Jarvet

The Province of Jarvet joined the Community of Sober Thought after the latter was created. Property taxes approach the national average, however the revenue is spent disproportionately on indirect agricultural subsidies (through irrigation projects) rather than on direct social services. The moralistic tone colours other government operations as well.

Among its diverse settlers were those speaking Finnish, Scandinavian, Germanic, French, English and Slavic languages. "Jarvet" means “Lakes” in Finnish, and its namesake is known as The Lake Province. Because of this linguistic diversity and the loss of mother tongue proficiency, a polyglot government is neither practical nor desirable. English is the sole official language for the province as a whole despite status of varying degrees in three chartered municipalities.

Geography

Jarvet is landlocked and contains 3.7% of the population of Sober Thought, and its three geographic regions (along with the physical, demographic and economic aspects of their geography) are considered in detail below.

Northern geography

Northern Jarvet is covered in lakes and hills and inhabited by 0.2% of the national population. Originally settled by Swedish speaking Lutherans, it has since become far more cosmopolitan and its origins are more likely observed in place names, food and secular culture rather than language or religion.

Politically, northern Jarvet is organized into Kyrkje Fjell Land or KFL. Of all the chartered municipalities in Sober Thought, it has the lowest population density since there are few large settlements scattered over a large area.

Its economy is mostly tourism now, with its varied and rugged scenery attracting people inside and outside Sober Thought. Previously, fishing, logging and trapping provided the greatest economic returns.

Riparian geography

Kolashek (formerly Veshalka) is the provincial capital and metropolis of Jarvet, home to 1.8% of the residents of Sober Thought. It is closely integrated with the neighbouring francophone city of Saint-Visage-Osseux (commonly, SVO) with an additional 0.6% population.

Together, they are located in a large river valley and its surrounding floodplain. Through costly but cost-effective civil engineering projects, the threat posed by rising waters has been minimized. This has allowed the city to rise in regional importance, although its linguistic bifurcation has hampered its bid for greater national prominence. However, Kolashek tends to attract people from across Sober Thought and, to a lesser extent, from across Jarvet.

As a capital city, Kolashek is obviously dominated by government services; but as a metropolis, it also has well developed trade, transportation and manufacturing sectors. While SVO lost some of the government services after it seceded from Kolashek, it quickly developed its cultural industries to compensate.

Plains geography

Outside water-rich river and lake areas, the vast remainder of the area province is covered by semi-arid prairies. Through careful irrigation and water diversion schemes, these plains continue to provide a rich agricultural base for the provinces urban areas.

As befits their agrarian origins, the plains are characterized by even but sparse settlement. The major exception to this is the city of Anmarken, with 0.3%, which is where people from the plains prefer to migrate rather than the city of dubious morality (Kolashek).

Government

Federal representatives

Jarvet has eight single-member electoral districts for which they elect members to federal House of the Federation. Three MHFs are from the capital, one each from the three remaining chartered municipalities, one from unchartered areas in the south of the province and one from unchartered areas in the north of the province. Additionally, three members-at-large are elected proportionally to more closely reflect the popular vote.

Two people represent Jarvet in the federal House of the Provinces. The President of the Provincial Council nominates them, the Jarvet Eduskunta ratifies them and they serve for the duration of the provincial parliament.

Provincial government

All members of the Eduskunta represent single-member constituencies, the size of which differs according to the three classes of seats. One ME is elected for: each 0.2% of population in the capital, each 0.1% in the other chartered municipalities and each 0.05% in unchartered areas, remainders ignored rather than rounded. However, when voting, the weight of MEs’ votes are counted by the people they represent not the number of representatives. Currently, there are 7 MEs for Kolashek, 5 for SVO, 3 for Anmarken, 2 for KFL, 24 for the remainder of the province.

According to the provincial constitution, the Provincial Council must consist of the President (elected by the Eduskunta) and eleven individual MEs (appointed by the President of the Provincial Council) responsible for the following ministries: Agriculture, Commerce, Compulsory Education, Finance, Justice, Morality, Municipal Relations, Natural Resources, Protection, Security and Voluntary Education. As a consequence, governments are often encouraged to appoint MEs from less populated areas to ministerial posts since there are often just not enough government members from the cities.

The provincial parliament is automatically dissolved after six years, but the governing party will typically call an election two or three years before that – usually when rural backbenchers block government business through procedural means through their greater dint of numbers.

Municipal governments

Every four years, the electorate of Kolashek chooses a City Council comprised of a Mayor and 18 Councillors (24 until Saint Visage Osseux seceded). The mayor chairs the council, acts in a ceremonial capacity and chooses the memberships of council committees. The councillors elect a deputy mayor from among their members. English is the only official language in the capital city.

Every four years, the electorate of Saint Visage Osseux chooses a Conseil civic comprised of a Maire, six Conseilleurs communs, six Conseilleurs locaux. The mayor has many powers but can be vetoed by a majority of the common councillors. Measures applying two or more arrondisements must have the approval of the majority of council members elected at-large (the mayor and common councillors). Although most residents are proficiency in English and relations with the provincial government are conducted in English, SVO is officially French only.

Every three years, the electorate of Anmarken chooses a City Council comprised of a Mayor and nine Councillors. The mayor must put to vote any measure which has been formally endorsed by at least three councillors, but otherwise may introduce any measure at will. The each member serves in rotation as the chair of the council. All votes are by simple plurality, with the chair of the day casting a vote only in ties. German is permitted but not mandatory for official business.

Every five years, the electorate of Kyrkje Fjell Land chooses a Land Council consisting of 15 Councillors. Formally, it is only after these Councillors are officially seated when the Governing Councillor is chosen by a simple plurality of the council to serve as chief executive. However, informally, loose coalitions of candidates form before the election and make known their choice for the head of the municipal government. A new Governing Councillor may be chosen by the Council through a constructive vote of non-confidence. The Land Council is obliged to publish summaries of government ordinances in Swedish and Finnish.

Shared jurisdictions

Defence

The province's Civil Guard is trained and equipped at federal expense, but is paid by Jarvet. The province raises four Civil Guard battalions each time Sober Thought gains 100 million in population. They may be activated for service within Jarvet by the provincial government, or across Sober Thought or abroad by the federal government. The Jarvet Security Minister promotes officers up to the rank of Chief Commander, assuming they have passed Community Defence Forces courses for the appropriate rank.

Unit names reflect the diverse linguistic history (if not current reality) of the province: The Jarvet Jaegers (Germanic, infantry; also called Panzerjaegers for their armoured infantry battalions), The Jarvet Uhlans (Slavic, armoured cars or light tanks) and The Jarvet Genies (Romance, engineering). The last battalion raised is a composite Security Battalion, comprised of companies from The Jarvet Fianóglach (Celtic, reconnaissance), The Jarvet Sotilaspoliiseja (Finnish, military police) and Jarvet Intelligence (English, analysis of reconnaissance, interrogation of prisioners, human intelligence, electronic intelligence).

Units raised by battalions bear an ordinal number in ascending order unique to each regiment or the security battalions, and units raised by companies bear an ordinal number in ascending order unique to each regiment represented in the security battalion. To command its own brigade in the 5 series divisions, the Jarvet Civil Guard also raises one headquarters company per wave as well.

For provincial service, Jarvet is divided into three sectors and nine sub-sectors: Kolashek (North, Centre and East); South (St. Visage osseux, Anbrand and Far South); and North-Centre (Collinéglise, North and Centre). On the 14th wave, each sub-sector can field a brigade group. For federal service, Jarvet's individual battalions are integrated piecemeal into the CDF Land Service's divisions: Jaegers, Uhlans and Genies to the 5 series divisions of armoured infantry; and Security Battalions to the 6 series divisions of light infantry.

Education

Primary and intermediate education is offered in English only. Where there is interest, most schools work with the many of the non-governmental heritage groups. Cultural and linguistic classes are conducted by private instructors in government-owned schools which charge modest rents. Secondary education is compulsory in this province, although not mandated by the federal constitution.

Public tertiary education is provided at the provincially-supported Jarvet University in Veshelka with a satellite campus in Anmarken for the humanities and social sciences, and at the Jarvet Technical Insitute in Veshelka for sciences and engineering.

In addition, the Université de Saint-Visage-Osseux charges for French language education and the Anmarken Bible College charges for Protestant Christian education in their respective cities.

Transportation

Because Jarvet is landlocked, it has spent most of its shared transportation denkmarks on railways. These move people and agricultural goods efficiently over the long, flat expanses common to most of the province.

Veshelka International Airport is a major national and international air hub linked to all of the provincial capitals and metropoleis in Sober Thought and many cities in the International Democratic Union. Air transit is also more practical in the more rugged northland of Kyrkje Fjell, which is served by many small airports frequented by propeller driven airplanes.

Exclusive jurisdictions

Police and civil law

The Jarvet Protection Ministry maintains a police division (with three sub-divisions) in Kolashek, one sub-division each in SVO, Anmarken and Kyrkje Fjell, one sub-division covering the remainder of the province and one sub-division of centralized services for the whole of the province.

Outside the riparian area, law enforcement relies much more on social sanctions and persuasion. This is especially true because much of Jarvet’s civil law uses admonishments and regulates moral behavior. In the bifurcated metropolis, physical force is more readily threatened (although less often invoked) in criminal law cases.

The Jarvet Justice Ministry maintains Civil Courts in all three cities, in three of the unincorporated communities in Kyrkje Fjell, and in a dozen unincorporated communities not included in chartered municipalities. The remainder of the province is served by travelling Circuit Civil Courts.

Health

The Jarvet Health Ministry operates as network of urban hospital and rural clinics. These facilities, funded through general taxation revenues, offer public health, obstetrics, preventive medicine and trauma services. Residents whose smoking, drinking and eating habits impair their health are charged a stiff user fee above their property taxes.

Beyond the basic government-provided health services, residents are free to compete for the medical services they need. In practice, this means the sparsely populated rural areas are grossly underserved and the densely populated urban areas are grossly overcharged. To combat this, a voluntary farmers self-insurance association offers roving medical clinics for paying members.

Natural resources

Agriculture is the greatest natural resource in the province and the agricultural lobby is strong. The Jarvet Agriculture Ministry regulates the size of farms, the types of chemical additives used, irrigation procedures and certain crop choices. However, once these regulations have been set, free enterprise decides what is grown and for how much it is sold.

The northern wilderness is also generally well protected. This ecological conservation is a positive aspect of political conservatism, showing that right-wing thinking need not preclude right-thinking. Without such concern for future generations, the entire northern tourism industry would collapse and cause economic depression there.