Ovezia

Ovezia, officially styled as The Thirteenth Kingdom of Ovezia, is a small country in southwestern Alutra on the Abayadi Sea. It shares a western border with its neighbour Watan, who is also in possession of an exclave within Ovezia proper, and a northern border with [NEIGHBOUR]. Despite its size, the country has a strong cultural and economic presence, being one of the richest countries per capita in the region.

Prehistory
The Oveze take their name from the abundance of olive groves in their native region and they claim to be the first people to grow olives en-masse, although this claim is doubted by scholars and is largely considered a remnant of some ancient propaganda. Much of the history of the Oveze follows the history of the rest of the Watanese cultures, having been a region of the Ventoran duchy of Watan and later a duchy of the Kingdom of Watan.

Watanese period
The Watanese Enlightenment, also known as the Watanese renaissance in Serpentine textbooks, was a period of great philosophical, cultural and scientific advancement in Watan. Much of this movement was focused around the densely populated south east, which included the Oveze region. One prominent Oveze philosopher, Enri déla Cota, wrote a famous rebuttal of Vinícius Rosa Paulino Guimarães’ essays on the nature of rulers. He suggested that in fact it was no better to be feared or adored if a ruler was unwise, for unwise rulers would always struggle to maintain power.

The ideas of the enlightenment became very deeply entrenched in the culture of the eastern most cities and the Oveze culture began to diverge from other Watanese cultures, becoming focused around the theories of prominent Oveze minds. This separation only grew during King Teófilo IV’s reign and the Great Qualm came into effect. Some 700 intellectuals from Oveze cities were killed over the course of his reign, including déla Cota. The region grew fiercely protective of its remaining thinkers and many secret schools popped up where intellectuals would discuss the world as if not under an oppressive regime.

Independence
Izabel I’s reign brought about even deeper unrest in the Oveze region and her extension of the Não Busque Rules saw a further thousand Oveze philosophers and scientists executed or exiled from Watan. The fierce resistance to the crown in a region very near the capital was distressing for Izabel I and as such many of the government sponsored Entrevistadors were deployed to quell protests. With the outbreak of the Caminhante wars, civil unrest in the region boiled over and Watan was faced with a war on two fronts, one of the fronts being kilometres from Queluz. Whilst the war in Cecia was a major defeat for the Watanese, the situation in Ovezia, although a stalemate, was much more favourable for the crown. At the end of the war, Emila Dumician the countess of [MAJOR CITY] led the peace negotiations. Her father, who was count before her, was a prominent advocate of Enlightenment ideals and had been executed by Queen Izabel I. As part of the peace deal, Countess Emila negotiated the full independence of all the Oveze regions apart from her own, which was at the time the most prosperous county in Ovezia. Despite this, the terms of this peace were accepted as the countess wanted to see as many of those that followed her spared from the blade of Izabel I. The abandonment of her direct subjects to the wrath of the entrevistadors was a point of deep shame for countess Emila and she would write many letters to confidants about this. For her efforts in the war and her sacrifice in peace negotiations, Emila was elected as the Queen of the newly independent Kingdom of Ovezia.

Ovezian Restoration
Although the Não Busque Rules had severely impacted the state, their immediate repeal in Ovezia allowed the kingdom to rapidly recover, unlike the stagnation that continued to plague Watan. It wasn’t long until the kingdom entered into a renewed golden age of cultural, scientific and economic advancement. The most notable event of this period was the publication of Pul Telan’s O Soivé deli Sordi (On the Sorti) which was an attack on the organised Sortist faith. Amongst other things, the treatise suggested that the patriarchy (through greed and corruption) had failed to comprehend the true nature of the Fates. By perverting the growth and expansion of human knowledge through enabling the Não Busque Rules, thus the faith had perverted the nature of Aglaia.

The 18th century saw the development of many prominent minds that brought about many foundations of modern scientific theory. Most notable of these was Valira Sitilan, who published a grand unifying classification system of the beings of life in 1758. She is considered to be the mother of binomial nomenclature, having popularised the format through its consistent application to some 13,000 species of plants, animals and fungi. The 18th century also saw the entrenchment of major class divides in the caste system that had emerged after independence. The peasantry, whilst the most populous class, had begun to grow increasingly poor and the new found wealth of some artisans and merchants exceeded that of much of the nobility. The nation entered a period known as the Thirteen Revolutions. This period of 85 years saw the monarchy dethroned and restored five times, the creation of numerous constitutions, the founding of several legislative bodies and massive bloodshed. By the end of the Thirteen Revolutions it is believed that some 60% of the adult population had perished, with around 10% of those deaths taking place in sabre duels. The status quo that emerged from the revolutions created a constitutional, parliamentary, electoral monarchy.

Modern period
In the first world war, Ovezia aimed to stay neutral on the world stage. It was largely able to do this by co-operating and improving relations with Watan, another neutral party in the war. The population of the country was quite small and largely under militarised, having made efforts in the 19th century to reduce militarisation after the massacres by incumbent powers during the Thirteen Revolutions.

The second world war threatened to involve Ovezia through aiding efforts to prevent Velorenkan interference in the politics on the Abayadi Sea. However, severe pressure from the Merchant and Artisan commissions (largely due to the rise of fascism in Watan prior to the war) disrupted efforts to arm the country and direct arms towards the war effort. This resulted in the state having to take an officially neutral stance, although the Prime Minister of the country did manage to occasionally provide support to alliance powers, through “accidentally not detaining vessels that entered Oveze waters” and state sponsored smuggling of supplies across the border into Watan.

In modern times the Kingdom has been working to improve the living standards of nations across the Abayadi, using its strong, post-industrial economy. It also faces internal unrest as the already largely progressive society has begun to reassess the strict caste system.