Detmere (Region)
| Symbols | ||||
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| Basic Information | ||||
| Administrative division | Autonomous region | |||
| State | Isselmere-Nieland | |||
| Capital | Semling | |||
| Viceroy | The Rt. Hon. Richard Elsbruck, Lord High Commissioner | |||
| Head of Government | Matthew Kettering, First Minister | |||
| Unification - Incorporation |
14 April 842 21 September 1014 | |||
| Holidays - Coronation Day - Union Day - Constitution Day |
21 September (1014) 25 June (1562) 24 March (1986) | |||
| Legislature - English |
Unicameral parliament Detmerian General Assembly | |||
| Legal Tradition | Mix of common and civil law | |||
| Languages - Official |
English | |||
| TLD | .det | |||
The Grand Duchy of Detmere is the remnant of the oldest unified Anglo-Frisian kingdom in the Lethean Islands. Comprising the territories that former kingdom possessed before its integration within the Kingdom of Isselmere in 1014 following the baronial war that ravaged much of South Lethe after the death of Queen-Regent Maldren, the Grand Duchy is the second smallest autonomous region of the United Kingdom of Isselmere-Nieland in terms of area, with six provinces, and the smallest in terms of population with 14.7 per cent of the total.
Contents
Etymology
Detmere, as most Isselmere-Nielander place-names, derives from a variety of sources, many of which were backwardly contrived. The earliest use of the term came during the reign of Friedwulf the Bald who united the Anglo-Frisian sub-kingdoms into a single petty kingdom capable of fending off its neighbours. Dihteremearc or March of the Steward was used by Friedwulf to acknowledge the support he received from his sub-kings, but it also was an admission of the new kingdom's relative weakness against his Norse, Anguistian, and Anglo-Frisian enemies.
Under Friedwulf, however, the March became a power to be reckoned with, held back only by the Anguistian kingdom. Respect for the new kingdom grew among the Nielanders, who termed the territory Dátmark, or March of Warriors.
The Anguistian term for the region, Góir Dúráigh, means Eastern March, which emerged in the tenth-century. Some academics theorise it began as a derogatory term arising from three periods of Anguistian rule over the Anglo-Frisian kingdom during that century.
Administrative Divisions
Provinces
The provinces of Detmere are Carlmarch (named after Karl the Dim, who secured the territory from Anguist), Gottering (Ring of the Goths (i.e., the Norse), named after a Norse fort), Hiliscar (from Híldescūr (Shower of Darts), stemming from a battle with the Isselmerians), Natthresk (from Nadder+þræsce or Twisted Serpent, also Naddr+kvist, where a Nielander host was defeated), Sluist (from Slyhðstan (loosely, The Forge-stone), the site of geothermal activity), and Strabane (from Béorn Strangban (strong bone), who liberated the kingdom during the latter half of the tenth-century).
Semling
The capital of Detmere is Semling, a kafkaesque city. Until recently, the skyline of the city was dominated by Semling Castle on Kinnock Hill, seat of the former monarchy and of the present-day viceroy, glaring down upon the winding closes, wynds, and occasional roads below. The slow process of industrialisation in the nineteenth-century exacerbated the claustrophobic and threatening miasma that permeated the town. Since 1945, however, many of the old row houses and much of the less salubrious sections of the Medieval quarters were demolished to make way for new industrial plants, better planned housing developments and, from the 1960s, skyscrapers, albeit in limited quantity.
The growth of green space was not neglected. Peter Laederbeck, Lord Mayor of Semling between 1945 and 1957, was instrumental in extending existing parks and creating new ones in dilapidated industrial areas. From one of the ugliest and unhealthy cities in the United Kingdom, Semling became one of the most beautiful.
Constitutional Position
Detmere is one of two administrative divisions that devolved from the Kingdom of Isselmere, of which it formally remains a part. In accordance with the Articles of Succession and the Constitution, the royal who is second in line to the throne is the Grand Duke of Detmere, a tradition that has made the demands of Detmerian nationalists woefully optimistic at best.
Notes
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Topics on Isselmere-Nieland |
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| Category | Factbook Categories: Administrative divisions | Constitution | Defence Forces | Festivities | Government | Languages | Laws | ||
