Overview of Praetoriius (Application)

• RP NATION NAME: Praetoriius

• CAPITAL CITY: Praesidium Aeternus

• TERRITORIAL CLAIM: Southern tip of Africa.

• LIST ALL IRL TERRITORIES: South Africa, Lesotho, and Madagascar.

• LIST OF DISPUTED TERRITORIES (REQUIRES AGREEMENT WITH OTHER PARTY): Nil

• POPULATION: 90 Million

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

• NAME OF LEADER: Linius Pallitax
• GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Per Capita): 15,000

• GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Nominal): 1,350,000,000,000

• TYPE OF GOVERNMENT: Autocratic Plutocracy

• HISTORY: When South Africa was colonized in 1647, instead of getting driven out by the natives and the rest of the world, the Colonies managed to hang on to their South African territories. With the threat of invasion gone, the colony expanded into the interior of Africa and into Madagascar. Because of the social hierarchy of the colony, in which the Dutch colonial overlords were viewed as superior to the natives, a class of ultra-wealthy colonial overlords emerged. This class controlled most of the industry of the colony, and made lucrative profits by taxing imports and exports.

By 1900, this class of elites had gained enough power that they now felt confident that they could overthrow the yoke of the government. Under the pretext of tyrannical economic regulations, the elites rebelled, swiftly seizing the ports and largest cities. But the government forces had been hardened by years of combat with the native peoples of South Africa, and they would not give up quite so easily. Several thousand government soldiers, cut off from escape by sea, retreated into the interior, where they began a guerrilla campaign against the rebels. They gained support from the various nations of Africa on the borders of Praetoriius, earning them the everlasting enmity of Praetoriius. Eventually, after 3 years of struggle, the offensive power of the anti-rebel guerrilla's had been neutralized.

During the three years of warfare, the elites, now calling themselves the "Plutarchy", had consolidated their power. They created a government in which the top 0.001% of the nation controlled the entire government. This "Plutarchy" behaved much like any other dictator in its early days, oppressing the people for perceived slights, murdering dissidents, and robbing the nation of its wealth. But after 50 years of this tyranny, the system began to show cracks. Praetoriius' GDP had plunged, and the economy had crashed, as the people had no money to spend and most trade with Praetoriius had been embargoed by the international community. And finally, in 1963, the dam broke. A huge workers rebellion exploded across the country. They demanded that the Plutarchy cede control of the government and be replaced by a more democratic government.

At first the Plutarchy responded by cracking down on the rebellion, but this only brought more people to the rebels cause, and the Plutarchy was brought even nearer to the brink of destruction. Seeing this, the current Arch-Plutarch was replaced by Venvicus Antoius. Instead of cracking down, he slowly gave in to some of the peoples demands. He gave them more personal freedoms, and gave bailouts to the people and their businesses to try and bail out the economy. Over the next 7 years Praetoriius was re-stabilized. But even after the situation had returned to normal, Venvicus continued his reforms. He slowly turned Praetoriius from an oligarchy in which the people were merely things to be exploited, into a more modern democracy. At least, he tried to.

In 1988, he died under mysterious circumstances. He was replaced by Circeloc Gordum, a veteran member of the Plutarchy and a fierce opponent of Venvicus's reforms. Yet instead of immediatly reversing all of the reforms, he slowly undid them, all the while distracting the people from their gradual return to autocracy by cultivating a consumerist culture. As long as the people eternally chased material possessions, they would not pose a threat. By the late 2000's, Praetoriius had returned to its original ways, yet the people were none the wiser. Political murders were now much more subtle, and the Plutarchy rarely needed to exercise its power on the now content population.

In 2010 Circeloc Gordum died peacefully in his sleep, a very rare death for a Plutarch. After his passing, he was replaced by Linius Pallitax, a young Plutarch in his twenties. He continued the policy that his predecessor had created, but he also expanded the Praetoriius military, and for the first time since it's founding in 1903, he began to throw around Praetoriius's influence in the world.

HUMAN OR NON-HUMAN?

• IS YOUR NATION HUMAN OR NON-HUMAN? Human

• NON-HUMAN SPECIES NAME: Nil

• SPECIES DESCRIPTION: Nil

• UNITED NATIONS: Praetoriius is not part of the UN and refuses to comply with it's regulations.