Cielonia

Cielonia

Flag of Cielonia
Motto: "Strength in Liberty, Prosperity in Freedom."
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Region	Asia
Capital	Cielon
Official Language(s)	Cielonian French, Japanese, Spanish
Leader	Prime Minister Lucien Leblanc
Population	> 500,000,000
Currency	derac
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The Democratic Federation of Cielonia is a nation of islands occupying an area of ocean in Asia. The nation is populated by generally compassionate people of mixed European and Oriental ancestry with a generally libertarian mentality; they value social freedoms and tend to frown upon social conservatism and religion. Cielonia is a former member of the United Nations.

Geography, Climate, and Nature

Cielonia's four main islands - Cielamon, Sunda, Kaifu, and Shizenrin - as well as 3000 smaller islands cover a total land area of 377,727km2. The islands fan in an arc across Asia, the outside presented to the Pacific Ocean. The island of Shizenrin is the northernmost and second-largest, containing two major cities, Dailore and Rainwater. By far the largest island, Cielamon, is inhabited most thickly in the south and southwest around the capitol, Cielon. Other major cities include Kinpa, Namioto, Inala, Hayashima, Marchands, and Apios. South of the southwest tip of Cielamon lies Sunda, smallest of the islands and most sparsely inhabited; its sole major city is Nolandia. And finally, the southwesternmost area of the island arc is occupied by the isle of Kaifu, containing the cities of Chistian, Kouta, and Porto Negro.

Geographically Cielonia is occupied by approximately 60% mountains; the Cielonian Alps, rife with peaks in excess of 3000m, run along the center of Cielamon. The nation has well in excess of two hundred volcanoes, the most famous being Mt. Loyal. Earthquakes and eruptions are frequent. The rest of the nation consists mostly of low grasslands and plains, varied forests, and lowland areas around the mountains. Climate is mild and humid, with heavy snowfall in the winter and rains towards the summer; monsoons are not infrequent. The Pacific coast tends to avoid the worst of the snowfall. Prominent fauna include the blue-shouldered falcon, Cielonia's national bird, the ruffed bear, and a hyenalike creature known as the speckle-flanked mountain screamer.

Ethnicity and Language

The people of Cielonia are a fairly curious group, mingling Western European traits with Eastern Asian traits to produce something entirely different. The vast majority of Cielonians are melangion - of mixed French and Japanese heritage hailing as far back as the original Bellemontaigne crew's interbreeding with the native Japanese population. The average Cielonian is fairly short and slender, ranging from 4'10" to 5'10" with an average body weight of 140 pounds. Hair color ranges from blonde to black, though brown and auburn are most common, and typical eye colors are brown, hazel, and grey.

Linguistically, most Cielonians speak a bastardized form of French that incorporates a heavy element of Japanese hiragana. This language is referred to as Cielonian French in that it's still a heavily French language, adopted over a more Japanese-heavy language because of its simpler grammar, smaller alphabet, and simpler lettering. In parts of Cielon there is a heavy French-speaking population, while more rural areas tend to have larger populations of native Japanese-speakers. There is a small Spanish minority in the city of Porto Negro, where Spanish has become recognized as one of the city's official municipal languages. Cielonian French is taught first and foremost in schools, while French and Japanese may be taken as second languages along with English and Spanish.

In terms of ethnic tension, there is some residual dislike of full-blooded French by native Japanese and the melangion stemming from the French Colonial period. As well, conservative Frenchmen are occasionally bitter over the end of the Colonial period through the April Fools' Rebellion. Some very conservative citizens tend to place loyalty to their old Duchy over their loyalty to the new Democratic Federation; these disgruntled arch-conservatives make up the minuscule base of the Constitutional Party.

Cielonia's ethnic demographics run as follows - melangion 52%, Japanese 23%, French 21%, Spanish 2%, Other 2%. The country's official language is Cielonian French, though English remains the language of international politics and business.

Culture

Intelligence and compassion are valued in Cielonia. Cielonians tend to treat each other with respect and dignity, taking great care not to wound the honor and dignity of those around them, a trait garnered from the honor-centric Japanese culture. A highly respected trait in Cielonia is intelligence, owing to the nation's excellent system of universities.

Cielonians are highly respectful of nature and place great stock in the serenity of mother earth. Virtually all Cielonian cities feature numerous parks, and major thoroughfares are lined with greenery. Genetic alteration of foods is illegal. A favorite Cielonian dish is the ruby-backed salmon, a fish which inhabits the Catas River and the shores around the island of Cielamon; baked ruby-backed salmon in a light but salty red sauce known as taiko is considered a great delicacy. Also popular is a dish known as puuretoyama, which consists of white rice, chicken, and shredded cheese melted together and served in a bowl.

Music in Cielonia has a decidedly Eastern flavor, though with a definite Western twist. Favorite instruments are the reed flute, the daiko drum, and the harp. At the moment Cielonians favor a more classical type of music that's slow, soothing, and gentle, the type of music that provokes the mind and fuels the imagination.

Commerce and Industry

Private enterprise in Cielonia can be difficult. The government places heavy restrictions on business featuring a rather harsh system of taxation that places the most profitable entrepreneurs in the highest tax brackets in the nation, and laws requiring the cleanup of industrial pollutants and fair wages and hours for all workers make it hard for businesses to operate cheaply. The government regulates business practices as they relate to the environment, working to prevent damage to the islands' ecosystem. While these laws keep Cielonia's wilderness pristine, they also limit the nation's attractiveness to big industry and business. Thus the industrial capacity of Cielonia is hardly impressive, focusing mostly around the nation's manufacturing capitol of Porto Negro and the mining town of Nolandia, the latter of which is home to Cielonia's limited uranium mining business.

Much of Cielonia's economy is supported by the automotive industry, which receives a significant amount of funding from the government in order to keep the nation's economy competitive. The industry's three main corporations are the Etsuya Motor Corporation, Cielonia Dynamics, and the Cabriolet Motor Company. Etsuya is renowned for manufacturing highly efficient cars running on more efficient, environmentally friendly fuel sources; their top brands are the popular Rakuda family sedan and the sleek Inuwashi sportscar. Cabriolet specializes more in burly vehicles such as trucks and jeeps, though they do produce standard cars as well; their most popular vehicle by far is the Yagyuu truck line, though the Atemi jeep is popular for military use. Finally, Cielonia Dynamics produces mostly military vehicles, including the KU44 attack motorcycle and the Marauder-5 model of HUMVEE, which is offered in a stripped-down civilian model, the Marauder.

Government

Structure and Functions

Until recently Cielonia was divided into seven Duchies after a period of French colonial rule. It later unified into a Grand Duchy under Francis St. Marie, but that didn't last long. A referendum called by St. Marie's successor, Social Democratic candidate Lucien Leblanc, reorganized the country into the Democratic Federation of Cielonia.

The country is administered by a Western-style parliamentary government. The highest power in the nation is held by the Prime Minister, who heads up the House of Commons, made up of four hundred and thirty-eight elected members of parliament from ridings around the country. The second house of government is the Senate, a body of one hundred elected officials. Because Cielonia lacks a monarchy there is no King, Queen, or Governor General, thus necessitating a few deviations in the legislative model. The functions of the Governor General are embodied in the Chancellor, a ceremonial post.

The Prime Minister is not independently elected despite being the head of state. Rather, the position of Prime Minister is decided by the result of the House of Commons election and depends on which political party holds the most seats in the House. The leader of the majority party in the House is appointed Prime Minister by the Chancellor. The Prime Minister may appoint his own Cabinet from members of the House and is the only member of the government capable of submitting the following types of measures to the House: Declarations of war, ratifications of treaties, foreign trade agreements, the federal budget, appointments of ambassadors and judges, and invocations of the Wartime Governance Act or Crisis Governance Act.

The House is divided into several 28-member committees, generally consisting of proportional representation from each party. Committees include the Defense Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, the Finance Committee, the Social Services Committee, the Health Committee, the Trade Committee, the Education Committee, the Environmental Committee, the Internal Security Committee, the Intelligence Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Business Committee, and the Judiciary Committee. Each Committee is chaired by a Cabinet Minister, generally a member of the majority party appointed by the Prime Minister. The ranking member, or vice-chair, is typically a senior member of the largest opposition party.

The legislative system in effect operates entirely in the House of Commons. Legislation can only be introduced in the House. All bills are read three times. The First Reading occurs among the members of the appropriate House Committee and the chief sponsors of the legislation, ending in a majority vote to send the bill to the floor. The Second Reading occurs in the House in general, allowing all members to debate on the bill. There is no voting during the Second Reading. The Third Reading also occurs in the House and ends in a vote to send the legislation to the Senate. Generally votes in the Third Reading are matters of majority, requiring 220 votes in order to pass. The minority is permitted by parliamentary procedure to invoke a filibuster to force continuation of debate on legislation. A two-thirds majority vote of 292 members is required to break a filibuster. By law a vote may not be held up for more than three months, and votes on the budget are not permitted to be filibustered.

Should the bill survive the House of Commons it is sent on to the Senate for analysis. The Senate's function is to act as a check on the House by rereading the legislation and ensuring that it is in fact constitutional. This is generally not an issue, and as such the Senate tends to seem like a rubber stamp for the House, though should constitutional issues arise the Senate will file amendments with the House to be added on a simple majority vote. Once the bill passes through the Senate it is given to the Chancellor and ratified, and finally turned over to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to be implemented into law.

Current Government

• Current majority party: Social Democratic
  • Prime Minister: Lucien Leblanc (S-Namioto South)
  • Deputy Prime Minister: Alcion Carver Vicherie (S-Timmins County)
  • Business Minister: Ameko Ogawa (S-Kasumi)
  • Defense Minister: John Tamai (S-Hakata County)
  • Education Minister: Atsushi Kikuichi (S-Bastille County)
  • Environmental Minister: Reiko Katakenpei (S-Mercer County)
  • Finance Minister: Junichiro Kanou (S-Apios Centre)
  • Foreign Relations Minister: Marcel Lecoeur (S-Ralonde County)
  • Health Minister: Otoshi Umino (S-Sadamaru County)
  • Intelligence Minister: Jim Hurl (S-Hyatt County)
  • Internal Security Minister: Yuji Yamauchi (S-Ville-De-Loyal South)
  • Judiciary Minister: Taka Yamara (S-Funaki County)
  • Social Services Minister: Art Langevin (S-Dailore North)
  • Trade Minister: Tadako Bikou (S-Tusca Centre)
  • Transportation Minister: Keitaro Sayusha (S-Haikon Southeast)
• Chancellor: Sir Kerry Garville

Current Parties

• Liberal Party of Cielonia
  • Leader: The Right Honourable Francis St. Marie
  • Disposition: Left-centrist
  • Pet Issue: Social services
  • Platform: Moderately socially liberal, economically conservative, support abortion, gay marriage, social programs

• Conservative Party of Cielonia
  • Leader: Jean-Jacques Takei
  • Disposition: Right
  • Pet Issue: National security
  • Platform: Socially conservative, support increased defense spending, corporate deregulation, mandatory military service

• Cielonian Social Democratic Party
  • Leader: Lucien Leblanc
  • Disposition: Left
  • Pet Issue: Civil freedoms
  • Platform: Socially liberal, economically moderate, support gay and transgendered equality, social programs, regulation of big business

• Cielonian Alliance
  • Leader: Miyoko Satashi
  • Disposition: Right-centrist
  • Pet issue: Fiscal responsibility
  • Platform: Socially moderate, economically conservative, support balanced budget, gay civil unions, regional free trade

The following parties are small and generally pull less than 10 seats in the House, some often winning zero or one.

• Green Party
  • Leader: Thomas Arbor
  • Disposition: Left
  • Pet Issue: The environment
  • Platform: Socially and economically liberal, support environmentally friendly policies, energy independence, regulation of industry

• Libertarian Party of Cielonia
  • Leader: Hideo Doga
  • Disposition: Centrist
  • Pet Issue: Smaller government
  • Platform: Socially and economically moderate, support less social government intervention, removal of welfare, deregulation of business

• Cielonian National Socialist Party
  • Leader: Simona Maria Gomez
  • Disposition: Far left
  • Pet Issue: Social equality
  • Platform: Socialist, economically liberal, support redistribution of wealth, heavy regulation of business, social welfare

• Communist Party of Cielonia
  • Leader: Terry Carr
  • Disposition: Extreme left
  • Pet Issue: Social equality
  • Platform: Extreme socialist, support government control of business, equal distribution of wealth, decentralized government

• Constitutional Party of Cielonia
  • Leader: Joachim Duceppe
  • Disposition: Far right
  • Pet Issue: Moral values
  • Platform: Socially and economically conservative, support criminalization of homosexuality, enforced prayer in schools, legislation requiring balanced budgets

International Relations

Regional Politics

Cielonia is a small but prominent member of the region of Asia. A treaty with the region's major powers granting control of regional cartography, immigration, and emigration to Cielonia, granting them the authority to resettle displaced cultures by request or on occasion by force. Otherwise the country tends to be fairly low-key.

World Politics

Cielonia is a member of the United Nations. Though occasionally sending representatives to this or that conference or summit the Democratic Federation tends to keep a very low profile, acting as observers and not getting involved in large-scale conflicts. Rumors of STAF officers sending money and weapons to embattled pro-democracy revolutionaries in despotic or fundamentalist nations are entirely unsubstantiated.

Military

Militarily Cielonia is equipped with a military consisting of around 99000 men and women. Service in the army is voluntary. Cielonia's navy is sizable and led by two vessels: The battleship CFS Masamune Kunai (BCV-01) and the command cruiser CFS Sakura Lamasque (CCV-01). The main Cielonian cavalry unit is the J112 Ocelot light tank, manufactured by Cielonia General Dynamics in Porto Negro. As well, the Cielonian military features a group of 400 elite commandos under the name of STAF - Strategic Tactical Assault Force. STAF officers are roughly the equivalent of elite CIA officers and are often deployed for covert operations and counterterrorism missions.

Cielonia does not possess weapons of mass destruction and has passed legislation barring the nation from constructing them save under extenuating circumstances.

General History

The history of Cielonia begins for all practical purposes in 1518, when a group of French explorers under Jean-Jacques Bellemontaigne sailed with a fleet of ships for the New World but was tossed far to the south by a freak storm. He ended up turning east and sailing around Africa and into Asia, seeking friendly ports but finding none. His ships gave out as he reached the east coast, and in the summer of 1519 he was forced to beach the surviving ships on the modern-day island of Cielamon. With the help of the native population, the French established the town of Arc-En-Cielon and multiplied for a good century and a half.

In the 1650s a plague hit Arc-En-Cielon, resulting in several years of chaos. This prompted a stonemason named Rabican Petit to proclaim himself Duke in 1660 and begin bringing Arc-En-Cielon under his leadership. People flocked to his promise to end the chaos and devastation - which he made good on. This began a dynasty of four Dukes - Rabican I, Rabican II, Loyal I (Loyal the Great, creator of the Grand Council and the Great Library), and John I. The city was renamed to Cielon under Rabican I. The dynasty ended in 1701 when John I died childless. The Momotani Dynasty succeeded them - three dukes, Jun I, Shiro, and Jun II, ruled from 1701 to 1716 but didn't accomplish much.

Jun II was soon killed by the captain of the ducal guard, Hiro Shinzaki, who founded a dynasty through his adopted son Latimer I. The Shinzaki Dynasty ran from 1716 to 1780 and comprised five Dukes - Hiro, Latimer I, Latimer II, John II, and Rabican III. Latimer II is noteworthy for his founding of government-sanctioned sex camps in which wealthy men could pay to impregnate willing women of French ancestry. After Rabican III died without heir a period of anarchy ensued, with 17 Dukes ruling between 1780 and 1807.

In 1807 General Masamune Kunai overthrew the last Duke of the Anarchy and took power, immediately putting down his rivals and instituting massive economic and social reforms that rejuvenated Cielon and its surrounding colony-towns. He put an end to the anarchy and beautified the city as well as guaranteeing education and healthcare for everyone. Masamune the Restorer died in 1841, and his son Gan reigned until 1858, continuing his father's policies.

Gan was assassinated in 1858 when a fleet of Frenchmen arrived on orders from the French government, conquering the Cielonian towns and placing the islands under colonial rule. This continued until April 1, 1948, the date of what has come to be known as the April Fools Rebellion. When the then-current Duke, Vernon Croix Lord Cielon, stepped into the Grand Council Chamber, Councillor Gan Kukai presented him with a bill to look over. The text of it was a simple 'April Fools, you frog-eating bastard'. Before Croix could respond, Kukai drew a revolver and shot him six times in the chest. The councillors then cut off Croix's head and genitals, and hung his headless, mutilated corpse from a post in front of the Duca Palatia. A brief war with the French ensued, which the Cielonians won narrowly; however, the strife splintered the duchy into seven duchies, resulting in civil war until the seven Dukes met and agreed to reunite the duchies and end the war.

Citizens in all seven duchies of Cielonia went to the polls to elect their new leaders. Candidates included the Conservative Party's John Trieste, the Liberal Party's Francis St. Marie, the Social Democratic Party's Otoshi Kawayama, the Cielonian Alliance's Hikaru Todou, and the Libertarian Party's Paul Vanier. The election results were as follows: St. Marie 45%, Trieste 31%, Kawayama 18%, Todou 3%, Vanier 3%. The St. Marie government lasted three years and instituted social programs to smooth over the differences between the duchies, legalizing same-sex marriage and marijuana possession. However, disagreements over defense spending led to a successful vote of no confidence passing through the Grand Council. In the election that followed St. Marie seemed ready to coast to reelection until backing down on a promise to send peacekeepers to fight the Urusians in Klement. As a result, Social Democratic Party candidate Lucien Leblanc was able to capitalize and pick up a victory: Leblanc 41%, St. Marie 26%, Conservative Jean-Jacques Takei 21%, Cielonian Alliance Tetsumaru Yasai 11%, Other 1%.

At age 36, Leblanc is the youngest Duke ever elected by Cielonians and is furthermore openly bisexual, the first admitted non-heterosexual to reign in Cielonia. He campaigned on a promise to hold a referendum allowing citizens to choose whether or not to adopt reforms abolishing the old Grand Ducal system in favor of a parliamentary democracy. The referendum succeeded 78%-22%, and Leblanc was sworn in as Interim Prime Minister pending new elections, which have been delayed following the assassination of Interim Deputy Prime Minister Akira Tsuda and an attempt on Leblanc's life.