THE UNITED KINGDOM OF EDINBURGH, PART 1
THE STATE AND CULTURE
Edinburgh, cherished land
Ev'rything we withstand
None over us
From the east to the west
Men from these Isles possess
Strength and resolve peerless
None over us
- Excerpt from the anthem of the United Kingdom of Edinburgh
Capital: Castleton
Population (as of 1943 EC, not counting colonies): 50.1 million
Official Languages: Standard Europan, Alban, Kemraic
Head of State (as of 1943 EC): Domnall III RiAlban
Prime Minister (as of 1943 EC): Dame Blanche Kirkland
One of the most powerful member states of the Atlantic Federation, the Kingdom of Alba and by extension the United Kingdom of Edinburgh have stood in various forms for over a thousand years in their home islands northwest of the Europan mainland. The UKE is considered by many conservative observers to be one of the most optimal unions of democracy and monarchical tradition in the world, His Edinburgh Majesty assuming mainly a ceremonial role in favor of a mostly democratically elected Parliament commandeering the true mechanisms of government. The UKE is internally organized along the borders of its constituent kingdoms – to the north of the bigger island of Clogwyn and in total command of the smaller island of Eira lies the politically most dominant and the UKE's founder, the Kingdom of Alba. In the southwest of Clogwyn stands the Principality of Kemry, and immediately to Kemry's east lies the Kingdom of Southumbria. The united kingdom is borne of many centuries of conflict and reconciliation among the Albans and Kemrish to the north and the west, and the mainlander-descended Southumbrians to the south.
The Rise of the UKE
"None Strike With Impunity"
- Motto of the RiAlban dynasty and the United Kingdom of Edinburgh
The history of the UKE is naturally tied to the history of the Edinburgh Isles as a whole. Even before the arrival of the Valkyrur and their mortal followers, the Edinburgh Isles experienced continuous conflicts among the Alban chiefdoms and their Kemraic rivals. There were countless sporadic attempts by these various chiefs to dominate their neighbors and form larger polities, but none of these squabbling tribes were particularly successful in fully becoming any sort of regional hegemon. While there did exist references to a city called Edinburgh in Alban and even Kemraic legends that served as the capital of a great kingdom led by a high king allegedly from beyond the sea named Morgant, archaeologists have yet to uncover any evidence that either the city or the man existed. It was this legendary city and its stories that gave the islands and the modern political entity their names.
The Isles' first known contact with the outside world came in the form of the Ravennan Imperium's legions, three of which landed in southern Clogwyn as part of Gnaeus Pullo's dreams of pushing his authority further and further into the unknown reaches of the world. Unusually for Ravennan campaigns during the antiquity period, the legions were defeated and forced to retreat due to a combination of bad weather, Ravennan inexperience in sailing in northern Europan waters, and the unexpectedly fierce Kemraic counterattack. Any desire on Pullo's part to try another invasion to avenge himself and his men were crushed by the Ravennan Senate (heavily influenced by Pullo's political enemies) demanding that Pullo return to the capital to answer for his abuse of multiple political loopholes, the most notable loophole being that he had at least three legions to begin with while most governors of the time were only allowed two. This of course started the Ravennan Civil War which Pullo would famously win; by the time Pullo emerged victorious after a full decade of total war, his attention permanently shifted toward rebuilding the Imperium and consolidating his rule. The Edinburgh Isles were all but forgotten in the chaos, and Ravennan texts written thereafter until the end of the imperial period made scant references to the region.
The Valkyrur Conquest came to the Edinburgh Isles not too long afterwards as it did to the rest of Europa. While written records from Edinburgh in this ancient period are sparse, archeological records suggest the Darscens whose descendants live in Edinburgh today first came to the Edinburgh Isles in the decades preceding the ultimate Valkyrur invasion of the islands. While cultural clashes were inevitable, the Darscens seemingly integrated well enough to avoid causing any sort of significant discord; in fact, local legends persist to this day that the first clashes against the Valkyrur in the Edinburgh Isles involved many Darscens seeking to make their final series of last stands. Needless to say, the Valkyrurand their mortal Einherjar thralls won an unquestionably crushing victory; one of the greatest mysteries of the Valkyrur's campaign in the Edinburgh Isles, however, is why the Valkyrur seemed to have stopped their bloody conquests at the frontiers of Alba and Kemry. Virtually no Valkyrur artifacts are ever found outside the lands of modern Southumbria and Carnow, with any direct cultural osmosis between the natives and the invaders determined to have happened decades if not centuries after first contact. Soon, even the Valkyrur vanished from historical record, having presumably bred themselves out of the gene pool. The Einherjar eventually fell upon themselves upon the evident realization that there would be no more easy conquests of native Alban and Kemraic lands; alongside subsequent invasions from the principalities littering the Skaney Peninsula and later the so-called Ravenbanner Empire centered around the modern-day Kingdom of Varangia, the Edinburgh Isles entered a centuries-long period of extreme decentralization and chaos.
It is in light of this instability in the Edinburgh Isles that the Redemptionists began to spread their gospel. The religion's first missionaries landed on the southern shores of Eira sometime in the 700s EC and began to rapidly establish churches all over the isles; as Clogwyn itself dealt with a physical assault from the Valkyrur and continuously struggled under subsequent waves of Nord invaders, so did Eira deal with a more cultural, spiritual conflict with Redemptionist believers seeking to overtake the traditional, pro-Darscen Ailmish belief system. While the history of Edinburgh religious strife and its role in turning the initial Alban tolerance of Darscens into discrimination would require an entire book to themselves to fully encapsulate, the summary of the conflict is that the two religions eventually came to terms with each other. While the Ailmish religion withered in the face of the more centralized, fervent Redemptionists and their promise of eternal life even after death, the Redemptionists in turn could not fully destroy Ailmism due to the sheer stubbornness of the local populations wishing to avoid submission to the Valkyrur no matter how benevolent they were portrayed. Darscens even before the Age of Enlightenment were treated somewhat better in Edinburgh compared to the rest of Europa because of Ailmism's influence on local Redemptionism. The resulting Church of Alba, instituted at the turn of the current millennium, adopted as its primary icon the pre-Redemptionist vertical cross that symbolized Ailmism, called the ailm after the first letter of the old Alban alphabet and which in turn gave the faith its name. It is a golden ailm that serves as one of the key features of the flag of the UKE to the present day.
This period of decentralization is generally agreed upon to have died down with the consolidation of northern Clogwyn and all of Eira under a unified Alban kingdom, the Kingdom of Alba, around 900 EC. The Alban family that later rebranded itself as the RiAlban dynasty won over or terminated the other great Alban clans of northern Clogwyn through what appears to have been very clever politics and subterfuge, the extent to which is still unknown due to Holyroot Palace's interventions in the modern time against historians who seemingly dig too deep. Historians suggest the RiAlban dynasty was actually from Eira given how swiftly the Eirish clans fell in line, a difficult achievement due to Eira's tendencies to resist any would-be overlord from outside the island even if the overlord were Alban. To the south of the River Humbrian, the death of the last Einherjar king of the mostly united southern kingdoms in Clogwyn in 1060 EC directly led to a Nordomme knightly family from northern Valois crossing the Edinburgh Channel and seizing the throne that same year on account of claims to kingship via verbal promises from the late Einherjar monarch. This family proceeded to exterminate the last vestiges of the Ravenbanner presence in the Isles in a quick series of campaigns that ended by 1062 EC. On New Year's Day of 1063 EC, the House of Quordelion formally established the Kingdom of Southumbria, named so after the river which effectively formed its core territories' upper border. This Albanord kingdom soon intensified its intermarriage with the people of northern Valois as was the case with the Crystal Sea coastal regions to Europa's northeast and heavily borrowed from Valois's language, culture, and military thought to forge itself into what should have been the dominant Edinburgh power. Through this link to the continent, Southumbria boasted (and still boasts) a profound advantage in manpower and materiel, and enjoyed a virtual monopoly on heavy cavalry in the Edinburgh Isles.
By the 1100s EC, the Kingdom of Southumbria faced down the Kingdom of Alba and the Principality of Kemry, these latter two monarchies allying each other to fight the common foreign enemy. Multiple Southumbrian campaigns to subjugate the Albans and Kemrish failed due to their increasingly well-organized and armed "Gallowglass" mercenaries (later full-time professional soldiers) operating in increasingly hilly terrain, creating a military impasse that lasted until the late 1300s EC. Land was lost, land was taken, and more than a few national heroes and villains met grisly ends in these many decades of combat. Ironically, the nation of Valois which helped give birth to Southumbria ended up permanently crippling its bid for international power. Convinced that the Albans and Kemrish would not be able to invade his lands on account of the kingdom's large pool of levies, men-at-arms, and knights, King Rufus IV of Southumbria took his best men across the Edinburgh Channel in 1383 EC to seize the Valois throne from Jean VI de Valois, who at the time suffered terribly from a lack of legitimacy among the Valois nobility on top of the dynasty's then-typical extreme decentralization of authority. Rufus IV's uncle – known to be a thoroughly unimaginative but reckless man – was left as viceroy to oversee the kingdom's stability and defenses in his absence, the barons seemingly pacified in the short term through their king's promises to deliver them a share of the booty and powers accrued in Valois.
The Southumbrian campaign in Valois smashed all opposition and Rufus IV crowned himself the new King of Valois in 1385 EC, which forced Jean VI to send an envoy to his Alban counterpart Domnall I RiAlban pleading for assistance on account of the mutual threat a Southumbria empowered with Valois resources would be for both the rest of the Edinburgh Isles and for the House of Valois. Seeing a golden opportunity to strike Southumbria while the cream of its army was deep in Valois attempting to consolidate Rufus's authority, the Albans and the Kemrish answered with a full invasion a few months after the Valois request arrived at the Alban court. The Alban army met the Southumbrians at a town called Bannockton (now named Bhonnaich and located within the Kingdom of Alba) and proceeded to almost completely destroy the force, the Southumbrian viceroy being killed in the chaos of the melee and most of Southumbria's knights deployed captured or killed in the process. Combined with the unexpectedly staunch resistance in Valois to Rufus's supposed authority, spearheaded by a young girl who may or may not have been the first documented Valkyria in post-Conquest history based on further analyses of texts and battlefield excavations immediately preceding the end of the Great War, the entire Southumbrian campaign collapsed within a decade. Rufus died in Valois in 1394 EC from a sudden onset of dysentery, with the surviving soldiers of his expedition withdrawing back to Southumbria in numbers too small to change the ultimate fate of the overall war on the homefront.
While Rufus IV did have an heir who survived him, this child perished the same year as his father under highly suspect circumstances and created a power vacuum that normally would have been an entirely Southumbrian affair. However, the presence of the Alban and Kemraic armies that had thoroughly disassembled the kingdom's ability to wage war at Bannockton and other locales discouraged any Southumbrian baron from openly showing his hand. To the contrary, many of the barons saw the Albans as the new source of continued power now that Rufus himself and his promises of rewards were dead and buried in Valois. Domnall I according to the official chronicle of the war was thunderstruck by the offer of the Southumbrian crown – he had entered the southern kingdom to cut it down to size in defense of his ally, and instead ended up at the cusp of taking everything instead. While Kemry received all of Carnow and a band of Southumbrian border land to connect Kemry to Alba, Alba claimed the remainder of Southumbria under personal union by declaring Domnall I the King of Alba. With the death of the last native Prince of Kemry a scant seventy years later passing control of the nation to Alba per dynastic protocol, the foundations for the UKE were thus set, although it would take another three centuries of royal arrogance, political schisms, Southumbrian rebellions against the Alban overlords, and outright civil wars to fully form a real union out of the Albo-Kemro-Southumbrian personal union and the system of parliamentary democracy that the nation is known for in the present day.
From the 1500s EC onward, Alba-Kemry-Southumbria (henceforth referred to as the UKE despite the Treaty of Bhonnaich that formally established this real union needing another two centuries more to materialize) engaged in the mad western Europan rush to colonize the known world. Despite the crowns' and Edinburgh private companies' first attempts at colonies on the eastern seaboard of North Vinland failing to develop beyond infancy and a very ill-advised adventure in the narrow Nuevo Pirin Isthmus more or less wiping out an entire company's finances and nearly starting a war with the powerful Kingdom of Castria, the UKE by 1700 EC had several highly prosperous and self-sufficient colonies in the New World that helped accelerate Edinburgh's industrial revolution. The UKE had also set its eyes on the Bharatian subcontinent in southern Asha as well as the East Bharatines island chain, but these colonial adventures led to the start of truly acrimonious relations with other powers such as its former ally the Kingdom of Valois (which had put the Kingdom of Castria under personal union by 1717 EC to form the single largest power in western Europa), the Frisian Union, and even the Nord Kingdom.
The need for massively increased naval power to defend the Edinburgh Isles and Edinburgh overseas interests, coupled with more recent domestic fears and distrust toward large standing ground forces due to the Edinburgh Parliamentary War of the 1640s EC, fundamentally reshaped the Edinburgh armed forces forever – it would depend primarily on its navy to protect its interests, and have the army be the metaphorical cannonball shot by the navy. The considerably enhanced wealth of the UKE from its colony-propelled industrialization helped ensure that Edinburgh's fleets would always be stronger and larger than any competitor and that its ground forces would be far better funded on a per-man basis than any other competitor. In fact, the Edinburgher Army was the only other army in Europa other than the Prutenic Army to routinely train its men (and women) with live gunpowder during peacetime until the end of the Davoustic War.
These factors combined with the geographic isolation of the Edinburgh Isles and the comparative superior strength of the ground forces of Castleton's foremost rivals on the continental mainland led in turn to Edinburgh's famous pre-Federation isolationist mentality. Edinburgh could not hope to seize and hold large enough swathes of enemy land on the continent with the small army it managed, especially as armies became increasingly complex and expensive to maintain as they became increasingly uniform and controlled by the state. But why would it need to, the logic went, when it was protected by the Channel that effectively served alongside the Edinburgh fleets as a nigh-impenetrable wall? Furthermore, why would Edinburgh need a large standing army when the navy itself was theoretically capable of ending any threats to overseas colonies even before the first pair of metropolitan Edinburgh boots hit the colonial shoreline? It was better for Edinburgh to maintain a deadlock in the continent by being flexible in its support for certain powers and alliances, as well as by being generous with its money earned from imperial trade, so that the continentals in theory wasted more time destroying each other rather than focusing on Edinburgh. This was best portrayed in the Valois Bush War of the 1760s EC, in which Edinburgh reluctantly engaged its ground forces to North Vinland to aid its Vinnish colonial militias in invading the sparsely populated Valoisian and Nord colonies there, while substituting its presence on the continent proper for large sums of war subsidies to the Prutenic Reich and the Tsardom of Muscovia to tie Valois and the Nord Kingdom down in Europa proper.
In the Federation
"The relief I feel as I write these words to you cannot be understated. However, neither can my apprehensions with regards to which direction this new path will send us."
- Sir William Townshend in a letter to his wife, 1799 EC
Edinburgh's loss of its Vinnish colonies by the 1780s EC (which again would require its own section) and the collapse of its primary rival the Kingdom of Valois at the hands of the forces of revolution completely reset Edinburgh's foreign policy. The creation of the new radical Valois Republic and other smaller states democratic to varying degrees led directly to the creation of the East Europan Imperial Alliance in eastern Europa to safeguard autocratic rule and archconservative values of government, economics, and society. Any hopes that the balance of continental power so sought after would not be permanently broken was shattered by the issuance of the Manifesto of Iron of 1797 EC, in which the new East Europan Emperor Konstantin V von Reginrave announced his dynasty's ambition to subjugate all of Europa under its rule in the name of safeguarding stability and peace in the continent against the forces of radical and uncertain revolution. In addition, the loss of its Vinnish colonies deeply wounded the Edinburgh psyche, helping give credence to the idea that maybe Edinburgh must look for new, long-term allies to secure itself and its remaining empire.
Despite much of Parliament decrying the massacres of royalists and even large numbers of former revolutionaries at the hands of the Valois Directorate, Holyroot Palace authorized its ambassadors to reopen dialog with Valois and start afresh in their relations in order to prevent the EEIA from achieving total domination of the continent. While its radical republicanism and terror made Valois a rather unpalatable ally, Valois and its democratized Frisian allies were far too close geographically to Edinburgh for the Edinburgh court at Castleton to allow them to be enemies. Furthermore, while Edinburgh and Valois were indeed rivals, they had also shared centuries of good relations stemming from fighting a common enemy before the era of colonization – and here again was a common enemy. Castleton could not in good faith propose an alliance to the so-called Autocrat of All Europa in the new Imperial capital of Schwartzgrad when this Autocrat made it publicly known through his Manifesto of Iron that all of Europa would be subject to his authority one way or another. To reinforce this, the EEIA had a few weeks prior to the departure of the Edinburgh ambassadors invaded the neutral Kingdom of Gallia and completely subjugated it in the name of defending against the Valois Revolution, confirming that not even neutrality would be any sort of shield against the von Reginraves. Between a radical ally which was still historically tied to Edinburgh and at least had not invaded anyone yet, and a reactionary empire which was making no secrets at all regarding its new expansionist policies, the UKE had only one feasible choice.
Much to the relief of the UKE, the Directorate was already overthrown by the Maréchal de Valois Michel Davoust by the time Sir William Townshend's party arrived in the Valois capital city of Fontainebleau in 1798 EC. The atrocities of the former regime being pledged by Davoust personally to be dealt with, Edinburgh formally announced in 1799 EC the creation of a new alliance of states and nations alongside the Valois Republic to defend the ideals of the fundamental rights of man – the Atlantic Federation. With Edinburgh's formidable navy and exceptionally well-trained army operating alongside the massed conscript forces and artillery parks of the Armée de Terre Valoisienne (the Valoisian Army, or ATV) and other smaller democratic allied forces, the Atlantic Federation achieved the unthinkable and utterly smashed the momentum of the combined army of the Empire and even those of other nations such as Latium in a series of swift, knockout campaigns. Faced with the surprising force of the Federation and the prospect of another front to deal with courtesy of rebellious Gallians, the EEIA came to terms with the Federation by 1812 EC.
The following century was not as peaceful as Holyroot would have liked; multiple major world crises such as the Haemusian War of the 1830s EC, the revolutions in its Eurekan and Bharatian colonies in the 1850s EC, the Vinnish States' War in that same decade, the Cathayan Independence War, and the Eastern Succession War prevented the UKE from ever truly letting its guard down. While Edinburgh avoided true catastrophe in all of these events, it cannot be claimed that mistakes were never made in foreign policy. Edinburgh intervened in the Cathayan Independence War of 1862 EC in order to exploit the breakdown of the Celestial Empire's central authority and military strength, seeking to not only maintain the newly declared Grand Republic of Cathay as an indebted state but to partition the region into smaller client states in order to secure the Federation's position in East Asha. The war had also drawn in the newly created Diarchy of Kokuria-Yamatai on the Celestial Empire's behalf, this state of two emperors seeking to preserve the strength of its traditional mainland ally for its own purposes as well as to engage in a shakedown run of its reorganized land forces. The limited engagements between the Edinburgh Army and the Diarchic Army, alongside Edinburgh's seizure of the southern Cathayan island of Hanggong and the creation of its East Ashan sphere of influence in Shangria and the Riverlands, massively contributed to the Diarchy (and later the Cathayans) serving as a increasingly relevant wild card in Federate diplomacy.
Neither was Edinburgh immune to making intra-Federate mistakes. The Scramble for Nubia was perhaps the most dangerous period for the Federation until the outbreak of the First Europan War, because the promised riches of the Nubian continent pitted Federate against Federate. While border disputes between member states regarding where exactly to delineate each other's territorial control in the continent almost never erupted into open discord at the highest levels of the Federation's political system, Edinburgh's forcible annexation of the south Nubian colonial republics close to the turn of the 20th century EC certainly sparked a brief moment of terrible tension. The Coalition of Transblue Republics was a small alliance of Frisian colonies with large numbers of Gallian mercenaries in southern Nubia that had banded together for protection and who still maintained diplomatic ties with their home countries. In 1883 EC, Edinburgh unilaterally declared war on the Coalition as part of its efforts to secure the tip of the continent as a safe transit point to and from Bharat. While this war was won just in time to avoid having to deal with both it and the South Kemat Expedition in 1884 EC that almost splintered the Federation, the nature and brutal conduct of the war resulted in Edinburgh being all but censured by the Federate General Assembly, Frisia, and even the neutral Principality of Gallia. Only the majority of the Federate Council declining to pursue any retributive actions saved Edinburgh's position, but the damage had already been done. The Empire of Debirhan, located in east Nubia and presenting a potential threat for Edinburgh transit to and from Bharat in the area, finally declared its intentions to align with the Empire on account of the Federation's insatiable appetite for colonization. This in turn began the slow transition of the Shasian Empire to the immediate west of Bharat toward pro-Imperial policies, although Castleton moved immediately to slow this down as much as possible. Lastly, Kemat's southern and eastern flanks (the latter being against its long-term historical rival Shasia) became more critical for collective League defensive strategies and required higher expenditures, which soured League relations with Edinburgh and the Federation to a lesser degree in the short term.
On top of the EEIA and the new Aegean League in the eastern Mediterranean complicating its overall strategic position, the UKE constantly dealt with domestic political controversies, the foremost among them the radical question of levelism – the idea that men cannot be truly liberated until private ownership of land and resources were abolished, and until all men be allowed to take ownership of their labor and its subsequent fruit. The Edinburgh Republican movement would always ebb and flow in popularity and strength throughout the 19th century EC, mainly based on economic stability and the popularity of whoever happened to be His (or Her) Edinburgh Majesty at the time. To a greater degree, grassroots levelist strikes and mutinies caused major concerns for military logistics and preparedness; the Great Naval Mutiny of late 1933 EC originating in the primary port city of Appledore spread rapidly through most Royal Edinburgh Navy ships and bases, and coincided with the Great Textile Strike that lasted until the summer of 1934 EC and kneecapped Holyroot's military development plans. The impact would be felt in the first years of the Great War, in which many Edinburgh levy troops marched to war having to wear Vinnish uniforms and use Vinnish wargear – the situation did not definitively improve until sometime in the middle of 1936 EC due to the collapse of Operation Northern Cross the previous winter inflicting horrific losses on the Edinburgh Army that had served as the proverbial tip of the spear on offense and defense.
By 1937 EC, the Edinburgh armed forces had claimed their second wind, with the kingdom's economy on a total war footing and able to finally replenish losses with domestic output. With almost a million Bharatian volunteers and conscripts bolstering the ranks of Federate infantry in Europa alone alongside the full deployment of the veteran Gallowglass infantry, the Edinburgh Army elevated its position in the Federate military hierarchy to now be the tip of the Federation's pneumatic jackhammers. Its advances and victories were now marked by the incessant and terrifying droning of traditional bagpipes and Gallowglass battle screams. Operating mainly on the northern flank of the Europan front, the Edinburgh armed forces reclaimed the Skaney Peninsula from Imperial forces, freeing the parts of the Nord Republic held by the Empire since the war's start and allowing the Nords' highly tenacious Ulrikean infantry to overrun parts of the Imperial vassal state of Karjala. Also operating out of occupied Prutenia supported by the new Prutenic Free State's Freistaatswehr, the Edinburgh Army proceeded to overrun the entire northern coast of Prutenia to strangle the EEIA's last ever attempt to crush the Principality of Gallia and hold Prutenia as a whole by the winter of 1938-1939 EC. In the northern seas, the REN forced the EEIA's submarine fleet into a stalemate; in the Mediterranean, it annihilated the Imperial naval forces there with the support of the Valois and League fleets. It even contributed troops to the Pacific theater, although the overwhelming majority of Edinburgh efforts there were spearheaded by Bharatian troops.
By the time the Imperial government in Schwartzgrad finally collapsed at the hands of levelists in late 1941 EC, the Edinburgh forces had more or less made it once again to the borders of the old Tsardom of Muscovia, ensuring that Prutenia and the newly liberated Viszevaric Commonwealth would be beyond the grasp of the subsequent Europan Syndicate.
Symbols of the UKE
"Once the Alban Jack is raised, it is our duty to King and Country to make sure it never goes back down for long."
- Field Marshal Sir Sylvester Wilson, commander of the Second Bharatian Army, 1937 EC
The flag of Edinburgh is rated as one of the world's most recognizable, at least according to the Edinburgh Royal Tourism Authority. It is a blue flag with a hollow, gold vertical cross (the "ailm") and a white saltire emblazoned on it. The ailm, as described before, officially refers to the UKE's traditional pre-Valkyrur culture that continues to define Alban society; the white saltire is officially meant to reflect crossed swords or spears (depending on the interpreter) that demonstrate Edinburgh's willingness to take up arms against all offenders. At the center of the flag is a blue, horizontally aligned rhombus outlined in white – a rendition of the angled Redemptionist version of the round, Yggdist layered shield that serves as the religious emblem for both faiths. At the center of this Redemptionist shield in turn is the RiAlban dynasty's heraldric golden dragon. This flag serves both as the official national flag of the UKE (meaning both private and public organizations can use it) as well as its official war flag on land albeit subordinated to the Federation's.
The UKE also uses a heavily modified variant of this flag for use on naval war vessels and airships alongside the Federate standard. The base of this "White Ensign" is white with a gold-blue ailm emblazoned on it. The entire national flag of the UKE save for the shield and dragon is in turn printed into the upper left field of the flag. The most convincing historical argument for why the White Ensign is a unique flag used for the REN and the REAF while the national flag exists is that the REN used to operate in three distinct "squadrons," with the White Squadron being the most senior. When the Blue and Gold Squadrons ultimately merged into the White Squadron, the REN maintained the use of the White Squadron's ensign to keep its traditions alive until a decision could be made on whether to use the national flag or choose a new design. However, this political debate seemed to have died out on its own, and the REN maintained the use of the White Ensign until it was formalized by the time of the Valois Revolution for lack of any other designs. With the REAF's airships using combat doctrines derived from old Age of Sail naval doctrines, the REAF also began using the White Ensign.
The RiAlban dynasty of the UKE uses a gold dragon as its heraldric animal. The history of this goes back to the last days of Kemry's retroactively named Llywelyn (pronounced "the-well-in") dynasty, which also used the golden dragon as its heraldric animal. While it remains unclear as to why it was mandated to start, one of the conditions for the title of Prince of Kemry to fall to the RiAlban dynasty was for the latter to use the golden dragon as well. Perhaps deducing that giving up a heraldric symbol for an entire principality was a fair trade, the RiAlban dynasty traded its thistle for the dragon and has since kept it.
People of the UKE
"Keep calm and take heart! Keep doing your part!"
- Anti-Imperial propaganda poster in the UKE, first distributed in 1935 EC
Despite the political dominance of the Alban and Kemraic peoples of the Edinburgh Isles, the stereotypical Edinburgher is actually a Southumbrian. As mentioned before, Southumbria enjoys the plurality of the UKE's population and resource reserves, but it also speaks as its native tongue Standard Europan as do Frisia, Gallia, all of the Skaney Peninsula, and even many in the Imperial home regions surrounding the Crystal Sea – the lasting legacy of Valois's Nordomme expansion. These factors combined with the Southumbrian domination of the REN and the Royal Marines – oftentimes the first Edinburghers foreigners see for better or for worse – have promoted the image of the Southumbrian man and woman of all social classes as the first thing that foreigners think of when asked to picture a citizen of the UKE in their minds. The two dominating stereotypes of typical Southumbrians according to recent surveys conducted by Edinburgh's Royal Tourism Authority just before the outbreak of the Great War is that they are either posh, nicety-obsessed gentlepeople who cannot ever liberate themselves of either their stiff upper lips or their superiority complex, or unkempt yet good-natured workmen who speak in incomprehensible accents and also cannot be shaken by danger. While not the kindliest depiction of Southumbrians, many in the subordinate kingdom have adopted these images as a point of pride. Albans and Kemrishmen also fall prey to similar stereotypes, albeit with even more incoherent accents.
Peculiarly, Alba and Kemry to a lesser extent still hold the traditional clan system in high regard. There are hundreds of pre-Bhonnaich clans recorded in Alban and Kemraic genealogies, and many of Edinburgh society's men of science and captains of industry hail from the old, powerful clans such as the MacAlastairs (who also hold the coveted role of High Stewards for His Edinburgh Majesty) and the O'Neills (many generals and even field marshals in the Edinburgh Army's history). While the clans technically are more of a means of tracking family lineages nowadays than anything serving as a base of political power or major death feuds, they are still a highly respected tradition of the north and west that many are loathe to leave behind. Reflecting this pride for clans and ideals are the tartan patterns that many men and women of Alba and Kemry wear; each tartan pattern represents a specific clan or even more broader ideals and concepts, leading to hundreds of tartan designs being spotted over the long years. While the infamous kilt is more of an Alban piece of attire and more than anything used primarily on ceremony or combat duties, the centuries of co-existence and friendship forged in fire between the Albans and the Kemrish has led to many from these two peoples adopting and wearing the kilt openly if only to take a jab the Southumbrians.
Alba's and Kemry's manners of speaking are also quite peculiar. Due to the population size and economic influence of Southumbria, and the sheer necessity of speaking Standard Europan to deal with diplomacy, all member kingdoms of the UKE have adopted Standard Europan as their primary official language. Even so, the majority of Albans and the Kemrish speak the languages of their ancestors, and this has created a situation where their Standard Europan is highly accented to the point many in the mainland consider it almost an entirely separate dialect. Sign thefts by tourists in northern and western Edinburgh are reportedly not uncommon because of the north's and west's adherence to their traditional languages, which can oftentimes generate terrifyingly long and complex words.
Most importantly, the Albans and the Kemrish do not take kindly to having their nation threatened. The long history of the UKE back all the way to the invasion of the Ravennans has cultivated a warrior spirit in the men and women of the north and west. The rough terrain and lifestyles of the northern and western Edinburgh Isles have created men and women who can outlast anyone else on the continent short of a Muscovian peasant, and the centuries of surviving war and strife have cultivated a population who not only remain proud of their heritage, but will absolutely give their lives to defend it. The average Edinburgher may not appreciate the presence of a large, permanent ground army, but they will absolutely flock to it when King and Country are under threat.
The Alban Model of Politics
"We consider this system to be optimally balanced, as many things in the world ought to be."
- Sir Isaac Evans, Prime Minister of the UKE
After many centuries of internal dispute and the occasional outright conflict as was seen during the Edinburgh Parliamentary War, the people and lawmakers of the UKE shaped what is called the Alban Model. The Alban Model is driven primarily by idea that power comes not only from the Redeemer or the monarch, but also that neither does it come from the people alone. Rather, power is to be shared and concentrated in the Parliament (Pàrlamaid in Alban, Senedd in Kemraic) at the building somewhat ominously called Blackhall, which allows both the common man and the nobleman to have their voices and concerns heard and addressed with due diligence and respect for ranks. In short, it is a system that balances the top and the bottom of society by having them meet in the middle.
Parliament is divided into the Chamber of Commons and the Chamber of Lords, with each chamber possessing different checks on the other. The Commons is where the bulk of Parliament's laws are born and possibly be signed off, and where the bulk of Parliament's debates start and die. The Commons also takes on the powerful responsibility of expelling Cabinet members including the Prime Minister, reinforcing the idea that the Commons is the main driver of political power in the UKE. Each Member of Parliament (MP) in the Commons is responsible for representing their immediate constituency and faces elections every three years; they represent the working and middle classes of Edinburgh, and as such face harsh consequences from their voters (in theory) if they cannot do this fundamental job correctly.
The Chamber of Lords is the upper chamber of Parliament, and its role has degraded significantly from prior decades. For the time being, this does not mean the Chamber of Lords is utterly toothless; this chamber acts as a major checkpoint for the Commons to overcome when laws, Cabinet member expulsions, and other important governmental decisions raise disagreements amongst the majority of the Lords. Thus, the Chamber of Lords has the power to "strongly encourage" additional debates for and revisions to any actions the Commons wishes to take for up to one year since the question was raised. Unlike with the Commons, the Chamber of Lords only admits new members from those in the Edinburgh peerage to serve for life, and only if the majority of the Lords agree to admit an aspiring candidate. With the rising influence of levelist politics, however, the longevity of even these last remaining powers is in question.
The King of Edinburgh under the Alban Model has virtually no real political power; he cannot introduce bills, and he is expected (although not formally required) to give the Royal Assent to any bills that reach him. Any foreign diplomacy he may do is more or less made redundant by the work of the Cabinet situated in a wing of the Holyroot Palace proper. However, he still possesses two major powers that can completely upend the political scene in the UKE possibly at a catastrophic cost to his dynasty. The first is the authority to dissolve Parliament: while this power is normally exercised every three years to mark the end of that current term, the King can in practice dissolve the Parliament early and force snap elections if the government is terminally deadlocked. While this authority has not been exercised for the past two and a half centuries since the formal establishment of the UKE, Edinburgh political pundits point out that if the King dissolves Parliament and the new Parliament is restaffed with members of the prior one, all the King has done is to give cause for Parliament to nurse a vendetta against him. Given the extremely lethal consequences for King and Country the previous time Parliament had nurtured an active grudge against a sitting monarch, this option is extremely rarely even considered. The King has the second power to choose literally whomever he desires to be Prime Minister, but this in practice is virtually never taken – rather, the King agrees with whomever the majority party puts forward as the candidate.
In the end, the Alban Model is essentially a democratic system, in which citizens vote for their preferred MPs and political parties and have these democratically elected representatives lead the nation albeit with several opportunities for higher classes to delay and modify these courses of action. While there have recently been talks of possibly establishing devolved parliamentary representation at subordinate kingdom levels, these talks are as of the time of this writing unlikely to get far. Such proposals had been brought forth multiple times in the past, only to all fail getting beyond the Chamber of Lords.
Levelists and Fascists
The UKE's well-developed economy and industrial base have paradoxically made it a hotbed for political discontent. The levelists have been an increasing part of Edinburgh political life since the mid-1800s EC, best embodied in the Republican movement that sought to completely overthrow the monarchy and establish a true republic in Edinburgh, but the First Europan War's catastrophic waste of life and the prospect of a second, larger war so soon after EWI gave the Levelists in the UKE an adrenaline shot in the arm. Organizing more rapidly between the 1910s and 1930s EC than any other period before, the levelists established the Working Class Party in 1914 EC. By 1925 EC, the Working Class Party became a third party large enough to threaten the traditional Conservative-Liberal political balance, promising far fairer working conditions and a further equalization of political power.
While the levelists and their organizations would have a major impact on Edinburgh's industries as demonstrated in the next section, their political contributions in the interwar period curiously did not necessarily change the overall trajectory of Edinburgh foreign policy. Levelists shared a common enemy in the form of the Empire with the rest of the Federation and its more conservative factions. While the Working Class Party's official stance toward international crises is to reserve open warfare as the absolute last resort, it does not give up its use at all. In light of this, certain levelist actions such as the Great Textile Strike of 1933-1934 EC cannot be officially credited to the Working Class Party, and the party itself had attempted to convince the strikers that their timing was not optimal.
The rise of the levelists in Edinburgh politics after EWI correlated to the rise of fascist politics in the country, which in turn began roughly after the end of that terrible conflict. Technically speaking, neither Latium's nor Ellas's breeds of fascism (officially "cohortism" and "phalanxism") are particularly friendly to levelists, branding them as mostly naive idealists who do not comprehend the importance of capital and national unity across class divides in times of crisis. However, neither are they permanently hostile to levelists, viewing them as potential allies to push for the unification of all men and women together in the name of achieving radical national objectives against the tired, broken systems of liberal democracy and reactionary monarchism. While fascism would best be covered in more detail in another volume, fascism in the UKE manifested itself in similar sectors using similar tactics as those of the levelists. As it turned out, more than a few participants in the Great Textile Strike were local "Oakhearters" seeking to use the opportunity to increase their power in the country while also genuinely supporting the levelists in their efforts to improve the position of the textile workers. Fascists in the UKE can generally be found in the Oak's Heart Party, one of the country's smaller political parties and recently experiencing political struggles after denouncing and in turn being denounced by its unholy ally the Working Class Party against the backdrop of increasing tensions between the Federation, the League, and the Syndicate in central-east Europa.
The Edinburgh Economy
"Edinburgh ducats should be feared as much as Edinburgh cannonballs.
- Camila de Galciana, first Viceroy of the Galcian Viceroyalty
The UKE is the second-most industrialized member state of the Federation on account of two factors. The first factor is its unusually large reserves of ragnite, the biggest mines in the UKE located close to the eastern coast around the city of Hadleigh. The second factor is its overseas empire kickstarting industrialization through increased demand for finished goods and warships to protect access to the overseas possessions, and supply of raw materials alongside the aforementioned easy access to ragnite. The end result was that Edinburgh heralded the advent of the Industrial Revolution alongside Prutenia, and soon amassed incredible wealth.
Edinburgh's industry prides itself on its steel and textiles production, bolstered by Edinburgh's easy access to iron and ragnite, as well as its still somewhat potent sheep ranching industry to provide the raw materials. It was this steel and textiles production that helped Edinburgh become the first nation in Europa to connect its people through railroads and reduce the cost of basic clothing to the point where even working families could now begin to save money and break free of their economic class. However, as the population grew especially with newfound advances in medicine reducing the death rates, Edinburgh's traditional farming industries began to falter severely. Edinburgh to this day now relies on food imports to keep its more than 50 million inhabitants fed and healthy, and requires constant imports of cotton, wool, and other materials to augment its domestic production. With anticipated difficulties in Edinburgh's overseas colonies in the near future due to probable Syndicate interference, the Edinburgh government has begun shifting even more to free trade with established countries such as Kemat and the USV for their cotton and the USV again for its wool and foodstuffs from its vast agricultural sector.
The increasing influence of levelist and fascist politics in Edinburgh society have made themselves known through their respective negative, high-profile economic impacts. The Levelists' most famous act of economic assault in Edinburgh was the Great Textile Strike of 1933-1934 EC, in which textile factory workers involved in producing military uniforms and gear engaged in strikes in protest of what they feared to be the single biggest war in history looming over the horizon. Furthermore, if they could not stop the war from happening, they demanded that they should at least be paid more for their work. With its budget already stretched to the limit with its naval construction plan, Holyroot refused to pay the strikers higher wages. The resulting strike lasted into the following year, augmented by fascist organizations who officially took umbrage with what they saw as the state's betrayal of their most critical workers and used the opportunity to attempt a strengthening of their position, despite the attempted intervention of the Working Class Party. The Great Textile Strike crippled the Edinburgh textiles sector when it was needed the most to prepare for the seemingly inevitable war. Only with the USV's Arsenal Lease easing the material situation did the UKE finally break the Great Textile Strike, but the major gap in production would doom Edinburgh to use Arsenal Lease equipment for a full year and a half after the opening of hostilities with the Empire.
The UKE was one of the first countries in Europan history to conceive of the idea of joint stock companies – privately held entities funded by multiple backers to achieve a common economic objective. Much of Edinburgh's early colonization efforts were backed with company assets, and companies such as the Elisia Company in the New World and the South Asha Company in the Old World became extremely wealthy through their economic actions oftentimes bordering on the cut-throat. The SAC in particular became notorious for being a corporate state in all but name in Bharat, finally toppled by Parliament only after the crisis of the 1850s that almost caused Edinburgh to lose the entire subcontinental colony. Edinburgh itself is a major trade partner for most countries around the world even for those that were Imperial allies, utilizing their overseas reach and contacts to secure optimal markets. After all, an island nation as crowded and productive as the UKE cannot survive without robust trade. Outside the USV, the UKE might possess some of the largest collection of nouveau riche businessmen and traders in the world. The wealth generated by the imperial trade network has also benefitted Edinburgh commoners as well, with Edinburgh stores routinely stocked with goods that those in central and eastern Europa would perhaps only see once or twice in many years. The average Edinburgher enjoys considerably higher salaries than in most of the rest of Europa, although this does mean the costs of living are accordingly slightly higher.
As one of the biggest port cities in the world, Appledore in the south of the UKE hosts one of the world's largest stock market exchanges. However, fears about causing an economic crash at the worst possible moment in the interwar period – fears compounded by several infamous Edinburgh economic bubbles in the past such as the Kemraic Bay Bubble of 1725 EC and the total collapse of the New Alba Company after its disastrous colonization attempt in Castrian territory – forced Holyroot to implement rapid controls over the stock market, which itself created a minor bank panic in 1929 EC. However, the Appledore Stock Exchange still holds strong as a moneymaker for the companies and the investors involved, however much uncertainly still lingers regarding when the stock market may suddenly crash.
Major Cities of Edinburgh
"Those who wonder how Edinburgh could produce such men of resilience and action are encouraged to see the majesty of a thousand years of history by standing proper on Edinburgh soil. Only by venturing to the foggy north of Clogwyn, to the white cliffs of its south, and to the unbroken beauty of Eira's wilderness can one truly understand the people of the Edinburgh Isles and how they have come to once rule the world."
- Robert Chaucer, Echoes from the Ash Grove
With its tumultuous history spanning over a thousand years, the UKE has many old and expansive cities with their own unique, rich histories. The capital city of both the UKE as a whole and the subordinate Kingdom of Alba is Castleton, located to the far north of Clogwyn and hosting roughly a million inhabitants. As with many old Europan cities, Castleton is centered around Holyroot Palace, in reality a castle which has seen multiple waves of expansions and upgrades ever since its first motte-and-bailey design was finalized in the early 13th century EC. As the city became far too big for the walls, especially with the population explosion accompanying the Industrial Revolution, Castleton expanded out haphazardly all across the rocky coastline of northern Alba. Other noteworthy areas in Castleton include Parliament Square, in which both the Parliament building Blackhall and the city's most important clock tower are found and attract untold thousands of visitors every year. Sinclair Park is also a major draw due to its magnificent gardens (for the climate they are in, in any case) as well as its noteworthy mathematics school located within. The old University of Castleton is found somewhere near the outskirts of the city on top of a hill, and is one of Edinburgh's oldest and most prestigious universities.
Edinburgh's actual largest city and by far its wealthiest is Appledore, also the capital city of the Kingdom of Southumbria and the united kingdom's primary port. Appledore is where most visitors to the UKE – both public and private – first stop before moving onto other cities within the nation, and boasts a formidable financial district that in fact has its own unique laws and governance systems compared to the rest of the city. As with Castleton, Appledore was built around a castle that once served as the home of the Quordelion kings of Southumbria before the family's ill-timed demise from disease and probable conspiracy. Also notable in Appledore are the massive Tidebreakers – stout walls that surround the main harbor, acting not only as defense against naval foes but against any bad weather. This system is quite important as the REN has the city as its primary headquarters and bases the REN's Home Fleet at this location.
Hadleigh is one of Edinburgh's largest industrial cities, exploding in size and importance during the Industrial Revolution due to its critical location in the center of Clogwyn's single biggest ragnite reserves and right on one of the Humbrian River's biggest tributaries. If any major industrial breakthrough in Edinburgh is achieved, it is almost certainly in this city. Coincidentally, the proximity and ease of obtaining ragnite in the Hadleigh area combined with the flat terrain of the region makes Hadleigh the home of the Edinburgh Army's armored corps and the Royal Edinburgh Air Force.
Bhonnaich is not so much a city as it is a town, and a relatively sleepy one at that. The population of Bhonnaich numbers less than 50,000 and relies primarily on farming and ranching. However, Bhonnaich is one of the most symbolically important locales in all of the Edinburgh Isles as this town is the location where the Treaty of Bhonnaich was signed in 1701 EC to formalize the creation of the United Kingdom of Edinburgh. For Albans and Kemrishmen, this town is also the place where the beginning of the end for Southumbria's bid for hegemony died; as such, there is a ceremony every year on September 1 to commemorate the battle and remember the fallen. Bhonnaich also trains some of the Edinburgh Army's finest officers and troopers through hosting the Royal Military Academy, although this does cause some local frictions; local ranchers have on more than one occasion have had their cows go wandering out of their farms after new Ranger trainees and officer cadets cut their wires to navigate the countryside.
Tyrella is one of Eira's largest cities and one of its most culturally important locations. Even after the Redemptionist faith swept through the Edinburgh Isles, Tyrella remained steadfast as a defender of the Ailmish faith all the way to the modern day. As a result, it is considered to be the single best location for research into ancient Alban customs and society due to the number of followers of Ailmism that continue to keep their non-written traditions alive. Tyrella is also important historically as one of Edinburgh's first cities that successfully proved the feasibility of co-existence between Redemptionists and Ailmists, with local Alban Church institutions and Ailmish communities regularly observing each others' holidays and traditions.
Edinburgh Colonies
"The Sun will never set on Edinburgh. We'll shove the cXXX back up in the sky with our bare hands if we have to."
- Dame Blanche Kirkland, current Prime Minister of the UKE
The collapse of Edinburgh authority in North Vinland following the Vinnish Independence War of the 1780s EC at first provoked no real change in Edinburgh colonial policy. The shock of losing such a major part of its overseas empire did trigger a change in foreign policy to become more willing to seek long-term alliances on the Europan continent to relieve the pressure of having to consider multiple regions of the world for direct intervention. However, it took the collapse of Edinburgh rule in Eureka in the South Pacific and its near-collapse in Bharat in the 1850s EC – both triggered by Castleton's lack of proper cultural oversight and its insufficient control of military force in these regions to prevent such uprisings in the first place – for Parliament to finally overhaul its old colonial system.
Under the terms of the Colonial Administration Reform Act of 1866 EC, all remaining Edinburgh colonies would be given even broader authority to run their own economies, cultural practices, and local politics, but would totally concede foreign policy and military authority to Edinburgh. Required taxes and tribute to Edinburgh were slashed significantly in favor of favorable terms of trade for Edinburgh in these colonial markets; all local politics would be administered by local politicians so long as they did not take actions that Parliament declared with evidence endangered the empire. Edinburgh would also foot the cost of all military-related actions in these colonies in exchange for having total control over said militaries through handpicked Edinburgh military missions. In short, the CARA gave broad freedoms to these colonies in terms of local politics and economics (what they wanted to run their own livelihoods) while giving up all military and diplomatic authority to Castleton (what it wanted in order to maintain its ultimate authority abroad). In addition, Parliament established for each colony a cultural investigative office to better understand the sensibilities of colonial subjects in order to avoid a repeat of the disaster in Bharat caused by issuing local soldiers ammunition and gear made from byproducts of animals considered sacred. If small sacrifices like listening to colonial subjects prevented another Vinland, another Eureka, and another Bharat – so be it.
A short list of Edinburgh colonies as 1943 EC includes:
The Bharatian Raj, the crown jewel of the Edinburgh colonial empire. Bharat is considered so important for the survival of the empire through its incredible wealth of men and materiel that the majority of the entire Edinburgh armed forces is always stationed around the world in a way that prioritizes Bharat's survival alongside Edinburgh's own even at the expense of other regions. During the Great War, Bharat contributed over two million armed men and women for the Federate cause as frontline and logistics infantry, albeit all under Europan command and control as per CARA.
The Transblue Dominion, an Edinburgh colony based upon the Frisian and Gallian expatriate states already there before they were militarily conquered by Castleton. Positioned at the strategically vital southern tip of Nubia, Transblue is unique in that it employs a robust domestic arms industry to more easily supply Edinburgh troops in both the Europan/Nubian theater of war and the Bharatian theater, as well as enjoying considerably more autonomy than most Federate and even Edinburgh colonies. This autonomy often creates a conflict in describing how many members of the Federation there are, as not even the Federate General Assembly can exactly decide whether to include Transblue.
Edinburgh West and East Nubia, two additional important junctures in securing supply and communication lines between Edinburgh and Bharat.
Edinburgh Hanggong, a strategically vital port for Edinburgh's imperial presence in the Pacific, and its prime trading port with the Grand Republic of Cathay. A perpetual diplomatic pain point between Edinburgh and Cathay due to the latter's territorial claims to it even after the negotiated peace with the PAC in 1941 EC.
Edinburgh East Bharatines, overseeing part of the overall East Bharatines island chain alongside Frisia. Is a relatively major producer of rubber for the Federation.
Edinburgh Wildcoast, splitting up the Wildcoast region in northern South Vinland alongside Frisia. Is a robust agricultural exporter.
Shortly after the Great War, the following colony began an attempt to break away entirely:
The Netswellia Dominion (now calling itself the Republic of Netswellia), located in southern Nubia just north of Transblue. Unlike with Transblue, the Netswellian colonial administration has been a constant thorn in Castleton's side due to its belief that its agricultural and raw resource output would allow it to truly be free of any overlord. Has currently declared independence from the homeland and is fighting Edinburgh troops, exploiting the terrain and the war exhaustion of the Edinburgh colonial empire to buy itself as much breathing space as possible. It is currently suspected the Syndicate is somehow funneling arms to the revolutionaries, even though the Syndicate itself is still locked in a civil war and Netswellia is landlocked.
As of the end of the Pacific War in 1941 EC, the following independent states form Edinburgh's sphere of influence in East Asha:
The Kingdom of Shangria is a theocratic monarchy, settled in the Himavan Mountains to the far west of Cathay. Originally part of the Celestial Empire that made up Cathay and the Tatar Khaganate, Shangria broke off from centralized Celestial control with the collapse of that East Ashan state during the Cathayan Independence War. While its population is small and its industrial potential extremely limited, Shangria's mountainous lands virtually guarantee its safety. Shangrian volunteers make up some of Edinburgh's best troops in the Bharatian theater of operations, known for their bravery and skills in hand-to-hand combat.
The Riverlands Confederation is comprised of southwest Cathay, formed from primarily minority ethnic groups resisting Cathay's attempts to reintegrate them under Zhongjing's control since the Cathayan Independence War. Subjugated in early 1935 EC by force while the Federation was reeling from the Empire's preemptive strike at the start of the year, the Riverlands were liberated as part of the negotiated peace between the Federation and the PAC. Actually jointly regulated by both Edinburgh and Valois, the latter also having a major Ashan colony directly next to the Riverlands but lacking enough manpower to take over sole control.
However, whether the UKE can maintain their control over these colonies and spheres for long is now in question, as more than one Federate General Councilman has raised concerns over the true scale of the Syndicate's reach beyond Europa.