Introduction:

Nestled in a bay on the coast of Northeast Ancondria, Minlon boasts vast, steel "supertowers" over a larger-than-life web of courtyards and extravagant hotels. Such urban beauty during the day, as well as the sparkling cityscape at night, is accompanied by a reputation for incredible cleanliness, as the exceptionally clean air is accompanied by refreshing but gentle sea breezes passing over and through the urban landscape. This outlines the fair weather that the region gets year-round, with only fair temperatures and soft rains and no storms. Minlon is also known for having virtually no noise pollution, as old-style automobiles were banned as well as "noisy" gyroplanes, meaning that only state-of-the-art, quiet "gentle-planes" rule the skies above.

The cultural vibe of the city is high-end but also portrays casual business. This gives every visitor a feeling that they are on top of the world. Minlon's business leaders demonstrate fair but firm personalities, and are also welcoming and rewarding. Minlon's economy demonstrates itself as being well-organized and prosperous, served by dedicated people on all levels of society.

Because of these advertised attributes, Minlon appears as a vibrant, modern cityscape in stark contrast to most other parts of the supercontinent of Ancondria. Having emerged less than 200 years previously, those who are patriotic to this city deem Minlon as "the beacon of freedom, peace, and prosperity...which must be defended at all costs."

However, the image of Minlon as a free and prosperous society is nothing more than an illusion.

In truth, though it is a republic on paper, Minlon and its surrounding territory, in practice, is an authoritarian regime. Its government consists of executive Consuls, which are elected from either of two parties but from a heavily restricted electorate and voting process; a unicameral legislature in which its Liberal Party almost always yields to the powerful Conservatives no matter who holds the majority; and, most notoriously, the Judiciary Committee, serving the place of an actual court and, de facto, dictating policies of the nation, primarily in the interests of both domestic and foreign banks.

Meanwhile, Minlon's economy is noteworthy for its inequalities. The banks are the only ones who effectively "call the shots" on economic, trade, and even political decisions. Minlon prides its economy in military defense contracting and spending, with its second biggest industry being debt collection, sometimes by military force, especially on the high seas. Meanwhile, low-level merchants struggling to get by often do so through junk-flipping, while the working class is employed primarily in the service and retail industries. Minlon also has a notorious reputation for its rigid social class structure, where those of certain demographics are forced into certain industries with no freedom of social or career mobility.

The darkfire community in Minlon, since the year 1375, has been the subject of hard oppression and persecution. Meanwhile, women have been forced into certain roles as dictated by the far-right philosophies of the late George Minlon, while foreign-born individuals are largely excluded from the economy of Minlon altogether. And the working class, the largest social class in terms of population, is denied opportunities for promotions and career advancement except in cases of nepotism.

And this leads to one question: How and why is Minlon the way it is?

George Minlon - 1187 to 1264:

To best answer this question, it is important to review the life of George Minlon, the figure upon which is based the political and economic structure of Minlonian society.

Born on 3 June 1187 in Caylor, Ereautea, and died 17 December 1264 in Bales, Ereautea, George Minlon spent his early life raised by his mother, Iva Minlon, who was a homemaker, and his father, Frederick Minlon, who had become a religious preacher after a failed career as a banker. This led George Minlon to being raised with inspiration but also with defiance, he would later decide that he wanted to become a successful commercial farmer. He had a morsel of respect for his father, however, in that George, from a young age, made having faith in God (of the Alconist faith) central to his life.

According to his contemporaries, George Minlon was a simple man who led a virtuous life. Minlon adhered to the economic model of capitalism, demonstrating that one must accept that they are poor and that, in order to begin one's entrepreneurship, they must borrow money. They then must invest such borrowed money into things that pay for themselves.

George Minlon also believed that, regarding the operation of a business, such investments are necessary and unavoidable. He believed that it was not wise to hire too many employees, but neither was hiring too few; that such employees must be paid well and treated with respect; and that it was the entrepreneur's responsibility to set challenging but achievable goals for these employees in order to foster a healthy opportunity for growth.

Regarding customers, Minlon stated that entrepreneurs must not overprice their products, but neither must they sell themselves short. He stated that customers must be treated with the utmost respect, both from the entrepreneur and their employees. "Work and produce with the customer in mind, always" was a quote believed to have been said by Minlon when talking about product quality.

George Minlon was also a major advocate on the preservation of life. Regarding plants, Minlon stressed the importance of ensuring the fertility of soil, and that entrepreneurs must ensure that every plant receives enough water, not too much or to little. It was also an important responsibility to protect healthy plants from sick plants, and to tend one's plants every day from planting till harvest. Finally, Minlon emphasized the importance of rotating crops to help avoid soil nutrient depletion. Regarding animals, Minlon stated that it was important to give animals pasture time as well as clean resting areas. He called for animals to be fed and watered well, both in terms of quantity and quality. Like with plants, it was also important to protect healthy animals from sick ones, and to tend to one's animals every day for the rest of their lives. And finally, Minlon emphasized the importance of fostering the reproductive nature of animals to ensure that they gave birth to healthy offspring.

It was George Minlon's belief in social roles that would trigger controversy in the years, decades, and centuries to follow, for he believed in men following different roles compared to women (in adherence to his strict upbringing in the Alconist faith). Minlon believed that men were obligated to work hard in the fields and ranches, to do well in school, to serve in the armed forces, to secure a good-paying job, and to raise their own farms and families. Meanwhile, Minlon believed that women were obligated to work hard in the house and stables, do well in school, serve their fathers and their families, seek husbands, serve their husbands faithfully and loyally, be loving mothers to their children, and to serve their husbands' farms in their new houses and stables.

Regarding diplomacy, Minlon believed that everyone was obligated to make new friends, respect old friends, and settle conflicts with humility and respect. He also stated that one must be encouraging and comforting to others, and that one must love what they have, respect what others have, and to never covet or be jealous.

The most controversial of his teachings, however, was on the concept of free will, as it had implications for how his posthumous followers viewed the darkfire community. According to George Minlon, every person was of their own mind, capable of thinking for oneself and making their own decisions. Thus, Minlon stressed that one was free to make their own decisions but not to impose upon the freedom of others, directly or indirectly. In believing in this, Minlon agreed with the notorious Reonard Chaney over the apparent corruption of darkfire communities, even going so far as to believing that they were "conjurers of the dead." Though Minlon acknowledged the existence of those with so-called Involuntary Darkfire Conjuration Syndrome, he believed the practice of darkfire conjuration to be an institution of evil.

Central to George Minlon's beliefs was the obligation to "being right with God," as he believed that one must attend regular worship services, read Alconist scripture on a daily basis, live one's daily life based on such readings, determine the will of God and put this before all else, encourage others to do all of the same, and reach out to those who are "lost."

Along with such a strong religious conviction, George Minlon was also a major advocate for self-sufficiency, and, because of this, staunchly opposed global trade, due to its tendency to result in job displacements from outsourcing as well as its vulnerabilities stemming from interdependence. George Minlon developed this belief as he witnessed the collapse of the Canticulan trading market in 1209, following the fall of the Motanian Empire. Shortly before his death in the 1260s, seeing the emergence of a new order in global trade, and this stemming from the tradestone practice of deep-trade, Minlon warned that any form of economic faltering would have significant impacts across multiple economies. His posthumous followers would later cite him during the deep-trade fallout between the Retunian and Acrean Republics.

Demonstrating honesty, humility, and hard work, George Minlon would spend his adult life with his wife and children on a farm near Bales, Ereautea, on which he worked and made a living. Back between 1205 and 1207, shortly after turning 18, George Minlon served in the military, though the Chartered State of Combria was at peace at the time. After receiving an honorable discharge, Minlon attended the University of Ereautea from which he earned a degree in theology in 1211. That year, he landed a job at a meat-processing plant. In 1212, using funds he saved from this job, George Minlon purchased cheap farmland, which would become his farm for the remainder of his life, near Bales. Though it was only initially a piece of land, Minlon built a house atop it and developed it into a productive farmland.

In 1213, he met Marya Terreson, who he married in 1215. And in 1217, they gave birth to their first child, Gregory Minlon. This was followed by the birth of Kathryn Minlon in 1219, the birth of twins, Benjamin and Devina Minlon, in 1222, and the birth of Damon Minlon in 1227.

The Minlon family developed their farm between the 1210s and 1220s, growing both wheat and corn crops, which they rotated on a regular basis, and tending horses and cattle, though the livestock portion of the farm was on a smaller scale. Throughout the 1230s and 1240s, George and Marya Minlon raised their children accordingly with George Minlon's aforementioned values. In this setting, Gregory was said to be an example child; though, he would be killed in action during the Retunian Revolution in 1238. Meanwhile, Kathryn had a run-in with the law in 1236; though she would socially rehabilitate and begin adhering more to her father's expectations, eventually marrying and having children of her own while developing a deep inspiration for her father. Benjamin would become a banker, while his twin sister, Devina, would marry into another respectable farming family; though later on, she would, ironically, become a passionate advocate for darkfire community rights after George Minlon's death. And finally, Damon became a general store manager while running a successful farm of his own; and he would gain a reputation of inspiration for his survival of the 1301 financial crisis.

After their children grew up and moved out to start lives of their own, George and Marya Minlon retired and downsized their farm; though they did not give it up entirely. In 1261, Marya Minlon passed away. Now living alone, George Minlon received regular help from his grown children until his own death from lung cancer in 1264.

After the death of George Minlon, his family created a community trust fund in his honor, which they arranged to be administered by the First Community Church. The George Minlon Community Trust Fund, donor-based in the years to follow, awarded money and capital to those demonstrating intent to live by George Minlon's values.

Northeast Ancondria - 1268 to 1295

The lands of Ancondria were first photographed in 1263 by a group of Cabotton University students aboard an airship blown off-course by an oceanic storm. Scholars at the University verified the existence of Ancondria, by these very same photos, in 1268, four years after George Minlon's death. Over the years to follow, the Retunian Republic, along with many other Circlarian states, would send exploration crews, who meticulously mapped out the newly-discovered supercontinent. And after it was purchased by the Retunian Republic from House Maderon, the future site of Minlon was established, in the 1270s, as Bay Landing Base, a simple "peg-and-gravel" airship landing site and exploration hub. Bay Landing Base would soon by linked to other similar settlements by an all-terrain rover route; while Retunian settlers would develop Bay Landing Base into a major seaport.

The Establishment of Ramport - 1281 to 1282

Bay Landing Base was incorporated officially, on 1 September 1281, as the city of Ramport. By this point, the site had become a hub for the lightfire industry to serve Ancondria and Greater Circlaria. With its perfect climate and soil for agriculture, Ramport would experience explosive growth in the years to come.

Ramport, since its establishment, was divided into three Districts: Sea Level, Lower Ramport, and Upper Ramport. Situated on a curving strip of land lining a deep-water bay, Sea Level was initially home to a myriad of piers serving trade and passenger ships, later to develop into five "super-piers", each of which containing vast indoor shop and trade forums while serving various sizes of cargo and passenger ships.

Situated 400 feet above sea level, Lower Ramport was home to business, tourist, and manufacturing blocks. And Upper Ramport, situated 600 feet above sea level, was home to high-income residential blocks as well as Ramport's government seat. Just outside these areas stood the Terminal of Mass Transit, which serviced the rovers, and later the passenger and cargo lorries; and the Ramport Airfield, which serviced the airships, and later the gyroplanes.

Sea Level, Lower Ramport, and Upper Ramport, were fairly spread out during the 1280s, being sparsely populated and lacking public transit. Therefore, when appointed by the Retunian Prime Minister as the Governor-General over the region, Robert Klind authorized for there to be appointed, democratically by petition, a public executive Commissioner from each of the three Districts. The primary objective of this Tri-Commissioner government was to draft and enact a Statute of Principle for the Ramport municipality.

The three Commissioners were Matthew Suppins from Sea Level, Arnold Thomas from Lower Ramport, and Bryce Nedley from Upper Ramport. Under their administration, Ramport continually zoned commercial, industrial, and residential areas as Ramport's economy consisted of building construction and lightfire-driven manufacturing.

On 8 April 1282, the Statute of Principle of Ramport passed a popular referendum, and called for a unicameral Council consisting of representatives per the Retunian Public Assembly hierarchy to serve as the legislative branch, for a Mayor, serving only up to two terms each lasting six years, and presiding over Department Chairs, to serve as the executive branch, and a Municipal Court with Justices plus Arbitrators to serve as the judicial branch.

On the world stage, the Retunian Republic, in 1282, contended with the international Academy Strike, issues with diplomacy and trade with the Rinean Kingdom, and debates over the direction of trade and development in newly-acquired Ancondrian territories. Meanwhile, for Ramport, the year 1282 was about the further development of infrastructure, especially public transit, as well as the further zoning of non-residential zones. This was also the year that, per the Statute of Principle, the population of Ramport would vote to choose its first Mayor. Running as a candidate on behalf of the National Labor Party, Darren Morner advocated on zoning and city planning to be centered around the basic needs of agriculture, water, utilities, sanitation, housing, transit, communication, healthcare, and education. Morner advocated for public transit to be administered solely by the government, funded by taxes, and be operated free of cost to passengers.

Running against Morner was John Eckard of the Diplomatic Party, who advocated that zoning and city planning should allow privately-owned businesses to have more freedom in terms of development and property acquisition. He also advocated for mass transit to be a private venture.

Though there was a growing base of students and young engineers, who had arrived to study and plan developments in Ancondria as well as travel to Silba for additional education opportunities, the majority of the population of Ramport, at the time, consisted of bankers, entrepreneurs, and their families. This constituted a majority sentiment that the newly-discovered supercontinent was more than capable of meeting the needs of the working class, and that therefore, business freedom should be a priority. Thus, on 16 September 1282, John Eckard of the Diplomatic Party won the election to be the first Mayor of Ramport, securing 61 percent of the vote.

The Mayors of Ramport - 1283 to 1304

Serving as the first mayor between 1283 and 1288, John Eckard called for Ramport Council to draft a policy to establish five banks, in inspiration of the famed Five Banks of Hasphitat. When the Council approved the measure, and Eckard signed it, a natural pond in the middle of Lower Ramport was developed into a campus of five castle-like buildings, each of which would serve as the headquarters of one of the five banks. Environmentalists opposed the measure to no avail; so consolation was given to them through the establishment of gardens and manmade ponds between the structures. Construction of the Five Banks of Ramport began in March 1284 and finished in October 1285. And the Five Banks of Ramport were named Johnson, Stillworth, Henmire, Verris, and Belwick Banks. They would be known for their lending industry, which put forward loans with exceptionally flexible repayment plans and interest rates. The industry led by the Five Banks of Ramport would, very soon, lead to explosive business growth, especially when paired with the lucrative lightfire industry. Eckard's tenure as the first mayor would also be marked with the signing of a measure allowing a joint project between Silver Lines Inc, West Horizon, the Retunian federal government, and House Maderon to build cable-rail lines connecting Ramport with other Ancondrian hubs; though this would never come to pass.

The attacks carried out by the Lykian Republic against the Retunian Republic in Middle Remikra in February 1287 caused a disruption to its regional economy. The Five Banks of Hasphitat contracted and froze loans. Though, Prime Minister Arthur Cummings passed a stimulus measure to bail out the Hasphitat Banks in time to prevent a recession. And the Hasphitat Banks saw this as an opportunity to expand their business.

With Ramport's economy largely intact, the Hasphitat Banks, in April 1287, offered to purchase the Ramport Banks, citing the benefits of financial security. However, with the working class of Ramport aware of the corporate greed in the Hasphitat Banks, Bryan Markwell led a petition to stop this transaction. And Markwell's petition would succeed in June of that year, to the disappointment of the Hasphitat Banks.

Gaining popularity from this, Markwell answered a call to run against the incumbent, John Eckard, for the Mayor of Ramport. In his 1288 campaign, running on behalf of the Reformed Foundationist Party, Markwell vowed to enact a policy stopping future acquisition proposals as well as stopping the Ramport Banks from considering to acquire any businesses themselves. Though he had not put forward his candidacy in time for the 1286 endorsements, Markwell's vow would have him win the political party primary of 1287. And in 1288, against Eckard advocating nothing more than for preservation of the status quo, Bryan Markwell would unseat him as the next mayor, winning 67 percent of the vote during the election on September 24 of that year.

In 1289, following through on his promise, Ramport Mayor Bryan Markwell signed the policy preventing acquisition of and by the Five Banks of Ramport. The Hasphitat Banks, that year, made up for this by lending money to the Ramport Banks in the form of secondary loans; and Markwell did not have the Council votes to stop this. Nonetheless, the economy would grow for entrepreneurs and the working class alike. Furthermore, with construction and development underway for the aforementioned cable rail lines, excitement and anticipation would dominate Ramport's economic landscape.

However, economic downturn in Middle Remikra between 1290 and 1291 forced the cable rail project to be placed on hold. As a result, lands anticipated to be zoned for cable rail trestles were instead bought up by private property owners, which would pose a challenge in the years ahead. And all of this would impact the working class, as jobs were lost, a situation made worse by the fact that wages had failed to keep up with inflation.

Markwell vowed more negotiations with property owners and various banks, including the Hasphitat Banks, to clear the way for the cable rail project, which was expected to resume eventually. However, in 1294, this resolve proved weak against Wallace Stevens, running for the mayor position on behalf of the newly-formed Progressive Party. Wallace promised, also, to become more open with the development of the lorry track system, to raise the local minimum wage in Ramport, and to strengthen Ramport's unemployment program. On 16 September 1294, Stevens unseated Markwell as the next Mayor of Ramport, securing 60 percent of the vote.

Starting his term in January 1295, per the Statute of Principle, Mayor Stevens followed through with his promise to raise the minimum wage and strengthen unemployment programs. Furthermore, he established a fast-track job placement program and restarted negotiation efforts for the cable rail industry. Though the latter would prove fruitless, the population was satisfied enough with his other aforementioned policies, which strengthened the middle class.

Developing on land already owned by the all-terrain rover programs, Stevens was better able to authorize the construction of a high-speed passenger and cargo lorry system, with its first route, A1, opening between Ramport and Silba by the end of 1295. And despite ongoing shortcomings, federal funding given by Prime Minister John Waltmann's administration in 1297 allowed Stevens to push for continued efforts on the cable rail line.

Back in the 1280s, the First Community Church, holders of the aforementioned George Minlon Community Trust Fund, opened a new church near Ramport, calling it the First Church of Ancondria. In 1295, the First Church of Ancondria broke away from the First Community Church, deeming them too liberal and too close to Waltmann's views on global trade. And on 12 April 1296, to protect themselves from any fallouts with their former parent organization, the First Church of Ancondria consolidated all financial assets of the George Minlon Community Trust Fund, and with that, established the George Minlon Foundation. Though it was small and insignificant compared to the rest of Ramport's political and economic landscape, this Foundation would have influence in the years to come.

Meanwhile, by 1300, the year that Stevens was up for re-election, the economy of the Early Retunian Republic was at its peak. Also at its peak was the lightfire industry, especially in Ramport, where there emerged new innovations, particularly in the mass transit industry, on a regular basis. This led to the fast development of high-rise buildings, primarily in the growing financial districts. And in this atmosphere of seemingly unending economic fervor, Arnold Rayer of the Diplomatic Party challenged the incumbent Stevens, promising "more market freedom." However, on 24 September 1300, with the majority of the population satisfied with his policies, Wallace Stevens won re-election with 65 percent of the vote.

In early 1301, it seemed that the cable rail project would finally materialize and resume construction. However, a financial collapse in tradestone markets across the Retunian Republic forced Prime Minister Waltmann to gut federal funding, which made up for 60 percent of the project. Although strong unemployment programs saved the middle class of Ramport, such federal funding rollbacks forced Stevens to abandon the cable rail project permanently and focus solely on the lorry track system. Over the years to follow, more lorry track routes were constructed, connecting Ramport to Kronoston, Wicard, Angwe, Kearney, and Dynel.

The Governors of Ramport - 1304 to 1371

In 1304, the Retunian Republic formally established the Ancondrian Domain, dividing it into Five Districts over which Ramport governed over District V. This expanded the Council of Ramport, in accordance to changes to the Public Assembly hierarchy, and prompted appropriate changes to the Ramport Statute of Principle, one being that the Mayor of Ramport would now be recognized as the Governor of Ramport and District V.

By this point, most people moving into Ramport were lightfire students anticipating on studying with the newly-established Global Academy of Ancondria, based in Silba. This resulted in a major political shift toward an extremely liberal and progressive sentiment. Before long, experts deemed Ramport and District V to be a "reliably liberal" jurisdiction. It is important to note, though, that the George Minlon Foundation, seen as a fringe organization, even by the conservative minority, did exert a degree of influence, however small, through the promotion of free market philosophies.

Meanwhile, Ramport continued to prosper with its primary industry: lightfire, where growing supply was yet barely able to meet ever-increasing demand, creating a favorable climate for new prospective employees and entrepreneurs. This drove the growth of all other industries, thus bringing about the Era of Lateral Expansion, during which Lower Ramport experienced rapid development of the business and banking zones in its center as well as equally rapid growth of manufacturing in its outer sector. And Upper Ramport experienced similar development in its agricultural and residential zones.

The year 1306 was an election year for the Governor of Ramport. The economy was proving resilient while Ramport became a reputable place around the world for the development of new ideas, particularly in lightfire and engineering. However, there were also some issues, primarily the seemingly unchecked power of the Ramport Banks.

Having now fulfilled his two-term limit, Wallace Stevens endorsed Andrew Terrace, in 1304, as a candidate for Governor of the Ramport District. In 1305, Terrace won the primary for the Progressive Party. And in 1306, Terrace carried out his campaign, promising to implement a slew of consumer protection regulations on the Five Banks of Ramport, particularly regarding the loan industry. Running against him was David Moore of the Diplomatic Party, who vowed to have the government of Ramport borrow money from House Maderon to establish more banks to compete against the Five Banks in order to lower loan repayment interest rates through market competition. And challenging the other two candidates was Martha Wynn on behalf of the Darkfire Coalition of Ramport, who vowed policies to convert banks into publicly-owned institutions.

A majority of Ramport's voting population deemed Moore's approach to be too risky. However, the George Minlon Foundation successfully convinced just enough of the electorate that Wynn's approach was too radical. As a result, on election day 16 September 1306, Terrace got 36 percent of the vote, Moore got 31 percent of the vote, and Wynn got 33 percent of the vote. Therefore, in the midst of the first election in the history of Ramport involving three equally popular candidates, Andrew Terrace won the vote to become the next Governor of the District of Ramport, though he would be the first election winner to not win by a landslide.

However, Andrew Terrace's tenure as the Governor was marked by dramatic policy failures, particularly those surrounding the 1307 Crisis.

Ten years earlier, shortly after the end of his tenure as the Prime Minister, Arthur Cummings purchased a vast quantity of land from the Ancondrian State of Silba; and on this new property, he hired contractors to build a collection of high-end housing units, which he had named the Brendan Lake Estates. In 1303, Cummings leased these Estates to West Horizon, who expanded on the property and assets with the construction of South Gate and First Station, two facilities using state-of-the-art lightfire methods to mass-produce more homes and commercial buildings. In 1305, upon the advice of then-Governor Wallace Stevens, the Five Banks of Ramport bought up these new buildings, whose interiors were initially classical-style offices and living quarters. The Ramport Banks then took out secondary loans from the Hasphitat Banks and hired Coener, Inc., a competing lightfire firm against West Horizon, to upgrade said interiors to reflect more modern styles. According to the plan, the Ramport Banks would then sell these upgraded structures to prospective businesses and high-income residents for significant profit.

In 1307, shortly after taking office, Andrew Terrace called a meeting with the Five Banks, during which the plan was changed to a seeming more lucrative one, in which the Five Banks would instead lease the upgraded properties to clients from Silba at marked-up rental rates. Approved by the Five Banks, Terrace, and Coener Inc., the latter of whom would also get a cut of the extra dividends, the rental proposal was sent to Silba and House Maderon. However, both potential clients, in February 1307, rejected it. Immediately, Terrace attempted to have the Ramport Banks revert back to the original plan drafted in 1305; but news of the fallout with Silba and House Maderon drove most prospective clients away as well as alienated the majority of Coener Inc.'s client base. As a result, Coener Inc. went out of business while tradestone prices in the Ramport Market crashed. This drove depositors to make bank runs on the Ramport Banks, who, still owing debt to the Hasphitat Banks, were brought dangerously close to collapse.

This marked the first major financial crisis experienced by Ramport in its history thus far, and resulted in mass layoffs. Luckily, strong unemployment policies had saved a large portion of the middle class. But this event would have political implications in the years to come.

In 1308, Arthur Cummings' estate bought back the upgraded properties at prices high enough only to restore financial solvency to the Ramport Banks. They made minor but practical structural improvement projects, then sold the properties to clients for a profit. While doing this, Arthur Cummings' estate backed a local movement to establish the Ancondrian micro-state of Beaustrough.

By the year 1309, the economy of Ramport regained balance but was not yet as prosperous as before. The Darkfire Coalition of Ramport, having studied the experiments carried out by the fabled Peter Quora in 1308, proposed an economic experiment incorporating Quora's derived principles while involving the commerce of darkfire tradestones. This proved a resounding success, and, coupled with equal success on a similar experiment conducted on a smaller scale on the outskirts of Upper Ramport in 1295, would prove to be the basis for darkfire economic policy implemented by Holz Finzi over the entire Retunian Republic in the years to follow.

In September 1309, Finzi and his followers, through the 1309 Revolution, attained political power over the Retunian Republic and led its new government to enact the Fourth Constitutional Amendment, legalizing and commercializing all trades associated with darkfire. That year, Ramport held local elections, which resulted in more seats won for the Darkfire Coalition. In November 1309, the Darkfire Coalition of Ramport merged into the nationwide, newly-established Right-of-Absolute-Desire Party (RAD Party). It is important to note that the RAD Party was actually a far-left party.

In 1310, the RAD Party members of Ramport Council put forward a proposition for public funding toward an independent engineering project to construct pneumatic trains, trains that ran through pneumatic tubes. Serving as the predecessor to the vacuum trains (vac-trains) of the 1340s, pneumatic trains ran with thrust and drag powered by varying combinations of air pressure and magnetic forces. Such an apparatus, according this proposal, would be powered solely by batteries generated by darkfire energy in Middle Remikra.

Even after 1309, Andrew Terrace was opposed to the commercialization of darkfire, and used the power of the Council majority veto (as the majority was still in the hands of the Progressive Party) to vote against the aforementioned pneumatic train project, unless the system would adapt to a non-darkfire energy source or at least to combine its darkfire energy source with one that was a non-darkfire source. The project and RAD Party capitulated on Terrace's veto power and agreed to the compromise; thus the final measure was signed by Terrace accordingly in October 1310. Though, this would impact political sentiment during the Governor re-election year of 1312.

In 1311, per federal authorization signed by Prime Minister Holz Finzi, all banks throughout the Retunian Republic became publicly-owned entities. However, the George Minlon Foundation lobbied Retunian Council in Middle Remikra into legislating an exception for the Five Banks of Ramport, which led to a compromise to allow the Ramport Banks to remain private institutions while following more intense consumer protection regulations as well as providing depositor insurance. This balance gave birth to the Era of Vertical Expansion, which would last until 1345 and would see the emergence of towering steel skyscrapers (the generation before the "supertowers") in all three Districts of Ramport. This was accompanied by additional business and financial blocks in Lower Ramport as well as business and financial blocks in Upper Ramport. New manufacturing and trade pier zones expanded along the edges of the Bay of Ramport. By the 1330s, Upper Ramport, Lower Ramport, and Sea Level had all become urbanized.

In 1312, primary political debates surrounded the commercialization of darkfire, with the RAD Party and darkfire communities in support, and the Progressive Party and George Minlon Foundation in opposition. Andrew Terrace, running for a second term as Governor of the Ramport District on behalf of the Progressive Party, believed in striking a compromise with the George Minlon Foundation, who was pushing for the re-criminalization of darkfire. Running against Terrace was Cendya Marshall of the RAD Party, who agreed with a vast majority of the Ramport population in believing that the Foundation was an aggressive evangelist organization with only its own interests in mind. Marshall, though unable to alter the pneumatic train project in progress in terms of its energy sources, vowed to approve future engineering projects and businesses that draw solely on darkfire sources. And on 24 September 1312, Marshall won the Governor race with 64 percent of the vote.

Under Governor Marshall, the city and District of Ramport, in 1313, purchased the Ramport Rapid Transit Authority, the organization responsible for the newly-established pneumatic train network, which, since October 1312, had been in operation with stops in Sea Level, Lower Ramport, Upper Ramport, Ramport Airfield, and the Mass Transit Terminal. The Ramport area was now dominated by two new sets of economic dynamics, the first involved the import of darkfire-powered batteries from Middle Remikra to service cars, aircraft, appliances, and an increasing share of power sources for the pneumatic trains, which engineers hoped to one day develop into long-distance methods of travel. The second set of dynamics was brought on by the release of a new fleet of airships, by the newly-established company, Silver Wings, with these new airships being powered by darkfire-based batteries as well. While the Silver Lines cable rail project failed to materialize years before, the Silver Wings airship network, by 1315, connected Ramport with the other four District Capitals. Around that same time, darkfire energy outputs began to decline due to over-extraction in the Lake Maern Reserve; thus forcing Silver Wings to increase their air fares. But they would persevere until the gyroplane industry took over the following decade.

Throughout the Retunian Republic during the 1310s, numerous members of the Progressive Party broke off and formed a coalition with conservative independents, forming the National Establishment Party in 1316. The National Establishment Party would be the mainstream conservative opposition to the RAD Party for a significant period of Retunian Commonwealth history. Meanwhile, during this same time period, the gyroplane industry was being adopted by increasing numbers of Circlarian states, with a luring appeal here being how these aircraft were powered by a hubstone-based "forever fuel."

The National Establishment Party members of the Council of Ramport immediately began proposing for Ramport to join the growing gyroplane network. This motion was initially defeated by the RAD Party majority. However, in 1317, the ongoing darkfire energy slump pushed the Ramport economy into a recession, prompting innovators to increasingly seek different energy sources.

During the 1318 election year, Andrew Terrace, former Governor of Ramport, decided to challenge the incumbent Cendya Marshall, this time with Terrace on behalf of the National Establishment Party, for a second non-consecutive term. Terrace, this cycle, vowed to go with a call from the George Minlon Foundation to withdraw darkfire industry investments and divert them to other agendas, primarily in the gyroplane industry, which Terrace vowed would receive additional funding from a new loan program carried out by the Ramport Banks. Marshall, on the other hand, vowed to preserve funding for said darkfire agendas and to, instead, work with academic organizations to research solutions to darkfire energy output issues. Distrust in the George Minlon Foundation persisted that year, but talk of gyroplane industry investments did present an appeal to some. Thus, Cendya Marshall won re-election on 16 September 1318, but only with 55 percent of the vote.

In 1320, the Finzi Administration relented and authorized for the Independent Commonwealth State of Retun (the Retunian Republic) to join the gyroplane network. Thus, an override measure, accompanied by federal funding, led Ramport to establish a functioning gyroplane network by the end of 1321. In 1322, after a round of bipartisan votes in the Council of Ramport, Governor Marshall signed measures terminating funds for the Silver Wings airship network and reducing funds for darkfire energy infrastructure. In consolation to the latter, though, Marshall quickly thereafter signed a tax break for select darkfire-based business transactions to last until December 1327.

The primary issue facing Ramport during the Governor election year of 1324 involved a massive proposal for investment into the adoption by various construction and manufacturing businesses of a standard of production involving lightfire methods powered by darkfire energy sources, in order to bring the Retunian lightfire industry to a higher level of competitiveness in the markets of Silba. Endorsed by Finzi and spearheaded by West Horizon, this measure also drafted a slew of diplomatic efforts to expand lightfire trade in this market.

Endorsed by incumbent Governor Marshall, who was set to retire that year after fulfilling her two-term limit, Jennalee Dormyn of the RAD Party supported the aforementioned proposal. Meanwhile, running for a second non-consecutive term, yet again, was Andrew Terrace of the National Establishment Party, who supported the idea of, alternatively, having the Ramport Banks and George Minlon Foundation commence joint business loan programs for the lightfire industry, and to expand the gyroplane network to include regional landing pads for Upper Ramport, Lower Ramport, Sea Level, and the Mass Transit Terminal. However, on 24 September 1324, due to excitement over the aforementioned darkfire-lightfire proposal, Dormyn won the Governor election, securing a record 71 percent of the vote.

A special darkfire conjuration technique introduced by the Finzi Administration in the Lake Maern Reserve in 1325 led darkfire products to rise in quality and price. And in Northeast Ancondria, by the year 1328, the aforementioned darkfire-powered lightfire production strategy led West Horizon and the Retunian Commonwealth to effectively dominate the lightfire market of Silba. However, in 1329, the Neurovirus Pandemic emerged in Middle Remikra, driving large numbers of Retunians from this part of the nation to arrive in the Ancondrian Domain in droves. Most of these people were interested in moving to Ramport, forcing Governor Dormyn to impose limits during which the Ramport Housing Office assigned numerous incomers to other Ancondrian Districts within the Domain.

Then, in April 1329, Ramport saw its first reported Neurovirus cases, forcing the city and District to go into a lockdown. During this time, Dormyn signed measures requiring most of the lightfire industry to adopt virtual, work-at-home arrangements for its employees. West Horizon would preserve this, even after the introduction of the Neurovirus vaccine in 1330 all but eradicated the Pandemic.

The year 1330 was another election year for the Ramport Governor position. Running for re-election, Jennalee Dormyn of the RAD Party vowed to preserve the political and economic status quo. Running against her was John Kinsam of the newly-established Realist Party, who vowed to place darkfire on equal footing with lightfire and other industries in terms of investments. On 16 September 1330, Dormyn won re-election, but did so securing only 51 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the Realist Party gained 47 percent of Ramport Council seats, the largest minority yet in the history of Ramport.

Dormyn began her second term as Governor in 1331. By 1332, Ramport was now considered a large metropolis. However, its pneumatic Rapid Transit Line was wearing out, needing constant maintenance. The RAD Party majority in the Council of Ramport proposed to fund an overhaul to this system. However, having a stronger voting bloc, the Realists forced the Council to come to various compromises. As a result, by the time Dormyn signed the final measure, the renovation project was slated to be carried out over the span of five years, rather than two years, as originally intended.

Nevertheless, the Realist Party gained an unfavorable reputation when their counterparts in the Basin District, between 1334 and 1335, demonstrated what could best be described as "cringeworthy incompetence," especially when it came to diplomacy and the lightfire industry. Such incompetence led West Horizon and the Retunian Commonwealth to begin losing competitive advantages in the Silba lightfire markets, especially when pitted against emerging competent lightfire vendors from abroad.

Such was a prevalent issue for the 1336 election cycle, during which Dormyn, having fulfilled her two-term limit, endorsed Carolyn Dyme on behalf of the RAD Party for the governor position. Dyme vowed for policies to allow the darkfire and lightfire industries to preserve the status quo while intervening with leadership in Silba only in the case of proven nepotism (West Horizon was becoming aggressive with intervention for other reasons). Meanwhile, Stephen Blyss, campaigning on behalf of the Realist Party, alleged that nepotism between foreign parties outside West Horizon was far more rampant than the RAD Party believed, and, with Blyss insisting that West Horizon was "naturally dominant" in the lightfire trade markets, vowed to take firm measures against such nepotism.

However, Blyss' testimony was largely overshadowed by the notorious reputation that the Realist Party had gained from its incompetence and "dirty politics." As a result, on 24 September 1336, Carolyn Dyme won the Governor election with 65 percent of the vote, while the Realist Party was swept into holding only 10 percent of seats in the Council of Ramport.

Shortly after beginning her tenure as the Governor of the District of Ramport, Carolyn Dyme, in 1337, signed a measure to fund the Ramport Rapid Transit Authority solely through commercial tax funds while making the service entirely free to passengers. Some banks and businesses attempted to maneuver against this. However, a new round of darkfire sales propelled by enhanced darkfire conjuration techniques in the Lake Maern Reserve more than made up for the resulting setbacks against said banks and businesses. Meanwhile, the Rapid Transit Authority, which received its long-needed overhaul, added more stops between 1339 and 1340.

In 1340, in response to diplomatic friction between Silba and the Retunian Commonwealth, the Ancondrian State of Kardo assigned a toll to its portion of lorry track. This led Dyme and the RAD Party to pass an expansion package for the gyroplane system, the same one floated by Ramport's conservative opposition in years past. This helped to alleviate the resulting traffic pressures, though, as former lorry passengers had been forced to use the gyroplane option.

In 1341, in response to diplomatic friction damaging true market demand for the Retunian lightfire industry in Ancondria, Dyme signed a policy to help establish the Independent Lightfire Trade Network, an international organization of multi-national lightfire vendors, which helped to keep the lightfire market stable for Ramport.

Nevertheless, the issues of lightfire trade and diplomacy between the Ancondrian States and Retunian Commonwealth remained primary issues dominating the 1342 Ramport Governor election cycle. Running for re-election, Dyme vowed to preserve existing lightfire trade dynamics. Running against her was John Deery of the Realist Party, who vowed to help West Horizon expand dominance over the markets in Silba. And Marya Tenson, on behalf of the National Establishment Party, vowed to reform the markets by having Ramport withdraw out of West Horizon efforts while helping to maintain lightfire market dynamics with less priority on darkfire interests. On 16 September 1342, Dyme won re-election with 65 percent of the vote while the RAD Party maintained 90 percent of seats in Ramport Council.

Shortly after the beginning of Dyme's second term in 1343, there emerged a major diplomatic fallout between West Horizon, House Maderon, and the Retunian Commonwealth, which had adverse effects on the lightfire market as a whole. In response, Governor Dyme directed the Ramport Banks to purchase darkfire tradestones from the Lake Maern Reserve, where the latest darkfire-crafting technique showed promise of a stimulus in that market. With such insight proving true, Ramport markets were able to maintain solvency.

In 1344, Alex Schraber, the Prime Minister of the Retunian Republic, resigned. Later that year, Raol Robinson of the RAD Party won the Prime Minister election, as that federal election cycle brought the RAD Party back to power across the nation, while the Realist Party would disappear from mainstream politics. And this, combined with rolling stimuli from the Lake Maern Reserve, led to another economic boom for Ramport throughout the 1340s and 1350s, as Ramport would join the Middle Remikran city of Savel in establishing what became known as the Magnumarian Passage.

Beginning in 1345 and lasting until 1365, the Magnumarian Passage brought to Ramport increasing numbers of cargo ships, passenger ships, gyroplanes, and traditional airships, the latter reflecting the rise of a short-term trend known as "airship tourism." Along with the expansion and overhaul of the five Super-piers, this era also brought about the rise of "The Thriving District," a peak darkfire community member society not that different from the one present in Pallenmore today.

This marked the peak years of Ramport, as the presence of the Magnumarian Passage was a primary topic during the 1348 election cycle. That year, Carolyn Dyme, having completed her two-term limit, endorsed Rebecca Cerwyn as the RAD Party candidate for the next Governor of Ramport. Cerwyn vowed to continue Dyme's policies, while Gerald Towrney, running on behalf of the National Establishment Party, vowed to reduce dependency on the Lake Maern Reserve due to perceived vulnerabilities. Despite Towrney's warning on such, Cerwyn won a record 78 percent of the vote during the election, while the RAD Party retained its 90 percent majority. And shortly after the election, the Compass, a conservative writing platform, projected salty sentiment by the conservative minority with the release of an article explaining why "leftists" kept winning elections in Ramport. Such an article alleged that voters were "overeducated, hooked on the darkfire hype, and overindulgent in hatred for the George Minlon Foundation." Ultimately the article advised for conservative candidates and the Foundation to move away from the concept of capitalist evangelism, but predicted that liberal candidates would continue to win in Ramport for decades to come unless more conservatives from elsewhere in the Retunian Commonwealth began moving into the area.

Amidst the aforementioned economic boom, Ramport, in 1351, joined the rest of the Retunian Commonwealth in renewed trade with nations in faraway Canticula. This provided further economic padding, allowing Ramport to continue to prosper, even when West Horizon lost Silba market dominance in 1353. And in that same year, Ramport led efforts for the Retunian Commonwealth to establish a lightfire trading market in the Ancondrian State of Malfua.

During Cerwyn's Governor re-election in 1354, she vowed to continue current policies, while Henry Blayne, the challenger from the National Establishment Party, vowed, once again, to reduce economic dependency on the Lake Maern Reserve. Cerwyn would secure 73 percent of the vote on 16 September 1354, winning re-election. However, it is important to note that the 1349-54 term was considered to be the last full Governor term during which life was "normal" in Ramport.

In 1355, shortly after beginning her second term, Cerwyn signed a Council-approved measure to fund the construction of Ramport Tower over Super-Pier 3; Ramport Tower, with its unprecedented height of over 3000 feet, was considered, later on, to be the first of the "supertowers" for which the city would be known. Construction on the Tower began in March 1356, as state-of-the-art lightfire construction methods built the structure with the utmost speed and quality, and was completed in October 1357.

Meanwhile, the year 1356 marked the peak year for "airship tourism," while 1357 was remembered for Cerwyn's remarkable diplomatic strategies in handling a minor event of diplomatic friction in the lightfire markets of Malfua.

The year 1358, another prosperous year for Ramport and District V, would be considered the last year during which life was normal.

The Esurchian Occupation began in the year 1359, during which, like throughout the remainder of the Retunian Commonwealth, businesses, government posts, and private residences in Ramport were increasingly influenced, and even usurped, by Esurchian agents through legal avenues. The Esurchians also began exerting influence and control over both the lightfire and darkfire trading markets. During this time, the RAD Party gained a notorious reputation for yielding so readily to Esurchian lobbying efforts, especially in Ramport. In May 1359, numerous RAD Party members and voters, resentful of the core and leadership of the RAD Party establishment, broke away and formed a new left-wing party: the Ramport Liberal Party, who supported darkfire-driven lightfire trade, but passionately opposed the practice of deep-trade, the method by which the Esurchians were able to exert the most influence.

During the 1360 election cycle, Dawnla Nym, on behalf of this new party, won the Governor election with 63 percent of the vote while her Ramport Liberal Party colleagues secured 61 percent of Ramport Council seats, marking the first time, since 1312, that the RAD Party did not hold a majority government in Ramport.

Immediately after her inauguration as Governor in January 1361, Nym ordered all Esurchian figures to leave both Ramport and District V. The Esurchians responded with a lawsuit against Nym's administration, which would be decided upon in the Federal Court of the Ancondrian Basin, seated in Kronoston. Initially, the Court upheld the ban while the case was going on, but aside from that, a final decision was not set to be reached until well into the year 1362.

During that year, however, Retunian Prime Minister Raol Robinson ordered all Esurchians to leave the Retunian Commonwealth, meaning that the aforementioned lawsuit would be tossed. From this point, Ramport began the long process of economic recovery from the damages inflicted by the Esurchians, as both Nym's administration and the Ramport Banks worked to reinstate the lightfire-darkfire business model that governed economic prosperity in the 1350s. Between 1363 and 1364, though, such recovery would be hampered by precautions required for trading vessels to take against the numerous forms of treachery carried out by the newly-formed Esurchian State. This was due to tensions having emerged between the Esurchians and Retunians after Robinson's 1362 order of mass-deportation.

Suddenly, on 7 February 1365, the Esurchian Scouts, armed with proper military hardware, entered the Bay of Ramport in an unmarked maritime vessel and fired 119 shells against the sprawling metropolis, killing 51 people in the "Thriving District" and an additional 6 civilians in Lower Ramport. This prompted evacuation orders, resulting in large numbers of people leaving Ramport proper, and arguably marking the beginning of the collapse of the Magnumarian Passage. Between March 5 and 6, after intelligence reported evidence of the Esurchian State preparing for a full-scale invasion, the Retunian federal government evacuated Wicard, Ramport, and Kronoston. And on 7 March 1365, the Esurchians carried out a major offensive. Though Retunian forces were able to easily repel the Esurchians, this event prompted an official declaration of war from the Retunian Commonwealth, thus beginning the Esurchian War.

Serving as the Chief of the Ramport Fire Department and later receiving praise for his heroic efforts in saving lives during the February 7 incident, George Soltis was called upon to run as the next Governor. On 24 September 1365, even though he was a write-in candidate, Soltis won the primary nomination for the Ramport Liberal Party, after which Dawnla Nym stated her decision to endorse Soltis and not run for re-election. And Soltis would be elected the next Governor on 16 September 1366, securing 54 percent of the vote.

However, it is important to note that, shortly before they were mandated to leave the Retunian Commonwealth, Esurchian agents implemented an oathcrafting measure that drew large numbers of conservative Retunians from western Combria and eastern Gymia and enticed them to move into the Ramport/District V area. The original agenda by the Esurchians was to undermine anti-Esurchian resistance in the Ancondrian Domain. However, after the Esurchians were made to leave the Retunian Commonwealth, such an oathcrafting mechanism would continue, and would have an enormous impact on regional politics in the years to follow.

Between 1367 and 1368, Esurchian forces launched the Fourth Magnumarian Offensive, which, among many other things, involved relentless air raids on Ramport proper (with exception to Ramport Tower, which was spared) as well as equally heavy damages to miles of surrounding lorry tracks. Despite such damages, the Esurchian State, in 1368, was made to sign agreements with the Retunian Commonwealth and its allies, thus surrendering and ending the war.

After the war, large portions of the city of Ramport lay devastated while the Magnumarian Passage was all but dead. The economy, for the first time in decades, was struggling. And the George Minlon Foundation blamed incompetence within the Retunian Commonwealth, especially the governing RAD Party, for hardships having arose during the Esurchian Occupation and subsequent war. Such public blame appealed to a population of shifting political demographics as there emerged a call for Ramport and District V to become an independent nation, and establish for itself a free market absent Retunian government regulations.

West Horizon and the Retunian government had initially called for a conference to take place in Ramport in 1369 to formulate a plan in rebuilding the damaged lorry tracks, as well as a plan to restore economic and public infrastructure; such was called the Lorry Track Rebuilding Conference. However, this conference was canceled when the people of Ramport, angry at West Horizon over its unethical business practices during the Esurchian War as well as the Great Ancondrian War, staged a general strike. George Soltis, the incumbent Governor, voiced support for West Horizon during this time, a move that would cost him re-election in 1372.

On 16 September 1371, a popular referendum was held in Ramport and District V, which succeeded in declaring this city and district to be an independent nation.

The Independent Democratic State of Ramport - 1371 to 1375

This new nation would be named the Independent Democratic State of Ramport, and its existence would be further validated by the 1371 Treaty of Ramport, which mandated such official recognition from the Retunian Commonwealth, who was also mandated to recognize the existence of the United Confederation of Ancondria (abbreviated as the UCA).

In 1372, the new nation approved its own constitution through a popular referendum. The most notable provision in this constitution was re-labeling of the position of Governor to the position of Consul, along with the establishment of two new Consul offices, making the executive branch a tri-consular government. The three positions were each slated to run on six-year terms, each one staggered from the other two by two years so that one of the three Consuls was elected every two years.

George Soltis, having been the sitting Governor of Ramport before this, was eligible to run for as an Interim Consul in 1372. During his 1372 campaign, Soltis, on behalf of the Ramport Liberal Party, vowed to have Ramport join the UCA, as all the other Ancondrian States and Domain Districts were doing during this time. Soltis also vowed to re-establish darkfire trade with the Lake Maern Reserve as an independent trading party.

Running in opposition was Robert Lynn, on behalf of the Conservative Party of Ramport, established on 12 March 1371. Lynn's platform called for Ramport to remain independent of the UCA and for lingering policies from the days of the Retunian Commonwealth to be repealed. Furthermore, Lynn called for an economy adhering more to the capitalist values of the George Minlon Foundation.

And running against the other two candidates was Kendra Miers, on behalf of the Democratic Party of Ramport, a centrist party established on 12 April 1371. Spearheading the centrist party's agenda to govern in a way not tied to left versus right politics, Miers vowed to put the issue of joining the UCA to a popular referendum as well as doing the same with darkfire economic policies. Furthermore, she vowed to have Ramport maintain trade that was independent of the Retunian Commonwealth while maintaining neutrality with them.

The overall sentiment in 1372 was one where just enough people hated the Retunian Commonwealth but just enough people hated the George Minlon as well. As a result, Kendra Miers won the Consulship with 34 percent of the vote while the other two candidates attained 33 percent.

In 1370, the year before Ramport gained independence, the territories of the Havenlands came together democratically and formed the United Confederation of Ancondria (UCA), whose main priorities were to end the lorry industry as well as Retunian influence in Northeast Ancondria altogether. In quick fashion, the UCA, through local popular referendums, attained the territories once part of the Retunian Ancondrian Domain as well as neighboring independent Northeast Ancondrian States like Silba. And on 7 October 1372, the Council of Ramport put forward Proposition 4, for Ramport to join the UCA, to a popular referendum, which, due to complicated transitional and constitutional protocols, would take place on 24 September 1374.

It is important to note, however, that since the 1360s, far-right ultra-nationalists from Combria and Gymia, incentivized by an Esurchian oathcrafting mechanism to move into the District of Ramport, had continued to do so even after the end of the Occupation, diluting the once-reliable far-left voting base that had stood in Ramport for decades. These ultra-conservative newcomers gravitated toward the George Minlon Foundation, who had begun capitalizing on the overall unhappiness of the local population over the perceived incompetence of Retunian leadership during the Occupation and the War. And as a result, increasing numbers of Foundation members and their conservative friends began increasingly to win public seats in local elections. And after taking office, they began seeking legal paths to overcome the checks and balances of the government of the Independent Democratic State of Ramport, which turned out to be remarkably weak.

On 16 September 1373, elections were held for the first full-term Consul, which Robert Lynn of the Conservatives won with a staggering 49 percent of the vote while running against two other candidates. Most alarmingly, Lynn had received backing from the Ancondrian Freedom Party, a far-right party established on 12 May 1371 with funding from the George Minlon Foundation. During this election cycle, Lynn had made a deal with this far-right party to continue receiving support from them while passing favorable far-right policies.

Lynn began his tenure in 1374, as did the Conservative majority in the Council of Ramport. Together, they began implementing a slew of conservative policies that angered large portions of the voting population. Among the many policy changes, the most notable involved repeals on regulations over Ramport Bank loan interest rates, tax cuts to business owners and banks, and the radical decision to terminate the Ramport Rapid Transit Authority and replace it with a privatized gyroplane system. Most repeals on loan regulations never came to pass this cycle thanks to vetoes from Kendra Miers. However, Miers did compromise on some of the aforementioned tax cuts with hopes for coalition efforts to pass a new budget for the Rapid Transit System; but conservatives gained enough votes in Council to have Miers' veto power overridden in order to cut the program altogether.

This provided additional incentives to support the passage of Proposition 4.

Ramport was the first jurisdiction to formally propose a measure to join the UCA, titling this "Proposition 4." This had inspired other Ancondrian States to draft similar measures; and though said measures elsewhere were titled differently, in accordance to the differing protocols, each of those measures was informally nicknamed "Proposition 4" after Ramport.

Meanwhile, Ramport was, ironically, one of the later states to actually put this measure to a referendum, owing to unusual legislation processes. Regardless, politics surrounding the matter were the same. Supporters of the measure touted that for Ramport to pass the measure and join the UCA would mean federal regulation from the UCA on loan interest rates, minimum wage updated yearly based on average basic expenses, federal funding for public transit, and a major check against lobbying organizations like the George Minlon Foundation. Opponents of the measure stated that joining the UCA would mean too much government oversight, which would inhibit free trade. And logically, many of these opponents were backed by the George Minlon Foundation, who launched an aggressive anti-Proposition 4 campaign.

In a shocking and disappointing twist of irony, despite being the measure that inspired the nickname "Proposition 4" across Northeast Ancondria, the original Proposition 4, on 24 September 1374, failed to pass the popular referendum, earning only 45 percent of the vote, while 55 percent of the population voted against it.

This led Ramport into a state of major political indecision. And into this relative political chaos emerged Benjamin Strong of the Ancondrian Freedom Party, who blamed the ongoing issues in the Independent Ramport State on government oversight as well as, most alarmingly, on the darkfire community. His resolve was to strictly implement the values of the late George Minlon and to effectively eradicate the darkfire community in order to return the Independent Democratic State of Ramport to greatness.

On 16 September 1375, Benjamin Strong won, decisively, in an election to one of the Consul positions.

The Establishment of Minlon - 1375 to 1376

Between September and December 1375, the Liberals, Ramport Democrats, and left-leaning Conservatives in Ramport Council formed a coalition to pass laws specifying limits on the powers of the Consul office that Strong would take in January 1376. However, Robert Lynn, sitting as one of the other incumbent Consuls, declared this move to be "an infiltration of the liberal deep-state," and, on 2 December 1375, declared martial law throughout the nation. That day, heavily-armed troops rolled through the streets of Ramport proper and forced all opposition members of Council, as well as the Superior Court Justices, to vacate the city. This left a government with just enough Conservatives, along with a sufficient number of Ramport Democrats bending the knee, to satisfy minimum quorum rules and continue governing. That day, Strong was sworn in as an Interim Consul, which he would hold until he automatically became a Consul in January 1376.

Kendra Miers, the other incumbent Consul, decried these actions as a seizure of power, but vowed, nonetheless, to submit to the new government. As an act of consolation, Miers thereafter called on Ramport Council to restore or replace the Superior Court Justices, who had also vacated, and for voters to vote against Strong's interests in the next election cycle.

On 2 January 1376, the Council of Ramport voted to rename the nation from the Independent Democratic State of Ramport to the Sovereign State of Minlon. That April, the Ramport Democratic Party disbanded, leading Miers to join the Liberals. However, on 16 September 1376, Ander Graham, having won the Liberal Party primary, became the chair of this party and declared that the Liberal Party would no longer be an opposition party to Strong. He called upon the Liberals to form a coalition with Strong and declined to have the Liberal Party produce a candidate to run against him.

Thus was established a regime over which Benjamin Strong was able to govern unopposed.

Benjamin Strong - 1375 to 1431

Under Benjamin Strong's leadership, the government of Minlon enacted the Social Reform Act of 1376, which included laws oppressing darkfire and queer communities, as well as laws mandating monogamy and strictly fostering the existence of nuclear families. The Social Reform Act also enforced a notorious set of laws that mandated a rigid social class ladder. At the bottom of this ladder stood small business employees. Ascending the ladder would next be small business owners, then office employees, office managers, corporate owners, shareholders, and finally bank owners.

Strong then enacted the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1378, which enabled houses and other residential spaces to fall under the ownership of employers, mandated people of certain demographics to maintain jobs in certain roles, prohibited employees from quitting current jobs and seeking new jobs without prior approval, enabled employers to send employees to different workplaces or different employers, and restricted role changes on the basis of skill transfers. It also privatized food, water, housing, transit, communication technologies, local police forces, fire departments, healthcare services, and education. Under this act, the government would fund only the military as well as the National Civil Guard, the latter being the same force imposing martial law in December 1375.

Meanwhile, despite privatization, Strong enacted the Education Reform Act of 1381, requiring all Minlonian citizens to complete a K-12 education, following a curriculum that only taught basic working skills for those in the working class. For higher-income families, students were assigned to more holistic educational subjects such as art, philosophy, literature, and critical-thinking. Strong also imposed income bracket requirements for admission into colleges and universities, which barred members of the working class from enrollment while offering extensive university education opportunities to those in higher social classes.

Strong also ordered conscription for all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 35, even during times of peace, and strictly barred women from service.

Enforcement of these new laws occurred with the local privatized police forces as well as the National Civil Guard. Strong further enforced his policies with the creation of a new and notorious institution: the Bounty System.

Contributing to staggering economic inequality over the years of its existence, the Bounty System, unique to Minlon, was Strong's way of thoroughly enforcing his policies without increasing government spending. If a law was broken, or, even if a law was not broken, a regime-favored individual, group, or organization was offended in some way, the offended party would be able to register the offending party on the government Bounty List for a certain amount of payment, which the government of Minlon would approve and match credit-for-credit to double the bounty amount. Any person who acted upon the listing and killed the offending party would then be paid the entire bounty.

Even today, data and statistics on this program are both sketchy due to stringent national security and government confidentiality measures.

In 1376, the government of Minlon changed its tri-consulate leadership apparatus so that, instead of three Consuls presiding equally, there would now be a Head Consul presiding over two lesser Consuls. The Head Consul was officially the commander-in-chief of the Minlonian Armed Forces as well as the chief commander of all domestic and foreign policies. One of the other two Consuls could give executive orders but such were subject to override by the Head Consul in the event of a dispute with the other lesser Consul or simply the event that Head Consul disagreed. The rotating election schedule of the Tri-Consulate remained the same, though elections were never deemed fair by the international community. To further opportunities for power, the government also removed term limits for the Consuls and Head Consul.

And needless to say, Benjamin Strong was named the first Head Consul of Minlon.

In terms of territorial boundaries within the Sovereign State of Minlon, the appropriate boundaries remained the same as they were under both the Retunian Ancondrian Domain and the Independent Democratic State of Ramport; only the terms changed. The Sovereign State of Minlon, accordingly, has since contained five Cantons, each of which have contained five Boroughs. And the National Council of Minlon, which remained unicameral, would still meet on a regular basis. Members of Council, though, were officially named Delegates, of which there were now 100, made up of four from each Borough. These Delegates have since been elected to four-year terms, and have been divided into four classes, each class staggered from the other three by one year so that 25 Delegates would be up for election and re-election on a yearly basis.

Meanwhile, the Minlon National Department of Defense has since been commanding a large military, stationing an active division, each, of the Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy (where applicable) for each Canton and each Borough. Over this, the Department of Defense has been maintaining five appointed Chief-Generals, one for each Canton.

In 1377, after receiving backing from the George Minlon Foundation as well as Strong's administration, fellow Conservative, David Renley won the Consulship election, unseating Miers and joining Lynn and Strong in the Tri-Consulate.

One year earlier, through the Social Reform Act passed, Strong imposed laws against the darkfire community, particularly laws criminalizing darkfire care for those under the age of 18. In 1378, international donors began funding a non-governmental organization established in Minlon to provide needed care accordingly, despite the laws. In 1379, an anonymous informant tipped the Minlonian government on this, resulting in the arrest of five doctors: Henrietta Lorens, Thomas Grendol, Sarah Kormish, Frederick Macintere, and Bethany Deerens. In 1380, these five doctors were sentenced to death. And in 1381, an armed rescue team attempted to break them out of death row in Prison Complex Seven. During this escape attempt, Bethany Deerens was shot and killed on site, Sarah Kormish was injured and captured, later to die in a hospital, and Thomas Grendol was re-captured and later executed. However, Henrietta Lorens and Frederick Macintere both escaped successfully and fled abroad, later to give valuable testimony on life inside the Sovereign State of Minlon.

The incident would trigger the Minlonian Constitutional Crisis of 1381, during which soldiers from the rescue team confronted Minlonian troops and engaged in open battle. Head Consul Strong acted on this by drafting thousands of men from the Minlonian working class to confront the "provocateurs," which sparked widespread protests. Strong responded to the protests with the deployment of the National Civil Guard, which "brought order to the capital" through brutal means. In the wake of the protests, Strong coerced the National Council into passing a slew of legislative measures known as the Enabling Laws, which gave Strong virtually absolute power. And amidst fears for "terror at large" outside the nation, Strong invoked these new laws by imposing a policy of containment, which closed the borders of the nation to both inbound and outbound travelers.

This would also begin a very intense wave of persecutions against the darkfire community.

That same year, 1381, Strong won re-election as Head Consul; though this election drew deep suspicions from the international community for being rigged.

Between 1382 and 1387, Strong authorized a massive buildup of military hardware for Minlonian defenses, particularly naval hardware. During this period, Minlon established an international debt collection program to be operated against borrowers abroad by force. Also during that time, the Minlon Banks (renamed from the Ramport Banks) dispensed loans to building developers who constructed commercial and residential "supertowers," many dwarfing the first "supertower," Ramport Tower, now named Minlon Tower. By the 1410s, nearly all of the city of Minlon proper would be dominated by said "supertowers."

In 1387, Strong won re-election unopposed, drawing even more suspicion from the international community.

In 1388, Minlon entered into a trade agreement with Recastelaren. Back in 1375, the House Esary Sororal Council of the Primeron Class, or SCPC, overtook the archipelago of Recastelaren, giving the SCPC access to the largest gyrostone reserve in the world. The issue, however, was with the resources needed by the SCPC to maintain defenses over the territory they had conquered. The navy they had used involved ships bought from maritime scrapyard vendors while further imports came from sources that were inconsistent and unreliable. With regard to staffing and recruitment, the SCPC was able to take on local Recastelarians imprisoned by their local communities to prevent their evacuation before the invasion, as part of diplomacy between said communities and House Esary. However, this was also a very limited and unreliable source. In 1381, to combat the latter, the SCPC teamed up with conservative Circlarian states to import prisoners for labor in its military and gyrostone industries. In 1388, to address their resource issues, Recastelaren (under SCPC rule) approached Minlon with whom trade talks were held. By the end of these came a trade agreement in which Recastelaren would sell gyrostones to Minlon for use in powering their naval ships, while Minlon would sell ships and resources to Recastelaren.

However, it is important to note that both sides, in the 1388 Mutual Trade Agreement of Recastelaren and Minlon, each had their own set of ulterior motives, with each side wishing to use the Agreement to gain political and economic supremacy over the other.

Between the 1370s and 1410s, Recastelaren bought up a great deal of commercial properties in the Carricon Isles for trade as well as military strategy. In terms of trade, the Carricon Isles region was the only feasible trading crossroads between Minlon and Recastelaren, with the rest of the route in between being vast ocean. With the Carricon Isles being much closer to Recastelaren than to Minlon, the Agreement of 1388 had put Minlon at a massive disadvantage due to higher fuel costs. In the 1410s, to help ease on these costs, Minlon began making its own purchases of commercial properties on the Carricon Isles, with the initial plan being for Minlon to buy enough property in a quick enough fashion to turn the Carricon Isles, effectively, into a Minlonian vassal state. The plan seemed successful at first until they began bidding to purchase properties already owned by the SCPC. The SCPC was reluctant to give up its footholds, and so responded to the bids by drastically marking up asking prices, or alternatively offering to lease the properties for exorbitant rental rates. The SCPC then raced to buy up even more Carricon Isles properties before Minlon took the opportunity. Thus, it became quite common for Minlon and the SCPC to clash over the same piece of property. In such a situation, where the involved third-party vendor would only accept the highest bid, the success rate between Minlon and Recastelaren was half-and-half. And ultimately, such a bidding war would prove more costly to Minlon than to Recastelaren, due to the aforementioned closer proximity of the Isles to Recastelaren than to Minlon.

To recoup such costs, Minlon, in 1419, drastically raised the prices of ships and resources against the SCPC. In 1420, Recastelaren responded to this with the development of "smart ships," which existed in two types: firing ships and ship-makers. Both types were unmanned, and both were made of composite, sturdier materials through state-of-the-art lightfire construction methods. However, firing ships specialized in the carriage and usage of missiles and heavy weapons while ship-makers specialized in automatically constructing firing ships and other ship-makers. This breakthrough, in short time, eliminated Recastelaren's need for ships and hardware from Minlon.

In 1421, Minlon responded with its own "smart ship" industry as well as a new policy to impose passage tolls over certain waterways effectively covered by them in the Carricon Isles region. Recastelaren, in 1422, responded with its own toll perimeters, which surrounded Minlonian toll perimeters.

On October 6, 1423, Minlon dispatched a fleet of firing ships, which attacked and destroyed a Recastelarian ship-maker pier near Ellwyn-Port in the Carricon Isles region, thus beginning the First Mech War.

With all vessels and weapons fully automated and remotely controlled, the First Mech War exacted zero human casualties, though it did cause significant property damage on both sides. In January 1426, a group of Carriconian merchants united and filed a formal grievance against Minlon and Recastelaren to Congress of Circlaria, complaining of the risks and property damages associated with the ongoing crossfire throughout Carriconian waterways, and calling upon the Congress to intervene. However, Congress of Circlaria refused such a call, deeming that the ongoing conflict did not pose a direct threat to them or to the overall balance of power. In March 1426, deeming Minlon as the aggressor for starting the war, the same merchants bankrolled Recastelaren and brought them to a decisive victory over Minlonian forces. In April 1426, Benjamin Strong and other leaders of Minlon signed a treaty with Recastelaren, agreeing to a cease-fire and waiving further conflicts of interest to conference room debates. Furthermore, Minlon agreed to pay 62 billion credits toward Recastelaren in restitution and reparations.

Between the two nations, the year 1427 became known as the "Year of the Loans," during which both Minlon and Recastelaren obtained loans from Setforth Bank, headquartered in Akropole, Vantacula, part of the Kingdom of Gyrosak. Minlon obtained loans from Setforth Bank to pay off the restitutions and reparations, while Recastelaren obtained loans to help pay for the reconstruction of the advanced hardware damaged by the Minlonians (the reparations and restitutions from Minlon were not sufficient).

By spring 1428, Minlon became a major supplier of warships and hardware for Gyrosak, enabling Minlon to pay off its debt more quickly. That year, Minlon negotiated with Setforth Bank, who agreed to sell them the remaining debt owed by Recastelaren. Minlon, now the creditor, dramatically raised interest rates against Recastelaren. And on 8 September 1428, Recastelaren dispatched firing ships, which attacked a "smart ship" pier owned by Minlon near the Carriconian city of Lohrryn, thus beginning the Second Mech War. Very similar to the First Mech War, the Second Mech War involved fighting in the Carricon Isles waterways between remotely-controlled "smart ships."

In the late 1420s, there emerged an especially contagious and deadly pathogen known as the Coughing Affliction Disorder Virus, or CAD Virus for short. In 1431, the CAD Virus became a global pandemic. And on March 7 of that year, after refusing to take precautions and refusing to lock down Minlon, incumbent Head Consul Benjamin Strong died from this Virus. Among many consequences, Benjamin Strong's death had major implications for the ongoing Second Mech War. Compounded with pandemic-related costs, the costs of property losses as well as losses in trade as a direct result of the War placed Minlon under considerable financial strain.

In 1404, Strong had backed a loyal follower named Tyler Boalsten, helping him to win the 1404 Consulship election (to one of the lesser Consulships). In September 1431, after Strong's death, Tyler Boalsten, a devout and loyal follower to Strong but having more common sense in terms of the Pandemic and financial crisis, approached Setforth Bank for help in financing compromises to end the Second Mech War and to restore trade solvency to the Carricon Isles region. The War had also been impacting Recastelaren financially, as well as causing hardship for Carriconian merchants. Furthermore, Boalsten wished for Minlon to recover the trade footing it lost at the outset of the War, a situation making matters worse for Minlon.

During the last week of September 1431, Setforth Bank obliged to Boalsten's request. They bought back the debts owed by Recastelaren and wrote them off. And in exchange, both Minlon and Recastelaren agreed to cease dispatching military forces of any kind to the Carricons, and for both to surrender all commercial holdings in the region, only to visit or rent in the Carricon Isles when it came to trade. Seeing no other options, Minlon and Recastelaren, on 23 September 1431, agreed to the Setforth Bank proposal and signed the agreement, thus ending the Second Mech War.

To note, at the very end of the Second Mech War, a "smart ship" warehouse collapsed, killing one Carriconian not involved in the conflict; thus the Second Mech War had one human casualty.

In place of the Supreme Court Justices, Benjamin Strong, in 1376, had established the Judiciary Committee, which was led by a Head Arbitrator who presided over four lesser Arbitrators. In accordance to Minlonian law, each Arbitrator was appointed by the incumbent Head Consul, upon advice from the Minlon Banks (formerly the Ramport Banks), with the only check against such a protocol being the unanimous vote of all 100 Delegates in Council, a motion never yet invoked. Each Arbitrator position lasted a lifetime, and would only end either through retirement or unexpected vacancy (such as death). Arbitrators on behalf of this organization basically served the same purpose as the Supreme Court, overseeing the outcome of every national-level case, dispute, or election, as well as the appointment of lower Arbitrators for every Canton and Borough.

After Benjamin Strong's death, the Judiciary Committee became the de facto superior enforcer of law and order over the nation, with the only power over this organization being the Five Banks of Minlon.

The Judiciary Committee, since the death of Strong in 1431, gained a reputation for engaging in ethically questionable matters. Like the courts of the Retunian Republic, the Judiciary Committee was responsible for the counting of votes and determination of outcomes for every election cycle. In process of that, they were also responsible for finding and tossing illegitimate votes. The problem with this latter responsibility was Minlon's extraordinarily arbitrary criteria for determining which ballots were considered illegitimate, leading the international community to foster strong suspicions that the Judiciary Committee was considering ballots against the Ancondrian Freedom Party as "illegitimate" and tossing them.

Furthermore, with the Liberal Party continually refusing to produce opposition candidates, liberal independents would occasionally step up to challenge far-right incumbents holding Consul positions or other public offices. However, right before election day, every said candidate would drop out and endorse the far-right incumbent or far-right successor. And critics abroad would consider the acts of such independent candidates to be effectively ceremonial as a result. Meanwhile, Minlon Council would pass a budget pre-drawn by the incumbent Head Consul (on advice of the Minlon Banks), before adjourning for the year.

Douglass Morningston - 1436 to 1447

In 1435, through yet another election cycle deemed suspicious, Douglass Morningston, older than the other two Consuls, was voted the next Head Consul. However, his tenure would not prove significant until the 1440s.

Like in other parts of Circlaria, the CAD Virus vaccine was introduced in Minlon in 1443, thus enabling life to return to normal. By that point, the economy had shifted more in favor of the Kingdom of Gyrosak, who had driven Minlon into renting out cheaper commercial property in the Meredythian Isles, though even this proved to be a costly arrangement for Minlon.

In 1447, appearing to offer a way to eliminate the ongoing trade deficits, Setforth Bank approached Morningston with a proposition: to purchase the Minlon Banks. Morningston agreed to the offer that year, and that October, the transaction took place.

Seeing no future economic role for him, the Minlon Banks, now owned by Setforth Bank, petitioned for Douglass Morningston to retire from the Head Consul position at the end of his term in exchange for a handsome pension. Morningston agreed to this, retiring in December 1447. In his place was voted Gerald Crayston. However, being the youngest of the three Consuls, Crayston would not become Head Consul.

That appointment would go to Henry Narymore, serving on the Tri-Consulate since 1432. Though his tenure began the year after Benjamin Strong's death, Narymore, having developed an especially deep sense of respect and loyalty toward Strong, continued many of his policies, especially the notorious ones against the darkfire community.

Ron Merris - 1452 to 1505

In 1452, Ron Merris joined the Tri-Consulate, succeeding Greg Menters. In 1462, Head Consul Henry Harymore was succeeded by Kenneth Osler. However, being the oldest of the Tri-Consulate, Ron Merris, that year, became the next Head Consul. Merris' tenure would be known for a slight relaxation of socially oppressive measures as well as, for the first time since 1375, an approach to protect the environment; however, it is important to note that these changes were very limited.

The first watershed moment in Merris' tenure came in 1467, when Setforth Bank asked Minlon to back a coup against the UCA. During the previous decade, Northeast Ancondria and the Edomian Region were discovered to be exceptionally rich in henshale deposits. However, the UCA, even under conservative leadership, had been staunchly opposed to the establishment of key henshale pipelines critical to the Gyrosakian henshale industrial complex; thus, the reason for Gyrosak asking Minlon to back a coup.

Merris, however, refused this directive; not only would pipeline operations pose a concern to the environment, the arrangement as a whole was economically designed to short-change Minlon, who Gyrosak determined would have otherwise been an unnecessary beneficiary in this situation.

In retaliation, Setforth Bank had the Minlon Banks cut off essential credit lines to Minlon's banking and economic system as well as invoke hidden clauses authorizing mass loan liquidation. As a result, the economy of Minlon collapsed almost literally overnight, in an event nicknamed the Winter Collapse, which lasted from May through September 1467. In October 1467, Merris capitulated and, after Setforth withdrew the aforementioned economic sanctions, began helping to arm illegal Legions inside UCA borders.

These Legions, consisting solely of far-right members, adhered passionately to the teachings of the late George Minlon, including the notions that the government should administer no public program other than police and military forces, that all businesses should be completely free from taxes and regulation, that the Constitution of the UCA should be amended in such a way as to adhere strictly to Alconist evangelist principles, and that the government should be obligated to use aforementioned police and military forces to address certain social issues, including the government persecuting darkfire community members.

In 1465, Robert Milton, a hard-line Conservative, was elected to the Governor-General position of the UCA. During his 1465-70 tenure, Milton attempted to completely ban the engagement of darkfire through the same approach as had been done in Minlon. Though the Conservative-dominated legislature in Providence failed to follow through with this agenda, they did manage to pass laws removing various employment and social protections for darkfire community members. Robert would fail to gain enough votes in the 1470 retention election to keep his position, thus his wife, Shara Milton, would succeed him as the next Governor-General. Shara Milton would dispatch martial law agencies to suppress the Free Minlon Movement, which had emerged after the release of an informative documentary detailing life inside Minlon. And in 1475, Caleb Krong, a Liberal, would run for the Governor-General position. Though, after years of backing from both Minlon and Gyrosak, the Legions overthrew the democratically-elected government of the UCA and replaced it with a far-right authoritarian government. This new government would readily capitulate to Gyrosakian interests and open its lands for foreign henshale pipeline construction. Afterward, both Minlon and the UCA would facilitate trade brought forth by this pipeline.

Stephen Berrimore and the 1508-09 Crisis

Endorsed by Merris in 1489 and receiving support from the Minlon Banks, Stephen Berrimore would join the Tri-Consulate in 1490 as one of the lesser Consuls. However, upon Merris retiring and being succeeded by Clem Taynors in 1506, Berrimore, now the oldest of the three, was named the new Head Consul, a position he holds to this day, at the time of the writing of this article.

Berrimore's tenure as Head Consul, thus far, was marked most significantly by the 1508-09 Crisis. This Crisis began when Berrimore refused a directive from Setforth Bank to adopt an all-digital currency system by a certain deadline. Between 1480 and the present, Setforth Bank had been backing digital application programs that overtook basic infrastructure and such basic amenities as refrigerators and washing machines. And they had been coercing households and workplaces, both in Gyrosak and abroad, to adapt accordingly, sometimes through forceful means.

In June 1508, they approached Head Consul Berrimore and directed him to have both the federal reserve and the Five Banks of Minlon to adopt an all-digital currency system by 1 November 1508. Seeing this as a way for Setforth Bank to gain more control over Minlonian affairs, Berrimore, backed by co-Consul James Fensler, responded with a stiff refusal. Setforth Bank retaliated, between November 1508 and April 1509 by disabling all nationwide financial transactions, communication networks, gyroplane networks, household appliances, electric grids, and water systems, all of which had already adopted digital applications owned by Setforth. Then, in April 1509, Setforth threatened to disable critical infrastructure, meaning police, fire, medical, and defense systems.

On 14 April 1509, Berrimore capitulated and, siding with the other co-Consul, Clem Taynors, signed the digital currency agreement with Setforth. That same day, all the systems previously disabled by Setforth were instantly restored.

The Sovereign State of Minlon - Present-Day

Though a consular republic on paper, the Sovereign State of Minlon is, in practical terms, an authoritarian oligarchy subservient to Gyrosak. In terms of practical power dynamics, Setforth Bank rests at the top of the ladder, followed by the Five Banks of Minlon, the Judiciary Committee, the Head Consul, the two lesser Consuls, the remainder of the Minlonian government, and finally, at the bottom of the ladder, the people. The economy in Minlon is still rigid with its restrictions against marginalized demographics, especially the darkfire community, still in place. Meanwhile, the Bounty System is still in effect, silencing any opposition that might emerge.

In terms of international diplomacy, the UCA, now under its own authoritarian oligarchy, is an ally to both Minlon and Gyrosak. And both nations, at the order of Gyrosak, have been toppling democratic societies and propping up authoritarian regimes loyal to Gyrosakian interests across Greater Ancondria. And the Remikran powers are largely neutral to all of this due to most of Ancondria still being resentful of the former Retunian Commonwealth over its history of neo-imperialism. Although, one exception is warm relations between Northeast Ancondria and the Linbraean Regiondom amidst lightfire trade agreements.

With Setforth Bank in full control of Minlon's financial system, Minlon has been signing a great number of trade agreements and economic favors with Gyrosak, as both nations have established joint franchise businesses that have made their presence through allied Circlarian and Ancondrian nations. Meanwhile, many nations and Circlarian maritime states have continued to purchase military hardware from Minlon.

There has been growing opposition against Minlon, both from abroad and from within. Since the 1490s, there have been increasing numbers of resistance groups, who have had varying levels of success despite the notorious Bounty System. Though the regime of Minlon and its allies still continue to have a strong grip on economics and politics, helped a great deal by the radically conservative majority present in the current Congress of Circlaria. In addition, the far-right bloc of which Minlon and Gyrosak are a part has been gearing up for significant wars and conflicts.

Thus, things may get worse before they get better.