Albanites
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The Albanites, Albanians, or Albano-Quebecois are a geo-ethic group in EarthMC that originated in the Hudson Valley region of North America in 2021, during Terra Nova. Originally occupying the land north of New York in the city of Albany, the Albanites grew to become one of the dominant cities of the Northeast Megalopolis, even uniting Imperial Quebec against foreign aggression during the North American Pact War. However, by mid-2022 and the dawn of Terra Aurora, the Albanites were sent into a diaspora with some of their descendants founding individual towns across the globe, and many gathering in a city on the island of Borneo, subjects of the Indochinese Empire.
The Albanites have historically rallied behind various leaders who've held the title of mayor. Among them include BattingSine, BetaCheese, Deathlife23, and AdrianHES, the latter of which is considered the "father" of the Albanite people. Following the criminal activities of the Volkov Family, in November 2022, many prominent Albanites were banned including AdrianHES himself, in a betrayal by Volkov member Senor. This act was part of a coordinated attack by the Wintour Family, the tribe that historically controlled New York. They are the long-time enemies of the Albanite people and claimants of the Hudson Valley region, and control of the land has been contested for nearly four years.
In early 2024, the admins of EarthMC agreed to unban AdrianHES. In his first move after being unbanned, he once again became mayor of the Albanite diaspora in Indochina, rallying the members together behind the idea of unity. By this point, the Albanites had endured nearly a year and a half of targeted persecution from global leaders and entities, many of which were under the influence of the Wintour circle. This later became known as antialbanism. In the months after his unban, AdrianHES promised his people that soon they would return to the Hudson Valley and re-establish Albany in its original location.
Plans to re-establish Albany had been drawn even before AdrianHES' unban. The Indochinese Albanites had coordinated with the government of Vermont, who controlled the majority of Hudson Valley land, and an agreement was struck that the Albanite people would be allowed to return to their homeland. However, several militant members of the Wintour family attempted to stop this by pressuring the Vermont government to deny the Albanites entry into the Hudson Valley. The agreements were eventually honored, however, and the Albanites were allowed to return in early October 2024.
In October 2024, AdrianHES re-founded old Albany in the western Hudson Valley region, approximately 20 chunks west of its original location. This marked the beginning of the Albanite return. The land, currently known as Mandatory Albany, is now seen as the cultural epicenter of the Albanite people, simultaneously existing alongside other cities controlled by them. According to its founding policies, anyone who can claim Albanite heritage by proving they were once members of /t Albany (on either Nova or Aurora) are eligible for free citizenship in Mandatory Albany.
Name and etymology
The word "Albanite" is derived from the original town of Albany, founded in February 2021 by AdrianHES. Originally derived from the Gaelic name for Scotland, Alba, the name Albany was chosen by AdrianHES in early 2021 when he founded the town in New York territory. The first occupiers of Albany were a small friend group who established a settlement sometime prior to 2020, and who were later conquered and destroyed by New York. The land, mandated under American law at the time to be part of New York's sphere of influence, was simply known as Northern New York prior to the establishment of the first Albanite settlement there.
During its early history, Albanites referred to themselves as New Yorkers, as the formation of an independent ethnic identity was heavily dissuaded by the American government at the time. Several months after its founding, however, Albany residents began referring to themselves as Albanians, simply as occupiers of the land. This was the term used for most of the people's history. Other Terra Nova terms include Hudsonian and Albano-Quebecois. By the major diasporic era, Albanites also referred to themselves as Albano-Indochinese or Bornean, as the dominant occupiers of the island of Borneo.