Difference between revisions of "Excalbia"

Revision as of 11:38, 28 November 2004

Excalbia

Flag of Excalbia
Motto: "A Free People, By the Grace of God"
Map of the Excalbian Isles
Region	Excalbian Isles
Capital	Citadel Excalbia
Official Language(s)	English – state language, Old Excalbian (blend of old Norse and Baltic languages), Celtic.
Leader	The Emperor. The current emperor is David IV.
Population	Over 3 billion
Currency	Imperial excalban (E); 1E = $1.30
NS Sunset XML

Geography and Early History

The Excalbian Isles rise from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the Northern Atlantic, southwest of Iceland and southeast of Greenland. One of the largest islands in the world, Excalbia, makes us most of the island chain’s land area. The Borodea Mountains split the island from north to south along the path of Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Highlands and foothills extend from the range to the west across much of the island. To the north of the highlands are plains and tundra; to the south are grasslands and forests. East of the mountain range, the terrain drops rapidly to foothills, pine forests and rugged coastline.

The location of the island ensures mild summers with long days and cool winters with long, dark nights. The flow of the ocean currents, however, keeps the island far milder than Greenland, located to the northwest.

Natural resources include uranium, cattle, iron, aluminum, salt, timber, seafood, copper, agricultural products and geothermal energy.

File:Http://www.geocities.com/ilclbt/map atlantic.jpg

The Excalbian Isles were first settled by the Celts around the 6th century. By the early 10th century, they formed a number of stable, agrarian tribal groups, located mostly in the Southwestern grasslands and along the rugged Eastern coast.

In the late 10th century, a second wave of settlers – Norsemen – arrived from their colonies in Iceland and Greenland. While the earlier arrivals, now known as the Lowlanders, remained along the coast and in the grasslands, the Norsemen migrated into the highlands.

Despite relative isolation from Europe, occasional new arrivals continued to land on Excalbia. These included a small group of Scots, who moved into the highlands and submerged into the Norse Highlanders, and some Irish monks, who in the 12th century introduced Christianity among a small tribe of Lowlanders on the Eastern coast.

By the 13th century, the island’s social structure was well established. The Highland clans were warriors, herders and artisans and dominated the Lowland farmers. Clan warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries produced Excalbia’s first monarch, King Alsgood, who established his capital at Excalbia Castle.

By the 18th century, a number of English and Colonial merchantmen had visited Excalbia, but finding little worth trading along the coast had ignored it. In 1798, a small group of Virginia Baptist missionaries took an interest in Excalbia and booked passage on a Yankee merchant ship familiar with the islands. A storm, however, crashed the Narwhal against the Western coast. Stranded, but alive and still possessing much of their goods and supplies, the missionaries began working to convert the Lowlanders to Christianity and the crew of the merchant ship began establishing control of the local trade routes and building alliances with the local tribes.

Founding of the Holy Empire of Excalbia

In 1801, the newly assertive Lowlanders, backed by the missionaries and the guns of the ship’s crew, came into conflict with the Highland king, Ragarth. Low-level conflict continued until a truce in 1807, by which time the new American arrivals had reestablished contact with their homeland, bringing in new supplies for themselves and their Lowland allies. Seeing the balance of power tilting to the Lowlanders, Ragarth undertook a diplomatic mission to the Lowlanders’ new capital, Landing – the site of the Narwhal’s wreck. While in Landing, Ragarth’s son converted to Christianity and adopted the Christian name Joshua.

Joshua married the daughter of a missionary in 1808 and became king in 1809. At that point, he engineered a union between the Lowlanders and their allies and the Highland kingdom. On Christmas Day in 1809, Joshua proclaimed the Holy Empire of Excalbia, named the Alvis Miller, former Lowland governor of Landing, his Chancellor and established Christianity as its state religion. Emperor Joshua I also launched an aggressive campaign to bring modern education and knowledge to his kingdom.

In 1817, a mixed group of American settlers and Lowlanders began demanding a republican government. In order to avoid violence, the Emperor extended a land grant to the republicans east of the Borodea Mountains and a patent to establish an autonomous republican government. The republicans accepted the grant and establish New Virginia. By 1828, a second settlement, known as Southland and dominated by extremely devout Christians, had been established. Another settlement, known as Deandra, had been founded by a group of Freedmen on an island south of Excalbia. Despite lingering racial prejudices, New Virginia, Southland and Deandra, along with the Lowland settlement of Saxmere and the Highland settlements of Alud and Trondgard, declared themselves independent states and immediately formed a Confederation of Sovereign States in 1829. The C.S.S. adopted a Constitution based on a modified version of the U.S. Constitution that created a weak central government with strong guarantees for personal liberty.

In 1856, Peter Courtland, commander of the New Virginia State Militia, was tried and convicted for treason for attempting to use the threat of military force to secure the resignation of the Governor and install himself as the new Governor. Before he could be imprisoned, Courtland, along with a number of supporters fled across the mountains to the sparsely inhabited plains of the northwest. By 1862, a number of settlements had been established in the region. Following Courtland’s death in 1870, leaders of these new settlements proclaimed the Dominion of Upper Virginia with a Constitution that, while guaranteeing individual rights and liberties, created a powerful central government.

Modern History

In the late 19th and early 20th century, progressives in the Holy Empire worked to break up monopolies, protect workers and guarantee that dissenters from the Church of Excalbia could fully participate in the economy and in politics. In 1905, they succeed in convincing Emperor Daniel III and the Imperial Senate to grant the country’s first written Constitution. Meanwhile, unbridled monopoly capitalism gained root in the Dominion.

While the nations of Excalbia avoided World War I, they did suffer under the Great Depression. Economic collapse in the Dominion led to the rise of a socialist party that attempted a violent revolution in 1932. It was ruthlessly suppressed by General Roger Courtland, who suspended the Constitution and began authoritarian rule. The Dominion proclaimed neutrality in World War II, but both the Holy Empire and the C.S.S. backed the Allies and sent small forces to join the fight in Europe.

Alliance with Pantocratoria

An alliance with the Holy and Most August Empire of Pantocratoria was formed a few years ago. The alliance began informally with an extensive program of weapons sales to Pantocratoria. After that, Excalbian military forces served with the Pantocratorians in the Esperi Crisis, deepening the alliance. The alliance was cemented when Prince Joseph of Excalbia was selected by Emperor Andreus of Pantocratoria to be the husband of his eldest daughter, Princess Anna. As a wedding present, Emperor David IV presented the couple a patent to establish a new kingdom in the formerly unorganized provinces of the Western peninsula. This new kingdom was named Langeais.

Politics and Government

Official Name: Holy Empire of Excalbia

Founded: Christmas Day, 1809 by Emperor Joshua I. The Holy Empire of Excalbia is the successor state of the Highland Kingdom of Excalbia, which was founded by King Alsgood, the Great in 1594.

Type of Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Symbols of Power: Unlike most monarchies, the Excalbian national symbol of power is not the crown, but the sword. The sovereign is invested when he or she receives the sword of King Alsgood. The reigning monarch and his or her government is often referred to as the Sword, in much the way other monarchical governments would be referred to as the Crown. The national emblems are the crossed swords and shield and the golden cross of Joshua on a field of blue.

Constitution: Written constitution adopted in 1905 under the reign of Daniel III

Head of State: The Emperor. The current emperor is David IV.

Imperial Family:

Empress Elizabeth, consort Prince Joseph, eldest son, designated heir and co-sovereign of Langeais Princess Anna of Pantocratoria, daughter-in-law and co-sovereign of Langeais Princess Rebecca Prince James Princess Christianna, sister of the Emperor Prince Peter, son of Emperor’s late brother, Prince Paul

Head of Government: Shared between the Emperor and the Imperial Chancellor. The current Imperial Chancellor is Lady Christina Freedman of the Progressive Conservative Party (PC). Lady Freedman heads a coalition that includes the Christian Union Party(CU) and the Freedom Party(FP).

Cabinet:

Minister of State: Albert Cummings (CU) Minister of Defense: Lord John Thorne (PC) Minister of Justice: Lady Gwyneth Hapsgaard (PC) Minister of Treasury: Sir Harrison Grasis (FP) Minister of Home Affairs: Rev. James Earl Luckett (CU) Minister of Agriculture: Thalia DeSoto (FP) Minister of Commerce and Trade: Sir Patrick Yarnoth (PC) Minister of Education: Heather Altman-Faris (CU) Minister of Labor and Welfare: Sir Thomas Roulis (CU) Minister of Technology: Dr. Phil Howard (PC)

Legislature: A unicameral body known as the Imperial Senate. In the current Imperial Senate, the Progressive Conservatives hold 31 seats, the Christian Union 22 and the Freedom Party 16 seats. The opposition Reform Party (RP) holds 18 seats, the Liberal Party (LP) 10 seats and the Social Welfare Party (SWP) 3 seats. The presiding officer of the Imperial Senate is the Speaker of the Senate, a position held by Lady Jessica Tagaarth (LP), as the longest serving member of the Senate.

Political Parties:

Progressive Conservative Party (PC): current leader of the coalition government; generally supports non-interventionist economic policies, free international trade, a strong national defense and loyalty to the Sword.

Christian Union Party (CU): member of the current coalition government; generally agrees with the PC party, but tends to favor somewhat higher levels of public assistance for the poor and more conservative social policies.

Freedom Party (FP): member of the current coalition government; generally supports fiscally conservative policies; opposes deficit spending, supports free trade and somewhat libertarian social policies.

Reform Party (RP): largest opposition party; created after a split in the Liberal Party; favors maintaining fiscally responsible economic policies while increasing spending on social programs; favors a slower military build-up than the current government and has called for revising the Constitution to grant more power to the Imperial Senate and to reduce the power of the Emperor and the Imperial Chancellor.

Liberal Party (LP): formerly the largest opposition party; favors social programs, interventionist economic policies and greater civil rights.

Social Welfare Party (SWP): favors creation of expansive social welfare guarantees, reducing the military and Constitutional reform.

Other Key Officials:

Chief of General Staff and Imperial Naval Operations: Admiral Lord Yornis Halton Director of Imperial Intelligence: Lord James Reynolds Director of Imperial Space Agency: Dr. Olivia Sandingham Imperial Chamberlain: Lord Johannes Corman Director of Imperial Humanitarian Assistance and Development Fund: Lord P.R.R. Garrison Chief Representative to the Cardinal Duras Memorial Fund: Princess Christiana Presiding Bishop of the Church of Excalbia: Bishop Gunars Purins Chief Bishop of Citadel Excalbia: Bishop Blaine Repse Chief Bishop of Landing: Bishop Donald Slesers Catholic Archbishop of Citadel Excalbia: John Cardinal Friesz Catholic Archbishop of Landing: Miguel Cardinal Rizo Former Archbishop of Landing: Matthew Cardinal Walsh, President of the Pontifical Council on Christian Unity Chief Rabbi of Excalbia: Rabbi Daniel Lippmann

People

Main Ethnic Groups: Nordic, Celtic, Anglo-American, Hispanic, African.

Religions: Church of Excalbia (Protestant Christian) – state religion, 45%; Roman Catholic, 17%; Excalbian Baptist, 14%; Anglican, 5%; Jewish, 4%; Orthodox, 2%, Other, 10%.

Languages: English – state language, Old Excalbian (blend of old Norse and Baltic languages), Celtic. A few words in Old Excalbian: sovens = sword sveiki = hello karalis, imperijars = emperor Svetu Ekskalbias Imperija = Holy Empire of Excalbia

Economy and Technology

The Imperial economy is dominated by the computer, data processing and information technology sector. The largest companies are Exsoft Data Systems, NADS and AzIntel. AzIntel, working with an Imperial grant, has developed a powerful decentralized artificial intelligence network utilizing binaural processors known as DAIN.

Currency: Imperial excalban (E)

Exchange Rate: 1E = $1.30

Gross Domestic Product: 61,142,737,391,558.11 E

Per Capita GDP: 21,054.66 E

Tax Rate – Value Added Tax (VAT): 18 %

Government Expenditures: 14,582,853,634,200.63 E

Defense Expenditures: 1,522,704,546,748.26 E

Total Exports: 7,065,015,897,440.56 E

Leading Exports:

Advanced information technology services (access to the Decentralized Artificial Intelligence Network {D.A.I.N.}, a network of biotech-based supercomputers that have collected achieved true artificial intelligence and, perhaps, sentience; D.A.I.N. is used as a powerful tool in many areas of scientific research, but is not licensed or sold, rather its time is sold in blocks, placing its income in the service sector, somewhat akin to the payment of consultancy fees); Supercomputers, biotech processing chips and hardware; Computer software; Military sales (especially sales of advanced naval vessels, employing trimaran and catamaran-design hulls, stealth technologies, foamed alloy construction and advanced modular integrated electric drives).

Total Imports: 7,638,096,256,231.29 E

Leading Imports:

Agricultural goods; Automobiles and low-tech consumer electronics; Minerals; Textiles.

Largest Companies:

AzIntel – creator of D.A.I.N. ExSoft Data Systems – software giant NADS – computer hardware giant and processor producer New Boston Shipbuilding, Ltd – lead contractor on the Mark V ship project ExAero – leading defense contractor Bank of Landing – largest commercial bank

Military

Supreme Commander: The supreme commander of Excalbia’s armed forces is the Emperor. Routinely, the Emperor will exercise this authority through the Imperial Chancellor and the Minister of Defense. In the event of that the Emperor is indisposed or unable to communicate with military command, the Imperial Chancellor may act in his behalf.

Command Structure: The Minister of Defense sits atop the civilian command structure of the military. Under the Constitution, the military is strictly subordinate to civilian authority. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff is the Empire’s senior military officer. Below the Chief of Staff, are the Chief of Imperial Naval Operations, the Chief of the Imperial Army Staff and the Chief of the Imperial Air Force Staff. Traditionally, the Chief of Imperial Naval Operations has also served as the Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

The Imperial General Staff :

Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CGS) – 4/5 stars Vice Chief of the General Staff – 4 stars Chief of Military Intelligence – 2 stars Chief of Logistics – 3 stars Chief of Sea and Air Lift – 3 stars Chief of Information – 2 stars Chief of Personnel – 3 stars Inspector General – 3 stars Judge Advocate General – 3 stars Quartermaster General – 3 stars Surgeon General – 3 stars

The Imperial Navy: Chief of Imperial Naval Operations (CINO) – Fleet Admiral/Admiral Chief of Engineering – Vice Admiral Sea Systems Command – Vice Admiral/Rear Admiral Air Systems Command “ “ Space Systems Command “ “ Chief of Weapons and Warfare – Vice Admiral Weapon Systems Command – Vice Admiral/Rear Admiral Training Command “ “ Chief of Policy, Planning and Tactics – Vice Admiral Commander of the Home Fleet – Admiral INV Majestic Carrier Battle Group – Vice Admiral INV Excalbia Strike Group – Rear Admiral INV Glorious Carrier Battle Group (assigned to TaskForce Alpha) – Vice Admrial INV Citadel Strike Group (assigned to TF Alpha) INV Courageous Carrier Battle Group INV Landing Strike Group (some elements assigned to TF Alpha) INV Narwhal Sea Mobility Group – Rear Admiral INV Mercy Rescue Group – Commodore INV Atlas Support Group – Rear Admiral Submarine Forces – Vice Admiral Commander of the Expeditionary Fleet – Admiral INV Invincible Carrier Battle Group – Vice Admiral INV New Boston Strike Group – Rear Admiral INV Reliant Carrier Battle Group INV Southport Strike Group INV Valmiera Strike Group – Rear Admiral INV Aldheim Strike Group - Commodore INV Nautilus Sea Mobility Group – Rear Admiral (assigned to TF Alpha) INV Compassion Rescue Group – Commodore INV Hercules Support Group – Rear Admiral (assigned to TF Alpha) Submarine Forces – Vice Admiral Commander of the Coast Guard and Reserve Fleet – Vice Admiral ICGV Defender Patrol Group – Rear Admiral ICGV Protector Interdiction Group – Commodore INRV Excalbia’s Pride Sea Mobility Group – Commodore INRV Olympic Support Group – Commodore Commandant of the Imperial Marine Corps (CIMC) – Lieutenant General Commander of 1st Marine Division (Home Fleet) – Major General Commander of 2nd Marine Division (Expeditionary Fleet) Commander of 3rd Marine Division (Expeditionary Fleet) (assigned to TF Alpha)

Imperial Army Chief of the Imperial Army Staff (CIAS) – Field Marshall/General Chief of Strategy, Tactics and Planning – Lieutenant General Training Command – Lieutenant General/Major General Chief of Ordinance and Warfare – Lieutenant General Armaments Command – Lieutenant General/Major General Missile Command Ground Systems Command Air Support Command Chief of Technology – Lieutenant General Corps of Engineers – Lieutenant General/Major General Design and Development Command – Brigadier General Commander of the Home Army – General Commander I Corps – Lieutenant General 21st Division – Infantry – Major General 41st Division – Infantry 61st Division – Mobile Infantry Commander II Corps 22nd Division – Mechanized Infantry 72nd Division – Armor 92nd Division – Mechanized Cavalry Commander III Corps 33rd Division – Armor 53rd Division – Mechanized Infantry 63rd Division – Mechanized Infantry Commander of the Expeditionary Army – General Commander V Corps – Lieutenant General 105th Division – Airborne (Mobile) Infantry – Major General 85th Division – Special Environment (Mobile) Infantry 45th Division – Armor Commander VI Corps 66th Division – Mechanized Cavalry 76th Division – Armor Commander VII Corps 77th Division – Armor 107th Division – Mechanized Cavalry Commander X Corps 10th Division – Special Operations 110th Division – Airborne (Mobile) Infantry 80th Division – Light Armor 90th Division – Armor Commander of Home Guard and Reserves [VIII Corps] – Major General Commander 182nd Division (Home Guard) – Infantry – Brigadier General Commander 195th Division (Reserves) – Specialized – Brigadier General Commander 198th Division (Reserves) – Specialized – Brigadier General

Imperial Air Force Chief of the Imperial Air Force Staff (CIAFS) – Air Marshall/General Chief of Policy, Planning and Tactics – Lieutenant General Air Combat Command – Lieutenant General/Major General Training Command Special Operations Command Chief of Engineering and Technology – Lieutenant General Air Systems Command – Lieutenant General/Major General Space Systems Command Chief of Strategic Forces – Lieutenant General Commander of the Home Air Force – General Commander 1st Wing – Lieutenant General 11th Squadron – Fighter – Major General 21st Squadron – Fighter 41st Squadron – Interceptor Commander 2nd Wing 22nd Squadron – Fighter 32nd Squadron – Bomber 42nd Squadron – Interceptor Commander 3rd Wing 33rd Squadron – Advanced 63rd Squadron – Training Commander of the Expeditionary Air Force – General Commander 5th Wing – Lieutenant General Commander 55th Squadron – Refueling – Major General Commander 65th Squadron – Mobility Commander 75th Squadron – Mobility Commander 85th Squadron – Rescue Commander 6th Wing Commander 46th Squadron – Fighter Commander 76th Squadron – Bomber Commander 106th Squadron – Bomber Commander 9th Wing Commander 19th Squadron – Fighter Commander 99th Squadron – Fighter Commander 109th Squadron – Bomber Commander of the Reserves [4th Wing] – Major General Commander 104th Squadron – Mobility – Brigadier General Commander 108th Squadron – Rescue Commander 107th Squadron – Fighter