Yonderre

Yonderre, officially styled as the Most Serene Grand Duchy Yonderre (Burgoignesc: Sérénissime Grand-Duché Yonderre, Gothic: Serenistische Großherzogtum Yonderre), is a nation in Levantia. Its capital and most populous city is Collinebourg. Yonderre consists of nine Counties that are divided into 72 Baronies, each of which further subdivides into munincipalities. The Kestrel Isles of the Vandarch Archipelago form a seperate Grand Barony directly under the Grand Duke of Yonderre. Yonderre neighbours Faneria across the Vandarch to the north via the Kestrel Isles, Hollona and Diorisia to the east, Anglei to the southeast, Carna to the southwest and Eldmora to the west. Yonderre is a semi-landlocked country on the Vandarch south coast, having access to the Kilikas Sea via the Grand Vandarch Canal which is administered by the Marine Yonderre.

Yonderre has been inhabited since at least 10,000 BC by proto-Gothic and Khovihnihk tribes. The Bronze and Iron Ages were characterised by extensive contacts with other cultures in Catholic Levantia and Ultmar. Known as East Gothica to Great Levantia, Yonderre became a crossroads of trade between Catholic Levantia and Ultmar around the late Bronze Age. The Great Gothic Migration which happened around the fall of the Levantine Potentate in the late 6th century AD drove the Khovihnihk tribes out of East Gothica in a matter of decades, afterwhich several attempts to form a centralized Gothic nation failed. The resultant wealth of independent or semi-independent Gothic nations coexisted mostly peacefully with its foreign neighbours albeit in a near constant state of internal turmoil until the latter half of the 15th century saw East Gothica conquered by crusaders from the Holy Levantine Empire, establishing Yonderre as an autonomous marcher realm under Joanus de Martigueux. Yonderre's legitimacy was solidified by the Treaty for the guarantee of Joanus' Land signed with the Holy Levantine Empire in 1494.

Despite a largely succesful transition from the East Gothic faith to Catholicism, settlers from the Holy Levantine Empire raised ethnic and cultural tensions throughout the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The chiefly Bergendii settlers established new villages or became wealthy burghers in the new cities settled by the crusaders, while the indigenous Gothic population were entrenched in serfdom under their new Levantine Catholic nobility. Following a number of smaller uprisings, this ultimately concluded in the First Potato War (1556-1557) and the Yonderian Peasants' War of the mid-1640s, widespread uprisings throughout Yonderre both of which ultimately failed. Yonderre was the main combatant of the Likedealers during the Golden Age of Vandarch Piracy in the late 18th century, policing the south Vandarch. Yonderre had its final civil war, the Second Potato War, between 1787-1788, which resulted in relaxed taxation and granted more rights to the peasantry. Yonderre prospered throughout the 19th century in what is known as the Yonderian Golden Age, a time of exceptional creative production in the fields of culture and science. Yonderre persued a strict policy of neutrality throughout the Great War, although more than 1.5 million Yonderians served in the Burgoignesc Foreign Legion as volunteers. Yonderre joined the Levantia and Odoneru Treaty Association in the aftermath of the Great War and the Yonderian Defence Force has partaken in numerous peacekeeping operations around the world since then, notably Operation Khyzer Rhykh and the Deluge.

Yonderre is a middle power with a strong economy, having the world's second-largest economy by GDP per capita. A highly developed country, Yonderians enjoy a high standard of living and the country offers social security and a universal health care system, environmental protections, and a tuition-free university education. Yonderre ranks highly in most metrics of national performance, including education, health care, protection of civil liberties, democratic governance and gender equality. Yonderian cuisine is famous worldwide, particularly for its pastries. Yonderre is a member of the Levantine Union and the Talerzone and was a member of the Levantia and Odoneru Treaty Association from 1958 until its dissolution and replacement in 2018 by the Levantine Union Defense Council, of which Yonderre is a founding member.

Etymology and title
Yonderre takes its name from the Treaty for the guarantee of Joanus' Land wherein the lands making up Yonderre are mentioned as Joanusterra, "Joanus' land" from Latin Terra, in reference to Joanus de Martigueux, the first Crusader Grand Count of Yonderre. The styling of the name was changed over time, with the more Burgoignesc-sounding Yoansterre appearing side-by-side with Joanusterra throughout the sixteenth century. The present spelling of the name is first documented in the early seventeenth century and is thought to have replaced the others almost entirely by time of the Yonderian Peasants' War in the 1640s. Yonderre has sometimes historically been referred to as Jondaar and Jonderd in the East Gothic language after the Conquest of Joanusterre, although this name has amost entirely fallen out of use in favour of the official style.

The title of Most Serene Grand Duchy was conferred on Yonderre by Pope Gregory XIII in 1574 following lengthy negotiations. The Yonderian nobility had wanted the nation raised to the status of a Kingdom but due to stipulations in the Treaty for the guarantee of Joanus' Land, Yonderre could not be made a Kingdom as it belonged to the Crown of the Holy Levantine Empire de jure, despite the treaty having made Yonderre de jure autonmous and de facto independent in 1494.

Location and borders
Yonderre is situated immediately on the historic border between Ultmar and Catholic Levantia and has enjoyed a status as a mercantile crossroads between the two since at least the Bronze Age. The western border of Yonderre shared with Eldmora runs along the Donne River, while the eastern border with Anglei is made up of the river Avonne. Yonderre shares a border southwardly with Carna across the Gebirre mountains. The Kestrel Isles constitute a Grand Barony directly under the Grand Duke of Yonderre and are situated immediately north of mainland Yonderre as part of the Vandarch Archipelago.

Government and law
The Yonderian monarch is the Grand Duke. Yonderre is an elective Grand Duchy with elections held immediately following the death of the incumbent Grand Duke. The resultant election is the traditional vote between the nine Counts of Yonderre, one of which ultimately ascends to the status of Grand Duke. Below the Grand Duke is the the Yonderian Parliament, a unicameral national legislature headed by the Grand Steward of Yonderre. Established in 1833, it meets in Gillaumebourg in central Collinebourg.

The Parliament passes all laws, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. It is also responsible for adopting the state's budgets and approving the state's accounts. As set out in the Yonderian Constitution, the Parliament is directly subordinated to the Grand Duke of Yonderre who wields executive power to veto and overturn laws passed by government. In practice, however, the Grand Duke seldom interferes in the work of the parliament. The Parliament consists of 179 elected representatives. General elections must be held every five years, but it is within the powers of the Steward of the Realm to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has elapsed. On a vote of no confidence, the Parliament may force a single Minister or the entire government to resign.

In accordance with the Yonderian Constitution, legal power is split three-way in Yonderre; executive-, legislative- and judicious power. The executive power is wielded by the Grand Duke of Yonderre, on whose behalf civil servants and the Custodes Yonderre, the Yonderian national police force, maintains law and order. The legislative power is wielded by the Yonderian Parliament. Judiciary power is wielded by the courts of Yonderre.

Military
The Yonderian Defence Force is the military of the Most Serene Grand Duchy Yonderre. The primary arm of the Yonderian Defence Force is the ground force, which also operates the Army of the Air and the Marine Yonderre. The ground element of the Yonderian Defence Force consists of ten standing divisions divided into two corps, the Grand Ducal Guard Corps and the Second Corps of the Army. In adition, the Yonderian Defence Force also operates a further ten skeletonized divisions, brigade-sized units intended to be mobilized from reserves and combat ready within three days in case of national emergency. Yonderre's official policy states that a wartime military strength of 580,000 personnel constitutes a sufficient deterrent to exterior aggression. The army consists of a highly mobile field army backed up by local defence units. The army defends the national territory and its military strategy employs the use of the heavily forested terrain and numerous lakes to wear down an aggressor, instead of attempting to hold the attacking army on the frontier.

The Army of the Air operates some 275 fixed-wing combat aircraft divided into 21 wings as well as a similar number of logistical aircraft. The Army of the Air also operates an arsenal of combat helicopters as well as search and rescue helicopters. The Marine Yonderre is the Navy of Yonderre and operates two Sentinelle-class helicopter carriers, four Vigilante-class frigates, six Infatigable-class corvettes and a wide array of smaller support and auxillary ships. The Marine Yonderre is also the administrating body of the Grand Vandarch Canal.

The Yonderian Defence Force is committed to peacekeeping operations worldwide and has been in the Pukhtun Sea as part of Operation Khyzer Rhykh since 2010. The Yonderian Defence Force has been an active party in the Deluge since 2016, the Army of the Air having led a succesful air campaign against Algoquonan militias in Operation Mission Shield and all YDF branches having fought as part of the later Operation Western Blizzard. The Yonderian Defence Force was also directly involved militarily in Cetsencalia and Quetzenkel during the Final War of the Deluge, fighting on land, air and sea.