Corenthia

Government: Republic. President and a Senate of 15 Counts and Countesses, 1 from each County. President is selected by an electorate every 10 years, Counts are elected by popular vote every 5 years. No term limits. Each county has 1 elector for every 1,000 people, electors are randomly selected from the pool of registrants. Any citizen may apply as a registrant to become an elector.
Cultures: Coren
Official Religion: None
Population: 570,000
History: The territory of this nation formerly belonged to the Inniash Khaganate. The territory, which had been conquered by the Khaganate early in the 2nd Epoch, had never fully amalgamated with Innish culture, consisting of a variety of vassal states under their rule. This cultural divide persisted until an opportunity arose. The Khaganate was in a complacent, weakened state. A summit was called amongst the leadership of the vassal states. This summit was called the Coren Summit of the year 6 5E, wherein a plan was outlined to secede from the Khaganate, and the idea of a unified republic was put forth. An emergency president for this new republic was elected from among those at the summit, to serve for 5 years until a true election could be held. This would allow the new nation to have leadership against the likely war to come against the Khaganate. The summit was arranged and held in great secrecy.
When the republic had formed and declared itself to the Khaganate, it also asked for recognition from the rest of the world. Most other nations gave it immediate recognition. The Khaganate, to almost everyone's surprise, chose not to fight, and withdrew from the now Corenthian territory. Corenthia quickly tried to insert itself in global politics, and most other nations felt Corenthia was presuming too much too quickly. Corenthia quickly lost the good graces of many through its over-reaching ambition, except for the Elven Kingdom (now known as the Varya'taurë), who struck a quick alliance with the neighboring nation.
As a newer nation, Corenthia spent much of its time building alliances and relationships with the other nations of the world, as well as focusing upon its own infrastructure, and cultural development. Corenthia has gained a reputation as a progressive nation, integrating new technology to their culture and infrastructure aggressively. Some criticize its heedless progress, noting a few catastrophic moments in which unregulated technology had caused disaster. It was the first nation to arm their military almost exclusively with Firearms, among the first to widely use Lightning Rail technology, and has even experimented with Aether power-grids to provide on-demand energy to any willing to pay the government for it.
Corenthia is home to many proud inventors, and it is likely that if a modern technology was not invented in Meridian, it was invented here.