Verralise
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| Flag of Verralise | |
| Motto: All power is given, not taken. | |
| No Map Available | |
| Region | Anarchy |
|---|---|
| Capital | Celi |
| Official Language(s) | |
| Leader | Mark Earven |
| Population | 6 million |
| Currency | Ennet |
| NS Sunset XML | |
The Free Land of Verralise is a tiny nation with a history of anarchist rebellion. Various oppressors have decided that keeping it down is too much effort, and on one memorable occasion it was used as sabotage - one emperor underhandedly ceded it to a rival power as part of a treaty, while cackling madly. It finally gained independence about half a century ago and has since been working its way towards a basically anarchic government.
Party currently in power
Will Of The People, highly anti-interventionist. The large majority of government funding goes to education and public health care, but the party is divided on the issues of unemployment and welfare. Prime Minister: The charismatic Mark Earven, notable for being the youngest PM ever at forty and accused of playing to the celebrity-worshiping public. Treasurer: Vera Immail, appears to be a tad obsessive about budget surplus. Foreign Minister: Anton Penne. Favours an isolationist policy.
Party currently in Opposition
Free Socialists, led by former teenage communist revolutionary Gabrielle Mason. Responsible for current anti-corporation legislation. Shadow Treasurer: Wickam Abnaxis, 92 and still known as "the sharpest mind in the madhouse." Eternal pragmatist. Shadow Foreign Minister: Alisse Haneque. Known for making inflammatory statements on public television about the need to "liberate" a neighboring province from its "Imperial oppression."
Capital
Celi. Standing in the fork made by the river Arral as it flows into the river Ix, this city has been used as a regional capital by no less than four different empires throughout history, and was naturally chosen as the capital when Verralise declared independence. It boasts a stunningly eclectic mix of architecture, and the urban sprawl, having been curtailed by water on two sides and sulky suburbia on the other, has gone mostly upwards, so that tourists find themselves in the position of entering a skyscraper through a baroque ex-theatre, wandering around, and coming out in a four hundred year old pleasure garden two blocks away via a completely different skyscraper.
Army
The army of Verralise is largely defense-geared. Regular garrisons are situated at all vulnerable border points. All service is voluntary. Military service is regarded as a personal contract between the individual and the government, valid for twelve years, following which the citizen can choose to renew the contract, retire to civilian life permanently, or return to service at any point in their lives – however, retraining is required if more than six years have passed between the end of one contract and the start of another. All training occurs at the main army compound on the Brassic Plains, after which new recruits do a stint in one of said garrisons. Graduates of military training are placed on the conscription roster, to be called up for one year out of three at regular duty (no more than two years may be taken consecutively) and emergency service in the event of an invasion. The only troops not on rotation are those above the rank of Colonel and an elite core of special ops which recruits promisingly creative soldiers, but not very often. The latter has a bit of a mythology built around it among both the army and the civilian population, especially following a recent series of best-selling spy thriller novels purported to be by an ex-member.
