Halberdgardia

Halberdgardia

Flag of Halberdgardia
Motto: "Honor virutis preamium."
[1]
Region	The Directorate
Capital	Washington, D.C.
Official Language(s)	English
Leader	President Kir Kanos
Population	553 million
Currency	dollar
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The Democratic Imperium of Halberdgardia

General

The Democratic Imperium of Halberdgardia is a huge, socially progressive nation, renowned for its punitive income tax rates. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 553 million have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

Geography

The geography of Halberdgardia is varied, but is roughly analogous to California, with terrain ranging from fertile flatlands to hills to mountain ranges to deserts to forests. The central part of the country enjoys a pleasant Mediterranean climate, giving it warm, dry summers, and chilly, but not terribly cold, rainy winters. Meanwhile, the north tends to have hot, humid summers and cold winters; the south tends to have scorching summers with varying humidity, and pleasantly warm winters with little precipitation of any kind.

Politics

Halberdgardians are generally moderate in both politics and social issues, and enjoy a sensible mix of civil and political freedoms. The nation sees itself as part of the modern world, and rightfully so; its people are oriented on free and open trade, and there is a wide consensus on the advantages of the free market. The nation is run by a three-branch democratic government similar to that of the United States, but unlike the two-party system of the United States, there are a number of strong political parties vying for power. Conservative and moderate parties generally dominate the political scene.

Economy

Halberdgardia has a capitalist economy, and it is relatively strong. Its healthy private sector is led by the automobile manufacturing industry, followed by arms manufacturing and door-to-door insurance sales. The income tax rate is a punishing 73%, with even higher rates for the wealthy; however, efforts are being made to reduce the tax burden. The economy is mainly based on domestic industries, but does take in a fair amount of imports, and runs a healthy trade deficit.

Military

Halberdgardians are peaceful, not generally seeking war, but they will give one-hundred-ten percent to support the government and military in the case of war. This wartime attitude was best demonstrated during the first conflict the nation participated in: the Saharistan War. The Halberdgardian military is a substantially-sized and modern force, equipped with the best weaponry the country's huge defense budget can buy.

Foreign policy

Halberdgardian foreign policy became rather conservative following the Saharistan War, with the Kanos administration choosing to take a semi-isolationist stance and work mainly on domestic issues, making forays into the international arena only to support the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons to young nations, work on R&D projects, and expanding its nascent space navy and interstellar empire.

However, a new change soon swept the administration, and suddenly Halberdgardia was working behind the scenes in other countries, supporting rebel democratic groups and working towards regime changes in nations with oppressive governments. However, these efforts were soon abandoned, as the risk of discovery proved to be too great to justify the effort. Foreign policy was again altered when Halberdgardia came to the aid of the monarchy of Malkyer against rebel groups. Though not a democracy, the monarchy was a benevolent one, and so it was decided that the edict of supporting democratic rebel groups could be expanded to include any group that had the best interests of the people at heart. However, the most significant aspect of Halberdgardian foreign policy came following a string of terrorist threats and attacks against Halberdgardian interests, driving the Kanos administration to make anti-terrorism efforts their top priority.

Halberdgardia belongs to a variety of international organizations, including the Anti-WMD Club, the Coalition of Anti-Terrorist Powers, the Commonwealth of Independent Nations, the Directorate Alliance, the Intergalactic Trade Hub, the NDS Missile Shield Program, the Saharistan War Coalition, the Saharistan Alliance Treaty Association, the Union of Nations for the Advancement of Educational Quality (UNAEQ).