Russian Imperial Republic
(Rossiyskaya imperskiy respublika)
(The Romanov Empire)
(Russo-Persia)
Government: "Constitutional" Monarchy
Society: Russian culture as a whole died out during the fall, the Russian peasents had no way to escape to the south, and the nobility lost most of their lands and wealth. Those that survived moved south to the Caucuses, and eventually adpoted local practecies. Ever since the implementation of the Duma in Tehran the Russian Peoples have regained their faith and love in their "Father Tsar" who holds considerable influence and power in the Duma. Society in general is diverse, and while Orthodox Christianity is the official religion followed by the Emperor, other local religions are accepted and practiced, including Shia and Sunni Islam which combined is the largest religious group in the Imperial Republic. Nowadays "Russia" is considered less of an ethnic nationality and culture, and more of a political construct uniting the various peoples of the region under one banner and one tsar. Because of the lack of actual "Russians" in Russia, and the few that remained becoming Persanized, many have taken to call the state the Romanov Empire, Russo-Persia, or even just Persia, while the monarchy, and most of the people, abhorently reject these descriptions (though they more or less accept the description of the Romanov Empire, especially in Persia with a long history of states named after the ruling dynasty) and request that they all be called Russians. Ethnically they may be Georgian, Persian, Aerbaijaini or Turkish, but nationally they are Russians, and they are proud of that.
Capital Province: Tehran
Core Provinces: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkestan
Reach Provinces: Tabriz, Khorasan, Fars
Far Reach Provinces: Kerman, Afghanistan, Armenia, Volga, Kazakhstan, Balkhash
Focus Techs: [Army/Com/Ind//Air/Navy]
Army Doctrine: 3 Infantry, 2 Artillery
Naval Doctrine: 2 Cruiser, 3 Destroyer
Air Navy Doctrine: 2 Sup, 1 Tac, 2 Strat
History:
After the fall, the few Russian Aristocrats that survived were forced to relocate to the southern territories in the recently acquired Caucuses and Central Asia. The Romanov Dynasty, in order to remain in power confiscated the remaining wealth of the nobility and began to centralize and industrialize their far smaller state. Tsar Alexander II, after securing his control of the remaining land saw an opportunity to expand. Persia had been on the decline for the past few decades, and with the destruction of the British Empire, Persia was even weaker. Seeing an opportunity to expand, and to knock out a possible future rival, Alexander Invaded the dying Persian state in 1890, conquering Tehran, and most of Persia as well, Alexander dismantled the Persian state and integrated it into Russia, though with some territories only nominally controlled, Tehran was directly administered from the Imperial Palace in Tbilisi. While Alexander was a kind and far more liberal Tsar than previous Russian rulers, he still ruled with absolute power, and in 1896 a revolution sparked in Persia, upset at their loss of Independence and subjugation by a foreign monarch, Alexander saw the writing on the wall. "The Good Tsar" conceded to the rebels and implemented a constitution and a Parliament in Tehran called the Duma. This constitution was a far more liberal than anything Russia had previously had, however it still left most of the power in the hands of the tsar. The Tsar was still the offical head of the Church, State, and Military. The Tsar had veto power over the Duma, and could dissolve it at any time for any reason. Finally laws put forward to the Duma by the Tsar only needed a 1/3 minority in the Duma to pass, while laws put forward by the citizens or the Duma themselves still needed a majority and the Tsar to accept their implementation. By all intents and purposes, the Tsar was still an Autocrat. However these concessions gave the people hope and helped give confidence back to the rule of the Tsar.
A year later in 1897 Tsar Alexander II passed away of natural causes at the age of 79. He was succeeded by his grandson Nicholas II, as three years prior Alexander's heir, Alexander III had passed away from nephritis. Nicholas II was a relatively harmless and ineffective leader, while trained by his grandfather and father to eventually become Tsar, it was not expected for him to succeed Alexander II directly, and he never really had much of an interest in ruling. He and his family spent most of their time in the (relatively rebuilt) Tsarkoye Selo in Gardabani 43 Km south of Tbilisi where the offical Imperial Palace and capital was located. Nicholas' rule was characterized by his nominal conflicts with the Duma. Because he prefered to not rule when he could, the Duma often times took power into its own hand, and began to rule without direction from the Tsar. This would lead to the common trend in the Empire of the power struggle between the Duma in Tehran and the Tsar in Tbilisi, a weak tsar left a more democratic and liberal Russia, while a strong tsar would lead to a more autocratic state. In 1894 Nicholas married his first love Malekeh Jahan, a Persian Noblewoman of the formerly ruling Persian Qajar Dynasty. Their love was well known around the world, and they were known to keep to them selves. While Malekeh converted to Russian Orthodoxy to keep to Russian law and tradition, she was extremely influential in helping to bring about greater equality and tolerance of Muslims in the Empire (mainly by using the Tsar's 1/3 Duma rule to get this law passed), as well as finally abolishing the religious requirement for both Tsar and Tsarina (even though no Tsar since has been any religion other than Russian Orthodox). In 1906 when the British Monarchy addicated rule in India, Nicholas invited those who wished to join his court in Tibilsi as nobels, beurocrats, and most importantly tudors and educators for his children. Due to Nicholas' rather poor education on leadership in his youth, he was determined to give his children were given one of the best educations in the world for the time, they were taught the liberal arts, classical and hard sciences, and of course, had a heavy focus on Statecraft, Politics, and Diplomacy.
Tsar Nicholas II was succeeded by his first born son Alexei Eskandar Nikolaevich Romanov in the year 1929. Nicholas II abdicated, seeing his 25 year old son as a stronger ruler than he was due to his education and greater interest in ruling Russia, Nicholas and Malekeh lived in relative peace and isolation at Tsarkoye Selo until they passed away in their sleep in the year 1950, forever in love. The rule of Tsar Alexei I was a major struggle between the Duma and the Tsar, ultimately the Tsar had won out, retaking almost Autocratic control. However the Duma had already passed many reforms, including one that abolished the previous 1/3 requirement for tsarist laws and instead required a Duma majority like any other law, as well as the official legalization of political parties, and expansion of democratic institutions and voting rights to a vast majority of the country. Unwilling to attempt to fight progress (due in part to his reverence for his great grandfather and his education from the liberal British monarchy in India) Alexei left these reforms in place, while retaining his remaining Autocratic power. Alexei's reign was characterized by multiple expeditions into neighboring territory, attempts to secure the rest of Persia, Afghanistan, and expeditions back into former Russian territory in the north either to claim artifacts or attempts to retake these lands. These sponsored expeditions to the north were often times failures, settlement was nigh impossible, but a few explorers were in fact able to bring back some artifacts from Old Russia. Alexei's obsession with Old Russia and Russian History is well known, he styled himself as a reformer, looking up to both his Great Grandfather and Tsar Peter the Great. Seeing his country in dire need of modernization, Alexei sponsored many industrialization and commercial endeavors, begining to trade with Russia's neighbors and he greatly subsidized attempts to exploit Persia's oil reserves to help bring Russia back on par with the rest of the world. Alexei's reign left Russia in a position of power and strength once again on the world stage, his reign was one of the longest in the history of the Empire. He finally passed away in the year in 1990 at the age of 86, seeing the world change all around him.
Alexei left his Empire in the rule of his first born Son Nicholas Alexeievich Romanov. Named after his grand father, Tsar Nicholas III reign has been relatively uneventful. Taking the throne at the older age of 63, Nicholas' rule was relatively short. Educated primarily by his father Nicholas' rule hasn't necessarily been clasified as weak or strong, instead he prefers to rule with the Duma, rather than against it or not at all. He continued the modernization of Russia. His fascination with the sciences has led him to fund many scientists, researchers, and engineers to come to Russia and to conduct their experiments. In 1997 Nicholas III passed away and left Russia to his son Kir Nikolaevich Romanov. Born in 1959 and named after the first emperor of Persia, Kir is the current Tsar of Russia. His reign has been classified as stronger than his father's, seeking to rather attempt to bring Russia back under absolutist control, however he has been thwarted almost every step of the way by the Duma and even his own nobility, fearing a return to Absolutism could ultimately lead to the destruction of everything Russia has become.
