Revision as of 23:27, 7 January 2005

RomeW

Flag of RomeW
Motto: "Strong But Free"
Region	The New Roman Empire
Capital	Rome
Official Language(s)	Latin, English
Leader	Emperor Rodin Hartian
Population	146.6 million (based on RL figures)
Currency	coin
NS Sunset XML

Rome (West)

Full Name: The Democratic Federated Empire of Rome
Traditional Name: The Roman Empire
Capital: Rome
Leader: Emperor Rodin Hartian
Population Earth II: 146.6 million people (NOTE: The Romans have made claims over Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona and is in the process of incorporating the areas into the Empire)
GDP Per Capita (US$): $14,522

Overview

"RomeW" stands for "Rome West", and is the continuation of the RL Roman Empire to this day. It is situated on Earth II and covers some 3.05M sq. mi. of territory all over the globe. The Empire is one of the oldest states in the world, with the city of Rome founded in 753 BC. Roman territory has fluctuated over the years, but for more or less its entire history the city of Rome and the territory of Italy have belonged to the Empire and continue to serve as the centre of rule.

Governmental System

The Roman Empire is officially a federation of seven Republics bound together under the rule of an Emperor. The Republics each have their own Senate and political parties, with the citizens directly electing the Senate members, all serving four year terms. The leader of the majority party of the Senate is the President of the Republic, and sits on the Imperial Council. The citizens also directly elect the Emperor, who serves a term of six years. Upon the election of a new Emperor, the Imperial Council and the Emperor jointly decide on the members of Cabinet, and both the Cabinent and the Imperial Council advise the Emperor in his decision-making. A more in-depth view of each position goes as follows:

The Republics

There are seven Republics within the Roman Empire. They are:

-Rome (Italian Peninsula, Malta and N. Libya) -Rhaetia (Switzerland and N. Italy) -Garamantium (W. Libya) -Egypria (E. Libya) -Sahara-Romana (N. Niger) -Nigericum (S. Niger) -Arabia (Syria and Jordan)

Each Republic has a Senate with 99 seats, except Rome which has 151. Each Republic has their own set of political parties, and the party that gains a majority of the seats is the Senate's ruling party. The majority party leader also serves as President, who then gets to serve on the Imperial Council with the other Presidents. In the event of a minority government, the party with the most seats has one month to set up a coalition government- if that party cannot do that then the party with the next largest total of seats gets one month to set up a coalition of their own. Failing that, the Imperial Council and the Emperor rule on the matter, and may decide to dissolve the Senate of that Republic and run a re-election. Such an event has rarely happened, however.

The Republics' powers lay primarily on an internal level, dealing only with matters that pertain to that particular Republic, like education, health care, and the police. Relations between other Republics are also dealt with on the Republican level, with disputes that grow too large going to the Imperial Council. There is free trade amongst the Republics. Overall, the Republics enjoy a sense of autonomy, with their powers usually respected by the Emperor.

The Imperial Council

The Imperial Council is made up of the Presidents of the seven Republics, the members of the Cabinet and representatives of the leaders of the Roman protectorates. The Council's duty is to act as the Emperor's advisors, although the Emperor does not have to follow what they advise. The Council is also responsibile for handling Rome's national affairs through its Cabinet, and, upon the election of a new Emperor, the Council also selects the Cabinet with the Emperor. Technically speaking, the role of the Council appears minor but it has in fact played a very large role in Roman politics. It keeps the Emperor directly informed of Republican affairs, runs a lot of the state's infrastructure and the Council is responsible for resolving Republican disputes that have grown out of hand.

The Emperor

The Emperor is elected every six years directly by the citizens. The elections for the Emperor can have candidates ranging in the thousands, and can (and do) come from all across the Empire. However, in most cases, there are really only two or three serious bids for the throne, as most candidates are rarely lucky enough to garner more than a single vote. The format of the elections are runoffs, with two usually occurring- the first to weed out the non-serious bids and the second to name the Emperor. Men or women are allowed to become Emperor, but they must be of the age of majority and full Roman citizens for over 10 years.

The Emperor may unilaterally make decisions regarding national interests only (such as in foreign affairs, national law, the military, national government spending and national government programs), but usually does so on the recommendations of the Imperial Council. The Council and the Emperor meet every week on conference call and once a month in person, with the location rotating among the Republics.

Occasionally, the Emperor may rule on subjects that pertain only to Republican affairs, but these rulings are only done if the Republic in question cannot resolve the issue on their own.

There is no limit to the amount of times an Emperor can run for office, and this sets up some interesting facts about Rome. Since the Empire was amended to allow for the direct voting of the Emperor in 1914, there have only been three Emperors elected- Keylusus II (1912-92), Paul XII (1992-2004) and Rodin Hartian (recently elected). The reign of Keylusus became especially significant: Keylusus- a supporter of overall Roman suffrage and representation in the government- gained power at 20 years old, but ran for an unimaginable 13 terms- winning each by at least 71%. A frail man of unfortunately deterorating health today, Keylusus is still alive at 112 years old, having been retired from the political scene since 1992. His long reign earned him the title of "The Eternal Emperor", leaving a long and lasting legacy on Roman life, and it was during his reign that many of Rome's current infrastructure and civil code were "modernized", including the construction of the Roman Superhighawy system starting in 1950. As his successor Paul once said, "The Eternal Emperor may not be ruling right now, but he will always be with us."

Protectorates

Rome has three protectorates- the Kingdom of Nayarit (Nayarit, Durango and Sinaloa), the Principality of Altai (Altai Kray and the Altai Republic) and the Republic of the Caucasus (minus Cechnya), and is working on one more- the Republic of Texas (N. Arizona, Texas, S. New Mexico, Lousiana, Arkansas and Coahuila). The protectorates enjoy autonomy from Rome, with the Romans only deciding upon issues of foreign relations (outside of relations between the Protectorates) and the military (run by Rome), although the Protectorates have mandated free trade with each other and Rome. The Protectorates are free to establish their own set of national laws and may run their nation however way they like, however, their citizens cannot vote for the Emperor directly (although there have been movements towards this). Representatives of the Protectorate leaders sit on the Imperial Council, where they can call upon the Emperor to act in their Protectorate if need be. Officially, the Emperor has the right to veto any decision made by the Protectorate and may rule unilaterally in the Protectorate, but this has rarely been the case, only springing up when the Protectorate is in turmoil.

Economy

(Taken from my Economic Factbook on NS)
Arable Acres
Italy=20.7M
Jordan=0.7M
Libya=4.5M
Niger=11.2M
Switzerland=1M
Syria=11.5M
Stravopol Kray=10.4M
Krasnodor Kray=13.8M
Dagestan=6M
Sinaloa=3.3M
Durango=24.5M
Nayarit=1.2M
Total=108.8M

(Using Western European farming methods, Rome can feed 2 people on one 1 arable acre, or some 217.6 million people)

Fisheries Production
Italy=401K t
Libya=33K t
Syria=3K t
Sinaloa=339K t
Nayarit=42K t

Population
Libya=12M
Italy=50M
Niger=21M
Swizterland=8M
Syria=30M
Jordan=12M
Stravopol Kray=2.5M
Krasnodor Kray=5M
Dagestan=2.1M
Sinaloa=2.2M
Durango=1.5
Nayarit=0.9M
Total=146.6M

Economic Output (Major Industries, all figures US$ (Note: Russian territories have estimates
based on overview of their economies only)):
Libya- petroleum, food processing, textiles, handicrafts, cement (GDP: $35B)
Italy- tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor 
vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics (GDP: $1550B)
Niger- uranium mining, cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses 
(GDP: $9B)
Switzerland- machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments (GDP: $239B)
Syria- petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining (GDP: 
$58B)
Jordan- phosphate mining, pharmaceuticals, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light 
manufacturing, tourism (GDP: $24B)
Stravopol Kray- fuel and power generation complex (TEK), treatment of raw materials, machine 
building, chemical industry, light, food and food and farming products processing, mechanic 
engineering, natural gas deposits (GDP: $25B)
Krasnodor Kray- food, tourism, minerals, oil, natural gas, power engineering, machine 
building, cement, metal working, textiles (GDP: $50B)
Dagestan- minerals, oil, metalurgy, limestone, glass-making, cement (GDP: $63B)
Sinaloa- fishing, agriculture, livestock, food processing, tourism (GDP: $38B)
Durango- agriculture, livestock, lumber ($23B)
Nayarit- agriculture, forest wealth, mining ($15B)
Total GDP: $2129B
GDP Per Capita: $14,522

Tax Rate: 50%
National Budget: $1064.5B
Division of National Budget:
Education- 25% ($266.1B)
Health & Social Services- 30% ($319.4B)
Social Services- 20% ($205.3B)
Defence- 20% ($212.9B)
Public Transit- 20% ($212.9B)
Miscellaneous Costs, Government Surplus- 5% ($53.2B)

Geography

The geography of the Empire is extremely varied. Rhaetia is mainly mountainous with an alpine climate, while the Republic of Rome is mostly Mediterranean. Arabia, Egypria, Garamantium, Nigericum and Sahara-Romano are mainly desert. Most of the Empire, however, is spared of winter's wraith, with temperatures ranging from moderately warm along the Mediterranean to extremely hot in the desert regions. Precipitation ranges from moderate in the Mediterranean to rare in the desert, thus making the Empire a preferrable place for tourism.

Legal

The Roman Empire's legal system has changed considerably over the years, being widely regarded as a leader in liberal politics. It is, more or less, based on the same principles of Roman Law from the Early Republic period- that the law is applied on the exact word, not on intention- as well as on Rome's original set of codified Laws, the Twelve Tables and the Justinian Code. The laws have been modernized and amended after 500 AD (when the Emperor Marcus decided that, for the good of Rome the laws had to be updated) and more rapidly after 1650, when a Revolution overthrew an overzealous Emperor Mattiaus and demanded a more liberal Empire, but more or less the essence is the same. What has set the Romans apart from the rest of the world is a continued sense of the need to adapt to the times- Rome understood (especially after its near collapse in the 5th century)- that change was necessary for the contiunation of the Roman state, thus allowing for a continual evolution of Roman Law. Thus, the Roman people are more willing to accept change, creating a long culture of Roman lawyers seeking to change the current system.

Culture

This nation article is a stub. You can help NSwiki by improving it.