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The Greys:
In the 1950's the Grey's were a Monarchy, the King a puppet to a European Colonial power. Much of the population was poor, and were brutally suppressed by the Kings secret police. In 1957, vast reserves of Oil were discovered by accident in the northern part of the country, after a freak coal mining accident. The Royal Family quickly took over the entire petroleum industry in the country, exporting it all at a lower-than-market price. However, this money didn't go back to the people, the King instead choosing to spend it all on expanding his Palace, and bulking up his military. As the King began to enjoy his new wealth, the Grey economy entered a recession. So as 1958 rolled in, the King began to cut spending on social programs, hoping this would force people to spend money and assist the economy in recovering. The intellectuals within the country got wind of this through a leaked package of documents, along with news of the Oil exportation, and were none too pleased. Quickly, talk of the King's wasted fortune began to spread among the lower class intelligentsia. Within weeks, many of the people within the Grey kingdom were taking to the streets protesting, with many of the workers beginning to organize strikes.
So the King cracked down.
Hard.
His military was deployed to the streets of the Capital on March 15th, 1958, under orders to shoot all ringleaders, and arrest all other dissidents. This day would come to be known as Dark Saturday among the Grey People. The Royal Infantry forces massacred any dissidents found in the streets of the capital, mowing down crowds of innocents. Moving from street to street, the RI troops shot any who were in the open, regardless of activity. After four hours of bloodshed, 3700 were dead.
Afterwards, the Soldiers - who still needed "Dissidents" to arrest - went house to house grabbing anybody they could find on imaginary charges of conspiracy and treason. After rounding up 400 innocent civilians, they forcibly marched them to the Royal Palace, where they would all be found guilty of treason, and be sentenced to life imprisonment.
By mid summer, thousands of Grey citizens had fled to the hills, joining the resistance groups that operated there. Utilizing weapons and training supplied by foreign powers unknown, they began forming into a military force to be reckoned with. Their numbers swelled as the King enacted martial law, and began creating new laws to stifle his people. With strong resolve, and weapons raised high, the rebels were ready to strike.
The first attacks on the military bases surrouding the Grey capital were small probing attacks, strikes to test reaction times, and to check effectiveness. Slowly, the rebels became more courageous, attacking forces within the city itself, and stealing military equipment. Small ambushes gave way to bombings, and isolated attacks became large scale strikes. The attacks came to a head on December 8th, when Rebel forces managed to capture a Garrison south of the city. With unexpected momentum, they continued to push, steamrolling the loyalist forces. The rebels quickly surrounded the Palace, which they captured the next day amidst heavy fighting. The King died in the fighting, his private aircraft shot down as he attempted to escape his burning palace.
Quickly, the new Grey government began to set up shop. Policies, likely inspired by those of the Warsaw Pact, were quickly set in place. The new Grey Republic was to be a Communist country, where everybody had a say in the governing. Industries were nationalized, ties with their Imperialistic conquerors were cut, and the Grey nation became a place of contentment and growth.
For a few years, anyway.
The Grey Republic began to experience growing pains, and by 1965 was beginning to run short of food production quotas. Famine was a looming threat, and the government needed to do something. Fast.
On the south border of the Grey Republic sat a small Banana Republic, a crumbling "Democracy." Their President was a weak ruler, a mere puppet to his Vice President, and the country's government was deeply corrupt, with thousands of dollars simply "Disappearing" every week. Rebels were rising up just as their northern friends had, and fighting was breaking out across the Purple States. However, unlike the Grey's revolution, this did not look to be a quick fight. The Purple States looked to be entering a protracted civil war. The Greys sensed an opportunity.
The Greys quickly entered talks with the Rebels, offering to fight alongside their "Communist Brothers," as they sought to overthrow their government. In exchange, the Rebels would become members of the Grey Republic, working together in "Friendship and Labour." Quickly accepting their help, the Rebels and Greys overthrew the government of the Purple States, amd were then promptly annexed by the Grey Republic.
As the years passed, and the Republic grew, this was repeated countless times. Sometimes helping existing rebel groups, sometimes creating such groups, it was always the same. This would continue into the late 1980's. That was when the current Ruler took power in the Grey Republic. As he took the wheel of his country, he began to see how it was weakening. He saw the standard of living dropping to that which he suffered through as a boy, as a subject of the King. He intended to fix that. He intended to do what his predecessors promised to do.
Over the next 4 years, new Policies were enacted, allowing new religious, economic, and racial freedoms, and reforming his government into a far more effiecent Socialist power. The people of the Grey Republic soon began to experience freedoms new to them, and began to move towards a more western way of life. For the first time, the Republic was truely moving towards freedom.
To the Southwest of the Grey Republic sat the Blue Republic. Similar in size and military strength to the Grey's, with vast diamond mines, their Socialist government gave the Grey Republic no reason to invade them. This allowed the country to grow undisturbed. As the years went by, the Blue Republic grew much in a similar fashion to the Grey Republic, annexing Countries as they needed to, and taking what they wanted. Also, like the Grey Republic, they began to enact more liberal policies in the early 90's. However, by the early 2010's, this had a detrimental effect on the Blue Economy. Their dollar plummeted, and crop failures only served to exacerbate the problem. The Blue Government responded in the only way that seemed natural, and quickly enacted rationing. This did not go over well. The Reds, a minority group within the Republic, had always lived beneath the poverty line; always living in worse conditions than the rest of the Blue populace. This rationing only served to make their quality of life far worse.
So they took to the streets.
Hundreds of Reds began protesting and going on strike, complaining about the governments plot to further drive them into poverty. Many Blue citizens began to ask questions as the unrest spread across the Blue Republic.
The Blue government had to do something before this got completely out of hand.
Quickly, all unneeded social programs were cut, and all the funding was redirected to the military and the police forces. They began to crack down on any talk of the "Plight of the Reds," enacting heavy censorship, and placing early curfews.
These changes only served to worsen the situation. Red sympathizers began to act out, bombing police blockades and shooting loyalist patrols, with the Reds quickly turning into more than just a small minority group. They began to form into a guerrilla army, their forces quickly growing to match loyalist forces.
As all this happened, the Greys watched. As the Blue Republic began to crumble, a horrible truth became clear:
This could be them.
This could be them, soon.
This could be them, soon, And they needed to do something to avert the crisis now.
The Grey economy was beginning to weaken, their oil reserves were beginning to empty, and their government was unlikely to survive a depression. The only option became clear:
They needed to grab what they could from the Blues while they were weak, and bunker down. If they were lucky, they might just salvage enough to pull through this.
The Greens:
The Greens started their history a Tobacco colony, governed by one of the old colonial powers. In the late 19th century they were granted independance, and began to grow as their own nation. Their equitorial location allowed them to readily grow crops, and their production of valuable cash crops such as sugar, coffee, and tobacco allowed them to grow rich. They quickly developed their own Democratic government, their constitution based upon those of several powerful democracies. By 1929, they were well on their way to becoming the most powerful country in their region. Then the Depression hit.
With many of their client nations unable to pay large ammounts of money for raw materials, the Green State's economy tanked as well. However, due to timely economic choices, they managed to straighten out their economy and were on their way to recovery by 1940.
As WWII raged on, nations around the Green State began to take sides. Many nations surrounding the Greens sided with the Axis Powers, whilst others sided with the Allied Forces. The Green State chose to side with the Allies in early 1940, and pledged to support them through any means necessary. The Green State began training soldiers to send to Europe when their Axis neighbours to the east, the Blue Republic, invaded. Their military, ill prepared to fight, was quickly overwhelmed by the Axis forces. On August 8th, 1940, the Green State surrendered to the Axis forces.
The Governmental structure of the Green State was quickly "Adjusted" by the Axis forces, with a new facist Chancellor being appointed to lead the country. These changes in the Grenien governmental structure would remain, due to their simplistic systems.
For the remainder of the War the Green State was controlled by Axis Forces, and was not a free state until 1944, when Allied forces managed to break through the fortified harbour of the Green capital. Much of the City was razed in the battle, as were many outlying towns, due to their liberators aerial bombardment.
During the post war reconstruction, the Green State underwent an economic depression, brought about by the war. Jobs were far and few between despite the need for workers, and the Green Pound fell in value. From 1946 until 1954, the Green State sat in an economic hole, as they slowly rebuilt their homes and infastructure. It was during this time that the nearby Grey Kingdom began to collapse, the entire region's economy softened up. However, slowly, the Green State began to rebuild their economy. By 1959 they were finally selling exportable goods such as Sugar at market prices, and they had money to begin investing in other things.
And first, they invested in a military.
After being caught off guard so dangerously during the Second World War, the Greens were taking no chances. They began importing as much military hardware as they could, and hiring as many instructors as they could scrounge up. As 1964 rolled around, they had a world class military, and were more than capable of holding their own in any war.
Off the coast of the Green State sat the island of Teal. It's government, caught up in the ideals of communism, sought aid from the Warsaw Pact. Quickly, their government converted the small island nation into a Communist haven. The Soviets shipped them tanks and aircraft, along with skilled trainers to teach them how to use them. The Teallaen people were quickly militarized, and began to show signs of mobilization.
This was the perfect place for the Greens to show off their might.
For months, the Green government created anti-Teallaen propaganda. Broadcasts were made on the radio and television decrying the Teallaens as savages and murderers, in need of the Green States guidance. Pamphlets were distributed with "Facts" about Teal cannibalism and rape rituals. After 2 years of this, the stage was set. On the night of November 19th, 1965, 500 Grenien Soldiers landed on the island of Teal. After only 8 hours of fighting, the entire Teallaen military of 1400 men surrendered to the Green forces. The island was quickly annexed, the communist threat neutralized. After successfully disarming every Teallaen soldier, the Chancellor of the Green State himself was flown to the island, when he presided over the execution of the Teallaen Commissar, a publicly celebrated event.
Over the next 12 years, Teal was slowly made a part of the Green State, their various unique traditions such as Ullamaliztli replaced by Grenien sports such as Soccer. When Teal was finally made a part of the Green State in 1977, new "Separation" laws were passed within Teal. These required all Teallaens to carry their passports when off the island of Teal, made all Teallaens unable to join the military, and made it impossible for the Teallaens to vote. Many analysts agree that these laws are a direct result of the propaganda used by the Green government in the 60's.
By the 1990's, the Green State was one of the largest military powers in the region, their training some of the best available. Utilizing state-of-the-art Western weaponry, they were capable of brutally putting down several well equipped Teallaen uprisings, and also quelling several border conflicts with their Blue neighbours to the east.
As the 2010's rolled around, the Green State policy of "Separation" has begun to falter, and equality is starting to slowly become a reality within the nation. However, even as this happens, The newly elected Chancellor is seen as weak and undecisive. A flex of the military muscle is just the way to prove the opposite, and perhaps even keep him elected for another term.
Perhaps this recent surge in Grey military deployments will be just the ticket...
I'll be editing this version over the next while, so stay tuned. I'm planning on fleshing out the Greens in a bit more detail, among other things.
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