-2001 AS-

The military junta that seized power in the newly-united Cavale Federation following the Cavale Civil War and the subsequent chaos pursued an isolationist foreign policy, suspending all international trade. Almost overnight, a black market sprung up for continued trade to nearby nations. However, this black-market trade was never truly able to thrive thanks to the new Cavale army keeping a vigilant watch of the known paths and beheading every caught lawbreaker, along with seizing all of their goods. Those few traders who managed to evade the army and escape to Ionia proceeded to inform its leadership of the conditions in the Cavale Federation. In addition to the self-imposed trade embargo, any sign of dissent in general was harshly punished and, so the dissidents claimed, such methods of creative expression as philosophy, painting, and the theatrical arts were forcibly stifled.

The Ionian national court had a more mundane concern in mind when the representatives of each constituent republic finally made up their minds about the necessity of military intervention, however. Several months ago, the court had decided to mint tens of thousands of coins in all denominations in order to combat rampant inflation. This inflation posed a double whammy of economic hardship to peasants and other lower-class individuals, compounding the effect of losing the key Cavale market for the goods produced both by them and their employers. The new Cavale foreign policy of spurning international trade and diplomacy left Ionian mints almost entirely without access to the great quantities of metal required to mint so many coins. With the Ionian economy at risk of being wrecked if the Cavale junta continued this isolationism much longer, the national court was convinced that a huge Ionian force must be sent to the new Cavale Federation.

Subsequently, they commissioned an accomplished, high-ranking Ionian army general by the name of Zhangyi to breach Cavale’s closed borders with around 20,000 soldiers under his command. The national court hoped that this show of force would convince the Cavale junta to surrender without loss of life upon realizing that they would be crushed by an invasion. The Cavale rulers were not inclined to fold just because a much larger army breached the nation’s borders, but their hands were forced by a new wave of rebellions that swept over all of the Cavale territory, rendering it impossible to even attempt to fend off an invasion, much less effectively govern. After the Ionians deposed and executed the members of the Cavale junta leadership and other associated, high-ranking Cavale officials, they made a deal with the disadvantaged rebels. Cavale would become a semi-autonomous constituent republic within Ionia, with broad control over its own domestic policy, but foreign policy would be dictated by the Ionian national court. For the first few years, Zhangyi would serve as the Cavale leader and representative at the national court, and his men would remain in Cavale over that period unless they were needed elsewhere. Gradually, Cavale would transition to being led by its own people, starting with some important rebels being granted official positions in the new government. Those Cavale who still sympathized with the junta were incensed, and they attempted to spark numerous riots and local rebellions over the next few years. Nonetheless, Ionian control gradually became normalized in Cavale, and the opposition soon faded away.

(OOC results: Cavale becomes Ionian territory, as one of its constituent republics. u/USPNova gains full control over Cavale foreign policy (and can confirm as much if he wants below), while I retain decision-making capacity as to its domestic policy. I will continue to write RP focused on and set in Cavale.)