Azophine Serania
History
Early history
The first settlements in what is now Azophine Serania were founded by Agamari settlers during the course of the mid-16th century, beginning with Novigavan, now Vosdavansk, the first human settlement in the Seranias, which was founded by admiral Felix Oddivosius in 1567. The early settlers were concerned primarily with finding a route to Ascesia and establishing supply posts and anchorages for trade ships, and not with more labour-intensive ventures in the interior of the newly-discovered continent, and most of the initial exploration thus focused on the northern reaches of Serania Minor and Serania Major, attempting to bypass the Felician Peninsula. Felix Oddivosius was followed closely by the Dekoralese captain Maza be Rozda and the Lacrean Shalov Guranyok, the latter of whom succeeded in making the first crossing to Ascesia and, subsequently, circumnavigation of the globe in 1593; Agamar and the Trade Leagues) of southern Great Neritsia established their own stopping-places along the northern coastline. After the War of the Pact of Osan and the Eternal Treaty of Nardash, administration of the trade leagues' colonies was notionally taken over by the central empire, and from this point onwards the Neritsovid emperors took a more direct interest in colonial affairs, leading to the West Wind Treaty which confirmed most of Agamar's existing holdings along the northern trade route but otherwise restricted new Agamari settlement to the Zlatny Archipelago. Although numerous settlements were founded during this period, Bes Lumska, Bes Aramy and Vosdavansk were the only cities of any significant size by the end of the 17th century.
Emergence of Azophine Serania
With the collapse of the Vesnite empire into internal succession squabbles with the death of Chistibor in 1700, beginning the Crown Wars, the peoples of the colonies divided into pro-Terophite and pro-Azophine factions. In many cases this was based on ancestral loyalties to specific regions of the metropole and, especially in the case of the nobility, family politics; Bes Lumska, at this point the largest settlement in the northern colonies, had Red and Blue quarters which regularly clashed over the succession. Clashes between these factions, the Red Birmeengs and the Blue Birmeengs, several times broke out into full-scale wars, which continued - in the form of the Fishermen's Wars - with very little involvement from the central administrations or military forces of the powers they notionally represented, changing the borders of the disparate collections of cities under one or another empire. The colonies enjoyed very significant freedom from metropolitan interference, and were for the most part culturally rather than politically linked to the motherland. The independence of the colonies led to an atmosphere of economic and intellectual freedom which saw the colonies experiencing sustained cultural and financial growth; the declining metropoles gradually came to depend more and more on colonial products and labour for their own survival.
At the same time, a strong anti-metropolitan and autonomist streak, already latent within the merchant classes who had fled the metropole after the War of the Pact of Osan, began to make itself apparent in reaction to these developments. The great wealth produced both by the Asceso-Joriscian Trade Route and, increasingly, by resource extraction such as the mining of precious metals, alongside the weakness of shipping, encouraged piracy; by the mid-18th century, a number of small independent pirate statelets had emerged along the Seranian coasts, preying on unescorted ships. In order to protect their trade - as well as establish greater control over their profits - a number of notionally illegal trade leagues, which gradually consolidated into the New Zaavic League and similar smaller bodies, established control over large portions of the Seranias. In many cases, the trade leagues gained popularity by bringing an end to perennial rioting and civil unrest caused by disputes over metropolitan politics.
From the end of the Neritsovid period, the colonies were divided up into three vast governorates ruled by centrally-appointed Plenipotentiaries, who were generally Scholars from the metropole, although towards the end of the 18th century colonial elites began to be appointed. For most of the early 18th century, there was a Plenipotentiary in Novigavan responsible for the settlements in the northern Seranias and the trade route to Ascesia and a Plenipotentiary in Maramillon responsible for the settlements around the Coactian Sea. From 1743 there was also a Plenipotentiary in Bes Adshek in Serania Major, who was notionally responsible for defending the distant and peripheral colonies of the far eastern coastline of the Seranias from the increasing predations of the Messenians, who seized a number of colonies notionally under Azophine authority - although without much protest or even notice from the metropole - over the course of the 18th century. Attempts to establish greater authority by the rulers in the metropole led to the creation of more plenipotentiaries, and by the beginning of the 19th century there were fifteen of them. Although these plenipotentiaries were notionally, as the name implies, all-powerful, in reality they were typically powerful only inasmuch as they became part of existing systems of cronyism and patronage extant in the colonies before their arrival, and the colonial settlements were generally so widely-spread out that central control was impossible. The freedom offered by colonial life encouraged intellectual development which in many cases was tantamount to heresy, and as a native Seranian intellectual elite developed, many large secret societies were established, most prominent among them the Immortal League, a Cathedralist group with strong millenarian tendencies. The relative proximity of the Terophatic and Azophine colonies to one another, as well as their shared language, meant that often there was more exchange between them than there was between them and their respective metropoles; as the tensions of the Fishermen's Wars and the Black and Blue Birmeengs faded, new movements formed across the Seranias.
Long 19th century
The 1780s saw great turmoil in the metropole: a resurgent Azophin under Boromir Alevy, pressing on a declining and weakened Terophan, managed to reclaim Great Pestul and extract several other concessions. Attempting to expand on these victories in the colonies, Alevy dispatched troops to Novigavan, planning on gaining control of the trade route to Ascesia permanently. His garrisoning of troops there, as well as new taxes and corvees imposed on the colonial population, began to cause significant resentment. In 1787, with the then Neritsovid Emperor - Borovest II - imprisoned in Terophan, a Neritsovid claimant - Bytibor Neritsy - had himself elected by a collection of colonial scholars resentful of the political situation. The Bytiborovid Insurrection - which was to last, on and off, for twenty-six years - soon took on a millenialist bent, and the execution of Bytibor himself by Azophine troops in 1788 after they had captured him under false pretences caused a rapid deterioration of the situation. Rioting began across Azophine Serania, and the Society of Immortals declared for Bytibor's son, Ostrobor Bytiborovid. The Bytiborovids were able to establish control over large swathes of the Seranias, and gained support from both Terophatic and Azophine colonies; it was to take three successive wars, interspersed with periods of uneasy peace, to bring an end to the Bytiborovid threat. The death of the third Bytiborovid, Ostrobor II Bytiborovid, brought an end to the Bytiborovid insurgency, and began a new era of much more direct metropolitan involvement in the colonies. In 1813, Azophin made use of its new military strength to launch the Far Empire Campaign, which over a year and a half succeeded in asserting control over large portions of the northern. These gains were further extended during the Great Peninsular War, confirmed in the Treaty of Tharamann, establishing Azophin as the foremost colonial power in the northern Seranias; by the end of the war, almost all of the mainland colonies of any significant size above the 44th parallel were under Azophine domination.
In 1849 the First Vosdavansk Proclamation began a series of reforms which brought the colonies closer to the imperial centre politically. The colonies were divided into four Marshalates and further into nine different provinces, establishing the basis of modern Azophine Serania and the name which they retain to this day. During the Glorious Reform period - with the Azophine Restoration - the colonies as a whole were placed under a Lyubim, Andrits Nyitsobor. Demographically and economically, the colonies continued to grow very rapidly, undergoing speedy industrialisation and seeing the construction of many enormous prestige projects, including the Grand Seranian Railway.
20th century and Long War
During the Long War, Nyitsobor's forces saw a string of major successes in colonial warfare, occupying and annexing a series of territories to the Neritsovid possessions and presenting a somewhat unfavourable contrast to the performance of the metropolitan Azophine armies. In addition to gains against Agamar and Terophan, Nyitsobor succeeded in establishing direct control over areas long under the de facto control of the New Zaavic League, paving the way for the post-Long War colonial reform. However, following the Kethpor Conference, which saw most of Nyitsobor's gains and some long-established Azophine possessions pass into foreign hands, the resentment of many colonial subjects - especially soldiers - led to major civil disturbance in the colonies. The predominantly Bes Aramy-based Northern Columns, deployed in metropolitan Azophin for almost a decade, arrested the Lyubim Bytibor Inevsky and announced the formation of new Azophine Debates. The subsequent Azophine Reconstruction, which saw radical political and social reorganisation under Ghozteprourkah Pishpilty - himself a colonial Serim - saw the dismantlement of the colonial order and the incorporation of the colonies into the metropolitan structure of autonomous, equal provinces, a process which was completed in 1965. The Kethpor Conference also saw the addition of much of Lacrean Serania to Azophin's colonial territories, which the Reconstruction also incorporated on an equal basis as the province of Hrvezesi (in addition to other smaller miscellaneous bodies such as the Mishty Islands which do not enjoy full provincial status).
In the post-Reconstruction period the colonies have continued to drive economic development in the metropole, forming a disproportionate part of the Azophine economy. The large availability of resources, alongside a more pliable labour force, have seen the slow movement of the vast majority of industrial production to the Seranias. The colonies have seen a number of significant military operations, particularly in the last two decades, when regular clashes with Terophan have taken place in the border regions with Terophatic Serania.
Culture
Inhabitants of the Azophine colonies are often referred to derisively as Skeměɡeil (Rashimic: ⱄⰽⰵⰿⱐⰳⰵⰹⰾ, 'shitneck'). Colonials also use this term, but its referent is instead those living in more isolated areas, who are viewed as backward.