Latveria

Overview
Latveria, offiicially the Protectorate of Latveria or Latverian Protectorate, is a landlocked county located within southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Hungary in the north, Symbaria & Serbia in the west and Romania in the east. Latveria has an estimated approximate populaton of 7 million, consisting mainly of ethnic Latverians and a significant Romani minority. Latverian, the official and most widely spoken language, is the only surviving Eastern German language, having descended from Gothic and written using the Latverian language (based on the original Gothic language.) Latverian also borrows many words from the Hungarian and Romanian languages. Its capital and largest city is Dōmsbaurg, formerly called Hassenbaurg, named after Dr. Doom himself.

While having existed as either a traditional monarchy or a subject state for most of its existence, the modern nationstate of Latveria would be established in 1989 by Dr. Victor Von Doom when he would lead a Revolution against King Vladimir I, who reigned over the nation during much of the Cold War. He would soon establish it as the Protectorate of Latveria,

Despite the change in the ruling title, Latveria officially considers itself an unitary absolute monarchy though many other nations have noted Latveria as more being a modern-day totalitarian dictatorship with a growing cult of personality under and centered around Doom. Latveria is among a few nations that follows an economic system of autarky, with limited interaction in the outside world outside of basic diplomacy. The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises and state-supervised agricultural collectives. Most services such as healthcare, education, housing and food production—are subsidized or state-funded.

Despite this, it is considered a quasi-global power due to the powerful influence of its ruler, Dr. Doom and his patents of various scientific advancements in many fields, especially robotics, and suspected connections to the global black market in arms dealing. Additionally, it is considered to have a high-income economy and is estimated to be ranked "very high" in the Human Development Index, with citizens enjoying universal health care and tuition-free secondary educations.

Etymology
The origin of the name "Latveria" was the result of a portmanteau of the Romanian word "lat" and a corruption of the Hungarian word "vár". With "lat" meaning wide, and "vár", meaning citadel or stronghold, the name of the country means "wide stronghold/citadel." The name referred to how the Gothic ancestors of the Latverian people would create wide strongholds to settle in. The name itself originated from some of the Hungarian and Romanian refugees in the area, with the Latverians taking the name upon their proper declaration of statehood.

Gothic Migrations & the Founding of Latveria
The ancestors of the modern Latverian people would be the Germanic peoples known as the Goths. It's believed that the Goths that would come to sire the Latverian people settled in the Banat region, coming from both the would-be Ostrogoths and Visigoths, not under the domain of Theodoric the Great. The people of the time would retain their usage of the Gothic language along with the Gothic alphabet over the decades during their periods of migration, with the language picking up various words and phrases from the neighboring regions. Despite some of the people assimilating partially into the neighbors, the tribes maintained a strong sense of autonomy and would gain a local reputation for being prominent and dangerous mercenaries. It would be around this time it would be the formation of the historical friendships between the Latverian people and the Symkarian peoples, who would settle in nearby areas, close to present-day Serbia.

However, the first proto-nation that established the identity of the Latverian peoples was over in the 14th century. Long-lost brothers Rudolfo and Karl Haasan would unite their tribes into a large group and engage a series of war to take some territory in the Banat region and establish the first Kingdom of Latveria. The older brother would be King Rudolfo I and his younger brother Karl would become a baron and establishing the House of Haasan as a prominent if minor noble house in the European theatre. However, Karl would come to betray his brother due to being given such a low rank of baron and when the Kingdom of Hungary come to expand into the territory. Karl would work with the Hungarian monarchy, resulting in the death of his brother and him taking charge, the Barony of Latveria becoming a subject nation that was part of Hungary under the conditions of favorable conditions of autonomy. This condition led to the Gothic cultural legacy of the Latverian people to remain intact, even as they would begin taking in elements from their new surroundings to build upon the new culture. It would also enable for Gothic Christianity to continue existing as the last major bastion of Arian Christianity. Around this time, the Romani would begin settling in with the Latverian people and establishing the famous Zefiro clan.

Latveria Under Hungary
During the Age of the Two Hunyadis, a pretender rose to the throne of Latveria after the death of Baron Karl Haasan III around 1447, Vlad Draasen. However, the Draasen line would be remembered as a time of great political strife for the people of Latveria and would damage the stability of the nation, even leading to various minor insurrections and conflicts. The Kingdom of Hungary largely ignored the conflicts as it was not a direct threat and some nobles even hoped it would weaken them enough to be assimilated into the nation proper. Eventually, the threat of Latverian conflict potentially being exploited by the Ottoman Empire was enough for them to send diplomats over to the Barony to try and restore order. One of the diplomats recruited from the area was a local judge of Latverian descent to help smooth things over, resulting in the Treaties of Bolgorad (a Latverian city founded by Serbian refugees fleeing the Ottomans after the capture of the city of Belgrade). The Latverian judge in question would become highly rewarded, even given a noble title and known as Baron Von Dōms, coming from the Latverian/Gothic word for 'judgment'.This would help maintain the Hungarian borders over in their conflicts against the Ottoman Empire, with the incident resulting in the Von Dōms name ending up over in the Almanach de Gotha centuries later though there being translated as the lineage of Baron Von Doom.

The House of Haasan would continue ruling over for various decades and centuries, fighting against the Ottoman invaders alongside their Symkarian brothers-in-arms. However, as the years went on by, Hungary began to weaken over time and soon would undergo a period of turmoil due to the death of King Louis II of Hungary. The result for Hungary would be the establishment of what modern historians call the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom under John Zápolya and later his son John Sigismund Zápolya. The reason was because they contested the claims of the House of Habsburg to rule Hungary, as Ferdinand of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, claimed the crown by right of his marriage to Louis' sister Anne. Latveria, having risen to become under the rule of a Count, would support the Zápolyas in exchange for their recognition of their own divine right. Despite their support along with the support of the Ottoman Empire, the entire thing would come to an end with the signing of the Treaty Of Speyer. With this, the newly crowned King Stefan I began the construction of a powerful castle to stand against the oncoming siege against them in 1588 while his younger brother, Count Sabbat, would oversee the construction of a second master castle, completed in 1593.

Despite this, the conflict was brutal and to try and gain some somewhat favorable peace turns, Sabbat would murder his brother Stefan and surrender over to the House of Habsburgs, ultimately resulting in marrying his daughter over to an Austrian prince ascending to the throne of Latveria, resulting in the creation of the Habsburg-Hessans. Despite ruling somewhat fairly, the Austrian nobles often attempted to enforce Austrian culture onto the Latverian peoples, seeing their culture as a relic of a bygone era, something which resulted in fierce hostility between the Latverian peoples and the nobility. This would become the case as without a true Latverian on the throne, much of the autonomy they had over the years vanished over time. Additionally, the changing of the times led to the new rulers causing growing fractues and problems between the Latverians and the Zefiro Clan of Romani peoples, which had been relatively pleasant throughout the centuries thus far.

Latveria under Romania
World War I changed everything for the Latverian people. Many were conscipted and force to fight for the Mittelmachte. Latverians were among those who showed the most contempt and hostility over for fighting in the Great War and there were often some rebellions over the matter. While they maintained some friendly attitudes over the Hungarians, they were thoroughly sick of the Habsburgs along with being under the heel of Austra-Hungary. When the war ended, Austria-Hungary would finally fall apart. Transylvania along with Crișana and Maramureș would be backed by the mobilization of Romanian troops to join the rest of Romania on 1 December 1918. Latveria was initially on the fence over the ordeal, though they would join up with Romania in 1920 under a new monarchy, with a member of the Hessan royal family marrying over to a minor Romanain noble family, the Fortunovs, resulting in the Fortunovs becoming the ruling family of Latveria through the connection with the Hessans.

While the 1923 constitution ruled Romania as a unitary state, the Latverians retained some force of autonomy through the barony still established in the area. The cordial relations the Latverians had with the Romanian people helped ensure some form of peace and stability throughout the time period. Unfortunatley, the Great Depression would usher in more trouble for them, especially with the rise of fascism within Romania and the authoritarianism ushered in by King Carol II. The royal dictatorship was bad enough for them, but it was made increasingly worse over by the rise of Nazi Germany and soon they along with the rest of Romania would be dragged into another World War under Romania's Prime Minister, Ion Antonescu.

Nazi Germany however managed to solicit the assistance of the young Baron Vladimir Fortunov in exchange for not overrunning the region with Nazis over in 1941. Fortunov, a young man who just ascended to the throne, took the deal to spare Latveria, but the death of his father from the chaos before the war meant that he was predomintantly influenced by the methods of autocratic leadership from those like Hitler. Contrasting, the people of Latveria acted as refuge for many resistance fighters across Romania, hiding many of the Romani, Jews and other people that were fleeing into the region as best as they could. However, when King Micheal would launch his coup against Antonescu and would join the Allies, Fortunov would do so days prior and in a bold move, would lead Latveria to secede from Romania, doing so to avoid the Soviet occupation. The Soviets did not bother with invading Latveria. Latveria, on the side of the Allies, would spend the rest of the war on the European front assisting their long-time allies, the people of Symkaria, on the Yugoslavic front and fighting alongside the forces of Josip Broz Tito. While they were aware of his ambitions with Yugoslavia, the Baron made a deal with him that in exchange for Symkaria remaining independent from Yugoslavia, the forces of Latveria would fight alongside Tito, an arrangement he and the other Allies would come to accept.

Latveria During the Cold War
Entering the Cold War, Latveria was in a rather vulnerable state, being sandwiched between various Soviet puppet states and Tito's Yugoslavia. However, Tito kept true to his word and while Symkaria remained its own sovereign nation, Yugoslavia maintained a predominant influence on Symkaria in terms of foreign affairs and policy. This left Latveria relatively isolated during much of the Cold War. While nominally on the side of the so-called first world, they largely kept to themselves. It was around this time that Vladimir Fortunov would crown himself King of Latveria. While Latveria was now a sovereign nation once more, Vladimir's reign was an autocratic one, focused on maintaining communist elements out of Latveria. Freedom of speech and the media became curtailed and many of the local Romani clans would be prosecuted, sometimes on false charges, throughout his reign. While a constitutional monarchy by name, much of the parliament consisted of loyal nobles and sycophants.

While Latveria would slowly begin modernizing, much of the wealth became concentrated on a small number of wealthy individuals, surrounding the royal family, which led to growing riots and displays of contempt against the current monarchy, leading to increasing crackdowns on what was accused to be communist sympathizers. Additionally, rampant corruption ran through the area and Latveria became more and more nationally isolated as a result of the actions by Vladimir I, who cared more on his own power rather than the safety and well-being of his people and exploited Latveria's geographic position in southern Europe surrounded by communist nations as a way to get further weaponry and miltiary equipment to protect against potential invasions when it was moreso done to reinforce his holdings.

Rise of the Protectorate
By 1989, King Vladimir I was in his 70s and was seeking to abdicate the throne to his son, the crown Prince Rudolfo Hassen. However, everything would change with the sudden rise of a vast resistance movement against the Hassen monarchy, motivated by the end of the Cold War and after decades of repressive behavior and the lack of societal progress and economic troubles. This vast revolutionary movement would be led by the mysterious Dr. Doom, a man clad in an iron suit who managed to sneak in and lead revolutions within the factory workers along with reuniting the various disparte clans under the Zefiro Romani clan. Through the use of advanced robotics and other means, Doom's army would rise in prominence over the oncoming months, often convincing many of the soldiers to turn traitor and support him.

After a few months of battle, Doom would storm the castle with the people of Latveria at his side. When asked what right Doom had to the throne, Doom responded that he had not just the claim of the people, but also by noble lineage, being a descendant of Baron Von Doom as listed in the Almanach de Gotha and thus, worthy of the crown. While King Vladimir I would surrender and abdicate the throne, he would not leave the castle alive. Eyewitness reports noted that Doom whispered something in Vladimir's ear before snapping his neck, claiming that Vladimir's execution was his first act as the ruler of Latveria. He would then have his forces captured Rudolfo and his younger brother Zorba, forcing them to abdicate the throne before exiling them from Latveria. Many of the remaining military forces would swear loyalty to Doom.

Despite this, Doom operating primarily in the shadows, sending proxies in his place to communcate with global affairs, meaning few people knew who actually ruled, with most people seeing Doom's representative, Executive Herald Boris Karela, instead of him. Doom would proclaim himself under the title of Védőfrauja, claiming that he will protect and rule over Latveria as long as he could, to show the security and prosperity his people deserved. He also ended the decades-long repression of the Romani people in Latveria and would usher in a large number of reforms, though at the cost of instating a policy of auturky on the nation and an increased focus of isolationism.

Governnance
Latveria is considered a unitary absolute monarchy, with its head of state and government being Victor Von Doom, granting himself the chosen title of Védőfrauja, coming from the Hungarian word for "protecting" and the Latverian/Gothic word for "lord". The title is translated into English as "Lord Protector". However, the title of Védőfrauja has been declared as a non-hereditary title, with the implication that the title is meant for Von Doom alone. It remains unknown who the next chosen ruler of Latveria would be along with their title should Von Doom pass away unexpectedly.

As Védőfrauja, Doom has concentrated legislative, executive, and judicial powers in his person. Serving as supreme judicial authority, he is able to judge anyone up to condemning people to death, though usually a formal set of protocol, including right to appeal. Doom explained that it is duty to punish offenses and stop them from being committed. From this judicial authority also came the legislative and executive authority regarding the creation of laws and enforcing them.

Latveria's laws are written and examined by a nominal council in regards to most of the day-to-day activities though they are ultimately decided and put into place by Doom. National elections and political parties are banned in Latveria. Politics in Latveria consisted of restricted elections of local leaders within towns and villages, serving as overseers and executors of the various laws of Latveria. Despite being the ruler, Von Doom often sends sends a political representative, usually Boris Karela, holding the title of Executive Herald.

Economy
Latveria follows the economic policy of autarky; most of Latveria's economy is focused on the production, manufacturing and providence of goods and services within the nation itself. The reasoning for autarky is to limit any and all foreign economic, political and cultural influences on Latveria, with Von Doom citing the past history of exploitation that Latveria underwent through. Despite this, thanks to Von Doom's global patents on various technologies, especially robotics, many nations end up sending money over to the Latverian government which gets invested into the nation's economy and infrastructure.

Latveria's domestic economy has been been influenced by the economic strategies of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Many have attributed this due to Von Doom spending an undetermined number of years within the Yugoslavic SFR in his youth prior to immigrating to the United States. Latveria's economy is a formed of state-regulated market socialism, with the workers' cooperatives owned and suprvised by the state though with workers’ self-management and a decentralized workplace environment. Workers within the manfuacturing and service sectors participate in elections of their higher-ups though with at several supervisors maintained and chosen by Doom or a representative on his behalf. The agricultural sector meanwhile consists of agricultural cooperatives that is supervised by the states, with the farmers and their families working together to produce goods. Due to the policy of economic auturky, Latveria has an extensive recycling program to limit the need to import nonrenewable materials for the purpose of manufacturing. Beyond this, there are a number of small businesses of Romani origin that deal with crafts and homemade creatons.

Despite the state policy of auturky, Latveria does deal in limited trade, mainly though Von Doom's patents bringing in foreign income. The Latverian currency is the Latverian leu, one of the few currencies who's value exceeds that of the American dollar. All economic enterprises adhere to Latveria's economic stance of auturky, with their only trading partner being Symkaria on the condition that Latverian goods are not to be exported outside of Symkaria (though this has not stopped the black markets in both nations.)

Culture
Latveria has a diverse and rich culture, courtesy of its position with the Banat serving as a melting pot between various southern European cultures along with being the only culture of Gothic descent to maintain significant cultural hertiage of that. Much of what is known of Latverian culture is know prior to the establishment of the Protectorate though initial observations has detailed the culture of Latverian has not changed outside of a growing cult of personality growing around Von Doom. Many have stated that despite the modern technologies and convienences, many of the Latverian people are not really urbanized for the most part. Much of the architectural style borrows from Brâncovenesc architecture or the Wallachian Renaissance nearby. The style has made a comeback though modified with contemprary techologies and designs regarding maximizing temperature efficiency. Much of the dress is also a downplayed call-back to the older manners of dress, to where a few people who have examined Latverian people have noted that they dress like its "a Renaissance fair, but with modern designs and better hygiene".

A common motif on the earliest artwork of Latveria are eagles. Plenty of jewelry such as earrings or so on showcases eagles, many pointing out the similarity with other Gothic cultures such as the Ostrogoths and Visigoths. Hungarian and Romanian art influences can be seen predomintantly in the medieval artwork with some German influences seen later due to the reign of the House of Habsburgs. Additionally, Latveria serves as a quasi-home state for the Romani, with many of them welcomed inside on the promise of remaining in the nation forever and swearing allegiance to Doom and Latveria. As such, Romani culture has played a significant rule in the arts and designs. Romani design and coloration is seen often in the clothing of not just the Zefiro clan, but also in the Latverian people in general.

Another contribution of the Romani people is in food choice, especially as they bring in recipes from across the region. Additionally, Hungarian and Romanian cuisine has influenced the diets of the Latverian people though the latter moreso. Due to the long-standing influence, it is unknown on what are some early-day Latverian recipes though some of them from their Gothic ancestors have been established. The same has been with music, with classical music being the main form of music among the populace. Most contemporary music has not been seen as part of the cultural isolation though some of it still comes in.

The notable aspect is the growing cult of personality around Von Doom. While established as part of the method of ensuring loyalty, limited interviews and observations from the populace has confirmed this phenomenon to be of the peoples' own volition. Many attribute this to the massive increase in quality of life, prestige, life expectancy and standard of living. Additionally, there is limited concern regarding the suppression of political liberties and the emphasis on their leader. Another unusual aspect among Latveria is the large-scale interest in the occult, something which has the silent approval of the state of government. Despite the growing cult of personality on Doom & the occult, traditional religion remains in Latveria. Gothic Christianity has survived throughout the centuries and continues to do so here. Other religions include various flavors of neopaganism and a small Jewish Latverian population, specifically Unterlander Jews.

Trivia

 * One of the biggest prominent folk beliefs is that the Scholomance, the fabled school of dark magic from Romanian folklore, actually resides in Latveria. This belief is shared in Latveria itself along with in Romania.
 * There is a very small but notable underground movement in Latveria to restore the House of Haasan to the throne and transition the nation into a modern constitutional monarchy under Rudolfo or his brother Zorba.
 * Most of the modern information of the Latverian Protectorate comes from interviews with Von Doom's only known surviving relative, a dentist named Robert Doom, confirmed by blood tests to be his 5th cousin. Robert's ancestors was among the first immigrants to the United States from Austria. Robert notes he was sworn to secrecy on various matters though admits to have helped in establishing Latveria's modern dental plan.
 * It has been widely rumored though unconfirmed that Latveria has nuclear weapons.
 * Latveria was one of the first nations to legalize gay marriage along with rights for LGBTQ+ people. According to Von Doom, this is because "all are equal... under Doom.
 * Under Von Doom, Latveria's national motto was established as: "We master all that lies before"