Chapter #3A Nation United, A House Divided by: Unknown The Thalassocratic Suzerainty of Ubi-Sunt is the nation at the end of the world, the only human sovereign state in a world dominated by Pokemon having the expertise to exert its influence globally. In the past, it was a hegemonic empire of staggering proportions, the likes of which the civilized world has not yet replicated. Comprising several vassal states and tributaries spanning across the Hy-Brasil Archipelago, its power has slowly but surely declined over fifty years, losing territories through bloodless independence movements and unequal trading treaties. In a bid to regain some of its former prestige, the Crown Suzerain has taken up the offer of a neighboring Pokemon Monarchy to wed their children together in a classic showing of 'altar diplomacy' to unite their nations. You are Prince of Ubi-Sunt, son of the man putting you in an arranged marriage, but how did things come to this?
Ubi-Sunt was initially founded in the Hypatian Century, the Eureka Era, during Hy-Brasil's early colonization by the Empyrean Empire. Initially settled by human sailors and indentured servants exiled to the new world, Ubi-Sunt Island's strategic location led to its rapid development and independence from Empyrea. The former dependency became a kingdom and a regional dominator as it took control of neighboring isles. Ubi-Sunt's economy relied on a diverse range of territories producing commodities for export. These included custap berries from the Kabigon Kingdom, the now-free-nation belonging to the princess you will marry, marble and archeological treasures from Lutetia, sugar from the Gekkougan Isles, and coffee from Arcanus.
The etymology for the name Ubi-Sunt came from the Empyrean phrase uttered by the first explorers who discovered Hy-Brasil in the Eureka Era, Ubi Sunt Qui Ante Nos Fuerunt?, meaning "Where are those who were before us?" Ruins could be found peppered at the bases of mountains and across the sandy beaches, evident of some former civilization, but no natural remains turned up with them. As far as historians can deduce, Hy-Brasil used to have an aboriginal population, but it was uninhabited when it was discovered. For some unknown reason, whether they were human or Pokemon or whatever, they vanished, into the ether, with only a handful of buildings and monuments for people to know they ever existed. The humans claimed the island that had the most of these abandoned ruins.
Ubi-Sunt's collapse was laid in the Obsidian Age by the DuBoisian Dynasty, starting with Duncan Du Bois II, the Elegiac. At the moment of his coronation and ascension to the Seven-Stared Throne, the Thalassocratic Suzerainty was poised to be one of the world's most incredible superpowers. Duncan II, however, was born congenitally deformed. While he ushered in an age of culture for Ubi-Sunt by promoting the arts, including establishing a Poet-Laureate to Carillon Palace, he sired a son who would prove to be the nation's undoing. Duncan III proved to be a disaster and turned decline into a freefall, earning the nickname 'Profligate' by his supporters and 'Caustic Hemophiliac Criminal' by his detractors.
Styling himself the greatest of the DuBoisian Crown Suzerains, he expended the whole national treasury on frivolous pursuits. His maladministration foreshadowed the home-rule movements of Ubi-Sunt's vassals, the end of the Du Bois Dynasty, and the abolition of the hereditary monarchy in favor of an elective one, exemplified by transforming his bedroom into a treasure chamber, The Crown Clerestory. An unfathomable amount of silver coins, bars of gold, rococo weaponry, armor, and various chalices covered the floor and walls. He was also a perpetual philanderer, culminating in an almost comical plethora of STDs, which he passed on like a twisted legacy to his son, Dylan VI. Furthermore, he established the traditional Duboisian use of amphetamines, ostensibly for clarity of vision, to aid in their work.
This thinly-veiled excuse for methamphetamine dependence poorly obscured the boundless quantities of funds he wasted on the drug, consuming it at a shocking rate. The following line of Crown Suzerains could not reverse the trend after the disaster. Over the next 150 years, Ubi-Sunt missed its chance to become a real superpower and slowly sloped into today's state. The Black-&-White Insurgency fifty years ago at the beginning of the current century prompted Eric the Damned's abdication, transitioning the monarchy from hereditary to elective, with separate judiciary and legislature branches. While Ubi-Sunt's political situation stabilized, independence movements capitalized on the weak government, and foreign powers strongarmed the new monarch into HORRIBLE trading deals.
Your father, Olaf the Silver, was elected by the Royal Senate before you were born, and while you are not strictly the heir to the Seven-Starred Throne, marrying the princess of the Kabigon Kingdom would make you the heir to their throne. Like Ubi-Sunt, Kabigon is a former Island colony of the Empyrean Empire that got independence, only for it to fall victim to the human invasion at the end of the Hypatian Century. In contrast to the Thalassocratic Suzerainty, the kingdom is mainly populated by Pokemon. While Ubi-Sunt's territory comes from several small islands and isles around Hy-Brasil, Kabigon is only one, but it's the largest. Colonial Kabigon only ever had two governors for Empyrea; the first established necessary infrastructure, minimal food production, some essential housing buildings, and the second a Snorlax who would create House Ronfler, the ruling dynasty of the kingdom. Shortly after the new governor's appointment, the settlement experienced a sudden productive population, infrastructural, cultural, and societal boom in the few following years before developing its own national identity and finally proclaiming its independence from the Empire.
The independence of Kabigon allowed its governor to become their first King consolidating the formation of a bloodline that continues to influence the country to this day. After the human invasion by Ubi-Sunt, the monarchy was allowed to rule and set policy for Kabigon in a semi-autonomous fashion, ultimately subservient to the Crown Suzerain's policy. The country then experienced its second and definitive growth spurt in more advanced industrialization, the introduction of electricity, advanced public services, and massive military advancements. These advancements came back to haunt Ubi-Sunt, as they allowed the nation to be powerful enough to broker home-rule. After independence, it developed its tourism industry, growing hotels, and other tourist amenities, spurred by the international community's interests in its resources.
The Kabigon Kingdom's government is an illiberal democracy. Although it is, on paper, a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament, citizens are de facto cut off from awareness about the affairs of those who exercise real power; thus, it is not an open society. Almost since its foundation, the country has been in nearly total control of House Ronfler. All citizens, regardless of race or sex, can participate in elections, mandated to be fair, honest, and regularly scheduled, but the Snorlax aristocracy's authority is unchallenged by these democratic aspects. That being said, the state grants full journalistic freedom and recognizes citizens' right to have free, private lives, making it low on political liberty but high in civic rights.
Since colonial times, Kabigon has had a majorly agricultural economy, with various plantations and ranches, and Custap berries being the main export that Ubi-Sunt exploited. During its time as a vassal state to the Thalassocratic Suzerainty, it began rapid industrialization, allowing the establishment of a more advanced economy and relatively heavy income. The population has always followed lazy, non-serious work ethics and is fairly destigmatized on corruption. This is due to the Snorlax dynasty promoting a culture of hedonism, sloth, and gluttony, with the more weight a Pokemon has, the more influential they are in the country. Humans, incapable of putting the absurd amounts of adipose that Pokemon can, and in many cases lacking the want, are seen as impotent, hairless monkeys, which made it awkward for them to be in charge for most of their nation's history.
The racial aspect towards humans in the Kabigon Kingdom isn't as potent that the minority population is disenfranchised. Still, many of the Pokemon are not keen on your marriage to their nation's princess, which would join the two monarchies and end their independence. Ubi-Sunt is adamant about keeping the line of succession elective, and the family of the Snorlax you are marrying is equally as adamant about staying in power. The marriage is scheduled in seven weeks, which your father has assured will be enough time to 'work out the kinks' in the negotiations. Coincidentally, these seven weeks will be the amount of time you have to get to know your fiance before you are wed to her.
The princess of the Kabigon Kingdom, you will soon find out, is fat. Not regular Snorlax fat, mind you; royal blood has given her much more access to fattening delicacies and labor-reducing aides than her already massive brethren had ever known. Where the average Snorlax stands at 6'11" and weighs half a ton, your fiance is 14'2" and weighs just shy of a ton and a half.
Will your marriage be able to blossom into a real romance, or will you feel trapped with sleeping in the same bed as your mistress' growing mass and untamable needs?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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