Pantocratoria

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The Holy and Most August Empire of
Pantocratoria

Cross of the Pantocratorian Crusade Flag of Pantocratoria
National motto: Pour Dieu et Son Empire
National anthem: God Save the Emperor
Region	Pantocratorian Archipelago, Western Atlantic
Capital	New Rome
Largest City	New Constantinople
Population	About 6 billion
Suffrage	All Imperial Citizens aged 18 or over
Official Language(s)	French, Greek
Government Emperor Imperial Chancellor	Monarchy Andreus I Capet Dr Thibault Drapeur
Established	23 March 1462
ISO Nation Code	PANT
Currency	Pantocratorian Ducat (∂) (PDUC)
Time Zone	-2
• Summer (DST)	-1
Internet TLD	.po
Calling Code	+189
National Symbols  • Sport  • Animal  • Fruit  • Flower	Horse racing Peacock Melon Rose
UN Status	Ex-member
Info: NationStates NSEconomy Pipian NS Tracker XML

Pantocratoria is the largest nation in the Pantocratorian Archipelago in the Western Atlantic. It is the largest nation in the entire West Atlantic in terms of population, but not of landmass. It was founded by a group of refugees (the Knights of the Order of the Pantocrator and their families) fleeing the Ottoman Empire after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Pantocratorian Imperial line (the House of Bourbon-Comnenus-Palaeologus) sees itself as an extension of the Roman Emperors of Constantinople. It also claims descent from the Bourbon kings of France through Emperor Louis I, who was, the Imperial Family claims, the missing King Louis XVII of France, who disappeared during the French Revolution.

Culture

Pantocratorian society is culturally, economically, and linguistically diverse. In the rural countryside of mainland Pantocratoria, Greek-speaking Pantocratorians predominantly work in the agricultural sector. They are typically poorly educated, and earn less than their metropolitan compatriots. In Pantocratoria's cities live highly educated, comparatively affluent French-speaking Pantocratorians. In outlying islands, most notably the Exarchate of New Jerusalem, live so-called "Pantocratorian Indians" (and people descended from inter-marrying between European Pantocratorians and Aboriginal Pantocratorians), who tend to speak Greek and depend on fishing and other marine industries for their income.

Pantocratorian cultural institutions, architecture, art, and music are generally a synthesis of earlier Byzantine influences (which evolved into a style called Pantobyzantine) and later French ones. Pantocratorian architecture is famous for its ability to immediately evoke affection or expressions of distaste from non-Pantocratorians, with its odd clash of styles forming a mis-matching whole, with components from the Byzantine, baroque, rococo, and occassionally gothic styles all shamelessly thrown together without a thought of visual cohesion. Pantocratorian artwork tends to the religious subject matter of the Byzantine, in the heroic pre-impressionist French style.

Public Holidays

Pantocratorians as a people enjoy holidays and historically successive emperors and governments have sought to build public goodwill through the creation of public holidays to commemorate various events and persons. Until the 20th Century, it was normal for large numbers of new holidays to be created during the reign of a particular emperor, which then ceased to be observed at the end of that emperor's reign. These holidays tended to commemorate great events of the reign - very few survived beyond the reign of their creator. Some emperors created more public holidays than others - Emperor Manuel VII created the most such holidays with sixty seven distinct holidays created during his reign alone (none have survived). The present Emperor, Andreus I, has created just one, commemorating the death of his wife, Empress Theodora. Many public holidays are religious in nature - Easter, Christmas, and significant feast days. Others are days commemorating significant events in the history of the nation - Pantocratorian Empire Day commemorates the coronation of Emperor Demetrius I as Emperor of Pantocratoria instead of as Emperor of the Romans, Constantinople Day commemorates the fall of the city of Constantinople in 1453, Pantocratorian Crusade Day celebrates the Knights of the Order of the Pantocrator and their crusade to retake the ancient capital, Child Bride Day commemorates the day on which the French and Pantocratorian crowns were united by the coronation and wedding of Emperor Louis and Empress Theodora II. The holidays for the Emperor's Birthday and Accession Day change from reign to reign depending on the birthday and accession date of the emperor.

Sport

Pantocratoria has no national sport, or even a sport which approaches that level of popularity. Amongst the nobility, jousting is a popular spectator sport (although only a few noblemen actively participate). Tennis is almost unknown to ordinary Pantocratorians, but is also very popular amongst the nobility, and is one of the few sports in which noble ladies especially participate (in the case of games played at the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, in restrictive, impractical clothing consistent with the fashions of that court). Hunting is extremely popular amongst noblemen, and while noblewomen are often encouraged to spectate, they are usually actively discouraged or even forbidden from participating. Ordinary Pantocratorians are allowed to hunt, but as a general rule they don't - this is due to a combination of the fact that they are forbidden to own firearms and that almost every hunting forest is part of one noble estate or another and is thus off-limits for hunting without express permission from the estate owner. The difficulty ordinary people experience in trying to hunt has led to a profusion of private hunting resorts in the Confederal Members of Finara and Kagerlund, aimed mainly at Pantocratorian tourists. Soccer is popular in some areas, especially in Montmanuel, but its popularity is regional only, and the sport has almost no following in New Rome. Rugby union and rugby league are both popular on the north coast, especially in Adrienople. Horse racing is one of the only sports popular in nearly every part of Pantocratoria, and there are several major events on the racing calendar which draw large national television audiences, most notably the Imperial Cup, the Theodora Augusta Plate, and the Demetriopolis Cup.

Religion

Pantocratoria is a predominantly Roman Catholic country, with a substantial Greek Orthodox minority. Since late 2005, there is no longer an official state religion, although Roman Catholicism is still the official religion of the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator. Until recently the institutions of the state were inseperably intertwined with the Church (the Church, through the Pantocratorian Congregation for the Protection of the Creed, was Pantocratoria's electoral body). Although technically legal, it remains virtually impossible for anybody outside the Catholic or Orthodox clergy to obtain the proper permits to erect a religious building (in a nation of around five billion people, there isn't one official mosque outside of the embassies of Moslem countries).

Significant strains existed with the Pantocratorian Catholic community however, over the issue of the French-language Latin Mass. Before 1593, Pantocratoria used the Greek rite. Early Pantocratorian history was marked by conflicts between those who believed that the Pantocratorian Church should be in communion with Rome (and therefore be Roman Catholic) and those who believed that the Pantocratorian Church should be in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople (and therefore be Greek Orthodox). The tensions were perpetuated by the use of the Greek rite employed by Greek Orthodox churches. Emperor Demetrius VII Comnenus decided to make a clean break and forced the whole Pantocratorian Church to change to the Latin rite. After the Second Vatican Council, Pantocratoria's bishops adopted the Novus Ordo in French to use throughout the entire empire (some dioceses with substantial Greek speaking minorities also offered Novus Ordo Masses in Greek in addition to their ordinary French language services). Given the nation's substantial Greek speaking minority, the cause of the Greek rite wasn't forgotten in the four centuries since it was set aside - it was even a political issue, its re-establishment being part of the Constantinople Party's election platform in the second 2004 election for the Imperial Parliament. In late 2005, the Greek rite was re-introduced in thirty four dioceses in Pantocratoria, shortly following which the tensions in the Pantocratorian Church, long simmering beneath the surface, erupted when twenty nine of the dioceses declared themselves to be the Greek Orthodox Church in Pantocratoria. The chief of their bishops was elected Patriarch Stephanus III by the Synod of Constantinople.

Military

Pantocratoria's military is a large but inefficient institution. The purchasing of posts is commonplace amongst the nobility, as is promotion through nepotism. The position of commander in chief of the entire Imperial Navy (Lord First Admiral) is a hereditary one. The organisation is haphazard at best, and effectively prevents Pantocratoria from deploying anywhere close to its full strength in foreign wars.

Recruitment

Pantocratorian Imperial Citizens of eighteen years and older of both genders are able to join the military, although women are forbidden from combat roles and thus comprise a very low proportion of upper ranking officers. Fitness and general health requirements vary from service to service. In the Imperial Army Legions a number of additional eligibility criteria exist, varying from legion to legion. These range from practical eligibility criteria, such as languages spoken fluently, so that personnel who speak only one of Pantocratoria's two official languages are assigned to formations where they will receive orders in their own language, to regional criteria, by which one must come from a particular part of Pantocratoria to serve in a particular legion, to criteria which might strike outsiders as bizarre, such as religious or philosophical criteria. The Second Northern Provincial Infantry Legion, for instance, requires that recruits must have been baptised in their infancy (defined under the legion's code as being underneath the age of ten), must affirm that the Virgin Mary is the Queen of Heaven and immaculate, and must repudiate a wide variety of religious and political doctrines, including Arianism, the teachings of Martin Luther, communism and many others.

All recruits are required to make a pledge of loyalty to the Emperor of Pantocratoria. The form of this pledge varies, but usually includes placing one's left hand on the Bible, often with a consecrated host placed on top of it for good measure, and clutching the Cross of the Pantocratorian Crusade flag in the right hand whilst addressing the witnesses and a portrait or icon of the reigning Emperor.

Imperial High Command

The Imperial High Command consists of two dozen officers whose identity is secret and who are rotated in and out of the High Command every decade, and a handful of officers with hereditary, permanent posts (including Lord First Admiral Phocas of the Bosphorus). It is an offence for anybody to reveal the identity of a non-permanent member of the Imperial High Command, past or present, punishable by a maximum penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement. This shady group of commanders meets in a bunker deep underneath New Rome, the exact location of which is a closely guarded secret. This secrecy means that individual members of the Imperial High Command cannot be associated in the public imagination with Pantocratoria's military victories - leaving the Emperor and the Imperial Government as the only possible recipients of any reflected glory. The Imperial High Command's only interaction with the field is by the way of an advanced supercomputer named MATER, which provides the High Command with all the information on which it bases its decisions and issues all orders on behalf of the High Command.

Imperial Army Legions

The vast Pantocratorian Army is organised into legions of varying sizes and capabilities. Legions are formed along geographical lines, so that the men and women in a legion will all come from the same region. There is virtually no uniformity in terms of equipment or internal structure or capability. Some legions (for instance the Fifth Provincial Infantry Legion) are capable of independent operation, with a wide variety of capabilities and equipment. However, although all legions are theoretically capable of operating independently without support from any other formation, legions like the Fifth Provincial Infantry Legion are rare. Although many legions, especially the more poorly equipped ones, are equipped with Pantocratorian produced arms and vehicles, there are some notable exceptions. Almost the whole of the Imperial Equites Legion is composed of ex-Syskeyian vehicles.

Imperial Navy

The Pantocratorian Imperial Navy is a relatively modern and well-organised one, if somewhat undersized for a nation the size of Pantocratoria. Its operational flagship is HIMS Imperator Andreus, although the peacetime flagship is HIMS Constantinople, Lord First Admiral Phocas of the Bosphorus' ancestral floating home. The Imperial High Command undertook a joint naval development and production program with Excalbia to address the deficiencies in the Imperial Navy - the Mark V naval development program has seen the delivery of:

• 3 Majesty class carriers commissioned HIMS Southport, HIMS Manuel le Franc, and HIMS Marly.
• 12 Samuel II class cruisers commissioned HIMS Phocas, HIMS Varangian, HIMS Roi-Soleil, HIMS Condé, HIMS Constantine XIII, HIMS Angelus, HIMS Bulgaroktonos, HIMS Chrysoloras, HIMS Princess Anna, HIMS Despot, HIMS André le Grand, and HIMS Aube.
• 12 Daniel III class cruisers commissioned HIMS Theodora II, HIMS Louis I, HIMS Dauphin, HIMS Dauphine, HIMS Pelopenies, HIMS Constantine XXIII, HIMS Richelieu, HIMS Exarch, HIMS Princess Irene, HIMS Saul, HIMS Drakopolis and HIMS Virge.

These new vessels, combined with the flotilla of Wraith-class frigates purchased from Excalbia several years earlier, comprise Pantocratoria's modern navy, although Pantocratoria still has a number of earlier vessels in service, which are now primarily relegated to the defence of the home islands of the Pantocratorian Archipelago.

The Pantocratorian Imperial Navy's primary carrier aircraft are the C-31 Kararea, the RN-3 Kahawai, and the F/A-18 Superhornet. The 18 C-31 and RN-3 squadrons assigned to the Imperial Navy are deployed on HIMS Southport, HIMS Manuel le Franc, and HIMS Marly, and the F/A-18 Superhornet airwing is assigned to HIMS Imperator Andreus.

Imperial Air Service

The Pantocratorian Imperial Air Service is fairly modern and well-organised, although until recently it was undersized (and arguably still is). The Imperial Air Service recently embarked on a massive purchasing programme, purchasing both aircraft from Kingdom Britmattia and the right to build aircraft to Britmattian designs. The Imperial Air Service's aircraft include:

• R-31 Faulkner
• C-31 Kararea
• C-32 Locust
• B-3 Sparrowhawk
• F/A-18 Superhornet (gradually being retired from service)
• Mirage 2000 (both 2000N and 2000D variants) (rapidly being retired from service)

Ranks

Note that while Pantocratoria is not a member of any organisation similar to NATO, NATO equivalencies to Pantocratorian military ranks are given for convenience.