Archtovia
Archtovia is, in fact, not one nation, but zero nations.
In some obscure times that have long been lost in history, an expeditionary fleet crash-landed on three small, barren huddled-together planets, lost amidst the glory of the great Constellation of Virgo.
Generations passed, and as the three planets each went on its own orbit, the people in the three regions were separated. Today, though communication still persists, space travel research had been delayed and technology nearly forgotten because of the reduction of government funding and problems "at home". Today, however, after domestic stability has been temporarily achieved and the project Ethnogenesis has been well under way, it may not be a long time before the castaways in the Constellation Virgo are reunited.
......That was the dream of its millions of citizens years ago. Today, however, all that remained of Archtovia are three barren planets littered with waste, as its human residents have, for reasons unknown, abandoned the planets in succession. The lonely planets are waiting for rediscovery.
News Update
For news update, see here
Geography
Despite the illusion that Archtovia is a huge, interstellar supernation that occupies several planets--it is not. Archtovia's main regions are on different planets, but each of them only occupy part of a particular planet. There are various reasons: given the time, a nation can't necessarily grow & expand that fast, and even if it can, mountains, water surfaces, hazards of unknown environments, ethnocentrism, and the people's bored attitude with exploration all contributed to the barriers that hindered a nation from conquering the world. Just recently, an expeditionary party was lost in the wilderness, and no survivor was found yet.
The closest one of Archtovia's regions come to conquering a whole planet is Phesja Argvs, where the terrain is relatively smooth.
Devacja
Devacja is the main and central region of Archtovia, proudly bearing the national administrative capital, Isjla. Oddly enough, it is also on Devacja that Archtovia's only bordering neighbor--New Heavenly Virgeans--exist.
The region of Devacja occupies a half-peninsular, half-crossroad-shaped piece of land. Its terrain is composed largely of fertile plains and river valleys, but the Emaen and Nesca mountains, which extends from the province of Emaen all the way to the southeastern boundary, cut the northern rivers from the southern coastal plains. To the east is the Norge Aun, or "central plateau", a rugged, mountainous region. East of the Central Plateau is a vast prairie, which gradually degrades to sub-desert terrain to the east. To the west and the vast Devacjnessen sea roars with its great waves, and to the southwest is the Ascea Mondv--the Great Channel. Cartographers mapped an intriguing mountainous peninsula across the Channel, but no one knows for sure where it would lead to. To the south, where the Channel turns its course, is a vast, uninhabitable desert that extends all the way across the known borders. A great salt lake is at the southeast corner of the region.
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Phesja Argvs
Wedged between vast, triangular oceans, the terrestial portion of Phesja Argvs is still the largest in area of the three regions, though the population is far less dense than that of Devacja.
Phesja Argvs is the region where the separatist Allons Party is the most active.
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Thiadeles
The castaways who had the unfortunate chance of landing on Thiadeles had definitely had a hard time. Composed almost exclusively of water, the known region of Thiadeles is a painfully stretched-out archipelago, much like the Pacific Ocean on Earth. The mass of islands are furthermore divided up into seven dominions,
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Archtovia's Neighbors
Being lost in the vast space, Archtovia does not have "neighbors" as in its traditional definition. However, there does exist one exception: the Free Land of New Heavenly Virgeans, created by a radical breakaway section of the Allons Party.
Government
Though Archtovia prime is composed of three separate regions, it is governed by one huge bureaucracy, with its headquarters at the capital, Isjla, and two "correspondants" in the two smaller regions (though neither of the "correspondants" are quite small enough). As in most nations, disagreement with governmental policies is generally discouraged.
Structure
The Wardenship
The Warden of Archtovia is elected once every 12 years.
The power of the Warden is limited to the administrative branch. However, if the National Convention declares a state of emergency, a Warden may be granted absolute power for 6 months, plus a one-year extension if the state of emergency had not been repealed by then. If the Warden is unwilling to relinquish power by the time of expiration, he/she would be forcibly repelled by the National Convention.
However, there are several restrictions to the Warden's power, even under a state of emergency: 1. The Warden may not, at any time, dissolve the National Convention; 2. Under state of emergency, a Warden may choose to ignore the Constitution, but he/she may not change the Constitution.
The Cabinet
The cabinet of Archtovian government consist of the following departments:
- Department of Agricultural & Industrial Science
- Department of Commerce & Transportation
- For news update, see here.
- Department of Education
- Department of Environmental Sustainability
- Department of Foreign Affairs
- Department of Interstellar Research & Communication
- The nation's elite rocket scientists For news update, see here.
- Department of Justice
- Department of Plebeian Affairs
- Being a welfare state, Archtovia's largest cabinet department is certainly the Department of Plebeian Affairs, the headquarters of the various national healthcare, welfare, and social issues programs. For news update, see here.
- Department of Spiritual Affairs
- Department of State
- The Archtovian Department of State represents the nation, and is dedicated to preserving the nation's identity. For news update, see here.
- The Treasury
- For news update, see here.
The Parliament
The Parliament of Archtovia consists of two parts: the National Convention (sometimes known as the Grand Parliament), and the individual Parliaments of the three regions. The National Convention is not held in a meeting room, but rather through radio signals.
Political Parties & Organizations
The main political organizations in Archtovia are:
- Socialist Progressive Party
- The Socialist Progressive Party is the oldest political party in Archtovia. The party's socialist ideals make it the largest party in Archtovia's government for years, and that had resulted in the largest group of lobbyists in the nation. One of the most important elements that sustain its position of in-control is its "floating" platform. Its policies are constantly changing, although never far from its pillars, to fit the current social (or political) situation, thus while some criticize it as being unstable, the party is always popular among the people.
- Green Party Archtovia
- One of the main political parties in Archtovia, GPA is associated with the UGN (Universal Greens Network), one of the largest international political organizations in the universe. The traditional Archtovian concept of environmental sustainability makes the party's principles popular; however, the conflict between human existence and the environment has always existed, so to cope with various food, land and energy shortages, the party was forced to modify its principles so that the Green Party in a very environmentalist nation is actually LESS conservationist than those of other nations.
- Libertarian Party
- Founded by the famed libertarian and political activist Micjel Anijhlan, the Libertarian Party believe that Virgo should be an out-of-the-world libertarian heaven, without the various forms of control and political correctness that make lives difficult on Earth. The Libertarian Party received widespread support during the 5-year Cultural Revival, but the heat had died out since then, and today the Libertarians can only
- Dominion Party
- The Dominion Party supports a confederate-like government structure with the central government act as a supervisor to the small, local governing councils. It also supports closer ties with Earth while still retaining the Virgean identity. It is rather conservative in other areas, and that probably reduced its popularity among the liberal-minded populace.
- The Island
- The Island is the converging point of various degrees of conservativeness in Archtovia. It is also the center of the Neo-Conservative movement, the realization that tranferred thousands of liberals into conservatives (and also quite a few conservatives into liberals). The Island works to establish and stabilize the conservative principles of Archtovia, and is a strong criticizer of the government's omnipresence in Archtovia. The party promises to change the way the present government's inefficient mass of works and
- Allons Party
- The Allons Party is a separatist movement created by Alen Nasja, an outspoken government-phobic activist. Its goal is to persuade the three (or perhaps more) regions of Archtovia to separate and become independent nations themselves, thus disintegrating the frightfully large Archtovian central government and raising the efficiency and competitiveness of the individual regions. Their policies did not go well with the majority of identity-preserving Archtovians, but one radical group managed to shake two of Archtovia's former provinces free and established the Free Land of New Heavenly Virgeans.
- United Fascist Movement
- Convinced that Fascism is the ultimate form of nationalism and that only Fascism can make Archtovia a better society, a group of hot-blooded individuals from all social classes have rallied together to try to put their ideals into action.
- Archtovia Workers' Union
Beliefs
Though many political parties and organizations, major or small, have emerged in recent years, legacies of Archtovia's ancestors still dominate the majority's way of thinking. The so-called "Virgean Values" had been much promoted
- Democracy
- Archtovia's government promotes a democracy, though many of the common practices in capitalist democracies tend to be curtailed.
- Environmental Sustainability
- Archtovia is probably the only nation with Environmental Sustainability a department all to itself. This is not surprising, considering that the majority of Archtovia's citizens range from environmental-minded to very environmental-minded. This is partly because of Archtovia's educational policies, and partly a legacy from Archtovians' ancestors: when the first group of people arrived on Archtovia, all they could see
- Independence
- Archtovians firmly believe in the doctrine that a state's internal affairs should be independent from other states' interference, and vice versa; they also resist any attempt at classifying Archtovia into any categories of ideologies. Unfortunately, there is one classification that Archtovia cannot escape: a state.
Special: Isjla
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Isjla, the administrative capital of Archtovia, is situated in the most fertile and prosperous part of the region, the heart of the nation: the Alesja river plain.
Society
Languages
Archtovia's main civil language is Neo-Virgean, the native language and the pride of all Virgeans. Legends have it that Neo-Virgean is an artificial language created by some over-zealous Virgean patriot a long time ago (to show other nations that Virgo has its own native culture), though most Virgeans today won't admit it.
Greek is the second-main civil language of Archtovia. People respect it for its history and its aesthetics, although it is pretty polluted today, mingled with vocabularies from Virgean and other languages.
English is the official language in commerce.
Religions
Archtovia is primarily agnostic, but freedom of conscience is guaranteed. The government used to have the Department of Spiritual Affairs closed down, but after collective pressures from the society it is reopened. The majority of people who believe in organized religion belong to either the Holy Church of St. Virgin, a Catholic-affiliated branch of Christianity, or the Church of the Stars, a native religion.
Community Services
Archtovia's socialist government uses the country's frightening income tax to fund its numerous programs. The government controls nearly every aspect of the people's lives.
Education is presently the most funded department in the government. All schools and colleges are free, and numerous educational programs have been launched. Strictly speaking, the social studies courses are organized under two levels: the governmental propaganda courses, and the free-thinking courses; students must take one of each. These courses' contents are often conflicting, but students can resort to professional counselors for help.
Culture: Virgean Peculiarities
One of Archtovia's peculiarities is that it is the first to have a new form of government: collectivism (I'm not sure it's the right word). In villages sufficiently small, the mayor is not elected by a democratic process; rather, candidates of the office have to fill out an application form, and then are given a month to collect as many supportive signatures as possible. The candidate with the most signatures in one month wins the office, and he/she stays there until a new candidate collects more signatures in one month than he/she did.
Commerce
Archtovia is famous for the largest corporation in the Constellation Virgo, the government-run VirgoHaven Co.
