Valladares

Valladares, officially the United Kingdom of Valladares (Spanish: Reino Unido de Valladares) is a country in the Terranea continent of the Rushmore region consisting of 13 states, with one of them constituting the territory known as the Westlands and located in the Terramidia continent in the same region.

The land that is now Valladares has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples, among them the Valladar and Astine peoples, who established their city-states on opposite banks of the Danubio river. Beginning in the late 16th century, Spanish colonial expeditions explored and settled the eastern region of the Great Inland Sea and the lower course of the Danubio river, establishing the Colony of Río Danubio in 1654 and starting a 227-year colonial rule that ended with the Second Valladar Uprising and the subsequent War of Independence, and followed up by the Declaration of Independence, signed on October 8, 1881. Eventually, the reunification of the Valladar states was achieved after the conquest of the city of Tallinberg (now Carloburgo) on March 17, 1909 and the proclamation of the Royal Constitution on July 1, 1910.

Valladares is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Kings Marcus and Cyrus as Heads of State. Four languages are official at the federal level. Its advanced economy is one of the largest in Rushmore, built on and mainly relying upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed trade networks. Valladares's recent opening to its regional neighbours has quickly established cordial relationships with most of them and has had a significant impact on its economy and culture.

Aboriginal peoples
Archaeological studies and genetic analyses have indicated a human presence in the northwestern region of Valladares, near the current city of Westporte from 5500 BC, and in the Westlands from 2300 BC. The Paleo-Indian archeological sites at Valle Eterna and Trois-Rivières are two of the oldest sites of human habitation in Valladares. It is known that the most prominent aboriginal cultures in Valladares were the Valladars and Astines, both groups being nomadic peoples until they began establishing their city-states on opposite banks of the Danubio river from approximately 450 AD. Other aboriginal cultures had collapsed by the time European explorers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries mostly due to wars and invasions from Valladars and Astines, and have only been discovered through archeological investigations.

The aboriginal population at the time of the first European settlements is estimated to have been between 400,000 and one million, with a figure of 750,000 accepted by Valladares's Royal History Society. As a consequence of European colonization, Valladares's aboriginal peoples suffered from repeated outbreaks of newly introduced infectious diseases such as influenza, measles, and smallpox (to which they had no natural immunity), resulting in a forty- to eighty-percent population decrease in the centuries after the European arrival. The remainder of the aboriginal population that did not succumb to these diseases was either exterminated or enslaved by the colonists in gold mines and plantation crops.

Colonization
The first known attempt at European colonization began when Spaniard explorer Sebastian Cortés explored the Great Inland Sea's eastern coast and reached the Danubio river mouth in 1577, founding Puerto Esperanza (today Westporte) that same year as the first European settlement in what is now known as Valladares. Basque and Portuguese mariners established seasonal fishing outposts along the Danubio and in Sillimus island in the early 17th century. In 1604, French explorer Jacques Belmont explored the Danubio river and canyon, reaching the Lyman rapids and founding the settlement of Trois-Rivières 2 years later.

Spanish explorer Juan de Vigo arrived in 1633, and established the first permanent European settlements at Valencia in 1635 and Colón (today Columbus) in 1641, claiming the territory between the Great Inland Sea, the Ituyán mountain range, and the rivers Danubio and Grande as a Spanish colony. This paved the way for more Spaniards to come, extensively settling the Danubio River valley and canyon and Portuguese colonists explored and settled the present-day Chiquito state and the Eastern Alps, while the first French explorers and Catholic missionaries explored the southern Iliria region, which is today known as the Valladar state of Foix. The Astine Wars between Astines and the Portuguese broke out in the mid-17th century over control of the territory's wood trade.

A series of four wars between the aboriginal peoples and the European colonists erupted in colonial New Spain between 1623 and 1653; the latter wars of the period confirmed the collapse of the Valladar and Astine peoples and the enslavement of the remnant aboriginal population. With the 1654 Treaty of Ildefonso, all the regions controlled by Portuguese and French settlers came under Spanish rule, and the Spaniards formally created the Colony of Río Danubio later that year.

Colonial period
The Royal Proclamation of 1693 created the Colony of Iliria out of territories located on the eastern banks of the Danubio river previously under Portuguese and French rule, and allowed the entry of English Catholic colonists to the colony, who settled around the northern and southern Alps. Eterna became a separate colony in 1719, Río Danubio's capital was subsequently moved from Valencia to Colón, with the former capital being part of the newly established colony, and Danubian loyalists were brought to the region surrounding Colón. With this move, the Spaniards also granted autonomy to the city-state of Sillimus, founded on Sillimus island. In 1723, Valle Danubio (now Antioquia state) was split from Río Danubio and established as an independent colony. To accommodate English-speaking Loyalists in the colony, the Territory Act of 1731 changed the colony's name to Valladares and divided the colony into two halves, English-speaking western Valladares (later Western Mountbatten) and Spanish-speaking eastern Valladares (later Eastern Mountbatten), granting each its own elected legislative assembly.

The desire for self-government and widespread anger among the mestizo population by the apathy displayed by the Viceroy resulted in the failed First Valladar Uprising in 1815, which the Spaniard colonial government easily crushed. Despite the failure of the Uprising and the arrest and subsequent execution of its principal authors, the decisions made by the colonial government did nothing but fuel another insurrection.

Second Valladar Uprising and Civil War
The repressive rule of the Viceroy and the increasing poverty of the peasants and miners, as all the profits from the gold extraction and crop production were going to Spain, were the catalyser for the Second Valladar Uprising, which started on June 4, 1855 with 15,000 people walking from the mining village of Aguablanca to the capital Colón with a plea to the Viceroy, in what was known as the Walk to Columbus and ended up with the Viceroyal Palace being burnt down three days later. This event sparked a series of riots in the main towns and cities of the colony, which subsequently turned into a civil war with a group of poorly armed peasants led by wealthy citizen Francisco de Baraguez retreating to the mountains. The turmoil eventually prompted the colonies of Eterna, Iliria, and Valle Danubio to declare independence in 1873, while the Viceroy and his troops kept control in Valladares.

Despite Baraguez and his troops were initially at a disadvantage in both training and weaponry, they succesfully assaulted the Castilla weapon storage in Newcastle in 1877 and also received support from the Ilirian, Eternan, and Danubian governments, who provided troops, weapons and other supplies to the Valladar troops, enabling them to properly battle the Spaniards. Both groups battled each other several times during late 1880 and most of 1881.

Although the Viceroyal troops handed Baraguez and his soldiers a harsh defeat in the Battle of Río Grande on August 7, 1881, the battle that paved the way for Valladar independence was the Battle of Siete Ríos, on September 5, 1881, which ended up with a decisive Valladar win. The Viceroy, seeing that Baraguez and his troops were near Colón and fearing their siege, takeover of the viceroyal capital, and his arrest were all imminent, fled the city and the colony on September 10, 1881. Valladar troops took over the city without opposition three days later.

Independence and Reunification
Valladares declared its independence from Spain on October 8, 1881 in a meeting at the former Viceroyal residence. Francisco de Baraguez wanted a presidential government to be installed in the newly born nation with him as president, however, the other representatives elected to go for a monarchy and chose Alejandro Molano as the first King of Valladares, under the name of Alexander I. Alexander I did everything he could to bring the nation out of the backwardness from the colonial era by bringing industrialization and creating the National Health System, while also protecting coffee production and advocating for the reunification of Iliria, Eterna, Sillimus, and Valle Danubio with Valladares. Out of the four, only Valle Danubio refused to voluntarily join Valladares, while the city-state of Sillimus reached a compromise which allowed them to keep their independence. Iliria voted for reunification with its neighbours on the southern bank of the Danubio in November 1892, and Eterna did so on January 2, 1900. It is to be noted that national hero Francisco de Baraguez was one of the King's bitterest political rivals, and the King elected to send him in exile to the Whirl Islands after he refused to command the Army in the failed 1899 invasion of Valle Danubio, which also represented a huge blow on the King's image in both Iliria and Eterna. Alexander I passed away on October 6, 1900 at his residence in Colón.

Alexander II, son of Alexander I, was crowned as King on October 16, 1901 at the Royal Residence in Colón. His reign was characterized by repression in the territories recently reunited with Valladares, his refusal to grant amnesty to the exiled Francisco de Baraguez, who died in the Whirl Islands, and his poor health, which made him an easy target for Ilirian and Eternan dissidents and anarchists. Like his father, Alexander II tried to persuade Valle Danubio to voluntarily reunite with Valladares, but the Danubian government once again turned down the offer. His poor health would take its toll, as he passed away on September 23, 1906 at his residence in Colón, having participated in the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Siete Ríos a few hours before. His 23-year old son Carlos, would be crowned as Charles I a year and 10 days later.

Charles I's first action as King of Valladares was sending an ultimatum to the Valle Danubio government on November 12, 1907, which the Danubians did not answer, thus triggering a military response from the Valladars that found Valle Danubio unprepared and ended with the quick takeover of the main Danubian cities, including Pradera and Corania, but not the capital, Tallinberg. The Valladar troops found trouble to seize the city and decided to besiege it for seven months, in order to attack it in March 1909. Eventually, Tallinberg was taken over and looted, and Charles I's walk into the city on March 17, 1909 represented the Danubian defeat and their final annexation to Valladares.

Constitution and Recent Era
With Iliria, Eterna, and Valle Danubio now reunited with Valladares, and in order to address the growing disputes between the different linguistic groups inhabiting the country as well as reducing his powers to increase his own appeal to the people, Charles I decided to call delegates from all over Valladares to draw up a Constitution, who met for six months in the city of Colón, starting from January 1, 1910. This Constitution established Valladares as a federation of six states, with the city of Villalbán (later renamed Metropolis) being chosen as the new capital city and enjoying a special status as a state on its own, while the others were created considering language issues: Iliria was divided into two new states: Foix (for the French-speaking population to the southeast) and Chiquito; Eterna became a state within the federation but the city of Valencia was transferred to the Antioquia state, formed from most of Valle Danubio's former territory, while Mountbatten was formed by the former colony of Valladares (including the former capital city Colón/Columbus but not the new capital Metropolis) plus the city of Tallinberg (now Carloburgo) and surrounding zones. This Constitution also reformed the country's political system, changing from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, and founding the Parliament of Valladares as it exists nowadays.

The Westlands region was bought and annexated to Valladares as the nation's seventh state in 1932, and it is vital to the country's trade as the Valladar mainland is landlocked, while also having oil fields in the sea near the city of Edmonton. The state of Canalave, including the port cities of Canalave and Westporte, was split from the Eterna state three years later.

Geography
The geography of Valladares is characterized by two different regions with their unique characteristics: the Mainland and the Westlands. The former is dominated by the Ituyán mountain range which runs from south to north passing through the nation and separating the country from the rest of the Terranea continent. Valladares's highest mountain, Monte Blanco, is located in this mountain range, near Eterna City and rises to 4,789 meters above sea level. The Danubio river flows through the nation from south to north, first going through the eastern plains, then passing through the Ituyán range between the cities of Angostura and Araracuara in the east and Maldonado and Columbus to the west and then the Danubio valley in the Eterna, Antioquia, and Canalave states. The Ituyán mountains contain some of the country's biggest urban centres: Carloburgo, Eterna City, Campo Grande, and Pradera, however, the capital city Metropolis, along with the entire Foix state and its capital Bezieres and the entire Canalave state and the cities of Canalave and Westporte are located in the plains to the east and the Danubio valley to the west. Peaks in the Ituyán mountain range in the southern half of Valladares (Mountbatten state) reach 3,200 meters above sea level (10,498 feet), while in the northern half (Chiquito and Eterna states) they exceed 4,700 meters above sea level (15,419 feet).

On the other half, the Westlands region is generally hilly to the south and west with a coastal region to the north and east, where the capital city of Edmonton is located. The tallest peak of this region is Mount Rockefeller, which reaches a height of 2,276 meters above sea level (7,467 feet). The population in this region is concentrated in the coastal plains, with 55% of the state's inhabitants living in the cities of Edmonton and Adelaide.