Raissa

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search
Raissa
raissa.jpg
Flag of Raissa
Motto: Unity Our Torch
Alçaera map
Region Ex Aperin Colonies
Capital Nicopolis
Official Language(s) Raissan
Leader various
Population approx. 40 million
Currency obol 
NS Sunset XML

The Allied Poleis of Raissa

Raissa is not a nation in the conventional sense, but rather an alliance of relatively small city-states in competition with each other, with a broad range of government and social styles. They are linked by ethnicity, culture, an archaic worldview and strong xenophobic tendencies. Located on the east coast of Alçaera, they are neighbours of East Hackney, New Paristan and Okanama City.

Nicopolis

The head of the Raissan Alliance is the prosperous port of Nicopolis, which runs the Alliance as a way of funnelling trade and taxes through its own microeconomy. Its sheltered bay was historically both a vital trade link to the coastal communities of the Morgan Gulf and Tanking Sound, and also played a key role in the state's military domination of the Raissan coast.
Government is in theory democratic, if you're a wealthy male over thirty; however, in practise popular military leaders tend to dominate proceedings, and most actual politics involves their thinly-disguised squabbling and tenuous alliances.

Society

Raissan society is a bizarre mix of head-in-the-sand conservatism and ill-considered libertarian sentiment. Drug-related, sexual and indecency laws are non-existent in the average polis, but freedom of speech is always subject to attack, the national religion (a complex polytheism) must be paid at least lip service, and women's rights are virtually nonexistent.

Since most manual labour is carried out by slaves, Raissan citizens have a great deal of leisure time. Since a lot of artistic professions are, in most poleis, among the host of roles forbidden to slaves and foreigners, most of them are filled by members of citizen families without land; these fields are hence not held in very high regard.

Economy

Of the Raissan poleis only Nicopolis has really reached the Industrial Revolution, and it still holds industrialisation at arm's length. The real wealth is in land, worked largely by slaves; however, with strong property rights and a tendency to divide estates up among one's offspring, the land is split up between a lot of people. Most economic activity is local; Raissa is generally comfortably above the subsistence level, but tertiary industry rarely goes beyond the individual level. The tendency of Nicopolis to exact high taxes from the other states without reinvesting it anywhere except Nicopolis is a strong contributor to this.

Military

Every Raissan state has compulsory service of some sort, usually only for freeborn males between eighteen and thirty; in addition, education tends to have military matters high on the agenda. Since political success is heavily reliant upon military career, however, most of the nobility spend a great deal of time in the army.

Raissa's military core has always been heavy infantry, usually backed up by small cavalry units and hastily-trained slave armies. Over the las century and a half, modern warfare has gradually seeped into Raissa's military ethos, but has failed to change the basic mindset. Raissa's universal disdain of non-Raissan cultures has ensured their stagnation in this as in every other field.

Virtually all military equipment is of domestic origin, and without genuine industrialisation tanks, armoured warships and military aircraft are rare oddities, much like elephants in ancient armies: a powerful wildcard, but not a tactical necessity. They are usually produced individually and to specification, as prestige pieces for a rich general.

Because it is surrounded mostly by CACE and ACA members (which, while not powerful themselves, have superpower-scale allies to call on), most of Raissa's conflicts are internal. Slaves are either captives of such wars, or smuggled in from Arcnow.

OOC information

Raissa is a puppet of Rehochipe, and is more or less inert for purposes of roleplay. The nation's name is taken from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities.