by Max Barry

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History of Pax Aurea III: The Early Modern Era

The Aurean Reformation and the Birth of the Lutheran Universalist Church (1523)

The Late Middle Age was dominated by increased political tensions with the Holy See of Rome. The Aurean Republic was for most parts Catholic, yet the Pontificate's authority was not as strong here as the popes would have preferred. Doctrinal differences and deviations from orthodoxy happened, and the Aureans resisted the attempt of the Holy Office to begin inquisitorial processes against its citizens. All this gave birth to a situation ripe for seismic religious shift, and that shift came with Martin Luther's Reformation.

Although the Reformation began in Germany, its ripples were felt far and wide. In Port Aureus, one Sister Lucia of Callabria -- a nun, a poetess, an author of many a theological treatise -- openly declared her support for Luther in 1522, drawing a lengthy list of disagreements with the Catholic church and its doctrine. She was inspired by the English canoness and mystic, Juliana of Norwich, who had lived a hundred years earlier, and whose revelations of a divine love had deeply moved the deternimed Aurean nun. Peter Waldo, the instigator of the Waldensians sect, was also among her "spiritual mentors". Together with her confessor, Brother Mattheus Visberthus, she preached of a new and reformed church, free of the supremacy of the Roman see, and with a promise of apokatasthasis, the ultimate salvation of all souls.

The charismatic sermons of Sister Lucia drew thousands of Aureans into the Cathedral of St Juliana in Port Aureus that the reformist had chosen for her headquarters. This provoked an angry reply from Rome, and the Aurean clergy summoned a council to decide what to do. Sister Lucia was questioned by the council, and her teachings made a lasting impression to the majority of the present bishops and theologists -- so lasting, in fact, that in 1523 the council threw its support behind Lucia, much to the outrage of Rome. The council immediately continued its work to form the Articles of the Reformed Faith, with Lucia playing a key part in the process. The outcome of this council was the formation of the Aurean Lutheran Universalist Church.

Not all Catholics agreed. A schism broke the Aurean church with its 1500-years-long tradition into half, with the other half declaring its loyalty to Rome, the other to the newly drafted Articles. Both sides elected their own archbishop. Rome declared the Lutheran Universalists heretics and excommunicated them. Despite the politics, on the ground level, the quakes were not so drastics. The Aurean Republic had not been religiously homogenous in any case, and most of the parishes continued as either Lutheran or Catholic. Here and there, squabbles concerning the use of churches or cathedrals ensued: which side would claim the shrine for itself? The Senate intervened to prevent rioting, forming a Council of Churches with representatives from both denominations to reach a compromise through negotiations instead of use of force. The good news was that both Lutheran and Catholic Aureans tended to promote pacifistic values in their theological principles. This prevented most of the skirmished and bloodshed -- for the time being.

The Second Civil War and the Spanish Intervention (1546–1553)

For a few years, things remained relatively peaceful in the Republic, despite the religious storms that blew through it and caused strife and rebellion in the continental Europe. Hopes were high when the Council of Trent was called in 1545 to discuss with the criticism against the Catholic church. Many Aureans hoped that the Council would reach an agreement and institute reforms under the guidance of the Holy See, so that the schism between Lutherans and Catholics would not remain permanent. This sentiment was shared by most Catholics and Lutherans alike.

However, they would soon be disappointed. Although some concessions were made by the Council, rather than seeking compromise, it sparked the Catholic Counterreformation. A special order of agents was established by the Papal See: Ordo Sanctissimus Restitutione Aureae, the Most Holy Order for the Restoration of the Aurean People. Composed of mostly Jesuits and Dominican friars, it began its clandestine operations in the Aurean Isles and colonies in 1546, establishing a revolutionary network with the more zealous Catholics of the country. Its aim was to overthrow the current Senate, gain control of the Aurean legions, and force the Lutheran heretics to acknowledge the only true faith, or be expelled from the Republic.

The insidious plot was put to action in 1548, when several Catholic generals and Senators declared a coup d'้tat in Pacifica. Their infiltrators struck simultaneously in multiple locations, assassinating or capturing a number of Senators, high-ranking officials and military commanders, and a number of Lutheran clergymen. Sister Lucia was among the captured. Despite careful planning, many parts of the plans failed, and the overall strategy backfired when 46 Senators, along with the Lutheran Consul Brutus Marbellus, fled the capital and emerged again in Port Aureus, gaining support from many an Aurean stunned by the rebellion. The Second Aurean Civil War had thus begun. It is also known as the Catholic-Lutheran War or the War of Crosses (sometimes the Double-Cross War).

In Pacifica, a new Catholic Senate was gathered, and an inquisitorial tribunal founded to deal with the heresiarchs of the Lutheran Universalists. Sister Lucia was the first to face the tribunal's accusations. As she refused to recant her teachings, she was condemned to death and burned at a stake in the middle of the Great Forum.

This move shocked almost all Catholics as well, and the Ordo soon realized it was fighting a losing battle. In 1550, the legions of Consul Marbellus defeated their enemy at the Battle of Monfarrus Hill near Pacifica. Most of the leaders of the revolution boarded ships and fled, and the lawful Senate was once again sitting in the capital. To prevent the continuation of the cycle of bloodshed between Aureans, Marbellus issued an edict of pardon to most Catholics who had cooperated with the revolutionaries. A few exceptions were made, especially with those who had collaborated with the dreaded inquisitorial tribunal.

The brutality of the revolution had shaken the devout Catholics of the country, and most harboured deep resentment towards the Holy See for generations. But an even bigger loss to Pope Julius III was the new schism: the formation of the Aurean Catholic Church (as opposed to the Roman Catholic Church in the Aurean Republic). This new denomination kept most of the Catholic doctrines, but denied the authority of the Pope of Rome, instead of convening to elect a pope of their own (a move that resulted in yet another furious bull of excommunication from Rome). There were now three major Christian denominations in the country, and their leaders gathered together to declare their intentions for peace and friendly coexistence, as the alternative would be "blood and grief and malevolence not fit for a Christian person".

Seeing that the momentum was slipping between their fingers, the revolutionaries sought assistance from the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V. A great armada was thus assembled, and it set sails for the Aurean Isles in 1552 to put an end to the reformation for once and for all. As negotiations for a truce failed, every floating ship and boat was scrambled to defend the Republic from this invasion. A cataclysmic battle was fought in the Procella Strait, with all creeds and faiths of the Republic fighting side by side against the Spanish galleons. In the end, the cunning knowledge of the treacherous waters brought the victory to the Aurean admirals. The Spanish had to abandon their plans to invade the isles, and peace accords were signed in 1553. Emperor Charles visited Pacifica to meet with Consul Marbellus, and it is rumoured he grumbled: "Let them have these islands, then, it has become quite clear that either God or the Devil is on their side, and I don't have any desire to do battle against either one of them."

In the continental Europe, the great religious wars were just about to begin; but in the Aurean Republic, the crisis had passed. The bitter war had only increased the Aureans devotion to peace, and as the religious landscape was now more diverse than ever before, they had little option but to tolerate each others. Some more fervent Catholics emigrated away, but most stayed, and continued to enrich the Aurean culture with their input.

The "Second Renaissance": The Aurean Enlightenment (1554–1790)

The discovery of new lands and cultures had a profound effect on the mindset of the Aurean scholars, and the reaffirmed tolerant stance towards diverse religious and philosophical doctrines formed a fertile ground for ground-breaking advances on the academic and artistic spheres. The Aurean Republic emerged from the bloody strife in what has become known as the "Second Renaissance".

Individuality, individual thought, and reason dominated the ideas of this era. Academies and universities, in their attempt to avoid more embittered doctrinal feuds, encouraged studies and theories of all fields. Every now and then, new and exciting discoveries were made, and the ancient Greco-Roman explanations of natural physics had to make way for more modern theories -- an evolutionary process that wasn't always painless for the great scholarly minds.

The Aurean Age of Enlightenment begin, it is often said, with one man: Julius Viscenius Crux, who is perhaps better known by his nickname Scriptorius. He was a Doctor of Astronomy at the Great Academy of Pacifica, but also an enthusiast polymath, and skilled in chemistry, music, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy. In 1588, Scriptorius stated his claim that no scientific fact should be taken for granted, but methodically and empirically tested. In his time, he was vilified by many a learned man, who were horrified by his ruthlessly effective dismantling of the long-accepted "truths" of Galen, Aristotle, and other natural philosophers of the old. But Scriptorius's scientific method triumphed, despite the opposition, and a new era in scientific research and thought had begun.

As international commerce flourished and Aurean colonies grew, more and more skilled bureaucrats were required to keep the cogs rotating smoothly. This, along with the strong emphasis on academic education, lead to a significant increase in numbers of female students. Many academies had allowed women to enter their halls since their foundation, but at the beginning of the 17th century, it became more and more commonplace to encounter women in high political and economic offices.

Earlier, all this had been possible for mostly people of higher social ranks -- after all, schooling was expensive. As the need for skilled civil servants grew, a state-run public school system was proposed to replace the church(es)-run Plebeian schools and the original state-sponsored scriptoriums. This plan was eagerly supported and finally executed by Consul Asclepius Flumentius in 1598. In these "Flumentine schools", children were taught the principles of Latin, mathematics, music, history, philosophy, and natural sciences. Flumentius also saw it necessary to promote religious tolerance among the masses, so Aurean schools were among the very first that offered a secular point-of-view to the different religious traditions living side by side in the Republic. Flumentine schools were free for the first four grades. Further education was available for fees or special scholarships for gifted young students.

The economic growth and the generally curious, science-oriented atmosphere sowed the seeds of the later industrial revolution. New water- and steam-powered clockworks and engines were conceived during the 17th century. These made it possible to increase production quantities. The seventeenth century was an era of "early mass production" for the Aurean Republic.

Across the Seven Seas (c. 1500 – c. 1750)

After peace reigned again following the war with the Spanish and the Catholic-Lutheran disputes, the Aurean Republic was able to sail the seven seas in relative peace -- for a time. By 1553, Aurean merchants and explorers had established trade ports and colonial outposts in the Caribbeans, along the West African coast, and were making forays into the flourishing trade hubs of the Far East. So inevitably a question was raised: as the trade posts grew and were evolving into full-fledged colonies, what was the Republic to do with them?

Two major factions rose in the Senate. The Republicans urged caution. The wounds of the Spanish intervention had barely had time to begin healing. They spoke in favour of halting the Aurean plans for colonization; instead, they wanted to focus on the Aurean Isles, avoid any colonial entanglements, and instead invest in maritime trading. Their opponents, the Thalassocrats, were also eager to pour golden Aurean Marks into the merchant fleet of the Republic, but wanted to go further still. To them, it was crucial to have a continuous Aurean presence around the globe. Their countrymen had already established friendly relations with the locals, and the colony ports were growing without bloodshed -- so abandoning the previous hundred years of development would be a folly.

This was an era of eloquence and hours-long, rhetorically wondrous debates in the Senate. Finally, the two different points of view gave birth to a synthesis. From the ranks of the Republicans came into power great and noteworthy statesmen who spent their times travelling the European courts and forums and entertaining foreign dignitaries to maintain amiable and peaceful relations with the military superpowers of the time. As Consul Plaustus Honorius said: "Good foreign policy is the best defence." Meanwhile, the Thalassocrats combined forces with Aurean merchant houses and continued to fund colonization efforts. By 1600, Aureans would finally realize they were very welcome neighbours to kings of Black Africa and favoured guests in Chinese ports. This time, pacifism had paid off, and Aurean colonies were not considered a threat -- thus they were generally left alone.

Not everyone played by their rules. The Aureans were deeply abhorred by the black slave trade to the New World. Many Senators demanded that, for the sake of humanity, action should be taken. In 1599, the first recorded raid by an Aurean privateer against a slave transport ship from Africa took place. The slavers were taken captive, the slaves liberated. More surprise attacks followed. Consul Marius Glorius was in a difficult position. He despised slavery, but publicly sanctioning the acts of the privateers could seriously endanger relations with other great empires and lead to war. He choose the clandestine way: while condemning piracy in his speeches, encyclicas, and statements, he secretly supported and funded the privateer captains and aided them whenever possible. Many legends were born during the 17th century -- every Aurean knows the fabled names of Captain Neptunus, Captain Lothar Falco, and Captain "One-Eyed" Anna Salvini.

Dozens of slave ships fell prey to the fast, agile privateer galleons, and thousands of slaves were set free. Some were returned to Africa, but many chose to begin a new life among their rescuers. In Provincia Africa, a group of small islands close to the African west coast, the city of Port Africa started to grow rapidly. The libertii settled in, and proved to be diligent workers who wanted to give back to their benefactors. In decades, Port Africa had sprawled into one of the largest cities in the Republic, and was famous for its bustling port, rich bazaars, luxurious bath houses, and beautiful cathedrals and mosques.

Privateering officially came to an end in 1715, when the Senate passed legislation that outlawed it in all of its forms. Some captains who saw themselves as noble champions of freedom continued to plague slave transports, but they were -- at least on paper -- hunted by the Aurean Navy.

The Age of Sails was a golden era for Aurean shipwrights, and ship-building reached its apex. Throughout the Middle Ages, the shipwright skills inherited from the Antiquity made Aurean galleys priced around Europe; by 1700, they were among the very best of the world.

This era also saw a sharp rise in Aurean aquaculture. Better ships and equipment meant that the always-plentiful kelp was easier to gather and cultivate. In no more than a single generation, kelp and seaweed were more common in dinnertable than grains.

Stocks, Mercurian Alphabets, and Coffee (1602–1790)

The increasing trade catalyzed the expansion of the great merchant houses and trade companies. Over a dozen of these were formed during the 16th century. In 1602, a brilliant idea was born among the merchants who were frantically acquiring additional capital to fund their overseas trade: they started selling shares of their companies. Thus the Pacifican Stock Exchange was born. Similar exchanges were soon established in other major cities as well. Suddenly it was easy for a normal Aurean citizen to become part of a great business enterprise, and get rich -- or lose everything.

To make the stock exchanges operate effectively, information must flow as fast as possible. Again, necessity was the mother of invention. This one had an actual mother, though: Vergilia Porthanius, a skilled engineer and mathematician. She came from a Patrician family and had purchased a number of company shares, and wanted to be the first to know about lucrative opportunities in other ports. In 1616, she introduced an ingenious semaphore system that, in a few years, covered all of the Aurean Isles. News were distributed in a manner of minutes from Port Aureus to Aureanopolis to Pacifica and everywhere in between. Porthanius invented the "Alphabets of Mercurius" (Almer) system -- a code not unlike Morse code -- for semaphore communication. The fast transmission of information resulted in a newspaper boom and furthered the spread of new ideas.

By mid-17th century, almost everything was traded on stock markets, from shares to luxury products and everyday necessities. Of them all, coffee became the most important commodity. The black beverage had been introduced to the Aureans in the late Roman era, but it had not became a commonplace drink before the great explorations. Astronomical fortunes were made on the coffee markets -- and the trend continues this very day.

Farewell to the Republic - the Rise of the Federal Commonwealth (1790)

In a way, it was this lengthened period of peace that, ironically, brought the Republic to its end. The booming overseas trade generated a lot of wealth, and Aurean cities grew and prospered -- in the Aurean Isles, and in the colonies. The colonial population increased rapidly. Part of the new residents were settlers from the main islands of the Republic. Equally numerous were the diverse ethnicities that immigrated to the new ports, attracted by the freedom to work and believe as they pleased. In the Caribbeans, they were mostly Mesoamericans and Spaniards; in the African colonies, black and Arab Africans. Europeans fleeing from religious persecution also flocked to cities both new and old.

Gradually, as the 18th century marched forward, tensions started to grew between the colonies and Pacifica. The colonies felt they were underrepresented in the Senate, which was true: although they had Provincial Senates working under the Proconsul governors, only a handful of Senators actually represented the colonies in Pacifica. This had worked fine when the colonies were but minor trade posts here and there; but now they had evolved into bustling cities and important mercantile hubs, and they demanded more.

Particularly vocal was Colonia Nova, the largest city in the Caribbeans. The Novaites felt overlooked by the Aurean Isles. They were doing quite fine on their own -- they were not asking for more representation, they were hatching plans for independence. Similar firebrands started to pop up in other colonies as well during the 1770s and 1780s.

Senators of Pacifica were alarmed. Endless debates followed. Two major factions emerged from the storm. The Republicans called for a unified central government, unwilling to grant too much autonomy for the distant colonies, fearful of losing them to an inevitable desires for independence as seen with the case of Novaites. The Federalists also spoke for one nation, but they were ready to admit that the colonials did have a justified point. To them, the only way to prevent the fracturization of the Republic was to alter the Republic. They called for a federation of semi-autonomous provinces.

The Federalists' approach would have satisfied most colonies, but not the Novaites, whose Provincial Senate fell under the influence of one Pontus Machellus, a charismatic demagogue. Machellus was prepared to declare full independence from the Republic. So Consul Ricardus Calenius had to face another hard question: would he be willing to go to war for the unity of his Republic.

Calenius was old and sickly, and unfit to lead the nation through such a crisis. Worse still, the Aurean Legions were not a military superpower. The Navy provided a credible defence, but the long peace had crumbled the will and interest in military matters, and the Legions were poorly prepared to quell an armed rebellion in a far-away colony.

Many Republicans still called for a show of force, to bring Machellus back in line. The Federalists objected furiously, claiming that a military response would only agitate other colonies and degenerate the situation further. When Calenius was unable to find a solution, a Vote of No Confidence was called. Republicans paraded their candidate, Romulus Hastius, a man of action. Federalists made a tactical choice and brought forth a Senator from the colonies: Fatima Assanicus (al-Assani), a former black slave who now represented Port Africa in Pacifica.

Assanicus promised to preserve peace and negotiate a compromise. Hastius demanded Machellus's head. The Senate voted in 1789, and Assanicus won -- to the surprise of many. The newly inaugurated Consul embarked immediately on a voyage to the Caribbeans to speak with Machellus personally. She was a very popular face among the Novaites as well, so why Machellus did as he did still fascinates historians. The rebel leader captured and imprisoned Assanicus and the Novaite Proconsul and declared himself the Consul of free Provincia Nova, now the Caribbean Republic.

But Machellus had overestimated his authority. When the word of his deeds spread, an angered mob stormed his palace and threw him into the dungeons, and set free Consul Assanicus and the baffled Proconsul Itevius. Assanicus called the Provincial Senate into session, and after a 36-hour diplomatic marathon, could announce that the secession was over. She returned to Pacifica with Machellus in shackles.

Back home, the Consul went before the Senate and gave her famous "All things must come to an end" speech, in which she claimed that the Republic had overextended its capabilities and could no longer serve the people as it should. The only way to prevent rebellion, secession, and civil war was to evolve and reform, "not unlike after the Fall of Rome". The Senate, in the end, voted in favour of her proposal.

Thus came the finis res publica Aureae. In her place, a new nation rose: the Federal Commonwealth of Pax Aurea. Federal, because the authority of the Pacifican Senate was more equally spread among the Provincial Senates; Commonwealth, because it was founded for the good of all; Pax Aurea, because the Golden Peace of Saint Aurea's days that had again returned after the Spanish Intervention was hoped to last forever.

Fatima Assanicus became the first President of the new federation, and one of her first moves as the head-of-state was to marry her political rival and opponent, the Republican Senator Romulus Hastius. This healed some wounds between the two factions. It would appear the union was born not only of political necessities, but also of genuine love and respect. Assanicus and Hastius remained together for 41 years, until Hastius's passing, and it was apparently a working and happy marriage, although a lot of political coffee table debates and mounts of broken china also resulted when two stubborn people true to their ideals clashed.

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