Aberdeen

History

Founding

First Parliament

Collapse of the First Parliament

Second Parliament

The Darktime and Invasion

The New Constitution

Reconstruction

The Army Size Cap Law and Zerg Army Scandal

In late December 2005, Imperfectia, the Minister of Immigration, commented on how many of the newer active nations possessed some of the larger militaries. While this raised little attention, a new nation, Bloopa took the problem to heart. Reading through the rules regarding passing legislation, he drafted and submitted the Amry Size Cap Law, the first bill since the darktime, 6th bill since the region was founded.

While opinions on the matter were mixed, forgottenlord was the least concerned about army sizes and the most annoyed by the new legislation. Holding an army of about 100 million in Angel Fire, he felt the Bill to be pointless. The Bill proceeded to vote regardless and won in an 8-6 vote - the largest and closest vote to date. Still fuming, forgottenlord immediately started pulling a number of his UN tricks for abusing loopholes. First he requested a Joint Army Treaty, stating that Angel Fire had traditionally protected all three of his nations as the reason for the treaty. The region granted it with a significant majority. He then moved 45 million of his troops into an internal security unit - bringing his total troop count down to within the limits accepted by the traty. However, this wasn't satisfactory as these troops still could not leave the Forgotten Territories. Thus, the military leaders of Angel Fire released their new toys - the Zerg. Arguing the Zerg were not sentient, therefore not citizens, therefore not soldiers and therefore should not be included in the cap. Bloopa, however, took issue with it, and lay charges against the Forgotten Territories as a whole in the regional court. While many within the Forgotten Territories were frustrated at being labelled with the same brush, forgottenlord didn't bother with trying to seperate the individual nations in his defense. After several exchanges between the two, Coretta interjected, siding with the Forgotten Territories.

Sumada, the Minister of Internal Affairs and, therefore, chief justice of the regional court, felt he could not provide the time to give the case a fair hearing. He handed it to Coretta, one of his Probation Officers. Bloopa, concerned about bias, requested that it be a three-member panel that ruled on the case. All 3 probation officers (Alamedia, Khaoz and Coretta) were now on the case. After a short debate, all three ruled in favor of the Forgotten Territories, feeling that the Army Size Cap Law could only apply to citizens within the army.

However, frustration and concern about the Zerg project increased. This lead to a few Angel Fire military maneuvers being railroaded by the cabinet and some research projects were started on captured wild Zerg.

The Death Penalty Amendment

As the region regrew, nations with philosophies that would've been totally foreign to the First Aberdeen Parliment appeared in her territory. Amongst them was Coretta, a nation that believed in the Death Penalty, had used it, and continued to use it. This violated article 2.2 of the Aberdeen Constitution and Imperfectia, Mittsville and Just Minds each took issue with it immediately. The leaders of Dundee East and Forgottenlands (the President and Prime Minister of Aberdeen) met quickly to discuss how to deal with this issue. Instead of expelling the new nation for breaching the Constitution, it was decided to put the matter to open debate - they both realized that the nature of the region had changed, and this needed to be considered.

With a considerable majority feeling that the constitution should probably leave out the death penalty ban, it was sent to the House of Members to draft up a bill to create a constitutional amendment. Bill 7: The Death Penalty Act was written by Imperfectia, denouncing the death penalty but permitting its use. To pass, the amendment need a 2/3 majority vote. With minimal debate, it went to vote and garnered only 60% of the vote, thus failing to pass.

Corettan Embassy Slaughter

As the debate over the death penalty continued, Bloopa arrived in Aberdeen. He wasted no time in weighing into the death penalty debate. His citizens eventually started nearly daily protests around the Corettan embassy. One day, these protests turned sour. A bunch of citizens, armed with Molotov cocktails and flinging rocks at the embassy and her residents alike. Corettan response was lethal weaponry. Bloopan forces launched a helicopter armed with pepper spray to the embassy to try and stop the riots while Corettan forces launched a squadron of helicopters to try and extract those within the embassy. Fearful of what might happen, Bloopan officials ordered the Corettan helicopters away from the border. Coretta couldn't believe it. Instead of turning around, they proceeded onward.

The Corettan helicopters were shot down. But this was not enough for Bloopa. Afraid that war had been declared and fearful of the military might of Coretta, they ordered their forces across their shared border.

Coretta, however, laid charges on Bloopa for the attack on the helicopters, bring the incident to forgottenlord's personal attention. The Prime Minister called an emergency session with his cabinet, and ordered the two nations to immediately halt aggressions. He further reprimanded both nations and gave his personal analysis of the situation for the regional court. The regional court found Bloopa not guilty for attacking the helicopters as they were within Bloopan space. The regional court didn't proceed to discuss any of forgottenlord's recommendations The acting Corettan Prime Minister had ordered his forces to remain within Corettan territory but remain on the defensive and vetoed a vote in his parliment to declare war. The Bloopan Prime Minister objected to the order, fearful that Corettan forces might overrun him. After receiving clearance to create a demilitarized zone and to deploy troops from Angel Fire into it, forgottenlord reminded the Bloopan Prime Minister that Angel Fire had a full 100 million troops to deploy at moments notice. Bloopa conceded and withdrew.

Nearby Eramia, Protectorate of Mittsville was chosen to host the peace talks. Jonathon Nobel of Imperfectia was chosen to lead the talks. Amongst those attending was the Governer of Eramia, Prime Minister Rucke and Ambassador Richard Wesley of Bloopa, Prime Minister TJ Ross of Dancing Bananland, Deputy Foreign Minister Victor Bhattacharji and Ambassador Justin Monroe of Coretta, and (to everyone's horror) Tristan Angel, the Angel Fire from the nation Angel Fire.

Nobel and Angel Fire dominated the talks, the latter intimidating every person sitting at the talks, the former trying to find some level of calm in the room - contending with the Angel Fire's ability to alienate and threaten everyone simultaneously, her despise of everything Bloopan (this was around the same time that Bloopa filed formal charges against her nation for its Zerg program), and the annoyed Corettans who (rightly) felt to be the victims of Bloopan attacks and wanted compensation for it without a need for concessions. Everything from an investigation into the Embassy slaughter, to reparations, to the continuation of the demilitarized zone and the nations responsible for her enforcement was on the table. They still continue.

Simultaneously, Bloopa submitted a bill that addressed Embassy security - specifically the Corettan choice to use lethal force as a first measure against the rioters. After nearly a week, it became the first bill in Aberdeen history to have its debate extended. About halfway through the next full week, Coretta launched 9 questions at Bloopa and then proceeded to declare a filibuster. Mittsville seconded the filibuster allowing for another week of debate to be added. It is currently at vote and expected to fail.

Dancing BananLand Terrorist Attack

Third Parliament

The Third Prime Minister's elections appeared only noticable because none of the major faces within Aberdeen were interested in stepping up to run against Forgottenlord. However, a relative newcomer, TJ Ross of Dancing BananLand decided to cast his name into the hat - not in expectation of winning, but in expectation of a fun campaign.

Ross took a hit for the recent Terrorist attacks while Forgottenlord found himself struggling in the discussions surrounding the Army Size Cap Law. After Forgottenlord released an extensive platform, Ross just indicated he would do what was needed and refused to submit an actual platform. As the vote came up, both found fairly similar answers to a quick round of questions by some of the longer standing members.

In a shock to many, Ross pushed ahead early, but as day 4 came, Forgottenlord gained a significant lead. In the next few days, Ross closed the gap on Forgottenlord, which lead to a tense finish. However, Forgottenlord got just enough votes to hold onto the Prime Minister's seat. The final result was Forgottenlord 7, Dancing BananLand 6.

Government Structure

Current Government

Prime Minister/UN Delegate/President

The office of Prime Minister is an elected position. Along with the responsibilites of PM, the duties of regional UN Delegate are also given to the winner of the election. With the founder relinquishing his duties as President, the presidential powers have been integrated into those of the Prime Minister. The current holder of this office is Forgottenlord.

Cabinet Members

Cabinet members are appointed by the Prime Minister after he assumes his office. They are expected to lead the 4 core Ministries of Aberdeen. The current members and their responsibilities are as follows:

Coretta - Minister of Internal Affairs & the Regional Court

Hekloslogravia - Minister of Immigration

Imperfectia - Minister of Foreign Relations

Dancing Bananland - Minister of Information & Defense

Members of Parliment

A Member of Parliment is an elected position. When such a time arises as more members of Parliment are needed, nations may submit themselves to join in the running for the office. Members of Parliment are occasionally asked to lead a Ministry by the Prime Minister. At present there is only one Member of Parliment.

Mittsville - Minister of Cartography

Deputies

Ministerial Deputies assist the Cabinet Members of their particular Ministry. Deputies may either be appointed by the individual Ministers or chosen from a pool of volunteers. The current Deputies are:

Khaoz - Probation Officer of the Regional Court

Coretta - Probation Officer of the Regional Court

Alamedia - Probation Officer of the Regional Court

PGrier - Deputy of Recruitment

Hekloslogravia - Deputy of Recruitment

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