Alpachnia

The Alpachnee Empire or Alpachnia is a landlocked country in northeastern Crona. It is bordered by the International Nature Preserve, Copake, Xisheng and Mid-Atrassic Crona. It was established out of the previous Alpachnee Confederation, which ceased to exist following the Alpachnee War. The Confederation had been established in 1800 in response to increasing Occidental pressure on local polities by the Kiravian presence in Atrassica. The Confederation, like the Northern Confederation across the Nysdra Sea, maintained peace and stability in the region for a century and a half until domestic turmoil unraveled the Confederation. The majority Sugondese people gradually emerged from the Confederation period with a strong national identity associated with the Alpachnee polity, beginning decades of ethnic turmoil and low-level warfare. Occidental support for those periphery people, and then for the Sugondese, helped accelerate the weakening of the Confederation. It was dissolved by its President, Balu Sisubiso, who reformed the state into the Alpachnee Empire in 2025.

Since 2020, Alpachnia has increasingly come under the foreign influence of Daxia and Kiravia, culminating in the Treaty of Opa-Loka, which entitled those countries to govern large parts of the Alpachnee Empire. Alpachnia has been engaged, with those foreign powers, in the Treaty War since 2031.

Balu's coup and social reform
Following the Alpachnee War, the domestic political situation in the Confederatiom reached a tipping point. Although President Sisubiso had overseen defeat in the conflict, the Alpachnee State still stood and avoided total annexation. Additionally, many of the periphery nationalities and branches of the Sugondese people had been lost in territorial cessions to Daxia and Kiravia. As these groups were traditionally opponents of the Sisubiso administration, President Sisubiso paradoxically emerged from the war is a much stronger position when also considering the political capital he gained from extricating the Confederation from possible destruction.

In 2023, Sisubiso began to use his strengthened position to replace most senior Confederate and military leaders with individuals loyal to him. As the Final War of the Deluge reached its conclusion, the administration began to signal its belief that the Occident would once again thrn its attention to the Alpachnees. A major media and propaganda campaign drove a public narrative by 2025 that the country needed a "strong leader" willing to dispense with the traditional construction of the Confederation.

On 8 May 2025, a major demonstration began in Opa-Loka demanding government reform, and these demonstrations were suppressed by forces loyal to traditional Council leadership. The Sisubiso administration and its military allies seized this incident as pretext to arrest the members of the Confederate Council for “crimes against the people” on 11 May 2025. On 12 May 2025, a counter-coup was defeated and martial law was established in Opa-Loka. On the morning of 13 May, President Sisubiso cited the arrested Council as evidence of the failure of the traditional system, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Alpachnees, dispensing with the centuries-old Confederation government. These events, known as the “May Days”, were largely enabled by the loss of domestic opponents to Daxia and Kiravia.

The newly-styled Emperor Balu I, recognized by most Deluge participants, spent most of 2025 consolidating control and pledging a new, Occidental-style constitution at a future point once national stability was reestablished.

International observers have noted the relative similarity between Balu's 2025 coup and the Algosh coup which destroyed the Northern Confederation, elevating a single ethnic group within a confederated structure to the role of leadership of a new nation-state.

Constitutional era
Following the Treaty of Opa-Loka, the remainder of Emperor Balu's domestic enemies were largely ceded to Daxian and Kiravian control, allowing a further consolidation of power. Accordingly, with the country largely stabilized, Balu implemented the Constitution of 2031. The Constitution concentrated most powers in the office of Emperor, and most Occidental observers have criticized it as a "veneer of constitutional legitimacy" applied to the existing personal rule of Emperor Balu. The Constitution was adopted following a national plebiscite, with 98% of voters allegedly voting in favor.

Government
Alpachnia is a largely classified as an  state by international observers. The nation is governed according to the Constitutiton of 2031, implemented and largely drafted by Emperor Balu I. The Constitution, ostensibly introduced to "modernize" and "Occidentalize" the previous Alpachnee Confederation, had the practical effect of concentrating most authority within the executive office of the Emperor.

The Constitution of 2031 provides nominal authority to the bicameral legislature to make laws and adopt budgets, but provides significant limitations on their terms and provides the Emperor the authority to appoint or remove members at pleasure. Accordingly, the Emperor is widely viewed to have most political power and authority within the country. The Emperor also has the authority to directly appoint government ministers without need for a confirmation vote by the legislature. Accordingly, the Emperor also has the authority to direct foreign policy and military affairs.

Alpachnia's elections occur every three years for seats in both legislative chambers. The elections are nominally free and fair and the country's constitution provides for a "multi-party democracy", but in practice Emperor Balu's former political party - the Sugondese National Liberation Front (SNLF) - is the dominant political party in the country. Several controlled opposition parties exist within the national legislature. Although the Emperor is now politically non-partisan, his historical association with the SNLF during his Presidency has made it the de facto "Imperial party" within Alpachnee politics.

Economy
Alpachnia's economy is one of the weakest in Crona, with a GDP PC of just $11,284 in 2030. The country has undergone significant economic decline since 1990, largely due to the various foreign and domestic conflicts which gripped the country until 2025 as well as the cession of many of its largest natural resource reserves to foreign powers.

The national economy has survived as an informal economy, based mainly on livestock and smuggling of counterfeit production of various contraband materials into and out of the Nysdra Sea region. Classified as a nation, due to a dearth of formal government statistics and the civil strife, it is difficult to gauge the size or growth of the economy. The country's economic collapse and ongoing civil strife created a breeding ground for criminal organizations. Gunrunning, illicit drug smuggling, para-production of prescribed drugs are considered the norm in most areas. International observers have noted widespread public corruption, with public administrators often participating in aforementioned black market activities and sharing the profits with other government officials. Accordingly, efforts to crack down on illegal industries have proven difficult.

Military
Alpachnia possesses two separate armed forces - the Alpachnee National Armed Forces (ANAF) and the Imperial Guard. The ANAF are the largest component of the armed forces and constitute the traditional, professional military of the Alpachnee people, serving the Alpachnee nation and taking a loyalty oath to the Constitution. It has three branches: the Alpachnee National Army, the Alpachnee Air Guard, and the Alpachnee Navy. In practice, the Alpachnee Navy became irreelvant following the Treaty of Opa-Loka. The ANAF has a listed personnel size of 142,739 as of 2030.

The Imperial Guard is a separate military branch whose forces have sworn allegiance directly to Emperor Balu I, and the Guard have no civilian government oversight. The Guard was established as a reorganization of ethnic Sugondese militias loyal to Balu in the direct runup to the 2025 coup. Obstensibly, its duty is to provide protection to the Imperial household, but in practice it serves as a military option for the Emperor to maintain regime stability. The Imperial Guard's total numbers are a state secret, but most Occidental observers believe they range between 20,000 and 50,000.