Luthori

The Luthori Republican Empire is an imperial republic on the eastern coast of Artania. To the north is the Bay of Luthor and, beyond it, Ikradon, to the west is Beluzia, and to the south are Darnussia and Hobrazia.

History
The origin of the early Daltarian people is normally thought to be in either southern Luthor or northern Hobrazia.

In 1493, Christopher Dove "discovered" Dovani and claimed the land of Greater Hulstria and Kazulia for Luthor. The Hulstrians of Greater Hulstria are of Luthori descent, and have close relations with their parent country. The Kazulians were largely Lutheran, but often resisted Luthori rule by practising Catholicism; it gained independence in 2177.

Gerrard Winstanley was a notable 17th-century religious and political philosopher from the nation.

Early Period
Until the 14th Century, the territory now covered by the Holy Luthori Empire was a covered by numerous Kingdoms, Dukedoms and Baronies of varying sizes. During this century, through conquest, marriage and religious alliance the smaller of the states were gradually absorbed by the larger. By the end of the century, five distinct and more or less united Kingdoms existed, those that now form the modern day Dominions of the Holy Empire.

There were a number of internal wars in these five Kingdoms. They were more like loose coalitions of noble territories than solid feudal states as seen in other parts of Terra.

Utagian Period
During the 15th Century the Kingdom of Utagia was able to consolidate its power. At the confluence of modern day Darnussia and Hobrazia, Utagia was the gateway for most trade from the Southern continent. Control of the trade routes made the Utagian King, Harold III, fabulously wealthy and he was able to use this money to buy his own nobles armies out from underneath them. With a centralised military strategy and a unity unseen previously in the region, Harold was able to quickly subjugate the surrounding Kingdoms. By the mid-century, Utagia had formed a workable if unstable Empire in the region.

This period is more commonly known as the First Luthori Empire.

Civil war and the Agathion Period
Rule by Utagian Kings would continue until the late 16th Century. The cousin of the Emperor by marriage in 1572 was the Peter, Duke of Orange, a fief in the Kingdom of Agathion (modern day Dominion of Orange). Encouraged by religious agitators unhappy at the Emperor's weak policies and deference to the Terran Catholics and fellow nobles tired of Utagian taxes, Peter laid claim to the throne and raised an army against the Emperor.

What followed is a period of civil war that lasted until 1607. Peter himself died during the fighting, but his son, Paul I, managed to gain the throne. He relocated the capital of the Empire to Liore and established his claim by Right of God, with the support of the dissident priests that came from most modern day Luthori denominations. The Agathion Empire, or Second Luthori Empire, lasted for some time and set most common law precedent which governs the modern day Holy Empire. The area was greatly weakened by the civil war, and control from Liore was even less solid and centralised than it had been from Utagia.

Previous histories, largely written by 20th Century romanticist Fernandez Bavor, involving brave Oalapese fighting against brutal hordes of invading barbarians, are now thought to be almost entirely fanciful fabrications, with little grounding in actual Luthori history.

Modern Period
The Luthori Commonwealth was formed in 2035 out of the remains of a divided Empire. The Emperor was restored in 2111 but the traditional religious foundation of the state was not reaffirmed until nearly forty years later with the creation of the Holy Luthori Empire in 2149.

In March of 2418, the then Imperial Council voted almost unanimously to rename the Presbytery of Agathion in honour of HRH William II, Prince of Orange. William was at the time the Emperor's Viceroy. In addition to renaming Agathion as Orange, the capital of the Presbytery was named Fort William. The current Emperor is William III, Prince of Orange.

The Luthori War of Succession 2561-
Following the electoral victory of an atheist party, after the the strage disappearance of the Orangist faction, a vote was called to abolish the Luthori monarchy in 2560. The success of this bill prompted pro-monarchist forces to enter the HLE in late 2561 to guarantee the safety and position of the Holy Emperor, formed primarily of forces from Aldegar and Alduria, aided by Loyalist elements of the Luthori Armed Forces - mostly Guards and Household Cavalry Divisions and troops that had served under William II and III and William's brother, the Duke of Youk, in the crusades - and pro-monarchist forces from Hulstria, and the Monarchist League Alliance Forces. Pro-republican forces from Hulstria, the Aneist's Wolf Legion, caused a temporary setback for Loyalist forces, but were outnumbered and driven back, leading to the destruction of the city of Sandulka in the second battle of Sandulka. '

The Wolf Legion and League of Monarchies accused one another of causing the steeply rising civilian casualties in the region, driving one another to a stalemate in the north for the winter of 2562. The Aneists took advantage of this lapse to begin talks with Ikradon for aid both in evacuating the refugees from the east and in holding back monarchist forces.

A treaty was signed in 2566 which would allow Luthori to remain a Republic with the condition that the monarchist family would be protected from persecution. Monarchist political parties have reconciled with the Republican government and have been allowed to participate in the Imperial Diet.

Government
The Luthori Republican Empire is governed by the Head of State, the Head of Government, the Government's cabinet, and the Imperial Diet. Each dominion is governed by governors and local officials who are politically independent of the Imperial Diet.

Religion
Luthor is a highly religious society. The Holy Empire is named after the 16th Century Protestant Reformer Dr Martyn Luthor (often translated "Martin Luther" in other languages).

Several religions were founded in Luthor:
 * The Luthori Catholic Church: Catholicism was imported from Al'Badara in the 800s, and quickly spread across the coastal parts of the country. Luthori Catholicism broke from Deltarian Catholicism in the Minor Schism of 2144, under Innocent I. The LCC had relatively good relations with the Islamic community worldwide as compared to other Catholic churches. In 2440, the Third Randamarian Council voted for full communion with Auroria, becoming part of the Selucian Catholic Church. The 4 million who schismed over this proceeded rapidly splinter into smaller and smaller groups; the largest of these at present is thought to be the "One Truth Church", with a flock of ten.
 * The Traditionalist Lutheran Church: Founded by Elberhard der Stolze in Northminster, the TLC broke away from the Lutheran Church of Malivia. Although the leadership of the church moved to Hutori after the creation of the Luthori Church, it still maintains a large presence in the Holy Empire, as well as the former colonies of Gishoto and Kazulia.
 * The Luthori Church: In 2132, the government under the Democratic Unionist Party created the Luthori Church as the official state religion. It is organised into two parts, from top to bottom: the High Luthori Church is Episcopal in nature, while the Low Luthori Church is theologically more Reformed and Evangelical, while being organised along Presbyterian lines. (NB Luthori is a direct translation of Lutheran, in the Luthori language.)

There are also other minority religions, including Hobrazian Orthodoxy.

Language
The predominant language of the Holy Luthori Empire is Luthori, an Artanian language closely related to Ikradonian, Kundrati and Anantonese. It is an Ergative-Absolutive language, and is notable for its merger of the Superseleyan /u/, /e/ and /a/ sounds into /u/. Hulstrian is an offshoot of Luthori.

Economy
The Luthori Empire practices a free market economy, albeit one with some State intervention. Inflation is at acceptable levels and the economy is growing at a moderate rate. Unemployment is rather high at about 8%, taking an average of the unemployment rate of each Dominion.

The GDP at the time of writing (May 2556) was ₤870,317,553,015, of which ₤593,021,376,914 (68.14%) was consumption, ₤161,506,370,943 (18.56%) was government expenditure and ₤115,789,805,158 (13.30%) was investment. The GDP per capita in 2363 was about ₤4894.

Media
Radio Free Luthori, a branch of Radio Free Terra, was founded in 2348.

Politics
The Luthori parliament is known as the Imperial Diet and consists of 175 seats. The current Political Parties of Luthor are: Bible and Crown Defenders, Christian Democratic Party, Union of the Godless, Vanguard, Luthori Libertarian Party, Revolutionary Communist Party, Democratic Renewal, and the National and Royalist Party.

Table accurate as of May 2556, Terran Mean Time.