Radovia

"And so, the scarlet lady raised her sword, and with the power of the Allmother, swayed the Radovians to her side. And from that day on, she was their queen, forever and always."

- Radovian Legends

Scarlet Queen

- Anthem of the Empire and the monarchy

The Empire of Radovia, known simply as Radovia, is a large and powerful state situated on the western edge of Eidora. It's the largest state on the subcontinent in area, and second in population only to the CSR. Its capital is Sirev.

It is one of the most powerful countries still standing after the Age of Turmoil began, having violenty supressed any sort of internal dissent that would threaten its stability. As a result, the empire is a highly authoritarian monarchy, which keeps an iron fist around its populace. This has however led to a increase in nationalist sentiment in the many groups of people that has been incorporated into the empire of the years, and a shift to republican ideals in dissident groups that survived the purges.

Their biggest rival and enemy is the CSR, which stands as a polar opposite to Radovia. This hostile rivalry would eventually escalate into the Great War, which would result in the collapse of both countries.

Age of Turmoil
Radovia would also be hit by the collapse of the world economy, but not on the same grand scale as many other countries. The country had long followed a policy of mercantilism and self-sustaining industry domestically, and the economic crash would more look like a regular recession in the country, if a deep one. However, it would be enough to trigger intellectual movements both within the radovian circles but also the many other ethnic populations to begin to discuss the prospect of governmental and political reform, and some would even begin advocating for independence for their respective regions.

The economic downturn would thus spark the beginning of years of demonstrations and protests from people from all walks of life, faith, and culture. The scale of this would steadily grow, and was countered by small promises from the Imperial government for reform down the line. However, this was merely a distraction maneuver.

Great Purge
While all of this was going on, Radovian secret police would slowly begin to infiltrate groups of political agitators, republicans, independence movements, and reformists, gathering intelligence and identifying leaders in secret. This would all come to a head in 1904 when the government executed a "Great purge" of "anti-Imperial agitators", arresting thousands of political and ethnic leaders and breaking down organisations perceived as threats. Many of the arrested would "disappear" or be sentenced to death, but a majority would finds themselves in prison or sent to military penal battalions. Independence movements were hit especially hard, and the Imperial government would begin to apply the long neglected policy of "radovification" on its territories, causing major unrest in these regions as the authoritarian rule would increase in intensity and brutality.

Agitation in the ethnically diverse territories of the empire would continue to be an issue of the Imperial throne, and would be answered with brutality and authoritarian methods. The policy of radovification was wildy unpopular, and would trigger the formation of many rebel partisan groups aiming to fight the influence of the empire on their lands. In Satímaa, the formation of the Skull brigade would initiate a long-standing insurgency in the cold and difficult north, causing brutal repressions and penal expeditions from the radovian military. The Skull brigade would receive support from the Satí militia in Druthenia, something the Druthenian government claimed they had no knowledge or evidence for - in reality, this was known but ignored, since relations with Radovia had long been strained and even hostile since the first Satímaa war in the 1870's.

Behind the scenes (meta)

 * Radovia is based upon Tsarist Russia. The ensuing civil war is also based upon the Russian civil war, though without much socialism/communism being involved.
 * The faith of the Allmother is based upon the abrahamitic religions of our world.