Republic of Laralia

"We make our own state, one not beholden to the Federalists! Our state may be small, but we shall reject the tyranny of Richard Williams!"

- Andrew Cobb, self-proclaimed President of the Republic of Laralia

The Republic of Laralia was a short-lived unrecognised nation state located within the state of Laralia, the western state of the nation of Soutalia, on the planet Earth, in 24 BBY. The creation of the self-declared rebellious state resulted in the Laralia Crisis.

Founded by Anti-Federalist rebels led by Andrew Cobb in the wake of the election of Federalist Richard Williams, the Republic of Laralia covered the much of the state of Laralia, and was centred of Laralia City, the state capital.

Upon overthrowing the state government Andrew Cobb declared the state of Laralia independent from the rest of Soutalia, and no longer a member of the Union of Earth States, he also made himself President, and made his partner, Henry E. Walk, Vice President, his commanders also served on his Laralian Cabinet, the sole policy-making body of the Republic, for there was no Senate.

Despite being a unrecognised self-declared "Republic" which was, in fact, a dictatorship, the Traditionalist Faction, the faction of the Union Senate which opposed the Federalists, provided clandestine support for Cobb's self-proclaimed state.

The Traditionalists wanted the flames of rebellion against the Federalists to spread, and to see more Anti-Federalists within the Federalist nations form their own self-declared nation states, thus discrediting Richard Williams for being unable to contain the crisis and increasing calls for him to step down, as well as providing the Traditionalists with a band of allied rebel states within striking distance of the Federalist heart, the Union's capital of Williamtown in neighbouring Nortalia, these rebel states would be admitted into a Traditionalist bloc of nations independent from the Union, which, it was hoped, would split the Federalist heartlands into pieces, and give the Traditionalists a foothold within them.

Emboldened by the Traditionalist support Cobb further pushed the claimed boundaries of his rebel state, the first push brought the entire western half of Soutalia, which he dubbed the "Republic of Western Soutalia", and finally the entirety of Soutalia, which he named the "Republic of Soutalia" (not to be confused with the actual nation of Soutalia).

Despite Traditionalist support Cobb's nation began to increasingly fall apart from stiff Soutalian government resistance, who had declared his nation illegitimate almost from the moment it had been founded, as well as growing discontent from Pro-Union and Pro-Democracy forces within the state, eventually a strike crippled the young nation and Soutalian military moved in and took over, Vice President Walk was arrested and charged for Treason whilst Cobb narrowly escaped capture and fled to the Traditionalists nations, setting up the Republic of Laralia Government-in-Exile.

The fall of Cobb's Republic proved to be a setback for the Traditionalists, though it was only a minor one, the year after the Laralia Crisis the Traditionalists formed the Western States Confederacy, of which Cobb's Government-in-Exile was a member, the failure of the Laralia Rebellion did mean the Traditionalists were unable to forge a foothold within the Federalist lands, they would have to fight their way across the border to the Federalist capital in a future war.

Despite being a dictatorship Cobb's nation was popular with the Traditionalist nations, who viewed the Republic as a stand against the Federalist menace of Williams, and the dictatorial design of it to be a necessary evil, Cobb himself pushed this narrative by claiming he only made a dictatorship because of "Hostile Federalists within Soutalia as a whole", Cobb always regarded himself as a benevolent dictator, who only did what he had to do for his nation and his people, and his supporters agreed with this viewpoint.

The flag of the Republic was popular within the Traditionalist nations as a banner of resistance against Federalist tyranny, and the Republic herself was viewed in a positive light, in the Union, however, the Republic was viewed as a tyrannical dictatorship which overthrew a democratically-elected legislature because it couldn't cope with a democratic election, the clandestine Traditionalist support for the Republic had also been revealed by the time of the outbreak of the Earth Civil War in 21 BBY, which caused many Union nationalists to view the war against the Confederate States of Earth as a necessity and a good thing, because the predecessor faction to the Confederacy, which included most of the Confederacy's leadership, had secretly backed a dictatorship in attempt to overthrow the Union.