Julian Party (Urcea)

The Julian Party was a Urcean traditonalist political party. The party formed in early 1903 as a splinter of Ionian Delegates from the National Pact during the early Restoration in a controversy known as The Enabling. The party has its roots in the late 19th century as part of the "Julian Movement", a pro-Monarchical, Catholic movement aimed at slowing liberalization, promoting Urcea's place in the world (and, at that point, the Holy Levantine Empire), and maintenance of the ties between society and the State. In the 21st century, its economic platform was similar to that of the Union for National Solidarity, but supports increasing the prerogative powers of the King and increasing the power of the clergy within civil government. In the 21st Century, the Party's aims were to work fully within the system, although critics in the 20th Century said their policy positions skewed closer to clerical fascism. The Party supported a reestablishment of the boundaries of the Holy Levantine Empire to its previous extent, and supported foreign efforts to increase Urcea's global influence by military action. The Party's primary base of support was in the Ionian Plateau, which has been a strong base of support for Catholicism and the Julian-de Weluta dynasty for hundreds of years. Despite its hard ideological boundaries, the Julian Party was been widely noted for its strength in collaborating with other parties in the Concilium Daoni given its varying similarities on some issues with the National Pact and the Union for National Solidarity. During the late 20th century, the Party collaborated twice with the National Commonwealth Party in order to provide for control of the Government of Urcea and was increasingly associated with the Union for National Solidarity in the intervening decades. The Julian Party was considered to be "majority makers" in the Daoni due to their willingness to form coalition governments. Consequently, the Party rarely fielded a candidate for Procurator, instead focusing on collaborative legislative politics.

In 2024, the Party agreed to officially merge with the Union for National Solidarity after several years of close collaboration, forming the Solidarity Party.

History
Since the period of the Saint's War, Ionian highlanders have long been noted for their support for House de Weluta specifically and the institution of the Urcean monarchy generally. In the years prior to and during the Red Interregnum, large numbers of Ionians pledged their support for the National Pact, who demanded the Julian Throne be filled and that the Crown Regency be abolished. Many Pact members lead their resistance campaigns from the Ionians, building trust between the locals and the party. By the time of the Restoration, delegates from the Ionians who sat in the Concilium Daoni were all members of the National Pact. The period from 1902 to early 1903, however, saw sharp disagreements between the Pact's leadership and the newly formed "Ionian Faction", who were less willing to accept the reforms of Gréagóir FitzRex and sought greater prerogatives for the King, a position which contrasted sharply with the mainstream view of Crown Liberalism. The Ionian Faction definitively broke with the National Pact in early 1903 during The Enabling; they believed the Enabling Act of 1903 should be extended until 1910, a degree of power that the mainstream members of the party believed would destroy the Constitution of Urcea. The Ionian Delegates withdrew from the party and established the Julian Party. Many historical scholars have attributed this schism to the reason for the Pact's loss in 1905 in what amounted to the first peaceful handover of power in the history of the Constitution of Urcea.

Constitutional Policy
The Julian Party's platform called for significant revisions to the Constitution of Urcea in order to restore some powers and prerogatives to the King in the face of what it referred to as an "overreach of the Concilium Daoni". Many of the changes involved reducing the executive authority invested in the Procurator and instead investing these to the Apostolic King of Urcea. These powers included the ability to directly command the army and reforms to the King's direct authority over the Concilium Purpaidá. Additionally, the Julian Party's platform consistently called for the expansion of the Concilium Daoni to include fifty "Delegates Spiritual", or bishops and priests nominated by the Urcean Conference of Catholic Bishops every five years.