Vladimir (The Kalmar Union)

The Grand Principality of Vladimir, Vladimir, is a vast autocratic monarchy in eastern Europe and northern Asia. To the North is Novgorod and the Arctic Ocean. To the West lies Tver. To the East lies The Chinese Empire and The Japanese Empire. To the south lie various sovereign or semi-autonomous states that form a barrier between it and the Caliphate. Its capital is Vladimir and it has a population of nearly 36 million.

The current head of state is Grand Prince Simeon III.

The official language is Russian and most subjects are fluent in it as their first or second language. A wide variety of minority languages are spoken including Tatar, Chuvash, Bashkir and Nenet.

It uses the Vladimir Rouble (VLR).

History
Burnt by the Mongol horde in 1238, Vladimir lost control of the various Kievian successor states and effectively became a Mongol client state. It held on to its territory though and its princes exercised power by acting as tax collectors for the Mongols. Any of rulers of the successor states could effectively become Grand Prince of Vladimir, usually exercising power from their home cities rather than Vladimir itself.

Whilst it struggled to handle relations with the Mongols it also had to deal with the ebb of its power and land to the West, to Tver and Moscow, and also to the increasingly confident Lithuania and Poland, soon to be joined in union. Moscow had been slowly rising in status, helped due to its central position in the Rus’, protected from invasion by its neighbours. A couple of its Dukes had been elected Grand Princes but the rulers in Tver and Vladimir conspired to eradicate the upstart. In 1323 Tver convinced the Khan that Ivan of Moscow was intending to usurp him. Withdrawing their support, its neighbours turned on it. Thereafter Vladimir recognised Tver as an equal party, essentially dividing the title of Grand Prince, and they took to dividing Moscow’s lands with glee.

Despite setbacks like the burning of Vladimir by the Tatars in 1410 the decline of the Golden Horde as a single power allowed an increasing swathe of territory to fall into Vladimir’s hands. In 1498 a joint Vladimir-Tver army caught the horde at Oryol on its way to join up with Lithuanian allies and destroyed it. This marked the end of the ‘Mongol Yoke’ and the beginning of both nations as totally independent.

Via trading parties and exploration it slowly encroached on territory held by the Sibir Khanate. As it built forts and trading stations deeper and deeper into the Khanate it exploding into unrestrained war. Using Cossacks and disgruntled tribes it had effectively destroyed the Khanate by 1601, annexing it as the Principality of Siberia.

It then turned its attentions to the Astrakhan Khanate, from which it hoped to capture a foothold on the Caspian and Black Seas. A long drawn out struggle between Vladimir, Tver and the Khanate and its allies; the Caliphate and Poland began. It would only be in 1713 when the Khanate was finally destroyed and the Volga annexed.

Meanwhile its eastwards expansion was held in check by Chinese. Its forts near Lake Baikal were repeatedly burnt and it retreated, unable to bring the men and artillery needed for a decisive blow. For a century the borders remained fluid and porous, with tribes repeatedly joining either side depending on the situation until the Treaty of Harbin (1742) which set the respective areas of influence and an agreement not to ally with the Caliphate against each other.

A long series of wars to the South directed at the Caliphate have slowly increased Vladimir’s influence if not quite outright control over the Caucus states but the increasingly fractious situation there has drawn Vladimir’s eyes back to the region.

Government
As an autocracy all governmental decision ultimately stem from the Grand Prince. He (or she) appoints ministers but there is no parliament or democratic process. The chief minister is currently Grand Duke Vasily Lomonosov.