Difference between revisions of "PopularFreedom"

Revision as of 11:36, 4 August 2007

The Community of PopularFreedom

National Flag
PopularFreedom Map
National motto: Life, Liberty, and Responsibility for all.
Region: The Heartland
Official languages	English, French
Capital	Locke Harbour
Largest city	Locke Harbour
Government  - Prime Minister	Julia Westerlake
Nation Code	PFHL
Population  - Total (est.)  - Density	101,000,000
GDP (PPP)  - Total	$14,085 billion
Establishment  - Community of PopularFreedom  - PopularFreedom Union of States	March 1, 2005 January 1, 1954
Oldest City	Victory Union est. 1553
Religion	Christian
Currency	Euro
Currency Code	EUR
Time zone	UPT +3
Internet TLD	.pf
Calling Code	1524
National game	Rugby & Extreme Soccer
National fruit	Apple
National flower	Wild rose
National animal	Wolf
National fish	Halibut

PopularFreedom is a country located in the northernmost part of the continent of Ratio in the Northeast District of The Heartland region. It extends from the Sea of Cervidia in the west, to the Gulf of Storms in the east, and northward to the Nolan Sound. PopularFreedom shares a land border with Lomo Saltado (the nation formerly known as Loveworld) to the south.

The continent of Ratio was primarily barren of people until the late 1400's when migrants from different parts of The Heartland region began to establish villages along the coast of the continent. The first settlement in north Ratio (now known as PopularFreedom) was established in 1553 in Victory Union. It would not be until 1706 that another city, Loyalty Bay, was founded in the northern part of the continent. Settlement along the eastern portion of northern Ratio took even longer with the current capital of Locke Harbour being the first PopularFreedom village to be founded along the Gulf of Storms in 1854.

As settlements in north Ratio grew, it was decided over time to unite these jurisdictions into a new larger nation known originally as the PopularFreedom Union of States. This new entity, formed in 1954, was later replaced by a new constitution and a new name in 2005, The Community of PopularFreedom.

PopularFreedom is a parlimentary democracy. A federation comprising nine regions, PopularFreedom is a bilingual country, with both English and French as official languages at the national level.

Etymology

Camelot president Samuel Josephs signs the PopularFreedom Union of States document joining his nation of Camelot with the other eight northern Ratio nations into one political union.

The name PopularFreedom was created as the name for the political union between the former nine nations in the north of Ratio in 1954. It was chosen to help embody the purpose of the foundation of this political entity.

The term 'Popular' was chosen to represent the fact that all choices by government were to be based on the consent of all the people, equally from all the regions of the new nation. The term 'Freedom' was chosen as the latter half of the new country name to indicate that the people of this nation, from all regions, would be free from unjust persecution in all forms.

History

Jose Ruiz discovery & the Valle Picante settlement

A caraval, believed to be similar in design to the ship Jose Ruiz was travelling on when he discovered the mouth of the Jose River, in present day Victory Union.

The northern part of the continent of Ratio was completely absent of known human habitation until the late 1400's.

In 1473, a trading ship heading to the village of Mar Y Vida was blown off course during a vicious storm on the Sea of Cervidia and took refuge in the mouth of the Jose River, in present day Victory Union. Though the crew of this ship only stayed in the vicinity for a few days to make repairs, the immediate coastal region and a few kilometres up the Jose river were mapped by famed explorer Jose Ruiz, who happened to be a passenger on the ship. When the ship departed days later, a few kilometres of river and ocean coastline had been mapped of what is today, downtown Victory Union.

In 1551, explorers using a number of maps from the Ruiz Cervidia Collection, left the trading post of Mar Y Vida to explore the western part of north Ratio. Their expeditions led to them setting up a resupply and trading post, called Valle Picante, along the mouth of the Jose River in 1553.

Over the latter part of the 15th century, the north Ratio trading post became prosperous with numerous spices, including nutmeg and mace, found in abundant supply along the Jose River. With this prosperity came waves of traders, especially from English speaking countries, looking to make a fortune off the purchase and resale of spices and supplies. The trading outpost also grew in terms of the permanent population that settled there and by the end of the century a number of shops and services had been set up to allow the village of Valle Picante to be somewhat independent from its founders from Mar Y Vida.

Cervidia Spice Wars & The Thompson Declaration

Beginning in 1604, the Cervidia Spice Wars began along the eastern part of the Sea of Cervidia. The then citystate town of Mar Y Vida tried to impose a number of new taxes and laws upon its 'colony' of Valle Picante. These taxes and laws, by a Spanish town on a predominentally English speaking village, as Valle Picante had become over the years, led to instantaneous rebellion & revolt. Mayor John Thompson declared the indepedence of Valle Picante from the 'outsiders from the south' and offered tribute to 'any and all forces willing to protect his village'.

A photo of Fort Wilson in 2004, along the banks of the Jose River.

The Cervidia Spice Wars started poorly for the residents of Valle Picante initially with the Mar Y Vida navy razing the village within weeks of their declaration of independence. The residents however fled to Fort Wilson which was a few kilometres east along the Jose River in the area where high northern ridges dwarfed the river valley. Meanwhile, the Mar Y Vida navy stayed in the mouth of the Jose river due to the mistaken belief that the villagers from Valle Picante would be forced to eventually surrender due to their connection of supplies from the outside world being cut off by the Mar Y Vida naval blockade of the Jose River mouth. This naval blockade however only led to anger among many nations and villages along the Sea of Cervidia that Mar Y Vida would become too powerful and aggressive if they were the sole controllers of the spice trade from the Jose River.

In the fall of 1604 naval forces from the south approached the town of Mar Y Vida forcing the recall of the Mar Y Vida ships blockading the Jose River. Within weeks, trade began again for the residents along the Jose River who predominently resided in Fort Wilson now. Over the next few months, mayor Thompson struck a number of deals with traders offering huge discounts on spices in exchange for military protection from Mar Y Vida forces. These deals led to the Thompson Declaration which in summary, offered 50% ownership of all spices from the lands within 10 kilometres of the Jose River for the next 100 years, to whichever force or forces razed the town of Mar Y Vida.

This declaration, within weeks led to open war between Mar Y Vida, and virtually all nations and villages that had ships or armed forces within hundreds of kilometres of it. The resulting conflict led to the annihilation of the Mar Y Vida navy by 1606 and the partial bombardment of the town of Mar Y Vida in 1607 by a number of naval forces.

The Tribute Years & the assassination of Henry Brocker

In the summer of 1607, after the destruction of the known Mar Y Vida navy, things returned to normal in the area of the Jose River, though a number of mercenary groups, led by Henry Brocker leader of a group known as the Cervidia Mercenaries, demanded tribute for helping to remove Mar Y Vida forces as a threat. Mayor Thompson, though unhappy with the continued existence of Mar Y Vida, along with the revelation that numerous Mar Y Vida residents had fled south and founded the village of Great Jason, decided he had no choice but to relent and pay the tribute as dictated by the Thompson Declaration. On July 28, 1607 in a ceremony in Fort Wilson, Mayor Thompson and Henry Brocker signed the Victory Union Agreement which called for the honouring of the Thompson Declaration by the people along the Jose River, and the renaming of the area to Victory Union, 'in recognition of the great victory wrought by a collective force against the Mar Y Vida oppressors of freedom'. Many residents of Fort Wilson however were unhappy with the agreement as it was felt Henry Brocker did not fulfill the terms as stated within the Thompson Declaration. Within days of this agreement being signed, Mayor Thompson was assassinated by Walter Scott Herr. The appointment of new mayor Johnathan Brown however did not cause the agreement to be altered in the slightest after his appointment to office.

On December 13th in the year 1618, Henry Brocker was assassinated by members of his crew for reasons unknown. The result was an all out war between the numerous factions within the group known as the Cervidia Mercenaries who controlled virtually all the shipping lanes from the Nolan Sound southwards to and beyond the Herculean Sea. Though these events did not directly impact Victory Union, two major battles were fought close to the mouth of the Jose River, the spoils of which were the right to collect the 50% tribute as agreed upon by Victory Union under the Thompson Declaration.

An artist rendition of the first Battle of the Jose River Mouth, in 1623. Another, smaller battle took place in 1631 with the prize of the Thompson Declaration tribute as the main driving force behind both of these major naval battles.

Expansion of Victory Union's sphere of influence

In January 1706, prospectors from Victory Union discovered gold in the mountains about 1500 kilometres north of Victory Union, along the coast of northern Ratio. Within months, prospectors and travellers alike had flocked to the area which almost overnight became the village of Loyalty Bay. The resulting gold found in the area, helped Victory Union quickly build a strong navy to help them expand in the area and protect their territorial interests.

In 1779, Victory Union decided to begin expanding their sphere of interest. They already controlled much of the trade along the northern Ratio coast in the Sea of Cervidia, however they were concerned with the increased aggression from forces in Mar Y Vida, who now fell under the sphere of influence from the city of Great Jason to the south. Especially of concern was the Patrick Incident of 1778 in which three Victory Union ships and two Mar Y Vida ships had been sunk when both sides opened fire on one another in the Sea of Cervidia, midway between the two cities. With no agreed upon border it was recognized by the Victory Union government that incidents like this would only continue unless something was done to prevent them. It was therefore decided to expand their influence in the area by building a military outpost in the location of the present day city of Camelot. This military outpost was originally called Fort Collins, named after the governor of Victory Union at the time, Frank Collins.

In 1847, a few years after the formation of the nation of Loveworld to the south, explorers from Victory Union left to explore and settle along the eastern coast of North Ratio, beginning with the foundation of the village of Locke Harbour in 1854 and continuing with the foundation of Viscount Bennett in 1861. By the 1890s, villages were also founded in the far northern reaches of North Ratio at Workers Point in 1895, and Pearson Cliffs in 1897.

Transcontinental Railroad, the Magna Carta Declaration, and the Northwest Ratio War

At the turn of the century, Victory Union and her satellite cities were struggling to keep up with her southern neighbour Loveworld in terms of economic and military supremacy on the northern part of the Ratio continent. The transcontinental railway however would soon change all that. Beginning in the late 1800's, the Victory Union government began to expand the current Union to Bay railway to include lines built eastwards from Loyalty Bay and Victory Union towards Locke Harbour and Viscount Bennett respectively. By the early 1900s these dreams of a transcontinental railway were soon realized and North Ratio now had 2 railways crossing the interior of its domain as of 1903. This increase however, in contact between Victory Union and her satellites proved to be a major catalyst towards the signing of the Magna Carta Declaration in 1904. The eastern cities of North Ratio were especially unhappy with the amount of taxes charged by Victory Union towards them in the wake of the opening of the transcontinental railways. Prior to 1903, these cities, along with the northern ones, simply paid a portion of the taxes charged by Victory Union and blamed bad weather among other reasons for the 'delay' in payments. With the opening of the transcontinental railways, it became much easier for tax collectors from Victory Union to collect payment within days instead of weeks or months as used to be the case. Outside influences and the supply of weapons from Loveworld cities along the Gulf of Storms to her North Ratio counterparts along the same body of water also had a part to play in the lead up to the Magna Carta declaration of 1904. In it, the mayors of Loyalty Bay, Athens (founded 1903), Pearson Cliffs, Workers Point, Viscount Bennett, Locke Harbour signed an agreement agreeing to form their own seperate nations of citystates. These citystates were by 1905 referred to as the citystate nations of:

• Athens
• Locke Harbour
• Loyalty Bay
• Pearson Cliffs
• Viscount Bennett
• Workers Point

Victory Union politicians were furious with the signing of the Magna Carta declaration however they recognized that they could not realistically compete against the financial power of these combined citystates until they had successfully reacquired Loyalty Bay under their control. Victory Union leaders therefore dispatched word to their military outpost in the south of Fort Collins to prepare for civil war against Loyalty Bay and her allies. However, unknown to the politicians of Victory Union was the fact that leaders of Loyalty Bay had months earlier signed an agreement with mayor Sam Peer of Fort Collins to provide Peer with financial payments in return for military protection for Loyalty Bay from hostile forces, '...including any from North Ratio...'. Therefore when Victory Union delegates arrived to seek support for their campaign against Loyalty Bay, they were refused the allowance to even speak with Mayor Peer. This refusal to act by the Fort Collins government resulted in the Northwest Ratio War of 1904-1905.

In November of 1904, destroyers and cruisers from Victory Union departed for Loyalty Bay while over 10,000 ground troops, along with a delegation from Victory Union with a telegram declaring war against Loyalty Bay and her allies, departed via railway at the same time. Meanwhile, 30,000 troops from Loyalty Bay and her allies were already stationed at the southern end of the Loyalty Mountains awaiting any sign of military forces heading northwards from Victory Union. On November 9, 1904 at 2:31 pm Loyalty Bay loyal troops opened fire with cannons and sharpshooters on the trains from Victory Union causing widespread panic among the Victory Union troops. The resulting battle saw the complete defeat of the Victory Union ground contingent with 3,243 dead and numerous more injured. Only 197 troops from the original 10,000 Victory Union contingent in fact escaped without injury or being captured.

The naval contingent of Victory Union meanwhile would take a week to arrive at Loyalty Bay where they were met by the combined naval forces of Locke Harbour, Loyalty Bay, and Fort Collins ships. Recognizing he was outgunned, Victory Union Admiral Wesley Sharp had his forces retreat from battle. His ships however would not retreat from the war. Recognizing that the brunt of the Fort Collins ships were guarding Loyalty Bay, Admiral Sharp sailed his forces south. They arrived along the coast of Oceancove, just north of Fort Collins, on December 1st, 1904. At 5:53 am they began their bombardment of the Oceancove village and military installations. Numerous ships in numerous states of repair were sunk in Oceancove Inlet. The resulting bombardment attracted the interest of the Fort Collins fleet, guarding the city to the south however they arrived not as a pack of ships but one by one and were easily picked off by the Victory Union armada. The resulting battle saw the loss of 3 destroyers, 5 cruisers, and 1 dreadnought on the Fort Collins side and the loss of no ships on the Victory Union side. Meanwhile the bombardment of the village and military installations in Oceancove, and later on at Fort Collins resulted in the loss of over 10,000 civilians and the reduction of the city of Fort Collins to rubble.

...

Overview

PopularFreedom is a massive, safe, and devout nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service. Its compassionate population of just over 100 million are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, moralistic government stops and the rest of society begins, but it concentrates mainly on Law & Order, although Education and Religion & Spirituality are on the agenda. The average income tax rate is 48%. A small but healthy private sector is dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry.

The nation's space program is expanding, protests are prohibited from blocking traffic, most pharmacies have closed down as medicinal drugs are sold freely by the government, the institution of marriage is held sacred and strictly enforced, and those found guilty of illicit affairs are jailed. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. PopularFreedom's national animal is the Wolf, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Euro.

PopularFreedom is ranked:

• 20th in the region and 5,504th in the world for Most Devout Nations
• 24th in the region and 13,956th in the world for Largest Soda Pop Sector.
• 30th in the region and 23,031st in the world for Lowest Crime Rates.
• 32nd in the region and 21,900th in the world for Largest Mining Sector.
• 34th in the region and 16,247th in the world for Largest Arms Manufacturing Sector.

External links

• PopularFreedom Government Website
• PopularFreedom National Newspaper
• PopularFreedom Satellite Photos

Geography

PopularFreedom lies at the northern end of the island continent of Ratio. Ratio is the middle and smallest continent of the 3 continents that make up the northeast district of The Heartland region.

PopularFreedom is relatively flat in the northeast where much of the population is based. In the southeast is the Viscount Bennett mountain chain, a relatively small group of mountains that reach just over 2 kilometres in height at their highest point. In the southwest, except for a few small hills in the vicinity of Victory Union, the area is primarily plains and semi-desert with the bulk of the area owned by ranchers. The northwest provides the most scenic area, except for the rainforests in the south central portion, with both the Pearson and Loyalty mountain ranges which both have numerous peaks over 4 kilometres above sea level.

PopularFreedom is bordered in the south by the nation of Lomo Saltado (formerly known as Loveworld, the Sea of Cervidia on the west, the Nolan Sound in the north, and the Gulf of Storms in the east.

Government

PopularFreedom is run by a democratically elected government.

There are 117 seats in Parliament along with a seat for the Speaker of Parliament. These seats represent the 17 major municipalities in the nation along with 100 seats which are alloted based on the percentage of the vote each party receives from the population. The 17 municipalities that get their own representative are those cities with a population of over 100,000.

The consititution of PopularFreedom does have provisions allowing that any future municipality that breaks the 100,000 population barrier will be permitted to elect an individual to represent them in Parliament.

Elections are held every 5 years on the 1st of March.

Current Government

The current leadership and cabinet posts within the governing party are as follows:

Prime Minister: Julia Westerlake

Minister of Justice: Otto Waterloo

Minister of Trade: Franklin Hujar

Minister of Labour: Patrick Walters

Minister of Veterans Affairs: Kyle Donaldson

Minister of Human Resources and Social Development: Susan Nittle

Minister of Agriculture: Thomas Walchuk

Minister of Natural Resources: Howard Catteso

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Tom Galileo

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans: Donna Asterguile

Minister of Public Safety: Carl Thomas

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration: Lora Jurickson

Minister of National Defence: Kevin Stratogall

Minister of the Environment: Carolyn McKenzie

Minister of Industry: John Gustovik

Minister of Infrastructure: Jason Manning

Minister of Health: Loran Peters

Minister of Finance: Sam Stevens

Minister of Public Works: Lora Fortillingham

Minister of Communications: Frankie Dunnie

Minister of Athletics: Roland Miramik

PopularFreedom is currently run by the ruling Peoples Economic Party who held 85% of the national vote in the last election. The official oppostion is the Civil Party which holds 11% of the seats in Parliament. The remaining seats are held by the Economic Party who attained 4% of the vote in the last election.

The other 17 seats are represented by one individual from each of the following cities:

• Athens
• Base Victory
• Camelot
• Laurier
• Lenita
• Locke Harbour
• Loyalty Bay
• Magna Carta
• Peace
• Pearson Cliffs
• Port Northview
• Sacredicity
• Sifton
• Stanislav
• Victory Union
• Viscount Bennett
• Workers Point

Transportation

The automobile industry took off very early in PopularFreedom (when compared to other nations), much of the development of PopularFreedom urban areas has taken place around the concept of creating cities and residential areas to suit the needs of road vehicles.

To link its vast territory, PopularFreedom built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important elements are the PopularFreedom Highway System (PHS), and the PopularFreedom Municipal Expressways. The bulk of these highways were commissioned in the 1950s by Prime Minister Frank Hujar. There is also a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight and passengers across the country.

Some cities provide usable mass-transit systems. The largest of them, Locke Harbour City State, operates one of the nation's most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend outside of the city state boundaries are among the most heavily used in the nation.

Air travel is the preferred means of travel for long distances. There are several major seaports in PopularFreedom; the three busiest are the port of Viscount Bennett, the port of Pearson Cliffs, and the port of Victory Union.

Sporting Activities

PopularFreedom has an extensive sporting culture. The national sports are hockey, and rugby. Locally different cities have additional sporting interests including auto racing in Athens, soccer in Loyalty Bay, and bareback bronc riding in Victory Union.

Auto Racing

The nation's sporting association created a league that would travel the nation and region having race events with stock cars in 2006 however due to financial troubles, it collapsed before it could officially begin its inaugural season. Currently the largest municipal racing circuit is in the city of Athens known as the Athens Stockcar Racing League (ASRL).

Football (Gridiron)

The PopularFreedom Football League (PFL) began the first gridiron league in the nation in 2005. With 9 teams in as many cities it was widely successful in its first season and has continued to increase in popularity ever since. The current defending PFL champions are the Athens Black Cougars.

Hockey

The PopularFreedom Hockey League (PHL) is the national hockey league across the country. It has teams in 12 cities and towns across the nation. The current champions are the Workers Point Hurricanes.

Rugby

The PopularFreedom Rugby League (PRL) is the national rugby league across the country. It has teams in numerous cities across the nation. The current 2007 champions are the Stanislav Lions.

The nation was also apart of the now defunct Rugby Premier League, which included the Camelot Wasps, Brunstone Avalanche, and Sacredicity Saints rugby clubs in this international competition. These teams joined the PRL in 2007.

Soccer

Soccer is primarily found in the northwest of the nation in the area in and around the city of Loyalty Bay. There are many premier teams though the two most prominent would be the North Beach Sharks and Pleasantview Ravens, both of which are located in the Bay Football League. These two teams have an extensive rivalry dating back for over a century now.

Other soccer leagues in PopularFreedom include the Pearson Cliffs Football Association located in the city of Pearson Cliffs. The Capital Soccer Association located in the city of Locke Harbour operated until 2007 when it folded due to dwindling attendance figures and the expansion of the Extreme Soccer League into both Locke Harbour North and Locke Harbour South.

Extreme Soccer

The Extreme Soccer League (ESL), has teams located in numerous PopularFreedom cities. It also has one expansion franchise located in the city of Hilvenídica, Vassfforcia. This league combines the graceful art of soccer with the bone crushing action of rugby into a version of soccer referred to passionately by its followers as 'full-contact soccer'. The league was formed in 1994 and began play in 1995. Though extremely popular in the cities it is played in, it is shunned by the rest of the nation (along with most of the civilized world) as it is the only league for this sport in existence. In recent years however there has been interest in this sport in a few cities in the nation of Vassfforcia, and in the nation of Lomo Saltado (previously known as Loveworld). As a result tournaments are held between cities in Lomo Saltado and PopularFreedom on a sporatic basis, while Vassfforcia entered a team into the league beginning in the 2006 season.