OpenGeofiction
Greetings, brave mappers out there!
I’m just working on the history of Norðurland. And I thought about that around the Vinn Sea area, there could have existed a commercial-defensive organization of cities and countries like the Hanseatic league around the Baltic and North Sea (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League). In my writings, I currently mention it as the “Vinnic League”.
Maybe, this league could even have been revived in (or have survived until) nower days as a supranational union to ease trade as “Vinnic Union”.
Any suggestions about this (like the name or in general), especially from the Vinn Sea - adjacent state owners? If there are no caveats during the next days, I will create a conforming wiki article.
Greetings and happy mapping, Markus
Discussion
Comment from Pawl on 28 July 2015 at 20:23
I’m working on Tircambry, and had been thinking of contacting you about history and a regional organization, so both a historic Vinnic League and present-day Vinnic Community or Union sound good to me.
I would see the present-day organization as being less closely connected than the real-world EU is - a Free Trade Area, perhaps.
Tircambry evolved into four kingdoms in the early 1300s, and then into a single country in the 1740s. During the period of the four kingdoms perhaps some of them, but not all, would join the Vinnic League.
Other than ourselves and Kalm, I don’t think there’s much activity going on around the Vinn Sea at the moment :(
Comment from EMKLI on 29 July 2015 at 09:51
Hi Pawl!
Well, I guess, Andy (who develops all the countries bewtween Nordurland and Kalm) is doing his stuff offline most of the time and then batch-upload everything all at once, so don’t be deceived about the actual activity. However, yes, the screaming gap between Nordurland and Tircambry is really sad… :(
I’ve recently read your history outline and it is really one of the best developed so far. Actually, it is quite the same sequence of events which i have in mind for Nordurland. I once was a strong nation of seafare (basically inspired by the viking history) but then degraded into lots of smaller countries (the southern ones were invaded by Ingerland lots of times), but over the centuries, two kingdoms emerged (one in each countrie’s half) who finally were tied togehter in the First republic of Nordurland at the beginning of the 20th century.
Well, the Hanseatic leage was not so much an alliance between whole states and kingdoms but between singular cities (mostly coastal or close-coastal), initiated by merchant guilds. This is what it makes so interesting: it was some kind of “parallel universe” in terms of souvereignity. The cities remained a legal part of their country but also had specific outstanding rights and even their own armies. This system seemed to work quite well as some of these cities became incredibly rich during those times. However, there might have been interest from whole states to foster this organization - and to benefit from it, of course. ;-)
I think, a trading union/free trade zone is a good idea! As seen from Nordurland’s point of view, it would be a great opportunity to export its mineral ressources and IT know how, but on the other hand, it heavily depends especially on food imports.
I think I will start to write the wiki article (about the “old league”) in the next days. I will try to write a general explanation and then, each participating country can write their own part with their own history and mode of participation. This might be the best way to make such an “international” article possible.
Comment from Pawl on 29 July 2015 at 21:00
Hi Markus
I look forward to the “old league” wiki article!
As for the modern organization, how about “Vinnic Economic Community” (VEC) or “Vinnic Community”? It could have been founded anytime in the last 50-60 years, but perhaps it was created after the overthrow of Norðurland’s military regime in 1984, partly inspired by the wish to help Norðurland develop its economy, but also to give the other countries easy access to Norðurland’s newly-opening markets ;-) Just an idea.
I was also thinking that Tircambry may have been attacked by the Ingerish between the 11th and 13th centuries, assuming they could sail into the Vinn Sea through Norlensk waters (I thought of them as something like English-speaking vikings, or pirates). But I guess there must have been some conflicts between Cambric and Norlensk peoples too.
Comment from joschi81 on 30 July 2015 at 07:51
I like the idea very much and I think that “Vinnic League” is a perfect name. I haven’t developed Kalm’s Vinn Sea coastline in detail yet, but there are ideas for many cities like Lornhaus, Rekant and many more,
Looking forward to the article. I think I will rather react when there are questions about Kalm’s role than to actively contribute many details. I’m not that good in imagining a history for my country, unfortunately…
Comment from EMKLI on 4 August 2015 at 09:11
Thanks for your clear reception! Expect the wiki article to be there before next weekend. ;-)
Greetings, Markus
Comment from EMKLI on 4 August 2015 at 09:18
PS: concerning the VEC: I also thought about this. After the military despotism, Nordurland quickly tried to get recognized by the internatinoal community and to polish it’s image in the world. It seeked for recognition by the Assembly of Nations and also tried to “make friends” with its neighbors as soon as possible, so the idea of the VEC could have bin greatly favoured by both sides.
Comment from Pawl on 6 August 2015 at 06:22
Shall I go ahead and set up a VEC page on the Wiki, assuming we’re happy with the name “Vinnic Economic Community”? We can discuss details there.
Comment from EMKLI on 7 August 2015 at 11:50
Seems to be a good idea!