Gracania: A history from blood to Social Equality

For millennia the area we now know as Gracania was nothing more than a collection of small squabbling Kingdoms. However 900 years ago one of the major power holders, King Robert I, united most of the land under the name of the Kingdom of Karkelbania.

The Kingdom spread around the region to cover lands beyond modern borders. A relative peace and harmony for a feudal society existed in the land. The descendants of Robert ruled Karkelbania for centuries until in 1641 (in Karkelbanian years) when King Alexander XI died without a single child of a disease that had plagued much of the Royal family. The country suffered a terrible civil war between Alexander's two brothers. After nine years of bloodshed the nation disarmed (muskets being the main weapon of the time), a provisional democratic Government was formed and the last of the Royal family went into voluntary exile upon the isle of Selaw - Selaw having been one of the last minor Kingdoms to be brought into Karkelbania was honoured by the fact that the heir to the Karkelbanian throne was known as the Prince of Selaw - to the West of the mainland.

However the Government turned out not to be so provisional or democratic. For two hundred years there was a form of Democracy but it was a formality. Every male over 21 years of age had the vote but their were only two parties, the Pellite party and the Whigs. Both parties were essentially the same and in secrecy there was no difference at all.
After two hundred years of semi-dictatorship those in power seemed invincible and the Chancellor, as head of the government, was more like one of the petty warlords of the past. They had always believed in a free market economy and so had positioned themselves high in the business world. In 1849 the Government brought into effect an unprecedented new tax called the Pike Tax. This tax taxed all those with a head and by percentages and collection method meant that the poor were paying more than the rich. Soon peaceful protests began with hesitation by the people. Inevitably the government responded with force but instead of people submitting a full scale revolution occurred.

Within three weeks the government was overthrown, the Capital city was moved from Kraktar to Gararon and the country renamed Gracania. The leaders of the revolution invited back the Monarchy in a constitutional form and free elections were called with all those above the age of 16 eligible to vote.

Modern Gracania is run in the following way:

Government system: Constitutional Monarchy (however the Monarchy has no power and the Country is titled the People's Republic of Gracania in recognition of the effect of the Revolution)

Head of State: The Monarch (At time of writing His Royal Highness, ruler of all the lands of Gracania, descendant of the Lords of Karkelbania, King Arthur IV)

Head of Government: The Prime Minister (At time of writing Sir James Wellesley of the Social Labour Party)

Capital city: Gararon

Currency: The Gracanian Shilling


Map of Gracania

Very nice, is Selaw, that island off the southwestern coast?

New Roosevelt wrote:Very nice, is Selaw, that island off the southwestern coast?

Yes it is, an island of stunning landscapes, lavish stately homes and sheep.