Loyalist Uldarash

The Empire of Loyalist Uldarash (also referred to simply as Loyalist Uldarash, Uldarash, the Empire of Uldarash or the Loyalists, or as the Rebels/Insurgents) was an unrecognized breakaway state in Haven that existed from November 3, 2021, to January 3, 2021. The Empire was comprised of the two, (briefly three) states, but was primarily the Republic of Alfheim and the Federal Republic of Montroig, who declared secession from and fought against the Second Empire of Uldarash during the Uldarash Civil War. The Kingdom of Nullaria was also part of the nation for two days before the signing of the Treaty of Hakkinza. The nation was officially dissolved following the signing of the Treaty of Terroja.

History
On November 3, 2021, the former empress of the Second Empire of Uldarash, Caterina, announced that she would be founding her own empire in response to her deposition as Empress, a topic whose legality is of much debate. Caterina subsequently "counter-deposed" Nikephoros to show that she believed that her Uldarash was the real Uldarash, though it is of note that Caterina only held the elected seat of the Empire and not the traditional hereditary one. Following this, the Federal Republic of Montoig also pledged their support to Caterina, as she was Montroig's former guardian and Caterina was much more in support of democracy than Nikephoros and the rest of Uldarash, one of the primary reasons for the breakaway. The Republic of Alfheim, a fellow democracy also pledged allegiance, along with some miscellaneous citizens of other Haven nations, such as Sanctuary and Dearman.

Causes of secession
The main reason for the secession of 'Loyalist' Uldarash was when one of the two the Empresses of Uldarash, Nikephoros, deposed Caterina. This is a topic of much debate which continues amongst Havenites to do this day. Some believe that Nikephoros and her supporters were correct to depose Caterina, as many of the leadership and founding members thought she was corrupting the ideas, ideals, and purpose of Uldarash. Others believed this removal to be illegal, blaming Aurorans for controlling the government and crushing other state's influence. They blamed a clause which was added that allowed for the banning, deposing, or impeaching of emperors and government officials. The deposed Empress, Caterina, along with her lawyer, CoCoLaxxative, demanded a fair trial be given to the Empress, but the Uldarashi Empress dismissed the request. As a result, a trial was held independent of the Empire in Montroig, but as the state had Loyalist views and a biased court, it's findings are not held with any weight by any other than the Loyalists.

The Kingdom of Nullaria seceded from the Second Empire of Uldarash, despite originally being neutral in the war, due to the Empire disbanding smaller nations with too few a populous to support them, such as Ethesidus, Mithusu, and Dearman, reintegrating these lands into federal ones due to the lack of playerbase. However, this did come with a promise that the laands would be restored should player activity rise in these states once more. Other slightly larger, but still relatively small nations, such as Nullaria or the Sultanate of Alokhrad still maintained a vote on the High Council of Uldarash, but some speculate that Nullaria left out of fear its laand would be integrated into Imperial territory in the future. Nullarian leadership also cited the increasing grabs of power by the Kingdom of Aurora in the High Council, including putting a super-majority of Aurorans on the High Council, as a reason for secession. However, it is worth noting that the number of Auroran council officials had already been reduced in the past during a compromise with Caterina, limiting all nation's voting councilors to two members.

Diplomacy
Once the secession occurred, Loyalist Uldarash established a Ministry of Foreign Affairs much like the one in the Second Empire of Uldarash, and attempted to make diplomatic ties to foreign nations in an attempt to gain aid for the war. These nations included the Confederation of Ummarnu, the Grand Sorligste Federation, the Empire of Bardonia, and the Empire of Escharia. The Eldham Entente was not an official supporter of the Loyalists until just before the battle of Fornost, after which they would withdraw support soon after due to a treaty signed by the 2nd Empire of Uldarash.

Following the losses at the Terroja defensive and Northport offensive, reaching Loyalist losses of 135-1 in a single battle, the counter-offensive at the Second Battle of CoolioCity, and the Battle of Hapatmitas during the Hapatmitas-Chevkri Campaign, Loyalist and Loyalist Allied forces took losses numbering over 250 compared to the 2nd Empire's rough dozen. As such, the Confederation of Ummarnu, the Grand Sorligste Federation and Bardonia withdrew their support from Loyalist Uldarash.

Motivation of soldiers
Most members of Alfheim and Montroig voluntarily enlisted in the armies of their respective nations, along with the Uldarashi army as to defend their lands pre-civil war. During the beginning of the war, many soldiers were eager to fight, but following the loss at the Battle of Terroja, morale suffered and desertions occured. Yet many were still eager to take revenge on the Second Empire of Uldarash in the Hapatmitas-Chevkri Campaign that was to take place in the following days, feeling they learned from their previous fight. Following the loss at the Battle of Hapatmitas and the Second Battle of CoolioCity, however, troop morale plummeted and overall public opinion of the war changed to the perception that the war would be unwinnable for the Loyalists.

Military Strategy
Civil War historian Jack F. Kennedy wrote that for those who would secure its independence, "The Loyalists were unfortunate in their failure to work out a general strategy for the whole war". The Loyalists fought multiple offensive battles, notably the two fought in the Hapatmitas-Chevkri Campaign in late 2022, however, every battle was lost due to poor planning and communications from the armed forces high command, insufficient supply and logistics, and a lack of strategy and tactics.

Early in the war, a Loyalist victory over Uldarash seemed to be possible, due to a relatively highly skilled military and a large amount of foreign backing that eased the numerical differences between the states. However, as time went on, due to poor leadership from inexperienced generals and constant defeat, the war seemed unlikely to even guarantee the Loyalist nations, Montroig and Alfheim, their own independence.

One of the worst blunders in the war was during the Hapatmitas-Chevkri Campaign, when the campaign commander, BuckTootha, did not release the list of Loyalist combatants fighting in the battles to the Loyalists until eight minutes after the battles already started, creating an extremely disorganized offensive with many soldiers unable to arrive on the battlefield due to the queue being too long or being asked not to join beforehand.

Armed Forces
The military armed forces of Loyalist Uldarash consists of only their army. The Loyalist military leadership included many veterans of the Second Empire of Uldarash's Army and Navy who resigned their positions to be appointed to senior positions within the secessionist group. The armed forces officer corps were noted for being disorganized and lacking proper communication skills, both of which were reasons cited in the loss of every battle. Much of this reason can be attributed to Generals being appointed simply due to holding a position in one of the sub-nations, allowing for ill-equipped and inexperienced politicians to serve as military commanders, such as Badeu07, Minister of War in Montroig, elected only days before the war but allowed to keep his position, and was regarded as extremely ineffective and inexperienced. Additionally, TheAsianAimbot, Prime Minister of Alfheim who was appointed as a general due to her position on the High Council, demonstrated incompetence as an officer and an inability to keep control of troops under her command, which many loyalists say led to the defeat at the Battle of Hapatmitas.

Constitution
Loyalist Uldarash used a nearly identical constitution as Imperial Uldarash with one key exception: the removal of the hereditary empress as a legal position. The elected Emperor position remained, which was given to Caterina. It should be noted that the constitution put very few constraints on the position of the Emperor, and defined almost no powers of any of the three branches of government, and was widely criticized by legal scholars.

All federal laws from the Second Empire of Uldarash were carried over to the Loyalists, to the dismay of many citizens due to the disorganized nature of the Uldarashi legal system and the loophole in the Loyalist system allowing new laws to essentially be made up by the Emperor by saying that the law was "voted on in voice chat and never written down, but still an enforceable law", something that was avoidable in the 2nd Empire due to its diarchy, but was exploitable in the Loyalist nation due to the power of the single Emperor.

Executive
The executive power of the Empire of Uldarash was vested solely within the Empress, Caterina, who had close to absolute power over all of Loyalist Uldarash. While the Empress held the power to appoint all ministers established by law, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Infrastructure, Minister of Commerce and Trade, and Prosecutor-General, Caterina never appointed any ministers. She did, however, appoint several generals and members of the War Council.

The government was frequently criticized for it's unwillingness to appoint civilian ministers and a civilian government, with most power being held by an imperial administration and the majority of actions being performed by the Emperor or un-elected War Council, with many citizens stating that the country was nothing more than a "military junta". The nation's people believed there was a need to appoint civilian leadership as soon as possible to be seen as a legitimate government, and to ensure an easier transition back to a state of peace post-war.

Legislative
The legislative power of Loyalist Uldarash were vested within the two houses of Congress, as they also were in the Second Empire of Uldarash. Due to the war, the High and Low councils were mostly preoccupied with military matters. Low council elections were eventually held, and matters did start being discussed later in the war. The members of the Congress were simply carried over from the Second Empire of Uldarash, as all those who were in it's Congress and defected were given identical roles in Loyalist Uldarash,

The High Council
The High Council was made up of the leaders of the two nations in Loyalist Uldarash, the Republic of Alfheim and the Federal Republic of Montroig, ministers in Loyalist Uldarash, and any members of the High Council of the Second Empire of Uldarash who defected to Loyalist Uldarash.

The members of the High Council included:

Montroig

 * Gooblegins (Guardian of the Federal Republic of Montroig)
 * Foubrac (Former member of the High Council of the Second Empire of Uldarash)

Alfheim

 * Nifty Von Alfen (Prime Minister of the Republic of Alfheim)

Former members of the High Council include:

Montroig

 * Ics_de (Former Guardian of the Federal Republic of Montroig)
 * Left due to term ending

Nullaria

 * Hinda Schmitt (Queen of Nullaria)
 * Left due to the Treaty of Hakkinza granting the Kingdom of Nullaria full independence from Uldarash.

Alfheim

 * TheAsianAimbot (Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Alfheim)
 * Left due to resignation

The Low Council
The Low Council was made up of elected representatives from the two nations in Loyalist Uldarash. The first Low Council election for Loyalist Uldarash was held on the 16th of November 2021, and the results were released on the 24th of November 2021. All members of the Low Council were holdovers from the Second Empire of Uldarash. Low council representatives were determined based on population, with each nation getting one representative to begin with, a second for having at least 40 members, and a third for having at least 60 citizens. Following the first Loyalist Uldarash Census, it was decided that Montroig would have 2 representatives and Alfheim would have 3 in the first election held. The low council held little power within the Empire due to its newness and large amount of bureacracy, but the role and its members carried more influence in Loyalist Uldarash due to its smaller size and quantity of paper pushing as compared to its counterpart.

First Congress of Loyalist Uldarash

 * Montroig
 * Arcadian_sheep
 * Cubetive

Alfheim had no representatives since it had no holdovers from before it seceded, and the first elections hadn't been ran yet.

Second Congress of Loyalist Uldarash

 * Montroig
 * Arcadian_sheep
 * CoCoLaxxative
 * Alfheim
 * Vic Van Barcht
 * SuperEone
 * Niftyzebra

Nullaria had no representatives since it had no holdovers from before it seceded, and left before the beginning of the Third Congress.

Judicial
The Loyalist Uldarash judiciary, established by the Constitution, had a High Court with 5 justices which would supersede all other courts in Loyalist Uldarash, and have the power to try federal crimes, take appeals from inferior courts, hear cases between two or more states of the empire, and hear cases between two citizens of two different states in the empire.

The Judges were LegalC (serving as head judge), ABarbedRose, and Fickogames. No trials were ever held.

Sub-nations
The sub-nations of Loyalist Uldarash that seceded from the Second Empire of Uldarash were almost completely unchanged on the federal level, as all sub-national leaders, including the non-elected ones, still sat on the High Council and had Low Council representatives. The sub-nations still had near complete autonomy within the nation. However, some sub-nations did pass some war power laws allowed for the Uldarash War Council and the Empress to have extra power over their sub-nation. There were also some changes with appropriations, as much of the budget of the sub-nations were changed to allocate most to their defense departments.

Supply Company
When Loyalist Uldarash was formed and its seceding states broke from the 2nd Empire of Uldarash, it was at once confronted with the arduous task of providing its military with adequate supplies, including armor, weapons, enchantments, and potions. This proved to be a difficult task, as Loyalist Uldaarash did not have the experience that nations such as Aurora did, who were able to provide the majority of the 2nd Empire's military gear, in creating necesseties for war. But, in the midst of the Uldarash Civil War, the secessionist Empire created and established the Loyalist Supply Company on November 15, 2021. General Thayff of the Loyalist Uldarash Army was appointed to lead the supply company to provide the army with equipment comparable to the Auroran's in the upcoming Battle of Terroja, which was scheduled for the 18th, and for any counter-assaults the Loyalist Empire may launch.

By November 21, 2021, the LSC had amassed nearly 500,000 coins worth of supplies and shipped them out to Republica Square, Tiatua, which was being used as the staging area in the Hapatmitas-Chevkri Campaign. But, due to the massive defeat in the two battles, the LSC lost nearly all of its supplies, causing the LSC to fizzle out, as no one working for it wanted to grind to make back the equipment they had lost.

Transportation systems
At the onset of the Civil War, the Loyalist's road systems were extremely disjointed, with some being in severe disrepair. Many of the roads are dead ends, blocked by walls and debris, or had not been upgraded, making it extremely difficult to transport troops or goods between the cities of the nation. But Loyalist Uldarash had shown very little interest in repairing, protecting, or expanding the roads, even in the name of national security, as nearly all resources were allocated towards the war effort.

Militarization of towns
Many of the cities in Loyalist Uldarash had massive walls and battlements built up around them to protect the citizens and industry inside of them, most notably Terroja and Tiatua. Many of the defense structures take ideas from the famous Bardonian defenses, including sweet berries and bamboo to keep attackers at bay. However, there were many traditional defenses such as trenches and pitfalls dug around the cities, though these defenses were shown to do very little, as the Second Empire of Uldarash was able to easily breach the wall and the defense networks during the Battles of Terroja and Hapatmitas. It's unknown how much money and time this lost the Loyalists. Furthermore, the so-called "militarization of peaceful cities" infuriated the Gaians, who ceased all operations within Loyalist Uldarash.

National flag
The official flag of the Empire of Loyalist Uldarash was a black banner with two orange circles and an eagle. The flag was nearly identical to the flag of the Second Empire of Uldarash, however, it has a black background instead of red, and the circle in the center is much more pronounced. A new flag was picked in order to differentiate Loyalist Uldarash from Imperial Uldarash, both in politics and in battle. As seen in the images below, a horizontal Loyalist flag exists, which is extremely popular amongst the citizens of Loyalist Uldarash states. However, it has never been officially flown on the battlefield, by any vessel, or hung from any government building. As General Thayff stated in Discord, the flag, "started as a meme". Nevertheless, the flag is often used to identify the nation.

Region and climate
The Empire of Loyalist Uldarash claimed a total of nearly 1,000 blocks of coastline, thus a large part of its territory lay on the seacoast with level and often sandy or marshy ground. Most of the interior portion consisted of arable savanna and plains farmland, though much was also hilly and mountainous, and the far western territories, just north of Tiatua were deserts. The highest point was Pedrascute Mountain, the plateau that the Montroig military fortress Pedrascute sits upon.

Population
The Loyalist Uldarash Census of November 2021 gives a picture of the overall population for the areas that had joined the Empire of Loyalist Uldarash.

Rural and urban population
The Empire of Loyalist Uldarash was overwhelmingly urban. Of the 100 people that answered the census, 87 lived in cities, including Axel, Chevronstad, and Terroja. Rural towns were relatively rare, most having only a few people living in them, as many citizens either went inactive, failed to fill out the census, or defected back to the Second Empire of Uldarash.

Religion
While the Empire of Loyalist Uldarash was a secular state, there was a very large population of followers of the Church of Barry the Blue Sheep, being the most prevalent religion with 12 members in Loyalist Uldarash. The Church of Barry the Blue Sheep operated out of the Cathedral of the Holy Anvil in Terroja, and used Château Bleu in the Tiatuan desert as a secondary base of operations. Other religions included the less popular offshoot of the Church of Barry the Blue Sheep, the Church of Bernard, and the Boulderovian religion, Boulderism, most notably followed by Montroigian Vice Guardian Argon Retter.

Military leaders
Military leaders of the Empire of Loyalist Uldarash with their sub-nation and relative ranks included:


 * Caterina (Montroig) - Empress
 * Foubrac (Montroig) - General-in-Chief of the Armies of Loyalist Uldarash
 * BuckTootha (Montroig) - Vice-Guardian of Montroig, Former Montroig Minister of Defense, and War Council Member
 * Argon_Retter (Montroig) - War Council Member
 * Badeu07 (Montroig) - Former Montroig Minister of Defense and War Council Member
 * Thayff (Montroig) - War Council Member
 * Renitsu_M (Sanctuary) - War Council Member
 * Piotik (Alfheim) - War Council Member
 * TheAsianAimbot (Alfheim) - War Council Member
 * DeltaImpact (Alfheim) - War Council Member
 * NiftyZebra (Alfheim) - Prime Minister of Alfheim and War Council Member
 * Arcadian_Sheep (Montroig) - Montroig Minister of Defense and War Council Member
 * Vic van Barcht (Alfheim) - War Council Member
 * GameOnFinn (Alfheim) - War Council Member