Republic of Orange and Purple

The Republic of Orange and Purple (Britannian/Dutch: De Republiek van Oranje en Paars or De Republiek van Oranje en Purpur) is a Constitutional Republic located in the Western Sea in the Thrennex region of The Shire. It's capital is Paarsdam, which was built upon massive stone foundations which rise hundreds of meters from the ocean floor. The Republic primarily speaks Dutch and English, with some Old Britannian still spoken in small communities.

Founded in 1681 CE from naval elements of the shattered Old Britannian tribes, after the Sammichian Razing of Britannia, the "floating city" of Paarsdam was the newly-established center of the sea-faring nation. Stone bricks, carved from beneath the snowy wastes of the frozen continent to the north, were used to expand the tiny island on which the Britannians first landed. From there, the city of Paarsdam expanded to become a thriving epicenter of commerce, industry, and culture in the Western Shire. Initially a Kingdom, the Republic itself was founded in 1698, and was joined by the surrounding provinces of Groenevelden, South Paarsdam (a separate province by governance and population), and Birkenbos, which operate as cooperative autonomous regions within the centralized government. The Republic also maintains seven forts and fortresses in and around the Western Sea, protecting its territories and people from invasion by land and sea.

The government of the Republic is a parliamentary system, which itself elects an executive Prime Minister who holds the power to veto, order, and introduce legislation (the powers of both houses) but is checked by overrides of the parliament. The currently elected Prime Minister is Wuggeh of Maine. The three houses of parliament are the Afvaardigenhuis (Guild House) and the Volkshuis (People's House). Formed in 1681, the Constitution of the Republic of Oranje and Purpur is an historic document, one of the first constitutions ever written in the Shire.

History

The Beginning of the Republic (1680-1750 CE)

The Crisis of 1680

Following the Britannian War, the federation composed of Nooters from Groenevelden and the Zeeders of South Paarsdam was left intact to dissuade the enemies of the Britannian people from attacking. In the years directly following the war, plague and famine overtook the surviving Britannians, as years of total war caught up on the population, and the influx of refugees from the destroyed civilizations pushed society to its limits.

In order to prevent a total collapse of Britannian society, delegates of all walks of life were called to a series of congresses. Solutions were presented by prominent members of Britannian society to the anxious gathering, which were then debated and voted upon, one by one. Solutions to the population crisis included:

- Sending masses of colonists north to the frozen continent of Thrennex. This was rejected for its clear injustice, as most of the colonists would be Suuth and Rivermensen refugees, who already faced the worst of the wartime and postwar famines.

- Searching the vast Western Ocean for the rumored city of “Westen Aarde”, subject of fables and myths, detailing untold riches. This was dismissed by all parties except for the clergy and certain forces in the military.

- Resettling the conquered lands. While this was an attractive option for some, most refugees did not want to return to their desolate fields and destroyed towns. The Treaty of Activia also banned official settlement of the razed territories without express permission of Fulfwotz (and vice versa).

With the Congress getting nowhere, a Rivermensen delegate, Kristiaan van Tyne, presented a bizarre solution. Using advanced construction techniques learned from books of the Solurian Empire, massive solid stone brick formations could be built in the shallow shoals of the Westenzee, upon which a great city could be built.

This final idea halted the entire conference and caused much intrigue amongst the leaders of The Federation. Some scoffed, but the majority found the technology fascinating, and praised the schematics and potential benefits of planning an entirely new city on oceanic resources. The Congress of Grinvalde (1681) ratified the agreement, and with funding from the Merchants guilds, Kristiaan van Tyne was given permission to erect the city of Paarsdam.

Formation of The Republic

With the Britannian peoples eager to begin “collective creation” (a national consciousness in peacetime among Britannians today), another conference was called by the Merchant Guilds of Nooter and Zeeder. This time discussion was made of a centralized government between the two nations, forming the long-lived Federation into a Republic.

Debates were had and feelings oftentimes ran hot, but after months of cooperation and compromise, the assorted representatives had a seemingly operational plan for a government. The plans included three houses (later consolidated to two in 1830), a constitution detailing the duties and regulations of each house, and a bill of rights to outline the protection of freedom for all people. The three houses would be known as the Gildehuis (elected representatives of the many guilds of society, in charge of domestic legislation), the Volkshuis (direct representatives of the people, also ran the mediative justice system), and the Afvaardigenhuis (delegates elected by the Volkshuis and Gildehuis, in charge of foreign policy, trade policy, and the military).

The Republiek van Oranje en Paars was officially declared on July 27th, 1681, with it’s first capital at the Guildhall in Purpur. The Republic Constitution (De Landsvest van de Repuliek)—one of the first ever written in the Shire—is today housed in the Prime Minister’s office in Paarsdam.

Constructing Paarsdam

With the Merchants of Purpur and Grinvalde giving their support, Kristiaan van Tyne gathered workers and began construction of the great city. The base was chosen from a wide shoal surrounding the uninhabited Isle of Paars (a small strip of land in the center of the shoals). Atop the shallow depths, workers began sinking large chunks of slate harvested from Thrennex in the north, filling in spaces within with gravel. Following this, stonemasons constructed artificial islands from blue granite, forming the blocks of the city. The work required thousands of laborers and skilled craftsmen working around the clock, as well as a significant portion of the navy for ferrying materials.

Soon the merchants weren't the only ones pouring money in, but all of the Guilds, from stonemasons to smiths to farmers and shipbuilders. With all of society rallying around Paarsdam's creation, it was not long before the first buildings were built atop the stone foundations. Initial attempts to build with wood were battered by the cold storms from the Westenzee, and it was discovered that a bastardized form of Xamichine concrete could be formed with salt water, clay, and granite, instead of the required coarse sand and terracotta. The strength of these buildings still shows today, as many of the oldest buildings in the city still stand, around Eiland Park in the Merchant district.

Expanding Trade and Influence

As the first residents moved into Paarsdam, among them the first mayor Kristiaan van Tyne, the Republic began the process of establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with in the Shire. Recent voyages to the East had brought back magnificent goods from Laurelian, "Oud Oranje", and Venezia Nuova. With the desire growing for Venezian silk, Laurelii crops, and the Mainland's books and fine-tuned machinery, the Republic expanded its trade networks, developing a shrewd network of merchants, operating in "Headquarters" across the Shire. These would form the base of what would be known as the Paarsdam East Shire Company.

The Paarsdam East Shire Company was founded in 1730 as a mercantile solution to the over-extension of the Republic's trade routes to Laurelian. The Republic couldn't send its fleets past the isthmus of Arcadia without portaging, or sending its ships all the way around the Northern Sea, past rivals in Caffa and the newfound state of Riverwood. By allowing another authority to control shipping through the straits of the great Northern Sea and the Eastern Ocean, the Republic of Orange and Purple was able to consolidate its wealth in Paarsdam without losing sailors and trade power to piracy.

During the Solurian Civil War, The Republic saw an uptick in trade revenue, due to its trading with both sides in the conflict. Patrons from the Solurian military desired raw iron from Purpur due to its high purity, and coal from Grinvalde due to its slow-burning effects. The Avestissmens traded for naval supplies, and several times during the war attempted to attack Rigel from bases in th Republic, failing each time. The dues paid by these forces would fund the trade wars against Republic's rivals in the late 1700s, but greatly damaged relations with the Solurians, which up until the civil war, were regular trade partners in Republic ports.

Trade routes established during this time still exist today as routes between the east and west. This period of economic growth had unintended consequences for the city of Paarsdam's growth as well, as merchants establishing themselves in the city discovered the value of having a seabase from which to conduct trade, outside of the watchful eye of the guilds on the mainland. Word spread of this wealth, and the city expanded 15 times in the period between 1700 and 1750. With Paarsdam now home to just as many inhabitants as Grinvalde and Purpur, respectively, the Republic needed to force its control over the thriving, but independent, city. In 1743, the Parliament hall of Paarsdam was finished, and Paarsdam became the seat of the Republic of Orange and Purple, where it remains today.

The Great Industrialization (1750-1824 CE)

The period of industrialization in the Republic of Orange and Purple was marked by great technological advancements and great social splintering. Steam propulsion technology became commonplace in the factories of major powers like Sol and Fulfwotz, and was hastily adopted in the Republic industrial base by 1810. The Republic's first railway opened in Purpur in 1819, connecting the iron mines with the waterfront. The nation's first public hospital was opened in Paarsdam, and still stands today. A chemist in Groenevelden introduced the first widespread application of nitroglycerin as fertilizer. Massive technological advancements marked the beginning of the Republic's rise as a regional power in the West, but its culture could not keep up with the changes in industrial output, and with thus the great crises of the 1800s began.

The Trade Wars of the late 1700s

In the mid-late 1700s, manufactories began popping up across Purpur and Paarsdam, where craftspeople mass-produced textiles, weapons, and other much-needed goods for the government and general population. The bolstered navy of the Republic, now one of the most powerful in the West, and encouraged them to take an aggressive stance against their neighbors. A war over trade licensing erupted with Caffa in 1765, but ended in a white peace after the Solurian Empire intervened to bring the conflict to close. Still angry over the Republic's supporting the Avestissmens in their own the civil war, Sol imposed major tariffs on all goods from the Republic. Since then the tariffs have been lifted, but for years, the Republic's reputation and trading power suffered in the global south.

Again in 1782, the Republic started another trade war, this time against Riverwood. The New Sammichian Empire interceded on behalf of their protectorate, and the conflict brought trade to a halt in the Northern Straits. A bloody stalemate at sea forced the Republic to defend its home territories from raiding Sammichian ships, and after defeat by Sammichian forces in the battle of Activia, the Republic of Orange and Purple was forced to disband naval operations in the waters around Caffa and Riverwood, severely stunting its economic growth, and setting a stage for the unrest of the 1800s.

"Welfare for the Masses"

The wealth of knowledge and culture that came from oceanic trade with the East changed the structure Britannian society throughout the 1700s. While the merchant classes grew richer and richer, the laborers and farmers grew poorer, as living costs rose and forced the mostly agrarian continental Britannians to seek work in the growing cities. An influx of new workers came with calls for public education, as well as adequate living conditions for the working class. As the manufactories of Paarsdam and Purpur bustled with hungry laborers, the need for trained leaders also gave rise to a new artisan class, who were much more conscious of the role they played in supplying society than the workers due to the skilled nature of their leadership. Merchants and bourgeois politicians alike found this artisan class threatening, and motions were enacted to prevent manufacturing guilds from forming a political party in the Gildehuis.

The exodus of workers did not stop, though, and when the calls for public welfare were not answered, the artisans took it upon themselves to lead the proletarian masses in revolution. On June 12th, 1803, massive protests filled the streets of Purpur, calling for the establishment of an anarcho-syndicalist government. The protests were violently put down, with 62 people killed and wounded, and over 567 others arrested, including several artisan politicians from the Gildehuis. The merchants used these arrests to consolidate absolute power, and banned extra-governmental political gatherings and "radicals" from the Gildehuis.

Protests continued throughout the period, waxing and waning, with several attempted anarchist and liberal revolutions and coups happening between 1805 and 1824. During this time the richer members of the Gildehuis also took closer control over the appointment of leadership within factories, and forced public- and syndicate-owned factories to sell their shares to rich members of society. This all culminated in the Gildehuis banning artisans and workers guilds from participating in government, which was shot down by the Volkshuis as denying the workers of their right to representation. In retaliation, private militias hired by corporate executives attempted to burn the Volkshuis to the ground amidst a winter storm, on the night of November 21st, 1824. The Afvaardigenhuis was forced to intervene militarily, and throughout the next 4 months, firefights, arson, and beatings were not uncommon in the streets of Paarsdam and Purpur. Little to no action was taken against Gildehuis members.

The Great Crises (1825-1899 CE)

This period of the Republic's history matches that of the Shire itself. While industrialization was still ongoing, the growing pains of the Shire's nations could not hold back the spirits of its peoples. National pride gave rise to reactionary revolts, social stratification begot revolutions, and in the Republic's case, both.

The Plutocratic Coup of 1825

Following the burning of the Volkshuis, the Afvaardigenhuis's military command was questioned by both sides. Anarchists and socialists alike blamed the central government for not protecting their rights as citizens, and the Gildehuis saw the delegation system as nothing but a stepping stone to total control, and began to pass legislation limiting the delegate's powers. Meanwhile, one of the richest of the guildmasters, Mikael Minthavn, had bought his way into a ministerial position in the government of Prime Minister Robert Janssen. As Minister of Internal Affairs, Minthavn began a campaign of deceit against the left-wing. By hiring paramilitary forces in Purpur, he successfully retook control of the city.

Visiting The Republic

There are several ways to get to the Republic of Orange and Purple. The easiest way is to /warp to either of the following warp locations:

/warp paarsdam or /warp Groenevelden

However, should you desire to visit the other locations within the Republic, use this map of the local transportation: