Allied Provinces of Laeral
The Allied Provinces of Laeral was the government of Laeral between 1855 and 1922. Founded following the Laeralian War of Independence under the 1858 Laeralian Constitution, it was a parliamentary confederation consisting of an initial 12 sovereign provinces, later to grow to 26. Provinces determined their own internal policies and maintained their own semi-autonomous military forces, while electing members to the national legislature.
The War of the Seven Provinces, waged between seven Laeralian provinces and Libertas Omnium Maximus, demonstrated the shortcomings of the weak federal government with regards to foreign and defense policy, and a period of greater centralization followed throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The frontiers of Laeral steadily expanded westwards through wars of conquest with the Zhao Kingdom and smaller Rén states, and a race-based social system meant that Rén Laeralites had fewer economic and political rights and were largely consigned to poverty compared to both ordinary Arrivée and the all-white ruling elite. Westward expansion came to a head with the Laeral-Zhao War, which saw the Zhao Kingdom annexed by Laeral.
From 1880 to 1909, the Laeralian government was dominated by strongman Vespasien Jamet, who served as prime minister nearly continuously for almost three decades. During this period, referred to as the Vespasienate, Prime Minister Jamet oversaw the centralization of the Laeralian state as well as westward expansion at the expense of the various Rén kingdoms. Notable achievements of the Vespasienate included the expansion of central government taxation, the creation of a unified standing army, the relocation of the capital from Althea to Laeralsford in 1894, and the annexation of the Zhao Kingdom, the largest single land acquisition in Laeralian history. The Vespasienate was also characterized by immense corruption at the hands of Jamet and government insiders, largely from the plantation-owner class: for instance, the audacious New Laeral Movement, a ten-year program intended to modernize Laeral's industries, was generally a failure due to endemic corruption. The press and public protests faced heavy-handed censorship during the Vespasienate, prompting Jamet's opponents to brand him "Emperor Vespasien I." Following the acquisition of Zhao land, Jamet oversaw the Land Tenure Act of 1888, which paved the way for the expropriation of land in five Riverlands provinces from its Rén inhabitants, who were subsequently confined to small territorial reserves, while the most productive agricultural land was distributed to Arrivée settlers via lottery. This land seizure paved the way for continuation of the racial wealth gap in Laeral, as well as the First Great Migration, which saw Rén people from overcrowded and impoverished reserve territories relocate to Riverlands cities, fostering cultural diffusion.
Following Jamet's death in 1909, Jamet's deputy, Augustin Brienne, became prime minister. The 1911-1916 First Laeral-High Fells War led to devastation across northern Laeral and widespread unrest, on top of long-lasting social tensions deriving from the rigid social and racial class structure of the Allied Provinces. The 1919-1922 Laeralian Revolution saw the socialist Committee for Democracy and Progress take power, ending the Allied Provinces period.