Difference between revisions of "Edvardus"

Revision as of 12:18, 11 May 2006

Edvardus

Flag of Edvardus
Motto: Ad maiorem dei gloriam
[1]
Region	Middle Earthen Tards
Capital	Città Imperiale
Official Language(s)	Italian, although Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and German are also prevalent
Leader	Paulo VII
Population	23 million
Currency	Dollaro
NS Sunset XML

Sacro Impero del Edoardo (or The Holy Empire of Edvardus, Edvardus for short) is a large, devout, environmentally stunning, and safe nation, notable for its complete lack of prisons and devotion to social welfare.

History

The area presently known as the Middle Earthen Tards has developed several nations in the past twenty years. One of which is the Holy Empire of Edvardus, which is one of the original 8 nations. It used to be a democratic socialist state. However, eighteen years ago in response to the threat of war from a neighboring nation, Emperor Paulo VII invoked reserve powers and caused the UN to classify Edvardus as a corrupt dictatorship. The UN has pushed Edvardus further into the extreme when it categorized the Emperor as a psychotic dictator. They claim that the people "are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as 'my little playthings'."

When the government outlawed gambliing, the retail industry collapsed. With the rapid deterioration of the backbone of the economy, Edvardus lost its status as a developing nation. Soon after, the beef-based agricultural workers threatened to strike because they were not being paid fair wages. Partially because the President and Parliament feared that a strike would completely destroy the Edvardian economy, Parliament passed a law meeting the demands of the union. With the retail industry gone, beef-based agriculture was the main source of revenue for Edvardus. However, the passage of the Fair Wage Act only incited daily union strikes.

Politics

Edvardus is a semi-presidential empire headed by the Emperor. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is the head of foreign affairs. The President is the head of Parliament and domestic affairs. The legislative body is unicameral. It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Religion & Spirituality, Social Welfare, and Education.

While having no official branch in the imperial government, the opinion of the Holy See is highly respected and carried out to the best abilities of the government.

Executive Branch

This branch of government is headed by a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is currently selected by the National Assembly for a term of six years.

The Constitution names the Prime Minister as head of government. The Prime Minister is responsible for conducting foreign relations, such as concluding treaties, declaring war, and making peace. The Prime Minister must promulgate all laws and has no right to veto. Other powers of the Prime Minister include granting amnesty, pardon, or clemency, declaring martial law, conferring honors and decorations, and appointing the President of Edvardus.

The President presides over the Cabinet. The Vice President, ministers, and chairpersons of the Cabinet are appointed by the Prime Minister on the recommendation of the President. The President's official duties also include presenting administrative policies and reports to Parliament, responding to the interpellations of legislators (much like Question Time in some parliamentary systems), and, with the approval of the Prime Minister, asking Parliament to reconsider its resolutions. Laws and decrees promulgated by the Prime Minister must also be countersigned by the President.

In the event of vacancies in both the Prime Ministry and the Deputy Prime Ministry, the President serves as Acting Prime Minister of the Holy Empire for up to three months.

One-third of Parliament may initiate a no-confidence vote against the President. If approved with simple majority, the President must resign from office within ten days and at the same time may request that the Prime Minister dissolve Parliament. If the motion fails, another no-confidence motion against the same President cannot be initiated for one year. This power has never been used. In practice, the president has enough legitimacy and executive authority to govern in the face of a legislature controlled by the opposition, and would likely respond to a vote of no-confidence by nominating another person with similar views.

Legislative Branch

The National Assembly was established to serve as a constitutional convention and electoral college. It is responsible for any amendments to the constitution and electing the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Edvardus.

The Parliament is the main legislative body of Edvardus and has the power to pass all ordinary legislation. Whenever there is disagreement between Parliament and the Cabinet, Parliament may pass a resolution asking the Cabinet to alter the policy proposal in question. The Cabinet may, in turn, ask Parliament to reconsider. Afterwards, if Parliament upholds the original resolution, the president must abide by the resolution or resign. The Cabinet may also present an alternative budgetary bill if the one passed by Parliament is deemed difficult to execute.

Judicial Branch

The Supreme Court consists of 15 Grand Justices, two of which also serve as the President and Vice President of the Court. Appointed by the President of Edvardus, the President and Vice President, along with six other justices serve four-year terms. The other seven Justices serve eight-year terms.

Political Divisions

At 11,914 sq.km (slightly larger than the area of Jamaica), Edvardus is made up of 13 provinces, 26 counties, and 624 towns.

Settlement Patterns

In the rural areas of the alluvial plain, settlement almost invariably clusters near the rivers, streams, and irrigation canals. The levees laid down by streams and canals provide advantages for both settlement and agriculture. Surface water drains more easily on the levees' backslope, and the coarse soils of the levees are easier to cultivate and permit better subsurface drainage. The height of the levees gives some protection against floods and the frost that often affect low-lying areas and may kill winter crops. Above all, those living or cultivating on the crest of a levee have easy access to water for irrigation and household use in a dry, hot country.

Although there are some isolated homesteads, most rural communities are nucleated settlements rather than dispersed farmsteads; that is, the farmer leaves his village to cultivate the fields outside it. The size of the settlement varies, generally with the volume of water available for household use and with the amount of land accessible to village dwellers. Sometimes, particularly in the lower Presto and Buono Attraversare valleys near the Gulf, soil salinity restricts the area of arable land and limits the size of the community dependent on it, and it also usually results in large unsettled and uncultivated stretches between the villages.

Cities and large towns are almost invariably situated on watercourses, usually on the major rivers or their larger tributaries. This dependence has had its disadvantages. Until the recent development of flood control, cities were subject to the threat of inundation. Moreover, the dikes needed for protection have effectively prevented the expansion of the urban areas in some directions.

Geography

Edvardus lies in the alluvial plain between the desert to the west, marshlands to the east, mountains to the north, and ocean to the south. Here the Presto and Buono Attraversare rivers lie above the level of the plain in many places, and the whole area is a delta interlaced by the channels of the two rivers and by irrigation canals. Intermittent lakes, fed by the rivers in flood, also characterize Edvardus.

Because the waters of the Presto and Buono Attraversare are heavily silt laden, irrigation and fairly frequent flooding deposit large quantities of silty loam in much of the delta area. Windborne silt contributes to the total deposit of sediments. It has been estimated that the delta plains are built up at the rate of nearly twenty centimeters in a century. In some areas, major floods lead to the deposit in temporary lakes of as much as thirty centimeters of mud.

The Presto and Buono Attraversare also carry large quantities of salts. These, too, are spread on the land by sometimes excessive irrigation and flooding. A high water table and poor surface and subsurface drainage tend to concentrate the salts near the surface of the soil. In general, the salinity of the soil increases from north to south.

The waters of the Presto and Buono Attraversare are essential to the life of the country, but they may also threaten it. The rivers are at their lowest level in September and October and at flood in March, April, and May when they may carry forty times as much water as at low mark. Moreover, one season's flood may be ten or more times as great as that in another year. To combat this problem, Parliament approved the building of a complex irrigation system, which will control the waters of the two rivers with flood gates. In the spring, the flood gates will open, allowing the excess water to flow into farmland. In the fall, the gates close and the farms must depend on the water they collected in the spring until spring comes again.

Climate

Desite the oasis-like look of Città Imperiale, the temperatures in Edvardus range from higher than 46 °C (115 °F) in the summer to 4 °C (40 °F) in the winter. The summer months are marked by two kinds of wind phenomena: a dry, dusty wind with occasional gusts to eighty kilometers an hour from the south and southeast, occurs from April to early June and again from late September through November; a steady wind from the north and northwest, prevails from mid-June to mid-September. Very dry air which accompanies the latter permits intensive sun heating of the land surface but also provides some cooling effect. Dust storms accompany these winds and may rise to height of several thousand meters, causing hazardous flying conditions and closing airports for brief periods of time.

Extremes of temperatures and humidity, coupled with the scarcity of water, will effect both humans and equipment. During the dry season, clouds of dust caused by vehicle movement will increase detection capabilities in desert regions. Flash flooding in dry riverbeds that contains water only during times of heavy rain and across roads will hinder trafficability and resupply efforts during the rainy season. Clear, cloudless skies make air superiority a prerequisite to successful offensive operations throughout Edvardus. Air operations may be reduced during windy season.

Edvardus receives most of its precipitation accompanied by thunderstorms in the winter and early spring. The average annual rainfall for this area is only about 10 to 17 cm. Half of the days in winter are cloudy, and in the summer the weather is clear most of the time. Because of very high rates of evaporation, soil and plants rapidly lose the little moisture obtained from the rain, and vegetation could not survive without extensive irrigation.

Flora & Fauna

Edvardus's national animal is the chicken, which is also the nation's favorite main course. The chicken population had grown out of control and its protection from hunters has been lifted.

Edvardus is well-known for its date palms along the coast of the ocean. Other than the coastline, there is no natural vegetation.

Economy

After a brief recession in its incredible economic growth, the nation's economy is now the best it has ever been. After the government began subsidizing the automobile manufacturing industry, the economy took off at an alarming rate. The dollaro is the strongest it has ever been. The GDP is at a record $134 billion (per capita $5846) and it has the highest trade surplus in the region ($2.04 billion). Unemployment also dropped 3% in the last three years and is now stablizing around 10.8%.

Edvardus enforces a degree of private economic freedom (including privately owned industry) intermingled with centralized economic planning (which includes intervention for environmentalism and social justice, or state ownership of some of means of production). A large private sector is led by the Automobile Manufacturing industry, followed Beef-Based Agriculture and Retail. The government has also imposed punitive tariffs to protect local industry. Attempting to jump-start the economy, Parliament has kowtowed to big businesses and is seriously considering deregulating the industry. If not, big businesses threatened to pull out of Edvardus, most likely resulting in the economic demise of the empire. Recently, the government has started to financially assist the auto industry, which is the sole reason for the economic boom.

Citizens are free to: possess means of production, travel, buy, sell, hire, fire, organize, communicate, and protest peacefully. With tax-funded, subsidized, or state-owned services and infrastructures, citizens may access: legal assistance, information services, transportation, education services, health services, personal and property protection at home and abroad, subsidies to agriculture and other businesses, government monopolies and government-granted monopolies, and state-owned industries, such as telephone service and electricity. The state provides some autonomy over personal finances but includes involuntary spending and investments such as transfer payments and other cash benefits such as: welfare for the poor, social security for the aged and infirm, government subsidies to business, and mandatory insurance. The state also imposes: environmental regulations, labor regulations, consumer regulations, antitrust laws, intellectual property laws, incorporation laws, protectionism, and import and export controls. The state may also impose taxes and fees written or enforced with manipulation of the economy in mind.

The average income tax rate is 46%, but much higher for the wealthy. The government spends: 24% on Social Welfare programs (including a recent subsidy given to companies, which are required to pay female employees a maximum of six months of maternity leave), 20% on Administration costs, 20% on Religious/Spiritual programs, 18% on Education, 15% on Commerce, and 3% on Law & Order. Parliament has stripped back military funding. The government wants to budget some funds towards healthcare (organ donations are at an all-time low), public transport, cleaning up the environment, and social equity programs, but the law allows the people to choose where their taxes are being spent.

Demographics

As of today, there is an estimated 23 million people in Edvardus. The largest ethnic group is indigenous, accounting for 50.3% of the entire population. Other ethnic groups include white (23.7%), black (13.2%), Asian (12.0%), and Pacific Islander (0.8%).

Culture

Emperor Paulo VII has instituted a program that promotes a traditional lifestyle and social ethics while rejecting individualism and capitalistic values. It also aims to build up morale in a nation that was besieged with corruption. Some goals include courtesy to neighbors, following rules set by the government, keeping streets clean, conserving energy, and so forth. The Emperor uses the notion of self-cultivation and correct living for this movement. While some have praised the movement for its role in raising the quality of life somewhat, other have criticized it for its lofty goals that were out of touch with the suffering of the general populace. Due to this program, which involves rehabilitation of criminials rather than incarceration, crime is totally unknown. Recent legislation established a curfew for teenagers and as a result, all teenagers who are caught outside too late are sent to jail.

The most popular sports in the empire are: Baseball, Football, and Taekwondo.

Religion

Roman Catholicism is the official state religion and the teachings of the Church are actively enforced. Edvardus is home to 4 cardinals and 30 bishops. Each county is also a diocese headed by two bishops or a cardinal and an auxilary bishop. Each diocese is required to have at least 300 parishes, each able to house 500 parishoners. Each parish must staff at least three priests to celebrate six to seven Masses every weekend.

The Emperor seeks the advise of Pope Benedict XVI on decisions as small as choosing a regnal name to running the empire in general. Parliament also allocates a significant portion of its annual budget towards fostering a religious lifestyle amongst its citizens. The government declares that all citizens must attend religious services on the sabbath and believe in a monotheistic entity. While not required, citizens are highly encouraged to set aside some time weekly to do charity events or volunteer work. The government has also outlawed: genetically modified goods, public nudity, racist remarks in public, adultery, fornication, pornography, divorce, human embryonic stem cell research, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, abortion in cases where the mother's life is not in danger, capital punishment, and birth control.

Rankings

The Middle Earthen Tards region consists of twelve nations.

• 1st in the region (68,807th in the world) for Safest Nations
• 4th (-1) in the region (50,551st (-360) in the world) for Largest Mining Sector
• 5th in the region (49,716th in the world) for Smartest Citizens
• 5th in the region (55,364th in the world) for Most Beautiful Environments
• 5th in the region (70,313th in the world) for Most Cultured
• 7th in the region (68,081st in the world) for Largest Gambling Industry
• 7th in the region (76,430th in the world) for Most Eco-Friendly Governments
• 7th in the region (79,976th in the world) for Nudist
• 9th in the region (77,782nd in the world) for Largest Arms Manufacturing Sector
• 9th in the region (100,909th in the world) for Most Pro-Market Nations