Hello! I posted a different version of this post in the help forum not long ago, and the very helpful fdas and Md139115 provided me with alternative ideas and steered me towards this section of the forum, respectively. Tl;dr at the bottom for those who appreciate them.
As a warning and foreword to this post, I feel it pertinent to mention that I am NOT a history buff(although I do find history fascinating and love to read about it, I rarely get far due to the lack of a "starting" point or reliable access to a library) nor am I versed in or even wholly familiar with either alternate history fiction or the seemingly lovely community you all have.
A few years ago, I had a fun little idea to design a pretend country. I made decisions based entirely on how fun they would be and did a few cursory Wikipedia searches to "fact-check". For a long time, I was satisfied, and left it at that.
Naturally, I got older(rapidly, as I am still a teenager) and remembered my own project with mixed sentimental attachment, and abject horror. It was poorly researched and had no concept of how densely interconnected global politics are. However, due to the sentiment long stewing in my subconscious, this resulted in a long list of potential darlings that I am willing to kill, but struggle to pull the trigger on.
Anyway, here is the meat of my post.
The following description will be the bulk of my... idea...as I left it upon its creation. I am aware of how stupid it sounds, but I can't seem to parse rot from viable points. Please forgive my vagueness on many points.
My fictional country, which I will hereafter refer to under the pseudonym of "Fauxland"*, is a province created around the early 13th century** in western Europe as... well... social experiment, puppet state, elaborate political psychological warfare device, take your pick. I sure wasn't clear about it when I wrote it down, although my gut tells me "puppet state" is the most realistic option.
Fauxland begins as an utterly tiny territory sandwiched somewhere between borders in northern france. The idea was that it was a military province, but was also immediately targeted by land-hungry foreign powers and, after some difficulty, it is disbanded and the entire identity of the province is effectively an enclave and preserved in name only. Eventually the idea is recycled as a colonization effort for a relatively small island chain(which I have also wholly fabricated for the sake of simplicity) and, much like early Australia, is used as a dumping ground for "unsavory types".
Everything after this point is "easy" in my eyes, since it doesn't strictly require the consideration of every European power simultaneously.
So. My end goal with all this is essentially to create a dense analytical "history textbook"-like document for my fictional country, making it seem as believable as I can to our modern idea of history, as if it could really exist.
And this is where it begins to go south.
I know now that the idea of an entire country existing in the middle of central Europe where there was none previously is going to change many, many things. I've been considering it, off and on, for the past few hours, and I believe my stance on the suspension of disbelief principle is something along the lines of, "I want something stronger than a house of cards, but I'm still willing to sacrifice some realism if necessary, so plywood will do in the absence of solid oak."
Any tips or suggestions, questions, or criticisms are welcome. Thank you very much for reading.
*I am admittedly quite embarrassed about the whole idea as it is very clearly a hackshot mess held together with duct tape and general idiocy.
**If I could travel back in time and punch myself in the face for trying to establish a French-devised military state in what is one of the most prosperous and artistically rich periods in French history, I would. Sigh...
Tl;dr, I want to write a passably convincing document that mimics a modern history book on a country that I have completely made up, where it bears as close of a resemblance to our timeline's history as possible. The serpent eats its own tail, and distress ensues.