Matal
Matal | |
|---|---|
 Ensign
 Emblem
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 Matal within the context of the Messenic Sea | |
| Capital | Gattam |
| Official languages | Gauguran |
| Religion | Siriash |
• Compact | Sophoran Compact |
| Government | Respublic |
• Prince | Qassid V |
• Marshal | Ratal Yaziz |
| Establishment | |
• Recorded foundation | 59 BCE |
• Kingdom of Gaugura | 1120 CE |
• Principate | 1759 |
| Area | |
• Total | 88,958 km2 (34,347 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 25,900,000 |
• Density | 291/km2 (753.7/sq mi) |
Matal is an Inner Joriscian and Petty-Lestrian country located on the Messenic Sea. Its political and economic center is located in Gaugura, but other important territorial constituents include the Aymeqafz islands, the Zahra peninsula on the western coast of Cazacasia, the Kutan islands, and Aheed in Lestria. On land, Matal borders Settecia, Qammam, Cazacasia, the Holy Empire, and Yufet; it is located closely to Nation 81 and Ihut.
Matal is part of the region historically and culturally identified with Qund. The eponymous city of Matal was founded in modern Gaugura shortly after Qundi conquest, and had a minor presence in the Messenic for much of the first millennium as a relatively humble city-state. The Kingdom of Gaugura, founded in 1120, grew to become a hegemon in the Messenic and a major thalassocratic trading power. However, beginning in the 16th century, Outer Joriscian influence from an ascendant and aggressive Great Neritsia weakened Gaugura, and the zamorsk system in the Messenic kept Gauguran power in check. The complex and, at times, contentious dealings with these foreign powers gave rise to an adventurous mercantile class known as the mutaaqid, whose political and cultural consciousness allowed them to rapidly ascend in power, bringing Gaugura back to the forefront of the Messenic in the 18th century; their reconstruction of its political system and identity in the next two centuries, mainly to handle dealings with two neighbouring emerging poles of civilisation, was complemented by pragmatic manoeuvring that has reclaimed and ensured modern Matal's position as a secondary power. Matal is a considered a very cosmopolitan state at the interface between the Messenian and Vaestic powers, and an exemplary cornerstone of the global system of interordinate relations.
Etymology
Matal is named for the ancient city of Matal, possibly rooted in Tolean madallu or matallu, meaning 'jewel, precious stone'. The country is also frequently known metonymically as Gaugura, its political center and metropole; this region's name is speculated to incorporate a form of Tolean girru, 'lion'.
History
Qundi culture expanded to Gaugura fairly early; by the first millennium CE, Qundi cities such as ancient Matal were attested to as a known, albeit minor, part of the Messenic Sea trade. The ascent of the stereotypical seafaring traders in Gaugura is attributed to several causes, including the decline of Carcharia, the gravitation of power and prosperity closer to the Bay of Meklet coast with the resurgence of Neokoi power and, later, the Messeno-Qundi Hosamian state, and the victory of rival Qundi states in the interior, which limited the options for expansion of these coastal polities. The incorporation of Gaugura into the Empire of Qund changed little of the local political environment.
The umara of Gaugura and Utnaqar, during and after their breaking away from the Qundi empire, were embroiled in a bitter struggle for power with the merchants who flourished from the perennially bustling trade through the Messenic, and with the authority of local lamneants. In Gaugura, the local aristocratic ruler came to a peaceful resolution with the merchants, in part through promising protection against the chaos of the recently-disintegrated Secote Empire, founding the Kingdom of Gaugura in 1120. Gaugura's power was felt both on land and at sea, limiting the Neo-Messenian Empire's southwards expansion, and establishing outposts on the north-eastern Lestrian coast. In the 14th century it entered an Empire-Pact with Qammam, fought the expansion of the Holy Empire in the late 14th century and then the Bloody Head Wars, before withdrawing from the Pact over disagreements with the Qammami lamneants.
The decline of Gaugura was primarily driven by the rise of Great Neritsia in the 16th century. With the Western Expedition and the concurrent expansion of Joriscian trade leagues westwards to secure a route to Ascesia via the Medius Sea, Gauguran power was threatened then directly curbed by these intruders, and privileges Gauguran merchants previously enjoyed in the Messenic were now taken over by the Combinations. Campaigns in the Messenic and Lestria as part of the Pact of Elsawat were the last great exerting endeavour undertaken by medieval Gaugura. Seranian fever, which arrived in 1605, dealt another major blow to Gauguran power, and in the aftermath a number of political and military setbacks forced many concessions to Vesnite traders and their compradors. As the authority of the king receded, a class of middlemen who dealt with the Joriscian trade directly would emerge as a new important political class, the mutaaqid.
The fall of Neritsia in the 18th century, and subsequent competition between local Vesnite presences in the Crown Wars, presented a great opportunity to local maritime powers. The Pesrardic League Wars (1710–28) saw local intermediaries of both Gaugura and Pesrard overthrow a nascent Legitimist cause in Pleschesnia, and secure a partnership with merchants from Lacre and Terophan. From these campaigns, and attempts to protect Gauguran interests against the Holy Empire, the mutaaqid had assembled a powerful military known as the Grand Litigation Army. By now they had totally overshadowed all other forces and institutions in Gaugura and many other domains; in 1759 the Gauguran monarchy would be deposed, to be replaced by a new Matali respublic dedicated totally for the mutaaqid, headed by a less ostentatious Prince elected from among themselves. Not long after in 1766, in what was one of the first major interordinate actions by the Prysostaia, Matal's primacy as an intermediary for Vesnites was reaffirmed and rationalised by the creation of the Mandate of the Messenic.
Cooperating closely with Terophan and Lacre, Gaugura charted out its domination of the Messenic largely in their name, which seemed to be cemented by the Meklet War (1803–1808), in which the rival cities in Pesrard and Utnaqar were defeated and forced to abandon further thalassocratic ambitions, and the seizure of major concessions from the Holy Empire while the latter was occupied in the East Lestrian War. But these victories emboldened the mutaaqid to a period of more independent-minded manoeuvring, such as seeking alliances with Interpellation Azophin, and becoming more pompous if not obstructive in dealing with their long-time Lacrean and Terophite partners. Matal would be duly punished in the Spytihnev's incursions of the 1830s, and a newly united Settecia seized Karasar in the Wars of il-Lateef (1834–1845) with much Terophatic approval. But both Lacre and Terophan were to suffer great crises after the Great Peninsular War, ultimately leaving Matal to continue its own ambitions, bolstered by the creation of the Admiralty-Marshalate of the Messenic at the Treaty of Tharamann in 1845, which superseded the Mandate, and again reaffirmed Matal's lucrative relationship to Vaestdom. Crowning all this was the Messenic Reconstruction, a major reform inspired by the Radiance from the 1840s to 1860s that established the quasi-estatist ewzah as the administrative units of Matal and conduits of mutaaqid power.
However, Matal was also to eagerly welcome rise of Madaria, Zeppengeran, and other Messenian powers in the second half of the 19th century, courting them as balances to the Vaestic powers, and soon again refashioning themselves on the new ideas emerging in fellow Sirian lands. By the 20th century, Matal was well into a program of reforms, some aphypnist, to bring it into line with southern Messenian ideals. This 'Sirianising' realignment was expedited by the falling Joriscian market share in the Messenic as the Messenian economies grew, and accelerated by the 1901 Thawar War which caused Vaestophobic panic among the elite belatedly embracing the Messenian repudiations. Matal would participate in the Long War as part of the Pact of Ilsnid, intervening in wars in Cazacasia starting in 1935 (following the Pact's anti-Azophine strategy on this front), and later as a Zepnish ally against Madaria in the 1950s. Having assisted two great regional victors, Terophan and Zeppengeran, in their respective theatres, Matal's status was again secured at the Congress of Kethpor. Since then, Matal's development has been characterised by by the vast growth of the service and finance sectors of the economy, large-scale investment in the development of northern Lestria, and the maintenance of friendly relations with most Great Powers.
Politics
At the most visible level Matal is presented to the Western and Eastern worlds as two very different entities. The Prince of Matal heads a Sirian respublican government that is generally thought of as the actual political apparatus, owing to the still avowedly Sirian characteristics of the country, while the Admiralty-Marshalate of the Messenic, nominally subject to the Prophetic Banner, presents the region as a Vaestopolitical entity, to deal with the proper Vaestic powers on more familiar if not exactly equal terms. Administratively the Marshalate has little power but represents itself in the country's many assemblies, and is often comprehended from the Western side as a Vaestdom-specific foreign ministry, and more generously a number of legal devices to facilitate Oriental interaction. It is headed by a Marshal, appointed by the Prysostaia from (usually) among the local Vesnites, acting most of the time as an ambassador to the Outer Joriscian order, and besides offices exercising its interordinate functions it also organises the Vesnites of Matal and some smaller neighbouring states.
Matali politics is characterised as highly secretive and even oligarchic at official, central levels, but, conversely, liberal and open at local levels. The mutaaqid (literally, 'those under contract') are the foci of Matali society, who guard the rational political proceedings as held in Gattam, the country’s capital, as their exclusive privilege, but their foremost responsibilities are to various clients to whom they act as patrons. Mutaaqid patronage has become highly rationalised into ewzah (singular waz), formalised jurisdictions operating much like estates, and is typically borne from simple political or economic convenience, without the attachment of highly regarded custom (beyond basic etiquette). Such allegiances likewise shifts and changes quickly. Vaestopolitical influences do not stop with the Marshalate; as quasi-estates the ewzah are considered to be arms of an abstract Matali state hierarchy, conceived of in very much Vaestic terms. Although not actually subject to the Marshalate, in dealings with Vaestdom the ewzah are treated via a number of legal devices as its estates.
In both principle and practice, through their political power and competence, mutaaqid protect their clients and represent them in Gattam, allowing the latter to sort themselves out based on their own traditions, and more recently, general deliberation. Thus, different social groups and cultures in Matali territory enjoy high levels of autonomy, mostly free from central intervention, creating a society sometimes described as omnigenic. In recent years, however, there have been pushes to rationalise definition and policy on client groups as well, especially in regards to social structures in Matali Lestrian possessions, considered primitive by proponents of this tendency. The non-intervention of mutaaqid on their subjects is credited with Matal’s ability to preserve many of its overseas territories, and even to project power from them.
Status as a mutaaqid is dependent on peer recognition. All mutaaqid are represented in a body, which is involved in electing a Prince for life or until retirement, who represents the country in interordinate contexts, proposes policies, and oversees their implementation. This assembly is to be convened and consulted for the formulation of major policies and interordinate actions, and decisions are traditionally passed by two-thirds majority at minimum. The mutaaqid also elect a smaller assembly, known as the General Council, which convenes more frequently to advise the Prince.
Foreign relations
Matal famously stands at the interstices of two major interordinate systems, symbolised by its maintenance of two ostensible state structures; in Vaestdom it is colloquially contemptuously known as the 'two-faced cities'. On the Messenian side, its main ally is Zeppengeran, and Madaria has been its main regional rival. Terophan is its main Vaestic ally, its long history of interest in the Messenic trade and suzerainty over Cazacasia shaping this relationship. Regionally, historical rivalries with the predecessors of modern Settecia and Cazacasia have been dropped in favour of a stable Messenic order, and similarly amicable terms are maintained with the Lestrian neighbours of Aheed. For all of these reasons Matal has been able to present itself as a neutral ground between the two major advanced civilisations, and many negotiations between powers from different cultures, and even the creation of world-scale standards (most famously, Interordinate Aviation Time), have taken place in Matal. Expansive interests and considerable influence far beyond Matal's interordinately recognised borders are present in northern Lestria, the wider Holy Empire, and Petty-Lestria.
Military
Matal's military is the Grand Litigation Army, originating as a native force meant to intervene ('litigate') in the disputes between Vesnite traders in the Pesrardic League Wars. The main body of the Matali military is a well-funded, capable navy, which primarily patrols the Messenic Sea with occasional missions to the Medius and Arcedian Seas. All military aviation is attached to the navy. The ground forces, staffed through conscription (primarily from the Gaugura area), is responsible for defense of land borders with Lestrian and Inner Joriscian countries. Matal is also responsible for the defence of Ihut. With little to no strategic depth to speak of, Matali military doctrine has revolved around deterring conflicts through economic pressure and leverage, as well as by way of its reliable alliance with Zeppengeran.
Historically, mutaaqid independently raised their own armies through their wealth and connections, which swore nominal loyalty to the Matali body politic. The structure of the military was centralised and rationalised on Lacrean lines in the first half of the 19th century. The mutaaqid remain predominant in the officer corps.
Economy
Matal has the most developed economy and the highest wealth per capita in Petty-Lestria. Average incomes and living standards are comparable to those of more developed states in southern Messenia, but wealth gaps are considerably wider, worsened by the increasing population of migrant labourers and reductions of stable jobs. Matal is characterised as a post-industrial economy, focused on services and high value-added industries. Major industries include construction, tourism, finance, machinery, textiles, and chemicals.
The geography of Gaugura and its territories has meant that Matal has been highly dependent on maritime trade since ancient times. It is an important trading partner for southern Messenian and Lestrian countries, as well as its Petty-Lestrian neighbours. The ports of Gattam and other large Matali cities are among the busiest in the region.
Finance is a well-known and major part of the Matali economy, and is subject to relatively little regulation, attracting clients from northern Lestria. Bodies based in Matal have also played an increasing role in investment in Lestrian development in recent years. This banking tradition emerged relatively recently in the 18th and 19th centuries, but staked out a place for itself thanks to the strategic positioning and diplomatic manoeuvring of Matal in the period, and only really exploded after the Long War. Matal is also an important financial interface between the banks of Messenia and the melmenes of Outer Joriscia, its own waz-banks being one of the few bodies anywhere in the world fully equipped and widely trusted to conduct exchanges between the two systems.
Society and culture
Besides some traditional festivals, Matali people share little of the culture of the Qundic peoples to the south, and, like the Utnaqaris to the north, are considerably more Messenianised. Matal has its own tradition and culture of large aristocratic clans predominating society, much like most of Messenia, although their social and political influence has diminished in favour of more integrated geographic political constituencies.
Demographics
Of Matal's regions, Gaugura has a population of around 17 million, followed by 5 million in Zahra, 1 million in Aymeqafz, 100,000 in the Kutans, and just under 2 million in Aheed. Most of these populations are urbanised.
Religion
The majority of Matali people practice Siriash, subscribing to the Sophoran Compact. The Lamneary of Gaugura claims undivided jurisdiction over the Sirians of the Gauguran mainland; smaller lamnearies occupy the overseas territories. There has been talk of the Gauguran lamneary rejoining the Coseptran Compact due to close alignment with Zeppengeran, but such efforts have stalled due to staunch opposition from local traditionalists.
Vaestism began to gain converts among the upper class as early as the 16th century due to the dominance of Joriscians in the Messenic trade, and has remained noticeable due to Outer Joriscian influence in the region. Despite their representation via the Marshalate, the existence of a considerable local Vesnite community in Gaugura and Zahra remains a considerable source of political contention (especially for the latter, which lies on the Cazacasian coast), but its presence is broadly tolerated in the interests of continued friendly relations with Vaestdom.