Erusea
GeographyErusea occupies the Usean continent’s western coast, forming a strait with the Osean Continent separating the Atlantic and Cascade Oceans. Its geography is dominated by the Lambert Mountains in the north and the Amber Mountains in the south, with an arid desert between them. Erusea also claims a number of islands southwest of the continent. The country is marred by several craters from the 1999 Ulysses impact, including one in its capital city, Farbanti.
HistoryThroughout the 20th Century, the Kingdom of Erusea expanded eastward from its core territories on Usea's west coast, annexing several countries including the Grand Duchy of Shilage and the Republic of Voslage. Though it retained many of these conquered territories, the Kingdom eventually suffered a crushing defeat, and the King abdicated under international and domestic pressure. [1] The Federal Republic of Erusea was formed in his wake.
The new republic proved to be no less militaristic than its predecessor. In 1996, it was engaged in a military standoff against its chief geopolitical rival, the Federation of Central Usea (FCU), on the border of Amber and Ugellas. Following the FCU’s public announcement of the impending Ulysses planetfall and its plan to counter the asteroid by building politically divisive anti-ballistic missile railguns, the FCU withdrew its forces to decrease tensions and focus on domestic stability. [2] During the Usean Rebellion, Erusian territory had the lightest rebel activity, as their primary strongholds were centered in Eastern Usea. Erusea allowed use of its territory to the Usean Loyalist forces, which would go on to pacify the mutinous forces and restore the FCU’s legitimacy in the east. [3] The improved relations did not survive Ulysses planetfall, however, as Erusea was hit particularly hard when the Ryker fragment struck its capital city, Farbanti. The UTO, widely perceived as a vehicle for promoting FCU interests, insisted that Erusea accept refugees from other impacted areas. This was wildly unpopular with the Erusean public, and in April 2000 Erusea closed its borders. Other Usean nations and humanitarian NGOs continued to ship refugees to Erusea's outskirts, where approximately 600,000 displaced people suffered from disease, crime, and neglect while Erusea tended to its own wounds from Ulysses. [4] Erusea’s alleged mishandling of the refugee crisis drew sharp condemnation from the international community; Erusea found itself subject to boycotts and UTO sanctions. With its economy faltering under the weight of the world’s resentment and the damage to infrastructure resulting from Ulysses, Erusea invaded San Salvacion and took control of the railguns, the Spaceguard Turret Network (STN), in August 2003. [5] Erusea ignored demands to withdraw and relinquish control of the railguns, and when ISAF declared war a month later Erusea won many victories by using the STN as an anti-aircraft weapon. With complete air dominance, Erusea pushed ISAF off of the mainland by summer 2004. Erusea was complacent with its strategic situation over the next few months, allowing small ISAF strikes to surgically dismantle its military outside of Stonehenge’s range. With its expeditionary fleet sunk in November, Erusea lost the ability to invade North Point. The ISAF landing in January 2005 and destruction of Stonehenge in April dealt major blows to Erusea’s occupation forces. By July, they had withdrawn to pre-war borders, and in September, ISAF broke through to Farbanti. Erusea’s Supreme Commander died when the capital was overrun on September 19th; in the wake of his death, the government agreed to ISAF’s terms for peace. However, many extremists continued fighting over the next year. One week after the military’s capitulation, a small cadre of officers and fighter pilots activated Megalith: a strategic missile bunker. It had been repurposed to detonate missiles in low earth orbit and deorbit asteroid fragments, but it was captured by an ISAF commando team shortly after activation. A larger clique, emboldened by military aid from the old government’s allies such as Yuktobania and the Republic of Anea, organized a large and well-armed terrorist force called Free Erusea. [6] Their forces were decimated by ISAF assets led by a single fighter from the 118th Tactical Fighter Wing in late September 2006. Despite their military defeat, the nationalistic ideals of Free Erusea lived on within radical cliques in the Erusean military. [7] In 2008 the provisional government of Erusea was included in the Arkbird G7 Summit on Osea’s invitation despite concerns over latent military factions and lingering refugee issues related to Ulysses. [8] Erusea had lost territory in the peace settlement, with most of these lands being annexed into former ISAF member nations. Meanwhile, the large city of Selatapura on the Gunther Peninsula seceded from Erusea and was never incorporated into another nation, being governed directly by the IUN as a trust territory. [9] Selatapura was selected as the location for the International Space Elevator (ISEV) due to its perceived neutrality, drawing ineffectual protests from the Erusean people and government who did not recognize its independence. [10] Erusea was reestablished as a Kingdom, with its new King being the grandson of the King who had abdicated before the establishment of the Federal Republic. He died shortly afterwards of illness without an heir, and his brother was selected to become the new King. This King died in a car accident, again without an heir, leading to his cousin’s accession to the throne. [11] ISAF was dissolved, and enforcement of the new status quo on the Usea continent fell to the International Union Peacekeeping Forces (IUN-PKF), a multinational force dominated by Osean units deployed to Usea. Reeling from this blow to its national pride, the Free Erusea movement experienced a resurgence, and in 2014 carried out a small targeted campaign against the IUN-PKF. Though this uprising was put down, its strategic goal was unclear. [12] Within the Erusean government, the radical faction agitated for war against Osea to reclaim the Gunther Peninsula. Only permitted to have a defensive military under the terms of the Continental War's peace settlement [13], the radicals looked towards asymmetrical warfighting methods and partnered with the North Osean defense contractor Gründer Industries to develop advanced drone technologies in secret. By May 2019 the radical faction had won the internal power struggle, and Erusea declared war on Osea while launching a surprise attack on the Osean homeland and IUN-PKF forces across Usea. These attacks were centered on drones covertly deployed from shipping containers, and they successfully degraded Osea's expeditionary capability to support IUN-PKF deployments in Usea. Erusea also managed to seize the ISEV, and as a result gained command over its unmanned Arsenal Bird drone motherships. Despite the small size of its postwar military, Erusea leveraged the Arsenal Birds and prepositioned shipping container drones across the continent to deny the IUN-PKF airpower over most of Usea. Its resounding success brought the conservative faction onboard with the war effort. However, Erusea's military supremacy was built on poor foundations, and the IUN chipped away at their ability to prosecute the war. The King was killed in an early bombing raid before Osea lost the last of its aircraft carriers in-theater. IUN forces reactivated a Stonehenge turret to destroy one of the Arsenal Birds, drastically reducing the other aircraft's effective coverage. Finally, on September 19th, the IUN launched a successful decapitation strike on Farbanti, gaining control of the city. This coincided with a mutual ASAT missile exchange that threw Erusea into disarray, and ultimately civil war. The conservative faction attempted to place all blame for the war on the radicals and sued for peace with Osea, but found these efforts stymied by sabotage. Meanwhile, ethnic nationalists asserted their independence across Erusea, most notably within the former nations of Voslage and Shilage. The radicals retreated to the ISEV, where they were finally defeated by a coalition of IUN and rebel Erusean forces on October 31st. Osea and Erusea reached a peace accord at the Expo City Conference on December 1st. Ethnic separatists continued to agitate for independence in the wake of the war, while the peacekeeping forces reorganized themselves to better address local concerns rather than appearing to be a vehicle for Osean interests. [14] Princess Rosa Cossette d'Elise, who served as a mouthpiece for Erusean propaganda in the war, took responsibility for Erusea's war guilt. Unable to ascend to the throne due to Erusea's policy of strictly male-only patrilineal primogeniture, she became an advocate for war refugees who had congregated in Selatapura. [15] After decades of militarism and nationalism, Erusea finally appeared poised to rejoin the international community in good faith. PoliticsAs a Kingdom, Erusea integrated the governments of its annexed territories into the nobility. However, the ruling family remained ethnically Erusean, as they would when it was restored after the Continental War. Its failure to adequately quell separatism among its ethnic minorities would lead to independence movements such as the secession of the Gunther Peninsula after the Continental War and the resurgence of Shilage and Voslage during the 2019 civil war.
During the republican period Erusea had a parliamentary legislature, but the military played a strong role in domestic affairs; its head of state was a military official with the title Supreme Commander. [16] ISAF member states and civilians in Erusean-occupied territory generally regarded the Erusean regime as a fascist dictatorship. It was also regarded as the most right-leaning country among Yuktobania's allies. [17] The Republic's fall exacerbated internal tensions as the radical faction acted independently of the state as the violent Free Erusea movement on several occasions. Their rival conservatives took a more measured approach to foreign affairs, but the conservatives' fair-weather willingness to support the 2019 war effort when it appeared successful suggests that they shared the same goals despite differing on methods. MilitaryIn the leadup to the Continental War Erusea boasted a numerically strong military, approximately equal to every other country on the continent combined. Erusea’s relative might promoted collaboration between the FCU’s allies in the 90s, directly leading to the formation of ISAF in 2003.
Erusea’s military aviation assets operated free of significant air-to-air threats after the capture of Stonehenge, but were generally unable to win tactical victories outside of its protective umbrella. Furthermore, the overwhelming success of Stonehenge in 2003 prompted Erusea to neglect its tactical air assets, canceling development of the indigenous 5th generation X-02 Wyvern. [18] As the war dragged on, high attrition rates among its elite units noticeably degraded their combat performance. Erusea’s navy played a minor role in its conquest of the continent, but appeared to retain competent surface warfare and amphibious landing capabilities. They were, however, unable to prevent ISAF carriers from operating off of the east coast even at the height of Erusea’s territorial control. Following the destruction of the Aegir Fleet and ISAF’s successful landing operations, the Navy’s role in the war was negligible. Erusea’s military strength during the Continental War was at least partially supported by foreign nations, primarily Yuktobania. [19] However, Erusea itself had a robust domestic arms industry, as can be seen in the development of the X-02 5th generation fighter. The firm that developed the plane, the Erusean Air and Space Administration, would later form the core of Neucom Incorporated. [20] Erusea went into the Lighthouse War with a military that was ostensibly only capable of defense. Augmented by Belkan drones and the captured Arsenal Birds, it managed to maintain air superiority over the continent between May and September, but its control over Usea and even its own territory rapidly collapsed after the loss of the first Arsenal Bird and the fall of Farbanti. LocationsFarbanti: Capital city hosting many administrative centers. Much of its landmass is composed of artificial islands; prior to Ulysses this included a large financial district. The Ryker impact submerged most artificial islands that it didn’t outright obliterate, drastically reducing the city’s landmass, population, and economic output. A wave of reconstruction followed the end of the Continental War and the restoration of the monarchy, but Farbanti suffered heavily from collateral damage caused by Osean bombing in the Lighthouse War.
Selatapura: A city on the southern tip of the Gunther Peninsula, and a major hub for maritime shipping. Like Farbanti, it suffered an almost direct hit in the Ulysses planetfall, with a fragment striking 20km offshore; the resulting tsunami caused 30,000 deaths. Selatapura declared its independence after the Continental War and became an IUN trust territory. Being under IUN administration, it was chosen as the site for the ISEV Earthport, and the ISEV itself was ultimately built atop the impact crater, with the crater being used as a geofront for staging shipments scheduled for the space elevator's climbers. Erusea contested Selatapura's secession and retook it during the Lighthouse War; however, it retained its independence after Erusea was defeated. Anchorhead: A major industrial city at the head of Anchorhead Bay. A rebel naval task force attempted to control the port during the Usean Rebellion, but was sunk by Scarface Squadron. Following the collapse of communication infrastructure in September 2019, it was a site of major fighting during the Erusean Civil War between the Conservative and Radical factions, with Osean occupation forces caught in the crossfire. Cape Rainy: A mountainous coastal region hosting an Erusean airbase. In the decades following the Lighthouse War, the base was privatized and sold to Neucom Inc. Whiskey Corridor: A particularly narrow and arid stretch of valley nestled within the rain shadows of the Amber and Lambert mountain ranges. The Irsali River once flowed through the region, which supported trade and the city of Anchorpoint along its banks. [21] The Goldberg fragment’s impact disrupted the flow of the river, however, and Anchorpoint was abandoned. Twinkle Islands: An island chain to the southwest of the Usean Continent, it contains an airbase utilized by Usean Loyalists in the campaign against the Rebellion. Megalith, an above-ground hardened ICBM base, was also built in the island chain. Citations[1] Aces At War 2019, "Rose"
[2] Usea Today April 21, 1996 [3] Ace Combat 2 [4] Gaze 2003, “War?” [5] Gaze 2003, “War?” [6] ISAF Bulletin September 24, 2006 [7] Ace Combat 7 Mission 16 [8] GAZE 2008, “Arkbird Declaration Summit” [9] Aces At War 2019, page 76 [10] Our Science August 21, 2018, "Reconstruction Usea" [11] Aces At War 2019, "Rose" [12] Ace Combat 7 VR Mode [13] Aces At War 2019, page 76 [14] Aces At War 2019, page 77 [15] Ace Combat 7 Ending Cutscene, Magazine Text [16] Aces at War, ACES WEB X-02 Info [17] GAZE 2008, “Arkbird Declaration Summit” [18] Aces at War, X-02 Info [19] ISAF Bulletin September 24, 2006 [20] Ace Combat 3 Glossary [21] Usea Today Special December 24, 2005 |