Union of Serpentine Republics

The Serpentine Union or Serpine Union, officially the Union of Serpentine Republics (USR), is a federal union of 31 member republics located in south-eastern Alutra that encompasses most of the central Serpentine region formerly occupied by the Serpentine Commonwealth. The capital of the union, Visuval, also doubles as the capital of the constituent republic of Chijeragne and is the largest city within the union. The Serpentine Union has a population of roughly 21.4 million, pinning it as the third most populous nation of the states who formerly comprised the Serpentine Commonwealth. The Serpentine Union shares a border with Martland, Gožyaries, Aquizireiki, and Izlegal.

The Serpentine Union is a developing country, ranked "high" in the Human Development Index, with a universal healthcare system and a free university education. The Serpentine Union is the second poorest country in Alutra, suffering from high poverty rates, widespread corruption of state and private services, and industrial and ecological damage from being in an almost constant state of war from 1941 to 2014. The union was ruled by the military dictator 'li Chapfel' Ytier Bannieres for 38 years, during which the Chapfel Bannieres' became the subject of great controversy as he purged discontent violently from his government, imprisoned any supposed rebellious or disloyal citizens, and ruled a union-of-equals as his personal feifdom. However, Bannieres is also regarded as the single reason the Union of Serpentine Republics exists in the modern day.

Climate
The Serpentine Union is split between two distinct regions of climate: the union's northern half is considered a Cold-Semi Arid (BSk) climate, whereas the union's southern half is considered (generally) an Oceanic (Cfb) climate. There are small pockets of Cold-Arid and Cold-summer Mediterranean within the north and south of the union respectively, though these pockets are located towards the frontiers away from the core of the union.

Pre-foundation
The central Serpentines of the former Serpentine Commonwealth witnessed a great deal of unrest from the late 19th to the early 20th century. The struggle of the Commonwealth to escape economic depression and uphold their dues to the people after [WW1] led to the many peoples of various ethnicity and nationality within the central Serpentines to riot and protest the incapable Commonwealth government. This discontent would lay the foundations for the future revolutionary movement to come as coffee houses, outdoors clubs, and physical health clubs became frequented by the disenfranchised and other like-minded peoples who wished for something to change.

The beginning of the [Serpentine Civil War] saw the central Serpentines become one of the main battlegrounds of the early war. As a direct passage from Martland to Aquiziriki, the river valley passages between the two dominant forces of the former Commonwealth saw devastation on an unprecedented scale as war had not reached the interior of the Serpentines since the late 14th century. This chaos kick-started the menagerie of discontent men and women to vehemently oppose the war as it became clear (to them) that no one within the central Serpentines was of any import to the domineering powers of the Commonwealth.

Ytier Bannieres, the Chijere Legion, and the March on Visuval
One of the only Chijere officers of the Commonwealth's army, Ytier Bannieres was a protege of [!AqGeneral], and due to his upbringing under the wing of the general when the civil war began, Ytier joined the Aquizi within the first few days. This act saw Ytier promoted to Colonel, and many Chijere soldiers from within the former Commonwealth's army opted to fight under the Aquizi side of the civil war, seeing the promotion of a fellow Chijere. This collection of Chijere soldiery was formed into a Chijere-only division known as the Chijere Legion. Originally Ytierr Bannieres was given command the [3 Chijere Legionnaries Infantry Brigade] and the Chijere Legion was used for garrison duties behind the front to keep protests down, but the then-colonel's meteroitic rise in popularity after turning several seemingly impossible engagements into victories with the Chijere Legion allowed him to take control of the entire legion and earn the rank of a brevet Major General.

The rest of the civil war saw Ytier and the Chijere Legion achieve stunning victories, and at times very bloody losses. Yet, despite his fame and glory, the brevet Major General was sidelined by his mentor and peers as the Marts and Aquizi came to negotiate peace. This act distanced the officer from his mentor and the war, various junior officers and NCOs of the Chijere Legion reported the young brevet Major General secluding himself within his quarters and mysteriously disappearing at times throughout the short ceasefire, these disappearances were in actuality meetings made in secrecy with a colleague of Ytier's, a man by the name of Gualhartz Sabolera. Having met and befriended one another in an athletics club in Visuval before the war, the two had written missives to one another throughout their friendship and debated their views in a rather friendly manner as the two held positions on opposite sides of the Serpine Commonwealth Question, whereas earlier in the war Ytier believed the Commonwealth could be saved through the Aquizi's reforms, Gualhartz Sabolera believed that only a whole new form of government could equally represent each and every person within the Serpentines. With Ytier being sidelined, however, the brevet Major General began aligning himself with the ideals of Gualhartz Sabolera and the two began collaborating on what their ideal union would be.

These secret meetings and Ytier's seclusion would be abruptly ended upon the word of the [TBD Massacre]. As Gozyar revolutionaries slaughtered the attendees of the peace negotations and the King of the Commonwealth, chaos amongst the army ensued. Ytier, in this moment of crisis, rallied his legion around himself and moved to the city of Visuval, sending one last message to Sabolera which supposedly convinced his colleague to take up arms within the city. Upon the legions' arrival, Ytier Bannieres would attack the mixed Martic garrison as they were facing mass riots from within the city, led by Gualhartz Sabolera. Together they would swiftly put the most resistant of the garrison down and secure the city, wherein a council of officers and revolutionaries would come together to issue the Proclamation of Visuval, declaring the death of the former government and the creation of a successor state to the fallen Commonwealth.

Chapfelist era (1946-1985)
Ytier Bannieres was formally recognized as li Chapfel, the head of state in the Union of Serpentine Republics as well as the Commander-in-Chief of its military forces, on 7 April, 1947, around five years after the Proclamation of Visuval. However, informally Ytier Bannieres had been known as 'li Chapfel' for several years prior, being granted emergency powers by the Sabolera government to act as the supreme commander of union forces during the length of the [Brotherly Wars]. Ytier used this de-facto status to consolidate power around himself to stabilize the government after the death of Gualhartz Sabolera and several other key members of the Sabolera government. Declaring a state of national emergency, Bannieres would merge the [Mouvement pour le rêve Serpentine (Sabolerists)], [Modernistes (Progressives)], and [Légionnaires (Conservatives)] into the [Alliance pour lah défense de l'Union (Chapfelists)] centered around himself and would begin purging disloyal or uncooperative elements of the Serpine government through his uncontested access to the military. Chapfel Bannieres would turn the former transparent Sabalero government of the Serpentine Union into a rubber-stamp government dictated by the whim of the Chapfel.

1947 Constitution
The first constitution of the fledgling Union of Serpentine Republics was drafted in 1946 known as the Gaudin Draft, however, after the Bombing of the provisional Visuval parliament building the constitution was redrafted under Chapfel Bannieres' Chapfelist Party. The Chapfelist constitution deviated heavily from the Gaudin Draft and the Sabolera Government's original goal in many ways, the new Chapfelist constitution enshrined Bannieres' powers under the guise of 'protecting the nation until the end of all crisis', it allowed for the creation of a federal union that was heavily dominated by the Chijere with the creation of puppet republics instead of ethnically representative courts, and it restricted the political freedoms of the citizens of the union by making the [Chapfelist party] the sole legal party in the union. With this new constitution,

The Chapfelist constitution did adopt some of the Gaudin Draft, however, with the adoption of very socially progressive policies for the time in the region. This is seen as something of a token to the people of the union to sway their hearts as the rest of the constitution (on paper) allowed Bannieres to rule the entire union with little-to-no checks as an absolute dictator. Much to the dismay of the few original Sabolerists who survived the 1946 bombing, their dream of a free Union of the Serpentines was replaced by that of a general's personal feifdom.

The Year of Blood
Chapfel Bannieres planned to hunt any political opposition in his government after the ratification of his new constitution, wanting to consolidate his power to avoid future issues that may arise from a divided government under his new big-tent party. This small-scale purge would spiral into a nation-wide witch hunt known as the year of blood [chijerois: anne de sang]. Threats from a local Gozyar independence organization in the Republic of TBD threw the dictator into paranoia in fear of a repeat of the 1946 bombings, leading to the creation of the Ministry of Internal Security (MSI) [chijerois: ministère de le sécurité intérieure] - an organization of supra-constitutional answering to Chapfel Bannieres and superseding any governmental checks and balances laid out in the constitution for law enforcement and judicial organizations. In the year following the creation of the MSI, Bannieres would imprison an estimated ~300,000 people from across the union. Many of those imprisoned were of Gozyar descent, being forced into rehabilitation camps in order to create new generations of indoctrinated Gozyar, those who failed to achieve a sufficient re-education were given a and many non-Gozyar peoples imprisoned were given the same treatment if they failed to profess loyalty to Chapfel Bannieres sufficiently enough or were found too dangerous to rehabilitate.

It's estimated 75,000 people lost their lives during the Year of Blood, and the repercussions of the period have led to a severe distrust in the people of the union in any organization not bound by the power of the constitution.

Later Chapfelist Period
As Ytier Bannieres grew older his rule of the Union of Serpentine Republics mysteriously became progressively less autocratic. While the true reason for his change of heart is unknown, many theories exist with various amounts of evidence. The most popular theory is simply that the aging Bannieres wished to seek some form of redemption in himself, however this is not a universally accepted theory. Whatever the reason, in 1977 the Chapfel would grant the Congress of the Serpentine Union their legal power as detailed in the constitution by formally approving of the first Premier of the Congress, [Premier Alcée Borde]. In the union's short history the government had never been able to legally conduct legislative duties as the Chapfel refused to accept a Head of Government, thus defaulting to his rule. This historic allowance of freedom allowed for the various legislative bodies to function without the Chapfel's jurisdiction for the first time in the union's history. The aging dictator would also formally announce the existence of (to the concert of nations) the various rehabilitation camps across the Serpentine Union and his initiative to destroy them, issuing reparations to various peoples in the form of reconstruction efforts in former townships destroyed and direct payments to the families harmed by his actions.

The MSI and Ytier Bannieres
Ytier Bannieres would struggle with his own creation, the MSI, as they acted beyond his authority by leading punitive investigations against any which the MSI deemed a danger to their continued existence as an organ of the government. As the Chapfel lessened his grip on authority and helped reform the union into a proper democracy, the MSI became more disobedient to the elderly dictator. In one classified case opened to the public in 2007 it was recorded that the Minister of the MSI, [Lydéric Macé] had even threatened the Chapfel himself if he kept going down the path of reform. The Chapfel was recorded responding to the Minister with a short sentence in return: "Grow the balls to kill me, or get out of my office." [chijerois:Fais pousser les couilles pour me tuer aujourd'hui ou sors de mon bureau] - the Minister was recorded leaving the office shortly after.

Death of Ytier Bannieres
Ytier Bannieres died suddenly on 18 October 1986 due to a stroke caused by high amounts of stress and alcoholism at the age of 87. Following his death, the military followed contingency orders to secure the capital of Visuval and the Congress of the Union called an emergency session under the protection of the army to establish a plan for the future of the union. Chapfel Bannieres left a set of instructions after his death to disallow the appointment of a new Chapfel, effectively creating a parliamentary republic out of the union, however this contradicted a great deal of constitutional law which pushed the Congress to begin the movements to reform the constitution to restrict the power of the head-of-state. Holding the emergency session of congress for three months straight, the constitution was amended with one of the closest votes in Union history to reform the position of Chapfel into the drastically weaker President of the Union of Serpentine Republics who served for terms of five years, before this however, the MSI ensured that they would now answer to no-one and act as a supra-governmental organ to protect the Union and its citizens from any governmental action which might deviate from the Chapfel's vision of the constitution.

Transitional era (1985-1994)
After the death of Ytier Bannieres and the amendment of the constitution to allow for a new head-of-state, the Union entered a period which saw the political freedoms granted to the people of the union by the constitution restored as the many emergency acts declared by the now dead Chapfel were reversed. However, this period was not without its hardship as the military ensured their position was secure and the MSI prevented any major reforms they opposed from occurring. Some openly anti-MSI members of the government disappeared and the military seemed rather uncooperative to stop the MSI, leading to an uncomfortable acceptance of the continued existence of the MSI as an organization over the government of the union.

The First Presidential and Open Congressional Elections
As this politically open time came the old [Alliance pour lah défense de l'Union] began to crack from its lack of a unifying leader and laws which forced the party to be what is was. No longer the sole legal political party of the Union of Serpentine Republics, the Chapfelists would divide into several break-off parties and many smaller political ideologies once repressed would create their own parties. The Congress would announce a year for the new political parties to prepare for union-wide elections and many member-republics would open their own political spheres and hold snap elections for the people to freely voice their vote.