Difference between revisions of "Britmattia"

Revision as of 15:14, 4 September 2005

Britmattia

Flag of Britmattia
Motto: Ourselves Alone.
Political Map of the Kingdom
Region	Splendid Isolation
Capital	Royesse
Official Language(s)	Standard(Multiversal), Gaullois, Svenska, Dwerry, Dwarvish
Leader	Owen Warwick
Population	3.237 billion
Currency	Realm
NS Sunset XML

The Kingdom Britmattia is a technocratic monarchy chiefly based on the continent of the same name in the North Atlantic, but with subsidiary holdings on the continent of Dardanelle in the South Atlantic and is made up of a variety of species whom manage to maintain cultural integrity even while fully integrating under the Monarchy. The Kingdom has recently joined the NDA, following long-standing links with member nations. There is no intention of any other treaty-making at this time, but informal policy is aligned with the "Western" bloc.

National Information

Traditional Long Form: The Technocratic Kingdom of Britmattia.
Traditional Short Form: The Kingdom (Local) or Britmattia.
Abbreviations/Country Code: TKB or .bm
Form of Government: Unwritten Constitutional Monarchy.
Location: North Atlantic, Ns, South Atlantic, Ns, Ptolemaeus Crater, Luna.

History

See: "Ourselves Alone" thread

Government

Important Personages

Executive Unit

• Chief of State (full title): His Majesty Owen I of the House of Warwick.
• Ministry of Defense: Lord Nicholas Drake.
• Ministry of Trade & Information: As yet Unknown.
• Ministry of Tourism: As yet Unknown.
• Ministry of Justice & Social Moderation: Lindsey, Lady Davis.
• Ministry of Health & Education: Anne, Duchess of Bathame.
• Ministry of Science and Technology: Ian, Lord Banksman.
• Ministry of Industry and Economic Development: Thegn Thorbadun Dune'dan.
• Ministry of Draconic Affairs: M'nemeth, of Cadogan.
• Grand Chancellor/Treasurer: Alois, Duke of Birmingham.

Military Structure

• Royal Britmattian Military Intelligence (RBMI): K'neanalk, of Anjou.
• Royal Britmattian Diplomatic Corps (RBDC): John, Lord Ringo
• Royal Britmattian Armed Forces: Andrew, Duke of Edinburgh.
• Royal Britmattian Army: General Alexander Dumas.
• Royal Britmattian Navy: Vladimir, Duke of Bathame.
• Royal Britmattian Air Force: Air Marshall David Weber.
• PsychOps Commander: Jenny Sadler, Baroness of Llyod Island.
• Special Forces Commander: Lt. Colonel Elisabeth Golightly.
• Marine Crops Commander: Lt. General Alvaro Vasquez.
• Royal Britmattian Star Navy: Commodore Honor Harrington.
• Raven's Own Regiment: Colonel Robert Drummond.

Administrative extra-government Section.

• Earldom of London - William London.
• Earldom of Warwick - Durotai Warwick.
• Archbishopric(RC) of Birmingham - Arlois Berennan.
• Taurus Occisor of Thurgrad - Hugo Sawyer.
• Stated Clerk(Presb) of Edinburgh - Sheila Lane.

Government Structure

The Britmattian government is, at its core, an feudal monarchy. The King is the direct ruler of the nation, his word is law and unchallengable except on the Field of Honour.
Selection for the nobility is one of the more interesting parts of the government, titles are given to the most competent adults in the family and as the extended families of the nobility would fill a healthy sized town this is not a limited pool with which to draw from. Talent tends to breed true however, the Warwicks and Birminghams enjoy an almost unbroken line of succession, the Bathamers a totally unbroken one. The breaks in the Warwick line come from their periodic and almost automatic accession to Kingship.
The Monarch is the most competent noble, so designated by the Grand Magus. Again, these lines tend to breed true, intermarriage holding offices and the traits needed for them to certain families.
Having achieved these first two criteria, the candidate is then vetted by the Grand Magus, a powerful wizard who holds the ultimate responsibility for determining a Monarch's fitness, and ensuring he or she remains a stable and good ruler. This overview is integral to the national interest, removing the traditional monarchy's flaw of unstable rulers cropping up.
Also factoring against this bugbear of traditional monarchy are the heads of the Families, who have a strong interest in maintaining the stability of their fiefdoms, the stabler and more prosperous the nation as a whole, the more prosperous the family-administrated duchies.
The duchies serve as administrative areas, and are effectively governed by locally selected councils. These councils are responsible for maintaining education, health, social welfare, and infrastructure and transport systems within their regions. They have no control over the law making process its self.
An important note to this semblance of democracy is that the people selected for these administrative councils tend to be of the well-off "burgher" class, and are inevitably related to the noble family of the duchy in question. An note on the taxation process should be included here, while income tax is technically at 100%, "Income" is a rather notional term under Kingdom law.
The average citizen pays a graduated tax, depending on their personal income, which never exceeds more than 30% of the same, to the aristocratic family of the region they live in. This source of funds is then taxed at 100% by CentGov.
Also tied to this is an additional (voluntary) tithe paid to the Family of the region, which is then used as the social welfare/(some) healthcare spending of that particular locale. Those who do not contribute to this fund are not entitled to draw from it.

Legislation and Civil Rights

Rights are granted from the throne down, and apply in all duchies and earldoms, regardless of the local lord's position on an issue. This does tie into the very limited local democracies. Generally, members of a region will decide amongst themselves who they wish to represent their town, village or mud hut. They then take this choice to the local lord who checks on the suitability of the candidates, vetting those who are likely to promote regional instability. The locals can take a decision to the Crown if they disagree fervently enough, but both vetoes and appeals are rare. Once the representatives are in place, they're responsible for relaying the concerns of the citizenry to the Crown as necessary, as well being responsible for local administration at a district level. Once concerns are relayed to the Crown, the King makes a decision, with advisement from his ministers and the nobility. These two groups are of course well informed about public opinion on any subject. However, the King maintains a final say on all laws. Decisions handed down by Judges are subject to review by the monarch, but mostly these precedents are accepted.

Places, People and Cultures

There are three Dukedoms and two Earldoms in Britmattia, as well as the Crown District. Outside observers have compared the various cultural strains within the Kingdom to outside nations to make for easy comparison and understanding, so, they are as follows:

• Edinburgh : Anglo-Scots.
• Birmingham : Angevin France (Gaullois is langue de ouc).
• Bathame : Highland Scots/Dragonback Cossacks.
• Warwick : (Idealised)Anglo-Commonwealth.
• Svenska : Ethnic group mainly living in Edinburgh/Bathame, immigrants from the nation of Vikhame on Sinn Fein. Essentially Vikings without the raiding. Worship the Norse Pantheon.
• Dwerry : Demi-Elves. Live to around 600 years old, ageless past maturity. Pointed ears, unusual eye colours. Urban and urbane, but at the same time far more connected with nature than the humans they live and interbred with. No traditional elf prejudices need apply.
• London : A dwarven culture that's been under human rule for millenia. Far more open culturally than traditional dwarves, but still poets with stone and steel. Traditional prejudices against elves aren't present, but a dislike of Dragons does survive. Very conservative in some areas.
• Dragons : Come in various sizes/breeds. Draco Rex("King Dragon") are the very biggest and most powerful, able to use powerful magics and compel lesser minds. Also the rarest and least visibly active within the Kingdom. The lesser dragons defer to them. Draco Patriciens are smaller, less magically gifted but capable of shapeshifting to a bipedal form (OOC, dunno what this looks like yet.) Tend to be arrogant and refuse to work with humans. Are less active than the Nobles, but the exceptions are more "visible". Draco Equus are the smallest, no more than 30 feet long when full grown. They are the riding Dragons and the inspiration for the beasts on the Houses of Warwick and Edinburghs' shields. Very close to humanity, especially the noble houses. Essentially Pernese dragons with a lot more brains and no bond/teleporting/gender aspects.

The Birminghams, or the "Gaullists" after the first Duke, Gaullois Birmingham, alternate between the almost piratical "Brum" strain of their family, or the more uptight "Withybrooks" who tend to be found firmly on the other side of the law courts of the nation. Brumese are merchants, spies and rogues as the need takes them. The Duchy council is somewhat corrupt, notably lax about clamping down on the Kipling Massiv Industries conglomerate, which is headquartered in the province. However, Birmingham is also the most overtly religious of the Duchies, monasteries and cathedrals dot the landscape, demonstrating the province's affiliation to the Catholic faith. Birmingham is also home to many of Britmattia's Dwerry.

The Londoners are the Dwarven Earldom. This is reflected in the massive amount of heavy industry in the province and in the strongly conservative nature of it's populace. London province is also the home of the Royal Armaments Corporation, and Gondor Massiv Industries.

North of London is the Duchy of Edinburgh, principally important for it's primary industry orientation. It is home to the majority of the nation’s lumber production, in addition to hosting the main fishing fleets and a substantial amount of mining as well. The province is quietly religious, principally Presbyterian with a smattering of other faiths. There is also a strong Dwerry province in Edinburgh because of the timber industry. Edinburgh is very much a rationalist province, home to the nation's greatest technical and medical colleges.

It's eastern neighbour, the thoroughly assimilated but still unique Duchy of Bathame, is also quietly religious, but in this case the main faith is Mithraism. Bathame Duchy is a pastoral economy, given regular influxes of cash by the military training conducted in the tundra-dominated, nearly frozen duchy and by tourists coming to view the spectacular volcanoes in the region. These volcanoes, and the geothermal activity attendant to them are the principal reason why the majority of Britmattia's dragons inhabit Bathame. The Hammers, as they proudly refer to themselves, are noted for being a hot-blooded people and holders of grudges, notably the entire province's rabid hatred for vampires.

To it's more temperate south lies the second Earldom, that of Warwick. Warwick Duchy is home to the massive engineering firm of Brondugun & Barnes, principally interested in ship and engine building, and their equally massive partners Pinnacle Corp who're the main structural engineering group in the Kingdom. However Warwick Earldom is dominated by agriculture, it's vast green fields home to thousands of sheep and cattle, and equally large acreage is devoted to cereal crops.

The mainland is not the only inhabited landmass, Dardanelle is also populated, though to a far lesser extent and mainly by it's native species, the Cheetah-like bipedal feline Ch'taht. There are also humans living on Dardanelle, the small Psychometric Academy housing and employing most of the non-military personnel. The military inhabit Southern Fleet Base.