Wealdland

Wealdland, officially the Commonwealth of Wealdland, is a sovereign state occupying 459,430 km2 on the Odoneruan coast of northwest Levantia. By land, it borders Cohe to the northh and Carna to the South, and its geographic proximity to the insular Kiravian state of New Ardmore begets close economic and cultural ties, particularly with the nearby _____ islands. Its capital is Litchburh, and its largest city is Tewhirst. Other urban centers include Cwendael, Hæleþstede, Folchaefen, Bracwaeter, and Scieldsburh.

Various germanic tribes have inhabited Wealdland since time immemorial, and there were scattered incidents of war, settlement, and trade with Gallo-Levantines during antiquity. Beginning in the 10th century under the Scieldings, a small but relatively centralized state began to emerge, centered around the royal estate at Scieldsburh. Over the next two centuries, this state would continue to grow, before King Adalbert the Wise received the royal dignity from Pope Calixtus II in 1121. After a period of prosperity, a severe famine and invasion from Hendalarsk almost led to the collapse of the kingdom, however the influence of the mystic-warrior St. Elisabeth of Beohham ensured its survival. Nevertheless, it remained greatly weakened. Popular discontent with the Scieldlings in the 14th century led to their overthrow and the enthronement of the descendant of a male relative of St. Elisabeth, whose dynasty would rule the kingdom until the overthrow of the monarchy. While Wealdland would not formally break with Rome during the Great Confessional War, the monarchy took advantage of the weakening of papal authority to embark on a series of state-sponsored reforms. Wealdlandic bishops would not attend the Council of Trent, and the king refused to enforce its decrees, eventually leading to the formalization of the schism and the establishment of the Wealdlandic Apostolic Church. A formative experience in the development of the modern wealdlandic nation was the War Against the Marshes, a prolonged effort to subjugate and drain Wealdland's extensive coastal marshes, in order to convert it into ports and farmland and strengthen the central government's control of what had long been a virtually independent region. After several false starts, extensive drainage took place between the 1840s and the 1890s. Though long lauded as a technological and industrial triumph, the project caused enormous damage to local ecology and the livelihoods of the native marshlanders, and much of the drained land has become desertified. In recent decades, significant efforts to restore the marshes has been undertaken. Additionally, by turning Wealdland from a virtually landlocked state into a truly maritime nation, the draining of the marshes facilitated the colonization of Iegland and Munucaland. In the late nineteenth century, the monarchy would be overthrown and a liberal republic established. However, dissatisfaction with the regime, combined with economic mismanagement and inequality, would lead to a civil war in the 1930s, which would end with the victory of joint royalist and radical forces over the government.

Today, Wealdland is a presidential republic. Though multiple parties exist, since the civil war the state has been controlled by the National Front, a coalition of the major groups which won the war. Its constitution defines the state as egalitarian and humanist, a commitment manifested in Wealdland's low wealth inequality, prohibitions on private transportation, and extensive national parks system. While the state is nonsectarian, it is also explicitly monotheistic, viewing organized religion as an important social, cultural, and spiritual aspect of human experience, and it encourages the involvement of religious groups and ideology in public and political life. This freedom, however, is limited: polytheism is prohibited, as is witchcraft, blasphemy, and Satanism, and in order to receive protection and benefits religious organizations must be recognized by the state.