Copake
Republic of Copake | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
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Motto: Knee henewa elad formaneh ("God guide us forward together") | |
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| Capital | Tekuma |
| Official languages | Eastern Venua |
| Demonym(s) | Copaish |
| Government | Presidential federal republic |
• President | Melun Alacantan (NUP) |
| Legislature | Northeastern Congress |
| House of Constituencies | |
| National Assembly | |
| Established | |
• Treaty of Halfway | 1 January 2025 |
• Constitution adopted | 1 July 2034 |
| Population | |
• 2030 estimate | 1,842,485 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2030 estimate |
• Total | $6,087,570,440 |
• Per capita | $3,304 |
The Republic of Copake is a country in Crona.
It was established in 2025 from lands of the Venua'tino mandate of the League of Nations. The peoples of Copake have shared cultural similarities since the medieval period, when they became politically divided following the end of Quetzen trade city hegemony. From the 17th century, the Copaish people were loosely subject to Varshan under the Polar Captaincy until it collapsed in the mid-20th century. The establishment of the League mandate in 1967 began a fraught process of state building which culminated in the Republic's independence in the 2020s. Independent Copake is largely divided between its powerful nomadic minority and its settled majority, the latter of which have been the subject of signifciant foreign development aid as the country attempts to urbanize and modernize.
Although not formally organized as such, Copake is considered by many nations and observers to be a benefactor confederacy under Urcean leadership. Copake is a member of the Nysdra Sea Treaty Association.
Etymology
Copake is thought by most etymologists to mean "snake pond" in the Eastern Venua, originating from Cook-pake, or Ack-kook-peek. Many historians and local sources are divided on what this term signifies, but most believe it to originally be a tongue-in-cheek reference to either the geopolitics or culture of the people living in the region as opposed to a real geographic feature.
Geography
Copake sits at the northeastern corner of the Nysdra Sea in northern Crona, and is one of the world's northernmost countries. The country is divided into a southwestern peninsular region - called the Wappinger Peninsula - which shoots out into the Nysdra Sea and curls to the southeast, and an inland region which extends to the east of the peninsular area. The Wappinger Peninsula has a very low-lying coast, but the rest of the country is relatively uniformly flat in terms of topography. The peninsula wraps around an inlet known as Wappinger Bay which sits roughly in the center part of the country. The nation's climate is primarily subarctic, with the peninsular lowlands and Wappinger Bay coastal areas experiencing warm temperatures during the peak of summer. The furthest eastern part of the country, extending only for a few dozen miles, more closely approximate temperate climates as a result of Odoneru Ocean temperature dynamics, and the government has extensively studied the viability of this region for Cusinaut-style maize farming. The coastal lowlands are the primary population center of the country. Much of this region is deforested and has several major population centers relative to their latitude. The climate in this region and ready availability of fish has allowed Copake to sustain a very large population relative to its latitude; it is comparably dense to Vithinja in some portions of the country. The majority of the inland region is heavily forested with tamarack and other comparable trees.
History
Early history
Although Eastern Venua'tino had been settled by various peoples since at least 1000 BC, Copake is the first independent state established in this territory. Major cities and tribal nations were subject to the so-called Venua Empire in Antiquity, and the region faced loose Quetzen hegemony during the medieval period. The rise of a unified Quetzenkel and end of the Quetzen mercantile cities lead to a period of self rule and lack of centralized state organization, and from then on the modern country's borders has largely been divided into shifting leagues of the country's major population centers. Despite the political division, the region developed a generally cohesive culture with some local differences, and developed a shared language known internationally as "Eastern Venua".
Polar Captaincy
In 1652, forces from Varshan arrived in Venua'tino and established loose control over the territory, with Varshani cities and outposts on the coast serving as nexuses of control and centers of tribute for the rest of the territory. This occupation took the form of the Polar Captaincy, primarily focused on exacting tribute and exporting a limited number of slaves to Varshan rather than directly administering or colonizing the territory. Accordingly, the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of northern and inland Copake were not significantly disturbed by the establishment of Varshani rule, though occasional parties of raiders or unofficial "tribute collectors" would periodically plague the area for the next several centuries. The Copaish cities on the Wappinger Peninsula, however, now fell under direct Varshani rule. The period between the 1650s and 1960s would see significant, Varshani-influenced changes to Copake's most urbanized region. The local population was generally treated as a subservient caste, but unlike mainland Varshan they still held major economic and even administrative posts in service of the Captaincy. The small number of Varshani settlers in these cities generally required higher standards of living than previously existed, creating complex temple, administrative, and leisure structures which are now iconic sites within Copaish cities. The Captaincy period had significant impacts on Copaish culture and likely was the origin point of the Venua Faith's divergence from mainstream M'acunist religion, incorporating significant Arzalist themes. The Captaincy also created an implied sense of hierarchy within Copaish cities and a cultural inclination towards deference to perceived social betters, a trait that still exists within urban Copaish society but is absent among the range people.
The Captaincy is noteworthy from a historiographical standpoint as it is the first time in which the various peoples and regions of Copake were documented. A group of four surveyors from Varshan traveled throughout modern Copake and the modern International Nature Preserve from 1652 to 1659, meticulously documenting nomadic groups they came across, villages, languages, local religious practice, and the viability of various groups to be procured (by traditional deportation or by trading goods) for slavery. These documents, now collectively known as the "Great Survey", have proven an invaluable tool both to Occidental scholars as well as those in Copake attempting to define a shared and antique national identity.
The Polar Captaincy, with Varshan, entered a period of decline in the 1950s, leading to increased violence between the settled and nomadic peoples and between the nomads themselves. In the 1960s, Quetzenkel conquered the Brudxaan Province, severing Varshan's access to the Nysdra Sea. Varshani forces and citizens were ordered suddenly to withdraw on the evening of 17 March 1964 following an agreement between Varshan, Daxia, and Quetzenkel to allow them safe passage. In the wake of the withdraw, public order broke down across Venua'tino. The Varshani-appointed ethnically Copaish Ethnarch of Tekuma attempted to usurp the title of Polar Captain and unite all of Venua'tino as a sovereign entity using the same administrative apparatus of the Captaincy, but without Varshani military force he was unable to consolidate power. The Tekuman Polar Captaincy collapsed by November forcing the self-proclaimed Polar Captain to flee. In 1965 and 1966, a clear lack of governing authority inaugurated a period of significant economic uncertainty and political violence as Venua'tino descended into anarchy.
State formation and mandate
In 1967, the League of Nations voted to establish an international mandate over Venua'tino which would eventually come under the protection of Urcea. Of the land so designated, Copake made up the majority of the habitable, non-tundra territory within the Mandate. The Urceans began a the project of forging a federated state in Venua'tino with the Coastal Coalition in the 1970s, which many of the cities in southern Copake had been prominent leaders in. The failure of the Coalition in 1979 led to a period of multilateral engagement between Urcea and local polities, temporarily shelving the concept of a state in Venua'tino. The beginning of The Deluge reinvigorated the idea of statehood in Venua'tino, and Urcean leaders began to pursue the idea of partition to create a state or states in the area. Negotiations began to transfer sovereignty to a self-governing state began in 2015 against the backdrop of the Deluge.
In 2019, a major conflict broke out between the tribes and cities of Eastern Venua'tino, ostensibly over broken agreements between once-rival tribes. The Royal and Imperial Army began an occupation of the entire Eastern Venua'tino region that year, ending the conflict and beginning negotiations for the establishment of a new, confederated state. Negotiations broke down several times in both 2019 and 2020, leading to low level skirmishes, before negotiations resumed in earnest in the autumn of 2020. With the outbreak of the Final War of the Deluge, troop levels were drawn down and negotiations once again came to a halt as many local parties refused to consider a confederation agreement similar to New Harren until Urcea proved itself able to protect its Cronan allies. Negotiating breakthroughs occurred in 2023 and by 2024 the Treaty of Halfway was signed by the major local parties, establishing the Republic of Copake on January 1st, 2025. International experts and local parties collaboratively spent 2024 laying the groundwork for the basics of a state. A constitution for the country, the Northeastern Charter, was agreed upon following nearly a decade of negotiations in late 2033. Elections took place for constitutional officers who were sworn in on 1 July 2034 for a term of a year and a half, officially transitioning the country out of its provisional government.
Government
Copake is a constitutional federal republic governed by the provisions of the Northeastern Charter, a document adopted in 2034. The Charter provides for what has been described as an "asymmetric federal republic", wherein a large number of the federal units operate with significant autonomy. More than other democratic states, Copake's system is largely defined by its federal units, called Regions and Ranges. Regions are traditionally defined geographic areas, encompassing cities and the people living within them, and the country is divided into six regions. Citizens of regions are counted in the traditional Occidental fashion, with residency within a region considered to be sufficient to make an individual a citizen of a region. Ranges, however, are not based on geography but rather on individual and familial identity. Ranges are the political unit by which the nomadic peoples of Copake are represented, with the various tribal groups organized into fourteen distinct ranges. Ranges are generally organized along the lines of shared familial heritage (though not always). Individuals registered within ranges are eligible to vote for their ranger government and representatives but not the regional representation of any region they are in during election season. Though they are not geographic in scope, ranges nonetheless have constitutionally guaranteed rights to certain historical geographic areas on which grazing and other nomadic activities occurred. These areas, called ranger zones, are governed directly by the national government despite being within the nominal borders of regions. Ranges and regions hold elections for their own internal governance along the same basis as national elections.
Copake's national government meets in the Palace of the Republic in Tekuma and is generally considered to be a presidential republic, somewhat unique among the states of the Nysdra. Elections are held every 5 years on years beginning in 0 and 5. The President of Copake is elected every 5 years on a national popular vote using first past the post. Unlike most other Nysdra-area heads of state, the President of Copake theoretically has broad powers to govern the republic; he or she may propose laws to the National Assembly, may appoint members of the cabinet, has an absolute veto over legislation, directs the nation's foreign policy and controls its diplomatic corps, can direct the affairs of the cabinet, and has command of the country's small military. The President's power is considered to be checked by the implied power of the ranges, which are generally autonomous from many national laws; the ranges' equal representation within the House of Constituencies empowers them to theoretically impeach a President who has overstepped their boundaries. The President is joined by a twelve member cabinet constructed similarly to Urcea's Conshilía Purpháidhe.
Copake has a bicameral legislature, the Northeastern Congress. The upper house, the House of Constituencies, affords the regions seven seats and the ranges three seats each, for a total of 84 total seats. The regions and ranges elect their members on a constituency-wide basis for the House of Constituencies. The House has a very limited scope of responsibilities, including all matters related to range regulation, all proposed changes to the constitution, impeaching the President, and any foreign treaty. All other legislative responsibilities - including budget, making war and peace, approving or changing laws, and approving appointment of officials - falls to the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 100 seats apportioned after a decennial census. Based on the 2030 census, 76 seats were afforded to the six regions, which elect their Assembly members on region-wide proportional votes. The remaining 24 seats were apportioned among the ranges, with the elected leaders of the ranges directly appointing the members of Assembly. The Assembly elects a Speaker of the Assembly, which serves as the presiding officer of the body. The Speaker is generally considered to be head of the legislative branch.
The politics of Copake are generally consumed by the division between settled and nomadic peoples. The Range Party is the largest party in the country by Assembly representation, representing all 24 range seats. It is a decentralized party generally created to serve as a unifying force for range politics. Among the settled peoples, the center-right pro-Occidental National Union Party (NUP) and center-left Free Northeast Movement (FNM) are the two largest parties. The National Union Party currently leads a coalition in the National Assembly with the Range Party and some independents, while the President is a member of the National Union Party.
The country has presently been described by some as a benefactor confederacy inasmuch as the presence of Urcea remains an outsized influence over the affairs of the government and its continued role in preventing internal disputes within the country.
Culture
Despite centuries of being organized under different polities, necessary trade and proximity interactions have made Copake's regional cultural groups relatively closely aligned. Copake culture is subject to a long-running project of nation-building as the government has worked to identify key shared historical events, commonly held social mores, and other subjects which relate the once-disparate peoples together. As such, the work of defining Copake culture is still ongoing, and according to the prominent Kirvian scholar on Crona Velel Arenva, "Copake culture will...ultimately be determined by those who choose to be its practitioners or choose otherwise." In this sense, there is a public focus on democratizing the future of the Copake identity, as newly formed cultural institutions such as museums, schools, and magazines all offer their own version of what it means to be Copaish.
About a quarter of all Copaish people live in nomadic, pastoral-herding lifestyles in the northern and eastern portion of the country, while the majority of the settled population live in the Wappinger Peninsula. Between the settled and nomadic peoples are about ten percent of the Copaish population which are semi-nomadic, living in the same place for most of the year but traveling for either fishing or pastoral purposes about two months of the year. Significant cultural animosity exists between the fully nomadic peoples, called people of the range, and the settled people, with the animosity causing issues in Copake's pursuit of economic development and modernization.
Significant differences exist between the settled and nomadic peoples of Copake, though they share a number of common social mores, a common religion, and a common language. Historical proximity to Varshani influence is one of the primary delineating factors. The centuries-long presence of Varshani rulers within Copaish cities created a cultural tendency towards deference to hierarchy in all elements of life, from accepting poor financial offers of the more affluent to everyday practices like allowing perceived betters to enter rooms and buildings first. Though some international educators have attempted to remediate this Varshani influence, it is nonetheless a defining characteristic of urban Copaish. The people of the range, meanwhile, had no such historic context of deference; they only occasionally interacted with the Varshani rulers, and as a consequence of the dynamic of settled-and-nomadic peoples, nomadic leaders often met with the Varshani as equals. Accordingly, a tension between the settled and nomadic/semi-nomadic people exist regarding behavior, with settled Copaish often expecting deference and even submission from the people of the range, while the people of the range often view the settled Copaish as docile and submissive. In the context of nation-building, some of the most radical Copaish nationalists originate in the range and disavow the "submissive attitudes" of a majority of Copaish city and town dwellers.
Copake culture is noted as being extremely oriented towards a sense of geography and place, especially with respect to the Nysdra Sea. With the introduction of Occidental style maps into the country, the term "Northeastern" (its position in the Nysdra Sea) has become a common adjective used to describe things related to Copake. Although the preferred adjective for cultural, national, and individual purposes remains "Copaish", "Northeastern" is used to describe some government and public institutions, such as the military. In this context, "Northeastern" is often used in the same sense that other countries might use "National" as an adjective for their institutions, such as "national army" or "national government". In the same context, many cultural phrases or references are place based, including common (translated) sayings such as "south of Tekuma" (sailing/desirous of sailing/traveling abroad generally), and "forty leagues east of Winsand" (depressed or frustrated in one's plans).
The Copaish peoples are noteworthy among international cultural observers for their unusual eating times. The two largest meals in Copaish life are equivalent to Occidental breakfast and dinner, with a small snack consumed around mid-day. Given the more limited sunlight in Copake compared to other countries in the winter, the Copaish people generally developed a pattern of eating only during dark hours in the winter. Most scholars believe this was a practical decision, as large communal meals (as is the tradition in Copake) would be impractical and time consuming when the primary food-gathering activities - first through hunting and fishing, then through agriculture - would be the better use of time. In the summer, there is no such prohibition, but generally most Copaish continue to follow the winter schedule. Accordingly, breakfast is usually consumed around 5 AM and dinner is consumed at 10 or 11 PM. There is generally a cultural taboo on eating at other times during the day besides a small half-hour window around noon in which snacks may be consumed; the emphasis on these mid-day meals are portability, and lavish mid-day meals are considered to be rude and ostentatious. Since the growth of Occidental influences in the country, NoWaiter has become a popular mid-day meal location. Occidental fast food restaurants tend to open and close multiple times throughout the day in observance with Copaish meal time custom. Some scholars have rejected the current consensus model describing Copaish eating traditions as far too Occidentocentric; many of these scholars have instead proposed no distinction between breakfast and dinner, instead adopting a model wherein there is "dark time", which is eating time, and "light time", which is not, with the two "meals" really just being interrupted bouts of eating as a result of polyphasic sleep.
Demographics
Copake is the most populous country on the northern part of the Sea of Nysdra. In 2030, its population was recorded to be 1,842,485. More than two-thirds of people living in Copake live below international poverty lines, with very poor educational and healthcare outcomes recorded. Nearly all people in Copake speak regional dialects of the Eastern Venua language. The Copaish government has been working on a program of basic linguistic reform and unification using Tekuma-based vocabulary with significant internal opposition.
Religious Demographics
Religious affiliations in Copake (2030)
The Venua Faith is native to Copake and is its most predominant religion by far. Despite its ubiquity, as a non-organized, non-centralized religion, theological views vary greatly within the Venua framework among the residents of Copake. As a non-organized religion, the Venua Faith has also proven susceptible to missionary efforts by the Catholic Church, which has established a small but growing presence in the country - 3.4% as of 2030. Similarly, Collegiate Protestants have also made inroads with 1.2%, but due to culutral opposition and lack of support from a major patron, such as Urcea, its missionary efforts have lagged far behind that of the Catholics and it has limited cultural penetration. Arzalists, M'acunists, and other Cronan indigenous religions also exist in Copake to a small degree.
Economy
Copake is one of the poorest countries in the world and is a major recipient of international development aid. Most people in Copake live in poverty. One of the major historic industries of Copake is fishing, which provides basic sustenance to most of the population.
The post-independence construction of local infrastructure in support of the neighboring International Nature Preserve has made Copake a minor tourist destination and one of the major entrypoints for the Preserve by international travelers. The presence of these tourists and travelers, and the businesses erected to offer services to them, has had a major positive impact on Copake's economy.
The city of Tekuma, on the central peninsula of Copake, is the largest economic driver of the country. Significant foreign investment has been made to connect Tekuma to the rest of the country by rail and road as part of the improvement economy model, intended to bootstrap an urban, modernized, Occidentalized economy by means of massive infrastructure investments; by design, this has created a massive construction sector within the country. Unique to Copake is a process of radical urbanization, moreso than other improvement economy subjects, due to the completely decentralized nature of Copaish society as it existed prior to the 2020s. Additionally, urbanization and modernization has proven challenging in Copake due to the significant portion of the population which lives nomadic lifestyles, making it difficult to concentrate population and capital within the major cities. These efforts not only includes material connections to other places but also, as a critical part of nation-building, the transformation of Tekuma into the cultural heart of what was once a disparate and fragmented people. This has meant the construction of elaborate government buildings, museums, Venua and Catholic worship sites, and grand boulevards and other public works measures in both new and traditional Copaish styles. These new structures incorporate newfound and valuable Copaish marble which, though not traditionally part of Copaish architecture, has been incorporated into inidgenous designs to transform Tekuma into the "marble city". While improvement economy efforts have sponsored improvements in other major cities, only in Copake has it had the effect of intentionally transforming a single city by means of massive investment within city limits themselves. In the process, Tekuma has transitioned from a backwater regional trade hub into an impressive city. This process has necessarily required the relocation of artists and architects, of which there were a small number, from the outlying portions of the country to Tekuma by means of impressive facilities and expansive grant programs. Accordingly, in addition to the usual group of construction workers and construction contract firm owners, Copake is relatively unique among the improvement economy countries in having artists and other niche artisans making up a sizable role of the emergent middle class. As part of these efforts, the University of Tekuma was chartered and opened in 2034, using primarily Occidental instructors but also a small core indigenous group of professors from both Copake and other areas in the Nysdra.
Though not significant prior to the Deluge, Copake has become a major source of high quality and desirable marble in trade with other Cronan states and Levantia to a lesser extent. Copaish marble is denser and tougher than other types of marble, making it more resistant to wear and better for use in construction. It's primarily made of high-quality calcite, which gives it a unique crystalline structure and distinct appearance. In the Occident, Copaish marble is generally viewed to be similar in quality to the types of marble used in Antiquity in Caphiria and Great Levantia, making it highly prized but expensive and somewhat complex to procure. Copaish marble was used heavily in the rebuilding of Tekuma. Mining operations have scaled up significantly since around 2030, and efforts to better equip the country for global export are underway.
Military
Copake has organized the Northeastern Army and Northeastern Air Corps to serve as the nation's ground and air forces. Originally intended to be fully staffed by 2040, the country has brought in significant numbers of Algosh expatriates, who make up a thin majority of the personnel of both branches. The Northeastern Army is comprised of 9,000 men organized into three brigades. The Northeastern Air Corps is comprised of 1,200 men primarily operating helicopters. Due to the availability of experienced Algosh manpower, Copake has debated the possibility of expanding the military in the future far beyond what would be considered a proportionally sized military for a country with a population of less than two million people. The Copake government has reached an agreement to buy significant military surplus from Urcea to initially equip the military and is actively contracting with manufacturers in Urcea for replacement parts as well as upgrades. Like many other Cronan armed forces, the three brigades of the Northeastern Army are intended to be incorporated within larger Urcean Royal and Imperial Army formations as part of NSTA's Defense Coordination Initiative in the event of armed conflict. In the event of invasion, the Northeastern Army is intended to delay any invading army and ensure Copake's sovereignty remains in tact until the arrival of the Royal and Imperial Army in force.
Copake is a participating member of the Nysdra Sea Guard (NSG), which serves as the nation's navy along with other full members of NSTA. Copake, as a new nation without a significant maritime tradition, has sent many fishermen to Levantia for training in naval affairs in order to take part in the NSG.