The Aqumis Free State

The Aqumis Republic, formally known as the Aqumis Free State, is the smallest of Minecraftia's three nations, having been founded during the early Fourth Era.

History

The Republic began life as a remote Alcanzari colony, where a small elite ruled over a large slave population who had been moved to the island from mainland Alcanzar to tend to its chocolate plantations, under the Alcanzar Trade Company or ATC. During the early Fourth Era, a violent slave rebellion erupted when the future first president of Aqumis, a slave by the name of Carlos Guerrero killed his masters at the Cortez Plantation, after which he, together with the other slaves of the plantation, captured the Ruiz Seafort. Using the fort's vast armoury they began a campaign of freeing the other plantations on the numerous islands that made up the Aqumis colony. The governor's militia was comprised of a small force of the Alcanzari Provincial Army, the vast majority of which were slaves themselves. Thusly, the militia quickly sided with the rebels, joining Guerrero's cause.

The governor, Lord Fernando Mendoza, managed to organise a small civilian home guard of the free citizens of the islands capital, Puerto Esperanza, and they prepared for a siege. A ship of the Alcanzar Trade Company was used to send an emergency message back to the Alcanzari capital city, Solleria.

Upon receiving the news of the rebellion, High-Lord Vinkhuys personally rode to the Empire's capital, Helmira, for an audience with the Emperor. He was however denied, only receiving a brief audience with the Grand Chancellor, due to rising hostilities between Kythira and Imperius during the Great Arms Race. The Crown, deeming a bunch of breakaway slaves a minor threat, only gave the Alcanzari High-Lord access to two small ships of the Mediori Fleet and 100 infantry soldiers of the Imperial Legion. This "fleet" was send out two months after the High-Lord had arrived in Helmira.

When this force eventually reached Aqumis, Puerto Esperanza had already fallen. The governor, Lord Mendoza, had been imprisoned by the rebels, but most of the upper class population of Aqumis had been butchered in a series of raids across the islands' settlements and plantations. A short battle occurred on the beaches of Puerto Esperanza, where the Kythiran army of 100 soldiers was thoroughly defeated by the Freedmen Armies of Guerrero, which at this point numbered around 8000 men. The latter, having found the historical epic 'Historia' in the library of the governor, had found inspiration in the Federation of Provinces rudimentary forms of Republicanism in the Second Era, and had taken up the title of President of Aqumis.

When the Crown learned of the defeat, the Alcanzari High-Lord was blamed for the disaster, due to both not properly informing the Tower about the severity of the rebellion, as well as not having send their own soldiers into battle. High-Lord Vinkhuys however had predicted that sending the Alcanzari slave armies into battle against the rebels would pose the significant risk of the spirit of rebellion spreading further across the province.

Originally largely a Kythiran colony, though the Imperius Reich was present on the eastern islands as well, the nation was created at the initative of Kaiser Borous III Dragestein, who wanted to create a neutral state, whilst also hoping to create a new trading partner. Ultimately the Kythiran Crown agreed.

The population of Aqumis is quite diverse. Escaped slaves from the Kythiran kingdom of Alcanzar often attempt the dangerous ocean crossing in order to find refuge in the Free State, where slavery is illegal. During the middle of the Fourth Era, a large diaspora of citizens of the Duchy of Lotric, escaping the Lotrican Genocide, fled to Aqumis, and quickly became the largest population group of the islands.