urukhai said
Religion present, but not controlling or overly prominent. Government is a federation counsel with a single ruler

Perhaps we would be allies? If we either shared a similar religion or your ruler was related to my emperor.

Blitzkrieg said
Perhaps we would be allies? If we either shared a similar religion or your ruler was related to my emperor.

With pleasure, perhaps the ruler tie? If that is alright with you.

Name of Nation: Dominion of Courbonnais

Capital: Velos

National Population: 80,000,000

Demonym: Courbonnain

Ethnic Groups: Velosian, Alduas, Molitar, Bardosian

Language(s) Spoken:
- State Languages: Courbonnais, Aldual,
- Regional Languages: Velos, Molitaran, Bardosian
- Trade Language: SMOKY

Religion(s) Practiced: Church of Aldier

National Symbols:
- Flag:
- Colors: Blue, Gold, White
- Creed: For The Emperor, For The Dominion, With Words or Steel

Government:
Individual -4- State
Religious -4- Secular
Democracy -4- Autocracy
Dove -3- Hawk
Isolationist -4- Interventionist

Summery: The Courbonnais government is a powerful entity that ruled by a hereditary Emperor with three councils below him, the hereditary noble houses, the technocratic council, and an elected council formed by men chosen every 3 years in an election any landowner may participate in. The rule of the Emperor is absolute with his word as law though as history has shown most in the modern era head well advice from the various councils. Individual rights are apparent though curtailed in various areas as well with wealthy landowners having greater personnel freedom than the lower classes who. The government is increasingly imperialistic in policy overtaking nearby lands and when possible and attempting to dominate air and naval trade lanes to maintain the high standard of living of the country.

Economy:
Capitalism -2- Communism
Private -3- Public
Inequality -3- Equality

Summery: The Velosian people who make up the core of the Dominion were strong believers in the strength of the individual and using that strength to empower the whole. This lead to a strong merchant class early on. With the wave of industrialization though the economy almost faced collapse and as a result the government has been forced to step in to maintain various structures such as oversight on the banking system to avoid such dangers again. Much of the original idea remains though with industrialists and merchants striving outwards ever more to acquire more wealth and then moving that wealth in the Dominion's economy to strengthen the country.

Society:
Open -2- Closed
Liberal -2- Conservative
Tolerant -2- Intolerant

Summery: Courbonnain society is based from 4 distinct cultures and is affected by the cultures of the smaller city-states and nations it absorbed as well. This amalgamation resulted in a generally understanding and open society with strong beliefs towards judging on merit before all else. There is an official religion based on the pantheon of the old Aldros Empire but is followed by less than 40% of the nation. The official language is only known in the far corners of the Dominion part due to the standardized schooling system put in place barely a generation ago. Overall the nation is accepting so long as you look towards making the Dominion itself stronger due to nationalism which has slowly been growing since the beginnings of industrialization.

Military:
- Coat of Arms:
- Size: 1,600,000
- Branches:
- - Army: 1,000,000
Long the core of the defense of The Dominion the army has a great and storied history. The army favors a general doctrine of wide front warfare with armored spearheads to punch deep into enemy territory on offensive operations. Defensively they are drilled to dig in on any defensible position and set up large numbers of mortars and field guns. Discipline is favored by most standing units fighting the hard line combat. Thanks to the industrialization the regiments of the army are well equipped with modern small arms and a large ratio of field guns to infantry formations while armored formations are dedicated units meant to break through and exploit weak points then role up enemy flanks as infantry units advance behind them.

Equipment






- - Navy: 500,000



The Navy has generally tried to compete with the Army for funding and resources and until recently generally lost out. The need for a long range combat navy to maintain trade lanes and build an empire has resulted in large and sudden growth for the navy with new airships and naval ships being laid down regularly. Their doctrine is still roughly setup and based mostly on foreign information rather than years of experience as the army is. Their readiness is high though as they are eager to prove themselves as valuable or more so than their land based counterparts.

- - Dread Guard: 100,000

The most elite soldiers of the Army are cherry picked from the academies and battlefields to be placed in the Dread Guard regiments. 20 hardened fighting regiments, 5 armored and 15 infantry they are armed and armored far above that of the standard line soldier.

- Readiness:

At peacetime readiness due to increasingly imperialistic tendencies the national standing military is ready to rapidly prepare for offensive operations or react in defensive operations against foreign invasions or rebels.

Territory: http://i.imgur.com/FrlodcI.png

Important Locations:
- Velos: The capitol city of The Dominion of Courbonnais a large multi-million population center south of the Noir Mountains between the Marel and Durants Rivers. It's prosperity has largely grown ever since liberation from the ancient Alduan Empire. The old city still shows over half a dozen different architecural styles from the many years.
- Grey Fields: The the east of the Noir Mountains located in northern Courbonnais there stands a vast industrial complex stretching over kilometers. Defended by the Dread Guard itself and an entire fleet of aerial warships this is the center of Courbonnais industrial capability. Throughout the day trains and airships move workers into and out of the vast track of factories and workshops. Plans are constantly being drawn up to expand it ever outwards allowing it to produce ever more industrial and military goods.
- Port Vunabid: In the west of the country Port Vunabid is the largest military port situated at the head of the Marel River
- Port Bourdiex: Situated in the south at the head of the Durant River it is the largest trading port in the country.

History:
The Dominion of Courbonnais can trace it's roots back for thousands of years to the city states of the Courbonnais region when they warred, traded, and generally interacted mostly amongst themselves caring little for the outside world. The expansive region with large amounts of good arable land, a significant population, and moderate resources stood independent aside from various alliances the city states struck between one another for centuries. This organized chaos lasted for quite some time until a new empire began to be forged on the peninsula to the east.

The twin cities of Avencass and Lavendass were the first to fall to the Alduan Empire the often seasonal armies of Courbonnais could not match the professional heavy infantry in the field and the superb engineers of Alduas constructed powerful siege weapons to batter down the gates of the walled Courbonnain cities. The natural infighting of the region only accelerated the conquest as no alliance could be forged until most of the region was within their grasp. By then they still could not halt the inexorable conquest. Seemingly daily cities fell either to diplomacy or warfare surrendering to the power and wealth that was the ever growing Alduan Empire. Over the course of nearly 50 years the entire region was conquered and pacified.

The pacification process never really took solid hold of the region though. The Emperor of Alduas forever had to keep his eyes on the region and his armies ready to march against any rebellions. The Emperor tried to incentivize turning on the more disloyal elements over the decades and centuries but neither the peasantry nor the nobility had interest in supporting the Empire. In time they went from trying to reward those who would aid them to punishing everyone. Taxes were larger, more and more men were levied to fill the armies, and every resource that could be was stripped from the region. This only further engendered displeasure with the Empire and made the people incite other regions to fight back where they could. Open rebellion was rare, it was always the minorest of cuts to bleed the empire a little.

Eventually the Empire decided a foreign enemy was necessary to tie together the various expanses of the empire. To the north into the great plains and steppes lived the horse lords, there had been minor forays against them but the superior cavalry had dissuaded any serious attempts at conquest thus far. With Velos and her sister cities bleeding the Empire more as the decades passed and encouraging other regions to fight back they were becoming a larger and larger issue as years passed and the empire grew fat and stagnant on it's past successes. A massive invasion was launched against the horse lords they pushed in all the way to the first river of the great plains defeating several hordes at great cost. There though things changed, the native Courbonnain auxiliaries wished to return home. The general of the army threatened to kill them all though and kept them advancing. At the river during a massive crossing the horse lords launched a counter attack, as the Alduan soldiers tried to rally the Courbonnain auxiliaries struck from behind trapping the Alduan forces in the river and on it's banks where the horse lords and Courbonnain men cut them apart.

It was here a minor alliance was struck and the seeding of the largest rebellion in the history of the Empire took place. Together the horse lords and the Courbonnain struck south cleansing the Alduan presence from the plains and Velos lead a union of cities in raising new armies and their flags in open revolt. When the Alduan forces began to lose ground every city and every region seemed to come together with the simple idea of crushing Alduas. With victory eventually assured Velos began to act to forge the future of the Dominion.

The then ruler of Velos declared himself first king of Velos, High King Barrabois married off his three sons to other major cities and secured alliances through diplomacy and struck out with their combined army to secure everything between the Marel and Durant rivers in effect giving him the core of Courbonnais. From there he began the expansion almost immediatly all of Courbonnais was under his thumb. Alduas had not even been razed yet when High King Barrabois invaded Molitan to the west. With much of Molitan's forces to the east fighting in the Alduan homeland it was largely a swift conquest though to this day there is still a region which holds out at the Millas river delta.

Barrabois was extremely opportunistic and emboldened by the immediate successes even if forces were bogged down to the east now and the offensive there stalled. All Courbonnais cities not directly controlled by Velos or tied by marriage were brought militarily under the power of Velos before the armies swept east and north. Three-fourths of Bardosia was conquered and occupied before Courbonnais struck north at the horse lords in a betrayal they have still not forgiven. Gains were made at first but then stalled. Alduas had been razed but a new empire now stood across much of the land it once held. This did allow the land to one day recover though and is now a part of the alliances that opposed the Dominion's further expanse.

For over a thousand years now the Dominion of Courbonnais has now stood though has never gained much land since the days of early conquests. As a result of this the Dominion has been forced to change with the times, always looking for that next edge over it's enemies. It's greatest being the horse lords to the north though to the south The Cadius Hegemony has blocked one of the greatest chances the Dominion had for expansion out into the sea causing an ever growing rivalry.

Over the centuries the Dominion has changed using it's military power to score victories were it could and using politics to utilize them. There are no more High Kings, the Emperor stands above all men with his many councils and advisers. In more recent years diplomacy and trade have become ever larger and important tools for them to use. This has lead to the rise of the merchant class growing ever more important in the nation. In recent years the growing industry has become a key to Dominion power which has made the merchants ever more powerful and lead to a swift rise of power for scientists and captains of industry. Embracing industry so directly shows the strength that the Dominion has always shown over the centuries in that it adapts quickly to the changing world and does what it can to cause the world to change in their favor.

- International Relations:
- - The Commonwealth of Freeport States: Trade partner
- - The Solaran Administration: Trade partner/Military Alliance
- - The Caidius Hegemony: Long time enemies.
- - The Torvari Federation: Allies of enemies

Notes:
- Major natural resources: Food, grains and cattle, soft wood, bauxite, copper, tungsten, silver.
- Minor natural resources: Iron, coal, oil, clay, ocean and fresh water fish, tin, natural gas
- Exports: Foodstuffs, machine goods, naval ships, aluminum, tungsten, copper, wine, pharmaceutical goods.
- Imports: Iron, steel, coal, oil, helium, gold,

Blitzkrieg said
Possibly, what were you thinking? Will you be a naval nation?Sounds good, but on what premise? Religious differences? Trade competition?

Not sure yet. Perhaps imperialistic disagreements but that is likely a newer thing.

urukhai said
With pleasure, perhaps the ruler tie? If that is alright with you.

Sounds good.

Omega said
Not sure yet. Perhaps imperialistic disagreements but that is likely a newer thing.

How about we have had general disagreements for as long as anyone remembers? Due to geography, trade competition, and conflict of interest.

Call me interested, nation sheet on the way.

Blitzkrieg said
How about we have had general disagreements for as long as anyone remembers? Due to geography, trade competition, and conflict of interest.

That works since we just have that see separating our land claims so we have constantly had little scuffles here and there like England and France. It is kind of funny that I am trying to find a name for my elite unit since I had planned to use Iron Guard but you are using that.

Omega said
That works since we just have that see separating our land claims so we have constantly had little scuffles here and there like England and France. It is kind of funny that I am trying to find a name for my elite unit since I had planned to use Iron Guard but you are using that.

Name came upon me randomly! HA!

@Skylar

Welcome aboard! Can't wait to see what you produce!

@Omega
Will be updating the map shortly with your nation.

Keep up the great work everyone! Ahhh nation making, great fun that takes forever to complete!

Ok, I've updated part of my cs. I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I have some things I need to get done tonight.

by the way, you say this will be diesel/steampunk. Just how far are we going with this? Are we talking like steampunk or clockwark warmachines like small mechs and thick battle armor with clockwork enhancing strength or what?

More like "Walking Tanks" than actual mechs in my opinion. Sort of like this:



But if you can find a way to make "clockwork enhancing strength suits" balanced, then I'm open to the idea at least. Maybe small scale specialized units can use them?

Also I added your nation to the map, Omega

^^ Second the question.
Edit-
Beat me by seconds....And works for me.

still working though I might finish up soon (NS is on original post on first page.)

My flag turned out nicely if I must say so myself. I wanted to work white in there somewhere but could not get it to work well.

Nahh, it looks great Omega! If only I had teh skillz..... XD Anyway, I'm just gathering up my resources for my nation. Everyone, take your time making your nation sheets, of course. As good as this is shaping up to be, there isn't any rush.

-UPDATE-

Made a little update on my NS. If anyone's having issues on what one might look like, you can use mine as an example. Granted it's not even completed! XD But just putting this out there in case anyone needs any help. Once everyone has their NS done, I'll link them in the first post for easy access and use the actual names of the nations instead of usernames.

I think I may have gotten the scale wrong. is it just straight:

Individual 1-2-3-4-5 State

or is it,

Individual 1-2-3-4-5--5-4-3-2-1 State

Okay, let's say I want to be more State than Individual. So I would do this

Individual ----5 State

1 is the most extreme on the left

5 is the most extreme on the right

Does that help?