Wingarde
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| Flag of Wingarde | |
| Motto: "Acta non verba." | |
| No Map Available Yet | |
| Region | Wingarde Archipelago |
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| Capital | Stromburg |
| Official Language(s) | German, English |
| Leader | Hermann Jakob |
| Population | Under 50 million (August 2005) |
| Currency | Talon |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Wingarde (or The Democratic States of Wingarde, German: Wingarde or Demokratische Staaten Wingarde) is a small, economically powerful country located on the West Pacific.
Wingarde is a democratic federal representative nation with a division of powers between executive, legislative and judiciary branches. It's made up of six states, which represent the six inhabited islands of Wingarde Archipelago. The other three isles are currently unoccupied, and are protected as natural monuments.
As of now, Wingarde is not a member of any international alliance or pact.
History
Early History (~1000 BC - 1879)
Archaelogical research on the islands suggests that a primitive, chieftain-based society settled Wingarde Archipelago over 3,000 years ago. The early natives excelled in agricultural and fishing activities. The tribes gradually developed a religious system, which primarily worshipped the sun and the hawk as its messenger, and stable economy. They prospered peacefully and isolated from the rest of the world for over 2,500 years.
Diverse European explorers discovered the archipelago around the 16th century. The Spanish eventually claimed sovereignty over the islands, but disregarded settling it given the fact that natives showed hostility against foreigners, and Spain currently couldn't afford taking them by force.
A major revolution took place not long after the encounter with the Europeans, apparently for religious purposes. The religion, and society with it, crumbled because one of its main pillars was that there was supposedly nothing beyond the islands. The arrival of foreigners inevitably destroyed that belief. The prosperous native empire shattered and every settlement became independent, reluctant to trust each other.
German Period (1879 - 1914)
Around the middle of their colonial expansion, the Germans arrived at the archipealgo in 1879. The explorers found the weak natives to be not much of a threat. Even though they offered resistance, their wooden spears were no match for modern rifles. The descendants of the ancient native empire were quickly defeated, the scarce survivors integrated to the islands' new population, which settled them in 1881. The lands were deemed Wingarde by their new inhabitants.
The Germans thoroughly developed the islands, harvesting the land, exploiting its resources and building most of Wingarde's current major cities. Stromburg, the current capital, was the first settlement built by the pilgrims. Governed by the German Empire, the archipelago successfully prospered until World War I broke out in Europe.
British Period (1914 - 1946)
In 1914, all of the German colonies in the Pacific were taken by Germany's enemies. British forces seized control of Wingarde Archipelago after defeating the puny garrison defending it, and claimed sovereignty over the islands in the name of the King, George V.
The now British colony kept thriving despite having lost its first fatherland. A strong, intensive program to establish English as the archipelago's main language was carried out. The teaching of English was made compulsory in schools. The new government also attempted to remove German as a subject from the educational institutions, but this measure faced severe opposition by part of the population, and was ultimately abandoned to avoid civil unrest. Despite the educational measures, German remained the main language of the islands, with English as the secondary one.
The British government further industrialized the Wingardian territories, introducing extensive railroads, building large ports and improving the mines established to exploit the recently-discovered iron deposits in the mountains of the island of Wernover.
During World War II, Wingarde proved to be a strategic point in the Pacific. The Japanese repeatedly tried to take over the islands, but were repelled by their stout defenders and elements of the Royal Navy in every single attempt made. Japan eventually refrained from launching further assaults on the archipelago as the war went on and the balance tilted in favour of the Allies, and concentrated its military efforts to fighting the Americans, who were advancing dangerously into Japanese territory.
Independence and Constitution (1946 - 1947)
Secret talks about independence had been taking place since the early 1940s between some of Wingarde's officials, but with the coming of WWII to the Pacific, the idea was put on indefinite hold. Should've the archipelago declared independence in the middle of the war, the Japanese would've easily taken control of the islands, which would've not been able to defend themselves without British aid. Instead, the government decided to wait to a better opportunity.
The next opportunity presented itself by the end of 1946. The war was over, but the United Kingdom's strength and economy was left deteriorated, the latter facing a potential crisis. Taking advantage of the situation, the government of Wingarde declared the independence of the whole archipelago on December 11th, 1946. The British administration was shocked when the news came, but the current state of the country wouldn't allow any kind of military retaliation. Great Britain sent several diplomatic proposals to avoid losing its colony, but it was eventually forced to acknowledged Wingarde as a full-fledged independent state, and gave up all sovereignty over the islands to the Wingardian government.
The Democratic States of Wingarde adopted a democratic, federal and representative form of centralizedgovernment, dividing powers in the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches. The nation's constitution was completed on February 5th, 1947, and became effective immediately.
To be continued...
National Emblems
Flag
The main national emblem, the hawk on the center of the flag, symbolizes the light and Heavens, below whom the nation was founded, and the power and watchfullness of the Wingardian people. The central green pale describes the evergreen plains and forests of the nation's islands. The blue pales stand for the sapphire waters of Wingarde, the rivers and the sea that surrounds the nine islands. Finally, the six stars represent the six island-states of Wingarde.
Animal
The hawk is Wingarde's national animal. Standing for the light and the Heavens, it represents the people's firm belief in God Almighty. It symbolizes visionary power and guardianship, as the hawk is very protective of the young in its nest. It represents providing for family and self. The bird inspires Wingardians to be observant and to pay attention to details that might be overlooked. The hawk has keen eyesight, and indicates the inquisitiveness of the people of Wingarde, who tend to see beyond first appearances.
Tree
Coming soon...
Politics
National Government
The Wingardian Constitution, completed in 1947, establishes a democratic, federal and representative government, and mandates a separation of powers between executive, legistlative and judicial branches at the national and state levels. Both the president and vice-president are elected for office every six years. They are not allowed two consecutive terms, but it's possible for them to be elected for a third term or more after the interval of at least one term.
The parliament of Wingarde is the unicameral Federal Congress, which contains 36 seats, distributed equally among the senators of each Wingardian state. Senators serve 4-year terms.
Head of State
Current Head of State: Hermann Jakob (elected in 2001)
Previous presidents:
- 1995: Friedrich Breuer
- 1989: Bernhard Schlosser (second term)
- 1983: Bernhard Schlosser
- 1977: Sebastian Nerburn
- 1971: Manfred Adler
- 1965: Gilbert Reifsneider (second term)
- 1959: Gilbert Reifsneider
- 1953: Charles Calton
- 1947: Raynard Stammler
Before the constitution was finished in February, 1947, the newborn nation was ruled by what was later called The Triumvirate of the Generals, given the fact it was a temporary shared government between Wingarde's first three generals, formerly loyal to the British Crown: Alphonse Hoffmann, Edward Stanley and Thomas Dennett. The triumvirate was dissolved once the constitution became effective, and the commanders returned to the armed forces and continued their careers there.
Foreign Relations
Coming soon...
Armed Forces
The Wingardian Federal Armed Forces are Wingarde's means of defense against both foreign and internal threats. It is divided into Wingarde Federal Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Combat Forces branches. Military service has always been voluntary, and will not be made compulsory in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the Wingardians are very patriotic, and the Armed Forces employ approximately 0.7% of the total population. In peacetime, the institution is commanded by the Minister of Defense. However, in wartime, the President of Wingarde becomes the commander in chief of the national military.
As of now, the defense budget is a secondary priority in the goverment (approximately 7% of the budget as of late August, 2005). Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defense has deemed the military spending adequate for Wingarde's current situation. It is enough to allow national military industries such as Wingarde Aerospace and Ravenholm Shipyards to properly supply the Armed Forces and even export products to foreign powers, provinding economic profits for the islands.
Ever since Wingarde's increase in international participation, military interventions on foreign countries have become increasingly common, though these are always carried out with the intervened nation's government's consent. As of now, Wingarde has never taken part in any major armed conflict, only small operations.
Recent military operations
The hijacking of the VLS Koen [1]
The VLS Koen, a Van Luxemburgian luxury liner, was seized by terrorists in the vicinity of Guyana Island. The government of Van Luxemburg immediately dispatched counter-terrorist units and asked for international aid in order to carry out a joint operation to eliminate the terrorist threat. Wingarde, along with Kjata Major and McKagan among others, quickly responded and sent two Special Combat Forces teams, led by Major Fritz Brentsen to deal with the hijackers. The operation itself, which commenced around midnight, took less than 12 hours. All the terrorists either surrendered or were killed by the allied forces, except from their leader, who escaped. The hostages suffered minimal losses and the ship itself was only lightly damaged, mainly due to heavy gunfire and occasional attacks by allied helicopters. The Wingardian operatives suffered a total of four casualties: two wounded and two killed. (In RL time, this operation extended from August 20th to 24th, 2005).
Geography
States
Wingarde is divided into six states, which represent each of the populated islands of the archipelago: Stromburg, Ravenholm, Wernover, Ostbaden, Seestadt and Hilmentz. It is further subdivided into nineteen districts within the states. Each state capital bears the same name as their corresponding territory.
Territory
The Wingarde Archipelago is located in the North Pacific, 221 kilometres south of the Tropic of Cancer and 2173 km north of the equator. It consists of nine islands covered in grasslands, dense rainforests and frequent land elevations, most of the highest ones being inactive volcanos. There's a single river in Wingarde, the Krause, which courses oddly around the mountains of Wernover and ends in the island's eastern coast. Six of the archipelago's islands are currently inhabitated: Stromburg, Ravenholm, Wernover, Ostbaden, Seestadt and Hilmentz. The remaining three, Gersten, Smaragdwätcher and Pfeilspitze. The islands' highest point is Mount Himmel, on the smallest land mass of the archipelago, Smaragdwächter. Gersten, 70 km off the coast of Hilmentz, is the largest uninhabited island.
Wingarde's territory is contained in approximately 575,000 km2, and has five neighbours: Marcus Island (280 km north of Stromburg), the Federated States of Micronesia (the Hall islands are 1198 km south of Gersten), the Marshall Islands (the island of Enewetak is 696 km south of Pfeilspitze), Wake Island (477 km east of Seestadt) and the Northern Mariana Islands (the islands of Anatahan are 1326 km west of Gersten).
Climate
The archipelago has a tropical marine climate moderated by seasonal northeast trade winds. There is little seasonal temperature variation; the dry season runs from December to June, the rainy season from July to October can include typhoons. The islands' large amount of rainforests contribute to the general moist and warm temperatures (over than 18 °C, 64.4 °F, in all twelve months of the year). The climate of the northernmost parts of Wingarde generally resemble more of a subtropical one.
Society
Demographics
Coming soon...
Religion
Coming soon...
Education
Coming soon...
