Cerman

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Federal Democratic Republic of Cerman
Flag Emblem
Motto: "See the light"
Anthem: "Hark, O Friends"
Cerman (dark green) within the Ekuosian Union (light green) and Ekuosia (dark grey)
Capital
and largest city
Kúri
9°31′N 1°5′W
Official languages Terminian
Recognised regional languages Utollian
Utoyi
Minor Terminian
Demonym Cermani / Terminian
Sovereign state  Terminian Dominion
Government Federal parliamentary republic
 -  President Tovar Mataja
 -  Grand Vizier Váázegy Groz
 -  First Member ?
Legislature Federal Parliament
 -  Upper house Democratic Viziers Council
 -  Lower house Federal House
Formation
 -  First Terminian Empire 413 
 -  Second Terminian Empire July 1216 
 -  Olboros Terminia 22 October 1696 
 -  Helsonian Revolution 10 October 1925 
 -  Collapse of the Helsonian Union 8 September 2005 
 -  Refederation 2 January 2006 
 -  Terminian Dominion 30 June 2006 
 -  Invasion of PFHR Utol 12th December 2006 
Area
 -  Total 635,750 km2
241,507 sq mi
 -  Water (%) ~13%
Population
 -  2017 census 129,372,482 (8th)
 -  Density 203.496/km2
527.1/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2018 estimate
 -  Total $2.81 trillion
 -  Per capita $21,762
GDP (nominal) 2017 estimate
 -  Total $1.46 trillion
 -  Per capita $11,253.63
Gini (2015)45
medium
HDI (2015)0.757
high
Currency Cermani Jikow, Ekuo (CMJ)
Time zone Glorp Mean Time (SCT+0)
Drives on the left
Internet TLD .cm

Cerman (IPA: /sə(r)ˈmɑːn/), often known as Terminia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Cerman, is a country in Baredina. Located in northwest Ekuosia, Cerman's area is almost evenly split between the Terminian Isles (home to 83% of the Cermani population) and Utol on the Ekuosian mainland. With an estimated population of almost 129 million, Cerman is the 8th most populous country on Sahar and the 3rd in Ekuosia, after Ebo Nganagam and Nevira. Cerman is the main constituent country of the Terminian Dominion.

Pre-Termic Terminia was conquered by Ngerupics who arrived from Akulanen into the Terminian Isles around 3000 years ago. There they established a distinct culture and language, heavily influenced by the Letsatians who conquered the Terminian homeland in 200 BC. It was during the Letsatian period that Iovic religion was introduced to the area, which eventually led to the establishment of Pashaism. The Termic expansion in the 1st century AD resulted in the settlement of southern Akulanen and the northwestern coast of Ekuosia by Terms. Over the next two millennia the Terminian Empire (in various forms), having risen to prominence after the fall of Letsatia, became extremely rich and powerful due to its advantageous position situated along the primary trade route from the Parshita to Boroso. At its height in the 15th century, it controlled vast swathes of western Ekuosia along with multiple territories in Boroso and Miraria and trade posts in most of the known world. It is often considered to have been the single most powerful empire in history.

In 1925, following a coup by the Kúúlist Popular Party against the Olboros monarchy of the Terminian Three Kingdoms, the Adhelsonian Provisional State was established and became the first constitutionally Kúúlist state on Sahar. This resulted in a two-year-long civil war which ended in a decisive victory for the Kúúlists over the divided and unpopular monarchists. It was during the initial Kúúlist period that Terminia experienced rapid industrialisation and economic development, a result of six-year plans which sought to reelevate the Terminians to a globally influential status. In 1942 the Helsonian constitution was rewritten by the powerful statist faction of the KPP, which established the federal Union of Supreme Helsonian Republics. Helsonia began to expand its military capabilities and global influence, as a result of the ??? War of 1936-1940 and the Great Ekuosian War which Helsonia directly participated in from 1949-1951.

Modern Cerman was established in 2005 after the collapse of the Helsonian Union. Before this point, Terminia had had almost continuous control over Amerhan since its settlement by Termic peoples. In 2006, Cerman invaded the Kúúlist government of another Helsonian successor state, the PFHR Utol, and incorporated it into the Cermani federation. Since 2013, Cerman has been a full member of the Ekuosian Union and the Ekuosian currency basket. The Cermani constitution defines Cerman as a democratic, parliamentary republic following the Terminian parliamentary system; the current Grand Vizier, Váázegy Groz has been head of the government since Cerman's creation. Cerman is the dominant consituent state in the Terminian Dominion, alongside the Cermani Far West and the Cermani Kaisen.

The capital of Cerman, Kúri, is a major global economic hub and the 10th largest city in Ekuosia with a population of just over 6 million. Cerman is usually categorised as a developed country and benefits from a large nominal GDP of $1.46 trillion. However, Cerman has a comparatively low GDP per capita of only $11,253.63, especially compared to much of the EkU.

Etymology

The word Cerman, from Middle Terminian Cérhmwń, originally referred only to the language spoken in Terminia. However, in the 16th century, the word began also being applied as a collective name for the duchies in the Terminian homeland, to differentiate it from the territories of the Terminian Empire. Up until then, the most common word for Terminia had been Gńwacúrhm; this term is the source for many exonyms of Cerman, and is still often used in Cerman to refer to the Terminian Empire, as well as the geographic Terminian Isles.

History

Prehistory (before the 1st century BC)

The Qax ruins, dated from 2000BC, are the oldest known structure in Terminia.

The Terminian isles served as the first point where anatomically modern humans left the Baredinan continent approximately 70,000 years ago. For thousands of years, the islands were a hunter-gatherer society occupied by waves of Homo sapiens migrating to Miraria. Approximately 9,000 years ago agriculture, which had originated in Halaria, was introduced to the islands. A form of hieroglyphic writing distinct from Halarian developed on the islands in 2,000 BC, believed to encode pre-Ngerupic Terminian although the script has never been deciphered.

Around 1,800 BCE, Ngerupic speakers from the southern coast of Akulanen began the first of several waves of settlement on Terminia Minor. From there they spread across the archipelago, eventually establishing themselves as a ruling class in the north of Terminia Major. By around 1,200 BCE Archaic Terminian emerged as the predominant written and spoken language. A period of extensive admixture occurred as the pre-Ngerupic population assimilated to the culture and language of their rulers, causing the Termics to develop a unique cultural and ethnic identity separate from the continuum of Ngerupics on Akulanen. Throughout the first millennium BCE, Terminia had no central power but was rather a mixture of mostly sovereign villages and towns. Many aspects of life in these settlements were communal, including the rights to farming land, which was considered to belong to the entire village.

Terminian was the first Ngerupic language to be written down outside of Ancient Qonklaks, having adopted a system similar to the hieroglyphs which had been used in Terminia before the Ngerupic arrival. However, these were poorly adapted for the language, and by 500 BC most of Terminia had switched to the Western Ekuosian alphabet.

Letsatian period (1st century–4th century AD)

The Letsatian Empire in 175 AD.

In the year 32 BC, Letsatia conquered the Terminian isles as one of its first major expansions outside of the Letsatian region. With it came a radical reform to Terminian society, and the beginnings of Terminia's manorial and later feudal system which would persist for thousands of years. Terminia became an important centre of the Letsatian Empire, being the naval convergence point of the known world, and Terminians became known as Letsatia's sailors and merchants. As Letsatia expanded, so did Terminians, migrating onto mainland Baredina (what would become Utol), back into Akulanen (Amerhan), and all along the coast of Northern Ekuosia. This propagation of Termic language and culture in the first few centuries AD is known as the Termic expansion.

Letsatia heavily influenced Terminian life, introducing Letsatian customs, loanwords and practices which remain to this day. Terminia's first codified legal system, largely similar to Letsatian civil law, unified crimes and punishments on the island for the first time, and Terminia was split into four imperial provinces ruled over by Letsatian religious bureaucrats. Although Iovic beliefs had been present before the Letsatian period, Letsatia introduced Iovism on a much larger scale, which eventually led to many Terminians adopting a form of Termic-influenced Iovic heresy which would become the world's second-largest religion, Pashaism.

For the majority of Letsatian rule, the High Letsatian language was used by the ruling class and was learnt by Terminians as a mark of prestige.

First Terminian Empire (4th century–12th century AD)

A relief of Sah Telr, first Terminian emperor, on his tomb.

As the Letsatian empire started to crumble, in the late 4th century a Terminian noble family called the Telr rallied the support of the Terminian fiefs to revolt against Letsatian rule. For many centuries, the native Terminian aristocracy had chafed under the centralised Letsatian senates and felt that they had increasingly been robbed of their rightful fiefs. In the 164th year after Pasha's ascension (either 413 or 414 AD), Sah Telr I declared himself Emperor of the Terms and established the first unified and sovereign Terminian nation.

Telr period

Under the leadership of the Telr, the Terminian Empire continued to use its central location as an advantage, profiting from trade flowing from the Parshita to the Taanttu. It established a large network of trade which stretched from Hemesh to northern Boroso to Soltenna and Ekuostia. The empire was an early adopter of feudalism, although Terminia extended the model to an extensive system of mercantile taxation. In this way, the Terminian imperial family grew incredibly rich, and many tales (perhaps exaggerated) recounted their sumptuous and luxurious lifestyles. For the first century after the end of Letsatian rule, Terminia continued to employ the Letsatian language in matters of law and government and accepted both Iovism and the Pashaist "heresy" (to which the Telr had converted in the 5th century) as the Empire's religion.

The first challenge to the rule of the Telr came in the early 6th century when the Weci family, an aristocratic merchant family from Utol, formalised a rival claim to the Terminian throne and pledged to return Terminia to Letsatian rule. The Weci were devout Iovists and resented what they believed to be the degradation of Iovist doctrine in Terminia by the heretical Telr emperors. Backed by the Letsatian senates they led the Weci rebellion, which gained the support of many Terminian Iovists.

The Weci claim to the monarchy revolved around the marriage of Telr III's sole child to a minor Weci prince. Believing a female monarch to be detrimental, however, upon his death in 524 Telr III's male nephew was coronated instead as Telr IV. Only three years after the coronation, the Weci occupied the Imperial Palace in Kúri and deposed the emperor, leading to almost two decades of Weci rule. This ended in 545 in the bloody Battle for Kúri and the reinstatement of the Telr dynasty.

As a direct consequence of the revolt, Telr V outlawed Iovism and declared Pashaism a separate and superior doctrine. Many Iovist nobles, some of whom had supported the Weci, had their lands and merchant fleets confiscated, and Iovists were beheaded en masse in public executions. An estimated third of the Terminian population were Iovist before the revolt, of which a vast majority converted to Pashaism to escape persecution. Many Pashaists regard this as an important religious event, which led to the widespread recognition of Pashaism as a distinct religion for the first time.

The Telr continued to rule over Terminia for a further two centuries, losing some of Terminia's mainland territory to Low Letsatia in a series of minor wars. However, the family's continued taxation of aristocrat and merchant families led to widespread discontent against their rule, and by the 8th century, they had lost control over their vassals. A war against [Vadesia] in 705 proved disastrous, as most Terminian dukes refused to send their armies to fight in the mainland.

Depiction of Emperor Kúrii I ca. 750 AD

Kúrii period

From the 6th century onwards, the Kúrii had been one of Terminia's most powerful trading dynasties, originating as a minor noble family in the capital duchy of Kúri. In 726, pledging to lower obligations on the empire's duchies, supporters of Zwáp Kúrii stormed the Imperial Palace and declared the Kúrii rightful rulers of Terminia. The Telr dynasty is believed to have subsequently died out in the male line, despite the surname remaining popular in Cerman to this day.

Under the Kúrii, Terminia's influence on Ekuosian trade networks vastly increased.

Terminian trade routes by 900 AD.

The end of heavy taxation allowed Terminian merchants to travel to far-flung outposts in Boroso, Soltenna, Hemesh and Baridia, and develop some of the most advanced contemporary sailing technology. The most lucrative trade goods were cane sugar and tobacco from Boroso, as well as sought-after Terminian spices such as cinnamon, ginger and turmeric.

Domestically, port cities and the merchants therein were a constant subject of intra-Terminian warfare - but an effective separation of merchants from their aristocratic lieges ensured that, for the most part, profits from trade remained stable. This status quo led to a 3-centuries long period of prosperity commonly termed the Kúrii Resplendence, also characterised by a lessening of absolute Imperial power and the establishment of the first Council of Viziers.

However, the death of Kúrii X in 1064 with no male offspring prompted an inheritance crisis. The ascension of the Emperor's eldest daughter to the throne was seen as undesirable since Terminia had never previously had a female sovereign and Terminia's succession law was uncodified and arcane. Notwithstanding, Kúrjo I was coronated first Empress of Terminia in 834 PE and reigned for 35 years. Her marriage to Ríhd Glorpi was a major point of contention throughout her reign - strongly disapproved of by her Kúrii relatives who feared the loss of the Terminian throne.

After her death in 1099, the crown of Terminia passed to her sons, who were enthroned as Glorpi I and Glorpi II in 1113. Glorpi I died with no heirs, but the legitimacy of Glorpi II's only son, Juuqet Glorpi, was contested by Kúrii lords who claimed that his birth in 1080 had preceded Glorpi II's official Pashaist matrimony in 1084. With no other obvious candidate for the throne, the Glorpi dynasty proclaimed Juuqet as rightful Emperor of the Terms after Glorpi II's death in 1120, dismissing claims of illegitimacy.

A religious council of High Imperial Ernujas, assembled in Kúri in 1122, engaged in religious deliberations over the legitimacy of Glorpi III's birth. In a decree which was distributed to all Pashaist lords, the council declared his enthronement null and traced the new Emperor as the Count of Meeráz, a minor noble and descendent of Kúrii X. He was crowned in 1123, reinstating the Kúrii dynasty and forcing the court of Glorpi III to flee to Glorp.

Between 1122 and 1216, the Kúri Court and the Glorp Court both claimed rightful rule over the Terminian Empire. This Imperial Civil War periodically flared into significant battles, most notably in 1127-29, 1132-33, 1150-54, and 1158-72. Each time, the Glorpi barely managed to survive by withdrawing to the security of the mountain forts of Glorp. The Glorpi enjoyed the support of the powerful dukes to the north, who provided them with provisions and sea access, despite remaining vassal to the Kúri emperors.

This situation changed with the ascension of Glorpi VII to the head of the Glorp imperial family. He rallied the support of most of Northern Terminia, and commenced an offensive on the Kúri Empire in 1212. Emperor Kúrii XIII, old and infirm, had presided over a decline in Terminian wealth and prosperity since 1178, and was unable to muster much support. In 1216, Kúri was invaded from the sea by an Amerhani Fleet, while foot soldiers from Glorp assaulted its walls. Kúrii XIII was deposed, executed by the port, and thrown into the sea, bringing an end to the Kúrii period and the First Terminian Empire.

Statue of Glorpi VII in Glorp. His reign was characterised by a shift towards aggressive Terminian imperialism.

Second Terminian Empire (13th century–16th century)

Under the reign of the Glorpi monarchs Terminia's wealth and military power grew exponentially, transforming from a maritime trading centre in the 13th century to, by most accounts, the most powerful empire in the history Sahar. This period of Terminia's history is commonly known in Ekuosia as the "Terminian Hegemony".

Glorpi period

As the first unchallenged Glorpi emperor, Glorpi VII implemented his interpretation of Pashaist scripture, which he believed placed Terminia as Hosha's chosen centre of order in Muhe's realm. According to this principle, Terminia had received a divine calling to spread order - and the Pashaist religion - across the world, which would be achieved through conquest of other nations. During Glorpi VII's rule, Terminia began conquests of southern Akulanen, granting vast tracts of land to Termic Amerhani dukes. The decline of Low Letsatia offered a ripe opportunity for Terminia to establish a larger foothold in mainland Ekuosia.

By the death of Glorpi VII in 1254, the Most Orderly Terminian Empire had nearly doubled its territories, establishing huge domains for Terminian custodians to oversee local Iovist rulers. After initially rapid conquest, Terminia continued to absorb smaller Ekuosian States, constituting all of the former Low Letsatian Empire by 1358. This slowdown in Ekuosia was motivated in part by the increasingly challenging mountainous terrain, as well a prioritisation by Glorpi VIII of "mercantile conquest" - the spreading of Pashaism and Terminian influences through trade routes across the Parshita and Taanttu Seas.

After the mid-1300s, Terminia also began increasingly using its huge merchant fleet for transporting armies further afield. Imperial soldiers landed on the Veridian peninsula and in Hemesh between 1343-1358, staging conquests from the coast which would be reinforced by armies arriving from land. Refinement of naval techniques through the 14th century by Terminian generals allowed for conquests with fewer land reinforcements, culminating in the capture of several Borosan ports in the 1370s and 1380s, and the conquest of the Vaniuan coast from the Arkamkans in 1397.

The Terminian Empire at its greatest extent, c. 1400 AD.

The failing health and sanity of Emperor Glorpi XI from the start of the 15th century began a trend of decline for the Empire. The hugely disparate regions which Terminia ruled over were increasingly hard to govern, especially as the vast majority of local rulers were Iovists chafing under Pashaist overlords. The manpower of the Terminian Army was made up of huge numbers of Iovists and Letsatian-speakers who had little fealty to the Terminian throne. Despite some continued military successes, mostly in Akulanen where the native population was more successfully converted to Pashaism, Terminia was hemmed in to the east by the Grand Ekuostian Empire, which was considered too large an enemy to defeat.

In 1413, the Terminian Army was defeated by the Great Horde in Arkamka and in Covaya and Zwazwamia, which had been Pashaist since the Crusade for the East in the 1360s. This defeat served to undermine the authority of the Empire across its territories, and local nobles in Ekuosia began to establish their own sovereignty. This accelerated particularly after 1432, when an Imperial Decree issued by Glorpi XII attempted to enforce a tax on all Iovist port authorities to pay for increasingly demanding army levies.

In 1434, the Terminian custodian of Hemesh declared himself Emperor, and rejected fealty to Terminia altogether. Powerless to reinforce territory so far away, the Terminian Empire did nothing to oppose this action, which encouraged similar movements among the Iovist aristocracy. Several Low Letsatian kingdoms followed between 1435-1440, while the Kingdom of Rosland renounced fealty in 1442, and the Kingdom of Veridia in 1444.

The Imperial court in Terminia saw the loss of the historical centre of Letsatia as unacceptable, however, and deposed the disgraced Emperor Glorpi XII in favour of a respected Amerhani general, Soqirni. Despite this, repeated attempts at reestablishing control over Letsatia only weakened Terminia further, and a second military general, Páábasi, ordered a withdrawal of all Terminians from Iovist lands in 1456.

Portrait of Telr XI, whose distinctive red crown symbolised a break with the white crowns of Glorpi.

Second Telr period

The brief period of military rule between 1445-1456 after the deposing of Glorpi XII was an unprecedented breakage with the Terminian Imperial tradition. Emperor Páábasi, the second general to hold the position, was vilified after his reign as an unrightful ruler who betrayed Terminia to the Iovists, and was posthumously recorded as Weci II, after the Iovist rebels of the First Empire and due to his Utolian roots. In 1456, a distant nephew of Glorpi XII was proclaimed by the Council of Viziers as the legitimate Emperor of Terminia according to blood. Wishing to unify the reeling nation, the new emperor chose to reign under the name of Terminia's founding dynasty, coronated in Glorp as Telr XI.

Reigning for nearly 70 years, Telr XI was Terminia's longest-sitting monarch, during a time of growing acceptance of the loss of Terminia' powerful position. The Ignazian Empire, centred to Terminia's southeast, exerted significant influence over Terminia during its peak in the early 16th century, even resulting in the legalisation of Iovism in the Terminian mainland for the first time in nearly a millennia.

However the authority of the Imperial throne was vastly diminished, and in 1521, during the reign of Empress Telro, the long-standing tradition of non-belligerence between Terminian duchies and cities was broken with the conquest of the city of Orsei by the duke of Reetani. The Empress's inability to enforce peace set a dangerous precedent for other Terminian realms, who seized opportunities to expand their holdings and achieve regional dominance, holding more and more power against the Empress and her successor, Telr XII.

In the final decades of the Terminian Empire, before its complete collapse in 1558, authority was held by the upper echelons of the Council of Viziers, now a huge organism consituting nearly all of the Terminian nobility. Telr XII continued to hold a ceremonial position, but he was powerless to interfere in the incessant disagreement of the various nobles and viziers. After his death in 1556, the Council was unable to agree on a successor to the throne of Terminia, which caused two years of tension and hostility over the future of the Empire.

During particularly hostile confrontation in the Chamber in July 1558, where various armies had armed themselves with modern hand-cannons, the stone Throne of Terminia, an ancient symbol of Imperial authority, was destroyed. With the destruction of the throne, the coronation of a new Emperor was deemed impossible, and therefore the reestablishment of a single Terminian power. This event marked the end of the Terminian Empire, after 1,144 years as a continuous and unified state.

Fracture (1558–late 17th century)

Geography

Geology

Climate

Biodiversity

Politics

Governance

According to the Constitution of Cerman, the nation is a federation and parliamentary republic, wherein the Grand Vizier is the head of government and the President is the head of state. The Federal Republic is fundamentally structured as a multi-party representative democracy, with legislative power vested in the bicameral Federal Parliament.

Administrative divisions

Foreign relations

Military

Economy

Transport

Energy

Science and technology

Tourism

Demographics

Ethnic groups

Urbanisation

Language

Education

Healthcare

Religion

Culture

Heritage

Architecture

Literature

Art

Music

Theatre

Film

Cuisine

Sport

Symbols

See also