Republic of Enqusqo

Énqusqó, officially styled as The Grand and Illustrious Republic of the Cities of Énqusqó, is a confederation of city states located in the south of Vidina on the Kidal Sea. Its shares a border to the north with [NORTHERN NEIGHBOUR] and Higher Tar-dinuu to the west. The republic consists of 33 member city-states who have granted the confederal government powers to devise common legislature for the economy and peaceful foreign policy of the region. The confederal government consists of three senates: the Public Senate, the Regal Senate and the Judicial Senate.

The capital, Tsétlaxó, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Vidina, having stood for over 2000 years. The city serves as both the capital for the republic, but also as the governing city of surrounding regions as a sovereign city-state.

Antiquity
The earliest evidence of human activity in the Énqusqó Peninsula appears around 18,000 years ago, with the onset of migrations into Vidina from Tiridinia across the Kidal Sea. These early communities left behind jewellery and fishhooks carved from the bones of monk seals along with early styles of seafaring canoe. This period is identified by the prevalence of "boat burials", where a corpse was found in the charred hull of a canoe, often surrounded by fishing spear tips and fishing hooks. Whilst it is commonly believed that this was a funerary cremation practice, the presence of leather bindings found around the ankles and wrists at some sites have lead some scholars to suggest that there was a sacrificial element. All examples of this burial have been found on land, however, it is believed the practice was possibly more common upon the sea, and these burials simply have not been preserved.

The Proto-Kidal-Énqutsa began to appear as a distinct culture around 2000 BCE. During this period there were large advances in naval technology, with canoes becoming more robust, opening up trade to further along the coasts of Vidina and Tiridinia. The Proto-Kidal-Énqutsa made crude figurines in bone, jade and amber, believed to be gods of early Kidal religion. These figurines have been found across the Kidal Sea and as far away as sites in south eastern Vidina. Early divergence in the group began to occur around 500 BCE with the integration of the Kidal archipelago into the Empire of Tar-Dinuu, leading to an east/west split and the precipitation of tensions between the settlements on the Énqusqó Peninsula and the Dinuuen people. The earliest written records of the ancient Énqutsa settlements come from Dinuuen and Kidal historians and traders who looked upon the cities with distain. It was a commonly held belief, according to written records, that the peninsula wasn't valuable enough to expend resources to take. The archaeological evidence, however, depicts a growing economy and an explosion of artistic expression in pottery, sculpture, and architecture. The Dinuuen historians neglected to write much about the internal politics of the peninsula, often referring to the many settlements as if under a single ruling entity, as such little is known about the individual governance of these cities and whether or not their grandeur predated the rise of the Empire of Tar-dinuu.

First Kingdom of Énqusqó
The First Kingdom of Énqusqó was largely believed by historians to have been fictional. The story of the kingdom's founding is a well known folktale amongst Énqutsa people, often being told to children at home or in early education settings, similar to Alutran fairy tales. The earliest version of this story to be recorded comes from a series of clay tablets discovered in [CITY-STATE] called the [CLAY TABLETS]. The tale follows the journey of Sémúúk'a (he who slithers) [FINISH]

Interregnal period

 * Rise of petty kingdoms across peninsular
 * Nirvudin Plague in 8th century

Second Kingdom of Énqusqó

 * Founded in 957 CE by Queen P'óo Men Tsí aged 26
 * Result of the War of Flowers - Queen Tsí conquers Tsétlaxó and moves royal court to the palace at Tsétlaxó.
 * Subsequent conquests of southern coast of Énqusqó over next 30 years
 * Naval technology investiture by Queen P'óo Men Tsí during reign:
 * Conquest of several Islands in Kidal Sea
 * Largest Navy seen by the region at the time - 370 grand war canoes
 * Economic stranglehold over trade through straights of Kidal - Heavy tariffs to pass through Énqusqan waters, pay or have vessel and goods seized.
 * Cultural/Legal Developments during P'óo Men Tsí reign:
 * Recognition of the City as culturally sovereign, important for subjugation and control of newly acquired states.
 * Decentralisation of many local powers to municipal governors
 * First national census of region
 * Poetry
 * Art
 * Religion
 * Death of P'óo Men Tsí in 1004 CE aged 73
 * Expansion by [CHILD] (died 1026 CE, aged 64) and [GRANDCHILD] (died 1057 CE, aged 68) as far north as [LOCATION OF CANAL]
 * By 13th century - stagnation, complacent rulers and bureaucracy rampant
 * [CONSEQUENCES?]
 * [SOLUTION?] Religious and Legal reforms of 1242
 * Unification of local patron deities into a central pantheon, merging several deities together into 14 key entities. See Quramí. [MAKE QURAMÍ]
 * Extended rights and sovereignty of the City within the Kingdom.
 * 14th century
 * War with Tar-Dinuu - 1367-1371
 * Loss of Kidal Islands
 * Sacking of Tsétlaxó - First time a foreign power made landfall on the peninsula
 * Royal court escapes and moves to [CITY IN EAST], cedes all conquered lands to Tar-Dinuu (Kidal islands and south-west cities)
 * Military and Naval restoration movement
 * 15th century
 * Annexation of Northern Énqutsa cities as far north as [NORTH EASTERN NEIGHBOUR]
 * 16th Century
 * Myrish contact with northern cities - local governors grant fleet basing rights and open trade with the Myrish without approval from the King in the south.

Colonial rule

 * 17th Century
 * 18th Century
 * 19th Century
 * 20th Century
 * WW1
 * WW2
 * Énqusqan theatre focused around gaining control of the straights of Kidal and the [CANAL]
 * Tar-dinuu recovers land from Ordrey purchase
 * Salia conquers northern Myrish colony bringing control of [CANAL] under direct control.

Politics
Énqusqó is a republican confederation of city-states with a multi-partisan, bicameral parliamentary system. The republic has no codified constitution, instead the powers granted to the confederal government are established in a series of international treaties which are in turn enshrined in the national laws of each member state. The most influential of these treaties is the Treaty of P'óo Men Tsí, which outlines the devolved powers of the republic, protects the sovereignty of member states, establishes the three main institutions of the republic and provides universal rights for citizens.

At the confederal level there is an imposed universal suffrage from age 15 in elections. The exact method of election is at the discretion of the government of each city-state but it must be some form of proportional representation.

Government
The legislative branch of government, known as the Houses of the Senate, is formed from the the Public Senate as a lower house and the Regal Senate as an upper house. The Public Senate consists of 351 seats which are distributed amongst the member states, with each state having a minimum of 9 seats each; the number of exact seats given to a member city-state is decided upon admission into the republic and is mandated by treaty, not specific algorithms. The Regal Senate is formed by the heads of government of each constituent member of the republic. It serves as both the upper house of the legislative branch and the head of state for the republic and must approve or revise laws and empower governments that arise from the lower house, it does not have the power to generate legislature.

A major principle of the Houses of the Senate is the use of consensus instead of majority to reach decisions. In the Regal Senate consensus alone is used for decision making, as all matters brought before the Regal Senate require the cooperation and approval of all member city-states. Within the Public Senate there is a strong culture of cooperation across party lines and striving for majority consensus, as legislation requires a 2/3 majority vote in order to be approved by the lower house and sent to the upper house for review. The relatively few seats compared to the number of political factions within the Public Senate means that coalition governments and minority governments are common. It is rare for a single political party to achieve a majority in the Public Senate and never in history has one party obtained a controlling majority in an election.

The executive branch, known simply as the Government, takes office after receiving approval from both Senates. The head of government is known as the Grand Senator and they are appointed by the party/parties that form an incumbent government versus direct election by the populace. The Grand Senator may appoint senators to ministerial offices to form a cabinet, known as the Grand Council. The Grand Council works in partnership with the Regal Council (formed by ministers of member city-state governments) to ensure that the laws and interests of the republic are upheld. A notable feature of the executive branch is that there is no ministerial appointment that oversees a unified defence of the republic. Instead, each member has complete sovereignty over its military affairs and defence and the republic cannot negotiate with external powers on behalf of all members in regards to military matters. Despite this, the Treaty of P'óo Men Tsí which all member states must sign to join the confederation requires that each member protects the sovereignty of each and every city-state, thus creating a mutual defence pact.

Member city-states
In 2022, there are 33 member city-states within the republic.