Gobbannium
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| Flag of Gobbannium | |
| Motto: Sex, Drugs and Madrigals | |
| Region | The Land Without Shrimp |
|---|---|
| Capital | Dinas Gobbannium |
| Official Language(s) | Gobbannaeg |
| Leader | High Prince Llywelyn Mawr |
| Population | 500,000,000 |
| Currency | ceiniog |
| NS Sunset XML | |
The Principalities of Gobbannium, or more commonly the Gobbannaen Principalities, are a small monarchic democracy situated on the western seaboard of The Lands Without Shrimp. It espouses highly liberal policies, and places a great emphasis on education; "When you understand the problem," the saying goes, "then you can become part of the solution."
The people of Gobbannium value their personal freedoms highly, and Gobbannaen law follows suit. Thus prostitution and gambling, for example, are legal for those who have reached the appropriate legal age of responsibility, and recreational drug use is only prohibited where there is overwhelming medical reason to do so. Law-breakers are rarely imprisoned, something that is often seen by outsiders as an opportunity. However, the national approach of treating the underlying social or mental illness of malefactors seems to be very effective.
The nation is currently led by High Prince Llywelyn Mawr, and the Senedd is led by Speaker Marc Cyfaill's Liberal Alliance party. The opposition Green party are hopeful that a growing wave of eco-awareness may well change the balance of the Senedd, but there is currently no likely contender for the High Princeship. At the very least, the nation's abiding suspicion of large industry is unlikely to change in the near future.
Gobbannium has little in the way of a standing army, though it's people could hardly be called peaceful. Prior to the unification of the country, low-level warfare was practically a pastime for the Gobbannaeg. However, in the two centuries since the Principalities were united, no internal or external wars have been fought, and modern Gobbannaeg take a much more verbal approach to disputes than their forbears. It is still traditional to carry a small wooden weapon as part of Gobbannaen national costume, though.
Contents
Geography
Topography
Gobbannium is the geographical equivalent of Wales. The land is hilly and uneven, mountainous in places, but does not reach any great height. The urban areas of high population tend to be on or near the coast as a result. There are considerable forested areas, many of which have been reclaimed from other uses in the last fifty years. Much of the open land is best suited as pasture, and Gobbannium is consequently famous for its sheep. Jokes about their many uses in keeping a farmer warm at night are common, but not appreciated. Less famously outside the nation but more importantly inside it, Gobbannium also excels at pig farming.
The coal mining industry used to be a large part of Gobbannium's economy, and literally changed the shape of the countryside. The coal deposits are now largely mined out, with such seams as remain being prohibitively expensive to retrieve. The recent discovery of uranium deposits has revitalised the industry, but governmental insistence on a slow and ecologically careful approach to mining has prevented it from having a significant effect on the economy. Gobbannium has essentialy no other natural resources to exploit, beyond the ease of setting up hydro-electric generators in the inner country.
Climate
Gobbannium is cool and temperate. It gets a lot of rainfall and wind off the ocean, unimpeded by any significant land masses for thousands of miles. The most common description given by tourists is "wet and windy." On the positive side, the high rainfall does allow Gobbannium's otherwise largely poor agricultural land to produce more food than might otherwise be expected.
Flora and Fauna
Much of Gobbannium's native plant life tends to the unspectacular, even the most brightly-coloured flowers being rather small. The trees however are majestic species for the most part. The original native woodlands are full of deciduous varieties, with oak, ash and hornbeam being the most common. The reforested areas by contrast are primarily firs and pines, something which decades after their planting is widely considered a mistake.
Both types of forest provide excellent habitats for moles, Gobbannium's national animal. The wild population is flourishing, though there has been a marked decrease in the number of domesticated moles. The sight of the Miner's Mole accompanying its owner to the pit, once common throughout the valleys, is now a rare thing, and the more up-market competetive mole-breeding shows also seem to be losing popularity amongst the general public.
Gobbannium is also home to dragons, which have sufficiently little survival instinct to be officially listed as endangered. Very occasionally an individual is allowed to be culled if there are pressing reasons of public safety. There is a great deal of competition on these occasions to be part of the hunt.
Culture
Race and Ethnicity
The population of Gobbannium is primarily human, with a small influx of immigrants of various species since joining the UN. The most notable exception is the Royal Family, who are technically a distinct posthuman species, and have been for some centuries. Ethnically both are Welsh, though with a larger infusion of Latin than is common rendering Gobbannaeg a distinct language. Latin influences are particularly notable in place names.
Culture
Gobbannaen culture has always been based on a strong sense of brotherhood: a family stands together, and will historically provide an armed response if one of their number is threatened. Conversely, intra-familial squabbles were historically constant affairs, with family members employing anything short of bloodshed to get "one-up" on each other. This has mutated into the modern Gobbannaen concept of brotherhood as everyone being family, and disputes taking on a much more stylised character.
This makes modern Gobbannium a nation of team players, with teams forming and re-forming on an ad hoc basis as needed. Team sports are more popular than individual sports, ensemble choirs and orchestras are prefered to soloists, and one-man shows are almost unheard-of while more than one theatre troupe can claim over a century of unbroken performances. Decisions are taken democratically on an almost reflex basis.
The sole exception to this is the Royal Family. Members of the Royal Family are always expected to lead, regardless of their actual leadership abilities. This appears to be culturally ingrained; there is even a separate set of pronouns in the language solely used to refer to Princes and Princesses, and the words used for leadership positions take a suffix derived from the word for "royalty". However, within the family, Princes and Princesses are expected to cooperate, playing their one-upmanship games in the same manner as anyone else.
In contrast to this, Gobbannium's mythic heroes and heroines are all very much individuals. They are also all royal, or so enigmatic that they might as well be; there is no "people's champion" in Gobbannaen legends. A commoner may be noted here or there as being highly skilled, but they are all considered minor figures. Noted historical figures are few and far between, and again have a strong tendency to be royal.
An informal sense of ceremony pervades modern Gobbannaen life, reinforcing the notion of brotherhood. Individuals are allowed high degrees of personal freedom, and this sense of ceremony helps to avoid friction between competing freedoms by instilling a degree of politeness and structured argument. This becomes more rigid in public life, where massive pomp accompanies straightforward election results.
Names
The people of Gobbannium refer to each other largely by forenames, sometimes prepending a title, making them seem overly familiar to many foreigners. The concept of family names doesn't really exist as it does in most common westernized nations, with formal documents instead reciting a person's lineage along the father's line for a few generations; two generations (for example Dewi ap Huw) is sufficient for most purposes, while the Royal Family is expected to be able to recite their heritage for five generations for formal ceremonial purposes.
As an alternative to lineages, many people are referred to instead by epithets. These are only sporadically translated into English, leading many foreigners to the mistaken assumption that these are the surnames they have been expecting. Epithets are less formal than lineages, but are not considered less respectful even when given jokingly. In particular, members of the Royal Family are almost always referred to by epithet when not in ceremonial situations, even when those situations are formal; for example the current UN ambassador formally introduces himself as Rhodri Mawr, rather than Rhodri ap Dafydd ap Rhys ap Idris ap Ieuan.
Many factors can contribute to an epithet: jobs (the Dai Station beloved of mid-to-late twentieth century Gobbannaen television and literature), appearance (Aled the Fair, Cerys Coch) and personality (Marc Cyfaill, less frequently rendered as Marc the Friendly) are the most common, but almost anything can trigger the attribution of an epithet. The only hard and fast rule seems to be that the person receiving the epithet has next to no influence on what others call them!
Religion
After some centuries of being an excuse for inter-familial fighting, freedom of religious choice was written into Gobbannaen law roughly a century ago. Since that time, the population has become gradually less overtly religious in outlook. Census figures show that 40.7% of the population now consider themselves Atheist or Agnostic, and only one of the major political parties has a formal religious association.
The remainder of the people split broadly into four major religions: Strict Druidism accounts for 24.2% (including the entire Royal Family, at least officially), 17.1% follow the Church of Gobbannium (an Anglican church), 10.0% espouse Roman Catholicism, and 5.1% claim Neo-Druidism as their religion. The remaining 2.9% of the population are a mish-mash of different religions, mostly from recent immigrants to Gobbannium.
Religion plays no part in the workings of the Senedd, but has political access through the position of the Royal Druid. Historically this spiritual advisor has been the Archdruid of Mona, but presently the Catholic Archibishop of Maridunum holds the post. The Royal Druid is also obliged to act as the Speaker for the Consecrates, an informal assembly of senior figures from the major religions, ensuring (at least in theory) that there is no formal bias in religious advice.
History
A good deal of the history of Gobbannium is bound up with the histories of its component principalities, which in turn stretch back into the mists of myth.
Hard-hat Area
This article is still under construction.
