Confederate States of Earth

Background and history
"I stand before you as President of the Confederacy Jane Zarkan, Head of State of our Confederate States, each state acting in her free and independent manner, I hereby renounce the allegiance and loyalty of each member state of the Confederacy to the Union government. We seek not war nor unbrotherly relations, all we ask if for the right to our own nation and permittance to govern ourselves. We wish for continued good relations with our former Union brothers, as good neighbours we were, but we are obliged to warn you that we will not allow you to conquer us, we do not wish to see such a tragedy occur. All we ask is to be left alone. God Save the Confederacy!"

- President of the Confederacy Jane Zarkan announcing the withdrawal of her nation from the Union

The Confederate States of Earth (also commonly known simply as the Confederacy, as well as the Confeds, the Separatists, the Rebels, the Western States, the West, and the Traitors by the Unionists) was an alliance of Separatist nations on the planet Earth that was a member of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, it was formed in 21 BBY by Jane Zarkan and other pro-CIS Earth leaders, the C.S.E signed an alliance with CIS. Jane Zarkan was also "Mother Zarkan" or "Zarkania", the national personification of the Zarkan Kingdom and the Confederacy, the Confederacy was also usually referred to as a female, one of the Confederacy's anthems, Zarkania, Mother of Freedom, is about Zarkania.

All of the founding states of the Confederacy had been members of the Traditionalist Faction, the faction to which the original 59 member states of the Union belonged, the Traditionalist Faction members believed that since that they were the ones who created the Union they had the right to dictate its course and politics, the Traditionalists believed that the Union ought to remain a loose alliance of states, rather than have a strong centralised government as their rivals, the Federalist Faction, believed.

With the election of Federalist Richard Williams in 24 BBY and the gradual loss of influence in the governance of the Union the Traditionalists began to dislike the Union, feeling that it was being subverted by the Federalists, and feeling a loss of representation whilst experiencing an increase in taxation. By 21 BBY all Traditionalist Faction members had desires of secession, and when Jane Zarkan announced the secession of the Zarkan Kingdom and Empire from the Union the other Traditionalist states quickly followed suit.

The different states of the Confederacy mostly followed the same religion, particularly on the Aerlandian continent, due to most member states of the Confederacy being made up of direct descendants of the Northern Coast Culture, the descendants of which maintained their belief in places like the Hall of the Virtuous, however all Confederate states believed in "God"

The Confederates fought against the pro-Republic Union of Earth States, the nation they were formerly part of, during the Earth Civil War (Known as the "Confederate War of Independence" in the Confederacy) of 21 BBY - 20 BBY, the war began following a combined Union-Republic invasion at the behest of the Galactic Republic, who urged the Union to conduct military action against the rising Confederacy, following the defeat of the Republic invasion during the battle the Galactic Republic withdrew from Earth, leaving the Union to effectively fend for themselves against a much stronger, and naturally, angry at being invaded without provocation, enemy, coupled with the Second Secessionist Crisis.

The Union was effectively crippled at the very start of the war by the Galactic Republic's rash action, resulting in the Union losing respect for the Republic, and accusing the Republic of betrayal.

The C.S.E had their own oaths of allegiance, these oaths of allegiance were taken by new citizens, who officially became citizens of the respective government of Confederate Earth, as well as citizens of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. There were cases of Confederate soldiers forcing Union citizens to pledge their allegiance to the Confederacy, this most notably happened during the Raid on Hilltown.

During the raid some of the soldiers forced the Unionists to become Confederates in order to steal valuables from them and not be accused of thievery, citing that since the citizens had pledged their allegiance to the Confederacy the valuables were a "patriotic contribution", most of the soldiers were from Valley City, and wished to take something back from an enemy that had taken everything from them, and also because the soldiers wished to expand Confederate territory, and decided a good way to do this would be to force the citizens of the territory to join the Confederacy.

At first consisting of 59 states, the Confederacy grew to 95 states during the Second Secessionist Crisis, which was when an additional 36 nations seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy in protest of the Republic-Union unprovoked invasion of the Confederacy, which began the First Battle of Earth, the Second Secessionist Crisis meant that the Confederacy covered the majority of Earth, and the Union was reduced from having 110 member states to just 15.

As a result of this crisis, and the weakening of the Union war effort resulting from it, the Union lost respect for the Republic due to the botched Republic-led invasion of the Confederacy, which served little than to weaken the Union's military, and drive most Union citizens and member states away from their own government and to the Confederacy.

Two months after the end of the war the Confederacy held her first presidential election, which Jane Zarkan won in a landslide victory, with a staggering 97% of the vote, Jane Zarkan was a heroine to the Confederate people, which accounted for her almost total popularity.

Views from people of Earth
"God Save the Confederacy!"

- A Confederate supporter shouting a popular patriotic slogan of the Confederacy

Generally, the Confederacy was well liked and respected by the people of Earth, even amongst Union citizens, most of whom agreed that the taxation placed upon the states by the Union Senate was unfair, oppressive and unconstitutional. In addition, most Earthlings supported the Confederacy's constitutional right to secede from the Union and form their own nation.

The Confederate people viewed their nation as more than just a political alliance, but as an alliance between brothers and sisters, the vast majority of the Confederate member states were located on the western half of the Aerland continent, the vast majority of the population in this area was directly descended from the people of the Northern Coast Culture.

However not all Earthlings supported the Confederacy, some supported the Union, and viewed the Confederates as traitors.

"We cannot negotiate with traitors! The Confederates have betrayed our nation, they have broken the oath they took to the Union!"

- A Union senator who opposes the Confederate-Union Negotiations

Some citizens of the Union developed sympathies for the Confederacy after hearing of war crimes and atrocities committed by the Union forces in their name, some of these still supported the Union, but did not support the war, and attempted to bring peace and an understanding between the two sides, an example of this was the Committee of Peace and Brotherhood, which was made of Union citizens who turned against the war following the Burning of Valley City and began to lobby for peace and a mutual respect between both sides.

"The Committee of Peace and Brotherhood was created in response to atrocities committed by our government against our Confederate brothers, the Burning of Valley City being the catalyst, we created CPB in order to push for an end to this destructive war."

- An excerpt from An Introduction to the Committee of Peace and Brotherhood

Nations of the Confederacy

 * Zarkan Kingdom and Empire (1st)
 * United Provinces of Adin and Morin (2nd)
 * Kingdom of Princeland (3rd)
 * Republic of Selandia (4th)
 * Toman Republic (5th)
 * Erastan (6th)
 * Kingdom of Westland (7th)
 * Norland (8th)
 * Sothland Republic (9th)
 * Confederation of the Drelan River (10th)
 * Aerlandia (11th)
 * Second Republic of Vertania (12th)
 * Arstotzka (13th)
 * United Kingdoms of Zovakia and Herkania (14th)
 * Hiland (15th)
 * Kingdom of Samuel (16th)
 * North Coast Union (22nd)
 * Leasath (30th)
 * Londany (44th)
 * Republic of Valand (57th)
 * Second Republic of East Vertania (60th)
 * Columbia (61st)
 * West Kalland Republic (63rd)
 * South Valandia (93rd)
 * North Valand (94th)
 * Republic of Wekland (95th)

Flags of the Confederacy
"I enjoy the flags of our motherland, they're all beautiful, both in their design, and what they represent. My particular favourite is the 10-star version of the "Stars and Bars", the flag I raised high above my castle when the heads of state of the first 10 Confederate nations arrived to discuss our new free and independent nation. Our flags rally our people, they're all far nicer than the ugly Union banner!"

- Jane Zarkan, giving her thoughts on Confederate flags

Flags were a very important part of the Confederate identity and culture, the Confederate Parliament believed that flags would help boost patriotic feelings and unity in their young nation. A flag represented a people and a nation, and an aesthetically pleasing flag made people feel happier and more loyal to their nation than one that was considered ugly.

The Confederacy put such a high importance on flags that there was a government organisation dedicated specifically for the design and production of flags, the Confederate Vexillographic Institute (C.V.I), which both produced and designed its own flags as well as prototype versions of proposed flags for display to the Confederate Parliament, as well as produced flags for government contracts, or personal contracts with some Confederate military leaders or businesses. The C.V.I only dealt with government, military and large business contracts, smaller businesses and the general public had to buy their flags from smaller independent flag making companies.

The C.V.I was headed by the "Chief Vexillographer", which was a government position within the Confederate Cabinet. The Chief Vexillographer's duties included leading the institute, overseeing the fulfilment of government contracts, and displaying the various proposed flags to the Confederate Parliament. The Chief Vexillographer also organised national flag competitions, and narrowed down the numerous different entries to a dozen or so finalists.

Appearances

 * Ashes of War
 * A.R.K.: Ancients to the Modern Aliens