Confederation of Priskipsa
Basking in the shadow of the mighty Merkosta mountains and embraced by two great bodies of water, Priskipsa is a vast patchwork of cultures. Second only to The Republic of Seripha in size, it stretches across a rugged expanse of lands dominated by stark contrasts. Between the soaring peaks of mountains to meanering marsh plains, from tribal bands to cosmopolitan metropolises. Priskipsa, along with fellow republics such as The Communes of Celvesso, is for the most part quite sparsely populated, as well as being home to a sizeable tribal and nomadic population. In fact, entire regions are often so seasonally unstable that communes often blur into something more along the lines of a clan. Several communes are even legally granted the right to relocate seasonally.
Demography and Population
An unlikely association of the two most at-odds cultures of all of Lavenna forms Priskipsa, which rests at the heart of a landscape as diverse as its people. Between the largely historically affluent Vardish inhabitants of the fertile Vas’cald river valley and the Novosti of the rugged interior and eastern coast, Priscipsa is almost a microcosm of the larger Lavennic ideals of multiculturalism. In practice, however, it remains divided by ethnic differences that have plagued it since its turbulent establishment in the Continental War. The nation’s constellation of twenty cantons (composed themselves of communes) are each vastly different from one another, with some using full direct democracy and secular governance, while some barely hold elections and straddle the verge of being unconstitutional theocracies. These member cantons are a relic of the decades long occupation by the Grand Commissariat of Seripha, who forcibly separated Vardish and Novosti living in the same communities and used the canton system to keep the region divided and docile. The Confederation, formed as a voluntary amalgamation of those cantons that broke away during the advance of the provisional army, has very little authority over the cantons and as such regional development is almost nonexistent. The nation is very underdeveloped, despite its large population, of which almost 67% is rural.
However, reform efforts have gained traction and the government is slowly gaining more authority to mediate and regulate member cantons. Still, the division between Vards and Novosti remains deep, and threats of either open rebellion or partition loom over any governmental effort. An inter-cantonal organisation, known as the Free Nosvalda Movement, has hundreds of thousands of members and demands the creation of a new Lavennic Republic of Nosvald for Novosti, with the condition that should their demands not be met, they will demand violent rebellion and full independence.
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