Grenopia

Curled up tight in the nook between Tramuntana’s brittle dregs and the rest of the known world, the Palindrome of Grenopia (or Koaniri) is a peaceful and peaceable parliamentary republic which forms the northeastern extremity of the continent Wasari. The country is undeniably most famous for the contrast between its impressive land area and less impressive population—29 million or so says the census.

Koaniri’s long linguistic history and unique political philosophies have meant the development of an unapologetically complex glossary of terms and phrases relating to government, handily compiled in ‘Ileomm’s Unapologetically Complex Glossary of Terms and Phrases Relating to Government’. As such, the republic consists of many ‘palindromic parts’, first-level administrative divisions akin to states, which in turn are composed of ‘sub-palindromic parts’. While palindromic parts like Mádá provide critical public services for the Grenopian people, sub-palindromic parts like Mádá-575 put their mighty power to good use by taking out the bins. Of course, all palindromic parts exist underneath the authority of the federal government, which is today led by Ńekapi Moak and Taire Tīlak of the Pinecone Party–Inestimable Pebbles Revival Party coalition. Moak and Tīlak are jointly responsible to the 212-seat lower house of Grenopia’s federal parliament, the Pebble Pool.

The land was originally populated through migrations moving north. These journeys continued to the east, explaining the common genetic heritage many Grenopians share with the Sisi people of modern-day Svalbard. Among those who remained in what is now Grenopia, the southern city-states Tan and Ajromm gradually emerged as premier forces before giving way to their bureaucratic descendant Cotajromm, which outpoliticked its forebears and immediately began to commission its own settlements throughout the south, or ‘floor’, of the land. For all its power, however, Cotajromm was frequently irked by the ability of nearby Trondelang to check the flow of trade in northeastern Wasari. War came and went, came and went, came and went.

Cotajromm’s network of cities combined with the Titelians and other diverse groups in the less obviously hospitable far north to produce the Palindromic Kingdom of Grenopia in 1835. By 1878, the monarchy had spun itself off into redundancy through horrific financial mismanagement; the country became a parliamentary republic whose institutions were a slight improvement on the preceding model. President Turenett easily wriggled free of the constitution's intended functions by the start of the War of the Third Coalition in 1913.

One war: winnable.

Two wars: much less winnable.

The autocracy could not hope to withstand a Svalbardian drubbing in the Nomid War of 1922–1924. The result? In 1930, what was left of the country adopted its modern, democratic constitution—then witnessed the birth of the Pinecone Party, a go-getting, metaphor-loving, left-ish outfit that has since exercised utter hegemony over national politics despite (and paradoxically because of) a tendency towards internal bust-ups between its Tan and Ajromm flanks. Unproductive, embarrassing attempts at moral profundity abound in the world of the Pinecone elite, but no matter. Nuclear proliferation overseas, parallel voting, brazen, shameless gerrymandering, an awesome philosophical advantage and a minced-up opposition with internal drama aplenty are more than enough to keep electoral defeat at arm’s-length. In perpetuity. Forever.

Over the past twenty years, developed Grenopia has staked a new space in international relations as the headquarters of the World Union and a host of reliably cerebral summits for policy wonks. By upholding very close relationships with its less militarily modest Union partners, the country has secured its citizens' safety at a time of relative drama and uncertainty for northern Wasari. This has come at the cost of Khacat Tur’s total destruction, but things can only get better.

Citizens tend to enjoy eating bread long into the night. Stereotypically.

OOC: The overview factbook is coming soon. Grenopia is very much its own country divorced from the real world. However, credit to some historians of Italy (like John Foot) for inspiring part of the description of the Pinecone Party as being particularly moralistic, hegemonic and factional, producing very short-lived heads of government.