Meridea

Meridea, officially known as the Meridean Union, formerly known as Menagerie, is a nation comprising the mainland of the Meridean continent and numerous smaller islands. Its population is highly concentrated on the western seaboard. Meridea's capital and largest city is Kai Kuolo.

Atlesian colonization
Meridea, then known as Menagerie, was first discovered and named by the Kingdom of Atlesia, then known as the Kingdom of Manteli. While Manteli claimed the land, no efforts were made to settle and colonize it permanently. The amount of Grimm present, along with the harsh environment, made Menagerie an inhospitable place. By the time the First Great War broke out, Menagerie had turned into a penal colony that Manteli used to relocate convicts to, many of whom were faunus.

The Great War
Following the end of the Great War and the signing of the Vytal Peace Accords, Manteli lost much of its territory, including the colony of Menagerie. While more valuable territories changed hands between the major kingdoms, Menagerie was seen as an afterthought, instead given to the faunus as compensation for fighting in the war. Those who wrote the accords knew how inhospitable Menagerie was.

Many faunus in the Kingdoms of Manteli, Mistralia, and Valeria flocked to the continent in search of a new beginning, only to be disappointed once they arrived to see what amounted to a barren wasteland. By then, it was too late, as most faunus that arrived at Menagerie were impoverished. Many of Menagerie's early settlers were either recently emancipated slaves from Manteli and Mistralia, pardoned convicts already residing in the continent, or people with no wealth that had nothing to lose. An overwhelming majority were faunus.

Nationhood
In the decades that followed the Great War, Menagerie grew from a former colony to a burgeoning collection of settlements with its own governing body. However, many of its politicians were puppet rulers controlled by Atlesia.

Across Remnant, faunus were still legally discriminated against, with a vast majority of humans within the kingdoms of Atlesia and Mistralia wanting for faunus to be confined in Menagerie whilst still being able to reap the benefits of faunus labor.

This, combined with the little political power that the citizens of Menagerie held, culminated in a bloody coup d'état. The puppet government was overthrown and replaced with one that was sympathetic to faunus. The former leaders were publicly executed for treason, sparking uproar from Atlesia and Mistralia.

With a new government in place, the settlements in Menagerie united, forming into the Meridean Union. The city of Kuo Kuana was renamed to Kai Kuolo and became the capital of the new nation. After months of suppressing internal conflict and other coup attempts, Meridea then declared war on Atlesia.