Columbia

The Empire of Columbia is a sovereign nation located deep in the Northwestern quadrant. It is governed primarily by a Chancellor with sweeping authority and jurisdiction, representing a hereditary monarch, the Emperor. The pride of Columbia comes from its beautiful capital city, Rotterdam, its smaller side communities, and its unique culture and national spirit.

The Empire of Columbia was founded in its current form on October 7th, 2017, and its current constitution was ratified on February 11th, 2018, however there were several versions of Columbia before that.

Devoted 3.0
The early history of Columbia begins in May of Devoted 3.0, when leaders of the (then) Empire of Caledonia, United Federation of Normandy, Kingdom of Jyrssa, and Free State of Astronya, came together to form the First Columbian Empire. This was the result of a few weeks of scheming between Chancellor kdeeks of Normandy and Emperor Onederful of Caledonia. Leaders of the United Federation, such as Hamboy_Jr, were also consulted about the unification of Northwestern territories to form Columbia, but did not all desire to join. Serious planning for the country began around April 25th, including the submittal of ideas for the capital city and the formation of a government. The Columbian Empire was based on a council of Grand Princes, who would elect amongst themselves one Emperor in a cycle of elections which occurred once every two months. Grand Princes would transfer the title to one another depending on the results of the vote. Columbia was further expanded when the empire's leaders offered a position as the third Grand Prince to King Zebra of Jyrrsa, who accepted the position and annexation of his kingdom's territory into the Columbian Empire. Additionally, the three leaders plotted to annex the Free State of Astronya, headed by Supreme Leader shadedoom, into the empire by means of coercion or military force. After several days of debate, shadedoom agreed to join Columbia as the fourth Grand Prince and allowed Astronya to become an autonomous district. Once fully united, the Columbian Empire was quick to declare independence from Chanada, who claimed much of its land, and invade the small state of Olympus which refused to be subjugated. The war began on May 3rd, as the volunteer Two Minute Militia formed of Astronyan citizens, and marched on the capital city of the Olympians. Coming only two days after the May 1st Conflict, in which Astronya had previously occupied the capital of Olympus and seized its colors, Astronyans were delighted to have another shot at their Southern rivals. The force was quick to act, and pearled three Olympian leaders within five minutes, then continuing to drive all other citizens away from the country until the city-state was fully occupied. After this, Columbia declined on Devoted 3.0 due to a lack of activity, not having a national Discord server until late in its existence, and the emergence of CivEx 3.0 as a server.

CivEx 3.0
The story of Columbia continued on the CivEx 3.0 server as the core population of Columbia reorganized, created a Discord server, and moved over. While the Columbian Empire on Devoted 3.0 was intended to resemble an imperialistic model of the United States of America, the leaders of Columbia decided to change directions a bit and model the new Columbian state on the Confederate States of America, installing a government which was much more tolerant of local autonomy over national power. Thus began the Confederate States of Columbia, alternatively known as the Columbian Confederacy. The leaders of this Columbian state were the same four oligarchs as from Devoted 3.0, now also adding Hamboy_Jr officially to their ranks, however this time they decided to rebrand themselves as Councilors and abolish the system of rotating authority, making a five way council of equal members. Upon joining the server, Columbians rallied to the center of the map, gathered basic resources, and made a long hike West to claim lands that would eventually become the Syndicate of Co-Prosperity. The key tool Columbians used to recruit new members was to tell them simply, "You have been annexed by the Confederate States of Columbia," and many new citizens willingly joined as a result of this. After a few days of living in the Southwest of the map, the Syndicate settlers in the region became aggravated that we were on what they considered their land, and seeing the complete lack of resources and fertility of the area, Columbia decided to move to the Northwest and settle a long peninsula in the area. There was a brief border dispute with the neighboring state of Arcation, but it was resolved quickly and in Columbia's favor. The oligarchs then divided land and responsibilities, founding the states of: Tennessee, Carolina, Louisiana, and Virginia. A nearby ice mountains continent was also annexed and dubbed Alaska, leadership of it being awarded to NeoTide_, as was the inactive nation of Icenia which became a colony of Columbia, and the far-flung colony of Pasadena led by wittle_wubzy. More autonomous territories were carved out of existing states, including the Autonomous Island of Seminole, and the Leylin Farmers. By then, the population was booming to a height of 34 citizens, but it also proved to be problematic in terms of national supplies and infrastructure. During all of this time of internal political change and restructuring, the nation's infrastructure struggled to be erected, essentially being limited to a large mining pit under Tennessee, a couple small buildings in Nashville, Tennessee, a couple buildings in Alaska, and a sizable but limited farm in Carolina. Additionally, members struggled to get allegiance, and to get materials like clay and melons because of badmin crimes. The struggle for allegiance was particularly troublesome, because Columbia had decided to align itself with the Consulate of Varsany, a state in dispute with Arcation. Arcation, being a very powerful militaristic state, was able to easily overrun Varsany and the limited Columbian aid that was sent due to the PvP restrictions of non-allegiant players.

Eventually, Columbian unity would fall out of the frying pan and into the fire, with the betrayal of Councilor Onederful and Provincial Administrator wittle_wubzy. For quite a while Onederful had been being coached by inactive Channer lunatic bgbba about why he thought Columbia was a horrible nation and why he should betray the state. Onederful took his advice one day, stole all of Columbia's most precious items that the players had all grinded for, including many stacks of obsidian acquired by Herr_Speer, and secretly dropchested it far away. He proceeded to lock everyone out of the national citadel groups, delete the national discord, and go inactive after that. wittle_wubzy then announced the illegal secession of Pasadena from the country. What they thought would destroy Columbia forever only made it rally together stronger. The country quickly made a response via the national news service BOX News, and began an ultimately unsuccessful hunt for Onederful and wittle_wubzy. A few days later wittle_wubzy begged to be allowed back in Columbia, but was rejected for his treasonous acts. Although national spirits were high at the time, a growing movement for reformation sprouted from the base of non-government citizens, advocating for a democratic form of government in which they would get a say and be able to elect a President of Columbia, because the history of Columbia on CivEx 3.0 had proven that the council of five oligarchs, who constantly disagreed and formed voting blocks which vetoed anything from happening, was not a well-functioning form of government. The population and oligarchy agreed to a compromise after much debate, and thus began the drafting of the first ever Constitution of Columbia. This process was promising, however CivEx 3.0 quickly died due to the release of CivClassics 2.0 and the rampant badmin crimes from the CivEx team. Columbia did not move over to CivClassics 2.0 when it came out because of a lack of citizen spirit to continue with the nation.

[History of the Grand Duchy and First Empire of Columbia on CivClassics 2.0 to be written.]

[History of the Unitary Federation of Columbia on Expand to be written.]

[History of the restoration and Second Empire of Columbia on CivClassics 2.0 to be written.]

Geography
Columbia consists of mostly mountainous terrain,with some coastal plain in the north and south and an inland sea in it's centre, the nation currently has four established counties; with each county supporting a metropolitan area in addition to Rotterdam's urban metropolitan area.

Counties
Rotterdam Metropolitan Area,

Motto: Seat and soul of the empire.

Capital: Rotterdam

County consists of all urban development associated with the city of Rotterdam including urban core, suburbs and outlying areas.

Rottoschoss,

Motto: For king, god and fatherland, shalt I serve.

Capital: none (defacto part of Rotterdam)

County consists of the mountainous terrain north of Rotterdam but south of the inland sea and Gerede river, notable for being the only official county to lack any major urban centre as it's primary role is to provide the capital with resources and can thus be considered Rotterdam's unofficial supporting county.

Xylvania,

Motto: A land of myths and a people of legends.

Capital: (Unnamed planned city)

Tracing it's routes back to an ill-fated exclave of the ancient far northern kingdom of which it shares a name, Xylvania remains a relatively underdeveloped county who's vast coal and iron reserves in addition to a steady supply of water from seasonal glacial runoff has granted it the privilege of being the supporting county for Columbia's largest planned factory town.

Grosskaseland,

Motto: Known by their crafts.

Capital: Lenze

Currently the single largest of the counties, Grosskaseland is a topographically diverse rural county stretching from the Gerede river and inland sea to vast infertile expanse of the northern coastal plain. It's hoped that the steady advance of technology should eventually allow the county to properly irrigate this land, thus allowing it to fully support both the rapidly increasing population of the county capital; the port city of Lenze, and the needs of other less arable regions of Columbia.

Lëtzebuerg,

Motto: Pride in the unit

Capital: Shiedstad

Originally a semi-autonomous Margraviate, Lëtzebuerg was readmitted as a county into Columbia following the Trinity term, 2018 constitutional reforms which aimed to fully centralize power through abolishing all institutions operating outside of Rotterdam.