Dissolution of the Deric States

The dissolution of the Deric States was a multi-staged process that brought about the end of the Deric States organization specifically and the post-Second Great War geopolitical status quo of Dericania generally. After several stages, it resulted in the consolidation of Lapody and Rhotia and the separation of the Vandarch Republic from the rest of the former Deric States. Modern scholars and observers have posited that the dissoltion may be the final resolution to the question of Derian identity.

Background

Main article: Third Fratricide

Questions of redundancy

Beginning in the 1970s, many scholars and public officials began to call into question the necessity of the Deric States organization given the existence of the Levantine Union, which was established with many of the goals and functions as the Deric States on a larger scale. In the 1970s and 80s, many of the internal organs of the Deric States ceased to function, having given over their role to similar bodies within the Levantine Union. Two extremely prominent examples exist within the Deric States' structure. The first, relatively obscure body is the Council for Tariff and Trade Protection which intended to regulate the entire Deric States as one trading unit. While the Council still exists officially, it did not hold any official meetings after February 4 1962 and the Deric States ceased to distinguish itself from the rest of the Union as a matter of trade policy. The second and more prominent body that was superseded was the Confederation Defense Force (CDF), which served as the official armed forces as the Deric States until its constituent parts were largely integrated into the Coordinating Office of Dericanian Forces (CODF), a part of the Levantine Union Defense Council. The Deric States CDF continued to serve in the 2020s, but its defense jurisdiction solely consisted of Alba Concordia and began to be primarily associated with that city rather than with the Deric States as a whole.

Activist efforts prior to 2020

In 2002, activist organizations from across the Deric States merged into an organization known as "Movement for Mediatization in the 21st Century", popularly shortened to "21MEDNOW". 21MEDNOW began to conduct both lobbying efforts with Dericanian governments as well as popular, grassroots agitation.

By 2015, polling indicated that, on average, 35 to 40% of residents of the Deric States supported the dissolution of the organization and further mediatization of its member states.

Secession of the Vandarch Republic

On 8 March 2023, the Vandarch Republic informed the Levantine Union that it intended to leave the Deric States and become a standalone member of the Levantine Union. The decision to leave lead to large popular demonstrations across Dericania organized by 21MEDNOW calling on its leaders to change the post-Great War geopolitical arrangements of the region. This triggered a diplomatic crisis among leaders of the Deric States, which met in a series of informal conferences and meetings in Corcra beginning in July of 2023. These meetings, commonly known as the "Congress of Corcra", failed to reach any cohesive answer, and in April of 2024 the ambassadors were asked to leave the city following the breakdown of negotiations.

With the Deric States playing a minor role in the immediate diplomatic aftermath of the Final War of the Deluge, popular mediatization efforts temporarily lost priority in some of the Deric States, cooling tensions and the pace of dissolution. However, many of its members held elections in 2025 in which the dissolution was a key issue, any many pro-dissolution elements won across the Deric States in part due to 21MEDNOW support.

Organizational decay

With public pressure mounting and two states already having seceded from the organization, Deric States leaders decided to convene the Confederated Council of Dericania in 2028 to deal with the ongoing crisis. The Council, which had not met since 1988, convened in January of 2028 with the intention of preserving the union if possible. The Council instituted a series of reforms intended to keep the Deric States relevant, including the dissolution of a considerable part of its depreciated bureaucratic institutions. The Council also drafted and adopted a statement stating that it was the intention of itself and its members to preserve the confederation, stating that only the confederation could continue to represent the disparate interests of its many members and that a failure to keep Dericania unified had led to its "historic defeats".

The reforms had a net negative effect on the confederation's long term prospects. The dissolution of most of the organization's institutional bureaucracy not only lead to some individuals being laid off, but in the popular imagination it was viewed as a concession that the confederation did not have a meaningful role to play in the 21st century. The "historic defeats" language was greatly unpopular throughout Dericania, with one noted activist calling the language an "irresponsible relic of the past" and a "baseless assault on our deeply held alliance with Urcea and Burgundie". Domestic political concerns in all of the Deric States lead to the preservation statement being disavowed by the States which had recently ratified it.

Consolidation of Rhotia and Lapody

By early 2029, after the "historic defeats" statement and nearly a decade of agitating, polls indicated a majority of residents of the remaining Deric States believed the organization was "antiquated", and a large majority for the first time felt that a final round of mediatization within a Levantine Union context was necessary. The political pressure to these ends grew significantly in 2029, and by August 2029 Vorenia was the first of the Deric States to pass a resolution calling on the further consolidation of Lapodardian speaking people, either by means of the "dissolution of the Vorenian state...or by its expansion...or by any other means".

Rhotian proclamation

Rhotia came into being as the result of a public pressure campaign beginning in 2028 and culminating in a series of snap elections in August 2029, after which the newly formed Rhotian Nationalist Party (RNP) spontaneously proclaimed a new Rhotian nation.

Negotiations of the Lapodards

A referendum was held in each state on 1 June 2030 to approve the consolidation, requiring two-thirds of each country's voters to approve it. Vorenians approved the measure with 84%, Verecundians by 79%, and Loreseians by just 68%, two points ahead of the required threshold. On 1 July 2030, the Provisional State of Lapody was established.

Status of Corcra

As "consolidation fever" swept Dericania in 2029 and 2030, concerns about the future status of Corcra became a major political issue both in Dericania and in the Levantine Union Diet. Although the state of Corcra primarily spoke Rhotian, since the time of the Holy Levantine Empire the city of Corcra was a multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic city which had served as the Empire's political center and the administrative center of the Levantine Union. Although nationalist sentiments never reached the point of violence, Rhotian national advocates argued it was the heart of Rhotian culture and could not be separated from the rest of the Rhotian state. Following negotiations with local authorities and the Rhotian Provisional Government, the Levantine Union Diet passed the Administrative Center Act in 2030. The Act carved out two segments of the city, the historic "Imperial Quarter" and the "Foreign Quarter", into sovereign Levantine Union territory known as the Union District, governed directly by a committee of the Levantine Union Diet. The Imperial Quarter included the ancient historic sites as well as the administrative and government buildings of the Levantine Union, and the Foreign Quarter included the various consulates attached to the Levantine Union's administrative apparatus in addition to many of the homes of Union personnel. The Rhotian Provisional Government signed the Imperial Palace Accord on 4 February 2030, which formally annexed Corcra (which been part of the Provisional Government's administrative apparatus since the beginning) and ceded the Union District to the Levantine Union in a single act.

The "middle course"

As consolidation and mediatization reached a broad conclusion that resulted in the establishment of Rhotia and Lapody as independent states, both states continued to pursue the idea of preserving the Deric States in some form, and accordingly the Confederated Council of Dericania - still made up of representatives of the former Deric member nations - voted in February 2031 to recognize Lapody and Rhotia as members of the Deric States before voting to remove themselves from the Council and replace themselves with three representatives each from the two member states. The reconstituted council, largely made up of the same individuals as before, pledged a "middle course" - preservation of the Deric States in some form even in a post-mediatization world. Popular attitutdes in both nations generally regarded the other with warm feelings, and so a special bond continuing between the two had broad support. As a two-member organization would be quickly sidelined in the name of more direct bilateral relations, this middle course was partly predicated on the idea of reincorporating Hollona and Diorisia, and possibly even Burgundie into the organization, creating a form of Dericania-wide cultural organization. Both nations rejected these overtures, the Vandarch Republic stating that the time for integration beyond that provided by the Levantine Union was past. Burgundie did not respond at all.

Final end

Formal dissolution

Having run afoul of the Levantine Union and failing to add any other nation back into the union, leaders in Rhotia and Lapody in 2031 held several closed-door negotiations throughout the spring and summer. On 17 January 2032, the Confederated Council of Dericania met for the final time and voted unanimously to dissolve the Confederation of the Estates and Principalities of Dericania and to divide its assets between the two remaining member states and the Levantine Union. The Dissolution represented the formal and final end of Dericania as a single political that began with the establishment of the Eastern Kingdom of the Levantines in 917.