Elysia

Elysia: Geographical Info

Elysia was founded by explorers drawn to its natural beauty and exotic locales, as well as the largest surviving biosphere native to Hemera. Over time, however, it was settled by more and more political dissidents from other countries, and it gained a reputation for being a hotbed of political radicalism. Elysia went through a series of varying governments, and at the time of the Global War it was ruled by a small cabal of technocrats who wanted control of as much of Hemera's technology as possible. Messembria's rapid rise to technological superiority concerned them, and when their protests did not succeed in convincing Messembria to turn over their space and research programs to international control, Elysian radicals bombed their space center, sparking the Global War.

In the War's aftermath, Elysia retained some technology, but it was devastated by a nuclear blast and spent years trying to rebuild itself. The other nations of Hemera demanded substantive reforms of Elysia's government and placed strict new laws on the nation as it rebuilt. Eventually, a democracy was founded, but much of the political power was influenced by corporations. Elysia become an economic power once more, producing trade goods and allowing biologists from other nations to mount expeditions on the continent, within strict agreements.

Elysia's relations with other countries remained tense, with occasional small skirmishes or political disagreements, until 832 HE, when Elysia and Messembria fought a war sparked by shipping and territorial disputes in the Atlas Ocean. Messembria defeated Elysia soundly, resulting in a new government changeover, one which was quite drastic. The new government was far more interested in maintaining peaceful relations with the rest of the world and worked to establish Elysia as the tourist capital of Hemera, with its tropical beaches, beautiful rain forests, and comfortably designed cities adapted for the hot climate. Many still distrusted Elysia, but others welcomed the newly relaxed travel restrictions.

This lasted for a few peaceful decades, until the dimensional rift opened up on Elysia's western coast and brought Erebos to Hemera. Elysia suffered the vast majority of the damage caused by the entity, leaving several towns decimated and a great swath of plant and wildlife destroyed as Erebos moved eastward across northern Elysia. Once Erebos neared Troli in the north, it veered out to sea and headed for Messembria, but although the major southern cities, including the capital were at a fairly safe distance, they still suffered damage from the dimensional storms whipped up by the rift and continued by Erebos as it advanced across the continent. The resulting panic led to a temporary governmental collapse, especially as Elysia's president had been traveling at the time and contact was lost. His plane later proved to have gone down in a storm while returning to Carpeia from Troli, and the vice president took over. Newly sworn in President Audrey Flores acted quickly to restore order, dispatching the Elysian military to those areas hardest hit to ascertain the damage. Communications and the Network were down for weeks, and travel was limited, especially since a great deal of infrastructure had been destroyed in the storms. Within a couple months, contact had been restored to even the most outlying areas. Reports came in that Messembria had somehow defeated Erebos, but for Elysia there was no time to celebrate and far too much rebuilding to do. President Flores has proved to be an effective and level-headed leader and is now serving in her third term.