Flag (one of these, I can’t choose):
Nation Name (long): Sacred Order of Castralanza
Nation Name (short): Castralanza
Motto: “Inventi sumus.”
National Animal: Raven
National Flower/Plant: Bluebell
National Anthem: “From the Dark We Shall Rise”
Capitol: Castralanza
Largest City: Castralanza
Demonym: Castralazan
Language: Norvian
Species: 53% Cava, 36% Human, 5% Elf, 3% Half-Elf, 1% Dwarf, 1% Other
Population: 2,167,391
Government type: Constitutional Monarchy
Leader(s): Grand Master Archimede Scaramella
Prime Minister Fabrizio Mossa
Legislature: The Great Parliament
Formation: Independence from Celanora in 1500
Total GDP: 97,532,595,000
GDP per capita: 45,000
Currency: Castralanza Aureo
Calling Code: +122
ISO 3166 code: CZA, CZ
Internet TLD: .cz
Map:
(I’m sorry, Discourse doesn’t allow .xcf files.
Historical Summary: Legio IV Lancia Solare was a legion of the great Celanoran Empire. This legion was one of the bigger and more accomplished legions of the time. When conflict was less widespread in Celanora, the Emperor of the time granted the legion land along a major river. Here is where a new city was founded, Contritum. This city was founded in 821 CE and quickly grew and developed a large population due to the fertility of the land possessed by the legion. The area maintained a large military presence, used mainly for defending against its neighboring states, so it was always somewhat autonomous, while still being a part of the bigger empire. This state stayed loyal to the empire throughout the Volscine Revolts and the wars with Tretrid, but eventually went against their own overlords in 1500 when their weakness became evident. The general who led the nation against Celanora became the first leader of the independent nation, now named Castralanza, after the city on which it was founded.
After gaining independence, Castralanza entered an age of growth and prosperity, since they were no longer bound by a higher power, but this soon changed. Famine struck the nation in 1621, leaving the nation starving and desperate for food. They ended up sending out their forces to pillage bordering cities for any scraps of food they could lay their hands on. This left the nation solely undefended and vulnerable to outside invaders. The nation was raided and attacked non-stop in this time period, the nation left devastated and poor, struggling just to get by. The famine left in 1629, but kept coming back, each time worse than the last. Eventually, the citizens of the nation finally were able to get access to food and grow their own crops again and in 1701 the nation was finally back on its feet. These famines killed half of the already small population of Castralanza, leaving the nation crippled for decades to come.
Eventually the nation found itself in a time of economic boom. Since they no longer had to worry about a starving populace, they could more effectively focus on trade and foreign diplomacy. The nation was now more effectively able to defend themselves, which led to less attacks by foreign powers. The nation also got riches by leasing out their own skilled mercenaries.
The nation seemed to be doing well, until 1809, when the citizens of Castralanza started to grow uneasy with the king. The king up until now had been killing anyone who opposed or spoke bad about him, along with censoring anyone who dared to speak out against these murders. This all came to a head when a group of citizens went into the palace and shot the king dead. This caused great panic in the nobility as they scrambled to bring the king’s heir to the throne. The new king was no older than nine, so he was assigned a regent to rule the state before he was old enough to. In this time of great fear, the regent ended up coming to an agreement with the people. The nation therefore would be a democracy, with the king only being a figurehead. This was done to ensure the king kept his life unlike his father and would be safe. The rest of the 1800s was filled with the nation learning how to deal with the newfound democracy, with much civil unrest between the nobles and average citizens.
In the modern day, Castralanza has decided to stay neutral in most Novaris and Urth affairs in general. During the Great War, instead of fighting, they decided to strengthen their military so that they could defend in case there were any forces that wanted to try their hand at taking Castralanzan land. However, when it came to the Novaran Cold War, the nation decided to side themselves with Volscina, opposed to Tretrid. When the Volscine Civil War broke out, Castralanza supported them with supplies and troops, trying to keep Novaris in Volscine hands in the future. After the war had ended, Castralanza helped rebuild Volscina in any way they could, hoping to gain their favor. Today, Castralanza is a constitutional monarchy with a monarch figurehead and a prime minister. They align themselves with Volscina in hopes that one day they will rule over Novaris. The nation follows a type of the Lucerism religion, worshiping the moon rather than the sun, or in some cases, the two together.