Viceroyalty of Los Rumas

Viceroyalty of Los Rumas Virreinato de los Rumas (Pelaxian)
1497-1804 1814-1852
Flag
Motto: Para Dios y Rey, Nuestros Guardianes Ordenados ("For God and King, Our Ordained Guardians")
Anthem: Delepasian March
Status	Viceroyalty of Pelaxia
Capital	Los Rumas (1497-1505) Santa Maria (1505-1852)
Official languages	Pelaxian
Common languages	Cartadanian Isurian Latin Tainean
Religion	Levantine Catholicism
Demonym(s)	Pelaxian (official) Rumian (colloquial; 16th Century) Delepasian (colloquial; 19th Century)
Government	Self-governing parliamentary semi-constitutional viceroyalty
King
• 1497-1523	Jeronimo I (first)
• 1837-1852	Luciano II (last)
Viceroy
• 1497-1517	Mauricio Delepas (first)
• 1847-1852	Javier de Lizana (last)
Legislature	Supreme Courts
• Upper houses	Council of Prefects (1531-1852)
• Lower house	Council of Burgesses (1582-1852)
History
• Arrival of Delepas	1497
• Charter of San Lina	1501
• Obregon Reforms	1706
• Independence declared	1852
Preceded by Succeeded by Various Vallosi polities Republican rule Republican rule Delepasian Kingdom Vallejar

The Viceroyalty of Los Rumas (Pelaxian: Virreinato de los Rumas) was a self-governing entity located in Vallos. It was established in 1497 by Isurian Captain Mauricio Delepas on behalf of King Jeronimo I of Pelaxia as part of the nascent kingdom's colonisation of the subcontinent. Initially, it was an outpost located in what is now the city of Los Rumas, the viceroyalty would quickly expand as further exploration into Vallos to the point that it encompassed not just the majority of modern-day Castadilla, but also the entirety of modern-day Vallejar as the strategic and economic importance of the viceroy became apparent in the name of securing the Southern Route to Audonia.

Los Rumas, the original capital of the viceroyalty and the first Pelaxian settlement established on mainland Vallos, was established on the shores of Bahía de los Rumas and quickly became the name of the viceroyalty itself which it retained even after the viceregal capital was moved to Santa Maria in 1505. Because of the huge amounts of profits and prestige that came from Los Rumas, the Pelaxian crown soon took on a more hands-off approach, even granting Los Rumas its own constitutional document, the Charter of San Lina. This gave the viceroyalty the authority to set its own economic and domestic policies so long as a portion of the profits was sent to Pelaxia on a regular basis. People who have lived on Vallos since before the arrival of Delepas were often used as guides, cheap labour, or even as colonial administrators with many of them eventually marrying colonists, and giving birth to the first mestizos.

Due to the sheer size of the viceroyalty, there existed a regional division amongst the colonists. In coastal areas, which were closer to the Pelaxian metropole, the colonists were generally of Pelaxian, pure Latinic, and Isurian ancestry and were often heavily-favoured by the viceregal government. This was in contrast to the inland regions in which colonists often co-existed with and married into indigenous, Tainean, and mixed-race Latinic families which in turn led to the inland colonists being seen as a sort of unofficial "second class" amongst the colonists due to their distance from the capital, their lower economic status compared to coastal colonists, and their penchant for intermarriage with non-Occidental groups. Nonetheless, many inland colonists were able to secure a steady living off of agriculture and land-based navigation as indigenous groups eventually disappeared due to intermarriage and gradual assimilation.

The colonial status quo was shaken heavily during the latter years of the 18th Century as the fall of the Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth and the Kilikas Englightenment happened at roughly the same time. The loss of Cartadania and the rise in a new national identity distinct from the long-held perception that all colonists were Pelaxian subjects. The first fall of the Pelaxian monarchy in 1804 had allowed for said new national identity, which by then had been named Delepasianism and was opposed to the long-standing rivalry between coastal and inland colonists, to flourish as the new elite in Vallos sought political representation as Pelaxian citizens. Even when the First Pelaxian Republic collapsed in 1814 and the monarchical system was restored, the nascent Delepasian identity continued to become more and more popular amongst the colonists. It was to the point that by the 1840s there were calls for the Pelaxian crown to create a separate Delepasian kingdom which would be in a real union with the Pelaxian metropole. A series of political crises in Pelaxia would eventually see the abolition of the monarchy and the end of the viceroyalty in 1852, with many prominent monarchists fleeing to the former viceroyalty to set up a government-in-exile known as the Delepasian Kingdom.

History

Establishment and growth

Mauricio Delepas

In 1497, under the patronage of King Jeronimo I of Pelaxia, Isurian Captain Mauricio Delepas was tasked with establishing a coastal outpost on the east coast of mainland Vallos to serve as both a trade outpost and a naval base to facilitate and protect the newly-established Viceroyalty of Puerto Negro, with preference being for an outpost located on or near the Bahía de los Rumas. This task, despite the turbulent waters, was accomplished in the autumn of 1497 when Delepas landed on the northernmost shores of the Bahía de los Rumas where he established an outpost which he named after the bay. The newly-established Los Rumas, being located on a rather convenient spot in eastern Vallos, soon gained the attention of nearby tribes and polities that were looking to establish formal trade relations with the newcomers. Sensing an opportunity, the Pelaxian crown permitted Delepas to attract Pelaxian merchants and to convert Los Rumas into a permanent settlement for future trading and colonial ventures. By December of 1497, Los Rumas had become a small town on the coast of Vallos, and Delepas was rewarded with being appointed as the first viceroy of the newly-established viceroyalty.

The nascent viceroyalty grew rapidly during its early decades as it quickly became profitable and prestigious in the eyes of the Pelaxian crown. Its overall prosperity allowed for Pelaxia to adopt a policy of "descuido saludable" (healthy carelessness) which meant that the crown would grant Los Rumas with wide-ranging autonomy and authority over its affairs to the point of practically making it an independent country in all but name and status so that the viceroyalty would be able to pursue its own economic policy as it saw fit so long as it paid the crown a portion of its profits. This policy was codified in the Charter of San Lina in 1501 which granted the viceroy all the powers that the Pelaxian monarch would have had over Los Rumas prior to the adoption of "descuido saludable", effectively making the Pelaxian monarch a ceremonial figurehead in the viceroyalty while the viceroy held all the monarchical power; further delegations would be made throughout the rest of the 16th Century when the Supreme Courts, the Council of Prefects, and the Council of Burgesses were respectively established in 1529, 1531, and 1582 to serve as the viceroyalty's legislature. The first formal episcopal hierarchy in Vallos would be established around this time as the drive towards assimilating the indigenous peoples began in earnest.

Protecting the Southern Route

19th Century portrait of the aftermath of the Clash of the Tainean Shores.

Strategically, Los Rumas has served as a valuable asset for the Pelaxian navy which it saw as necessary for the protection of the highly lucrative Southern Route to Audonia. Up until the 17th Century, naval skirmishes off the coast of the viceroyalty were not an uncommon occurrence as Kiravia and Burgundie began their mercantile ventures in Vallos. The first of these skirmishes that became a major point in the history of Los Rumas was the Battle of Azure Waters in 1506 against Kirivia followed by the Clash of the Tainean Shores six years later against Burgundie. Many of these skirmishes would give birth to various heroic epics that were well-received throughout the viceroyalty. This helped in shaping the first instances of a colonial Rumian identity as the colonists saw themselves as being the defenders of Pelaxian civility in the subcontinent, and that it was their duty to ensure its survival. Because of this new perception, it became a commonality for the viceroyalty to send out missionaries to convert the indigenous peoples and to assimilate them into the Pelaxian culture which in led to the viceroyalty to expand territorially, even leading to the lands to the south of Los Rumas, now part of Vallejar, to be integrated into the viceroyalty as an autonomous region. Later major naval skirmishes would mostly happen during the 17th Century as colonial and mercantile rivalries began to flare up greatly between Pelaxia, Burgundie, and Kiravia.

With the new territorial expansions that came thanks to the efforts of missionaries and explorers in the 16th Century, skirmishes between the colonists who moved inland and the natives would begin to emerge as the latter resisted the former's efforts to convert and assimilate them for a brief time before eventually capitulating once the more forceful aspects of conversions were stopped. To get around this new restriction, the colonists who lived inland began to intermarry with the natives to produce offspring who would be raised as Pelaxian subjects and adherents to the Catholic faith; said offspring were referred to as mestizos and they became the predominant group amongst inland colonists as they became an important tool in assimilating and converting the natives without leading to violent skirmishes. In Castadillaan historiography, the naval skirmishes and subsequent drive to expand and assimilate have been cited as a possible influence behind the main principles of Delepasian exceptionalism in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

18th century

By the time the 18th Century began, the viceroyalty had entered into a period of peace as the conflicts that defined the preceding two centuries had largely died down; native resistance was nonexistent as the vast majority of them have been converted, the drive to protect the Southern Route was no longer an imperative, and the viceroyalty was at its greatest territorial extent. The most significant event for the viceroyalty during the first half of the 18th Century were the so-called "Obregon Reforms" which democratised the viceregal government. Among the reforms that were enacted included changing the appointment process for the viceroy in that they would be elected by the members of the Council of Prefects rather than appointed by the Pelaxian monarch, suffrage was expanded to include all wealthy males (beforehand, gaining suffrage required being an aristocrat, or being made a burgess or a prefect), and local government was established for the first time to ease the administrative burden and to facilitate additional colonial administrators from amongst the mestizo populace.

It was also during the 18th Century that anti-Loa sentiment would emerge due to the conquests done by the Loa Empire at this time. One of the most significant instances that would fuel fears of the Loa was the conquest of the Romany Kingdoms in 1751. What made it particularly significant in Castadillaan history was the flight of the Romany from their homeland for the safety of the viceroyalty, bringing with them stories about the barbarity of the Loa and their brutal mistreatment of the remaining Christians. The Romany would quickly assimilate into the mestizo populace who had taken them in when they had fled from the Loa. The consequences behind the flight of the Romany were still felt for over two hundred years as anti-Loa sentiment became institutionalised and systemic through the passage of the Loa Laws.

While the viceroyalty was largely stable and prosperous throughout the 18th Century, Pelaxia was entering into a period of immense sociopolitical turmoil as the Commonwealth began to become a mockery in the eyes of its neighbours. Loss of territory, loss of prestige, and a long string of embarrassments which saw the Commonwealth collapse in 1792 would lead to the colonists distancing themselves from their colonial power. Coinciding with the Kilikas Enlightenment, some of the most prominent colonial intellectuals began to come up with a distinct national identity, one that stood in opposition to much of the aspects of the former Commonwealth such as the amount of power held by aristocrats and the increasing decadence of the Pelaxian crown as well as the distinction between the mestizos and the coastal colonists; all colonists were deemed equal under this new national identity, which in 1797 was given the name "Delepasian" and its accompanying ideology was called Delepasianism. A liberal ideology, Delepasianism called for popular sovereignty and constitutionalism under the rule of law that would be run by a political elite chosen based on their merits. To most early Delepasianists, popular sovereignty could only be achieved if Pelaxia were to allow for Delepasian representation in their government, and the monarch would either be reduced to a purely ceremonial figurehead or be abolished altogether.

Republican rule

The increasing unpopularity of the Pelaxian monarchy, coupled by the crown's opposition to liberal reforms as well as increasing economic disparity, would see the monarchy be overthrown in a coup in 1804 and was replaced by a triumvirate republic. The viceroyalty would wind up becoming integrated into the First Pelaxian Republic. Many Delepasians supported this change in status; they were finally Pelaxian citizens and thus would be entitled to legislative representation. The intellectuals who have developed Delepasianism were among those who found themselves becoming prominent politicians under the new system. However, because they were now a part of Pelaxia proper, that meant that whenever the metropole experiences instability, which was not uncommon as the triumvirs were prone to frequent disagreements and the economic troubles that have plagued the monarchy were not going away as initially hoped. The result was the rise in a sense of alienation from Pelaxia; despite being citizens of Pelaxia, the Delepasians felt like they were being neglected. On top of that, there was a rise in reactionary sentiment, those who wanted the viceroyalty to return because at least they could remain stable even if the Pelaxian metropole collapses thanks to them having a functional domestic government complete with an active political class.

Girojon restoration

After the Pelaxian armed forces, in cooperation with the old aristocracy, dissolved the triumvirate republic and restored the monarchy in 1814, which saw the viceroyalty being restored as a separate self-governing entity. However, the returning aristocracy were not so keen on suppressing the Delepasian national identity as they feared potentially angering the colonists. Instead, they chose to co-opt it and parts of Delepasianism while adding in more conservative elements such as ensuring the continued special status of the Catholic Church. It was because of the aristocrats that the idea of reforming the viceroyalty into a separate kingdom in a real union with Pelaxia would emerge. Partly based off of the old Commonwealth, the Pelaxio-Delepasian Union was seen as a way to placate both the Delepasianists and the conservatives all the while essentially indirectly preserving the viceroyalty. This idea became especially popular as King Fernando I was beginning to attempt to consolidate his authority which led to the colonial elite to fear that he may try to subvert the Charter of San Lina and revoke the viceregal autonomy; this fear had led to Vallejar declaring independence in the early 1820s. These fears were not unfounded as Fernando I's successor King Felipe II had attempted to unilaterally appoint a new viceroy without the consent of the Council of Prefects which led to an immense political scandal as even the conservatives in the viceroyalty were not keen on potentially giving up their privileges.

Relations between the viceroyalty and Pelaxia would not be repaired until King Luciano II ascended to the throne and began to make vague promises to elevate the viceroyalty's status to that of a partner in a real union with Pelaxia. With the colonists mollified, the status of the monarchy in the viceroyalty was able to remain much more popular than it was in Pelaxia. The overall political situation in Pelaxia would deteriorate due to the increasing authoritarianism of Luciano II to the point of open rebellion being declared against the rogue king in 1852 which saw the Pelaxian monarchy being abolished permanently as well as the old aristocracy. Many of these former aristocrats, including Luciano, would flee to the viceroyalty where they would establish the Delepasian Kingdom as a royalist government-in-exile which effectively dissolved the viceregal government. The new kingdom would only last for three months, however, and the political chaos would see Luciano II flee to Levantia after declaring the Delepasians to be "ungovernable".

Government

The government of the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas has evolved from a subordinate colonial government to a self-governing entity complete with a fully-functional parliamentary system that has evolved over time. This section will be describing the viceregal political structure as it was in the 19th Century since it would serve as the basis for the political structure of the Delepasian Kingdom and the Delepasian Confederation to a lesser extent.

Viceroy

The viceroy was the highest-ranking official in the viceregal political system and was ostensibly the official representative of the Pelaxian monarch. His role is comparable to that of the modern-day Castadillaan commander-in-chief, that being a powerful executive figure. The viceroy is elected by the Council of Prefects for a single ten-year term using a complex electoral machine that consists of multiple elections that alternate between sortition and indirect elections; the idea behind the viceregal electoral machine was to prevent factionalism and populism from taking root. Once elected, the viceroy-elect swears an oath to the viceregal crown, a tradition that dates back to the 17th Century and serves as a reminder that the viceroy gets his authority from the crown, and not the monarch.

Supreme Courts

The Supreme Courts was the bicameral legislature of the viceroyalty, and it consists of two houses: the Council of Prefects, and the Council of Burgesses.

The Council of Prefects was the upper house of the Supreme Courts; the composition of the Council consisted of the entirety of the colonial aristocracy who were granted the automatic right to sit in the Council as well as people who were explicitly appointed by the viceroy based on merit, often highly-respected political officials and elder statesmen. Members of the Council were called prefects.

The Council of Burgesses was the lower house of the Supreme Courts; it was composed of three hundred members who were elected for a three-year term in direct elections, though direct elections limited suffrage to wealthy males. Members of the Council were called burgesses.

Both Councils held equal power and authority, thus meaning that a proposed law that passes in either Council could easily be defeated in its opposite counterpart; this being especially egregious as the high amount of prefects would often make passing proposed laws in the Council of Prefects much more difficult than in the Council of Burgesses. There was also no designated leader for either Councils; the deputy viceroy, which in modern times has often been confused for acting as a prime minister, was always appointed by the viceroy and served a merely advisory role.

Governorates

Local governance in the viceroyalty was done through the governorates, each headed by a governor. Their primary purpose was to handle the local administration as a centralised government at that time was proving to be particularly difficult due to the rough terrain as the needed infrastructure in many inland areas were severely underdeveloped up until the 1840s. The borders of the governorates are congruent to the modern-day states of Castadilla.

Economy

17th Century diagram depicting the relative sizes of the coins of the Rumian real.

Mercantilism was the main economic policy of the viceroyalty throughout its existence. Because of its vast resources, it could easily sustain such a policy and still remain profitable in the long run. It did, however, lead to the viceregal economy being in the hands of wealthy merchants and aristocrats who were able to wield extensive influence over domestic affairs. It was because of this economic oligarchy that Delepasianists called for a transition away from mercantilism and towards capitalism which in their minds was more meritocratic and less likely to fall into the hands of an aristocratic merchant class.

The later years of the viceroyalty would see capitalism become the main economic policy as the radical policies of the First Pelaxian Republic had largely killed off mercantilism. With the economic oligarchy broken, the overall wealth of the viceroyalty became more decentralised as making profits became more a matter of merit than a matter of bloodlines or having come to the viceroyalty first like in earlier years. The overall success of the market economy allowed for capitalism to serve as a noticeable influence for the economies of most of the successors of the viceroyalty for many years.

See also

• Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth
• King in Vallos
• Pelaxian colonization of Vallos