Article Written: 23 February 1456
Geography
Although closer to Ancondria than the rest of Circlaria, Recastelaren, officially known as the Isles of Recastelaren, is considered a part of the Circlarian Realm.
Recastelaren is actually a cluster of five water-bound Isles, with one Center Island around which travel four Lesser Islands. The Lesser Islands revolve around the Center Island once every two weeks. The Center Island consists of a variably smooth shoreline around the outside, a tall plateau in the center, and a basin in the center of the plateau. Over the center of the basin floats a stationary Skymountain which rotates once every 24 hours. Four large Skymountains revolve around the Center Island once every week.
Meanwhile, each of the four Lesser Islands has four Skymountains that revolve around it and a Skymountain in the center that is stationary relative to the motion of the said Lesser Island. And each Skymountain that orbits around the Center Island has four lesser Skymountains that revolve around it once every 24 hours.
To note, all revolutions and rotations are clockwise.
Such a place has been the object of scientific study for centuries, and such studies have found Recastelaren's motions to be the result of gyrostones and gyro-energy. Needless to say, with exploding value for gyro-technology in recent years, Recastelaren has been a place of interest for traders and investors.
Recastelaren's climate is mostly temperate. Being located very far South in the Southern Hemisphere, Recastelaren has four distinct seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Its vegetation consists of grasslands accompanied by pines and deciduous trees.
History
From the pre-Ashen years to around 500 CE, civilization throughout the Isles of Recastelaren consisted of a loose collection of fishing and farming communes. A confederation of communes eventually emerged to dominate the Center Island while a single-commune society dominated each of the four Lesser Islands. Each commune held a common religious belief that deities lived and ruled from each of the Skymountains; and commune leaders would turn to these deities for a "consensus" with regard to perplexing issues. These communes were otherwise self-governing, with each wanting no business with the others except for occasional trade, and would only unite with one another in the presence of an external threat.
In 504 CE, Graenbeard the Great, an infamous and powerful sea pirate in the Circlarian Realm, launched a brutal attack against the Isles of Recastelaren, which fell rather easily to defeat. Many native Recastelarians were slaughtered while others were taken into slavery and transported to other regions of Circlaria. And thus, the Isles of Recastelaren were united under the banner of Graenbeard, who ruled as its King until his unexpected death in 517 CE. With no heir to the throne, Recastelaren became an absolute principality, ruled by a succession of Lords until 804 CE. That year, the Principality was violently overthrown and re-established as a Republic. The Republic of Recastelaren was governed by a collective leadership from the Center Island, who approved Consuls elected by the population to govern over each of the four Lesser Islands.
However, by 1051 CE, the Republic of Recastelaren was corrupted economically and politically; and a threat of civil war began to emerge. In May of that year, a charismatic figure by the name of Lord Valooren led a coup which temporarily unseated the central government on the Center Island. A similar event had occurred eighty years previously; and the central government was prepared to act, subdue that uprising rather easily. However, before they could settle the 1051 uprising, the coup leaders quickly signed a deal to hand Recastelaren to the control of the Edoran Regiondom of the Great North, seated in Northern Remikra. A treaty was signed to dissolve the Republic and re-establish the territory as the Edoran Dominion of Recastelaren on 18 May 1051.
From 1051 to 1354, the Edoran Dominion of Recastelaren was administered by a succession of Governor-Generals appointed and approved by the Parliament of the Edoran Regiondom. And such a succession of Governor-Generals established a hallowed tradition of modern economic policies allowing for open markets and the fostering of private small businesses. Furthermore, they enacted social policies to grow and maintain a comfortable middle class for both local Recastelarians and Edorans alike.
Under Edoran leadership, a local Parliament was established on the Center Island while a Council was established for each of the four Lesser Islands, with seats for these legislative bodies elected by the local population. Furthermore, aviation, nautical, and gyro-technology enabled people to set foot upon the Skymountains; and with growing populations, each Skymountain would also have its own local hierarchical government and elected Council. Most notably, government policies here designated certain areas of the Isles and Skymountains as protected wildlife preserves.
As a result, for nearly 300 years, the Isles of Recastelaren enjoyed a balanced economy, high living standards, and an overall high morale.
However, such a tradition came to an end when, in 1354, the Parliament of the Edoran Regiondom in Remikra voted to sell Recastelaren to a joint ownership between the Remikran Union and the Kingdom of Gyrosak. In 1359, the Remikran Union voted to have its portion of Recastelarian territory handed over to Gyrosak, so that Gyrosak had total jurisdiction. Very soon after, Gyrosak handed Recastelaren over to the Gyrosakian Royal Treasury, who bartered numerous pieces of territory, each to the sole ownership of a privately-owned business or a commercial sea guild. During this time period, the Royal Treasury would purchase pieces of territory it expected to gain value, and sold them to other businesses for profit. Businesses and sea guilds would do the same.
Some of these pieces of land were built upon by naval shipyards as well as military and air bases. These were originally owned directly by the Gyrosakian government. However, in 1361, a private multinational company known as the Lubbock Shipyard and Airbase Holdings Corporation bought these properties, most of which were either along the coastlines of the water-bound Isles or atop the Skymountains. In exchange for rapid technological advancements in these fields, Lubbock Holdings would lease out these properties to the Gyrosakian government for monthly or yearly fees. And as part of a special contract, numerous businesses in Recastelaren would pay service fees to the stationed Gyrosakian forces for security and military protection.
Throughout the 1360s and 1370s, Recastelaren became a truly libertarian society consisting of an open market where businesses bought and sold property and assets; and no single government had official jurisdiction over the Isles. This period was accompanied by modernization on an industrial scale, as each landmass, water-bound and air-bound, was converted into a major cityscape. And the wildlife reserves, having lost their protection while Gyrosak sold Recastelarian territories to private businesses, were not exempt.
By 1374, each Isle and Skymountain was a daunting urbanscape accompanied by economic inequality, rising costs of living, and consistently low wages for a rapidly-growing lower working class. In March of that year, workers across numerous Recastelarian businesses and industries joined and formed the United Workers of Recastelaren (UWR). As a single organization, they began to organize a general strike. In response to this, the Recastelarian corporate elite formed the Order of the Grey Dawn, which was led by the top Recastelarian business oligarchs and consisted of two other classes: the Supporters, who were laborers convinced to "join the cause" via votes, pledges of loyalty, and monetary donations; and the Fighting Loyals, who were hired by the Leaders to carry out acts such as assassinations of outspoken UWR figures, street confrontations, and acts of protest to derail the function of businesses opposed to the Order. Furthermore, only men were allowed to cast votes, become Leaders, or join the Fighting Loyals.
In September 1374, the Order of the Grey Dawn launched a broad effort across Recastelaren to eradicate the existence of the UWR, which involved the barricading of streets, sit-ins derailing opposing businesses, the destruction of small businesses supporting the UWR, the storming of UWR locations, and even the slaughter of certain UWR members.
Citing this as a possible fascist coup, the UWR began reaching out to powerful foreign entities for assistance. The Kingdom of Gyrosak completely ignored such calls made by the UWR. However, such a call was answered by the Seafarers of Barry, a commercial sea-guild collectively governed by its laborers who overthrew its top-down leadership one-hundred years previously. The Seafarers offered to help by building ships from metal scraps collected all throughout the Circlarian Realm, and lending or selling these ships to any entity willing to assist the UWR. However, the Seafarers answered the need for another entity to assist the UWR by calling upon one of its closest allies: the Sororal Council of the Primeran Class of the House of Esary, or the SCPC. The SCPC agreed to such a deal because they had recently been ousted by the House of Esary from their home territory in Notulfa, located in the Far-North landmass of Hobland, and needed a place to settle in terms of government and jurisdiction. The SCPC agreed to pay the Seafarers a sum of wealth to construct robust naval ships; and the Seafarers succeeded in increasing the naval presence of the SCPC to five times its original size. With well-crafted propaganda, and possibly oathcrafting skills, the SCPC was able to recruit large numbers of allied Circlarians to join them in order to man these ships.
Members of the UWR began to grow concerned with the SCPC, however, after learning that the ouster of the SCPC from the House of Esary was in the wake of apparent "shady troubles" with regard to Circlarian international law. Furthermore, the Diplomatic Officiators of the SCPC had been broadcasting disturbing rhetoric of "class supremacy" and the "glory of opponent elimination." Combined with the need of the SCPC to find a place to settle, concern began to grow that the SCPC was intending to invade and conquer Recastelaren. As a result, two chapters of the UWR made a conjoined official call to the central leadership of the UWR to reconsider its unwavering acceptance of the SCPC as its ally; however, such a call was completely ignored.
Nevertheless, the SCPC took notice and began to take counter-actions. They did so by first approaching Lubbock Holdings with a proposal to gradually acquire its naval, military, and airbases. Lubbock Holdings agreed to the deal, but such a deal required a mutual agreement from the Gyrosakian government, who denied such a motion. As a result, the proposal was null and void. Nevertheless, the SCPC began assembling floating naval military bases with its newly-built ships around the Isles, while calling upon its parent entity, the House of Esary, to assist them in their agenda. Despite having ousted the SCPC from Notulfa, the House of Esary was still willing to help them settle in new territory. Between late 1374 and early 1375, the House of Esary conducted business deals to acquire a majority of Recastelarian media companies and directed them to implicitly indoctrinate Recastelarians with pro-Esarian principles. The House of Esary used such media influence to convince Recastelarian charter schools to merge with them in a similar fashion. They then successfully acquired all of the "soft industry" businesses and "infrastructure industry" businesses. With a strong newly-gained economic clout as a result, the House of Esary convinced these businesses to terminate service fee arrangements with the Gyrosakian forces stationed at the bases owned by Lubbocks Holdings.
By 1375, the stationed Gyrosakian forces were no longer able to pay rental fees to Lubbocks Holdings without consultation from the Gyrosakian Royal Treasury. In May 1375, the House of Esary pitched a similar proposal to the one made by the SCPC the previous year for Gyrosakian forces to terminate their lease with Lubbocks Holdings and for Lubbocks Holdings to sell their properties to the House of Esary. All three entities agreed, signing a contract that included a clause obligating the SCPC to promise non-aggression in Recastelaren. Local Recastelarians were skeptical of this arrangement, however, since the non-aggression clause was not enforceable, but division in the Recastelarian population hindered their ability to effectively negotiate with these powerful entities.
In June 1375, the contract was officially signed; and immediately afterward, a subsequent deal was signed between the House of Esary and the SCPC to turn over the properties to the SCPC. Throughout the month of September, Gyrosakian forces gradually withdrew from Recastelaren. And on 1 October 1375, the SCPC moved in. Breaking their promise to uphold the non-aggression clause, they launched a full-scale invasion of Recastelaren. With no central government in place to fight back, Recastelaren was defeated and fell under total control by the SCPC, who established its official sovereignty over the territory with its government seat on the Center Island, and brought Recastelaren under totalitarian rule.