The Peasant Republic of Ourland
The first major peasant republic in Europe, The Peasant Republic of Ourland occupies the entirety of the Anglo-Celtic Isles (Excluding The Isle of Avalon). While many believe the Republic to be the first of its kind, this is a common misconception, as its official formation was only after its predecessor republics had been formed. The first peasant republic was its early predecessor state, The Peasant Republic of London.
History
The Early Life of Robin Hood-
The early life of the legendary Robin Hood is greatly speculated on by many. Unfortunately, money bought history, and all we do definitively know is that they didn't have money growing up. Not much is known of their appearance, as they always wore a hood in public to prevent being recognized in public. Even their gender is disputed, with some speculating Robin Hood to possibly be a woman, taking the name to help unite some of the less progressive peasantries. What is known, is that Robin Hood was likely a poor peasant orphan, growing up with little support in infancy. They developed great hunting skills with a bow, supposedly being able to shoot a tossed apple out of the air casually. At some point supposedly, a friend fell into debt, and Robin Hood robbed a local preacher known for corruption while wearing their now-iconic hood. After this, Robin Hood began their notorious fight against the rich, corrupt nobility through robbery, sometimes peacefully, sometimes at bowpoint.
The Ideology of Robin Hood-
Years of banditry passed, while the name Robin Hood spread throughout the land. During this time, an idea began to be forged in the mind of Robin Hood. Seeing the corruption of nobility and the plight of peasants constantly, they began to wish for the destruction of this harmful system. The ideas of a republic began to form in their mind and they began making more statements about not simply corruption, but the system which enabled it. During this time, a more defined group supporting these ideas began to fully form, the Merry Men. A code phrase used to keep secrecy eventually became the main motto for the early republic. One would simply ask “Where does the arrow strike?” and a member may say, “The heart of gold”. Slowly their support grew until they had the blacksmiths’ hands, the peoples’ ears, and the nobles’ blind. A small highly trained group had even formed within the Merry Men, with expertise in bowmanship, close-quarters knife combat, and even leadership, being able to lead a peasant force on their own. Now the arrow laid drawn to strike the noble heart, they only had to wait for the perfect time.
The Day the Thames Flowed Red-
In June of 1215, barons were rebelling against King John, and Robin Hood saw that the King was losing; there would likely be a peace talk. A defeated king and exhausted barons in one place, one all-or-nothing shot to potentially shatter the nobility and bring about a new age. The Merry Men began a rapid mobilization of peasants and structuring of forces under trained Merry Men members. With the nobility's occupation with peace talks, news of the sudden movement of suspected Robin Hood forces went unnoticed until they surrounded the city of London with large numbers. While the peace talks were occurring in Runnymede, many nobles saw that the final parts were mere formalities and went to rest in the comfort of London, only to have peasants amass around the city. When Robin Hood asked for the peaceful surrender of the city, the Barrons began pointing fingers at who had let this happen, leading to infighting between them and their armed forces. In the chaos, lowly soldiers loyal to Robin Hood opened several key gates, and the rag-tag army advanced. Archers took to the walls, aiming inward, and defensive marches crept through the streets. The desperate orders of the barons to eliminate the threat mostly was ignored as soldiers deserted, but there was still a fairly sized contingent loyal to them. They combined their forces, planning on securing inner territory and planting defenses. Unfortunately for them, Robin Hood’s Merry Men went ahead of the main army and were spread amongst the houses ready to ambush. They were supposedly armed with a bow and quiver for house-to-street engagement, as well as a crossbow and dagger for spontaneous close-quarters combat. Robin Hood personally led these forces, eliminating a great deal of the soldiers with an unknown number of allied casualties. When the holdout of barons was reached, a fire started and almost no one survived. There is still debate on who started it, from the fanatical guards, to a riled-up citizen, to even Robin Hood themselves to avoid their capture possibly clouding the ideals of the snowballing revolution. Once the final forces surrendered, died, or fled to Runnymede, Robin Hood carried the hastily made banner of their revolution, stained with blood, and charred by fire, tied it to their bowstring, and hung their bow up to display their great victory. Robin Hood then led a force to Runnymede to deal a final blow to the nobles. The guardsmen who had fled put up a fanatic last stand, but after fierce fighting, Robin Hood’s forces came out victorious. It is said that those back in London knew the battle had ended when the flow of blood down the River Thames finally subsided. In the aftermath, Robin Hood saw the corpse of King John slumped over a table, a quill in hand with a blood-stained document. When they read the document, they wept for what could have been in peace and not bloodshed as the blood glistened in the sunset. Well, many wished to rest, Robin Hood marched back to London and did not sleep as they worked on a document named after the bloodied one found by them. They worked overnight with help from a loyal follower Mary, with legend even saying that Robin Hood passed out before signing it, and Mary forged their signature. Robin Hood and Mary would have a very close relationship after this, with academic debate on the nature of their relationship persisting. When the sun rose, Robin Hood, using a banner of their new nation as a staff to not fall over from exhaustion, addressed the people. They stated that England may not be fully free yet, but on this day, this great city was, and so was proclaimed The Peasant Republic of London.
The Consolidation Period-
After the collapse of the nobility, Ireland and Wales reclaimed their lost lands, and the Kingdom of Cornwall reappeared on the map. Quickly after the establishment of a temporary council of the Merry Men until proper election systems could be set up to oversee city management and other needs, Robin Hood, after a few days of good rest, began moving on expansion into the anarchy of prior English lands. Utilizing the Domesday Book, the young republic quickly began to expand to outer territories, securing food for the nation, and beginning to put a new system in place. The government would purchase large amounts of food from farmers, and freely distribute it to the people along with other basic needs while putting on heavy taxes in exchange for a higher base standard of living. Sub-councils were formed to manage these processes, and by the year 1250, the official proclamation of The Peasant Republic of England was made. As Robin Hood grew old, the word of this republic spread across the Isles, with Robin Hood capitalizing on the good word, and suggesting the nations of the Isle send representatives to work on diplomatic issues. Almost all nations sent delegates, excluding The Kingdom of Man, but they would soon be absorbed into Scotland anyway. With this great success and efficient government being formed with successful elections having occurred multiple times and measures against specific families growing in political power, Robin Hood's days in this land came toward an end. When asked how they would like to be buried, they simply asked to be given a bow and arrows and to go into the Sherwood Forest for one last hunt. The whereabouts of their body and death are unknown. In their stead, they left Mary to find a successor to represent the ideals of the republic going into the next age.
The Great Scare-
The next major scare in this nation's history came roaring from its past. Some fanatic loyalists to the royalty and nobility had escaped to France. Through unknown backing, they launched an invasion of the PR of England under the ideas of the mythical kingdom of old, Camelot, warranting a large response from the government and public with the old government still in public memory. Multiple landings were attempted, but each was halted with bloody casualties on both sides. One final assault reached the walls of London, with supposedly a royalist inside the city attempting to open the gates as the peasants had done before. A peasant girl heroically held him off, dying in the process, being immortalized as a common hero of the people, less mystified than Robin Hood and others from the original revolution. The royalist fled inland, eventually making their way to the shore, and then the Isle of Man in their retreat. The government, not wanting to cause issues with other Isle nations, did not follow, believing that they would either prepare to leave in full or die there. This is considered one of the major mistakes of the republic, as the renamed Isle of Avalon still hosts the fanatic High Kingdom of Camelot to this day, with multiple incidents involving them throughout history. This attack greatly struck fear across the Isle of continental influence on its people and nations and planted the seeds of union across the Isles later in history.
The Great Union-
The long period between The Great Scare and the early 18th century saw PR of England increase its support of the people with education institutions beginning implementation and verifying the equality of all citizens. Regardless of gender, race, and in two very influential cases, verifying rights despite religion, leading to the melting pot of religions and lack of religions today, and expanding guaranteed rights to younger citizens. Even the neighboring kingdoms began minor social reforms seeing the success of the republic. Throughout this time, the fears of continental Europe interfering in the Isles spread. The idea was spun that these positive social reforms were feared by those across the waters, and they were hell-bent on obliterating these ideals. Many saw that the only way to defend their land and ideals was to unite under one cause. A famous proponent of these ideas once pronounced, “This land must not be your land, nor their land, but the people's land, but our land!”. Around the early 18th century, the major leaders and representatives of the Isle nations met, except for Norway (whose presence had become non-existent on the Isles), and The High Kingdom of Camelot, who even attempted to strike at the delegation but were thwarted. In a month-long council of nations, information about the lands and people of all these nations was brought together, and slowly the republic representative began to win over the leaders with talks of greatness for the people of their land. There were even some off-handed mentions of their names going down in history for all to read. Plans for proper divisions of territorial areas and management systems for this expanded nation were made, as well as the official name of the Isles became The Anglo-Celtic Isles. Finally, on the last day of the delegation, the name Ourland was decided, and the proclamation and implementation of The Act of Anglo-Celtic Union and the foundation of The Peasant Republic of Ourland were announced.
The Sleeping Peasant Awoken-
Leading into the early 20th century, Ourland was fairly diplomatically isolated, although there had been a developing relationship with The French Republic and their ally the UPI (United Provinces of Italy). While initial relations with The German State and The UTTM (Union of Tsarist Territorial Mandates) were promising, their nationalistic tendencies pushed them away. Tensions between these two factions had been rapidly heating since the accusation of the execution of non-native citizens in German and Tsarist territories. There was now mass deportation of “undesirables” into the jointly German and Tsarist controlled Balkin Relocation Territory. Eventually, following a propaganda wave against the Germans and Tsarists highlighting their message of equality yet lack of citizen freedom and their purging of “undesirables”, the Autonomy Alliance was founded between Ourland, France, and Italy. In response, The German State and UTTM along with their Balkin puppet state formed the Unity Pact to show defiant strength against the enemy. Eventually, around July 1914, an incident involving a German citizen seeking asylum in the French Republic and a subsequent assassination triggered the First World War. While other nations joined throughout the years, the final blow to The Unity Pact was internal, with the largest armed uprising in recorded history in the Balkin Relocation Territory, subsequently ending the war around 1920. In the aftermath, the German Republic and PR of Eurasia were founded. The Balkin region was deemed too unstable at the time after the rebellion and collapsed into massive infighting. To many, it would later be unofficially recognized as the Balkin Mercenary Territories, due to the amount of guns-for-hire in the area and it being its only real “export” after the war.
New and Old Fires-
In the almost ten years since the great war, France had become a technocracy, and Germany and Italy had fallen to corporate manipulation and virtually acted as single mega-corporations. The two dominant companies were Rhine-Industries and New Renaissance Incorporated. In light of reports of mass labor law violation and military build-up, The Anpoly (Anti-Monopoly) League was formed between Ourland, France, and Eurasia, thinking this would deter the corporations. Instead, there would be a preemptive strike, the announcement of the Corporate Committee, and the recruitment of the Balkin Mercenary Territories. The Second World War was upon Europe. Yet again nations across the globe entered the fray, but still, the final battle would be in Europe. The corporations were on the verge of evicting the League from continental Europe, which they hoped would force them into peace talks. A large number of League forces were surrounded but successfully held out in Dunkirk, with massive amounts of Balkin mercenaries in combat. The corporations thought they had a checkmate, and in 1944, a bomber took off towards Dunkirk. The first and only use of nuclear weapons in open warfare occurred, and the corporations thought that the League would surrender, but they miscalculated. The Ourland intelligence agency was poised throughout the corporate nations but didn’t think they would launch the weapon. When they did though, they went into action. Through connections in the media, they spread word of the bombing to the entire corporate populace. Mass strikes and protests ensued, and the massive Balikin mercenary forces killed swayed the majority of mercenaries to turn on the corporations. Within the next year, the League won the war. Eurasia and France gained territory, the Peasants Republic of Southern Italy and the Northern Italian Technocracy were founded, the Austro-Bavarian Technocracy and the Dithmarschen Peasant Republic were founded, and the Balkin Technological Research Territory was formed.
The Cold War-
After WW2, the blocks of republic and technocratic governments began immediate production of nuclear weapons, with the reasoning that the others were doing the same. This uneasy peace soon led to the cold war. It is recognized as having begun when the BTR Territory was closed to free travel, causing supplies to southern Italy to be halted and mass starvation became a real possibility. While the Iberian Monarchy would not allow ships to visibly go through Gibraltar and risk their semi-neutrality, they were fine if the supplies were not seen. The first fully underwater supply chain was implemented, supplying southern Italy fully by submarine. Finally, the French government allowed for use of major infrastructure as long as they did not enter the broader Balkin region. This Cold War consisted of strategic land used for missile launch sites and proxy wars between the two power blocks. The closest that the world came to nuclear annihilation was the Avalon Incident. A French cargo ship secretly carrying nuclear weapons and equipment for a launch site bound for Iceland shipwrecked on the Isle of Avalon. The Avalonian government had been increasingly hostile and fanatic in recent years with talks of “purging the democratic filth”, and many feared a nuclear strike or just them having it as a possibility. Direct invasion to eliminate the equipment was feared due to the support from Iberia, and its South American allies in the minor monarch block. However, in a surprising turn of events, the technocratic and republic blocks united against this threat. They were able to strongarm the monarch block into allowing intervention as long as no annexation and if possible no land force invasion was performed. Together, the governments initiated a covert tactical nuclear strike on the facility containing the equipment, followed by the first and only military use of an EMP device to wipe out any electronic records countrywide on the Isle. This cooperation eventually led to the Great Thaw. In this the people of technocratic institutes began to lose the prejudice against the republics, not seeing them as uneducated nations and even wishing to implement reforms from their government. And the republics began not only to see education as a right, but a responsibility of the citizens to help better the world, and strived to improve their education system to be on par with the French. Soon treaties of nuclear disarmament were signed and the Cold War came to an end.
Modern Era-In the modern era, the PR of Ourland still leads in civil rights and equality, well being near on par with French technological development. They helped oversee the integration of the two Italys into a sole technocratic institute after a national referendum, and the inverse in Germany. They even currently are in a joint space exploration initiative with the French to bring technology and freedom to the stars.
Culture
The modern Ourland culture is one of freedom and expression. Children from a young age are encouraged to expect respect from those above and to ask questions. A parent is less of the ultimate authority and more a librarian with rules compared to other nations. With every new era, there will be new corruption. That has become a consistent theme of this society, and in every era, a new way of protest seems to appear. In the current era, the youth have taken ideas from the very beginning of the nation. During peaceful protests, youth will bring a classical bow and kneel, holding the end of the bow to the ground with one hand and keeping it upright by holding the string up with the other. They say it is to show solidarity with the true fight against corruption from the beginning of their nation. The youth don't blindly worship the past, though. This new generation has found great interest in the identity of Robin Hood, and their relation to the woman, Mary. This has sparked a virtual academic war between the new and old views on the legendary folk hero and founder. They have also had a great shift in fashion. The youth wish to reconnect to the regional cultures of the past as a way for more self-expression. The current youth fashion has a great deal of regional variety, taking aspects from past Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Cornish styles to design a medieval-modern fashion fusion. Of course with the ease of travel, one may see any regional style anywhere else, with the greatest variety in the central hub of travel and commerce, London. Still, the most controversial issue between young and old seems to be the flag. Having never changed since the first one planted by Robin Hood in London, it is planted as a banner during conquest to show the bow pulled back by Robin Hood, pointed at the sky towards the high up elite. In peace and at home, the flag is flown horizontally, showing the bow pointed away from the flagpole, showing the peoples' readiness to strike out at those who would threaten freedom. While many wish to keep the current flag for tradition, some wish to remove the violent implication of the flag.
Geography
Natural-
The natural geography of Ourland has a great degree of variety. It occupies virtually all of the Anglo-Celtic Isles, excluding Avalon. More information can be found on the page for the Anglo-Celtic Isles (aka the British Isles).
Artificial-
In the development of Ourland into an industrialized modern nation, a great effort to preserve nature has been taken. There are few skyscrapers throughout the nation, and those that exist are in cities planned and built in the modern era. An effort has been taken to keep to the style of the cities and towns of the nation already in existence. No skyscrapers are in the City of London, instead keeping its style and instead becoming a sprawling horizontally expanded metropolis with an underground infrastructure called “The Tube” to help get around. Many places you may visit will still have that medieval architecture intact, with newer construction being a medieval-modern fusion which has gripped the nation through its industrialization and on through the present. The modern is combined with the medieval changing, but the medieval roots in architectural style always stuck. The nation also has in recent years led the world in renewable energy. Originally reliant on coal during the industrial revolution, environmentalist campaigns eventually stopped mining in Welsh provinces. The iconic propaganda of the dragon on the old Welsh flag lighting the coal on fire, and in the process burning Ourland down is still called upon by the current environmentalist movement against nations less mindful of ecological damage. They now campaign for renewable power along with France on the global stage.
Notable Places/People
Places-
The most notable places in Ourland would be the city of London and Sherwood Forest. London is the commercial and cultural hub of Ourland, where anyone can travel the world by just talking to someone on The Tube. They say in London, it hurts to run, cause you miss the beauty around you. But if you walk, it will take some time to see the sprawling metropolis, where you will see no skyscrapers and can wander the streets for lifetimes and still find more. Sherwood on the other hand, you will not be likely to closely view. Fenced off from the public commonly, and guarded by the Honorary Merry Men of the Ourland military, this historic landmark is the supposed resetting place of Robin Hood. Only on very rare occasions may someone get to walk the path of this mythical forest.
People-
The main figure of this nation would of course be Robin Hood. Past that is their associate, Mary, and other notable Merry Men. In terms of significant elected officials, there aren't any distinctly notable ones mentioned. There's a saying about the leaders of Ourland: “While other leaders are rough multi-tools, ours are more like a perfect spatula, very good at what you get it for, but not much else”. Many elected officials come to power simply to fix specific points they campaigned on, and then left office and returned to their lives. It's said if you had a cause others believed in, anyone could be a leader for a time, and come home to their family in a year if they got lucky, a few if not. While throughout history a few great people have taken the mantle of their era’s Robin Hood, they have often kept who they are a secret, wearing a cloak or some other outfit to conceal themselves. They are only hoping to represent the people on the world stage, and be a force of change where the people's voice fell short. But this position became less and less filled as communication became less reliant on sole representatives. It's nearing 100 years since the last Robin Hood, but there are rumors. Some wonder if a symbol of the people will soon represent them, even in the starry skies of space...
Created by: Vex