Airdrie

Official Name: Republic of Airdrie

Founded: 1545

Form of Government: Representative democracy

Head of State: Contested

Population Level: Average

Society Structure: Mostly urban

Technological Level: Above average

Background: See United Bayronite Shires.

Founding: Upon the death of King Norman the Fourteenth, the United Bayronite Shires were thrown into upheaval; for the first time, there was no male heir to the throne. From the time of their joining the UBS in 1066, the Airdric tribe had maintained its own male leadership lineage; when it became apparent the widow-queen of the UBS, Effie, would win the power struggle and install her daughter Suzanne on the throne, Ewan, chief of the Airdric people, withdrew his cohort of soldiers from the UBS army and set them up immediately in defense of Airdric lands.

For a time war seemed certain. The people of the high lands came from a proud warrior tradition, and were prepared to fight to maintain their freedom despite the UBS army outnumbering theirs by three to one. However, as the UBS forces mustered, the leadership of Bray- the other major clan brought into the UBS by treaty rather than subdual- also threatened to remove their soldiers from the army. Though this gave Airdrie time to plant strong defenses on top of their already powerful geographic advantages, many in the clan's leadership debated sending messengers to Bray, telling them to pipe down and let the fighting commence so Airdrie could win its unquestioned independence in the ancient language of blood. A clear majority, in fact, favored this plan in general; but no such message was ever sent, as no consensus could be reached on what it would say.

Within the year, Airdrie's defenses had been built to the point where the UBS' new queen and her generals determined the probable losses were not worth the risk. When the new queen referred to the highlands as "thinly-grazed sheepland, nothing more," Ewan and his top lieutenants were barely able to convince their people not to charge out of the hills and onto the Bayronites' pikes. But successful they were, and in 1545 Airdrie formed its own government, eschewing hereditary clan leadership in favor of a more representative body just to make sure their government did not too closely resemble the Bayronites'

Pre-Melt: Despite the initial rage between the countries, trade soon resumed between Airdrie and the UBS once the threat of war had lifted. Once Bray split off from the UBS in 1601, and none of the three nations were any longer a threat to each other, diplomatic relations began to smooth. Because of its highland geography, Airdrie possessed excellent natural defenses in times of war but was left in some difficulty during peace, as there were no viable coastlands for building ports of trade. Most goods, including Brayan foodstuffs, were shipped via wagon over roads and kept the Airdric people poorer than their neighbors due to the expense of trade. But with the Bayronites expending much of their greater wealth on colonization projects, no real threat of hostile takeover ever emerged.

As technology advanced into the steam era, especially with rail transportation, these wealth disparities decreased. The Airdric people discovered a niche as weapon designers, first inventing the steam blade, then quickly moving on to muskets, rifles, and other various firearms. Informal technological trade kept the Shirelands well-stocked in weaponry, and kept Airdrie on the same edge as the UBS and Bray in the use of more utilitarian inventions. And, with the UBS taking the lead on colonization of the north and diplomatic relations with Nantes, Airdrie was generally content to deal with its Shireland fellows and focus on developing their own cities over exploration.

As a curiosity, one of the few large, flat stretches of land in Airdrie was converted into an airfield at the beginning of the steamplane era. Most of the people shrugged it off as marginally useful, something that it was nice to have but would never change their lives without large quantities of resources and land to devote to plane tech. Little did anyone know that Airdrie would be one of the few nations on Ereth to lose none of its air force, however small it may have been, during the Melt.

Melt: Being a highland country, Airdrie was spared almost entirely from the calamitous effects of the Melt; apart from losing a slender line of borderland when the waters came to physically separate Airdrie and the UBS (most of the lost borderland was in Bayronite territory), the waters did not touch the highlands at all.. By far the most damaging effect was an indirect one; the destruction of much of Bray's farmlands in the early 1870s drastically reduced food imports, despite the efforts of Clan Minister Drostan Macrae to secure either charity or reasonably priced goods. But the three neighbors, along with Nantes, secured an agreement to keep the people of their nations adequately fed.

Because food was Airdrie's only real concern during the catastrophe, Minister Macrae and his government readily offered their small fleet of planes into the service of King Edward's Humanitarian Covenant. Airdric technological focus at this time split their planes into two basic types: sturdy, slow cargo planes, and ultralight fighters with light or medium weaponry to fly escort.

It is worth noting that when the call came to put those planes into charitable service, it was from Edward's successor, Queen Marjorie. Despite the passage of centuries, there remained a widespread distaste for the idea of serving a female Bayronite leader. Minister Macrae, however, like most Airdric leaders, maintained enough respect amongst his people to get his way when he wanted it, and put all his influence behind what he perceived to be the necessary charity of the time.

Great War: Along with their neighbors, Airdrie was one of the countries closest to the beginning of the Great War. When Queen Marjorie attempted diplomatic intervention in the standoff between Messina and the Rhozanni Oligarchy, she called upon all the leaders with whom she had influence, including Minister Macrae. Though growing long in years, Macrae spoke eloquently of the need to avoid war over resources, given the world's precarious state. He climbed aboard Airdrie's finest plane with two of his deputies and took his turn negotiating a settlement between the two nations. Like the Bayronites and Brayans who had also made the attempt, however, Macrae's efforts proved fruitless.

Once war began, the warrior blood of Airdrie began to churn in its people. With the UBS staying out and the Airdric parliament seeing no reason to enter a war when no war zones existed nearby, many of the country's youth left in search of employment with mercenary companies. The Black Temple, an outfit with reported ties to the old UBS colony, the Antonian States, set up underground recruiting parlors in a number of Airdric towns. The government attempted to roust the mercenaries at first, but with the death of old Minister Macrae in 1894, the Temple worked with the tacit approval of authorities.

Whether this all was a good thing or not was a topic of much debate. For almost the entirety of the war, if a young man or woman disappeared overnight, it was said they had "gone to worship". Whether they had gone to worship something dark and foul or the warrior blood of their ancestors generally depended on the speaker's attitude toward mercenary work.

Post-War to Present: Once the war ended and the ARI races commenced, most of the surviving mercenary veterans returned home. They were a changed people, as is common with those personally familiar with the horrors of war; but even so, the changes began to pervade Airdric society. Old customs of politeness remained, but occurred in a muted manner, actions taken in rote silence rather than with friendly respect. Weapon designs and manufacturing have become the country's main industry, with the finest minds driven to match a level of technology few openly speak about.

Most troubling has been the upheaval in government. Where parliamentary members were generally left to work until retirement or death, Clan Minister deaths have occurred with devastating frequency since the end of the war. In the three-hundred and fifty years from the beginning of Airdrie as a nation until the end of the Great War, there were two known Clan Minister assassinations. In the past fifteen years, five Clan Ministers have died, at least three by clearly unnatural means. Currently Airdrie has no head of state; where great men once argued vehemently over their fitness for the position, now the parliament and deputy ministers seek anyone both competent and willing.

When they will find someone is anyone's guess.