This is a story thread made for the purpose of playing the annexation of Istlypu by Eitoan. Istlypu is a buffer state, established after Eitoan's independence from Ralkovia. It is ethnically Eitoan, and has never been successful.
TG for entry before posting.
Istlypu (green)In the chaotic days during and after the 1901 Eitoan Declaration of Independence from the Ralkovian Empire, the Istlypu transmontane province of the Empire, always restive, descended into further lawlessness. Ethnically Eitoan, yet isolated from the newly independent Republic, the territory languished under the administration of weak-willed colonial administrators, with imperial edicts sporadically enforced by a motley contingent of second-rate garrison forces. The main commercial activity was trading and basic foodstuff processing at Lva’ad, site of the railyard of the Imperial Ralkovian State Railroad (IRSRR). In the hinterland of the great Aurensian Plateau, life had not changed much in the last 200 years.
Even in it’s isolation, the winds of change blew harshly across the border in the early years of the Republic, as ethnic rioting blighted Eitoan in 1918-1920. A rumored invasion by the Empire along the IRSRR route in February, 1920 caused closure and reinforcement of the border, and an Eitoan railroad strike paralyzing to business on both sides of the border. As law and order broke down in Lva’ad, the Throne prepared to abandon the troublesome area to it’s own devices. Finally, in August, 1921, with a hastily prepared ceremony, the Imperial governor handed over control of Istlypu to an ad-hoc Directorate, consisting of representatives of the Lva’ad Advisory Council and several prominent landowners.
Istlypu was hardly ready for independence. While conditions improved in Lva’ad with a realtively open border with Eitoan, the new nation struggled with the basics of statecraft. Law enforcement was lax, tax revenue uncertain, and the Directorate swung wildly between exuberant spending on basic improvements and severe austerity. Imperial troops returned in 1925 to protect Ralkovian interests, and Istlypu was the beneficiary of Eitoan police actions in 1928-1930, 1943-1946, and briefly, in 1950, to collect debts, protect Eitoan interests, and collect debts respectively.
Meanwhile, relations between Ralkovia and Eitoan, strained for years after Eitoan independence, thawed somewhat after leftists lost the 1937 Eitoan presidential election. There was further rapprochement between the two states following the 1956 “Bloody Yom Kippur” incident, where mutineers from the Empire’s northern colonies commandeered two squadrons and headed out on the Northern Vanguat Sea. The Eitoan Navy, under Presidential order fired on the mutineers, sinking one cruiser and two destroyers. All mutineers captured by the Eitoan Navy were summarily extradited to Ralkovia. This, and further warming of ties led to the 1959 Ralkovia-Eitoan Non Aggression Treaty.
As relations between Eitoan and Ralkovia improved, Istlypu’s isolation and relative poverty led to serious doubts among the better educated about the viability of an independent state. Within Istlypu, the major Eitoan Irridentist and Ralkovian Restorationist parties gradually found themselves more and more in agreement about the day to day operations of the Directorate, and resistance to annexation by Eitoan faded. Once again though, faced with massive tax resistance by livestock owners, the Directorate responded with inflationary policies, leading to the June, 1959 collapse of the Istlypu Quada. In the face of this crisis, the Directorate appealed to Eitoan for annexation. After approval by the Legislature, Eitoan President Eric Nissan set out terms for annexation: The Directorate was to submit a Note of Acceptance of Terms to the Eitoan Department of Foreign Affairs, and a Plebiscite for Annexation was to be held no later than July 9, 1961
