scene in late November 2020, and grew to substantial population quickly, panicking the larger nations, who felt threatened by this power. However, due to some personal rivalries, the confederation fell to infighting in the second week of December, and balkanized by the third. However, due to reforms to decentralize the nation to stop a full out civil war, it was able to survive and became the Confederation of Ryzani Crowns (also called the Commonwealth), which held all of mainland Ryzan and remained a local power in the northwest, until its disillusionment on the 11th of January causing it to be replaced by the Freeholds and now Westreach.

The member states of this confederacy were:


 * Ryzan
 * Nova Balreska
 * Vologda
 * County Remtal
 * Erebor
 * Nebskoslava
 * VolkoreMap of Ryzan Confederacy.png

Culture and Religion
The Confederation of Ryzan was mainly of the Russian-esque Ryzani culture, however there was a very sizable minority of longbeard and firebeard dwarves who came to the region as refugees from their homes, and established new dwarven realms as city-states in the confederation. The dwarves played a role to the Ryzani as the Cossacks to the Russians, acting as shock troops, with the dwarves providing advanced metallurgy and fortification skills. Eventually Ryzan would gather enough support and influence for other territories to join its growing confederacy, such as the Olthiacs of Remtal in the north, and the Alumsh in the south.

The Confederacy of Ryzan was the host of Tossanism, being the region that the religion was first founded in. Local cultures, traditions, and rituals of each member nation of The Confederacy of Ryzan were incorporated into the religion in the form of patron deities. As Tossanism spread and the Confederacy of Ryzan grew, the amount of deities within the religion would expand to incorporated the cultures, traditions, and rituals of the indigenous populations in the forms of new deities. The confederacy also had a small minority of the Followers of the Faith of the One True God, a local religion spawning from Vologda, as well as a little-known local faith known locally as the Nebskii.

Crises
The first major crisis in the history of Ryzan was an exodus of original Ryzani into the western portions of the land, hitherto uninhabited. The two issues which would cause the crisis were that the land was claimed by the Dwarves of Erebor, and that, at the time, it was thought that the migrants would secede from the confederacy. The migrants would establish the city of Volkore, and purchased massive tracts of land from CanadianToss, the leader of the confederacy. However, this would upset the dwarves, who would lose all their respect for the central government for their lack of action, as well as their willingness to give away land to which they had a territorial claim.

The second crisis was when a Ryzani attempted to leave Ryzan and found his own town, Bjorynskull, on the westernmost marches of Ryzan, bordering Norfthorn. While this was not itself an issue, the founder looked at the precident set by the Volkore Crisis, and decided to secede, taking many citizens of Tossagrad with them.

The third crisis is known as the Collapse. Due to the lack of action on behalf of the leader toward the secessionists, many other states saw the confederacy as weak, and chose to attempt to secede. In the following chaos, the dwarves left their mountain hold of Erebor for a land far in the east. While this itself was not an issue, their king, Oin, had chosen to leave his holdings to Nova Balreska, which was one of the states at the forefront of the secessionist movement. This caused great controversy amongst the states which wished to remain, as Erebor had controlled the entirety of the Ryzan Mountains, and this would separate County Remtal, Nebskoslavia, and Ryzan Propper, leaving each isolated. Thus a short skirmish occurred on the borders of Remtal and Erebor between a force of mounted archers and a small company of heavy infantry respecitvely, resulting in a tactically indecisive battle, but a strategic victory for Nova Balreska.

Also during the Collapse, unbeknownst to all but Canadiantoss, the leader of Ryzan, CanadianToss gave away large portions of confederate land to powers such as the Order of the Green and the Huitca Confederation.Tjis event was known as the Scramble for Ryzan This would cause later diplomatic conflicts between the later Commonwealth of Ryzani Crowns and the two nations, and would almost come to armed conflict with the federation. Among the most important of the ceded territories would be the Peninsula of Alum, which provided strategic control of all maritime trade going through the region.

During the collapse, it was discovered that various outside factions were supportive of the secessionist movements. However, these offers would be ignored

Efforts of Reform and Successor States
Even as the collapse was occuring, and the ensuing Scramble for Ryzan, there were desperate attempts to hold the confederacy together. Spurred by the Count of Remtal, the Csar of Nebskoslava, and the High Templar of Vologda, the three pulled together a so-called Council of Ryzan, and began working on reforms. They were later joined by the Volkorites, who, previously believed to have seceded from Ryzan, had returned to proclaim their commitment to the union. Together they issued a decree stating that "Any infringement into any territory held by any Ryzani state would NOT be taken lightly" and that "Volkore would not tolerate any attempts by foreign powers to influence or take Ryzani territory".

Eventually most of the states which seceded would either be brought directly back into the fold of the newly proclaimed Commonwealth of Ryzani Crowns, or by becoming client states of Volkore. While there were initial conflicts and land disputes, the new Commonwealth is relatively stable, and has become prosperous, though with a lower population than previous.

Successor States

 * Commonwealth of Ryzani Crowns (Volkore, Vologda, Nebskoslavia, Altkronland [formerly Ryzan Propper], Nova Belreska, County Remtal, Bjorynskull, Unincorperated Territories)
 * Khuzdurin (Not located within Ryzan)