The Empire of Apfeldonia



Apfeldonia, officially the Empire of Apfeldonia, is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy in northern Rosecetta. It consists of several provinces and over-seas colonies. It's capital and largest city is Lipton. It is a large country and its climate depends on the area one is in. Apfeldonia is a major power and a historical leader in economics, military, science, culture, and influence.

Etymology
The name Apfeldonia comes from the Apfeldites, the main ethnic group in the country, so it translates into "land of the Apfeldites". The term's first documented use was in the foundation speech by King Rutgar I, in which he refers to the country as the nation for the Apfeldites, or Apfeldonia.

Early History
The area of modern Apfeldonia had been settled by humans before pre-historic times. Evidence of this is found throughout the country in several sites, such as the Ombergard caves in the Schulfsrum Mountains that depict huge sets of cave paintings, the largest collection in the nation in addition to the archaelogical discoveries in the Giesen Pass at the break between the Shulfsrum Mountains and the Solmbach Mountains in Ostcelestria. Evidence suggests that the people living in the area at this time where the ancestors of the modern Schulfen ethnic group. They are thought to have lived in a loose tribal confederation, competing for land and resources. The Apfeldites migrating from the Sea of Grass and crossed the Schulfsrum mountains at what is believed to be Giesen Pass while following the Uiop river through to what is today, Lahn. The Apfeldite nomads followed through the Braunfels Valley from the Sibdon Plateau into the Solms Valley in Lahn where they settled down and expanded rapidly. The Apfeldites used their technological advantages to push the ancient Schulfens back and out of their home land and finally expelling them into the northern Shulfsrum mountains. This allowed for the Apfeldites to conquer and settle most of southern Apfeldonia, while the Schulfens were driven north and into their current position.

Pre-Unification
Both the conquering Apfeldites and the Schulfens soon built larger settlements than just villages. Even so much so that two great empires arose out of these pocketed populations. The Lerz empire in northern Erstiks, and the Trident empire where the ruins of their great naval cities can be found near the Sunshore in Verbania. These two empires competed constantly, using an array of new technology. Meanwhile various states played off these empires, creating a greatly fractured land in the midsts of the wars. However the Trident would fall to a coalition of minor states and fall into the dust of history. The Lerz would continue to slowly decay until a massive tsunami wiped their capital city into the sea. As the two great empires came and w

ent, their white marble pillars, bronze weapons, and great feats of architecture were soon replaced with the stone, iron, and power of the Apfeldonian middle ages.

Unification
Soon, even more fractured states arose out of the ashes of the old empires, one of these was the Kingdom of Lahn, in which one of their kings, King Rutgar, would launch a series of grand military campaigns and found the Empire of Apfeldonia. It's recorded that Rutgar saw a vision while starring into an apple, the vision of a united nation of Apfeldites, weather the story is truth or fiction, it certainly stands that Rutgar would acheive this goal and it would also prove that he was even more ambitious than thought, as he conquered Nersailles, the north, and non-Apfeldite lands aswell. In 1054 Rutgar, the new king of Lahn, moved his capital from the traditional Solms Valley to a grassy flat near the Uiop river. This seemingly unremarkable location would be the site of Lipton, his grand fortress, in which he would launch years of war that would forge an empire. Striking at the neighbouring state of Goldwind and conquering their "inpenetrable" castle, Rutgar started multiple wars of unification. He would later move on to Summerfield, resulting later into the modern provinces of Lahn, Verbania, Custach, Oschtauch, Erstiks, Nersailles, and Freiheit, as well as Ostcelestria.

Post-Unification
Several kings after Rutgar continued to expand the empire even more. During this time, the new nation lived in relative peace, with not much of note happening, however several important and great figures of Apfeldonian history would arise out of this era.

The Civil War
Main Article *

During the reign of Richard I, most of the northern lords under the leadership of the Schwartz family, would declare an independant Shulfen nation from the empire. This sparked a costly, long, and bloody civil war that would affect Apfeldonian history forever. There is still a great deal of pain about this event in modern Apfeldonia and it is one of the key stones in the nations long history. It is also known as "The war of the Golden City" 

The Age of Innovation
After the civil war, Apfeldonia hit a break through in all fields of research, new technology, new wealth, new advances in everything boomed. This would lead to Apfeldonia's place as a major power, because at the time Apfeldonia founded pre-cursors to many parts of modern technology. During this time Apfeldonia also saw an increase in colonization, and even though the leaders of this time frame are not regarded as some of the best, their legacy stands within the workings of the modern state.

The Beagelton Wars
In the 1820's a genius, young, cryptic, and enthusiastic officer in the Apfeldonian army, staged a nation wide revolution. His name was Francis Beagelton, and he would shape the history of the country forever. His revolution initially had a rocky start, his first few military battles were bad defeats and he soon had little hope for victory. Soon his luck began to change, he took a bigger part of control over his forces in battle, often leading regiments himself on horseback, his military genius began to show and he quickly crushed the royal army at every turn. His chance of success increased dramatically, and as a result, the scared government of Apfledonia issued him an invader, not a rebel, and therefor legitimized his cause in order to avoid losing face incase of defeat. This move could have been the biggiest of their blunders, as it enabled foreign powers to recognize Beageltons army as its own nation, letting them join in and support him, none did however. Soon all that remianed of the royal government was Lipton and its 7-tiered fortress (built up from Rutgars) and rag-tag militia groups in the countryside. On what was to be the final assault on Lipton, inches from victory, Beagelton was found dead in his tent, the illness that he had been complaining of finally got t

o him. His army demoralized gave up arms and marched home, the rebellion and the war were over in moments.

The Imperial Age
After the embrassingly close defeat at the hands of Beagelton, the nation had reform in just about everything, military, economics, industry, the royal family, colonies, etc.. it went on a series of military conquest, most in the colonies, several key figures in Apfeldonian history would arise out of this era.

The Great War
In recent history, following the death of the queen, King William would stumble and fumble the nations politics, military, finances, and foreign relations. This lead to a large amount of smaller nations entering coalitions against Apfeldonia, mostly due to colonial expansion. This lead to a massive war, where sections of the country would be ravaged, Lipton bombed multiple times, and an economical crisis, luckly when king William died, his son, King Travis III took the throne and with the help of the new parliament, won the war.

Geography
Apfeldonia is in northern and eastern Rosecetta and is one of the largest countries in the world. Elevations range from the Shulfsrum mountains to the marshes of Nersailles. The largest river is the Uiop, which runs from the Breezebay or "the mouth of the lion" through Erstiks, Oschtauch, Custach, Lahn, and out into the bay of Verbania. The land is split up into  north and south, with Nersailles being the exception. The south features rolling hills, lowlands, and meadows. The north is full of thick forest, mountains, and highlands. In verbania the geography is a bit more arid being chapral and medite rranean, and in Nersailles are marshes and deltas.

Climate
The climate of Apfeldonia depends on where you are at, the south is home to temperate summers and winters, the north is home to freezing winter conditions. The coast of Verbania enjoys warm summers and very mild winters, yet again mimicing that of mediterranean areas.

Politics
Apfeldonia is a constitutional-monarchy ruled over by a king and parliament. Within Apfeldonian politics, the king's power is limited by parliament, which is made up of members elected from every province. These members will elect a Prime Minister whom works with the king to delegate his share of power to work with that of parliament's. Parliament members also vote on issues and other matters of state. There are several political parties within Apfeldonia that seek to get seats within parliament.

Provinces
A province is defined as a homeland territory that is not a colonial and therefor recieves special rights to features within the government.

The list of official provinces of Apfeldonia Lahn

Verbania

Oschtauch

Nersailles

Custach

Erstiks

Ostcelestria

Freiheit

Shulfsrum

Foreign Relations
Apfeldonia has taken a neutral policy or to be more defined a "nationalistic" policy for the affairs of the world. In basis, Apfeldonia has made it clear that in a international affair, it will be unlikely to support a "side" but rather support its own goals and wishes, this may or may not be shared by a "side" and so therefor Apfeldonia is likely to choose whichever it has goals shared with or be a third party in the issue.

Military
The Apfeldonian armed forces are split into three sections, The Royal Army, The Apfeldonian Navy, and the Apfeldonian Air force. These three branches are split further in each of their catagories and host an array of sections, branches, and divisions. The Apfeldonian military is one of the strongest in the world and Apfeldonia is a leader in military technology and quality.

Economy
Apfeldonia is a leading economic power within the world. It is one of the largest exporters of lumber, food, metals, precious minerals, and manufactured products. Its main import is glass. Most of all the nations lumber and all the nations metals, minerals, and other rock based items are from the north. The Shulfsrum mountains supply the nation with iron, copper, tin, silver, coal, gold and most of the mineral items. Oustach produces the most lumber in the nation. The south is home to manufacturing and food yield with farmlands making up a large percentage of the south and fisheries off the coastline.

Infrastructure 

The infrastructure of Apfeldonia is well organized and smooth running. The nation has a love for modern trains, and the old imperial railways that connect every province to Lipton have been improved, featuring modern transportation methods. In addition highways have been built but are not as popular as the railways. Traditional roadways are still an option and are used with casual and short distance travel. Every railway is connected to the capitals of each province, therefor one could ride a train from any province and still reach Lipton or any other province.