Veraise

Veraise, officially the Veraise Territory is an overseas incorporated territory of the United Republic, located in mainland southern Crona bordering Kartejya to the south and Credesia to the east and north.

Geography
Veraise occupies a strip of coastal lowlands near the mouth of the River Marcian in neighboring Kartejya.

The territory has a characteristic of much of southwestern Crona.

History
Veraise was inhabited by the Cartesian people and their ancestors for several millennia before the arrival of Levantines. During the Age of Exploration, Veraise was settled by the Martillien North Levantine Trading Company (MNLC) under the navigator Jean-Claude Gastineau, establishing a trading post and way station that he dubbed Port-Verde (present-day Gastineau) in 1593.

Following the Great Confessional War (1555 - 1575) in southern Levantia, a massive population diaspora occurred. Tens of thousands of Protestant Levantines took to the seas to find new homes free from Catholic persecution. Many of these refugees were organized under trade companies formed in various principalities the form modern-day Burgundie. But not every trading company was built on the concept of bleeding the fleeing Protestants dry. The Martillien North Levantine Trading Company (MNLC) was chartered in 1579, under the newly ordained Catholic Duchy of Martilles "to control the trading interests of Martillien merchants from "the borders north of the upper reaches of the Kingdom of Dericania unto the lands at the zenith of the His terrestrial orb (read Kiravia)". Conspicuously absent were longitudinal limits on the charter.

Following reports of successful settlements in Altaic Sea basin the Martillien North Levantine Trading Company (MNLC) dispatched Jean-Claude Gastineau and a small fleet to establish a Catholic trading post in the area. Arriving in the Alstinian Isles in late 1591, they wintered in the wilderness far from the predominantly Protestant settlements. Cold, disease, and Protestant raids reduced the part from 153 men and 14 ships to 73 men and 6 ships. In the early spring, they made out for mainland Crona to find a suitable and secluded spot to establish a Catholic. After 4 months of surveying the coast, a number of suitable locations were noted. Gastineau returned to the Duke of the Martilles and the investors of the Martillien North Levantine Trading Company (MNLC) and presented them with his findings. The Archbishop of Martilles was more interested in the Protestant settlements in the Alstinian Isles and the decision of where to settle a trading post was shelved while Gastineau and his lieutenants drafted a report on military strength, fortifications, indigenous conversion efforts, and infrastructure developments. He became very frustrated with the delay and appealed to leave some lieutenants behind to finalize the report after he had departed to start the return journey. He was denied during each appeal. Ultimately, the report was completed after 6 months of writing and redrafting. After the Archbishop accepted the report, the Duke and the investors met again to pick a settlement spot. They made their selection and outfitted Gastineau with a contingent of 183 men (outfitted with the finest military materiel available in the Duchy), 16 ships, animals, and 5 priests. They arrived in the fall of 1593, establishing the of Port-Verde (present-day Gastineau).

In the following years trading between Port-Verde and Martilles increased and immigrants started to arrive in greater numbers as the vast "untapped" wealth of Crona became legendary in the coastal states of the Kingdom of Dericania. It remained the only Catholic Levantine colony in the area which led to low-level sea skirmishes with the Protestants on the Alstinian Isles, but there were no outright wars with the other Levantines. Expansion occurred in the early 17th century into the modern-day territories of Credesia. In 1604, Jean-Claude Gastineau was granted the title of of Port-Verde. He ruled with a focus on increasing trade and developing the port-city's harbor and defenses. The priests were underwhelmed with his agenda for converting the indigenous populations and taking the fight to the Protestants in Alstin.

In 1609, the Pope threatened to censured the Archbishop of Martilles until he could convince Gastineau to get his priorities straight, "...for his ambitious pursuit of material wealth over the pursuit of the spiritual salvation of the Alstinian savages, and their indigenous neighbors reveal his priorities to be in line with the Lutheran menace we have so recently divested from our sphere." The Archbishop passed away three months later, totally unrelated.....but the situation in Port-Verde remained unchanged. The Duke soothed the situation by limiting the charter granted to Gastineau for Port-Verde and granting a separate charter for the colony of Credesia to be jointly administered by a and a Catholic Bishop.

Port-Verde became a major exporter of timbers considered exotic on Levantia and for tobacco. The colony transformed throughout the 1600s, shifting from a small urban colony, predominately centered around the port city, to becoming a widespread agrarian-plantation colony focused on tobacco cultivation. By 1680, there were approximately 1,500 Levantines in Veraise, predominately from Martilles and Pumbria, as well as 2-3,000 Cartesian people who had either converted/adopted the Occidental lifestyle or who worked as laborers on the tobacco plantations.

The shifting global market saw tobacco prices drop in the mid 18th century in the coastal states of the Kingdom of Dericania which resulted in the economy of Port-Verde of failing as it had over-invested in that one commodity. By the 1770s the colony was in a steady decline. Smugglers from Alstin bought the tobacco for higher prices than the Martillien North Levantine Trading Company (MNLC). Pragmatic farmers began to form closer ties with Alstin, circumventing the monopoly held by the MNLC which led to tension and a series of taxes were levied on the Port-Verdiens, in the 1780s, to support the Kiro-Burgoignesc Wars. This further drove the Port-Verdiens into the arms of the Alstinans. The colony was primarily tied to Martilles in name only by the dawn of the 19th century. When Veraise was attacked by the Ehemoans, who were friendly to the Kiravians at the time, in 1804, 1809, and 1810 Martilles ignored pleas for aid, but Alstinians were happy to come to Veraise with promises of land grants. The attacks from Ehemo were repulsed, but the situation became more and more tenuous.

In 1812, Martilles accepted an offer to relinquish claims to Versaise from the Ehemoans in return for 600 tons of gold and non-aggression pact. The local Veroui (people of Burgoigno-Levantine descent) were furious that they had been abandoned.

Under Ehemoan rule, Veraise became known as the "Lynchpin", as its location near the mouth of the Carte River allowed for Ehemo to not only influence indirectly neighboring Kartejya, but also secured the Ehemoan core against an invasion from the south. Nevertheless, the local Veroui (people of Burgoignesc descent) increasingly grew discontent over the next two centuries as a result of their unofficial status as second-class citizens, as well as a lack of autonomy in regional affairs. This culminated in the Veroui Revolt, in which the Veroui assisted the United Republic and Burgundie in driving the Ehemoans out of Veraise, as part of the then-concurrent Second Great War. As part of the Treaty of Dawsbury, which ended the war in January 1942, Veraise was transferred to and annexed by the United Republic as an autonomous territory.

Government
Veraise is an incorporated territory of the United Republic. Its governmental structure and fundamental law are prescribed by the Veraise Territorial Charter, promulgated by President Benjamin Ryder and validated by Parliament in 2020. The Governor of Veraise is elected by the residents of Veraise, and is prescribed a four-year term by the Charter, though a Governor may be replaced or recalled at any point in their term.

The territorial legislative body is known as the Assemblée des Députés (Assembly of Deputies). It is a part-time body that meets twice annually at for a period of 12 weeks. The Assembly comprises of 40 seats, apportioned according to population, with a guaranteed minimum of two seats per precinct.

Veraise sends a single non-voting Delegate to the National Council.

Society & Culture
Veraise has an ethnically diverse population. 39% of residents are identified as being of Burgundian-descent, 21% are native Cartesians, and 33% are of other origins, mainly descended from migrants from Kartejya, Ehemo, and Anta Carda.

Veraise is a multilingual society, with the most widely spoken languages in the territory being Alsintian Ænglish, Burgoignesc, and Vertannes. 62% of Veroui are Catholic, with minorities practicing other Christian traditions, most prominently the Chantry of Alstin.

Economy
Veraise has a diversifying economy rooted in plantation agriculture and cargo shipping, though it has been transitioning towards a service orientation in recent decades, with tourism, sea and air transportation, retail trade, and commercial fishing are the sectors contributing most to economic growth since the early 2000s.