Calabria

Nation Information
One day, in the not so distant future, the Pope begins to criticize homosexuals more and more. This leads to Italian priests preaching against homosexuals, which leads to the citizens of Italy becoming violently aroused against homosexuals. Conservative "moralists" overthrow the Italian government and elect a theocracy with the Pope as the head of the government. The theocrats begin murdering homosexuals in huge numbers. Doctors and scientists are also persecuted; the Pope calls for an end to modern scientific knowledge, stating it fuels atheism. This rag-tag group flees to Southern Italy, where there are rumors of a Progressive movement of everyday Italians that welcomes everyone and is against the violence. The heart of this movement is located in Reggio di Calabria in Calabria, extreme-Southern Italy. The theocrats revive the army and push into Progressive territory. The Progressives secede from Italy, stating that such violence will not be condoned by them. and proceed to, hesitatingly, declare war on Italy. This new nation is known as Calabria.

Calabria has much better technological resources available, as they have acquired most of the rest of Italy's intellectuals. The scientists/doctors/etc. who remain in Italy (now known as the Holy State of Italy, or HSoI) are small in number and can't match Calabria; however, the HSoI has far greater numbers. The Calabrians pull back to the region of Calabria itself, having to give up hundreds of square miles to the HSoI, but they begin to build a wall with advanced robotic defense mechanisms. Helicopters are sent over the wall to retrieve Progressives, but eventually are forced to cease once the HSoI gains firm control.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is engaged in its own conflicts; a coalition of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and Vietnam are at war with the U.S., Japan, S. Korea, France, Germany, the U.K., Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Poland, and other assorted nations. Thus, this 'Italian Civil War' goes unnoticed and neither side is given assistance by outside forces.

A relative peace develops, with Calabria developing its own society behind its walls and with the HSoI creating its so-called Holy State. The HSoI occasionally tries to destroy/take/pass the wall, but fails every time. After three years of this, the Calabrians are taken by surprise when a huge HSoI fleet lands on Calabrian soil. The Calabrians had been monitoring the northern Italians and thought they were safe from any naval attacks! The Calabrians, with their extensive network of spies and communications-infiltration, had thought that their navy outmatched anything the HSoI could throw at them easily. However, the Pope had commisioned that the Spanish (who are starting to return to their religious roots) build a fleet for the HSoI, and this fleet wipes out Calabrians own and lands before Calabria can even think about assembling a defense force. Calabrians flee in panic in small, non-military/personal ships to Sicily, an island that itself had seceded, being very religious but peaceful. The Sicilians welcome the Calabrians warily, but charitably, and will not allow the Spanish or the Italians to land without a war declaration. The Pope is fearful to declare war on Sicily, a good Catholic nation, as it would kill the goodwill that Spain was developing towards the HSoI.

The Calabrians live in peace on Sicily for several years, but do not enjoy the rights they had in Calabria. Gays aren't allowed to marry, and Creationism is taught in the schools. The Calabrians can't hope to change this without starting a civil war in Sicily also, so they endure what they must. After five years of this, a young man, named Rabon, begins to hold meetings across the Sicilian countryside, calling for a fleet to be built, and Calabria retaken. The Sicilian government soon hears of Rabon's plans, and chastises him. Rabon does not give up, and builds advanced spy drones to try to discover any way that he could gain favor with the king. He soon learns that the king has recently had two fascinations: the neo-emo movement, whose followers show their self-loathing by changing their names to an uncapitalized form of their own name (bob instead of Bob), saying they don't deserve the respect; and palindromes. Rabon immediately officially changes his name to rabonnobar and sends a letter to the king, begging the king to hear him out. The king, who had recently had a dream in which a saint told him that an interesting young man would soon call on him, and that it was God's will that he assist this young man, nearly fainted at the sight of the signature, and invited rabonnobar to his palace.

The king, who went by the name of Ricardio (he was half-Spanish), was weary of opposing the Pope, but Ricardio had begun to truly notice the abuses of the Papacy, and, after rabonnobar's appeals to faith, reason, and common decency, Ricardio agrees to assist rabonnobar in building a fleet and an army to invade Calabria. Unknown to rabonnobar, Ricardio also contacts some of his friends in the Spanish nobility and convinces them that the Pope has turned to the Dark Side. The day before the Sicilian/Calabrian invasion force sets out, Ricardio's friends withdraw the Spanish forces (which begins a civil war in Spain a few days later, between the nobility and the Catholic-faithful monarchy) and the joint force easily demolishes the HSoI's weak navy. They take Calabria within a week, and reactivate the wall (which had been deactivated but then ignored by the Italians). The HSoI launches a few naval invasions which fail miserably, as Sicily (after the invasion) finally declares war on the HSoI and protects Calabria's beaches. The Calabrians focus on their wall, and begin to build up land forces behind the wall in case the Italians ever break through. After two years of trying to break through the wall and failing miserably every time, the HSoI wearily works out a peace agreement with Sicily and Calabria, and two weeks later, Spain unifies under a non-theocratic government. The new Spain enters into a bloc with Calabria and Sicily, which forces the HSoI of giving up any hopes of ever taking the entire Italian peninsula. Calabria continues to do military research and soon develops a motto of "tech ftw!". Calabria also keeps its Catholicism, just a progressive branch; Sicily, however, soon follows their faithless king Ricardio (who became disillusioned by the terrible evils of the Papacy) and enforces strict atheism; and Spain is a mixture of conservative Catholics, progressive Catholics, Protestants, and atheists, who each form their own political parties who work as checks/balances on each other.

Calabrians are all given free access to extensive scientific education throughout their lives, yet are also required to pursue a four-year degree in an art, humanity, or social science.