Diplomatic ties of Brachyuria
The Diplomatic ties of Brachyuria are chiefly and almost entirely orientated towards nations within the Melivorica region, with further emphasis put on nations within the region that exhibit a similarly autocratic nature to Brachyuria. The foreign policy of the nation is mostly dictated by King Irvine Niederhaus, though the efforts of higher staff in the government such as Admiral Charles Oakenbroth, are also taken into account. Chiefly, most of the Brachyurian government agrees with or at least follows King Irvine's views on the more pivotal aspects of his foreign policy. In particular, the government as a whole could be fairly accurately described as one that promotes anti-expansionism and nuclear disarmament. Regional neighbours of Brachyuria, having to negotiate a political minefield of taboos brought on by the national religion, often fall foul of the entire Brachyurian nation through a single "offensive" act, that will take upwards of several years of careful diplomacy to set right.
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History
Main article: History of Brachyuria
Brachyuria was first settled by a fledgeling empire at some point between 800 and 1300 AD, the name of which is lost to history. The first Brachyurians were Penguininjanian raiders, led by one Bronzi Niederhaus. These raiders, though in places partially related to the Penguininjanian royal families, were separatists, looking for new land. By 1452, the territory forming modern Brachyuria had been established under their rule. Immediately, they announces a succession from the Penguininjanian empire, proclaiming the new land a Kingdom, to further distance themselves.
Much of the contact Brachyuria made in the next few centuries was mainly focused around it's neighbours, particularly Archonis-Thay and Penguininjania. It was not until the late 18th century that Brachyuria would be free enough from conflicts with it's neighbours that it would truly be able to safely extend it's political view to beyond it's borders. An increased interest in exploration and cartography beginning in the 17th century compelled Brachyuria to make further contact with the outside world, especially in the Melivorica region, where most of their cartography in particular was centred.
Brachyuria's rulers during the 20th century, as well as a blanket ban on all aircraft, left the nation in a largely isolationist state, though the notorious actions of King Tin from 1968 onwards aroused a great deal of attention from other regional powers, meaning that several wars ensued, before he was overthrown by King Irvine in 1985.
King Irvine, a staunch anti-expansionist, would decide the foreign relations of Brachyuria for the rest of the 20th century and through to the modern day. He attempted to maintain good relations with similarly despotic nations, as he inwardly despised democratic theory, though the nature of many dictatorships, or rather their leaders, often made this an exercise in frustration. From the start of his rule, Brachyuria has been involved in conflicts or diplomatic incidents involving Archonis-Thay, Fasdia, Norheimir, Castleclose, Berethond, Barrettstia, Khedive Rex, Deketopia and Revolvisia.
World Assembly
King Irvine has publicly denounced the WA as an "ineffectual waste of time", and though Brachyuria was on one occasion a part of the organisation, he has since withdrawn Brachyuria's membership and chosen to ignore the rulings of the assembly entirely.
Overseas territories
As part of King Irvine's anti-expansionist views, the numerous islands, most of them small, that were discovered by Brachyuria in the Western and Southern Oceans during it's several cartographical expeditions are no longer considered under the ownership of Brachyuria as of June 19, 1997. However, to stop other nations from pursuing an expansionist agenda towards these islands, they are still considered to be held under the legal protection of the Brachyurian state. The islands have not yet been exploited for any commercial or industrial reasons, and the native occupants remain largely undisturbed. Not falling under the jurisdiction of any other recognised sovereign country, and not recognising one themselves, they are for legal purposes considered Brachyurian citizens.
Trade
As it is one of the regional trade giants, much of Brachyuria's imported goods tend to be come from Fasdia. This is suitable for Brachyuria, as almost all of Fasdia's trading and buisness otherwise is done by naval means. A second source of trade is Deketopia, with it's gigantic trade conglomerate the Pacific Trading Company. Export markets for Brachyuria are limited, as the specifics of Brachyurian culture require much of their basic necessities to be made in country, to avoid any would-be taboos from soiling the goods. To this end, much of Brachyuria's industry goes into supplying Brachyuria itself, rather than making an additional profit from sales to outside the country. However, Brachyuria nevertheless does trade with several other nations in the region, particularly the other autocracies, but also some other less offensive democracies such as Norheimir and Deketopia.
Military
Brachyuria does not go out of it's way to bodily involve itself in every conflict that the volatile Melivorica region embroils itself with, but it does like to make it's presence known. It has a sizeable navy in particular, by far the biggest taking relative nation size into account. To some nations, the size of the navy brings about exaggerated notions that the power from this Navy's size is severely offset by technological inferiorities, which do not in truth exist beyond the lack of any supporting air arm.
Alongside Barrettstia and Norheimir, Brachyuria played a part in peacekeeping forces on Martinel, which later became Azgaria, and then fell into anarchy again before being taken over by Revolvisia.
As luck would have it, little conflicts in the 21st century, however heated, have progressed on to a stage involving a large scale battle between Brachyuria and other regional powers. The closest so far that involved Brachyuria being the Democratic Army war, when a small portion of the Brachyurian fleet, along with those of Fasdia and Khedive Rex, fought a brief offensive action against the Closian navy before pulling back. A larger battle was fought in Barrettstia around the same time, but Brachyuria's involvement was limited, and reserved for the latter portion of the battle, when the side Brachyuria was supporting had already begun to turn back.
Nuclear free policy
In 1945, much like she had done earlier with the invention of airplanes, Queen Sodie III denounced the invention and testing of the atomic bomb as "a heinous, cowardly weapon. Made by fools for use by cowards, against the brave and honourable that they are too weak willed to fight on their own terms." In a mix of religious devotion to the monarch, rational agreement and plain old patriotic fervour, the majority of the Brachyurian public agreed strongly with her sentiments, leading her to create a law forbidding the creation, transport and usage of any nuclear device within Brachyuria, regardless of whether it is for power or destruction.
In 1955, King Tin, Sodie III's son, would murder and overthrow his parents, then go on to kill the rest of the Brachyurian royal and noble families. In 1968, he broke this law by testing an atomic weapon in the Neoacian sea, reputedly timed to see the effects on a passing Fasdian freighter, the Harbinger. As a result, two wars followed, which in turn would lead to a third war of revenge from Tin, that later led to a widespread rebellion from the surviving Brachyurian soldiers, this final war eventually ousted Tin and put Irvine Niederhaus on the throne.
Shortly after his coronation, King Irvine reverted back to Queen Sodie's initial stance on being a nuclear free state, and continuing to this day, no nuclear weapons or nuclear powered ships and power stations are permitted within Brachyuria or it's territorial waters.
Anti-expansionism
Starting from 1985, King Irvine has pursued a stance of anti-expansionism, though to outside views he does not always adhere to it. Several allies or former allies of Brachyuria, particularly Deketopia, Berethond and Khedive Rex, have enacted some manner of expansionist campaign against a smaller or weaker nation. The only instance bringing Brachyuria to act being that of Deketopia, which at the time was not an expressed ally of the nation. Both Berethond and Khedive Rex's cases instead led Brachyuria to offer support to it's ally, rather than condemnation.
Relations by country
Archonis-Thay
Archonis-Thay is Brachyuria's oldest surviving neighbour, and historically, the nature of diplomacy between Archonis-Thay and Brachyuria has not always been stable, with an equal number of wars as there were marriages between their two royalties. In modern times however, especially since the come to power of King Irvine, relations between the two countries have been fairly positive, and appearances suggest it to continue to be so. Together throughout the early years of the 21st century, Brachyuria and Archonis-Thay have always unanimously offered the same levels of support and sometimes physical military aid to other regional allies on numerous occasions.
Berethond
Though only Archonis-Thay sits between them, Brachyuria and Berethond are fairly isolated from each other, as a result they find little to be offended by about the other, and generally get along without incident. Brachyuria does not condone the use of slavery, which is legal and exploited to a large degree in Berethond, but King Irvine simply views the Berethite leader, known as "the great conductor" as a harmless eccentric. Though this is never publicly acknowledged, Berethite slaves occasionally given as presents are always released into freedom among the Brachyurian populace with a sizeable "severance package" to keep them out of poverty.
Along with Archonis-Thay, joint technological experiments have been attempted with Berethond. The most notable of these being Brachyuria's space program, which placed most of it's current cartographical and intelligence satellites into orbit based much of it's initial activities in Berethond itself.
Castleclose
On the other side of the Melivorican peninsula, Castleclose has had little to do with Brachyuria historically. Isolationism on both sides during the late 19th and 20th centuries continued this trend. Modern times have seen the largest amount of interaction between the nations, and it has not had a favourable outcome.
Initially, at the start of the 21st century, Castleclose was viewed by King Irvine as one of the more reason-centric nations, even if it was a democracy. In most conflicts, it took a side either similar to Brachyuria, and if not, was usually neutral to the dispute. In 2009, after the Rexian-Creciuan war, King Irvine even visited Castleclose for the coronation of King Edmund. Giving the young king one of Brachyuria's Bronzi class battlecruisers, the HMS Bienvenida as a state gift.
Later in the year, relations soured. Taking a side contrary to Brachyuria's in the Democratic Army war, Brachyuria came into contact with the Closian fleet, in a naval battle wherein the conduct of the Closians was considered wholly unsporting by the opposing force. Afterwards, word reached Irvine that at some point after King Edmund's coronation, the HMS Bienvenida had been shunned into the Closian coast guard, rather than the naval fleet proper.
Currently, relations between Brachyuria and Castleclose are not friendly. Irvine does not care for the current Closian king in particular, and has gone so far as to refuse out of hand any idea of apologies or compensation for the killing of two Closian policemen by Sean Mortlock during his time as ambassador to Castleclose.
Deketopia
A long standing country, and sitting just beyond a small stretch of water to Brachyuria's south, Deketopia is an easily recognised name by even the most geographically deficient of the Brachyurian public. Unlike the similarly neighbouring Archonis-Thay however, it has had little in the way of conflicts with Brachyuria throughout history, other than a few minor setbacks to public opinion caused by leaders on both ends during the 20</sup>th</sup> and early 21st centuries. In 2009, it aroused the anger of Brachyuria when it tried to take control of Martinel (now Revolvisian-held Azgaria). Being sincerely apologetic about the incident, Deketopia quickly returned back into Brachyurian favour, and great amounts of trade between the two countries was seemingly unaffected during the cooling off period.
Fasdia
A trade-centric nation sitting on the other side of the region, Brachyuria's first contact with Fasdia, or it's cultural predecessor, was by way of trade ship. Today, trade ships, or rather commercial shipping, continues to be the public face of Fasdia to most Brachyurians. To the remainder it would be the Fasdian Navy, which has on numerous occasions met with that of Brachyuria, both as foes and allies. Though other allied nations are closer in distance, Fasdia is considered the premier ally of Brachyuria, as it has physically supported the nation more than Brachyuria's neighbours in a number of modern conflicts. It's relative lack of reliance on air power, in both warfare and commercial means, also put it in good light with most Brachyurians.
Norheimir
A small group of islands in the Vexarian Gulf, Norheimir is of historical significance to the Brachyurian monarchy, having provided some of the genetics to the royal line, and has a presence in Brachyuria's military history, usually as a co-belligerent. Norheimir is notable for being well respected and trusted enough by the government, that prized military equipment built by Brachyurian industrial giant Steel Carapace Manufacturers Incorporated was traded to the nation for use in the Norheimiric army. During the divisive late-2009 regional conflict, Norheimir presented itself as a supporter of Barrettstia, while Brachyuria was opposed. Direct armed conflict against Norheimir was infrequent, due to the scale of it's deployment in relation to the rest of Brachyuria's opposition, but it would take a year for relations to normalise.
Revolvisia
Comparatively little is known about Revolvisia, despite it's geographical closeness. Brachyuria has neither made an enemy of nor officially been an ally of Revolvisia in any open conflict. Brachyuria took a warring stance supporting Revolvisia's side during the Democratic army conflict, but only in the support of Berethond and Fasdia. Currently, Revolvisia is not highly regarded by the Brachyurian government, having taken over the disputed territories of Azgaria and avoided attempts by Brachyuria to confront them about the issue, which Brachyuria sees as a breach of their anti-expansionist stance.
