The History of the Republic of Luna

A note: Well, I was looking over some of my old bulletins, and it really occurred to me that I actually had no real lore or a backstory for the existence of my nation. And, well, noticing that, I thought it might be a good way to come back to RP, to write some sort of basis for that, and it was going to just be a smaller national information bulletin, but it really turned into a much bigger project than that and took a lot more research and time than I expected. So I didn't really work on an actual national information bulletin, but I just spent ages thinking of and researching for this one, while also trying to include the few bits of nation lore I'd mentioned before (like the first Lunar Civil War that apparently took place just before I really began RP around 2077 or so). 

And, yes, I'm actually coming back to RP this time. I'm quite tired of letting a few people push me away from a community I genuinely love, and I'm not going to quit a game and a community that really means a lot to me because some people act the way they do. Dauchh and Ausparia, you both really convinced me to come back, so thank you for that, and for those of you who were just amazing to me and made sure I was alright, considering everything going on, thank you to you all too. People like you are the reason I really love this community.

Now, well, that's enough out-of-RP stuff for now.

PART ONE: THE GREENLANDIC INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT

It was the year 2027, several decades prior to the founding of the Republic. Although Greenland had previously signed a home rule treaty that would allow them to be almost completely autonomous from Denmark, the Danish government had begun to exert more control over them, particularly in economic areas. In an effort to gain more money to improve military capabilities in a world that was growing more and more hostile by the day, Greenland’s rich natural resources were being mined and exported by the mainland, leaving them without much left for their own profits. 

Tired of living under a system where they were extremely limited economically, unrest grew among the people of Greenland. Minor conflicts arose, although the rising threat of various nations’ nuclear proliferation caused an idea of mutually assured destruction that would prevent a major war from breaking out. Meanwhile, various countries began taking their own stances on Greenland’s calls for economic independence. Most notably, the United States of America stood in support of Greenland’s independence.

However, on September 19, 2027, a passenger ship traveling from the mainland was sunk by a Greenlandic militia. With hundreds of civilian casualties sustained in the sinking, war was closer than ever before.  Knowing that, despite the territory’s limited population, Greenland’s allies in the fight could pose problems in wartime, Denmark was left conflicted: would they risk total warfare?

Eventually, the situation was decided: the three main leaders of the militia that caused so much civilian death were extradited to the mainland to face trial for their crimes, and were all sentenced to life in prison. However, one of these leaders was assassinated on December 22, 2027; his death caused further conflict between supporters and opponents of Greenlandic independence, as many blamed the Danish government for the assassination. War had never seemed closer; both sides sought to avoid it, but one misstep and the world could turn to a tumultuous state of warfare. This cold war would continue on for two years to come.

At the brink of what would most certainly be a devastating war, a meeting known as the Convention of Nuuk was held to discuss the situation; representatives from the US, Greenland and Denmark were present at this conference. At that very discussion came the third turning point of the crisis in Greenland: a bomb was detonated in the building where the meeting was being held, severely injuring seventeen people and killing eight. Each side, then, came to blame the other, in this time of crisis.

Facing a nuclear threat, Denmark had two options: to launch an offensive against the Greenlandic insurgency, likely resulting in a massive war between various European nations and the United States, or to grant Greenland its independence.

It was decided on January 5, 2030: war was too dangerous, and the consequences too severe. The Danish economy could survive without the additional resources, and that was certainly far safer than the alternative.

On January 10, Greenland was officially granted its independence. The people rejoiced; the movement, after so much tension, after the fear of war breaking out every day, was successful! Greenland was completely independent at last. 

PART TWO: THE GREENLANDIC REVOLUTION

Unfortunately, Greenland’s period of peace didn’t last for long. In 2037, the largest Greenlandic province, Arcadia, fell under the control of an oppressive leader. His influence grew, and the eastern portion of Greenland, which at the time was the most populous area, successfully seceded from the Republic of Greenland, and the new nation’s limited number of citizens became subjects of the Empire of East Greenland: a dictatorship in all but its name. Then formed the “Lunar Liberation Movement” within the East, taking its name from the moon in the night sky: a movement to reunite Greenland in a democratic state. 

By this point, American unity as a nation had begun to deteriorate, and various areas of the nation had attempted secession — with some of the successfully seceded nations still being around today — leaving the United States government unable to defend democracy in the nation they had helped to build, and without many allies or much time to get established, East Greenland was vulnerable to a coup such as the one that formed the Empire.

Notably, this time period demonstrated the first usage of the Phoenix Banner, the current flag of the Republic; the flag was designed by a now unknown revolutionary general to symbolize the persistence of the liberation movement.

The nation, by the year 2064, had fallen into war between the democratic West and the fascist East. At this point, the total Greenlandic population was approximately 63,500 (calculated based on the current population and growth rate of Greenland). Although a majority of the population, an estimated 46,000 people, were on the side of the Lunar Liberation Movement, the other side had access to military-level technologies and weapons — leading to a war with many casualties on both sides, and constant fighting for many months to come.

The first decisive battle of the Greenlandic War was the November 2067 Battle of Sisimiut, taking place in the second-largest city in West Greenland at the time; as a victory for the West, Sisimiut allowed pro-democratic forces access to stronger weaponry and more fighting capabilities. Smaller battles continued, and at what would be the climax of this war, in early 2068, the two sides fought for control of the western capital of Nuuk. With low morale following a streak of minor losses, the vastly outnumbered imperial forces, led by imperial General Malik Sørensen, were forced to surrender at Nuuk, and two months later, the Empire of East Greenland was officially dissolved. As part of the agreement finally reached, Eastern Imperial leaders were removed from power; five people were put on trial for war crimes and sentenced to life in prison. 

The leader of the revolutionary movement, a former imperial soldier named Lily Aquila (note that Aquila’s family was not native to Greenland and instead originated from Europe, therefore explaining her uncommon name for the area), would soon become the first President of a newly formed democratic nation that would continue to grow and thrive for years to come. 

And thus, the Republic of Luna was formed. 

PART THREE: THE CREATION OF THE MODERN REPUBLIC

The West, having been the location of many battles fought in the war, had lost a significant portion of its population; many people had fled to liberated cities in the East, as those areas were, in fact, safer than war-torn Western cities. Along with other claims on the west, the Lunar government decided in a very close Parliamentary vote (52-48) that the borders of the Republic would extend across the East, while rescinding claims over the underpopulated West.

As Luna became known for a stance against war whenever possible, as well as being a nation open to immigration and welcoming to outsiders, the refugee population began to steadily rise, bringing the nation up to its current population of approximately twelve million.

In 2079, Luna, The Canadian Federation and Dauchh Palki would form the North American Defense Pact, an alliance of democratic nations formed against the building threats of Nova Mundus, the Chaos Insurgency and others of the sort. The NADP would last for approximately one year before a war between it, the Pacific Coast Defense Pact and the Anti-Furry Coalition (the NADP-AFC-PCDP War, more commonly known as “Skill Issues”) would end in its disbanding; at this time, President Lily Aquila of the Republic of Luna would be extradited to the Rocky Mountain Republic and executed.

Following the Aquila execution, the following presidents would lead the nation through a relative period of peace, and Aquila’s younger sister, Aurelia Aquila, would run for President and win the election. Commonly regarded as Luna’s best leader, Aquila would lead the nation successfully until the 2087 Presidential Election, where a Conservative Party candidate, Sadie O’Keefe, would win due to election fraud and foreign involvement.

This would lead into the formation of the Lunar Order State, and following the assistance of The Canadian Federation in removing the L.O.S. from power, the nation would resume its democracy, with the Aquila administration returning to power.

The History of the Lunar Flag

This was the original flag used by Greenland’s independence movement. The similarity to the flag of Greenland as part of the Kingdom of Denmark remained, in order to represent the symbolism of the sun and horizon present in the original flag. However, the alteration of colors, from the Danish red and white to the light and dark blue that symbolize the night sky and the oceans, represents the growing dissent against Denmark and the push for an independent Greenlandic state.

This flag was originally proposed after the Greenlandic Civil War, at the foundation of the Republic, to align with those of formerly existing Scandinavian countries. Despite a predicted low sense of patriotism among Lunar citizens (note that the Lunar populace has a very large immigrant population), pushback to this flag was high due to Luna’s independence movement. A survey of Lunar citizens from various provinces showed that only about 18% of people supported the official use of this flag, while the majority supported the use of the Phoenix Banner, currently used as the flag of the Republic of Luna.

More out of RP notes:

This bulletin took me quite a long time to write (seriously, I’ve been working on this for over two weeks now), and lots of research, but if there’s something that directly contradicts your nation’s lore, is extremely unrealistic, or something else that really needs to be fixed, just let me know and I can probably fix it. It’s almost certainly a mistake in my research or something of the sort, so I don’t mind it if you’d point that out.