u/NeinNine999

The Republik of Frisia (Dutch: Republiek Friesland, German: Republik Friesland) was a state that controlled most of West and East Frisia from the 2040s to 2130. Unlike most pre-Confederal states which were often still in the process of being established, Frisia had a fully functioning government and national identity to itsself, which would be forcefully suppressed by European authorities following their annexation. To the modern day many scholars argue that said annexation had almost no legal basis and was de-facto an invasion of a sovereign state.

The Anglo-German Settlement Area was a loosely defined area mostly centered on the Weser river that, with British sponsorship, began receiving settlers from the UK in 2081. Most of these settlers were the descendants of German diaspora that had been living or vacationing in the UK during the Vanishing. While they remained partially culturally German, a lot of British influences had slipped into their habits and language, leaving them noticeably distinct from the German survivors in the interior or in Denmark.

The Republic of Hannover (German: Republik Hannover) was a state centered on the surviving portions of its eponymous capital city. For most of its immediate post-Vanishing history Hanover existed as a city-state with a varying and unofficial government comprised of former city councilors. It was only in 2087 when Hanover was officially declared as a sovereign republic, largely in response to the growing presence of Anglo-German settlements along the Weser river. Despite being founded to avoid absorption into these settlements, the republic would cooperate with them and become deeply culturally influenced by the resettlers. The Republic of Hanover would cease to exist in 2110 following the Second Treaty of Dover, signed by it, the United Kingdom and the European Confederation, which officially transformed it into the European State of Weser alongside the settlement areas.

The Werraner were a loose alliance of people that originated from the city of Hannoversch Münden. Most Werraner lived in camps around their original islands, but outliers existed much further out from Münden. The areas inhabited by the Werraner would come to constitute the southernmost part of the state of Weser and the only section of it with nearly no Anglo-German influence.

The Three Rivers Confederacy (German: Dreiflüssebund) was a loose alliance of cities along the Elbe, Havel and Spree rivers that existed from c. 2053 to 2106 when it merged with the European State of Hamburg into the new state of Elbia. Its most prominent members were Berlin, Spandau, Brandenburg an der Havel and Magdeburg. The exact date of the confederacy’s founding is disputed, but it is clear that Magdeburg was invited to join it following the 2055 Magdeburg Coup which overthrew the autocratic regime styled after the German Democratic Republic that had ruled the city since shortly after the Vanishing, meaning that its founding cannot have been later than 2055.

The Akervolk, alternatively known by their derogatory exonym Kohlfresser were a collection of dozens of agrarian villages across former Brandenburg. Their inhabitants almost exclusively originated with the Long March to Berlin of 2030. As early as the 2050s the Akervolk came into conflict with their more urban neighbors, which would ultimately only be exacerbated by the expansion of the European Confederation, leading to their inevitable decline.

The Sovereign City of Halle (German: Souveräne Stadt Halle) was an organized city-state that existed around Halle from 2070 to 2107 when it became part of the state of Elbia. While Halle had been offered to become part of the Three Rivers Confederacy several times, it preferred to keep the other cities of the region at some distance, being largely isolationist until its annexation and, at least in mentality, well after.

The Free Republic of Thuringia (German: Freie Republik Thüringen), also known as the Jena Republic or the Fire Brigade Republic was a state of union of the city of Jena and the much smaller former city of Erfurt that briefly controlled a portion of what would become south-eastern Elbia from its inception around 2089 to its dissolution and integration into Elbia in 2112. The state was organized by the same socialist principles that had led Jena beforehand, and which would continue to define the region’s politics for centuries to come.

The Märker, alternatively known as Hill Saxons, were a group of people originating from the town of Döbeln. Following the Vanishing the Märker would revert to a near-medieval system of government, being split between those remaining in their origin-city, now renamed Talburg, and those that migrated further into the hills to found Hochburg. While the area they inhabited was officially annexed by the Confederation with the founding of Elbia in 2106, the Märker would violently resist integration into the late 2110s. Very few traces of their proto-culture persisted after that.

The Federation of the Middle Rhine (German: Mittelrheinbund) and the Union of the Lower Rhine (German: Niederrheinunion) were two proto-states formed out of the German Rhine islands in 2073 and 2082 respectively. Both would ultimately share the same fate, being legally split along the Rhine by the First Treaty of Dover in 2094 with the land being seized by the United Kingdom (in the form of the Netherlands), the European Confederation and the Greater Ghentish Commonwealth over the following three decades. The islands themselves were granted to the European side of the border in exchange for Copenhagen’s assurance that it would tolerate British continued settlement on the Weser, allowing them to form the earliest nucleus of the State of Cisrhenia which would be established in the area in 2120.

The Taler, rarely known as Wuppertaler were a semi-nomadic group of people inhabiting parts of the Rhenish Massif. While their name and the initial Taler originated from the remnants of Wuppertal, they later absorbed various other eccentrics and societal escapists traveling down the Rhine. While a small settlement was maintained at Wuppertal, most Taler lived as hunter-gatherers in the wooded wilderness beyond it and only came to the former city to trade with each other. Following the integration of Cisrhenia into the Confederation, the Taler quickly declined and had largely dissapeared by the end of the 22nd century.

The Mainruderer were a semi-nomadic people inhabiting the lower Main river from the 2040s well into the 22^(nd) century. They appear to have originated in the settlements of the Middle Rhine, which they left for unclear reasons and seemingly mostly in a single migration in 2044. As their name “Main Rowers” implies, they largely lived in large improvised boats on the river itsself and didn’t establish any permanent settlements. While some local people and organizations claim direct descent from them, there is no clear evidence of any continuity of the Mainruderer culture.

The Évadés were a minor subgroup of the Transrhénans, living along the Rhine north of Alsace rather than east of it. Their name originates in the fact that the first people to settle there were escaped convicts from Strasbourg. Following the First Treaty of Dover, most Évadés would leave the region again, mostly being assimilated into the rest of the Transrhénans.

The Transrhénans, also known as just Rhénans, were a collection of settlements mainly originating from the surviving section of Strasbourg. Originally established as camps for logging and fishing, their populations increased substantially after the United Kingdoms asserted its authority over the Alsace region. Since the First Treaty of Dover would cut them off from their origin across the river, the Transrhénans would follow a very different cultural route, and eventually transform into the modern day Rhinans.

The Dunkelwäldler were a seemingly tribal forest people inhabiting part of the Black Forest from sometime early after the Vanishing until their disappearance around the 2110s. It is unknown exactly where they came from or how why they dissapeared, as the only evidence of their existence come from Transrhénan records of raids on their settlements and later archeological findings of camps across the wooded hills. 

The Alemannic Republic of Konstanz (German: Alemannische Republic Konstanz) was a state that existed around Lake Constance from 2093 to 2161, being born out of a union of the states of Reichenau and Lindau. Konstanz would ultimately be the last fully functioning state of pre-Vanishing Germany to be joined to the Confederation and until 2191 the only part of what had been southern Germany to be governered democratically rather than by military law.

The Musiker, sometimes called Rheinmusiker, were a distinct music-centric culture originating from the Musikinsel Rheinau. While they were initially fully centered on their island, only leaving it in a semi-nomadic form during the summers, throughout the 21^(st) century they would come to settle most of the Rhine around it. While the Musiker would undergo many changes following their annexation into first Konstanz in 2103 and then the Confederation alongside it in 2161, they would ultimately manage to persist as a unique cultural identity.

The Hochalemannen were a small group of people representing most of the remnants of Switzerland and inhabiting mostly the area around Lake Zurich. They appear to have had little in terms of coherence, being organized into small local communities that were just as often fighting each other as cooperating. They would come under authority of the Confederation in 2160 shortly before the integration of Konstanz and would later be merged into the European State of Alemannia in 2192 as part of the end of Danish control over southern Germany.

The Vaduzer, commonly called the Vaduzer Families were a collection of six families made up of a mix of the last survivors of the state of Liechtenstein and societal escapists from Lindau. Following the establishment of Konstanz, the Rhine Valley that they inhabited would be integrated into the state in 2114, putting an end to their several decades of self-governance.

The Franconian, Bavarian and Swabian city states were a diverse collection of small states in former southern Germany. While they varied in alignment and ideology, all of them would ultimately share the same fate, being annexed by the Confederation through coercion or force between 2125 and 2146.

The Staffeler were a group of people mostly originating from the Staffelsee Camping Island of Buchau. A relatively small population, they would still spread out, with a few specific families living in wood clearings away from the lake itsself mostly for the purposes of hunting and logging. Like all areas of Bavaria, the Staffelsee would be forcefully occupied by the European Confederation, though its people were largely left to their own devices despite the military rule and their descendants still often identify as Staffeler.

The Community of Christ of the Chiemsee (German: Christusgemeinschaft Chiemsee) was a Christian Anarchist Collective centered on the Chiemsee in southern Bavaria. Even with decades of time and enough resources to do so the locals refused to ever organize into a clear governmental structure, which they viewed as antithetical to their faith. Despite this, they managed to establish settlements beyond their origin-islands most notably the town of Irmgarding at the shore of their lake, in which they spent decades constructing a massive stone cathedral, which would remain among the largest in Bavaria all the way to the modern day.

The Vyvolení were the semi-nomadic descendants of the islands of Litoměřice. At some point during their early history they appear to have coalesced into a cult-like organization centered on a still mysterious leader figure, which is when their common name “Chosen” emerged. The Vyvolení would attempt to escape European authority spreading into Bohemia by moving into the hills and mountains, where conflicts with German settlers would ultimately cause them to disappear around the mid-point of the 22^(nd) century, taking almost all information on their religion with them.

The Pražané were the descendants of the people that had survived on the river islands of Prague. While they had originally been organized under the Vlatva Republic, the government of the fragile proto-state collapsed sometime around 2050, leaving the various local groups to fend for themselves. This breakdown of authority is in no small part why the Confederation was able to easily seize control of Bohemia between 2113 and 2120. In modern times, Czechs with Pražané ancestry still often proudly display it through flags and symbols to set themselves apart from the diaspora-descendent majority.

On the 22^(nd) of November 2027, East Africa would change forever. Within only hours, Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan was killed and her government overthrown by an alliance of disloyal elements in her own party and the Tanzania People’s Defence Force. This came in the aftermath of a historic economic downturn that had been slowly strangling the country for several years. The coup plotters promised to restore democracy and prospoerity to Tanzania, and that their government would only be temporary, but they were nonetheless quickly suspended from the African Union, and the other members of the East African Community also began considering a similar measure.

Two weeks after the coup, clashes with Hassan loyalists, which had been happening all across the country sparked into open revolt in the western towns of Geita and Bukoba, and the surrounding areas followed its example in the days after. By mid-December western Tanzania had devolved into a civil war and the rest of the country wasn’t far from following.

Over the following months the Hassanists would win several key victories over the government, prompting a rapid and barely organized expansion of the TPDF. In late January 2028 the advancing rebels entered Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city. The battle for the city would be the bloodiest of the war and last for months, finally concluding in a rebel victory by mid-April 2028.

In preparation for meeting further advances, the TPDF would station substantial forced on the island of Ukerewe, where a demonstration against the military government had already taken place. So far the islands of the lake had gone largely ignored by rebels, being too logistically difficult to hold and worth too little. Still, the army wanted to be prepared for the moment that the Hassanists chose to change that strategy.

Also following the fall of Mwanza, in a move that further shook up the already collapsing East African Community, soldiers of the Ugandan army crossed the border into Tanzania on the 19^(th) of April, quickly advancing into rebel-held territory and laying siege to Bukoba. Since it was one of the original rebel cities, and one of the largest, they failed to capture it quickly dragging their unexpected intervention out and costing more lives than Uganda had likely planned.

By the time June came around the situation remained far from resolved. The rebel offensive had largely stalled. The EAC effectively existed only in name. Despite the Ugandans originally only fighting the rebel forces, they had since also started clashing with the Tanzanian government, mostly on the waters of Lake Victoria. None of those soldiers were aware yet that they would soon become the last remnants of a conflict that otherwise would seem to have never existed.

The Lotharingian War had a profound impact on Europe as a whole, and the Paneuropa Pact could not go unaffected by it. The United Kingdom felt that most of Europe had turned against them during the conflict, with the European Confederation as well as its closest associate Slovakia being especially critical of the botched attempts to retake the low countries. As a result, the UKGBF officially resigned its membership in Paneuropa only three weeks after the Treaty of Las Palmas.

Despite the damage the war had done, the UK remained Europe’s largest economy, and its exit could have potentially toppled the entire alliance. But after a few shaky months in late 2341 and early 42, most of the rest of Paneuropa managed to stabilize their new situation. The exceptions to this were Ireland, which officially pulled out in January 2342, citing the tensions that had already been readying to flare up again in Northern Ireland as well as economic ties to Britain, and Gibraltar, which left a few weeks after Ireland and after negotiating for continued open borders with the Spanish government.

But despite the economic damage that the three exits had done, they also opened opportunities. Italy had been excluded from Paneuropa largely at the behest of Britain for decades, and, in part to ease its ongoing negations to join the European Confederation, it briefly became an independent member of Paneuropa from August 2342 to May 2344. The Italian entry was seen as a general reopening of Paneuropa’s ranks to new members, leading them to be followed by Magyarország in November of the same year, and Vidzgale in February 2343.

At the same time a largely Croatian led effort led to several treaties that pulled the, by now only six, members of the Eastern Mediterranean Union closer to Paneuropa, stopping just short of integrating the smaller economic alliance. Observer seats for Paneuropa were also officially established for the first time in its history, with the first two being granted to the newly independent Lotharingia and its close associate Heimoaate. In general the exit of the UK seemed to give Paneuropa a new flexibility that had been previously constrained by bickering between the two main blocs within the alliance, led by it and the European Confederation respectively.

Of course, as both international observers, and politicians in countries that are less firm in their support for Paneuropa have pointed out that this new arrangement has placed the European Confederation as the de-facto head of the organization. However, the Confederal administration under its new High Magistrato Emma Meldgaard has taken active steps to limit its dominance within Paneuropa to the strongest reasonable degree, and allow the smaller states that fill the alliance alongside it to have a clear say in its direction. Whether this new balance of power within Paneuropa will function long-term or whether the more skeptical states will eventually decide that the Confederation’s shadow looms to large within the organization without Britain to balance them out remains to be seen in the years and decades to come.