Nation name: Neo-Byzantine ImperiumReally, the only massively unrealistic thing is Istanbul being a ghost town and Constantinople being refounded.
Population: ~20 million
Claims: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia+Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Marmara region, and Cyprus (both halves)
Military forces: 300,000 regular servicemen plus ~200,000 more in militias, reserves, and paramilitaries which comprise the thema who are mobilized during wartime. This official armed force makes up roughly 2.5% of the total population of the country.
Government: Oligarchic semi-democratic Monarchy. Most powers delegated to the Imperial Cabinet which is selected from Imperial Senate which is a mix of elected and appointed persons from each Imperial Theme.
Economic system (free market , planned, command, etc.): The Imperium is mostly a planned economy with the revenues from the trade between the Mediterranean and the black seas being distributed by the Imperial Treasury according to need and importance.
Resources in surplus (resources your country has more than it needs): Coal, hydroelectric power, metal ores
Resources in scarcity (resources your country desperately needs but doesn't have enough of): petroleum and natural gas, as well as food (land is generally poor in the balkans, especially those the Empire controls, so food must be imported by sea to continue population regrowth.
History: Following the catastrophe that was the plague, many urban centers were devastated, not the least of were the predominantly urbanized countries of the Balkans. Istanbul was effectively abandoned and left Canakkale in the Dardanelles as the primary controller of Marmaran sea trade. After the plague burned through its last victims many wondered what would become of the ruined carcass of Istanbul. It was then that a band of Slavic and Greek adventurers pushed in and proclaimed the Orthodox Republic of Constantinople. The new country was immediately at odds with the Turkish Marmaran Republic, which secured Izmit as a bulwark against their attempts to control the Bosporus strait. The Adventurers gathered support for their cause by appealing to an idea of returning to a golden age of pre-Ottoman military and cultural significance, and eventually the city grew enough to compete with their neighbors. Beneath the patriotism and arriving settlers, however, the city was still in dire financial straits and the citizens were basically squatters leeching off of a decaying city's infrastructure. The situation was untenable, and change was needed, yet the adventurers (who called themselves the Eagles of the Balkans) refused to make a settlement with the Turks or even with the Greek and South Slavic successor states (who were quite unhappy that their manpower was being leeched). Thus they were overthrown in a bloody coup by a former Greek Naval Officer named Demetrios Theotokopoulos, who was proclaimed Emperor of the Neo-Byzantine Empire. He recruited the young men who had been migrating to Constantinople and expanded his army to expand his territory into western Thrace, eventually capturing (and sacking) Thessalonica as well as Bulgarian Thrace. His plans for further territorial expansion were halted, however, by the remaining Greek and Bulgarian states forming a defensive pact which he had no hope of defeating. However, despite putting down his sword he was in a much better bargaining position against the Turkic Marmarans, who continued to hold the Dardanelles and the Asian side of the Bosporus. Together they made the Treaty of Mutual Ownership, whereby military forces were withdrawn from each other's borders and the revenues of ships passing through the straits were to be evenly distributed. This first step in de-escalation gradually reduced the enmity between the two to such an extent that the borders between them became effectively non-existent, and the two eventually merged into a single country under the condition of liberalizing the Imperial government and establishing an Imperial Senate which guaranteed equal ethnic representation, as well as giving funds for the restoration and maintenance of Istanbul's crumbling mosques and structures symbolic of the Ottoman period. The Orthodox Church was abolished as the sole state religion, and all edicts were to be also written in Turkish. This shift marked the beginning of the Imperial cabinet controlling the government, and when Demetrios died not long after the trend only accelerated. New wars were conducted which captured vast swathes of the Balkans, and the construction of a new navy allowed the conquest of Cyprus. On the surface, the Empire has never been stronger. Within, however, tensions brew between Orthodox Greeks, Serbians, and Bulgarians, and Islamic Turks and Albanians, the former of which feel that the increased conquests have created a heavy slant toward Orthodox minorities, prompting them to promote a conquest of Bosnia to rebalance the religious balance by including the mainly muslim Bosniaks or expansion into Anatolia to fill it with more Turks. The Orthodox, however, desire Romania and its rich oil reserves, which would also not so coincidentally increase the majority Orthodox population to overwhelming levels. Meanwhile a silent teenaged Emperor sits the throne, powerless and without leadership. Scouts sent into Anatolia haven't returned, with the more apocalyptic souls believing that another Mehmed lies within the mountains ready to flood the divided empire and re-institute Ottoman rule, further fueling the ethnic tensions. Can a cosmopolitan experiment continue to survive in this era of renewed nationalism and violence? Well, if you'd allow me, we might just find out...
Well if this was actually realistic almost every country here would be like your Canada: A generally crappier, but still relatively intact country. The only countries that would actually balkanize would be ones that already had major seperatist movements. Still, I've never really gotten this damned concept right. I've always stumbled somehow, whether it be turning the whole country into a Mr. Panos blog or getting invaded by a salty Halsey. Just once I'd like to not instantly shoot myself in the foot right out of the gate. Thus I'm gonna try. I'll probably fail, but I gotta try again.Nation name: Neo-Byzantine ImperiumReally, the only massively unrealistic thing is Istanbul being a ghost town and Constantinople being refounded.
Population: ~20 million
Claims: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia+Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Marmara region, and Cyprus (both halves)
Military forces: 300,000 regular servicemen plus ~200,000 more in militias, reserves, and paramilitaries which comprise the thema who are mobilized during wartime. This official armed force makes up roughly 2.5% of the total population of the country.
Government: Oligarchic semi-democratic Monarchy. Most powers delegated to the Imperial Cabinet which is selected from Imperial Senate which is a mix of elected and appointed persons from each Imperial Theme.
Economic system (free market , planned, command, etc.): The Imperium is mostly a planned economy with the revenues from the trade between the Mediterranean and the black seas being distributed by the Imperial Treasury according to need and importance.
Resources in surplus (resources your country has more than it needs): Coal, hydroelectric power, metal ores
Resources in scarcity (resources your country desperately needs but doesn't have enough of): petroleum and natural gas, as well as food (land is generally poor in the balkans, especially those the Empire controls, so food must be imported by sea to continue population regrowth.
History: Following the catastrophe that was the plague, many urban centers were devastated, not the least of were the predominantly urbanized countries of the Balkans. Istanbul was effectively abandoned and left Canakkale in the Dardanelles as the primary controller of Marmaran sea trade. After the plague burned through its last victims many wondered what would become of the ruined carcass of Istanbul. It was then that a band of Slavic and Greek adventurers pushed in and proclaimed the Orthodox Republic of Constantinople. The new country was immediately at odds with the Turkish Marmaran Republic, which secured Izmit as a bulwark against their attempts to control the Bosporus strait. The Adventurers gathered support for their cause by appealing to an idea of returning to a golden age of pre-Ottoman military and cultural significance, and eventually the city grew enough to compete with their neighbors. Beneath the patriotism and arriving settlers, however, the city was still in dire financial straits and the citizens were basically squatters leeching off of a decaying city's infrastructure. The situation was untenable, and change was needed, yet the adventurers (who called themselves the Eagles of the Balkans) refused to make a settlement with the Turks or even with the Greek and South Slavic successor states (who were quite unhappy that their manpower was being leeched). Thus they were overthrown in a bloody coup by a former Greek Naval Officer named Demetrios Theotokopoulos, who was proclaimed Emperor of the Neo-Byzantine Empire. He recruited the young men who had been migrating to Constantinople and expanded his army to expand his territory into western Thrace, eventually capturing (and sacking) Thessalonica as well as Bulgarian Thrace. His plans for further territorial expansion were halted, however, by the remaining Greek and Bulgarian states forming a defensive pact which he had no hope of defeating. However, despite putting down his sword he was in a much better bargaining position against the Turkic Marmarans, who continued to hold the Dardanelles and the Asian side of the Bosporus. Together they made the Treaty of Mutual Ownership, whereby military forces were withdrawn from each other's borders and the revenues of ships passing through the straits were to be evenly distributed. This first step in de-escalation gradually reduced the enmity between the two to such an extent that the borders between them became effectively non-existent, and the two eventually merged into a single country under the condition of liberalizing the Imperial government and establishing an Imperial Senate which guaranteed equal ethnic representation, as well as giving funds for the restoration and maintenance of Istanbul's crumbling mosques and structures symbolic of the Ottoman period. The Orthodox Church was abolished as the sole state religion, and all edicts were to be also written in Turkish. This shift marked the beginning of the Imperial cabinet controlling the government, and when Demetrios died not long after the trend only accelerated. New wars were conducted which captured vast swathes of the Balkans, and the construction of a new navy allowed the conquest of Cyprus. On the surface, the Empire has never been stronger. Within, however, tensions brew between Orthodox Greeks, Serbians, and Bulgarians, and Islamic Turks and Albanians, the former of which feel that the increased conquests have created a heavy slant toward Orthodox minorities, prompting them to promote a conquest of Bosnia to rebalance the religious balance by including the mainly muslim Bosniaks or expansion into Anatolia to fill it with more Turks. The Orthodox, however, desire Romania and its rich oil reserves, which would also not so coincidentally increase the majority Orthodox population to overwhelming levels. Meanwhile a silent teenaged Emperor sits the throne, powerless and without leadership. Scouts sent into Anatolia haven't returned, with the more apocalyptic souls believing that another Mehmed lies within the mountains ready to flood the divided empire and re-institute Ottoman rule, further fueling the ethnic tensions. Can a cosmopolitan experiment continue to survive in this era of renewed nationalism and violence? Well, if you'd allow me, we might just find out...
I've thought it over and your claim on Istanbul is okay ifWell if this was actually realistic almost every country here would be like your Canada: A generally crappier, but still relatively intact country. The only countries that would actually balkanize would be ones that already had major seperatist movements. Still, I've never really gotten this damned concept right. I've always stumbled somehow, whether it be turning the whole country into a Mr. Panos blog or getting invaded by a salty Halsey. Just once I'd like to not instantly shoot myself in the foot right out of the gate. Thus I'm gonna try. I'll probably fail, but I gotta try again.Nation name: Neo-Byzantine ImperiumReally, the only massively unrealistic thing is Istanbul being a ghost town and Constantinople being refounded.
Population: ~20 million
Claims: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia+Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Marmara region, and Cyprus (both halves)
Military forces: 300,000 regular servicemen plus ~200,000 more in militias, reserves, and paramilitaries which comprise the thema who are mobilized during wartime. This official armed force makes up roughly 2.5% of the total population of the country.
Government: Oligarchic semi-democratic Monarchy. Most powers delegated to the Imperial Cabinet which is selected from Imperial Senate which is a mix of elected and appointed persons from each Imperial Theme.
Economic system (free market , planned, command, etc.): The Imperium is mostly a planned economy with the revenues from the trade between the Mediterranean and the black seas being distributed by the Imperial Treasury according to need and importance.
Resources in surplus (resources your country has more than it needs): Coal, hydroelectric power, metal ores
Resources in scarcity (resources your country desperately needs but doesn't have enough of): petroleum and natural gas, as well as food (land is generally poor in the balkans, especially those the Empire controls, so food must be imported by sea to continue population regrowth.
History: Following the catastrophe that was the plague, many urban centers were devastated, not the least of were the predominantly urbanized countries of the Balkans. Istanbul was effectively abandoned and left Canakkale in the Dardanelles as the primary controller of Marmaran sea trade. After the plague burned through its last victims many wondered what would become of the ruined carcass of Istanbul. It was then that a band of Slavic and Greek adventurers pushed in and proclaimed the Orthodox Republic of Constantinople. The new country was immediately at odds with the Turkish Marmaran Republic, which secured Izmit as a bulwark against their attempts to control the Bosporus strait. The Adventurers gathered support for their cause by appealing to an idea of returning to a golden age of pre-Ottoman military and cultural significance, and eventually the city grew enough to compete with their neighbors. Beneath the patriotism and arriving settlers, however, the city was still in dire financial straits and the citizens were basically squatters leeching off of a decaying city's infrastructure. The situation was untenable, and change was needed, yet the adventurers (who called themselves the Eagles of the Balkans) refused to make a settlement with the Turks or even with the Greek and South Slavic successor states (who were quite unhappy that their manpower was being leeched). Thus they were overthrown in a bloody coup by a former Greek Naval Officer named Demetrios Theotokopoulos, who was proclaimed Emperor of the Neo-Byzantine Empire. He recruited the young men who had been migrating to Constantinople and expanded his army to expand his territory into western Thrace, eventually capturing (and sacking) Thessalonica as well as Bulgarian Thrace. His plans for further territorial expansion were halted, however, by the remaining Greek and Bulgarian states forming a defensive pact which he had no hope of defeating. However, despite putting down his sword he was in a much better bargaining position against the Turkic Marmarans, who continued to hold the Dardanelles and the Asian side of the Bosporus. Together they made the Treaty of Mutual Ownership, whereby military forces were withdrawn from each other's borders and the revenues of ships passing through the straits were to be evenly distributed. This first step in de-escalation gradually reduced the enmity between the two to such an extent that the borders between them became effectively non-existent, and the two eventually merged into a single country under the condition of liberalizing the Imperial government and establishing an Imperial Senate which guaranteed equal ethnic representation, as well as giving funds for the restoration and maintenance of Istanbul's crumbling mosques and structures symbolic of the Ottoman period. The Orthodox Church was abolished as the sole state religion, and all edicts were to be also written in Turkish. This shift marked the beginning of the Imperial cabinet controlling the government, and when Demetrios died not long after the trend only accelerated. New wars were conducted which captured vast swathes of the Balkans, and the construction of a new navy allowed the conquest of Cyprus. On the surface, the Empire has never been stronger. Within, however, tensions brew between Orthodox Greeks, Serbians, and Bulgarians, and Islamic Turks and Albanians, the former of which feel that the increased conquests have created a heavy slant toward Orthodox minorities, prompting them to promote a conquest of Bosnia to rebalance the religious balance by including the mainly muslim Bosniaks or expansion into Anatolia to fill it with more Turks. The Orthodox, however, desire Romania and its rich oil reserves, which would also not so coincidentally increase the majority Orthodox population to overwhelming levels. Meanwhile a silent teenaged Emperor sits the throne, powerless and without leadership. Scouts sent into Anatolia haven't returned, with the more apocalyptic souls believing that another Mehmed lies within the mountains ready to flood the divided empire and re-institute Ottoman rule, further fueling the ethnic tensions. Can a cosmopolitan experiment continue to survive in this era of renewed nationalism and violence? Well, if you'd allow me, we might just find out...
1. Consider it doneI've thought it over and your claim on Istanbul is okay ifWell if this was actually realistic almost every country here would be like your Canada: A generally crappier, but still relatively intact country. The only countries that would actually balkanize would be ones that already had major seperatist movements. Still, I've never really gotten this damned concept right. I've always stumbled somehow, whether it be turning the whole country into a Mr. Panos blog or getting invaded by a salty Halsey. Just once I'd like to not instantly shoot myself in the foot right out of the gate. Thus I'm gonna try. I'll probably fail, but I gotta try again.Nation name: Neo-Byzantine ImperiumReally, the only massively unrealistic thing is Istanbul being a ghost town and Constantinople being refounded.
Population: ~20 million
Claims: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia+Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Marmara region, and Cyprus (both halves)
Military forces: 300,000 regular servicemen plus ~200,000 more in militias, reserves, and paramilitaries which comprise the thema who are mobilized during wartime. This official armed force makes up roughly 2.5% of the total population of the country.
Government: Oligarchic semi-democratic Monarchy. Most powers delegated to the Imperial Cabinet which is selected from Imperial Senate which is a mix of elected and appointed persons from each Imperial Theme.
Economic system (free market , planned, command, etc.): The Imperium is mostly a planned economy with the revenues from the trade between the Mediterranean and the black seas being distributed by the Imperial Treasury according to need and importance.
Resources in surplus (resources your country has more than it needs): Coal, hydroelectric power, metal ores
Resources in scarcity (resources your country desperately needs but doesn't have enough of): petroleum and natural gas, as well as food (land is generally poor in the balkans, especially those the Empire controls, so food must be imported by sea to continue population regrowth.
History: Following the catastrophe that was the plague, many urban centers were devastated, not the least of were the predominantly urbanized countries of the Balkans. Istanbul was effectively abandoned and left Canakkale in the Dardanelles as the primary controller of Marmaran sea trade. After the plague burned through its last victims many wondered what would become of the ruined carcass of Istanbul. It was then that a band of Slavic and Greek adventurers pushed in and proclaimed the Orthodox Republic of Constantinople. The new country was immediately at odds with the Turkish Marmaran Republic, which secured Izmit as a bulwark against their attempts to control the Bosporus strait. The Adventurers gathered support for their cause by appealing to an idea of returning to a golden age of pre-Ottoman military and cultural significance, and eventually the city grew enough to compete with their neighbors. Beneath the patriotism and arriving settlers, however, the city was still in dire financial straits and the citizens were basically squatters leeching off of a decaying city's infrastructure. The situation was untenable, and change was needed, yet the adventurers (who called themselves the Eagles of the Balkans) refused to make a settlement with the Turks or even with the Greek and South Slavic successor states (who were quite unhappy that their manpower was being leeched). Thus they were overthrown in a bloody coup by a former Greek Naval Officer named Demetrios Theotokopoulos, who was proclaimed Emperor of the Neo-Byzantine Empire. He recruited the young men who had been migrating to Constantinople and expanded his army to expand his territory into western Thrace, eventually capturing (and sacking) Thessalonica as well as Bulgarian Thrace. His plans for further territorial expansion were halted, however, by the remaining Greek and Bulgarian states forming a defensive pact which he had no hope of defeating. However, despite putting down his sword he was in a much better bargaining position against the Turkic Marmarans, who continued to hold the Dardanelles and the Asian side of the Bosporus. Together they made the Treaty of Mutual Ownership, whereby military forces were withdrawn from each other's borders and the revenues of ships passing through the straits were to be evenly distributed. This first step in de-escalation gradually reduced the enmity between the two to such an extent that the borders between them became effectively non-existent, and the two eventually merged into a single country under the condition of liberalizing the Imperial government and establishing an Imperial Senate which guaranteed equal ethnic representation, as well as giving funds for the restoration and maintenance of Istanbul's crumbling mosques and structures symbolic of the Ottoman period. The Orthodox Church was abolished as the sole state religion, and all edicts were to be also written in Turkish. This shift marked the beginning of the Imperial cabinet controlling the government, and when Demetrios died not long after the trend only accelerated. New wars were conducted which captured vast swathes of the Balkans, and the construction of a new navy allowed the conquest of Cyprus. On the surface, the Empire has never been stronger. Within, however, tensions brew between Orthodox Greeks, Serbians, and Bulgarians, and Islamic Turks and Albanians, the former of which feel that the increased conquests have created a heavy slant toward Orthodox minorities, prompting them to promote a conquest of Bosnia to rebalance the religious balance by including the mainly muslim Bosniaks or expansion into Anatolia to fill it with more Turks. The Orthodox, however, desire Romania and its rich oil reserves, which would also not so coincidentally increase the majority Orthodox population to overwhelming levels. Meanwhile a silent teenaged Emperor sits the throne, powerless and without leadership. Scouts sent into Anatolia haven't returned, with the more apocalyptic souls believing that another Mehmed lies within the mountains ready to flood the divided empire and re-institute Ottoman rule, further fueling the ethnic tensions. Can a cosmopolitan experiment continue to survive in this era of renewed nationalism and violence? Well, if you'd allow me, we might just find out...
1. the abandoned bit is cut out
2. Your country 's Turkish community isn't some small, marginalized ethnic group.
Nation name: The Protectorate of RomaniaI apologize deeply, missed this one. Accepted.
Population: ~16 million
Claims: Present Day Romania
Military forces (include civilian militias/paramilitaries): 150.000 Standing Army, 300.000 in reserves and 750.000 in possible Militias.
Government: Constitutional Dictatorship
Economic system (free market , planned, command, etc.): Planned Economy with State-Owned Industry
Resources in surplus (resources your country has more than it needs): Metal Ores, Food, Raw Materials (e.g Wood, Stone), Oil and Natural Gases.
Resources in scarcity (resources your country desperately needs but doesn't have enough of): Rubber, Electronics, Commodity Goods, Technologies and Urbanization ( e.g. Old School computers and very few urban centers remaining)
History:SpoilerThe Plague entered Romania through its port cities and spread quickly, heavily impacting the whole country. The Capital was soon hit and the seat of power was no more. The people of Romania, already cynical about their government would not accept the so called martial law declared across the counties by their local administration and country wide riots broke out and chaos ruled.
Gavril Telechi was a wealthy business man in Alba Iulia, before the entire fall of the government. His owned businesses specialized in private security. Upon the arrival of the Plague on Romanian shores, he bought as many guns of the market as possible and stockpiled them in his company buildings across the country. Bolstering the loyalty and size of his local branches by promising safety for their families and great rewards in land and riches to his employees he secured himself a loyal military force.
As everything started to descend into chaos he ordered the forming of enclaves, to form holdouts across the country. He then proceeded to coerce at gunpoint the owners of his private security rival companies to turn over their Companies to him, fashioning himself a decently large army of guards armed with assault rifles.
He declared himself Lord Protector of Romania and proceeded to enforce order around the country. Some of his own Branch Managers rebelled, Warlords rose, but he secured his territories and earned the trust of the population with acts of selfness and great charismatic speeches, assuring his co-nationals to remain united... under him. After many years of fighting, Romania was fully reclaimed and a full-blown government was put in place with a puppet Senate and a mock Supreme Justice Court, Gavril controlled the hole country.
He implemented large agricultural projects, designed a state-owned economy, to keep the people fed and working, introduced a heavy PR campaign, akin to the corporatist kind, to keep the people happy and content and reconfigured the education programs with indoctrination campaigns make the children loyal to the state and introduced a military-police force loyal directly to him, keeping them happy with high wages, lands and hidden privileges.
Gavril Telechi, 48 of age, and his family, his wife Madeline(45) and children, Gavril the II (16), Mihai(15) and Elizabeth(13), rule the country from the old capital of Bucharest, having taken residence in the Former Palace of the Parliament.
OOF. Forgot I didn't explicitly accept this. Accepted.1. Consider it doneI've thought it over and your claim on Istanbul is okay ifWell if this was actually realistic almost every country here would be like your Canada: A generally crappier, but still relatively intact country. The only countries that would actually balkanize would be ones that already had major seperatist movements. Still, I've never really gotten this damned concept right. I've always stumbled somehow, whether it be turning the whole country into a Mr. Panos blog or getting invaded by a salty Halsey. Just once I'd like to not instantly shoot myself in the foot right out of the gate. Thus I'm gonna try. I'll probably fail, but I gotta try again.Nation name: Neo-Byzantine ImperiumReally, the only massively unrealistic thing is Istanbul being a ghost town and Constantinople being refounded.
Population: ~20 million
Claims: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia+Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Marmara region, and Cyprus (both halves)
Military forces: 300,000 regular servicemen plus ~200,000 more in militias, reserves, and paramilitaries which comprise the thema who are mobilized during wartime. This official armed force makes up roughly 2.5% of the total population of the country.
Government: Oligarchic semi-democratic Monarchy. Most powers delegated to the Imperial Cabinet which is selected from Imperial Senate which is a mix of elected and appointed persons from each Imperial Theme.
Economic system (free market , planned, command, etc.): The Imperium is mostly a planned economy with the revenues from the trade between the Mediterranean and the black seas being distributed by the Imperial Treasury according to need and importance.
Resources in surplus (resources your country has more than it needs): Coal, hydroelectric power, metal ores
Resources in scarcity (resources your country desperately needs but doesn't have enough of): petroleum and natural gas, as well as food (land is generally poor in the balkans, especially those the Empire controls, so food must be imported by sea to continue population regrowth.
History: Following the catastrophe that was the plague, many urban centers were devastated, not the least of were the predominantly urbanized countries of the Balkans. Istanbul was effectively abandoned and left Canakkale in the Dardanelles as the primary controller of Marmaran sea trade. After the plague burned through its last victims many wondered what would become of the ruined carcass of Istanbul. It was then that a band of Slavic and Greek adventurers pushed in and proclaimed the Orthodox Republic of Constantinople. The new country was immediately at odds with the Turkish Marmaran Republic, which secured Izmit as a bulwark against their attempts to control the Bosporus strait. The Adventurers gathered support for their cause by appealing to an idea of returning to a golden age of pre-Ottoman military and cultural significance, and eventually the city grew enough to compete with their neighbors. Beneath the patriotism and arriving settlers, however, the city was still in dire financial straits and the citizens were basically squatters leeching off of a decaying city's infrastructure. The situation was untenable, and change was needed, yet the adventurers (who called themselves the Eagles of the Balkans) refused to make a settlement with the Turks or even with the Greek and South Slavic successor states (who were quite unhappy that their manpower was being leeched). Thus they were overthrown in a bloody coup by a former Greek Naval Officer named Demetrios Theotokopoulos, who was proclaimed Emperor of the Neo-Byzantine Empire. He recruited the young men who had been migrating to Constantinople and expanded his army to expand his territory into western Thrace, eventually capturing (and sacking) Thessalonica as well as Bulgarian Thrace. His plans for further territorial expansion were halted, however, by the remaining Greek and Bulgarian states forming a defensive pact which he had no hope of defeating. However, despite putting down his sword he was in a much better bargaining position against the Turkic Marmarans, who continued to hold the Dardanelles and the Asian side of the Bosporus. Together they made the Treaty of Mutual Ownership, whereby military forces were withdrawn from each other's borders and the revenues of ships passing through the straits were to be evenly distributed. This first step in de-escalation gradually reduced the enmity between the two to such an extent that the borders between them became effectively non-existent, and the two eventually merged into a single country under the condition of liberalizing the Imperial government and establishing an Imperial Senate which guaranteed equal ethnic representation, as well as giving funds for the restoration and maintenance of Istanbul's crumbling mosques and structures symbolic of the Ottoman period. The Orthodox Church was abolished as the sole state religion, and all edicts were to be also written in Turkish. This shift marked the beginning of the Imperial cabinet controlling the government, and when Demetrios died not long after the trend only accelerated. New wars were conducted which captured vast swathes of the Balkans, and the construction of a new navy allowed the conquest of Cyprus. On the surface, the Empire has never been stronger. Within, however, tensions brew between Orthodox Greeks, Serbians, and Bulgarians, and Islamic Turks and Albanians, the former of which feel that the increased conquests have created a heavy slant toward Orthodox minorities, prompting them to promote a conquest of Bosnia to rebalance the religious balance by including the mainly muslim Bosniaks or expansion into Anatolia to fill it with more Turks. The Orthodox, however, desire Romania and its rich oil reserves, which would also not so coincidentally increase the majority Orthodox population to overwhelming levels. Meanwhile a silent teenaged Emperor sits the throne, powerless and without leadership. Scouts sent into Anatolia haven't returned, with the more apocalyptic souls believing that another Mehmed lies within the mountains ready to flood the divided empire and re-institute Ottoman rule, further fueling the ethnic tensions. Can a cosmopolitan experiment continue to survive in this era of renewed nationalism and violence? Well, if you'd allow me, we might just find out...
1. the abandoned bit is cut out
2. Your country 's Turkish community isn't some small, marginalized ethnic group.
2. They never were, and they want to keep it that way by advocating an invasion of Anatolia to flood the country with so many Turks that those Orthodox nut jobs will never be able to even think about it.
@Cinciri By the way, isn't Volgograd Oblast in the Southern Federal District?Oi, I just realized I don't actually own that, That might need to be added if possible @Mariam