Chapter 6: United Republic of Great Courbury (Rule, Courburia!)
(A/N Notes: I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of problems in this chapter, but at the same time I don't have much idea on what to change either, without needing to make an entire new fic to explain everything without cramming or revealing too many of my cards way too early)
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At first, Courbury was slow to notice its new situation, aside from the storm nothing appeared out of the ordinary, it was only when merchant ships stumbled upon the island with unknown flags, that the government and people started to notice something wrong was happening
Expeditions were sent in all directions, to the west only a vast ocean was found and unwillingness to waste resources in what could easily become a one-way trip the voyages to the west ceased.
To the north, a large landmass was found with a poor nation hugging the frozen and barren coastline, the Kingdom of Flaksia.
To the east, a maritime insular nation covered with tall conifer forests and a mountain in the middle of the main island was found, that was the Kingdom of Gjevene.
And to the south, a large nation occupying an entire peninsula, that had around 3/4 the area of Europe, that nation contained large metal ships and flying objects, inherited from the ruins of a bygone era, that was the Divine Empire of Enyasin, the nation called as the center of the world
Enyasin was an old nation with old traditions and an equally old religious government. In many aspects, Enyasin represented everything the revolution sought to destroy and replace, yet Enyasin was simply too strong for Courbury to fight against. When the two nations made contact, the Enyasin reaction was indifferent, for its decrepit government, Courbury was simply another island to its north, seeking recognition as a supposed great power, for its inept leadership, Courbury was nothing but a simple pebble in front of Enyasin greatness
That was their mistake, as Courbury would begin its path to topple Enyasin from its flickering light on the shining hill. The isle would maintain its glorious isolation, with only trade with Flaksia and Gjevene being its real connection to this new world
Courbin explorers would continue exploring further south, and encounter the continent of Solriha. The continent was largely left alone as Enyasin was content with just keeping control of their few coastal colonies, not even bothered in trading with the natives, but Courbury's arrival would change that. Under the guise of spreading the revolution and civilization to the backwater natives of Solriha, the Courbin government began a powerful drive for the colonization of the continent
As Courbury spread deeper into Solriha, conflicts soon began to intensify with the natives, they were small in scale compared to the conflicts they witnessed back in their previous world, until they stumbled on the Empire of Oryajia, occupying most of the western coast of Solriha, was the first Solrihan nation to have a possibility of stopping the Courbin expansion dead on its tracks, and so a series of wars between Oryajia and Courbury ensued
War after war, skirmish after skirmish, victory after victory, Courbury always came out on top, and with each victory, their colonial empire grew. Oryajia had the numbers and morale, but that was useless against Courburian discipline and armaments, Oryajian offensives were halted by the Courburian cannons and volleys.
Oryajia after the rise of yet another monarch, after a series of depositions and deaths of previous emperors, would change the cycle, this new emperor seeing the futility of the war, would make peace with Courbury, Oryajia had lost much of its lands and its people had enough of the futile war, but it had survived, and for this new emperor for as long as it lived, he believed that his lands would once again prosper under a peaceful rule
Courbury would continue its colonization of Solriha towards the southeast, following the rivers, and sets of ancient canals built in a bygone era, and stumble at the mysterious Empire of Vendradala, that nation was extremely isolationist, and its dominant class, was an equally mysterious race of self-proclaimed Drakians, that race had some of their body parts covered in lizard-like scales, reptilian eyes and horns growing on their heads, they were unlike anything in Toria, almost as if they were from another planet altogether
The new Courbin presence on their border was of little interest to them, but the Courburian government would show itself able to make border treaties with Vendradala. Then after decades of expansion in Solriha, the Courbin explorers would finally reach the eastern ocean, and their colonialist drive continued further east across the ocean, as to the north in Solriha, Enyasin noticing much of the Courbin expansion in Solriha, also began to venture deeper into Solriha to spread the word of their ancient religion, they would manage to take control of the north and northeast of Solriha, effectively splitting the continent in two between Courbury to the southwest and Enyasin to the northeast if a straight line passed right in the middle of Solriha from southeast to northwest
As Courbin ships sailed east, they eventually made contact with the continent of Ardaqatia, due to the distance and the technology used by the people there, the Courbin presence in the continent was low, with only the government acquiring a protectorate by having the ruler of a local kingdom sign a treaty he couldn't read
So their interests turned north, to the Northern Ardaqatian region filled with a series of archipelagos and islands of various sizes, then their ships would make contact with an archipelago in between the region and the continent of Nartika, the archipelago was home of Naoshi, home of the Nahojen people which similarly to the Drakians, looked out of this world, albeit more human-looking aside from the horns on their heads, and currently that archipelago was in a civil war, Imperial forces were battling against the ruling clan controlling much of the isles
Courbury arrival on the island would become a turning point in the civil war, at first, the Courbins contacted the military government of the ruling clan, yet nothing bloomed from the talks. But when the imperial forces contacted Courbury, the republican government was able to force a series of demands in exchange for their intervention in the civil war
The demands made by Courbury could be resumed in two main demands, implementation of a constitution following the Courbin bill of rights with the Revolutionary spirit, and an alliance with Courbury. With the situation of the imperial forces, they were forced to accept the demands, the Courbin intervention was key to the imperial victory, with Corbin guns and ships, the clan forces were defeated. With the archipelago now once again under the Naoshian imperial rule, on what became known as the Reno Restoration, the Empire of Naoshi was declared
The Courbin intervention in Naoshi would be the last overseas military action by Courbury at the time, but due to their rapid expansion and slow but steady growth of tensions with Enyasin, the lone republican island would focus on preparing itself for the coming showdown between them and Enyasin. Still, Courbury would continue its explorations across the world, yet it would fail to discover the last continent in the southern hemisphere and far west, missing it by a hair's thread
During two of such exploration missions, the Courbin explorers would find two unexplainable findings, one was a massive metal ship carrying four massive turrets beached on a far island to the south of Solriha, the condition of the ship told them it was there for decades, remnants of what was once a part of the crew that manned the ship were given a proper burial near the ship, and a ragged, almost unrecognizable, blue, white and red flag with white stars making a ring in the middle was found
And the other was on an island isolated almost in the middle of the ocean east of Solriha, there were two flying objects similar to the ones in Enyasin's possession was found, one had a propeller to its front, while the other had no obvious method of propulsion aside from the tubes in the roots of the wings, both were in a bad state, and the paint marks of a cross made of iron in the tail mostly gone, there they didn't find any survivor remnants
They had no methods of explaining those two findings, yet they still took whatever they could from it, the flying objects were brought to the isle for study, while the metal ship had whatever part that managed to remain whole for decades salvaged for further study in the isle
The studies of those mysterious derelicts would allow Courbury to hasten their progress against Enyasin, now that the world was truly split between two superpowers*
Now, almost a century had already passed since Courbury appeared in Toria, and they increased their presence and power over those one hundred years. Courbury now had metal ships to combat the Enyasin ships, Courbury now had a vast manpower poll from all around their colonial empire trained in the modern tactics of war, and Courbury now had planes to combat Enyasin air hegemony. Courbury now also had allies in Gjevene and Flaksia, which adopted the revolutionary ideals without giving up on their monarchist ways, the alliance became known as the Northern Lights alliance
The war would start from a skirmish at the border of the northernmost Courbury-Enyasin colonies, the skirmish was short, but an Enyan soldier was killed during the firefight. The ineffective Enyan religious government outraged at one of their soldiers getting killed sent an ultimatum to Courbury to apologize for the incident and to pull all armed forces from the contested area**
The Courbin people were outraged by the anachronistic government across the channel looking down on their nation, the Enyan ultimatum was met with a declaration of war. The sluggish leadership of Enyasin, didn't expect such a turn of events, for them Courbury wouldn't have another option but to give in to their demands, yet they didn't and now they were at war for the first time in thousands of years
The main battlefront was in Solriha, where Courbin troops overran the weak Enyan defenses from the north, while a naval invasion in the Enyan colonies to the East, caught the defenders by surprise, most of the Enyan colonies were overran by the Courburian troops, yet they were stopped at the Horn of Solriha
There an Enyan general that became known as the Guardian of Solriha would conduct a series of impressive defensive battles. Land offensives were launched, naval landings were attempted, and every time they were repulsed by the Lion. At the Horn of Solriha, trench lines stretching 1,645 kilometers from the northern coast to the southern coast were dug on both sides, the land battle at Solriha would remain in a stalemate for the rest of the conflict
On the high seas, the Republican Navy with a cunning plan, lured the main Enyan navy into a trap, at the battle of the Nrovinland, a massive gun battle ensued. The Enyan navy from centuries of stagnation and inaction was sent to the bottom of the seas by the accurate Courburian gunnery and precise dive-bombing from the infant Courburian naval air service.
A greater loss was only prevented by a young officer, who after the remaining fleet leadership was killed one after the other, became the one in command of the remnants of the Enyan navy, would give the order for retreat and have his ship conduct a rearguard defense. His command and defense were precise and saved the rest of the fleet from total destruction, giving him the title of The Shield of Nrovinland
Due to the presence of the remaining Northern Enyan fleet, and the size of the Enyan army on the mainland, any plans for a naval invasion were abandoned, instead, Courbury focused on taking the islands between the Enyas peninsula and Solriha to wreak havoc in the Enyan supply lines
But now, Courbury had shown that Enyasin didn't rule the waves. Courbury ruled the waves, it ruled in its previous world, and it ruled in Toria, as Courbury always ruled the waves
With their defeats and setbacks, the desperate Enyan leadership would do the unthinkable for them just a few years ago, they requested help from their only ally, the Empire of Vyatrog, a massive contiguous nation located on the mainland of the Continent of Nartika
Vyatrog due to its immense size, resources, and manpower was a formidable foe, yet the nation also had many weaknesses, Vyatrog was plagued with growing nationalist groups inspired by the Courbin ideals, outdated technology in many places due to its enormous size, and poor logistics infrastructure outside of its core region. This would be an uphill battle for Courbury, as it only had a short time frame to defeat Vyatrog before its war machine started rolling at full power
Courbury would open their strategy against Vyatrog with a naval landing in the Grand Duchy of Miksavalia alongside Gjevene and Flaksia, the people of Miksavalia welcome the Northern Lights alliance with open arms as they helped their landing forces. To the East, Naoshi having joined the war would become the center of the Courbin operations in strengthening the rebel groups in southern Vyatrog, as they conducted naval landings in Vyatrog's Korvin islands that were located right beside Naoshi's westernmost island, and pinned down its southern fleet in harbor, while the northeastern fleet as it sailed south to relief the southern fleet would be caught by the Imperial Naoshian Navy and be destroyed at the battle of Sumiha Strait
As Vyatrog started showing symptoms of weakness, rebels groups started increasing their activities, until one of such groups managed to take control of a city, that group was the self-declared Polzan National Army, after taking control of the city, they declared the formation of the Commonwealth of Polwackz, also know as Polza. Soon after, with all their territory liberated by the alliance, Miksavalia declared its independence from Vyatrog, with those two as an example to follow, many other groups started declaring the independence of their nations
Vyatrog was fighting on multiple fronts, and it was becoming increasingly harder for its army to maintain control of their rebelling territories, yet most, if not all, of their fertile lands and the heartland of the nation, were still intact and spared from the flames of war, for most of the military, it was only a question of time for their glorious victory to arrive, and for the monarch, it didn't matter how many lives were throw in the meat grinder for as long as it brought victory to him. Yet, that would never materialize, as for how it was seen by many in the nation they would be stabbed in the back by their own compatriots
In the capital, Lutsk, and many other cities in their heartland, a liberal Vosstaniye (coup d'etat), led by revolutionary politicians and generals, would take the reins of government. The Revolutionaries would force the monarch to give up much of its powers to the newly established parliament, a constitution that limited the powers of the monarch, and to make peace with Courbury and its allies. To which the monarchy had no other option, but to accept
After weeks of peace negotiations, the Five Years' War would come to an end. And from the ashes, Courbury and its allies had come out on top, with Courbury being the clear winner, unchallenged in the seas, unchallenged in the land, and unchallenged in the air
Enyasin would lose much of its insular territories taken by the alliance, part of its territory in the Polza Peninsula, and around half of its Solrihan colonies, with only the colony in the horn of Solriha remaining in their hands. Yet, the government for as many flaws it contained, had proved that it was sturdy, capable of taking the heaviest of blows without collapsing, dissidence was crushed down by the still intact main army, and the religious and anachronistic government remained in power, curbing down any attempts of rebellion or revolution
Vyatrog on the other hand was now fighting itself politically, as the liberal factions, began fighting each other, as monarchist forces tried to revert the Revolutionary reforms. As those forces fought each other, another one was slowly growing, brewing from the flames of nationalism, one that saw both sides as enemies. Yet, the liberal reforms helped with the modernization of the nation, and economic prosperity would soon follow, for some, that period was their golden age
Yet for now, Courbury was the greatest power in Toria, their rule uncontested, unchallenged, for two decades they continue to improve their technology to always stay steps ahead of Enyasin and Vyatrog, but now the winds were changing, their rule would finally be contested, yet they challenged the winds, not willing to lose their position, to not become a secondary power. For as Courbury rules the waves, it rules the land and rules the skies, the Courburian rule has not ended, and shall never end.
Rule, Courburia!
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*Reference map made by me: Only available in Wattpad as of now
**This line might sound similar to what started all the events in Ukraine, and that was a coincidence as this chapter was finished a few days before the tensions between Ukraine and Russia started to ramp up