Azazia
 Flag | |
|---|---|
| Motto Excelsior | |
| Anthem God Save the King | |
| Capital | Imperium |
| Five Largest Urban Metropolises Breningrad - 56,398,222 | |
| Official Language(s) | English |
| Government Monarch Prime Minister |
Constitutional Monarchy King George I Alistair Tetley |
| Population | 4,141,000,000 |
| GDP Total Per Capita |
2005 (est. in USD) $222,052,843,000,000 $53,623 |
| HDI (2005) | 0.974 |
| Currency | Azazia Pound (A£) (AZP) |
| Internet TLD | .uk, .az |
The United Kingdom of Azazia is a country found in the Pacific Ocean belonging to The Free Commerce and Trade Association of Democratic Nations (FCTADN), the New Alliance Treaty Organization (NATO), the Imperial Confederacy, and The Alliance of Pure Research and Engineering States (TAPRES). Commonly referred to as the United Kingdom, the UK, or the UKA, it is often mistakenly called Azazia, which is the name of the indigenous nation that existed before European colonization and the archipelago where said people and most people in the UK reside – though certainly not all. The United Kingdom consists of eighteen Republics, former states that agreed to form the United Kingdom. Two of the Republics are not located within the Home Islands, or the islands of Azazia. These are the Republics of Juristan and the Republic of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Additionally, there are several overseas colonies of the United Kingdom not on the same scale of republics on political, social, and economic levels.
The United Kingdom of Azazia was formally constituted several months ago in act of Parliament called the Empire Act, which formally changed the prior Commonwealth into a “liberal empire” with the intent of spreading peace and prosperity to the Pacific Rim. Before the Empire Act, the United Kingdom was known as the Commonwealth of Azazia, a much looser affiliation of the republics governed by a more executively styled emperor, who could theoretically reign without the consult of Parliament. Being a relatively brief time ago, many find this constitutional sea change confusing, for example as the currency is still the Commonwealth Credit despite the disbanding of the Commonwealth. However, Parliament does maintain now that the principles of the United Kingdom expressed under the Empire Act have been the guiding principles of all previous states on the Azazian Archipelago.
Contents
History
The United Kingdom suffered a cataclysmic loss of much of its recorded history during a disastrous civil war that left millions dead. What follows is what can be pieced together from archaeological records and occasional texts and other primary sources from the times.
In the latter portions of the 1800s, a group of European colonies – the most prominent belonging to Great Britain and Russia – declared independence as the isolated archipelago fell from the forefront of European colonialism. Developed for economic purposes, most often related to international maritime trade, the Commonwealth of Azazia developed laws beneficial to business at the expense of the non-English minorities in the archipelago. For decades, this economic system benefited solely the English descendants and left the minorities and their regions in great poverty.
During this time, throughout most of the twentieth century, the Commonwealth remained strictly isolationist as the people of the Commonwealth were largely xenophobic and contemptuous of foreign peoples and nations – although they willingly accepted their trade and their investment. A number of small conflicts embroiled the young nation, including a conflict in the defunct nation of Dragons Bay, and another in the nation of Um Lizaa – and although both were ultimately successful at the time, history records a great number of Azazian lives lost. There were other, smaller conflicts throughout this early history although the civil wars to come would forever blot them from the United Kingdom’s history. One of these conflicts involved a rogue regime in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, who began targeting Azazian shipping. With the assistance of a nation, whose name is now lost to history, the islands were conquered in the name of the Commonwealth, thus establishing the first overseas territory of the Commonwealth.
While major English-founded ports, such as St. Brendans, Portsmouth, Philadelphia, and Port Hamptonshire rapidly grew and prospered economically, other cities floundered, most notably the Russian ports in the colder, stormier northern islands. This gap between primarily the majority English, and the largest minority group – the Russians – led to the first bloody civil war, led by Russian nationalist Anatoly Grimov. A series of well-planned explosions rocked the capital city, killing thousands and destroying the Ministry of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Department of Records building in the process. For several years, Commonwealth forces, woefully unequipped and ill-trained for the harsh climate of their own archipelago, would suffer embarrassing defeats against the separatist forces. With the defeat of a naval force under late Admiral Sir William Hood through the untimely defection of his submarine force and their attack on Hood’s fleet, which had been escorted by the same submarines, the Russian forces invaded Oceania – one of the Commonwealth’s largest territories – and occupied the city of St. Brendans, the hub of all maritime trade within the nation, the center of the nation’s economic wealth.
In the coming years, the Commonwealth forces eventually constructed new fleets and aircraft, better tasked to handle their predecessors, and used them with sufficient success to bring the Russians to the negotiating table the tide of the war having just begun to change. Determined to keep the new-found power of the minority, Grimov forced then President Thomas Adar to accept new legislation calling for the equality of all European descendants living under the Commonwealth flag. In addition, minor symbols were left “Russified” to remind the English population of the power of the Russian rebellion. These symbols included the renaming of St. Brendans to Breningrad, and the renaming of the English-descended monarchy from the Barent dynasty to the Barin dynasty – all proper names also being appropriately “Russified.”
However, the Treaty of Erickson Island did not call for the equality of the native population of Azazians, who had, for centuries before European colonization, run an efficient inter-island commercial empire that had developed sufficient technologies to hold off their complete elimination by European colonizers. Another decade passed, with European descendants now all receiving the benefits of prospering trade while natives lived in shacks and huts in their ancestral homes. The next bloody civil war left the nation without a president as President Adar was assassinated in an opening move by Azazian nationals, who successfully brought inter-island trade to a halt by utilizing their ancient boats modernized with newer construction systems and weapons platforms. Almost a year of bloody jungle warfare and littoral naval warfare passed before President Matthew Avin negotiated the Treaty of Philadelphia, wherein, for the first time in the archipelago’s history, all men and women were truly equal under the law within the Commonwealth.
After two extremely violent and bloody civil wars, the government of President Avin turned the Commonwealth away from global affairs and inward to fix and rebuild its shattered socio-economic situation. It would be many years, after the passing of President Avin, and then President David Yorke, before the government of the Commonwealth – if not the people – would be ready to re-engage relations with the world.
Modern History
Shortly after the passing of President David Yorke, the authoritarian Ivan Barin ascended to the throne of the Commonwealth. While under the constitution, the emperor retained executive powers, for over a century no emperor had dared exercise those powers against the democratically elected Parliament and President. Ivan Barin did just that, and through some political maneuvering in Parliament, succeeded in eliminating the position of President, leaving the Prime Minister as the new head of government – though his powers greatly restricted by the Constitution, the presidential powers having been absorbed by the emperor. After several months of a brutally repressive regime, Ivan passed away from congenital heart failure and his sickly son Mikhail inherited the throne.
It was at this time a young politician from West Oceania named Alistair Tetley rose to become the leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, which promised to remove the rule of law from the monarchy and return it to the people. After Mikhail proved too politically weak to stop Tetley call for early elections, the Democratic Socialist Party was swept into office through a landslide large enough to allow the party to rewrite the constitution – which it did by promptly returning to Parliament the executive powers assumed by the Emperor. It was from this point that Alistair Tetley became Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, making a point to nominate the respected Ivan Valovich as Minister of Foreign Affairs to placate the still occasionally raucous Russian population.
Tetley cautiously moved the Commonwealth into the international scene while beginning to work out plans for the revitalization of the nation’s political and economic scenes. The Commonwealth would, in the meanwhile, find itself fighting several military operations to restore legitimate governments into power after bloody coups. The first such instance, and most notable for a shift in the Commonwealth’s isolationist policy, was the involvement into Lindim’s civil war, where the recently re-instituted Royal Navy decisively beat a superior Lindimese force before withdrawing to tend to its wounds. This victory, and the soon thereafter recovery of Prime Minister Fuego, amounted to a political coup for Tetley. Subsequent operations in Datria also found the Commonwealth home to a former prime minister, though the nation of Datria soon after operations commenced, found itself entirely imploded and unmanageable.
In the Indian Ocean, naval voyages west from bases in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands gave the Commonwealth its first significant new territory in the Verdant Archipelago. After negotiations for technology for the long-lost city-states, the Commonwealth emerged with land for an Overseas Dependency with the new city of Avinapolis to be constructed from scratch in honour of the late president.
Shortly after that, Tetley completed the Empire Act, which when passed, dismantled the Commonwealth to replace it with the current United Kingdom, far better suited for governing overseas territories at a distance from the capital. The Parliament was finally given its due respect and given the executive powers it had flirted with for most of its history. Emperor Mikhail and his descendants were officially given figurehead positions of power, most notably though still commander-in-chief of the Royal Armed Forces. The Empire Act also allowed, for the first time in the nation’s history, the government to enter alliances with foreign powers with the clause of mutual defence.
In the most recent months, the United Kingdom has continued on its path to reclaiming international respect by joining the New Alliance Treaty Organization upon invitation and similarly The Alliance of Pure Engineering and Research States where it continues to make important contributions to the benefit of its new-found allies. Meanwhile, the Royal Armed Forces continues operations to consolidate its holdings in the Verdant Archipelago as well as the former Commonwealth territories in Jipangunesia.
Government and Politics
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy where executive power is exercised by His Majesty’s Government as established by Parliament, which is in turn headed by the Prime Minister. To assist the Prime Minister in governing the state, he or she may draw from fellow members of Parliament with the consent of the King. Ergo, the Prime Minister is the head of government while the His (Her) Majesty is the head of state within whom sovereignty is fully vested.
The monarch of the United Kingdom maintains a broad set of powers as the sovereign ruler of the state, though these powers have largely become ceremonial though critical to the smooth functioning of the government as the Crown-in-Parliament. This concept most prominently figures in the monarch’s responsibility to give Parliament the power to meet and legislate; and when legislation is passed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords it may only be enacted by Royal Assent. Similarly, appointments to government positions, to UK offices in foreign lands, and treaties with foreign governments must all be given Royal Assent before becoming officially legal.
Parliament, though given power only through the monarch, asserts control over the running of the government of the United Kingdom. Although the monarch must give Royal Assent and theoretically has the ultimate say in legislation, he or she may not enact laws without the consent of Parliament. Formerly, Parliament consisted of a bicameral system composed of the House of Commons and the House of Lords with Commons representing the people through direct election while Lords representing the nobility and the church of the United Kingdom. However, the House of Lords has been stripped of almost all real power leaving the House of Commons the only branch of government truly able to legislate.
The House of Commons, together with the House of Lords, meets in the Parliament House on King’s Highway in downtown Imperium upon the banks of the New Thames River. The House of Commons sits 744 members and initiates any bill to be debated and then voted upon by the House. Should the bill pass, it moves onwards to the House of Lords, which sits 532 members and can not outright reject the legislation presented, except in case of financial bills relating to the money of the state, including the budget of the United Kingdom. At most, the House of Lords can delay legislation by up to 24 months before returning to the House of Commons for a final vote.
In 2005, however, Parliament began to consider the addition of a third house, to be named the Royal Senate, which would be directly appointed by the royal governors of the individual republics. The Royal Senate would then advise the House of Commons upon bills concerning relations between the republics or on bills affecting particular republics instead of the whole of the Kingdom. Any votes by the Royal Senate would be wholly non-binding and would serve only to advise the House of Commons on the opinions of the republics themselves. Debate continues in the House of Lords, which argues that many of the functions overseen by the Royal Senate could be taken on by the House of Lords if appropriate legislation was passed.
Parliament sits five serious parties of national renown: The currently ruling Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), the Conservative Party, the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRP), the Communist Party, and the Christian Democrats Party. These parties and their members are elected by the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system, which allows for the preservation of small parties in Parliament – a crucial concession by Parliament after the second civil war granting equal rights to the native inhabitants of the Azazian archipelago.
The debates over the Royal Senate and the forced change to the MMP system highlight the civilized confusion arising from the lack of an official constitution for the United Kingdom. Instead, the government of the UK is run by several past charters and acts of Parliament that define exact powers and roles with regards to certain situations. Although there has been significant outcry from the public in later years, no political party has yet to fully codify the laws of the United Kingdom into a single constitutional body.
Geography
The United Kingdom consists of various islands under the control of Parliament, the most important grouping is of course the Home Islands, or the Azazian Archipelago. The Azazian Archipelago consists of a rather small micro-continent surrounded on a line running from the east-southeast to the west-northwest of islands formed by the subduction of the Pacific plate underneath the Azazian Plate.
The United Kingdom rules with sovereignty over hundreds of islands, most throughout the Pacific. The largest group of islands, however, is undoubtedly those found amid the Azazian Archipelago, referred to by its citizens and the government as the Home Islands. Of other significant interest are the island chains where the United Kingdom’s colonies can be found. The Republic of Juristan exists on an island within the Sea of Japan bordering four independent countries. Also included amongst the overseas republics are the tiny islands of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which house a substantial population and several important military bases for the United Kingdom. These islands exist along the vague border between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Towards the centre of the Indian Ocean lay the islands of the Verdant Archipelago, home to the Verdant Archipelago Union. However, after concluding several treaties with the then city-states, the United Kingdom has established colonies on several of the smaller islands, most importantly the city of Avinapolis with its regional financial centre and shipbuilding facilities. The last of the seriously developed major colonial centres would be that of Novikov, recently annexed by the United Kingdom. The islands of Novikov lay to the south in the central Pacific Ocean and, while far smaller than the total area of the Home Islands, contribute significantly to the overall physical area of the Kingdom.
There are numerous other smaller colonies on small islands. Amongst these are territories such as Port Elizabeth in the Jipangunesian Archipelago, a relatively small island home to the eponymous colonial capital. The islands of Atlantis and New London remain largely underdeveloped despite a growing influx of citizens from the overpopulated Home Islands, and both islands are placed firmly within the Pacific Ocean. The continent of Cordensa also features a nascent colony of the United Kingdom, as does the continent of Sarnia. The remainder of the overseas territories of the United Kingdom can be found on tiny atolls and volcanic islands throughout the Pacific.
Economy
(For more detailed information see Economy of Azazia)
The United Kingdom has recently entered the final stages of a shift away from an economy centered on industrial manufacturing towards one based upon commercial and financial services. The impetus for economic activity in the Kingdom is the principle of market economics, albeit with limited interference from Parliament. However, the rapid growth of the welfare state under the administration of President David Yorke has largely been halted by the new policies of the Democratic Socialist Party of Alistair Tetley.
Agriculture finds itself in a state of decline within the Home Islands where hyper-urbanization has significantly reduced the available land for corporate and individual farmers. However, recent territorial acquisitions and imperial expansions have opened up great amounts of land that will likely lend itself to a highly mechanized and efficient agricultural system that will yield high profits from the high demand and low supply in the United Kingdom.
In terms of primary economic activity, the United Kingdom produces sufficient quantities of oil, natural gas, and coal to meet current domestic demand and to supply marginal quantities for close allies if requested. However, under the energy programmes of the DSP, the United Kingdom is diversifying its electrical power generation system with the addition of more renewable sources of energy.
The industrial sector of the economy continues to decline as corporations move their operations to poorer nations with the promise of lower operating costs. Significantly, the shrinkage of the industrial sector in the northwest has brought about severe cuts to regional income figures and thus prompted Parliament to begin considering bailouts for the larger domestic heavy industry companies.
At the expense of the heavy industry, however, the rapid growth of the United Kingdom, reportedly within the top 0.5 percentile of the world according to UN statistics, comes from the continuing boom of the commercial and financial services sector. Corporations continue to flock to the United Kingdom because of its highly trained and highly skilled workforce that comes from the government’s dedication to a top-notch educational system.
Society
Government figures indicate the shortly the United Kingdom will reach a population of over 3.5 billion, most of which is concentrated in the southeastern portions of the Home Islands around the important cities of Imperium, Breningrad, Philadelphia, Portsmouth, and Artega with each city sporting at least 25 million individuals within their immediate political boundaries.
The overall population of the United Kingdom is highly literate (99%), although important concerns can be found in the new territories of Port Elizabeth and Novikov. The Royal Crown Colony of Port Elizabeth offers significant challenges as the UK attempts to bring civilization to a largely Paleolithic society, a society that has yet to master the ability to read and write effectively. Consequently, Parliament has invested heavily in expanding rudimentary educational programmes to adults while expediting education for the youth population. In Novikov, one unfortunate effect of war was the obliteration of much of the national infrastructure, including the state-run school systems. A challenge for the new colonial government will be to adapt the UK policy of school privatization to a society accustomed to state-run institutions, institutions that have largely been destroyed with many schools and universities collateral damage in massive bombing and coastal bombardment campaigns.
Owing to the large English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish descendants, the predominant language in the United Kingdom is that of English while the major minority groups continue to speak in private forums with their native tongues: Russian, Azazian, Spanish, Dutch, and a plethora of small ones.
Culture
The culture of the United Kingdom owes largely to its British heritage, which celebrates the history of English literature and art. This emphasis on the liberal arts, in addition to the maths and sciences with the memory of major figures such as Newton, has brought the United Kingdom a world renowned educational system that yields a competitive work force as well as one fully aware of the artistic sides of life.
As noted above, the education system, though privatized, remains one of the brightest aspects of the Democratic Socialist Party’s domestic agenda with nearly one half of all secondary school students moving on to university-level work. Due to the highly privatized nature of education, numerous systems have developed in different regions, although must subscribe to an approximately 12 year plan of education with a focus on the sciences and the liberal arts. The great amount of wealth in Azazian society has pushed up the demand for top-notch educational systems, a partial reason for the large similarities between schools throughout the nation. However, it should be noted that at the 8th and 12th year of schooling there are mandatory government tests to review the progress of the student bodies at each school.
The importance of the arts in Azazian society has led to a preponderance of Azazian musical groups throughout the UK. Most popular are progressive rock music styles in addition to the imported Britpop phenomenon. However, such a simple categorization would belay the heavy influence of Russian and Spanish folk music as well as the unique tribal music, instruments, and previously unwritten musical theory of the native Azazian peoples. The result is a nearly tropical sounding Britpop-esque style of music that remains immensely popular within the UK to the detriment of many foreign music styles.
Athletics remain popular with the younger generations. Although not of serious importance to the educational system, athletic extracurricular activities are often encouraged. The most popular sports happen to be football, cricket, American baseball, tennis, and track and field events. Additionally, owing to the maritime nature of the country and to its Azazian heritage, nautical events such as distance swimming and sailing are also highly respected in the whole of the Azazian community.
