History of the Unified States of Osuwa
The history of the Unified States of Osuwa spans over four centuries, from its formation in the late 16th Century to its dissolution into the Federative Planets of Polyingffhaestia in the middle of the 21st Century. Beginning as a colony of the globe-spanning Kingdom of Kerolon at the peak of its First Age of Imperium, Osuwa successfully revolted against its mother country over stringent tax policies and enforcement fueled by Kerolon’s autocratic system of government. Adopting a unique democratic governmental system, Osuwa embarked upon its own age of imperium and colonized roughly a third of its homeworld Uingffh; at the same time, the nation fell under the influence of powerful corporations under the Modera Group due to its unregulated capitalist economy and participated in a long-lasting cold war with its rival, the Great Imperial Hegemony of Morbidia.
After non-Osuwan and non-tabulon civil rights movements halted Osuwa’s expansion, Osuwa entered modernization and proceeded to experience drastic technological advancement guided by its corporations; however, economic inequality increased as well. Following the discovery of Izlondian ruins beneath Uingffh’s surface in the late 18th Century, Osuwa joined its neighbors Morbidia and Kerolon in obtaining space traval capabilities and transitioning into interstellar powers. Osuwa went on to fully colonize 8 other planetary systems as well as designate 12 systems as unincorporated territories at its peak.
Origins (1561-1584)
During the second half of the 13th Century, the Kingdom of Kerolon conquered the Osuwa region of the Ulstonian supercontinent. This colony gradually grew into Kerolon's most prosperous and developed colonies. The Osuwa colony was also notable for its autonomy - Osuwan colonists were granted a wide range of civil and political freedoms while Kerolon imposed only very low taxes upon them. But in 16th Century, Kerolon began to deviate from this trend of salutary neglect by increasing taxes upon the Osuwan colonists in order to fund the military budget during the conquests of Uveerius, Uopia, and Liyres. This act disillusioned the Osuwans due to the fact that Kerolon had taxed them only very lightly beforehand.
However, taxes would not reach their highest until the late 1550s and early 1560s, when Kerolon increased taxes even more to fund the development of its various newly-acquired colonies. Notably, Kerolon passed innumerable acts that imposed taxes on seemingly random goods and services; for instance, the 1559 Iye Act imposed a 3 imperial ster-tax for each Iye (an Osuwa-native bestia/animal domesticated by many affluent Osuwans) an Osuwan owned. But more importantly, Kerolonian police officers grew stricter and harsher in punishing tax evaders. On some occasions, Kerolonian law enforcement officials would torture Osuwan citizens in public for not paying enough in taxes. However, this only encouraged Osuwans to rebel even more, eventually leading to a full-scale revolution. Furthermore, these actions led to the growth of anti-monarchist sentiment amongst Osuwans, who viewed the fact that Kerolon taxed them without representing them in its government in any way unfair.
Osuwan Revolution and the Formation of Osuwa
The Osuwan Revolution is considered to have started in 1561, when Osuwan colonists began fighting back against Kerolonian law enforcement officials in large numbers across the Osuwa region. The colonists demanded that Kerolon either ease its taxes on them, or form a parliament that would represent them in governmental affairs. At this point, King Rictell declared Osuwa in a state of rebellion and ordered the deployment of troops into the region; however, not only did the Osuwans successfully fight back using their local militias, but also many Kerolonian soldiers sympathized with the Osuwan cause and defected onto the rebels' side.
However, the Osuwan Revolution's most notable acts came in the form of alternative, non-armed protests, which were high in number. One of the most notable examples was the Halbert Yummy Star Sacrifice of November 14, 1565, when Osuwans trekked to the summit of Mt. Halbert, the easternmost of the Kerolon Plateau's volcanoes, and threw 1,776 containers of yummy star fruits into the mountain's caldera in protest of the Yummy Stellar Act, which gave Kerolon's yummy star growing company Yummy Stellar a monopoly on Osuwan yummy star fruits. Other unique acts of defiance included the formation of the Heirs of Freedom, an all-somale group of Osuwans who manufactured goods for Osuwans as a substitute for exorbitantly-priced goods imported from Kerolon.
None of these protests proved sufficient enough to convince King Rictell to enact tax or political reforms. Instead, he forcefully reorganized the Osuwan colonies into the Imperial Dominion of Osuwa, where he installed staunch Rictell loyalist Anehta rei Efil as its near-dictatorial governor. In addition to designing the Dominion to strip Osuwan colonists of their political and civil autonomy, King Rictell also passed a series of acts, nicknamed the Insufferable Acts, that significantly harshened punishments for Osuwans who defied Kerolonian rule.
In response, the Osuwan colonists revolted once again, experiencing quick success due to the overconfidence of Governor Efil and Rictell's other royalists. But this time, instead of simply demanding reform from the Kerolonian government, the Osuwans chose to have their 15 colonies secede into a new nation - the democratic Unified States of Osuwa - on July 4, 1576. Revolutionary war hero Haris Yang-Moof became the first president of this new republican nation while the Iphelia Family - a former Kerolonian noble family strongly supportive of the Osuwan revolutionary cause - supplied the nation various important resources.
Enraged, King Rictell immediately declared war on the fledgling Unified States, marking the beginning of the Osuwan Revolutionary War. Fighting would last for 8 years and see numerous casualties and untold devastation on both sides. Eventually, on June 2, 1584, King Rictell and Osuwan diplomat Helagard rei Iphelia ended the war by signing the Treaty of Kirbani, which officially recognized the Unified States of Osuwa as an independent nation. Kerolon chose to sign it in order to focus on another rebellion - Regalius' Rebellion and the formation of Morbidia - occurring in the west. By the treaty's signing, 16,800 Osuwan soldiers and 18,500 Kerolonian soldiers had perished in battle.
The Osuwan Revolution significantly impacted Kerolonian politics and society. The Osuwan revolutionary war damaged the economic, political, and social stability of the nation, causing the Kingdom to lose control of its Jebellion, Great Bar, and Bagyo Isles colonies, which became neutral territories that Osuwa would later invade. The formation of the Unified States shattered the nationalistic pride the Kerolonian populace had adopted thanks to the Kerolon Empire's conquest of the world. But more importantly, the revolution granted already-dissatisfied Kerolonian subjects the confidence and inspiration to spark change and rebel themselves. The Osuwan Revolution is credited with helping spark the Korroway riots that would lead to the formation of Kerolon's parliament and the rebellion that would lead to the formation of the Great Morbidian Hegemony - the latter move being ironic in that Morbidia would ultimately become one of Osuwa's most prominent political rivals.
Development, formation of the Osuwan Government, and drafting of the Osuwan Devolutionary Articles (1584-1590)
Over the next six years following Osuwa's formation, the nascent Unified States began developing as a nation, its sovereignty now recognized internationally. Because Osuwa already boasted a rather successful economy during its tenure as a colony of Kerolon, its development focused on the creation of its political systems.
Kerolon's unrepresentative absolute monarchy formed a major part of the Osuwan colonists' criticism of the Kingdom, so the Osuwans set about establishing a more democratic government - the first to form in the period after Kerolon's conquest of Uingffh. The Osuwans drew upon concepts for a three-branched federal government proposed by Kerolonian philosophers before the First Age of Imperium and developed a similarly divided federal government consisting of a federal court known as the Highmost Court, a federal legislature known as the Osgress, and an executive figurehead - the President. Haris Yang-Moof rose up as the first Osuwan president and took up residence in Yang-Moof City, the Osuwan capital and a city which was named after fir.
The provisions and guidelines of the Osuwan federal government were published in the Osuwan Devolutionary Articles in 1586. As their name suggests, the government outlined by the Devolutionary Articles substantially delegated political power to local governments - in particular, the governments of the 15 states that the articles divided Osuwa up into. This political libertarianism also had roots in the Osuwans' disillusionment with Kerolon's perceived authoritarian government; many Osuwan colonists viewed Kerolon's highly centralized government as one of the factors behind its tyranny, so they sought to decentralize the Osuwan government as much as possible in order to avoid corruption and misuse of power.
Prim and Clock Rebellions and the drafting of the Osuwan Constitutional Articles (1590-1594)
Though initially praised for the high degrees of freedom they granted, the Devolutionary Articles' decentralized nature ultimately brought about its own issues. The weakness of the Osuwan federal government significantly hindered its ability to perform basic governmental tasks such as collecting taxes, maintaining a competent military, and dealing with debts. This led to high crime rates throughout the Unified States' early years.
The aforementioned issues made themselves clear during the Prim and Clock Rebellions in December 1590, when residents of the Prim and Clock states staged armed revolts against federal governmental personnel attempting to collect taxes. Because of the underfunded state of the national military, the revolutionaries easily overpowered federal troops, forcing state and private militias to intervene. Though they successfully put down the rebellions by late 1591, the rebellions' mere occurrence sparked harsh criticism of the Devolutionary Articles and calls for increased centralization of the Osuwan government.
The Prim and Clock Rebellions soon encouraged Osuwan politicians to draft a new constitution for the USO that would establish a much more robust federal government while simultaneously preserving the libertarianism that characterized Osuwan society. This new constitution, the Osuwan Constitutional Articles, reached its completion in 1594. The Constitutional Articles not only strengthened, but also defined many of the federal government's duty while delegating authority over matters not mentioned in the Articles to local and state governments. Notably, it bolstered funding for the national military and significantly regulated state and private militias. It also defined and protected a number of liberties including the rights to free speech, free press, and ownership of weapons.
A notable point of dispute during the drafting of the Constitutional Articles was the amount of power each Osuwan state should have in the Osuwan Congress. While representatives of less populous states insisted on having each state be represented equally, those from larger, more populous states supported having each state's representation be determined by their populations. Ultimately, they compromised by diving the Congress into two houses: the Senatorial House, where states would enjoy equal representation; and the Public House, where states would have varying amounts of representatives depending on population.
Osuwan Age of Imperium and the Morbidia-Osuwa Cold War (1594-1648)
The success of the Constitutional Articles, combined with pre-existing pride in Osuwa's libertarianism and significant economic and technological progress under Osuwa's free market economy, inspired a surge of patriotism among the Osuwan populace. Eventually, numerous Osuwan politicians began advocating for the expansion of Osuwa into other nearby regions in order to spread the nation's values - in other words, Osuwa's own age of imperium similar to Kerolon's.
This culminated in the beginning of the Osuwan Age of Imperium during the middle of the 1590s. As a means towards the ends of Osuwa's manifest destiny, the Osuwan government began to delegate more of the federal budget towards the federal military; this event is often cited as the origin of Osuwa's current long-running emphasis on military spending. Though funding for services like healthcare and education suffered as a result, the Osuwan government continued to receive support for its military ventures from its budding corporations and businessmen, who viewed an Osuwan age of imperium as a highly profitable venture that would expand their markets and grant them access to more resources. Because these wealthy industrialists held significant influence over Osuwan society and its flow of information, the Osuwan populace echoed their support for expansionism and imperialism.
Osuwan Conquest of the Bagyo Isles
Due to their close proximity to the Osuwan mainland, the Bagyo Islands and other nearby islands became the first targets of Osuwa's imperialism. To this end, the Unified States sent a total of 195,000 troops to the Bagyo Isles in order to conquer the islands.
Because the Bagyo Isles had fallen into severe civil unrest after the fall of Kerolon's empire due to having gone so long without independence, the conquest of the Bagyo Isles proved extremely brief. Within less than a year, Bagyo and its adjacent islands fell under the secure control of the Osuwan armed forces. In 1595, the Bagyo Isles were officially admitted into the Unified States as five states: Princessia, Prim Gulf, Luzoningffh, Visayingffh, and Mindaningffh.
Bagyan reception to Osuwan occupation was initially more positive than that towards Kerolonian occupation. Because of Osuwa's democratic, decentralized government and lack of state-enforced racial and species discrimination, the Bagyans believed that being under Osuwan rule would improve their lives somewhat and bring stability similar to how the Kerolonian War of Unity brought order and stability to the once war-torn Kerolon region. This, however, only proved partially true; though the Bagyan political climate stabilized following the arrival of Osuwa, many Bagyans ultimately found themselves exploited as cheap labor under Osuwan private companies. Additionally, Osuwans scoured the islands for natural resources, damaging the Bagyo Isles' natural environment and biosphere in the process.
Beginning of the Morbidia-Osuwa Cold War
Prior to the rise of Osuwan imperialism, Osuwa and the Great Imperial Hegemony of Morbidia exercised cordial relations due to their shared origins as rebels against the Kerolon Empire. However, the Osuwan Age of Imperialism and its associated nationalism brought to light the stark cultural, political, and economic differences between the two nations. Morbidia existed as a socialist and anti-imperialist autocracy while Osuwa committed itself to free market economics, expansionism, and democracy.
Osuwa and Morbidia's new societal differences initiated the beginning of a long and lengthy cold war during the Bagyo Isles conquest. Motivated by a desire to repudiate Morbidia's socialism and autocracy and promote Osuwan capitalism and democracy, Osuwa began competing with Morbidia for power and influence over Uingffh. However, the two nations did so in different ways; while Morbidia refused to take part in expansionism and instead attempted to increase its power through scientific and technological development, Osuwa attempted to increase its influence and overpower Morbidia by conquering more and more territory, starting with the Bagyo Isles. In fact, many Osuwan colonists informed Bagyan natives of Morbidia's flaws as a way to increase Bagyan support for Osuwan occupation.
Osuwan Conquest of the Great Bar
Following the conquest of the Bagyo Isles, the Unified States of Osuwa turned to conquering the territory held by the Kingdom of the Great Bar.
Compared to the Bagyo Isles, the Great Bar boasted a more stable government and a more competent defense force, causing the invasion to last significantly longer - the rest of the 16th Century and the first quarter of the 17th Century, compared to the Bagyo invasion's mere year. However, due to the Great Bar's location next to and connected to continental Osuwa, the Unified States largely utilized land forces as opposed to naval fleets and warships; these land forces held more experience due to their major role in the initial Osuwan rebellion and thus proved to be an even match for the Great Bar's defenses.
The Great Bar eventually fell to Osuwan control in 1623, ironically partially though diplomacy - Osuwan diplomats presented the Unified States' highly successful economy to the Barians, who grew convinced of voluntarily joining the USO in order to gain access to these economic benefits. That year, the Osuwan Government worked with the Great Bar's government to partition the Great Bar's territory into three states: Bebellia to the west, Besaidia in the middle, and Bobarius to the east.
Compared to Osuwa's occupation of Bagyo, the occupation of the Great Bar received significantly more positive reactions from the Barians. The Barians were able to feel the benefits of Osuwa's economy more directly and were granted access to a variety of Osuwan goods, including many food items and decorative plants grown in Bagyo. Additionally, Osuwa's annexation of the Great Bar Kingdom officially dismantled the Great Bar's royal family and noble families, leading to a perceived increase in political freedom. However, the Barians also perceived some downsides from admission into Osuwa; most notably, the Unified States dismantled the Great Bar's universal healthcare system and significantly defunded public education, bring the Osuwan trend of wealth inequality into the Great Bar states. Additionally, Barians faced mild racial discrimination (compared to the discrimination of Bagyans) from Osuwans, who stereotyped the Barian natives as barbarians and savages. Though the Barians did not face de facto slavery and relentless exploitation like the Bagyans, they nonetheless suffered from lower employment rates, increased harassment, poor access to services like healthcare and education, and difficulty in obtaining positions of respect and power in Osuwan society.
Formation of the Modera Corporate Group
During the Great Bar conquests, Osuwa's corporations noticed a modest decrease in their popularity and influence. Information about the Great Bar's social democratic-esque system fueled calls for economic reform within the Unified States. Though these protests were rather small in nature, the corporations still viewed them as a threat to their success and influence.
In order to confront this perceived threat, 12 of Osuwa's largest corporations chose to band together into the Modera Corporate Group on January 30, 1608. Working together, the Modera Group's member corporations were able to more efficiently utilize their already-high bargaining power to influence Osuwan politics and legislation to their own benefit. Naturally and unfortunately, this came at the expense of the working class's quality of life; throughout the Great Bar conquest years and the years following, Osuwa saw the degradation of pro-labor legislation and witnessed the lengthening of working hours, the suppression of worker protests like strikes, and the harsh crackdown on labor unions. Meanwhile, the Osuwan government grew more forgiving to rich businessmen and regularly donated hefty sums of pakas to ever-growing businesses in order to generate more jobs, products, and overall economic growth.
Osuwan Red Scare
Notably, the Modera Group's companies drew upon the Osuwan populace's wariness of the Great Morbidian Empire and its more socialist policies to amass support for its pro-employer causes.
Osuwan Conquest of Jebellion Island
Lordion Internment
Non-Osuwan Civil Rights Movement (1645-1665)
Morteus and Lordion Civil Rights Movements (1665-1690)
WIP