Difference between revisions of "Gyre"

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region=[[Western Atlantic]] |
 
region=[[Western Atlantic]] |
 
motto=Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam |
 
motto=Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam |
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map=No Map Available |
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map=[http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z78/GeffFletcher/MapOfGyre.gif Map of Gyre] |
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language=Skarharnë |
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language=English|
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capital=Karzhannan |
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capital=New Albany|
 
population=3.67 billion |
 
population=3.67 billion |
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currency=mark |
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currency=USR Pound|
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leader=National Leader
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leader=Premier Astrid Beck
 
}}
 
}}
  
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The '''Marchlands of Gyre''' comprises a large island or small continent in the Western Atlantic, as well as associated offshore islands and a handful of territorial dependencies. It is viewed variously as a constitutional monarchy without a monarch or a republic with an entrenched aristocracy.
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The '''United Socialist Republic of Gyre''' is a heavily populated democratic socialist republic in the South Atlantic, east of [[Ambara]]. Economically tied to the [[Western Atlantic]], it is not among the great political powers of the region but there is a general consensus among the population that it is among the most ''socially'' advanced, boasting comprehensive policies in welfare, healthcare, and education. Both the public and private sector economies are strong, and Gyre is noted for its place on the technological leading edge.
  
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Gyre is a first-world industrial economy notable for the strong economic presence of the aristocracy as directors of private corporations, and the state's reliance upon similar (national) corporations for much of it's finance.
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(The nation's in-game statistics don't yet reflect this, but they will!)
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
  
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===Prehistory: to 750 AD===
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===The Indigenes: from prehistory to 1503===
  
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The origins of the indigenous Gyric (Skarharnic) population are unknown, as they do not resemble any ethnic groups in Vasconia or Europe. Theories range from pre-Indo-European or archaic Vasconian Indian settlers to Atlantean colonists, the Lost Tribes of Israel, or an autochthonic branch of ''H. sapiens''. What is known is that agriculture dates to approximately 750 BC; and that by around 1 AD they had developed bronze-working, megalithic architecture, and stone ring-forts, indicating a high level of indigenous technological development (although contact during the early Nordic Bronze Age cannot be ruled out).
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Gyre was at one point home to a large and flourishing native civilization of high technological development. Quite where the original inhabitants of Gyre came from is unknown, as skeletal reconstructions and archaeological evidence is inconclusive or shows no similarities to any current ethnic group.  
  
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===The Age of Kings: 750 to 1550 AD===
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From around 1,000 BC the Gyreans built large administrative and religious centers of dressed stone, developing agriculture, writing, the wheel, metallurgy, and complex mechanical engineering and automata. The exact extent of Gyrean technological knowledge has never been ascertained, as the Gyrean syllabary has not been deciphered; the Gyreans died out entirely during the 13th century, and by the time Europeans reached the island the only immediate evidence of prior inhabitation were crumbling stone platforms rising from thick forest.
  
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The prehistoric age came to an end with the arrival of Irish missionaries during the Eighth century AD. Although the native chieftains proved hostile to Christianity, the missionaries' example prompted the adoption of writing and the beginning of written history. More immediately useful to the Gyric population were Viking traders, who began arriving fifty years later, and brought with them European agricultural species such as sheep, goats, cattle, horses and crops such as oats, barley, rye and wheat, as well as technological innovations including iron and steel production and ship-building.  
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Lord Elliot Tremaine, the island's first (European) archaeologist, equated Gyre with the island of Scheria from Homer's ''Odyessy'', which the Greek geographer Strabo had considered to be in the Atlantic, and which was said to possess advanced technology. This claim is not regarded as accurate by modern archaeologists, but it began the tradition of Gyrean philosophers and academia projecting their ideals onto the indigenous civilization in romantic or political myth-making. During the late 19th century the Gyreans were held to have been noble warrior-poets, while the Communist government of the mid-20th century promoted the lack of an evident political hierarchy as evidence for primitive communism.
  
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By 900 AD the Skarharnic population had fully adopted all the introductions of the Norse traders, and by 1000 AD the island had been unified under the ''Adravön'' or High King. The end of the Viking Age saw the decline of North Atlantic shipping and the relative isolation of Gyre from European contact; it was occasionally visited by Norwegian or Danish traders venturing west from Iceland, who reported the island as a flourishing pagan kingdom inhabited by fierce warriors; of special note to the Europeans were a minority Christian population, which never amounted to much due to hostility from the indigenous religion and the distance from Rome.
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Modern archaeologists believe the Gyreans to have been a collection of loose confederacies centered around fortified villages and large religious edifices, displaying an egalitarianism and social liberalism unusual in the ancient world. They too may be projecting modern ideals upon the mysterious first inhabitants of Gyre.
  
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Local literature from the time records the building of castles throughout the land as a kind of local feudalism developed; the development of a written system replacing the oral epics of the past; and, interestingly, some trade with Vasconian Indian populations further west.
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===The Colony: 1503 to 1806===
  
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===The Age of Colonialism: 1550 to 1850 AD===
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Gyre was first sighted by Europeans in 1503 by the Portugese navigator Tristan da Cunha, who dismissed it as a minor island due to poor visibility and did not land. The discovery of Gyre was left to a German explorer in Portugese employ, Ernst von Gyr, who discovered the island by accident in 1576. Von Gyr, unlike da Cunha, readily recognized the island as a large landmass, believing it to be a northward extension of the mythical Terra Australis. He explored much of the north and west coasts, and then - apparently believing his reward would be greater - he defected to the English with his charts.
  
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The relative isolation of Gyre came to an end in 1550 with the first European explorers landing upon its shores (although Basque fishermen had been in contact with their Skarharnic counterparts for at least fifty years before that). By 1600 English and French explorers and colonists were stopping at Karzhannan Port on the way to Vasconia. This led to a surge in trade and an upswing in (Protestant) Christianity; the former was controlled by the High King's officers, and the latter suppressed by him with reactionary fervor. In 1650 the ''Enröchanë'' (Margraves, approximately equivalent to European Dukes), hungry for a slice of the trade revenues, marched on the royal capital at Karzhannan, executing the King and declaring the formation of the ''Kurjant Enröchanë'' (Margraves' Council) with an elected ''Garünet Kurjantev'' (First Councillor) as chairman and nominal head of state.
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England was preoccupied with [[Vasconia]], but readily stationed a Royal Navy squadron at Southport in "Von Gyre's Lande" to ward off other colonial interests, and soon discovered that Gyre's Land was not connected to a great southern continent at all. Colonization waited until 1610, when Lord Elliot Tremaine - notorious freethinker, libertine, natural philosopher and minor nobility - petitioned the Crown to establish a colony in the distant territory, to replace lands lost to [[Nabarro Abarca]] in Vasconia. The island was divided between Tremaine and fellow nobles Ashton, Ellory, Fletcher, Hargrave, Haughton, Hollinworth, Leigh, Morne, Seele, and Skye, who pooled their finances to establish a colony at New Albany on the north coast.
  
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Under the ''Kurjant Enröchanë'' trade with Europe and Vasconia increased, Christianity expanded as a minority religion, particularly among the commons, and Gyric trading posts expanded alongside European colonies in Vasconia. The colonial ambitions of the ''Kurjantë'' were doomed to failure; although the ''Enröchanë'' now had modern ships and cannon, the European powers remained at the forefront of technological development, and were less politically fragmented; since the ''Enröchanë'' now had individual standing armies, debates in the ''Kurjant'' often dissolved into brawls, and were solved outside the council halls by armed skirmishes. Still, despite the inefficient political structure, the individual ''Enröchanë'' flourished, and Gyre made it into the industrial age unconquered by European powers; the Skarharnë retained their medieval reputation as fierce warriors.
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Puritans, French Huguenots and secular settlers followed. The Puritans are notable for the rebirth of the monastic tradition in Gyrean Protestantism; having arrived in Gyre to establish religious settlements, their plans were disrupted by the arrival of more worldly settlers, and, led by John Wye in 1655, the Puritan settlement at Holyoke reestablished itself further south, near modern New Cambridge. Hardship and Wye's strict religious rule forced them to come together in a single dwelling, which Wye named a "Lay Cathedral". Petitions to Gyre's Governors resulted in the establishment of the Lay Cathedrals as, effectively, lay branches of the Anglican church in Gyre, and many Lay Cathedrals sprang up in a neo-Romanesque style (the Puritans rejecting Renaissance and Baroque architecture as "Papist") as the Puritan communities incorporated under Wye's guidance.
  
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===The Age of Industrialism: 1840 to 1925===
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The Lay Cathedrals declined as working communities over the next fifty years, surpassed by secular settlements, and by 1700 they were purely religious settlements. They lasted another hundred years until the 1086 Revolution led to the separation of church and state and the end of government funding.
  
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Industrial development in the early 19th century took place under the aegis of the ''Enröchanë'', who developed at this time their hold on the Gyric economy; but this, alongside news of popular revolutions in Europe, created a disenfranchised and growing middle class, as well as an expanding working class. In 1839 famine sent many farmers into the cities, and this, combined with the already present disenfranchised classes, gave spark to an abortive Republic in 1840. The Republic spread throughout Gyre until 1850, and lasted in Karzhannan until 1852, when the armies of the ''Enröchanë'' pushed the revolutionaries back to the capital and crushed them after months of siege and heavy street fighting. In the wake of the revolution the ''Kurjant Vecherë'' (Commons' Council) was established, and the franchise extended to all male citizens over 20 years of age; the election of the ''Garünet Kurjantev'' was extended to the commons. The aristocracy, however, were given a weighted vote depending upon a formula incorporating their rank and the population of their lands, which meant that a united aristocracy could effectively impose it's will over the ''Kurjant Vecherë'' and a united commons could impose theirs upon the ''Kurjant Enröchanë''; in theory, of course, neither was united, and both commons and aristocrats courted alliances among the other Council to further their aims.
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For the next hundred years the colony prospered, although at a slower pace than the Vasconian colonies due to its distance from Europe. Increasing colonial interest, however, led to ''de facto'' control of the colony being ceded to the British Gyre's Land Company, which brought large tracts of land from the thirteen colonial Lords when that land was comparatively cheap, and established itself as a major landholder, subletting rather than selling land to settlers. This eventually amounted to a system of private taxation, ending in the dissolution of the British Gyre's Land Company in 1762; but the former magnates of the Company remained Gyre's major landholders, with the Lords reduced to social figureheads.
  
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The military was nationalized, although armies still retained the names of the marches from which they had come - a practice which continues to this day, despite the essential cessation of links between the marches and individual armies. The navy was entirely nationalized.
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===The Republic: 1806 to 1920===
  
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===The Age of Dictatorship: 1925 to 1966===
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Increasing dissatisfaction with British taxation, particularly among the wealthy landholding class, turned to revolution in 1806, when the colonists took the opportunity offered by Britain's war with France to declare independence and ally themselves with the Emperor of the French. The Constitution of the First Gyric Republic, based on classical models, was similar to that of Laneria (which had seceded from Nabarro Abarca in 1775) except that the vote was limited to landholders. This cemented the authority of the colonial magnates, particularly in the frontier which was technically owned by them and to whom the frontiersmen had to pay taxes.
  
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The early 20th century was marked by rapid modernization, the rise of the proletariat, and finally economic downturn following World War I. While Gyric participation in that conflict was minimal, the demise of ready markets for Gyric goods and spread European economic troubles to Gyre. This, alongside the Russian Revolution and socialist uprisings across Europe, led in 1925 to political unrest and in 1925 to a short-lived Second Republic being declared in Karzhannan.
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Although wavering between support of France and England during the 19th century, Gyre began to industrialize a few decades after the European nations during the Industrial Revolution, making the Republic's magnates very wealthy in the short term. The Industrial Revolution, however, further concentrated wealth in the hands of the economic elite, at the same time that workers were entering the cities. This led to a large pool of disenfranchised, disempowered workers during the late 19th and early 20th century, which only increased following the First World War when Gyric soldiers returned from the Front to find no work available; and the Russian Revolution of 1917 provided the final impetus for proletarian uprisings in late 1919.
  
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Concurrent with the rise of socialism had been the rise of nationalism; and a vote of no confidence in the ''Garünet Kurjantev'' following the capitulation of the revolutionaries resulted in the establishment of a far-right nationalist government in 1926 under ''Garünet'' Ivar Valdünsev. In accordance with his romantic reinterpretation of history, Valdünsev reestablished the monarchy with himself as ''Adravön''. Socialists and anarchists were brutally suppressed and many corporations (most of them belonging to bourgeoisie captains of industry rather than the ''Enröchanë'') were nationalized. Military production was increased, and when World War II broke out Valdünsev entered on the side of the Axis.
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===The United Socialist Republic: 1920 to 1969===
  
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The fall of Germany led Valdünsev to withdraw from the war and sue for peace; faced by the prospect of a land war on Gyre against the powerful Gyric army led the Allied powers to settle into an uneasy peace. During the early Cold War the aging Valdünsev, erratically controlled by a series of ministers, proved an unpredictable and unliked ally in the the struggle against Communism. His death in 1965 was heralded by a growing movement of social liberation, echoing the hippie movement overseas, and his son lasted only a few months before the ''Enröchanë'', eager to avert a third Revolution, deposed him and abolished the monarchy for a second time. The powers of the ''Garünet Kurjantev'' were much reduced, and the First Councillor became once again a figurehead for the political struggles in the Councils rather than a head of state in his own right.
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The United Socialist Republic of Gyre was pronounced in New Albany in 1920. Republican forces retreated to Southport, and held that city until 1926. Lack of civil war following the revolution, as well as the traditionally relatively high level of education of the Gyric population, prevented the establishment of "War Communism" and dictatorship as had happened in Russia; added to this was the fact that the revolution in Gyre, for many of its participants, was about enfranchisement as well as or instead of socialist ideology. The USR, while officially a single-party system under the aegis of the Communist Party, remained far more liberal than the USSR. The rise of reactionary elements within the Party Secretariat, lead by would-be dictator Aaron Valdensson, ended abruptly in 1926 with Valdensson's defenestration by a mob entering the United Peoples' Congress chambers; Gyre remained vociferously democratic within it's single-party system.
  
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Gyre's first nuclear test in 1948 was followed by the rapid development of nuclear reactors a pebble-bed type, and led to the firm establishment of a nuclear navy (and, in Valdünsev's later years, follies such as a nuclear-powered tank, bomber, and cruise missile).
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Rapidly reaching a level of modernization to rival the great powers of Europe, Gyre entered World War II on the side of the Allied Powers. After the war unfavorable comparisons between Stalin and Valdensson resulted in a cooling of relations between the USR and USSR, although the rise of the Cold War meant that the two nations remained allied against the West. Russian scientists helped their Gyric equivalents to develop nuclear weapons in the late 50s. By the early 60s the Hippie movement was also sweeping Gyre, undermining the Party with its pacifist, internationalist message.
  
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===The Age of Modernity: 1966 to present===
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The Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968 caused political turmoil in Gyre; the Communist Party announced that the alliance with the Soviets would be reviewed, but the Secretariat faced a vote of no confidence from the Congress. More desperate measures to distance the Party from the Russians were to no avail, as in 1969 a faction within the Party, the so-called "New Socialists", usurped the Secretariat, announcing the immediate amendment of the Constitution of 1920 and the reestablishment of multi-party democracy.
  
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While the ''Enröchanë'' remained strongly opposed to Communism, Valdünsev's death signaled a growing social liberalism under which small businesses were promoted by a series of forward-thinking ''Garünetë'' hewing to the center-right, developing the economy throughout the remainder of the 20th century; interspersed by Christian and pagan socialists of the center-left, who developed social programs largely through the aegis of the Churches. Military spending remained high in the shadow of the Cold War, and the center-right did not cut spending drastically following the decline of Communism in the 1990s; while the ''Garünetë'' after Valdünsev have pledged "no first use" of nuclear weaponry, they remain committed to the nuclear navy and retaliatory strike capabilities, paying little more than lip-service to non-proliferation.
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===The United Socialist Republic: 1969 to present===
  
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The "Communications Revolution" hit Gyre with full force, with those ''Enröchanë'' who did not invest in computer technology often finding themselves losing wealth to their peers and to innovative bourgeoisie corporations; the nation today has what some critics have called a "cult of technology", accused of obsession with consumer electronics, robotics, and military hardware. The reciprocating forces of consumer demand and corporate promotion continue to escalate Gyre's technological development, and only time can tell what the future will bring.
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The elections of 1970 saw the newly formed Social-Democratic Party, established by many of the "New Socialists", establish an uncontested majority government in the Secretariat under Premier Richard Ulwin. Under the Social-Democratic Government the thirteen Lords of Gyre were deemed innocent of complicity in the excesses of the Republican government, and were established in perpetuity as nobility; this establishment did not, however, carry with it any particular powers. During the early 70s many economic reforms took place, reducing direct government control of industry to a few key industries such as power, water, communications and aviation; the resulting economic growth spelled the end of Communist government in the public eye, and during the 80s the state-owned enterprises began to see competition from private investors.
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Despite Gyre's political and economic liberalization, however, the Cold War dragged on, and rising tensions in the early 80s led to the expansion of the Navy, spearheaded by the construction of a pair of nuclear supercarriers, CVNs ''USRS Excoriator'' and ''USRS Excruciator'', and a similar increase in funding to the Army and Air Force. This was reduced post-Glasnost.
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During the 90s Gyre came to resemble the liberal democratic socialist states of Europe and Scandinavia more than a Communist remnant; since the bulk of the population are now younger than the Constitution of 1969, this seems unlikely to change.
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==Politics==
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Gyre has a bicameral parliamentary political structure consisting of the 199-member United People's Congress, the lower house, and the 21-member State Secretariat, the upper house. The membership of the Congress is elected via party list proportional representation, while the Secretariat is elected via single transferable vote, with three Secretaries for each Province. The government is formed by any party able to achieve a majority in the Congress or a coalition capable of reaching a majority; the Premier is then appointed from the winning party.
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Ministerial positions are appointed by the Premier but can be vetoed by the Secretariat; thus a party which wins a majority of the votes in the Congress may find it's selection of Ministers obstructed by the Secretariat, whose membership is less proportional. Traditionally Ministers are appointed from within the Secretariat, but occasionally professionals outside the political process have been appointed (this is frowned upon and such appointees do not often pass Secretarial veto).
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Elections for the Secretariat and Congress are held every five years, staggered three years apart. The franchise is extended to all citizens above the age of 18.
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===Political Parties===
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Since 1969 Gyre has had a strong multi-party system; independent Congresspersons are very rare, although independent Secretaries are somewhat more common. Since the establishment of the Constitution of 1969 and the beginning of multi-party elections in 1970 the Social Democratic Party has remained strong, with the Communist Party gradually shrinking. Since the 1980s the number of political parties has grown greatly. A party must gain 18.7 million votes to achieve a seat in the United People's Congress; listed below are the parties which currently hold seats in the Congress.
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{|border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" width=95%
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|-----
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!Party
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!Leader(s)
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!Description
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!Seats
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|----- bgcolor=#C0C0FF
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|width=18%|Social Democratic Party
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|width=18%|Astrid Beck
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|width=60%|The '''Social Democratic Party''' is the traditional mainstay of Gyrean politics in the latter half of the 20th century, having managed to form a government in six of the eight Congressional elections since 1969, including two in which it achieved a single-party majority. Originally a right-wing party supporting economic liberalization during the 70s, the achievement of the party's economic goals saw it switch to a center-left position, advocating progressive social policies in education, health care and welfare, a morally liberal stance on personal freedoms, and constructive foreign diplomacy. With 87 seats in the Congress, it has currently formed a coalition government with the Green Party under Premier Astrid Beck.
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|width=4% align=center|87
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|----- bgcolor=#FFC0C0
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|Communist Party
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|James Mallory
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|The '''Communist Party''', which put up a strong fight in the elections of the early 70s, is now the "sick old man" of Congress with 6 votes. It promotes strongly progressive social policies, with a stated aim of eventually returning to the Constitution of 1920 and the single-party state; most of its support now comes from the elderly. Since the mid-eighties it has promoted a reduced presence in foreign affairs.
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|align=center|6
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|----- bgcolor=#AB82B1
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|Liberal Party
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|Friedman Gardiner
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|The Liberal Party sees itself as a continuation of the dominant party of pre-Revolutionary Gyre, despite the fact that it formed in 1974; it supports economic liberalization (to what extent varies between party members, and it is suspected that many of the more extreme proponents of liberalization aren't saying so) and a liberal stance on personal freedoms. In foreign affairs it supports extensive (some would say "intrusive") foreign diplomacy and increased military spending. With 64 votes, it is currently the major opposition party.
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|align=center|64
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|----- bgcolor=#8FBF8F
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|Green Party
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|Teegan Wakeman
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|The '''Green Party''' has been diversifying since it's foundation following the 1985 elections from a single-issue party to a highly liberal, left-wing party supporting individual freedoms, a comprehensive social welfare policy, and, of course, increased spending on environmental issues. With 29 votes it has currently formed a coalition government with the Social Democrats.
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|align=center|29
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|----- bgcolor=#FFF1BF
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|Progressive Party
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|Christopher Sanderson
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|The '''Progressive Party''' is economically centrist, veering towards the center-right in recent years, and somewhat populist. It supports highly liberal policies where personal freedoms are concerned, and generally votes with the Liberal Party. It has 10 seats in Congress.
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|align=center|10
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|----- bgcolor=#E08E57
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|Christian Democratic Party
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|Father Calvin Attridge
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|The '''Christian Democratic Party''' is Congress' smallest party with only 3 seats, reflecting the low status accorded to organized religion in Gyre. It supports progressive social welfare policies and conservative social policies, and is thus something of a black sheep in the highly liberal Congress. Its Congresspersons make up for it with extensive fillibustering and back-bench heckling.
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|align=center|3
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|}
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==Geography==
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At 1,094,061 square kilometers in area, Gyre is a large nation (a little under twice the area of metropolitan France, or slightly larger than Nabarran [[Donnacona]]), most of which is composed of the large subcontinental island of Gyre in the South Atlantic, east of [[Ambara]] between 30 and 50 degrees south. Due to the Southern Ocean Current and the planetary axial tilt it is colder than comparable latitudes in the Northern hemisphere; it is warmed by the southern extension of the Southern Equatorial Current and possesses a cold but temperate climate, save in the far south where approximately one sixth of the nation is covered in taiga. The landscape ranges from littoral plains and deeply indented bays and river valleys in the west to mountains in the east and south. The south country is intersected by extensive fjords. Snow cover ranges from several months in the north to nearly half the year in the south and the mountainous regions.
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Crops grown include wheat, barley, oats, rye, and potatoes, as well as commercial timber plantations, and sheep, llamas, cattle, and dairy cows are farmed.
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Natural hazards include avalanches, blizzards, and occasional flooding. Environmental issues include acid rain, air pollution from vehicles and industry, and agricultural runoff.
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Natural resources include iron, coal, copper, gold, uranium, fish, timber, aluminium and zinc, as well as well-developed hydroelectric power sources.
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===Human Geography===
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Gyre is divided into seven Provinces, these being New Albany, Ellory, Mackenzie, Nova Anglia, Fletcher, Haughtonshire and Augusta, and one Territory, the East Ranges Territory.
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Most of the population is in the more temperate north and west of the island, with half the population in the greater Southport-New Albany-Inverleigh metropolitan area along the north coast. Along the west coast, population is concentrated in the cities of Hargrave, Kingston, and Aberskye. Population density drops off sharply inland, with New Cambridge being the only city of more than 100 million people. On the west coast the major population center is Victoria, although the provincial capital is Hanover. Efforts to shift heavy industry into the south under the Communist government resulted in the growth of the ports New Westminster, Garmouth and Port Rochester into centers of shipbuilding and Southern Ocean fishing.
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The population is thus divided between highly urban (in the north and west) and highly rural (in the interior, mountains, and south).
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6% of the land area is arable land, although only one twelfth of this has permanent crops.
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===Flora===
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Boreal (conifer) forests cover much of Gyre in the south, while further north and in the mountains the dominant vegetation is mixed conifer and nothofagus (southern beech) forests. This gives way to broadleaf forests in the north and west, notable species including the Southern Maple and Fletcher's Oak.
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===Fauna===
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Much of Gyre's fauna is unique to the island. The ancestors of the Gyrean Wild Dog were introduced by the Gyrean indigenes, and Fletcher's Sheep (actually a breed of small llama) may also have been. The King Stag or Regal Deer, which fills a similar niche to northern hemisphere Reindeer in Gyre's boreal forests, is more closely related to the Brocket Deer of Ambara. Many species are descended from the Procyonidae (raccoons and coatis) of Vasconia and Ambara; species in this family range from the tiny Keller's Tree Mouse to the arboreal, cat- or fox-like Red Venric and the massive, bearlike Carnic, which can reach one ton in weight and is thus one of the world's largest land predators.
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Avian species of note include the Urchin Hawk, Hargrave's Eagle, and Tremaine's Auklet, a species of small, rotund penguin common on the beaches of the south shore skerries.
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==Economy==
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Gyre has a modern, first world economy dominated by the service and manufacturing industries. Primary industry, while still important in the interior and the east, has not been the nation's primary economy since the 19th century; surviving industries in this sector include mining, logging, and fishing. Many towns in the interior and south of the country exist due to a nearby mine or timber source (agriculture is difficult in these regions). Intensive agriculture is still practiced in the north-interior and along the northern and eastern coasts; farm-based or collective agriculture still survives to some degree in the east.
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Manufacturing is dominated by automobile and aircraft construction, electronics, and shipbuilding in the south. Bolstered by large natural energy sources, particularly hydroelectricity, aluminum smelting and other ore extraction are important, as is the pulp and paper industry, linked to the native timber supplies.
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The service economy is the primary employer, as is common in most first world economies. Primary employers in this sector are retail, communications, finance, and healthcare and education (the latter two remain firmly within the purview of the government, which is a major employer). The entertainment industry produces material for Gyre and abroad, with western Inverleigh nicknamed "Inverwood" after the preponderance of movie studios there.
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Tourism is growing in importance with the settlement of [[Sahor]] in Ambara.
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Gyreans have been noted for what critics have called "a cult of the new", particularly in the area of consumer electronics; computers, cellphones, PDAs ''et cetera'' are ubiquitous and undergo frequent replacement. This enthusiasm extends to Gyre's large high tech industry in the fields of avionics, information technology, and robotics; Gyre's Bionic Optimized Myomer Automata (humanoid robots; "Boma" for short) are approaching visual indistinguishability from humans in appearance and movement, although currently their programming remains far from AI (this has not, however, stopped a "replicant meme" from gripping the populace, fueled by conspiracy theorists).
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==Demographics==
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===Ethnicity and Immigration===
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In the two centuries from 1610 to 1806, the period of English and British rule, most immigration to Gyre was from the British Isles - despite the distance, English hostility towards Nabarro Abarca meant that it was often easier to emigrate to the "South Seas" than to the former British holdings in Vasconia. Thus the early immigration to Gyre was primarily English in ethnicity, including Puritans who would have gone to Vasconia had those territories remained British. This was bolstered by Germans and Scandinavians.
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 +
The 1776 revolution of Laneria from Nabarro Abarca was marked by an easing of emigration restrictions to that country from Britain, and a corresponding drop in immigration to Gyre from British nations. They were replaced by French after the 1806 revolution, particularly after the fall of the French Empire in Europe. Immigration remained low, however, compared to Laneria (Gyre's traditional rival in colonial immigration), largely due to the Constitution of 1806 restricting the franchise to land-owning citizens, and the difficulty of buying land due to landholder's monopolies.
 +
 
 +
The 1920 Revolution saw an emigration among the middle and upper classes, mainly to Laneria, and a corresponding immigration in the lower classes and communist sympathizers - Gyre was seen as a "grand social experiment", and unlike Russia this reputation remained into the 1930s and 40s due to the retention of democracy in the United Socialist Republic. The Great Depression saw a peak in emigration of this type.
 +
 
 +
The 1950s and 60s saw increased immigration from newly communist Southeast Asian nations, leading to a substantial third-generation immigrant population from these nations. The 1970s saw immigration increase again from Laneria and Europe after the Party coup of 1969, mainly ethnic Gyrean immigrants who had emigrated after the 1920 Revolution.
 +
 
 +
Since the 1980s immigration has largely followed the Western trend; increased immigration from Third World countries, in Gyre's case largely from Sub-Saharan Africa. The Social Democrat government, with its emphasis on social welfare, has done much to naturalize these immigrants, with mixed success.
 +
 
 +
Thus Gyre today is composed predominantly of ethnic Gyreans, mostly descended from Western European (English, Scottish, Irish, French, Germans, and Scandinavian) colonists, who have resided in the country for at least a century, as well as substantial minorities of Southeast Asians and Sub-Saharan Africans. Only 8% of the population is foreign-born, however, representing the dominance of ethnic Gyreans in the USR's large population.
 +
 
 +
The population breaks down by ethnicity as follows (note that these percentages add up to over 100%, as the census allows dual responses; for example "African-Gyrean" will generate an entry in both the "African" and "Gyrean" categories).
 +
 
 +
*Ethnic Gyrean: 74%
 +
*Western Atlantic: 9%
 +
**Vasconian (Nabarran): 2%
 +
**Vasconian (Lanerian): 1%
 +
**Ambaran (Adoki): 0.5%
 +
**Ambaran (Marlund):1.5%
 +
**Other Western Atlantic (Pantocratoria, Dana, Excalbia ''et al''): 4%
 +
*Southeast Asian: 13%
 +
*African: 11%
 +
**North African: 1%
 +
**Sub-Saharan African: 10%
 +
*Other: 6%
 +
 
 +
===Religion===
 +
 
 +
Gyre has traditionally been a Christian nation, with substantial Protestant immigration during the early years of the colony (including a substantial number of Puritans). This has made the Episcopalian Church of Gyre (the successor to the earlier Anglican Church in Gyre) the largest single religious organization in the country. Protestant immigration was followed by French Catholics, and much later by Buddhists, and, most recently, by Islam and traditional African religions. The most notable aspect of Gyrean spirituality, however, is its ''lack'' of spirituality; decades of Communist repression of organized religion mean that 67% do not belong to any organized faith, and half describe themselves as "atheist", with the difference describing themselves as "spiritual" or "agnostic". Of those who do belong to an organized religion, only 71% regularly attend services.
 +
 
 +
The religious segment of the population has been growing slowly but steadily since the end of anti-religious discrimination in the mid-70s, particularly in more "liberal" branches of Christianity and Buddhism, as well as due to immigration.
 +
 
 +
The population breaks down by religion as follows;
 +
 
 +
*No Organized Religion: 67%
 +
**Atheist: 52%
 +
**Agnostic/Spiritual: 15%
 +
*Christian: 22%
 +
**Protestant: 14%
 +
**Catholic: 5%
 +
**Other (Orthodox, Charismatic, Mormon, Unitarian ''et al''): 4%
 +
*Islamic: 2%
 +
*Buddhist: 5%
 +
*Other: 3%

Latest revision as of 09:24, 1 July 2007

Gyre
gyre.jpg
Flag of Gyre
Motto: Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam
Map of Gyre
Region Western Atlantic
Capital New Albany
Official Language(s) English
Leader Premier Astrid Beck
Population 3.67 billion
Currency USR Pound 
NS Sunset XML

The United Socialist Republic of Gyre is a heavily populated democratic socialist republic in the South Atlantic, east of Ambara. Economically tied to the Western Atlantic, it is not among the great political powers of the region but there is a general consensus among the population that it is among the most socially advanced, boasting comprehensive policies in welfare, healthcare, and education. Both the public and private sector economies are strong, and Gyre is noted for its place on the technological leading edge.

(The nation's in-game statistics don't yet reflect this, but they will!)

History

The Indigenes: from prehistory to 1503

Gyre was at one point home to a large and flourishing native civilization of high technological development. Quite where the original inhabitants of Gyre came from is unknown, as skeletal reconstructions and archaeological evidence is inconclusive or shows no similarities to any current ethnic group.

From around 1,000 BC the Gyreans built large administrative and religious centers of dressed stone, developing agriculture, writing, the wheel, metallurgy, and complex mechanical engineering and automata. The exact extent of Gyrean technological knowledge has never been ascertained, as the Gyrean syllabary has not been deciphered; the Gyreans died out entirely during the 13th century, and by the time Europeans reached the island the only immediate evidence of prior inhabitation were crumbling stone platforms rising from thick forest.

Lord Elliot Tremaine, the island's first (European) archaeologist, equated Gyre with the island of Scheria from Homer's Odyessy, which the Greek geographer Strabo had considered to be in the Atlantic, and which was said to possess advanced technology. This claim is not regarded as accurate by modern archaeologists, but it began the tradition of Gyrean philosophers and academia projecting their ideals onto the indigenous civilization in romantic or political myth-making. During the late 19th century the Gyreans were held to have been noble warrior-poets, while the Communist government of the mid-20th century promoted the lack of an evident political hierarchy as evidence for primitive communism.

Modern archaeologists believe the Gyreans to have been a collection of loose confederacies centered around fortified villages and large religious edifices, displaying an egalitarianism and social liberalism unusual in the ancient world. They too may be projecting modern ideals upon the mysterious first inhabitants of Gyre.

The Colony: 1503 to 1806

Gyre was first sighted by Europeans in 1503 by the Portugese navigator Tristan da Cunha, who dismissed it as a minor island due to poor visibility and did not land. The discovery of Gyre was left to a German explorer in Portugese employ, Ernst von Gyr, who discovered the island by accident in 1576. Von Gyr, unlike da Cunha, readily recognized the island as a large landmass, believing it to be a northward extension of the mythical Terra Australis. He explored much of the north and west coasts, and then - apparently believing his reward would be greater - he defected to the English with his charts.

England was preoccupied with Vasconia, but readily stationed a Royal Navy squadron at Southport in "Von Gyre's Lande" to ward off other colonial interests, and soon discovered that Gyre's Land was not connected to a great southern continent at all. Colonization waited until 1610, when Lord Elliot Tremaine - notorious freethinker, libertine, natural philosopher and minor nobility - petitioned the Crown to establish a colony in the distant territory, to replace lands lost to Nabarro Abarca in Vasconia. The island was divided between Tremaine and fellow nobles Ashton, Ellory, Fletcher, Hargrave, Haughton, Hollinworth, Leigh, Morne, Seele, and Skye, who pooled their finances to establish a colony at New Albany on the north coast.

Puritans, French Huguenots and secular settlers followed. The Puritans are notable for the rebirth of the monastic tradition in Gyrean Protestantism; having arrived in Gyre to establish religious settlements, their plans were disrupted by the arrival of more worldly settlers, and, led by John Wye in 1655, the Puritan settlement at Holyoke reestablished itself further south, near modern New Cambridge. Hardship and Wye's strict religious rule forced them to come together in a single dwelling, which Wye named a "Lay Cathedral". Petitions to Gyre's Governors resulted in the establishment of the Lay Cathedrals as, effectively, lay branches of the Anglican church in Gyre, and many Lay Cathedrals sprang up in a neo-Romanesque style (the Puritans rejecting Renaissance and Baroque architecture as "Papist") as the Puritan communities incorporated under Wye's guidance.

The Lay Cathedrals declined as working communities over the next fifty years, surpassed by secular settlements, and by 1700 they were purely religious settlements. They lasted another hundred years until the 1086 Revolution led to the separation of church and state and the end of government funding.

For the next hundred years the colony prospered, although at a slower pace than the Vasconian colonies due to its distance from Europe. Increasing colonial interest, however, led to de facto control of the colony being ceded to the British Gyre's Land Company, which brought large tracts of land from the thirteen colonial Lords when that land was comparatively cheap, and established itself as a major landholder, subletting rather than selling land to settlers. This eventually amounted to a system of private taxation, ending in the dissolution of the British Gyre's Land Company in 1762; but the former magnates of the Company remained Gyre's major landholders, with the Lords reduced to social figureheads.

The Republic: 1806 to 1920

Increasing dissatisfaction with British taxation, particularly among the wealthy landholding class, turned to revolution in 1806, when the colonists took the opportunity offered by Britain's war with France to declare independence and ally themselves with the Emperor of the French. The Constitution of the First Gyric Republic, based on classical models, was similar to that of Laneria (which had seceded from Nabarro Abarca in 1775) except that the vote was limited to landholders. This cemented the authority of the colonial magnates, particularly in the frontier which was technically owned by them and to whom the frontiersmen had to pay taxes.

Although wavering between support of France and England during the 19th century, Gyre began to industrialize a few decades after the European nations during the Industrial Revolution, making the Republic's magnates very wealthy in the short term. The Industrial Revolution, however, further concentrated wealth in the hands of the economic elite, at the same time that workers were entering the cities. This led to a large pool of disenfranchised, disempowered workers during the late 19th and early 20th century, which only increased following the First World War when Gyric soldiers returned from the Front to find no work available; and the Russian Revolution of 1917 provided the final impetus for proletarian uprisings in late 1919.

The United Socialist Republic: 1920 to 1969

The United Socialist Republic of Gyre was pronounced in New Albany in 1920. Republican forces retreated to Southport, and held that city until 1926. Lack of civil war following the revolution, as well as the traditionally relatively high level of education of the Gyric population, prevented the establishment of "War Communism" and dictatorship as had happened in Russia; added to this was the fact that the revolution in Gyre, for many of its participants, was about enfranchisement as well as or instead of socialist ideology. The USR, while officially a single-party system under the aegis of the Communist Party, remained far more liberal than the USSR. The rise of reactionary elements within the Party Secretariat, lead by would-be dictator Aaron Valdensson, ended abruptly in 1926 with Valdensson's defenestration by a mob entering the United Peoples' Congress chambers; Gyre remained vociferously democratic within it's single-party system.

Rapidly reaching a level of modernization to rival the great powers of Europe, Gyre entered World War II on the side of the Allied Powers. After the war unfavorable comparisons between Stalin and Valdensson resulted in a cooling of relations between the USR and USSR, although the rise of the Cold War meant that the two nations remained allied against the West. Russian scientists helped their Gyric equivalents to develop nuclear weapons in the late 50s. By the early 60s the Hippie movement was also sweeping Gyre, undermining the Party with its pacifist, internationalist message.

The Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968 caused political turmoil in Gyre; the Communist Party announced that the alliance with the Soviets would be reviewed, but the Secretariat faced a vote of no confidence from the Congress. More desperate measures to distance the Party from the Russians were to no avail, as in 1969 a faction within the Party, the so-called "New Socialists", usurped the Secretariat, announcing the immediate amendment of the Constitution of 1920 and the reestablishment of multi-party democracy.

The United Socialist Republic: 1969 to present

The elections of 1970 saw the newly formed Social-Democratic Party, established by many of the "New Socialists", establish an uncontested majority government in the Secretariat under Premier Richard Ulwin. Under the Social-Democratic Government the thirteen Lords of Gyre were deemed innocent of complicity in the excesses of the Republican government, and were established in perpetuity as nobility; this establishment did not, however, carry with it any particular powers. During the early 70s many economic reforms took place, reducing direct government control of industry to a few key industries such as power, water, communications and aviation; the resulting economic growth spelled the end of Communist government in the public eye, and during the 80s the state-owned enterprises began to see competition from private investors.

Despite Gyre's political and economic liberalization, however, the Cold War dragged on, and rising tensions in the early 80s led to the expansion of the Navy, spearheaded by the construction of a pair of nuclear supercarriers, CVNs USRS Excoriator and USRS Excruciator, and a similar increase in funding to the Army and Air Force. This was reduced post-Glasnost.

During the 90s Gyre came to resemble the liberal democratic socialist states of Europe and Scandinavia more than a Communist remnant; since the bulk of the population are now younger than the Constitution of 1969, this seems unlikely to change.

Politics

Gyre has a bicameral parliamentary political structure consisting of the 199-member United People's Congress, the lower house, and the 21-member State Secretariat, the upper house. The membership of the Congress is elected via party list proportional representation, while the Secretariat is elected via single transferable vote, with three Secretaries for each Province. The government is formed by any party able to achieve a majority in the Congress or a coalition capable of reaching a majority; the Premier is then appointed from the winning party.

Ministerial positions are appointed by the Premier but can be vetoed by the Secretariat; thus a party which wins a majority of the votes in the Congress may find it's selection of Ministers obstructed by the Secretariat, whose membership is less proportional. Traditionally Ministers are appointed from within the Secretariat, but occasionally professionals outside the political process have been appointed (this is frowned upon and such appointees do not often pass Secretarial veto).

Elections for the Secretariat and Congress are held every five years, staggered three years apart. The franchise is extended to all citizens above the age of 18.

Political Parties

Since 1969 Gyre has had a strong multi-party system; independent Congresspersons are very rare, although independent Secretaries are somewhat more common. Since the establishment of the Constitution of 1969 and the beginning of multi-party elections in 1970 the Social Democratic Party has remained strong, with the Communist Party gradually shrinking. Since the 1980s the number of political parties has grown greatly. A party must gain 18.7 million votes to achieve a seat in the United People's Congress; listed below are the parties which currently hold seats in the Congress.

Party Leader(s) Description Seats
Social Democratic Party Astrid Beck The Social Democratic Party is the traditional mainstay of Gyrean politics in the latter half of the 20th century, having managed to form a government in six of the eight Congressional elections since 1969, including two in which it achieved a single-party majority. Originally a right-wing party supporting economic liberalization during the 70s, the achievement of the party's economic goals saw it switch to a center-left position, advocating progressive social policies in education, health care and welfare, a morally liberal stance on personal freedoms, and constructive foreign diplomacy. With 87 seats in the Congress, it has currently formed a coalition government with the Green Party under Premier Astrid Beck. 87
Communist Party James Mallory The Communist Party, which put up a strong fight in the elections of the early 70s, is now the "sick old man" of Congress with 6 votes. It promotes strongly progressive social policies, with a stated aim of eventually returning to the Constitution of 1920 and the single-party state; most of its support now comes from the elderly. Since the mid-eighties it has promoted a reduced presence in foreign affairs. 6
Liberal Party Friedman Gardiner The Liberal Party sees itself as a continuation of the dominant party of pre-Revolutionary Gyre, despite the fact that it formed in 1974; it supports economic liberalization (to what extent varies between party members, and it is suspected that many of the more extreme proponents of liberalization aren't saying so) and a liberal stance on personal freedoms. In foreign affairs it supports extensive (some would say "intrusive") foreign diplomacy and increased military spending. With 64 votes, it is currently the major opposition party. 64
Green Party Teegan Wakeman The Green Party has been diversifying since it's foundation following the 1985 elections from a single-issue party to a highly liberal, left-wing party supporting individual freedoms, a comprehensive social welfare policy, and, of course, increased spending on environmental issues. With 29 votes it has currently formed a coalition government with the Social Democrats. 29
Progressive Party Christopher Sanderson The Progressive Party is economically centrist, veering towards the center-right in recent years, and somewhat populist. It supports highly liberal policies where personal freedoms are concerned, and generally votes with the Liberal Party. It has 10 seats in Congress. 10
Christian Democratic Party Father Calvin Attridge The Christian Democratic Party is Congress' smallest party with only 3 seats, reflecting the low status accorded to organized religion in Gyre. It supports progressive social welfare policies and conservative social policies, and is thus something of a black sheep in the highly liberal Congress. Its Congresspersons make up for it with extensive fillibustering and back-bench heckling. 3

Geography

At 1,094,061 square kilometers in area, Gyre is a large nation (a little under twice the area of metropolitan France, or slightly larger than Nabarran Donnacona), most of which is composed of the large subcontinental island of Gyre in the South Atlantic, east of Ambara between 30 and 50 degrees south. Due to the Southern Ocean Current and the planetary axial tilt it is colder than comparable latitudes in the Northern hemisphere; it is warmed by the southern extension of the Southern Equatorial Current and possesses a cold but temperate climate, save in the far south where approximately one sixth of the nation is covered in taiga. The landscape ranges from littoral plains and deeply indented bays and river valleys in the west to mountains in the east and south. The south country is intersected by extensive fjords. Snow cover ranges from several months in the north to nearly half the year in the south and the mountainous regions.

Crops grown include wheat, barley, oats, rye, and potatoes, as well as commercial timber plantations, and sheep, llamas, cattle, and dairy cows are farmed.

Natural hazards include avalanches, blizzards, and occasional flooding. Environmental issues include acid rain, air pollution from vehicles and industry, and agricultural runoff.

Natural resources include iron, coal, copper, gold, uranium, fish, timber, aluminium and zinc, as well as well-developed hydroelectric power sources.

Human Geography

Gyre is divided into seven Provinces, these being New Albany, Ellory, Mackenzie, Nova Anglia, Fletcher, Haughtonshire and Augusta, and one Territory, the East Ranges Territory.

Most of the population is in the more temperate north and west of the island, with half the population in the greater Southport-New Albany-Inverleigh metropolitan area along the north coast. Along the west coast, population is concentrated in the cities of Hargrave, Kingston, and Aberskye. Population density drops off sharply inland, with New Cambridge being the only city of more than 100 million people. On the west coast the major population center is Victoria, although the provincial capital is Hanover. Efforts to shift heavy industry into the south under the Communist government resulted in the growth of the ports New Westminster, Garmouth and Port Rochester into centers of shipbuilding and Southern Ocean fishing.

The population is thus divided between highly urban (in the north and west) and highly rural (in the interior, mountains, and south).

6% of the land area is arable land, although only one twelfth of this has permanent crops.

Flora

Boreal (conifer) forests cover much of Gyre in the south, while further north and in the mountains the dominant vegetation is mixed conifer and nothofagus (southern beech) forests. This gives way to broadleaf forests in the north and west, notable species including the Southern Maple and Fletcher's Oak.

Fauna

Much of Gyre's fauna is unique to the island. The ancestors of the Gyrean Wild Dog were introduced by the Gyrean indigenes, and Fletcher's Sheep (actually a breed of small llama) may also have been. The King Stag or Regal Deer, which fills a similar niche to northern hemisphere Reindeer in Gyre's boreal forests, is more closely related to the Brocket Deer of Ambara. Many species are descended from the Procyonidae (raccoons and coatis) of Vasconia and Ambara; species in this family range from the tiny Keller's Tree Mouse to the arboreal, cat- or fox-like Red Venric and the massive, bearlike Carnic, which can reach one ton in weight and is thus one of the world's largest land predators.

Avian species of note include the Urchin Hawk, Hargrave's Eagle, and Tremaine's Auklet, a species of small, rotund penguin common on the beaches of the south shore skerries.

Economy

Gyre has a modern, first world economy dominated by the service and manufacturing industries. Primary industry, while still important in the interior and the east, has not been the nation's primary economy since the 19th century; surviving industries in this sector include mining, logging, and fishing. Many towns in the interior and south of the country exist due to a nearby mine or timber source (agriculture is difficult in these regions). Intensive agriculture is still practiced in the north-interior and along the northern and eastern coasts; farm-based or collective agriculture still survives to some degree in the east.

Manufacturing is dominated by automobile and aircraft construction, electronics, and shipbuilding in the south. Bolstered by large natural energy sources, particularly hydroelectricity, aluminum smelting and other ore extraction are important, as is the pulp and paper industry, linked to the native timber supplies.

The service economy is the primary employer, as is common in most first world economies. Primary employers in this sector are retail, communications, finance, and healthcare and education (the latter two remain firmly within the purview of the government, which is a major employer). The entertainment industry produces material for Gyre and abroad, with western Inverleigh nicknamed "Inverwood" after the preponderance of movie studios there.

Tourism is growing in importance with the settlement of Sahor in Ambara.

Gyreans have been noted for what critics have called "a cult of the new", particularly in the area of consumer electronics; computers, cellphones, PDAs et cetera are ubiquitous and undergo frequent replacement. This enthusiasm extends to Gyre's large high tech industry in the fields of avionics, information technology, and robotics; Gyre's Bionic Optimized Myomer Automata (humanoid robots; "Boma" for short) are approaching visual indistinguishability from humans in appearance and movement, although currently their programming remains far from AI (this has not, however, stopped a "replicant meme" from gripping the populace, fueled by conspiracy theorists).

Demographics

Ethnicity and Immigration

In the two centuries from 1610 to 1806, the period of English and British rule, most immigration to Gyre was from the British Isles - despite the distance, English hostility towards Nabarro Abarca meant that it was often easier to emigrate to the "South Seas" than to the former British holdings in Vasconia. Thus the early immigration to Gyre was primarily English in ethnicity, including Puritans who would have gone to Vasconia had those territories remained British. This was bolstered by Germans and Scandinavians.

The 1776 revolution of Laneria from Nabarro Abarca was marked by an easing of emigration restrictions to that country from Britain, and a corresponding drop in immigration to Gyre from British nations. They were replaced by French after the 1806 revolution, particularly after the fall of the French Empire in Europe. Immigration remained low, however, compared to Laneria (Gyre's traditional rival in colonial immigration), largely due to the Constitution of 1806 restricting the franchise to land-owning citizens, and the difficulty of buying land due to landholder's monopolies.

The 1920 Revolution saw an emigration among the middle and upper classes, mainly to Laneria, and a corresponding immigration in the lower classes and communist sympathizers - Gyre was seen as a "grand social experiment", and unlike Russia this reputation remained into the 1930s and 40s due to the retention of democracy in the United Socialist Republic. The Great Depression saw a peak in emigration of this type.

The 1950s and 60s saw increased immigration from newly communist Southeast Asian nations, leading to a substantial third-generation immigrant population from these nations. The 1970s saw immigration increase again from Laneria and Europe after the Party coup of 1969, mainly ethnic Gyrean immigrants who had emigrated after the 1920 Revolution.

Since the 1980s immigration has largely followed the Western trend; increased immigration from Third World countries, in Gyre's case largely from Sub-Saharan Africa. The Social Democrat government, with its emphasis on social welfare, has done much to naturalize these immigrants, with mixed success.

Thus Gyre today is composed predominantly of ethnic Gyreans, mostly descended from Western European (English, Scottish, Irish, French, Germans, and Scandinavian) colonists, who have resided in the country for at least a century, as well as substantial minorities of Southeast Asians and Sub-Saharan Africans. Only 8% of the population is foreign-born, however, representing the dominance of ethnic Gyreans in the USR's large population.

The population breaks down by ethnicity as follows (note that these percentages add up to over 100%, as the census allows dual responses; for example "African-Gyrean" will generate an entry in both the "African" and "Gyrean" categories).

  • Ethnic Gyrean: 74%
  • Western Atlantic: 9%
    • Vasconian (Nabarran): 2%
    • Vasconian (Lanerian): 1%
    • Ambaran (Adoki): 0.5%
    • Ambaran (Marlund):1.5%
    • Other Western Atlantic (Pantocratoria, Dana, Excalbia et al): 4%
  • Southeast Asian: 13%
  • African: 11%
    • North African: 1%
    • Sub-Saharan African: 10%
  • Other: 6%

Religion

Gyre has traditionally been a Christian nation, with substantial Protestant immigration during the early years of the colony (including a substantial number of Puritans). This has made the Episcopalian Church of Gyre (the successor to the earlier Anglican Church in Gyre) the largest single religious organization in the country. Protestant immigration was followed by French Catholics, and much later by Buddhists, and, most recently, by Islam and traditional African religions. The most notable aspect of Gyrean spirituality, however, is its lack of spirituality; decades of Communist repression of organized religion mean that 67% do not belong to any organized faith, and half describe themselves as "atheist", with the difference describing themselves as "spiritual" or "agnostic". Of those who do belong to an organized religion, only 71% regularly attend services.

The religious segment of the population has been growing slowly but steadily since the end of anti-religious discrimination in the mid-70s, particularly in more "liberal" branches of Christianity and Buddhism, as well as due to immigration.

The population breaks down by religion as follows;

  • No Organized Religion: 67%
    • Atheist: 52%
    • Agnostic/Spiritual: 15%
  • Christian: 22%
    • Protestant: 14%
    • Catholic: 5%
    • Other (Orthodox, Charismatic, Mormon, Unitarian et al): 4%
  • Islamic: 2%
  • Buddhist: 5%
  • Other: 3%
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