Venceian Republic
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Venceian Republic
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| 1172-1283 | |||||||||
 Seal
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| Status | Republic | ||||||||
| Capital | Venceia | ||||||||
| Common languages |
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| Religion | Catholic | ||||||||
| Government | Oligarchic republic | ||||||||
| Legislature | Senate | ||||||||
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The Second Caphiric Republic, also known as the Venceian Republic in Caphirian historiography, refers to the era of Caphirian history spanning 1172-1283. After a series of civil wars and disasters destabilized the Second Imperium and led to the death of the final Imperator of that regime, the Senatorial patrician class stepped into the power vacuum and established an oligarchical republic in its place. The new Republic was intended to spread power widely among the patricians but also ensure a power-sharing system which would prevent civil war. The establishment of the republic marked the formal end of the Second Imperium, and due to the series of catastrophic events in the years leading up to its establishing, the territory of the Republic was significantly smaller than that of the Second Imperium.
Despite its limited initial geographic footprint - largely equivalent to the modern provinces of Amarsia, Leonia, Inonsia, Misena, Carina, Alcarca, Estro and part of Narico - the Republic managed to restore political stability and end economic chaos in the area immediately surrounding Venceia during its initial decades. By the beginning of the 13th century, the Republic was stable and economically prosperous, but still retained a significantly reduced ability to project power. The Republic did manage to nominally reclaim some territory, largely under the authority of local rulers such as Sebastián Pasillas who were given titular governorships in the Caphiric system but were de facto independent. Using this system, as well as conventional military aims, the Republic reached its zenith in around 1235 before entering a five decade period of decline. The Republic and its allies and governors were unable to stop the rise of Slavic power in southern Sarpedon. Following decades of wars, Serossaccir Odobricci ultimately defeated the Republic in 1283. He induced the government and Senate of the Republic to recognize him as Imperator, establishing the Third Imperium and ultimately continuing the existence of the Caphiric state.
Nomenclature
Various terms have been used to describe the Caphiric state in the periods between the Second and Third Imperium. Contemporary scholars continued to use the term "the state" or "the republic", terms which were also used during the First and Second Imperiums to refer generically to the Caphiric government. Post-Second Imperium histories briefly used terms like the "interregnal republic" before adopting the convention "Venceian Republic" beginning in the 15th century. The purpose of this term was to delegitimize and disassociate the Republic from Caphiria's overall identity and history, largely for political purpose which emphasized the legitimacy and necessity of an Imperator-led system. These connotations evolved into a full rejection of the Republic's legacy by the 19th century, and many Caphirian histories did not cover the 1172-1283 period at all. This version of events was generally accepted globally through the mid-20th century, when Levantine scholarship began to emphasize the continuity of the Caphiric state. Accordingly, the term Venceian Republic remains in use in popular parlance but the term "Second Republic" is heavily preferred by scholars outside Sarpedon.
History
Government
The Venceian Republic was an oligarchic republic. It empowered the existing structure of magistrates to serve as its government. Although popular belief and initial scholarly views were that the Venceian Republic restored the system of government used by the First Republic, most modern scholars now argue that the Venceian Republic used the heavily modified Imperator-based magistrate system, effectively continuing the government of the Second Imperium without an Imperator. Accordingly, it was the Princeps Senatus rather than Consuls who served as the primary head of government, serving at the pleasure of the Senate. The Princeps Senatus was responsible for day-to-day governance of the Republic in conjunction with the Senate, who often appointed three or four-person executive committees to serve under his direction and manage the affairs of senior magistrates. The Princeps Senatus was responsible for appointing Consuls to serve as military leaders, effectively replacing the Imperator in that regard. The head of state role evolved over the course of the Republic's life. A "State Praetor" serving two year terms was initially invested to serve the ceremonial function of the Imperator while the Princeps Senatus held political power and the Consuls military power. This powerless figurehead role gradually lost significance, and it appears that no State Praetor was appointed at all in the final thirty years of the Republic's existence. In the aftermath, some of these ceremonial functions reverted to the Senate as a whole, the Princeps Senatus individually, or fell out of favor as the government tried to foster republican ideals within the culture.
In addition to the actual political and administrative offices of the state, the Republic employed a very large number of nominal political offices, namely governors, proconsuls, and other similar magistracies. These titles were distributed to client states, allies, and tributaries of the Republic in order to establish nominal authority of the Republic over the Imperial space, not only to strengthen the Republic's foreign policy but also to enhance its domestic legitimacy. This system, which included paid salaries for office holders, allowed the Republic to nominally extend from modern Pelaxia to Lariana. This control over the Imperial space gave the Republic the legitimacy it needed to survive and continue the Caphiric state, though it never functionally had administrative or military control beyond the immediate basin of the Urlazian Sea.
Culture
Legacy
The primary legacy of the Republic is the continuation of the Caphiric state. Many scholars have noted that the stability of the senatorial regime provided respite and recovery for the Caphiric sovereignty. Some scholars have also posited a hypothetical alternative path, where a continuous string of Imperators, each with less legitimacy than the last, would have been installed in 1172, leading to a state legitimacy death spiral and ultimately the end of Caphirian political continuity with the destruction of the state by foreign powers. For this reason, some 21st century Caphirian scholars have attempted to rehabilitate the Republic's image in a nationalistic framework, including historian H. N. Publian, who published the 2021 work "The Unimaginable: Case for a Second Republic". Such revisionist histories are increasingly popular in international scholarly circles but are still questioned in Caphirian academia and mainstream society.
The Republic's secondary legacy is a reinvigoration of the Senate as a political institution. The senatorial class of the late Second Imperium had become largely depreciated in value, with most Imperial relatives, important foreign allies, and various political functionaries receiving the status of Senator. The reemergence of the Senate as a political body led to an influx of capable and ambitious men who would have otherwise sought the Purple or important military command and also led to a purge of the Senatorial rolls in order to reestablish the Senate as an exclusive body. When Serossaccir Odobricci established the Third Imperium, he maintained the Senate's importance as a social and political institution. For the first century of the Third Imperium's existence, the Senate retained the bulk of its governing authority within the city of Venceia itself while the Imperator focused largely on the governing of the rest of the empire. This privilege established Venceia as having a degree of autonomy within the Third Imperium, a privilege that was progressively eroded until any vestige of it was abolished altogether at the establishment of the Fourth Imperium. The Senatorial reinvigoration ensured the Senate survived as an important governing institution, and today it remains a key part of Caphiria's legislative apparatus.
Many scholars have noted the Republic's long-term importance in maintaining the expectation for republican institutions throughout Caphirian society. Efforts by the shortlived Republic to instill in the populace a basic expectation of responsive government and government institutions beyond that of Imperator are thought to have had long-lasting impacts on the psyche of Caphiria.