Difference between revisions of "Karlania"

Revision as of 01:31, 27 February 2006

The Grand Duchy of Karlania is a huge, safe nation, renowned for its burgeoning sea eagle population. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 293 million enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 29%, but much higher for the wealthy. A healthy private sector is led by the Book Publishing industry, followed by Cheese Exports and Uranium Mining.

Skateparks can be found in every city, scientists recently cloned the long-extinct feather-bellied sea eagle, the nation is experiencing a severe shortage of sporting events, and the government has started a campaign to crack down on road rage and encourage alternate means of commuting. Crime is well under control, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Karlania's national animal is the sea eagle, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the ringo.

Religion

Karlanian society has long been highly secular and as such the government does not keep statistics as to religion. However some unofficial statistic exist from a poll conducted by the Tracker Foundation; an international think tank and research group in 2005.

According to the Tracker Foundation 41% of Karlanians has having "no relgion/ no preferance". Amoung those who do claim a faith the numbers are as: Roman Catholic 26%, Protestant 20%, Jewish 5%, Muslim 3%, Buddhist 2%, other relgions 2%, and "atheist" 1%.

Education

Karlania stands firmly as a leader in education. In 2005, the literacy rate was at 96%, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15-24) was 98%. Primary, secondary, and high school education is free and mandatory. No student is allowed to drop out of the Karlanian educational system until they are eighteen years old, even with parental consent. Accordingly, Karlania has one of the lowest dropout rates of any nation in the world.

Major Holidays

The following is a list of the major public holidays in Karlania.

Politics

President: Hadrian Miller

Vice-President: Wanda J. Russle

Administration Positions & Departments:

Department of Agriculture: Owen Duff

Department of Commerce: Marni Goldman

Department of Communications: H. James Winters

Department of Education: Astrid Simpson

Department of the Environment: Vivian Li

Department of Finance: Patrick Finn

Department of Foreign Affairs: Martin Antoneli

Department of Healthcare: Ingrid Davis

Department of Industry: Sam Yamada

Department of Labor: Ian Benton

Department of Security: Joesph Lynch

Department of Transport: Hector Ramos

Department of Welfare: Samantha W. Lane

Suffrage

Universal suffrage (voting, drinking, smoking) is 18 years of age.

Sports

Sports of all kinds are popular in Karlania. However, Karlanians tend to have a more laid back relaxed attitude towards sports than people in other nations. Team and game fanaticism is quite low and is widely seen as immature. Hooliganism is also rare at Karlanian sporting events (at least by Karlanians) thanks in equal parts to the nation’s skilled police force and the attitude that such behavior is crude in the extreme.

Professional sports in Karlania are not the huge industry they are in other nations. While as elsewhere acclaimed athletes are well paid and often receive lucrative endorsement contracts, the compensation they receive is notably less than their counterparts in places like America and the UK. This has caused a growing number of Karlanian pro athletes to sign contracts with teams from other nations over the last fifteen years. Karlanian sports commentators tend to call this phenomenon the “jock drain”.

Without a doubt the most popular sport in Karlania is basketball. This is widely attributed to the influence of one of Karlania’s most famous presidents, Scott Teller, who and had briefly been a semi-professional player until forced out of the game do to a knee injury. Teller would later go into politics and frequently championed the virtues of basketball in promoting good health, sportsmanship and co-operation.

The Karlanian national basketball team was not only the first national sports team but also the first to score a major upset by defeating a more widely favored nation. Karlania’s narrow defeat of the United States in an international tournament in 1954 is still the stuff of sports legend.

American football, soccer, and baseball are also very popular and in the last five years ice hockey has experienced an unexpected surge in popularity. Car racing, such as NASCAR and Formula One, despite expensive ad campaigns, have never truly caught on in Karlania.

The martial arts have popular in Karlania since the early 1920s. Martial arts clubs and exist across the country and tournaments are held on both the local and national level. Interest in martial arts was quietly been growing over the last ten years and there is even talk among some physical education experts about introducing some basic martial arts principles into the P.E. curriculums across the nation.

European sports such as horse racing, polo and cricket have never enjoyed great popularity Karlania. Membership in clubs devoted to such activities remains modest at best. However, some health experts have recently started to promote cricket as good exercise for the elderly. As such, it as shown a small growth in popularity in the last few years.

Karlania only boosts two major international sporting event. That is the Karlania Masters golf tournament and the Karlania Cup, one of the most highly sought awards in yacht racing. The Karlania Masters is held each May and the Karlania Cup each July.

Just after the second World War Karlania experienced in boom in the popularity of boxing. Crowds packed boxing matches across the nation and the gambling industry expanded greatly. However, boxing’s popularity dropped off sharply after Karlania’s national heavy weight boxing champion, Marcus “The Thunder” Davis, was defeating by Muhammad Ali in a heated five round match in Longinus City in November of 1963. While boxing in Karlania did have resurgences in popularity in both the early 70s and 90s it has never returned the the levels of popularity it had in the early post-war years.

The number of gun owners in Karlania is moderate and as such shooting sports are not widely practiced pastimes. However, shooting ranges often sponsor tournaments between members and there are several national competitions held each year.

Board-based recreational sports such as surfing, skateboarding have been long popular in Karlania and snowboarding continues to grow in popularity each year.

Karlania has competed in the Olympic Games since 1916. As of 2004, Karlania’s record in terms of medals stands at 23 medals (5 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze).

In Karlania college sports are somewhat less popular than professional sports. Karlanian colleges offer diverse sports programs, including volleyball, tennis, track and field and some other more eclectic sports.

International codes