Plebeian Cabralia

When the Grand Principality of Cabralia established itself in the 1790s, it was a very different place from what it would be fifty years later. It stretched across every climate zone between the equator and Tierra del Fuego. In every possible sense, it was the greatest of the 18th-century republics. Its future was unbounded, its possibilities endless. In its capital [where?], the government could dream with starry eyes of maximismo, when all of Cabralia might be a part of it.

It didn't work out, obviously. But this is the story of what came before - and what might have been.

Republican Cabralia 101

Why? Best practices. If Guisard France deserves to be distinct from other Frances, the early Grand Principality deserves to be distinct from its imperial form.

• Who? Everyone. It had Anglo-Dutch settlers from the north, Moros from the Andes, and everything in between. The early G.P. was more cosmopolitan than the contemporary UCNA, and had every potential to stay so if it could've held together.
• What? Very turbulent early on, but it eventually consolidated into a very aristocratic republic of sorts. The major problem was that it got more aristocratic as time went on...
• Where? In the beginning, about 70% of the entire continent - all of Brazil, Argentina, bits of Chile (with a few isolated Moorish holdouts), Paraguay, Uruguay, etc.
• When? From the 1790s to 1834. After 1834, Kaspar Sansinger's marriage is a done deal, and the slide into modern Cabralia is all but foreordained.

The brief history of Plebeian Cabralia

Cabralia's history goes haywire way back, all the way back to the Age of Exploration (when it was named after a certain Cabral and mostly claimed for Portugal, rather than for Spain.) None of that matters for the moment; I'm not writing about its colonial history, but its independent statehood.

The Cabralian War of Independence: Truth be told, I'm not sure how this works exactly. Iberia spends the 1790s in chaos, which seems like a likely catalyst, and the presence of Sansingers in Cabralia means that Baltic turmoil may have tied into it too... but that's pretty sketchy.

The establishment of the Cabralian republic: When the dust settles, the newly-independent continent establishes itself as the Grand Principality of Cabralia, so called because there's nobody on the continent with plausible claims to royalty - and, more importantly, to demand that Portugal treats it as an equal in the negotiations.

• That being said, it is a fairly aristocratic republic.
• At least initially, there's a discussion about electing a king; some interesting names probably get floated at this point. [details?] It doesn't play out, although a naval officer named Kaspar Sansinger winds up as the first Princeps Senatus.

Baltazar's Mutiny: After Sansinger's time as Princeps is up, there's a couple of weaker ones [who?] who follow his footsteps. None of them have the panache to do what he does, and it grates a lot of people the wrong way - most importantly Baltazar, who (foretelling the reinstatement of monarchism if the Senado principe doesn't back down and reform the government yesterday) orders his armies to ignore all other orders, seizes several cities in the Rio de Ouro region, and declares "Balthasaria."

• Baltazar, needless to say, gets crushed and killed, which comes as a hell of a blow to Cabralia. He really was their best general, and it didn't hurt that he built a cult of personality.
• Kaspar (who's still devastated) plays this as a chance to get reinstated as Princeps Senatus.

After Baltazar's Mutiny: Baltazar gives the Principality hell, and dies with his boots on. He leaves behind a hell of a mess:

• The G.P. has lost a lot of its idealism. It came as a hell of a blow for republicans the world over to watch the greatest among them engage in blatant fratricide. Ever afterwards, they're going to be a bit cynical.
• More importantly, its economy was badly shaken up by the revolt, and the Great Powers of Europe are more than happy to salt those wounds.

Matters come to a head in 1834, when Kaspar Sansinger, at this point lifelong Prince, lets his one vice get the better of him, acts above his station, and remarries after the death of his wife... at which point historians abandon the "plebeian" rhetoric and start calling it the Grand Principality.

Plebeian Cabralia in more detail

"Plebeian" Cabralia was a different place than what came after. In some ways, those differences were quite subtle; in others, they were profound.

• Languages: For understandable reasons, Portuguese was the official language of state and government; there was also a prominent Pommerish-speaking minority too.
• Religion: Cabralia, being originally a Portuguese colony, was officially Roman Catholic; no surprises there, really.
• Government: At the time of its founding, Cabralia was a republic, albeit a very stratified one.
• Sansinger tricameralism was Cabralia's pride and joy. Even Kaspar's openly monarchist successors have never dared to touch the institution, and when Mexico finally conceded to representative government they adopted a version of the same in the interest of family solidarity.
• Economy: Plebeian Cabralia was the first economic juggernaut of the continent.
• Foreign Relations: At this point, I'm honestly not sure.