Disclaimer: I own NOTHING


The Russian Tsardom, vassal states Poland, Finland, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia; vassal tribes Mongols, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and other Central Asian ethnicities. The Soviet and Russian Federative enclaves will also be covered here.

Population, of Russia proper: 9,600,000

Population, of enclaves: 2,378

Population, of Russian Tsardom and vassals: 13,355,000 (tribes not included)

Religion: God of Magic, a form of Christianity that holds that God is the ultimate manifestation of Magic, Jesus being a magical construct. Atheism and Agnosticism have grown in popularity since the beginning of the 20th century.

Equivalent Muggle Countries: Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Central Asia, Alaska as part of the Russian Tsardom. Poland has modern Muggle Eastern, Northern and Southern Borders, and 1930s Muggle Eastern Borders. Other vassal states are equivalent.

Capital: Petrograd, vassal states are same as Muggle world

Head of State: Tsar Andrei II

Motto: Serve the Tsar your Lord with all your soul

Motto of the tribes: What, in all the world, could bring the greatest happiness?

"The open steppe, a clear day, and a swift [insert relevant creature here] under you," responded the officer after a little thought.

"Nay," responded the Khan, "to crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to take their [insert creature here] and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best."

Government Structure

The Russian Tsardom is an autocratic state, headed by the Tsar. There is a state council that advises the Tsar on various matters, however the Tsar has the right to decide anything regardless of the council of his advisers - in theory. In practice, he is bound by various magical oaths that are bound to him the moment the Throne accepts him, forcing him to choose options that are the best for the country. The Tsar is also granted the Crown, an artifact that increases the logical reasoning skills of the Tsar who wears it. Succession is decided by the Throne, which picks the most intelligent, magically powerful, hard working, loyal and just members of the family. If none match its standards, then the Throne will merge various members together, mixing characteristics until they are good enough, although this has only happened once. Cities, defined as urban areas with population of 100,000+, are governed separately from oblasts, which are rural areas, each including 100,000 people. These all have delegated governments. There are various ministries, for example the Ministry of Destruction, the Ministry of Law, the Ministry of Wizarding Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Sentient Inhuman Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Muggle Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Healing, the Ministry of Religion, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of News and Truth and finally the Ministry of Research. These all report directly to the Tsar's state council. The army, navy and air force are all part of the Ministry of Destruction.

The Throne is an ancient artifact made of an as of yet unknown type of magically resonant metal, with the appearance and texture reflecting the needs of the Tsar', nicknamed Resonance-0 due to being the most potent yet known. It was first used by the Muscovite Kniaz Daniel in the late 13th century, when it was not yet enchanted. Over the centuries, it was enchanted more and more, and once the muggle and magical worlds split, the Throne was given to the Magical Tsar, whereas the Crown was given to the Muggle Tsar. The Throne was then immediately heavily enchanted, and it is now one of the most potent magical objects in the world, only rivalled by the Four Founders artifacts; the Imperial Regalia of the Sapa Inca, Holy Roman Emperor, and Emperors of the Middle Kingdom, of the Water, the Air and the Land; the Eternal Flame, the Armour Indomitable (lost) and the Swords Ancient (Excalibur, Clarent, Dyrnwyrn and Claíomh Solais, however these have been lost) and finally by the Heart of Depravity. The Throne binds the Tsar to various oaths, can help the Tsar in his duty when he is upon it, will kill any who is not permitted to sit on it, give increased physical and magical strength when in the same vicinity, and kill those who sit upon it without permission. Finally, it is theorised that a small sliver of each Tsar's soul feeds and assists the Throne after death, which would explain its slowly growing strength and ability to advise. It is rumoured that it can summon dead Tsars to fight if need be.

Vassal states are separate countries, which are bound by oaths to use their two ICW votes for their lieges, forming a bloc. LPoland will be covered separately. Finland, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia have had a similar government structure to the Russian Tsardom enforced, with the head being referred to as the Kniaz or Korol' by the Tsar's government.

Vassal tribes are autonomous ethnic minorities, all hordes, each having an area of land they are allowed to migrate in, demarcated by a magical boundary. They are highly autonomous, to the point that their exact populations are known only to the Tsar. Furthermore, they have there own leaders who are only forced to take orders directly from the Tsar. Each has a subtly different structure, but they each have a democratic election for a leader once the previous one dies or is found unfit to rule, with each man casting votes for as many candidates as they would like, with a maximum of one for each.

The Enclaves are independent, small, settlements found by the USSR and Russian Federation to train some muggleborns in magic. These report directly to their governments, and will be elaborated upon later.

Diplomatic relations

The Russian Tsardom forms one of the four major blocs of the ICW, controlling 14 (Russia, its five vassals, Bulgaria and Romania) of 106 votes, equivalent to China and Europe's power. Furthermore, Russia, being one of the founding nations, gets one veto every month. Russia is closely allied to Bulgaria and Romania, and is typically against China.

The ICW grants 2 votes to each nation, and as there are 53 nations, including vassals, it has 106 total votes. It was founded by Russia, the UK, Holy Roman Empire, China, Ethiopia and Tawantinsyu, which are granted a monthly veto. In the event of a tie, the founding nations are granted an extra vote. Should one of them abstain, the Speaker (currently Albus Dumbledore) casts the tie-breaking vote, however this has never happened. It meets twice a week, and is analogous to the muggle UN. The votes 'controlled' by each bloc are calculated according to to the total number of votes from countries within, plus 1 vote from countries that commonly vote their way.

Schools

Soviet Enclave, now dying out, teaches immensely powerful battle magic, typically forceful - a warhammer rather than a rapier. Located near Moscow.

Russian Federative Enclave, all-rounded education in magic, slight focus on magic useful in battles. Located near Moscow.

Tsarskoye Selo, a superlative school, rivalled by few in the world: teaches everything, with some of the most recognised masters in their fields teaching here. One must do a challenging exam to get in, and furthermore one must achieve Royal Patronage, although this mainly involves giving an interview. Located in Petrograd.

Vostok, a school focused on primarily defensive magics, as well as charms and potions. Located in the east.

Svetoyug, a school focused on fire magic as well as magical creatures. Located near Astrakhan.

Sibir, a school focused on ice and weather magic. Located in Siberia.

Cities

1. Moscow, 1,221,000

2. Petrograd, 500,000

3. Novosibirsk, 114,000

4. Yekaterinburg, 103,000

5. Nizhny Novgorod, 85,000

History

The history of the Russian Tsardom is the same as the history of its muggle counterpart up until 1692, when the Statute of Secrecy was introduced and the ICW was founded, and the two Tsardoms officially separated. Despite this, it is only near the end of the Seven Years War that their borders diverged; whereas in the Muggle world East Prussia was returned to Prussia, no such leniency was offered to Magical Prussia. This led to the collapse of Prussia, stopping it from being a great power. However, Magical Russia had to grant independence to what are now the Muggle Baltic States, known as the Pribaltika or Baltischstaaten, and Poland was recreated as a buffer state between the HRE and Russia. From then, Magical Russia again followed the course of its Muggle counterpart until the Napoleonic Wars. During the Napoleonic Wars, Russia assisted the Holy Roman Empire, Iberian Conglomerate, Italian Union of Free Cities and the UK in defeating Magical France earlier, around 1802 (a key reason for the failure of Trafalgar). Russia was granted Finland, and was allowed by the Sioux, Pueblo and Cherokee to colonise Alaska. Here, Magical Russia's history truly diverges, as after the Napoleonic Wars, France was broken into two: West Francia and Aquitania, and though they were later united, France would never again be able to press an ambition to conquer Europe. This, in addition to the continuation of the highly decentralised Holy Roman Empire, led to the Muggle First World War not occurring in the Magical World, and, perhaps more importantly, the Russo-Japanese war never occured - the conflict was resolved peacefully by the Nippon Shogun and Tsar Andrei. Around this time, the Russian Tsardom decided to create its Vassal Tribes.

The Vassal Tribes of Central Asia and Mongolia are groups of Magical steppe peoples, who tend to their herds of magical creatures, each one's speciality varying, for example the Kyrgyz Horde tends to Dragons, particularly the Zmey Gorynych, whereas the Mongols tend to Thestrals, Abraxans - trained as war animals - and Pegasi, the Kazakhs tend to Bewrays, Demiguises and other similar animals, the Uzbeks to Avacites, Shabrangs and Shabdiz and so on. The Hordes are highly autonomous and each has their own 'grazing' area. Each horde can muster many men to fight for the Russian Tsardom if need be, and are bound by vow to do so,however the Tsar is also bound by vow to call them only when truly necessary. Thus, the only time they have been used was during Grindelwald's attack on Russia, operation 'Eastern Sunset'. The Hordes are considered a 'rowdy bunch', according to Qin Shiovich Te, a Russian-Chinese traveller who stayed with them. One tribe, the Turkmens, is distinct from the others as it takes care of trolls and giants. The Turkmens even wrestle with these. The Tribes meet once every ten years, engaging in contests between their animals, either fights, races or showing off the most spectacular animal. At each of these gatherings, the most dangerous creatures are chosen from each tribe (if the tribe does not raise a dangerous creature, such as the Kazakhs, they kill their most prized animals for all the Hordes to eat), and are then released inside a large area for a week and hunted down. Every year, a few people die hunting down Dragons, for example in 1960, over five hundred hunters died when four dragons (an Indonesian Axetail, Persian Shockspine, a 13-headed unusually synchronised Zmey Gorynych, and a Arctic Ice Dragon) attacked the largest hunting party at the same time and nearly wiped it out - the only survivor, a strong Mongol known as Gan Khuchtey managed to kill the Gorynych and Ice Dragon, after they were wounded by the rest of the hunting party, the Gorynych in the wing and the Ice Dragon in the eye, and hid under their bodies, while the second largest party was wiped out by an Impundulu and several Abraxans, although the Impundulu was killed in the confrontation. All the beasts were killed, Gan Khuchtey killing the remaining pair of dragons. By the next event, he had become the Gangiin Khan, the Steel Khan. That event was counted as one of the most entertaining events in history. Gangiin Khan leads the Mongol horde, and is an honorary member of all the hordes.

However, Russia was not ignorant to the Bolshevik revolution. While it could not interfere, it made preparations to oppose them in the magical world. As it turned out, the USSR agreed to the Russian Tsardom being the representative of Magical Russia, as long as it could found an enclave where a certain percentage of Soviet Magical children would go to be taught Magic, however the Russian Tsardom would have to accept that the USSR was now the representative of the Muggle Russia. Surprisingly, the two managed to coexist successfully, and during World War 2, which occurred simultaneously to Grindelwald's rise to power, worked together.

The Enclaves are a pair of schools that took in a certain percentage (varying every year) of Soviet (and now Russian) magical muggleborn children, to train them in magic and make them loyal to their respective governments. The Enclaves are under the direct jurisdiction of their respective governments. The Soviet enclave quickly developed its own unique style: brute strength. Moreso than any other country which has followed this system, the Soviets focused on massively destructive spells that 'cleared the board', field healing and teamwork. The Soviets tended to use spells like bombs, even developing a spell that was as powerful as a nuclear bomb, although it could only be cast by a group of 49 mages working together, and they had to sacrifice their lives to do so. The Soviets fought with great distinction in Grindelwald's war, destroying his capital, Dresden, with the aforementioned spell (this is what the Muggles were told to call the fire bombing of Dresden), and wiping out a large portion of his government. The Russian school is more balanced - while the Soviets did not even bother to learn transfiguration, divination, and other, more subtle, subjects, although they did try and synthesise magic potions with muggle medicines, - the Russian Enclave does. It is akin to Hogwarts, and is respected as a decent school.

Grindelwald jumped on the opportunity of World War 2 - the muggle warfare would serve to cover his own war - and used his agents planted in the major HRE governments to forcibly unite Germany. He quickly attacked France, by now united, and destroyed it. The Italians had a non-aggression pact with him and hid away, while the Iberians maintained such a strong defensive line across the Pyrenees that he dared not attack them - despite being able to destroy half an army by himself on the open field, unravelling the enormous Iberian wards would have sapped most of his strength, however the Iberians too did not dare to attack. Switzerland, the only part of the Holy Roman Empire that he could not infiltrate, activated its wards, built up over centuries, partially through the sacrifice of those on their death beds to fuel them, as well as casting Fidelii over entire cities - Grindelwald could thus not attack them. The UK he did not attack for it contained the one challenger to his strength - Albus Dumbledore - so he looked North, to Scandinavia. The Swedish and Norwegians however, had evacuated the Danes from Jutland and cast an enchantment on the water to fight Grindelwald's army, while Apparition wards barred all access from any other country (as did portkey wards, and this was in effect all across Europe). While that would be the easiest fortification to break, there were easier locations to attack: Yugoslavia, which he soon crushed, and then Hellas, Bulgaria and Romania fell. Then, he invaded Poland, which, despite the actions of its valiant two-sword wielding wizards and sorceresses, soon fell. Grindelwald then attacked the Pribaltika, crushing it, though guerrilla warfare continued for the length of the occupation. Grindelwald then marched into Russia. The Russian mages engaged in guerrila warfare, giving ground up to Moscow and Petrograd. At this point, the Hordes were called in, and the strongest wizards of all Russia united. They found out where Grindelwald was to fight, and despite his immense power, they managed to lock him and his army in place - although they too were stuck. This was at Petrograd. Schoolchildren were sent to the front line to ensure Russia's survival, as Grindelwald was not known for his mercy. But the Tsar, Tsar Andrei I Veliky, attacked the forces at Moscow, crushing them, and sending a small force to harry them to Germany. The majority of this force swung round to fight Grindelwald's army at Petrograd, and forced Grindelwald to retreat, although before he did so he killed the wizards holding him in place. In total, near a million Russian wizards had died. In the end, the Russians managed to push him back to Germany, and after the Soviet wizards blew up Dresden, he was forced into the open. At this point, the UK entered the war, and Albus Dumbledore engaged in a duel with Grindelwald, defeating him. Russia was rewarded with the vassalisation of Poland, and immediately gave it East Prussia in return for mandatory vows of loyalty from the government.

The Russian Tsardom is a highly autocratic and magically powerful state. It is one of the Five Great Powers. Despite this, it has some fundamental flaws in its structure, for example, many orders cannot be signed off by an ordinary member of government - they must be signed by the Tsar, and he is not allowed to use any automated quills for this. This means that the machinery of the government can be slow moving. Furthermore, widespread discrimination against non-noble is present, and in some oblasts there are still wizarding serfs.


A/N: well, that covers Russia, and sets the stage for Poland. After Poland I will most likely cover North America, the most changed continent. Some of the creatures used are from the superb Monster Blog of Monsters.