Godwinnia

==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.
==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. 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.
==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.
==Expansion==The population of Godwinnia exceeded the level that could live comfortably in that nation's original islands some time ago. However these islands are actually located in an area where two "parallel" Earths overlap and Godwinnian navigators found out how to cross over between those worlds at an even earlier date... and the one from which the islands' colonists had NOT come turned out to lack native inhabitants (although another nation that had been founded by Anglo-Saxon refugees, which is called Suthsaexe, was already occupying its version of the British Isles). Most of Godwinnia's recent expansion in population has consequently involved the settlement of that alternative world's North America.
==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...