Zugzwang — Roleplayer Guild

Name of Nation: Kingdom of Venbrad (Color Blue)
Government: Elective Monarchy

Economy: The gilded academic philosophies on matters pecuniary are in as fluctuating a state as any other theory in these tumultuous intellectual times, and the Venbradians, as usual, are quick to adopt the newest credible theories. As such, broad changes enabled by the devastation wrought by the civil war, the King has begun shifting his policies away from the static mercantilist creeds and towards the new fashions of “let-do capitalism”. With the manufacturing sector recovering from the civil war, protective tariffs are being lowered, and regulations on buying and selling goods are being paired away. With the abolition of serfdom deep in history, yeomen farmers make up the majority of the rural population, small farmers focusing mostly on subsistence and forestry, reaping the benefits of the deep Venbradian forests. With the climate too cold to grow the truly lucrative cash crops that have been fueling this new industrial boom, the kingdom of Venbrad relies on its mineral wealth and manufactured goods to fuel its expanding industrial base.

Military: With the ascension of General Fairfax to Army Commander in Chief, and with the aftereffects of the Civil War still keenly being felt, the Army has become the premier focus of the Kingdom’s defense spending. The Civil War taught hard lessons, lessons that are refined and processed every day as the blocks of blue-and-grey maneuver, preparing for hypothetical future conflicts that threaten the crown. The attack has become the fetish of the Generals, “Fairfaxian” tactics focusing on her belief in fire-and-advance, charges with bayonets fixed, and skillful use of cannon. Artillery has become the favorite of the commanders, defilade fire and canister replacing the cavalry charges and lances of the past. In accordance with the Treaty of Newmede, armies are de jure led by members of the nobility, but the reforms have left true command in the hands of the Chiefs of Staff, who can bring matters to the attention of the Commander in Chief, a power which keeps their hold over armies solid.

Description of Culture: Venbrad is a land which prizes the individual, and their triumphs. Competition is highly valued, their religion deems success as holy, ordained and permitted by a higher power. Might does not make right, but is right retroactively. Wealth is virtuous; charity is expected; hostile dealings with enemies acceptable. The nation still feels the wounds of their civil war, but is more united than ever behind their government and their teenage king, unified in spirit and will. Hero worship is common, and the new press media fan the flames of idealizing the great figures of the nation. Sexes are seen as equal, but tradition expects women and men to stick to their own traditional spheres beyond the extraordinary. Nuclear families are the basis of the society, and diversion from this structure more than diversion from societal gender expectations is met with disgust. After the civil war and the rapid decrease in population, large families are prized. Military tradition is newly emphasized, soldiering has become an avenue to status, if not wealth. The new government is classically liberal and becoming more so, the trend having started with this new system of popularly elected, life-serving monarchs.

History: The kingdom of Venbrad is old, stretching far back into the mists of history hundreds of years in one form or another. A band of united tribes which formed a nation, it existed as a player, major or minor, on the world stage throughout the centuries. Then, catching the world by complete surprise, a civil war broke out, one that would last for four years and utterly devastate the nation. Tensions over taxation and the imprisonment of a popular opposition noble, fueled by decades of frustration at an oppressive and absolutist monarchy, soldiers led by a firebrand military mind fed up with nobility threatening the nation’s defense with their incompetence, led to a catastrophic war fought over the means of government and the role of the individual within the state, the ideas of individualism of the Venbradians not meshing with the despotic rule of an increasingly senile king who refused to die.
The war could have lasted longer, Fairfax’s rebels only having recently gained an upper hand on the Royalist troops, but the King died. In his place, the interim ruler, his son, sued for peace, and Fairfax agreed. She sat down with the nobles and drafted a constitution, one which placed absolute power in the hands of an individual, elected by the people and serving for life, to restore order to the newly-nationalistic nation. The nobility demanded Fairfax not offer herself as a candidate. Fairfax demanded reforms in the military. The grandson of the king, a precocious, handsome and well-spoken youth took the crown, an appeasement between the two warring factions that could be loved by the people.

Five years into the reign of King Geoffrey II, the Kingdom rebuilds and thrives, made lean and ambitious after its near-death experience, ready to take its near-forgotten place as a major member of the world community.
 
Territory: A moderately small pocket on the north-west coast, mediocre soil and good mineral deposits. Highly forested, which in the past proved difficult and now is a precious commodity.
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