Difference between revisions of "Godwinnia"

Revision as of 10:33, 7 October 2005

===Introduction=== Godwinnia is an island nation, which has been inhabited since 1069AD when a fleet of "Old English" refugees arrived there under the leadership of Godwin Haroldsson who became their first king. Its official language, derived mainly from those original settlers' native tongue, is consequently related to - but quite distinct from - the modern forms of English. There has been some immigration from various sources over the years, however, so that the country's Human population today is no longer purely Anglo-Saxon in ancestry: The early arrivals included a few shiploads of 'Ouphes', who are a mortal [although relatively long-lived] variety of Elves, but intermarriage has been frequent enough that most of their contemporary descendants are now also partly Human in ancestry. The country's population level remained fairly stable in the low millions for several centuries, but has recently started to increase again.
===Geography=== Godwinnia proper consists of a group of islands which are located in the North Atlantic Ocean, on a branch of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which only exists on some versions of the Earth rather than in alll of them, between three & seven hundred miles west of Ireland and about twice that distance south of Iceland. Its three largest land-masses, which are known today as 'Wessex', 'Sussex' & 'Essex', have a combined area slightly less than that of England: Adding the lesser islands as well still leaves it slightly smaller than Great Britain. None of the volcanic peaks present have been active in recent centuries, but several of them are thought to be only dormant rather than fully extinct. The climate is basically temperate, due to the Gulf Stream, and rainfall is abundant. This archipelago lies in a zone where two versions of reality overlap, and can be reached from both of the Earths concerned rather than just from the one where the ancestors of its modern population originated: There are also substantial Godwinnian settlements on the contient of North America in the other Earth, which didn't have any sapient natives.
===Flora & Fauna=== Godwinnia's native flora is basically an impoverished version of the "Atlantic" European one, but with a few species of North American origins also present. Its native fauna also seems to be basically of European origins, and is rich in birds - especially on certain of the smaller & more isolated islands (one of which, called Wulstan's Rock, still houses a breeding colony of the 'Garefowl' or Great Auk...) - but relatively poor in mammals. The largest species of [land-dwelling] mammalian predator that's native to these islands is 'Godwin's Fox', which appears to be descended from the 'Arctic' species - presumably from members of this who arrived there during the Ice Age - instead of from the 'Red Fox' of temperate Europe. There's also one species of large reptile which is found only here: This is the Godwinnian 'Dragon', which grows up to about three feet in length (plus up to two feet more for its tail) but which differs from the legendary dragons in being capable neither of breathing fire (the best that it can manage in that respect being to hiss steam "like a tea-kettle"...) nor of flying.
===Prehistory=== The islands' first Human inhabitants, who were of unknown origins, arrived there during the Early Bronze Age but apparently either moved on to somewhere elese or died out just a few centuries later on. They left a number of megalithic structures behind, and some other, less obvious archaeological evidence of their presence, but no written inscriptions. There has been speculation that they came from Atlantis, but modern scholars normally call them the 'Eteo-Godwinnians' and admit that neither their arrival nor their departure can be explained on the basis of current knowledge.
===History=== This country has never been formally incorporated into anybody else's empire, although it was strongly influenced by Britain during the 19th century, and those of the few small colonies which it possessed in earlier centuries that didn't get taken over by more powerful countries have long since been given their independence.
Godwinnian navigators found out how to cross over between the two Earths at whose overlap the islands lie at quite an early date... Consequently, when the population of Godwinnia began approaching the maximum level that could live comfortably in the nation's original islands, a programme of colonisation in the "empty" world's version of North America was begun.
===Government=== The national government today takes the form of a constitutional monarchy in which the Kings (who still belong to a branch of the 'House of Godwin') retain significant influence, with a bicameral legislature called the 'Witan': The latter consists of the 'House of Thanes', which includes hereditary & appointed members as well as elected ones, and the 'House of Folks' which is democratically elected. Voting rights are held by all adult citizens who are at least 21 years old and who have either completed an initial term of training in one of the armed forces or have fulfilled their 'national service' obligation in another legally-approved manner. Godwinnia's original classification by the UN was as a "Right-Wing Utopia", but it has subsequently passed through a brief stage as a "Moralistic Democracy" into designation as an "Inoffensive Centrist Democracy" instead.
===Religion=== Religion is regarded as a matter of personal choice, as long as this isn't used to justify the commission of acts that would be illegal if performed in a secular context, but there is a 'national' church - commonly called the Godwinnian Catholic Church - which broke away from Roman Catholicism shortly after the nation was established. The country's patron saint is St Alphage. Religiously-inspired charities carry out a wide range of 'social welfare' activities, so that the population's less sucessful elements aren't actually as badly-off as the lack of government programmes along those lines might suggest.
===Miscellanous Notes=== The 'national dish' is fish & chips. The main sports played are 'Fieldball', which belongs to the same general class of games as Rugby & American Football, and Cricket.
Oh, and for some unexplained reason the country's Cats can talk...